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.
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.
4 comments:
its a pleasure to know you write.
i wish you were more frequent,
it'd be great to know you better.
Let me know if you wanna do a link exchange
I do agree with you that the movie wasnt really a masterpiece from the technical point of view. But, who cares? The central theme of the movie was so engrossing that the minute technical details dont really matter. According to me, it was a movie straight from the heart, striking a chord with whats going on in the "common mans cerebrum".. couple it with some fantastic roleplay by Naseer and you have a great cinematic experience which stays on for a long time.
Though a lot needs to be improved, its easily one of the finest movies of recent times from the Bollywood stable.
Great review and excellent language.
Hi nice review of the movie, even i was very much eager to watch the movie and at last i did.
first and foremost, neeraj is a very good director. he has jsut worked on the plot, its a story of situation a circumstance, and like there are two ways of creating a story circumstantial story and an imaginary story which is for years on the reel i mean in the movie.
As u said like the story should have been brisk, what do u expect i mean the film was for one hour thirty minutes. he has worked alot on the script, as he is concentrated on the plot and not as usual films as they portray characters, you need to establish the charachters when u doing an imaginary movie or the movies like dhoom singh and king, but the movie is very much circumstantial so it does not need any establishment of the characters, the reporter was very good in my sense we should not restrict our thoughts that a item girl cannot act well or something like this.
Jimmy is good in his role its not necessary to show tha why is he so arrogant because there are many subtexts which should be understood, which are beyond the dialouges and visuals. overall a better movie in offbeats zamana.
Anyways this is just my opinion...
keep writing...
Enjoy....
hariOM
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