Maanzi, the mountain man: The story of lost generations

Maanzi, the mountain man is not just a mission movie like any other fictional movies. It's a mirror of Indian society after independence and tries to showcase the struggles and aspirations of people in rural India especially in northern part of India.

Maanzi, the mountain man is based on real life story of Dashrath Maanzi popularly known as the mountain man. Staying in a remote village of Gaya district of Bihar, he is facing atrocities of upper caste people. But Dashrath is a free spirited fighter with a positive attitude towards life. His struggles against oppressive social order are laced with different emotions in varying circumstances. He successfully woes and elopes with his childhood bride against the wishes of his in laws (yes, he is married at young age with bride residing with in laws). Unable to bear the open advances towards   his dear wife by the village thug, he stand up against  the mighty upper castes. Later. In a shocking and accidental death of Fagunia, Dashraths wife, he makes cutting a road through hill to nearest town, his mission of life. In his journey of 22 years of hill cutting, illiterate  Dashrath is mocked, discouraged, cheated, loved and finally supported. How he successfully completes his promise to himself against all the odds is the story of the movie.

The subject of the movie does not restricts itself to the love story of Dashrath and Fagunia but also   attempts focus on rouge and oppressive social order,  corrupt elitist rule which killed dreams of aspirational generations in rural India. There's also a reference to retaliatory naxalite movement whose violent means are unsuccessfully protested by Dashrath.lt goes on to showcase the basic belief of India's folks in peaceful means of social and economic transformation, at a times even by dedicating one's whole life to the cause. Yet, no one cares because of wide prevailing gap in material standards of the different classes and widespread corruption.Is it just a movie on social and economic conditions  of certain sections of population?- no, it's also and more rightfully the story of the man who resolved to break the mountain in the memory of beloved lost wife.

Ketan Mehta is an acclaimed movie maker. This is his earnest attempt to highlight and immortalise the story of Dashrath Manzi. In such movies the viewer must get a clear idea of the targets by showing developments in his work. The biggest flaw of the movie is that it fails to gives a clear picture of  targets set by Manzhi for himself and progress made on hill cutting.he is seen challenging a mighty mountain giving an impression that he is pitted against the same but later we realise that he goes on to cut some other portion of the hill. Although it's difficult to show such development in respect of something like a mountain, the challenge of the  mountain  whose barrier is villainous for Dashrath does not reach properly. Feel of Bihar also goes for toss when Maharashtra bus is shown ferrying the passengers. Barring such minor flaws the movie remains faithful to the subject. But in spite of sincerity of the makers, the film fails to move the viewer and engage emotionally. It’s merely a depiction of dramatic events unfolding in the life of Dashrath rather than cinematic expression of his struggles to achieve his eccentric objective in the span of 22 years.

Nawajuddin Siddiqui is 'shaandar, jaandar, jyabardashtya' (I need not say anything more). He lives the life of Dashrath Maanzhi. The emotive ride and the finer display of the Dashraths passion is exemplary. His interaction with the journo in various stages of his life, difficulties and moments of ups and downs are finely displayed. Radhika Apte supports very well. Ketan Mehta does a reasonably good job but short of making it a 'shaandar, jaandar, jyabardashtya' biographical considering the bar of Indian viewership is raised by numerous such films ouring from internet and television. What is more appealing part of the story is that it subtly and coincidently portrays the struggle for basics of lives by the downtrodden in the villages of India, It’s a story of lost generations whose efforts could not be utilized by the ruling elites and the political dispensation in the nation building. 

Mr Bachhan, here is your answer.

Recently I read in the newspapers that Amitabh Bachhan expressed his inability to explain the reasons for the longetivity of the all time hit movie ‘Sholay’. It continues to draw the attention of the younger audience and the popularity is intact even after forty years of its initial release and tremendous success. Having seen the movie when I was toddler and failing to remember the experience, I watched it umpteen times in the theatres, cable network and on television channels. Like millions of film viewers in India, almost every dialogue of Sholay is ingrained in my memories forever, is on my tip of tongue and the details of every character in mind. I can claim to analyse why the movie is still a hit and hope Mr Bachhan will agree. Here is my take on popularity of Sholay.

