Charulata (1964)

The striking opening sequence, all of the first almost ten minutes, captures the entire universe of the eponymous Charulata with an effortless grace. The depiction of desolation and ennui, usually more associated with Antonioni, is portrayed with a lucidity and perfection that is rare.

Charu (Madhabi Mukherjee) glides through her palatial mansion, its set design meticulously constructed to reflect the era in which the story is set. Its vast emptiness mirrors Charu's lonesome existence, while her newspaper owner husband Bhupati (Shailen Mukherjee) continues to be preoccupied with his work, which he is also quite passionate about, even comparing it to Charu, stating it to be her Souten or a second wife (translated as 'rival' in the Criterion English subs!).

A lover of literature and poetry, a big fan of Bankim Chandra Chaterjee and perhaps a hidden literary genius herself, we see Charu biding her time roaming about, browsing through books, humming songs and sewing. But more importantly, she also kills her boredom by taking a curious look at the outside world through the half covered windows with a gaze that often switches between contemplative and childlike. The latter quality is more evident in the way she moves from window to window, simply to catch a glimpse of a portly man with an umbrella passing by, her opera glasses always acting as her lens to observe a world that seems distant or inaccessible to her.

In a not-so-subtle manner, Ray shows how Charu feels at a distance even from her husband who fails to notice her as he walks past, following which she fixates the opera glasses on him, watching him walk out of the frame.

Bhupati isn't the stereotypical wife-neglecting husband, however. He does love his wife. He is just so preoccupied in his business and passion of voicing out his political beliefs through his paper (Charu's rival, as mentioned) that he is temporarily unaware of his wife's presence and her needs. It suddenly strikes him that she may be lonely when he finally notices that she has enough time to embroider a nice handkerchief for him! He is also quite the naïve one, bestowing his trust on his family members without giving it second thought. One betrays him, the other stops short of doing so! Bhupati is a well written flawed character; a good human being, designed to be sympathized with, but one who's so preoccupied with his paper and armchair activism that he is totally ignorant of what’s brewing under his very nose; including his wife's loneliness, her attraction to his cousin and an evil scheme at work.

The dark void of Charu's existence sees some light with the arrival of Amal, Bhupati's younger cousin, who is introduced with an overtly symbolic entry of a storm (a literal storm brings in an emotional storm to come!). Amal is a young, vibrant chap, quite passionate about literature and poetry. Charu is gradually swept away by his charm and a common interest. She feels liberated, merely in experiencing this attraction!  The fabulous garden scene that's a highlight of the film, demonstrates this perfectly.

Some great camera wizardry at display right there; with the camera itself possibly mounted on a swing and capturing the beautiful Charu humming away and then cutting to Amal, who sways in and out of her line of sight. The joyous stupor comes to an abrupt halt, however, when Charu notices a woman with a child and is reminded that she is also childless; and perhaps can never have one with her husband. And then the worried gaze shifts towards Amal; a sense of sudden guilt perhaps makes her quickly snap out of it!

What's often brought up as a commonly applied motif is the women shot behind bars of windows, obviously symbolizing a woman's emotional imprisonment despite the lavishness that surrounds her. It isn't just Charu but Manda (Gitali Roy) and others as well, filmed behind the bars, perhaps extending Charu's plight and making her an epitome of the 19^th century Indian woman, a prisoner of her own fate and of the male-dominated society, married off to some rich man in an arranged ceremony and forced to give up her personal freedom. It was an era when it was not very common for married women to venture out or socialize and hence the entrapment was a real deal; emotional as well as physical, symbolized further by the caged birds.

Ironically, Charu's husband is an advocate of liberalism, a vocal supporter of the renaissance movement as well. Raja Ram Mohan Roy, the father of Indian renaissance is mentioned; he was famous for abolishing the infamous Sati system in which a woman was forced to die with her husband in his funeral pyre! And despite his liberal views, Bhupati also belongs to this very segment of society in which women are left to languish in their trapped existence, rarely at liberty to be independent, and forced to be at the mercy of their spouses.

Charulata's empty existence does find some meaning eventually when she goes ahead and writes and publishes an article in vengeance, just because Amal asks her to "show some respect". Bhupati's reaction to this is a complex one; one of astonishment, shock and embarrassment, at being made aware of his wife's talent by his drunk friends. For a second he doesn't know what to think, and it is stupendously conveyed.

