SHOOL (1999): I believe, therefore I am

What makes us human? A sum total of various behavior patterns picked up over the years or the capacity to hold strong unshakable beliefs. To have a Belief in a truth beyond oneself, not just on God, but justice, equality and fairness. Belief that these are not just arbitrary concepts created by those at helms of our race, but are the ultimate foundation of a stable society. Though SHOOL(1999) is viewed mostly from the lens of honest cop vs. system stereotype, the makers of this film- E Niwas (Debutant Director), RGV and Anurag kashyap(Dialogues) were all aiming for a deeper and more internal conflict.

On the surface, it is made of the some basic overseen elements- an egomaniac politician (Bachchu Yadav), his coterie of strongmen with obsessive Gunda syndrome, town residents who are numb, dumb and mute, ‘pragmatic’ policemen who want to live good and an honest cop ( Samar Pratap) who is oblivious to the existing power structure that everyone has grown used to. Am i talking about singham? Not actually, but one thinks that the same script specs were given to Rohit Shetty and the results are for you to see.

A carefully shot opening sequence establishes the reptilian and lusty nature of Bachchu Yadav who has been the local MLA for last 15 years. A two face, he struts around like a pampered prince throwing childlike tantrums and then quickly turns around as scheming, calculative and unforgiving. Enter Samar pratap Singh who has two basic problems- his anger management skills and unshakeable honesty. Samar is not driven by revenge or ambition to become a hero. He is a simple man who lives for his family, is out there to do his job but does it with a sense of purpose and by the book that means- criminals need to be punished and it doesn’t matter who they are.

It’s only a matter of time before this gets him in direct confrontation with Bachchu Yadav’s gang. But Yadav does not take him head on; like a matador he waits for Samar to run into him and starts chipping away the very core of: Samar’s fort of belief at the infallibility of the system and its protection at all cost. People around ask him to not to come in Yadav’s way- his colleagues on the pretext of practicality and survival, his senior orders him, Yadav’s men threaten him but he remains headstrong even at the cost of being called thickhead by his own father. There are some intense action sequences, intense because you can feel the anger and violence yourself and it is not entertaining rather disturbing.

Putting everything on the line, one by one he is ridden of everything he thought was life- his job, family and his well-wishers, and with this his ability to smile. Driven to the wall he confesses to his wife Manjiri, played by Raveen Tandan, that he understands that his ‘way of living’ has brought upon them such painful times. That he knows what other people talk of him and in a placatory tone, tells her that they will start anew, fresh.

But the trials do not end for Samar and in one final blow his world is shattered, maybe that’s what the filmmakers wanted to explore- strip a man of everything, bleed him dry, make him entirely hollow, falsify every truth he held on to in his life and see what happens. This is beyond courage, determination, perseverance or any such virtues associated with heroism. with death of your ego itself one either becomes spiritual, suicidal or both. In a symbolic final chapter, the suspended Samar gets ready in his police uniform and walks to the parliament for the final predicament.

The closing sequence is predictable and belongs to the world of ‘Krantiveer’ but that is where the dialogues make all the difference. Anurag kashyap has been carefully un-jingoistic, but honest, simple and stark. There are no tall claims of nation building or cleansing the system. It offers no solution as well. This is a landmark film, for the beauty lies in the honesty of its purpose. It’s commendable that even with such clichéd and overused elements, the filmmakers sought out to explore deeper, an intensely personal conflict.

People had started talking about the prodigiously talented Manoj Bajpai who recognised him as Bhiku Mhatre of Satya. Little did they know that he will go on to become one of immortals of Indian Cinema post Gangs of wassepur, but that he was as accomplished an actor as anybody in his age bracket was undeniable. From his restrained portrayal of Samar pratap singh, you can easily see why he is up there in the league of naseeruddin Shah, Om puri, and the likes. Keep looking at him and you will feel frustration and anger creeping into your bones.

