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Watching Gulal and Paanch with Anurag

Last night I got a call on my cell from Wasan saying that he, Chaitanya and manjeet are at Anurag’s place to discuss Black Friday and try and cover it ‘in detail’ for PFC.
Movie fanatics that we are, we ended up watching Paanch and Gulal (80% complete) !!! and of course in between drinks and dinner, went through his DVD collection as well

But let me not jump the gun. Lemme take u through with my journey. I was stuck in a routine conference call in my office with my American clients, and was begging that the call be over ASAP. It must’ve been a good day, as my Team Lead was in a genial mood and after finishing my ‘role’ in the call, rushed all the way to Anurag’s house. History was created yesterday as I boarded a Virar Fast train from Dadar and got down at Bandra (for non mumbai-ites, just understand that it is a daunting proposition - fit for the ‘AXN - Who dares wins’ and other challenge shows).

Somehow I managed i reach the address and rang the bell only to find ‘Ankhiyan chipki’ the Qawallish-mujra number from Paanch playing on the big DVD Player screen monitor and Chaitanya,Manjeet,Wasan watching it. Without bothering to say hello to Anurag, I jumped in and plonked myself right in front of the screen. Yes that moment, Anurag’s film had become more important to me than Anurag himself. Anurag smiled through the throbbing backaches that he has been getting over the past few days. He didn’t mind as he knows me well enough.

Ok you might have read Oz’s review of Paanch, but here’s mine

PAANCH REVIEW : (NO SPOILERS AHEAD…. EVERY ONE KNOWS THE STORY ANYWAY)

The film is about 5 struggling rock band- Luke(Kay kay), Joy(Fernandes), Murgi(Aditya srivastav), Shulia(Tejaswini kolhapori), PornD(Vijay Maurya). Their struggles, frustrations, dreams,delerious illusions etc etc. Everything boils down to the need of money. Yes they need it and desperately.

Luke is the undisputed, uncontrollabe loose cannon leader of the band, Guitar and Gaanja for him !!!
Joy has a fetish of food and trusts Luke implicitly. Absolute loyal. Somehwat of a ‘chamcha’
PornD is the butt of all jokes, thanks to his crush on Shulia. Always at logger heads with Luke. What u call a ‘phattu’
Shulia to borrow a quote from Oz - dates more men than the number of handkerchiefs u might have lost in ur life
Murgi is a friend of Luke somehwre in between PornD and Joy. A very realistic skeptical guy who acts as a catalyst betwen the two diametrically opposites

They plan a kidnap heist ..and then things snowball into ransom - rage killing - serial killings - escapes - mistrusts- self doubts - near insanity !!!And yes the film isn’t predictable…

The dialogues are profane, and yes it is a more profane/real Dil chahta hai. “I made the film only for the dialogues. They are so cool” - says Anurag
“Franz Kafka, Van Gogh, Michelangalo were unrecognised geniuses in their life. Recognise me !!” - Luke’s graffiti

[Kartik looking at the film or the DVDs ????]

Half the time I was either laughing or being overawed by the lines. The scenes are organic and the lines flow seamlessly. As a morbid-crime-psycho-thriller film, it got me hooked. Yes clearly, this is no fantasy,romance, ‘feel good’ film.
However, midway thru the story, a possible weak point comes. I couldnt understand the point of the guys breaking into the house, robbing and catering to their baser instincts, and starte eating food from the fridge and listening to music. Yes, they are doing this after they have robbed the house.

Actually, I don’t need to, coz many of such serial killers are known to be ‘trigger happy’ and impulsive. I know it doesn’t make sense when u see it onscreen, but when i look back, (as Anurag says) “Everything needn’t have logic”. I agree.

What I love the most in the film is the dynamic relationship between the 5 characters. How their equations change during the turn of events. How each one reacts to another differently as the film progresses. And yet it is organic and perfectly believable. You might have met these characters somehwre in your real life. If the characters of DCH are real, then the characters of Paanch are ‘realer’ !!! At least, I could identify more with them more than Sid,Aakash or Sam. I’m not saying DCH is bad or trying to compare Paanch versus DCH. I’m just talking from the screenwriting craft point of view.

[Kay Kay Menon as the royal Rajput - see the gulal in his hands]

Performances - Kay kay menon(Luke) and Vijay maurya(PornD) are BRILLIANT .. TOO FRIGGIN BRILLIANT. Had the film been released back then, Kay kay would’ve become a ‘method acting’ star and not an ‘method actor’ . In fact so much so that the role Kay kay plays almost is surreal… and yes there are shades of Kay kay being an imaginary alter ego. Anurag’s first draft still shines thru the film. Unfortunately, the Fight Club was made before and that’s when people understood what Tyler Durden meant. Tragic !!!