For a film so delicately balanced and executed, the denouement, specifically when Charu breaks down into an unrealistic monologue, "Why did you leave me Amal?" conveniently timed, just as Bhupati happens to be at the door is a tad clumsy, contrived to deliver him the double blow and eventually reach the broken nest, tragic freeze frame.  It feels like a cop-out, and an obvious writing deficiency. There could have been other well thought out ways to make him aware of the fact that Charu loved Amal. Also, one wishes the line delivery of Shailen Mukherjee was less affected and artificial, especially when he speaks in English. 

Amal fleeing overnight because of Umapada's  (Shyamal Ghoshal) betrayal is a bit abrupt as well. Why not stay around and offer his cousin some moral support instead? While Charu's feelings for Amal are quite explicitly exhibited, Amal is never shown reciprocating to that extent, hence it seems a bit of a stretch for him to act so impulsively and clear out fearing another betrayal.

Lilting music, great cinematography, great writing, carefully executed mise en scène and an extraordinarily splendid performance by Madhabi Mukherjee make the film.

Score: 8/10

PK (2014)

"Peekay ho kya?" is a question I feel like asking Mr. Rajkumar Hirani. Even a four year old can see that it's a grammatically incorrect sentence. However in Mr. Hirani's world, everyone makes the same erroneous choice of words while asking the confused, moronic looking alien (Aamir Khan) if he is drunk. Now the correct way to frame that question would be "Peekay aaye ho kya?" or "Peeye ho kya?" But no...everyone says it like a C-grade grammar pupil just for the sake of creating an age old pun and somehow giving the eponymous character his name in a poorly contrived, lame joke!

Anyway, so this PK arrives on the planet, to do some research! And yet, he isn't with a team. He is alone, stark naked (a nod to Arnold Schwarzenegger's entry in "The Terminator" (1984))?, with just one trinket around his neck as the only means of contacting his planet or his ship. This is a life-form emotionally, physically and physiologically similar to human beings, yet far more technologically advanced and intelligent.

Hell, they even have special powers by which they can read minds, and download an entire language database from a human being by simply holding their hands. They can even transfer their writing skills, language no bar. Such marvelous beings, and yet, they are dumb enough to send a single organism from their planet, wearing a removable remote control! Because if they allowed any backup contact mechanism on his person, then the rest of the plot would fall flat on its face. Fine...this contrivance excused, but with great hesitation!

Moving on, this sweet, emotional, sentimental alien finds himself lost and depressed when his exotic looking trinket gets stolen by a local countryman somewhere in Rajasthan. His only means to contact his planet or his species is gone! What amazing security measures for their research scientists. There is absolutely nothing else that he can use to communicate. Hell even the beastly "Predator" (1987) had some push-button gizmo built within his arm!

The alien struggles to survive on planet earth, by stealing clothes from dancing cars, which are shockingly in abundance in small Indian towns in Hirani's world. The dancing car is basically a visual result of couples having sex in cars. I mean, whatever happened to motel rooms and dingy bed and breakfast lodges? There's a limit to which you can repeat the same gag. It loses not only its humour quotient, but also any logic if at all...for not all of them make out in cars, and not all of them have to start dancing!

Later, fate lands him in the company of Bhairon (a bloated Sanjay Dutt) who takes him to a brothel, from where the alien finally picks up an Indian language (Bhojpuri in this case) and is able to convey that he is looking for his "Remote-wa"! (No wonder the film was made tax free in Uttar Pradesh!). And guess what Bhairon does? He merely infers that it is likely the trinket has been sold off in Delhi! That becomes the alien's first clue and he travels to Delhi. No surprises for guessing that that is where he eventually finds the trinket! What a small world, eh?

Nevertheless, it is in Delhi that his quest for the trinket lands him his name and also gives him his new mission: the search for God! Why? Because as the Indian colloquialism would have it, whenever he asks someone they all reply with either "God knows" or "Only God can help you" or "Trust God".

