The quest to be independent.

(Film Review)


‘Independence’ by Neeraj Ghaywan is a short film featuring a little street girl who is trying to sell Indian national flags on the streets. The very presence of the tricolor on the screen suggests that it is Independence Day. The director does not explicitly tell us so and that places him at par with a great poet because a poet always tries to see how many words he can do without.

The little girl is obviously poor, but she is too proud to accept charity the way other street children do. She don’t want to beg, but would rather be independent. She will choose her own destiny. She will earn for herself. The close up shot of her face in which you can see in her eyes the reflection of another street child who has accepted alms from a passerby, says it all.

The little girl sells a flag to a watchman who hands over a coin to her. His master who approaches the big gate in his car drops a coin in her hand but refuses to accept the flag, disrespectfully waving his hand. She pleads with him but to no avail. She places the flag on the front glass of the car and walks away, her head held high, but not before giving the man in the car a sharp and angry look. He had not only insulted her by treating her like a beggar, but he had insulted his own country. The shaking of his hand was symbolic of the disrespect to the nation, which some of us harbor in our minds. We are just not concerned. August 15? Independence Day?? What’s the big deal??? But beware! Beware of the look in her eyes. She is the future. She is our hope.

She sees a group of girls in school uniform, playing with a ball. Again, the close up shot of her face clearly reveals how eager she is to play with them. But she knows all too well that it is impossible. She does not go and request the girls to allow her to play with them. She doesn’t want to risk a rejection; she starts playing using pebbles all by herself. Who can prevent her from doing that? All of a sudden there is a heavy downpour and the rain drops give her company. The girl looks up in joy and enjoys the rain to the maximum. The rain is something that is common for her and the other girls. Let it wash away the poverty and the backwardness. Nobody can take the little joy from her. Nobody can prevent her from getting wet in the rain. That is ‘Independence’ for her.

The flags in her hand get wet and the colors start to bleed. For a moment she becomes worried but she quickly overcomes the disappointment. She clutches the wet coins in her hand and the rain brings back the smile to her face. It is only the hard earned coins which will give her financial independence. And the rain will always be there to wash away her sweat.

‘Independence’ is a well directed short film with some crisp editing. The background music adds to the effect. The girl who plays the lead role has an expressive face as is revealed from the close-ups. All in all, a brilliant short film which utilizes every available second to the maximum extent possible.

Raavan - An opportunity wasted

(Film Review)

There is a Tamil version of Ramayana which portrays Raavan as a virtuous person. Such independent interpretations come as a whiff of fresh air in an otherwise monotonous world of good triumphs over evil stories. I am not suggesting that we should portray the traditional hero as a villain and change the villain to a hero. But we should be honest enough to accept that every human being is fallible and that includes the hero of the story! The villains can possess certain good qualities even in excess of what is present in the hero. The portrayal of the hero as a person who is perfect is suitable only for children's story books. We usually do not attribute any good qualities to villains so as not to confuse the children in their early years of reading. In such stories, most villains are ugly, dark and may even be one eyed monsters! But such portrayals can only insult the sensibilities of grown up readers/viewers. So when Maniratnam came up with a movie which promised to reinterpret the Ramayana story, the expectations were quite high. All intelligent people must have rejoiced at the prospect of Maniratnam delivering a bit of shock and awe. It was not for the first time that such an attempt was being made in Indian cinema. The famous Malayalam film, Oru vadakkan veera gatha directed by award winning director Hariharan had explained to the audience that it is highly improbable that Thacholi Chanthu, the cruel and treacherous villain as per popular myth, could have cheated Aromal Chekavar, the elder brother of Unni Archa, Chantus former lover. The film won several accolades and succeeded even to the extent of re-writing the myth in the minds of the present generation. Raavan comes nowhere near and has failed miserably. It is true that Hariharan had the support of a great script written by M.T.Vasudevan Nair, Njanapeedom and Kendra Sahitya Academy award winner and the incomparable acting prowess of Mammootty, the three time National Award winner for Best Actor. In fact it was for his role as Chanthu in Oru vadakkan veera gatha that Mammootty won the National award in 1989.