Reflection of diversity: India is a diverse society and we celebrate the same. Every moviemaker aspiring a commercial hit makes it point to reflect that communal harmony and diversity in the movie. Sholay too tries to do it. It has a leader of the village in form of Thakur who is a traditional village elite, subservient Ramuchacha, an ideal family of Thakur with lots of bahu- beti-balaks, a village Muslim representing the Muslims community,  a outlaw bandit in form of Gabbar, Basanti representing working women and poor farmers pleading before  Gabbar’s men. The protagonists Jai and Veeru were shown as lesser known thieves who are co opted in the regular society and pitted against the ruthless dacoit of demonic nature. It is no secret that the movie also drew heavily from the Kurosowa’s classic ‘Seven Samurai’ and other foreign films. But it is essentially an Indian film with all the masala, authentic Indian characters and dramatic situations.

It offers all: like representation of diversity in Indian villages, it also presents a unique blend  of Navrasas i.e nine emotions. Let’s discuss each one of them

1.   Shringar: Shringar is feeling of love, attraction. Dashing Veeru’s and chirpy Basanti’s love story blossoms against the backdrop of Gabbar’s overpowering atrocities over Ramgarh. It’s as case of love at first sight which moves ahead with a dose of comedy (mango shooting, tanki drama) and ultimately ends with Jai-Veeru saving her from Gabbar’s den. There is a forlorn, melancholy love story blossoming between Jai and Radha, widowed daughter in law of Thakur. The story meets an unhappy ending  considering the social restrictions on remarriage of widows in traditional society and Shoaly is seen taking escapist route on this sub plot. Dancer-actress Helen displays energetically earthy and explicit dance for the lovers of that genre.

2.  Hasya: Comedy or laughter rasa: There are exclusive characters for comedy in Sholay. Jagdeep plays Soorma Bhopali and Asrani ‘Angrezon ke jamane ke jailer’. But the best part is that other characters also do their bit for the sake of comedy. Notably Jai plays nasty friend to Veeru by nixing his sussyd (suicide) and marriage plans. And who can forget the classic terse reply from Jai to Basanti – ‘haa… tumhara naam kya hai Basanti. Pehli baar ye naam suna hai’. Amitabh playing Jai coolly displays his wide range of humour in contrast  to lively and cheerful Veeru.

3.   Raudra: Furious. Gabbar is furious over his pithhoos over many petty things. Thakur gets furious over Gabbar, himself and his helplessness.

4.      Karuna: All the members of Thakur’s family getting killed by a dacoit. Thakur was doing his duty as a policeman but the Gabbar takes it personally and seeks a bloody revenge by killing Thakur’s big happy family including children. Viewers must have shaken seeing the mass murder and felt pity for the innocent members of family

5.   Bibhatsya: Aversion, disgust- ‘ab tera kya hoga Kaaliya?’ asks Gabbar to his failed men, gives them a chance of survival by emptying half cartridge and then shoots at them after rotating the randomly filled cartidge. Then he laughs loudly at the luck of three men surviving even after minimalistic chance and then shoots them suddenly. Yuck!

6.     Bhayanak: Horror, terror. Gabbar claims ‘pachas pachas kos jab koi baccha rota hai to maa kehti hai- beta so jaa, nahi to Gabbar aa jayega’ (Mothers tell their naughty toddlers to go to bed threatening them in the name of Gabbar). This is the indirect reference to the terror and notoriety that Gabbar had attained.  

7.     Veer: Heroic. Name of the two heroes are Jai and Veeru meaning Victory and Brave heart. Veer rasa is shown by all the three protagonists- Thakur, Jai and Veeru.

8.   Adbhut: Wonder, amazement. Train robbery was something never seen before on Indian screen. It is speedy and mesmerising action scene even today, when lot of action can be created by using computers technology and specialist action directors.

