Desi Train

The Bachchan – Mukul Anand venture was off to neat start as seen in Part 1 (Who is Mukul Anand Part 1). Fresh from the critical success of Agneepath, MA had at last made his mark. With unique shot taking and breakup techniques, amazing visual onscreen creations and intoxicating scenes painted with his trademark white brush, MA moved on to make the second movie with Bachchan in their trilogy venture…

Hum (1991). Ok I’ve been blabbering about MA’s beautiful sense of drawing images on screen. The top of the line example of this is the song picturization of “Jumma Chumma”. Now, if there is a better way to shoot this song – do tell, I’m all ears. Very few songs (up to the early 90s) lived up to what you imagined them to be when you first heard a song. There was no instant song being played on the 100 tv channels we get to see now. But upto the early 90s, you heard songs first on the radio or when you bought the album. If the song was beautiful, it would intoxicate you with vivid pictures of how it would be playing on screen. And most of the times you would be let down when you saw the actual song on the screen. The greatest tragedies of all times in this area, which clearly come to my mind, are two songs. “Oye Oye” from Tridev and the second was “Bin Tere Sanam, Mar Mitenge Hum, Aa meri zindagi” from a flop called Yaara Dildaara. Those two could have had the necessary music needed to get your heart thumping, but the song picturizations had you literally in tears. What were the idiots thinking?

But “Jumma Chumma” went way past what you had imagined it to be. No doubt you saw beer froth and dock workers in that song, but MA was better than you. He took it so far ahead, that you had to stand up and salute his creative imaginative power. The shots of the godi (harbor), Bachchan turning Kimi Katkar upside down to get the change – all have MA’s stamp of visualization. But my favorite scenes captured with visual grandeur were the “Batman” song in the bar with Govinda and Rajnikath beating the crap out of Captain Zatak and his croonies, and especially the scene where Bachchan lectures his brothers over the dining table. The amazing chemistry between the two cops from Haryana – Anupam Kher and Annu Kapoor. And Bachchan’s nemesis – MA’s favorite – Danny as the once rich and powerful shipping tycoon.
Hum remains my favorite in this Bachchan-MA trilogy for many other reasons besides the above, but above all, MA managed to bring a light heartedness to the movie whenever it would start turning heavy. He maintained a balance all through out the movie and even though critics may have panned it, I though it was one of the better scripts MA had ever handled. But the visions and paint brush of MA was to do even better things in ….

