Parinda (A pegion) - A symbol of peace n' love....
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Starring: Nana Patekar, Jackie Shroff, Anil Kapoor, Madhuri Dixit, Anupam Kher, Suresh Oberoi
Story: Vidhu Vinod Chopra
Dialogues: Imtiaz Hussain
Cinematography: Binod Pradhan
Lyrics: Khursheed Hallauri
Music: R.D. Burman
Produced and Directed by: Vidhu Vinod Chopra
My favourite words in the flick:
Parindo ka shor: The deafning sound of the pegions fluttering as they fly away in flocks. They always need peace around them. A moment of violence and they are all gone as feathers fall and their wings make that sound of alarm.
The movie:
Parinda is one of the finest in gangster genre of films. The movie sees the characters in the darkness of crime world and their struggle to wash their blood-drenched hands clean. The emotions a criminal goes through, his never dieing fear for the well being for his loved ones, innoscence trapped in the world of crime, a criminal in all of us. Parinda talks of it all.
The Characters:
Anna played by Nana Patekar is a psycic don. No one can predict what he does next. In the past, he has killed his own wife by burning her. Since then the sight of fire gives him psycic attacks. His most dreaded enemy is his own psychotic self.
Kishen played by Jackie Shroff is a henchman, who works for Anna. Kishen is a self made man, who has seen life at it's worst. As a child, he commited his first crime of pick pocketing just to show his guts. That's it. Since then he is here, living a life of a criminal.
Karan played by Anil Kapoor is Kishen's brother, whom Kishen has sent abroad to keep him away for his world of crime. Karan is man with a blank future on which his environment writes his destiny.
Prakash played by Anupam Kher is a cop true to his duties. He is Karan's best friend and knows Kishen & Karan since their childhood. He is even aware of Kishen's criminal activities.
Paro played by Madhuri Dixit is Prakash's sister. Karan & Paro are in love since childhood.
Mussa played by Tom Alter is Anna's rival. He & Anna are hell bent on killing each other.
The story:
We meet Kishen as a well known gangster who is ready with his life for Anna. Karan is coming to Bombay after completing his studies abroad. Kishen is very happy with the idea that his brother is coming back but he fears of his gangland links. Here Prakash is a growing danger to Anna's business. Anna knows once Karan is in Bombay, he will surely meet Prakash. He plans and executes his plan to murder Prakash in broad daylight. Prakash dies in Karan's arms. Karan has seen the murderers. He consoles Paro and tries to bring justice to Prakash with the help of law, but falls for his brother's life. When the game of law has lost, he joins Anna's gang even after his brother's resistance. Soon we find him playing a double game with the help of Mussa. He kills the three murderers one by one. Paro is disturbed by Karan's entering the gangworld. She wants him to live a clean life with her away from this world of crime. Kishen has been dreaming the same dream. Kishen gets Karan & Paro weded. Here fearing of Anna's wrath, Mussa discloses Karan's name as a traitor to Anna. Anna brutally murders Karan & Paro on their wedding night. Kishen takes revenge by setting Anna ablaze in his own house.
Hard Hitting Scenes:
Parinda as a movie hits hard like a kick of 'Taquila'. But here are some scenes I can dare to highlight as hard hitting from an overall hard hitting slick flick.
1. The scene where all the characters are still children on the roads of Bombay and Karan feels the sense of victory on Kishen's first crime.
2. Prakash's slaughter scene, where he is shot in broad daylight at Kabutar-Khana (a place meant for pegions) as the pegions fly helter skelter on hearing the bullet shots.
3. Kishen asks Anna to leave Karan alone and sensing Karan to be Kishen's weakness, when he calmly tells his follower that if brotherly love comes in the way of Kishen's work, kill both of them.
4. Kishen's joy when Karan tells him that he has found a job and then his dillema when he follows Karan to Anna's place.
5. The scene which introduces Karan in the crime world. He is assigned to kill an anonymous man in a closed room. He opens the room to find one of his own friends. His friend kills himself to make Karan's revenge plan successful.
6. Each n' every scene which shows Karan killing his 3 targets.
7. Karan & Paro's brutal murder scene.
8. The climax, where Kishen sets Anna ablaze.
Technical Front:
Parinda is among those few films which tells a tale in style without losing it's touch of reality. The credits go to the top notch cinematography, equally vibrant soundtrack and tight editing. R. D. Burman's music plays a role of it's own in the movie. The most memorable song in the movie remains 'Tumse Milke'. Vidhu Vinod Chopra is amongst those filmmakers in Bollywood who dare to do a movie with difference. Thank God, the feel good cinema bug hasn't bitten him yet. His skills show in the whole flick and one can identify Parinda by that masterful 'Vidhu Vinod Chopra' touch.
Acting Front:
Each n' every actor excels in the role given to him/her. Nana Patekar strikes hard with his touch of madness to terror. This must be his best performance ever. In fact he still hasn't come out of the hangover of 'Anna'. We see the psyche of 'Anna' in any character he plays even today. Jackie Shroff, this is one of his few movies, where he acted. And he did honestly. The others are just style now which has turned to hamming. He plays Kishen true to the tension of the character. Anil Kapoor plays Karan as he lives the innoscence of the character and he executes the changes in the character with equal ease. Madhuri Dixit leaves her mark in the scenes she is assigned. You don't lose her in the movie. Even in a small role she remains in the minds of the viewers.
Thus Parinda remains one of those master pieces, Bollywood will be proud of. Though it did moderate business at the box office, it gained critical acclaim and is still enjoyed when aired on any channel of the juke box.
What we learn from the Movie:
1. First of all crime never pays.
2. One can dream of peace niether for himself nor for his dear ones, when his own hands are drenched with blood.
3. The moment we lose our innoscence is a loss, that cannot be re-covered by any means.
4. The crimes we commit, remain with us and one fine day pounce on us to an unnatural death or it's equivalent.
5. Revenge is sweet, but it is the same for the other side too.
