Good ole Action please..some Gunfights, some chases…

Indraneel Majumdar   | Talking-Points | December 4, 2009 at 10:07 am         Print

The Climax scene. Kurbaan. An insipid chase happening in the New York Tube Stations. Lots of people running into stations and out of stations. Some bombs going off. Vapid extras trying hard to emote shock. One can see the distress of a Line Producer who has not been given enough time and money to do his best in terms of quality. The scene needs to perk up just that little bit, from the very ordinary to just about passable otherwise I am on the verge of spewing epithets at another wannabe Fincher/Soderbergh, and here comes Saif Ali Khan all guns blazing…

First, that seemingly unique stare that he has created, all his own, to take out a friendly ‘amma’ kinda terrorist (Kirron Kher), the pause that emanates in this small scene is superb, before the shot to the head is taken, and Kareena, who is being held hostage by Kirron, gasps in fear and understanding. This action sequence is followed immediately by a guns and bullets sequence between Saif and New York Cops/FBI. Saif’s stance is pucca. His steps forward and backward are very neatly executed. Then, he is hit…

Aww man, here is one actor, after the Bachchan who impressed me with a hit and subsequent death sequence. Okay, it was not as overt as the Bachchan used to be from the Sholay years, but the pizzaz was no less. He takes his first hit, swings back, still on his feet, all guns blazing, takes his second, is imbalanced while the shot becomes a wide angle one and then steps tottering, he regains some semblence of balance, reels off two shots more and then takes the fall…

Next scene, he is in the train, fallen like a tiger after being shot, stretching his legs, yes, they actually show him stretching his legs to take out the pain that he feels in his chest and stomach, while Kareena simpers adequately beside him. That’s an old fashioned hero material there. Then, the shot is from the platform and we see Kareena rushing out of the train in shock as the Cops/FBI (the pure Hindi film con is done, as the FBI guys give the hero that little breather as he looks, whispers, collects himself for imminent death!) rush towards the entrance of the compartment where Saif is dying. Slo mo distress on Kareena’s face as the lone gun shot rings out behind her…

After I long time, I was seeing actual action in Hindi cinema. Nobody just bothers with it anymore. No, please do not remind me of the Dhoom kinda synthetic action or the Tashan kinda unbelievable action. Just plain good old action, heroes winning, villains dying and all that.

Yeah, I am that 70s child who loved the Feroz Khan gunfights, Amjad khan shoving in the final bullets, The Bachchan handling a rifle with his left hand, a Dev Anand with a sten gun behind a pillar in Chupa Rustam and good old Dharamendra on top of that train in Yaadon ki Baaraat.

Slowly, due to the paucity of he man heroes in Hindi cinema, all that vanished as SRK launched the KKHH kind of films and the Gen X swooned. In fact, the other action films that I actually liked was Ek Hasina Thi and Kachche Dhaage and that was again Saif, the last one also had Devgn. Omkara did not have much action but it had menace and again I adored Saif and his abilities.

Somehow, Saif’s choice of films, the darker ones, have always lent well to some good old action and I have liked what he has done. Devgn’s Gangaajal was another film, but that’s another story for another day. Of course, that said, it is the director’s prerogative and the Action director’s skills that take a film to another level. But, the end result cannot and should not be a BLUE!!!!

Ah, I am on my nostalgia trip with Sunny Deol in Dacait….