Corporate Burnout

There is a scene in ‘Requiem for a Dream’ where director Darren Aronofsky uses a montage where multiple things are happening concurrently with different characters in the movie. The way that montage has been edited gives us a feeling of a machine working.

After having worked as a Database Administrator for two years, I often find myself identifying to that scene. My education and work happened in a very similar way depicted in that montage. I finished my Bachelor of Engineering, worked for a year, followed that with pursuing a Masters in Engineering and worked again for another year. Although it was solely my decision to study Engineering and work, and while I did fairly well in both, there was a sense of frustration building up in me all along. There came in a point when work just did not seem creative or interesting enough!

I have been fascinated about cinema since my childhood. As I grew up, I also started understanding and appreciating the different technical aspects of it rather than the mere gloss and glory. Editing to me is the most creative technical aspect of film-making. Depending on how you edit a film, the entire perception towards it can change.

When I was working in Bangalore and every time I went home, I used to assist a family friend who is a documentary film-maker. I tried to learn about shot selection, camera angles, what to use as a subject, how to edit and the like. I however learnt much more while having discussions with him about the movie. When I said this camera angle suits better, he would defend himself and that two-way dialogue used to be fascinating. His explanation about why he wanted to compose a particular shot as per his vision and not mine, educated me a lot more than just handling the camera would have perhaps.

Later when I was working in Dallas, I joined an independent film club where they would watch Indie films every weekend and discuss them. Hearing so many points of view of various people from different walks of life, all gathered together just for their love of cinema, triggered my longing to learn editing even further.

So here I am a corporate burnout, currently without a job, waiting to join a film institute to learn editing, not sure what the future holds, with nothing but pride and satisfaction that atleast I am going to do what I always wanted.

Wanted | The Return of Machismo

When we search the word ‘Hero’ in the dictionary, it says ‘a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities’. After watching Wanted one gets the same feeling. Wanted is all about Hero-ism. It brings back the days when Hindi cinema was about macho-ism. Where the hero would be so larger than life that nothing will happen to him and he will get away with everything he wants to do. When Hindi cinema is going through a change, the change being more real life stories attempted and more so called ‘multiplex movies’ are being made, it feels nice to see a true unpretentious film about being larger than life.

Salman plays Radhe, a hitman who works for anyone who quotes the highest. Then there are a few ‘Bhais’ who are trying to rule over Mumbai. Among the ‘Bhais’, the main competition is among Golden gang headed by Gani Bhai (Prakash Raj) and Data Pawle gang. Obviously there is a corrupt cop, Inspector Talpade (played by Mahesh Manjrekar) and an honest Police Commissioner, Ashraf Khan (Govind Namdeo). How can I forget the seedhi-saadhi girl (Ayesha Takia Azmi)? Well Salman works for Golden gang and starts cleaning the members of the other gangs. Meanwhile Govind Namdeo promises to have a clean Mumbai and Mahesh Manjrekar’s lustful eyes fall on Ayesha Takia. Ayesha however seems to have fallen in love with Salman even after watching him on a killing spree. If only more girls were there like her! Anyway, there is not much novelty in the storyline and the movie doesn’t claim that.

But the film is fairly entertaining. The entire movie revolves around Salman. It is about the aura of macho-ism he creates. After a long time he delivers. This movie does not require him to display his histrionics. It needs him to create an environment where everything is larger than life. Thanks to the editing and the action set pieces, he manages that. When Salman takes on more than 10 people alone, one doesn’t laugh but feels confident that this guy can beat the crap out of those 10 people. This dynamism succeeds in making the film entertaining.

Ayesha Takia Azmi however disappoints big time. Her character is just not believable. I mean it is just un-fathomable that an educated, urban girl will like a person like Salman even after watching him on rampage. Her scenes with Salman just doesn’t work. The scenes inside the lift and on the railway station are so badly written that one cringes. One person who really entertains with his performance is Prakash Raj. His character is very over the top. There was every chance to make a caricature of out it. To his credit he balances the comic element and the negativity pretty well. Mahesh Manjrekar, Govind Namdeo, Vinod Khanna and Inder Kumar are all decent in their roles.

The film however suffers from a pathetic comedy track. It is crude which probably goes well with the story and treatment. What does not work is the fact that most of the comic scenes are just not funny and seems completely out of context.

The music also is of mixed variety. ‘Jalwa’ is the only song that is good. The rest of the songs are bad and also the placement is very poor. They are just not needed. It would have helped the film immensely had a couple of songs been edited out.

Technically however the movie pretty good. Cinematography by Nirav Shah and S Sriram is good. The background score by Salim-Suleiman although a tad loud fits well with the movie. The two technical aspects which however completely elevate the movie are editing and action. The editing, especially during the action sequences is really good. The action set pieces created by Vijayan Master are simply phenomenal. We are used to stylized action for a long time now. This is just raw violence and it looks spectacular on screen. One also needs to applaud Salman for executing them with gusto. The climax action sequence (although copied from the French movie Banlieue 13) is just outstanding.

