Barah Aana : Count you chillar before they change
Last Friday was a deluge of low budget low key movie releases. There were Firaq (Directoral debut of Nandita Das), Barah Aana, Staright, Aloo Chat and Lottery (acting debut of the first Indian Idol Abhijit Sawant). Now, mentally I was still smeared with Gulaal and wanted to watch it again. After much planning and deliberation with wife, we settled for Barah Aana for Saturday afternoon show, Aloo Chat for Saturday late evening show and Firaq on Sunday afternoon show. Incidentally the percentage audience occupancy was highest in Aloo Chat.
Now, this review is on Barah Anaa, but let me tell you why I have decided to write on this movie and not the other two.
Aloo Chat- If ‘Bachna E Hasino’ was a piggy back ride on DDLJ first half, Aloo Chat rides on DDLJ second half. Normally, the number of loo break my younger son (3) asks for, over and above the interval, is an indicator if the movie is boring or enjoyable. He asked twice for Aloo chat. The jokes in the movie were too tangential (mera to sade chhe baja hua hai, barah kab bajega) for my elder one (8) too. Though the movie has few moments and some good performances, the much told clich'©d story hangs at 6:30 position.
Firaq- Was too weak and slow for me. The characters wasn’t able to wrench me, except may be for Deepti Naval. Sanjay Suri and Tisca Chopra definitely make a good looking couple suitable for a ‘soap advert’ on TV, but I wonder if they could touch any chord with the clich'©d ‘I- am- a- muslim- so –I-can’t- tell- my-real- name’ symptoms. Movies like Bombay, Khuda ke Liye and Mr. and Mrs Iyer which have deeply dealt with the subject ( mob violence, fear, minority sentiments and the aftermath) and probably the shock value of Parzania, specific to the context of Gujarat violence, Firaq doesn’t offer anything more than what we have seen and known. Moreover may be it’s honest, it may appear somewhat biased to majority. I think we should now give Nasiruddin a break from the ‘old sulking Muslim scholar sitting amongst the cobweb of his memories and truckload of antiques, thinking music will heal everyone and everything’, he just does it too well. Was Paresh Rawal given the small role only because he speaks Gujrati? However, the contextual bc-mc lingo promises about Nandita’s realistic portrayal.
Now coming to Barah Aana.
Out of the 3 movies I could associate the most was Barah Aana.
Storyline:
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The story is about three men living in suburban slums of Mumbai. Shukla (Nasiruddin Shah) works as a driver and is an officially dead man as per govt records. Yadav (Vijay Raaz) is a watchman for a cooperative housing society. Aman (Arjun Mathur) is a waiter on a desi caf'©. What’s common between them is they stay in the same ‘kholi’, drink daru together and lean on each other’s shoulders, when in trouble. All of them are grossly disrespected by people from the so called upper strata during their daily chores. What’s worse after bearing the daily misery, they don’t even earn enough to meet their ends. Overall a bad life, they live. Yadav struggles to send some money for his ailing child back home. Aman dreams of being in love with Kate madam (Violante Placido), a regular customer in the caf'© he works and ignores the line-maro attempts of Rani (Tannishtha Chatterjee). Shukla (Nasiruddin Shah) is just silent. It was pleasant surprise to learn from Raja Menon [http://passionforcinema.com/barah-aana-raja-menon/] that Violante is the daughter of the Sicilian beauty whom Michael Corleoni married in The Godfather)
Things look morbid and there tragic saga continues till one day, Yadav reaches threshold of his tolerance and revolts. His impulsive action drags him and his mates into a possible crime. However, things take different turn after Yadav gets successful in fetching a lucrative ransom and persuades his friends to take up kidnapping professionally. After various sequences of events, the movie ends at a conclusive juncture of the story, leaving the audience to ponder further, like a good movie should do.
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Entertainment with a social message
Director Raja Menon captures a slice of life of these hard working men in Mumbai- the drivers, watchmen and waiters. People who have arrived to the maximum city for a living and to support their family back home. It talks about the daily compromise with their dignity as human beings, while they serve the ‘malik’. We all interact with them, how many of us call them by name, ask about their well being? A little good word is all that makes a difference in their lives. The movie gives a social message is simple and funny way. Treat everyone equal. Don’t push someone to his limit as you may not be able to handle the fury of the silent man.
