Reviews: Kaal / Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi
b_ra...@yahoo.com
Baradwaj Rangan
(C) The New Sunday Express - May 8, 2005
Horror movies and thrillers aren't usually a repository of morals and
messages -- unless the moral or message is along the lines of, "When
something's haunting the house, don't be a moron and venture
anywhere alone, otherwise you'll most certainly scream and spout
geysers of fake blood and die of (a) decapitation, (b) disembowelment,
(c) amputation, or (d) a creative, audience-pleasing combination of the
above." But 'Kaal' could well be something of a first -- a supernatural
thriller that, between scares, warns you to respect Nature. If Stephen
King and Jim Corbett had collaborated on a screenplay, this would be
it.
So the film begins with spooky sounds and the first of several shots of
a bat hanging upside down. (Throughout the movie, we see so much of
this particular mammal, I wouldn't have been surprised if the cast
list had ended with the entry: "And featuring Chhotu, the Upside-down
Bat.") More wildlife follows -- an owl, an eagle, a snake, and
interestingly, these creatures are introduced in their entirety, unlike
the humans. What we first see of Krish (John Abraham), Dev (Vivek
Oberoi) and Ria (Esha Deol) are, respectively, a bare torso, moving
lips, and bare legs. Could first-time director Soham actually be
telling us something, perhaps that the inhabitants of the jungle view
these people not as human beings but simply as a collection of tasty
body parts, like how we don't relate to chickens as birds as much as
providers of juicy breasts and thighs?
Naah. I think it's just movie shorthand for letting us know why these
stars were roped in. This is the kind of film where people get stranded
in the wild -- a national park, actually -- and get bumped off one by
one; so, it's not as if they placed lightning calls to Om Puri's
and Shabana Azmi's date managers. Therefore, why not cast pinup-ready
hotties instead? Esha Deol, for instance, has clearly decided to become
Cleavage Queen -- animate all the shots of Lara Dutta (as Ishika,
Dev's girlfriend) and Esha standing side-by-side, and you could call
it 'Beauty and the Breast' -- so during the lulls between screams, why
not put to use her newfound willingness to cheer up the young males in
the audience?
That way, at least, they'll have something to occupy themselves with
till Ajay Devgan's mystery-man character makes his appearance --
around the halfway mark, which is when the movie really gets going.
(Till then, we're treated to entirely unneeded
get-to-know-these-people sequences, revealing to us details like Ishika
being superstitious and Dev being contemptuous of all things 'desi'. As
if we're interested in this stuff -- which isn't even referenced
elsewhere -- when all we care about is whether they'll die, and if
so, how gruesomely.)
But once Devgan turns up, 'Kaal' finally becomes something of the
scare-fest we want it to be. He offers to help the cast escape the
man-eating tigers apparently responsible for their friends' deaths.
But is it really the tigers, or could it be... no, really? As you
figure that out, you're grateful that love songs don't clutter up
the narrative. (Even the number with item boy Shah Rukh Khan and
Malaika Arora, the one that seemed a bit silly on telly in the promos
but looks quite spectacular on the big screen, is dispensed with during
the opening credits.) Then again, after some of the more predictable
boo moments -- the ones that all but raise a hand and hold up a
placard: "I am a Boo Moment!" -- you may find yourself wishing for a
booty-shake number or two, if only as respite from the
groan-screech-howl-roar sound effects. How can you set a movie in a
jungle and not feature an item with those feather-clad 'adivasis' with
readymade campfires and 'jhingalala' choruses?
***
What a beautiful title, 'Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi', and how wistfully
it conveys one man's -- and perhaps a nation's -- disillusionment
at the chasm between what post-Independence India promised to become
and what she eventually became! Sudhir Mishra's lovely film begins,
aptly enough, with a clipping of Nehru's "tryst with destiny"
speech, symbolising hope eternal, and by the end, after seeing the
dreams of individuals dying before the reality of the establishment,
the only beautiful memory you'll retain is that of the title.
The story spans about a decade from 1969, and it's a showcase for the
politics of the time -- from the specific (the Naxalite movement, the
Emergency) to the general (a marriage procession finds itself in the
middle of a political procession, literally showing how sometimes
affairs of the heart became indistinguishable from affairs of the
state). In the midst of all this, there's rich boy Siddharth (Kay Kay
Menon), whose idealism makes him trade his silver spoon for the dirt
and corruption of rural Bihar. He wants to change the world, and he
wants to begin by changing a village. Then there's middle-class
Vikram (Shiny Ahuja), who sees his almost-irrelevant Gandhian father
and wants nothing to do with that way of life. If short cuts be the way
to success and power, then so be it.
But, as good as Menon and Ahuja are, you'd probably identify most
with Geeta (Chitrangada Singh, looking remarkably like Smita Patil from
certain angles, and projecting a similar unfussy sensuality). She's
the girl in the middle, and she's probably some sort of symbol for
all of us caught in the middle; she isn't torn between Siddharth and
Vikram as much as she's torn between the former's
noble-but-impractical communism and the latter's
selfish-but-practical capitalism. In one humiliating scene, she finds
herself in jail, thanks to Siddharth's extremism, and is rescued
thanks to Vikram's efforts -- it's a quiet, effective rap on the
knuckles about how dreams alone cannot keep us going.
