Kaminey: The good and the evil

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Devleena De

24 October, 2009

Surprisingly, a filmmaker of the caliber of Vishal Bhardwaj, who is known for his unconventional films and elaborate portrayals of grey characters, picked up a script as extraordinary as that of Kaminey and yet failed to deliver.

“OF THE good in you I can speak but not of the evil for what is evil but good tortured by its own hunger and thirst,” said Khalil Gibran in his poem ‘Good and Evil’ and if there could be a cinematic rendition of this one statement then it would have to be through Kaminey.

The karmic concept of yin and yang has always fascinated filmmakers through the transitional phase of Indian films and years later after Bollywood has finally carved its niche among the global audience, the idea of the legendary victory of good over evil continues to be the safest bet. Surprisingly, a filmmaker of the calibre of Vishal Bharadwaj, who is known for his unconventional films and elaborate portrayals of grey characters, picked up a script as extraordinary as this and yet failed to deliver.

Based on an idea by a Kenyan writer named Cajetan Boy, Bharadwaj’s latest directorial venture Kaminey uses the conventional formula of identical twins: each an epitome of good or bad as product of circumstances that shaped their childhood. While one brother turns out into a benevolent and naive NGO activist, the other grows up to be a shrewd race-course bookie, yet in the course of the film these characteristic roles are swapped, and the good resorts to evil and vice versa.

The film revolves around a guitar and drug trafficking but adroitly addresses the rampant issue of regional politics in Maharashtra. Add to that a midnight marriage sequence and a dance number which sees Priyanka Chopra in one of her finest performances as a typical Marathi mulgi who happens to be the sister of the rugged local politician, and success is guaranteed. Well almost guaranteed.

Possibly the only thing that went wrong with Kaminey was it avant-garde cinematography, which evidently Bharadwaj and Tassaduq Hussain put a lot of thought into, judging by its surreal low luminous lighting and racy jerky camera work. The whole visual aesthetics of the film is very different and the deliberately rough camera movement, amidst uncanny familiar settings of old mills, local trains and dingy by lanes tells its own thespian tale better than the script does.

It is debatable whether the use of hand held, mostly out of focus shots through the entire duration of the film actually manages to convey the story teller’s perspective instead of making the viewer lose track of the cast’s antics. One of the biggest problems with the film is its spectacular start, which sets a parameter for rest of the course of the film but the screenplay eventually loses sight of middles and ends on the path of exposition-development-climax-resolution-denouement and ends up following a non-linear recital.

Yet Kaminey has managed to garner a considerably large share of fan following and even the sceptical section of the audience wouldn’t be able to deny that the film is an extraordinary film, a first of its kind which succeeds in using the element of humour, political satire and psychosis of gangsters in an ambience as dark as this. Bharadwaj made it very clear during the promotion of the film that it was very different from his previous work and was bound to raise eyebrows. Yet the film managed to do the unthinkable: acquire rave reviews from the critics as well as entertain the masses. Some loyalists would go so far as to tout Kaminey as the best film of 2009.

Shahid Kapoor undoubtedly has to be one to the biggest reasons for watching the film if not the exoticness of a Bharadwaj creation. It is absolutely delightful to watch him lisp as Charlie and stutter as Guddu with such perfection, thereby elucidating why the dialogue, “Fhort Kut Ya Chota Fhort Kut” has already earned cult status.

But try as he might he fails to deceive the audience as the bad guy even in such an uncouth menacing role and the audience ends up feeling sympathetic towards him. The film also scores for its impeccable slapstick comic timing and dialogue delivery for lines like, “Fawere Fawere chaira dekh lo faale ka, fham tak mayiat pakki; Fa ko Fa nahi to kya Li bolega,” and many more.

There are no complaints musically either since the film has made half the country tap its foot to its interestingly choreographed dance numbers. Gulzar will always be Gulzar and the soulful title track could not have been any better without his lyrics. On the whole, Kaminey was a good attempt despite the debatable cinematic style and certainly makes for an interesting watch for both the right and wrong reasons.

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COMMENTS (1)

mandira

.Charlie character was meant to gain sympathy as Bhardway has deliberatley potrayed the character to have grey shades and not just dark. Chralie was the guy who lost his dad, despite wanting to follow the right path he follows the wrong path. He is shown as the child of a good man and hence not the total nasty guy. Despite havving a dark edge, he is meant to be a guy who has some ethics and has his own set of right and wrong and is ot capable of being totally crazy. Hence, I really think that Shahid managed to get the Charlie perfectly right. He was not meant to be completely evil.