Vijay Raaj- I have this tremendous affinity towards low key character actors since I have realized what ‘acting’ really means. Actors like Vijay Raaj (Monsoon Wedding, Delhi 6), Vijay Maurya (Bombay to Bangkok, A Wednesday), Sanjay Narvekar (Vastaav, Hathyar). Years back I had the similar feeling for Rajpaal Yadav, Deepak Dobriyal and Zakir Hussain. These characters remained memorable for their performances, even if the movie didn’t fare well. This guy delivers a superb character metamorphosis from a meek spineless ‘watchman’ to a leader of kidnappers. Watch his body language, mobile conversations and drunken escapades.
Nasiruddin- The veteran thespian is silent in 90% of his role. Still his unspoken language does what it is expected to- make us believe in his character. It is a great moment in the movie when he speaks for the first time. Another memorable performance from him.
Among other characters Arjun Mathur (Luck by Chance) does a decent job. Tannishtha Chatterjee as the wicked over friendly Rani is suggestively conspicuous. Violanto Placio presence is refreshing with her sweet voice and accent. The scenes between Aman and Rani are very enjoyable. Short characters like the cutlet aunty and Mr. Mehta (Benjamin Gilani) add value to the simple linear narrative. Jayati Bhatia meakes a perfect on screen bitch out of Mrs. Mehta.
I love Indie movies which work on details. Barah has some brilliant detailing, for the keen viewer to relish. The setting of the ‘kholi’, the morning queue for municipal water supply, the wreckage of a truck as the daru ka theka, the television set in Shukla’s room, The ‘Dragan Chinese Korner’ and it’s owner, the sunglass of Yadav, and many more. The most exciting part was the ‘wait’ for Shukla to speak-up.
There’s only one flashback at the beginning of the movie which shows Shukla’s past. The first half of the movie establishes the characters with beautiful panache. The second half interweaves the three characters onto the main story through a simple linear narrative.
The movie has great amount of fun and entertainment, even if the viewer choose to ignore the message. The humor in the movie is subtle and wry so it would caters to people with that particular taste.
Like a double edged sword, the underlying social message runs a chance to be misinterpreted. But that may happen if this movie is seen by the mass, which I doubt. Irony is, though this movie tells a story (lack of which in recent movies are complained about these days) and relates to the two social strata of the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’, I wonder who will watch this movie? Clearly the watchman or the driver can’t splurge on the ticket price. Barah aana is the chance that their ‘malik’ would go for ‘Aloo Chat’.
For the rest Char Aana, will anyone sponsor their driver or watchman to Barah Aana?
Ps: The title is a bad pun attempt to contextualize the famous idiom. Chillar in Mumbaiya Hindi means ‘small change’ or ‘coins’.
Tags: Aloo Chat, Barah Aana, Firaaq, naseeruddin shah, Raja Menon, Vijay Raaj
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
UH, welcome to PFC and ur 1st revu. Aloo Chaat was plain tasteless, and Aftab Shivdasani does not make it better. Even after so many years in the industry, he still has 3-4 expressions. And packed with all the typical Punjabi cliches.
Am looking out for Barah Anna,the story sounds interesting. Vijay Raaz is good but i feel he is more of a director’s actor, does well if role is good. Rajpal Yadav showed a lot of promise, but of late he has become a caricature, hamming up badly. Deepak and Zakir Hussain, are excellent actors. In fact Deepak was one of the few good things i liked in Dilli 6.
I saw this movie today and I have to say that I totally loved it. But greatness aside, there are few things that I didn’t like about the movie.
.WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD
1)The ending- I can’t believe that the jurisdiction would let such a guy free, just because according to the govt., he is dead. This is unacceptable.
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2)The starting scene looks as if it’s been put to grip the average viewer. It doesn’t really do a hell lot to the story. A chase scene of that sort at the start is presumed to be one of the most widely used cliche’s of films.
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Besides these two (in my opinion) I don’t think there’s anything bad with the movie. In times like these screenwriting of this level is amazingly refreshing.
Nice review, Flyingelephant. ‘Dragan Chenese Korner’ was a superb bit of work.
Just a small point. Vijay Maurya wasn’t there in A Wednesday. You’re probably thinking of Mumbai Meri Jaan. (He’s one of my favourite actors.)
Hi Ratnakar, I think you will like Vijay in Barah Aana.
And Sameer, I’m happy you like the film as much as you seemed to have.
