Review of Hindi Medium - Movie for Irrfan Khan
I should begin at the very outset
by clarifying that although Indian Cinema is not my field of expertise I
occasionally chose to attempt a review Bollywood movies occasionally when putting
to challenge, http://newsviews-raceclass.blogspot.com/2018/02/padmawati-v-banshali-2018.html, http://newsviews-raceclass.blogspot.com/2018/02/pad-man-controversial-movie.html, http://newsviews-raceclass.blogspot.com/Hence, my views will be
that of an amateur reviewer.
I believe success could be
measured in various ways but generally accepted ingredients are as follows: (i)
solid work ethics, ii. Stamina, iii. Concentration, iv. Collegial temperament,
v. an economic base, etc. However, I
must admit that there is a mark difference between a successful actor and a successful
movie which should cater to the need of entertainment, collection at the box
office. No doubt, theatre and movies
have played an important role in social transformation but its negative role
can’t be underestimated in maintaining the status quo ante. In fact, recent studies published in
psychiatric journals have accepted clinical treatment is not enough to manage
mental illness unless combined with nonclinical therapeutic and humanities treatment
like classical music.
In the wake of a numerous tributes
and obituaries around the world on the sad demise of infamous actor Irrfan Khan
last night I was prompted to watch Hindi Medium which received a lot of
attention and credited to him. There is
no harm in eulogising and exaggerating the achievement in obituaries of famous
people, but there has to be a caveat to avoid personality cult for which the
very intellectuals criticise others in history for a political reason to
undermine their sacrifices and role. In
fact, I watched in one of the TV channels suggesting that only once 100 years
an actor like Irrfan Kahn is born which leaves nothing for imagination if a
legend, Dilip Kumar passes away.
I must admit while attempting in
this review that I have seen only a few movies of Irrfan, namely; Piku, Pan
Singh Tomar and Hindi Medium. Now I began with Hindi Medium it deals with a
quite relevant national question on the basis of langue that initially cropped
up in South India in the 1960s. A number of
people performed very well in the movie, but I will focus mainly on three main the character played by Irrfan Khan as Raj Batra, (a small businessman), Saba
Quram as Mita (dominating wife) and Deepak Dobriyal as Shyam Prakash (as a poor
neighbour). Although a lot has been said about the performance of Irrfan, but very
little, if any, reference made to the other two actors even before or in the course
of his obituary although many leftist friends and foes were not slow to cash
him for their own good.
In terms of commercial success, a
14 crore small budget movie (peanuts in term of US $2.1 million). There are fantastic moments in the movie and
sharply created scenes between the characters which prove to be amazing
highlights in the movie. In particular,
Saba’ stunning look commented, “English is class”, and that Irrfan was stuck in Chandni Chowk
when a Punjabi song was played in House warming party. In a rat-race of getting up the middle-class
ladder, Saba wanted him to move to a posh area near a public school (private school
in India) so their daughter, Pia could overcome hang up of middle-class and acquire
a ‘Rich look’ to keep up with the “Class”, they even hire a consultant to
advise them. One of such interesting
scenes were when the consultant asked PIA’s parents to define the poverty
although Irrfan said they have seen around them so didn’t need definition; she
said that was not enough! Consultant defined it for them as “Sharing &
Caring”, that was a Wow definition! made 322 crores
(50 million) at the Box office, so it was a great success in terms of ‘100 Crore
club’. As to its success in terms of other measures although Irrfan has been
assessed in a politically correct manner some even described his speech at the
school function as the Masterstroke it would appear to independent observers
that a great injustice has been done to Saba Quram and Dobriyal who not only
played extremely well but at times they overshadowed Irrfan given Saba’s limited
experience as a TV presenter compared to Irrfan. The scriptwriter has done a
superb job in writing dialogues for Saba Qurama and Deepak Dobriyal was superb
in some scenes and left the audience
Once Raj and Mitu failed to
secure a place for Pia by presenting her being “English Class”, father conceived some other ideas of climbing down to the status of poor class to take advantage of RTE quota, so they moved to a poor
area. Family neither being from ‘Rich’ or ‘Poor’ had difficulties in adjusting.
