Friday, September 05, 2008
3 This Week
A Wednesday
Anybody who travels by public transport feels a slight twinge of fear—who knows which innocuous-looking person will place a bomb in a train or bus; which ordinary parcel will turn out to be a killer.
Neeraj Pandey’s first film A Wednesday, speaks on behalf of the common citizen--and in his film, the worm turns, and how. It is for all its brisk realism a wish-fulfillment fantasy, but it makes the viewer feel good and empowered for a short while.
The other admirable aspect of the film is that it gives the much-reviled police force its due. The men (and women, though none seen here) take quick decisions, risk their lives and make the city safer for all of us. Pandey shows them at work at their most stressed and most efficient on a case that will never become public and win them any attention or awards.
Police commissioner Prakash Rathod’s (Anupam Kher) routine day with whining superstar complaining of extortion, is jangled with a phone call that claims bombs have been placed at various places in the city, including a police station across the street, and will be activated unless four terrorists are released.
The nameless caller (Naseeruddin Shah), grey-haired, slightly bent, dressed in bush-shirt and glasses, does not look like terrorist material, but is an expert on explosives and computers. Rathod and his team swing into action—his two top cops Jai Singh (Aamir Bashir) and the hot-headed Arif (Jimmy Shergill) are put on the job, along with dozens of faceless men, tracing calls, slogging over computers and taking out search teams.
The man keeps track of what is going on from his perch atop an under-construction building and the camera of news reporter Naina Roy (Deepal Shaw), whom he keeps tipping off and whose orders she reluctantly follows in the journalistic quest for scoops. (Strange that no other news channel or paper bothers to follow the story that is beaming live).
The film makes very few compromises for the box-office—no songs, no item numbers, no romance, just a cursory look at Jai Singh’s wife and kid, perhaps to establish that cops are normal guys in abnormal situations, and what they stand to lose every day when criminals hold the city to ransom.
The caller is smart, keeps the cops on their toes (like making one climb to 12 floors of a building only to find a ‘o Not disturb’ sign), and the only one who can trace him is a cicky young hacker, who comes to admire his adversary’s expertise. It would spoil the film to reveal what happens next, but it is feel good in a most unexpected way.
The film belongs its actors, who perform in a unfussy low-key style, which is always more difficult to handle. Anupam Kher, dressed in everyday clothes, with no props or accoutrements to hold on to, gives such an utterly natural performance that you can believe this is what a police commissioner must be like. Naseeruddin Shah, the protagonist and antagonist in the film, is as perfect as he can be expected to be.
One doesn’t know how long it took first-time writer-director Neeraj Pandey to get backers for his brave film, but one can be thankful that star-obsessed Bollywood is also making space for films like this.
Hijack
It is called Hijack, the promos suggest the takeover of a plane by terrorists, can there be any surprises in such a film? Of course, the hero will jump in and foil the plans of the baddies—that’s what he is there for.
The only reason a person could be tempted watch this film would be great action, thrilling subplots, and maybe strong emotional, or patriotic connect. Kunal Shivdasani’s debut film fails on these counts—if you have caught the promos, you have pretty much seen what there is to see, even if you haven’t see Yeh Dil Ashiqana, Zameen, Airport, Die Hard 2, Flight Plan, Con Air, Executive Decision, United 93 and many more Hollywood films based on hijack situations.
Vikram Madaan (Shiney Ahuja) is the maintenance chief at Chandigarh airport, a widower (you see a quick wooing of girl, song, marriage and her death) with a traumatic past. His daughter Priya (Ishita Chauhan), is on the Delhi-Amritsar flight, that is hijacked by a group of terrorists, and forced to land in Chandigarh for refueling to Dubai. They want the release of their team mate Rasheed Omar (KK Raina), in return for releasing hostages.
Before the flight takes off, there is a quick look at some of the passengers, marked for death—a honeymooning couple (this from the real life Khandahar hijack), an irritating, bickering Parsi couple and a bunch of teens sneaking off on a holiday (to Amritsar!)—curiously unaffected by a bomb blast that has just taken place in the disco where they were partying the night before, with the mandatory, tiredly shot item number.
What is more disturbing, however, is seeing the power bestowed on armed men, who kill at random, and helpless people grovelling before them. The terrorists are Allah-o-Akbar shouting caricatures, and the home minister and his team made to look like complete idiots. (There is a Miss Simone in a suit too, borrowed from Capitol Hill, no doubt).
As a bunch of inept functionaries go “Yessir” Vikram sneaks aboard the plane, and with the help of an air hostess Saira, (Esha Deol) takes on the terrorists.
It’s a paint-by-numbers film with not a single moment of suspense, high tension or that heart-in-mouth feeling that is a hallmark of a good thriller, no matter how formulaic it may be.
