Apr 19, 2006 03:31 PM
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(Updated Apr 19, 2006 03:31 PM)
One of the strangest things about Hindi films is that they’re all musicals. Thrillers, comedies, family dramas, even Hindi horror films have elaborate song-and-dance set-pieces. After the music companies became the most powerful force in the industry, the trend has shown no sign of abating.
Music companies constantly attempt to lure the audiences toward only audio-based music albums but no pop artiste can ever match the mammoth selling power of major box-office stars — even though all they do is lip-sync the lyrics!
So film music is likely to be around for a long, long time and films without music are likely to be as alien to our culture as a Hollywood film where Tom Cruise and Arnold Schwarzenegger burst into song during an action sequence!
But a few determined directors have attempted to make commercial cinema without the usual song and dance. And while not all have succeeded, at least one remains a landmark. B.R. Chopra, better known to today’s young audiences as the elder brother of Yash Chopra and the uncle of Aditya Chopra, once dared to make a film that broke the mould.
‘Kanoon’ is not the first Hindi film to do away with songs completely, but it was certainly the first major hit. Take into account that the film is all of 150 minutes in running length - exactly 2 1/2 hours - and that seems even more impressive today. Consider that the film is a serious, intense thriller, not one of today’s all-in-one timepass mishmashes and it’s unthinkable.
B.R. Chopra has been able to manage to hold my interest for 2 1/2 hours without songs, comic relief and without even the benefit of a strong love story track? The answer then, as any director would tell you even today, lies in the three vital ingredients of any good film: script, script, and script! Or to put it differently, story, screenplay and dialogue.
‘Kanoon’ deals with a court case centering around a murder mystery. The film is a gripping suspense drama that unfolds mainly in the courtroom.
Ashok Kumar is a judge and discussing with his colleagues that he can commit a murder and still get away without getting any punishment.
The story takes a superb twist, when the hero (Played by Rajendra ''Jubilee'' Kumar) becomes an eyewitness to a murder by Ashok Kumar.
Camera is used effectively to pace and build the suspense through dramatic crane shots and moving shots. The background score also adds immeasurably to building suspense.
The actors all did their jobs admirably. Ashok Kumar was already a veteran of the screen and his own naturalistic yet quirky style made his sequences watchable. Rajendra Kumar who would later be known for his dolefully romantic song delivery, stood up to his senior actor in one of his career-best performances, sticking to straight-forward delivery while conveying the various shades of his character who is forced to investigate his own father-in-law for murder.
The best message from the movie is weather we should have capital punishment OR not. The film to a great is able to convince that there should be NO capital punishment.
MY STRONG RECOMMENDATION ….
DO NOT MISS THIS ONE……….
The review details are considering the year that this flim was made....
