Sarfarosh

     Walking on the streets of Delhi University, my friend said, ‘they say some scenes of Sarfarosh were shot somewhere around here’. I looked around and tried to mark the architecture. And said, ‘Maybe…but somehow it doesn’t seem so.’

It did not. I have seen Sarfarosh for more than 20-22 times. The legendary Sarfarosh watching saga (especially on the channel Star Gold and if at all shown on any other channel) is so old for me that my watching Sarfarosh can be divided into phases.

‘Because I like Aamir Khan’ phase. (9-11 years old)
‘Because I wanted to become a Police’ phase. (11-13 years old)
‘Because there were guns and action in it’ phase. (13-15 years old)
‘Because of the scene where Sonali Bendre finds out that Aamir is an ACP’ phase (16 years old…when I wanted to impress a girl in my class who wanted to marry a police officer).
‘Because then I understood the real story of the film’ phase (18-20)
and
‘Because I have been making short-films now and now I know how truly, amazingly great this movie is and that’s why out of respect I just not watch it but read and admire it’ phase. (The current one-22)

     Sarfarosh is directed by John Mathew Matthan. It is also produced and written by him. 

The film deals with various aspects and especially with the illegal dealing of arms from across the border in India and the genuine efforts of Mumbai police to crack the racket.

Having Aamir Khan and Sonali Bendre in the lead with superb piece of work by Naseeruddin Shah, Goving Namdeo and Mukesh Rishi (whom I was initially scared of, for his negative role in a Salman Khan film, Judwa) this film has become an excellent piece of art.

     This film was made in 1999; it’s a crime thriller and the first highly grossing and critically praised Police film. In the era where Dagangg, Singham, Rowdey Rathore and Policegiri were making space for police uniform attraction, Aamir was doing his second suspense thriller Cop film, Talaash. There is no intention of comparison but Sarfarosh was truly amazing than any of these mentioned above. No special effects, no out of the world action, no stupid dialogues to attract the market and no whimsical villains. Sarfarosh is the product with no adulteration and expressed in the purest form of cinematic language. Even though the filming lacked in having new era facilities, it still stays the best of all…the reason is…

     

It’s highly gripping screenplay and excellently written script. A good dialogue is not that what makes you clap, but the one that makes you silent. This script does not shout to attract attention, it communicates. Every line said in this film has a meaning and a context attached to its screenplay or in the satire of the scene. No scene is written or shot just for the sake of commercialism. However, even after being so strict with the language of cinema and purity of the script, the story and unfolding of events that are designed by the director that itself makes it sellable.

     The characters – there are many characters in the film. But each of them contributes to at least one important aspect in the film. Every character has been given his/her due importance to their existence and has a role in the story. Every person brings a depth and the meaning to the story in a whole.

     Using an actress just for the sake of selling points for the marketing of the film and still utilizing her character at the point where you do not see the story going ahead is a brilliant aspect of this film. The commercial directors today who use heroines to expose their half-boobs and copper toned thighs, should be shown this movie every two weeks until they understand the real meaning of having a female lead.

     The performance of every actor is mind-blowing. The fact that every actor knew that their character has a meaning in the story, they were tend to put in their heart and soul in the role they played. Of course, the director is to be complimented for directing them in such a way that every character stays in mind after the film just the way Aamir Khan stays in our minds. This means even the guy having a very small role, of Inspector Salim’s informer.

     In the sequence where two goons are held for interrogation and one who says that he will confess, is Nawazuddin Siddique. In 1999, Nawaz was interrogated by Aamir in Sarfarosh when he was a junior artist and must have been arranged by a junior artist coordinator. And In 2012, Nawaz was again interrogated by Aamir in Talaash, but this time Nawaz was a youth icon. The young generation loves him. Every classy director (by ‘classy’ I mean my favourites and the one who do understandable authentic communication to the viewers with the films and cinema) wants Nawaz to be a part of their work.

