REVIEW 559: UNION LEADER

Release date:	January 19, 2018
Director:	Sanjay Patel
Cast: Language:	Rahul Bhat, Tillotama Shome, Tirth Sharma, Haresh Dagiya, Chetan Daiya, Jay Bhatt, Vivek Ghamande, Jay Vithlani, Jayesh More Hindi

The workers at Apollo Chemicals, a chromium sulfate factory in Gujarat, are falling like ninepins. Many have developed respiratory disorders and ulcers, others cancer, some have died as a result. The head of their union is indifferent to their plight since he has sold his soul to the management. As more men succumb to the unsafe conditions in which they operate, another leader emerges from their midst. Reluctantly at first, and then more decisively, Jay Gohil (Rahul Bhat) takes it upon himself to ensure that his colleagues get justice and Apollo is set in order.

India-born, Canada-based director Sanjay Patel’s Union Leader goes where few Hindi films have bothered to tread in the past two decades: to the area of workers’ rights, once the favoured destination of parallel cinema and the pre-1990s mainstream. Union Leader’s strength is that it is committed to its cause, it seems to have some knowledge about the inner workings of a chemical factory and its weight rests on the capable shoulders of Rahul Bhat, an actor of tremendous talent who has inexplicably been largely ignored by mainstream Bollywood.

Bhat was fantastic in Anurag Kashyap’s underrated 2014 film Ugly. Here in Union Leader, he brings an X factor to his performance that rises above the limitations of the screenplay. Even before we are told that Jay is in physical pain, it is possible to sense an underlying suffering that he is not revealing to us, to sense that there is more to that furrowed brow than just his worries for his co-workers and his family.

Bhat’s charisma and Patel’s evident good intentions help Union Leader pull through despite the pale writing of several promising supporting characters and the too convenient resolution of the workers’ issues. In truth, labour unions in India are up against the rarely-surmounted combined might of unscrupulous industrialists, corrupt politicians and bureaucrats in addition to double agents in their midst, with their troubles compounded by caste and regional divides. Union Leader fails to convey the extreme complexity of the circumstances in which the country’s poor factory hands find themselves.

In addition to Jay’s colleagues, we are also introduced to his wife Geeta (Tillotama Shome) and teenaged son Harsh (Tirth Sharma). Shome here carries forward her reputation as a dependable actor. Sharma made a mark as the heroine’s schoolmate in Advait Chandan’s Secret Superstar just a few months back, and lives up to that promise here. The warmth in the trio’s equation, Harsh’s fledgling interest in Gandhian values and his influence over his initially cynical father give the film its relatability.

It is also nice that though the screenplay portrays Jay’s journey from hesitation to complete involvement in the workers’ struggles, it does not feel the need to show him metamorphosing into a ferocious sloganeer and orator. He remains, till the end, a low-key man whose fierceness lies entirely within.

Where the film falters is in its exploration of the battles at Apollo Chemicals. In the engaging first half, the conversations between Jay and his co-workers feel real, the actors playing those supporting parts feel not like actors at all and Darren Fung’s music sets a muted mood that serves to highlight the despair and turmoil in their midst. As it progresses though, Union Leader is unable to effectively tap its supporting cast. I wanted to be better acquainted with Jay’s colleagues beyond the realm of their problems that are discussed at length pre-interval, but after the break the writers add little to our understanding of them as persons. This robs Union Leader of the emotional stirrings that should be a given in such a story.

The screenplay by Patel himself and John Winston Rainey is also unable to capture the magnitude of the problem at hand, the years of back-breaking, dispiriting toil that go into procuring workers their rights. This is not to say that the labour scenario is entirely hopeless or that no legislative and judicial battles have ever been won, but that the ease with which victory is achieved is unconvincing in Union Leader. The film’s portrayal of trade unionism is too simplistic then for it to be considered a serious study of the subject or for it to leave a lasting impression.

Still, this is clearly a heartfelt film. Whatever be its weaknesses, the genuineness of Patel’s concern and Bhat’s sincerity make Union Leader watchable.

Rating (out of five stars): *1/2

CBFC Rating (India):	UA
Running time:	106 minutes 20 seconds

This review was also published on Firstpost:

http://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/union-leader-movie-review-rahul-bhat-tillotama-shomes-film-is-simplistic-but-heartfelt-4310511.html

Poster courtesy: https://www.facebook.com/unionleaderthefilm/

REVIEW 319: QISSA: THE TALE OF A LONELY GHOST

Release date (India):	February 20, 2015
Director:	Anup Singh
Cast: Language:	Irrfan Khan, Tisca Chopra, Tillotama Shome, Rasika Dugal Punjabi (with English subtitles)

Qissa is a film of simmering intensity that at no point descends into high-decibel histrionics and screeching music. Great stories don’t require such crutches when drama is intrinsic to the situations they are relating to us and does not need to be hammered into our heads.

