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Round FIVE

The movie to be reviewed by the contestants is DROH KAAL

Here are the submitted reviews for Round Five! Contestants are listed in order of their rankings after Round Four. If two or more contestants share the same ranking, they are listed alphabetically.

1. Praveen Gopal Krishnan (Bangalore, India)

Droh-ed by Droh Kaal

It’s hard to imagine what kind of an audience did Droh Kaal attract when it hit the theatres way back in 1994. This movie is neither an entertainer nor a nationalist rabble-rousing one - not that it would have made much of a difference if it were one anyway. The entertainment seekers would have flocked to ‘Hum Aapke Hai Kaun’ and the nationalists would have beat their chests in the aisles of ‘Krantiveer’. Somehow, Droh Kaal seems to have been betrayed in the process. That’s not such a cruel thing since it does a bit of betrayal of it’s own, so it probably had it coming anyway.

Droh Kaal, in keeping with Govind Nihalani’s omnipresent themes of divide, overlap and transposition prevalent in the law-maintaining forces, is a movie about the police force’s battle against a terrorist network. In a ‘The Departed’ take, DCP Abhay Singh (Om Puri) and his colleague Abbas Lodi (Naseeruddin Shah) train and send a couple of cops to infiltrate a terrorist group led by Commander Bhadra (Ashish Vidyarthi). The rest of the movie is about the prevalent corruption and threats against Singh’s family - his wife (Mita Vashisht) and his son, which cause a series of conflicts culminating in a largely predictable conclusion.

Although I do not need a whole paragraph to describe the acting when one word - ‘brilliant’ will suffice, let’s list the honour roll anyway. A cast such as this could make a full length movie of them reciting the alphabet and it would still make engaging viewing. Naseeruddin Shah, Mita Vashisht and Amrish Puri lift their performances to present stark, albeit disturbing reality in their performances. Ashish Vidyarthi resists the fascination to ham (the last temptation of any actor in a villainous role) and personifies Commander Bhadra as a character in the television set portraying the biggest fears we face in our lives. The National Award best supporting actor jury couldn’t have had it easier than in 1994. The effort of the stalwarts even trickle down to the bit roles. Annu Kapoor and Milind Gunaji manage to remain suitably restrained, bestowing that extra edge to their individual characters. Droh Kaal, however, is Om Puri’s showcase. As Abhay Singh, he manages to take every facet of his character and keep us riveted almost completely with his body language - never an easy task.

Droh Kaal is a good, maybe even an exceptional movie. However - and I write these words after a great deal of deliberation, it is also a dishonest film. No, don’t be confused. It is possible for a bad film to be honest or a good film to be dishonest, the second is more unforgivable since you end up feeling manipulated by it. Agreed, every movie is manipulative, but the best films are the ones which either conceal them cleverly or reveal them unabashedly. Droh Kaal takes a middle path (which will be graced by the likes of Rang De Basanti and Black much later) and ends up reneging on the agreement it makes initially.

Broadly, any filmmaker - mainstream or otherwise, can be categorised as good or bad. It’s easy to make terrible films - both art and commercial. Most movies look like they have been directed by baboons - some of them probably are too. The tough act is to make a good art or commercial film, for these are the movies which redeem the promise they make in their respective genres. This is why both Satyajit Ray and Farah Khan are masters - each in their own realm.

But - and with due apologies to Michael Caine, don’t clap yet - because to make a good film in itself is sometimes not enough. After all, can you imagine a Kieslowski movie run to a full house in Mumbai or a Farhan Akhtar flick receive a standing ovation at Cannes? You need people to do the unthinkable, and this is why there exists the third kind of filmmaker - the ones I regard as the geniuses. These are the directors who are able to make a pledge to both art and entertainment simultaneously and deliver them as well. There’s a reason why Quentin Tarantino and Vishal Bhardwaj are sought by both film-making academies and the Income Tax department.

In Droh Kaal, Nihalani does exactly that - he makes a double pledge of allegiance. Had he succeeded, I would have congratulated him with twice the bouquets, but since he doesn’t, it’s only fitting that I double the brickbats. If he had attempted to curry favour from either the art or the commercial cinemaphile, the standards for judging this movie would have vastly different. However, by walking on no man’s land, it’s reasonable to expect shelling from both trenches.

