Desi Train

Continuing the series… (click here for Part 1)

Nana Patekar in Ankush

O the ways of the mind. When a stupendous act or manner impresses one infinitely, the mind refuses to see or recognize the other performances or traits an actor has so amazingly brought out on screen.

Nana Patekar falls in the category of such an actor. The slap in your face performances may get the best of taalis, whistles and coins thrown on the screen… but sadly they’ve made many forget the range and span of this actor. I strongly suspect that Nana Patekar is another actor after Sanjeev Kumar and Kamal Hasan that can cry your eyes out, without him having to utter a single word.

The scene: The teacher in the exam room allows the ruffians to copy… infact writing the exam paper for one of the thugs… and out of the blue comes a voice “What’s this happening?” it’s a young Nana writing the exam in the same paper… and when he refuses to back down in spite of protests from the teacher and all the students in the exam hall… they attack him physically… he seizes the exam sheet the teacher is writing on for the thug… and runs out of the classroom…

Cut to he barging in the principal’s office… his shirt all torn, scratches all over his hands and face… the principal orders him to return the exam sheet back to the teacher in the exam hall and quietly give the exam and leave….

Watch the shock and bewilderment on Nana’s face. WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? His eyes speak all… Here I fought for righteousness in a class against some 100 odd students and you the principal won’t stand by me???

And when Nana refuses to back down… the principal asks his assistant to call the cops and slap a false case on Nana - in which Nana was caught copying and he threatened the teacher…

And then comes the mother of all slash your heart scenes… the look in his eyes, the breakdown, the rolling of tears and in a long shot in the hall way of the school two cops hold Nana on either side as they take him away…. as Nana keeps crying and screaming… “this is not right… (or something like it)”

It gives me tears each time, I think of that scene. Partly because Nana played it with so much transparency, and partly because Nana in that scene makes me realize my weakness - never would I be able to do such a brave act of righteousness - in fighting the entire college to stick with the truth… that scene always slaps me… hard…

Sanjay Dutt in Naam

This was perhaps the first in which Sanjay Dutt showed he could act, courtesy Mahesh Bhatt.

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There were a few scenes which bring out Sanjay’s capability in making the audience lose control and break down… but the one which got me was his death scene where he doesn’t speak a word when Kumar Gaurav approaches his bed. Instead he points to his chest and slowly gives a sign to Gaurav with his right palm that he is done… there is no life left inside him… and he begins to cry… over what he’s done in life… the pain… all flows out just before his last breath. Touching, very touching.

Balraj Sahni in Do Bigha Zameen

This was the role of a lifetime (besides his Garam Hawa). Having struggled all throughout the city with his son and later with his wife… to make money so they can pay back the loans to the corrupt zamindar and get their farm back… The look on Balraj Sahni’s face says it all… all the pain and struggles amount to nothing when on their return to the village they find a factory built on his farm…

Kamal Hassan in Appu Raja

There is not much I can add, that has not been written about this great actor so far. Of course in recent years, I see him going on some weird self indulgent trip… perhaps it takes a strong director to keep the balance in Kamal… and hence you see in Appu Raja…

The dwarf Kamal reacting in shock when he finds that it is not him and the girl who are getting married, but the girl has brought her secret boyfriend with whom she is getting married. Notice his facial reactions when the girl tries to remove the ring off Kamal’s finger…

And of course there the other scene where he attempts to commit suicide by hanging himself and his mom rushes to hold his legs as he struggles, violently shaking his hands and legs as the noose tightens around his neck… that one is one left a deep impression… and full kudos to the ace director who shot the scene in that manner.

Rajpal Yadav in Main Meri Patni aur Woh

It’s a crime to not be a salable hero in Bollywood… for, if you are a character actor, are given a lead role, perform the role with perfection… and no one notices you at any of the hundred odd different award functions held each year in Bollywood. It’s a crime to not notice Yadav’s performance in this one.

Playing a librarian, who doubts his wife, Rajpal Yadav, the simpleton that he plays, goes to his daily visit to “Bole Baba”, the name he uses to call God Shiva. Watch the scene where he sit in front of Shiva’s idol and starts talking and with every sentence slowly reaches closer and closer to a breakdown… and when he does… he has you, watching him all this time, crying with him…

A very sensitive performance… it was a shame not one award committee noticed this.

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This entry was posted on Monday, November 27th, 2006 at 4:42 pm
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