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Showing posts with label Ram Gopal Varma. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ram Gopal Varma. Show all posts

Monday, April 27, 2009

Revisiting Mumbai, RGV style



While Indian crime films has been around for a few decades, they remain relatively unknown in North America outside of the Indian community. Until the late 1980's, the crime flicks were not really considered a pure genre per say as they were mixed with other genres such as action/revenge flicks. That changed in 1989 when the genre started to take form when Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Parinda broke new ground with its ruthless portrayal of the Mumbai underworld. The film still stands tall with its story of two brothers whose lives are under the watch of a ruthless yet emotionally fragile gangster. The memorable characters were played by Anil Kapoor, Jackie Shroff, Madhuri Dixit and ofcourse Nana Patekar whose portrayal as the gangster “Anna” stole the show. Almost a decade later in 1998, Ram Gopal Varma ushered in the next phase of gangster films, first with Satya and then followed by Company. Dozens of other Mumbai based gangster films then followed, directed either by Ram Gopal Varma’s protégés or first time directors. Yet, query an average North American film critic and he/she will not know any of these films or filmmakers. Danny Boyle probably never heard of any of these film-makers either until he started work on Slumdog Millionaire. Boyle has admitted being influenced by Ram Gopal Varma while filming Slumdog Millionaire but influenced is too light of a word because most of the slum shots in Slumdog.. are identically framed to those found either in Satya or Company. It seems that while Danny Boyle is busy getting praises for showing the "real India", the few decades of groundwork laid by talented Indian directors is being ignored. Ofcourse, there are exceptions as David Bordwell and Noel Vera noticed these similarities. Most critics in India noticed this right away and Deepa Gahlot is just one of them.

When compared to Parinda, Satya, Company and even to the marvelous Black Friday, Slumdog.. is weaker and unable to hold its own. On a positive note, Boyle's feature has a vibrant look as opposed to the darkish atmosphere of most Indian crime films, especially any RGV production. Slumdog.. can also boast to have utilized A.R Rahman’s music as most Indian gangster films don’t feature any of Rahman’s soul stirring pieces. In fact, Rahman has never composed for any of RGV’s gangster flicks.

I had wanted to take a closer at Indian crime films since last year but didn’t get around to it. So as a way of making amends, here’s a quick look at Ram Gopal Varma’s Satya and Company.

Satya -- darkness with a touch of morality

"Mumbai..." A city that never sleeps, a city that dreams while being awake...

One can lose track of how many Bollywood films start with words along those lines. Most films are compelled to explain how Mumbai is the place where newcomers come to to fulfill their dreams or how the city is like a ruthless animal that chews up people everyday. As such words are narrated on the screen, one can see images of the city.

One will see slums or poverty but the camera will not be obsessed with that aspect of the city but will instead use these settings as backgrounds for dissecting the lives of the characters.


We are normally introduced to the main character right at the start of the narration, which is what happens in this film as well. The title character of Satya is played by J.D. Chakravarthi. (note: this picture is from a later point in the film).


In the film's context, Satya isn't a hero. In fact, there are no heroes in this film just shades of grey and dark. In Parinda most people would cite the role of the main gangster (Anna played by Nana Patekar) as the most memorable, similarly in Satya the real show stealer is Manoj Bajpai as the gangster Bhiku Mhatre. Bhiku Mhatre is the type of role that is called career defining and amazingly a decade after playing the role, Bajpai has never been able to get away from the shadow of Bhiku Mhatre.

It doesn't take Satya too long to cross paths with the underworld. His friendship with Bhiku saves him but also makes him a marked man. The following shot is another one found in most crime films as the villains (or heroes depending on your viewpoint) overlook the wonderful city and discuss their lives or talk of conquering the city.


Vidya, the girl next door played by Urmila Matondkar.


There was a time when it was impossible to think Ram Gopal Varma could ever make a film without Urmila but he has moved on. In Satya, Urmila's character is the voice of reason, the pure uncorrupted woman who falls for Satya. But once she learns of his underworld ties, she abandons him.


The rest of the gang. Saurabh Shukla also co-wrote the film and features as Kallu mama.

Alcohol is not too far from most shots in such films and neither is the police torture room. In fact, a gangster film has yet to be made without a trip to the jail cell.


Most people would not know who Makrand Deshpande is as he usually only gets a few minutes role in most Bollywood films. But he makes each second count and his presence in a movie is always a good sign for me.

