REVIEW 77: SAHEB BIWI AUR GANGSTER

Release date:	September 30, 2011
Director:	Tigmanshu Dhulia
Cast:	Mahie Gill, Jimmy Shergill, Randeep Hooda

This is the most sex I’ve ever seen in a mainstream Hindi film which has no apparent ambition to be sleazy. Thankfully the scenes have been shot aesthetically. And while they’re a significant part of Saheb Biwi aur Gangster (SBAG), there’s more to this film than the beds and rock formations against which its protagonists give vent to their lust.

SBAG is the story of Saheb, scion of an erstwhile royal family in North India with political ambitions, a wife driven crazy by neglect, a mistress on whom he fritters away his dwindling wealth and a stepmother who maintains a tight hold on the purse strings. Saheb’s desperation to keep up appearances & his decadent lifestyle lead to a rivalry with local criminal Gainda Singh who plants his man Babbloo in the household as the driver of Saheb’s wife aka Chhoti Bahu. This mole completes the titular trio of a Saheb (Jimmy Shergill), a Biwi (Mahie Gill) and a Gangster (Randeep Hooda). Political intrigue, crime and betrayal … throw them into the pot with these protagonists and you get an enjoyable film neatly wrapped up in just two hours.

The strength of SBAG is its snug writing by Tigmanshu Dhulia (also the director) and Sanjay Chouhan. The story is a complete departure from all the politics-meets-the-underworld films we’ve seen in recent years; the dialogues are neat and crisp. With Dhulia at the helm of affairs, the lead actors deliver top-notch performances whether it’s Shergill as the arrogant yet desperate king-without-a-kingdom, Gill as his wife whose lunacy hides more than meets the eye, or Hooda – my pick of this cast – who switches chameleon-like from aggression to insecurity, opportunism, jealousy, helpless passion and heartbreak without overdoing the emotions for even a moment. It’s a mystery why Indian filmdom has had so little to offer this talented and attractive actor who we first saw on the big screen in Mira Nair’s Monsoon Wedding. Rajeev Gupta delivers a brilliant supporting performance as a slimy state minister Prabhu Tiwari whose backstabbing leads to comical yet chilling situations, while Vipin Sharma as Gainda Singh is remarkable during his interactions with Tiwari.

Is Saheb Biwi aur Gangster a remake of Sahib Bibi aur Ghulam? Let’s just call it a tribute. Not only is that 1960s classic in a league of its own, this modern interpretation rewrites Abrar Alvi’s characters completely. Gill’s Chhoti Bahu is far less helpless and vulnerable than Meena Kumari’s Chhoti Bahu in Sahib Bibi aur Ghulam. And the ferociously lustful sexual encounters between her and Babbloo are a million miles away from the movingly hesitant relationship that developed between Guru Dutt’s Bhoothnath and his memsahib all those years ago.

Director Tigmanshu Dhulia builds on his strong foundation in SBAG with a steady hand that keeps this film pacy throughout. He is the man behind that wonderful love-and-crime-on-the-Allahabad-University-campus thriller Haasil that arrived and disappeared from theatres in 2003, done in by its pathetic promotions. His subsequent films – Charas and this year’s Shagird – haven’t matched up to that brilliant debut, though in Shagird he did give us one of the most interesting characters Nana Patekar has ever played. Saheb Biwi aur Gangster isn’t on the same level as Haasil, but it’s highly entertaining all the same. One memorable scene features Saheb at a window, speaking on the phone to the minister as he watches Babbloo standing below and talking on the phone too; Babbloo is at that very moment in conversation with Gainda Singh who happens to be in the minister’s room at precisely the same time. In an earlier scene infused with an uncommon blend of comedy and high tension, Saheb arrives at Tiwari’s office, while Tiwari is closeted with Gainda Singh. Hide in the toilet, the minister tells Singh in a state of panic. Singh’s protestations, Saheb’s entry and their confrontation are smoothly put together. The locations have been well chosen to convey the film’s small-town setting. And the art director’s work on Saheb’s palace is an apt signifier of bygone glory.

Where the film flounders is in serving up some tacky extras who are part of an unexpectedly poorly handled shootout involving Saheb, his mistress, his loyal lieutenant Kanhaiya, Babbloo and Gainda Singh; a couple of superfluous sex scenes that seemed to have been thrown in for effect; a couple of not-so-credible plot twists especially a crucial one involving a character behind a curtain to whom Chhoti Bahu makes a confession; and music that sounds pleasant enough, yet is too much like something you’ve heard before. But much is forgiven if you succumb to the overall impact of this unusual film.

Very very nice, Mr Dhulia!

.

Rating (out of five): ***

CBFC Rating:                       A without cuts (Hard to believe but true! The Indian Censors are growing up!)

Running time:                        120 Minutes

Language:                              Hindi

Photograph courtesy: http://www.sahibbiwiaurgangster.com/     

REVIEW 26: GAME

Release date:	April 1, 2011
Director:	Abhinay Deo
Cast:	Abhishek Bachchan, Jimmy Shergill, Boman Irani, Shahana Goswami, Anupam Kher, Kangna Ranaut, Sarah-Jane Dias

Ek akeli ladki aur kya kar sakti hai? If I hear that question one more time in a Hindi film I think I may just scream. In Yash Raj Film’s Laaga Chunari Mein Daag not too long back, the akeli ladki in question was compelled to become a call girl in the big bad city because … well, ek akeli ladki aur kya kar sakti hai? I’m not sure whether Game is an improvement or one step further back since the akeli ladki here is compelled to become a flesh-flashing nightclub dancer and drug dealer. Bechaari. Ek akeli ladki aur kya kar sakti hai?

