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Inside Mumbai’s dark underbelly Cinema

ZIYA US SALAM

MATTERS BIG AND SMALL: Even as the high-profile “Sarkar Raj” starring Amitabh Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan (top) opens to a mixed response this weekend, the low-key “Aamir” starring Rajeev Khandelwal (bottom) stands out as a thriller.

SARKAR RAJ

(At PVR Plaza and other theatres in Delhi and elsewhere)

Our dream merchants are not renowned for tackling politico-business dramas. But doing exactly that is Ram Gopal Varma, the man given to ways so foolhardy and suicidal that he attempted to improve upon “Sholay” last year. Now he attempts to impart a new sheen, a new soul to his very own “Sarkar”, one that worked wonders largely because of Amitabh Bachchan’s ability to make every line on his face speak.

The sequel arrives riding on the first reunion of the Bachchan trio since Aishwarya Rai decided to add Bachchan to her name. There is interest, there is curiosity. And there is a feel-good factor post-“Sarkar”. All that, however, is not sufficient to rescue Varma’s latest. It is a movie that lives in moments, and dies in a couple of hours.

As long as you are inside the cinema hall, there are times when Varma gives us glimpses of what made him what he is: an intrepid filmmaker with a vision and a technique of his own. His identifiable camera angles, the interplay of light and shadow, the close-cropped visage shots, they are all there. You expect that from Varma. And there are no surprises either in Amar Mohile’s background score that works to a crescendo as the guys head towards a confrontation. The absence of an item number is a surprise, though, a mildly pleasing one all the same.

Oh, by the way, there are no surprises in the story: closely based on the life of a Mumbai politician who has never occupied an office of responsibility but continues to wield a lot of authority. This time we have Bachchan Senior as Sarkar with the trademark rudraksha, the spotless white kurta-pyjamas and ponderous movement to go with few, very few words. He is an aged figure whose throne is virtually being run by his son, Bachchan Junior as Shankar. The latter is a man who believes in action, and does not brook no for a reply. There is a confrontation boiling with a new mega power plant project mooted by Anita, the CEO of a multinational power corporation. Does Aishwarya’s character fill in the gap with a certain Enron project not long ago?

Here the project will help Maharashtra but uproot some 40,000 people. Shankar looks at the larger picture in the long run. Sarkar initially does only at the immediate. There is plenty of scope for Varma to dwell on, and build up a story. But that is not to be. The initial confrontation is over as soon as it begins as Varma decides to throw in other characters to give greater resemblance to the real life power drama in Maharashtra. There is a rabble-rousing young man in spectacles, deliberately given a smaller role. The similarity with a Mumbai politician in the news lately is too hard to ignore.

How the project goes out of the hand of the senior pro and he ends up losing his family members and clout makes for an interesting storyline. The trouble is, there is not enough punch, the grip loosens every now and then. The dialogue falls flat. And there is too much focus on the characters rather than the larger story. And for the large part, it seems like a showcase for the politician’s family to tell the world why it did what it did.

That is also the time that we get the less than pleasant surprises. The punch that is the hallmark of Varma’s films is missing. The searing intensity in the original is missing. And the occasional light moment falls flat simply because the characters entrusted with the job seem to have other things on their mind. The film has a dark feel which does not get compensated with enough shots of sunshine or day-time. The camera is an intrusive companion at times and you sometimes long to get the complete picture rather than merely looking at a grumpy Abhishek or teary-eyed Aishwarya.

Sorry, “Sarkar Raj” is unlikely to rule either at the box office or tug at your heart-strings. This one, while not lacking in moments of delight, does not quite live up to the expectations. Big B and Aishwarya do their bit. Both have few dialogues but manage to convey a fair bit. Abhishek is a bit of disappointment with his rehearsed ways. Much like the film.

AAMIR

(At Spice, Noida, and other theatres)

Raj Kumar Gupta may not yet be a name to sell a dozen box office tickets. Unheralded, unsung, Gupta, however, manages to shame many more illustrious colleagues in Bollywood today with a film so passionate, a drama so riveting that we scarcely realise when it starts, when it all ends. Yes, “Aamir” is that rare, rare film these days that shows a Muslim at the receiving end of terrorism. Nothing melodramatic, hardly anything larger than life, just a biting portray al of a secular Muslim – again an endangered species – at the receiving end of the system.

There are bigots of other faiths for whom his name is sufficient to draw sneers. There are bigots within who feel he has sold his faith for selfish ends. His space for dialogue, for free expression is usurped by people ill-informed or ill-advised or both.

More than faintly reminiscent of the aftermaths of 9/11 where having a particular name and religion is often a cause for global concern, “Aamir” is a film that says a lot, but never from the rooftop. The message, hard-hitting and trenchant, comes rolling all through as we come across a Muslim doctor flying back from the U.K. because there are more fingers of interrogation than approbation.

He wants to come back home to Mumbai, but before that there has to be a visit to the airport, where again just his name is sufficient to invite questions from the ignoramus who paint the entire community with the same brush. But here the airport trouble is only the beginning. Willy-nilly our guy finds himself caught in a cross-fire between radical Muslims, out to avenge wrongs, real or imagined, in ways wrong and insidious. And the larger system.

How he rises above the immediate is a gripping story that holds you spellbound right till the end.

The location shots, the chases and the utter helplessness of a secular being in a callous system are mind-blowing, the only dampener being provided by a couple of songs in the second half, one of which has to go down in history for the worst possible pronunciation.

Despite a low-profile entry at the box office, do watch “Aamir”. Watch it for the debutant hero Rajeev Khandelwal straight out of the television screen -- poised, polished and suitably understated. Watch it for its gripping drama and a brisk pace. Watch it for its low-key serious approach to cinema. Importantly, watch it for a brand new director who has managed to say it all when others have equivocated. Three cheers to Gupta.

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