Overall, Satya was an amazing collaboration where everything clicked -- the screenplay, the technical aspects, the music which was intense when it needed to be and tender on other occasions, and the acting ofcourse. Although the weakest acting was probably the title role of Satya.

The downside of Satya's success was that every gangster film tried to imitate it and even RGV tried to use a similar template in his other gangster films.


Company -- Phones and Guns

While Satya had a moral compass in the form of Urmila's character who believed that crime didn't pay, Ram Gopal Varma removed any concept of morality from Company. His film showed that a life of crime is seductive not only to women who sought out gangsters but also for the police who admired the gangsters. In the film, the honest inspector played by Mohanlal

actually admires the friendship between the main gangster Mallik (Ajay Devgan),

and his friend turned rival Chandu (Vivek Oberoi).


The film shows how cell phones allow gangsters to remotely run their business via locations such as Kenya or other parts of Asia. The main gangsters, Mallik and Chandu, leave India as they are on the run but all they have to do is make a call back to Mumbai for their hunch-men to carry out the orders. Which is why the latter half of Company features shots of someone either on the phone or someone getting shot. Even while Chandu is in prison, he is handed a cell so he can talk with Mallik. And naturally the film ends with the constant ringing of phones.

The rapid fast communication via cell phones also leads to a lot of mistaken killings as the lack of face to face meetings leads to plenty of misunderstandings.

Vivek Oberoi made an impressive acting debut in Company but his character still paled compared to Bhiku Mhatre.


The following shot from Company can be found in Slumdog... In fact, the slanted camera angles from Company are seen quite a bit in some of the slum chase scenes in Slumdog..


Overall, Company is not bad but it is a lesser film compared to Satya.

One bothersome aspect of Ram Gopal Varma's films is that he takes real life gangsters and drafts films around them, while refusing to openly admit that but still giving enough clues as to his inspirations. For example, he directed Company in 2002 and then his production company released D. in 2005. Put the two titles together and you get D Company, the real life crime gang. Fans of RGV droll over the reality that his films show but there isn't much reality but glorification of the gangster life. I wish that RGV one day makes gangster films which have nothing do with real life criminals so that way he can finally make a true gritty film without being afraid of any consequences. Ofcourse, I am assuming the reason he portrays the gangsters as cool is because he does not want to anger the real life gangsters.

Monday, June 30, 2008

Three Explosive Women

Question: What do the films Day Night Day Night, The Terrorist and Dil Se have in common?

Answer: All three have female leads who are on a mission to blow themselves up for their cause.

Motives and Organizations:

Neither film clearly spells out the exact reasons and organizations the women are seeking to kill themselves for, with Day Night Day Night being the most vague of the three movies. In Santosh Sivan's The Terrorist we can guess the identity of the group which is training the terrorists because the setting of Southern India & the bombing method evokes memories of how Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by a woman suicide bomber in 1991. Whereas in Mani Ratnam's Dil Se, a few background scenes gave the cause to be related to conflicts in North Eastern India.

Story:

  • Day Night Day Night

  • : The story is more interested with the character's last day before she heads to New York for her mission. We never meet the people who are directing her for this mission and even though a few of her accomplices come to meet her, they are hidden behind masks. For some reason, everyone in the film is so friendly when talking with the female suicide bomber, who is extremely polite herself in answering questions regarding the mission's execution. She is completely relaxed to go on her mission and only when she reaches New York does she show signs of weakness and nervousness. In one scene, she phones her family but does not have courage to speak on the phone. This is the only film of the three where the girl attempts to query God when she finds herself afraid and weak to carry on with her mission.

  • The Terrorist

  • : The story starts off at the training ground where Malli (Ayesha Dharker) is getting her education in killing people. She is picked to be a human bomber and we follow her as she heads to a village before she will get the call to kill the 'minister'. Along the way, she befriends a little boy and gets better acquainted with a family in the village.

  • Dil Se

  • : A love story which seeks to pierce through the surface and understand what true love is about, including the seven stages of love.

    Character(s) in focus:

  • Day Night Day Night

  • : The movie stays completely focused on the female suicide bomber at all times with her accomplices hidden behind masks.

  • The Terrorist

  • : Even though the center of attention is Malli, the film includes brief screen time for a little boy she befriends, a tiny cameo for a militant boy she has a fling with, an older grandmother in a coma along with Malli's trainers (without masks).

  • Dil Se

  • : Manisha Koirala plays the suicide bomber but since Shah Rukh Khan is present in the movie, the camera clings to him quite a bit. On top of that, most people will remember this film as the debut of Preity Zinta whose bubbly character lights up the screen.

