Manorama - 6 Feet Under

Let me go out on a limb right at the start and say that I loved this movie to bits. To think that it will find universal appeal will be foolish.

Summary
The story is based in a hot, drought-hit sleepy town called Lakhot in Rajasthan.
Satyaveer Singh Randhawa (Abhay Deol in a great understated performance) is a junior engineer who is on suspension; charged with taking bribes.
He lives a mundane life with a nagging wife Nimmi (Gul Panag, underutilized but making her presence felt) and a precocious kid Raju.
His real ambition was to be a famous writer; an ambition that died a slow death with the dismal response to his debut pulp novel Manorama featuring a detective called Raghu.
Into this bored to death life drops a female who calls herself Manorama (Sarika, looking older than in her last outing). She is on the lookout for a detective; and since the town doesn't have one to offer, she feels the next best thing would be a writer who wrote a detective novel.
She provides him an assignment which involves spying on a minister and taking his pictures in a compromised position.
What seems a simple task turns out to be a dangerous one as Sarika turns up dead, mowed down by a truck.
Dedicated to get to the bottom of this, Abhay turns himself into his alter ego of Detective Raghu and starts investigating the case.
Nothing is as it seems, as bodies turn up unexpectedly and a twist comes up every few reels.
Abhay also gets bashed by two goons, who keep on following him.
Involved in all the goings-on are Abhay's brother-in-law Sub Inspector Brij Mohan (Vinay Pathak, with a role cut short seemingly on the editing table), Sarika's roommate Sheetal (Raima Sen, wide eyes with riddles written all over them) and minister P.P. Rathore (Kulbhushan Kharbanda; he of the gravelly voice and perennially pragmatic mindset).
The movie moves around at a very languid pace, using the time for putting in red herrings and peeling off layers upon layers at regular intervals.
The climax comes as a silent explosion, without any histrionics and leaves you with the after-taste of a story well told.

Actors
Abhay Deol is turning into the next door simple guy, who doesn't need to go in for exaggerated mannerisms to embellish his acting in any way. He carries the film on his shoulders and does a great job of it.
Vinay Pathak does a nice job as usual, but we feel shortchanged when he doesn't appear for a long time in the second half.
Gul Panag plays her feisty character well and you can almost feel and dread her caustic comments before they come. Raima Sen does an able job of being the mystery woman.
Kulbhushan Kharbanda hasn't lost any of his charisma and stature, as he shows with this movie. His drastic personality changes make you want to see more of this great performer in Hindi films.

Technique
Debutant director Navdeep Singh shows a unique ability to transport you into the frames of the movie. You often end up licking your parched lips just seeing the frames of the desert unfold before you. The pace is slow but relentless, all the better for making a thinking man's thriller.
He surely hasn't targeted the movie at the mass audience, and it shows in the mature handling of the various threads.
Navdeep shares the writing credits with Devika Bhagat, and the story shows deep influences of Roman Polanski's Chinatown (I must mention here that I did not place the connection for a long time after the movie and was pointed in that direction by a friend of mine. I had seen Chinatown a good 8-10 years ago in my childhood, and had no solid memories of it; not being an avid movie buff at that time. The reference made me see it again, and the huge inspirations used in this story are evident).
Dialogues by Abhinav Kashyap and Manoj Tapadia are flawless, curt and memorable.
Arvind Kannabiran's cinematography is as much responsible for the authentic experience as Navdeep Singh's direction. The desert looks enticing, enigmatic and dangerous, all at the same time. The effective use of light and shadows (multi-hued lights in the fish tank, sunlight coming in through latticed walls) makes subtle comments visually.

Trivia

1. Navdeep Singh comes from the world of advertising and has studied film making at the Art Center College of Design at Pasadena. He has a large number of award winning ads to his name. His ad projects include Maruti Alto, Garnier, Lux, Parlé Hiden-n-Seek and MTV.
2. Abhay Deol has been friends with the director since Navdeep came back to India. They thought they shared the same sense of script and humor. Even though this was the case, Abhay was not considered originally for the lead role in this movie as Navdeep thought he would not be able to carry off the role of a small-town guy. Also, the character was supposed to be older and more mature undergoing a semi-mid-life crisis.
   
