Suraj Ka Satavaan Ghoda, Fallen Angels or Shiva - Takeaways Infinite..
At the end of the movie “A Wednesday” a few weeks ago, I suddenly found a few people in the upmarket audience of Globus, Bandra standing up and clapping. Gladdened my heart for the maker, his movie and the response. That also set me thinking about what would be the right response to a movie.
Then, today morning I read RGV’s blog in which he has mentioned the response to Shiva when it hit the screens one Friday. He says that his colleague informed him that they were quiet. This response mystified him and so he found out more. They were quiet because they were stunned. I was too, if I do remember correctly. But that also is a significant response.
I was similarly stunned when I first saw “Suraj ka Saatvan Ghoda“. I keep remembering the last scene of a poor Rajat Kapoor pushing that handcart and that desolation o his face. That movie and its happenings simply blew me. But then it must not have stirred many people or it would have been a hit or at least a critical success. Each character - Amrish Puri, Neena Gupta, Rajeshwari, Rajat and even the minor parts played their parts to perfection. The direction and concept by Shyam Benegal was awesome. But I do not here of it even here in PFC.
Alaap- another movie that just made me wet in the face. Here was an actor, one of the very best India has produced Amitabh Bachchan, trying to go against the grain of his image and what a job he did, ably supported by a wonderful story and simple and heartwarming screenplay. But the movie flopped. AB was at the peak of his career then. I do not know of a person who saw Alaap fully and did not like it. Then why?
Readers would also give many examples from the recent releases. Johnny Gaddar, Manorama, Teen Diwarein, Dor, yun hota to kya hota, Hulla, No smoking, Nishabd, Haasil, Seher, Khoya Khoya Chand or Ahista Ahista are some that I liked but all of them met gruesome fate at the box office.
So, I come back to my point, what makes that winning yet different film. A populist subject like gangsters, thrillers, emotional drama, sex or tear jerkers. In my flop list you would find all of them. So!?
I guess some performances or some characters or even some scenes through the two odd hours just strike gold, worm their way into people’s hearts and stay there. That’s the beauty of a good movie, flop or hit! That’s how after all these years Shiva is still so fresh with me. Not the usual scenes but those small nuggets like a camera above Amala while she dances in the college or the green tone of Bhavani’s room while he watches Cricket or even the waiter’s smile when he is talked to in the canteen. I am a sucker for such small takeaways from films.
These moments bring me back to my favorites. Overtime, the movie gets to be a favorite too. Yesterday, I saw Fallen Angels by Wang Kar Wai and there is a mute character who is trying to please a destitute girl in one scene. I might just see that movie another 20 times just for that enormously poignant scene and I was watching it on my laptop. Imagine that scene on big screen. Blown just thinking!
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Indraneel: Suraj Ka Satvan Ghoda is a great film. The reason why it isn’t talked about much is because very, very few people have watched it. It came before the multiplex revolution, when it was extremely difficult for off-beat cinema to get a thetrical release. Most people would have seen it either in film festivals, or on DD. Even today, it’s DVD is hard to find. I have been looking for it for ages now.
The impact of the bicycle scene in Shiva is stupendous. The effect of a silent Nagarjuna pulling in the chain, is beyond description.
Even the way Chakravarthy pushes Shiva in that sequence, jabbing on his opposite shoulder thrice, rocking him back one step or two each time, was cult. I think in every movie after that, confrontational pushing between any hero and his antagonist was a copy. Two or three jabs on the opposite shoulder, the hero silently falling back with each one, and then, whack!
@ Inca: Right! But that was quite prominent… put in the posters even. Indraneel, perhaps is talking about more personal experiences… details which we often overlook but which stay with some of us, lingers & grow on people… They kinda create a space for the respective films in our brain.
One personal xprnc: The begger (Khwaja Ahmed Abbas) stares at a bewildered Raj (Raj Kapoor) in his eyes & says, “Ye Bambai hai mere bhai. Bambai.”hile shaking his begging bowl in Shree 420.
@Aditya: Even I did not find it anywhere. Landmark is clueless, Odyssey and Crossword..well..we shouldn’t waste time with their collections!
@Inca: Shiva has many such moments!
@Joyjeet: Talking of Raj Kapoor, do you remember a knife fight between him and Pran in Anari..classic it was!
Scene from Martin Scorcese’s underrated comedy After Hours(1985). The lead character, Paul, has to catch the last train to subway, and he is short of money, he begs and cajoles the counter attendant to give him the ticket. One of the memorable scenes for sure.
But the best part is this
Paul: Couldn’t you just give me one token, please?
The ticket booth attendant: I can’t do that. I may lose my job.
Paul: Well, who would know… exactly?
The ticket booth attendant: I could go to a party, get drunk, talk to someone… who knows?
