DEMOCRATIC NOIR CINEMA - RAJIV RAI !!!
DEMOCRATIC NOIR CINEMA - RAJIV RAI !!!
Whenever we talk about Noir Cinema (I still have no idea what it means except that Manorama is a noir of sorts), i always used to think why not any other indian film which is noir ?
Then some days ago i chanced upon this classic video from the film Tridev titled Gali Gali mein phirta hai …
Pls pls pls pls pls pls watch this video to fully appreciate the post
I had a hard time explaining the concept of “democratic noir cinema” to a friend.
Why Democratic ? Whats democratic about this video ? Hows it noir ? Just a bunch of villans dancing to the tempting sangeeta bijlani..sangeeta seducing everyone.
In true noir sense, the song begins with the juxtaposition of the femme fetale’s lips (seduction) and the stoic expressions of Jackie Shroff !!! (Shades of Carie Ann moss and Guy Pearce ??)
Notice how the girl is inviting Jackie to stop following the dog in the gallii kuchas (Ref - Teri Meherbaniyan) and instead come and “dil mein bas ja mere aashiq awara”
Well well may be Rajiv Rai had the premonition that the ultimate tribute to villany will be played by the Aashiq Awara of those times- saif ali khan one day in Omkara.
Notice the intense close-ups of Red lips of Sangeeta Bijlani ..the Requiem-for-a-Dream like spitscreen(not split screen but spitscreen..the camera is sooooooo close to sangeeta’s lips)…RR did it before Darren Arrfonsky did.
Those are the noir elements…
the song continues then with viju shah’s music everyone and I MEAN EVERYONE EXCEPT THE HERO dancing…
Shit you have the heroine dancing and everyone else too ..but not the hero ???
WOW
TRULY DEMOCRATIC !!!
Remember the first principle of democracy is that the President is a “Rubber Stamp” ??? Similarly Jackie is the rubber stamp here …He also wears a “rubber” sort of jacket to reinstitate and reinforce rajiv rai’s pov …
No pun is intended when i say rubber !!!
RAJESH VIVEK
The you-can-only-see-my-teeth-I’m-so-hairy Rajesh Vivek who plays the dumb(i mean mute) henchman, he is delighted at the prospect of seeing sangeeta..and probably fancies his chances … this character Raadhey has stiff competition from Micky Rourke in Sin city (the Marv guy who couldnt even get paid sex ..remember ??)
RAZA MURAAD
The kafanchor neta Raza Muraad dressed in all white dress with a subtle tribute to Pandit Nehru..
How you will ask ???
Let me explain
Pandit Nehru loved children …wore white dress and a red rose..
Raza Muraad ..in a dystopian underworld represents the sad events that have changed the course of indian netas now … he is wearing a “DARK” suit ..all the red roses have gone into his mouth like Paan and of course the affection for children has changed into affection for women dressed in children’s clothes …
Also Raza Muraad adds his own Marlon Brando touch to the song.
Ask how ?
Any good actor will tell u that “chewing the pencil” is a very useful excercise for actors’ dialogue pronouncation
Raza Muraad does a Brando on the neta and chews the cud … rather the paan ..u can see how hehas managed to convey vivid expressions lust-mystery-intrest-apprecitaion of beauty-happiness etc etc by simply varying how he is chewing the paan…
The effect is sensational .. the performances of Raza muraad as the rapist in Prem Rog and Raza-Main-shayar-badnaam-Muraad the hunger artist in namakharaam are minisculed !!!
SHARAT ‘RONNIE’ SAXENA
the corrupt cop swings and sways his body (almost reminding me of how girls taunt me as “kaise saand ki tarah naach raha hai ki jhoom raha hai”). He truly represents the jhoom barabar jhoom generation…the sort who dance only when they are drunk to often devastating results(ala my friends in delhi)
The look on his face when he keeps his hands on Sangeeta’s hips and letches at her …almost made Mohmd Azharaddin auditioning for Aamir Khan’s role in Ghulam !!! (in case you didn’t know ..there were two sports options vikram bhatt faced..boxing or cricket..he left cricket for lagaan and picked up boxing. Now u know why Mahesh bhatt criticised lagaan and why Azhar couldnt get the role of sidarthth marathe ???)
TEJ SAPRU AND DAN DHANOA
And now the siamese twins Tej Sapru and Dan Dhanoa ..
First a bit about Dan Dhanoa, you may remember him as the bad-knight-on-the-horse from Mard..who tries to drwon Amitabh in the daldal (Amitabh is yet again saved by his pet dog..proving that dogs are faithful ..Ref to Omkara’s “Kutta bhi dus ghar chod key mootta hai Omi !!!!”)
