A Wednesday

I saw A Wednesday last night. Finally! I had heard so much about the movie that I was extremely excited about it before it even started. I must say that I made the cardinal mistake of expecting a great movie from a good script. Alas! I was profoundly disappointed in that area. It was a good movie, yes. However, I think it could have been better.
Let me first say what I found good in this movie. The best part about this movie was that Nasserudin Shah’s name was not revealed. The reason that by revealing his name his religion would have also been revealed, was something that made me think that if Neeraj Pandey (writer and director of the movie) learns the finesse of film making, he can create great cinema. Secondly, I think that this movie raised a host of questions (for me) which are extremely important for us to understand and ask ourselves.
First, how little do we take into account the meaning of the word ‘life’, whether of a terrorist or a common man? It doesn’t matter who is killing or who is dieing, the question that is left to be pondered upon is that before killing do we even consider that a ‘life’ is been robbed away from a body, which can be the embodiment of so many relationships and emotions. Those relationships and emotions lost in the void forever, never to be formed again, leaving not just that person dead, killing a part of those connected to him or her. How is it possible that these thoughts never occur to those who indulge in this heinous crime?
The feeling of numbness and hatred that is being planted in the minds of the common man is something to think about. The fact that this man, who doesn’t have any direct link to violence per say, doesn’t hesitate in killing those terrorist was something that made me shudder. Imagine the kind of numbness and emptiness, that man would have felt before doing exactly what he was against. It shows that when such crimes are committed, they simply do not take away the life of people, but passes on that evilness to those who have survived it. And we are being thrown into a situation, where we become the monster that we set out to destroy.
Another thing that the movie was quite successful in portraying was the threat that the technology is posing to the world. I work for an IT magazine and I know that computers, although have replaced our best friends can be our worst nightmares as well. As was quite apparent in the movie.
There are multiple reasons why this movie doesn’t become what it should have been. First and foremost the script could have been crisper and tighter. Unnecessary scenes adorn the screen. The actress who plays Nina Roy looks good in an item song, but as an actor she ruined the movie for me. Whenever she was on-screen the only thought that crossed my mind is why in the name of god was she chosen for this role? And please do not insult my intelligence by telling me that a reporter, not even a hot-shot one, can take a camera-man and a van and roam around the city without any consultation with her editor. Only a Barkha Datta will be able to do a fete like such and Nina Roy was no Barkha Datta. The idiocy of our media is well-known but can be please have some sort of reality about how it works seeped in as well?
Secondly, the character of Jimmy Shergil was not explored the way it should have been. Yes, don’t give the guy any dialogue and let his body speak for him. But in that case also some sort of a background, the reason he became the most feared policeman, had to be shown. Also, the character's should have been explored rather than making them a simple accessory in the movie. Which didn't make sense any how because the central message of the movie was how the common man has set out to kill these terrorist before they can kill him. So, these terrorist need to have a character and not just a body and a name. If the director would have gone even a little further in establishing the reasons behind why and how these terrorists are made, this would have been a fabulous movie.
The scene where the terrorist is reminiscing about his childhood fell flat on its face. Was it written to supply as a support to the dialogue later by jimmy or was it written to make the audience understand their psychology? The message was lost on me. A lot of such senseless scenes are there in the movie which should have been deleted from the mind of the writer the moment he thought about them. But alas! He didn’t do it and ruined the effect that this movie could have created.

The stranger in the night.

It was raining heavily that evening. She was standing at a bus stop waiting for her bus, cursing the rain that had rendered her wet. Her long open wet hair were sticking to her neck and back and felt like thorns penetrating through her dress. She was feeling extremely helpless, as she couldn’t fight her black.
As if her hair wasn’t causing her enough problems, the rain was fighting its way down to earth as warriors with arrows on them, shooting madly at anyone and everyone. She sighed and accepted defeat. It seemed as if the forces of nature have come together to make creases appear on her forehead.
She was looking around, as she didn’t know what else to do, when her eyes fell on a long figure looming towards her. He looked like a mass of darkness to her hiding behind the veil of rain, which had by now wrapped the black of the night around itself.
The man didn’t even notice her and went a little ahead; spread his arms, tilting his head upwards and started revolving slowly on the spot, with a huge grin on his face. She looked sideways and was surprised to find no camera or movie crew around him. She was a little taken aback by this erratic behavior.

But then she looked at his peaceful face, which arouse this sudden urge in her to join him in his solo act. Suddenly, he looked at her and asked, “Do you have face wash on you”? She was so taken aback by his question and the suddenness of it that she merely gaped at him and after a moment said “What”? “Face wash! You know the thing that cleans your face”, he said. “I know what a face wash is!” she said. “Then why are you gaping at me like I am from mars and I have asked you why do you have two eyes on you?” he asked. “ a) I am not gaping at you and b) you do look like you are from mars”, she replied. “Why because I am enjoying this beautiful weather the way it should be?” he asked looking quite amused at her stunned reaction. “No, because I think you are just trying to get some attention by acting like this. It's not necessary to go all Bollywood to enjoy rain”, she replied.

“Do you realize your nose is too long", he said. “What?” she asked again. “Is that your favorite word or is it that your dictionary isn’t comprehensive enough?” he asked smirking. “No, it’s just that when I meet people like you my intelligenece fails to understand such giberish”, she retorted turned away from him.
“I like your hands”, he said staring at her fingers. “Would you like me to choke you with them? I am capable of doing that”, she replied still looking on the other side of the road.

"You should have bought that chocalate that you wanted so bad. It's very rare that you get a chance to have what you want in life", he smiled at her. She turned around and looked him in the eye. The intensity in them threw her a step back. “How do you know I wanted a chocalate? Have you been following me? Are you a mugger or a stalker?” she asked, her voice betraying her fear. His eyes glinted and he replied, “Naw even better. I am a rapist”, he said and started moving towards her. Two things hit her at the same time. First, that he might just be the person that he is claiming to be. Second, somewhere in the last two minutes the black of the night and the balck of his eyes had amalgamated into one.

He was close enought for her to smell his cologne. She could not say if it smelled like roses or lilies or wood, but her nostrils were pleasantly surprised to know that it smelled good. She tried going back but her legs were temporary paralyzed from fear. Or maybe it was excitement. She didn’t know which. Her ideas told her that she should be scared as she didn’t even know him and he was going to touch her without her permission. But a part of here wanted to feel what he could do to her.

Was she actually going to let this man touch her? How could she? What was she, a bloody whore. She don’t even know him. How could she fantasize sleeping with him? The image of her father came into her mind and she shuddered at the thought of having him in there along with these thoughts. She feared her reaction more than his actions. She feared that she might actually enjoy this.
At that moment, he took her in his arms and kissed her fiercely and forced her to let him enter her mouth. She did. He then stopped abruptly and moved away from her. He started going the other way and then turned back and smiled at her, “I don’t think I will ever taste anything so sweet ever again". He turned on his heels and left.

She stood there looking at this stranger who gave her the taste of her first kiss. She wasn’t bothered about his name or his face. He was just a moment and the best moment of her life.