The Sad Gasp

The bright part of Indian cinema today is, it is looking so real. In recent times with Talvar, Masaan, or Piku the happy gasp index has been pretty high. Gasping, not because of what’s happening to the characters in the story but gasping because Hindi cinema is finding a new high in the excellence of creativity on all fronts with the directors and actors leading the march.

Neerja, is a biographical account of the posthumously decorated young lady purser, of a PAN AM flight from Bombay to New York via Karachi, who outwitted successfully a motley group of hijackers. With a single stroke of presence of mind she ensured that the story for the hijackers ended where it began. Happening in an era when digital social media had to yet happen, her glory got only a minor mention then. It is to the credit of the makers and a regular advertisement director Ram Madhvani to research, delve and create an almost true to life Biopic.  There is ample evidence of genuine intentions from the first frame on in its sincerity and is very real.

The title role is played from the heart by Sonam.  My personal belief is that the accolades for a good performance are 70% of the director and 30% of the actor. That explains for me why an actor performs with varying degrees in the different roles in different movies. Besides that the beautiful and detailed characterization by the writers helps willing artistes to understand and sculpt themselves to the director’s vision. Sonam does this extremely effectively in the scenes before she gets on board the tragic flight. The scenes with the family including her mother (Shabana Azmi – she deserves a separate para) and her loving father (played with simplistic excellence by Yogendra) are marvelously touching, applause worthy and real.  I keep repeating real because you forget that Sonam is really into the character that you forget the actress. Watch as she walks in from work to a party at home and interacts with the children.

The parallel track of Neerja’s life with the antagonists preparing for their evil act is extremely well edited without ever irritating the viewers.  The movie creates quite a few characters who cannot be dismissed. Shekhar Ravjiani playing the boyfriend, who hopes to marry her while she hesitates due to memories of an earlier broken marriage, is very watchable with  a pleasant screen presence. He underplays and sticks to the background never expecting any big lines. I think he has made a good start and can be seen stepping into roles that was earlier in the arena of Shekhar Kapur.

Shabana Azmi is the biggest gasp factor. It is ironical but actually a treat to watch her execute the role of the loving mother who refuses to believe that fate can traverse the path of her little girl, wrongly. Small touches like switching on the heater before waking up Neerja , giving her those extra five minutes of sleep like every mother does, cuddling her . Wow. Those scenes just stands out of the whole movie for me and flashes the academic advertising brilliance of the director. Watch also as she takes an  emotional tennis ball and shoves it down your throat for a full 7 minutes in the climax, a scene which could have dangerously become ordinary.

Again the hijackers do not look very convincing with the writers focusing only on one of the hijackers Jim Sharbh managing to look menacing and giving a peek into possible frustration and confused ideologies of the perpetrators. He demands our complete attention and seems to have worked real hard on his character.

People overwhelmed with emotions may disagree, but I thought Sonam performed brilliantly as long as  she was in the scenes with her family, a clear indicator of what being in the company of outstanding actors can do to you.  She settles down into a regular execution mode in the hijack scenes with some flashes of comfortable brilliance. She is uncomfortable though in the scene where the hijacker makes her sing songs of her favorite idol Rajesh Khanna. The scene I doubt really happened and unnecessarily confuses the viewers into a tragicomic scene. Another time the director mistimes his actor is when the granny beckons the hijackers to kill her. Slightly inappropriate emotions one thought.

The camera work is brilliant throughout carrying the viewers throughout the narrow fuselage of the aircraft with acrobatic ease except in the beginning few scenes when the camerawork is unnecessarily unsteady almost feeling like a commercial from the Gold Spot days.

A few probable glitches though to be validated are aspects like whether making a V sign during pictures  was that prevalent, modern looking air conditioners seem to dot many of  the apartments  in a housing complex, a color TV at home, a Gypsy ( maybe out just that year?), the interiors of the aircraft looking modern, the door to the cockpit locked in times when it was believed to be quite accessible to the hostesses, guests at the airport wearing what looked like access cards, the large structural pillars of a modern airport, wheeled suitcases , announcements on pushback seats etc.