Mr Bachhan and his family have spent their entire life in the film industry. They know better than anyone else about movies. So also a lot must have already been written about Sholay by social and film scholars. There must have been books, papers etc written on its popularity and analysis by the artists, crtitics and movie lovers. But this was my humble attempt to analyse the complete package that was offered by Sholay.

‘Drishyam’: Great story, less of cinema

‘Drishyam’ is a critically acclaimed as well as a commercially successful movie in all its versions. It’s a commendable achievement considering the original version was shot in a regional language. While I watched this movie, I couldn’t resist comparing it with another movie of the same genre i.e ‘Kahani’. Both are suspense thrillers and keep you captivated till the last second of the movie.

In ‘Drishyam’, Vijay Salgaonkar is a family man in a small village in Goa who runs a cable business and works nights. He has a loving wife, one teenage daughter and a younger one. The family is aspiring like any other middle class family in India and cherishes the conservative values. Their simple and peaceful life is disturbed due to an accidental killing of a blackmailer by the elder daughter, in presence of his wife. The victim happens to be a son of powerful and apparently ruthless woman police officer. What follows is game of wits and battle for saving family by Vijay against the all powerful cop. Anticipating that circumstantial evidence and personal animosity against corrupt local cop will bring the cops at his door steps, he plans a daring cleanup operation and saves his family. Ultimately, he comes out clean with a clear conscience and tells his wife that in some circumstances the judgment of wrong or right is beyond human ability and anyone would have acted similarly.

Why is ‘Drishyam’ a good movie? There is very small answer to the question: good story. It keeps you riveted till the end. You long for answers like the desperate cop and admire the efforts of a commoner pitted against the powerful. There is obvious sympathy towards the family considering the conditions in which the unfortunate and unintended murder takes place. This helps the viewers to identify the protagonists clearly. While the investigation is certainly conclusive about the ignorance of the family in the eyes of the husband of the cop, who acts as a ‘Dr Watson’ of the cop, the cop reveals the greater design and concludes that Vijay is the one behind the disappearance of her son. This revelation comes out as a big twist and along with Mr Cop, the viewer too understand Vijay’s design to fabricate the counter evidence. How Vijay’s gutsy pre planning helps him survive remains to be seen on the screen.

The seasoned actors have done their jobs with ease. Ajay Devgan, Tabu, Shriya Saran and Rajat Kapoor have done good jobs. Special mention must be made of Kamlesh Sawant who plays corrupt local cop and the girls playing the daughters of Vijay. Casting is perfect.

‘Drishyam’ does play a limited mind game with the viewers but they might love to see more of how the impeccable family bonding fails to crumble in the adversity. However, I felt that ‘Drishyam’ does not give a cinematic experience as good as ‘Kahani’ gave, where the camera speaks a lot instead of characters. Possibly original ‘Drishyam’ was made with limited resources but with no such constraints applicable in Hindi this could have looked better. It looks an average budget Hindi movie. But for these smaller handicaps, which do not hamper the viewers good experience anyway, this movie is a worth watch.

The movie is made against the background of Goa, my current place of residence and it was quite amusing to see the references to places, practices and language of the place. There were shots in the movie where the family goes to the movie hall and it was shot in the same hall where I was watching the movie. Interesting.

My rating: 7 out of 10 

Bahubali: Awesome fantasy

I recently watched dubbed Hindi film ‘Bahubali: the beginning’. The film has some awesome scenes of a historical fantasy world. This film is already a huge hit worldwide. Many accolades are showered though this is only a first of the two series, the second of which will follow in 2016.

Shiva is a village boy who is often curious to know what lies beyond the mountains that border his village. He is curious because he keeps getting indications of existence of other civilization beyond the natural boundary of mountains, jungles and the waterfalls. Once a mask found in the waterfall propels his desire to cross the mountains and meet his fantasy girl He then happens to land in the world of tribal’s fighting against the mighty forces of Mahishmati Kingdom to secure the release of Devasena. Shiva clandestinely understands the developments while befriending tribal warrior girl Avantika. For the sake of his love with Avantika he decides to engage himself in the mission of the releasing Devasena.

