First Wall:
Guilt visits me each night to stay,
Asking me to ignite myself at bay.
My soul gets ready to commit the honors,
But guilt dictates a reward,
And alive I stay.
The reward whipes the soul whole day,
Guilt visits me each night to stay.
I do use my talents to play my vigil,
But do they help me change my will.
Ceiling too tries to change my will,
But will is not an object to be changed.
For death I wait in a desperate way,
Coz, guilt visits me each night to stay.
Jaggu played by Jackie Shroff is a lawyer by profession and is held as a murder culprit. He has killed his cheating wife by stabbing her infinite times. He is alive just to face his death with open arms. He writes poetries and cooks food for his fellow prisoners and awaits for his hanging date.
Second Wall:
Hope is what I live by,
Hope is what I lean by.
Hope is one thing that keeps me alive,
No matter what my future sees.
Today, Call me a coward,
Today, Call me a freak,
A day will be mine,
When truth will shine.
Comes to my rescue,
A calm ceiling,
It gifts me something.
Precious Hope is the gift,
Reliable and stiff.
So I stand by my hope.
Against all odds steady I stay,
To just say ’’Satyamev Jayate’’
Nagya played by Nagesh Kukunoor is an accountant. He is convicted for pushing his wife in front of a vehicle in midst of traffic. But he still believes he is innocent. He believes in himself and is alive just with a hope that one day he will be free. But is he really as innocent as he makes us feel or is it just a culprit’s last attempts to be free?
Third Wall:
One fine day, I will be free
One day I shall,
One day I will,
Break open the fourth wall,
To make my way,
To a path made somewhere,
Specially for me.
My work goes on,
In the darkness of my brains,
To find a bright path,
Leading there somewhere.
To freedom finally,
Shall I reach.
I confide in me,
I will be free.
Ishaan played by Naseeruddin Shah is a con-man. He is convicted for a deliberate murder while robbing a bank. But according to him, it was just an accident. Ishaan is a free bird by nature. He plays a game with destiny to which he sometimes wins and does loose sometimes. He has already started thinking about his escape from the prison. Will he be able to fight his way free?
The Ceiling:
I do hold the three together,
But they forget the ground altogether.
Am no God to be willingly trusted,
With so many wishes n’ so many prayers.
Wounds is what the three walls show,
I have no choice but to keep calm with my own.
And wait for the right time,
To unleash a truth,
Held deep in the ground,
To which I play a sleuth.
Grounds are the ones,
To be searched for the truth.
Chandrika played by Juhi Chawala is a documentary film maker, who is making a film on mentalities of murder convicts who are on a death trial. Personally, she is a member of a bad marriage. At home she plays a victim to her self centered, abusing husband. She finds solace in her hobby and profession of film making. She is now very close to the three prisoners, who confide in her with their stories which dumped them here between the three walls.
The Ground:
I do hold a tale to tell,
And Search for a medium to tell it all.
The three walls stand on me,
Stable n’ still.
Trusting the ceiling to tell their will.
The ground is not a character being played by any actor or actress. The ground is a dark event happened in near past on which lies a strange reality which will change everything in lives of three characters.
Spirit of 3 Deewarein:
3 Deewarein plays with three natural emotions. Guilt, Hope and the sense of Freedom. The movie shows how these three emotions interact under one roof and on a single ground of truth.
The movie shows Jaggu waiting desperately for death. His conscience scorching him every second, he has made up his mind that he deserves nothing less than death. He loved his wife more than anything in the world. He loved her so much that he couldn’t take in the thought that his wife will elope with someone else. When he kills her, he doesn’t know what he is doing, but goes on stabbing blindly under the shadows of endless love which has given birth to a strange hatered.
We see Nagya never admitting that he ever murdered his wife. He does admit that he hated his wife more than anything in the world, but the thought of murder never ever touched his mind all these years. According to him, his only mistake was he was in the wrong the place at the wrong time. His life is made even tougher by his father-in-law who is also a judge. The way his father-in-law is after his life, we see no hope for his life, but Nagya himself hasn’t yet lost hope. Hope is what has kept him alive. If his hope dies, this person will die the same day.
Ishaan loves his life more than anything and his freedom more than his life. He tries every way to flee from the prison. Ishaan is just a normal human being with natural charm which he uses to con. He is a conman by profession. But he also keeps a heart.
These three characters personify each of the emotions, guilt, hope and freedom. The relationsip between themselves and their individual relationship with Chandrika forms the crux of the movie.
Chandrika enters their lives and relates with each one of them in different ways altogether. She has a sadistic husband in her own life who is the base of all her problems. Here in the prison, things are different for her. She finds the three murderers much better as human beings.
Nagya believes she can help him to prove his innoscence. And his hope plays the catalyst. Jaggu never shares his poems with anyone else other than Nagya. But one day we see him feeling free to share his poem with Chandrika. Ishaan trusts Chandrika so much that he even tells her about his escaping plans without any fear.
The rest is to be seen by oneself.
The Performances:
The performances is what makes each n’ every bit of the movie more crisp n’ appetising. Each actor has given his/her best to their respective roles.
However the one who comes out with a natural shine is Naseeruddin Shah. He makes Ishaan come to life with his natural charm. His dialogue delivery adds to the magic of his charming performance.
Jackie Shroff shows Jaggu’s guilty conscience with ease. Thankfully the actor doesn’t ham in this particular feature film. Some honest work there as an actor comes from Jackie.
Nagesh Kukunoor gets Nagya’s hyderabadi accent perfectly right. The rustic Nagya can believed by closed eyes when Nagesh Kukunoor performs under his skin.
Juhi Chawla does wonders with the character of Chandrika. Her voice and her dialogue delivery are what make Juhi’s performance simply adorable.
Gulshan Grover as the jailor also does just the right act. This must be one from few of his roles where he doesn’t appear in weird get-ups.
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