For me the impact comes in the way, the ticket booth attendant utters that last line, with a sly grin and smirk. After Hours had many memorable scenes, but this one was the best.
The Insider, had some really high voltage intense scenes between Russel Crowe and Al Pacino, each of them impactful. But for me the scene of the movie, was the “Wipe that smirk off your face” one.
During a deposition in court, the tobacco company’s lawyer, instructs Dr.Jeffrey Wigand( Russel Crowe), not to answer any questions as he is under contractual obligations. He turns to the prosecuting attorney, Ron Motley, and tells him
“Mr Motley, we have rights here”.
And the attorney’s response
“Boy, you got rights… and lefts. Ups and downs and middles. So what? You don’t get to instruct anything around here! This is not North Carolina, not South Carolina, nor Kentucky! This is the sovereign state of Mississippi’s proceedings. Wipe that smirk off your face! Dr. Wigand’s deposition will be part of this record! And I’m gonna take my witness’ testimony whether the hell you like it or not! ”
1 minute of sheer intensity, in the way he expresses his disgust, especially, the way he emphasizes that “Wipe that smirk off ur face”. I have seen this movie umpteen times, but this is 1 scene, i just run over and over again. Bruce McGill, who plays that attorney, is a famous TV actor in US, and he was just brilliant in this scene.
And of course my favorite one from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. Eli Wallach being cornered by another guy, looking for him, as he is relaxing in a bath tub. The guy going into a diatribe, and then Eli Wallach, cooly shooting him, and the memorable punch line
“When you shoot, shoot, don’t talk”.
Indraneel,
While i do agree with you on Alaap, which I feel was an underrated film and deserved a better audience, I fail to agree with you on Suraj ka Saatva Ghoda. (again, its not necessary that everyone here has to agree to everything).
I have seen more films than I can remember or care and of all types - but this is one movie that I hated. I had seen it at the Nandan cinema hall in Calcutta and hated every second of it. One of the worst movies as per my judgement.
I am glad somebody brought this movie up for discussion!
Suraj ka Satvan Ghoda is one of mine Benegal’s favourite….the narrative style was some sort of a novelty in indian cinema…..i loved it for that and also for its effective exploration of human nature and man-woman relationships…almost an under-rated classic in my opinion!
Did somebody else feel there were glimpses of that movie in Welcome to Sajjanpur….especially in Mahadev’s character?
Indraneel
Couldn’t agree with you more….and felt the same for most of the movies you have mentioned…some of them should have hits or atleast critically acclaimed..
And yes I liked Alaap too….though one reason I feel it didn’t work was probably it is one of very few Hrishi Da’s movie which has the feel good factor missing…which ppl so much expect from him…so it disappoints you a bit if you approach with that kind of expectations…
come to think of it….was Satyakaam a commercial success..anybody?
Ofcourse that was long before Alaap…and ppl didn’t have any set expectations from Hrish Da i guess..
@Ratnakar: Lol..shoot, shoot, don’t talk..is an all time fav!
@Sophocles: Yipee..I too saw Suraj at Nandan, maybe it didn’t grow on you. That’s cool. I have never liked DDLJ. So what!
@Pradeep: actually, Suraj freshens up in mind because of Sajjanpur and because I don’t know where I can see Suraj, I have seen most of Suraj in Sajjanpur too. Small town Political India!! and Man - woman relationships..
@Pradeep: Our single biggest problem in India is pre-concieved notions about our film makers. Why does Benegal try comedy? Why is Hrishida in tragedy? Why is Sanjay Gupta trying parallel cinema? Why is Anurag in a musical Dev D? Paresh in a dramatic role..nahin chalega??!!!!
So you have good actors languishing, directors churning out the same old crap, writers afraid to tackle bold subjects..and audiences cynical…kaisa bhool bhulaiya hai yeh?? Look closely at how AB, Aamir, many young directors, technicians are pushing the envelope…Saif, Arshad, John, Shreyas, Akshaye…we should embrace these changes!!
@Indraneel
absolutely…its a welcome change…I am all for it!
and i was guessing that Suraj has freshened up for you after Sajjanpur…as it did for me
u know i too have been looking for “Suraj..” on the net or for a DvD(in London/Bangalore??!!)…but can’t get hold of it..
infact i have never seen it a second time…after watching it on DD long long back
pls pls let me know if I can find it anywhere….that is one movie I can watch several times…each time from a different character’s pov
@Pradeep: In a way Yes, Suraj did freshen..but I still tell all that it is in my Top all Time 5! and that was before Sajjanpur..the POVs of all the characters in a common story was just awesome! Neena, Rajeshwari, Rajat, Amrish P and who were the others?
