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film captures the ethos astutely and is relevant in today's times, the treatment, look and feel of the film seem a bit outdated.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 ---
In 2015, the release of the film was stayed by the Delhi High Court for allegedly hurting religious sentiments. It subsequently was leaked online. Then the makers, after years of tweaking the original screenplay, finally managed an A certificate and release.
Pre-interval, it gives us a glimpse of all the greatness the film could have reached if allowed to stay true to the original story. The vibrant Assi Ghat catches our attention where things move at their own pace, quite like the rhythmic thumbing of prayer beads.
The year is 1988 and through the decade, it traces some very tumultuous years in Indian political history. From the Mandal Commission and the student protests that raged across the country, to whipping up passions for the Ram janam bhoomi and the eventual Babri Masjid demolition.
On the other hand, playing his onscreen wife, Sakshi Tanvar is flawlessly resplendent. Her tonality is pitch-perfect and shape-shifts on cue. Brilliant as both the sar-par-pallu, dutiful wife with downcast eyes, and the feisty, sharp-tongued better-half nudging her husband to bend his rules to accommodate changing times.
But post interval, it all goes south. The electrifying political ruminations become domestic in nature. The script almost grovels, to try and not meddle much in matters of god or man-made god. The obsequious turn of things completely ruins what could otherwise have been a radical, thought-provoking critique of the political scenario.
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