Tummbad

About one, that’s beyond the human comprehension it’s said,” For those who believe, no proof is required. And for those who don’t believe, no proof is sufficient.” In a way its escapism but that’s the way things stand. Even the believers openly challenge, “Where science stops, our faith starts!” And really there is no counter-argument to it. Occult is so mystic that it can lead you into the deep dark, deeper you venture, darker it becomes. It has so many shades and layers that one may be lost in it, forever. The eeriest myriad can be woven into a most intriguing yarn, but yarn all the same!

‘Tummbad’, a Marathi movie made in Hindi says that it’s inspired from the stories of famous Marathi writer Late Mr Narayan Dharap. And how you connect! Mr Narayan Dharap was a writer of our teens! He was a techno[B.Sc Tech] and not a writer by profession to start with, [he became much later, maybe in the mid sixties], but published his first novel in Marathi magazine when we were school going teens.”Possessed” would be a far gentler word. The entire generation of book-loving teenagers of that era was carried away by his writings. His stories took us into unknown lands where your reason always took a back seat, but it mesmerized you beyond the mundane things like belief, intellect or reason! Once you accept the premise, everything is plausible and possible! [ And why not? When one throngs and goes gaga over Omens and Exorcists ]

Incidentally, his elder son Rajeev was our class/batchmate, so more the attachment.

Though there is ‘Tome’ [a big novel in sections] by the same name in Marathi by famous writer Late Mr S N Pendse, ‘Tummbadche Khot’, [ Rulers of Tummbad] but apart from the hierarchical structure borrowed for the narration, the movie does not have any resemblance to it.

Dark. Occult. Mystic. Black magic. Thinking mind of today’s generation might not fathom it any at level but if you consider it as an art form, you get a classic like ‘Tummbad’!

The opening frame itself gives the hint of what is in store for the viewer already on the edge of his/her seat. The Cascades of waters, thrashing rains lambasting battered lonely citadel standing amidst the vast emptiness, carrying warts and wounds of the bygone era. A lady, a widow, in her ‘Alawan’ [Red sari for Marathi Widow in the last century] clinging to her hairless pate standing desolately in front of the menacing main gate, gathering her every wit to enter the cursed vaastu. And as she enters, the most engrossing story laced with fear, anxiety, lure, greed, desires, lust and love starts unfolding in front of you.

The Writers [Barve and Gandhi] do not go for any gimmicks to create the dark ambience. The story itself keeps on becoming so dark that they do not need any other capers to create the effect. The photography not very tricky, but profound enough to keep the scare in the minds of viewers aflame. Incessant rains, so nicely captured with skies doomed with dark clouds hovering over all the time, make all the other photographic embellishments redundant!

It’s a thriller, all said and done so it would be wise to refrain from telling the storyline and of course the end. It would suffice to say that it’s though gory and unholy, nonetheless brings tears in the eyes for, love of a father for his son!

Performances are A class. Sohum Shah, Vinayak,  is rigid many times, but that could be the need of the character. His steely grey eyes, the hallmark of Kokanstha Brahmins, the protagonists in the movie, do not let out his inner feelings to the shore any time, again the hallmark of the KoBras! To undergo the ordeals posed by the unholy, one has to be heartless at one level, and so the stiffness. But when it comes down to his son, it melts down and he becomes ready for the ultimate sacrifice and how!

His son, played by Mohd Samad has imbibed the character so much that you forget that he is far away from the ethnic group. His lust for money and then the shock with the grief of losing the father shows on his face and body language vividly.

The real manipulator here is the director. Mr Rahi Anil Barve, [Son of Famous writer Mr Anil Barve who wrote very successful dramas like  ‘Hamidabaichi Kothi’, ’Thank you Mr Glad’.] And the genes show, of course, I definitely am not undermining his talent but in Marathi we say,

“ Let the Son be such a goon that his trumpets are blown way beyond!”

and he has proven it beyond the doubt. Every frame captured is an example of good storytelling, command over the medium, photography beyond compare and true to its genre. A tough task, carried on, on the strong shoulders! It’s definitely a thriller but no gimmicks here. The ambience, the narration, the twists, the anxiety of what’s next, come at a varied pace. At times it hits you right between the eyes suddenly; at times it grows on you like evil creeper suffocating you slowly. The photography suits the contents so aptly that it too becomes one of the characters those unfold in front of you, eerie end of greed, most mystically.