Dan plays the siamese twin to Tej Sapru .. In fact an entire post needs to be devoted to this fantastic actor Tej Sapru
Tej Sapru the cop in Gupt (who keeps saying “Danda Kar doonga” as if he is threatening to do with bobby deol what happened with mumtaz’s son in chandni bar)
Then there’s Tej Sapru the bad guy Jibraan’s younger brother Irrfan (no..without the khan) ..who was seen in the Tu cheez badi hai mast mast song of Mohraa … You look at him and automatically you are reminded of Gulshan Grover’s Takiya Kalaam (that’s not Gulshan grover says to aspiring starlets lying on his takiyas/pillows….but a hindi word) “Dirty Mind” !!!!
RR does here what David Dhawan was to do in the Chalti hai kya 9-12 film Judwaa …
Both Tej and Dan are seen dancing … however both of them want a piece of the girl ..and clearly our censor board is in no mood to show/suggest/refer to orgies …. so RR lets each of them have a ‘piece of the girl’… by asking them to shake one of their shoulders… Tej sapru is with the right (he has worked in more films with RR and hence the ’stronger role’) and Dan the left ….
It’s a pity that due to the censor board we couldnt see Tej and Dan in real life … (Ref to the orgy waala part above)
This is what the film Dan in Real Life shouldve been !!!
AMRISH PURI !!!
The villan .. he too shakes a jiggy …
NO he doesnt…stop misrepresenting facts !!!
Yes he does ..allow me to elucidate
Everyone knows that bharatnatyam makes special usage of the mudras/expressions/and every part of the face to establish the dance postures ….
A Special form of Nritya-abhinay is the one done with EYEBROWS !!!
YES EYEBROWS !! They have a special place in Bharatnatyam ….
Amrish Puri knows this ..and so does Rajiv Rai …
but there’s another sad truth that both know ..
THE CHARACTER OF AMRISH PURI IS NOT SUPPOSED TO DANCE HERE ..HE JOINS THE PARTY LATER IN GAJAR NEY KIYA HAI ISHAARA … So untill then amrish puri must wait …
But you cannot make a thespian like amrish puri wait can you ?
So basically RR used this predicament and sets up amrish puri’s character for the later stage ..tells him ..” DO NOT DANCE..MERELY SHAKE YOUR EYEBROWS..USE BHARATNATYAM ..RAISE YOUR EYEBROWS ..AND MAKE THEM DANCE”
This is very much in character and also “willing suspension of disbelief”
And so you have the MOST AMAZING SONG EVER PICTURISED ON CELLULOID EVER ..by Rajiv Rai …
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ..watching the video again ..Pure Bliss ……
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That was funny and rather nice.
As a schoolkid I had to watch films on the sly without letting parents know. I remember that Tezaab, Raam Lakhan, Tridev, Hum, Sadak and Khuda Gawah really blew my mind - even on those pirated VHS cassettes !!. That was the first time I realised that treatment and technique mattered as much as the plot. I may have outgrown these films now but I can never forget that they helped me take my first baby steps towards cinema literacy !
Brilliant Simply Brilliant,am seriously amazed at this
there was never a doubt in my mind about gali gali mei.. stuff what legends are made of! and so many legends together..the cut aways of the delicious devils did the trick for rajiv rai. but look at what Rajiv rai did it in Asambhav…he was over awed by splitscreens and fast motions! anyways back to Tridev - its the best action flick that truly represents the 80s of popular indian cinema.
I remember even Tarantino took it from Tridev in his Death Proof - his tribute to B-grade films - how the three girls hit Stuntman Mike (kurt russel) by keeping him in centre and hitting and passing it to each other - Remember Tridev’s end!
lol what a brilliant and hilarious analysis!!! Can’t believe I am watching this stupid song in loop for the 5th time now!!!
Oh and this post ensures no nightmares tonight
Karthik
Just yesterday I thought of why not a Rajiv Rai-Viju Shah combo write-up (on the lines of director-composer pairs)which I thought would represent a true paisa vasool (not adjusted to inflation of course :)) and voila! we have it here albeit in a different light and only a half… so what, a nice read.
Can never forget those Tridev, Mohra, P,I & M, Gupt
Good Observation over all….
Well…. The song is CATCHY now….
“Tej Sapru the cop in Gupt (who keeps saying “Danda Kar doonga” as if he is threatening to do with bobby deol what happened with mumtaz’s son in chandni bar)”
OHH GOD I WAS IN SPLITS LAUGHING…….that line rocked!!!!
p.s- what does kafanchor neta mean?? my hindi is terrible so….
Btw the song is genuinely gud song… ofcourse its Viju Shah n it has to b rip-off..
hey karthik just saw the full video, btw jackie does dance yaar…….he walks around the room with the girl and even dances in that cage..lol….maybe its sort of an allegory, you think that he is not dancing but the hidden meaning is that he is dancing..
@Parth what?