If anything, you come out feeling sorry for Shiney Ahuja, an actor with looks and talent to make it to the A list, he just needs to pick better films.
Tahaan
If you have to see Kashmir on film, it has to be through Santosh Sivan’s camera. He has shot Tahaan in snow-covered Kashmir, in out of the way villages, and made it look paradise-pretty but not touristy.
He takes up all the issues that plague the beautiful land today, militancy, missing men, poverty, military presence, the Pandits being driven out, the devious ways in which young kids are being inducted into terrorism, but in such a casual style that anyone who doesn’t know what is happening in Kashmir would be left a bit puzzled.
Inspired by Iranian films, so many of which, have had cute kids running up and down picturesque villages, Tahaan may be déjà vu for the world cinema follower; others would find it bit tedious to watch the slow-paced, lengthy film, in which there is very little drama or action, unless they were constantly on the lookout for subtext (for instance, the mother’s muteness can be seen as the helplessness of the Kashmiri woman; there is scene of kids playing with guns and falling ‘dead’). Not many of today’s multiplex viewers would be willing to make the effort.
Tahaan (Purav Bhandare) is an eight-year-old boy, whose father has been missing. After the death of his grandfather (Victor Banerjee), Tahaan’s pet donkey Birbal is sold to the moneylender (Rahul Khanna, pointless role) to pay old debts and is in turn sold to a Subhan (Anupam Kher), a merchant who transports goods from one village to another.
The boy is so desperate to get is donkey back, that he first attaches himself to Subhan and his assistant (Rahul Bose--wasted) to stay with the animal, and is then meets a militant, who promises to retrieve Birbal if he carries a package, which contains a grenade.
The end is too rosy without providing the catharsis that was needed in a film like this. It’s as if at the last minute Sivan decided to draw back and preserve Tahaan’s innocence, but the viewer can’t but feel cheated. Think of the fearless bleakness of films like Turtles Can Fly, set in war torn Kurdistan, and Sivan’s film seems lacking in genuine poignancy, despite all its visual lyricism.
Sivan is comfortable with children, as his earlier films like Halo and Malli has proved; this one, made with the right intention is let down by the namby-pamby script that is afraid to look its subject matter in the eye.
Purav Bhandare is adorable, Sarika and Anupam Kher do well in their small parts--there is a lot to like in the film, but an equal lot to dislike too.
Anybody who travels by public transport feels a slight twinge of fear—who knows which innocuous-looking person will place a bomb in a train or bus; which ordinary parcel will turn out to be a killer.
Neeraj Pandey’s first film A Wednesday, speaks on behalf of the common citizen--and in his film, the worm turns, and how. It is for all its brisk realism a wish-fulfillment fantasy, but it makes the viewer feel good and empowered for a short while.
The other admirable aspect of the film is that it gives the much-reviled police force its due. The men (and women, though none seen here) take quick decisions, risk their lives and make the city safer for all of us. Pandey shows them at work at their most stressed and most efficient on a case that will never become public and win them any attention or awards.
Police commissioner Prakash Rathod’s (Anupam Kher) routine day with whining superstar complaining of extortion, is jangled with a phone call that claims bombs have been placed at various places in the city, including a police station across the street, and will be activated unless four terrorists are released.
The nameless caller (Naseeruddin Shah), grey-haired, slightly bent, dressed in bush-shirt and glasses, does not look like terrorist material, but is an expert on explosives and computers. Rathod and his team swing into action—his two top cops Jai Singh (Aamir Bashir) and the hot-headed Arif (Jimmy Shergill) are put on the job, along with dozens of faceless men, tracing calls, slogging over computers and taking out search teams.
The man keeps track of what is going on from his perch atop an under-construction building and the camera of news reporter Naina Roy (Deepal Shaw), whom he keeps tipping off and whose orders she reluctantly follows in the journalistic quest for scoops. (Strange that no other news channel or paper bothers to follow the story that is beaming live).
The film makes very few compromises for the box-office—no songs, no item numbers, no romance, just a cursory look at Jai Singh’s wife and kid, perhaps to establish that cops are normal guys in abnormal situations, and what they stand to lose every day when criminals hold the city to ransom.
The caller is smart, keeps the cops on their toes (like making one climb to 12 floors of a building only to find a ‘o Not disturb’ sign), and the only one who can trace him is a cicky young hacker, who comes to admire his adversary’s expertise. It would spoil the film to reveal what happens next, but it is feel good in a most unexpected way.
The film belongs its actors, who perform in a unfussy low-key style, which is always more difficult to handle. Anupam Kher, dressed in everyday clothes, with no props or accoutrements to hold on to, gives such an utterly natural performance that you can believe this is what a police commissioner must be like. Naseeruddin Shah, the protagonist and antagonist in the film, is as perfect as he can be expected to be.