Chances are, play this movie at a film festival and in one of those overnight intra-state Volvo buses and both audiences will hate this film - each for their own reasons. For an parallel film, Droh Kaal is annoyingly sermonizing. There’s a scene where Abhay Singh and Commander Bhadra debate their ideologies in a thicket. The exchange, most of which would not seem out of place in a Sunny Deol film, looks positively juvenile here. Nihalani even retains the conventional cliches - a dutiful and suffering wife, the incorruptible muslim cop and a jungle chase shootout sequence. Droh Kaal isn’t a commercial flick either. The camerawork is languid, the narrative slow-paced and most importantly - save for the background score, there isn’t a single song in this movie.

Droh Kaal is not a separate road which runs parallel to the mainstream. It’s a sidewalk. And of course, just like any sidewalk in a busy street in India, you need to keep an eye on the ground or take a few steps on the main road before you eventually get to the end. You will eventually end up at the same destination as the road - it will just take you longer to get there.

 

2. Satish Naidu (Pune, India)

Droh Kaal: Movie Review

It is a great sight, once the camera is filled by that face of Om Puri. At times it is swaggering with pride, at times it is pitying the misguided, and then, at times, it is burning with an intensity fueled by the depths of conscience. It rages in the dark, the scarcest of lights reflecting of it, fighting those inner demons. Few faces exude such gravity, this one does here in abundance, and it is probably the reason why Droh Kaal remains a good film despite being a bludgeoning talkathon.

The early 90s was the time of Beant Singh and one Kanwar Pal Singh Gill, men of action. Men who appeared to be larger than life in their black sunglasses. Terrorism, as we know it, was at the centre of their attention, the easy villains. Droh Kaal harbors ambitions of pitting these two forces of nature against each other, engaging them in a debate of ideology, integrity, and morality. It might appear to be a thriller, a cop drama, but what it truly is under that garb is a mouthpiece to release the angst. Noble intentions, but I’m not sure of the way it goes about it pretty much stamping all over a very novel plot.

Infiltration is at the heart of it, and the moles wearing their organizations thin. A secret anti-terrorist operation headed by DCP Abbas Lodhi (Naseer), places two undercover cops in an unnamed terrorist organization, with only ACP Abhay Singh (Om Puri) having knowledge of it outside of the three. It is interesting that Nihalani chooses never to name the organization or their ideologies, rendering them abstract. I am unaware of any reasons related to controversy, but then, I’m aware of Roja too. What’s terrorism without any association, what’s terrorism without any demands, what’s terrorism without any ideologies? One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter. Nihalani puts them in the dark, makes them talk at sinister voice-levels, paints their base red and makes them molest the innocent. Yet, he intends to bring them to the table for a discussion, for an argument. What chance has the terrorist pray tell me, since he has already been made out to be a villain, without any distinction other than the contrived? And if already judged to be a villain, well, what’s the point.

The reason I say this is because the initial hour meanders along, going hammer and tong stating the rhetoric. The conversations essentially consist of ramblings, performing either one of two tasks – furthering the plot or debating the obvious. It picks up the most banal of arguments for each side, conveniently assuming that its audience has just discovered what terrorism is, and pointlessly wanders around them. Reciting to us these arguments masquerading as dialogues is the most unimaginative way possible for a script to put forth its ideas. And these aren’t even ideas in the first place, these are good old-fashioned clichés. The characters in turn are reduced to placards, conversing at our expense for most of the part, indulging in quite a few hollow attempts at depth. I’ve a problem with these life-summarizing conversations, and I cringe whenever I see one. Abhay and his wife must have known IGP Pathak (Amrish Puri) for quite a few years, but this is the time when they decide to discuss how he is the pillar of integrity to which Abhay looks up to. It is cheesy when he jots down his sources of strength for us. In another similar conversation, the terrorists’ lead rocket-launcher specialist Kishen and his wife argue on how they should leave it all, stop risking it and settle down for good. Pathak, over a Diwali table discourse, clubs us with the most unimaginative preaching over corruption. These people have lived together beyond the time frame of this film isn’t it, but it is so interesting that they manage to summarize it now, for us. It is sad, for all its intentions, these story arcs come across as trite.

