Reviews

Aakrosh presents multiple characters that reveal themselves to us by being a representative of the things that they belong to like their caste, economic and social status, political inclinations, and personal ideologies. Bhikhu Lahanya's memories tell his story. He is a mute. Even in his thoughts, he remembers himself as some animal that understands the abyss between and is enraged at the brutalities of the higher castes. This film is about an individual against all, as everyone else seems to plan and turn against the one who takes a stand, be it Bhikhu or Advocate Bhaskar or the social worker. Our system inherently works faster for nexus of some influential people than for a common person. Lahanya is immediately apprehended for a crime and his rage is clear under the light of the burning pyre (often in the film similar close-up shots of his mute yet brooding face represent the anger and helplessness of a lower caste poor man). In the opening shots we see layers of stories that will run through this film going by separately, the lone stroll of the judge and his from upon seeing Bhaskar with his youthfulness and spirits, and Advocate Dushane and Bhaskar's walk in the courtroom alley where Lahanya and his family stand. The film can be called a courtroom drama that follows the case outside the boundaries of the courtroom because things happening to the people involved in the case were much more revealing than the proceedings of the case itself, as also we are revealed the truth of the whole incident outside and what we see during the trial only tries to lead up to what we already know but has to be arrived upon with witnesses and proofs that a court agrees upon as evidence (revealing another complexity of the justice system where evidence triumphs over clear common sense). We get a feel that the way Bhaskars character develops is by showing his reactions to the circumstances he finds himself in and his only choice was fighting the case for victory initially in his career but his later conversations with Dushane reveal his idealistic nature. Dushane though a powerful character in terms of his profession and connections finds himself contributing to the range of problems faced by the likes of Lahanya because of his lower caste. Dushane is also a kind of link between the nexus of card playing criminals and idealist Bhaskar. When Lahanya burns his father's body, I felt that the film has concluded from one death to another but the following scenes serve to another level of depth of despair to the whole situation by showing Lahanya's evident hopelessness and justice systems paralysis of helplessness.

Raanjhanaa shows a tragic tale of love which begins on the streets of Banaras in the heart of little Kundun childishly sprouting at the sight of a girl during her prayers. This was not a mere childhood infatuation and turns out to be a lifelong unquenched desire for Kundun who is ready to go to any extremes for the fulfillment of it.

1. Stalk, Love and Grief

Kundun stalks Zoya across the town, in her school, on the terrace, in the markets and almost anywhere you can imagine and the shots where she notices him creates an obvious question as to what her reaction on all of this is. This is not left to much guessing as Kundun confronts her by holding her hand and confessing his love. Zoya's reaction i.e. slapping and laughing is not very clear but clearly she is enjoying all this attention. But 16 slaps later when the 9th grader slips her hand inside the shirt of her prospective lover only to discover his religion her consciousness comes knocking to make her realize of the communal divide between them, this gives a felling that the film is going to be about how religion divides two lovers and its going to be pretty predictable but the film builds upon more serious questions about love in general and mutual compatibility in particular. Kundun in his childishness slashes his wrists and ends up winning the girl on the backseat of an auto-rickshaw. Zoya is reported at home and is sent off to her relatives leaving Kundun hanging on brief memories of the little love that they shared. The final shot when Kundun follows Zoya's train and she looks at him while he promises to wait for her creates the similar doubt in our minds of the future when she returns.

2. Love Lost

Zoya returns and everything about her is changed. She doesn't even remember her childhood lover. This part of the film is particularly interesting as it builds up the relation between Zoya and Kundun. Kundun is the same, has lived in the same place, among the same friends and still the same child that fell for Zoya 9 years back and he confirms this by again slashing his wrists when he discovers about Zoya's college love but Zoya is all grown up now and she doesn't hug him this time confessing her love but calls his actions stupid and intolerable. Kundun agrees to help her get married to Jaswant aka Akram but promises a kind of revenge on her by marrying someone else on the same day. This is not digestible as Kundun can clearly see that Zoya doesn't even care. Kundun's intention are not very clear as to what exactly he wants to achieve by breaking the marriage he helped set up and his spur of the moment religious reveal lead to a dead Jaswant and a forlorn Zoya.

3. JNU Student Politics

The student political scene of JNU is poorly filmed. The politics and the activists seemed childish. Abhay Deol's character was all too positive and fairy tale like, it was like we were seeing him through the eyes of Zoya and are suppose to love him too. Sonam Kapoor was pathetic in her dialog delivery and was nowhere near to either a street play artist or a student leader. The whole political scenario seemed gullible in the way they carry out their protests i.e. wearing black and pulling and pushing, convince people in a charming way with quotations and smiles and give humdrum speeches.

