THE DIARY OF Z

The good news. After a dismal first weekend, Jodhaa Akbar seems to have rocked on its second weekend in big centres like Chennai, Mumbai and Bangalore. And industry experts feel that the film has salvaged its reputation after all. Which is good news for director Ashutosh Gowariker. What’s more, after watching the film, I feel he deserves all the crores coming his way. He has managed to create a visual testament of a bygone era. Even if you didn’t understand Hindi or Urdu, you would be able to make sense of the proceedings. The film is shot for the big screen. So if you haven’t watched it yet, go before it goes out of the cinema halls. And try to sit in the centre isle for maximum effect. And not far back to make the most of the larger-than-life canvas of Gowariker that stretches from one army camp to another.

The film is larger-than-life because he’s talking about a supreme Mughal emperor like Akbar who ruled his citizens’ hearts and minds with his shrewd mind, a strong will and a lovely soul. By having a Hindu wife like Jodhaa, he became religiously more tolerant, and created goodwill among his subjects, caste no bar. It’s this message of religious tolerance that appealed to me most. And the fact that Gowariker spared no rupees to make it as grand as it royally deserves, makes me support him through and through this magnum opus.

I have never seen any historical Hindi film made at this scale. Impressive would be an understatement. The story is good, too. It’s about a valiant king who had to push aside his arms and ammunition and fight his way to win the hearts of his Hindu wife and his Hindu subjects. It’s a historical cry for peace and love. And it’s loud and clear.

On two occasions, tears well up in your eyes - one is when Jalaluddin Mohammed finally wins the hearts of his people who celebrate with a song and bestow him with the title of ‘Akbar’. The other is when Jodhaa prays to her demi god Krishna in restoring the health of an ailing Akbar after an assassination attempt.

Talking of performances, it takes time for Hrithik to step into the armoury of the Shahenshah of Hindustan. But he does learn all the things that go into making him truly royal in the second half. Aishwarya Rai as the defiant princess glows particularly when she shows her disdain for the Shahenshah through her simmering eyes. But otherwise, her performance is just about average. A better actress would be Kajol or Madhuri Dixit. Similarly, Hrithik lacks the charisma of an emperor, particularly in the first half. Someone like Shah Rukh Khan who has charisma in oodles could have done a better job. If you liken the last fight between Hrithik and his adversary (some unknown but bulky actor) to Troy (between Brad Pitt and Eric Bana), SRK would have been a better bet. Why? Because the six-pack Khan may not have the body or height of a Hrithik Roshan, but what he possesses is this larger-than-life persona that translates supremely well on screen. And I am not alone here. Even a critically-acclaimed director like Shyam Benegal has said publicly that among today’s actors, only SRK has the charisma that is expected of a superstar. You might hate him or love him. But you can’t ignore King Khan. That’s screen presence. That’s superstardom.

I have just one small quibble with Jodhaa Akbar. The ‘Khwaja mere khwaja’ number that was meant to be a Sufi song, didn’t sound like one. Most Sufi songs immediately connect to your soul, this didn’t come even close to it. But the song that gave the film the grandeur it deserves is ‘Azeem o shaan shahenshah’. The range, the different dance sequences, the Hindu-Muslim solidarity… all came through brilliantly and took the film to a new cinematic high. The other song that you keep humming long after the film is over is “Kehne ko jashn-e-bahaara hai”. Lyrical and ballad-like, it travels straight into your heart and stays there…
Take a bow, Gowariker. You deserve our ‘buksheesh’ for a job well done! Never expected such a grand outing from you. Honest!

PS: The best part of the film is its 3.20 hour duration. You won’t feel like it’s too long because it’s a pleasure to be on this elegant journey!!!

(This review also appears on mouthshut.com)

(When I saw his name in the many film ads, I realised he was my senior in college. Without further ado, I decided to meet him for a film magazine where I am on the advisory board… here is what I wrote on this young debutante director in Sandalwood. My review of his film will follow in the next post.)

He started small to make a big impression. After more than a decade of hard work, Lady luck has finally smiled on thirty-three-year-old KM Chaitanya. The debutant director’s Kannada film Aa Dinagalu (back in those days) is running to packed houses. Based on the Bangalore mafia of the 80s, this film is as visceral as Ram Gopal Varma’s Satya (“I must have seen this film atleast 80 times”) and yet stays clear of the documentary look and feel in Black Friday.