Me and wasan were discussing Manoj as Bhiku mhatre versus Kay kay as Luke. “Luke all the way for me .. any day …. The actor never overacts …unlike in satya where I personally felt in some scenes Manoj does over act … ” - I said

“Kay kay has a greater range. Manoj can do satya, shool and the intense silent brooding guy. Kay kay can do more.. he has a greater range” - Anurag kashyap

Vijay maurya is the dark horse in the film. He is a cringer, a insecure coward-creep who cannot stand up for himself. He is the bullied one in the class,office, college anywhere. A real life character… You might have met him almost everywhere. Tragic that this actor is still not renowned.

Joy performs well. Tejaswini is at times slightly irritating ..especially in her monologues. Aditya srivastava deserves a special mention.

Music and lyrics are WOW !!!!!!!!!!!!! indian rock songs … Vishal Bhardwaj had explored into perhaps an uncharted terrotiry and Abbas tyrewala sir …. can u please please please come on PFC ????

The film does rock. A noir film .. cult film. even though it may look a little dated, it is a must see. If only MASTERJI OF THE CENSOR BOARD had obliged back then !!!

And by the way, WHY THE FUCK HAS THE CENSOR BOARD RAISED SUCH STUPID OBJECTIONS ???? Are they saying that a character cannot say “Pandavs, Draupadi”, just because of the fact that he mouths obscenity every now and then ??? Doesn’t the indian public know about Drugs ??? Double meaning dialouges ??? Why the hell did u pass Omkara and Kya kool hai hum (I never thought I would take these two movie names in the same sentence)

WAS IT FRIGGIN NECESSARY TO INSERT THE “CRIME DOES NOT PAY TITLES ” TOWARDS THE END ????

GIVE IT AN R RATING OR AN A RATING AND RELEASE IT IN THEATERS. ALL THE MORBID/CRIME CINEMA LOVERS WILL WATCH BY WORD OF MOUTH PUBLICITY

**** Four stars =
(the extra star for the effort gone into the film. The film was shot on a budget of 86 lakhs !!! The last song which kind of looks forced, shot the budget to 1.3 crores. The unit members have done cameos in the films due to lack of extras. They have shot in Prithvi Theater, Mumbai railway stations and such real locations. The entire 5 minute bus scene was canned in 2 hours… cos that was how long the producers could afford to hire the bus. To do a shot transition, an actor used to come in front of the camera !!! )

Trivia:
Here’s few trivia from Paanch
1. Most of the time camera is ‘closer’ to the actors. Meaning, a lot of zoom in and capturing the actors closely. This is quite intresting when juxtaposed with Gulal (read below).

2. Anurag plays a cameo as a office attendant in the film. He also has done a voice over for a character who does not appear onscreen (Budget constraints). He also has done similar cameos in Black friday and No smoking. Untill now, he is not there in Gulal. In paanch he is almost unrecognizable as the young frail lean guy.

3. There are tributes to other films which Anurag loves. An obvious one is the “You think I’m a joker” from Goodfellas. There’s one by the judge who says in marathi - Maaficha Sakshidar. An obvious reference to the Joshi Abhayankar killings by Rajinder jakkal and his gang, on which the film is loosely based.

Interval :
Ok, then came the interval. Me, Wasan and Chaitanya who had been holding the nature’s call in order to not miss out on any scenes, rushed to the loo. Anurag offered drinks and dinner followed. We browsed through his DVD collection, Chinese, Swedish, Japanese, Korean, French films, festival films, short/student films of Scorcese, he has it all. Unprononouncialbe and unheard of names of film makers, he has it all. You meet that guy and u feel so friggin small !!! His knowledge is matched only by his passion for cinema. Thank God for Chaitanya and manjeet. Me and Wasan were completely lost when Anurag started talking about foreign films.

Anurag “Let’s watch this film made by &*%^$@#^ ” (name unpronouncable)
I say “I wanna see Gulaal. Even though 20% is yet left to be shot. I wanna see Gulal”
Wasan joined me in my fervor. Anurag relented.

GULAAL REVIEW : (POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD…. BUT SEE IF YOU CAN RESIST THE TEMPTATION. We saw an unprocessed version of the film)

I remember seeing pieces of Gulal at the baiscope workshop, about a year ago.

Qouting from the article “Anurag has now set his film in the future. With the breakdown of the government & democracy, the maharaja’s in Rajasthan are trying to wrest control back to form the princely state of Rajputana. The movie is a simple love story set against this backdrop.”

Yes, the maharaja - rajputs led by Kay Kay menon, want to establish a seperate state. The protaginist Dilip Singh (Raja chaudhary) comes into the backdrop and gets sucked into it the whirlpool. Yes it is a sort of love story at the core, but set against this political backdrop. Even though we may have seen such films in say Aandhi (Gulzar), Haasil (Tigmanshu Dhulia), Gulal to use a cliche, is ‘quite different’. It is also somewhat surreal, and yet realistic. Incidents of Ragging, drunken revelry, caste and legitmacy biases, student activism/politics, subtle jabs at the fallen democratic framework, profane (but appropriate) dialogues, and the picturesque rajasthani forts - desert. What a change form the JP Dutta films which visit Kutch and Rajasthan.

I must say the Art Director-Wasik khan (Anurag’s regular) has done a good job.
Sample this- The only liquor brands visible in the film are Put - in Vodka, Democracy Whisky, Republican Beer.

