Release
date:
|
January 12, 2018
|
Director:
|
Anurag Kashyap
|
Cast:
Language:
|
Vineet Kumar
Singh, Zoya Hussain, Jimmy Sheirgill, Ravi Kishan
Hindi
|
It is a wonder that
Bollywood has taken so long to wake up to the sports film genre. India’s fractured
society and corrupt sports authorities, after all, suck talent into a whirlpool
of misogyny, casteism, regionalism and every other imaginable prejudice and
power game, throwing up scores of stories begging to be told. Thankfully, the
wait has been worth it. After the back-to-back box-office successes of Mary Kom (2014), Sultan and Dangal (both
2016), after Kollywood contributed to the bunch with Saala Khadoos (Sudha Kongara’s simultaneously produced Hindi
version of her 2016 Tamil-Hindi film Irudhi
Suttru), here comes one of the best Hindi sports films ever to be made: writer-director
Anurag Kashyap’s Mukkabaaz (The
Brawler).
Mukkabaaz is not your everyday sports biopic. If Chak De! India – an outstanding
precursor to this trend, released back in 2007 – put the spotlight on
communalism, gender and government apathy in Indian hockey, Mukkabaaz red-flags multiple factors
that hold back boxing talent: caste, class and the use of professional
influence to settle petty personal vendettas.
Through the medium of
sport, it provides a running commentary on the socio-political landscape of
Bareilly and – despite its cultural specificities – India at large, all wrapped
around an endearing romance. The tensions in the protagonists’ lives are so
unrelenting and so believable, that I found myself often on the edge of my theatre
seat, as if watching a thriller. This is one of the most intensely dramatic
Hindi films seen in a while.
Mukkabaaz revolves around a boxer in Bareilly called Shravan
Kumar Singh who crosses swords with
the local don of the boxing establishment, Bhagwan Das Mishra, while
simultaneously entering into a romantic relationship with Bhagwan’s niece
Sunaina. Bhagwan sets out to ruin Shravan’s career and to terrorise Sunaina’s
parents into separating them.
What he does not account
for are Sunaina’s spirit and Shravan’s resilience, which make them formidable
both individually and together. Sunaina may be mute, but she is not one to be
silenced by a society that in any case denies a woman a voice even if she
suffers no such physical disability. Shravan may be exhausted from years of
fighting the system Bhagwan represents, but he is not one to give up easily. Mukkabaaz is about his battle to become
a state-level boxer and the couple’s joint battle against Bhagwan’s villainy.
Kashyap weaves a
rich tapestry of emotions and politics in Mukkabaaz.
The initial script co-written by Vineet Kumar Singh, who plays Shravan, was expanded into a
screenplay by a large team that includes Kashyap himself. In the hands of lesser
writers, the film may have come across as being contrived to pack in too many ‘issues’
and faking concern. Kashyap & Co, however, roll out their narrative with a
burning conviction from which everything flows naturally.
Mukkabaaz, in any case, is not “about ‘issues’”, it is
about two people and how they react to the curve balls thrown at them. Life,
after all, does not play out in compartments. Misogyny, for instance, does not
decide to give a mute woman a day’s break just because she is coping with
hurdles related to her speech impairment that day. The film acknowledges that instead
life rushes at us in multiple strands we must cope with simultaneously. The
proprietorial attitude that men have towards women they love, beef terrorism, inter-caste
romance, a cheeky inversion of the Bharat
Mata Ki Jai slogan being chanted by violent nationalists dominating the
current public discourse in India, Brahmin arrogance, Dalit oppression – you
will find it all in Mukkabaaz and it
all feels just right. At 155 minutes, the film is long, but the length too
feels just right.
The immersive
storytelling is bolstered by immersive camerawork and acting performances. Singh is staggeringly good as Shravan. Although
he looks older and decidedly more mature than the under-30-year-old he is
supposed to be in this film, in every other way – including his physique – he embodies
his bruised and battered but-never-say-die character.
Debutant Zoya
Hussain achieves the fine balance required to capture the mischief and fire
that combine to make Sunaina. Ravi Kishan is so convincing and likeable as the
coach who takes Shravan under his wing, that you have to wonder why Hindi
cinema does not explore his talent more. To him is assigned the task of asking
Shravan this most crucial of questions: you have to decide, do you want to become
a mukkabaaz (brawler) or mukkebaaz (boxer)?
Jimmy Sheirgill is terrific, although he is saddled
with a one-dimensional character. While watching Mukkabaaz,
I assumed that his cloudy, bloodshot eyes were a result of fisticuffs from the
past, but a stray tweet to a viewer from Kashyap that I happened to spot
yesterday reveals that Bhagwan is suffering from glaucoma which, it seems, is a
major side effect of steroid intake by sportspersons. This is where intricacy
in cinema becomes delightful – when as a filmmaker you stay so true to your
subject that you pay attention to minutiae most people would not be knowledgeable
enough to appreciate.
The interactions
between Shravan and Sunaina go off-key a couple of times when sappy music
breaks the tone of the rest of the narrative, but these moments are too brief
to overshadow the pleasurable mix of humour, tenderness and understanding that
marks their relationship. I also love that Sunaina’s sign language is subtitled
and thus given the respect it deserves.
Interesting use of
music aside from those couple of maudlin passages, lively lyrics, intentionally
rough-hewn production design, superlative editing by Team Kashyap regular Aarti
Bajaj and
Ankit Bidyadhar plus a humorous streak (epitomised by Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s guest
appearance that harks back to a day when he was an unknown and this would not
have been deemed a guest appearance), all combine to make Mukkabaaz thoroughly entertaining. Its politics and vocabulary make
it a magnificent cinematic experience. The finale in the boxing ring is, to my
mind, the film’s only contrivance, but I was too lost in its loveliness and
courage by then to be put off.
Anurag Kashyap
brings a wealth of insights into this tale of “Uttar Pradesh ka Mike Tyson”, the woman he loves, the
system and social realities that are responsible for India’s embarrassing track
record in international sports. The back-breaking, soul-crushing opposition
Shravan faces reminded me in some ways of Tapan Sinha’s fabulous Ek Doctor Ki Maut. Unlike that film though,
this one is not mellow at all. It is also, in the midst of Shravan’s tragedy, oddly
uplifting.
A Hindi film that
is unafraid to say what it has to say in this present repressive atmosphere is
rare. This is fearless, energetic filmmaking at its best. What a great start to
2018.
Rating
(out of five stars): ****
CBFC Rating (India):
|
UA
|
Running time:
|
155 minutes
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