Aakrosh: Caste... Aside!

By MovieTalkies.com, 15 October 2010 3 / 5

Priyadarshan turns his gaze away from the flippant and tackles a serious issue in 'Aakrosh', his latest film. The film takes a look at the deep rooted issue of honour killings, and in the bargain, exposes an India, which most of living in the cities, are unaware of. This is an India which is riddled by caste wars, corruption and exploitation of women and other weaker sects. Most of these issues also rear their ugly heads in the cities too, but not quite in the brutal manner that they do so in the villages and smaller towns. As a film, 'Aakrosh' is quite hard hitting as it takes a close look at life in the smaller towns of India. The entire film unfolds like a thriller and is extremely well paced, thus making for an engrossing watch. The film begins with the disappearance of three college students from a remote village in the heartland of India. As they are medical students from Delhi, their disappearance sparks off protests, leading the government to depute a special team consisting of a CBI officer and an army major to investigate the case. What starts out as an ordinary investigation turns out to be linked to a love affair between members of two different castes, which sets of a kind of caste war and a spate of killings. The two officers who land in the village to conduct the investigation, find themselves stonewalled by the silence which greets their questions. Anyone who dares to speak out against the perpetrators finds themselves on the other side of death, thus making things very difficult for CBI officer Sidhant Chaturvedi (Akshaye Khanna) and Pratap Singh (Ajay Devgn) to get to the bottom of the affair. Matters are further complicated when Pratap finds out that the wife of the corrupt and brutal local police inspector, Ajatshatru Singh (Paresh Rawal), is none other than his former sweetheart, Geeta (Bipasha Basu). As Pratap and Sidhant get deeper and deeper into the case, they realise that there is a massive cover up operation which is in place, and all the upper cast powerful men of the village are involved in the issue, including the cops, the local politician and the goons. The director seems to have done his homework well as he is manages to bring out the nexus between the rich and the powerful in the village and their own private army called the Shool Sena, fashioned on the lines of the Ranvir Sena in Bihar, which only has upper caste members. Battling the deafening silence which greets their investigation, the two men, deal with it in their own way. While Pratap prefers to use his fists, Sidhant is more sophisticated and prefers to play mind games. They manage to make gradual headway into the case with the help of Geeta and Roshni (Amita Pathak), the daughter of one of the rich and powerful men in the village. Roshni is that vital link to the boys which the investigators were looking for, while it is Geeta's eyewitness account which finally nails the criminals. Priyadarshan uses the honour killings as the prefect backdrop for his expose on the rich and powerful in the villages where caste barriers are still the rule and not the exception. He is to be credited for the manner in which he recreates the ambience and milieu of a village situated somewhere in Uttar Pradesh. Minute attention to details pays off as the film looks and feels authentic. The only sore thumb is the presence of Bipasha, who despite her deglamorised appearance, is still not able to pull it off as a small town girl subjected to constant abuse by her brutal husband. However, the love song between her and Devgn's character seems to pour some colour into the proceedings and provides some relief. The song itself, is a lovely number, and a testimony to music composer Pritam's knack for unconventional melodies. Both Devgn and Akshaye turn in superlative performances as the investigating officers. It is good to see Akshaye in a decent role after such a long while. He prefers to underplay it as usual and is a perfect foil to Devgn. With so many releases this year, 2010 seems to be Devgn's year. His stylised performance in this film is a treat to watch and he delivers yet another power paced performance. Devgn and Akshaye come together after Deewangee and share a very good chemistry on screen. The other performance which really stands out is that of Paresh Rawal. He is just brilliant as the brutal and corrupt police officer. One has generally seen this actor playing such genial and comic roles that it and comes as quite a surprise to see him playing a villain with such flair and conviction. As for the female actors, none of them really have much to do. All three, Bipasha, Amita and Riya Sen, have very small roles as this is basically a male centric film. The film's screenplay unfolds very well and keeps the audiences hooked. The dialogues are natural and have been very smartly written too. The direction is top notch as Priyadarshan reveals his mastery over his craft and his perfect understanding of the demands of his story. With a clear vision in his mind, he is able to execute and direct a movie which is straight, gritty and impactful. In short, 'Aakrosh' makes for an engrossing watch.