Anup Singh’s film is set in Partition-time Punjab but is imbued with a sense of timelessness that is almost tragic: it feels like it could well be happening in 2015.

This is the story of Umber Singh and his family who cross over into India to escape the violence dogging their people on the other side of the border. Umber is troubled by greater concerns than possible bloodshed though; he is hurting because his wife has given birth to three daughters in succession. He neither sees her pain at his atittude towards their girls, nor does he care. When the fourth daughter is born, Umber decides to bring her up as a son called Kanwar.

Qissa: The Tale of a Lonely Ghost then is about the craving for sons that is the curse of so many societies across the world and the manner in which that craving manifests itself in the subcontinent, but it is so much more. It is about gender confusion, about forbidden love, about being what you want to be, about daughters who are almost like figures unseen by their father in the house, about a ‘son’ whose reality is treated like a spectre to be ignored by his/her father and about the lengths to which human beings could go to keep their guilty secrets hidden.

Where the film is dealing with these issues, it is poignant and convincing. In the second half though, with the death of a character and the advent of a ghost, the tone changes as the narrative enters a realm where the metaphysical and the philosophical converge. Is the apparition intended to represent the ghost of patriarchy which continues to hover around the proceedings (as one of my friends insists) or the inner conflicts that continue to haunt Kanwar (my interpretation) even when life and love have in a sense liberated her/him? I can’t say. Unfortunately, this departure from the realistic nature of the preceding account makes a significant portion of the film too dense and robs it of some of its impact.

All is definitely not lost though because Qissa – a name that somehow implies folklore and legend – is at its very core a compelling tale enacted by a powerful cast.   

The formidable Irrfan Khan’s performance here is different from much of what we’ve seen him do before. He plays Umber with a deadpan face but a voice brimming with things left unsaid. One of my favourite scenes in Qissa has him grabbing his last child before his wife can see it and announcing the birth – at last – of a son. It is a chilling moment in which his demeanour reveals that he’s not just deceiving his spouse, he is determined to deceive himself too.

In an extremely challenging role that might have been overplayed by a lesser actor, Tillotama Shome is remarkable – and remarkably understated – as Kanwar. It’s hard to forget the despair in her voice when she asks her mother: why did you not protect me like you protected the others?

This is a film filled with good performances, yet there are two that stood out: one from a little-known youngster and another from an actress who gained a high profile with Aamir Khan’s Taare Zameen Par in 2007. Tisca Chopra as Kanwar’s mother delivers a heartfelt performance that could touch even the most unfeeling among us. So does Rasika Dugal playing Neeli, who is married off to a woman she thinks is a man. Her striking screen presence and natural ease before the camera make her a performer to watch out for. That scene in which Neeli and Kanwar discuss their innermost feelings in a darkened room away from the vigilant Umber is one of the sweetest interactions between two women I’ve seen on the Indian screen, and it is what it is because of strong writing bolstered by lovely acting.

The other joy of watching Qissa is in listening to the Punjabi spoken so naturally by the film’s cast, not all of whom are Punjabis in real life. There is a lilt and cadence to their rendering of the language that is so pleasing to the ear, especially for those of us who are tired of the Punjabi stereotype that dominates contemporary Hindi cinema.

If you were to go by Bollywood portrayals, then you have to believe that all Punjabis, especially Sikh Punjabis, are loud, brash, boisterous, high-strung, easily-riled people who do the bhangra and say “Balle balle” at the drop of a hat. In fact, after Indian Christians who suffered persistent – and often harmful – stereotyping up to the 1990s (the community has virtually disappeared from Bollywood stories since that decade), the ones who have been most consistently targeted by Hindi film makers are Punjabis and Sikhs. Away from the silliness and lazy writing that too often rules mainstream Bollywood, comes this quiet multi-national co-production.

Qissa loses its way somewhat in the second half, but for the most part it hits the bull’s eye as a silent and desperate plea for the Kanwars of our world. This is a moving, well-acted film that compels us to think, and for that, thank you Mr Singh.

Rating (out of five): **3/4

CBFC Rating (India):	A
Running time:	135 minutes

Photograph courtesy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qissa

REVIEW 136: SHANGHAI

Release date:	June 8, 2012
Director:	Dibakar Banerjee
Cast:	Abhay Deol, Emraan Hashmi, Pitobash Tripathy, Prosenjit Chatterjee, Kalki Koechlin, Farooque Shaikh, Supriya Pathak Kapur, Tillotama Shome

The best thing about Shanghai is that it’s not trying desperately hard to be ‘edgy’. In recent years, that word has gradually come to signify (for me, at least) pretentious Hindi cinema pretending and/or trying to look…European, North American, South American…anything but Indian! The irony here is that Dibakar Banerjee’s film is based on the novel Z by Greek writer Vassilis Vassilikos which was made into the award-winning film by Costa Gavras. Yet, Shanghai feels completely Indian.

