Timbaktoo

The interesting thing I noticed in the movie Omkara was mentioning of Timbaktoo.

Naseeruddin Shah - Bhai Ji - tells about his honeymoon travails. According to him, he went to Timbaktoo for his honeymoon. Timbaktoo is a city in the west African country - Mali, a part of Sahara desert.

But this city is also the part of some mythical legends, and many people still think it is not a real city. Something like our Jhumri Tallaiyya.

But this is not the interesting part. The interesting part is that Timbaktoo is also the name of the movie which Vishal Bharadwaj had planned, but later shelved it.

It was shelved because Pankaj Kapoor, the lead actor, had pointed out certain inherent contradictions in the script, and suggested changes to Vishal. But the script writer Abbas Tyrewala refused to budge. What an ego!Hence the project was shelved.

But Vishal Bharadwaj did mention of this place in the movie.

Neem Ka Ped

For those who want to see a stellar performance by Pankaj Kapoor, and do have some familiarity with Awadhi and Urdu, do not miss the fantastic television serial Neem Ka Ped being telecasted at 3.30 PM on DD National every Sunday. Even those who are not that comfortable with the language can give it a try.

It has been written by renowned Dr Rahi Masoom Raza, who had written the dialogues for BR Chopra's epic Mahabharat, and Yash Chopra's Lamhe, Hrishikesh Mukherjee's Golmal, Mili, Jhoothi and Subhash Ghai's Karz.

His novel Adha Gaon is one the greatest work of literature in Hindustani language. With it's back drop as partition, it will shake up your imagination as much as Bishma Sahini's Tamas did. It's a semi-autobiographical work set in the Raza’s village of Gangauli, in Ghazipur district on the fringes of Awadh whose Muslim inhabitants refuse to leave the country. Along with Srilal Shukla's Raag Darbari, it's a must read.

Coming back to Neem Ka Ped, its again set in village India. It's a story of a semi-bonded labourer, Budhai Ram - played(rather, lived) by Pankaj Kapoor, under a Muslim village zamindar. This Muslim landlord is under property dispute with his minister brother-in-law. As circumstances turn out to be, Budhai Ram gets caught between this fight of pride and property. The bone of contention is also the small piece of land on which he has planted a Neem tree as a kid.

His only hopes are his son Sukhai whom he wants to educate and that Neem tree with which he identifies himself, and his beliefs. How a powerless, but determined peasant gets out from this wrangle, saves his Neem Ka Ped against all odds, gets his son educated and turns the tables on his warring landlords. The story line is tremendous, with relevant and engaging sub plots.

All the characters are believable, and I am saying this because I have seen so many of them in real life. And more believable is Pankaj Kapoor aka Budhai Ram. He got so well under the skin of the character that one almost forgets he is somebody else. He is only Budhai Ram for the viewer for that half an hour.

The way he smiles -sheepishly, sarcastically, helplessly, all are different shades of emotion. The way he trudges to work, his steely resolve which he hides succesfully, only to be let out only once in a while, his body language - everything about him force you to take a bow for him.

The dialogues, Raza's forte, are excellent. Pronunciations are perfect. By perfect I mean that the words are spoken incorrectly - the actually way a typical illiterate villager mispronounces. This mispronunciation has been perfectly incorporated in the script and very beautifully carried off by the artists, for e.g. calling 'Lucknow' as 'Nakhlau', and 'Time' as 'Tame' are the typical phonetic mistakes.

Enough said. If I won't stop myself, I will continue on endlessly. But do check it out. It's a masterpiece.

In Defence Of Sehar

A comment by one of the three boisterous gentlemen, seated bang behind me, perhaps underscored what was expected of the movie. "Serious Role Iska( Arshad Warsi) USP Nahin Hai. Comedy Mein Hi Janchta Hai."

The problem was that these guys just took out the newspaper, saw Warsi's name against Sehar and yelled 'Vow! Another Comedy', and in they went to the theater. And when it turned out to be a seriously serious movie, they wrongly declared the lead actor as the chief conspirator. Sorry boss! This is not done.

Arshad Warsi is first rate in the movie. So is Pankaj Kapoor( will come to him later).The problem, though, was in the screenplay. The director had such a strong story, but he spoilt it with too many characters, and some badly conceived scenes. Perhaps the director Kabeer Kaushik's inexperience showed here. In the zeal to make a 'realistic' movie, he forgot to add the entertainment value.

To begin with, the romantic angle was very badly handled. The conversations between the young SSP and the Lucknow University Economics teacher were very highly unrealistic, even by the conservative Lucknow standards. They were a shade too tentative, and shy. I guess he was better off showing a married SSP(though it is now much cliched in a cop movie), and cut down the romance angle a bit. Needless to say, Mahima Chowdhari was a complete misfit.

The other complain is the lack of humour. I refuse to believe that anybody, even a SSP for that matter, does not have a sense of humour, or when cops chat together, they don't share a joke or two. Comic relief was much needed to ease the tension, even if it was a reality cinema. Cue from Maqbool, Haasil or Sarfarosh should have been taken.

