Ardha Satya : Amrish Puri, a policeman 24X7
It will not be suffice to say that Amrish Puri plays only a callous father of Anant Velankar (Om Puri) in the film, Ardha Satya or the film shows him as a cruel father only. It will not do a proper justice to this interesting character. Things are not so simple and straight with this character that we may define his character as a harsh father of AV. Its not possible for Vijay Tendulkar to write a simple character that has been given only one characteristic. His characters have to be completely complex in nature because they belong to real life. His characters are seen in real life. Its not possible for Govind Nihalani to show his characters seized under monotonous behaviour and his characters have to face the volatile conditions and behaviour because life is like that only and prototypes don’t work here. That’s the beauty of films directed by Shyam Benegal and Govind Nihalani and written by Vijay Tendulkar that many characters, shown as supporting characters in the film, can be explored further to make them the major and lead characters of different films.
Team of Vijay Tendulkar and Govind Nihalani could have made a full length feature film focussing on the character of Amrish Puri. Ardha Satya is also the story of the relationship between a policeman Amrish Puri and his policeman son. Writer+ director easily could make a film by exploring the life of Amrish Puri and then character of his son could have become the secondary. Then it could have become the film showing the changing life of a narrow minded policeman.
I can’t recall if Amrish Puri’s character is addressed by a name in the film. He is something like a head constable in the police department and in reality twenty four hours he remains as a policeman only. At his home also he is not a husband or a father but a policeman and he thinks that his home, his wife and his son also come under his jurisdiction. He treats them as a policeman would treat other people.
He is kind of a strict policeman for whom his uniform should always remain tip-top as he thinks uniform is the recognition of a policeman. He does not mind slapping his wife when accidently milk is spilled over his uniform. He scolds his son Sub-Inspector Anant for his negligence towards his police uniform because he finds Anant sleeping wearing his uniform.
He may fall in the category of people who would boast that in their 30-35 years of service they never reached late on duty. They cherish an idea that they have certain principles and they strictly follow those principles.
He is very clear about effective area of police service and he does not mind earning extra money other than the fixed salary and he suggests his son that he should take a transfer to a small place and though income will be less there but he will be treated like a king there and his power will be increased. So power of a policeman is very important for him.
He is practical to a brutal extent. He says to his son that a marriage proposal has come from a lawyer and though he is not a big lawyer but he handles the criminal cases and its an area to earn good money. He further says that his daughter is not so beautiful but then a policeman should not marry a beautiful woman because policeman’s duty keeps him away from the home for long hours.
To beat the people is not objectionable for him. As he beats people when he is working as a policeman same way he beats his wife and son also. He does not feel any difference. Though he boasts that he knows very well how to differentiate between the criminals and who should be given which kind of beating.
After reading news that his son Anant has killed a man in his custody he says that his son is an idiot and he does not know how to beat immature prisoners and when his wife presents her views and asks him if its needed to beat prisoners, he becomes angry and says to her that she is even more idiot and does not know that these prisoners are so tough people that iron roads are bended while beating them but they don’t speak up a word in confession.
He wants to keep a strict control on the lives of his wife and son. He does not want to leave his son free to live his life as he wants inspite of the fact that now his son works in Bombay. He goes there to pressurise him to take a transfer to a small place and to instruct him to marry a girl chosen by him.
But at same time director keeps on showing different characteristics also in his character. When first time he reaches there at the room of his son in Bombay, he gives home made sweets to his son and says that his mother has prepared them especially for him.
That’s a classic scene where in the morning a song is playing on radio and first a hand is shown resting on the cot where Anant Velankar is sleeping and slowly Amrish Puri comes in to the camera. A wonderful scene indeed that shows high class technical skills also. Amrish Puri’s act in that scene is simply amazing.
His realistic act and Director’s camera make the scene memorable. He looks like he has really got up from the sleep. His eyes and facial expressions all support this scene. This is expected only from a super class character artist and many big stars perhaps would not give such a scene with such a perfection because they fear about their looks on the screen. Many of them care more for their beauty on screen than the realistic approach and Hindi cinema has been having quite a few male stars caring for good make up and use of lipstick on their lips in death scenes also so that they don’t look ugly and their image of a romantic hero don’t get any harm.
AP gets up and folds properly the mat, bed sheet etc and scene establishes him as a man who likes to see things kept in an order.
He does not mind to give lecture to his son who holds a relatively higher post in the police department. He still tries to control the life of his son. When his son writes him that he would marry girl of his choice, he becomes very angry and says to his wife that he would go there at Bombay and only his beating would bring their son on track.
His vision is narrow as far as personal freedom is concerned and he thinks he may lead his life in same way as he has been living in the last, may be 50 years. He tries to force his son to accept the marriage proposal he has brought but his son does not succumb and AP becomes very angry and says that how he may dare not to follow his instructions and he will have to marry wherever he says. AV becomes angry and screams that he will not follow instructions of his father and asks him what he thinks who he is to instruct him?
AP sees clearly that now his son will not follow his every instruction and he swiftly goes two steps back and says that his son does not need to shout at him.
