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Bollywood goes for a reality check in society’s dark underbelly

Anuj Kumar

Fact and fantasy: While Madhur Bhandarkar takes us into yet another dark by-lane of society in ‘Jail’ (left), the lead pair of Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif brings some freshness to an otherwise dull script of ‘Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani’ and ‘The Time Traveler’s Wife’ (right) is a “sad fantasy” based on the bestseller by Audrey Niffenegger.

JAIL

(Delite Diamond and other theatres in Delhi and elsewhere)

Madhur Bhandarkar’s journey into dark corners of society continues. This time round he stops over at a jail to give us a reality check. It is the ultimate ignominy for many to spend even a night in prison but some unlucky ones are forced to spend sleepless nights for years in our dark, dingy jails without ever being proven guilty.

Parag Dixit (Neil Nitin Mukesh) is one of them. A young man rising in life, he gets caught in a drug peddling case courtesy his roommate. Apparently the evidence is against him and there are not many to stand by him apart from his girlfriend (Mugdha Godse) and his mother.

As Parag is sent into custody of different kinds, Madhur opens the doors to a closed world. It has its own hierarchy and currency. Yes, right, the jail has its own currency where if you have those valuable “coupons” you can have all the worldly pleasures of life within those four high walls. You can even go out to add to your criminal record or in some cases create one.

Slowly but surely, Madhur drills into our consciousness the bitter fact that this could happen to anyone. Through a series of plots he questions whether the jail is a place for reform or a ground to germinate criminals or resentment again the system. The tardy legal process takes so long to deliver justice that the sense of right and wrong begins to blur — particularly when the illegitimate goings-on tax your patience. Some like Ghani (Rahul Singh) fall for it. Some others return from the brink. The good thing is Madhur is nowhere judgmental and in no hurry to reach conclusions.

For once you have a mainstream director portraying Indian courts in a realistic fashion. Here actors don’t use the chance to don black robes as an opportunity to flaunt their Urdu vocabulary. Here the judge doesn’t break into “Order! Order!” every other minute, yet everything seems in place. Here the man in the hot seat is not there to listen to the emotionally charged pleas of the hero. There is no place for courting melodrama. The first time the Judge asks Parag whether he pleads guilty or not is when the charge-sheet is filed.

Neil has lived the emotional turmoil of Parag. Watch out for the scenes when he comes out of solitary confinement.

As always, Madhur draws liberally from newspaper headlines. But somewhere you get the feeling that the director seems is in the mood to deliver a quickie. Despite an immaculate build-up and its bleakness, Jail lacks the gritty feel of Madhur’s much talked about Chandni Bar and the pace of his Page 3. Or maybe we have become used to his style.

If the episode of Ghani makes you reach for a handkerchief, some of his other characters are sketchy and come across as affected additions to add to the waning meat in the middle. We have a rich brat charged with mowing down innocent people and another who has been put behind bars for his relations with naxals. All this has already been milked by the media.

Manoj Bajpayee as the well-meaning nawab has nothing much to contribute to the proceedings. After a point, Jail is reduced to a case study on the Indian prison system. You know how the screenplay is going to pan out before Parag does as Madhur’s narrative pattern has become repetitive. It’s time he broke the shackles of success.

AJAB PREM KI GHAZAB KAHANI

(Golcha, Delhi, and other theatres)

As the good old Raj Kumar Santoshi presses the refresh button in his long, eventful career, he turns to the formulaic romantic tracks of the 1980s and dresses it up according to today’s definition of youthful entertainment -- entertainment which is governed by an assortment of gags, not a yarn of emotions. It is ironic that the man who once declared Andaz Apna Apna has chosen to move in the direction where the winds are blowing. He is at home in th e milieu where there is no space for a socio-political context. Just a madhouse bursting at the bricks!

Fortunately, he has opted for a lead pair which fits the flaws. It is fresh and appealing which livens up the time-tested situations. Ranbir Kapoor is the latest Prem and he plays it with unhinged flamboyance. If his Wake Up Sid stirred the multiplexes, this could establish his bond with the masses. The boy doesn’t take himself seriously, and effortlessly gives in to the tomfoolery he is expected to display. Be it bending on the dance floor or binding the laddoos or for that matter donning a female top, he has the energy to carry off slapstick all the way.

Katrina Kaif wants the book to be judged by its cover and we are not minding it for the time being. Directors are writing characters which cover her limited Hindi and to an extent emotional depth. Here Santoshi has carved her as Jenny, an adorable orphan yearning for love. She finds Prem the oddball who believes in spreading happiness and is the president of Happy Club. The two strike a chord but by intermission we discover that it is just friendship. Jenny is, in fact, waiting for her Mr. Right (Upen Patel). Well, as always, the supposed Mr. Right turns out to be Mr. Moneybags who doesn’t stand up when it really comes to the crunch.

Santoshi has not been able to keep it crisp. He doesn’t realise that when it comes to the basic plot he has nothing new to say. It is the comic tone and situations that keep the proceedings alive and kicking. When you give in to the demands of buffoonery on display and ignore the inconsistencies in the script, the melodramatic moments block the flow. Tracks like Christians are expected to be non-vegetarians have run their mile and no longer surprise even if a Christian turns out to be a vegan.

The Prem you come across here is outdated; it is the performances – particularly Ranbir’s – that make it g hazab!

THE TIME TRAVELER’S WIFE

(PVR Saket and other theatres)

Sometimes a film’s core idea becomes its strength as well as weakness. And when the idea is as fantastic as time travel it is very difficult to get the thread of coherence going through the length of the film. Director Robert Schwentke here tries hard to maintain this balance as his protagonist Henry (Eric Bana) hops across time.

Based on the bestseller by Audrey Niffenegger, Henry has this strange genetic aberration which makes him travel in time. But there is nothing he can do to alter fate. He meets his long-deceased mother but can’t stop the accident she eventually met with. He meets his future girlfriend Claire but can’t tell her that she is going to be his wife. And when she does become one, he helplessly watches his progeny doing a time travel from her womb leading to miscarriages. It is genetic after all.

A sad fantasy is a new thing and we take time to get used to it…the problem is how to feel sad for a thing which is not expected to ever happen to us!

Claire keeps waiting as her husband goes out on “unscheduled” trips. At times she is left with his clothes in the middle of a conversation. The underlining import of communication gap does strike a chord but the screenplay unfolds at a tepid pace and finding Eric without clothes too often is soon reduced to a gimmick to make the audience marvel at his chiselled body. Eric and Rachel share a warm intimacy and it keeps us away from the impending potholes in the script.

If you don’t mind being taken for a ride, this one is for you.

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