Those who love Cinema here is yet another masterpiece to gobble up with eyes, senses and intelligence! Go for it.

Movies. Now and Then !

Due, maybe to my demanding profession or maybe self-imposed exile[ from the films], I remained away from the nearest multiplex, that’s just across the road from where I stay, for more than 3 months. Then there was as if the deluge of movies. Thanks to my Australia returned daughter who was longing for ethnic fare and my about to be a mother, daughter in law, who wanted to bide away time enjoying to the last moment, I ended up viewing 5 movies in course of 3 to 4 weeks. Practically movie a week. It was sort of ‘Déjà vu’

Indians are fanatic about mostly 3 things. 1. Politics 2. Cricket. 3. Bollywood. The order may differ but that’s LCD for every Indian. For me, movies are number one!

This gene of frequenting cinema halls probably came from my mother’s side. My grandmother was an avid cinemagoer, so was my mother. And I remember seeing more than 40 movies in one of the summer vacations lasting for 45 to 50 days. But the difference in now and then, I realized now, is drastic.

The movies Bollywood churned out in those days when I was in teens, were absolute trash, crude and to a point damn vulgar. I feel now ashamed that how could I sit through movies like, ‘Waaris, Amar Akbar Anthony, Dharmveer, Dreamgirl, oh so many others, for more than 3 hours at a stretch! Blockbusters no doubt, but real contents, absolutely zero, some downright crude with a headache as an after effect!  It’s not that it was an absolute drought of good movies then but they were very few and hit the screens far apart. Khamoshi by Hemantkumar being one of them. Do Aakhen Barah Haath by V. Shantaram, another rare one! Unfortunately, they fared invariably very badly at the box office. The fans could easily digest blood flowing through three tubes against gravity, getting mixed up on the way and being transfused to the recipient without having any adverse effect but did not like anything that was even a quarter of an inch closer to the reality.

In contrast, the movies in today’s’ times not only vary vastly in contents but the treatment given too changes accordingly, suiting the script and the plot. Again, they are definitely not masterpieces but the storyline is plausible, acting restrained and narration acceptable, all in all, good cinematic experiences.

‘Andhadhun’ is one of them. To see Ayushman Khurrana pretending to be blind with all the shades of real and fake blindness, was a treat to the eyes. No doubt he is an actor par excellence and also knows his job very well, which reflects in his selection of movies, and shows that he is intelligent too. Quality that squarely lacked in the heroes of yesteryears. It was pathetic to see Rajesh Khanna masquerading as blind in Mere Jeevan Saathi and an army Doctor trying every bit to keep him blind so that he gets the heroine in the end!

It was equally  absurd to watch Rajendrakumar in every alternate movie, going in the arms of an actress obviously younger than him and shouting,” Maaaaa, Today I cleared B.A. in first class.” In front of morose father, hanging on the wall, in the garlanded photo frame! And then in film after film Maa used to reply, ‘I have made Gajar ka Halwa for you my dear!’ And surprisingly patrons lapped it up in dollops after dollops!

‘Stree’ totally a new genre. Horror comedy! So unknown to Bollywood so far that nobody even had tried it in the past. They made horror movies no doubt but in the end, they turned out to be comical unwittingly! Utterly Laughable stock!

Though it went on the oft-repeated path, even ‘Manmarjia’ was much watchable than such triangular love stories of the yore. It had a freshness and it depicted today’s youth in all grey shades and not like goodie, goodie chocolate boys of mid-eighties or nineties! For a change, even Abhishek Bachchan carved a niche, for himself in the acting department!

'Batti Gul Meter Chalu', though not anywhere near the classics of the genre, PadMan or Toilet Ek love story, it did strike the sore thumb out. It did have a good message with nicely woven yarn and very good performance by Shahid.

‘Tummbad’ is way beyond all these so about it, later!.

All the movies those are hitting the screen now and coming from the young blood are much much better than the ones churned out by the so-called stalwarts of the yesteryears who could not muster the courage to break the path and set out for the unknown. While running after the safe bets(read Switzerland) they lost the very soul of the art form. And what was presented, was plastic without any essence of life!

Today’s films vary in contents tremendously, no oft-beaten tract for them; they are earthier so smell fresh. They are script bound and do not waver according to the so-called whims of the market. So no unnecessary songs or gaudy item number by a vamp or similarly looking heroine where you cannot differentiate one from the other.

Today we can safely say, 'Indian cinema has really come of age!'