Some family this!

Dharmendra and his two sons, Ajay (Sunny) and Vijay (Bobby), come together for Apne ("our own people" or "our loved ones"), a movie about a father and his two sons.

The director makes his intentions clear right in the beginning. Baldev Singh Chaudhry, played by Dharmendra, was a prodigous boxer who was falsely accused of doping and banned from the sport. Thus humiliated, the fighter pledges to redeem himself through his son, and the film essentially follows his troubled relationship with his elder son who won't box and younger one who can't.

While Baldev is the main protagonist, he is far from being "the hero", having his own vulnerabilities and flaws, which only make him that much more real. Similarly, the sons Angad and Karan have the best of intentions. It's just that their visions don't coincide. But, of course, when it comes to the family, each one rises to the occasion in his own way. This is reminiscent of an era when movies had no villains, just adverse circumstances. Even the rouge betting-fixing ring has not been personified in this movie - a dramatic departure from Bollywood movies in general, and the Deol movies in particular.

The boxing choreography by Chris Anderson (Mad Max, King Kong) is realistic and impactful, quite at par with Rocky Balboa and Million Dollar Baby. It is really a shame then that the boxers, including Aryan Vaid, don't seem even close to being heavyweight fighters. And it's not as if Anil Sharma had a dearth of people with suitable physique. Why, he could just have drafted the sardarjee from Baldev's gymnasium as Gaurav.

This is not a film about boxing, though. It is about a simple family that fights for honor, family, country, and the sport. More importantly, it is about the relationship between a disgraced father and his sons.

This movie does not try to ride the coattails of a popular sport, a la Lagaan. Instead, it picks up a sport shrowded in obscurity in the country, and engages the audience intimately. Also, unlike Lagaan, Apne does not believe in giving a blow-by-blow account of what happens on the path to progress. It provides the highlights as far as the sport is concerned, and focuses on the family drama.

SPOILER ALERT

----- SPOILER STARTS -----

Sunny Deol's Angad is out-of-shape and unfit for a competitive boxing match, let alone one with a world champion. Interestingly, that's what keeps it real. Angad pants and puffs profusely while training, and is told by Baldev, "Boxers retire at your age". In the ring, he is pounded by Luca's machine-gun punches, and takes numerous jabs and hooks.

But he's not looking to become a world champion. For him, it's not about how hard and how frequently he hits Luca; it is about how much punishment he can take and still stay standing to deliver the final blow. I half expected someone to say this, but the treatment has a delightful subtlety quite uncharacteristic of recent Sunny Deol movies.

----- SPOILER ENDS -----

Then again, it's not really a Sunny Deol movie. This one belongs to Dharmendra, who got Amitabh the break of his career in Sholay. Most people would remember Dharmendra for his "He Man" image and action movies, which is understandable as he is undeniably the original action hero of Bollywood. Moreover, he was the protagonist of the first decent war movie made in India - Haqeeqat.

However, before he was Veeru (Sholay) or Kumar (Shalimar), he was Bipin (Majhli Didi), Rajesh (Baharon ki Manzil) and Jai (Aaya Sawan Jhoom Ke). In fact, he gave The Burning Train and Professor Pyarelal as late as 1977 and 1981 respectively. And who can forget the comedy classic Chupke Chupke, one of the best ever Bollywood comedies, if not the best. If one had any doubts about the histrionic prowess of this method actor, all one needs to do is watch the song "Mere dushman" from Aaye Din Bahar Ke.

Like another accomplished actor, Mithun Chakraborthy, Dharmendra too has done some pretty bad movies, especially late in his career. But in Apne, he proves that stardom may fade, but actors just get better.

Sunny Deol probably has the shortest footage among the three Deols, but he is very effective while on screen. And he doesn't have to scream at the top of his lungs either. One wishes that someone had found him better hair, though. Brother Bobby, the youngest of the three, looks good and acts well, sensitively depicting the frustration of one crushed under the uncomfortable relationship between his two idols.