Another god scene when Irrfan got a job in a biscuit factory but could not keep the pace with the work and Saba had to fight for scarce water and long lines at the
ration shop. It is depicted very well in the movie and failings to keep up with
poverty-ridden life; investigating journalist for fraudulent seekers of RTE
quota makes an interesting comment, “Only they know the pain sleeping empty
stomach”.
Deepak Dobriyal played extremely
well as a poor man and friend of the family moved in the neighbourhood. He does
everything to help adjust them to poor life and beautifully defends them in
front of the investigating journalist in disguise. He even jumps before a car and hurt himself
so that he could get some money from the car owner to pay Rs. 25,000 deposit
for Irrfan’s daughter who finally got accepted in the grammar school, but
actually poor Dobriyal’s son could not. Raj & Mita's conscious was hurting them so they decided to visit a poor
children’s school and made an undisclosed donation like Birla building temples
appeared a good satire. Dobriyal puts
his son in a poor children’s school where he learnt from school Head Master that
someone donated a lot of money to improvise the school. Dobriyal decided to go
to Donor’s house and was shocked to discover Irrfan’s there who pretended to be
servant, the act didn’t go well and was exposed by the housekeeper who stunned
by her expression when said, “Ye Sahib ha” (he is the boss). Guilty conscience exasperated
Irrfan expressed while telling his wife, “we ate his child’ seat” that lacked emotion.
The second half gets a bit over-dramatic and
the plot becomes quite obvious with ample degrees of freedom. Climax speech of
Irrfan in Grammar’s school’s function stretched too far and stumbles near the end
with overly sentimental, but sent the core message exposing the shortcomings and
loopholes of the educational system. Of
course, the film is one of the best Bollywood films of its time.
There was a bit disappointment Irrfan
could not keep ignorance of a petty shopkeeper’s outfit throughout the movie
contrasting with Abhishek Bachhan as a Marwadi Baniya in GURU let alone matching
with Amitabh Bachhan in Namak Halal (1982), “English a very funny language…I
can talk English, I can walk English…” or Amol Paleker in Golma (1979).
As to Irrfan's glamourisation by left and progressives due to his young role as Lenin in an act I had an opportunity to watch Shekher Gupta's interview with Irrfan Khan done a few years ago on NDTV. I was a bit disappointed by his response to his question 1. You asserted that you could never become a character which is given to you? His response was, "You are what you...", 2. How do you place with the changes or planned yourself a few years ahead and his telling response was, "I go with the flow". I don't believe this is what he really means but this often happens when you chose to answer in English which is not your first language. Perhaps, he meant, "I am spontaneous". However, answer to the first question does not appear convincing as if as an actor you can't get into the character would mean you have not done justice to the role. One has to be someone else when playing the character, of course, you have to come back to yourself once the role is over. Dilip Kumar sahib Wahida Rehman had such ability and to some extent Amitabh Bachhan too. Sharukh Kahn is always in the Character and never find any difference between what they actually are and what character they play on the screen.
I part with the review and leave it up to the readers if the Hindi Medium passed the test set at the outset of the review!!!
As to Irrfan's glamourisation by left and progressives due to his young role as Lenin in an act I had an opportunity to watch Shekher Gupta's interview with Irrfan Khan done a few years ago on NDTV. I was a bit disappointed by his response to his question 1. You asserted that you could never become a character which is given to you? His response was, "You are what you...", 2. How do you place with the changes or planned yourself a few years ahead and his telling response was, "I go with the flow". I don't believe this is what he really means but this often happens when you chose to answer in English which is not your first language. Perhaps, he meant, "I am spontaneous". However, answer to the first question does not appear convincing as if as an actor you can't get into the character would mean you have not done justice to the role. One has to be someone else when playing the character, of course, you have to come back to yourself once the role is over. Dilip Kumar sahib Wahida Rehman had such ability and to some extent Amitabh Bachhan too. Sharukh Kahn is always in the Character and never find any difference between what they actually are and what character they play on the screen.
I part with the review and leave it up to the readers if the Hindi Medium passed the test set at the outset of the review!!!
Prof S Deman
London
No comments:
Post a Comment