Ram Gopal Varma: A Humble Status Enquiry Please!

Why should any film director, let him/her be a seriously famous or crass commercial maker, make a movie like the ’12 O’ Clock’ (2021) while still in the right frame of mind? I’m saying so because the film, placed in the ‘horror’ genre, is ludicrously absurd, inadvertently funny and with superimposed superficial characters. The angst of the viewers is particularly aggravated if that filmmaker happens to be an era-defining and a prolific one for over three decades. I cannot restrain myself from quoting the Hindi teaser that goes like this, ‘Tera barah baj gaya kya?’ (Have you got done with it?) while avoiding the Sardar jokes associated with the ’12 o’ clock’ phenomenon. Mind you, I’m far from trying to be offensive or insulting in any possible manner for I’ve been a devout admirer of the filmmaker since the 90s. As the title suggests I’m just asking as to what may have been happening with him in the recent years. However, it’s a far cry as regards the remotest possibility of this piece ever reaching him.

 

No doubt, the internationally acclaimed filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma who has almost been institutionalized and iconized as RGV in the new-age Indian Cinema has been a hypercreative and restless celluloid creator regularly shifting from genre to genre and relentlessly experimenting with avant-garde traditions, parallel cinema tenets, seriously song-less commercial ventures and also docudrama. Hailing from the Telugu film industry Ram Gopal Varma burst into the Hindi film industry or Bollywood with his epochal crime thriller ‘Shiva’ (1990) which was a remake of his Telugu masterpiece ‘Siva’ (1989). Moviegoers including this writer had been fascinated with his fresh new techniques in photography and use of realistic background audio combined with the introduction of the Steadicam for the first time in Indian cinema. Very soon, he was hailed as an Indian filmmaker of the neo-noir genre with his ‘Drohi’ in 1992 which was a bilingual movie in Telugu and Hindi.

 

True to his restless nature, RGV did not stick to his richly acquired genre of noir and shifted to the horror one with ‘Raat’ in which was also a bilingual production in the same year. Perhaps he was inspired by the archaic Ramsay kind of horror movies in India and made a new effort to change the concept permanently with jump scares, moving camera and the amplified use of the audio while avoiding the omnipresent grotesque monsters. Then in 1995 he again shifted to the romantic comedy genre with his unforgettable ‘Rangeela’ starring Aamir Khan and Urmila Matondkar, the latter heroine becoming a permanent feature in most of his later movies. In this super-duper blockbuster music director AR Rahman made his Hindi debut and won awards. In the interlude 1992-1995 Varma went on with his Telugu movies. Then sticking to the comedy genre combined with road adventure he made ‘Daud’ (run) starring Sanjay Dutt and Urmila in 1997 which is a remake of his Telugu cult classic of 1991. ‘Daud’ was an average hit with mixed reviews. This brings us to another characteristic of this filmmaker.

 

Apart from his ‘creative and experimentalist restlessness’ RGV is also like a cricketer who is often in full form and the next day he is out of form. His movies truly reflect this throughout the last three decades.

 

In 1998 he switched to the Gangster genre with his era-defining ‘Satya’ starring Urmila and Chakravarthy, and successfully created his Gangster trilogy with ‘Company’ (2002) and ‘D’ (2005). ‘Satya’ earned him international acclaim crowning him with the creator of Mumbai Noir as the movies of the trilogy brought out the layers of the Mumbai underworld. British filmmaker Danny Boyle cited the influences of ‘Satya’ and ‘Company’ in the making of his Academy Award winning ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ (2008). RGV was also featured in BBC World Series ‘Bollywood Bosses’ in 2004. Both ‘Satya’ and ‘Company’—the latter starring Ajay Devgan and Manisha Koirala—won him many Filmfare nominations and awards. As the cricketer in and out of form RGV was somewhat out of form in third movie of the trilogy ‘D’, and as per latest reports he is trying to bring out another sequel or prequel ‘D Company’. In the same year of 1998, he combined with Mani Rathnam to produce the memorable ‘Dil Se’.

 

In between, the restless creator shifted to the political thriller genre producing the critically acclaimed ‘Shool’ (Spike) (1999) that earned him a National Award for the Best Script. In the same year he experimented with a psychological thriller ‘Kaun’ filmed in just one house and with only three characters, namely Urmila and Manoj Bajpayee. In 2005 he seriously concentrated on the political thriller genre and created another trilogy, starting with the Godfatheresque ‘Sarkar’ (2005) starring Amitabh Bachchan and his son Abhishek which was a huge commercial success as well as critically acclaimed. Again, he started losing his form somewhat in ‘Sarkar Raj’ (2008) and lost it more in ‘Sarkar-3’ (2017).   

