DEATH BECOMES HIM
A dying man finds hope in a drama that works winningly until it gets sidetracked into the supernatural.
AUG 29, 2010 – WHY ISN’T NAGESH KUKUNOOR MORE THAN JUST a hazy blip on the mainstream radar? He makes inexpensive films, which keeps the moneymen happy. For the most part, he works with actors as opposed to stars, and under his guidance, as in Aashayein, even a star like John Abraham is inspired to impart at least a semblance of actorly grace. And he makes films quickly – so unlike filmmakers who take years to come out with a film and then find themselves having to surmount mountainous expectations, fed by pent-up anticipation, we don’t go into a Kukunoor movie expecting the world. At least in my case, I expect little more from him than brass-tacks competence – but because his stories are so different, and because he stages them with such calm assurance, I come away reasonably satisfied. And even when he well-and-truly bombs out, as with Bombay to Bangkok, you retain at least a clutch of happy memories, usually harking back to the crowd-pleasing characters this director is so good at crafting.
Aashayein has plenty of solid laughs, a couple of terrific romantic moments (a marriage proposal with merely two lines of dialogue is a low-key charmer), a handful of rousing (and, yes, crowd-pleasing) eccentrics, truckloads of snappy dialogue, and a story that’s more than a little universal. (The protagonist, Rahul, discovers he’s dying. He joins a hospice and finds comfort in others waiting to draw their last breath. It’s no accident that Rahul, at one point, is caught watching Anand. It’s that laughter-amidst-tears scenario that Kukunoor is attempting to milk for the multiplex market.) After a while, the film does settle into a woozily good-natured zone with little semblance of the narrative moving forward, but when the characters are so likeable and so memorable, you sometimes stop caring about where they are going – you just settle down to enjoy what they are doing. So tell me again, why isn’t Nagesh Kukunoor a more valued commodity?
I reckon my fondness for Kukunoor’s films has to do with my fondness for the films of his inspiration – Hrishikesh Mukherjee. Along with Anand, you sense a Mili hangover in Aashayein, especially in Padma (the spunky Anaitha Nair), the wheelchair-bound drama queen who befriends Rahul at the hospice. Like Jaya Bhaduri’s Mili, she’s a ray of sunshine dispelling the gloom of impending death – but with a twist. Get too close and you may get burnt. This is how Kukunoor builds on Mukherjee. He borrows the basic sensibility, and he layers it with his own modernity. Padma, for instance, is months shy of 18, a minor, and yet she wants to experience love, emotionally and physically, with the 35-year-old Rahul. This is the very definition of walking on a minefield, and Kukunoor handles it with heart and humour and just the faintest touch of melodramatic sentiment.
Death is a constant presence in the hospice, and yet, in the middle-of-the-road Mukherjee tradition, it’s life that’s affirmed, it’s living that’s acknowledged. In one of the most poignant passages of Aashayein, Rahul’s fiancée Nafisa (Sonal Sehgal) shuts him up when he begins to feel a little too sorry for himself. She says the problem with dying people is that they think no one else suffers as much, but what about the living, who will have to endure the hell of parting long after the death of the loved one? Kukunoor has never been much of a music montage maker, but at least in the Chala aaya pyaar sequence, he gets it completely right, when he weaves in an act of mercy killing right between the lines Kabhi zindagi ko savare sajaye and Kabhi maut ko bhi gale se lagaaye. It’s refreshing to see a director being so heartfelt in a cinematic clime where hipster cool is the preferred currency. Hrishikesh Mukherjee would have been proud.
Where Aashayein begins to go seriously wrong is when it begins to embrace the whimsical and the supernatural, in the subplot instigated by the boy Govinda (Ashwin Chitale), who’s assumed to have a hotline to the heavens. Kukunoor wants to infuse an element of overt heroism into his hero’s quest to conquer his predicament, which is why the “quest” becomes literal, akin to an Indiana Jones adventure for the Holy Grail. (Here, of course, the Holy Grail is life itself). This also ties in with how Rahul has been presented to us – as a macho stud who grabs life by the balls. Not only is his apartment adorned with posters of testosterone explosions like Raiders of the Lost Ark and Terminator 2: Judgment Day, even his so-called career (he makes a living betting on cricket matches) is an ode to macho recklessness. When the bookie advises him to keep some money aside for a rainy day, Rahul simply says, “Sab kuch ya kuch nahin,” all or nothing. So it makes sense that his attempt to come to terms with his subsequent condition is tinged with a cinematic sense of adventure (he refers constantly to how scenes from his life would play out in a film, and he calls his best friend, Xavier, X-Man) – the thought is sound, but the execution isn’t.