But there’s more to Game than its hai bechaari take on a significant female character. There’s the fact that it’s poorly scripted and poorly directed. There’s the fact that it wastes competent actors like Anupam Kher, Boman Irani and Jimmy Shergill. There’s the fact that it fails to tap into Abhishek Bachchan’s ability to play uber cool the way few of his industry colleagues can, the way he did in Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna and Dostana. And there’s the overbearing fact that its pretentions to being a thriller are undermined completely by its part-predictable, part-contrived-despite-not-being-predictable storyline, lack of tautness and lack of finesse in storytelling.

The story is about four people who are invited to the Greek island of Samos by billionaire Kabir Malhotra (Anupam Kher). On the face of it, they’re a disparate quartet: there’s Thailand’s leading political figure O.P. Ramsay (Boman Irani), London-based journalist Tisha Khanna (Shahana Goswami), the nightclub owner and no-gooder Neil Menon (Abhishek Bachchan) from Turkey and Bollywood superstar Vikram Kapoor (Jimmy Shergill). But Malhotra knows more about them than they bargained for.

It’s a thriller, so any further elaboration on the story would have to contain spoilers. All I’ll say is that the introductory passage in Game right until the first crime is committed is quite engaging. But everything begins to unravel from the moment the International Vigilance Squad (IVS) arrives on the island in the form of Sia Agnihotri (Kangna Ranaut) and her team.

Why is it that so few Hindi film makers in recent decades have managed to pull off the thriller genre effectively? Maybe Abhinay Deo should have been force-fed all seasons of CSI before embarking on this project. It isn’t quite clear what the IVS is, but I can tell you that their methods are shoddy and the dialogues given to them certainly don’t sound to me like the conversations of intelligent, international crime scene investigators. Simple question: without giving away anything, I’d love to get an answer to this question from any of you who has watched the film: why didn’t it occur to the IVS right at the start to take fingerprints from a crucial object in the room where the first crime occurs?

What do I like about Game? Well, the locations are lovely, so is some of the production design (Neil Menon’s club – I like, I like) and the outdoor camerawork. Every character in the film is appropriately styled too, from Ranaut as a well-dressed sleuth in pantsuits to Goswami as the alcohol-swilling scribe with her heavily made-up eyes, Gauhar Khan as the wealthy man’s pretty but prim executive assistant and Bachchan junior in both casuals and formals. It’s a film that also reminds me of how much I’ve wanted to see Gauhar Khan in well-fleshed-out roles ever since I watched her in Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year. But an intriguing build-up, a slick look and a talented cast are not enough to redeem this completely unsatisfactory whodunit.

For instance, perhaps Mr Deo could tell me why a murderer appears shocked when the news of his crime is announced on TV. Didn’t he know he had committed the crime? Please note how carefully I’m wording my sentences to ensure that this review does not give away any plot twists. There’s a scene in which Sia Agnihotri’s associate is informed that Vikram Kapoor has just confessed to a crime. Right outside their taxi, a child is peddling a magazine that bears the headline: “Vikram Kapoor Exposed.” Whoa, I’d like to know the production schedules at that magazine! And if that mag story was “exposing” the actor’s earlier shenanigans, well … the point certainly didn’t come across. Elsewhere, a news channel in Thailand plays a video of O.P. Ramsay. The audio levels are raised for viewers to hear but simultaneously, on one side of the TV screen, the anchor is shown continuing to address her viewers. Err … why would the anchor remain talking when she clearly wanted her viewers to hear what was being said in that video?

I know, I know, I’ll be told that I’m being too fastidious. Well, forgive me for believing that a good film maker should be – to borrow a phrase from Arundhati Roy from an entirely different context – a god of small things.

Some scenes in Game appear designed to be profound but come off looking childish instead. There’s the one in which Sia is on the phone with her boss who is ordering her to get off a case, possibly under pressure from powerful people. As she speaks to him, the camera moves to a newspaper lying next to her with a screeching headline about corruption, and Sia – in what is perhaps an unconscious action – circles that word repeatedly and ferociously with her pen. Ooh!

And while on the subject of that boss, why oh why does Bollywood struggle so often to get decent actors to play white people in films?! And why why why is a looooong love song allowed to slow down the pace right in the middle of a murder mystery when there’s nothing in that number to take the story forward and it’s unmemorable?

It’s hard to believe that Game is produced by the team who gave us Dil Chahta Hai, Lakshya, Don and Rock On. Something about this film gave me an ache in the heart for that lovely old film Shalimar in which a bunch of master criminals (played by Dharmendra, Sylvia Miles, Shammi Kapoor, John Saxon and O.P. Ralhan) gathered at the island home of a notorious gangster for a very different purpose from the goal that Kabir Malhotra has in mind in Game. I’d love to know what Shalimar’s director Krishna Shah would have made of this material. Because Game feels like an unkind April Fool’s Joke – on the entire team of the film, and on us.

Rating (out of five): *1/2

CBFC Rating (India):	U / A with no cuts
Running time:	125 Minutes
Language:	Hindi

Photograph courtesy: http://www.gamethefilm.in/