Shilpa Shetty and Katrina Kaif don't have much to do except looking pretty, which they manage to do well. In fact, Shilpa has hardly ever looked as good as she does in the peacock dress in the song "Ankh vich chehra yaar da". Kirron Kher has a lengthier and more substantial role than the girls, which is great as she's quite the thespian. Victor Banerjee is as efficient as ever. Divya Dutta has been wasted, which has become the case of every film she is cast in. More's the pity, because she is one of most underused, underrated, brilliant actresses of her generation.

The music by Himesh Reshamiya is the Archilles' heel of the film. But then again, one doesn't expect much from Reshamiya, despite his recent meteoric ascent in the Bollywood music scene. The saving grace, I suppose, is that Sharma has not picturised complete songs except for a couple. The only good one is the title song, sung by Sonu Nigam, who is clearly in his element. Good to have you back, Sonu!

Kabir Lal's cinematography deserves accolades as it brings out the best of Chandigarh and New York, without taking the focus away from the cast or the story.

While the climax is a bit lengthier than it needed to be, the screenplay by Neeraj Pathak provides the Deols the perfect platform to re-establish their acting credentials. And truly, Anil Sharma could not have chosen a better story to bring the three Deols together on the silver screen for the first time.

In India many, if not most, youngsters still choose careers based on what their parents tell them, rather than on what they themselves want to do. This film should strike a chord with them, even though the young, cineplex crowd tends to stray away from Deol movies. On the other hand, parents should like the movie too, not the least because of parental dilemmas so realistically depicted by an actor from their times.

Bollywood has churned out numerous capers, from Avtaar to Baghban (which, by the way, are reminiscent of Do Raaste), that depict the sacrifices made by parents for ingrate children. Apne takes a different route: it is about how even though everyone is doing their best, sometimes rifts can emerge in relationships. It is about how blood is, after all, thicker than water.

With this desi-at-heart movie, I think Anil Sharma is back with a bang. And so are the Deols.

Ab Tumhare Hawale Watan Saathiyo: Because This Movie Has Killed Me

Just got done watching Ab Tumhare Hawale Watan Saathiyo, and it is a miracle that I've survived to write this review. No one should be made to endure the torture of sitting through the whole 3 hours of this flick. (Yes, I do realize that the movie was released in 2004 and my warning comes a little late in the day)

The first things you notice about the film are the rather tacky special effects and bad acting right upto when the ship has drowned completely during titling. I have no idea how much money they spent on the scene, but to me the production value seemed poor. And that's no compliment to the producer, who is also the director (and can't point fingures either way). I liked Anil Sharma's Gadar; in fact, I liked it a lot. But in this movie, he has evidently lost it completely.

The casting-coup that Sharma was so proud of at the launch of the movie is, at least in part, the reason for the pathetic end-product. In trying to give equitable parts to his megastars, Sharma loses grip over the story, and the slack builds to the extent of total loss of control.

Besides, the casting itself is far from perfect. While Amitabh Bachchan as the proud, patriotic, and authoritative Amarjeet Singh is great, Naghma is a complete misfit as Kunal (Bobby)'s mother. Bobby Deol and Akshay Kumar have matured as actors and look good as army officers, but Akshay simply lacks the voice and dialog-delivery required for some of the dialogs that have been handed to him. That is a shame, as for most part Akshay fits the role to the T. Ashustosh Rana is efficient and believable, as always. Danny Dengzongpa is his usual self in the small role that he is given. Sandali Sinha looks better than she did in Tum Bin and acts better too, but her timing is off.

The biggest problem of the movie is the plot, though. The film is confused about what it wants to be. Is it the coming-of-age story of a mischievious young Kunal, who has joined the army for family tradition but wants to fly off to America and make money? Or is it the tale of a brave officer Rajiv Singh, who is taken a prisoner-of-war shortly after leaving his wife behind, on the very date of his wedding (did someone mention "Border"?)? Perhaps it is the tale of defence advisor Amarjeet Singh, who is prepared to sacrifice everything - even his son and his grandson - for the nation. Or maybe it is the story of Pakistan army's Colonel Ashfaque Khan who achieves enlightenment and "reforms". The film tries to do too much, and in the process ends up doing nothing.