     Sarfarosh is a piece of Art. Very few are aware of the fact that Sarfarosh has the most authentic and the longest title sequence in the history of bollywood cinema. The whole movie proceeds on the visuals that go with the titles. The whole racket of ordering, packing, transporting, distributing and using of arms, is shown in the title sequence. The aesthetic trueness in the portrayal of locations and the behavior & the life of, police men, the top level mafia and the bottom level goons is worth watching and knowing.

Overall, there is no such film as Sarfarosh as it has marked its uniqueness and height.

     I would rate Sarfarosh 9/10; 8.5 points for the film and 0.5 for my biased love for the correct cinematic language.     

Ek Villain - There is one in every story

                                 

        This one was awaited. After a long time I was waiting for a movie to release. Means I was not waiting as desperately as I am waiting for Anurag Kashyap’s, ‘Ugly’ to release but this one seemed different, for one reason, that the trailer was too good. They had, kind of, revealed the suspense in the trailer itself. But what I was amused about is, if they have a typical bollywood suspense thriller plot, and that they have opened the suspense in the trailer, then what was the main content of the film?

‘Ek Villain’ quite well caters the thirst for twists and turns. This one is directed by Mohit Suri, who directed his first movie, Zeher (2005), at the age of 24, now directs his ninth bollywood film nine years later. I respect his consistency in making at least one film every year since his break. Ek Villain stars Siddharth Malhotra (Guru) in the lead, Ritesh Deshmukh (Rakesh Mahadkar) as the villain and there is a ‘thread’ in the story which pulls these two characters in front of each other, which is Shraddha Kapoor (Aisha).

It’s too early to discuss about the plot but I can reveal the things that they have revealed in the promos and songs. Early or late, it’s better not to discuss the plot in detail.

Plot description is that – Rakesh Mahadkar kills Aisha who is the love interest of Guru. Guru works for a Don in Goa, called Ceaser (played by Remo Fernandez). And Guru starts searching the killer. When he gets hold of him, without knowing why the killer killed Aisha, he beats him and tells him before throwing him in front of the hospital that, “I will come and beat you up. Beat you up so bad that you will crave for death. And just when you are about to die, I will save you. Let you recover. And then again come and beat you till you will pray for death and you will have to pray to me, coz I will be holding your last breath.”

Reading this plot, the film seems pretty senseless. It feels as if everything is revealed in the plot itself. But that's the beauty of this film. What we have known is just the 30% of what they have in the film.

Screenplay - The film has a very well managed non-linear screenplay. The story begins with the murder of Aisha. And trust me it takes a lot of guts to reveal the killer in first 15 minutes. So I am highly impressed with the screenplay.

It’s not a great film overall to store it as a classic feature, but few things in the movie are truly great, of which one is, as mentioned above, the screenplay.

Guru’s entry – OMG!! I am a guy and I am straight. However, I envy Siddharth Malhotra for the look that has been given to him by the makers. He has been given a spectacular entry as a villain.

Siddharth’s acting - The people who spread the rumors; that Karan Johar and Siddharth were dating until Siddharth got his break in Student of the year, should watch this film and see that the actor is deserving of what he has got. He has managed to look ultra-extremely superb (I don't even know that if it is right to use these 3 adjectives together but, I am not exaggerating). He has done a spectacular job playing his role as Guru and has astounded many people and his criticizers. I bet that girls have to sit cross legged after one point of the movie.

Ritesh’s acting – ‘Aise kaise!!’ Ritesh has proved his versatility in this film. He has proved that he is not limited to Sajid Khan movies (btw he has done a fabulous job in all Sajid Khan’s movies as well. Regardless of the movies, Ritesh was always good as gold). He has risen in his stature and level. He has developed himself very well and we can see him putting all his efforts. His shades of performances have a good source of outlet in Ek Villain’s Rakesh Mahadkar.

Music – Its not Rahman, its not Trivedi but the music is good even though its Mithoon and two others. Two or three songs do make some impact.