AP does not mind to ask his son if he keeps Rum or Whiskey at the home as his own quota has been finished.
That’s another classic scene where a drunken AP tries to kiss his drunken son and son pushes him away and screams loudly. AP brings a realistic touch in that scene and he looks like a drunken man. Two strong actors make this scene a great scene. After watching his son’s anger and bearing his reprimands AP’s face is just watchable. He brings so good expressions on his face as if whole his belief system has been destroyed by someone and its true also. Now he is searching pride in his son’s doings and he thinks that he has full right on the life of his son and here his son is shouting that he has been beating his mother.
AP’s family consists of three members only and AV’s scolding makes him an odd member in that small family. He is bound to feel shattered. Now his son has grown up and can face him.
AP is stunned enough to become a mum but his facial expressions are able to disclose his inner feelings and audience can see and read those feelings. That’s the greatness of an actor that audience may flow with the flow of his emotions.
Scenes in the Ardha Satya clearly reveal many things about Amrish Puri’s character and many things remain hidden and only glimpses of the changes in his attitude and conditions are shown.
He may look as a cruel father but he cares also about his son. These are his self made beliefs which make him like he appears before others. He has never done any introspection because at his home nobody challenged his thinking and behaviour and outside also he carried his job smoothly. Disturbances in his life come through the actions of his son against him and against the system.
He has been beating his wife but its quite possible that if she falls seriously ill then his thinking about her and his behaviour towards her would be changed completely. Such harsh people are often seen to be turned in to soft people after such changes in their life.
Initially he becomes very angry after reading in newspaper that his son has killed a man in his custody. But after some time he looks visibly disturbed and he declares that he would immediately go to Bombay.
Finally A father comes out of the policeman in this scene which incidently is the last scene of Amrish Puri on screen in the film. He is seen as a father only in this last scene. A father, who is worried about the life of his son, a father, who wants to reach to Bombay to do whatever he can do to save his son, is shown in the end. Perhaps he would not be able to do much but he wants to be there to try something.
What a superb performance, Late Amrish Puri saab had given in this small role. And not to mention that actor Amrish Puri will always be remembered for giving us many amazing performances and he will always be missed because now he is not physically present in the film industry.
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First part – Ardha Satya : Silver Jubilee remembrance–Part 1
second part –
Ardha Satya: Rama Shetty = Hand pump, spreading poison all around
Third part -
Ardha Satya : Mike Lobo, Actor is The Naseeruddin Shah
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
One of the best films of Bollywood.I would like to say that it is one of the best Cop films ever made.Amrish was perfect.Govind Nihalini best work1
Its amazing that you have written about that particular shot because when I saw the movie the first time,the shot almost shocked me wen Amrish Puri entered the frame.More than the fact that the scene is so well written,its amazing cinamatography by nihlani himself.I rewinded to see the shot a couple of times.In fact throughout the movie the cinematography is exceptional,catching each expression of the actors brilliantly
Thanks for such a thorough effort at bringing out the hidden narrative of Amrish Puri’s character in the film and paint the lager picture of the nuances behind his role in the overall story. Maybe you could have spent little less time on describing the scenes and praising the actors and drawn out even more meat on the complexity of Amrish’s character and his relationship with his son in particular. Overall, a commendable exploration in character-analysis and a wonderful read. Thanks again.
Thanks for the wonderful read RK…waiting for the rest in the series…:)
RK…Completely bang on..you have not written much on AP’s use of voice in his act here..the tone..the gruffness and the various moods that AP works out in the same gruffness that a constable is supposed to have..he put in a lot of thought here in this rule..akin to another priceless work in “Suraj ka Saatvan Ghoda”!
Take a bow RK.
Kya kadak article likha hai. Maza aa gaya. A fitting in-depth analysis of an amazingly sketched character.
Would love to read more such sketches of immortal characters conceived by this trio of Shyam Benegal,Vijay tendulkar and Govind Nihlani.
PS: Have you watched Govind Nihlani’s Drishti? The complexity of both the characters in the film viz Dimple n Shekhar Kapur’s is mind boggling.
Keep posting:)
On a different not, Amrish Puri is truly a wonderfully gifted actor.
At this point it’s will be interesting to draw a parallel of the two characters that Amrish Puri portrayed. One, as Anant Velakar’s father in Ardh Satya and the other as Purshottam Kashinath Shinde, Jackie Shroff’s father in Gardish. Both characters are similar yet sooo different.
In both he’s a strict constable. Although in the latter he’s a man of principles in the real sense. In both he has expectations from his son which eventually he doesn’t fulfil.
Hallmark scenes from both films:
In Ardh Satya where he’s drunk and tries to kiss his drunken son and the son pushes him away.
In Gardish he get’s food and khilaos it to a badly bruised Jackie in the lock up after beating him to pulp some hours before. True masterpiece.