    Locales:

  • Day Night Day Night

  • : Concrete jungle -- a chaotic New York city with the skyscrapers, bright lights and throng of tourists. Also there are plenty of food places for the female character to spend her last few dollars on and also to lessen her stress. A candy apple, two pretzels and a single slice of tomato are the items she feeds on. Incidentally, she gets charged 0.65 cents for a slice of tomato.

  • The Terrorist

  • : Lush Jungle -- the forests of Southern India form both the training ground for terrorists and serve as a beautiful cinematic backdrop. Since Santosh Sivan is one of the best cinematographers in Indian cinema, the background is perfect for him to capture prize shots of lotuses, dew drops on leaves, calm waters and the enchanting forests. On top of that, Sivan uses the environment as symbology to depict certain incidents in the film. For example, a lotus flower sinking in the water foreshadows the coming death of an innocent child.

  • Dil Se

  • : The entire Indian subcontinent is a backdrop for this rich musical. From the heart pounding train song of Chaiyya Chaiyya shot in Ooty (Southern India), to the Indian deserts in Western India to Kashmir in the North with key scenes taking place in the capital New Delhi. Santosh Sivan is the cinematographer of this film which was released a year before his directorial venture The Terrorist.

    Background score and music:

  • Day Night Day Night

  • : Shot with a digital camera, we do not get any background score but only the sounds that echo around the character, be it in her hotel room or in the traffic jammed city.

  • The Terrorist

  • : There is a background score which attempts to raise tension and give clues about the oncoming danger but for me, the film's images were far more memorable and powerful than the music.

  • Dil Se

  • : This film's music and songs have been some of the best to come out of Bollywood in the last decade. Of course, with lyrics by Gulzar and music by A.R Rehman, the songs were sure to leave a lasting impression. But the videos do justice to the poetic lyrics. The most popular song was Chaiyya Chayyia which featured soulful vocals provided by Sukhwinder Singh & Sapna Awasti. Also the memorable video with a dazzling Malaika on top of a train has played countless times on Indian channels around the World.


    Note: Spike Less used Chaiyya Chayyia in the opening credits of Inside Man.

    Even though I love Chaiyya Chayyia, the song that cast a spell on me was E Ajnabi (O Stranger). I can remember quite a few rain soaked nights that I heard this song on.



    Overall impressions & comments:

    Even though I thought highly of the cinematography in The Terrorist, I was not impressed by how the character's decision process was simplified; Malli's decision to take her life was difficult but the emotional hooks used to ease her choice were not to my liking. In fact, I felt the emotional hooks (grandmother in a coma to name one) were typical of most Bollywood films and had no place in a much superior film structure that Sivan was trying to construct.

    Although there are no easy emotional hooks in Day Night Day Night, the overall friendly tone of the film's first half seemed a bit odd to me. I can understand the intent of Day Night Day Night was to remove any political agenda and only focus on the female character but the film appears to be too light weight and more of an experiment to make a meaningful film compared to a film like Paradise Now, which was completely gripping and engaging.

    My most memorable moments of Dil Se center around the songs and a few collected scenes involving the chance encounters between Shah Rukh Khan and Manisha Koirala's characters. The film was supposed to usher in a new wave of Indian film making as it was the first collaboration of heavy weights such as Mani Ratnam, Shekhar Kapur and Ram Gopal Varma. The three directors were supposed to work on more films together but after the box office failure of Dil Se, no other projects between the three took place and they all went on to more fame with their separate paths -- Kapur with Elizabeth; RGV with Satya, Company and other Mumbai underworld films; Mani Ratnam with A Peck on the Cheek, Yuva and Guru.

    Friday, November 23, 2007

    Spotlight on Bollywood

    Love -- Dreams, Fantasy & Heartbreak:



    Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Saawariya is a combination of three sources:
  • Fyodor Dostoevsky's short story White Nights
  • a mix of Bhansali's two older films -- Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam & Devdas
  • Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge.

    If these three elements were not complicated enough, then Bhansali has to deal with the added challenge of debuting two famous Bollywood star kids -- Ranbir Kapoor & Sonam Kapoor. Since Ranbir Kapoor is the youngest actor of the famous Prithivraj & Raj Kapoor family, Bhansali has added a few tributes to the famous RK banner films. When all these elements are blended together and garnished with plenty of songs, the end result is an uneven serving of art, drama, poetry & numbing torture. Sure, at moments the true beauty of Bhansali's vision shines through but overall, this is a pretty disappointing effort.