What is tragic though, in this attempt to bite more than one can chew, is the trivialization of the moral dilemma of Abhay, the one which was supposed to engulf us in the first place. The elegy of that superman. Well almost, since it is Om Puri. He talks, sitting at a distance, on an armchair, but when the moment of truth comes, he succumbs. It is a great theme – after a point no one can take it. Everyone breaks. The trick is to bail out before that point. The film comes into its own here, breaking the shackles of its script and the actor-director tag team elevating it beyond the mere confines of a wrestle against the system. It is the struggle with one’s self, and when the point comes, betrayal with one’s ideals. Nihalani brings a heightened realism and grit to the proceedings. The surroundings are bleak, the color is all worn out. There’s no gloss here to work with, to provide any easy way out. The dark is getting darker, the pale is getting paler. The soundtrack often disappoints us with its almost predictable drumroll to announce the arrival of an important character, or an important sequence. But for most part, it is silent, leaving nothing to hold on to.

In many ways, it is an important film, both for reasons how it ought to be done and it ought not to be done. It’s realism in the later stages is edgy almost to the point of horror. But it is the first half that does the damage, heavily, and it is a wonder the film manages to take overcome it. I believe in the narrative and characters taking precedence over ideological rhetoric, and not the other way round. We understand the characters and feel them not because of any depth, but because of the time they’ve spent with us. And the one thing the film didn’t need was stock villains, who inspite of being effective, hardly do justice with their presence.

 

3. Trasie Stittsworth (Los Angles, USA)

Droh Kaal: Movie Review

What are the effects when a terrorist finds a way to corrupt the incorruptible? What is betrayal? Who can be trusted when all can be blackmailed?

These few themes are among the many dealt with in “Droh Kaal”, a low budget, badly produced film that never quite lives up to its own expectations, yet succeeds as both a drama and an action film, stringing together multiple ideas to create a compelling narrative.

The film opens with Commander Badhra (Ashish Vidyarthi), the leader of an unnamed terrorist cell in an unnamed city somewhere in India, in the custody of DCP Abhay Singh (Om Puri), an expert interrogator who uses emotion and finding the weakness of those in his custody to get information, rather than resort to violence and torture.

The story of the interplay between good and immoral represented by these two seemingly ideologically different foes, Droh Kaal digs much deeper into the mind of a terrorist and the emotions of a police officer than the usual big-budget Hollywood/Bollywood action film. Sub-plots explore the long reach of terrorism and its effects on families and the public organizational structures meant to protect them, and the undercover police plot-line is realistic and in the end unsettling.

A slow first half of the film develops the relationship between the two men, while building Singh’s character by showing his relationships with his boss IGP Pathak (Amrish Puri) and his best friend DCP Abbas Lodhi (Nasrudeen Shah), and most importantly, Singh’s wife, while touching upon the inside workings of Badhra’s terrorist organization, including a thread showing terrorism’s effects on the family dynamics of the married marksman, Guy Kishen.

At this point, the film is about as dry as the description. Only the great acting of the lead actors, and especially Mita Vasisht as Singh’s wife Sumitra keep the film interesting. The thread about Sumitra and Abhay’s marriage is the only compelling, developed story in the first half. And then, at the intermission, the film turns in different, interesting directions.

One of the rare films to portray terrorists as something more than one-dimensional, while realistically portraying its corrupt police officers as good men forced into bad choices, the morality play functions on multiple levels, from the echelons of the Police force to a poor, struggling family.

In post 9-11 America, Hollywood has only recently begun to portray terrorists as something more than crazed cartoon caricatures or as strange fanatics. Yet, in 1994, Nihalani produced an educated terrorist, able to discourse about violence and the role of government in perpetuating terrorist violence. Badhra is memorable because he is both human and unsympathetic, a character more real than the usual “terrorist as foil for the latest action star”. Even when he turns childish while trying to attain information he wants that is just beyond his reach, he is still within the range of showing human emotions with typical human reactions – refreshing to see in a cinematic villain.

