loosie: words: As Pissed-Off as He Wants to Be

As Pissed-Off as He Wants to Be

Amitabh Bachchan: The Biggest Film Star in the World!

by Rasil | 2005.06.20

The most popular film star you never heard of had a festival at the Walter Reade from April 8-19, 2005. Among the movies shown were the following:

Dev
Govind Nihalani, 2004; 172m

AB is the world's dumbest cop in this artfully made and semi-stupid look at religious riots. Liberal Hindu Dev (AB) blows off Muslim cock to salve the image of the police force, right-wing cop Tej (Amrish Puri) wants to exterminate Muslims en masse. They amicably discuss whether Muslims are people, until dumb Dev is shocked to discover police complicity in riots when he is ordered to collude with political violence. Young Muslim law student/terrorist Farhan (Fareed Khan and his amazing, over-acting eyebrows) learns the error of his murderous ways, like his father before him, through the generosity of Hindu kindness. Saintly Dev never quite learns the errors of his ways, but at least he learns the errors of Tej's ways, which is as much as you can expect from privileged liberals, I guess. Kareena Kapoor might look like the offspring of some Aryan sacrifice in which queens sleep with horses, but she keeps histrionics in check and sanity in view as Farhan's courageous girlfriend, Aaliyah. In a movie with any integrity, she would be the heroine, retorting sharply to Dev's self-congratulatory siloloquys. I wonder what kind of point this movie is making in showing a smart, moral Muslim woman as having no friend to turn to except the Hindu man who colluded in the murders of her entire family. Kareena, good production values, alert editing, sly jokes and thrilling songs made me enjoy this movie, the disingenousness of the story made me feel like an ass for doing so.

Zanjeer
Prakash Mehra, 1973; 145m

Henna-haired sidekick Sher Khan (Pran) asks angry ex-cop Vijay (AB), "How long are you going to sulk?" Answer: throughout this entire movie. Early on, Vijay tells spunky knife-sharpener Mala (mousy, miscast Jaya Bhadhuri) not to take the law into her own hands, but once he loses his job, laconic Vijay declines police assistance and embarks on a revenge rampage that finds him avenging the murders of his parents. The direction veers wildly from artfulness to amateurishness, the herky-jerky editing feels like a fast car on a pot-holed road, tough talking subs for fight choreography, the songs are mediocre, but AB's charismatic pissed-offness and the shagarific Sixies art direction make it all come together. Zanjeer's nods toward The Third Man made me think that when Indians do noir it comes out hot pink.

Saudagar
Suhendu Roy, 1973; 150m

A tart and frankly sexual serving of marraige and divorce in the Bengali countryside, with a surprisingly contemporary flavor. Flirty tapper Moti (AB) marries Mahjubi (Nutan), the melancholy widow who works for him, so he can earn enough money to marry dark and lovely Phoolbanu (Padma Khanna). Mahjubi knows that marriage is a way for men to get women to work for free, but even so she marries again after Moti divorces her, while Moti discovers himself paying a price for marrying for desire, just as Mahjubi did. Saudagar sees that both sharp, pale, thin Mahjubi and thick-bodied, frizzy-haired, vital Phoolbanu are beautiful in their way, that they are both loving, hard-working women and wilful, annoying victims. The acuity with which both women are observed foreshadows a surprise in the ending. Majno's third husband is more subtle than the monster movie cliché would predict, and even wily, craven Moti is vulnerable enough to be affecting. The premise might seem made for moralistic melodrama, but Saudagar delivers an intelligent, well-acted story which understands both sex and economics.