Raavan was quite unconvincing and looked extremely artificial. Ramayana is a long story but Raavan starts with the kidnapping of Sita and ends after she has been rescued. In fact, nothing much happens in between and this has made the film boringly simple. There is no food for thought for the audience, no vacuum to be filled and the audience never gets truly involved in the movie. Abhishek Bachan was over the top and Mani Ratnam seemed to have gone back to the theory that villains and anti-heroes should have abnormal mannerisms and exaggerated gestures.


Even the much hyped cinematography fails the film. The videography should not stand apart, but it should blend well with the other dimensions of the film. It is not so in Raavan. Take for example, the repeated slow motion shot of Aishwarya Rai falling from a hill top to the water below. What purpose does it serve, apart from making people who are not familiar with computer graphics stare wide eyed in to the screen? Similarly, when we watch the song Kathal Rojave in Mani Ratnams Roja or the song sequences in Oru vadakkan veera gatha we get the feeling that the songs are for the sake of the characters in the movie. When you become sad you hum a sad tone. When you are ecstatic you dance. To that extent, the unnaturalness of a song or dance is being reduced. But the songs and the dance sequences in Raavan are definitely being played for the audience. The flimsy connections with the storyline apart, the songs are for the sake of songs and the dance is for the sake of dance. 


There was immense potential in the story, but with all due respect to Maniratnam, it has to be pointed out that he wasted an opportunity. Raavan has not brought in the moolah at the box office. Neither will it satisfy the serious movie viewer. 

Rajneeti - The Great Indian Political Story

(Film Review)

‘Rajneeti‘ is a political drama the story line of which has strong connections with those of the great epic, ‘Mahabaratha’ and the classic mafia movie ‘The God Father’ and with the dynasty politics prevalent in India. When each and every character in the film is modeled on mythological characters and certain key incidents in the film are exactly similar to happenings in ‘The God father’, you expect the story to not have a free flow because the script writer’s and the director’s freedom are curtailed and flexibility is limited. So you expect them to make compromises in order to conform to the model(s). I don’t know whether such compromises have been made, but none is obvious. Mahabaratha, The God Father and Dynasty politics blend together effortlessly and the result is an extra ordinary movie.

Rajneeti is a serious movie and believe me, you won’t really mind not having enough of Katrina Kaif. Thankfully, the movie doesn’t have a message for the audience and it does not try to glorify the hero. And does it even have one? Well, the answer depends on how you define a ‘hero’. If you think of a hero as the righteous, virtuous, selfless guy who will not even harm a mosquito or a guy who will always stand up against the evils in the society no matter how impractical it is, then Rajneeti doesn’t have a hero. The obvious choices, Ranbir Kapoor and Arjun Rampal play politicians who have shady characters. There is nothing much that differentiates their characters from the character played by Manoj Bajpai, the supposed villain and their murky deeds are atleast as bad as that of Bajpai’s character’s.

Now if you believe that ‘hero’ is that character who has the most prominent role in the story and whom the director of the movie attaches more importance to, then it has to be either Arjun Rampal or Ranbir Kapoor. But Arjun Rampal doesn’t survive till the end as most ‘heroes’ do. They are both good looking and Ranbir Kapoor registers a victory of sorts in the end, hence we may well consider their side the ‘good side’ and their opposition the ‘bad side’ and hence Ranbir Kapoor the hero and Manoj Bajpai the villain. Oh! What a silly argument has been put forward by me!

One might think that the cutie little Ranbir Kapoor doesn’t fit the role he played. A gun wielding Ranbir Kapoor doesn’t look convincing. No better praise for the director!!! Because that was the very idea. Because that was how it was supposed to be. Neither his family nor his girlfriend ever expected him to be active in politics, let alone kill political rivals. Even when Ajay Devgan tells Manoj Bajpai that “Samar is the real enemy”, the viewers are not convinced. Recall the expression on Marlon Brando’s face in The God Father, when he was told in sick bed that “It was Michael who killed Solazzo”. Was it disbelief? Or horror? Or Sadness? Or all combined?

Personally I liked Al Pacino’s performance much much more than that of Ranbir Kapoor’s although I have not been able to find out any compelling reasons for the same. In fact, it is such unexplainable nuances that make a performance remarkable, an actor a star and a star a legend.

Almost all the actors and actresses of Rajneeti have delivered what was expected of them. But if you ask my opinion, I will vote for Arjun Rampal. If I watch the movie again, it will be to watch him perform. I was really fascinated by his controlled acting in ‘Rock On’ too.