As for the judiciary, it was my comment on the system and not really on the judiciary. The very same system that screws you (and it could be society or societal habits)could very well one day turn around and bite you in the ass!! The judiciary was just a metaphor.
cheers
Hey Udtahaathi,
Excited that you felt the way you did watching the film.
Just one piece of info that I thought I must share with you – the screen that has had the best viewership is Inox in town, arguably that region of Bombay with the most ‘maliks’. What is interesting is that the film is being seen as a mirror not as an indictment which is exactly the way I’d want the film to be seen.
@Ratna: Thanks for the welcome. Actually this is my second article.
The first one was posted under ID flyingelephant , if you recall.
Aftab Shivdasai’s best performance was in Darna Mana Hai where he becomes a statue at the end.
Vijay Raaj is outstanding in this movie, especially noting that he had to share screen presence with a master like Nasiruddin. More than the story, its the treatment that i enjoyed the most. When a filmmaker puts thinking into a movie, it shows.
I know you have not seen Gulaal yet, but Abhimany Singh’s performance as Ransa is one character of the century.
Cheers!
~uh~
@Sameer:
1. I am not a legal expert. But If one is dead as per records, he is not existing anymore. As per law you can not punish who is not existing. But what can be challenged technically is how Shukla maintained his Driving License, renewal must have been a challenge ;-)
As Raja Menon explains,I gather it was a sarcastic take on the foolish system we live in. In our country, you caneven fire professional convicts, who can go to jail on behalf of you for 2 days. Paisa hai power.
2. The importance of the starting scene wasnecessary to show the angry side of young Shukla’s character. The viewer thereafter expects Shukla to be a violent man, but on the contrary he is the most timid & silent guy, probably tamed by age and experience. The viewer keeps waiting for Shukla to revolt and one day, he does. This is my personal analysis, Raja may put more light on this. But in my view the first scene was indispensible to establish Shukla’s strenght of character.
No movie is bad ever. It’s good when it serves a purpose, I guess.
Thanks for the thought provoking comment.
Cheers!
~uh~
Wow. I wasnt gonna watch the movie becuase the reviews said 2-3 stars. BTW whenever any movie gets 2-3 stars, I cancel plans to go to the theatre and catch the movie on pirated DVD. Now I will watch it in a theatre. I like this site PFC.
Hey Udtahaathi, you have a way with putting things in perspective. Especially saying Bachna was riding on DDLJ first half and Aloo Chat on the second half. Its really like that.
And now that you recommend, I will watch Barah Aana. I think Raja is the one who made Bas Yun hi. I remember we were a total of 12 people in the theatre when I watched Bas Yun Hi. I wish Raja all the luck with Barah Aana. Years later when my daughter was born, I have named her Veda.
Am gonna watch Barah Aana and let yall know. But I do think I found my reviewer in udtahaathi. Am gonna watch whatever he recommends.
@Kenny: You are bang on dude. It would be Mumbai Meri Jaan, somehow I garbled it up. Vijay Maurya played Dawood Ibrahim in Black Friday too. Thanks for the correction.
Also, it was funny to see Nasiruddin driving a Ford Endeavour. I don’t remember seeing him driving a 4xD after Jalwa’. :D
Cheers!
~uh~
yeah the first scene sets the tone to Shukla’s character, and what the system can do to a man. Philosophically, it is a metaphor to the lives of Shukla and people like Shukla who in one way or the other are the living dead. Often it seems like the system can kill the human spirit but I believe that spirit is never killed , it just lies dormant.
Spirit is never killed. It just lies dormant. Hope its true. Shouting/abusing people constantly, making/forcing people do what you want them to rather than “letting” them do what they want, Mocking at people rather than inspiring them.. the list is long really. We are all guilty, and life gives back to us. But is it because of need that we bounce back or because our spirit has not died!
Hi Vinay,
Wow! I really liked the name Veda too.
I definitely want to hear your thoughts of Barah Aana. Actually we did get some very good reviews too, Anupama Chopra on NDTV gave it 4 stars, The Hindu gave it a great review, India Today gave it 3.5 stars etc etc, although most were 3 stars. In fact even Taran Adarsh’s review wasn’t too bad except for his view on how big the audience was. I was surprised to see a 2 pr 2.5 star after reading his review. I really think the reviewer don’t always pen what they think, oftentimes they try to double guess the audience and one very common thought I’ve heard is ‘I really loved the film , but I’m not sure aam janta will’. That is really dangerous for a film.
