A revolting experience

Film: Satyagraha

Director: Prakash Jha

Satyagraha, Prakash Jha's recent endeavour to take up a socially relevant topic and make a film about it, raises the same question as his previous films Chakryavyuh and Aarakshan did. Why? An overburdening series of topical events woven haphazardly into a dramatic narrative, Satyagraha too trivializes a rather deep issue of revolution.

The charges against the film are similar to his previous films. Watering down the intensity for the masses, the film further dilutes its contexts with unnecessary item numbers and romantic scenarios. Set in a town called Ambikapur, somewhere in Central India, the film addresses the rampant corruption that exists in the system and how the people's representatives are detached from the common man himself.

Jha uses his technique of archetypal characters, each of whom stand for a section of society and takes the story forward. Amitabh Bachchan plays Dwarka Anand, an idealist, fondly referred to as Daduji. Ajay Devgan is Manav Raghavendra, an opportunist and the face of modern India. Kareena Kapoor plays Yasmin Ahmed, a tough spirited TV journalist and Arjun Rampal plays Arjun, a youth icon committed to becoming a leader. Manoj Bajpai, who plays Home Minister Balram Singh (the nemesis), is a personification of all the corrupt practices in politics.

After a half-decent build-up in the first half of the film, the film ends up being a victim of some rogue screenwriting. The satyagraha itself, falls on the backdrop of a series of political moves which turns this film into yet another Rajneeti without the obvious parallels to Mahabharat or The Godfather.

The multi-starrer film has some unintentional moments of irony. Amitabh's opening scene in the film sees him curse the officers of 'Alliance Power' a private company that provides electricity. And Ajay Devgan, who in Yuva fought the misgivings of the system by entering it, comes to that very conclusion at the end of this film, after all is lost.

With a loose narrative which doesn't engage you, the film fails on multiple levels. It fails to reflect the gravity of the situation; it fails to put forth the commandments of the philosophy of satyagraha (aside from a statue of Mahatma Gandhi in the town's main circle and a fast-unto-death plot point) and it fails to create the atmosphere of urgency, by lingering on the unimportant scenes longer. Let alone the story, the setting of the film lacks cinematic singularity, which we more recently saw in Dibakar Bannerji's Shanghai.

The film has to be discarded primarily for its immature stance and secondly for it being titled Satyagraha. If someone wishes to watch this film to learn about the spirit of non-violent revolution, they'd gain more knowledge by simply looking up the word on Wikipedia. If films could change society instantly, this film would take us one step closer to being naive.

Rating: 1.5 out of 5

Published in DNA (Pune) on  August 31, 2013

Dropout At Wadala

After the half-decent Shootout At Lokhandwala, its sequel, based on S Hussain Zaidi's book Dongri To Dubai, is far from tastefully dramatising the reality of the events that transpired at the time. Sanjay Gupta's Shootout At Wadala is nothing but a voyeuristic, sensationalised account and a childish re-telling of an interesting chapter in modern history.

The film opens with Manya Surve (John Abraham), with multiple bullet wounds at the back of a police van, who begins re-living and narrating events that led to this day, to inspector Afaaque Baagban (Anil Kapoor). This dull narrative pattern where the film oscillates between the past and present, with the duo sitting in the van, is awfully overdone and sours the experience. That apart, the plot revolves around the rise and fall of Bombay's 'Hindu gang' led by the infamous Manya Surve.

With corny dialogues like 'Police ki goli mein itna loha hota hai, ki ek baar thok diya, toh zindagi bhar khoon mein iron ki kami nahi hogi' and a couple of instances where Dilawar Ibrahim (Sonu Sood) and Munir Sheikh (Tusshar Kapoor) explain what a 'saccha muslamaan' must do, the film is a crude, verbose work that leads nowhere.

The screenplay is too loose and some scenes run a minute or two even after the point is made. Some scenes between Manya and his beau (Kangna Ranaut) could have easily been avoided to reduce the duration of this awfully long film. The three item numbers too, simply add to screen time and have no value addition to the story. Bubbly Badmaash, especially, comes and goes between two really pivotal sequences in the film and completely kills the mood.

