Dev. D

The best tribute any filmmaker can pay to his favorite work of art is when s/he retells it in his own way.

Dev D, though of course based on the original story by Shart Babu, is an out and out Anurag Kashyap film – completely hat ke, and very bold – not recommended for your usual Bollywood aficionados. I watched it a couple of days back, and it is only now that I have been able to shake off its stupor.

It is not only that the story has been made contemporary by placing it firmly in rural Punjab and Paharganj, and dovetailing it with certain current happenings in Delhi. The undercurrent of emotions that run through the film is also so palpably real and so modern, not far-fetched and unfathomable for we the real people. And the characters, including the protagonist Dev, are very realistically etched out, away from the “classic” and “pristine” characters of all the earlier versions.

Of course, the film would not be what it is without some marvelous acting by Abhay Deol, Mahi Gill and Kalki. Thank God for actors like Abhay, and directors like Anurag Kashyap, who have tried hard, and been successful, in growing apart from the formula land of bad Bollywood. Without them, we would be so much the poorer.

Talking too much about the film would spoil the fun for the unlucky ones (or simply out-of-date types like me) who have not watched it yet. Just let me say that ten years down the line, it would surely be counted as one of the milestones of Hindi cinema. So, go ahead and watch it. Pronto.

Jaat Hi Poochho Sadhu Ki

भारतीय रंग-कर्म के लेखन क्षेत्र में विजय तेंदुलकर एक कद्दावर नाम है, यह मैंने पहली बार बीस साल पहले तब जाना था जब स्कूल में उनके लिखे एक प्रख्यात नाटक "खामोश, अदालत जारी है" पर आधारित (सिर्फ़ "आधारित, क्यूंकि स्कूल के बालकों के लिए इस की थीम काफी बोल्ड थी) एक नाटक का मंचन देखा था।
कल एन.एस.डी रंगमंडल की प्रस्तुति "जात ही पूछो साधू की" देख कर लौटा हूँ और एक बार फिर शिद्दत के साथ विजय तेंदुलकर, और साथ ही में रंगशाला के कलाकारों का और हिन्दी अनुवादक डॉ। वसंत देव का, कला-कौशल महसूस रहा हूँ।
"जात.." एक बहुत ही आम, कस्बाई युवक महीपत की कहानी है जो हमारे देश के लाखों युवकों की कहानी की तरह तीसरे दर्जे में एम्.ए पास से शुरू हो कर, जात-पात, भाई-भतीजावाद, गंवाई राजनीती और असफल प्यार से होती हुई अंततः बे-रोजगारी पर ख़त्म होती है.
कहानी बिलकुल सीधी-सादी, या यूँ कहें कि एक-आयामी ही है पर विजय तेंदुलकर के हाथों में एक farce का treatment पा कर, और वसंत देव के शानदार हिंदी अनुवाद और आंचलिक संवादों से सज कर यह एक घनघोर हास्य नाटक में बदल गयी है. और इस पर रंगमंडल (NSD repertoire) के कलाकारों के उच्च स्तरीय अभिनय ने इस नाटक की प्रशंस्नीयता को अक्षुण रखा है. नायक महीपत की भूमिका में अम्बरीश सक्सेना बहुत दमदार हैं, और इसके अलावा बबना, नलिनी और चेयरमैन (सुरेश शर्मा) भी कमाल के हैं. सुरेश शर्मा रंगमंडल के प्रमुख हैं, और इन्हें "घासीराम कोतवाल" में नाना के रोल में देखना भी एक अनुभव ही था.
ऐसे नाटकों को देख कर यह अहसास होता है कि वाकई अभिनय कला की सही कसौटी मंच ही है, फूहड़ फिल्में, भद्दे टी.वी सीरिअल और रियलिटी टी.वी प्रोग्राम नहीं.
नाटकों के बारे में और बातें फिर कभी.

Police Sensitization

A few days back, I was reading an editorial in the Hindustan Times which talked about an unfortunate incident in which some policemen & women beat up a mentally ill girl because she turned violent.

The editorial argued that the police force needs to be reformed and sensitized about such matters.

My response, in an unpublished letter, is as follows:

This is apropos your editorial "Are we really a police state?" in HT dated August 27, 2009.

You have rightly raised a very apt question about the lack and immediate need thereof of sensitization of our police force. It was indeed painful to learn about a mentally ill girl being thrashed mercilessly in public, which is yet another instance of police behaviour at its worst.

In my view, however, this is not the problem per se; it is only a symptom of a deeper malaise. Police force, like any other institution, is not a faceless entity. It is essentially a group of people who, rather than being unleashed by the heavens above, are common people drawn from the society itself.

And it is our societal collective mindset – essentially feudalistic, acutely class-conscious, intolerant of the maginalised of any manner and opportunistic of the first order, rules be damned – which is being reflected in each one of us, policemen included, only with different degrees of manifestation in line with the opportunity provided.

It has to be recognized therefore that without a corrective action on the root cause, therefore, it would only be a symptomatic treatment at best.

Sincerely Yours