3. Navdeep doffs his hat to his inspiration Chinatown in a scene which is misplaced. Abhay Deol is seen watching the famous You're a very nosy fellow kitty cat. Huh? You know what happens to nosy fellows? scene where director Roman Polaski has a cameo as the goon.
4. The first day of shooting for this film coincided with Gul Panag's birthday, and the crew had a nice bash arranged for her.
5. The cinematographer Arvind Kannabiran has earlier shot My Brother Nikhil, and also worked on quite a few ad projects with Navdeep. Interestingly, the other release of this week: Loins of Punjab Presents also has cinematography by Arvind Kannabiran.
6. Director Navdeep Singh hasn't decided on his next project, but he would like to make a movie on ghosts to show the existence of the supernatural.
7. This was not the first feature film Navdeep wanted to make. There was an earlier script called Chasing Rainbows that he had tried to sell to producers for a few years. It was a more expensive script to produce and the standard response was to bring in a few stars to make it feasible. It revolved around three interconnected characters who realize that sometimes life gives you second chances.
   After Yuva flopped, the minimal interest people had in this script too vanished, as it was thought that multiple, connecting stories don’t work in Hindi films.
8. The entire shoot was carried out in 48 days, which was 3 days over the scheduled 45 days. The delay was mostly due to the unseasonable rain in Rajasthan and freezing cold; which by the way, is why you will see Gul Panag wearing sweaters throughout the movie.
9. The movie was to be originally produced by RedIce films, but they were not available to provide for the minimal budget that Navdeep insisted on. So the script was then taken to Shemaaroo films, who agreed to make it. RedIce films have earlier produced movies like Yahaan, Samay and Mera Pehla Pehla Pyaar (MP3).
10. Irfan Khan had agreed to do the project when RedIce were producing. But suddenly the producers decided to cut their budget in half. This is the time when Abhay came over to Navdeep and mentioned that Shemaroo wanted to make a movie with Abhay, but did not have a script or director in mind. He asked if Navdeep would like to do Manorama with them; and things fell in place.
11. ‘Uljhan’, ‘Bhoolbhulaiyan’, ‘Jal bin machhli’ were the titles the producers wanted to use. The script was originally just ‘Manorama’. The problem with that was: everyone thought of it was a women oriented subject and that’s a direct no-money deal in Bombay film circles. It was Abhay who suggested the ‘six feet under’ when he was not even attached to the project.

Verdict
Go with an open opinion and relaxed mind. Let the movie work it's magic over you in it's two and a half hour length. After all, as the popular tag-line of a brewed coffee went: Real pleasure does not come in an instant.

Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag

What was I thinking when I ventured into the movie theater, taking with me two colleagues (who I knew would skin me alive, boil my remains and pour salt all over me; all on the next day itself, if the movie was anything less than entertaining) and sauntering in with a nonchalant look on my face. My fears were confirmed in the first scene itself, when my partners in crime started looking menacingly at me.

Summary
Since RGV expects you to be well versed with the original Sholay before you step into the hall, he doesn't seem to have considered any build-up necessary for the characters.
So you are saddled with two out of work guys; Heero (Ajay Devgan, with a bad hairstyle and a worse attitude) and Raj (Prashant Raj, not as bad as imagined) who have come over to Mumbai to seek employment.
They end up helping inspector Narsimha (Mohanlal, with a thick accent and a thicker beard) catch a few goons, and in the process get in his good books. After a brief jail stint for them, Mohanlal calls them over to help him get rid of Babban (Amitabh Bachchan in a role more wacky than the one in Boom, and looking and sounding more psychotic than in that outing; if that's possible).
Amitabh is eager to lay his hands on a prime piece of sea-facing land called Kaliganj, with an over the top bunch of characters ranging from an the shrieky Rasika Joshi as Gangu Mummy to Virendra Saxena doing a Naqvi Saab to Ravi Kale's Pradhan.
Since a linear narrative doesn't do much for the film, let me just provide a collage of scenes, which you can paste around in any order to get the same confused effect.

• Ajay Devgan goes on with the famous suicide scene long after our patience has ended and we so wish someone would push him into the well as he doesn't seem too eager to pull the trigger.
• Prashant Raj dies in a scene few millenniums after we had already started wishing for his early death.
• In a gory scene, Amitabh saws off Mohanlal's fingers leaving him with a pitiable 'Look Ma, no Hands' expression throughout the movie.
  The rest of the movie consists of RGV doing the same sawing action on our frayed nerves with a rusty saw which squeaks and shrieks all the way down.
• Amitabh doing a strange Jim Carrey (as Riddler in Batman Forever) inspired dance when he finds his trusted aide Tambhe dying.
  
• Badly shot action scenes in a studio; a few runarounds in an old mill and Amitabh hobbling around in his den (which reminds you of a junk goods shop).
• Deeply thoughtful and philosophical messages sent to and fro with dead bodies which read:
  Remark: Main Gandhi nahi hoon
  Riposte: Hum bhi Gandhi nahi hain!
• A modified Russian roulette with goons who have been bashed by Ajay Devgan and Prashant Raj
  

Did I forget something (blame it on the little rest I have had due to the recurrent nightmares I got after seeing this movie); oh yes, Nisha Kothari strutting her stuff around (we mostly get to see her butt due to RGVs fetishes) and Sushmita Sen with her head covered moving around in loud silences (wish she had covered her face too, to escape the charge of acting in this monstrosity).
Our grief ends with the killing of Amitabh with a cleaver in his back; though I am still unclear on who killed him (understandable due to the dark frames and crazy camera angles). I did not have the heart or the idiocy to wake up anyone to ask them this question, and tiptoed my way out of the auditorium to save my life from vengeful friends with elephantine memories.

