Lighting up on screen

 

This post was originally published on passionforcinema.com

"I like to think of fire held in a man's hand.  Fire, a dangerous force, tamed at his fingertips.  I often wonder about the hours when a man sits alone, watching the smoke of a cigarette, thinking.  I wonder what great things have come from such hours.  When a man thinks, there is a spot of fire alive in his mind--and it is proper that he should have the burning point of a cigarette as his one expression."
                                                           Ayn Rand – Atlas Shrugged

Smoking means different things to different people. To some, it's a habit they find difficult to give up. To some, it's a way of depicting defiance. To some, it's a tonic which relieves them from stress and depression. There are also people, who smoke just for the love of it and without any reason.  And to a certain minister, it's a claim to fame.
Directors like Anurag Kashyap, Mahesh Bhatt, Shekhar Kapur are dead set against the ban. Film maker like Rituparno Ghosh states that even though he is non smoker, he likes to show his characters as smoker because smoking helps in providing depth to the character. Aamir went on record to voice his opinion against such a ban, but that was prior to Rang De Basanti got a theatrical release. Shah Rukh did a flip flop with supporting the ban earlier, but publicly going against it when the minister got personal with him. Rajinikant has promised the health minister that will not light up on screen in future. Amitabh Bachchan seems to have maintained a stoic silence on this topic.
There have been reports that some cigarette companies have lobbies in the hindi film industry, and because of that some movies have deliberate scenes of smoking.
In spite of all the controversies and hullabaloo regarding smoking on screen, hindi cinema does have some very memorable smoking scenes which leaves a lasting impression on the viewers. It's too difficult to come up with all such scenes which were brilliant, but the one's that come to mind immediately are stated below.

Ajay Devgan in Company, Gangajal and Khakee are one of the most stylishly shot on screen scenes. Smoke filled screen with the dark looks of Devgan, has a mesmerizing effect on the audiences. The pensive look with a burning cigarette in his hand reminds me of the quote, stated above, from Atlas Shrugged.

Ashok Kumar in Howrah Bridge. I had seen Howrah Bridge when I was a kid and have never managed to catch up on it since then. The smoking sequence of Ashok Kumar is one the few sequences of the film that is still etched in my memory.
Sanjeev Kumar in Trishul. For smokers, nervousness and cigarettes go hand in hand. Sanjeev Kumar had managed to come up with mixed emotions during the sequence where Amitabh Bahchcan reveals his identity. His cough after a puff of cigar, is simply mind blowing.

Aamir Khan & Co in JJWS and Young John Abraham with Ranvir Shorey in No Smoking. What a pleasure it is light up a cigarette in school's bathroom without letting your teachers and parents catch you!! The thrill of doing something despicable is irresistible at such a tender age. Lighting up the first cigarette is like losing your virginity. You are not sure whether you are going to like it, but nonetheless you are excited about it. Nothing on screen can depict the thrill with such innocence as depicted in JJWS or No Smoking.

Amitabh Bachchan in Deewaar, Don. Amitabh Bachchan can carry of any smoking scene with panache. Be it the yeh mera dil sequence wherein he puts on his thinking cap, with a cigarette in his hand or the sequence in Deewar before and after he has to face a certain death or the bidi sequence before the gowdown fight, Bachchan has managed to create a lasting impression. How I wish, that Yash Chopra had filmed a sex scene before the bedroom smoking scene.

Pankaj Kapur in sehar. The climax of sehar reminds me of situations wherein people light up a cigarette to avoid breaking down in front of others. Instead of tear flowing from his eyes, we find smoke coming out of his mouth. What a choking effect it had on the audiences. A thought of the sequence is powerful enough to force me to light up a cigarette.

Siddharth in Rang De Basanti. Siddhrath's smoking depicts nonchalance and care a damn attitude. He smokes because it's the best thing to do at that point of time. He finds smoking to be more entertaining than listening to the clatter of people around him. For him, smoking has to be the best experience at that point of time. The second half puts him in a thinking mode and the cigarette automatically disappears from his hand.

Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye – An Exhilarating Journey

Every movie that I have loved is due to the fact that I was able to relate to the characters/ incidents of the movie with me or my imagination/experiences. But most of the time, it's only in parts. Very rarely, has it happened that a movie in its entirety has appeared relatable. Its being a while since I have seen OLLO but it refuses to die out of my memory. I am not going to write about how good the acting or the plot or the cinematography of OLLO is. Instead, I will write about how I felt while watching OLLO.
When Lucky was negotiating for a scooter with his dad, I was reminded of a similar childhood experience of mine. I laughed off at that scene as it reminded me how miserable I had felt when my father had refused to buy me one. Those were the days were any kind of disappointment felt like an end of the world to me. Believe it or not, but I know some people who had consumed poison when faced with similar circumstances. Fortunately, I didn't. Today, I laugh off at any such trivialities. I would love to know the reactions of those who have experienced similar situations in real life. The love-hate relationship that one has with his parents was brought out very well.
Lucky grows up to be a thief and an excellent one at that. He cons people without regret. He cons those who are gullible and also those who in some manner have taught him how to con. Every now and then he meets an adversary in disguise of a benevolent man. And there are times when lucky starts believing himself as a khuda. But as they say "yahan to khudaoon ke bhi khuda hain". And there are situations when Lucky is being duped for huge sums of money, but all that bothers him in those circumstances is his inability of having not read through the person, rather than caring for the huge sum of money he has lost. And this seems so real.
And the best part of Lucky for me is the reason Lucky takes up the job of a conman. Many would have thought as the troubled childhood to be the reason for his becoming a conman. Heck, who doesn't goes through those emotions in childhood. For me, Lucky became a conman because he enjoyed duping people and it was his way of telling people that he runs the show. Take a bow Lucky, you indeed did what you loved and needless to add you were among the best in the business.
Lucky has friend who is more like an adversary to him. He is like a parasite who feeds on Lucky. And there is a scene where he drops him in middle of jungle at midnight. Weird it may sound, but at times I too have asked people to step down from my vehicle in the middle of nowhere. Never in my wildest dreams had I imagined to watch this scene on big screen. Thanks Dibaker for everything and especially that scene.
And then there grown up Lucky and his family. The family has absolutely no qualms in accepting Lucky's money/gifts, but wants to maintain an arm's distance from him. I have a friend of mine who gave huge sums of money to his father to repair their house and no questions were asked even though he didn't have any known sources of income. And when that same person was arrested in Bangalore for duping people, his family severed ties from him. Such is the state of society we live in today. And the portrayal of the same in the movie looked dangerously real to me. Some people found it shocking, but it amused me to find my friend become the hero of the film.
Lucky for me is the journey of my life. It's the story of me, my friend, my so called friends, my society and my times. I just hoped that people around me would also feel the same. But I was astonished to find the reactions of people around me. There are very few people, known to me, who have seen this film. Not one of them has criticized this film, but no one seems to appreciate it either. People have told me that they love the film, but they don't know why they love it. For me that's worse than criticism. But I am pretty sure that there are people, other than me, who must have felt the same way as I had felt.
Thanks Dibakar, Dibakar thanks for making such a wonderful film. "Touch ho gaya main, by god"

Luck by Chance – Laughing with Hindi Cinema.

 

P.S. – This is not a review but my thoughts on one of my favorite movies of 2009. Contains spoilers.

It’s very easy to laugh at people and ridicule them. You don’t need to understand people in order to do that. You just need a bird’s eye view and a good command over language to do that. But in order to laugh along with people or rather appreciate people, you need to understand them first. When friends get along over drinks it’s almost mandatory to make fun of someone or the other. But never does it happen that you ridicule or mock at anyone. That’s how you differentiate laughing with people from laughing at people.