It has so may sub-plots that it seems to be a collage rather than a single coherent entity. Perhaps the director wanted to keep the audience at the edges of their seats, but the "twists in the tale" act as mere distractions, and do not provide any thrills at all. Ditto for the one-joke acts of Vivek Shauq and Rajesh Vivek, that are thrown in for the obligatory comic relief. Way too many songs don't help the cause either.

The pace increases somewhat in the last quarter, but by then the convoluted storyline has worn you out, and you have either trashed your television or killed yourself. To be fair, the story concept is not that bad and I may even have liked it had it been used to write a novel; it is just not a good movie unless the first 2 hours are compressed to 1 hour.

The make-believe situations do nothing to make me believe them. The research is rather lamentable, as is almost standard for Hindi films. While, to its credit the film has mostly used the correct army uniform and insignia, it flops miserably when it comes to research on army operations. Though Kunal Singh is depicted to be in 10 Para Battalion, a special forces paratrooper commando battalion also known as Red Devils, his operations are those of the infantry.

No realism has been attempted through make-up and special-effects, either. The war scenes and dingy PoW camps were prime opportunities to show-off any vision or ability to provide a remote semblance of reality. But Askhay loses no limbs in bomb explosions, sustains no hideous-looking wounds even though he is on top of his petrol bomb exploding over Pak-ammunition, and is not so much as scarred by the "chemical tests" in the PoW camp. Apparently, the worst that could happen to you in a Paki PoW camp is that you won't get a barber for 2 years. Similarly, all Bobby Deol sustains in the war are mere rashes, even though a grenade explodes right at his feet.

The "peace-talks" scene is banal and boring, and it is rather disconcerting that the Indian and Pakistani representatives address the US representative as if he is in a position of authority, though the dialogs are purportedly directed at the "international community". I have to admit, though, that I loved the jingoistic and clever pre-meeting dialog where the Indian representative tells the Paki counterpart, "Teen baar to hum kar chuke hain yuddh mein, abki baar kya chahte hain (aap)? Chautha?" *We've beaten you three times already in war. What do you want now? Funeral (it is a wordplay - chautha can be translated to mean either "fourth" or a post-funeral ritual)?*

Shaktimaan's dialog is melodramatic and mostly impactful though it comes across as corny on occasion. Some of Akshay Kumar's numerous "shers" (couplets) are pretty good, actually:

अबके सावन में ये शरारत हमारे साथ हुई
हमारा घर छोड़ के सारे शहर में बरसात हुई
Abke saawan mein ye shararat hamare saath hui
Hamara ghar chhod ke saare shehar mein barsaat hui
(This year's monsoon has done a mischief with me
It has rained in the entire city except for my thirsty house)

चलो, हम अपना हुनर आज़माते हैं,
तुम तीर आज़माना, हम जिगर आजमाते हैं
Chalo, hum apna hunar aazmate hain,
Tum teer aazmana, hum jigar aazmaate hain
(Let's test our respective skills
You test your arrows, I'll test my heart/courage)

हूँ मैं परवाना, मगर कोई शम्मा तो हो, रात तो हो,
जान देने को हूँ हाज़िर, कोई बात तो हो
Hoon main parwana, magar koi shamma to ho, raat to ho,
Jaan dene ko hoon haazir, koi baat to ho
(I could be a moth, only if there was a flame at night,
I could die for you, only if you had the charm)

The girl says: मैं कुछ अर्ज़ करना चाहती हूँ Main kuchh arz karna chahti hoon ( I want to say something)
अब इन खातून से क्या खेलें,
ये तो अभी से अर्ज़ करने लग गईं
Ab in khatoon se kya khelen,
Ye to abhi se arz karne lag gain
(How can I keep playing with this lady,
She is already appealing for mercy - wordplay...arz can be translated to either "say" or "petition")

Finally, while the film is dedicated to Indo-Pak friendship, and even ends with that premise, the concept is used obviously superfluously in the film. A kind Subedar Abdul and a "reformed" Colonel Ashfaque Khan are the token nice Paki guys, apart from the faceless Pakistan government that comes around.