Pallavi Joshi, Raghubir Yadav…
@Aditys.. you would be surprised but once I met Mr.Banegal in person and asked him where to find the DVD of Suraj Ka Satwaan Ghoda and even he did not know !!! He said may be Shemaroo released it so you can get in touch with them…
( I met him at the INOX where he came to watch Khamosh Paani). Ironically I managed to get Suraj Ka Satwaan ghoda in US www.nehaflix.com
Suraj Ka Satwaan Ghoda had very distinct narrative where single scene is played couple of times with different view point. I am not sure if the novel was written that way but the screen play was too good.
We have several gems in Indian literature ( hindi / urdu / marathi and other languages ) that should be adopted for the movies or tv serials.
I came to know that Anurag Kashyap and Sudhir Mishra trying to adopt Devdas for today’s day and age which is the way to go. Great stories set in today’s time something like Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo and Joliet starrting DiCaprio.
’suraj ka…’ is one of my fave benegal movies. rajat kapoor as a narrator as well as the protagonist is awesome; and the support cast was wonderful. the ending of the movie still haunts me; and the explanation of the title of the movie towards the end was wat left an impact. i cud not find this dvd in india, but it sure was there in US and i rented it from http://www.netflix.com. i cudn’t believe tat netflix had the movie which major stores in india did not seem to possess
Sooraj ka….is my favourite film and I have been looking for it for ages now…You are right about Alaap.In fact had Alaap been successful Hrishikesh Mukherjee would have made more films like that.Instead it flopped and Mukherjee chose to do comedies.In fact Amitabh-Nutan starrer Saudagar was another film I like immensely.Though I am not sure about its box office.Reshma aur Shera was another superb film which was a disaster in the box office but today liked by many.Amitabh was brilliant in the movie.Among the recent ones I was blown away by Manorama Six feet Under.Agree it was too good for the people who “leave their brains at home” or whatever!!!But we can be rest assured that five years down the line it would be very much in demand in the dvd circuit.For me its already a classic.
indraneel
Don’t know about the dvd..but moser baer has released the vcd for “suraj ka..”.. i guess it should be available somewhere..hidden amonst all those other moser baer collections which nowdays take up maximum shelf space in any music/movie store. I got one for myself from one of the smaller stores in kolkata..
Is it true that Benegal saab wanted initially RGV to direct Zubeida and RGV’s nature of giving suggestions did not make it happen ?
i saw suraj ka satvan ghoda on doordarshan many years ago. it used to come often then. never left me since. pity such good movie has got no dvd.
there is another great 1945 b- movie noir classic called detour. that is another movie i really, really love, which i do not find much mention of anywhere…..
@ankur
where is this store in Kolkata?? Pls lemme know!
@kcp..aww..I do not know about Zubeida being offered to RGV..
@Yes..pradeep do let us know!
I got it from a store named M3 in City Centre, Salt Lake, kolkata
But it’s a moser baer vcd..it should be available elsewhere as well..
@ankur
Thanks a ton!!!
I don’t have to go anywhere….City Centre, Salt Lake actually works perfect for me…..when I am in Kolkata next :))
@Pradeep
U r most welcome
I checked the Moser Baer website. The VCD is out of stock. So the only hope is to check if a few copies are lying unsold in any store. I have literally dug through the entire moser baer collection in a number of stores, but could not find it.The search is still on…
@Aditya..even I have searched their collections..no clue!
Went back to M3 yesterday..they still have about 3-4 unsold copies of “suraj ka satva ghoda” in vcd.. for a change they were all placed in the front rows instead of being hidden behind the more popular titles..
And who can forget Children Of Men….where in you hear a Baby’s cry in the middle of a war like situation and every single human wants to feel it….even the soldier stops other soldiers…..nearly 5 mins of baby cry….Was watching this movie alone with cigarette to light and could not light it until the movie ended and just jumped out of the couch putting it on the ground and shouting….”FUCK”
And who can forget Sagarasangamam where Jayaprada shows the All india dance competition invitation to kamal hassan and he flips all the pages of it and he sees his name at the last page….and note the background music from Illayaraja…..bet u if u dont cry for this……
@ Reelgenius - Sagarasangamam was such a good film. Kamal dancing on the rod that a diameter for the well, when he dances the same step in various forms, the last scene and of course the one that you’ve mentioned. Only he could bring it alive…
The way’ve you’ve spoken @ that scene from Children of Men; feel like watching it right now.
“And who can forget Sagarasangamam where Jayaprada shows the All india dance competition invitation to kamal hassan and he flips all the pages of it and he sees his name at the last page….and note the background music from Illayaraja…..bet u if u dont cry for this……”
reelgenius, ! I bet you couldn’t have said it better… Truly touching that scene is… “Eena kooda manchi kalakarude!” (sorry if I haven’t quoted verbatim) It requires a genius of Kamal to not let that moving yet dramatic scene slip into melodrama, true Arthi V!