But little does the alien, now christened "PK" know that what he is dealing with is the land of a multitude of Gods and religions! Who shall he seek out? And who will ultimately return his trinket? The quest ultimately lands PK in a quagmire of organized religion and fake Godmen. Unbeknownst to him, he finds himself becoming a media created icon out to expose fakers acting as messengers of Gods, taking advantage of the poor and the ignorant and playing on their faith. One of these Godmen is Tapasvi Maharaj (Saurabh Shukla), who also happens to hold P.K's trinket, claiming it to be something that belonged to Lord Shiva!

P.K, in turn, is manipulated by a duck-billed Anushka Sharma, who one may easily confuse for Donald Duck had it not been for the lack of the sailor hat. A bird nest wig makes up for it, nevertheless. The spunky journalist is the only one who knows of PK's true identity.

And thus, Mr. Hirani and team manoeuvre their puck with so many ridiculously forced situations in order to manipulate the plot in their chosen direction, that you lose count. The entire film follows the Hirani textbook formula. Add loads of cheese, schmaltz, some unnecessary romance, uninspired song and dance numbers, a messiah-like hero, and touch upon pertinent issues with lots of sugar on top in the form of humour, and voila! You got a perfect weekend mega blockbuster, with the 1000 crore currency notes showing and fluttering all over the place AND a tag of being offbeat.

Speaking of romance, there's a poorly written romantic subplot revolving around Anushka's character and her Pakistani beau Sarfaraz (Sushant Singh Rajput, who's awful to say the least; one wonders how he even got this far). This romantic subplot comes full circle in a sickeningly contrived and ludicrous, laughable climax, where the subplot becomes the main plot and on its weak foundation rests the denouement that should actually have been magnanimous, cathartic and earth-shaking.

But Hirani chooses to chicken out and screw it all up with a cheap conclusion, while poorly putting across an India-Pakistan harmony sentiment. And sure enough, that scene takes away any credibility, or weight from the plot that boasts of being brave and audacious, taking on organized religion, causing hullabaloo amongst right wing protectors of various religions and whatnot! But the truth is, there is about one teaspoonful of mature, meaningful ideas sprinkled in a bucketful of utter rubbish that borders on juvenility.

The ideas of religious dogmatism, the middlemen in religion, and their questionable practices are barely touched upon. The rest of it is purely an exercise in silliness. The attempt to make a trendy new catchphrase, 'Wrong number' in this case, is forced and rather inchoate, compared to the earlier more popular catchphrases like 'Gandhigiri' and 'Jadoo ki Jhappi' in Hirani's Munnabhai films. In essence, the film bears a resemblance to the poser Godmen it attempts to expose, for it is nothing more than overcooked fluff, donning the garb of intelligence, trying hard to be intellectual and socially relevant, and claiming to be a clever satire.

Mr. Aamir 'Perfectionist' Khan mostly hams it up as expected, except in a few scenes where he shines with his authentic Bhojpuri accent. It is that one sequence surrounding a stage performer in the garb of Lord Shiva that brings in some good laughs. That, and the attempt to exchange a Gandhi image for food. Anushka is okay, and Mr. Boman Irani who had been the other star in Hirani's Munnabhai films is reduced to a thankless and forgettable role here.

Just when you think the senselessness may have passed as the film enters its penultimate moments, you get a sappy exchange between a love-lorn P.K (yes, this alien falls in love too!) and Anushka's character. In this scene, we learn that PK is carrying a huge trunk of Duracell batteries (yeah!) with him back to his planet for he doesn't get them there, and wishes to play some audio tape! So here's an alien species that has made and powered spaceships to fly across planets, but they lack the technology to play audio equipment? Sigh!


Score: 3/10

Dr. Prakash Baba Amte - The Real Hero (2014)

Marathi cinema comes of age, and how! In an era mired by formulaic elements of action, double entendre comedy, romance, glamour and item numbers governing the blueprint of any movie in the making, comes along a real story, of a real human being. So while most other Indian filmmakers were still in the process of concocting the perfect potboiler to make a saleable hotcake to cater to families and frontbenchers alike, and in the process, creating some pre-release buzz in the form of the number of bikini scenes or kissing scenes that their films would contain, filmmaker Samruddhi Porey dared to think differently and concentrated only on two things - a strong central figure, and most importantly, substance; a powerful and relevant subject. 