The item numbers, however, explain what this film is all about. It's all titillation and no substance. Manoj Bajpai's genuine performance as Sabir Ibrahim goes in vain as the rest of the cast, and the screenplay, fail to hold up. John Abraham, letting his body do the work for him yet again, looks like a bad imitation of Sanjay Dutt from Vaastav. Kangna Ranaut is like the last minute replacement at a school play, who barely has the lines by-heart. Sonu Sood is decent and Tusshar Kapoor tries too hard but is only half as good as he was in Shootout At Lokhandwala.

The emotion of the film is the only thing that is from 30 years ago. The liberties taken in recreation of the time period are insincere and inconsistent. And between all the loud dialogues and flashy dance numbers, you are left searching for a film that you had set out to watch.

Rating - 1.5 out of 5

Published in DNA (Pune) on May 4, 2013

Not That Special

We are a country of a billion people and considering each person has at least one interesting story to tell, we live among a billion untold stories. Our films are not known to look for inspiration from the real world as our film culture has born out of selling a distant romantic dream and the wishful thinking that distances us from our reality. Therefore, when a film like

Special 26, based on true events from within us is made, the excitement is obvious. Rare and fascinating alright, the film is not a well packaged product and although brilliant in sparks it never lights a fire.

A group of four individuals, who pretend to be from the CBI, conduct raids all over the country and loot the politicians and businessmen off their ill gotten money. And since it is black money, the victims aren't willing to complain. However, when the real CBI hears of this, the enquiry begins -- just in time for the biggest con that the fake CBI are about to pull. In short, the plot has immense potential and the story just cannot be a dull affair, which it isn't.

However, the screenplay is not consistent and fails to raise the story to the magnitude that it deserves. Ajay (Akshay Kumar) having a romance going on the side is an unnecessary wastage of screen time; the absence of which would have made no difference; the absence of which was the main reason why A Wednesday is so crisp and perfect. The plot unfolds in a very point by point manner and brings nothing new into the telling of this story.

The climax of the film is derivative and although based on a true story, the haphazard manner in which it is narrated, dents the overall impact of the film.

Akshay Kumar is himself, as usual, but the character he plays, Ajay, required that typical performance which only Akshay Kumar can deliver. Anupam Kher, collaborating once again with Neeraj Pandey delivers a great performance and similarly, Jimmy Shergill, who too continues his partnership with the A Wednesday director, does a great job in his supporting role alongside Divya Dutta. Manoj Bajpai continues to impress in what is his second coming into the film industry with Gangs of Wasseypur. Chittagong and Chakravyuh; Kajal Aggarwal, in her lifelong role as the eye candy in Singham and now this film, is an unnecessary recruit.

Special 26 is what can be called a TV movie and the treatment that the content has got, makes it look like a decent three-part TV series. The screenplay is the weakest link in the film and if it was written any differently, maybe it would have not been such a letdown. However, as they say, 'ifs' and 'buts' only make good arguments, they don't make good films.

Rating - 2.5 out of 5

Published in DNA After Hrs (Pune) on February 9, 2013

Naxalism for Dummies

Prakash Jha returns with yet another political thriller, but this time, the product lacks steam. Chakravyuh, based on the naxalite activities in central India is a dilute potion which offers no deep perspective from any vantage point on an issue of large concern in today’s scenario.

The exterior composition of the plot loosely resembles James Cameron’s Avatar, save for the high end 3D graphics and the blue creatures, and ends in a tragedy. Adil Khan (Arjun Rampal) is a police officer who is posted in Nandighat in order to put an end to the armed rebellion that is preventing the Government’s steel project led by a huge business corporation. Nandighat is the proverbial Pandora in Jha’s film and the naxals are the Na’vis. In order to gain access to their plans, Adil plants his close friend, Kabir (Abhay Deol), among the naxals. However, as one can guess, once Kabir gets into the “chakravyuh”, he sees the other side of story – the injustice, oppression and exploitation that the tribals have gone through. He has a change of heart and joins the movement extensively. This is conclusive proof to state that the plot structure has Avatar written all over it.

The film explores the themes of political lobbying, corporate bullying, henpecked police force, oppression of the weak and the poor, naxalism, Salva Judum’s terror, armed rebellion and a lot more. But in an attempt to incorporate all of this, the script fails to significantly establish any of the above. What we get to see is a fleeting glimpse of all of this and are expected to take one-off incidents as the general truth.

