Saturday, June 9, 2012

Movies I Recommend - Zakhm


Amir Khan once commented (after Hum Hai Raahi Pyaar Ke) that he will never work with Mahesh Bhatt again. He said the filmmaker was a little too capricious for his taste. You never knew what you would get when he arrived on the sets and you never knew what direction the film or a character will take. One day it would be This and the next day it would be That. Mr. Khan called him undisciplined. As I go through the Filmography of this once prolific filmmaker, I can easily see where Mr. Khan is coming from. I see wild swings from brilliant to – to put it mildly – not so brilliant. For every Arth, there is a Duplicate. And for every Saransh, there is a Kartoos. It is frustrating, because you can see that the movies where he doesn’t get it right, he just isn’t putting his mind to it. Many of those are simply rip offs of popular Hollywood films. When he does get it right though, he can create beautiful cinema. And that’s exactly what he did when he created one of my all time favourites, Zakhm.

It is said that Mr. Bhat put a lot of his own experiences, a lot of himself, in Zakhm. And it shows. He tells a story that is both moving and manages to put forward a personal opinion. One thing is for sure, this is not a film without its flaws. In fact, whatever flaws there are, they are rather glaring. But, a couple of outstanding performances and a relationship the likes of which we have not seen before or since, help take our minds off less flattering bits.

It is then, a story of a mother and her son against the backdrop of communal tension in India. I am not going to give away any more of the story details, not because they will be spoilers, but due to my feeling that the story is not really the point – not for me at least. This film is all about this one unique relationship. Indian cinema has always successfully dramatised the mother-son relationship. We have seen a mother who doesn’t hesitate to shoot her own son as just punishment for his wrong deeds. We have seen a mother, who doesn’t approve of her son’s actions, being there because she knows he will need her to be there. And in countless other instances we have seen her being protective. She is invariably a paragon of virtue and a pillar of support. But, here it is different. Here, both of them exist on an equal footing. They are friends, each others’ secret keepers. The son knows his mother like anyone will know his/her best friends. He knows her heartaches and her passions. He knows what she wants, what she craves. He is her support. She needs to hold him close as much as he needs to cuddle up in her lap. It moved me in a way no other film had.

What makes this happen are a couple of outstanding performances in the lead. And no, I am not talking about mother and son here; I am talking about the son only. His performance in this movie brought Mr. Ajay Devgan his first national award – and it was richly deserved. Till then he wasn’t really known as a power performer, but this film changed all that. For the first time I saw him put his intense and expressive eyes to good use. Critics often talk about depth in a performance, and while it is an abstract, intangible entity, this performance does, in a way, explain what these guys are talking about. Mr. Devgan conveys a lot of emotions that bring out different facets of his character. His determination, his pain and his longing are portrayed convincingly. But, while he carries out his part in the movie with Aplomb, the real star of the show is (then) young Kunal Khemu.

As a young version of Ajay Devgan, he carries the movie on his tender shoulders. His performance is mature beyond his years. Usually while talking about a performance, a few moments come to mind when the actor has really nailed the character. But with this one, all the moments have been nailed. So, I will just let you, the reader, find out more for yourself.

As I have said upfront, this movie is not without its flaws and that these flaws are glaring. And all of them are due to the caricaturised characterisation. So much so, if I mentioned the line up of characters, anybody with even less than usual exposure to films will be able to tell me how they will behave. And so, while other performances are adequate, they are nothing special. And that is to be expected when you give these actors so little to play with.

Another important aspect of this film is its superb and soulful music. M. M. Kreem does a fantastic job of creating a melodious and a delightfully situational soundtrack. All the songs such as ‘Hum Yahan, Tum Yahan’ and ‘Maa ne kaha’ are a delight to listen to. And they add a lot to the experience of watching the film.

This film is a true reflection of the filmmaker who made it. How can a film have such unimaginative characterization yet such a unique take on a relationship that has been done to death in our films, is beyond me. It is very easy to dismiss this film for its flaws, as they are a plenty. But, for me, it is best remembered for that special relationship. There is a scene in this film where the mother (Pooja Bhatt) is holding her son close in the aftermath of a tragedy trying to soothe him. But as a viewer I found it hard to make out who was comforting whom. And that my dear reader, I find, is inexplicably very endearing to me.