Re: The Hindi Movies Thread After a much delayed viewing, I am giving this film a big thumbs up. I am not a Bollywood diehard. But, I am a huge film fan, and this film made for great entertainment and some serious thinking afterward.
Many reviewers in the media have commented that this movie is a version of Sanjay Dutt’s life that has been conveniently airbrushed to portray him in good light. I have no doubt that it is. In fact, Rajkumar Hirani, astute filmmaker that he is, uses a clever plot device early in the film to highlight the fact that any story, and particularly biopics, can have many versions, and that what we are about to view is essentially only one such version as the director chooses to show it to us.
But, coming back to that criticism of shaping a narrative favorable to the protagonist, I think that those reviewers are, in some ways, missing the point altogether. Because this film is not just about Sanjay Dutt. If we wanted that tale, we can get it from the papers. No, this film is a story about a family. A family that made the journey to hell and back. A family that is from the films, but isn’t only about the films. Indeed, for all the dysfucntional labels that film folks attract, it appears that this family has been remarkably functional through all their trials and tribulations. And that too not inspite of their film backgrounds; but at times because of it. I particularly liked how the Sunil Dutt character keeps drawing on the words of famed Bollywood lyricists to extract the strength needed for his life’s battles. The Dutts are very much a family in ways that we know and expect families to be. Tight. Strong. Loyal.
The film’s narrative explores the bond between the protagonist and his parents, and in particular with his father. I can’t claim to have seen the Dutts from up close. But, I do remember a news conference that father and son gave together back in the 90s when Sanjay was at the peak of his legal battles. At that time, one could clearly discern the father-son bond; also hard to miss were the clear overtones of the Dutts being in the fight of their lives. What’s remarkable is that I walked out of Sanju having experienced the exact same vibration that I felt when I watched the Dutts fight off a rabid set of reporters in that ancient news conference. In that sense, the film rang true to me.
At the heart of it all, this film is a story about the heroic powers of a parent. We have seen this theme explored admirably in films like Drishyam and Secret Superstar. But, it is in Sanju that we see it fleshed out to span a full lifetime. A lifetime of long and lonely battles fought valiantly by a parent to protect his son from the world. A lifetime of forbearance and restraint in the face of pure and unadulterated adversity. A lifetime spent in fearless confrontations and stubborn refusals to surrender one’s dignity. A lifetime spent living a monkish existence amidst all that opulence. A lifetime spent willing one’s child to find his rightness, even as that very child finds ingenious ways to sabotage his own life.
For most of us viewers, the hard part would be to comprehend as to how Dutt Sr. managed to not forsake his son for all the misery that Sanjay heaps on the family. But then, we also get to see those flashes of pure brilliance when, for the briefest of moments, Sanjay manages to find that elusive strand of the family DNA. It’s then that we see him transform into the ethereal. It’s then that we see a son that any parent would kill for. Riddle solved!!
Talking about performances, Ranbir owns the role of Dutt. In fact, it’s going to be hard to think of Sanjay Dutt and not have Ranbir’s image pop into my head. But, if Ranbir is really good. So, is the rest of the cast. Vicky Kaushal plays the simple friend with true vigor and great aplomb; and Paresh Rawal hits it out of the park as Sunil Dutt. Incidentally, it must have been hard to play the senior Dutt, given that Mr. Dutt’s stoic personality offers no handles to an actor attempting to render the character. Still, Paresh Rawal does an amazing job in bubbling up the emotions and the subtexts in his scenes. Kudos!! Who says great acting needs to be full of histrionics!!
And then, there’s that song “Kar har maidan fateh“!! It is arguably not in the same league as other josh inducing numbers from, say Sultan or Bhaag Milkha Bhaag. But, when viewed in the context of the film, it is an amazing piece of work. More so because Manisha Koirala literally kills it as Nargis in the few seconds that she appears in that song. Simple messages and uncomplicated expressions. This song reminded me of the visual language of Shah Rukh’s and Ashutosh Gowarikar’s Swades.
Go watch this film. It will be the truest Bollywood experience that you will have. |