Slice of Life, Honest Scenes from Hindi Cinema
I am bad with titles for my posts. Didn’t know what to call this one, a post about individual scenes in films, scenes that stayed with me long after the excitement over the film subsided, scenes that were never talked about either because the film was so good that it was full of higher impact scenes that were much copied or spoofed or the film was so bad that nobody would bother remembering scenes from such a bad film anyway.
This title is also ironic in a way because cinema, by the nature of it is a make believe medium. In a way, a film maker could be called more successful if he translated a completely weird and unrealistic scene into an utterly believable one on screen. And that’s how it probably works too. Most of the times what we call as great films, great scripts or great scenes were created deliberately to have that kind of impact on us, the audience. In other words, the scenes were written for the gallery. The acting, camera placement, lighting on the set was created to generate a certain impact on screen and generate certain emotion in audience minds. This post is not about such scenes.
Once in a while, it so happens, that the unit ends up capturing a slice of life on screen, without probably realizing how well they have done it. These are the scenes where nobody is trying to make a point, no actor or actress is trying to steal a scene, director or cameraman is trying to show off his technical skills. These are the scenes that just flow. Viewed in the film, they just move the story along, but take a pause and think about it and you’ll realize how closely they resemble real life.
Deewar – Death of the father:
Imagine about a long estranged relative, should have been very close to you but for some reason it didn’t quite work out that way and you ended up hating that person. You tried your best to get that person out of your mind, your heart and tried your best to hate that person and kill the image in your mind. Over many years you succeeded in doing that. And then, out of nowhere that person comes back in your life, not alive but dead. What happens than? How would you react? How would you feel? May be certain numbness in your heart? You would deny yourself that you care but still a corner of your heart aches. This scene does not have any great set up, no close ups, no in camera shots, no voice modulations, no shouting, no long dialog nothing. Vijay is lying in the bed with Anita, in a dim lit room, perhaps moments after they had been intimate. Anita can sense the grief in Vijay’s heart, even though she knows the man doesn’t believe in sharing his emotions. She tries small talk to make him feel better and Vijay snubs her with this terse dialog – “Mere Liye mera bap pandrah sal pahle mar gaya tha”. And you can sense that Vijay is lying to himself, that he is grieving inside, even for a person that he thought he’ll never grieve. Mr. Bachchan and Late Ms. Parveen Babi, you both deserve ten out of ten for this scene.
What can you write about a film that had probably the best written script in the history of Indian cinema. The film was a treasure chest of such well written, well acted and well directed scenes that after so many years, after so much copying and even spoofing, the scenes remain fresh and unparalleled in some senses. But when you think about it, all the classic scenes were really well written filmy scenes. From the boy who doesn’t pick up money thrown on the floor, to the man who never climbs the steps of a temple to bhai-bhai and mother son scenes and the all other scenes including the death scene of the hero, they were all filmy scenes, extremely well done, I admit. But in this treasure chest of magical cine moments, there was this small low key scene that I thought was very close to real life.
Rang De Basanti – Aamir Cries on Dinner table:
Imagine someone close to you got badly hurt in an accident. The whole day passes like a blur with rounds of hospital, emergency room, arranging blood, running to pharmacies for medicines. Experts say, what we call as mind shuts off in emergency situations and the real us, that we can call conscience or soul takes over and we do everything instinctively in such moments. In all the chaos, we don’t quite get time to absorb everything that is going on and think over it. But a time comes, when we pause for a moment and on that moment, slightest bit of sympathy from a close one or any other stimulus can expose the child within you.
Another master piece, well directed film full of memorable scenes. If there were any doubts that Aamir Khan is the best actor of his generation and perhaps a generation prior to him and after him, this film dispels such doubts. In an ensemble cast, Aamir used the few scenes written for his character to stamp his authority on the film. But this scene cut so close to life that I was amazed how they got it so real. The silence in the room when he enters, Alice arranging the table quietly, Aamir sitting down to eat and with just one small sympathetic pat on the back and he can’t stop himself any more and breaks into a monologue interspersed with pure naked crying. Amazing stuff, I felt as if I were in the room!
