Aarakshan - Quite Easily Dismissed (Q.E.D) PART II

Aarakshan (2011) PART II

(Part I - the post below)

Moving forward, the ‘evil’ people succeed in their little (evil) plot to get Prabhakar to resign and take over the college and turn it into a money making, ass licking institution. But they don’t stop there (since when did they have a personal vendetta against Prabhakar Anand? Sad to say, I don’t have an answer to this either…side note – this film is making me feel stupid), Mithilesh Singh has managed to get the family that Prabhakar helped (rack your brains back to those whirlwind of the first 15 minutes) to turn on him. He has opened his coaching centre in the house Prabhakar loaned to them and because of the bank guarantee being involved is legally allowed to have that place for two years. No explanation has been provided for this turn of events.

Cut to the Anand family moving into a hotel where Prabhakar refuses any kind of help from friends and is admonished by an emotionally charged Poorvi who accuses him of being too holy for his own sake, the only sensible moment in the film. And it is done pretty great by Amitabh and Deepika (with Amitabh hardly having any dialogues…the eyes and the body do all the talking). And it is here that you realize two things – a. Deepika is finally showing some form of talent which is pretty great. She looks great and if she can get herself to act…whats better than that? and b. Tanvi Azmi as Anand’s wife gives a disappointing performance. She is like a ruler. No bending, no emotions.

Now, finally we are taken back to Saif (Deepak) who had left for America (having been accepted into some university in what respect…I have forgotten or perhaps it wasn’t mentioned) following the furious exchange of words with Prabhakar and consequent break up with Deepika (Poorvi). It is perhaps the most hilarious moment in the film (it isn’t meant to be so) when Deepak is sitting with this white guy in some university of USA and discussing his work and relating how great Prabhakar is (ummm…what? Didn’t you just accuse him of being a casteist?) does he get to know what has happened (thanks to Yahoo! India…don’t ask me how that opened as the yahoo mail page for an American in America…or maybe it was the US version only which would still be strange because what was the news of a principal being sacked in a private Indian university, something which the chief minister of the particular state will confess ignorance of later on, doing on front page Yahoo! USA?).Deepak surprises Poorvi by returning home and pledging support…Once again inexplicable change of character feelings happens with Sushant suddenly turning over a new leaf (that is reverting back to his original, but improved, self and burying the hatchets, the origin of which are still largely unexplained, with both Poorvi and Deepak) and the director realizes that he should work towards some sort of conclusion.

Hence, what seems like a scene being lifted from Viruddh, Amitabh Bachchan decides to enact out a scheme which is basically starting a free and fair rival institute just opposite his house (which has been taken over by KK coaching classes) with his students being the poor children living in the tabela (stable) owned by a faithful servant (Yashpal Sharma as Shambhu gives a charming performance). Lo and behold, the numbers grow and people join in to help him out – Deepak, Sushant, Poorvi etc and finally he has succeeded in creating a major nuisance for KK coaching classes and his detractors (why they are STILL his detractors after getting him out of STM and running it as they see fit, I know not).

The film in its ending tries to ape the revolution feel and treatment as say in Lagaan, the Munnabhai series, Chak de India, Rang de Basanti but fails miserable because of its nonsensical storytelling and basic lack of plot, not to mention contrived situations and sequences. Therefore, as the good doers stand in a huge crowd and stare obstinately in the face of evil, you feel irritated and frustrated and basically tired out of your mind and not energized, adrenaline rushed, bright eyed as you should.

The situation by the climax scene has gone absolutely haywire. Mithilesh Singh has actually lost his mind and can be seen dancing around in fury in full public view, screaming out orders at the police force to demolish the tabela classes (that’s what it is called and no, I am not joking. Sadly) who by now has lost every semblance of credibility. This is not it though because Mithilesh Singh snaps out his blackberry and calls up the State education minister (a typecast Saurabh Shukla) and they both start yakking out all of their ill intentions in full public view.

In walks, out of nowhere, Hema Malini – the woman who owns STM who until now had retired into the forests to live the life of an ascetic – and calls up the chief minister (who confesses ignorance of the entire thing…seriously?! It was in the news as shown extensively in the movie!) and basically puts everything right…which we know because in the next scene everything appears to be alright with Prabhakar being appointed principle for life of a remedial institute for poor and weak students.
There is absolutely no, and I mean NO, indication of whatever may have happened to Mithilesh Singh, the tainted ministers, the evil trustees, the strange policeman etc etc. They are simply forgotten.

Where is reservation in this?

Exactly.

Coming to the finer points of film making…nothing good to report here either. The dialogues are contrived, uninspired and forced and so is the dialogue delivery. The dialogues seem to have been written with the sole purpose of being punch lines and that never helps and are further ruined completely drab dialogue delivery (for instance the much publicized exchange of words between Deepak and Mithilesh…in a canteen full of students, I might add).

The acting, as said before, is done only by Amitabh Bahchan (whose eyes seem to have mastered every emotion) and Manoj Bajpai. Deepika Padukone springs a surprise, a sweet one. Tanvi Azmi is disappointing and Saif is well just there. But the most surprising is the performance given by Prateik…and not in a good way. I had high expectations from him which tanked beyond trace. He is uncomfortable and does nothing to hide it. You can see the workings of his mind in each scene…like when he walks, you can see his mind going “One two. One two. One two” or when he talks, you can feel his mind going “Start. Pause. Next. Stop.” and that’s never a good thing. His character is bad, but so is everyone else’s, and he does nothing to save it which can probably be attributed to the him being extremely new and the fact that he has done good work in other films like Jaane tu ya jaane na and Dhobhi Ghat makes me think that the fault lies with the director. There seems to be nothing happening between them – no chemistry between a director and his actor with the result being an awful performance.

The camera work is once again drab, even by the standards of today which largely holds no poetry but still believes in exhibiting some form of skill. Here nothing happens. Its like a box shooting…you give a steady and generally aware of what its doing hand a camera and ask him to shoot in a circle and use no sort of creativity at all. At least that’s what I felt as a viewer who has no particular training into this stuff but is speaking from what appeals to the eyes and to the brain and to the heart. Here it is general and not really worth talking. Same goes with the musical score, which save for one song (‘Saans albeli’ sung by Pandit Channulal Mishra) is forgettable to say in the very least.

What is the most disappointing in this kind of cinema is the pretention it comes with – of being an intellectually charged film with a proper issue at its helm. Pure bull crap. This film is not it, AT ALL. I watched 40 minutes of Bodyguard in the afternoon of the same day and honestly I felt much better at the end of that then this! Why? Because it came with no pretentions. It was supposed to be a brainless brawny Salman Khan senseless movie and it delivered just that unlike this ‘intellectual issue based’ film. I have seen two movies of Prakash Jha – Rajneeti and Arakshan – and I cant say that I am too happy…I mean how is it possible to turn a mix of Mahabharata and Godfather into a drab, annoying experience? There is obviously something very wrong but because I haven’t seen his other work, I shall reserve my judgment here.

Coming back to Aarakshan, it can be described in three words (the short form taken from the movie itself, one of the favourite expressions of Prabhakar Anand as a teacher, but with the long form being tweaked to suit my view of the film) : QED – Quite Easily Dismissed.

Cheers
Ritambhara aka Rae aka RitambharaA