Initially, I wanted more depth and dialog from the ideological exchange between Badhra and an engaged Singh. While it is the type of dialog rarely seen on screen, the interchange barely scratched the surface of what creates a terrorist and why terrorists view violence as an answer to society’s issues. However, the brilliance of this discussion is because it does not delve into specific details. By keeping the political/religions/sociological ideology of the terrorist out of the story, Badhra represents all terrorists regardless of where they live or what they believe. Droh Kaal is not a film about terrorism, it is an action film featuring one terrorist and his accomplices as main characters, and by not creating a specific ideology for Badhra we can focus on the story at hand while still viewing Badhra as a multifaceted and chilling.

The ability of a terrorist to corrupt those thought to be incorruptible is fresh and interesting, and Badhra’s changing the emotional manipulator Singh into the emotionally manipulated is interesting. But, Nihalani should have explored more deeply Singh’s mental state and emotions as he grapples with the moral dilemma he is thrust into and becomes what he has spent his career fighting.

The marriage of Singh and his wife Sumitra (Mita Vasisht) is one of the more mature marriages in Hindi cinema. Sumitra, passionately in love with her husband, is both his voice of reason and his conscience. Their marriage is juxtaposed against that of the terrorist Kishen and his wife, both families dealing with the direct effects of terrorism on their homes, and the price of betraying those who are responsible for food, shelter, and safety of their families. This exploration of how families are effected by terrorism, both those within and outside of the sphere of the terrorist organization, lends another interesting layer of depth and to the story.

It is not only the police force, government, and the family that are effected by terrorism. Nihalani also explores the community of women in relation to terror and morality (or lack of it), and while we meet women from all sides of the ideological spectrum, it is interesting to see that ideology discarded when a teenage girl is endangered, another believable and thrilling plot thread that could have turned to melodrama in the hands of another director.

There is a lot wrong with this film, and a lot that Nihalani could have done to make it better. Yet, for all its faults, what the film lacks in production value and a certain amount of emotional depth when it was needed, it makes up for with a spectacular cast, compelling characters, an intriguing story, and a fresh way of looking at terrorists and terrorism (in a storytelling manner that Hollywood has only just recently begun to explore). What is on the surface an action film about a police officer and a terrorist, is underneath a deep and emotionally charged film that explores multiple themes in multiple storylines with multiple characters, many of whom are more similar than different.

 

4. Mohammed Rashid (London, UK)

Droh Kaal: Violent Harbinger

Portending bloodshed, Abhay Singh (Om Puri) has a recurring nightmare that his tongue is being gruesomely pulled out by an unseen nemesis. The opening of this stark, gritty drama of cops and terrorists states its intent without any delay. Violence is the only weapon of change, says Bhadra (Ashish Vidyarti), the commander of a terrorist group, and Govind Nihalini depicts violence in all its form to explore honour and treachery.

ACP Abbas (Naseeruddin Shah) has infiltrated the Bhadra terrorist group, sending two undercover agents to pose as terrorists, whilst relaying messages back to Abbas using the codeword ‘Dhanush’. Bhadra himself has moles in the police force. Nevertheless, in this infernal affair, Bhadra gets himself into the custody of Abhay Singh, master interrogator of the police force and a close friend and confidante of Abbas, in order to personally weed out the identity of Dhanush. Using the threat of violence against Abhay’s wife and child, he eventually manages to coerce Abhay into betrayal.

Nihalini manages to maintain the tension in this movie consistently on a tightrope. The few moments of tenderness between Abhay and his wife (Mita Vashist), and the easy camaraderie and deep friendship between Abbas and Abhay, serve to highlight the grimness of the world they occupy. Given this singular tone, in the cinematography as well as the narrative, it is a remarkable feat that Droh Kaal doesn’t lose its grip, even with sluggish pacing in part.

Powerful performances from a stellar cast enrich the screenplay magnificently. Om Puri, in the central role, turns in a tour de force performance. From the interrogator, to the psychologically tortured, to the physically tortured, Puri’s performance doesn’t have a single false note. Ashish Vidyarti provides the perfect foil to Puri, his spectacles never managing to hide the menace in his eyes.

As the paragon of honour, Amrish Puri’s cameo as the elderly officer is again magnetic. That it turns out that he had sold himself to the terrorists comes as a shock. These dualities run throughout the screenplay, but whether it’s the peacekeepers or the terrorists, their recourse to violence in order to achieve their goals is constant.

