A Wednesday Versus Aamir – a toss-up between terrorist movies
iView Author: Dr. Mandar V. Bichu (Sharjah, U.A.E.)
Email: drmandarvb [at] yahoo [dot] com
Terrorism fuelled by religious fanaticism has become a burning topic in today’s world. Until recently Hindi cinema just used the populist villain-ish image of terrorism, which served to provide the filmi ammunition for hero’s explosive on-screen violence and clich'©d jingoistic dialogues. But thankfully the picture is changing for the better. Hard-hitting films like Anurag Kashyap’s Black Friday and Shoaib Mansoor’s Pakistani film Khuda Kay Liye have successfully explored the deep-rooted social, political, ideological, moral and ethical conflicts underlying this complex issue. A Wednesday and Aamir are two notable films joining this growing list of terrorism-related realistic movies. Watching them one after another (with Dostana sandwiched in between!) over three days was an interesting experience, worth putting down in words.
Film-Synopsis:
A Wednesday
Dir.: Neeraj Pandey
A respected-looking middle-aged bespectacled gentleman (Naseeruddin Shah) coolly sitting on a terrace of an under-construction building and issuing a serial bomb-threat over his laptop-mobile network is far removed from the typical Bollywoodish terrorist image. But that’s what gives this film its realistic edge. With Mumbai’s Police Commissioner (Anupam Kher) setting up a quick action team to diffuse this threat; only four hours remain between the threat and its culmination. How will it all end?
Aamir
Dir: Raj Kumar Gupta
Dr. Aamir Ali (Rajeev Khandelwal) is returning from UK to India for good. Even after being needlessly harassed at the airport, he walks out in high spirits, eager to meet his family after a long time. But fate has something else in store for him. His family has been kidnapped and a series of cryptic telephonic messages send him scurrying all over Mumbai’s dark dingy by-lanes. With a religious appeal thrown in as emotional bait, the ruthless kidnapper and his equally heartless cronies want Aamir to carry out their diabolical mission. What will he do?
Film Review:
In terms of structure, both films depict a short passage of time- almost trying to capture the minute-by-minute drama. Both these films can be essentially classified as an engaging duel between one central protagonist and his antagonist, who almost never meet face to face but carry their conversations on telephone.
If A Wednesday relies on the caustic, quick-witted chemistry between Nasseruddin and Anupam Kher- the two acting heavyweights standing toe to toe, going for each other’s throat, then Aamir goes for even more terrifying and thoroughly believable muted interaction between debutante Rajeev Khandelwal portraying a confused, vulnerable victim and his menacing terrorist nemesis (whose face remains in a dark shadow throughout the film!) who keeps teasing and tormenting him!
A Wednesday more seems like a well-made and nicely understated cross between a loud, stereotypical Bollywood drama and a stylish, subtle Hollywood thriller. The peripheral characters (Aamir Bashir as the sincere serious policeman, Jimmy Shergill as the Dirty Harry-cum-Mad Max cop, Deepal Shaw as a success-and-news-hungry TV reporter) here are effective but predictable. The pace of the movie and the course of events- are both impressively handled but the twists and turns in the plot won’t be too difficult to guess if you have been following Hollywood thrillers regularly. But the film’s real strength is when Naseeruddin Shah starts to explain who he is and why he is doing what he is doing! Those five electrifying minutes are invested with a sincere sensitivity and a scorching emotional intensity to match! Those five minutes lift the level of this film from ‘Good’ to ‘Excellent’!
Cinematically Aamir rises even higher and can be well considered as one of the year’s very best films. The relentless pace, palpable tension, totally believable characters, unpredictability of events, haunting soundtrack, impressive camera-work and a shocking raw portrayal of Mumbai’s underbelly– everything adds up almost perfectly. The expressive symbolism- (Like the striking images of the gangster playing with a small child or a toy-monkey while speaking to Aamir or like the butcher mechanically cutting meat while Aamir is walking into the underworld!) is another thing that strikes you.
I think that both the films could have been shortened by 10-15 minutes by reducing lengths of some long and repetitive sequences. But still even in their current avatars, both the films not only successfully manage to show the rapidly changing and constantly evolving face of terrorism but they also give a strong and non-preachy message against it.
Both films make the cut as worthy showcases for the so-called Neo-Bollywood, which is slowly but surely moving in the direction of making meaningful and realistic yet entertaining and commercially viable films that can be appreciated not only by so-called intellectual ‘classes’ but can also be enjoyed by mainstream ‘masses’!