Score time-
E- 8/10
M- 8/10
I- 8/10

Final Score- 8/10(the highest so far)

Gangs of Ananthpur- Rakht Charitra(2010)

It was 2010, that year i was in Chennai and while on a regular field visits along with my salesperson, i first saw its posters – of bare-chested surya and machete brandishing vivek oberoi. My immediate thought after watching its trailers was that it is another Sarkar, only bloodier, and sans the close-ups of Amitabh but Vivek oberoi (and that killed any prospects of watching it). But the reason why it intrigued me now when i started reading up on it, as it turned out, is that the film is based on the true story of a political feud turned into personal vendetta akin to Gangs of wasseypur, and part of one of the longest running conflict areas of country– Telengana. RAKTA CHARITRA was going to be my film to watch.

I mentioned Gangs of wasseypur for 2 reasons- one is that the narrative of both films is almost similar, made in two parts, both complete in itself and covering more than one generation. Second is that they are account of blurring lines between personal vendetta and regional politics. And when talking about revenge, both are extremely violent films with explicit display of gore. But, unlike GOW that builds context based on accurate accounts of date and history, RGV has steered away from accuracy partly because he realizes the incendiary nature of the material or he just wants to tell a gripping story rather than making a political commentary.

It is based on the life of Paritala Ravi played by Vivek Oberai and set in Ananthpur, one of the bloodiest district of Rayalaseema region in Andhra pradesh. Only recently has it become part of national consciousness since the media got talking of Telengana movement. Please do get to know about the political feud between TDP, the congress and naxal organisations starting from 1980s to present day before you watch the movie- also because RGV spends minimal time on that.

The film starts with the growing Rift between the strong Political Leader Narsimha Reddy and his right hand man, Veerbhadra(the leader of poor). Taking advantage of this, Nagamani, Narsimha's ally who sees veerbhadra as growing threat gets him killed in a devious plot. Veerbhadra is survived by his wife, two sons and his party workers who work for the naxal cause. And thus starts the tale of Rakta Charitra literally meaning the ‘Epic of Blood’.

The film moves at a frantic pace and people are killed like a game of chess. A kills B, B kills C , C kills D,E, F and G and finally what we are left with is Pratap Ravi (vivek oberoi) , the younger son of Veerbhadra, who by now has become a naxalite leader and the two sons of Nagamani - Puru Reddy and Bukka Reddy.

Unlike Rambo style mass killing, the violence of this movie is of that of brutality; the rawness and crudeness of each kill, of a machete slicing through the bones and guts and blood spurting out on the hungry predator like face of the killer.

RGV is very much a camera man, he likes to toss it, invert it, tie it to the fan, hang it on the terrace antenna and do anything with it but keep it still on a tripod. But with this it looks like, he had given the camera to Joker and gave him a two word brief- GO WILD. Sometimes it goes so low angle especially in those “drawing-room-conspiracy sequences” that you feel like you are on all four, then there are upside down shots, rotating cameras, and close ups so near that the lens might have hit their eyes.

But if you were to hold a gun on my head and asked me one reason to watch this movie(part 1) i would say ‘Abhimanyu Singh’, the guy who plays the 'Banna' in ‘Gulal’. He plays Bukka Reddy, Ravi's archenemy who's neither corrupt nor conspiring, but purest essence of evil with only one shade of grey, Black. The primordial Bukka gets his happiness by hurting people, so he kills them in most despicable ways, rapes women at will, cuts arms of his own people if he doesn't like their opinion.

Not for once does he look unrelenting, be it drinking and walking bare-chested laden with gold chains and rings, or when he lustily licks the gun held by the disgusted Inspector or when he looks at the trembling girl sitting on his lap which is somewhere between eating and feasting. In fact there is such unpredictability to his actions, that every time he comes on screen you expect blood to spill- 10 out of 10 to abhimanyu and RGV for bringing to Indian cinema one of its deadliest villains.

After the Tennis like killing on both sides, Pratap Ravi emerges as power to beckon. Shivaji Rao, played by Shatrughan Sinha is based on NTR’s character and fashioned on MGR’s persona, takes Pratap ravi in his folds to improve his own political mileage. Ravi, a natural leader eases into the role of a politician and from then on, it’s only rise of Ravi. A strategist himself, he knows that revenge breeds revenge and sends his mini army led by his two faithful generals on a singular mission to eliminate any element that can potentially threaten his life. His home becomes the court itself and he is the final judgement.

