Like Manish Jha, who has taken a cinematic liberty of creating a women-less society in his ‘Matrubhoomi’, Prakash Jha too opts a similar path in ‘Apaharan’: a political arena wherein the politicians are mostly worried about their only illegal business --- that of ‘kidnappings’ and that too only for a few ‘lakhs’, leaving aside the ‘crores’ they may get elsewhere! Anyhow, I would side the director, by seeing this creation as a simpler way to deeply explore the organized structure of the ‘kidnapping’ underworld.
New wine… in Old bottle!
Ajay’s father has brought him up on idealistic Gandhian principles. As a result, in today’s corrupted world, Ajay could not become a police-officer; he was good at everything, except that he doesn’t have the money to bribe the administration. He is a loser on idealistic grounds.
So, he enters the real world; but, just to succumb to the dangerous intricacies involved. On one such account, he has no other way, but to commit a ‘kidnapping’ --- Apaharan. Like, a leg which’s gone into the gutter can never come out clean, Ajay sinks himself into the world --- the underworld of ‘kidnapping’ ruled by minority leader, Tabrez Khan. And he becomes successful in such a world.
From here, the twists and turns are similar to that in most RGV’s underworld films like ‘Satya’ and ‘Company’. Probably, Prakash Jha was short of new ideas from here.
In Good flavors of the New Wine:
-->Prakash Jha points out one important lapse our Indian society has experienced since long and is still experiencing --- the communication gap between parents and children --- the problems, due to which, are not just limited to the home, but the whole society is affected.
-->The story is based on the concept of ‘kidnapping’, in depth. This version is a bit new to Bollywood. And an appreciable amount of research has been done before the story is made.
-->In spite of getting an ill-treated characterization, Nana Patekar has excelled donning the role of Tabrez Khan. He has given shape to the character --- the accentuated shape of Nana Patekar. He is the most entertaining aspect of the film.
-->The back-ground music by Peter Wayne is very impressive.
-->Mukesh Tiwari, Mohan Agashe, Yashpal Sharma and other usual Prakash Jha crew have done their jobs well.
-->Cinematography was amazing. The dark shades and hues stuck to the mood of the theme.
The Monotony of the Old Bottle:
-->Ajay Devgan, as expected, was ugly; and, with his new hair style he looked more dreadful. Similarly, i.e. as expected, he has delivered a good performance. And that’s it! Not a penny more! After Yuva, he is miscast for this role again. He has to display the transition of a normal young citizen to an extreme wrong-doer. His dark stony-face did not allow him to play a young dude. His charcoal-kind-of eyes left no scope for him to display the character’s education and sincerity. And the mediocre script left him unimpressive while playing the underworld wrong-doer.
-->I don’t know what a normal guy would feel when he is caught by the police and his girlfriend runs up to him and asks (before everyone): ‘What happened?’ But if I were in such a situation, I would slap her. No matter, if one more case is charged against me for that! Bipasha Basu’s character is a clear example of immature characterization and as everyone knows, she is no great actress to pull it off.
-->The script --- confuses between being authentic and cinematic. The dialogues written for all the bad guys sound real, but when it comes to the lead characters… oohff! Ajay is the wrong-doer and his character is elevated well enough to make it look valiant. Though his character is killed, at the end, he is given a heroic death (he is killed after he successfully kills the villian), which in every account, is undeserved. Same with Nana’s character! In one scene, he mercilessly slaps a sincere police-officer. The script involved there, though entertaining because of Nana’s performance, doesn’t care to empathize with the sincere policeman; instead it instigates the audience to clap for Nana’s bad behavior. There were several other instances in the film. What the hell was the writer thinking? For the concept and the story involved, the script should make people realize the necessity of parental support to children, the political intricacies involved at the administration level and the result of youth threading the wrong path; but it is very misleading when the wrong-doer is elevated to a stature of clap-worthiness. Serious cinema requires a very healthy script! Else, it’s worthless.
Now, there would be many people, who can defend this by comparing it with similarities in RGV’s flicks. No folks! RGV’s films, only give style to the gangster’s characters. They don’t elevate the characters to a heroic level. ‘Satya’ is killed brutally (no one in that film is made to have a soft-corner for him, because he is the wrong doer; indirectly it makes the audience pity him, but not see him as a hero). Mallik in ‘Company’ is killed similarly (he is the wrong-doer and deserves such a death; his death indicates the pathetic fate of wrong-doers). In ManiRatnam’s classic ‘Nayagan’, even the good character of Velu was given a harsh death because the script holds a high moral: the guy who holds the gun will be killed by the same. All great films stick to this moral. And none makes the death of the wrong-doer heroic. It is to discourage similar acts in real life. No one should be inspired to carry a weapon or thread the wrong path having watched a particular film. This is where Prakash Jha’s script fails.
-->The setting of the film looks too tidy to be called Bihar. I have never seen Bihar, but I could not believe it being as developed as it is shown in the film. It nearly looks like Mumbai, than Bihar.
-->Though, through most the film, the Bollywood formula is hidden behind the realistic theme, at one very instance, the truth of this film being a Bollywood one breaks out --- there is an unnecessary, uninteresting item number.
-->There are two points I want to tell about Prakash Jha’s direction and screenplay: one is, after writing such a long review so far, I am tired to write about him. And secondly, his work, except for choosing the theme, wasn’t fascinating enoughto write about.
My Verdict:
The theme of this film, ‘kidnapping’, is a tougher one, than that of ‘Gangajal’. And it was evident from the several pronounced lapses in this film. Personally, I would not recommend this film to anyone (instead, you can rent ‘Gangajal’ DVD anytime). But people, who are fascinated with the names of Ajay Devgan and Prakash Jha, can give a watch, once, to clear off their eagerness.
