We complain, whine, and grumble all the time … “Bollywood is dead; it is the pits; they are not making any worthwhile movies these days ….”. But when one really good movie comes our way, we prefer to give it a royal ignore. This is probably what happened to Mr. & Mrs. Iyer and Makdee and this is what is happening to 3 Deewarein. Chalte Chalte, despite all the flak it received went on to become the biggest hit of the year (so far). Even, the horrendous Main Prem Ki Deewanee Hoon is more than above average film (strictly in terms of box office collections). This is because huge crowds turned up to see these films. But 3 Deewarein continues its search for an audience. The number of reviews on this excellent film will increase only when some satellite channel puts it on air.
3 Deewarein, written and directed by Nagesh Kukknoor is a classy tale told with aplomb. It is the story of three sentenced-to-death prisoners – Jaggu (Jackie Shroff), Nagya (Nagesh Kukknooor), and Ishaan (Naseeruddin Shah) and their interaction with a filmmaker, Chandrika (Juhi Chawla). Jaggu and Nagya are sentenced to death for murdering their respective wives, while Ishaan has to embrace the gallows for slaying a pregnant bank cashier. Jaggu had killed his wife in a fit of rage after realizing that she was betraying him. Nagya’s wife, on the other hand was a veritable shrew, constantly badmouthing his family. Thus, she too had to go to hell. In comes Chandrika, who persuades the jailor, Mohan, (Gulshan Grover) to allow her to interview these three convicts. Her objective is to find out how each one of them is feeling before going to the gallows. After some deliberation, Mohan, the kind soul that he is allows her to get in touch with the convicts.
The film indulges in some great character study. Jaggu, the poetry-reciting convict is doleful about his crime. His penchant for reciting poems in the face of death makes him a character straight out of the Russian novels. Nagya, his buddy in prison (he is the only one who listens to his poems, even though he cannot understand them) believes in his (self) innocence. He says that his wife’s death is an accident and he in no way should be blamed for the mishap. Ishaan on the other hand laughs his guts out at the games life plays. He is unhappy about what happened during the holdup, but does not feel unduly remorseful. Chandrika, too is going through a bad marriage. 3 Deewarein all about the interplay between these four characters.
3 Deewarein is a great blend of the thriller, powerful drama, and socio-psychological realism. Great scripting and direction (Kukknoor), super performances (Naseeruddin Shah, Juhi Chawla, Nagesh Kuknoor, Gulshan Grover, and Jackie Shroff) aided by superb cinematography put your belief back in Bollywood. You’d be nuts to miss this one.
Some trivia
· Nagesh Kukknoor says that the idea for this film came from a documentary on prisoners that he had seen some time back.
· When asked about Nagesh Kukknoor the director, Naseeruddin Shah said that what makes him (Kukknoor) different from other directors is his passion for acting.
· Nagesh Kukknoor’s first film, Hyderabad Blues was made for a mere Rs 12. lakhs. His next, Tandoor’ is bound to be a multi-crore project, what with the Big B playing the protagonist. Amitabh Bachchan is said to enact the part of a London-based India chef.
Comments are eagerly awaited.