Keeping true to the facts from Paritala Ravi’s life, so strong was his political base that he never lost a single election from Penukunda; not even when TDP, the party he belonged to, lost the state elections in 2004. Part 2 completes the cycle, with a new element seeking his vendetta on Ravi. The tables have turned, Ravi is on the same seat of power he was once fighting against. And this time, its Surya played by the Tamil Actor Surya, who is driven to his next breathe only by the force of revenge. Though not as entertaining as 1, it is watchable and has a good mix of introspection and action in the final chapter.

Vivek might not be stellar but he does what is required of him. He is crisp and is not overtly expressive. In fact he has done well with goon-next-door characters in both Company and shootout at lokhandwala.

But i have my grouses, foremost being that the characters belong more to a graphic novel than real people and events that inspired them. In fact, over dramatization makes caricature of sorts and takes away the purpose of the film, that is to show the vicious cycle of revenge spanning close to 4 decades and make people realize its senselessness. Also, RGV could have made it richer by adding local flavors and idiosyncrasies of Rayalseema, like in GOW, to keep it believable; in the process it might have become even more entertaining. And because RGV is clearly capable of doing that (watch shool, satya), one feels that not enough has been done. Again, This might not be considered at par with Sarkar or even as the best of RGV, but it does its job of being entertaining, different and highlighting the local power struggles that can impact the whole nation. Politics is a violent business; don’t know how Rahul Gandhi keeps that innocence on his face.



Time for EMI-
E- 8/10
M- 5/10
I- 3/10
Final Score- 6.1/10

MANDI: The Changing times

A city is an extended Marketplace that is built to satisfy human vices- this is the engine of growth of our civilization. In Indian context, MANDI(the word) has a character of a Noisy, crowded, chaotic melting pot of traders, buyers and artifacts of all kinds. Mandi(the film) was released in 1983 and is based on GHULAM Abbas’s short story ‘Anandi’. Shyam Benegal has chosen the life of Rukmini Bai, the ‘MADAM’ of Purantanpalli’s most famous Kotha for his commentary on how does a growing, ever changing city responds to human vices; a city transitioning from the age of Kings and patrons, to the Age of Businessman and “Institutions’ of Modernity.

Shyam benegal is a master of creating sharp characters and narrating the plot through their intersecting motivations. On one hand is Rukmini Bai, played superbly by Shabana Azmi. On the other is Mr. Gupta (khulbushan Kharbanda), a suave Business man with deep pockets who has his wolf eyes set on this prime piece of land and Shanti Devi, a self proclaimed moral police funded by Mr. gupta, trying to ouster Rukmini Bai from the city . Caught in the midst is Mr. Agarwal who heads the Municipal committee but has a dark secret kept safe and happy in Rukmini Bai’s Kotha. There are sub plots and digressions, but none have any significant bearing on the film. It is more about the detail of present than the cause(past) and effect(future) contraption of most narratives.

The Kotha and its degenerating walls is a landscape in itself livened by Tungrus (Naseruddin Shah), her human pet who either barks when drunk or ho-hums to his master’s wish; Zeenat(Smita patil), her favourite amongst all who spend her days practicing Gazal in the ‘high room’; Om Puri(ram gopal) as the lascivious photographer always in hunt of sleazy pictures of the inhabitants and other women of the house played by neena gupta, soni razdan and ila arun.

In Mandi, we see a departure from the stark realism of most Benegal movies. The camera angels are creative, with deliberate use of mirrors in a lot of indoor shots sometimes only so to make it interesting and does nothing to add meaning. The characters are almost caricature like driven by linear motivation. The film is more in the land of ‘Black comedy’ rather than a satire.

