RANGOON: The Review
Rangoon looked a special movie in many ways. Not that I watched the promo interviews or so...the things that actually attracted me were the artists- Shahid & Saif Ali Khan returning to Vishal Bhardwaj after lovely performances as Haider & Langda Tyagi and Kangana has anyways been a treat to watch after Tanu weds Manu. She’s really become an effortless artist sans histrionics to grab eyeballs. Songs like 'ye ishq hai' & 'alvida' sounded like cult Gulzar songs and after the Rabindranath Tagore translation & Mirzya, I truly felt Vishal Bhardwaj was the Shams Tabrezi who brought out the Rumi back in Gulzar. Well, but that was about the expectations, now about the movie.
You know I’ve this thing about writing reviews that I cant write reviews for all movies equally enthusiastically. Some movies put you on the thinking mode and some don’t. Raees was entertaining but couldn’t get you thinking, whereas an Aligarh, a Haider or a Dangal does. Rangoon also does that to me but in a limited way. I wish it had done more to me because for me, that’s the real test of a movie, a book, a poem or any thing of beauty. An experience of it sends you on an inner journey of thought process and you get involved.
Rangoon is a period drama, 'Love in the times of Cholera' kinda movie shot mostly in Arunachal Pradesh. As it’s important in a period drama, Dolly Ahluwalia costumes are good and create the ambience, the locales are outstanding. Arunachal has to be visited after watching this movie, all thanks to the cinematographer Pankaj Kumar who captures the scenes very picturesquely. The year shown in the movie is around 1943 during World War II when Quit India movement was on its peak in India and Subhash Chandra Bose and Indian National Army(INA) were trying in their own way to fight the battle against the British. But as the ideology of both these camps and stand towards Hitler were different, misunderstandings in the mind of the common man were high especially against INA. Vishal Bhardwaj does one good thing here, makes INA the background of the story. Much had been said about Mahatma Gandhi and his struggle for independence through movies, very less about INA. It is important that we get acquainted with this part of history too. Among the three main characters, Shahid Kapoor is the one representing INA in the movie as Nawab Mallik who seemingly works for the British but owes his loyalty to INA. Kangana is a theatre cum movie artist, Julia, a character supposedly inspired by the fearless Nadia of movies nearly at the same time. Though the filmmakers have denied it, you see a striking resemblance between the two in terms of stunts and costumes too. Saif Ali Khan plays Rusi Billimoria, a Parsi film producer. It seems the character takes its root from the Parsi theatre groups very popular in those times who had shifted to the business of film-making.
Vishal Bhardwaj has this difficult job of juxtaposing a passionate love story with the background of World War & independence struggle. He tries doing that well but not so well that the fragments don’t show. Somehow there are times when you see a passionate love story building up and just when you were getting into the groove of it, the shift changes. I wish in the scenes between Shahid & Kangana, more passion would come out and their relationship was explored a little more. It would have established the transformation in Julia’s character better at the end. The same with Saif, his transformation too comes abruptly in the climax and actually I could hear giggles in the hall...it looks a bit comical and a Hindi movie type cliche.
But having said all that about the plot, I have to applaud the main actors. I mean, these are three actors outstanding in their performances, each representing a different shade & world through them. First Kangana...this one now is in such a zone as an actor where she is extremely comfortable & natural at her craft. You know like all the great ones- carries off romance, deep emotions like pain, action & comedy all with equal elan. Her comfort level at acting is at another level now. She is literally Julia...the dumb kiddo with subtle shades of defiance for self- actualisation. Shahid is the reason that affects events & characters in the film. Be it as a young man Julia falls passionately in love with or be it as an INA captain...he turns the course of events. As a passionate lover, I really wanted some more reaction from him as a lover, though as a revolutionary his character is more well-sketched. He represents the macro or the higher level. In the scene where Julia asks him if there was anything more important than one’s own self, he answers- " Wo jiske liye mara ja sake". It’s not the love for a lover he is talking about...it can be a philosophy, the nation or truth he is talking about. It is the higher love for anything. Shahid stands for that love in the movie and does a good job of it...putting the cause above the personal. It’s a role which required restrained expression & outburst and he successfully overcomes this difficult hurdle. The scene where he shouts at Julia to not return to him and to fulfil her duty to the country is his best in my opinion. Coming to Saif, after Humshakl Vishal restores back some of his lost glory. He is a controlling lover, a lover who cant forget the fact that he has created the star Julia, yet knows the love in his heart is for real. The scene where he sees Shahid & Kangana returning hand in hand and he comprehends their physical love the quiet anger & pain he expresses through his face & eyes is his most remarkable scene. He has been given a character true to his real self and he carries the royalty of the character flawlessly. Must say, the choice of actors was perfect.
Now certain first timers that I loved in the film. First, though religion has not been made the highlight in the movie, all the three main characters are from the minority community. Secondly, I loved the first time ever heroine doing stunt & saving the hero in distress. Wow! Other film-makers should try it, looks a real whistling moment! In the times when 'nationalism' has become a cheap brand, we see a movie on nationalism that shows it as a personal commitment, a cause higher than personal selfish jingoism. Loved the Rabindranath Tagore’s unedited pre-independence version of the national anthem...you gotta stand for the vision and the idea of the anthem not just literally stand for it. For cliches, the climax comes out as one. It seems, when you take three big stars, you gotta balance the climax to suit all of them. Another cliche is General Harding’s Urdu in British accent! Why is it supposed to be funny in Bollywood movies all the time when an Angrez speaks Hindi? Beautiful Ghalib asha’ar go wasted because they evoke laughter more than appreciation. Songs are good especially 'ye ishq hai' & 'alvida’...Gulzar is back with the album. 'Jhugli jhinak jhain' brings a smile as it reminds of Mowgli days on DD. Vishal knows his craft but after a Haider where he weaves Kashmir issue so finely with Hamlet, so much that even graveyard scene and 'to be or not to be' were not lost in Hindi, Rangoon falls short of that finesse. Though still it is quite a good enough dish in times of 'Ae dil hai Mushkil' and 'Befikre’. Vishal is committed to good cinema is all that I can say and it shows in his work. And that must be applauded in an era, where we have no Gulzars making films.
I give the movie 4 stars out of 5. Go watch it to keep good cinema & efforts to keep good cinema alive.