Avantika

Fantasy

Cut to grand Mahishmati: A fabulously wealthy state of Mahishmati is ruled by oppressive King Vallabh. Devasena, the jailed queen is in reality the mother of Shiva and sister in law of King Vallabh. Shiva successfully rescues Devasena from the clutches of Vallabh and in process gains the knowledge that he is revered by the folks and soldiers in Mahishmati as Bahubali.The mystery of his popularity by the name of Bahuabali unfolds in a flashback which is the story of succession battle between two princes - Bahubali and Vallabh. They are cousins being brought up by de facto queen of Mahishmati named Shivagami. Upon growing up, the succession battle takes a decisive turn in the ensuing war against oppressors Kalakeyas. After the victory, queen awards her judgement in the favour of immensely popular prince Bahuabali and decides to hand over reins of army to Prince Vallabh. Shiva, after successful release of Devasena, understands his true identity of being the son of Bahubali and Devasena. But the end takes a twist when loyal army guard Katappa declares that he was responsible for killing of King Bahubali.

Mahishmati

The biggest draw of the film is breathtaking visualization of the Mahishmati kingdom, war scenes and world of Shiva before leaving it in search of his ladylove. It’s truly world class and can easily pass of as a Hollywood work. No words are enough to praise the confidence and belief of the directors and producers of this cinema in their technical team. The only jarring part is that such graphics leave a better impact when they display humanly impossible work in a humanly possible way. The directors (including technical directors) here take the liberty with the technology to create stunts as if performed by a super flying alien. Shiva jumps and summersaults like a Superman or Spiderman. This takes away the seriousness of the struggle of a village boy to gain his love through a struggle. Though I watched dubbed movie, I can easily say that music is just passable.

The biggest test in the epic movie of this scale is to keep the audience hooked with great story alongside riveting grandeur of scenes. Bahubali successfully does it.It is a historical fantasy which takes you into the world of Shiva, Avantika and the succession battle for the Kingdom of Mahishmati. The test also lies in developing the minor characters and giving them significant roles. Here characters like Katappa, Queen Shivagami, Devsena, Avantika are well developed and seen playing their respective roles in the life of Shiva and Bahubali.

On the acting front Prabhas who duplicates as Shiva and Bahuabali, is seen doing what every Indian hero has to do in movies. Be a superhero, romance with the fantasy girl, be a darling of parents, enjoy adulation of the friends and folks and finally be the savior of the helpless. Prabhas though fits himself physically very well in both the roles, he looks awkward in places. Tamanna can look beautiful but its confirmed again that she has severe limitations in acting skills. Anushka Shetty and Ramya play their parts with ease. Special mention should be made of Rana Dugubatti and Satyaraj who respectively play Vallabh and Katappa. Rana, frankly speaking does a better job than Prabhas. This movie would not be the same without tremendous screen presence of Katappa. Kudos.

Vallabh

Katappa 

Final words are reserved for the war scenes between Mahishmati and oppressor Kalakeyas. The battle scenes are so grand that they will set a benchmark for every upcoming India movie. The efforts taken to create the environment of battle and its swings are sensitively picturised to bring the feel of battle to the viewers. However, the battle strategies, arms, arnours of the soldiers and the weaponry are apparently show deep influence of the western warfare tactics shown in numerous Hollywood movies. Yet they are passed off as Indian.

As a person grown up watching Hindi movies and equating them to Indian movies, time has possibly come to acknowledge the innovation brought to India by the regional cinema. It is growing is size, scale, innovation, grandeur and it may soon overshadow typed Bollywood unless they change. While resource wise the Hindi cinema is still a bigger industry, the out of the box thinking displayed here is missing. ‘Bahubali: the beginning’ is definitely a red flag for Bollywood.