But the movie belongs to Shabana Azmi, hands down. Long before method acting became fashionable in bollywood, the super shabana walks, talks, bites, drapes, laughs, weeps, indulges, admonishes like someone who has seen the turning of tides. There is not one single sincere moment of Rukmini(shabana) revealing her true feelings, not a single close shot to explore that. In a long stretched chaotic sequence, the deaf&dumb bride sold off to Rukmini tries to commit suicide but if finally saved- observe the manipulative Rukmini creating a sense of victimhood and sympathizing with the Bride but has no intention to send her off back to her life. In fact one feels that Rukmini has played so many characters in her life- of a parent, mentor, a victim of society and men at large, a secret keeper, a philosopher of her profession, a task master, a seductress, an artist of higher taste more evolved than the keepers of morality, that the real rukmini has walked off to one corner realizing its uselessness.

At 2 hr 42 mins, this film has been made for patrons and not viewers accustomed to the 90 min films with shots changing every 15 sec. The plot is not as dense and heavy like other Benegal films, but still is entertaining primarily because of its characters. Like a patron soak yourself in the youth of zeenat and the excitement of young love (yes! There is a sub plot too), follow closely the entertaining gazal ‘Zabane Badalti hein’ and you will find yourself smiling, feel pity for tungrus who can only rant at the changing times, get seduced by Shabana...o Shabana who simply is the chhappan bhog which will only make you want more.

If you do watch it, tell me if you did not find the superclose shots of rukmini and her muse cum favorite Zeenat bordoring on lesbian love. I dont know if its my male gaze or Benegal is plain naughty here. Or both :)

Time for EMI-
E- 7/10 (only because of its length)
M- 7/10
I- 5/10
Final Score- 6.6/10

How to watch movies: 10 min exercise for Beginners

Consider this. If there is national hobby, it is films. Any healthy adult of my age must have watched about 500 films (at the least) and that is more than 1200hrs of active viewing. But do we actually do enough to make this experience worthwhile, READ ROI. The point is that 'watching a movie' can be made richer by simply spending some more time in researching about it.
The idea is to lift your concept of Film criticism beyond the ‘Like’ button or a facebook status with words such as ‘disappointed’, and 5th grade teacher-like comments (can do better and other shit).After years of saadhana that involved sitting still in front of my laptop I have packaged the following exercise and i hope you gain from it. A simple 10 min per movie and post movie schedule will do.

PRE READ:

1) Get to know about the Film maker: If there is anything which is worth ‘hail’ing post mogambo, it is WIKIPEDIA. It has almost everything you need to know for starters.USE IT and read up about the director. Reading about the director and his filmography is a ‘must’ must. That will tell you why Anurag Kashyap makes Gang of wasseypur and why Dibakar makes Oye lucky!. Read about their filmography, what camps they belong to, how good their bowel movement is, what they have to say about Dengue and other stuff. Net net, know your director. Now, if that just acts as an appetizer and you are hungry for more, bite some bits on the Production house, who is the producer and wait.. thats it, beginner’s course, remember.

2) Do some research on the Setting: Ok, you did not get it right away. In other words its called ‘building the context’. You must have seen the trailer of this movie or read a bit on it. For eg, if you are going to watch Jab tak he Jaan, read something on Leh and its geography. Its like saying, if you are going to watch a Batman Flick, do make a point to read up on Gotham( if you wondering where is gotham. F*&k you and a middle fingure too.

POST READS:

3) Find out about the Inspirations: ooohhh, now it gets a little demanding. All of us know, our directors are a highly ‘inspired’ lot. So to start this exercise, it makes sense to read up 2-3 independent reviews say from CNN IBN, NDTV and tehelka. These reviews generally show us various references and inspirations that might have affected the movie making. And you might have your own ideas, smartboey. So do some reading up on it. it could be about some symbolism in the film, or the formulaic story/narration or the characters that seem like familiar. And that holds true for most films, as they say that even a film like Gangs of wasseypur is heavily influenced by Tarantino movies.