Tags: A Wednesday, aamir, Indie
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
No doubt, both ‘A Wednesday’ and ‘Aamir’ are very good films, but also ‘Mumbai Meri Jaan’ is right up there in terms of treatment and direction.
‘A Wednesday’ became a bit obvious to me around midway.
Not to say I don’t think it’s good cinema, as it’s wonderful.
Infact it made me want to go and touch Naseerudin’s feet!
Excellent performance.
‘Aamir’ was gripping!
Loved it.
A fascinating film.
‘Mumbai Meri Jaan’ is terrific!
Superb cinema!
Have u not seen this one yet?
If not, u must!
I did like both of them, though my favorite would be A Wednesday, as i felt it was a bit tighter, compared to Aamir which did drag in places. Rajeev Khandelwal is one of the best finds this year.
Loved Mumbai Meri Jaan also, showing terrorism from a common man’s view, and what happens when they are affected by it.
I think this year we have 2 great performances
Naseer- A Wednesday
Paresh Rawal- Mumbai Meri Jaan
Can some 1 start giving awards on their worth please, not on how popular the star is?
K.K Menon and R. Madhvan were just too good too!
The disgust/hatred K.K expressed was powerful!
And the fear of the common man displayed by Madhvan was simply excellence personified!
Coming to think of it, it’s about bloody time Madhvan got his dues!
He’s so ignored.
A damn good actor!
Well, brilliant actually!
@ Steve
I would certainly also put Mumbai Meri Jaan almost on the same pedestal as an Aamir or an A Wednesday.The best thing about these movies was the perfect fusion of solid acting and a reasonably good script/direction.
Rajeev Khandelwal is certainly one of the better actors to emerge from T.V in the recent past.Nasser showed that when it comes to acting, he will always be a guru in A Wednesday.
In Mumbai Meri Jaan, though Paresh was the best even I liked R.Madhavan & K.K Menon.
Yes R.Madhavan deserves more & I’m sure with his forthcoming projects he would get it.BTW have any of you Seen Tahaan by Santosh Sivan? Though it was more like an Iranian movie ( modeled on movies of Majid Majidi I feel), even it had terrorism lurking in the background.It was again a fine movie.Unfortunatley didnt get noticed by the people.
Another movie to watch out is Maharathi- I am kicked about it majorly.A star cast which has Paresh Rawal,Nasseruddin Shah, Boman Irani & Neha Dhupia ( ok I know she has hardly done any great movies, but I guess her choice of movies is improving with a Dasvidaniya & a Maharathi) in a whodunit has to be good rite?
It would be better than having just “stars” to sell the film!!!
Then please don’t forget Irrfan Khan in Mumbai Meri Jaan…..a small significant role but he made the most of it….had very few words but what awesome acting…just watch those eyes..
:)…..its time he received a little more acclaim.
@ Sougata
Yes how can I forget Irrfan Khan in MMJ? He was brilliant especially in that scene when he is getting thrown out from the store in the mall in front of his family.For that matter even Soha Ali Khan played her part rather well.I guess a good director and a great script can make a lot of difference.
@ Sethu
I am also waiting for Maharathi. Naseer, Paresh and Boman in a movie, is like having Al Pacino, Robert De Niro and Jack Nicholson together. I loved Tahan, it was slow, but very lyrical and a beautiful fable like story. These are the kinds of movies we should promote as children’s movies.
while i enjoyed both the movies and it was refreshing to see these movies, i personally enjoyed A Wednesday more. It just seemed closer to possible than Aamir did. Somehow while watching Aamir I just couldn’t stop asking myself the question, why cant the bald terrorist just blow the bus with his existing group than taking this elaborate plan some of which made little sense. yes, i have heard the reasons offered but they didn’t work for me! but if you believe its possible, its a great watch!
aamir just didnt work for me
i got absolutely bored and failed to see what was so good about it
agree with vivek…aamir is not gripping…story telling is not cliche’…rajeev could hav done much better, didnt c enough tension on his face,hate his dialogue delievery…its a decent film, overhyped a lot…
Wow! I love this site!
Especially when there’s so much feedback.
Sethu ji ;-)
I got so sick of all these terrorism films that I dreaded ‘Mumbai Meri…’, ‘Wednesday’ and ‘Aamir’.
But, they a so well made!
Actually, ‘Aamir’ had shades of ‘No Smoking’. Well, that’s what I saw.
‘Maharati’ and ‘Tahaan’ look very good, i’ll definitely keep a look out for them.
