Message of Anwar: Men do cry
I don’t remember having seen so many men cry on screen ever. And the reason of the “male tears” lies in women (sorry for oversimplifying). It’s not that women don’t cry in Anwar however they could be counted on fingers, while the men shed enough tears to flood the theatres.
I waited a good deal to watch Anwar. Its concept seemed nice and relevant. A young Muslim artist tries to escape his troubled life and takes refuse in a village temple, where he’s mistaken for a terrorist and gets killed.
There are a number of sub plots running through the movie. Master Pasha, a quirky character whom Anwar treats as Guru commits suicide after getting rejected from his muse. He sobs and cries frantically after being called a beggar before ending his life.
The politician who leads the fanatic crowd, thirsty of Anwar’s blood, breaks into tears as the words of rejection reverberate in the background.
The Journalist’s boyfriend (only heard over the phone) cries and begs while wishing her a happy valentine day.
And our very own Anwar tops the crying brigade. He cries for being caught amidst the rapidly growing communal intolerance. He cries for being ditched by his beloved and he cries some more out of guilt for getting her lover killed.
(I had almost decided on watching “the crying game” when a friend gifted me a copy of Anwar)
What I find interesting about Anwar is that none of the relationships materialize in the film. Either relationships fail to take off (Master Pasha) or it keeps going through a rough patch (the Journalist) . Either the husband is unfaithful (politician) or even if he seems loving he’s doomed to lose his wife to some mysterious disease ( Police officer’s wife seems ill, though no doctor is called and she’s left with a sulking daughter)
Manish has a unique style of storytelling. He introduces the characters in the end and expects us to sympathize with them from the movie’s very beginning.We know very little about Anwar till almost two third of the film. In fact we dont know anything about hime except that he’s a Muslim and an artist. (honestly, I thought he was a sculptor that’s why he had come to the temple to study the idols!)
Similarly, the police officer despite having a dying wife at home looks funny and hardly evokes sympathy. His crying little daughter or the dead fish, all go down the drain and it leaves one wondering, why the hell he can’t even call a doctor. (I understand that the doc might not be available but do think that it should have been told to us. Hard to believe even a nurse can’t be called.)
Manish Jha also seems to be caught in a frenzy of exposing whoever comes his way. The politician in the film is so wretched a character that he turns out to be a cardboard cutout. He flares communal sentiments, has (or tries to establish) illicit affair with government officials wife, even his junior issues commands to the police superintendent. He acts weirdly once rejected in love. He fails to evoke either humor or sympathy.
Many situations and characters looks clichéd. I would say even director assumes that these situations and characters are clichéd, hence he refrains from explaining or justifying them. Master Pasha, a beggar artist, the corrupt politician or the police superintendent’s dying wife situation, all sound hollow.
For a good amount of time, some sort of drama keeps playing in the film. Only later we actually get a chance to understand the arbitrarily behaving characters’ motivations and find that its no theatre of absurd, but a plot replete with motivational framework.
I believe, Anwar suffers a great deal from experimentation with film craft. It would have been a great story to tell, if the filmmaker had waited for the story to acquire a form of its own. In its present form, it’s well-intended but tacky and good-meaning but incoherent.
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
Let me share a small experience with Manish Jha. I had met him before he started Matrubhoomi after his short film won at Cannes. He was telling us “Ek aisi film banani hai jo Censor board ki maa-behen kar de… like Bandit Queen”. His sole intention was to make a film for the international audience. He was gleefully narrating the rape scenes and didn’t seem to genuinely care about the subject of his film- female infanticide.
But when I watched the film, it looked honest. He knows his craft- shot taking, actor handling, story telling. And he is very intelligent.
I’m sure when he started this film his intentions were not honest and hence he wasn’t able to do justice to it.
Such a shame especially after Matrubhoomi…I loved Anwar’s songs..but haven’t dared to watch the movie yet..but, i might as well..lol
yeah om really a shame after matrubhoomi.
I will nevertheless watch the film soon..
yeah Kartik, do watch it….the entire mela thing outside the temple speaks loud enough that manish is capable of anything….he completely does away with something called subtelity…it’s a LOUD and reckless film..
I woul rather listen to Johnny Cash song
Cry, cry, cry:((
Thanks for saving my 3 hours. After listening to the songs I was surely gonna the movie.
Greetings folks, Its my first post here, so forgive me if i offend any fellow commentator, it wasn’t intended. Anyway, after reading the above comments i couldn’t stay away. Firstly , congrats on supplying such a full bodied review , Bikas. Its much appreciated, we can all learn off others. ( sorry my enter button doesn’t work hence lack of paragraphs) So, i just watched anwar then found your comments, btw i never read a review of a film before i see it- i find it ruins my viewing pleasure- cannot gage the suprise factor after knowing what happens in a film. I HAVE TO ADMINT THE FILM has definite flaws, it isn’t that coherent to the laymen- am admi. So i do generally agree with the other points by BIKAS above, i.e men crying- well observed. However, Anwar, i feel is not only what Bikas observed. it has many strands- hence why it falls on coherence- but yet this can be seen as a comendable effort if you turn the table around. For example, there is evidence of innovation at play- the juggling up of the story is unique- maybe over emphasised as i waited for ages for the back story to be told. However, the most impressive tool used was how Anwar died. I can’t believe you guys are not talking about that- there was no sign of a gun, and maybe no sign of a killer ( ahem…) yet he was shot but by who and why? – maybe people already know this but hey i might be a novice at this critic lark. anyway i’d lastly like to mention the everlasting conflict between the beauty of love and the brutality of losing love. if you look at the mentor in the film he boasts about love – but look at what happens to him- clearly the writer/director is trying to show us that love is not all flowers /chocolates- like on valentines day. i can see this is made for a international audience, i was born/bred in england maybe thats why it works for me then any normal bollywood trash like dhoom 2- don’t get me wrong i’m loving watched some great indian movies like omkara , company, satya, old raj kapoor and old amitabh movies like deewar/muqadder/sholay/ and certainly not least the first and only don. thats why i call then indian not bollywood. further comments much appreciated hopefully this nacheez and find some dost on here. regards alex.