In that respect, 'Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi' is the anti-'Swades'. Where
the latter gently preached that one man can make a difference, this
movie -- in the tradition of the eighties' parallel cinema -- dares
that one man to try. Try battling corrupt cops, feudal set-ups, the
system, the bureaucracy, the establishment, and the only difference
you'll end up making is to yourself; the only change will be that you
no longer want to make a difference. Mishra doesn't judge if this
situation -- _our_ situation -- is horrifying or hilarious, and one
remarkable sequence sends out both signals, when a character tries to
escape from captors who are raining blows on him. If the clumsy
attempts at running away make you laugh, the thuds of weapon-upon-flesh
are sickening.
'Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi' makes these points as much through polemics
as through the popular culture of the era. There's an amusing scene
where college students sway to western pop standards like 'C'mon
Everybody' and 'Georgy Girl' instead of, say, 'O Haseena Zulfon Wali',
which would have been all the rage then. (Apparently, every generation,
even our fathers', associates being cool with being non-'desi'.) Then
there are the posters of 'Zanjeer', and seeing this movie is one way to
understand why the ascent of the Angry Young Man was perhaps inevitable
at the time. But most touching of all is when some young idealists
huddle around a radio and hum along with Mukesh's 'Woh Subah Kabhi To
Aayegi'. The soulful song is about a better tomorrow, and the
timelessness of the music, of the moment, makes you weep for those who
are searching for that better tomorrow even today.
V S Rawat
> What a beautiful title, 'Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi',
It is a tellyfilm, or what.
Not hearing/ seeing it advertised anywhere?
Has it been released on DVD/VCD in India?
Any chances of it reaching the theatres of Indore?
I had seen Sudhir Mishra's ye wo ma.nzil to nahii.n, A story
in which four students who had been studying in lucknow
university had ditched a freedom fighter friend to deliver
him in the killing hands of the british. Those four persons
were now old men and revisit their campus and similar dramas
get replayed in independence india.
I had seen that some 25 years ago in a film festival in
Lucknow. Otherwise, never heard of it.
A must see for any movie lover.
The hero was probably Pankaj Kapoor.
--
Rawat
asi...@my-deja.com
V S Rawat wrote:
>
> I had seen Sudhir Mishra's ye wo ma.nzil to nahii.n, A story
> in which four students who had been studying in lucknow
> university had ditched a freedom fighter friend to deliver
> him in the killing hands of the british. Those four persons
> were now old men and revisit their campus and similar dramas
> get replayed in independence india.
>
> I had seen that some 25 years ago in a film festival in
> Lucknow. Otherwise, never heard of it.
>
> A must see for any movie lover.
>
> The hero was probably Pankaj Kapoor.
>
> --
> Rawat
Cross posting..
"ye wo ma.nzil to nahii.n" has Pankaj Kapoor and Sushmita Mukherjee
(the Kitty of "Shut up Kitty" in Karamchand). It also had the song
"Hazaaron Khwahishen Aisi" the Ghalib ghazal sung as a fast song!!! The
song is picturised on Habib Tanvir, Manohar Singh (?) and one more
senior actor.
It was an extremely good film.
Cheers
Arun
Pavan Jha
lead was Supriya Pathak not Sushmita Mukherjee.. Naseerudding Played
the villain Vice Chancellor and Raja bundela the student leader who
kill Pankaj Kapoor in the end.. Have been looking it on video for long
time to no avail..
Pavan Jha
Vibhendu Tewari
The female lead was Sushmita Mukherji. She plays a journalist here. No
trace of Supriya Pathak. The three old men had once betrayed a fellow
revolutionary (Nikhil bhagat- Yatra, Trikaal, Hip Hip Hurray)during the
freedom struggle and survived because they were on the right side of
the power equation (One of them is son of a civil servant, loyal to the
British) . Thirty years later they are on a visit to their home-town.
(This is Lucknow and the period is emergency, without naming either the
time and the place). They find themeselves in the middle of another
political crisis and they get a chance to redeem themselves by rescuing
a young political activist(Pankaj Kapoor).
-Vibhendu
Gafoor
[snip]
So what's the verdict? Is Kaal worth
watching or not?
V S Rawat
who gets killed eventually.
> -Vibhendu
>
--
Rawat
V
V S Rawat wrote:
> I had seen that some 25 years ago in a film festival in
> Lucknow. Otherwise, never heard of it.
Were such festivals held in Ravindralaya? I know it attracted some
premiere's, like "New Delhi Times" etc. Possibly Rai
Umanath Bali PrekshaGriha had some nice screenings too.
Champak Bhumiya
possibility
of getting avideo/DVD is almost remote. I agree that it was an
awesome movie.
I had in fact forgotten its title until Arun reminded me .
See also " Main Zinda Hoon" with Pankaj Kapoor, Dipti Naval and Alok
Nath. This is another
great movie which I don't think was ever released.
Champak
V S Rawat
> Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi
>
It comes out that my CD waalaa has heard of this movie, but
is not aware when, and if, this film will ever be released
on VCD/DVD.
--
Rawat
V S Rawat
At that time, it was a three day festival.
Some films had been shown in Ravindralaya also, but they had
selected some three four halls in which one film each day
was shown in each hall.
While I was in Lucknow, I do not remember having any other
film festival like that ever after.
In Indore, in last 13 years, there had not been any single
film festival.
--
Rawat