Sougata, ofcourse Irfan was splendid in ‘Mumbai…’.
I love the escalator scene with the young girl…
”Appa! Appa!…
Amma! Amma!”
Fantastic!
i watched a wednesday and know AAMIR’S USP.both movie does show EK DIN ACHANAK Cconcept with the AAM AADMI played by NASIR and KHANDELWAL.
Steve,
Unfortunately I haven’t yet watched Mumbai Meri Jaan. Would love to see that!
Dr. Mandar….
U must see it!
Trust me, u won’t be dissapointed.
:-)
Steve bhai,
Tahaan is already out, in fact it was released on the same day as A Wednesday ( 5th September )& so you’ll have to catch it on DVD now if you havent seen it yet on the big screen.Haan yes do wait for Maharathi – its releasing on 5th December-whats with number 5 anyways?
Yaar, yahan picture nahin aayi man.
Infact, most of those UTV films besides ‘Jodha..’, ‘Jaane Tu..’, ‘Rock On’ and ‘Fashion’, DIDN’T release here.
Oh, but we had ‘Money Hain Toh Honey Hai’ on cinema!! Grr!
Nah, i’ll definitely watch ‘Tahaan’.
I’m assuming the cinematography must be awesome?
No idea if ‘Maharathi’ will release here either.
Probably a dvd job.
No.5???
Yeah cinematography in Tahaan was awesome.Kashmir was so beautifully captured, but then its a Santosh Sivan movie, so yeh to hona hi tha.
My reference to number 5 was release of A Wednesday & Tahaan on 5th September and Maharathi to release on 5th December.ab samjhe???
Acchaaaaaa?!!
Number 5!
Sorry, a bit slow today (erm, today and every other day!)
Iss mein bhi koi raaz hain?
Chalo, we’ll crack that code once we’ve accomplished our hissa mission!
Hmm pehle hissa baad me code da kissa!!!
Chak de phatte!!!
“Actually, ‘Aamir’ had shades of ‘No Smoking’.”
@ steve
i kinda agree with you in the sense aamir,no smoking and black friday love showing bombay in bad lighting
i wont deny that i lvoed the way aamir showed bombay but this is a anurag kashyap thing showing dark and dingy bobmay
Vivek, bad lighting in technical terms?
Or shown as a negative representation of Bombay?
I was refering to the ‘feel’ of the film.
The panic of a singular character, trying to figure out what’s going on.
The way it was shot too.
There was that nerve-y, edginess which was also evident in ‘No Smoking’.
both movies are more gimmicky than being good stories. though i like them technically, it turns me off when they use these gimmicks as plot points.
Both “Aamir” and ” a wednesday” had a good screenplay and were executed very well on screen. Their success in the box-office is the proof that a good film wont be turned down, no matter how good or bad the publicity is.
I watched ” Aamir ” on the opening day… And man!! The film rocked!!. I was surely glued to my seat. With a lot of twists and turns, the film gripped me till the end. The ending was a bit cliched though.
What also blew my mind was the amazing background score by Amit trivedi. Reminded me of another classic score by Clint Mansell for ” Requiem for a dream ” .
I watched ” a wednesday” two days after its release in theaters. The critics had already gives two big thumbs up for this flick and i was eager to watch. I did not bother reading the story, all i knew was this movie had shades of terrorism.
Twenty minutes into the film, i was a bit confused about how the story is going about. Unnecessary sequences, Jimmy Shergill’s beat-ups were getting on my nerves. The unrealistic showcasing of sophisticated gadgets in our very own commissioner’s office was a joke.
But What really held the movie in its right track is the character of the common man. Nassereddin shah delivers a power packed performance, with the last twenty minutes of the movie coming back on track. The photography was good. No comparison between the score of ” Aamir” and ” a wednesday ” though. Hated the cliched score.
I did come out the movie, thinking about it for quite sometime. Out of a lot of movies that i did watch in 2008, ” A wednesday ” stands out as a well made film. Neeraj pande has done a decent job.
But if you ask me to pick either of the two movies, i would pick ” Aamir” any day. Kudos to Rajkumar Gupta for making an excellent film.
Me loved both! Though yeah, sometimes felt Rajeev did not work for me at times. In terms of the crisis he is going thru. He seemed lost which was expected but at times, I expected him to be annoyed, frustrated or simply exasperated and desperate a tad more instead of holding it back. May be its just me or may be I just watched it once!
Haven’t seen MMJ or Tahaan :-(
SS is a genius though you may write him off at times.
Maharathi is a play if I am not mistaken.