I watched Bombay Talkies last year, a tribute to 100 years of Bollywood Cinema. Despite the 2 gems by Dibakar Banerjee and Anurag Kashyap, I couldn't help thinking that a better tribute could have been made. Yes, I know. The idea behind Bombay Talkies was to exhibit how much Bollywood affects the life of a common man. But there is more to Bollywood than a little boy emulating Katrina Kaif, or the love of old Hindi songs making a happily married man realizing his gay self (oh God, don't get me started on the Homo-Jo story again). The fact that the love of cinema is universal, and transcends borders. That common people like you and me can forget much of our life's' anguish through some moments of celluloid inspiration.
Yesterday I came out of the theatre having watched Filmistan. The departure was marked with a smile and a deep sense of contentment. After a year, my wait for the true tribute to Bollywood had come true.
The basic plot runs like this. The movie's protagonist is Sunny Arora, a (cheerful, and sometimes over-the-top) hardcore fan of bollywood who fails to strike out as an actor and takes on roles of an assistant director. He goes to the Rajasthan Border with an American film crew shooting a documentary. Here he gets kidnapped by Pakistani terrorists (mistaking him as an American) who then keep him hostage in a sparsely populated border village in Pakistan. He meets Aftaab here, another hardcore movie buff who makes a living by selling pirated Bollywood DVDs. The 2 men hit it out once they realize their common connection. Under the watchful eye of 2 extremist terrorists, their actions do much to light up each other's lives, as also the lives of the villagers.
A word first for the director. It takes a lot of guts, and talent, to make a movie like Filmistan. The basic plot encompasses just 2 main characters (Sunny and Aftaab), and the 2 terrorists playing support. No women, no romance. No fancy camera work, no item numbers. No big-budget sets, just a mud house and a non-descript village setting. Despite this, debutant Nitin Kakkar manages to extract superlative performances out of his cast, and holds the narrative together in a script which never deviates from its core theme. He wisely avoids any political/philosophical references, and presents the story in a straightforward manner. Yet the narrative never loses its entertainment value.
The lead protagonist (Sunny Arora) is played by Sharib Hashmi. An actor I vaguely remembered from some TV spoof shows (a more irritating emulation of the already irritating Anu Malik comes to mind), his talent when given a proper character is breathtaking. Sunny never loses his sense of humor in the face of struggle. Even when he realizes he's kidnapped and will probably never make it back to India alive, he accepts his fate and uses his theatrics to amuse the village kids and his hosts. When one of the terrorists gives him a bashing, and the sympathetic Aftaab comes asking "Dard ho raha hai?", he replies "Mard ko dard nahi hota". It doesn't take long to fall in love with this cherubic, living-in-a-fantasy-world type movie buff who will take his Salman Khan over real life any day.
Theater Actor Inaamulhaq plays Aftaab. He pirates Bollywood DVDs not only to earn a livelihood, but because it connects him to his love of movies. When he learns that the hostage (held in his house) is from the film industry, he can't resist sneaking down to Sunny and starting a conversation. As the story takes its turns, the 2 friends reconcile their sorrows and differences through discussing movies.
The 2 terrorists, who maintain an eagle-eye on the lead pair, are a study in contrast. Mehmood Bhai (Kumud Mishra) is the senior, more hardcore extremist who dismisses movies as bad culture, thinks of Sunny as a bhaand (Jester) and is happy to pull the trigger when required. Javed Bhai (Gopal Dutt) is the dumber junior who's been brainwashed into being an extremist, but sometimes his emotion as a human being gets the better of him. I can't say more without giving away bits of the plot.
As I've said before, I tend to carry away some "moments" from all movies that I like. Will take the liberty of illustrating just 2 here.
In one scene, Aftaab invites his villagers to watch a pirated DVD of "Maine Pyaar Kiya". As the scenes roll, the camera focusses on the eyes of the villagers. Simple uneducated men as they are, their eyes light up when the songs roll, moisten when the lead pair are separated, and boil with rage when the hero fights unjust "Gunda"s trying to take away his hard-earned money. Isn't this the point of all cinema, to entertain simple hearts and make them empathize with the narrative? The DVD runs fine till the climax scene, when the audio goes kaput and Salman's tear-jerker speech to the heroine's father (Aloke Nath) suddenly falls silent. Aftaab's repeated attempts to get the audio running comes to naught. Sunny comes to the rescue by mouthing all the dialogues till the end. The movie draws to a close amidst applause from the paltry audience and Aftaab hugs Sunny in gratitude. 2 men separated by nationality, bonded by their desire to entertain, using Bollywood as their means.
In another scene, an injured Sunny is being tended to by the aged village Hakeem. Sunny starts a conversation with him in Punjabi and discovers that the man hails from Amritsar. The old man tells him stories of his childhood in the city and wishes his desire to see his old neighborhood one last time. Brilliant camera work as it focusses on the wrinkled face of the old hakeem and lights up his anguish. Sunny is reminded of his own grandfather, who hailed from Lahore and passed away with the desire that he could see his old neighborhood one last time. "Jisne Lahore nai dekhya o Jamya nai", he used to say. The old man walks away asking him to take care, as the cries of Azaan ring out in the distance.
