Spoilers ahead…
Two vastly different films vie for space in Girish Malik’s Jal. The first one is a sort of tragic satire. A Russian conservationist comes to the Rann of Kutch to study flamingos. She delights at the pink-hued birds taking flight, and one day, while taking a swim in a brackish lake, she discovers that the bottom is littered with dead chicks. She realises that she needs to provide the birds a source of good water, and so she – along with her team – contacts the government and gets drilling machines, and when they cannot find any water, they enlist the services of a local diviner named Bakka (Purab H Kohli). Soon enough, water is found.
A huge sadness weighs down on this portion of the film. The villagers in the area are perpetually water-deprived. They depend on Bakka, who presses an ear to the ground and says this is where the water is. And yet, with their pickaxes and spades, there’s only so much they can do, so far they can dig. And here’s this foreign woman, who, to save birds, is able to click her fingers and summon up the kind of machinery that can drill down to water in a matter of hours.
There are many ways this track could have played out. As a Swades-like feel-good fable about how it takes an outsider, sometimes, to make a change. As a portrait of government apathy. As a study of the inertia that envelops so many of our villages, whose downcast residents seek deliverance but from what and how they themselves do not know. Any of these could have resulted in a strong, unique art-house effort.
But the director is after another film as well – a more traditional, more mainstream melodrama involving stolen jewels, a double cross, murder, rape, some “comedy” where the villagers lust after the Russian conservationist, some more comedy about Bakka marrying Kesar (Kirti Kulhari) and retreating for a 10-day-long lovemaking session, warring villages, a love triangle (Tannishtha Chatterjee’s Kajri is in love with Bakka too), and an action scene where the hero fights the villain in a slushy pit. Suddenly, those flamingos are a distant memory.
Perhaps Malik felt that the largely unvarying landscape would provide the consistency, smooth things over and fuse the two films into an organic whole. To say that he’s in love with the desert is an understatement. He gazes at his surroundings like a teenage boy opening a Playboy centrefold for the first time. Practically every scene stops for a sharp intake of breath, and strives for a David Lean effect. Early on, when Bakka prays to the heavens for water, the camera rises and pins him down amidst acres of cracked earth, which look like designer tiles. Later, when Bakka is tied to a camel and dragged through the desert, the scene is presented in slow motion, all the better for the sand to rise like clouds of talc.
If only some of this obsession had transferred to other aspects of the film. The performances range from the perfunctory to the pitiable. Kohli is an affable presence when he’s drinking coffee in TV commercials, but he just doesn’t have it in him to portray the complex Bakka, some sort of “paani ka devta” who may also be something of a womaniser. Even the usually reliable Yashpal Sharma looks out of sorts. But there’s only so much you can do with this kind of writing. When Kajri speaks for the women of the village and offers their jewellery to pay for the drilling machine, no one protests that she cannot be making decisions for them, and no one slips a locket or a ring into a blouse because they can’t stand to part with it. They stand up meekly and proffer their necklaces and bangles. Saints would possess more personality. I walked out of this missed opportunity wanting to scratch a vague itch. Maybe a viewing of Road, Movie will do the trick.
KEY:
* Jal = water
* Swades = see here
* a Playboy centrefold = see here
* a David Lean effect = see here
* when he’s drinking coffee in TV commercials = see here
* paani ka devta = God of water
Copyright ©2014 Baradwaj Rangan. This article may not be reproduced in its entirety without permission. A link to this URL, instead, would be appreciated.
Baradwaj Rangan 
Upnworld.com
April 6, 2014
“Perhaps Malik felt that the largely unvarying landscape would provide the consistency, smooth things over and fuse the two films into an organic whole”!!!
It takes a dreamer to understand another dreamer 😉
LikeLike
Jerina
April 7, 2014
I was wondering when some body would realize that Purab Kohli can’t act. He managed pretty well being the affable VJ, leaning on his impish smile to move things along. But after watching him in the said coffee ad where a too strong to be sexy Deepika tries to seduce him on the stairs, he looks like a cornered animal. It’s pretty pathetic.
LikeLike
Urvashi
April 12, 2014
I notice that “Spoilers Ahead” has become a permanent feature at the beginning of your reviews. Your earlier work touched very lightly on the plot, but of late you practically detail the entire story, embellishments and all. How come? It’s a bit disappointing, peeking into the blog, sighing at the level of spoilers and then having to come back after seeing the movie. Is this a shift in reviewing strategy? Do you now see your audience as only those who’ve already seen the movie, as opposed to those who plan to?
LikeLike
brangan
April 13, 2014
Urvashi: As I said in an earlier thread, the reviews themselves haven’t changed much. But new readers found some of the stuff (i.e. where I take one scene and chew on it) spoilery. Hence the general overall warning.
LikeLike
Urvashi
April 13, 2014
Errm, not so true – there is a distinct shift – I just read your review on Queen, and you’ve written a pretty much a blow-by-blow account of the events – if I had read it before watching the movie, i would’ve known much more about the plot than I needed to. It went far beyond just analysis to a retelling. I fear that this general warning has freed you up to sharing more than is necessary and that detracts from the subtlety with which your earlier work was characterized
LikeLike
pvatham
April 17, 2014
saw this movie at the Busan Internation Film Festval..big mistake! There were so many better films around. The synopsis of the movie featured just the first part and I thought the Rann of Kutch may have been captured in its full glory..failure on both counts. To top it all the crew and actors came out and I got the vibe they were really satisfied with themselves. This delusion and lack of self-criticism is appaling!
LikeLike