Paan Singh Tomar: Serious Bollywood Cinema With A Strong Statement!

Paan Singh Tomar was a real-life hero of India—a great athlete specializing in Steeplechase run winning National awards for the country. He was in army service while achieving his medals during 1958-64. He was seven times national champions and also represented India in Tokyo Asian Games in 1958. His record in 3000 Steeplechase stood the test of time for nearly a decade. After retirement he returned to his native village and tried to live happily as a farmer. But eventually the pride of India turned into an outlaw and was killed by Indian police in 1981. As a great sportsman he was unheard of, but carried a big award as a most-wanted dacoit of India’s notorious Chambal Valley.

The melancholic story of this real-life hero inspired director Tigmanshu Dhulia to make this movie titled Paan Singh Tomar that released all over India on March 2, 2012. There is no dearth of dacoit-genre films in India, but Dhulia opted for the serious kind of cinema with a strong statement. Powerful story-telling, apt technical support, brilliant cinematography and seamless editing, lilting background scores and powerhouse performances have made this movie an altogether different experience within the genre.  No wonder the movie has attained the status of ‘run’ away hit. 

Talking of performances Irrfan Khan steals the thunder as usual in the title role. It was palpable how much efforts and labor he had put in to live the role apart from all the running. His characteristic wry humor adds to the personality of Pann Singh Tomar. Fresh in the Indian army Paan Singh boasted of his maternal uncle as being a ‘baghi’ (rebel) and not a dacoit. The memorable dialogue in this context ‘Rebels breed in Chambal while dacoits are found in Parliament!’ rings the air. After being forced into the career of an outlaw Paan Singh kept up the ironical comment ‘Nobody heard of me as a national champion, but the moment I became a dacoit the whole country knew me and I came to carry a huge cash award on my head!’.

The first half of the movie vividly describes Paan Singh as an athlete with his victory run of steeplechase. For his straight talking and running talent army officials decided to send him for physical training to develop into a sportsman. Honest and loyal to the core of his heart Paan Singh at the time of war regretted being a sportsman as he was not sent out to fight the enemies. Retiring in prime age Paan Singh returned to his native village and immediately got entangled in a land feud with his relatives. He did everything possible from his patriotic fervor to establish peace and amity. Failing in that he approached his army bosses for help and they guided him to the local authorities. But corrupt admin and police insulted and humiliated him. While a police inspector threw away his medals his relatives back in the village raided his home killing his old mother brutally and his family just escaped.

That was the turning point and he had no option but to take up the gun and constitute a gang with members who were also equally repressed and tortured. The second half of the film narrates his career as an outlaw leading finally to his entrapment and killing by police. In this half the director had a tricky problem of choosing between a normal dacoit drama and the enigma of Paan Singh Tomar. With a masterful balancing act he succeeds in taking his film forward without romanticizing or condemning the real-life hero while fondly preserving his true characteristic spirit till the end. 

And, so when it is over we leave the theater with a heavy heart feeling painfully for the pitiful conditions of Indian sportsmen who are not successful cricketers. Deeply moved by this unsung hero the word of mouth spread far and wide working wonders for this wonderful movie. The strong statement made by the movie in favor of Indian sports fraternity lingers on.

Movie 'Kahaani': A Riveting Suspense Flick!

Suspense films are a rare genre in India. You can very easily count such films since the sixties to the present. Maybe genuine suspense plots do not fit into the mass-entertainment formula mostly adopted by mainstream Hindi cinema called Bollywood. Efforts have been made over time to make such movies, but most often elements of suspense get submerged and totally neutralized in the flood of song-dance sequences, overpopulated action scenes and compulsorily loud comedy track. 

Kahaani (The Story), directed and co-produced by Sujoy Ghosh, successfully emerges as a genuine suspense flick keeping you engrossed and guessing till the very end. Released on March 9, 2012 the movie had earned wide critical acclaim and also the super hit status as a Bollywood movie. 