 

Of course, he never forgot his ‘horror’ genre and made a commercially successful ‘Bhoot’ (Ghost) in 2003, following it up in the same year with ‘Darna Mana Hai’ (fear is forbidden) and ‘Darna Zaroori Hai’ (fear is necessary) in 2006. In the year of 2003, he also produced a psychological thriller ‘Ek Hasina Thi’ (there was a girl) starring Urmila and anti-hero Saif Ali Khan. In 2004 he produced a suspense-crime flick ‘Ab Tak Chappan’ (so far 56) on an encounter specialist played brutally by Nana Patekar. He also returned to the horror genre with ‘Phoonk’ (Blow) in 2008 and this was perhaps the last superhit of RGV. Unfortunately, since then the RGV movies have been able to get only mixed to negative reviews except the absorbing political thriller ‘Rann’ in 2010 starring Amitabh Bachchan. The same year his ‘Rakta Charitra’ double-header reminded viewers including this writer prominently mostly of gore and violence portrayed in C-grade Hindi commercial masala movies.

 

His mistakes have contributed to his being consistently out of form since at least 2010: the mistake of trying to do a remake of the classic ‘Sholay’ that landed him in controversy and he went ahead still with a ridiculous title of ‘Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag’ (the fire of RGV); his misconceived notions of remaking the evergreens ‘Shiva’, ‘Satya’ and ‘Bhoot’; and so on. His supposed docudrama ‘The Attacks of 26/11’ (2013) failed to portray the intensity of the frightening Mumbai terror attack. In fact, the recent Amazon web series ‘Mumbai Diaries 26/11’ from a medical point of view is more engrossing as well as realistic.

 

Every filmmaker has his/her ups and downs, hits and flops as we’ve tried to narrate in the case of this iconic filmmaker of India who is apparently like the volatile cricketer. However, nothing of this justifies his making of the ’12 O Clock’ movie. Thanks to some Hollywood horror epics we know very well the phenomena of ‘possession and exorcism’. But in this film, this phenomenon has been turned grotesquely on its head without any explanation.

 

A stalwart theater-cinema actor Makarand Deshpande who has also featured in many of RGV movies has been reduced to a mockery of a character that emotes without conviction. Veteran Bollywood hero Mithun Chakraborty, also roped in as psychiatrist (the character pronounces it as ‘psychiatric’!), does not know what to do most of the times. The supposed exorcist played by Ashish Vidyarthi, before he could offer a solution, gets killed in his own house by the remote-controlling ghost of a psycho serial killer who possessed Makarand’s daughter Gauri. Manav Kaul and Dalip Tahil as cops are entirely wasted. RGV’s final solution to the problem is as horrendously absurd and laughable as the entire movie is inadvertently funny. I had the misfortune of watching this movie because of the RGV tag and that it was available on a streaming platform. 

 

Of course, Ram Gopal Varma retains his techno-savvy touches, movements and an appropriately effective background music, but is lacking mostly in the story development department. We hope this ever-creative director regain his form like Virat Kohli and bring back his magic in the near future. 

Movie PK: Looking Afresh At The Indian Way Of Life!

An alien lands on planet earth in that roundish kind of spacecraft we are used to watching in Hollywood and to some extent in Bollywood movies too. First thing that happens to him on earth is that his round blipping tracking system hung on his neck gets stolen and the alien loses all contact with his planet. If you are geared up for a sci-fi movie it ends just there. After that he is like a stark naked new-born baby (not exactly!) about to discover the ways of life on earth—mind you, essentially the Indian way of life. His intensely focused eyes display the heart-rending innocence and insatiable curiosity. He is perplexed at every step—being astounded by the dresses and costumes people wear, being piqued by the languages people speak and thoroughly confused by the religious practices and rituals people believe and indulge in. His innocently meaningful and hard-hitting questions make the people around him laugh or mock or get intrigued or get angry or even get violent.  The divinely complicit ‘wrong numbers’ or ‘companies’ or ‘duplicate gods’ brought around by the unstoppable PK remain with the viewers throughout. His escapades earn him the title of PK (in Hindi it means ‘come drunk?’) and PK is of course played by Aamir Khan making it one of his most challenging roles. The earth odyssey of PK begins.

Movie PKhas a uniquely simple plot told beautifully, delightfully, indicatively, hilariously and poignantly as the inimitable storytelling style of director-writer Rajkumar Hirani goes. All his films including PK have that vibrant positive energy that drives the narration effortlessly engrossing the moviegoers all the way. The ‘story’ in PK attracts Jaggu (Anushka Sharma) who returns home from abroad after a somewhat misunderstood love angle with a Pakistani boy and joins an Indian television news channel. Jaggu starts following PK relentlessly around and after being convinced of his ‘alien’ nature she persuades her channel producer (Boman Irani) to get the story on air serially and PK becomes a celebrity.  On his initial struggle PK makes a lovable acquaintance Bhairav Singh (Sanjay Dutt) who helps him escape from tricky situations and ‘learn’ languages in his unique alien way. PK starts communicating in fluent Bhojpuri adding fun and frolic to the plot. The ‘dancing cars’ also helped him in a significant way procuring the dresses he wants!