My verdict: Avoidable. Borderline, if compressed to 2 hrs.

Letter to the Editor: Outlook

Ref: Outlook Vol.XLI, no. 26 dated July 09, 2001

Apropos your cover story “Gadar: Riding High on Controversy”, I’ve got several objections. I’m listing them out for you, though I know you’re not going to publish my letter.

Collection Stats

Let me begin right at the beginning (where else?). I’m really disappointed with the collection stats shown in the box. Gadar collections are hugely under-depicted for the simple reason that the box shows only the first week’s earnings. The film was released on the 15th of June, while the issue was dated July 9. Surely you could have given more recent stats? As far as I know, Punjab has never seen such frenzied adulation for a movie – not even Border. I mean, at a lot of places, the average occupancy is over 130-140%. At some theaters they are running 6 screenings a day! Also, Gadar collections strengthened greatly in CI, Nizam and UK during the second and third weeks.

Cover Story

And yes, I definitely protest against the cover story title “Riding High on Controversy”. This title implies, not so clandestinely, that Gadar is becoming a hit due to the controversy shrouding it. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Gadar was already a major hit when the protests began.

Box Office

“Till yesterday the film had been the quintessential box office underdog”. Says who? Definitely not the distributors who shelled out 2.75 crore per territory as against Lagaan’s more modest (“more realistic” according to the authors) 2.25 crore. Doesn’t the larger amount say something about the distributors’ belief in the film?

It’s true that Gadar was definitely an underdog in public perception, but that was only because of the momentous pre-release publicity blitzkrieg for Lagaan launched by Amir Khan. While Amir Khan took great pains to publicize his film through events, contests, personal appearances, high profile previews and PR campaign (read articles in newspapers and magazines), Zee did virtually zero PR for Gadar.

Trivia

The authors have even got their facts all mixed up. Yes, Dil was released on the same day as Ghayal. But Ghayal had pipped it to the post as far as collections are concerned. And Sunny had beaten Amir at Filmfare. Then Raja Hindustani was pitted against Ghatak (they were not released on the same day though), and again both were runaway hits. Raja Hindustani, however, was a much bigger hit than Ghatak. And of course, Amir then scored over Sunny at Filmfare.

Grays?

The authors lament “there’s no room for grays..” I’d categorize this as sheer ignorant audacity. After all, the villain goes through the entire gamut of shades – successful Indian businessman & loving father to Pakistani politician full of hatred and venom for India (because the partition's aftermath had deprived him of his son, his daughter and all his worldly possessions) to a reformed father moved by his son-in-law’s love for his daughter. On his part, the hero is shown to be braying for Muslim blood in his very first appearance/ sequence in the film. The director has very ably shown that there were no culprits in the bloody aftermath of partition. The guy who can forgive and forget is the hero. The one who can’t is the villain. What more could anybody ask for?

Obviously, I won’t comment on the demolition man stuff. It seems that I’ve seen many more Arnie and Sly movies than the authors, to even begin to bother about that.

Communal (Anti-Islam)

The “conversion to Islam” sequence that a lot of so called moderates, including Shabana Azmi, have objected to, saying that it implies that “…any Muslim is automatically a Pakistani”, has nothing objectionable either. The qazi is happy to take the jat into Islamic fold. The mass finds nothing amiss. It is only Amrish Puri, a politician – who incidentally is shown to be villain – who undertakes the slogan campaign to work the jat up. Probably the “moderates” would next complain and protest against a Muslim being shown as a villain!

Anyway, in this same sequence, the hero lambastes the villain with “(Pakistan) se jyaada Musalmaan Hindustaan mein rehte hain, unke dil ki dhadkan hamesha yahi kehti hai – Hindustaan Jindabaad. To kya wo musalmaan nahi hai?” Now this, very specifically and categorically delineates religion from nation and politics. How can anybody complain that this film mixes communism with patriotism?