Swades – SRK visiting the poor farmer
You pride yourself as a sensible, rational, educated, modern Indian and think that you understand the world, that you’ve seen everything. Every now and then you get frustrated with your high paying, 9-5 cushy job and some days you think you have the worst job in the world and moan how you deserved better, being so supremely gifted and talented you are and how this world has been unfair to you. And then you encounter situations that completely change your perspective, that tell you how lucky you are and how ungrateful you have been for everything that God has given you. But nothing can prepare you for what SRKs’ character experiences when he visits this poor farmer. I am not sure how I would face a family living in such abject poverty, struggling for everyday food, in this day and age. One thing is for sure, it would be a humbling experience, a feeling of helplessness and shame. AG and SRK did a great job of capturing it all, in a slow paced scene, with very few dialogs, and SRK’s character watching the moon through a roof made of hay, after they share the piece of bread that the poor family is living on. Everything about the scene was perfect, the man playing the poor farmer, his wife, the kids, the lighting; everything was straight out of real life, including the expressions on SRK’s face. SRK carries the face and expression into the next scene where he encounters the chai wala chhotu. AG captures the transformation in SRK”s character by showing how suddenly he starts noticing everything so vividly, the camera stays on the chaiwala boy, showing him counting his change, as if a crorepati lala is counting his stash of cash at the end of the day. No matter, how much you hate SRK for his overacting and excesses in other films, he probably delivered one of the most honest scenes in Hindi cinema ever. Direct Dil Se!!
Billu Barber – Irfan talks on phone
You know in your heart that it’s not going to go well. Your sixth sense tells you it’s a stupid idea. You dread making the call, but still end up doing it. You try your best to keep your composure, yet what you are hearing from other end is so devastating, so saddening, so humiliating that it surpasses everything you have faced in your life full of depravity anyway. You just feel like running away and hiding in some corner where no one can see you, not even yourself. But, even that is a luxury you cannot afford. The world around you somehow refuses to leave you alone, a world that is totally disconnected from you, a world that doesn’t understand you a bit and doesn’t care, a world that has no idea what has just hit you. Irfan, you are great!!
In an otherwise dishonest film, Irfan managed to preserve this nugget of honest, slice of life cinema. I call a film a dishonest film where the makers digress from the main story telling and try to use it for one or the personal agendas. It doesn’t matter if you are the lead actor, superstar and producer of the film. The film is first and foremost about telling a particular story. And this was a simple story told before that needed to be told in a simple manner, and it seemed only Irfan understood it. When you use a film for ego aggrandizement, for making certain point, for flashing your star power and dancing with three sexiest co-stars just because you can, on imaginary sets built to fulfill your fantasies, it’s corruption and it shows on the screen. We in the audience can feel it and feel cheated. But none of this dishonesty can take away from Irfan the piece he produced.
Namastey London – Laughing attack on dinner table
A very common moment in typical close knit family environments. There are times when things turn out exactly the opposite of what everyone expects them to be, when such bizarre things happen that you cannot anything except laugh. If it so happens that one family member or a close friend bets on it and the result turns out to be exactly opposite, everyone can’t stop laughing, except may be that particular family member or friend. Everyone tries not to laugh openly as the person involved is getting irritated, but the muffled laughter that Akshay and Rishi Kapoor display makes the scene that much more real. Towards the end, the way Akshay wraps a muffler around his mouth to stop himself from giggling was just amazingly real. There is no dialog in the scene, no great set, just a dinner table and some giggling. But the impact is superb.
Considering that this scene is immediately after a typical filmy scene where Akshay single handedly beats the Brits in the game of rugby makes it so much more special and even elevates the prior scene to another level.
You know this is just a sampling of the type of scenes I am talking about, and these are rare ones. It’s not supposed to be a list of great scenes. These are underdog scenes, scenes that just happened, that didn’t get noticed as much as they deserved because other better written filmy scenes had the impact that they were created for. Am I even making sense?
Tags: Lists
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
you lost me at Billu barber
Felt the exact same thing.
I agree on the Rang De Basanti scene. It is one of the best scenes ever and brilliantly performed by Aamir Khan.
no doubt. i loved the scene too. very well done by aamir.
I like the Swades scene…straight out of life.
Nice ones! Give us more! I had written some myself a few months back!! And why the hypothesis that we hate SRK for his overacting??! Lot of us totally love him! Psst.. I am one of them so I say this in defence of many people like me ;)
billu barber, namste london scene – slice of life? which life? ET?
Moral of the story- if you can find only 3 examples- give only three – no need to make it five and spoil a good post
i think hrishekesh mukherjee gave us much more slice of life and honest scenes…
am i missing a point here, or are we not supposed to talk about certain attributes only? cause to me close to real life scenes have been -
WOW I STARTED WRITING AND I REALISED THE FIRST FEW MOVIES THAT I CAN CONTINUOUSLY THINK OF ARE FARHAN AKTHAR AND RAJKUMAR HIRANI MOVIES… THE CAPITALS JUST INDICATE THE SCRIPT THAT I WROTE AFTER I WAS DONE WRITING THE REST AND ARE ADDITIONAL WRITINGS..
