Corruption here, corruption there,
Corruption, Corruption everywhere...
A ray of hope from somewhere,
that too dimmed by the black that clouds wear...
--- MadzThat’s me!!
Yesterday, I read that a journalist managed to procure bailable warrants against the President of India, the Chief Justice and a sitting judge in the supreme court from a conniving magistrate in Gujarat.. Money speaks, in fact, yells in our great country. Right from the lowest paan-chewing peon, the cricket-commentary crazy clerk, to the hair-well-oiled officer, almost each and every individual misuses him position to earn that extra buck.
In fact, corruption is now a lucrative business for one and all, because it saves time, and we know time is money, so we actually save money through corruption.. Now talk of advantages of corruption, am sure all politicians reading this (hell, am dumbfounded if even 30% of our politicians can read), they would all be considering a cabinet portfolio for corruption, something like Minister for development of corruption.. Hmm.. legalising corruption eh?
Not many movies have looked at this cancer that is immobilising the society in a really, what can I say, real(??) way. ’’Phir bhi dil hai hindustani’’ with SRK and Juhi, tried it, but it ended up more as a product of nonsense, than something worth looking at..
Realistically, the only movie that did this came way long back in 1983, and believe it or not, was produced by a public sector body, namely NFDC.. The star cast boasts of the some of the best actors India ever produced, Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapoor, Om Puri (these three come together again for Maqbool, waiting to see it), Bhakti Barve.. It was meant to be a classic all the way..
Vinod(Naseer) and Sudhir(Ravi Baswani) are each 50% owners of the Beauty photo studio, somewhere in downtown Mumbai. Struggling young men, they believe that hard work and honesty always pays.. They are cheated the very first day by another rival studio down the block.. This photo studio is owned by Ashok Namboothiripad (Satish Kaushik), who works for the building contractor, Tarneja(Pankaj Kapoor).. Ashok is using the studio is a facade to keep an eye on the office of Khabardaar, which is hell bent on exposing the underlying corruption in thee society.
The editor of Khabardaar, Shobha(Bhakti Barve), gives a contract to Vinod and Sudhir to spy on Tarneja, and capture photos of his alleged links with the corrupt commissioner, D’Mello (Satish Shah). Our honest men do their work, and the editor is impressed. Shobha sends them on more and more dangerous tasks, of clicking photos of discreet meetings, of falsified tenders etc.
D’Mello, being highly corrupt, rakes in the moolah from Tarneja, Ahuja (Om Puri) but rewards the tender to a third party. Vinod and Sudhir realize the danger they are in, and decide to get out of the mess by trying their luck at a photo contest. While clicking snaps for the contest, they accidently capture the photo of Tarneja shooting someone in the park. They go to the park to find the body of the victim, but find the body vanished...
A few days later, they hear that Tarneja has now been awarded the contract, who dedicates his work to D’Mello, who Tarneja says died in Switzerland due to an incurable disease. However, Sudir and Vinod find that it was D’Mello who was killed in the park, and his body is hidden under the foundation stone of the bridge constructed by Tarneja. They recover the body, and then go on about their job of exposing the truth to the world.
What follows is the most amazing and bizarre display of geniusness. I won’t reveal the details because its just not possible to express the situations faced by our do-gooders.
Directed by Kundan Shah, who was able to somewhat recreate his magic in Kabhi Haa Kabhi Naa, displays his sheer sense of timing and humour in every scene and frame of the movie. The underlying serious theme of the movie is just dissolved into the extremely funny situations that are encountered. Kundan Shah is a genius, who just was not able to realize his potential..
Performance wise, each and every one gave the performance of his or her life. Words can’t describe the performances that they displayed. In fact, I can’t think of some one acting as a dead body (D’Mello aka Satish Shah), and stealing the thunder from most of the other actors..
Some of the most memorable scenes in Indian film history find their place here. Like the Mahabharat scene, like the ’’Albert Pinto ko gussa kyon aata hai’’ scene.
But one of the most beautiful scenes in the movie, according to me, is when Vinod and Sudhir are at the Marine Lines station, without money to buy the ticket, because they have been stolen of the money by a cop, and them singing ’’Hum Honge Kaamyaab’’.. People, larger than life, never giving up.. They were feeling guilty of travelling without ticket, because its a crime.. Genius, genius!!
No songs means no boring interludes, only the awe-inspiring ’’Hum Honge Kaamyaab’’, beautifully engorged into the seemingly hopeless situations.. And the classic climax, which again ends with the that song again..
A satire like no other, a comedy rivalled only by Golmaal, a classic forever..