Violence, and the possibility of violence seeps nearly every single frame of this movie. At the same time we are never completely certain as to the aim of the terrorist group; it’s as if violence has no objective but itself.

Driven mostly by its dialogue, there are a couple of instances when this gets heavy-handed. Amrish Puri speaking of conscience and integrity, and the long sequence between Om Puri and Ashish Vidyarthi, where Vidyarthi talks of his politics (and the politics of violence) seem like lectures rather than cinema.

Another mild irritant is the background score, which in parts is reminiscent of 80’s commercial hindi movie actioner’s, with extremely loud bangs and stock ‘action’ noises from that time. It is sincerest flattery to that many movies have borrowed from Droh Kaal thematically since the mid-90’s, but none have had nearly the same impact.

Minor deficiencies don’t take away from a masterfully constructed, mesmerising tale, amidst which Om Puri takes his rightful place as one of the best.

 

5. Rajesh R Kallidumbil (Pune, India)

Droh Kaal: Pre Cog Cinema

Govind Nihalani has excelled while giving us flawed and self
destructive protagonists who seem to struggle with the intricate web
woven by a world which while outside their comprehension is
fascinating enough not to be renounced. ‘Droh Kaal’ extends this genre
with a compelling look at the intersection of terrorism, insurgency,
betrayal and corruption and the people who get caught in its vortex.

‘Droh Kaal’ has certainly aged – after all it was born over 14 years
ago. But while the film seems technically old (a low budget was
certainly exacerbated by a supposedly original VCD which was mastered
from a bad VHS tape); its relevance has arguably increased today.

Technical finesse or relevance aside, the story of ‘Droh Kaal’ is
fresh enough to be set effortlessly in 2008 with almost no rewrites –
this Houdini act is carried off by Nihalani (who deserves his credits
for the story and script) by steering clear of topicality (of any
sort). The incidents happen in an unknown state plagued by terrorist
insurgents (but no naming and shaming of states or ideologies here).
The only clues I could catch were a reference to Badhera (which after
extensive search appears as townships in Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh
and Punjab) from where an reluctant assassin is bought in and
Pondicherry license plates (the print makes it difficult to be
certain).

The movie opens with DCP Abhay Singh (Om Puri playing an interrogation
expert in the Anti Terrorism Wing) waking up from a nightmare in which
he is asphyxiated. This sense of choking stays with Abhay Singh
(ironic given his name) through the movie. The gentle cop routine of
Abhay is matched by his rough cop friend DCP Abbas Lodhi (Nasseruddin
Shah sporting the aviators which Indian cops seem to have an
unexplained fascination for). Abbas is in charge of Operation Dhanush
– a top-secret plan to infiltrate a terrorist organization using two
informers (played by Manoj Bajpai and Milind Gunaji).

Three years pass and Bajpai’s is eliminated leaving Shiv (Gunaji’s
character) as the lone informant in the terrorist organization. But
the terrorists are alerted to the presence of a possible mole in their
midst. Meanwhile a routine vehicle check leads to the arrest of
Bhubaneshwar (Ashish Vidyarthi) who is suspected to be a member of a
terrorist group lead by a Commander Bhadra.

As Bhubaneshwar is interrogated and slowly revealed to be more than
what he divulges, Abhay discovers the power of the terrorist
organization and the influence they exert in the official machinery.
‘The times of betrayal’ that he lives in leads him to question his
beliefs and the motivations of those around him. Combined with his
inability to influence the events around him (despite the official
machinery at his disposal), his desire to protect his family from harm
and faced with the unyielding conviction and persuasion (and superb
dialogues) of Commander Bhadra – Abhay is forced to make difficult
choices.

Nihalani has no masters to please and hence he delivers an ending
which is as far from convention as it is from belief. But the request
is suspend disbelief is one that an honest director can make and get
away with – and the movies wraps itself up in a quick final 4 minutes.