    As far as the newcomers are concerned, they have done an outstanding job! In fact, both Ranbir and Sonam have captured the true complexities of their Dostoevsky characters perfectly. The script has only tweaked the personalities of Dostoevsky's characters slightly so it is easy to compare the actor's performances with those penned by Dostoevsky. Essentially, Raj (Ranbir) is a dreamer who tries to find happiness in life despite the lonely sadness that exists inside his heart. Sakina (Sonam) is also a dreamer but she can shift from happiness to misery in an instant. In the film, Sonam Kapoor's expressions are perfect in all scenes -- when she is laughing we can detect a hint of sadness in her smiles and when she is crying, we can detect the laughter that is about to errupt. And Ranbir Kapoor brightens up the screen with his refreshing performance and makes watching the movie bearable.

    The sets and costumes are top-notch, as one would expect in a Sanjay Leela Bhansali film. There is beauty to be found around every corner of the dreamy constructed city. Ravi K. Chandran's cinematography is excellent as well. There are two shots that stand out for me -- one is a hovering crane shot when Raj is running past the bridge and the second is a shot when Sakina is running in an alley. The camera follows Sakina on her run and in that brief moment, the movie does achieve a moment of beauty and poetry. Unfortunately, the numerous songs and the pointless character of Rani Mukherjee ruins any flow in the movie. If the songs were good, then it might have made things a bit more watchable but except the title song, all the remaining songs are average and the videos are badly choreographed.

    Hockey as a unifying sport:



    Rarely has a predictable movie been so enjoyable! The trailers of Chak De India give away the entire formulaic story -- a disgraced ex-field hockey player takes on a coaching job that no one wants and despite all odds, turns things around to become a hero again! But thanks to a fresh and lively cast of newcomers and some smart decisions by director Shimit Amin, Chak De India is a very pleasant film to watch. Two particular scenes stand out as being good decisions by Amin and they both involve the characters of Kabir Khan (Shahrukh Khan) & Bindia Naik (Shilpa Shukla).

  • Scene One: Bindia Naik is a senior hockey player who does not believe in following rules and makes life difficult for her coach, Kabir Khan. After a confrontation, Kabir orders Bindia off the field. The camera follows Bindia from the field to the bench and remains focused on her face while Kabir's character disappears in the background. Normally, in other Bollywood movies this is how the sequence would have been filmed -- after Kabir would have ordered Bindia off the field, the camera would have shown Bindia's face, then cut back to Kabir Khan and then cut back to show that Bindia is seated on the bench. The rule of thumb in most Bollywood films is to always focus on the 'star' whereas other characters mean nothing. In this case, Shimit gives plenty of screen time to a cast of newcomers which is a great thing to see.
  • Scene Two: Bindia is upset that she is not selected as the team captain. She confronts Kabir and mentions that she is willing to do anything to become captain. The camera is only focused on both their faces. We can hear Bindia unzip her top. The camera shifts to Kabir's face. Then the camera moves back slightly but still stays focused on both character's faces. We hear Kabir unzip Bindia's top back up. What is interesting about this scene is that the camera shows the emotion on both character's faces whereas several other Bollywood directors would instead have focused the camera on Bindia's assets and would have had a close-up shot of Kabir's hand on the zipper.


  • Both the above scenes may seem like minor aspects but the movie is packed with plenty of such tiny details. The end result of all these shots is that Shimit has ensured that the audience only focuses on the relevant details. A truly fun film!

    Drama -- Emotion & Tears:



    Feroze Khan's Gandhi, My Father is an emotional voyage about a story that has rarely been told. Everyone has heard about Mahatma Gandhi but how many people have heard about his son Harilal Gandhi? Feroze Khan has based the movie on two novels about Harilal Gandhi and included a few selected events from his life. At the film's start, we see an almost dead Harilal. While lying in a hospital bed, he remembers certain key moments of his life. Via flashbacks we see some episodes from Harilal's life -- his youth, education and marriage followed by his failed business ventures to his religious conversions & eventual decline.

    While the movie has some flaws (pacing mostly), it can't be ignored. Khan has set up his scenes in such a manner that we can truly focus on Gandhi's son. Even though Harilal made some wrong decisions in his life, the film tries to simply depict his gradual decline and misery without passing judgment. Sometimes, incidents in a person's childhood forever alter the course of their life. In Harilal's case, at a very early age his father's principles alienated him and shocked him deeply.

