Dark and depressing. We have seen this. We have seen this through our wall crevices, loft slits, broken window panes, dilapidated and surreal alleys. We have seen this amid blood and bombs, screams and shouts , tears and turbulences. We have all witnessed this through processions and funerals of young and old, men and women, infirm and children; now Vishal Bharadwaj is showing it on a big screen, in India and around the world. Haider is certainly different from all other movies made with Kashmir conflict as a backdrop. This movie is for the people who have lived in Kashmir in 1990s and survived. So a must watch for #kashmiris. Although the movie does not have a global appeal which is partly because of language (and poor subtitles ) but mainly because the movie is made for those who know Kashmir conflict fully well, yet there were many non-Hindustani speakers in the cinema hall here in London who did not leave the hall till end. For people who know Kashmir for the last 25 years, every scene in the movie opens up a forgotten chapter in the memories. The movie makes this strong statement right at the start that the armed struggle and the supporters of armed struggle at that time (1995) were not just misguided youth, as all successive Indian governments have eternally and unerringly maintained for quarter of a century, but also educated and elite of the society. Doctors sympathy with the ailing militant and later on not saying Jai Hind reminds us of Dr Guru who was killed in the similar obscure conditions as Hilal Meer. Dr Hilal Meer also showed that he was not only on the side of life but also of freedom. The central theme of the story in itself is dark and feels even darker given the context of disloyalty of a married woman in our part of the land and especially around that time when there was a lot more to be sad about than the disloyalty. The first impression is that the characters are devoid of love and the story full of subversion. The betrayal by the brother and the wife, the tension between the mother and the son and strenuous relationship in Arshias family adds to the darkness of the theme. But this darkness has also served the purpose of creating an environment and feeling of gloom that was prevalent those days in Kashmir -a gigantic Jungian shadow. The greyness in the movie is a correct projection of psyche of that era. Some scenes are actually beautifully conceived and presented: visiting and re-visiting the debris of burnt house, the graveyard, downtown alleys, the wee hour crackdown etc. The only colour I could see was of blood and of red scarf. Yet there are strong but raw sides of love as well. Love between Haider and Arshe ( Heathcliffs type in the end) and love of Gazala for Haider. Gazala proved that by blowing herself up in the end, but amply before that as well. The beautiful part of the movie is womens disapproval of violence. Both Gazala and Arshia disapprove violence. Although women of Kashmir always supported freedom movement but they hardly supported violence (except a group or two who never gained any wider acceptance). They knew what they were putting at stake-- their honour, their husband and their sons. Women are intellectually more forward looking, intuitively more active and subconsciously more risk -sensitive than men. Tabu and Shahid Kapoor are absolutely brilliant in the movie so are the other actors (except the two Salmans: their role is hideously absurd). Rachel Saltz of The New York Times thinks that sad-eyed Gazala with her depths and mystery has hijacked the movie, pushing Haider to the sidelines in his own story. I agree with her to a large extent. Whenever Gazala appears on the screen there is some renewed interest or some twist in the movie. It is like flowing water hitting a rock and getting a fresh vigour to flow again in the course of its journey. However, Haider has played equally strong role. one forgets that one is watching Shahid Kapoor. The best thing is he looks so like Kashmiri youth, be him clad in the jacket or pheran; be him with long hair or shaven head; be him mischievous or sad. If he did not look like Kashmiri it would have been extremely less convincing. Right Choice! There are some weak areas as well in this movie. This movie is more for eyes than for ears. By that I mean cinematography is brilliant but dialogues are somewhat boring and unnecessarily philosophical at times. To be or not be has not come up well in the translation, therefore, completely spoiled. Bismil song is absolutely useless. Lyrics are poetically overstretched to accommodate the story that was already an open secret. Such songs are to reveal some sort of secrets like Qarz movie song Ek Haseena Thi. The graveyard song is unnecessary. There is no place for hilarity generally in the movie and especially towards the tragic end. It is not clear why Haiders behaviour becomes weird after the interval. The speech under the Clock Tower at famous Lal Chowk appears to be pointless except for the slogans in favour of freedom that shows Haider is up not only for revenge but also is part of broader political aspirations of youth of Kashmir. A word on chutzpah (Pronounced as Khoos-pa or hoos-pa): Some people criticised about it being wrongly pronounced. But we do make mistakes in pronouncing foreign words. No wonder. I am sure even Shoba De (who mildly criticised the pronunciation) must be making mistakes in pronouncing French words, for example. Chutzpah, the way it is pronounced in the movie, perhaps purposely, in fact rhymes well and produces better alliteration with the expletive commonly used in India which means to make people fool in an obvious way. This is what India has been doing with its own people and the world-- making them believe in something stupid. But Vishal Bhardwaj did chutzpah himself by commending Indian army in the end for saving lives of Kashmiri people in the recent floods. Even if army helped in the recent catastrophe which it did not, yet blood of 25 years cannot be washed with the flood of two and half days.
Posted on: Fri, 17 Oct 2014 18:59:03 +0000
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