I came home from the theatre and slept.
= 0oo@oo0 ========
I was showed way into the room and as I entered, the lights went out! In the dark room, I heard a female voice: ‘This is the exactly why I want the power plant project to be real!’ From my experience of having watched umpteen films, I could recognize the voice. Mrs. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan continued: ‘Dad! Do something for Maharashtra!’
Someone lit the candle and I could see Aish sitting along with Mr. Amitabh Bachchan and Mr. Ram Gopal Varma. A tall man stood in the shadows near the window. Before I could recognize him, Amitabh responded to Aish’s concern: ‘Look Aish beta! See outside the window, the street lights are on. The power-cut is only in Ramu’s house! Not for the entire Maharashtra! What Ramu? Don’t you have money to pay the current bill?’ And added his typical: ‘Aihhh!!!’
Ramu’s head was bowed down. I felt he was feeling ashamed of his poverty. But he suddenly came into senses when Aish pinched him to respond. Oh! He was just dozing! Anyway, feeling ashamed is not his cup of tea!
Having opened his eyes completely, Ramu saw me. He showed me the empty chair and in the dark, I somehow managed to find the seat under my butt.
Like Shahrukh hams, Amitabh growls! And with a growl in his baritone, he asked me: ‘Kaisa chal raha hai sab kuch!’ Hearing his terribly terrific voice, I got terrified and just mustered the courage to nod my head.
Ramu asked me: ‘Ab kya?’
Me: Ramu ji, I want to ask you a few questions on the just released Sarkar Raj!
Ramu: Go ahead!
Me: In your pre-release interviews, you have mentioned that while making ‘Aag’, you have been influenced by many opposing forces and could not make what you actually intended to. What about ‘Sarkar Raj’? Didn’t you have any opposing forces against you this time?
Ramu: Nope*.
Me: And yet you ended up making something like this!
Aish looked at Amitabh and Amitabh in turn, glanced over his shoulder at the man in the shadow. Oops! I haven’t yet recognized that man! I saw him somewhere; but before I could recognize him, I heard Ramu’s voice.
Ramu: What do you mean?
Me: Nothing! Let me get to my next question.
Ramu: But what do you……
Me: Ramu ji! Why is it that all the people around the Nagre family are shown to be betrayers? Even his most loyal servants are shown to be negative. Wouldn’t it leave a bad taste among the audience with respect to trusting people around them?
Ramu: I advise no one to trust anyone in this world.
Me: Ok Ramu ji! I will try to heed to your advice. Coming to my next question… this is quite related to my personal opinion…..
Ramu: Don’t hesitate! Go ahead!
Me: In 2006, when you scraped your film with Mr. Shahrukh Khan, you gave a statement that, directing Shahrukh is like going back to school. And then, the very next year, you made three consecutive debacles, the most prominent of those being, RGV ki Aag. After that, as your ardent admirer, I wished you really go back to school. I sincerely wished it. I really wanted you to get back to your basics. But while watching Sarkar Raj, I was dissapointed when your sub-plots seemed so half-baked. I observed that your screenplay was the weakest factor in the film. It lacked a proper story-stucture and emphasised much on Sarkar’s self-proclamation and self-justification. And Shankar Nagre repeats about doing ‘good’ for Maharashtra. It sounded very pretentious. Instead had the screenplay focussed on the problems prevailing in Maharashtra, Shankar’s anguish might have sounded justifiable. By avoiding the problems, your screenplay threaded the path of escapism and indulged into shallow heroism tactics. And, I somehow felt that by ignoring these basics thought at school, you are actually spoling your own craft. Am I missing anything while thinking all this?
Ramu: Yes!
I waited for sometime, expecting him to continue. But he didn’t! Then I realised, that he actually answered the last part of my long question. That’s how his films often carry short answers for long questions; and long answers, for no question at all!!!
I moved to my next question.
Me: Your actors in Sarkar Raj were brilliant! Be it the Bachchan trio, or Dilip Prabhawalkar, or Upendra Limaye, each and every actor was brilliant in their respective performances. But their good acting is let down by weak characterisations. Except for Somji’s character, none of the characters and the character-turns was genuine. Too much of ‘thick-outlining’ gives away the authenticity, especially when this caricaturing happens even to the lead characters. Too many close-up shots were a strain to the eyes. And also, why is Shankar Nagre against listening a complete line which his father tells. Before his father could complete a line, he cuts him short with some serious, self-boasting and over-confident reply. Is it the laziness of your writers to complete the dialogue?
Ramu: Nope. My writers have written complete dialogues. But I wanted Shankar to show some arrogance.
Me: Arrogance! And on his father, who served several years before him! Is this kind of shallow arrogance your definition of heroism?
Ramu: Next question!
Hmm….. I can understand! I am getting you, Ramu!!!!
Me: There is a belief among your fans that, you make ‘different’ films. Though I often fail to understand what was different in your films, I have chosen to believe that you don’t get into mushy melodramas which are made by some chief production houses. But given that, those film-makers make a mediocre product by copying their own previous successes, don’t you think that your films too are mediocre as most of the elements are copied from your previous films? How do you justify this mediocrity in your films?
He got uncomfortable in his chair, thought for a long time and uttered the following….
Ramu: I don’t understand your question.
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