The Single-shot fight sequence – There is a fight sequence in the film that ends as the song ends which is shot unbelievably outstanding. Seeing the limited technology of Indian cinema if compared to the Hollywood, this shot is a small achievement by the one who designed & executed it. (Probably the action director). It reminded me of the lobby action sequence in the Korean film, ‘Oldboy’ second part of vengeance series by Chan Park Wook.

The small funny scene, which is well designed, is when Guru enters the mental hospital theater to find Chotu, is a feast to watch.

The reason given for Rakesh Mahadkar’s character being the character that it is, is very convincing.

I called Shraddha Kapoor as the thread as she has the role as slim as any thread, in which it is deeply felt that she needs to work a lot on her acting skills. She seems Plastic. However, she looks cute.

There are a few stupid things which unfortunately have the typical stupid bollywood touch. But they are only few. So that is good. At one point Suri has a scene that is inspired by a legendary sequence of the all time cult – Pulp Fiction (1995) where in John Travolta pushes the needle of the syringe in Uma Thurman’s heart to make her alive.

Over all film is up to the mark and a very good use of technical advancement is made to make the film look clean and attractive.

1.5 – Siddharth + 1.5 – Ritesh + 1.5 – for the screenplay + 1.5 – for all things mentioned above + 0.7 – to the directors consistency and trailer of the film.
Hence it is 6.7 out of 10.

Lost In Translation

        I did not know who the director of the movie was when I saw this movie for the first time. I started liking (maybe loving) the film as soon as the film opened with a simple frame and divine composition. As the film proceeded, it kept me involved and made me like it more. Then later, I read the name, Sophia Coppola, and leaned back into my chair and thought – perfect! It is in the genes and she is indeed a genius.

Lost in Translation is a story of two American people of different age and different lives facing the ‘do not know what our future is’ crisis in the backdrop of the Japanese city – Tokyo. Played by Bill Murray (Bob Harris) and Scarlett Johansson (Charlotte) who are the protagonists where Bob is a fading American actor whose marriage life is also on the verge of ending and Charlotte is a newly married wife of a photographer John (Giovanni Ribisi) who has brought her here with him as he has his photography assignment in Tokyo. Later it is revealed that he is giving more attention to a model Kelly (Anna Faris), making Charlotte face the conflict within herself of whom has she married.

Bill was the first choice of the director and she kept persisting him to play the role for almost a year. And Bill Murray as the hero of acting he is has played it efficiently and as it must have been expected by the director. Scarlett Johansson was only 17 when she accepted this role and though her real age doesn’t match the one in the film, says it that all in all she has done a mature job in the film. Both of them won the BAFTA awards for their role in this film.

The swing of the film begins when Charlotte sends a drink to Bob in the restaurant as she empathises with him and connects with his loneliness. This begins a friendship between them which later turns into the dilemma of two, whether it is just the company of the known each other they are enjoying in the unknown city or it is the serious love, making it worth an affair. None of this is literally uttered in the film anywhere so ever, nevertheless, the feeling one can get with the beautiful cinematic expression conceived by Lance Acord (Cinematographer) and Sophia Coppola (Director) is closely similar.

Being the daughter of legendary film-maker, Francis Ford Coppola, Sophia has lived up to the expectations. The pace of the movie is just what it should be like. The Aesthetics followed by the team and the makers is authentic and gripping.

There cannot be suitable title other than, Lost in Translation, for the film. Though this one is a comedy film, many other emotions subtly emoted in the screenplay might have been lost in the decoding by the viewers while watching it. However, film gets the 100 percent marks for filming it right.

A city is a big phenomenon to be shown in 90 minutes. Especially with the convincing lives of two major characters who must be kept in attention all the time. A city has many aspects, historical, economical, cultural and social and every aspect has too many sub-aspects and covering them all in a small duration is next to impossible, however, Coppola has managed to frame all the important and needful ones in the film very soberly and without hurting the Japanese sentiments. The makers have taken a good time to establish the characters and the city.