In a female-oriented plot Vidya Balan plays the role of the protagonist Vidya Baghchi (pronounced as 'Bidya' in Bengali), a software engineer in an advanced stage of pregnancy who lands in Kolkata from London in search of her missing husband. She goes to the Kalighat police station straight from the airport.     The police officials there give her a patient hearing noting down the details and a photograph of the couple. Sub-Inspector Rana who was rescued by Vidya from his eternally troublesome computer problems gets drawn to her immediately and joins her to investigate. They follow several leads, but end up against a dead wall every time as no records and no apparently connected people help establish the identity of her missing husband. One important lead connects Vidya's husband as a look-alike of a dreaded and most wanted terrorist named Milan Damji who was believed to be a former Intelligence Bureau agent turned rogue and was also believed to the kingpin of a terrorist attack on Kolkata metro railway two years back. He went missing after that and seemed to be strongly protected by certain people in power even now. This deadly lead puts Vidya Baghchi's life in grave danger. This should be enough as far as the story-line is concerned. You deserve the full suspense treatment when you watch the movie! 

The well-woven mystery plot takes you effortlessly on towards a shattering climax. With twists and surprises thrown in there was never a dull moment in the nearly two-hour unfolding and the movie is almost flawless. You may feel at a particular phase that things are being done too simplistically, but overall you feel strongly disinclined to try finding faults thanks to the realistic and convincing treatment. 

It has all the pluses for you to relish--you love the quintessential Kolkata--the city of joy--unfolding before you through stunning visuals and montages; you get moved by another critically acclaimed power-packed performance by Vidya Balan who recently got the National Award for the Best Actress for her role in The Dirty Picture; you are awe-struck by the innocent-looking lazy, smiling and nondescript contract killer; you love the spontaneous performances by the actors of West Bengal hardly seen or known in Bollywood; you adore the masterful script and story-telling and brilliant cinematography giving you breathless outdoor moments; and, of course, the ever building suspense that compels you to guess and keep guessing. The movie has as many as six songs, one sung by none other than Amitabh Bachchan, but these are used as background scores and do not disturb the theme of the film. 

The climax, set in the immersion day melee of Durga Puja, manages to prove all your guesses wrong. On this day Goddess Durga leaves the earth after accomplishing her mission of destroying evil. Few critics have criticized Kahaani for taking resort to myths to justify actions in the movie. But once you enjoy it as a genuine suspense flick to your heart’s content it is hardly relevant to consider the 'hows' and 'whys'. As a lover of the suspense genre you may find shades of The Usual Suspects (one of my all-time favorite movies and a film that inspired so many others later) in the well-structured climax. 

Kahaani is a not-to-be-missed fare and better viewed only in theaters. 

Asia Cup Cricket: Bangladesh Win Hearts, Miss History By Two Runs!

Bangladesh broke the hearts of thousands of fans when they failed to reach the target of 237 runs set by Pakistan by just 3 runs at the Asia Cup-2012 final played at Mirpur, Dhaka today. It was a thriller down to the last ball bowled. Bangladesh had Pakistan in a spot for most part of the match, but chasing in a big Final watched by home crowds pressure started building up along with the asking rate and Pakistan managed to have better nerves to win their second Asia Cup title.

Bangladesh won the toss and elected to field first as had been their preference throughout this tournament. Pakistan had a horrible start and continued to struggle losing wickets on regular intervals on a slowish pitch. Shahid Afridi came good when the team needed him most and somewhat rescued Pakistan from a tottering 133/6 in the 35^th over to 178 in the 42^nd over. Sarfraz Ahmed scored the highest individual score of 46 for remaining unbeaten. Crucial runs were given away by Bangladesh after the Pakistan innings seemed to be over at 206/9 in the 46^th over. Anyway, a target of 237 runs still looked modest and immensely gettable for a team in top form.

Bangladesh started well and steady, but a miserable innings of 16 runs in as many as 62 balls by Nazimuddin kept the asking rising and rising. Opener Tamim Iqbal again played a sterling knock of 60 runs followed with gusto by in-form Shakib making 68 runs. But his wicket in the 44^th over and skipper Rahim’s wicket in the 46^th over (190/6) set the team back. The brave fight went on still finally falling short by just 3 runs and Pakistan winning by 2 runs. Shahid Afridi came good with ball too giving away only 28 runs in 10 overs with a wicket and he was adjudged the Man of the Match. Scorecard.

Bangladesh missed history alright, but their consistency and coming of age was beyond any doubt. They did not surrender this time as was the case in many earlier occasions and offered a nail-biting one-day match for all cricket lovers. They have beaten everyone except for Pakistan whom they nearly beat two times. They have proved the point that the tag of ‘minnows’ is no longer valid. They have won hearts all over including Pakistan’s Afridi and Misbah who praised their performance in no uncertain terms.

It was a cracker of a final and worthy of a really competitive Asia Cup-2012 that came to a close today.