At the cost of sounding offensively rude, MAACHIS disappoints big time. in complete contrast to GULZAR’s genre, MAACHIS is a story about how innocent people are forced to pick up guns to avenge their justice. But to be very honest, I just couldn’t get what Gulzar saab was trying to say. if he was portraying the helplessness of the people involved, that just didn’t come across as it was expected, coming from a director like GULZAR. Even the cause behind it couldn’t touch one’s raw nerve.
After depicting the pre-chaos joyous ambience in a commonplace punjabi home, Gulzar saab takes his lead protagonist to the terrorists and literally hands one of their guns to him. the much needed pain was missing. then they sing a song about "CHARKHAS" and the first half fails to create any sort of impact. The real twist in the tale is encountered when one of the terrorist’s fiancee, besides being an ultra naive lady joins their group too. the lovers’ reunion, their light moments, and the climax touch a chord, and the 2nd half is henceforth touching plus riveting.
Unfortunately, most of the aspects still backfire at the narrative. The songs by Vishal Bhardwaj, however hauntingly melodious they may be, act as mere speed-breakers in a simple tale about terrorism for a cause. The dull lighting used makes for dark and unattractive frames, that may have distracted a certain type of cine-goers. Movie is too silent unlike any other Gulzar film. in short, everything served is anti-GULZAResque. everything means, everything barring screenplay and dialogues.
Gulzar saab hardly went wrong in penning apt dialogues for his movies, you know. that particular dialogue about system creating the flames of terrorism justified the lead characters somewhat, if not fully. Tabu was good, if not great. really, we have seen her delivering much better performances later on. however, when it comes to shedding tears on screen, there is no one like Tabu. Not even Rani Mukherjee ! Chandrachur Singh gave a fine subtle performance as Kirpal. wonder what happened to him after MAACHIS.
The supporting characters were not full-fledged and were forced to remain in the backdrop. All and all, MAACHIS is not a regular week-end time pass. it is a no-no for the DAVID DHAWAN fans but may just disappoint the GULZAR fans too. However, it still deserves a dekko never-the-less, for its climax atleast.final rating - *comments and ratings hugely awaited.
cheers
Harsh.