JAANE BHI DO YAARON

I have often wondered about an overwhelming, ubiquitous entity called TIME. It has a mind of its own, for its always been him that has decided 'my time’, in spite of my best efforts to dictate. It flows straight undaunted, seemingly innocuous but often it creates voids and warps, in reality or perhaps in memory where it never advances. Its a bitter experience to know that i know something when I'm sure that I've never known.Riddle?,deja vu?,i wish it were so simple.I encountered that eerie feeling again while watching a film today;Kundan Shah's JAANE BHI DO YAARON.The film was released in 1983,and though i had a certain curiosity, I thought even the cd stinked while serving popcorn on a gloomy holiday,ah the perfect day for a cine-buff but will the movie be a spoiler?

Did the sky clear up? Did it rain? Did my maid turn up? Did Isha call?..for 132 hypnotised minutes that began from 2:00 pm I forgot even these questions that clutter my mind all the time (I wish i could say this before the exams,but they haunt me even during the exams..lucky are people who are not poets/not in love/have regular maids).

The film/experience opens up with 2 young photographers, who've set up their studio and have invited people for the inauguration,scouting for their guests while stealing glances at the sumptous spread that they've set up.In a flash one understands that this was the pre-auto-rickshaw,pre-egg-roll generation when the enterprising youth set up studios at the still available nukes and nukkads. Simple check shirts,trousers,things didn't stink of brands then,did it?..Yours truly doesn't suffer from the "golden era" hangover(there has never been a golden era as a matter of fact),but what was on display was real,tangible and something that still exists.I could draw parallels with every single visual of the film with the age i live in..as if it is still 1983,as if its a time warp.Substitute the studio with an auto-rickshaw,view the roads with a flyover above;only the roadside nukkad cannot be found,don't even think of substitution,its extinct,its treasure.

The film is itself a treasure trove of images of my father's generation( gen "w" perhaps..soft drinks say this is Gen Y,i should be Gen X),images of our generation,images of generations yet to come,images of INDIA.I am not a pessimist,i do not conform to the film's cynical view of the "system"(as potboilers would say) but its only hope that i have to refute my cynicism,for i find a Vinod and Sudhir in today's MANJUNATH(salutes martyr),today's Jessica.

I might be terribly wrong,but I've often observed a tendency among people to label a performance according to the role.There are examples galore where kudos go to the person enacting a role that is amply supported with props,sentiments or other emotions that is easy to manipulate among watchers by a giant screen and blaring sound.Herein lies the greatness of Naseeruddin Shah.His Vinod,an aam admi in the truest sense of the term,never inspires one to break free,one never sheds a tear for him and chances are u might never appreciate his performance because he has played the person whom u see everyday in the mirror combing,by the roadside spitting,in the desk working/not working.(Don't be mistaken,Naseer's Vinod is an upright hardworking youth).Only one man comes to mind TOM HANKS,the Nasiruddin Shah of Hollywood!

But its not only Naseer,its the film as a whole that is an elevating experience.Agreed it is slapstick at parts,but even those moments of idiocy evoke genuine laughter,for the film is not only rooted but seeped in reality.A reality where there is no rigor mortise,where the dead stands upright,where time bombs burst late and are innocuous,but which is realistic enough to make one smell the smell of the city,the stink of the sweating polyester,the rot of lust.

Built on a shoestring budget of Rs 7 lakh(unbelievable eh?!..that was the pre inflation era),this NFDC film never looks needy, for the superlative performances by the likes of OM PURI,PANKAJ KAPOOR,SATISH KAUSHIK,SATISH SHAH and the rest more than make up for the lack of gloss. Incidentally much of the supporting cast were stalwarts of the golden era of Doordaarshan,in the immediately following future.Naseer and Om of course made it big not only on the national screen but on the international scene as well.The assistants like SUDHIR MISRA and Vidhu Vinod Chopra also are renowned filmmakers of our day.Incidentally it was the director KUNDAN SHAH ,who could not create anything half as substantial as this.Once again,strange are the ways of time..

At the end, the meek submission of the helpless protagonists(and therefore justice) before corrupt lawmakers is both touching and captivating.Incidentally I watched this movie on 15 AUGUST,our INDEPENDENCE DAY.Oi je bollam,strange are the ways of time..


If anyone out there is a crazy bollywood buff like me i strongly recommend this film because this film has many firsts;because this film breaks away from the bollywood song-and-dance routine;because this film portrays women who are not exactly sita/ganga maiya,neither surpanakha but somewhere in between;because this is the first niche Hindi film that came even before INOX was thought of;because it ensheaths u in a time warp that is no RIP VAN WINKLE trick,but a sad eternal reality;because it is simply a great film that is trademark bollywood.


I wish TIME catches up with u to fill my wish as i pray may the world revere it again.