Aakrosh: Tuned To Topic

By MovieTalkies.com, 14 October 2010 3 / 5

Director Priyadarshan, who is known in Bollywood primarily for his comedies, goes back to his real forte, which is serious cinema. For those who may have forgotten his credentials, he is the director behind films like 'Viraasat', 'Kalapani' and 'Kanjeevaram' among many others. Before entering the Hindi film industry, Priyadarshan had already created quite a stir in Malayalam films along with his classmate Mohanlal and the duo have collaborated on many films together. After a spate of comedies in Hindi films, following the success of 'Hera Pheri', like 'Bhagam Bhag', 'Malamaal Weekly', 'Dhol', 'Bhool Bhulaiyaa', 'Billu', 'Mere Baap Pehle Aap', 'De Dana Dan' and 'Khatta Meetha', he now turns his gaze on more serious topics like honour killings in 'Aakrosh'. The film which stars Ajay Devgn, Paresh Rawal, Akshaye Khanna and Bipasha Basu, is ready for release and so is its music. The film's music has been composed by Pritam and the lyrics have been penned by Irshad Kamil. The music album of 'Aakrosh' has five original numbers, a couple of remixes and an encore. Since this is an issue based film, one does not expect much from the music department, but Pritam lives to surprise. The album opens with the 'isak se meetha' number which occurs thrice. Sung by Kalpana Patowary and Ajay Jhingran, this is the quintessential 'item number' and probably much is expected from this number, which featured in the first promos of the movie. Well, to give it credit, 'isak se meetha' is a catchy number and has just the right amount of earthiness. The singers too do a good job but the number does not rise beyond the pleasant. It lacks the punch of a 'munni badnaam hui', which is making waves and how! But since this is the only number in the album which could garner popular support and appeal, the number occurs twice more, as a remix and as a 'dhol' mix. The mood changes dramatically with the next number, 'saude bazi' which occurs twice in the album. The first version has been sung by Anupam Amod while Javed Ali sings the 'encore' version. One has to hand it to Pritam, the ease with which he moves from the ordinary to the profound. This romantic number has an extremely catchy tune and could get quite addictive with repeated hearing. The beauty of this number is the simplicity of its lyrics and its music. As for the singers, Anupam gets a golden opportunity to sing a solo number and he makes the most of it. Javed's number is just as good and one is hard pressed to decide who sounds better. With the next number, 'man ki mat', Pritam goes back to his Bengali roots and comes up with a melody which is so reminiscent of rural Bengal and its travelling minstrels, a source of inspiration for so many Hindi film composers down the ages. The song has been sung by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, who moves away from his Sufi style to try something which is more folk based and does an excellent job with the number. The next number on the album is 'sasural munia' which has been sung by Shreya Ghoshal. The number may pack in a lot of excitement in the manner in which it is picturised, but it lacks spark. Shreya tries her level best to keep the proceedings bright and cheerful but the tune is not tempting enough. The final track in the album is called 'ramkatha' and has been sung by Sukhwinder Singh. The film narrates an incident from the Ramayana, which deals with Ram, Sita and the villain, Raavan. As the film has a rural setting, Sukhwinder's voice and style of rendition is a complete fit for the number. The music is simple but one wonders about the appeal of such a number. It is not pure folk nor pure devotional, hence its appeal is likely to be quite limited. Pritam does a fairly decent job with the music of 'Aakrosh', which could not have been an easy task as the film is issue based. Of course, he manages to create as much variety as possible by pitching in a love song, an 'item number' and a folk song into the film's music. He excels with the first three numbers, making this quite an interesting album to pick up and hear. But what this album lacks is a chartbuster, something one generally expects out of Pritam. On that count, the album is a bit of a letdown. But, overall, the music of 'Aakrosh' makes for quite a decent hearing.

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