As I said before, the love of cinema is universal, and transcends borders. Filmistan is a prime example of this philosophy of film making. Please don't miss it. Rated 8 out 10.
Yesterday I came out of the theatre having watched Filmistan. The departure was marked with a smile and a deep sense of contentment. After a year, my wait for the true tribute to Bollywood had come true.
The basic plot runs like this. The movie's protagonist is Sunny Arora, a (cheerful, and sometimes over-the-top) hardcore fan of bollywood who fails to strike out as an actor and takes on roles of an assistant director. He goes to the Rajasthan Border with an American film crew shooting a documentary. Here he gets kidnapped by Pakistani terrorists (mistaking him as an American) who then keep him hostage in a sparsely populated border village in Pakistan. He meets Aftaab here, another hardcore movie buff who makes a living by selling pirated Bollywood DVDs. The 2 men hit it out once they realize their common connection. Under the watchful eye of 2 extremist terrorists, their actions do much to light up each other's lives, as also the lives of the villagers.
A word first for the director. It takes a lot of guts, and talent, to make a movie like Filmistan. The basic plot encompasses just 2 main characters (Sunny and Aftaab), and the 2 terrorists playing support. No women, no romance. No fancy camera work, no item numbers. No big-budget sets, just a mud house and a non-descript village setting. Despite this, debutant Nitin Kakkar manages to extract superlative performances out of his cast, and holds the narrative together in a script which never deviates from its core theme. He wisely avoids any political/philosophical references, and presents the story in a straightforward manner. Yet the narrative never loses its entertainment value.
The lead protagonist (Sunny Arora) is played by Sharib Hashmi. An actor I vaguely remembered from some TV spoof shows (a more irritating emulation of the already irritating Anu Malik comes to mind), his talent when given a proper character is breathtaking. Sunny never loses his sense of humor in the face of struggle. Even when he realizes he's kidnapped and will probably never make it back to India alive, he accepts his fate and uses his theatrics to amuse the village kids and his hosts. When one of the terrorists gives him a bashing, and the sympathetic Aftaab comes asking "Dard ho raha hai?", he replies "Mard ko dard nahi hota". It doesn't take long to fall in love with this cherubic, living-in-a-fantasy-world type movie buff who will take his Salman Khan over real life any day.
Theater Actor Inaamulhaq plays Aftaab. He pirates Bollywood DVDs not only to earn a livelihood, but because it connects him to his love of movies. When he learns that the hostage (held in his house) is from the film industry, he can't resist sneaking down to Sunny and starting a conversation. As the story takes its turns, the 2 friends reconcile their sorrows and differences through discussing movies.
The 2 terrorists, who maintain an eagle-eye on the lead pair, are a study in contrast. Mehmood Bhai (Kumud Mishra) is the senior, more hardcore extremist who dismisses movies as bad culture, thinks of Sunny as a bhaand (Jester) and is happy to pull the trigger when required. Javed Bhai (Gopal Dutt) is the dumber junior who's been brainwashed into being an extremist, but sometimes his emotion as a human being gets the better of him. I can't say more without giving away bits of the plot.
As I've said before, I tend to carry away some "moments" from all movies that I like. Will take the liberty of illustrating just 2 here.
In one scene, Aftaab invites his villagers to watch a pirated DVD of "Maine Pyaar Kiya". As the scenes roll, the camera focusses on the eyes of the villagers. Simple uneducated men as they are, their eyes light up when the songs roll, moisten when the lead pair are separated, and boil with rage when the hero fights unjust "Gunda"s trying to take away his hard-earned money. Isn't this the point of all cinema, to entertain simple hearts and make them empathize with the narrative? The DVD runs fine till the climax scene, when the audio goes kaput and Salman's tear-jerker speech to the heroine's father (Aloke Nath) suddenly falls silent. Aftaab's repeated attempts to get the audio running comes to naught. Sunny comes to the rescue by mouthing all the dialogues till the end. The movie draws to a close amidst applause from the paltry audience and Aftaab hugs Sunny in gratitude. 2 men separated by nationality, bonded by their desire to entertain, using Bollywood as their means.
In another scene, an injured Sunny is being tended to by the aged village Hakeem. Sunny starts a conversation with him in Punjabi and discovers that the man hails from Amritsar. The old man tells him stories of his childhood in the city and wishes his desire to see his old neighborhood one last time. Brilliant camera work as it focusses on the wrinkled face of the old hakeem and lights up his anguish. Sunny is reminded of his own grandfather, who hailed from Lahore and passed away with the desire that he could see his old neighborhood one last time. "Jisne Lahore nai dekhya o Jamya nai", he used to say. The old man walks away asking him to take care, as the cries of Azaan ring out in the distance.
As I said before, the love of cinema is universal, and transcends borders. Filmistan is a prime example of this philosophy of film making. Please don't miss it. Rated 8 out 10.