But you endure these longueurs because, by then, you’ve taken these characters to heart. Nafisa is a relatively minor part of the proceedings, and even she has traits we come to know and love – like her jaded admonition to Rahul that he shouldn’t smoke in their flat (knowing full well that he’s not going to stop), or her weakness with figures. (She reads the amount in a cheque as three lakhs, then thirty lakhs, before realising it’s actually three crores.) The inmates of the hospice are similarly sprinkled with splashes of colour – like G Parthasarathy (Girish Karnad), who keeps beat to a rock song by counting fingers in accordance with aadhi thaalam, or Madhu (Farida Jalal, cast interestingly against type), who contracted AIDS in a manner most unexpected. And even here, amidst all the cheer, there’s a sense of fate hovering overhead, like a roiling thundercloud. When Parthasarathy shows a picture of himself in front of the Twin Towers on 9/11, we’re amazed that he survived – but then he reveals that throat cancer struck him a little later. In one way or the other, we’re all doomed, so why not put on the fedora, crack the bullwhip and make a jolly adventure of it all?
Copyright ©2010 The New Sunday Express. This article may not be reproduced in its entirety without permission. A link to this URL, instead, would be appreciated.
Abhirup
August 28, 2010
Spot on, Mr. Rangan. This is exactly how I felt while watching this film. In my opinion, it has a very engaging first half, and while the second half has its moments too, the sojourns into the supernatural and the dreamy doesn’t quite work. Loved the Indiana Jones at the end though; when John puts on the leather jacket and the fedora, takes the bullwhip, and sets out with Nafisa on a last great adventure. Did you like that part?
And though this is not really in connection with the love, I nevertheless want to ask: are you a ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ fan (and by extension, an Indy fan)?
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Venkatesh
August 29, 2010
“why isn’t Nagesh Kukunoor a more valued commodity?” – Marketing, hubris , idiocy – take your pick.
Be that as it may – the guy is just fantastic – glad to see he is back in some sort of form , after the two duds , Tasveer and that Bangkock movie.
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Vikas Bhargava
August 29, 2010
Slight digression: chose to watch Antardwand instead of Aashayien because Anurag Kashyap had reportedly endorsed the movie. And i must say i came out highly impressed. The movie was soo bad that it turned out to be good. Its the modern “Gunda”. The whole theater was laughign at this “National Award Winner” and I came out of the screening, wiping off tears from my eyes. It has to be seen to be believed really.
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bran1gan
August 29, 2010
Abhirup: How can anyone who grew uop in the 80s not be an Indy fan? 🙂
Vikas Bhargava: I wanted to review that film, but the show timing was inconvenient. So nothing great, huh?
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Abhirup
August 29, 2010
Ha ha, true. Still, wanted to confirm.
You still haven’t answered my other question though. Did you like the ending? I mean, the part where John dresses up as Indy and sets out on his last great adventure?
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Venkatesh
August 29, 2010
Vikas : “Its the modern “Gunda” – you dont say. This has to be seen to be believed.
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bran1gan
August 29, 2010
Abhirup: I did. That’s why I wrote that last line. I liked the Indy conceit overall — it just wasn’t executed all that well.
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Vikas Bhargava
August 29, 2010
I don’t know brangan, I tried searching for reviews of the movie online but apparently everyone is raving mad about it. I would really not go with how the theater audience behaves during a screening, but it looked like there was a well behaved decent bunch of 20 odd people watching this one and every single of them were laughing like crazy throughout the movie.
The tone was set right from the first scene where the actors appeared as if they were acting for some unpaid Doordarshan documentary. My partner observed that she could “make out all of them were acting”, which indicates the extremely poor direction and shoddy production values (rather than acting) of the cast. And the situation turned so absurd and with all the atrociously corny dialogues, it turned out to be a guffaw filled roller coaster ride. But for me, it was 250 bucks well spent as I hadn’t laughed as hard ever in a theater.
There was also a teaser trailer for Aakrosh which had the funniest and the hammiest lines at the end of it. Looks like the bollywood movie machine has finally zeroed in on serious social issues which would get the typical non-sensical treatment. Torturous times to begin!
Anyway waiting for fresh views on this one.
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Vikas Bhargava
August 29, 2010
@Venkatesh: Well, I guess I got over emotional over it. Not Antardwand is certainly not Gunda, I am sorry. But its the best one of the genre you can watch this year in the theaters at least. And not because it was meant to be bad (like our typical Deshdrohi product) but rather, for the utterly serious social issue that turns inadvertently into a comical masterpiece. There are some really priceless dialogues in this little gem.
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Abhirup
August 29, 2010
Agreed about the execution. But everything said and done, ‘Aashayein’ is definitely a return to form after the dual duds ‘Bombay to Bangkok’ and ‘8X10 Tasveer’.