Some scenes remain with you. Like PK going into a temple with a Puja Thali or walking into a church or mosque often chased out, like his obsession of distributing the posters of ‘missing gods’, like making ‘religious investments and earning enormous profits’ at the base of a tree where he plants an icon, like chasing the actor clad as Lord Shiva around, his dialogues with Jaggu and the channel producer and many other situations that make you howl with laughter while moving you to introspect compulsively or moving you to plain tears.

True to his intensity and perfection for any role Aamir Khan carries the movie with him all the way dishing out one of the most memorable performances. Aamir Khan is now associated in making Bollywood Box Office history three times—his ‘3 Idiots’becoming the first Bollywood movie to cross 200 crores in rupees (2 billion), his ‘Dhoom 3’ becoming the first Bollywood movie to cross 250 crores (2.5 billion) and now his PK crossing 300 crores (3 billion) for the first time in Bollywood history and still counting. For the international market too PK has made history crossing 600 crores (6 billion) for the first time and is now ranked 65^thall time grosser worldwide. Making the movie experience more pleasurable Anushka Sharma as Jaggu matches Aamir at every step and impresses with her natural flair for acting. Parikshit Sahni, Sanjay Dutt, Boman Irani and Saurabh Shukla in other major roles are also delightful. Sushant Singh Rajput is immensely likeable too in a cameo.

Having said everything PK does not seem to surpass Hirani’s earlier creations. The usual punch of his Munnabhai films and 3 Idiots was somewhat missing in the climax scene of PK when PK was engaged in a live debate with the main religious leader (Saurabh Shukla). The intended punch that usually leads to a free flow of emotions and tears suddenly became personalized bringing in the love angle of Jaggu and the reunion thereof thus diluting the universality. The love angle of PK with Jaggu could also have been avoided. Further, a few of the songs of the movie seem to disturb the narration, because when splendid visuals are unfolding before you the playback ‘acting’ is hardly required. However, these are minor issues as far as the epic tale of rediscovering Indian way of life is concerned.

Surprisingly, this beautiful movie is not spared by controversy. Some religious protesters vandalized theaters in different parts of India including Maharashtra alleging insults to reigning deities and demanding a ban on the movie. Apparently most of the protesters did not watch the full movie. Fortunately, central BJP leaders and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis showed timely maturity brushing aside the allegations and coming in support of PK.  The ugly was not allowed to show its face again in India and beauty of creativity won. But for this controversy box office collections could have been still higher. If you gave the movie a miss due to this then amend it and watch PKdefinitely.

Movie Talaash: The Search Suspense That Finally Disappoints!

As his forte Aamir Khan has made his blockbuster appearance after a gap of almost three years since the release of the super movie 3 Idiots in 2009, and his magic worked for the much awaited Talaash; The Answer Lies Within that released on November 30, 2012 all over. Talaash has grossed the sixth highest Box Office earnings of the year over the release weekend and is confirmed a hit. Aamir Khan, this time coming with a big mustache, plays a cop and gives a powerhouse performance for his loving admirers yet again.

If you enjoy an absorbing suspense buildup to the extent that it makes the end irrelevant then Talaashis the right movie for you. We had said a similar thing in the review of Kahaani, but Kahaani was almost flawless and the intended power of the climax twist did not get diluted due to the ‘technicality’ whereas Talaash is not flawless and it ultimately does not stay loyal to the genre of suspense. The Talaash climax is kind of a state-of-the-mind affair—you like it or not like it as per you mental setup. Therefore, for some of you the climax would be mind shattering while for others it would be plain disappointing. And, if you are smart enough your disappointment starts at least half an hour before the end and your disappointment climaxes with the move climax. Maybe because of this the reviews of the move have been mixed. 

The values are stupendous though in this superbly crafted movie. It is almost a film noir or neo-noir with its artistically maintained black mood and a psychological tinge. Photography is brilliant creating the atmosphere of suspense and confusion with the visual mix of light and shade and darkness, lilting music rendering full support to the atmosphere and deft editing giving the cutting edge. The slimy lanes and inhabitants of Mumbai’s dark underbelly have been captured masterfully.