The screenplay is unimaginative and in-your-face. After a point, one gets fed up of the deliberate spoon feeding of ideologies and moral side-taking. At several points, one feels as if the scenes are loosely tied together and have abrupt ends. After Gangaajal, Apaharan and Rajneeti, we are used to a certain style of cinema from Prakash Jha where he delves into an issue of socio-political significance and brings the drama on screen radically simplifying it for the masses. Chakravyuh, however, is a step too far in dumbing down a particular issue. The only people who would find this film intriguing are those who have never read a newspaper in the past few years and those who have absolutely no idea about Naxalism and Naxalite activities in the country.

In terms of the artistes’ performances, the film is a mélange of good actors being cast in insignificant roles and bad actors trying hard to make you hate them even more. Abhay Deol and forests don’t go really well together, however, he does quite a convincing job. Om Puri, like Naseeruddin Shah in Rajneeti, appears for a couple of scenes at the start and you begin to fear that was it for him; but he returns in the final third for a couple of important sequences. Arjun Rampal’s Adil Khan keeps you guessing what the prevalent emotion is; for, his face is perpetually angry, or constipated. Esha Gupta (Adil’s wife) cannot act if her life depended on it and her tight little flattering Police uniform resembles that of a stripper more than a real cop. Anjali Patil – who plays Juhi is the only positive talking point of the film. In her role as the secondary chief of the movement, she shows great potential as an actor in an otherwise two dimensional role.

Chakravyuh has all the elements of a Prakash Jha film, except intrigue. An unnecessary item number with Sameera Reddy, a tribal dance number with imprecise costumes and poorly crafted action sequences – this film is a letdown of sorts. With archetypal characters representing various institutions, Chakravyuh is merely a Guide for Dummies. Watch it if you don’t mind an inaccurate beginners’ lesson in Naxalism.

Rating: 1 out of 5

Published in DNA After Hrs (Pune) on October 27, 2012

Inquilaab Zindabaad!

There is a plethora of stories related to India's freedom struggle, so is the number of heroes that this struggle has given rise to. But our history books focused on a handful of those stories and our film industry too has, until recently, stuck to the history books. However, Debabrata Pain's Chittagong is a refreshing change in the genre of patriotic films and to some extent, sets high standards for filmmaking in the future.

Based on a true story, Chittagong is a first-hand account of teenage rebel Jhunku Roy who was a part of the Chittagong uprising in the 1930s. Jhunku belongs to a wealthy family and has prospects of studying abroad, but is simultaneously involved with a group of youngsters led by Master Da (Manoj Bajpai). His dilemma is resolved when one of the boys is killed by an inhumane British officer. However, he finds it hard to blend into the rigorous lifestyle, but later fits in. But the revolt begins to fall apart, as most higher-ups are either captured or killed. Jhunku continues the struggle years later, after his release from prison, and leads a peasant revolt by himself.

What makes the film stand out from other accounts of glory is the way the content is handled. While not revering the martyrs and revolutionaries for what they mean in today's world, the film delves into their lives at that time and shows the characters for what they are as people. Every single character that is important to the narrative is well-crafted and none of them appear like two-dimensional cutouts. The art direction on a tight budget is commendable, as making a period drama requires tremendous caution. To add to visual authenticity, the cinematography (Eric Zimmerman) and visual tones transport you back to the 1930s and its simplicity holds your attention.

With an ensemble cast that includes the likes of Manoj Bajpai, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Jaideep Ahlawat among others, the performances are measured and accurate in terms of intensity. Delzad Hiwale, who plays the young Jhunku, does a tremendous job acting along side the industry's finest artists. The supporting cast, being handpicked, has also raised the overall standards of this film.

The background score is a little repetitive in the larger picture, but the soundtrack by Shankar-Ehasaan-Loy and Johnny Wilson, just like the film, travel from the maker's heart straight into the audience's heart. The reason Chittagong rises above good films and becomes something better, is Debabrata Pain's direction. The focus and vision he must have had while making this film is evident in every single scene of this film.

But as they say, filmmakers only make good films. A great film is what the audience makes of it. And in a week where nearly a dozen films have released, Chittagong deserves to stand taller than most others.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Published in DNA After Hrs (Pune) on October 13, 2012