4. Kundun grows up or not

Kundun confesses his actions by taking Zoya to her love in Punjab only to find out that things are worse and he is responsible for the death of blameless and ever exemplary Abhay Deol. We think this might effect Kundun in a big way and being the religious man that he is, he visits various religious establishments is search of confession. Many things were perplexing here as to why he stays in Punjab and tries to help the family of the deceased when Jawant's sister very well knows that he is the one responsible for her brothers death. He goes back to JNU, still following his childishness or maybe its madness that is often associated with love, trying to win over Zoya.

This film like Kundun's love is inexplicable and resorts to childish logics at various points. Morari's role was acted really well and seemed to me a much real character. Also the other girl who loves Kundun is rarely given much attention and we hardly care for her feelings but she might have a Raanjhnaa-Esq saga of her own going by the side, she was in real pain clearly and felt betrayed like the audience.

This film elaborates upon the quotation it shows in the beginning. Raghu patiently fosters in himself the revenge he must take on the murderers of his wife and son. We have characters that are real as nobody is only the good and the bad. People are not constants like some numbers but change under circumstances. A dual in their behaviour is clear and how their characters shape shift with time.

In the beginning when Laik commits the murder during the robbery, a sense of misbalance is established. However, when Laik is acquitted and proved guilty of his crime and sentenced to jail term for 20 years we get a feeling that justice is somewhat served. Nevertheless, Raghu has a different definition of it and the whole films then builds up on how he restores this balance in his own way. The character of Raghu seems ambiguous at times as we keep guessing what is brewing in his mind. The film would have been better if it oscillated by showing Raghu's mindset in different lights. A more psychological investigation of characters by creating a question in his and our minds if time can heal wounds and make him forget the murderers of his wife and kid but might have had an added intensity to the whole film but on that note, it was bland. In addition, some conversations seemed innocuous. I would break the film into four parts:

1. A crime is committed: The confusion that leads to the murders is well shot as to how accidentally they end up in the car and how the kid accidentally falls off it and the mother panics and is shot. Elliptical cutting keeps us in pace with the events. Initially it seems Laik has things somewhat figured out when he smartly makes his partner escape, surrenders and gives vague answers to police and blurs the investigation. The death of his wife and kid has a devastating impact on Raghu but the whole sequence went away so fast that it failed to register the gravity of the situation. More focus was upon Raghu's loss than on his rage. The flashbacks that were shown later were helpful in establishing the frame of mind that Raghu was in and helped us feel his pain. The jail scene when Raghu meets Laik and calmly listens to his stories and then bursts into beating him showed how angry he was with his lies and dissatisfied with the police proceedings. In the shot where we see the girl's parents, it appeared as if they were in a different place i.e. a world of their own grief and the way Raghu's mother behaves; maybe to show the divide between in-laws (North- South context) and their non-understanding of mutual feelings.

2. Laik goes to jail and Raghu goes to Badlapur: Laik is no more the smart guy but swagger still, he is to be in jail for 20 years and is repeatedly caught in his attempts to escape. We also get the glimpse of the boredom of jail routine, the work, the man sweeping with both hands, the jail mates with their shenanigans. The 15-year jump came as a surprise as I never hoped the revenge would be kept alive for so long and expected something to happen during numerous escapades that Laik foolishly executes. With the entry of Shobha, we get a shocker that Laik has cancer again creating a question whether Raghu's revenge still includes killing Laik. However, the conversation between the two could have been a lot better, Raghu has absolutely no idea on how to put things mildly, and he rather talks in plain 1+1=2 analogies. There are times in this film that makes us doubt about how Raghu will take revenge. If not then why is he living the isolated and aimless life, why is the film titled so, and why are we watching it.

3. Life outside: Raghu finds out about Laik's partner Harman and grants him plea. This part shows the glimpses of little things that a long imprisoned Laik enjoys. In addition, we see Raghu seemingly going up and down Pune and maybe plotting his moves. The acting talents of Varun Dhawan came at handy as we had little clue what his character was up to and how far he was willing to go with his act, in the way he delivered his dialogues, his brooding stares and his reactions to the Harmans. The policemen were of secondary importance by the lazy ways they carry out their investigations, react to media, their propensity in not accepting their fault and their obvious lust for money.

4. The Conclusion: It gets clear that time has not affected Raghu in anyway and he has taken the proverb of serving revenge cold damn seriously. The way Raghu acts all Thor for his Robin and uses Shobha shows how committed and lost he is in his revenge. The final encounter between Laik and Raghu is the high point of the film. The way the strangling sequence is shot is very real. Raghu leaves Laik to die but the moment when Laik returns to his room after a certain silent pause and delivers the truth to Raghu is very powerful.

This film is also about: The way Laik's mother lives a lonely life, never gives up on him and how he always takes her for granted. Raghu asks Jhimli to call the police and we know the pathetic conditions in which sex-workers live because of the anonymity and nature of their profession. We see in the train the media frenzy and insensitivity of fellow passengers with volatile memory upon seeing Raghu. Raghu uses women in this film: Abuse of Jhimli, treatment of Harman's wife, use of Shobha as an alibi, and Laik's mother to get information.