Sunday, September 25, 2016

Sairat : From K Jo to Kashyap !

Sairat DVD came out a few weeks ago and I got a chance to revisit the movie. The fact that the movie has broken records all over Marathi Cinema and even Indian Cinema is a known fact, but the movie also has it`s share of skeptics who do not necessarily agree with the unprecedented success of this movie. I was trying to understand why this movie became such a huge success and why it needs to be encouraged.

Our cinema, in this country is hugely very unreal in the way we present stories and sometimes our stories themselves are very unreal. Songs and dance have become a staple diet in the movies and have been reduced to a gimmick rather than adding value to the movie and the story. Dir Mani Ratnam has emphasized on the fact that songs and dance need to make sense in the way they are placed and shown in the story and it has always been a treat to watch them in his movies.

What Nagraj Manjule does with Sairat is he uses the same formula that is used to make poular popcorn cinema in Sairat albeit in a manner where everything makes sense. Let`s not forget the film has all the elements of Popular cinema like the larger than life song sequences, or the comedian with a comedy track, the usage of slow motion shots (120FPS and such), the villian, huge crowd sequences etc etc, but all this has been brilliantly woven into a very real context . I shall explain how

*Warning Spoilers ahead

Nagraj Manjule did not employ stars , yet he presented the 2 major characters like how a director presents a star, For eg: The slow motion intro - Remember the first shot of Parshya running in Slow motion with heavy background music towards Archi`s car. Compare it to the intro of Salman Khan in Bajrangi bhaijaan now. Slow motion check, background music check

Or the Formulaic way of introducing the heroine with a tease. The heroine Archi`s face is never shown in her first intro, The audience are teased but the big reveal never happened and when it did she was in a very sexy avatar wearing her partywear.

Nagraj Manjule used the formula but eliminated the stars. This has 2 advantages

1. Obviously the director has better control over the performances as he gets to dictate his terms according to his vision without it being compromised by a star

2. Secondly by taking in regular people and giving them the star treatement the director has immediately connected with the general population in the audience who would disconnect from a well groomed star but see these particular characters as one of their own. They see themselves on screen and presented so beautifully !

In the meantime the director has also established the comedians, the possible villians and the other basic plot points like the caste discrimination etc. He keeps blending the dreamy bollywoodesque sequences of the romantic track with the very real day to day functioning of the village.

The song sequences are presented in a larger than life manner mirroring the dreamy idea of love that the current generation of youngsters have that have been highly influenced by  popular commercial cinema. Hence he has his target audience hooked on as they are watching their idea of love being manifested on screen. Funnily the harsh realities of the bitter caste system in bittergaon (The village where the movie is set) is also being fed regularly to ensure the film doesn`t seep into pure commercial cinema genre.

He introduces a strong female character which provides a respite (at least in the film) for the growing unrest in the country and worldwide about gender discrimination and also brings about a fresh perspective. Watch out for the scene where Archi enters the class and takes her seat without taking her eys off Parshya even for a second. A bold female protagonist was the need of the day and "bam" , Nagraj Manjule provides you that. But he hasn`t forgotten his target audience fed on a staple diet of a certain type of films, Hence this female protagonist is still living a very done to death plot of a "Rich girl meets poor boy". He is introducing revolutionary ideas but in a 'language' that the common film going audience can understand.

He got Marathi Cinema`s best composers and gave them enough facilities to make their best track yet (hopefully) but he ensured all songs are never lip synced to maintain reality and not suspend belief. The only song that has been lip synced is Zingaat which has been treated as a seemingly popular song (probably some film song) in the movie, hence the protagonists seem to be mouthing them.

The comedy track - He has ensured a comedy track too with Parshya`s friend Langdya, but again effort was put in to make this fresh and unique. Case in point - the 'love letter' Langdya receieves from a girl. He even brought in a slapstick comedy element with the disability and the comedian has a small love track too !

The Villian - Archi`s brother and Father are highlighted as the villians but unlike Archi and Parshya who got the star like presentations, the 'villians' were presented in a very real scenario. There was nothing dramatic in the presentation, the Drama came from the mindset of the character and his actions. Stark contrast from the presentaion of Archi and Parshya. This kept the film grounded in reality. Case in point - when the brother slaps the teacher in fron of the whole classroom.

Finally we reach the interval point- At this point as Archi and  Parshya escape their enemies the film shifts gear completely and the larger than life presentation is completely turned around into a very real presentation

To illustrate further - The first half was presented 'almost' like a Karan Johar movie but the second half was treated like an Anurag Kashyap film. I say 'almost' because there were moments to break that illusion in between to establish the social fabric the characters live in.

The second half broke the 'dream' established in the first half showing the harsh truths of life and this was achieved by purely changing the style of filmmaking. From KJo to Kashyap !

Nagraj Manjule with this film showcased the romanticised notion of love and then breaks it to explore life after such a love dealing with issues such as incompatibility, infatuation vs love, disillusionment, stark poverty, loneliness, finding oneself, growing up etc. In doing so he has connected with both the youth who crave for the first half and their parents who have lived the second half. The film served as a common ground for both the sections of audiences. Let`s also not forget the caste disparity and honour killing like issues which is the basic foundation on which all this was done.

It also managed something very few films have achieved - a loyal fan base with the commercial cinema audience as well as the intelligent cinema audience.

Last but not the least. The heart wrenching climax. The reason for the success of a lot of malayalam and Tamizh films in the 80's - the sad ending. But the novelty of the presentation will haunt you for days here.

So to put it simply Sairat  was a film with  a lot of depth , rooted in reality showcasing the some of the real issues within the country but masked in the garb of  popular formulaic cinema. This is entertainment without leaving your brains behind !

On a side note : Sairat reminded me a lot of the malayalam films and Tamizh films I have seen in the past which perfectly blend commercial and sensible cinema :)

More such movies like these and slowly our audience`s taste for the kind of content in cinema will change, for the better !