I tried recently to watch the latest Subhash Ghai movie, Yuvraj. I say tried because I gave up in sheer disgust after about 43 mins of it. The movie has no storyline, crappy editing, overacting by almost everyone, and makes you lose faith in the endurance and tenaciousness of masala bollywood fare.
So I was pleasantly surprised to come across this other Subhash Ghai film that came out a little while ago without much noise. This movie is about the coming together of two characters that are so utterly defined by ‘black’ and ‘white’. One is a ‘Fidayeen’ Afghanistan trained terrorist who comes to Delhi to blow up people at the 15th August celebrations at Lal Qila and the other an Urdu professor living in Chandni Chowk who’s full of positive feelings for the entire humanity and who with his wife (played by Shefali Chhaya nee Shah, who I adore anyway) soon adopts this lonely young man and is ferrying him round Delhi’s Gali Mohalla on his Bajaj Super.
And although there are eminent opportunities for the kind of melodrama that Mr Ghai relishes, to his credit, he dodges temptation like never before. The scene where Anil Kapoor, after the pointless killing of his wife, decides not to make the news public fearing Hindu-Muslim tensions, was definitely one where I waited for that over the top, cheesy patriotic rhetoric, but none came. Instead the scene is subtle and underplayed. Well done, Ghai saab for suppressing that usually overpowering urge to pop into a scene yourself and destroy all semblance of serious acting.
The defining moment of the film is when the protagonist, after choosing to not pull the trigger after all, goes after his former mentors and kills them proclaiming- “tumne meri behan ko kyon mara?” The film shows that man made bonds and relationships nurtured through shared dreams can at times overcome prejudices of birth and religion.
Worth a watch if you haven’t already done so.
So I was pleasantly surprised to come across this other Subhash Ghai film that came out a little while ago without much noise. This movie is about the coming together of two characters that are so utterly defined by ‘black’ and ‘white’. One is a ‘Fidayeen’ Afghanistan trained terrorist who comes to Delhi to blow up people at the 15th August celebrations at Lal Qila and the other an Urdu professor living in Chandni Chowk who’s full of positive feelings for the entire humanity and who with his wife (played by Shefali Chhaya nee Shah, who I adore anyway) soon adopts this lonely young man and is ferrying him round Delhi’s Gali Mohalla on his Bajaj Super.
And although there are eminent opportunities for the kind of melodrama that Mr Ghai relishes, to his credit, he dodges temptation like never before. The scene where Anil Kapoor, after the pointless killing of his wife, decides not to make the news public fearing Hindu-Muslim tensions, was definitely one where I waited for that over the top, cheesy patriotic rhetoric, but none came. Instead the scene is subtle and underplayed. Well done, Ghai saab for suppressing that usually overpowering urge to pop into a scene yourself and destroy all semblance of serious acting.
The defining moment of the film is when the protagonist, after choosing to not pull the trigger after all, goes after his former mentors and kills them proclaiming- “tumne meri behan ko kyon mara?” The film shows that man made bonds and relationships nurtured through shared dreams can at times overcome prejudices of birth and religion.
Worth a watch if you haven’t already done so.
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