Btw I hope there are more people in the theatre when you watch Barah Aana, but thanks for going to see BYH. Honestly it was an amateurish attempt but I believe the heart was in the right place.
@ the Raja Menon : This is the second time I am interacting to a Director ( First was when the Anurag Kashyap request me to put my review links here). *grins*
I could easily associate with this movie, Mumbai and such rudeness are something I am too familiar with. In life, somehow I end up befriending people like Yadavs and Shuklas around me, the errand boys, the drivers, the lift man, the guy who serves me tea etc. At times I am left amazed with their sense of humour and compassion towards others, which would anyday put the educated elites to shame.
Once I used one particular driver in Delhi for few days consecutively and fell ill. On my return after a month, he called me up from his mobile just to ask about my well being. It touched me.
Coming to the movie, The way Yadav transforms himself , should be a lesson for the maliks. In any case, it is always advisable not to take punga with drivers & mechanics. remember what the mechanic did with Sean Penn in U-turn ? I personally would have loved to see a fourth member as a mechanic in the movie !
Thanks for your comment caring to comment.
Cheers!
~uh~
@Vinay: Sashi Baliga of Hindustan Times gave it 3 stars. Anyway how does stars matter? Every critique have their own biasness, Khalid rated Bheja Fry with 2 stars and No Smoking with 1, and RBDJ with 4 and Kazzzzz with 3 but Chak De India with 5. Can you derive any formula? I love watching movies on a single screen 500+ seater theatre and fortunately I have one bang in my locality within walking distance. Digital prints kills half the joy.
I always like to write on debut directors and indie movies with low key character actors- I wrote reviews on Khosla Ka Ghosla, Johnny Gaddar, Manorama 6 feet under etc. Sometimes when I am too pissed after seeing a movie I feel constipated till i purge a review- happened with me with Red, Cash, Sarkar Raj and few more. You can check few of my old reviews here- http://www.mouthshut.com/user/flyingelephant.html and decide if it works
You are right about Bas Yun Hi. read this- http://passionforcinema.com/barah-aana-raja-menon/. I have not seen the movie but i am sure Veda must be a character which impressed you.
Do comeback once you see it.
Cheers!
~uh~
@Raja Menon: I have one serious complaint about the release of this movie. As I mentioned in my review, BA was released with 4 more movies on the same Friday ! Imagine someone missing BA by seeing Lottery !
For a common man like me, who waits eagerly for the weekend after a 5 dayx 14hrs grind, to catch up with some good movies on DVD and new releases, it virtually makes impossible to catch up with all the good ones. And by second week these movies are off the screen. God knows when the DVD will release, so pirated DVDs are the last resort, which is an incorrect practice and spoils the viewing experience too. But what’s the way out ?
Why was Staright and Firaaq had to release on the same day? As usual most of the suburban are going for Aloo Chat because it has masala, leggy babes, sexual innuendos and the family friendly ‘U’ certfication. What a joke.
Check the forthcoming movies here http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/trade/releasedates/index.html.
Next weekend will be jammed again – much hyped Aa Dekhen Zara, Sangeeth Siva’ns Ek – The Power Of One, Deepa Mehta’s Videsh – Heaven On Earth.
I am a sucker of Thriller and liked Neil a Lot in Johnny Gaddar, Can’t ignore Deepa Mehta either. It’s been along time seeing Nana on screen too. How to decidewhich one to see?
Why can’t movie releases be staggred in a rational fashion where each movie gets its due importance and does fair business?
~uh~
@Raja Menon: I have one serious complaint about the release of this movie. As I mentioned in my review, BA was released with 4 more movies on the same Friday ! Imagine someone missing BA by seeing Lottery !
For a common man like me, who waits eagerly for the weekend after a 5 dayx 14hrs grind, to catch up with some good movies on DVD and new releases, it virtually makes impossible to catch up with all the good ones. And by second week these movies are off the screen. God knows when the DVD will release, so pirated DVDs are the last resort, which is an incorrect practice and spoils the viewing experience too. But what’s the way out ?
Why was Staright and Firaaq had to release on the same day? As usual most of the suburban are going for Aloo Chat because it has masala, leggy babes, sexual innuendos and the family friendly ‘U’ certfication. What a joke.