"Dr. Prakash Baba Amte - The Real Hero" is the awe-inspiring tale of a human being of a different breed that is genuine and rare; a personality whose example would make most of us, including the powers that be, both bow in admiration and hang our heads in shame, for it makes us realize how little we have seen and done in our lives. This is the unbelievable, but true saga of a noble soul who dedicated his entire adult life to the development and progress of the tribes in the shockingly primitive, cocooned village of Hemalkasa in the Gadchiroli district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. The story revolves around the unrelenting efforts of Ramon Magsaysay award winner Dr. Prakash Amte in civilizing this godforsaken land. Dr. Amte is the son of renowned social worker Baba Amte, who worked for the betterment of people suffering from leprosy, which was considered a social stigma in our ignorant society, when he took up the task.

Hemalkasa was the jungle land of the Madia tribe, a tribe so cut away from society, it seemed like a Herculean task getting them to understand even the ABC of civilization. These were the adivasis (tribals) who couldn't grasp any other language than their own. Worse, they had no awareness of the progress that humanity had made in the 70s and hence, still continued their ape-like existence. Illiteracy prevailed; with a lack of facilities or medical centers, children were born almost without any help, their umbilical cords severed with the help of stones! The Naxalite movement prevailed in the district at the time. Tribals exploited at the hands of corrupt police officials turned to Naxalism.

In such a turbulent environment, the great visionary Dr. Prakash Amte, who had only visited Hemalkasa once for pleasure, decided to stay there and work for the downtrodden, put his medical knowledge and expertise to maximum use in the welfare of these backward individuals; to make them aware of civilization, to make them human! And this, he pulled off, after a long struggle, with the aid of his ever loyal wife, Dr. Mandakini, and a few of his aides who stood by his side.

In a tough atmosphere, where the locals were hopelessly sandwiched and suffocated by corrupt cops, witch doctors, superstition and black magic from all sides, Dr. Prakash Amte took up the daunting task of bringing a change. The courage, determination, and devotion of this man deserves all the accolades in the world. A man of such an iron will, and noble aspirations, was sadly neglected for many years, though. The guy and his team survived without electricity in that village for 20 years, and braved all the storms and severe weather conditions. They sheltered the locals in their own hut and their courtyard so they could administer their medicine themselves, for these people understood zilch of the instructions given to them. Hell, how do you make someone who consumes a pill with its whole wrapper understand when and how he is supposed to take the medicine!

But Dr. Amte had faith. He stuck to his guns, despite some shades of hopelessness displayed by his wife. Nevertheless, she always stood with him and kept on. This was a man who could've had a comfortable life practising medicine in the city. But the selfless soul in him chose the other form of existence that he learnt from his father - living for others. This is an important man, a man whose name and contribution to society needs more recognition and awareness. This was a story that needed to be told in these days of selfish apathy and human intolerance.

Does Samruddhi Porey do justice to this great man? For the most part, she succeeds. The narrative unfolds in flashbacks, providing the right backdrop and circumstances that were an integral part of the situation in which Dr. Amte realized his dream. The rural land of Hemalkasa is captured in all its scenic beauty. The physical beauty and the ugliness of the affairs in the village are contrasted perfectly. The screenplay tries to incorporate a lot of Dr. Amte's altruistic deeds including an instance of how he gave a new lease of life to an oppressed tribal boy turned naxalite, by bringing him out of the jungles and into the light, eventually making a successful American M.S. Graduate out of him! 

Only in this process, Ms. Porey spends a lot of time chronicling the atrocities inflicted by exploitative, drunk cops on Puru's hapless mother who was forced to become a victim of their lustful desires, in return for her husband's freedom. Not that this episode isn't important, but its presentation and treatment resembles a classic Marathi B-movie with its caricaturish, villainous village authorities, inebriated and exploiting the poor. This episode serves as a reminder of the harrowing times of exploitation and forced incorporation of innocent victims into Naxalism, but is ultimately rendered inconsequential, because it goes nowhere.

Still more flashbacks narrate the most challenging aspect of Dr. Amte's life; reaching out to the tribals, communicating with them, and eventually their upliftment and empowerment. Once this bit comes in, the narrative gains momentum, and the struggle begins to show its tough-as-nails form. Porey infuses a good amount of some welcome light humour in this part, specifically the curing of the first patient they get in two years of settling in the village. This seemingly dying patient miraculously wakes up like a zombie and starts walking away on his own, even picking up a bottle of liquid medicine, probably taking it to be liquor!