Actors
Amitabh Bachchan looks like a cross between a beggar with an army background and a school-kid with a temper problem. This is probably his worst get-up in any movie yet, but somehow, he still manages to infuse a manic reality to his character. The only problem is that the coldblooded, ruthless and menacing Gabbar of Sholay has been replaced with a psychotic, blabbering maniac who mumbles occasionally when he runs out of inane dialogues and blows spittle and air through his lips to make his opponents shudder.
Mohanlal as a grizzly bear with unkempt fur seems to be in the wrong movie for all the wrong reasons. He has nothing much to do but to drink coffee holding a cup in his palms and roll his eyes with fury every once in a while (since he can't use his hands while acting as he usually likes to do).
Ajay Devgan is miscast. We wish we could slap him for attempting slapstick, which is not his forté. He seriously needs to reinvent himself, as his silent brooding look is overdone too.
Prashant Raj is someone who would have been vilified if the movie was worth anything; but in the absence of any stellar performances, his attitude stands out. He is way better than what I had imagined him to be.
Nisha Kothari hasn't grown up, and neither has RGV while featuring her anatomy.
Sushmita Sen doesn't have much of a role to talk of, and Rajpal Yadav is irritating to the core with a screechy voice which goes on like a bad record.

Technique
Ram Gopal Varma totally loses it in this movie. This is probably the worst movie he has made, even surpassing his remake of Shiva to gain the coveted title of worst movie of 2006-07.
He was the guy who broke all formulas; who brought in a breath of fresh air to staid old Hindi cinema. It's with regret that we see the slide into stupidity of our favorite director. This was the proverbial 100th mistake of our Shishupala, which we cannot forgive. We had long ago promised to excuse his sorry movies taking into account the brilliant Satya, Company et al. He has used up all of that credit, and needs to beware of our wrath now.
The dim lighting, tilted camera angles, scant regard for script, unusual framing, all of it has dissolved into another formula which he needs to break out of; before we dare venture into any of his films again.
The cinematography by Amit Roy seems good technically, but leaves the viewer dizzy.
Dialogues by Sajid-Farhad are idiotic and constitute the worst part of the enterprise. The writer Raahil Qazi seems to have had the easiest job, since there seems to be no effort whatsoever in that department.
Background music by Amar Mohile is shrill. The songs, barring the Mehbooba number are plain bad. The picturisation of the Mehbooba number leaves one wondering if RGV thought Mehbooba refers to an anatomical part.


Trivia

1. Earlier the movie was titled Ram Gopal Varma Ke Aag. Someone with basic knowledge of Hindi must have pointed out the error to RGV and it was changed immediately.
2. The working title for the movie was Ram Gopal Varma Ke Sholay, but was later changed to Aag. This is the first time in the Hindi movie industry that a director's name has been included in the movie title; so much for modesty.
3. Katrina Kaif was originally shortlisted to play the role later played by Sushmita. RGV made some changes to the script (??? rather make that: He lost his script scribbled on a paper napkin) and zeroed in on Sushmita for the role.
4. Abhishek was originally penciled in to play the role of Veeru, and RGV find Mohit Ahlawat was to play Jai. Abhishek stepped out citing date problems and Mohit had a fight with the director, making him search some more guinea pigs.
5. Himesh Reshammiya was supposed to sing the Mehbooba song in this movie, but he had other thoughts. He used the song in his own movie, Aap Ka Suroor and left RGV high and dry. Asha Bhonsle was to do the song too, but the final version of the film credits Sunidhi Chauhan.
6. Bappi Lahiri too had recorded two songs for the film, which were not retained.
7. Amitabh had tried hard to convince Ramesh Sippy (the maker of the original Sholay) to allow him to play Gabbar Singh in the original. Ramesh did not agree, but Amitabh got to fulfill his wish in this movie.
8. For a long time, Dharmendra wanted to remake Sholay with Bobby Deol and Abhishek Bachchan playing the roles immortalized by their fathers in the original.
   
9. Prashant Raj was the first runner-up in the Grasim Mr India 2004 contest.
10. The movie has two actors from the original Sholay, Amitabh Bachchan as Babban, and Sachin (who had played Ahmed, to Hangal's Imaam Saheb) as his brother (a character not present in the original).
11. Manoj Bajpai and Suniel Shetty were offered the role of Tambhe (Samba in the original) later played by Sushant Singh.

Verdict
Strictly avoid under pain of torturous death. I am still hiding from my friends and running around in disguise (Amitabh has given me a few ideas in that department with this movie).
Will post my next review if I manage to save myself from my ex-friends/sworn enemies.