Manorama - Six Feet Under

And it stole the thunder!

Three year after Charas, I saw a movie which I can call a thriller. However, by the dint of previous experience, I was quite sure I need to see it in the opening week only, otherwise it would be a goner. And today, there is not a single show in Pune!

Desperate needs require desperate measures, and I just managed it by a whisker. Yesterday, I probably saw its last show of the country - 11 PM. I had made up my mind the day before, and as soon as I was back from office, I went to pick the ticket one hour early - though needlessly so. They were available in abundance.

The guy at the ticket counter watched me in disbelief as if saying who-is-this-idiot-watching-this-movie-at-this-hour ! Never mind!

When we reached the multiplex, there was absolutely nobody at Screen 3. Old memories of Ghatak started flooding in. Ten years back, at the Devki theater in Kanpur(which incidentally is the biggest film screen I have ever seen), I had watched that movie along with just three friends and a stray dog!

However by the time this movie started about 30-40 people had poured in.

As always, I am not writing the story here, but I must tell you, how much ever you go prepared, it is almost impossible for you to unknot each and every thread. Mystery just refuses to die, and twists out-twist themselves. I kept feeding people with my whodunit bright sparks, bungling quite often, until I shut up!

I remember a similar scenario from a Sydney Sheldon novel - The Windmills of God. Well, there is ruthless assassin in the book with pseudonym - Ariel, and of all the people I know, by far whoever has read that novel, he or she has not been able to guess the real identity of that assassin, even after open challenges before hand.

Coming back to the movie. The plot is as intriguing as it can get, and kind of reminds me of few James Hadley Chase novels I have read. Characters have a laid back earthly charm which reminds you of the people you know. Dialogues are the work of brilliance, and not one without a punch.

Then there is Rajasthan. Not the one which is shown to attract tourists with Chokhi Dhanis and Folk dances. The real mofussil Rajasthan where life refuses to move. Where people do not move in Opal Astra but brand new Honda CD 100 or battered Lambretta. And yes, not to forget those copious moustaches where could one graze a cow on.

Actors, barring Kulbhushan Kharbanda, have given top notch performance. Abhay Deol is sincere as a failed novelist, who wants to prove something. Gul Panag fairs well as a blow hot blow cold middle class homemaker. Raima Sen tries to be a seductress, but tastes only half the success.

Along with Deol, it is his Sala in the movie - Vinay Pathak as the Sub Inspector Brij Mohan who gives the comic relief in the movie - has impressed the most. He has got the best lines, and the dialogue delivery - one of the best one would have ever seen.

Kharbandha is as limited as he was as Shakaal 27 years ago. Neither that accent has gone, nor the expression.

So if you are lucky enough to have this movie still running in any of the theaters in your city, just gobble it. We need to make such movies a success. 1000 times more successful than Hey Baby.