The hotel at where the protaginist stays, is titled as a Neon sign board “Hello There, ”
But the ‘O’ and the ‘T’ blink seperatly and the neon sign toggles between
Hello There - Democracy Beer
Hell here - Democracy Beer.

The oil joke - I loved this one.
Its diwali, and the family is doing the puja. Piyush mishra is speaking to someone over a dead telephoneline in rustic english

“Yes, Is that the president of United states ??? What have u done with the oil ??? It is our diwali festival and we are not able to celebrate …. there is no oil !!! We can’t lite our diyas …. ”
He goes on and on rambling on the same.

Unfortunately I cannot reveal more about the story here. It’s a journey of a young man into this sort of an ambeince.

Anurag- “The inspiration of the film is Guru Dutt’s immortal line from Pyaasa - Yeh Duniya agar mil bhi jaaye to kya” (”How does it matter even if i get this world” )

The film’s pace is somehwat slow though, and it is not an action oriented film. It’s a ’setting film’. Meaning in all likelihood, Mr Khalid mohmd will not be too favorable in his reviews. This might be India’s first futuristic film when released. Expect no Sci-Fi Effects though !!! The dialogues are too good, but unfortunately you might have heard few of the profanities in Omkara as well. Dunno how the striking resemblance is there. Was scared of telling this to Anurag.

The film has almost all newcomers/character actors - Ayesha mohan(heroine), Jesse Randhawa, Raja Chaudhary, Deepak Dobriyal (this was to be his acting debut),
Pankaj Jha(Anwar Teba in Black Friday), Tisca Chopra (Mrs Amod Shukla of Satya), and of course Anurag’s regulars - Aditya Srivastav and Kay kay menon.

They have put in good performances. Anurag says “This film is a a story of a weak man” . I see the film and say “Yes sir !!! It surely is” . How this guy is weak and cannot stand up for himself, and how he gets used by others. The ending scene does rattle u off. Raja Chaudhary is identifiable as the loser. Jesse Randhawa talks through her eyes and Ayesh Mohan does her job pretty good. Kay kay menon and Aditya Srivastava perform well, as usual. Kay kay actually looks like a Royal Rajput, much more than what Manoj Bajpai did in Zubeida (Ok ok .. now this comparison has to stop now)

Special mention must be made of Piyush Mishra. He has given music and lyrics for the film. And also as the raw version, sung them. I don’t think there any duets in the film. The lyrics have an earthy poetic feel to them. The music is rajasthani folk with the prominent use of dholak. Piyush mishra brings his own nativity into the film by not just giving lyrics,music but also by performing in it. Piyush mishra plays a ‘perhaps crazy’ performer/court - joker (Shakespearen touches ??) with a certain method in madness. His sarcastic jabs, meaningful poetry coupled with puns is a delight for those who know the reference/literature. And not just that, he is a biiiiiig fan of Jim morrison too !!! He wears a locket bearing the photo of Jim around his neck. Do watch out for all his scenes. Also the mujra (which sadly has not been shot but only the recorded) has some amazing jibes at the world - indian political scenario. Toooooooooooooo Good.

I would rate this film as not the year’s best film, but of what I’ve seen, it is turning out to be a pretty ‘hatke’ film and watching it should be a treat. I got hooked onto it despite the non synch sound, unprocessed raw audio-video.
Two Trivia I noticed about Gulal

1. Here the camera is usually not that close to actors. At times, It almost gives a play like apperance… unlike Paanch. In paanch I guess, u were expected to get into the drama, whereas here, the drama draws you in slowly.

2. Like paanch, there are some scenes where a person threatens another with a gun, and the person being threatened, cooly rattles of lines to convince/seduce the threater out of his rage. Shades of pulp fiction Samuel ‘Yolonda’ Jackson ????

3. “There is a tribute to Yashraj” - says anurag wrt a line in the film when a character, to pull someone’s leg says “Mere paas Ma hai”. I was elated to see that line in the film coz it is also there in my short film (Ok ok, another selfish self - promotion .. but that’s ok. Me and anurag are connected by the fact that we have both made a funny ‘tribute’ to Yashraj our films !!!)

Truly truly a different film. Deserved to be seen by the so called ‘intelligensia’. By the marxists, communists, democrats, republicans, fanatics… everyone .

End of Day
The film ended and Anurag had dozed off in the middle, thanks to his back pain. We guys decided which film is to be seen next. After selecting the following films

13, 36, and some japanese horror film, we finally settled on romanzio criminal … or somethingof that sort - a swedish film. Wasan, chaitanya, and manjeet watched the film, whereas i dozed off. I had office tomorrow.

I woke up in the morning and Anurag asked our opinions of Gulal, in a half awake half asleep state. “I liked it…”said I. Wasan opined that the end was great but he didn’t follow much..possibly due to the unprocessed print. Lets see …

Before leaving for office, handed him over today’s mumbai mirror …. which had his interview.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Please release Paanch and Gulaal on the big screen ASAP !!!!

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