This is a story of the wheels within wheels that pervade the Indian system, where everyone is flawed yet most are not without redeeming qualities either; where the charismatic politician on that hoarding could be the devil incarnate whose leadership skills still cannot be dismissed outright; where the charismatic activist on the street could be a womaniser whose cause and commitment are worth supporting all the same; where the sleazy part-time pornographer could be a bravely loyal fellow who would risk his life for a man he considered his brother; and where the solution may not be perfectly satisfactory, but it still exists and gives you a whisper of hope.

Shanghai is set in an India where the ruling political party in a state has staked everything on an International Business Park and the Shanghai-ification of that state. Into this picture enters academic-and-activist Dr Ahmedi who is fighting for the poor displaced by that ‘development’. When a murder takes place to stem the movement, the authorities are determined to prove that it was an accident, but fail to account for that one honest IAS officer whose fact-finding mission threatens to dig too deep for comfort. The writing by Banerjee and Urmi Juvekar, the casting, the cast, the production design by Vandana Kataria, cinematography by Nikos Andritsakis all conspire to make this a disturbing political thriller where connections and contacts run much further than you could imagine.

Director Dibakar Banerjee’s strength is that he tells it like it is, with no apologies and no frills attached. That’s what he did in his earlier films Khosla ka Ghosla, Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! and Love Sex aur Dhoka. That’s what he does here too, even though in Shanghai he moves away from the familiar setting of Delhi to a fictional small town/city. His other strength is the ability to inject humour into the most gruesome situations without being offensive. Shanghai is both funny and frightening. In spite of the unrelentingly grim goings-on, the satirical asides made me laugh intermittently … but with a sense of almost-guilt at my own laughter.

There’s some nice detailing in Shanghai. Like the name card on a table reserved for a government official that misspells his initials; the newly swabbed floor in a government office where, of course, a “slippery floor” warning sign is not mandatory; the brief use of poor English that’s not overdone and shows no condescension towards the speaker (a woman is asked about her connection to “the accidented man”) ... The songs are unmemorable yet somehow fit in with the mood of the film. There is only one truly jarring point in the film when it betrays a determination to be pro-poor/uneducated and anti-rich/educated as far as possible, whatever be the cost: the tone of justification is a bit much when a murderer who happens to be a poor man, seemingly equates his actions with that of an activist who thrashes him for having killed someone.

The pick of the cast here is Emraan Hashmi who has made a career so far out of playing the loveable – often scruffy – romantic scamp and being known as Bollywood’s ‘serial kisser’. Despite the repetitiveness, he’s done a fair job in most of his films, but Shanghai will hopefully be a turning point. His shady cameraman-and-porn-shooter Joginder here is not just his best role so far, it’s also his best performance. To see him sitting on a floor playing out an incriminating audio/video clip to an investigating officer, then turning to that man with eyes beseeching him for affirmation that this evidence is sufficient, is to truly witness desperation. I don’t understand why Banerjee didn’t simply cast a south Indian actor as the south Indian (Tamilian?) official Krishnan, but having chosen that route, he seems to have picked the best man for the job. Abhay Deol is effective as the unsmiling bureaucrat who does the accent with the effort barely showing through and thankfully without turning himself into the typical Bollywood ‘Madrasi’ caricature. Pitobash as the low-life murderer with a heart is an absolute live wire. The rest of the cast too acquit themselves extremely well … Prosenjit Chatterjee (as Dr Ahmedi), Farooque Shaikh (as Krishnan’s boss), Supriya Pathak Kapur (in a small but impactful appearance as the chief minister) and the achingly good Aanat Jouge (that’s how the film’s official website spells Anant Jog’s name) as the driver of the vehicle in the ‘accident’ ... The exception is Kalki Koechlin playing Ahmedi’s student Shalini with an unvarying tone pretty much from start to finish.

With so much to praise, I still can’t say this film has shaken me to the core with the weaving together of its many lovely elements. One big reason is that Shalini – who connects the worlds of Joginder, Krishnan and Ahmedi – remains a distant creature who is hard to relate to, unlike the other characters who are all better written and better acted. There is also the fact that the early part of Shanghai demands some patience … this is not one of those films that sucks you in right from the first scene. It takes its time to draw you in. When it does though, the sadness is inescapable. Really very nice, Mr Banerjee.

Rating (out of five): ***1/2

CBFC Rating:                       U/A

Language:                              Hindi

Photograph courtesy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_(2011_film)