Art wise what stands out as exceedingly well done are the airport offices at Karachi airport, place where the hijackers assemble their ware, gate crashing through the airport simple approach in those days, the HT offices of Neerja’s father with their type writers.

Diminishing thoughts of how the film could have been even better is the best way to watch a wonderful tribute to the young lady who gave up her life so the rest could live. I think Atul, Shanti and Ram should be applauded for bringing a glorious closure to a hero who would have been otherwise lost in the events of history. Watch it not because it is a great film but it is a good film about a great person made from the heart. It does make you sadly gasp but leaves you having wanted more of the story of the young hero. A certain watch.

3 ½ *

The tightrope code

I almost sobbed. I am a big time fan of this company's products. Today they stand apparently, walking a tightrope, as they couch their consumer's (their ( consumer's) nobility or lack of it notwithstanding) with a safety sheath from the prying eyes of a state authority that nudges them on grounds of national security to break open this cordon of safety.

But no,. our Knight in shining armour rises like David to face Goliath, the state and refuses to budge exposing themselves to possible retribution. They can accede a digital backdoor to a suspect's phone but they are worried about possible misuse.

And all this in a country whose citizens never deter from thumping their chest with pride. Something does not add up.

Maybe it does. A win win for everyone.

The first thing that beats me, is that scientific tools on earth are actually so digitally timid or inadequate that the science can make things travel Mars and come back beating many complex odds, but excuse me cannot hack a digital equipment with state authority?

And the aggrieved company is so protective towards its consumers that there could never have been a more powerful marketing story than this about how secure their product is. If they have to open the back gates as they call it, millions of consumers in various countries in the east which are now eye popping markets will be open to having their data available for someone's research convenience of course.

And if they do not the, state looks oh so democratic and with freedom that is to be envied.

Wonder what the illuminary whose brilliance founded the equipment in the first place could have had to say if he were here today?

Racy Colors - Color Me Rich By Mohan Deep

If ever there was a moment in the future that I had to go off because of boredom, off books too big to finish, I would rush back to Color Me Rich to rid myself of that feeling.  Though it is an inappropriate comparison I could not help feeling that I was back to reading my favorite James Hadley Chases in my younger days. There was a hurried speed in the events. Extremely pacy, almost breathless the narration rarely stops to give the characters any lazy space. Either they do their bit or else they are out of the frame.

Mohandeep one of the most colourful of writers from his days in journalism and controversial writing history thereafter, presents an original unpredictable setting for a story that begins with an artist and a painter Akash Saigal being cleared of any suspicion in the mysterious death of his wife artist and socialite Zenobia.  Just a couple of pages into the plot and the author is already telling you about the core of the plot and how the central characters who are etched out before you will end up. You think it’s pretty gutsy to let go of the heart of the plot but the author has a lot of surprises up his sleeve.

The story makes you gasp as it was just recently where a similar circumstance played out in real life with an artist being questioned by the law for being allegedly implicit in the murder of his famous other half. There are no surprises then that the author gets popped with the question of whether it was inspired or was there a coincidence. Weird because the book released almost at the same time of the incident and besides crediting Mohan’s intuitive sense of story telling there can be nothing to it. But the curiosity should help the sales

Mohan is quite at ease describing the protagonist’s younger days at the art school and scripts the atmosphere quite realistically. He does have an innate view on the conversations in the canteen of a drawing school. He creates interesting characters in the other love interest Suma as also the main protagonist’s support system Pran.

Mohan almost etches out characters like he were writing for a film script. So it is not surprising that people see a movie evolving out of this book.

What I would have asked for more was if he had fleshed out the narration more detailed even if irritatingly so. It was like I was on a local train with multiple trains to change one after the other from different platforms. A run read. But this is also the strength of the book as it never bores you.

Anyone picking up this book for a movie will undoubtedly see drama in between many interludes ready to be enacted.

I would call it a Karjat CST book. You would not want to get off till you finish it.  Try it!