Mohalla Assi Full Movie Hindi Download
Sherry Galeazzi
Director: Chandraprakash Dwivedi; Cast: Sunny Deol, Sakshi Tanwar, Ravi Kishan, Saurabh Shukla, Mukesh Tiwari, Rajendra Gupta, Mithilesh Chaturvedi and Seema Azmi; Rating: 2/5
One of the opening frames of the narrative tells us that the film is, "Dedicated to Lord Shiva and the people and culture of Varanasi".
Director Chandraprakash Dwivedi's "Mohalla Assi" is loosely based on Dr. Kashi Nath Singh's popular Hindi novel "Kashi Ka Assi". It is a satire on the commercialisation of Assi, a popular locality in the pilgrim city of Kashi aka Varanasi, which is situated on the banks of the holy river Ganga.
While one of the dialogues during the initial stage of the narrative states, "Corruption is our national character", the satire is about the corruption of the whole mindset, where survival being the bottom line is the only line, and how at Assi, Indian social and moral values are now replaced by the cold cynicism of human survival, in the name of globalisation.
The film is a fictionalised documentation of the degradation of the place and its people, spanning over a decade beginning from 1988 to 1998 and it incisively captures the lives of its people with aplomb. Especially; Dharamnath Pandey (Sunny Deol) a Sanskrit teacher who is an orthodox, upright "panda" and strictly against accommodating foreign tourists in Mohalla Assi as paying guests. Savitri (Sakshi Tanwar) is his nagging but considerate wife.
Kanni Guru (Ravi Kishan) is a tout and a shrewd opportunist who is ever-willing to make a quick buck. Nekram Sharma (Faisal Rashid) is a street-smart, sly and crafty barber who later becomes a yogi. And Catherine is an American who authors books on Benaras.
While there have been no discerning changes on the banks of the river or "Pappu Ki Dukaan", a restaurant where politics is discussed with the same passion and gusto as in New Delhi, it is the evolving attitude of its people that churns the narrative.
The performances of every actor are fairly appreciative, but it is the plot and the writing that fails to keep the narrative afloat. With no major inciting moments and a meandering, verbose and clunky exposition, the graph of the plot is flat. The dialogues, infused with local cuss words, over a period of time seem irritatingly forced and painful.
Overall, while the film captures the ethos astutely and is relevant in today's times, the treatment, look and feel of the film seem a bit outdated.
Do you know what is the best way to ensure that a piece of art - a film, a book, a painting - gets famous? (Dear Ban-ners, take note) It is by banning the creation. While protesting against something ensures some amount of viewership or readership for art, it is the banning that is the ultimate declaration: 'Watch this film' or 'Read this book' or 'See this painting' that's been banned. Or you miss out on cool stuff.
The latest in this never-ending list of someone's-wrath-directed-at-a-work-of-art is Mohalla Assi. For the ones who are not yet clued in to the happenings in Varanasi, this Sunny Deol film has managed to invoke the ire of several religious groups in this city-by-the-Ganga, who have gone on and filed a police complaint against the Ghayal actor. Even as the protests against the film continue in the bylanes of Varanasi.
Mohalla Assi is not new to the Indian cinegoer's psyche. This film has made appearances on and gone off the Bolly-lovers' radar since March 2011, the time when the team began shooting for the film. Mohalla Assi was supposed to have released sometime during the second half of 2011, something that still hasn't happened, thanks to some post-production glitches and other content-related problems. This satire on the current Varanasi is directed by Dr Chandra Prakash Dwivedi and loosely based on Dr Kashinath Singh's novel Kashi Ka Assi. It attempts to portray on film all that goes on in this 'mohalla' in south Varanasi, the locality near the famous Assi Ghat.
Now, Mohalla Assi was never as famous as it has become after the protests. Every internet user everywhere in the country now wants to have a look at the trailer that has ruffled these many feathers in Varanasi and elsewhere.
In the recent past, films like Rajkumar Hirani's PK and Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Insaan's MSG: Messenger of God have met the same fate. That of unbelievable fame. While PK was pretty strong at the box office - even by an Aamir Khan film standards; on the official website of MSG, the official box office collection after the second week of its release is mentioned as a whopping Rs 126 crore. The MSG figures are disputed, and while an official report is not available, on social networking sites, MSG was a blockbuster for sure. Those of us who have seen the spectacular publicity of the film know that several days during the time the film was stuck in pre-release, Twitter trends were dominated by MSG-related hashtags. For a film no one had a clue about before the protests against it helped it gain such popularity.
