Moral of the Kahani is…

Moral of the Kahani is…

Kahani, directed by Sujoy Ghosh and starring the sensation of 2012 generation Vidya Balan is undoubtedly an arresting thriller. Mind boggling twists and turns, Kahani is definitely a roller coaster experience. The film was complete experience for me except three things in the film.

1: As the story of Mrs Vidya Bagchi searching for her husband unfolds, there are many instances when Mrs Bagchi remembers various kinds of incidences and moments, which she had spent with her husband, Arnab Bagchi. On screen during her flashbacks the person who appears her husband finally turns out to be Milan Damji who is actually the killer of her husband. Mrs Bagchi can stage a make-believe phenomena for others but why would she have false memory of her own husband?

2: Bob Biswas tries to kill Mrs Bagchi and becomes quite successful in petrifying and intimidating her. But in her next meet with Rana she just doesn’t share anything about this shocking incident.

3: At the end when it gets revealed that Mrs Bagchi’s intentions behind the whole drama was to give justice to her husband who was killed in Metro attack, you also realize that death of Agnes and Doctor were actually the innocent victims of this well-thought plan. Unfortunately Mrs Bagchi at the end doesn’t show any kind of regret for being the cause of the death of Agnes and Doctor.

Well moral of the Kahani is except these three elements Kahani was a wonderful experience for me.

Sairat... dissolving reel and real life boundaries

In our democratic set up, caste invariably holds the key to any poll outcomes but the recent phenomenon called 'Sairat' substantiates that the caste factor can even drive the box office results. It seems no one has understood it better than the maveric director Nagraj Manjule, whose epic love story, Sairat has put myriads of Bollywood flicks to shame by winning critical as well commercial accolades.

The movie without being preachy about the issue of honour killing and inter-caste hatred, unfolds with all the essentials of a typical filmy love-saga. All the ingredients of done-to-death tragic romance formulae viz. archetypal lovers, melodious tunes, suave visuals, slo-mo shots (establishing larger than life existence of the protagonists), chase sequences and engaging humour, the film gives away everything generously to its escapist audience till the conflict point in the story arrives.

From the conflict onward, the filmmaker takes reigns in his own hands and steadily and silently drives the audience towards the harsh realities of love life. The eloped couple madly in love with each other arrives in a completely hostile environment of the slums of hyderabad and starts facing the real-life challenges. Archi, an upper caste girl who is bereaved of her social capital, gradually discovers her own independent essence and identity while Parshya, a lower caste boy slowly overcomes the boundaries of patriarchal mindset. In the course of making their living, their love for each other gets redefined and when they are about to settle down in with their kid, the final blow of the bigger social reality strikes.

Number of established filmmakers from Marathi film industry must be groping for answers as what exactly made Sairat a smash hit. The answer lies not just in understanding the fundamentals of good story-telling but also in comprehending how exactly the good story should be told in a socially relevant way. I think here the director with his acute understanding of the social realities outscores the number of other directors existing in the industry.

His characters undergo through mundane situations of life but at no point the reality in the movie becomes filmic or untrue-to-life. For the purpose, the language used by the characters in the film remains colloquial and dialectal. Nagraj takes care, neither his characters arrive in Pune or Mumbai (when they elope) nor do they ever try to speak the 'so called standard' language of the metropolis. In Sairat the reel life of the characters is not really different than the real life of couples from any semi-rural areas of Maharashtra. Raising the bar of his signature style of direction, Nagraj also ensures that his actors do not get engaged in any 'theatrical pattern of acting'. They 'act' as any other boy-or-girl-next door would react in given situations.

I think, here somewhere Nagraj forges a close, special and strong bond with his audience who was craving to see the true reflection of their lives on silver screen. With his inimitable style, Nagraj at the end brings cinema closer to life for sure.

Zindagi (without ‘soul’) Na Milegi Dobara

After the release Farhan Akhtar on his tweeter account said, “It’s so fantastic that everyone loves the poems in ZNMD. Thank you pa for injecting soul into the film with your gifted hand.”

Undoubtedly, poems recited by Imran and penned by his ‘pa’ ‘inject soul’ into the film, and it’s the poetry in the film which saves the film from becoming a clichéd story of three friends. The poetry in ZNMD certainly gives philosophical touch to the film

Effective, extensive and exact usage of the poems and poetry recitation is quite a rare phenomenon in Hindi films. Largely filmmakers prefer poetry in the form of songs and hardly anyone thinks that poetry recitation can be used as an effective technique in the film.

Indeed the poems in the film take the film to another level but my question here is, do really characters and their respective journeys in the film reach to the level of the messages which poems emanate? Do the characters in Zindagi Milegi Na Dobara inhale the same air which its poem exhale?