Dint know Viju Shah rips/ripped off songs…
i really like/liked him… Can you site sources…?
and KK, lol. nice post
tried to do a Subrat, did someone
KK: kya baat hai!! It’s a song whose lyrics I had completely mugged up in Class 7. Let me add with my view on the lyrics:
“Gali gali mein phirta hai…”
The usual exhortation. O restless wanderer, you have travelled far and wide. Now is the time to rest. On the surface, an Elton John kind of line about star-crossed voyager et al. Deeper analysis reveals a statement about the youth of late 80s and their issues - fighting Mandal, Bofors, brain drain etc. It’s a line that reassures the youth while the present may be restless, the future will be fine.
“Tere dil ko chhed raha hai mera pyaar akela, mere dil mein laga hua hai kai ghamon ka mela”
Sahir wrote about this in ‘Tumhe haq hai..’ and reprised it in ‘yeh dil tum bin’. There are many ghams in this world and mohabbat ka gham is not the only one. Jackie reveals the socialist mooring of the youth of 80s. Universal kinship and appropriation of others as own. While the feamle voice is reassuring about the future, Jackie still wonders whether such future growth will be equitable. Will a 9% GDP growth still not mean food shortages?
These are deep lines and Tridev is reflection of us as a polity. Some other day I will pick up Tirchhi Topiwaale and do a similar analysis esp the line about ‘Mein gaaon ka bhola bhaala sanam kahan mein aa gaya” which is an insightful commentary on migration from villages and the quandary that such displacement brings resulting in societal dissonance as evidenced in spate of urban crimes
thanks guys
trust me rajiv rai of mohra..tridev ..vishwatma is my cult film guru ….. have lived off his films …
subbu - u shld post about tirchi topiwaale !!! AND HOW ON EARTH IS THAT RELATED TO SAAHIR LUDHYIANVI ????
rbehemoth - saale ..tu mil mujhey …teri maarta hoon !!!
cant do a subrat becos subrat’s musings deal more with the outer world …mine deal more with the inner !!!
rick - kafanchor neta means a politician who will even sell of the coffin of dead people to mint money (no reference to the coffin gate george fernandes scandal … or RDB ..the direct reference is to a legendary film called GUNDA)
and yes ..the cage - pinjar !!! also notice the long shot allegory when jackie sings “ek jagah par kaise tehreoon main dariya ka paani” ..the shot is long to accomadate the flowing artificial waterfalls in the frame …
BEFORE DAVID LYNCH ..IT WAS RAJIV RAI TO USE ALLEGORIES !!!
aa mere dil mein bas jaa..mere ashiq awara…Subrat, I thought this was the most insightful line that this Democratic song presented in the year 1989..Come, SHELTER in my HEART..MY VAGABOND LOVE…Shelter by then had a whole lot of connotations, Love had corrupted..the nation had given up on the Ganga, Jamuna, Saraswati love and had moved towards a more earthy, chauvinistic love after MANDAL and Man, the Indian badly wanted a balm, a redress..from louts, politicians, charlatans, dummies(Chandrashekhar) and this woman singing these insightful lyrics showed us the way to the better, to the heart..the lotus among the sullied..Phew!!!
KK: Look at these lines from your song in Tridev:
“Tere dil ko chhed raha hai mera pyaar akela,
mere dil mein laga hua hai kai ghamon ka mela”
Now see what Sahir had written in terms of pyaar not being the only gham in life
Didi (1959) where Mukesh sings for Sunil Dutt in the song Tum mujhe bhool bhi jao (pay close attention to the last 2 lines):
Zindagi sirf muhabbat nahin kuchh aur bhi hai
zulf-o-rukasaar ki jannat nahin kuchh aur bh hai
bhukh aur pyaas ki mari hui is duniyaa mein
ishq hi ek haqeeqat nahin kuchh aur bhi hai
tum agar aankh churaao to ye haq hai tumako
maine tumase hi nahin sabase muhabbat ki hai
And then Sahir got into 1963 and penned similar sentiments this time for Dharamendra-Tanuja starrer Izzat (it had a cameo by Jayalalitha, yes our own Puratchi Thalaivi). The song was Yeh dil tum bin kahin lagta nahin hum kya karen where the Rafi stanza goes (pay close attn to lines 3 and 4)
Muhabbat kar to lein lekin, muhabbat raas aaye bhi
dilon ko bojh lagate hain, kabhi zulfon ke saaye bhi
hazaaron gham hain is duniya mein, apane bhi paraaye bhi
muhabbat hi ka gham tanhaa nahin, ham kyaa karen
tumhi kah do, ab aye jaan-e-adaa, ham kyaa karen
See that similarity, that fitting of love into the larger context. Wo Gali Gali Mein Phirta Hai was following a hallowed tradition of Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam - the world is my family
indraneel and subbu !!!
bowing to thee
very nice