As far as protesting against films is concerned, more often than not, there's a reverse effect of the action. A film which people demand a ban on, for example, ends up being the most-watched one, ban or no ban. Where the films are not available in theatres, for example, there's always the hub of material-not-found-elsewhere called the internet. Yes, even those deleted scenes, which the protesters are demanding be deleted from the film. Where the main purpose of crying blood is not being served any which way, and people will manage to get their hands on the stuff protested against any which way, what is the whole point of being so touchy-tetchy-irate at something as petty as a scene in a film? An act. On film. Why not swallow the Varanasi tales with a pinch of salt? Why not let art be? Why be so offended at abuses in a film while raining them freely on the makers of the film in real? Why so serious?Published By: AtMigration Published On: Jun 22, 2015--- ENDS ---
It is a simple story of the transition of a Brahmin Pandey ji living in Assi, Benaras from a person who resists change in the name of faith to a person who becomes more liberal and spiritual going through various personal ans social turmoils. While embracing changes his faith and values remain intact, in fact stronger.
Pandey ji doesn't want any foreigner to be kept as a tenant in the Brahmin colony of the famous Assi ghat of Varanasi. The city is witnessing many changes--reservation, Ram temple construction, VP Singh's government and then Chandra Shekhar being sworn in as the prime minister.
Though the film talks about the 90s when the movement for Ram temple in Ayodhya was at its peak and consequently, Babri Masjid was demolished. But the discussions among the characters come across as more relevant than ever.
Pandey ji, a content Brahmin who abhors change finds it torturous to decide a decides to break the old shiv temple in his house to accommodate a foreign tourist. And a comic situation makes this irony more intense. When Pandey ji talks about his dream that Lord Shiv wants to move to the roof from the small temple within the house, all the Brahmins of the mohalla start talking about their dreams bout the Shiv linga in their own houses because they also want to keep foreign tourists as tenants to earn some money.
A Dharm Sansad is called. And a group of Brahmins question Pandey about moving the statue from home. The discussion that ensues is gripping. The crux of which is that when God is in every particle of this universe how can the proof of His being at a particular place be provided? The constant refrain of Ram temple
When an American woman tells it to the face of every character gathered at Pappu's tea shop that Varanasi is dying, she is not absolutely wrong and the anger this statement causes is what we are going through- the anger and agitation which we feel when we refuse to accept the reality.
Mentioning which I suddenly realise, the approval granted to this film has come close to the upcoming elections and the increasing discussions declarations and announcements by the right wing groups demanding Ram temple in Ayodhya.
Sakshi Tanwar is admittedly a good actress. Surprising is Sunny Deol in the role of the protagonist speaking chaste Hindi and chanting shlokas. He has tried his best to get rid of his Punjabi accent. He should do more of such meaningful films instead of the trash he keeps doing off and on.
After 'I Love NY', in which the actor formerly known for starring in action movies pairs off against Kangana Ranaut in a rom-com, the trailer of 'Mohalla Assi' has surfaced online. Directed by Dr Chandraprakash Dwivedi, who is best known for directing the '90s TV shows 'Chanakya' and 'Mrityunjay' as well as period drama 'Pinjar' (2003), 'Mohalla Assi' seems to be a satire set in the holy city of Varanasi.
Reportedly based on the 2004 Hindi novel 'Kashi Ka Assi' by acclaimed writer Dr Kashinath Singh, which features real conversations by real people living in the popular tourist destination, Dwivedi's film casts Deol as a conservative Sanskrit teacher. He looks down upon foreign tourists who come to Varanasi merely to smoke pot and indulge in sexual exploits by using the choicest of cuss-words to describe his feelings for them.
The film also stars Ravi Kishen as an opportunistic tour guide and Sakshi Tanwar as Deol's equally-foul-mouthed wife. It was shot in 2011, but was shelved. According to The Indian Express, the film's producer, Vinay Tiwari, has now confirmed that the film will release in "October-November".
The word 'assi' in the title refers to the Assi stream, one of two (along with Varuna) that came together to give the city its name. In an interview to The Hindu in mid-2013, Dr Singh spoke about how life changed at the city's Assi ghat especially post the liberalisation of the Indian economy in 1991. A slow trickle of foreigners, mainly those studying at the Benares Hindu University (BHU), suddenly turned into a steady stream and changed life in the neighbourhood forever. "For Rs 500, they were provided food, laundry and housing facilities. In return, the foreigners would often pay for their hosts' children's education as well. A bond emerged," he was quoted as saying, adding that this cultural exchange led to a noticeable change in the lifestyles of their hosts' families as the "women started wearing maxis and the children jeans".