QUITE A FEW OF THESE SCENES CAN BE REPLACED WITH ANYBODY IN LIFE, INSTEAD OF A GOON, OR A SUPER RICH BRAT, OR AN ARMY OFFICER, NRI SEEING PEOPLE IN INDIA
1. Hrithik and Boman father son talk over the phone in Lakshya
2. Aamir Khan Realising his love and Priety Zinta and his suffocation at the inability to do things cause situations are not in his favor. – DCH
3. Again, Aamir and his father’s talk at the end when he asks if at least aamir ever proposed. -DCH
4. Farhan Akhtar and his friend patching up the day after their sqabble in Luck by Chance
5. Akshay Khanna and the girl behind Aamir, talking over the beach (agar mai itni hi achi hoon toh aakash kyu nahi… brilliant)
6. The ego fight over the call to prove “this is my turn to be on top” between Hrithik and Priety in Lakshya.
7. Dilli 6 had tons of scenes right from life, brothers talking just to prove that the other’s idea was rubbish (”kala bandar pe pani fek do”, much later, “ghar ki janada ko ullu banane ka acha tareeka hai, pani fek do kala bandar pe”.
8. MUNNABHAI
a. this was a point that I was about to post but then Munnabhai had way too many scenes which were worth a real life feel… Zaheer starting to believe that Munna can do anything (yes there are true hero worshippers of people who can keep people around them happy)
b. Masood the cleaner gets a hug, try giving 10 bucks to that old watchman and a glass of water next to your building and see his reaction how even if he tries to keep a stern face, a smile still evokes.
C. The whole “Jaila kya soorat thi” song, ever tried talking to a younger person in love related trauma?
for now… as I get to sneak more into oblivion in my office, will post more brilliant scenes… look forward for Sathiya, Sarkar (purely supriya pathak), of course Taare Zameen Par and Jaane Tu ya Jaane Na…
Sathiya, Vivek Oberoi’s moment of lil awkwardness when his wife rani hugs him when she is disturbed from the hospital, and Vivek thinks neighbours might be seeing them
this one was shot much better in tamil but Vivek and Kareena’s bus journey in Yuva…
Supriya Pathak’s emotionally holding back lady of the house as the wife of an extremely powerful and contained man, who at the only attempt given, talks about her ‘wrong’ son in all positiveness..
Imran Khan’s fire in the belly scene when he sees the other guy dancing real close with Genelia..
SRK’s guilt at a false markscard leading making his parents look at him in awe
There are many but right now m just adding from Lakshya those i remember:
In Lakshya when Karan’s dad scolds him for filling up IMA form and after that he goes to Romi- the only person he can really fall back upon(Later it is exactly why even Romi leaving him for running away from IMA had such a huge impact on him. ) the dialogues ’school me tumko yaad hoga, parents day pe tumhare dono parents aate the, meri mummy aati thi but ek baar bhi tumne mere dad ko dekha. ever! tum jo mai kahunga wo karoge, sorry mai nahi karunga’. i feel Lakshya has one of the best father son relationship portrayal ever. and Boman Irani’s one of the most underrated performances. if anyone notices he always hugs his mother but never his father until the very end and that scene is just so bloody real and understated.
and also the scene where he is compared to his elder brother udesh. Hrithik’s expression were to be seen. how many times it happens with us.
and the scene after Mai aisa kyu hoon where Karan is resting on Preity’s lap. ‘Tum kabhi bore nahi hoti kya’. ‘bore hone ka time kaha hai. duniya me itni cheeze hai itni baate hai ki koi sachmuch inetrested ho to kabhi bore nahi ho sakta’.'Ya Ya’. the whole scene is brilliant like many other in the movie which i hope others add.
Waise a great topic. and i love the RDB scene as well as the Swades one. cant remember Namastey london that well. and yes munnabhai is so full of such scenes specially the first one.
some more of the mainstream movies i can remember having such slice of life honest scenes are TZP, Luck By Chance, Dil Chahta Hai, Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander(damn how can i forget this one, had so many such scenes and situations), Rangeela, Delhi 6, Kabhi haa kabhi naa.
1. Haasil : Tinu Anand scolding Jimmy for riding too fast, then Jimmy taking the cycle, and when his father says jaldi aana , he replies – jaldi kaise aaunga cycle 40 ke oopar thodi chalti hai
Other scenes in the same movie, Jimmy speaking to Irrfan , and Irrfan asking – sex ho gaya kya ?, then Jimmy says – Main usse saccha pyar karta hoon. has it not happenned to anyone else.
2. Doli saja ke rakhna – Lovely movie. Akshay and Jyothika ending their relationship for their family’s sake, and akshay acting okay in front of his father.
3. RHTDM – the friendly gathering, the train ride.
4. khatta Meetha, Golmaal, Rang-birangi, choti si baat etc .. were entire movies with a such consecutive scenes
Here’s my 20 cents
saurshaz