Fhort Kut Ya Chota Fhort Kut

“Aay hay, itna pyar dikhaye ga tow affa hee marr jayuga” is probably the best dialogue of the movie. Not in terms of the language but in terms of its placement amidst a tense situation, tickling everyone. The movie revolved around two hook points: a guitar and politics (particularly of Maharashtra). Wonder what a guitar is doing in such a flick. It’s required by “Tashi”, because it has to be traded for two diamonds, which he calls “My twins”. Diamonds for a guitar! Ya, inside it lie 100 packets of cocaine.

So, by now you get the feel of the movie and if I tell you there are two brothers, who don’t talk to each other, and get involved in the guitar-diamond game, I don’t need to write this blog any further. But still I will carry on, this is a project dude, I need to complete 24 blogs !! On a serious note there is too much to tell.

So, after all the fine movies I have seen from Vishal Bhardwaj, I was in for a shock, though the movie has all elements to be a silver screen HIT!! The movie starts at a funny note “Hum judwa bhai hai, woh tottla hai aur mein Fa ko Fa bolta hu”, by Charlie (Sahid), who is the narrator of the movie. See I am still laughing. And ends in the same conventional sense “AND THEY LIVED HAPPILY EVERAFTER”

Characters, characters & character! Languages, languages & languages! And if I start about them I won’t have to space to write about anything else. So I will try to KISS (keep it short and simple)

• Three Bengali brothers – small time gangsters. Eldest of the Bengali brothers loves guns and youngest one (Mikhail) & Charlie are like brothers. Charlie is one of the twin’s who works with these guys. (Middle brother has been kept in the movie for nothing more than translating the eldest brother Bengali)
• Sunil Bhope - Bhau - A gangster, wanting to be neta & has chosen the simplest agenda of uplifting the Maharashtrian flag. Ofcourse he has his own “Sena” and a right hand man.
• His sister (Priyanka) - whom the other twin, Guddu, is involved with – is pregnant
• Tashi “The great” – A don who needs the guitar. His right hand “Afgani Bhai”.
• Two blacks who have his “Twins” – Sister of one of them is married to Tashi.
• Two police inspectors – brothers – who have to deliver the guitar to Tashi.
• There has been use of at least five languages in the film - Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, English and Mexican (or something like it). An extra cosmopolitan and extra contemporary movie!!

Allow me, a few lines, for telling you the plot:

Charlie loses 1lac rupees in a horse race because the jockey, whom the Bengali Brother’s company had fixed, “double croffes” them. Bhau is not letting Guddu marry his sister because Guddu is from UP. Charlie in a bid to get his money back from the fixer, Franffis, by chance escapes with a police car. The car belongs to the inspectors of anti-narcotics department, same people who have to deliver the guitar to Tashi. Eventually the police arrest Guddu and Bhau finds Charlie.

Humor doses add to the movie. I will quote a few which tickled me. (This is total masala, if anyone want to think other wise go ahead)

• Aapna Haath Jagannath – written outside a bathroom door
• Zindgi mein waat iff baat se nahi lagti ke kaunsa rasta tum chunte ho, waat uss baat se lagti hai ke kaunsa rasta tum chorte ho
• Fa ko Fa nahi to kya Ll bole ga.
• Fware Fware chaira dekh lo fale ka, fham tak mayiat pakki
• Teen karor tanthis lakh tanthis thzar teen so tanthis point teen teen tere

In a bid to connect with reality and make social statements, Vishal has take up a lot of issues rather topics and mixed them together. Eg. “Pre-maritial Sex”, People avoiding use of condoms, the “Maharati and others” divide, police used by and for the powerful, the psychosis of gangsters, there way of life, misuse of power by police.

Each and every actor, including Sahid & Priyanka, has gotten under character skin and done a superb job. Priyanka has learnt and spoken fluent Marathi. Sahid surely has got an image make over from a poster boy to a macho-man. Hats off to Vishal for getting such performances from so many characters & in so many different roles! Some acting to look out for!! Also Sahid has finally taken his shirt off, flaunted his body running amidst white horses. Funny part is he has taken the shirt off but has put on “Horse Blinders” (literally)!!

Cinematography: A major part of the film has been shot with handheld camera. In terms of the feel of the movie, dark colors dominate the movie, with a lot of silhouette shots been used. The fight sequences are completely handheld & make you feel a part of them. The last one where everyone; Bhau, Twin brother, Tashi, the black men and police, is fighting is fabulous piece. It almost looks like Counter Strike, superb camera and adding to it the special effects – smoke, bomb blasts, fire etc etc. Shift of focus from one person to another and at one point from a Charlie to the gun, has very effective been use to provide emphases at different points in the film. Great cinematography!!

Music: There has been an attempt to use songs for introduction of characters or taking the story forward. The song Fatak, points towards AIDS, even the lyrics do the same. Observing carefully it seems to be shot in a red-light area. The style, in which these guys are wearing red dupatta on white shirt, looks like the symbol for AIDS, also there are characters dressed as the virus. Towards its end the guys put dupattas on heads which looks like a condom. (Priyanka is pregnant because condom was not used) Moving forward in the film, we come to know that Guddu works with a NGO (In the song these guys distribute condoms & pamphlets). Do you think the story moved forward, I am confused! But sure the attempt cannot be denied. The song Dhan-Te-Da, is surely world famous in India! The lyrics are undoubtedly nice, but the phrase “Dhan-Te-Da” steels the show. We have heard “Dhan-Te-Da” numerous times, but making it a song lyric has really some out of the box imagination. The characters break into a song, because of a joyous moment, when they get their hands on cocaine worth Rs. 10 crore. Guddu and Priyanka’s wedding is description of a merry moment, with help of the best method, a song. Even if it looks to you that the songs don’t add much to the movies narrative, the beat sure makes the feet tap & they are superb stand alone entities. The background score is intense for most part of the movie, with a lot of ambience sounds been used, though they at times it seem to be recorded in a studio.

The movie uses a lot of cinematic elements like flash backs, handheld camera, fast editing, light and shadow etc. It has quite a few sub-plots intermingling and interfering with each other. Movie keeps moving from & through varied moments; action sequences to rosy romances to melodramatic moments and finally culminates by bringing all the character together, giving way to a gang-war. Here everyone, except the twins and Priyanka, die. After all the pain and angst, Charlie finds both the diamonds in the hands of dead Tashi, but remembers the golden words “Zindigi tujhe dusra mauka de rahi hai” and you all know the standard - conscience wakes up and he walks away. Priyanka and Guddu have the standard twins and Charlie become a big time horse-race bookie naming his company Mikhail and co.

The movie has too many characters, too many plots and too many issues at hand to do justice to them. So, the simplest way of resolving all the conflicts, was to kill all, putting an end to the discussion. Even the reason, as to why both the brothers separated is not convincing enough. All in all the script lacks novelty but movie is sure a one time watch! Sahid’s magic, loads of masala and adding to it acting has quite a bit to offer to the audience.

Now stop writing Kaminey! With a last thing: The rosy romance of Sahid and Priyanka lead to a passionate scenes and a lip-lock, which has managed to pass without any controversy. That is good sign from the public or at-least from the “moral guardians”.