This is a moment of great triumph for the doctor, who now begins to gain confidence and a good word of mouth popularity. In an ironic twist of fate, the witch doctor, whose attempts at sacrificing a child in order to cure a man are thwarted by Dr. Amte, comes begging for Dr. Amte's aid in curing his child; a unique eye-opener for most of the ignorant, illiterate tribe. Portrayed along the way, is Dr. Amte's atheism, his vegetarianism as the only thread linking him to his Brahmin roots and a great love for animals. The man who never even tasted eggs, brought home dead animals to feed his pets, consisting of tigers, leopards, bears, and other wild animals, giving way to some great light moments in the film, especially one pertaining to an incompetent forest officer.

The humour comes hand in hand with heartwarming and poignant moments of self-sacrifice on the footsteps of Gandhi. Dr. Amte refuses to wear a shirt upon seeing how the locals shiver in the cold of the night without any shelter on them. The sheer frustration, angst and helplessness rears its head when Dr. Amte has to perform a difficult operation for dismembering an unborn infant to save its mother's life, for lack of proper facilities. Some of the events depicted on screen are disturbing to say the least, but quite necessary in the film's context and for making the viewer aware of the kind of sad reality that our country has lived with. Porey strikes a neat balance of ups and downs, sadness and joy in the journey of Dr. Amte and his crew in bringing about the great change in the village of Hemalkasa.

For most of the final three-fourths, the film progresses in a smooth fashion. Some wonderful, touching episodes strike the right emotional chord. The effort, the struggle, the selflessness, the steadfast, unwavering determination of Dr. Amte are brought forth quite effectively. Nana Patekar's towering, stellar act, makes it all the more convincing and inspirational. This is undoubtedly among his career best performances and arguably his greatest performance in at least two decades during which Bollywood had reduced him to a hamming caricature of his own self. Sonali Kulkarni complements as his loving, faithful wife, commendably in yet another natural act. These two powerful central performances along with able supporting acts by Dr. Mohan Agashe and others go a long way in making Dr. Amte and team's struggle seem believable.

The problem areas are mostly to do with editing, a patchy narrative and some unimpressive choices made to show footage that was clearly out of the filmmakers' reach, possibly due to budget constraints. And hence, it lessens the quality of the overall picture when you see a cheap computer generated tiger emerge from the waters, some wildlife footage lifted straight from the National Geographic and Discovery channels and a really tacky shot of a paper cut-out bird flying in the sky. 

Adding to the cons are some needlessly lengthened, melodramatic moments, clubbed with some stilted dialog, especially in the climax and the death of a pet leopard. Do we really need exaggerated drama in a biopic that is attempting to tell a straight, factual story? A particular narrative thread that is introduced with full focus is suddenly abandoned; the one in the very beginning involving a tourist from the Philippines. And then, some characters age and even change physically (other actors fill their shoes) while others remain ageless. It would've also been of benefit to display dates or years of certain watershed events to make the time jumps and gaps clearer.

Multiple and international filming locations were probably not possible, and hence the makers chose to intersperse some shots of sights and streets, from somewhere in the U.S.A. It is evident that these shots were taken on another camera, probably a low resolution digital camera, and hence later when these frames are incorporated with the main film, their visibly poor quality shows. 

The hotel lobby which we are led to believe is in a hotel in New York, is actually the lobby of a famous hotel in Mumbai. This is excusable though, considering the general picture of a hotel lobby was essential here and nothing else. However, what cannot be easily overlooked is the existence of the round pin electric plug points in the hotel rooms that the camera clearly pans on several times, giving away the fact that the scene was shot in India and not in the U.S.A., where flat pin plug points is a standard.

Minor issues, yes, but issues nevertheless, that stain an otherwise ambitious and important cinematic product that could've been immaculate. Regardless of the technical areas that needed work, "Dr. Prakash Baba Amte - The Real Hero" is a very important Indian motion picture telling the story of a very important person; a human being above all others, an inspiration that is rare in today's times. 

Watch this film. Witness the stark reality of our developing nation that is more concerned about a mission to Mars, than reaching out to remote areas and bringing our country folk out of the dark and giving them better living conditions. Shatter your ignorance. Come out of your bubble of bliss. Make yourself aware, and spread the word to make others aware. 

Score: 7/10