The first poem in the film. The poem basically voices the realizations of Arjun after the deep sea diving experience. It’s also possible that poem is voicing the realization of the three friends together. The poem is as follows:

जब जब दर्द का बादल छाया
जब गम का साया लैहराया
जब आँसू पलकों तक आया
जब ये तन्हा दिल घबराया
हमने दिल को ये समझाया
दिल आखिर तू क्यों रोता है
दुनिया मे यूँ ही होता है
ये जो गहरे सऩ्नाटे हैं
वक़्त ने सबको ही बाँटे हैं
थोड़ा गम है सबका किस्सा
थोड़ी धूप है सबका हिस्सा
आँख तेरी बेकार ही नम हैं
हर पल एक नय़ा मौसम है
क्यों तु ऐसे पल खोता है
दिल आखिर तू क्यों रोता है....

Now lets see Arjun’s character:-

Arjun is a financial trader who works with some firm in London. He is basically a young workaholic who wants to make as much money as possible before his 40s. He is so engrossed in his work that initially he even doesn’t want to be a part of the trip his friends are proposing. He is so obsessed with his work that his girlfriend had also left him and finally, Arjun, who can't swim is helped by Laila to overcome his fears.

Now how come the deep-sea diving experience helps workoholic Arjun to reach to the experience (through Imran’s voice) of “ जब जब दर्द का बादल छाया, जब गम का साया लैहराया….”

After watching the film I somehow couldn’t really connect the characters and their journeys to the poems in the film. Somehow the body of the film is not in sync with the soul of the film

The 'Factory' aspect of Filmmaking

Director Paresh Mokashi definitely deserves accolades for making Harishchandrachi Factory(2009). The film depicts the struggle of Dadasaheb Phalke, the father of Indian cinema in making his first feature film Raja Harishchandra around 1913.


Besides the craft of the film itself, I think the title of the film, 'Harishchandrachi Factory' is not just apt but has an intriguing quality and Paresh Mokashi should be given credit for coining this interesting title.

The title is an integral part of the narrative of the film. While Phalke is engrossed in making his first movie, his colleagues question Phalke about what should they inform their people when they are asked about the work (work of filmmaking) they are carrying. Phalke says tell them that you are working in a 'factory' that manufactures movies.

Throughout the movie, while preparing to film Raja Harishchandra, Dadasaheb Phalke keeps guiding the people involved in the filmmaking in various capacities about the basics of their respective departments. He explains the actors about acting, the cameraman about shot-taking and the art-director about set designing. In the process of guiding these people, Phalke touches upon the various aspects of filmmaking and in a way lays foundations of the art of filmmaking.

I think the filmmaker's vision for this film was at its best when he coined the title 'Harishchandrachi Factory' because while establishing film as a form of art the director respects its aesthetic values but at the same time through the word 'factory' in the title he takes care to underline the 'commercial' and 'manufacturing' aspect of the craft of filmmaking.

Over the years various art forms like literature, music and dance have influenced and defined the art of filmmaking but at the same time filmmaking has always remained a commercial activity. No doubt the film brings forth the efforts taken by Phalke in establishing film is an art form but with the title 'Harishchandrachi Factory' the director makes it sure that audience doesn't overlook the 'commercial' reality of this art.

Siddiqui saab, hats off!!!

After watching Sujoy Ghosh's Kahaani, you come with three prominent things on your mind. 1. Vidya Balan, 2.The city of Kolkata and 3. Officer Khan ie Nawazuddin Siddiqui's performance. Against all the plans and strategies of Vidya Bagchi and Satyuki, officer Khan stands strongly and distinctively as an antagonist in the film.... Nawazuddin Siddiqui just carves out space in your mind with his performance.

The character of of officer Khan's is on one hand and the character of Rakesh, a journalist in Peepli Live is on the other hand. Watch these two performances back to back and you will realize the caliber of Nawazuddin Siddiqui's acting prowess.

Remember in Peepli Live, when Rakesh a small town journalist of a vernacular newspaper at the end of the film raises questions to national TV channel journalist that why Natha's story is so important to media when there are number of other farmers who are dying of different reasons. The way he delivers the dialogues at that time is so peculiar and unique – he speaks to the journalist in completely oblivious to camera or any crew around – he speaks in so much of true-to-life manner!! Siddiqui saab hats off!!!

Recipe of a South Indian blockbuster

Umpteen number of cuts, too many and manifold kinds of transitions, convulsing camera angles, usage of all sorts of sound effects, foot tapping electric numbers, choreographed calisthenics, lyrics full of slang words, gimmicking-over-the-top fight sequences, storyline filled with a bit of revenge - a bit of romance – a bit of humour, a glamdoll, an overpowering villain and omnipresent-omniscient-omnipotent superstar hero

Does 'The Kite Runner' remain true to its essence ?

Recently I watched 'The Kite Runner', the 2007 film directed by Marc Forster. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Khaled Hossein. I haven't read the novel yet, so I really don't know how much the filmmaker has remained truthful to the soul of the story.

Has anybody read the novel and seen the film as well? Can the film be cited as the best adaptation of the novel? Has the filmmaker given the complete justice to the novel ? Is the film an exemplar of the way of making novel-based films?.... Your thoughts are welcome.