Just when you thought you had seen (and heard) everything you ever wanted to see (and hear) about the underworld, here comes another film that tries to unravel the mystery and the hype. Having said that, Sehar is more than just another movie that delves into the black mass that has fascinated moviegoers since Brando scowled his way through the Godfather. Based on real-life incidents, the film tries to present the story from the perspective of the upholders of the law of the land. Unlike the current crop of me-too mafia glorifiers, this is more a straightforward cops-and-robbers tale told in staid, almost documentary style.
Simple plot. Dedicated cop Ajay Kumar, an SSP transferred to the Lucknow force is determined to combat, if not completely eliminate the criminal element infesting the towns of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Led by Gajraj Singh, a hardheaded, grim jawed individual, whose life is driven by one objective: supreme power. Crushing all that happen to walk across the path to achieving this, Gajraj and his cronies have terrorized all and sundry, including and especially rivals in the business of skimming money from railways and other contract rackets, kidnapping and extortion. With ever increasing influence in political circles as well, Gajraj becomes enemy no.1 for Ajay and his team. With some difficulty, Ajay gets his superiors to approve of the forming of a crack team of dedicated policemen willing to risk life and limb to snuff out the criminal menace. Never an easy task to begin with, Ajay finds himself hamstrung at every turn with obstacles placed in his way by the bureaucrats and politicians connected to the gangster. Despite all their efforts, Gajraj manages to stay a few steps ahead of the force. The task force even garners the help of telecommunications expert Tiwari, a seemingly innocuous professor who helps unravel the Gajraj network with his knowledge of mobile phone technology. Together, the unlikely team wages war against the forces of crime – a war that claims everything they have.
On the way, of course, there are power struggles; unending barriers from within; frustration at every turn; more defeats than success; more pain than their effort demanded of them. And that is what the film is all about. The journey covers a few years, and is related in retrospect by the mild professor. The narrative is decidedly, and one feels deliberately staid, matter-of-fact, and stripped to the bone. There is no attempt at sensationalizing the events, no glorification of the criminal, no deification of the heroes. The last is not required as the viewer feels respect for these hard-as-nails police officers, who meet everything, including death without flinching. Difficult to believe that there were men like this in that part of the world, especially when your point of reference is the Rakesh Sharmas of the world.
Newcomer Kabir Kaushik has attempted to present the facts, and that he has done quite admirably. From an entirely outsider’s point of view, this film is a gutsy, gritty look at the men who tried to make a difference, in a time and place where tolerance to crime is known to be the norm. What I liked about the film was the complete lack of pretense. Kaushik’s major thrust seems to have been getting his facts right, and in doing so, he hasn’t left any stone unturned. The danger obviously is in leaning so far over was the documentarisation of the story. This is something Kaushik hasn’t been able to avoid altogether, especially in portions of the first half, where Trivedi’s narration sounds like a newsreader spewing out the evening’s events. The build-up to the final conflict could have been tighter, told with a little more edge, and character definition at this stage could have been sharper.
That this is an intelligent film is beyond doubt. Kaushik does not bother to cloak his story in woolly tones of black and white; neither does he insult the audience’s intelligence by resorting to gimmickry, like a Bhiku Mhatre-like character. The characters are all grey, you never form an extreme opinion on any of them, because these are people you see in everyday life. You just never thought of them that much. Sehar makes you want to know more, and even tells you some. It is refreshing to see these characters on film, even if you already have in a dozen others. There’s something to be said for treatment, and Kaushik says it, quite eloquently too.
Technically the film wears a half-baked look at times, with images looking dated and grainy, as if the film had spent some time in the cans before actual release.
Performances range from the competent to the genius. Sushant Singh as Gajraj, Rajendra Gupta as Ajay’s boss, Surendra Pal as the shrewd politician, and everyone in the support cast are very good. Pankaj Kapoor in the cameo of the benign Tiwari is brilliant, quiet and hesitant, unsure yet courageous. If I have a grouse, actually 2 of them, it would be with the one-look performance from Sushant. As Gajraj, this is possibly his strongest role, and he does a competent job with it. If only he had tried out a few other expressions than the half sneer, half wince that he wears almost throughout the movie. Might have given him the steel the character so clearly had when scripted.
My other complaint is with Arshad Warsi’s rendering of Ajay Kumar. Warsi is one of my favourite actors, and I was already convinced he had the range to do this role. Unfortunately, and as he’s admitted it himself, he wasn’t too confident about this himself. And sometimes it shows. Don’t get me wrong: this is a good performance – calm, thoughtful, controlled, and wonderfully underplayed. The problem is that there seems to have been some emphasis on restraint that choked the edge off the character. Compare this to the character Ajay Devgan plays in Gangajal and you’ll see what I mean. You almost wish Ajay got more angry once in while. Its possible Kaushik tried to make this character as down to earth as possible, and in the process watered down the aggression a tad. Fair enough – one just feels the film could have benefited from a more “fire-in-the eyes” kind of character. Or maybe that’s just the little boy growing up with the ‘angry man’ syndrome splashed all over the films of yore.
For a change, this is one film that has a brilliant climax, and that is how I would like to remember the film. The underdog gaining the upper hand at the end is not a new phenom, yet seeing it here somehow is impressive.
Overall, a good effort and an encouraging start to yet another young director