logo

“Zafar made many films after that, but Khoya Khoya Chand is considered his best…”. May not be the exact words, as I did not note it down, but something more or less along these lines lit up the screen as an epilogue as Khoya Khoya Chand came to an end. I was at a Press screening of Sudhir’s latest film at New Delhi’s Films Division Auditorium this (Thursday, Dec 6) afternoon, a few hours before there were to be two Red Carpet premieres of the film at PVR Plaza and PVR Rivoli at Connaught Place. And I thought, the word “Zafar” could be replaced with “Sudhir Mishra”. Ok, ok, if not his best, it would be counted among his best – up there with Hazaron Khwahishen Aisi.

Sudhir, quite evidently backed to the hilt by producer Prakash Jha, invested a lot of sweat, pain and hard work in creating this film, and each one of his cast and crew members have given him their best – be it in acting, in cinematography, in sound, in music (including the background score) and so on. We all by now more or less know it is Sudhir’s tribute to the beautiful world of Hindi cinema of the 1950s and 1960s, paid through a love story that is as tragic as the real-life tragic stories of many a star whose personal tragedies fed many a gossip magazine (and keeps feeding them).

Quite naturally, the viewer would be tempted to find out similarities between the character of Nikhat (Soha Ali Khan, in a high-calibre performance against which she would be calibrated with every time she gets in front of the camera from now on) and the stories of the greatest of heroines of Hindi cinema of that era. And may be also the similarities between that of Zafar, the straight-speaking, rebel Lucknavi writer who becomes a scriptwriter-director (Shiney Ahuja, shining in the role of a sentimental man with deep wounds in mind) and quite a few legendary names who shone in Bollywood as writers and directors.

But beyond a point, doing that would be a wastage of time, though there are real life references for sure. Instead, KKC is a film that should be watched purely for its powerful narration of a love story that could have been set in any other background (the director himself mentions it in a scene in which Rajat Kapoor’s Prem Kumar character says the film about to be made within the film is just their story with a different backdrop). It’s simply haunting, almost Guru Dutt-ish in parts.

But you cannot totally negate the film industry backdrop either, as Sudhir brings out every aspect of the industry - that can be very malevolent sometime as it could be benevolent – be it the dominance of Bollywood by Bengali directors and Punjabi producers in the 1950s and 1960s, or the sudden swing of fortunes that one sees in the film industry every Friday, or the painful exploitation that many undergo to achieve ’success’, sometimes even willingly. And yes, of course, the jealousies, the heartbreaks, the joys too.

And not only the telling of the story, Sudhir has given enough thought to the small details, including in the colour scheme of the film. Just take note of how the colours change from muted-and-sometimes-almost-sepia to bright and sunny as soon as the story enters the age of colour cinema. The background score is almost a character in the film, and hats off to both Sudhir and Shantanu Moitra for it. Yes, the pace is somewhat languid, but that perfectly suits the demand of the story that is about lots of emotions and moods. And simply watch out for Vinay Pathak – that scene stealer – and for some great one liners, for Saurabh Shukla. Sonya Jehan too is a perfect casting in the role of the ruling diva when the young Nikhat comes into the scene.

There will be definite comparisons in the media, particularly breathless TV channels, between KKC and Farah Khan’s Om Shanti Om, simply because both are set in the film world. But that would be a great folly – the Manmohan Desai and Guru Dutt school of films cannot simply be compared. OSO was great fun – if you took everything with a large pinch of salt and after switching of the department of your brain that looks for logic in things. KKC is layered with nuances, of characterization, music, camera and production design.

Yes, the film is not blemish less - If only Sudhir could have done away with the on-now-off-now ‘Sutradhar’ concept that jarred the flow of the film, and had concentrated on some details in the appearances of the characters, in their clothes, hairstyles and so on. Ignore these glitches, and here is a film that you would want to watch, maybe more than once to get the nuances, and remember for quite a long time to come. If we put it up against the routinely mediocre work we get to see from Mumbai, it is (almost) a classic. And for Soha, it is a coming of age performance.

Note for Sudhir : The bar has been set higher now - by yourself, with KKC - for Tera Kya Hoga Johnny?