He sat scratching his salt and pepper beard waiting
anxiously for his star heroine. They had commenced shooting. He looks up as she
arrives, doing the cat walk, to where he is sitting. He notices that it is no
more the Ms. World Walk. There is a sprightly gait more like seen in Athletic
FBI agents. She wears dark Ray bans and moves across with a Tigresses’s
confidence. He is happy that she has agreed to work for him but more recently
she has asked for a special meeting and he is worried.
The casting had been pitch perfect. A tough woman cop in
keeping with the demands of time. This time the time city infested with
political goons and police turned bad men, needed woman power to set it right.
The area had failed the acid test and it needed ropes. ‘Voluntary’ suicide by
the wronged men. But then to get it past the censors it had be balanced with a conscientious
law keeper who treads the right side of the law and yet instills fear in all
the people. It was so original but then he wondered why no one was enthused
till he had said he will cast a woman in the key role.
He had conjured up this this fresh of the oven story where a
town is harassed by stinking politicians, their kin, who move around in open
jeeps and rape women and commit broad daylight murders. Obviously they had
forgotten the acid test or the town had run out of acid. The innocent top
politician who is heading to be CM digs his own grave as he dispatches his own
friend’s daughter having helped her educate in the IPS and hopes now she will
do his bidding. But the brave officer
has other plans. Besides looking very good in a muddy town and wearing what looked
like the only set of highly starched and perfectly ironed clothes, she goes
around trying to set things right including her own corrupt officer one of the
character actors. She was to launch a full-fledged
war carrying forward the legacy of the heroes of acid test movies. So all was
set. And then that call.
‘Sir I need to talk to you’. His heart was all flutter. Did
she not like the story? Did she want a double role? He had already agreed for
top billing in the credits.
“Sir’ she said ending her athletic walk converting into a
more athletic pose ‘I cannot thank you enough for having taken me in this movie.
But you know that call from Hollywood right for the TV series where I play an
FBI agent. Sir it has taken off very well. I don’t know if I can devote enough
time for this movie. Sir don’t think I am ungrateful because I have to come
back to this industry if it does not work out”
“Madam Sir ’he nodded looking serious’ so you want me to
reduce the role? How do we fill the movie? We have 21 face-offs, 11 voluntary
suicides, 20 fights, 55 stern one liners expected to win applause and already
arranged 60 starched uniforms for you”
“Sir, please stop calling me Madam Sir that is the script of
the movie. Tell you what, why don’t you make the corrupt cop as the hero who
has a change of heart, the hero of the movie. I will come once in a while,
glower, use all those dresses, and throw a few punches that I have learnt at
the academy back home. Err I mean my new home.
I will check if there is any copyright to the kicks I will employ here
including a few flips over the walls “
“Madam Sir, Yeh aap kya keh rahe ho? Me as a hero. The
critics will be waiting out there to tear me apart besides other directors
being envious of me for getting in front of the camera as well “
“Sir, Main hoon Na. I will tacitly support you in the movie.
Go on do it. But first shave your beard off and look like a cop. Don’t overact
that’s all“
“Madam Sir, Ok. I will rewrite the script to make the
corrupt cop who has a change of heart and takes over the system in a smart way”
“ Ok cool, Got to rush off sorry dear sir, I have a guftagoo
with Fallonbhai and then a photo shoot where I have to quickly tweet pictures
of hanging on to some Hollywood’s unknown people’s shoulders like my competitor
is currently doing ”
He watched as she sprinted in FBI style back to her car. And
she was gone. He had exactly 5 scenes with her and had to rewrite the story to
make himself the hero. He got up and looked in the mirror. Not bad uh!
(Extremely fictional
write- up. If it reminds you of a recent
movie with a movie with a lady officer and baddies in dusty land then the impression
could be purely coincidental)
And in other news Jai Gangajal the new follow-up movie to Gangajal
is out. A story of a lady cop dispatched to bring order to a small town where
goons outnumber the civilians. The law keepers too have their bank accounts
with the political bad masters and hence it is a lone fight against illegal activities
for the pretty female IPS officer. She glowers effectively but her walk
sometimes gives away that she is an ex MS World but flashes of her Quantico
athleticism abound in the few scenes where she makes a guest appearance.
The film belongs
rightfully to the understated performance of Prakash Jha also the director of
the movie who plays a corrupt cop who goes right. He is not in the least sloppy
and turns in a stylish performance and looks awkward only in the fight scenes.
He is honestly the best thing in an otherwise boring film with beaten to death
sloppy scripts of political goons in a dusty town who need to be finished by
hanging them in a spree of mob justice.
Jha usually needs to
be lauded for trying to make a proper mix of message and story. But how long
can we keep taking in the same story. The length is another problem and with
the exception of a few scenes the movie drags badly despite his sincere effort.
Priyanka is sincere
but very distracted and lost. Pavan Kaul as the legislator reminds you of Jimmy
Shergil and is very promising. Ninand
Kamath missing from the scene for a long time performs the role of a rowdy
younger brother very effectively. The
music is painful coming in at all the wrong times and reducing the impact of
some of the scenes.
The enterprise then
belongs to Prakash Jha who should be lauded for an impactful debut and creating
a fresh character in another wise tepid movie.
Wonder if Madam Sir
will ever now come back from the glamorous west
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