Betaji if you do itna(hands 6 cms apart), tumhe milega itna(hands outstretched).
But next time if you come out of the movie and say ‘yaar majja nahi aaya’, you might as well drive home as quickly as possible, call you parents and tell ‘ you love them’ as quickly as possible, then go to kitchen as quickly as possible and gulp down a knife as quickly as possible.

And Lastly popcorn and friends are all good, but respect the filmmaker and try not to have too many distractions during the movie, read phone calls, susu, munchies and so on. Happy Viewing.

Ankur: The Seedling of Good Cinema

There is a god for one who believe and there is a holy land for one is ready to explore. Movie lovers are not devoid of their God as well and my Shradhha in the movie god is multiplied every time I watch a movie like Ankur. To show us the light of good cinema, s/he sends those lovely movie angels that we come to know as Directors. Shyam Benegal is one such angel and Ankur is his gift to us. Released in 1974, along with Benegal it is also the debut of the lead actors Anant nag and Shabana Azmi.

The movie is set in and around Hyderabad. Not a coincidence that Benegal is from Hyderabad as well. Surya, played by Anant Nag belongs to a Zamindar family – has a typical Authoritarian father and several acres of farmland in the ancestral village. But like most Indian families, his family too has an unspoken secret- Surya’s father has a mistress in the village and she has been given a part of land for sustenance, basically to keep her mouth SHUT. And even though Surya’s mother has learned to live with this uncomfortable truth, Surya did not.

Post completion of high school education his father immediately initiates surya into ‘real life’ by marrying him off to an underage Girl, Saru. And after this, he is sent off to take care of their farmland all alone. There he is welcomed by a Low caste couple, Lakshmi played by shabana Azmi and Deaf and dumb Keshtiya who is impotent. More characters like Sheikh Chand, the glib talking overseer of his property, the village pundit and a few others add life to the setting. Benegal has shown dexterity with characters and camera work to bring out subtle peculiarities of rural life that can be easily overlooked. Once in the village, surya sets off to get things right but with an ‘I don’t belong here’ attitude and is apathetic towards the advances made by several villagers to gain his favors.

Initially indifferent, Surya starts lusting Lakshmi given his sexual frustration and boredom from rural life. Special Mention: The camera work has been done by the young Govind Nihalani. Reminiscent of European cinema all the indoor shots carry a lot of emotional weight as they hold on a bit longer and the wonderful actors yield in by letting it capture their intentions in entirety. The camera does a brilliant job in switching between Surya’s voyeuristic gaze and an objective narrator. Meanwhile, Keshtiya goes missing and this gives wings to Surya's fantasies.

Benegal desists from telling us the reason/motivation behind Lakshmi getting drawn towards Surya. Instead he has dropped a lot of hints and It is for us to figure out if that is because she is desperate to bear a child or it’s her unsatiated sexual need or a hope for a better life (or plain boredom). Apart from this, two brilliant episodes make a sharp commentary on the issues of sexuality and patriarchy. One is the Trial of Rajamma-I cannot think of a better sequence to capture Benevolent and violent versions of patriarchy.And second is the sequence in which a drunken man bets his wife in a game of teen patti on diwali night, because to withdraw from the game is against his masculinity. I can go on about what happens to the pregnant Lakshmi after Saru(Surya's underage Wife) arrives after Gauna and how does Surya cope up with the new reality but that will all be lost in the meaning making process.

Conditioned on years of bollywood Masala most of these films are not readily palatable, for most of us. But with some openness, little patience and very little deliberation you can initiate yourself to the realism of this cinema- and you will enjoy every bit of it. This film moves from one chapter to another neatly and effortlessly. You will enjoy being in the intimate space of Lakshmi enjoying the supple and graceful body of then Shahbana Azmi and the confused space of Surya which is somewhere between fantasy and guilt.

Watch it for its brilliant camerawork and framing of village life, the work of Govind nihlani. The director also understands and tells us that the issues of poverty, caste, gender roles, religion, urban-rural divide can’t be talked and analysed in separation as they are so tightly convoluted and multi layered. These are all forms of subversions used by people who can wield it as they see suitable. But i do not think this is a tragic movie. Finally beyond all our roles, all of us are completely responsible for our mistakes and nobody can escape from its stigma. Even Lakshmi who seemingly lost everything in the movie, by the end of it gains an Ankur in her womb, the reformed husband comes back to her and without questioning, and most impotently the village is not with the powerful and wealthy Chote Raja but with her.

