Karnataka   

Masala for the box office

Halla Bol (Hindi)

Cast: Ajay Devgan, Vidya Balan, Pankaj Kapur

Director: Rajkumar Santoshi

Faith is a wonderful companion. It helps Rajkumar Santoshi leap across to safety with Halla Bol, a film that could have easily been reduced to an art-house show meant for multiplex audiences only. Alternately, it could have degenerated into a rabble-rouser. People would have whistled at every other dialogue, there would have been a sizzling item number thrown in for good measure too. That Santoshi embraces neither, walking the tightrope all along is a tribute to the man who believes cinema is a medium for entertainment. But that entertainment has to be accompanied by a few lessons.

Often there is more than a gentle nudge about a society that has its anomalies. Films such as Damini, Ghayal, Lajja and Pukar come to the mind. Here, he borrows handsomely from Damini, a film that moved many with its tale of a rape victim. Here too, the protagonist is a witness to a rape and murder. Yet, Santoshi is not so much as opening a page from a book read in the past as he is adding a new volume to the series. Here his hero, Ajay Devgan, efficient without being excellent, is a superstar, given to the heady ways of the blessed. With intoxicating success, the days of struggle when he used to learn at the feet of his guru Pankaj Kapur as a theatre sage, who was once a sinner, are but a faded memory. It all changes as the hero’s conscience is merely asleep, not dead. As he decides to cooperate with the cops as a witness to the murder, his life changes for ever. Throw in the stardom angle, the producers shying away from a man whose films won’t be easily released – shades of real life? – and political outfits ready to fish in troubled waters, and you have a film that has enough substance to last a couple of hours. That the film does, keeping the viewers engaged in the proceedings. Occasionally, though it lags, needing some crisp editing in parts of second half. It all ends a bit hastily, a bit dramatically though.

The pathos of Damini is not there, nor is the tight grip of Ghayal. Also missing is the sermon of Lajja. Devgan, as one said, is good without being outstanding while Vidya Balan as his wife does her best not to distract you from the proceedings, leaving the field clear for Pankaj Kapur to score with his seasoned craft. A word about Darshan Jariwala, who plays a wily politician, whose son is involved in the crime.

He is understated, and proves “Gandhi, My Father” was no flash in the pan.

Santoshi knows where his heart is. Importantly, he keeps his head and comes up with a film that has some masala for the box office. And some food for thought for those who talk films with passion and watch with discretion.

Z.U.S

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