The dialogues do justice to the story and steer clear of clichés and
jingoism. Well shot using exceptional usage of shadows and steering
clear of any excessive lighting – some of the compositions are sheer
inventive (well – lesser the budget, more inventive you need to be).
One example would be the first meeting between the free Commander
Bhadra and Abhay. While Abhay is framed in darkness, the wall behind
Bhadra is lit up in a surreal shade of red (Wonder if this is natural,
but Om Puri’s eyes have a knack of blazing like embers in the dark).

The movie has no conventional heroes and villains, and Nihalani has
managed to extract superb performances from almost everyone. While
there is no need to mention Om Puri and Nasseruddin Shah specifically,
Ashish Vidyarthi (as Bhubaneshwar/ Commander Bhadra) gives an
excellent performance in his second movie. He has the best dialogues
and uses them to perfection to appear almost superhuman (his circular
frames reflecting and looking like a real life version of Frank
Miller’s Kevin). Amrish Puri does justice in a special appearance as
IGP Phatak (Abhay’s mentor and guide within the system). Annu Kapoor
is perversion personified as the lascivious Surinder and is a sad
reminder to the actor he was before getting swallowed a monster of a
game show. Two exceptions to the rule are Vallabh Vyas (who is a bit
too shifty eyed as Inspector Tiwari) and Milind Gunaji (leading one to
wonder what would have happened if he had been bumped off instead of
Bajpai).

But the one who stands out (other than Vidyarthi) is Mita Vasisht
(playing Abhay’s wife Sumitra – and making a great pair with Puri).
Like Nihalani’s other female protagonists (in this and other films),
she shows courage and conviction and is the only one to emerge as a
victor of circumstances rather than its victim.

‘Droh Kaal’ is not without flaws. Budgetary constraints are very much
evident and despite brilliance like a match cut from terrorists moving
down shoppers in a market to her child driving Sumitra insane with the
screeching of his toy gun this is not Nihalani at his directorial
best. But despite its flaws, and despite it not being perfect – the
material and maturity (and pre-cognizance) with which it is handled
makes ‘Droh Kaal’ compelling cinema.

PS: Continuing on from Commander Bhadra’s conviction that bullets are
reborn, so are actors – and it pains to see the Bhadra/Bhubaneshwar of
‘Droh Kaal’ and Lankesh of TV’s ‘Dastaan’ be reduced to playing
caricature villains. Is it time for a rebirth?

 

6. Sreehari Nair (Trivandrum, India)

Droh Kaal: When Nihlani got it just about right..

One thing that a viewer must look forward to in a film like ‘Droh kaal’ is for the presence of one scene, that one important scene which would test its mettle. One ought to watch out for how the movie would withstand such a sequence, which an otherwise mediocre movie would respond to with a certain degree of juvenility. That one sequence, the tone and intensity of which if extrapolated over the entire course of the film would reveal the final impact that it leaves on the viewer.

Bhadra (Ashish Vidyarthi) is the commander of a terrorist organization that has cornered Abbas Lodi (Nasseeruddin Shah) and is torturing him for want of key information. Bhadra knows that Abbas is the mastermind behind the operation conceived primarily to eliminate his entire gang and that his determination towards doing so is relentless. Bhadra knows that he has at his disposal, probably his biggest enemy, but he also knows that there is a bigger threat looming around, knowledge of which is possessed by Abbas alone. The blows that he inflicts on Abbas have sapped Abbas’s strength rendering him weak. And in a moment of self-realization that he might crumble under intense pain, Abbas kills himself. Bhadra witnesses the death of his biggest enemy and lets out a defeatist moan.

What struck me most about the above sequence was the practicality of it. Interrogative torture isn’t a display of heroism or pouring out of one’s anger for sadistic gratification. It is systematic infliction of pain with a view to extract relevant information. If you lose your prey in the midst of torturing him, you end up looking like a fool. Thus Abbas in his death collects those brownie points that he seldom did when he was alive. Once you get the rationale behind that sequence, you get why “Droh kaal” works. It works primarily because it is unadulterated both in its intent and its execution.

Halfway through the film, you slowly start erasing out the pre-conceived notions you might have harbored about the intent that shaped the movie. You realize, that the director Govind Nihlani wasn’t probably making a social statement after all. Maybe, he wasn’t attempting to recount a tale that bases itself in acute realism or accurate description of its details because that he understands would only belittle its purpose. The rot that has gotten into the police department isn’t the core issue here either.

