There must be something wrong with all these big time celebrated high profile & what not ad film makers who fail so outrageously in their attempt at making feature films. Since I have worked in the industry for a brief period I have realised a few things about this whole process. I’ll start with a personal experience - Once I was discussing about ShOOL & my colleague (5 years in AD FILM making industry) gave the most shocking statement I have ever heard- He said SHOOL was a very bad film. It was shocking ’coz it came from someone involved in film making. The reason he gave was ’’continuity’’. There was major mistakes in continuity between scenes it seems. And that my friend is the reason why so many ad film makers fail. After having made 30 seconds films which have to be perfect ’coz its repeatedly shown on TV. They r the gods of technique & in all these years it becomes a part of their system. And in their zeal for the perfection in looks & technical aspects the most important aspect of films gets subdued-the HUMAN element. Sherlock Holmes would have said ELEMENTRY.
Remember MUKUL ANAND? he was the master in his craft .He gave us some of the most good looking films in his time. But in that big scale production & everything big, there was one thing missing in most of his films- reality. He just used to sign big B & make a fantasy world of some very superficial characters. HUM , KHUDA GAWAH both r examples of it. There is no doubt its very difficult to break away from the norm & film making being a equally commercial exercise -more than any other creative process & the finance part coming from mostly business minded baniyas one has to succumb to the pressure of the typical masala elements -song & dance , maa, rape etc etc. But if people like Mukul & other big time Directors cannot experiment then no one can. Coz they have a enormous reputation as film makers already even before their first film has started which makes it much easier for them to find backers for their films compared to others.
Rakesh Mehra belongs to the same school as Mukul. Infact if Mukul Anand was alive he would have make AKS exactly the way it is made by Rakesh. AKS is a masterpiece in technical aspects compared to indian standards with mindboggling editing , some cool cinematography . But a shot is beautiful only if it is right in its context & the rightness has very little to do with what appears beautiful to eyes. Its not a 30 second ad film. Its a 3 hr film with a story. Aks was like rakesh made lotsa good scenes & connected them into a film.
The reason I watched AKS was ’coz it has been criticized severely by all but praised for its technical aspects at the same time & rightly so. Its atrocious to make movies about atma & crap like that anymore. People in todays world ardly have time for such mythological crap induced into a 21st century setting. And after all the hype they feel cheated for having been robbed of 3 hours in their lives & the hard earned money too.
Now there r 2 scenes in the film which was totally brilliant with a maturity infinitely rare in bollywood .First one is when Manu Verma(Big B) & his friend Pradhan r discussing life over beer. The dialogues were genuinely mature . The 2nd scene is when Manu comes to meet Raghavan(Bajpai) just before he is about to be hanged to persuade him for one last time to give the names of people behind him. He tells the psychopath that hes gonna die in minutes & the world will be same from tommorow for everybody. Infact u should watch this scene to know what i’m talking about.
Acting wise theres hardly any scope for it. Its all hamming & overacting all the way . The script hardly gives any scope for it. The characters r over the top esp Bajpai’s . Just making a irritating laugh doesnt make a psychopath infact Rakesh should have known that most of the popular hollywood(a place from where he has taken so much inspiration- FACE OFF, FALLEN, ME MYSELF & IRENE being the most norable ones) pychopaths r very normal & subdued characters (watch kevin spacey in SE7EN). One more thing I heard about AKS was Amitabhs phenominal acting . Thats a whole lotta bullshit I have ever heard. If u put someone on screen throughout the film , that doesnt mean its great acting. And I think thats what people made out of him in AKS. Its no way anything near good acting. The only charcter which was anywhere close to being realistic was Nandita Das’s character. Raveena looks ravishing throughout but her character was worse than manoj bajpai. She seems like a nymphomaniac whos found a 12’’ johnny in Manoj Bajpai’s Psycho boy.
The only one who would have gained from AKS is the nigght club TOPAZ . Its got major publicity in it. And Rakesh Mehra also has a future in Bollywood ’coz his hold over the technical aspects will be appriciated by the baniyas of the financer fraternity. But next time Rakesh please make something more human . We know u have it in u to do it.
Now i’m waiting impatiently for DIL CHAHTA HAI. Somehow i’m getting a feeling that it will be dissapointing. Not ’coz it mite be a bad film but the expectation of everybody has reached sky high which will be impossibkle to satisfy for any film. Lets hope for the best.