Time for EMI rating-
E- 7/10
M- 8/10
I- 7/10
Tota Score- 7.5/10

On a trip called Shyam Benegal

4 days back i had the biggest dilemma of my life- To buy or not to buy. And the object of desire was the 5 in 1 DVD set of films by Shyam Benegal. But that was not the problem. The problem was that it was last day of the month and i had to choose over the DVDs or full meals till the 5th of next month(that is when i get my salary).
So the Devil Priyank and the angel Priyank had an epic war lasting an even more epic half an hour before i simply clicked on 'Modes of payment".
What happened for next 5 days is another thing. But now as i hold the just delivered DVD set i think i can closely feel what my father would have felt holding me the first time- Elation, happiness, anxiety of things to come and every other good feeling you can come up with right now.

A little background about Shyam benegal - he is the maker of Manthan, Welcome to sajjapur, Ankur and several others. He has been contributing to indian cinema in a lot of roles- as an Academician, Chairmen of Film associations and a prominent Director. He has worked extensively with actors like Naseeruddin Shah, Om puri, Smita patil and other exponents of parallel cinema movement.

All these Single-word-title Films promised me one thing, it is not going to be easy. To finish them back to back this week- 5 days 5 films. I already have a backlog of Mahabharat(that is for another time). Compared to the commercial masala films we are more accustomed to, these films barely use melodrama and to watch through these films requires a lot of deliberation and gumption for a newbie like me- i am trying hard to keep my mind open and lets get ready for the trip called Shyam Benegal.

Wait, what about my daily duty calls to girlfriend!!

EMI Approach to cinema: Blog Manifesto

Based on a simple belief that cinema has to be entertaining 'at the least', has the responsibility to expand our horizon and achieves its purpose if it moves it audience, the attempt is to make this Blog a source of all good things about Hindi Cinema . Now there are several forums/blogs/websites out there that talk about the same thing, you will say. In fact, this has borne out of the frustration that most times the reviews do not improve my context of the movie mostly on the grounds of not revealing the plot(but they actually end up doing it ).

With this serious thought and superdeep insight which could only come out of my swollen frontal lobe, I have come out with a ground breaking analytical framework to rate films, and I have a very clever name for it. Its called

E..M.....wait....gasp....I that simply means Entertaining, Meaningful, Inspirational.

Most of the movies are seen only to get entertained, and there is nothing wrong about it- to be able to laugh or get thrilled for those 2 hrs. To me, that is just poor ROI if your aim is only to escape to a different world. But if it reveals to you a grain of truth from our total collective experience however insignificant, you still gain. For eg most war movies are not just brilliantly choreographed action sequences with great landscapes but also reveal the human conditions based on real history.

Only when it is truly inspirational( like Munnabhai movies) and not just a mere titillating or intellectually intriguing, is when you squeeze the real juice from the medium. Finally, if i can make you not watch a 'Green lantern' (though to trained eyes, even a Green lantern can be deviously inspirational) and instead watch 'The red cliff', that would be it. So next time you are done watching a movie, ask yourself 3 questions:

Was it entertaining?
Did it reveal a piece of truth or improved my understanding of the world around?
Did it move me and questioned by present beliefs?

and than go ahead with your Facebook announcement :).

But I am no authority on World history or the techniques of movie making. I am just as much an explorer of good cinema as you are and will love your contributions. If you are wondering how, this is how:
a. A trivia related to making of the film or the film makers themselves
b. Your insights on techniques used in the movie
c. Any piece that improves the movie experience ( but without revealing as much about the plot).
d. Suggest movies for viewing and submit your movie reviews- but it can not be just a plain review. It has to be reviewed from the lens of EMI.

you can either comment here or mail me at priyank.loonker@gmail.com