@Krishna,
Ardha Satya is one of the most important and best films of Hindi cinema. There is no doubt in it and as I mentioned in first part, This is the most complex film of Hindi cinema. Never before and after, a film was handled with such a complex narraitive where characters present their independent existences and their actions raise questions viable for the society. Every action of 4-5 major characters are able to bring conflic of society on the surface.
@Pranay (2),
That scene is amazing and fetch attention of every watcher. Normally DOPs or camermen move camera to show the situation inside the room and it goes on every person sitting/standing/lying in the room but here in this scene of Ardha Satya, camera remains still and first hand of Amrish Puri comes in to the frame and later he gets up and his head and then face is exposed to the audience.
and interesting thing is this also that when first time hand is shown resting on the cot, then its difficult to imagine whether its a male hand or a female hand because Amrish Puri had got such a nicely shaped hand and fingers.
In first viewing it may happen that more than 90% audience may guess that a woman is going to come in to the frame.
Govind Nihalani’s films can not be understood without the contribution of his camera. They can not be reviewed without mentioning his experiments with camera in various scenes.
“First he sees and then he shows”
@Manash,
“more meat on the complexity of Amrish’s character and his relationship with his son in particular”
For example?
@D&C,
you have to get posts on Jyotsana, AV and then last on Director+writer+editor (GN, VT and RS)
@Indraneel(5),
Such things I have covered in a post devoted to Amrish Puri only. Though I could have written more on his performance in the film but sometimes mood is not there to repeat the things and we just compromise with average level.
Suraj Ka satwan Ghoda was amazing as far as Amrish Puri was concerned. He was one of the strongest pillar of all the Shyam Benegal films.
You may find more details on Amrish Puri in following articles
http://passionforcinema.com/amazing-amrish/
http://passionforcinema.com/rememberingamrish-puri/
http://passionforcinema.com/amrish-puri-mogambo-khush-hota-on-his-75th-birth-anniversary/
@Gopi,
You certainly will get to read about characters used in the films made by the team of Shyam Benegal, Vijay Tendulkar and Govind nihalani.
I remember Drishti.
But I would say that a second phase started for Govind Nihalani as a director after Tamas and first phase was far more interesting, bright and intelligent than his second phase which started with Drishti. If we compare the overall films then also his first 6 films Aakrosh, Ardha Satya, Party, Aghaat and Tamas score over his later films. In his second phase Drohkaal shines more than his rest of the films. One can easily pick up Drohkaal as his best film from his second phase but it will be difficult to pick and choose his best film from his first phase as each of the six films has certain specific merits not seen in his other films of that era.
@Gopi(7),
True, and not only in Ardha Satya and Gardish, Amrish Puri gave new dimension to the role of a father in many other films like Muskurahat, Phhool aur kaante, Ghatak etc.
One can not debate over his acting skills. He was in the top league of some of the very good actors ever appeared on the horizon of Hindi Cinema.
Not a single film can be there where Amrish Puri is there and his performance can go unnoticed whether he played a villain, a character (tragic and/or comic).
There was a Vidya Sinha film “Nai Imarat” and one has to see him in the role of a landlord father.
RK, ur posts on insp. lobo, shetty and amrishji of ardh satya have become one of the highly favourite posts on character analysis.
i think some times ago somebody has analysed anant velankar on PFC.
and regarding, Amrish puri, he was, is and will be one of top highly skilled character actors of indian cinema.
@Shailesh,
KK (Kartik Krishnan) has written a full post on Om Puri’s character in Ardha Satya.
If you or anybody missed it earlier you may read it here
http://passionforcinema.com/being-anant-velankar-ardha-satya-character-analysis/
@RK
It isn’t that I have more meat to offer – was asking You to draw out more possible meat that’s all!!
@RK
the role of Smitha Patil is also very good,when Om Puri and Smitha Patil meet in a hotel then he reads one of the poem written by her,the poem tries to reflect the dubious meaning of her life and when she discusses about marriage with her friend saying that “Sometimes when you meet a person without any reason and intention,then you feel that this is the person whom you can marry and feel good.He is handsome and smart,then we feel that we dont know anything about him.To know him better when we meet him again.Then you meet him once more.then once more.Then we come to know more about him,then we also keep thinking that we dont know anything about him”
@Manash(17),
But why you dont have more meat to offer?
From where I see something good is hidden behind this quest so please take it easy and in general term. Its not related to personal selection etc.
Do you see 2-3 reasons behind your saying that you don’t have more meat on the relationship between father AP and son OP?
@Krishna,
True hers is a pivotel role in the film. next post will be on her character. Thank you for quoting her dialogues with Ila Arun. This will help.
I confess readily that I have not read your/the post. Ardh satya – I just saw it again – has a free flow. Any attempt to compartmentalize or categorise it would smack of overbearing patronization. So watch the movie and take to heart your respective impacts
@Ram,
Yes people do watch the film/s and take to heart their own impessions about those films.
Its not clear why you are making a comment. You saw the film, liked it and you should have been content by that, why to make a comment without reading whats written inside an article?
This looks very odd. Is not it?
Its very simple here as few admirers of Ardha Satya are sharing their likings about this film here.