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Khuda Gawah (1992). The ever strong sturdy forthright honest and above all sacrificing hero of the Indian cinema, if you would like to see one, then Khuda Gawah is for you. It was also one of the last movies which projected the sacrificing hero to the hilt. After Khuda Gawah its always been cops, mafia don, college student and I can’t think of anything else in which a hero has been portrayed.
Khuda Gawah starts with one of the most visually appealing scenes…Buzkashi in Afghanistan. The only person who dared to capture a buzkashi on screen was another visually talented director, Firoz Khan, who did it 15 years ago in Dharmatma. Capturing the Afghan landscape so beautifully and following Amitabh on his horse from a top angled shot with the beautiful Afghan hills as the backdrop towards the Indian border are scenes captured for the big screen only. Of course a 42-inch plasma could do the same for you now. Amitabh was in his element as the I’ll take on the world to win my love – Sridevi. With the pathan backdrop, the Indian – Afghan border, and Amitabh’s towering personality, MA gives you a handful of powerful imagery starting with Amitabh’s salute to India before he crosses over or his breezing through the public to snatch the villain (who killed Sridevi’s dad) from the gallows so he could execute him with his own hands. Who can forget the amazing gun battle Amitabh and Vikram Gokhale have with Kiran Kumar and his gang on the steeping hill slopes? Large canvas, aggressive dynamic motion, a large combination of colors, thumping background and with MA’s master brushes you get one of the best visuals in a scene you could have ever asked for. And last but not the least, riding towards his lost love with his arms open, his horse wading through water and bullets flying all around, that is the eternal lover you could ever ever ever have hoped to ever read or see. One of my favorite songs in this movie was and still is – and the credit goes to the way it was filmed – “Hoye no shay, Hoye no shay, - tu mar sakta nahin kisi talwar se…” – MA made the rising of Amitabh from water all bloodied up, picking up his sword and rushing ahead with just one aim – to embrace his lost love – that shot is so believable, partly because MA already has your blood pressure up, your fists tightly clenched and you are grinding your teeth, praying Amitabh makes it to Sridevi…that my dear blog reader is what separates master craftsmen from the rest of the crowd. When – just a movie – an unreality in all aspects – grabs your collar looks straight in your eyes and you drown in them – that is the mark of a true craftsman and MA was one.
Subhash Ghai picked up MA after this and asked him to direct his production – Trimurti (1995). The film bombed miserably. A complete disaster. MA vowed not to direct somebody else’s scripts from then on. But was it that bad. As always the one thing that had plagued MA’s entire career was the lack of good, tight scripts. Trimurti was another such case. Though I never felt MA let Ghai down in executing whatever he was given to direct. Trimurti had the visually mesmerizing scenes. The beautiful Himalayan hills as only MA could capture. The fine tuned characterization of Anil Kapoor and the concept of Kooka the villain. For one, I thought the casting was miserable. The late Priya Tendulkar was a miscast, so was Dr. Mohan Aghashe as Kooka. Too much stress laid on Shahrukh Khan and his love life, and the portrayal of the eldest brother Jackie Shroff was too bland. MA was right. The film had failed right at the script level.
MA started “Dus” with Sanjay Dutt and Salman Khan about spy agents hot on the trails of terrorists. When I got to see some images of the movie shot so far, it had my heart thumping hard for more. MA and visually intoxicating must be two sides of the same coin. You could not mention one without the other. Unfortunately MA passed away during the making of “Dus”, at the young age of 46. There was so much left for him to show, so much to grow as a craftsman and so much more intoxicating left to do on his fans via his movies - all which ended in an instant, when I read the news about his untimely demise in the newspapers.
Following is a short list of the images created by MA which shall remain deeply ingrained in memory are, I’m sure there are many more, but these come to my mind immediately…
1. “Kanoon Kya Karega”: A shirtless and drenched Danny after having swum to the house boat, looking closely at Deepti Naval and mentioning a cold yet passionate voice “I had told you, I will hear your voice from very close one day…”
2. “Kanoon Kya Karega”: Suresh Oberoi and his wife (Naval) and their daughter watching a badminton game, and the entire audience watching the game keeps moving their heads left and right watching the shuttle-cock shoot from one side to the other. While the heads are moving left and right in unison, the daughter’s face stops and fearfully looks right in front into the camera. The camera moves to a slightly smiling Danny standing on the other side of the badminton court. MA takes this fear a step ahead, by showing the ice cream melting over and spilling out of the daughter’s hands as she’s frozen in a state of fear. The amazing contrast of the frozen icecream melting out while fear on the other hand freezing the daughter - that is a master stroke.
3. “Aitbaar”: Danny’s entry and his investigative methods. Dimple Kapadia’s character.
4. “Main Balwaan”: Utpal Dutt is told in precise details what Dharmendra and Mithun do at home right from when they wake up to breakfast to Dharmendra leaving for work. The guy telling this to Dutt has his voice in the background while the camera shows Dharmendra and Mithun doing stuff. Cut to Dutt who asks “So where is the problem?”, so the guy starts explaining the entire 5 minute scene again, but Dutt interjects “Damn! Do I have to hear all that again!!! Tell me in fast forward manner” MA then plays the entire 5 minute scene of Dharmendra and Mithun from getting out of bed to having breakfast – in fast forward mode
5. “Sultanat”: The best battle scene filmed every in the history of Bollywood. With Amrish puri and his army offering namaaz right in front of the fort they are going to attack…wow wow wow!!!
6. “Insaaf”: Vinod Khanna’s entry….may not look that impressive now, but in 1987 we were seeing Khanna return to the screen after 7-8 years. The bridge on Mandwa scene with Vinod walking towards Oberoi and Oberoi’s guards following Vinod – all dressed in white. Oberoi revealing his intention to kill Vinod and Vinod running back towards his car on the bridge with the bad guys running after him.
7. “Maha-Sangram”: Aditya Pancholi’s portrayal as the typical goon from Bhindi Bazaar in Bombay, screaming at his father (Amjad Khan) “Baap, tu paagal ho gaela hain…”(Dad you’ve gone mad)
8. “Agneepath”: Danny (without a moustache) in a white suit makes clear his intentions of turning the island of Mandwa into a smuggling den.
9. “Agneepath”: The camera following Amitabh on the beautiful Gulf coast, the chopper rising from behind his car, the running of Amitabh and his gang in the narrow slum lanes, Mithun’s transformation in a coconut selling vendor.
10. “Hum”: The song Jumma Chumma, the scenes at the port, the scolding on the brothers (Govinda and Rajnikanth) by Amitabh at the dining table, Batman fight!, Anupam Kher and Annu Kapoor’s verbal exchange throughtout the movie…
11. “Khuda Gawah”: The beautiful landscapes of Afghanistan, Amitabh’s salute to India before crossing over, Amitabh and Gokhale’s gun battle with Kiran Kumar’s thugs on the hill slopes, Amitabh riding towards his lost love on the horse with his arms spread wide open, “Hoye no shay..” beating in the background to impress Amitabh’s resolve to hug Sridevi against all odds…
MA’s movies also had its own bag of faults. The script was never a good friend of MA. He could never get that one tight script (besides Kanoon Kya Karega). His tendency to inject a sad song in the climax while the hero’s family is being tortured, while waiting for the hero to appear and save the day – that was a bit of a stretch but I’ve seen that in many of his movies – Agneepath, Hum, Khuda Gawah – which I suspect was because of outside influence (read pressure).
But MA inspite of the few flaws his movies had, would always be, a part of the elite group, that of the Master Craftsmen….

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 23rd, 2005 at 10:25 am
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