    Personally, it was difficult to watch this movie because it was clear that there was no happiness around the corner. Even when people help Harilal or offer him shelter, it is clear that nothing can save him from the path of destruction. Gandhi death's shocked the nation whereas Harilal quietly disappeared from the world 5 months after his father. Credit goes to Feroze Khan for making this movie. It is not an easy film to watch but it is one that I can't get out of my mind. Even writing these words makes me shudder at the thought of Harilal's fate.

    Comedy -- Ghosts, Treasure Hunts & some romance:




    Did Priyadarshan get lucky with his 2000 film Hera Pheri? That movie is still one of the best comedies to have come out of Bollywood in the last decade. But since then, Priyadarshan has directed a handful of comedies with mixed results -- movies such as Hulchul, Hungama & Garam Masala had plenty of hilarious moments but the movies were also plagued with poor stories. Based on that track record, I didn't have too much hope from Bhool Bhulaiyaa but was pleasantly surprized! The movie is an easy mix of humour, horror and mystery. The first hour flows at such a leisurely pace that it is difficult to believe that this is a Priyadarshan film. But things pick up considerably as soon as Akshay Kumar enters the screen at the hour mark. In fact, within two minutes of screen time, Akshay Kumar injects more life into the film than that of the previous hour. Eventually, things settle down and head towards a very interesting climax. Not bad.

    Well any good work that Priyadarshan achieved with Bhool Bhulaiyaa, he wasted it with Dhol, a terribly boring comedy about 4 friends who want to get rich quickly. Awful screenplay and bad acting.

    Dhamaal is also a comedy about 4 men who want to get rich fast but it is a much better effort than Dhol. The humour in Dhamaal is good and the jokes are evenly distributed throughout the movie so that the comedy does not get too dull. Even though the movie was decent to watch, a better story with some additional editing could have made this a much better film.

    David Dhawan made his name in Bollywood with crude & vulgar comedies in the early 90's with Govinda as his star. Eventually, Govinda dropped out of the pictures and Dhawan moved onto less crude comedies with Salman Khan. Over the last few years, he has tried different pairings for his comedies -- Salman Khan & Sanjay Dutt, Govinda with Sanjay. And now finally he has paired Govinda with Salman. Unfortunately, Dhawan forgot to have a screenplay. As a result, Partner is just a painful movie, even by David Dhawan's standards. In fact, Partner is so bad that it makes me long for his crude comedies from the 90's.

    Cheeni Kum may have sounded like a good idea on paper but ends up being a pretty dull end product. Yawn.

    Action -- Fight, Explosives & Loud Noise:



    Watching Anubhav Sinha's Cash was pure torture! The pointless loud action sequences combined with awful performances and a poor screenplay made Cash a real waste of money. The best aspect of the movie is the closing credits song -- "Aye Chorrey". That last song is pleasant to hear and shot in an easy cool manner, unlike the rest of the film. Yuck!



    Sholay is still considered to be one of the best Bollywood movies ever made! It is perfect in every aspect -- great screenplay, fascinating characters (the villain Gabbar Singh is still the greatest ever villain in Indian, yes Indian not just Bollywood, film history) & memorable music. So when Ram Gopal Varma wanted to remake the movie as a matter of tribute, it sounded like a bad idea. But no one could have ever imagined that the director of such cutting edge films as Rangeela & Satya would go on to make one of the worst films in Bollywood's history. It is shameful to even say Aag is someone's tribute to Sholay. Every scene is packed with mistakes -- bad acting, poor screenplay, terrible characters and forgettable songs. Unfortunately, I still can't give this movie a Rating of 0 because there are some decent camera angles in the movie. In some scenes, the camera hovers effortlessly over the characters and in most scenes, the camera is below the waist level and glares upwards towards the characters. Ofcourse, one easily forgets this good camera work when any character opens their mouth. Painful, utter torture!!!



    Film (Director): Ratings out of 10
    Note: All movies released in 2007

    Chak De India (Shimit Amin): 8.5
    Gandhi, My Father (Feroze Khan): 8
    Bhool Bhulaiyaa(Priyadarshan): 7.5
    Saawariya (Sanjay Leela Bhansali): 7
    Dhamaal (Indra Kumar): 6.5
    Cheeni Kum (R. Balki): 5.5
    Dhol (Priyadarshan): 4.5
    Partner (David Dhawan): 4
    Cash (Anubhav Sinha): 3.5
    Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag: 2