The same analogy can be drawn to cinema as well. Quite many times we have seen cinema been made on cinema and almost every time we see Hindi cinema being ridiculed at in such movies. Very rarely do we come across a cinema which takes an objective look at Hindi cinema’s drawback as well as appreciates the power of the Hindi Cinema to stay alive. In spite of all its insecurities and mediocrity, Hindi Cinema deserves to be applauded for its survival. Luck By Chance, one of my favorite movies of 2009, is a movie which depicts just that.

Cinema for average cine goers is all about the on screen personalities. But for every second of on screen brilliance we have hundreds of off screen people working day-night without any kind of recognition. The brilliant casting sequence of Luck by Chance is a tribute to all such people. From the costume helper, not the costumer designer, to the chai wallah to the extras to the people who move sets and so on, Zoya Akhtar wishes to recognize the contribution of all such people in the whole process. For someone who loves his product, the whole process of creating that product is much dearer than the final product itself. My favorite sequence from this brilliant casting scene happens when we see fresh posters of Munnabhai being pasted. I have spent a considerable portion of my childhood admiring the art of pasting posters on the wall. In fact, as a kid, I dreamt of becoming some one who does that. How much fun it would have been to be the first one to see the posters – or so I used to think.

“Every once in a while it happens that a role is written for a hero which gets rejected by every conventional actor. A newcomer laps it up and creates sensation. And the rest they say is history.”

Says Karan Johar to Zaffer Khan(played by Hrithik Roshan) who is the superstar who backed out of the project which Farhan lapped up.

And this can be termed as the plot of the movie as well. Luck by Chance is the journey of a new comer till he obtains stardom.

The cameos introduced in this movie are the major highlights of the movie. None of the cameos is introduced just for the sake of it. Every cameo looks justified. And my favorite is the scene featuring Saurabh Shukla and Mc Mohan. The initial promos of the movie ended with the voice over by Saurabh Shukla – “In order to succeed in this industry, you need talent as well as luck”. And for me, this voice over loomed throughout the movie. It took me a second viewing to confirm that there was no voice over by Saurabh Shukla through out the movie and it was just one scene. Another stand out cameo is the one by Anurag Kashyap as the script writer of the unconventional movie. After all he is the best suited to write unconventional scripts in Bollywood today.

It was hearting to see Rishi Kapoor finally portraying a character with conviction. Somehow, I was never able to appreciate his performance in his older movies. For me, he always used to be dwarfed in each of his movies either by his co-stars or by the music. Finally, I found him dwarfing modern day sensations like Hrithik Roshan and Farhan Akhtar. The scene where he utters “Yahan to jee property ko hi property kehte hain” is one of the most spontaneous dialogue delivery of this year.

The movie is not devoid of the typical clichés either. But what sets it apart is the fact that each of those clichéd characters has a strong resemblance with his/her real life image and never is any of those presented in an undignified manner. Hrithik Roshan is the insecure superstar, Sanjay Kapoor is the failed actor turned director and brother of a famous producer. Dimple Kapadia essays the role of someone who had to pay a heavy price in order to make a name in the industry. And this is where it differs from other cinemas of its genre.

And then there are lead characters played effortlessly by Farhan and Konkana. Even though Konkana has spent considerable time in the film industry, she looked very convincing as a struggling new comer. The conversation between Farhan and Konkana where Konkana says “Isme tumhari galti nahi, kuch log hote hi aise hain” is one of the most logical and bold conversations presented on screen this year. How often do we see the heroine making the hero realize about his selfishness and the hero acquiesce in response.

What I didn’t like about the movie was the fact that even though the movie under production was labeled as unconventional, it looked more like a typical masala film. Zanjer, devoid of any song for the lead character, was unconventional for its time and so was Baazigar – movies which were lapped by relatively unknown actors after many established actors had refused it.

Luck by Chance is one of my favorite hindi movies of 2009 and perhaps the only hindi cinema which salutes the spirit of the hindi film industry. Bravo Zoya!