Prabhu Deva should be given credit for utilizing Salman Khan properly. However he should have edited the comic track and a couple of songs from the movie which would have made the film crisper and better.

At a time when we are appreciating dumb, mindless, popcorn flicks like Transformers 2 and G.I.Joe, we probably should give Wanted a fair try. It is unpretentious fun at its best. Is it a great film? No. Is it an entertaining film? Yes. If you want to watch a time-pass, entertaining film, Wanted is just for you. If you want a movie where you need your gray matter to work, sit at home and enjoy something else. Why bother going to the theater and whine later.

Mohandas – A Man Lost in his Own Nation

“Fake lives are real and the real does not even exist.”

I heard about the movie Mohandas a few months back. I searched on Youtube and after playing with the keywords for a while, finally found the trailer. I was interested as I loved Mazhar Kamran’s work in Satya. After finding the trailer interesting, I kept waiting to hear more about the movie from someone on PFC. Sadly, no one recommended. Nor did anyone talk about the movie. Last week I came to know the movie is releasing on 4^th September. I was worried whether the movie will release in Bangalore or not. Thankfully it did. It is running 2 shows in entire Bangalore. Talk about fate of Hindi indie films in India!

The film tells the story of Mohandas, a brilliant student despite economic backwardness and how his life turns topsy-turvy when he finds out someone impersonified him and is working in the coal mines instead of him. His story is then sent to a news channel based in Delhi and how a journalist tries to uncover the truth.

Mohandas revives the cinema of the late 70s and early 80s when movies talked about social inequities and had something to say. It looks really different than the rest of the Hindi movies just because of the landscape. The barren lands, the coal mines, the dust, the poverty all adds up to create an atmosphere of frustration just like the protagonist is experiencing.

There is a scene in the movie when Mohandas says, “Woh kagaz kahan se laoon, jo yeh baat bataae, ki main hi main hoon." And then you see the despair in his eyes and the camera shifts to the all the other characters present there and no one has an answer. That makes the movie scary and very topical. Identity theft is a very serious issue in the internet age and several instances have been found. The movie which talks about it is located in a village in Madhya Pradesh which probably does not have electricity.

The beauty of the film lies in its story. Here there is a movie which has a story to tell. You get deeply engrossed into the movie as it progresses. It is like slow burn. As the movie progresses, one feels the frustration, anger, despair of the protagonist. The rustic color palette that the movie uses due to the real locations is so different than the regular Hindi movies we see, that it becomes a character of its own.

The characterization in the movie is also very realistic. We see a lot of people with gray shades for a change. There is a local journalist who is interested in Mohandas’ case as it might help him get a break into national television. Although the local people talks about Mohandas’ case, no one is interested to really help him out.

Towards the end of the film, after the verdict is given, the cast breaks into song and dance mode. It kind of comes out of place in context of the movie and I was wondering why on earth the director added this. Thankfully the movie does not end there and the reality prevails. The movie ends brilliantly. It feels like a tight slap on the face. Although it might feel pessimistic, it is actually closer to reality.

Coming to technicalities, the cinematography is really good. But we expect that from Mazhar Kamran. There were two instances where it went out of focus, but I think it was the flaw of the projection. The background score (and sometimes the lack of it) adds to the mood of the movie. Since real locations have been used, it looks very believable. However, one scene at the beginning of the movie which shows Sonali Kulkarni’s apartment is very unrealistic. How come she, a journalist live in such a posh apartment? Even if she does, the color choices of the interior decor are cringe worthy. There are instances in the first half where the pace slackens and probably needs a little bit of editing. The flaskback of Mohandas’ childhood is very clichéd. Similar scenes of poor child shining in school have been shown umpteenth times.

Coming to performances, Mohandas has an ensemble cast. Nakul Vaid underplays the role beautifully. His eyes do show the pain. Sonali Kulkarni is good. Aditya Shrivastav as always is brilliant. Uttam Halder, someone I never saw before is really good as the local journalist. Govind Namdeo, Sushant Singh and Akhilendra Mishra are competent. Sharbani Mukherjee falters to some extent. I thought she didn’t look the part. Also the way she speaks is unconvincing.

Mohandas is a rare Hindi movie which dares to speak something different. It is an independent movie in the true sense. It makes a very strong socio-political statement of the current times.

It is flawed. But then flawed brilliance is still brilliant, right?

Post Script:

One noted film critic (or not) while reviewing Mohandas has said, “…not all stories have the potential to be adapted for the big screen. Mohandas suffers due to this reason.”

There were 7 people in the theater other than me. Except for one guy, I don’t think anyone was even remotely interested in watching the movie. I could overhear popcorn discussions frequently.

While coming out there was huge rush as Fox also finished next door. The discussions were detailed analysis of the northern and southern hemisphere of Udita Goswami and what cars Arjun Rampal drove. Within moments of coming out of the theater, it felt like another India.