Check the forthcoming movies here http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/trade/releasedates/index.html.
Next weekend will be jammed again – much hyped Aa Dekhen Zara, Sangeeth Siva’ns Ek – The Power Of One, Deepa Mehta’s Videsh – Heaven On Earth.
I am a sucker of Thriller and liked Neil a Lot in Johnny Gaddar, Can’t ignore Deepa Mehta either. It’s been along time seeing Nana on screen too. How to decide which one to see?
Why can’t movie releases be staggred in a rational fashion where each movie gets its due importance and does fair business?
~uh~
Engrossing read there. Though not much of a movie buff, the story seems very interesting. More than the story, its always the treatment that matters and since I respect your views, this movie goes down on my must-see list. I never ever trusted the critic’s ratings too! Its purely instinct or reco by a friend!
Its quite a surprise and pleasant one at that!
Would love to see Tanishtha on screen. She was my junior in school (but of course I never ever imagined her taking up acting professionally
And very rightly said about not taking pangas with them, the have-nots! Infact, treating everyone like human beings will solve major problems in this world.
udtahaathi… nice article very well said.. but Vijay Mourya was not in A wednesday that movie was mumbai meri jaan… what a classic performance given by him…
I am yet to see this, but enjoyed reading the review and the conversations above.
@whatsinaname: Tannishtha was extremely good on-screen. She has sparkling talking eyes !
Do see the movie with your kids, its clean and they would also get the message about valuing everyone equal.
@akash kaushik: Yup,it should be Mumbai Meri Jaan. But till date his ‘JamK’ role in Bombay to Bangkok takes the cake. Like Vijay Raaj was also outstandingly hilarious in the Dhamaal aeroplane scene….
I stand corrected. I just had a few confusions about what I mentioned in my first comment. They are cleared now.
Oye nahi nahi. The character did not impress me at all. I dont like Nandita Das, either as a director or as an actor.
My first name is Vinay and wife’s name is sharada. A combination of first letters of our names were not acceptable, so I chose my first letter and wife’s last letter to come up with Veda. I just didnt know whether such a name exists. Bas Yun hi said it does! Dats all.
was a joke bro!! It is a wonderful name
@ Vee: Boss you are lucky to meet Oz and get an invite to see ‘Urf professor’. Tell us about that !
@ Sameer: Thanks for creating a discussion.
@ Vinay: You don’t like Nandita Das? Why ? I have rarely encountered such viewpoint. Have you seen Firaq ?
@ Raja Menon: Any comments on release of all movies on the same day?
releasing on the same day was probably a mistake all 4 films made, but there is a reason. Actually no one really knows for sure who else is releasing till about 10 days before they release. By this time you have already started spending money on publicity because you need hoardings up, Tv time has to be booked in advance, so also print media and block ad’s etc. If you change your mind at the last moment you lose a ton of cash. Secondly , in our case , had we waited we would’ve had to wait till June since IPl was supposed to start April 10th and it would be hara kiri to release at that time.
Lots of factors contribute to picking a slot, luck too is involved. Also it doesn’t help when some reveiwers don’t review the film but actually try to predict the film’s future thereby often times not giving it a chance. Taran wrote a pretty decent review and then gave ti 2 or 2.5 starts because he felt the film wasn’t mass enough. Somehow I don’t think predicting the size of the audience is really a reviewers job.
Having said that I can understand why it would be difficult for an audience to decide which film to see when there are multiple choices ostensibly from a similar space. Maybe it does make sense to release a small film when something big is also releasing.
@Raja Menon:The biggest problem we audience face when more than 2 movies release on one Friday, whether Big banner or indie.
If that Friday being a coincidence of 5 release will compel the production house and distributors coordinate among themselves in future for the sake of the business. Me , for one would always love to watch a Mithya or Manorama 6 ft under over a beaten to death song-dance-romance cliche’.
I agree most of the reviewers try to pass a star based judgment and make it a point to mention how many people were there in the theater. Whereas simple what s/he liked and what s/he didn’t would make it much simpler for readers to decide.
I have cross posted this review in my blog , and hope more people would read it and watch the movie.
Wish to see more of you.
Thanks for the reply and sorry for my delayed response.
Cheers!
~uh~
I agree with you completely. But we have to keep trying or we’ll end up nowhere.
Sure, all the best for your next venture.
Please keep writing about your work.
Cheers!