Comedy here is situational. The lives of the two characters are lost in the cultural shock of the foreign country. Two singular paths of culture crossing each other as bluntly as they possibly do and what we get to see is, Lost in Translation. The way by which Bob and Charlotte’s relationship develops is the reason why you keep smiling and feeling good about the characters after a long cinematic time. The dilemma that follows this is what you see it coming. And all you feel is, both the sides are right and wait for what the makers have thought to end it.

Keeping a small duration, you do not have to wait for long and the end touches you gently and pushes you back into your lives. The superb end written felt to me like, a fellow commuter who became friend in the journey, pulled me closer to her as we were reaching our destination, pressed her to me and pushed me back to say goodbye verbally. No questions asked and no answers needed.

The best part of the movie was the initial scene of the sets of shooting where the director speaks long and expressive lines to Bob, directing him for the shot and the interpreter translates it to only a few words. Bob asks if the director only meant that much, but ultimately not realizing that many and many things get lost in translation, the film continues.

The Return Journey

Writing after a few days is like getting out of the hangover of ‘not writing’. It’s difficult to make the words come to you. You have to fetch them. Well, you might succeed in fetching the words but what about the content? You have to make sure that the content is good and readable, and you should be able to not only fetch the words but also have the right knowledge and sensible opinions of the same.

I am lucky that this time, I was gifted with a ready-made content, given to me by my life and I am lucky that it’s is worth sharing.

Though no one in this world has interest in the personal life of mine, I would still share a few things here. Last four days, I wasn’t in my town – Mumbai.

Being a dreamer I always dreamt of going to Delhi one day, just alone, without parents, meet a few friends, have a great time and come back. I didn’t have any friends back then. However, I do have some friends now. And I did go to Delhi.

What happened in Delhi as a mini-travelogue, that I might write in some other post but this one is especially dedicated to the Return journey.

While going to Delhi, I was excited. Excited coz of two things, one, I was going to meet my friends there and two, coz I was going to cover the journey of 16 hours by train all alone for the first time. I had seen Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Strangers on a Train’ and all I was day dreaming was of meeting a person with whom I will get into talking and I will have a story to tell when I will be back. I had one, not while I was going to Delhi, but while coming back.

My friend came to see me off back to Mumbai at New Delhi Railway Station – Hazrat Nizamuddin. We reached the platform an hour before, as I observed while coming to Delhi, it is 20 minutes before that the train, Mumbai Rajdhani, arrives at the station. So we had to wait for 40 minutes standing. Standing, because all seats on the platform were occupied by families and their luggage. To my surprise I could see a train slipping in beside my platform and IT WAS my train. I couldn’t believe and so did my friend, Gauri. ‘Main soch rahi thi, train naa aye, toh tujhe wapis le jaati.’ (I hoped the train wouldn’t have arrived, so that I would have taken you back with me) she said. We went inside my coach and I jumped on my seat near the window. Later, a not-so-Indian and quite-so-African looking boy entered my compartment and sat in front of me. Unlike the stereotypical image & behaviour of the people whom we call Negros, this guy Smiled and all the typecasting thoughts of him were shunned away in a moment.

Not so later another boy, huge and carrying a similar ‘Wildcraft’ bag like my brother entered our compartment and sat beside the other guy. Now it was three of us, who were travelling by themselves. What could have possibly spoiled the fun was an old couple and their over 40s Son who would take the remaining three seats of our compartment. And yes, there was a man in his 40s asking either one of us to exchange our seat with a seat at the other end of the coach as the group of four was coming to travel. Finally when the fellow-commuters walked in – rather almost fell in with the luggage they could hardly carry, we discovered a delightful thing that they are not oldies. It was a group of girls – who looked confused and annoyed with the person asking us for the seat exchange and seemed that they wanted to get rid of him to smell their freedom and in-dependency for the journey.

On the side seats parallel to our compartment, there was a guy, oddly 26-27 in age, who was starring at our compartment, though the view from his window was better than the one from mine. He did it time-to-time, as all the four girls were sitting on our side of the seats. His Bad, I felt.

