Haider is a ‘Bang Bang’

Movies are a time to celebrate. Be it happiness, grief, anger or your life, it is the perfect medium to exert your mind.

For lesser people who remained at their cities, without having the chance to go out for an escapade, two cinemas that caught their imagination. Haider and Bang Bang. Two completely different movies from the Bollywood but, oh boy, are they not entertaining within their own paradigm? Completely engrossing.

Watching Haider was easy. It was Vishal Bharadwaj, a Shakespearean play, Gulzar lyrics and history repeating itself, after successes of “Maqbool” and “Omkara.” It’s an easy job. What I liked most about the movie, it was the beautiful portrayal of humdrum Kashmir, like back alleys, at a time when going was getting tougher. Being a child that grew up in troubled Assam during 1990s, it was a deja vu for me. VB is known for making ‘beautiful boys’ to act. In ‘Omkara,’ it was Langra Tyagi as enacted brilliantly by Saif Ali Khan. And, so he became a man. In ‘Haider,’ he tried to do that Shahid Kapoor. Did it work? I think it did to a considerable level. But, yes, it was not a ‘WOW Shahid’ feeling that I got. It was a job well done. For the performance of others, they did what they knew best. Kay Kay, a slimy petty opportunist but God fearing uncle; Tabu, in her classical expression of torn between her love for two men in her lives and that feeling of being helpless, Irfan Khan, with a shawl of mystery around his character and a dark glass that he put to cover the ugliness of his character, were brilliantly captured at the hands of VB. The music was exceptionally brilliant. That soft touch of Pastu, when those Kashmiri musical instruments and hymns are injected here and there, help you to relish the Kashmiri delight. The drama was engrossing. The subtle layers of the movie were smartly described by VB. The scene of flirting between Haider’s mother and his uncle, just aftermath of his father’s disappearance, left Haider on the other side of the veil realise his loss. He seemed to knew all along but never removed that veil. But his father’s disappearance, his hero, gave him that excuse to pull down that veil. He did but he could not stop loving her mother. So much for VB, to give his critics to run for their money. He delivered Haider. Almost.

What I found shocking that cinema could not reach to people, who were watching it in a plush cinema hall in the national capital of Delhi? It was a really sad sight when people started clapping, some of them, at the torture of Kashmiri people by armed forces. It depicts how ignorant some people of the society are about the hardship that some of their brethren had to undergo at the behest of the defence forces. Of course, AFSPA is Chutzpah because most people does not care. Because, they have not lived inside of it, breathed under an open sky with chains on their minds. There have been incidents that a piece of cinema, Haider, has created rift between friends and split them in to groups like liberals and nationalists. Oh god! For the love of god, can you beat this? Why is it that we cannot take what the gist of the movie rather than pricking our brain about the stage? ‘Chutzpah ho gaya yeh toh!’

To beat the Chutzpah, we decided to Bang Bang our lives. I desperately wanted to get back mainstream. The ‘Bang Bang’ was a perfect escapade. I am not here to offer my critical points about Bang Bang. But its a ‘Paisa Vasool’ masala movie. We should not, or we deserve to, to criticise about ‘Bang Bang’ when we miss the message from Haider and read the address on the envelop. Bang Bang had everything. The superbly beautiful landscapes, eye candies Hrithik and Katrina, superb music and really groovy tunes, action sequences that are well executed and to top it all, we had Danny Dengzongpa. He played the age old villain, that I miss so much from Bollywood. The villain is bad. There is no question of black and white. And, I thank for making my life simple. He kills his brother and his brother avenges. Loved the plot. Just the perfect cinema to watch with your beloved on a relaxing Sunday evening. She won’t complain because she will drop her jaws at Hrithik’s sexy incarnation. Oh boy! Katrina, this is the best. Just stick around. That much will work for the guys. And yes, the songs do not bore me. They actually make me sit up. With eloquent dancing by flamboyant Hrithik and lass Katrina, I wonder if I shall ever be able to dance like him. At least, in the next life? Please. And yes, I can ignore those ad plug ins within the cinema if the director delivers what he promises. Bang Bang is a no brainer, slouch back and hooting kinda cinema. That was promised and that is why.

‘Bang Bang’ gave the audience to chat, talk, hoot, whistle, munch in popcorns, play around, romantic cuddling, emotional atyachar, and even fight for getting late on a Sunday cinema date. I just hope that they, the Bollywood, stick to this level of commercial cinema and do not torture us with Om Shanti Om or the forthcoming, Happy New Year.

Go ‘Bang Bang’, if this is what you want.