One doesn’t know how long it took first-time writer-director Neeraj Pandey to get backers for his brave film, but one can be thankful that star-obsessed Bollywood is also making space for films like this.
Hijack
It is called Hijack, the promos suggest the takeover of a plane by terrorists, can there be any surprises in such a film? Of course, the hero will jump in and foil the plans of the baddies—that’s what he is there for.
The only reason a person could be tempted watch this film would be great action, thrilling subplots, and maybe strong emotional, or patriotic connect. Kunal Shivdasani’s debut film fails on these counts—if you have caught the promos, you have pretty much seen what there is to see, even if you haven’t see Yeh Dil Ashiqana, Zameen, Airport, Die Hard 2, Flight Plan, Con Air, Executive Decision, United 93 and many more Hollywood films based on hijack situations.
Vikram Madaan (Shiney Ahuja) is the maintenance chief at Chandigarh airport, a widower (you see a quick wooing of girl, song, marriage and her death) with a traumatic past. His daughter Priya (Ishita Chauhan), is on the Delhi-Amritsar flight, that is hijacked by a group of terrorists, and forced to land in Chandigarh for refueling to Dubai. They want the release of their team mate Rasheed Omar (KK Raina), in return for releasing hostages.
Before the flight takes off, there is a quick look at some of the passengers, marked for death—a honeymooning couple (this from the real life Khandahar hijack), an irritating, bickering Parsi couple and a bunch of teens sneaking off on a holiday (to Amritsar!)—curiously unaffected by a bomb blast that has just taken place in the disco where they were partying the night before, with the mandatory, tiredly shot item number.
What is more disturbing, however, is seeing the power bestowed on armed men, who kill at random, and helpless people grovelling before them. The terrorists are Allah-o-Akbar shouting caricatures, and the home minister and his team made to look like complete idiots. (There is a Miss Simone in a suit too, borrowed from Capitol Hill, no doubt).
As a bunch of inept functionaries go “Yessir” Vikram sneaks aboard the plane, and with the help of an air hostess Saira, (Esha Deol) takes on the terrorists.
It’s a paint-by-numbers film with not a single moment of suspense, high tension or that heart-in-mouth feeling that is a hallmark of a good thriller, no matter how formulaic it may be.
If anything, you come out feeling sorry for Shiney Ahuja, an actor with looks and talent to make it to the A list, he just needs to pick better films.
Tahaan
If you have to see Kashmir on film, it has to be through Santosh Sivan’s camera. He has shot Tahaan in snow-covered Kashmir, in out of the way villages, and made it look paradise-pretty but not touristy.
He takes up all the issues that plague the beautiful land today, militancy, missing men, poverty, military presence, the Pandits being driven out, the devious ways in which young kids are being inducted into terrorism, but in such a casual style that anyone who doesn’t know what is happening in Kashmir would be left a bit puzzled.
Inspired by Iranian films, so many of which, have had cute kids running up and down picturesque villages, Tahaan may be déjà vu for the world cinema follower; others would find it bit tedious to watch the slow-paced, lengthy film, in which there is very little drama or action, unless they were constantly on the lookout for subtext (for instance, the mother’s muteness can be seen as the helplessness of the Kashmiri woman; there is scene of kids playing with guns and falling ‘dead’). Not many of today’s multiplex viewers would be willing to make the effort.
Tahaan (Purav Bhandare) is an eight-year-old boy, whose father has been missing. After the death of his grandfather (Victor Banerjee), Tahaan’s pet donkey Birbal is sold to the moneylender (Rahul Khanna, pointless role) to pay old debts and is in turn sold to a Subhan (Anupam Kher), a merchant who transports goods from one village to another.
The boy is so desperate to get is donkey back, that he first attaches himself to Subhan and his assistant (Rahul Bose--wasted) to stay with the animal, and is then meets a militant, who promises to retrieve Birbal if he carries a package, which contains a grenade.
The end is too rosy without providing the catharsis that was needed in a film like this. It’s as if at the last minute Sivan decided to draw back and preserve Tahaan’s innocence, but the viewer can’t but feel cheated. Think of the fearless bleakness of films like Turtles Can Fly, set in war torn Kurdistan, and Sivan’s film seems lacking in genuine poignancy, despite all its visual lyricism.
Sivan is comfortable with children, as his earlier films like Halo and Malli has proved; this one, made with the right intention is let down by the namby-pamby script that is afraid to look its subject matter in the eye.
Purav Bhandare is adorable, Sarika and Anupam Kher do well in their small parts--there is a lot to like in the film, but an equal lot to dislike too.
Labels: Cinemaah
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