You do get intrigued from the very start when a car suddenly makes twists and turns in an empty Mumbai road in the dead of the night, hits the pavement and jumps into the sea. Police inspector Surjan Singh Shekhawat (Aamir Khan) takes up the investigation and discovers that the victim of the mysterious car accident is a movie superstar. 

Following various leads Shekhawat and his aide Kulkarni (Raj Kumar Yadav) keep visiting the Mumbai red-light district—the pimps, the madams in charge and the prostitutes. But investigations get delayed as the subplot involving Shekhawat’s personal life catches up. 

Aamir and Rani

He and his wife Roshni (Rani Mukherjee) both suffer from depression since their only child got drowned in a freak motor boat accident recently. But while Roshni regularly visits a psychiatrist her husband who cannot sleep at night and considers himself solely responsible for the accident seems entirely reluctant to help her and in fact seems to be the real cause of her depression. A neighborhood lady adds an occult angle to their already miserable existence.

Kareena Kapoor

As for the main plot Shekhawat hardly makes any more progress despite capturing and interrogating Tehmur (Nawazudding Siddiqui), the limp errand boy of the pimps and a crucial link to the case. However, Shekhawat’s sudden meeting with the beautifully mysterious hooker Rosy (Kareena Kapoor) and the desperate antics of Tehmur keep you intrigued and guessing. Just when things look most complicated and you gear up for a treat the movie makes the genre-shift and your disappointment starts. Till the climax and much beyond that you only engage yourself finding what answers lie within or without. 

Nawazuddin Siddiqui

Characterization in the movie is left far behind the desirable mark. Even Aamir Khan in the protagonist’s role does not find a fully defined character to fit into while Rani Mukherjee in the wife’s role is almost wasted. Husband-wife relationship is portrayed most pathetically. The only two fully defined characters of Talaashare that of Raj Kumar Yadav and Nawazuddin Siddiqui. Of the two Siddiqui steals the show with another effortless and superlative performance as the limp errand boy who finally wants to capitalize on a new-found opportunity. However, on the overall plus side several scenes of the movie including the climax do touch the deep chords in your heart and move you.

Finally it is a tremendous opportunity lost for Director-writer Reema Kagti. Talaash had all the ingredients and the mood to be a suspense classic. Unfortunately it could not turn out to be. Talaash is straightaway two stars less than Kahaani.

Delhi Belly! Smart Little Shit Film!

Normally we express our agitated emotions in multiples of ‘Oh shit!’ After watching Delhi Belly where we confront real shit we go to absurd limits of our shit expressions! This has been such an astounding reality of human existence that even Aamir Khan, the beloved clean hero of India, had to realize it at last! In addition to the shit the film also offends us in several other details which we prefer to keep under the blanket safely, untold. The civilized hypocrites that we always are, we tend to ignore the biological aspects of our lives. Delhi Belly scores heavily by presenting these details in an uninhibited explicit (call it realistic) way which throws vulgarity out of the window. Biological humor, abuses etc are not uncommon to Bollywood movies, but they are always loud crude and vulgar.

Produced by Aamir Khan Productions, written by young newbie Akshat Verma and directed by Abhinay Deo, Delhi Belly is a very well made film with beautiful shot compositions, brilliant takings and fast paced narrative. The film flows naturally with nothing being done forcefully and is absolutely without jerks. The plot revolves around three working bachelors Tashi (Imran Khan), Nitin (Kunal Kapoor) and Arup (Vir Das). Tashi had to deliver an important courier package, but due to tie-ups with his fiancée he asked Nitin to do so. Nitin, on his extra-curricular ventures, ate tandoori chicken from Delhi street sides and suffered an unstoppable bout of diarrhea. So, Nitin entrusts the job to Arup along with a second package containing stool sample for the clinic. Now, Arup made such a mess of delivering the packages that the local Don, expecting a packet of precious diamonds, finds shit on his table. The film gets into a mad rush of chases, encounters and weird situations that seem logical, believable and almost realistic. Meant as a comedy the film is hilarious throughout and at places, screamingly funny supported by competent restrained performances all around. Delhi Belly is mature entertainment for adults.

The film is good news for Bollywood too, because a mainstream film, can even call it a blockbuster due to Aamir’s association, on a totally off-beat theme becomes a super hit. This also defeats the theory that we need spicy or masala films to entertain the Indian masses. Indian audience has become mature and you can now make your films for your target audiences. If it’s a good film it will definitely reward your investments. 

The questions are doing rounds everywhere ‘How can someone like Aamir Khan do this?’ ‘We never expected this from you!’ ‘We are shocked!’ Well, my advice to you is this: Aamir Khan is a damn good businessman, a creator and someone who knows India. Second, this is only natural that Aamir too has to have a bad stomach sometimes! His item number at the end of film only highlights the movie's theme!

Enjoy the film bindaas!