Now the good points. The ultimate mix of cast and the script. Warsi is a revelation. He has not been shown as a ruthless or vindictive cop. He is in fact a thinking cop in the movie, who dwells on the investigation seriously. He plan strategies before an encounter or raid. He is quick to find a loop hole, and provide a solution. There is no style in his gait. There are no unnecessary confrontations with the superior either.

To conceive this by the director is one thing. To pull it off is another. Warsi, as I said earlier, was mindblowing.

Unfortunately, there is nothing above than the first rate or I would have rated Pankaj Kapoor the same. Maqbool, Dus, and now Sehar - Pankaj Kapoor has done it yet again. Every frame which involves him, is full of life. Though the heights of Neem Ka Ped cannot be breached, he easily surpasses Maqbool. He lits a small Diya of humour which had been lacking till then.

He reserved his best for the chilling climax when Warsi asks him the reason why he has left the injured constable alone. Warsi doesn't know that constable is dead. Kapoor doesn't utter a word, and conveys that just with facial expressions. Sorry folks, I just cannot explain the scene. It has to be seen to be believed. Full credit to the director as well. He specifically wrote that character with only Pankaj Kapoor in mind, and the genius did what genius do.

Sushant Singh was good. He did look ruthless, though I must mention that the original person was not as ruthless. Also, with the kind of bigwig killing shown in the movie - it appears that Lucknow was completely littered with blood. That is not true. Lucknow was not so much in the don's radar. There were not even half as many killings. But perhaps to convince the audience, the writer over did it.

On personal front, I got the eyeful of Lucknow, both from the sky and land. It looked so beautiful. Then there were those familiar lanes, buildings and their names echoed through out the movie. Loved all of it.

Had the writer-director added some more humour element, it wouldn't have been the heavy diet it turned out to be and would have been much more watchable even with Mahima around. Though, UPites can still give it a go. They would easily relate to it.

Maqbool

Shakespeare is one person, who I think has touched more people around the world than the mighty British "Raj" itself. He had been prying in our lives since our school days. For me, the tryst with "bard" has been a trifle more than many. In my school, at 7th standard we had The Seventeen Tales of Shakespeare, next year we had play The Merchant of Venice in our curriculum, where we were introduced to literature's one of the most famous villain's Shylock. In our ICSE, we grappled with Julius Caeser in which we were told to "beware of ides of march" and "lean and hungry look". In ISC, we had the inevitable Macbeth, which is reckoned one of the four principal tragedies written by Shakespeare( other three -Lear, Othello and Hamlet). Macbeth stands out for the wildness of the imagination and the rapidity of the action. A real masterpiece.

So when I was told that Vishal Bhradwaj's MAQBOOL is the latest adaptation of Macbeth, I pounced upon it with both the hands. But the CD which we brought was a pirated one ;neither audio nor video was clear. However, a few weeks later , I saw it again on my comp at my office and to state the least , this movie should be watched for sheer performance and adaptation.

Now since it had been a long time since I last read Macbeth, the play or seen Macbeth, the movie, I was wondering whether I would be able to relate the events or not. But script writer Abbas Tyrewala and director Vishal conceptualized the characters and situations in a very innovative way. Analogies were brilliant, dialogues, narrative were engrossing.

Then there were stellar performances by the lead actors. Infact, casting itself was the half job done. Tabu portrayed the bitchy Lady Macbeth very efficiently through her controlled perfomance. Naughty, bold , scheming. She looked very convincing in every scene, barring the crying scene in the end where I guess she overdid it. Irfan Khan has grown leaps and bounds since his Chandrkanta, Chanyaka days. He is as brilliant here as he was in Hasil. His character, like that of Macbeth's under goes varying changes of emotion. From blind loyalty, to subtle, underlying greed, lust, rage, haughtiness and then guilt and realization of defeat in the end, he portrays every emotion brilliantly. He does all this with his big ,scary eyes. Particularly the scene when Pankaj Kapoor is making love to Tabu and Irfan is waiting outside. The pain in the eyes so palpable that it could be touched.

Pankaj Kapoor, in the role of King Duncan. Well what to say of him. He could be best described with what Om Puri says in the movie, "Kya actor hai Abbaji!!!". Just look at his eyes and accent in the movie. Those eyes which haunt Tabu and Irfan in the end, that accent which says "Gillaurian khaya kero miyan, is-sey zuban kabu mein rahegi". He has given the performance par excellence.

Banquo's character , the loyal lieutenant of King Duncan was portrayed by Piyush Mishra. He did a okayish job. I have seen him in many serials but don't remember him in any movie.

Now comes the most innovative part of the script. The witches. The witches who had ruined Macbeth, who along with Lady Macbeth had corrupted, captivated his mind. The witches characters were depicted by Om Puri and Naseerduddin Shah playing Inspector Purohit and Inspector Pandit, respectively. I loved the analogy. They are the ones who keep enticing rival parties to maintain "prakrati ka nium". In a way , they are the sootradhar of the movie.

As far as the songs are concerned, I liked the qawwali- "Rubru". Rest of the songs are okayish.

So you see this is not a typical underworld movie. There are no big guns booming, no tapori dialogues. This is an underworld, which speaks khalis urdu, with pure accent. It has been probably been shot outside Mumbai. A must watch movie if not already seen. You will kubool it.