It was that guy, with the ‘Wildcraft’ bag and the ‘Cosco’ rackets whose name was Arnab, started the interaction with the girls.
Now Girls, whether in group or not, come with a fortified virtual wall of border that resists the interaction from boys even if guys want to have a genuine word with them. Which, I feel is right up to some extent. They have this set of ‘get the hell out of here’ expressions which they manage to show-off giving the new one every time, which makes them look even cuter. Well, this was not the case with these four girls commuting with us with cuteness and all, but in general, if not cute, they had this set of expressions I mentioned above. So it was Arnab who started entering the fortification with a steady move looking for the space from where the water could spill in.

I was busy talking to the other guy who smiled. He was from Sudan, he was studying in India and he was called Mojahid. He was in India since four years and was graduating this year. We both talked a lot. And for me, my ‘Strangers on a Train’ had already begun and there was no blackmailing here.

Slowly, even I entered the talks with girls and after an hour or something, though Arnab and I were not so welcomed, we were part of the communication. Having food together, talking about the vaguest of the topics from economics and Raghu Ram, the Governor of RBI to the football world cup 14, that is going on, we all, all of us, were keeping ourselves too much reserved. I told them that I am a writer, I guess I mentioned film-making too, but the writing was what I was focused on. Everyone was showing just one card of their pack. And I was honestly, liking that.

Many a times before, I hoped my journeys to be like this. Meeting new people, talking as if you all have met only after a long time and you are not strangers. Showing only one side of your nature and most importantly acting what you are actually not.

Everyone loves to act, some do not act because of the stage fear and over-attention and some do not act as they have different priorities. But everyone is acting. Everyone is wearing masks. This was the first time I was interacting with the commuters I hardly knew before and we were talking for hours. By the time we slept everyone was used to each others’ existence, except the one called Anjali who was silent most and aloof and another one named, Stuti, who was shy, introvert and was talking only because she was sitting in between the four talkative ones – Myself, Arnab, Tamanna and Aditi. I did interact with a complete stranger for an hour, some 10 years before but it was he interacting with a kid that I was. I remember that boy. He was then what I am today.

The best thing about this return journey was – All of us knew about the masks that all of us were wearing. All of us aware of what cards to open. All of us knew very well that ‘we are talking to them because now, we cannot avoid them’. The philosophy of ‘If you cannot avoid it, enjoy it’ was applied by everyone. Mojahid was giving me to watch a few social videos in his cell-phone. In all, everyone was trying to pull-off the time with whatever limited open selves of them could give away.

The 26-27 year old guy who was sitting on opposite seat of the compartment was looking at us time-to-time. We both exchanged the smiles for a few times, because I could feel him resisting himself to look here and cursing himself for not being part of talking to those girls. He pretended as if he paid no heed, and so he was briefly the topic of conversation amongst the girls too. (The poor boy would have been happy to know this. I hope he reads this blog someday and relate.) Finally, in the morning when my eyes opened, the first thing I saw was Aditi, Tamanna and Stuti were taking the birth-seat down and that guy was helping them, holding the bed-sheets and covers with one hand and holding the birth with all will and might with another. Finally, after a long wait he got a chance to be around them. As the day changed, even his fortune did for the morning, as the nicest looking girl in them was sharing the side seat with him.

Another layer of masks were put on, as soon as the train reached its destination. A brief formal goodbye and the faces were straight as iron base. Not a single wrinkle of emotions was seen on anyone’s face while we were walking down the platform of Mumbai. Not a good-bye wave nor a had-a-nice-time smile.

What we had in the 8 seats of the compartment was – the masks that were put to life for limited time, till the journey was ceased.

“To the world full of eyes,

blindfold is the punishment,

but to the punished set of eyes,

blindfold is the glimpse of hope.”

               -something that I felt as I saw the blunt faces of the people who smiled a while ago!