A terrorist movie with a Slumdog feel ( Hotel Mumbai) + Political storytelling Winner ( The Tashkent Files )

Back from travel I watched The Tashkent Files and Hotel Mumbai in quick succession before they vanished. 

(***1/2)

Was pleasantly surprised to find Tashkent files into possibly its 4th week still well populated for a late-night show. Notsurprised if TTF (The Tashkent Files) draws as much animated discussion as the ongoing Indian elections. It is probably one of the few introspective, raring and daring to scratch history to explore for hidden narratives and ostensibly backed by theories and some close to the subject, people opinions, manages to do that. There were shocked exclamations of “how blatant” at the end of the cinema but that is natural for a cinema that points clever fingers without any holds barred at conspiracy at the highest echelons of the Indian Polity in the process possibly destroying long held idolization of certain leaders of the 70s and 80s. 

Vivek Agnihotri is not new to controversy and his affability for the current governance may be construed as the driver for this cinema which risks and opens itself for clear accusation of propaganda. Yet the maker cleverly introduces debate to counter the various opinions maybe to the delight of social media political debaters even questioning his own climax itself. It does however make us think of our lack of clear visibility and appreciation for our second prime minister Mr Lal Bahadur Shastri who has clearly documented appreciation for his various reforms. But his death while abroad during an agreement post a brief war raised concerns about foul play. Vivek seizes that opportunity hidden in history, sharpens his writing knives and backed by some research attempts to create a strong debate and willfully introducing counter arguments to ensure it is not ‘blatant’. 

That politics is murky and is not limited to practitioners from one political party is something he drives home while cleverly rationalizing and justifying that it may be necessary for a party to practice it to win power to do good.

His powerful writing is taken a few notches higher by some superlative acting with only a surprising Nasiruddin appearing too unsure of himself for the first time while a young Shweta seizes the opportunity with both hands and bites and chews her role well. The board room type discussion reminded me of the Talvar setting and the debate within the agencies. Whether the movie can make votes swing is unsure but it manages to credibly install strong doubts in the minds of the viewers confirming what we know as murky politics in India today. Worth a watch if you have the patience and curiosity for serious political discussions.

( *)

Hotel Mumbai was a serious let down. Not that we wanted a popcorn entertainment out of a tragedy but Hollywood usually excels in investing finesse and narrative credibility into disaster movies. Here their preoccupation with recreating a Slumdog millionaire feel because the movie is set in India, eats into the possible potential exacerbation of tragedy and horror that could have been otherwise felt. 

It is extremely irksome that a movie on south Asia should necessarily come with a creamish yellow tinge usually associated with movies on the colonial era or trying to ride on the back of slum tourism. ( hutments , gawking people, pools of water on potholed roads, worn out homes)

The movie attempts to very poorly create a backdrop for the terrorist attack on the Hotel Taj in Mumbai and barely manages to create any credible backstory for the 200 odd guests who were present on the dark night. So deep is their obsession that the camera drools as it follows a hotel staff member into his poverty laden slum home where clusters of wide-eyed population stare at community TV sets watching English news and women looking equally sad and tragic for no rhyme or reason. The staff member is the pivot for this story as he with the chief Chef actually helped to save many lives. But the makers lack of research is very evident as they do not even get the basic Luxurious hotel right. The utter lack of realism is evident as the pivotal character returns from a tragic night to his wife who seems to be besotted with bathing her child in a water tub in their poor home. Really that is what a wife does when her husband is fighting for his life with terrorists ?

The photography is of such a poor order that the hotel with its worn-out walls looks like a 2-star property. The back offices look even worse possibly like their version of government offices in the colonial era movies. The screen is blurred most of the time and with dim lighting in an attempt to heighten the horror. The role of the local policemen is completely glossed over making them look like inept personnel who have no clue of how to handle the situation which is not entirely true if one watches videos available even today on YouTube. And since it is not a Hollywood movie where the key agencies save earth the role of the special anti terrorists squad is reduced to a few uniformed personnel rushing into the building!

Honestly thought it was a pathetic film making, poor direction, even worse photography, a popcorn version of a terror disaster that could have been done differently had it happened in different geography. Anupam Kher and Dev Patel simply hang around varying their expressions of calm posturing in a panicky situation and it is surprising consider how good as actors they actually are.

I would really like to ask the makers if they even visited the hotel to understand its outstanding century old interiors and the poor acting, lack of character building except for one family, add unto a below average movie.