Katrina Kaif’s role in the film was a very short one contrary to what the film’s posters would make you believe. But she did extremely well, especially towards the end when she was asked to play a ‘more important’ role in life. Her public address after her husband’s death was brilliant. She looked very vulnerable at times as would a widow addressing a mass gathering after her husband’s death. Her voice choked in between, but at times we thought what we are seeing is not weakness but strength. Her demeanour defied qualification. But the speech was effective; it yielded the desired result. And that was what mattered. I have not had the opportunity to hear the speeches made by Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi after the deaths of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi respectively. But I always used to wonder how vast sections of the population sway their way after listening to them. But not anymore. I couldn’t believe it when my eyes became moist after listening to Katrina Kaif on the screen. After all it was only a movie and she was only acting. Such was the effect of her performance and such is the human nature which sympathises with the heart and not with the head.

The director did well to avoid some clichés. Going by the history of mainstream hindi cinema, a reunion of Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif was inevitable. Also, all the acts of Nana Patekar, Arjun Rampal and Ranbir Kapoor had to be explicitly justified, if they are to be portrayed as virtuous people. But he chose not to. And the makers of the movie had decided that all the questions that come up during the course of the film need not be answered. Who killed Arjun Rampal’s father is still debatable. Although Vinay Apte confesses to Ranbir Kapoor that Ajay Devgan was behind the crime, Ranbir Kapoor didn’t seem convinced. So do the viewers. And who pulled the trigger? Was that bulky man on the motor cycle someone from the police department? Or was it one of Manoj Bajpai’s or Ajay Devgan’s goons in police uniform? Or was it Ajay Devgan himself?

Another line of the story which was not pursued was that of Nasiruddeen Shah.  What happened to him? Is he silently watching everything from a distance like the ‘Sun’ God? Pursuing his exploits would have made the film lose focus. If he had come back towards the end of the film to play an active role in the ‘war’, it would have been a cliché again. But he didn’t. Of course the script writer had little choice because he had to toe the line of the great sage Veda Vyasa. Talking about Veda Vyasa, he has to be complimented for the undisputably realistic portrayals of the characters of Mahabharata. Our film makers should learn a point or two from him or whoever was the author of Mahabharata. Even if there are doubts as to who the real author of Mahabharata is and even if we are not sure whether such a voluminous work can be attributed to a single author, there is no denying that a story cannot take shape from thin air. Somebody has to write it. And whoever has done it is the world’s greatest story teller (or historian if you please) Full marks for Rajneeti’s makers for paying rich tributes to Mahabharata.

A family photograph

(Poem)

The picture itself is dull
Their faces gloomy
As if they are aware
Of the tragedy befallen them
As if they are aware
They are no longer alive.

Take a closer look:
They have resigned to their fate.
They know they can't
Stand this closer anymore.
She knows she can't
Hold the kid's hand anymore.

Outside of the dullest of pictures,
They know, they not exist.

Good old days.

(Poem)

I used to smile
When success was mine
Those were days
When no hypocrite I was.

I was young
An innocent boy
Didn't hide emotions
And needn't have done so.

I could tell anyone
That I liked him or her
I was a child.
Now that I am not
They tell me
That I shouldn't love.

I used to celebrate my birthdays
And often wondered
Why my parents
Didn't celebrate theirs?

My eyes were young
And my mind's eyes too
All I could see
Was 'Children and Grown-ups'.
But now I can see
Christians, Hindus, Muslims.
Wish I were young forever.

I used to run
Back from school
To play what we called
A game of cricket.
But now I watch TV
To see someone else play
The thamasha that is modern cricket.

It has been years
Since I last played
Out there in the yard
And soiled my clothing.

It has been ages
Since I last
Drenched myself in rain.
Hardly surprising though:
Now I am a man.

When I cry
Tears don't roll down
As they used to do.
But I do cry more often.

Heaven is up above
And hell deep under,
I was told.
But now I know:
Hell is here, and
Heaven I am still searching.

And the heavens we are searching for
Blacks and Whites
Hindus and Muslims
The heavens so beautiful
Are one and the same, I'm sure.
Wasn't it in the same voice
That we all cried
When our parents
First left us at School?