Then what is, you might ask? I believe at the heart of ‘Droh kaal’ is the societal view of law-protectors as a source of strength and yet how, in a contradictory way they can feel totally deprived of that strength. To Nihlani’s credit he doesn’t approach the film in a generic way, isolating the police officials and portraying them in another light of humanity altogether.
The protagonist Abhay Singh (Om Puri) could have been anybody, but he is a police officer, which makes it easy for him to import a set of attributes that’s idealistic in nature. And yet there comes a moment in the film when Abhay’s idealistic take on the ‘government and its might’ conflict with the freewheeling principles of Bhadra, whose terrorist group has been infiltrated by two of Abbas’s men, a secret that is known only to Abhay, his closest associate.

His confrontation scenes with Bhadra exhibit a clash of principles.
Abhay’s a man soaked in sincerity for his uniform and the government that pays him while Bhadra’s permissive theories of freedom aims at overthrowing that very government. The director here treads carefully, without taking sides and at the end of that sequence we see Abhay mumbling for an explanation to Bhadra’s sharp retorts.

If verbal assaults aren’t enough, Abhay is also put to test by a sequence of events ranging from his family being threatened to death, by creating a condition of virtual house-arrest and making him confront a situation where he has to weigh his loyalty for Abbas against his love for his own family. He chooses the later, a decision that leads to Abbas’s death and planting in Abhay a pricking conscience. The beleaguered soul now roams around sans his moments of sure-shot decisions and an incisive mind, bordering along a sense of vulnerability, indecisiveness and seeking an empathy that one sends out to him readily. He finally sets off to attain redemption and that he manages.

With all its positive attributes in place, one does however end up craving for a few scenes that would have for once leant on those smaller streaks of realism connecting the bigger ones thus aiding the process of character-development a bit more. The dons from the “The Godfather” do cook sausages. The local goons from “Satya” do end up telling each other jokes while they are not doing business. Such sequences of distributed realism might not carry the plot forward, but it does help in humanizing its players. Maybe it’s such minor furnishings that would have taken this movie from the realms of being “timely” to “ eternal timelessness”.

But, then one must bear in mind that this was 1994; A period where we were just tilling the land. We did till the land and make it ready for the seeds. This is an important film without a trace of doubt. Om Puri and Ashish Vidyarthi are life-like and the director gives us a free ride into their brains constantly ridden with dilemmas and seeking solutions for the same. Nasseeruddin Shah though nowhere near his best still plays his part with conviction and a liberated demeanor. Mita Vasishth as Abhay’s distraught wife and Annu Kapoor as Bhadra’s sidekick are wonderful in their respective parts.

This isn’t a film about the victor and the vanquished or good and evil. It isn’t about the strong and the weak either. It is essentially about a strong man and his struggle to come to terms with his momentary weaknesses, his helplessness, forced sense of dereliction and finally his search for redemption.

 

7. Shantesh Sunil Row (Dubai, UAE)

DROH KAAL: ‘NAXAL, NAXAL…WHO’S THERE?’

Mithun Chakraborty once made a pithy reply when asked
about his success as a leading man in Bollywood,
despite being dark. Said he, with a straight face,
“When I entered the film industry they called me
‘Black’. Now that I’m successful, they call me
‘Dark’.”

In a country obsessed with rosy cheeks and dimpled
chins (yes, even for heroes), where fairness creams
move faster than OTC solutions for erectile
disfunction; ‘dark’ is slowly but surely getting
acceptable. So Ajay Devgan is accepted for his
‘intensity’ whilst Priyanka Chopra is worshipped for
her ’sultriness’ (yes, I know these are mere
adjectives to brush aside the fact that they are dark,
but that’s another story…)

But what about characters that are dark? Not as
regards skin tone, but as regards the roles they
portray. Can villains ever be heroes?

Sure, you say. After all, wasn’t Shah Rukh accepted
for his negative roles in Darr and Baazigar? Doesn’t
Saif’s Langdaa Tyagi stick more like a burr than
Devgan’s Omkara? Didn’t Hrithik’s role as a con par
excellence in Dhoom 2 make crime more attractive?