Humble beginnings

You could call Chaitanya Mr Serendipity. He has never gone after something. Things have always come to him, the moment he wished for one. “You are right, I have never had to try harder for anything,” he admits. One look at his career trail is ample testimony of that. After his master’s in communication from Hyderabad Central University, he got an offer from Channel V to be their executive producer. He rejected it. Instead, he went to work with advertising professional Peter Colaco. The affair lasted only four months. “All I had to do was be in the office from 9-5 and only watch films all day,” he says of those days. “After a while, I got bored because I was being paid for doing nothing.”

And then Girish Karnad approached him (“He was a good friend of my father Marulasiddappa”) to assistant direct his Hindi TV serial to be telecast on DD Metro in 1996. “They were real-life case studies dealt by psychiatrists… from schizophrenic patients to those with an obsessive-compulsive disorder.” Alongside, he was making documentaries, adfilms and corporate films for various clients. And then, he went back to Karnad to direct Kanoonu Heggadati (Mistress of the House of Justice). He also happened to work for CNNindia.com as a tech correspondent before doing feature stories for Surabhi, the then popular cultural programme on Doordarshan. From e-governance in Mandya to computerisation of land records in Ramnagaram (where the film ‘Sholay’ was shot), Chaitanya found himself doing 1-2 stories every week for Surabhi. “When Siddarth Kak (of Surabhi) called me, I thought someone was playing a prank on me, so I replied, ‘And I am Steven Spielberg’. Only later did I realise that a friend of mine had given him my number.”

His international experience

From Karnataka, he moved to London for a good twelve months. His next job was to make a documentary film on South Asians for the National Health Services in the UK. “My job was to track South Asian patients and narrate perfect cancer case studies that were essentially about breaking the bad news. It took me a year to do this 20-minute CD that involved meeting more than 75 patients.”

Chaitanya’s next assignment took his ingenuity to a new level. His job as director of a BBC show was to showcase people in unusual businesses. From the dabbawalas of Mumbai to the management of the Tirupati temple and Sulabh toilets, his canvas stretched the limits of imagination for a programme that was just as aptly titled: Business Bizarre.

Back to his roots

At INTV, it was not just ingenuity but also his power of persuasion that brought Chaitanya an encore. In a programme titled, “Back to the Floor”, his job was to convince eight CEOs from different industries to become an ordinary employee for the day and be captured on film. Some of those who were game to this included Priya Paul of The Park hotel and Capt. GR Gopinath of Deccan Aviation. “Priya had to be a chef for half a day and a housekeeper for the reminder of the day. This meant taking sales calls, cleaning the bathroom and even taking orders for room service.” The hard work paid off. The programme was adjudged the Best Business Programme of 2004 by the jury of Indian Television Awards.

When Cupid struck

Along the way, he married his neighbour Radika Makaram in 1999 after eight years of courtship. Five years later, she gave birth to a daughter. His desire to give his daughter Amita the best environment brought him back to Bangalore where he founded his own production house - Time Code Films. So far, he has directed 1 TV serial and produced 4 under his banner.

How ‘Aa Dinagalu’ came about

It was while he was directing Kichchu (Fire) that things started to work for him in Sandalwood. “The serial wasn’t doing well. That’s when I got a call from Sreedhar (the tabloid editor who is also the producer of Aa Dinagalu). He wanted me to play the role of rowdy Oil Kumar. When he saw me, he said, I didn’t look like a villain. Then he asked me if there was any good person who could direct the film. I suggested Karnad. But Girish said he is too old to do this kind of film and suggested that he look for youngsters instead. Sreedhar took that to mean me and that’s how I became the director of the film. Once my name was finalised, I wound up the TV serial after 120 episodes.”

His journey into Sandalwood wasn’t a cakewalk. It meant two months of going to Sreedhar’s house in Banashankari and sitting on story meetings that started at 2pm and went on till 10pm over endless cups of green tea. He played an important part in casting the actors as well. “I was looking at people whose personality can dissolve into somebody else. A person cannot be a good actor if his self is too strong; it should be fluid.” According to him, some of those who fit into his definition of good actors include Anant Nag, Naseeruddin Shah, Irfan Khan, Brad Pitt and Sean Penn.

So how does he review his own film? “Aa Dinagalu is realist cinema treated as a classic. Every frame conveys a story, including the title.”

(This piece has appeared in the film magazine, South Movies Scenes, where I am an Editorial Advisor )