Where can I get your review of ‘Iqbal’? And ‘Bollywood Calling’, if you have reviewed it?
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Raj Balakrishnan
August 29, 2010
Baradwaj, Kukunoor always has a ‘normal’ Muslim character in his movies (i.e. not a fanatic or a terrorist or a patriot etc.). Iqbal of course had Shreyas playing the normal Muslim, Dor had Gul Panag, Tasveer had Javed Jaffrey, now this one has Nafisa. Not that there is anything wrong in having such characters, I think that it’s actualy a good thing.
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FDFS
August 30, 2010
“There was also a teaser trailer for Aakrosh which had the funniest and the hammiest lines at the end of it. Looks like the bollywood movie machine has finally zeroed in on serious social issues which would get the typical non-sensical treatment. Torturous times to begin!”
This sealed the deal, you’re retarded!
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FDFS
August 30, 2010
@ Vikas the idiot:
It’s hardly anyone’s fault if the Audience in India acts like a bunch of retards when a serious movies comes around and Anurag Kashyap isn’t all that good as hyped by you dumbass Indie kids.
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FDFS
August 30, 2010
* When a serious movie comes around
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Arthi V
August 30, 2010
A digression..BR, have you written about the movie Pankh ? Unable to find it out here….if you have, that is….
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Vikas Bhargava
August 31, 2010
Vikas the idiot is all smiles :). Whatever the scene of the audience or the movies be, one thing is sure: some of us have a long way to go before we can “appear” civilized and courteous at least. Anyway.
Planning to catch up Aashayein.
@brangan: seriously man, if this forum is moderated, then there is utterly no place for this kind of flame war rubbish. It adds nothing.
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bran1gan
August 31, 2010
Abhirup: Must be in my older site. I’ll try to look up links.
Raj Balakrishnan: That’s a wonderful observation. Thanks.
Arthi V: No, I don’t think Pankh landed up here.
Vikas Bhargava: I agree it adds nothing. But I’m never sure how moderation should take place, for words like “moron” and “idiot” and “retard” have become part of Internet discourse. I think one of the saddest aspects of the Web is that is exposes people’s real sides, the way they’d behave if no one knew who they were. Thank you for taking the comment with a smile.
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Abhirup
August 31, 2010
Please do, Sir.
Something else that I would like to ask you: the other day I read about Soham Shah, the director of the dreadful film ‘Kaal’, saying that he added the supernatural dimension to the film because in India, it is impossible to engage the audience with solely a creature (in this case, a tiger), as Steven Spielberg did in ‘Jaws’ and ‘Jurassic Park’. When I read this, I wondered if this is just a lame excuse for the weaknesses of his film, or if there is some truth in his words. Your thoughts? (And I would be grateful if you tell me your opinion on these two films as well).
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vijay
September 1, 2010
BR, have you watched this video?
I dont see it much on TV these days, but thanks to whoever uploaded it. Used to be my video favorite long time back. A devastating combination of editing and choreography with the unlikeliest of dancing pairs you will ever find-Vijaykanth and Bhanupriya 🙂 Bhanupriya(one of my ex-goddesses) usually runs circles around everyone including the choreographer so it must have been a challenge for Prabhu Deva to do this one. In my opinion this puts to shame most other Shankar-style grandly staged videos that were to invade Tamil cinema later on. I caught this recently and it had me hooked all over again. Just the simplicity of the white background. IR must have been stunned at the time seeing this picturization of his own song. Vijaykanth can play this song in his election campaigns 🙂
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bran1gan
September 1, 2010
vijay: Of course I remember. This was the remake of Ghayal IIRC. I didn’t know Prabhu Deva had choreographed this song.
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Raj Balakrishnan
September 1, 2010
Thanks Baradwaj. And are you going to review that classic Hello Darling.
@ Vijay – One of my favourite music videos from the early 90s. Thanks, got nostalgic.
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rameshram
September 2, 2010
is it safe to come out of the hospital? Has roboda gone away yet?
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bran1gan
September 2, 2010
rameshram: Oh sweet Lord. You’re back? You’re going to start baiting my readers again? 🙂 Incidentally, if you want to escape roboda, you’ll have to go undercover till the end of Sept.
Hope you’re doing better.
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rameshram
September 2, 2010
I am only illegitimately and unfairly targeted for my opinions. 😀 I’m ok.
I think I’ll hide in an atomic bunker to escape the mummy.
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Abhirup
September 3, 2010
Am still waiting for an answer, Mr. Rangan.
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Venkatesh
September 3, 2010
@Vijay : Thanks for that video , BhanuPriya OMG. As to your main point you are quite its really choreographed very well.
@RameshRam: I came back after the Raavanan tsunami abated , i am expecting the Roboda riot to start soon. But hey, that i can survive – i think.
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