But that is now. When Droh Kaal released in 1994,
things were different. Villains were either lovable
rascals (Mogambo), over the top desperadoes (Gulshan
Grover’s ‘Bad Man’), salivating rapists (Ranjeet) or
plain opportunists (Prem Chopra).

Apart from a very serious Dr Dang from Karma, the sang
froid Rama Shetty from Ardh Satya, and to a certain
extent the childish yet coldly ruthless Gabbar Singh,
Bollywood had yet to see a really dark character - one
who combined an intelligent background with a
calculated mien and a brain that was focused on his
ideals for being evil, notwithstanding the
justification of his motives.

In Droh Kaal, audiences had to contend with just that.
Ashish Vidyarthi (in a tour de force National Award
winning performance) played a character who combined
the utter calm of purpose displayed by Alan Rickman in
Die Hard, with the intensity and malevolence of
Hannibal Lecter from Silence of the Lambs.

It helped that Vidyarthi (Commander Bhadra) was
essaying the role of a Naxal leader. Right from the
time this revolutionary group struck roots in
Naxalbari, West Bengal, the Naxals have been known for
their tactfulness and adherence to intelligent revolt,
apart from their more in the news violent tactics.

Hence, in a rather perverse way, the audience almost
sympathizes with this rebel with a cause. Reason being
that Govind Nihalani, the director, justifies
Vidyarthi’s motives as part of an ideology rather than
just based on blind tenets of violence. A move that
helped audiences connect on a more personal, emotional
level rather than be transported into the mind of a
megalomaniac with grandiose intentions to rule the
world.

Which brings us to the tale. Droh Kaal is a simple,
yet complex story of a policeman (Om Puri) who wants
to infiltrate into Vidyarthi’s Naxal group using
moles, via a plan named ‘Operation Dhanush’. The film
then follows the trials and tribulations of Puri as
his family is subject to rough scrutiny and
terrorizing from a couple of Vidyarthi’s gang members.

What Nihalani does well, in terms of screenplay and
direction, is not to take sides. Both the police and
the Naxals are prone to human foibles - each prone to
betrayals, double crossing, win-win, lose-lose
situations. What’s also very human is the fact that
such betrayals are not done at a whim or fancy or even
for earning that extra inch - they’re instigated
completely out of love for the families of each
betrayer.

Though violent in most parts, what really stands out
are the scenes between Vidyarthi and Puri, where the
latter is trying to probe the former’s mind and
inveigle information from him. Reminiscent of the cat
and mouse game been played out of Anthony Shaeffer’s
‘Sleuth’ between Michael Caine and Laurence Olivier
(the 1972 version), the moves move faster than a game
of blindfolded chess.

These scenes are replete with mind games, an important
element, considering that breaking a man down mentally
is probably more effective than subjecting him to
third degree. The tactic is also more believable,
because Vidyarthi is obviously a man with a ticking
brain. Why, even an injection to coax the truth out of
him appears to be vulnerable in front of his iron
will.

Droh Kaal is replete with characters who look the
part. Om Puri is as strong as he was in Ardh Satya.
Naseeruddin Shah as convincing as part in Aakrosh. And
the cameos range from a surprisingly sadistic Annu
Kapoor to a charmingly vulnerable yet strong Sadiya
Siddique.

In 1994, when I first watched Droh Kaal, the only
memory that lingered in my mind was of Annu Kapoor
ripping of the blouse of his female assistant in order
to have sex with her. Pubescent fantasies aside, 14
years later, as I reprise my role as a viewer and
reviewer, I see that Droh Kaal has not lost any of its
potency.

Mithun Chakraborty, what with his insurgent past,
would have been proud of the ‘dark’ in this film.

 

8. Shaayon Bhattacharya (Mumbai, India)

We did not receive a review from Shaayon in Round Four

 

Contestants Thani and Kavita K Meegama have not submitted reviews for the last fews rounds, and are out of the contest.

F.Y.I.

Movies for Round 6 - The Final Round will be announced on February 6th by 10pm PST (February 7th, 1130am India)
Contestants should submit Round 6 reviews by February 17th 10pm PST
Reviews of Round 6 will be published on February 18th along with the latest rankings after Round 5.

Filed Under  Exclusive, Festivals & Contests, Review , PFCRonin

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