When asked to utter “Hindustaan Murdabad”, the hero says, “Apka Pakistan zindabaad ho hamein ismein koi etraaz nahi, par Hindustaan zindabaad tha, hai, aur rahega”. The director is very visibly glorifying the point of view that we shouldn’t be obsessed with Pakistan’s downfall, and should instead concern ourselves with our progress only. In fact the hero even chooses to say “Pakistan zindabaad”. Crass patriotism?

The authors say that Gadar is a cunningly made film as it is pitched against Pakistanis only. Would they have preferred it if the movie had spat venom against Indian Muslims?

And obviously there are other, even more ridiculous objections like the one on the choice of the leading lady’s name. What’s wrong with naming her Sakina, even if that is the name of the prophet’s great-granddaughter? What was wrong even if this were to be the name of the prophet’s mother for that matter? I mean, are there or are there not Muslim girls called Sakina? If it’s acceptable in real life, what’s the problem with having a Sakina, or Maria or Mohammed, or Mustafa on screen?

Problems with a Sikh driver marrying a rich Muslim kid? Cut to real life. Ever heard of Buta Singh? Or at least about the Gurdas Mann, Divya Dutta starrer Shaheed-e-Mohabbat Buta Singh?

Then again, where is the use of sindoor prohibited in Islam? Which part of Koran, Shariah or Hadith bans it? Isn’t it natural for a lady to follow the customs of her husband’s house, even if she continues to practice her own religion?
Come to think of it, Islam does explicitly prohibit idol-worship, and therefore the custom of mannat at mazaars should be “haraam” for Muslims. This custom is a totally Indian twist (shall I say adaptation?) to the religion and an example of how people rarely desert the cultural underpinnings hardwired into their neural system.

Hero

Another laughable aspect of the article is calling Sunny Deol histrionically challenged. Sunny is typecast, and is not in the same class as Amir, but he’s a national award winner. And hello, he’s given great performances time and again. Remember Ghayal, Damini, Ghatak, Jeet, Border, Arjun Pandit…?

Clash of the Titans

Another thing that I’m unable to understand is: why is everybody comparing Gadar and Lagaan as if they are some sort of ‘firsts’? Gadar is about the courage to stand alone. So was Ghulam. Lagaan is about the strength of unity. So was Zor. Gadar is about love in the times of war. So was QSQT or Sanam Bewafa. Lagaan is about the irrepressible human spirit. So was Vijeta. Big deal!

While on it, I’d like to say that Lagaan is an exceptionally beautiful movie. But there’s something clinical and antiseptic about it. Gadar has an earthy, and hence more realistic, feel.

Join the issue

I don’t think that Bal Thakery’s statement about the “Pakistan Zindabad” scene is true. But if it is, his anguish is understandable. Your preference of a cricket team definitely doesn’t depict your loyalty to a country (and Mr.Thakery was definitely erring when he endorsed the original Tebbit test). But here, we’re directly talking about two (proxy) warring nations. If this doesn’t say which side you are on, I’m sorry that I fail to understand, what does? The authors needn’t have been cynical about Mr.Thakery’s statement.

Timing

There are also some voices saying that the timing could have been better, in view of the Vajpayee-Musharraf summit. What can the producer do, if the government decides to do a volte-face on the eve of his film’s release? Just why should he delay it to conform to the official policy?

But that’s beside the point. The fact is, there couldn’t have been a more opportune time to release the film. This is the time we must remind ourselves what caused the partition and what followed it. This is the time to learn from the past and pledge not to repeat the mistakes. Most of the younger people are ignorant about the partition aftermath and as a result don’t feel the pain and anger. That’s probably why Gadar crowd at PVR is of the elderly variety while the youngsters prefer the slickly made Lagaan (and that’s probably why Gadar is such a major draw in Punjab which is at the border).

These people find the events too gory and unrealistic to identify with them. They have started finding the Kashmir struggle a waste of time, and think that options like freezing the LOC into international border (as suggested by Outlook) can be possible solutions. These people have to be told that partition was also supposed to buy peace. Just look at what it has led to.

Basically, Pakistan has now shown that it isn’t particularly trustworthy. There’s no guarantee that upon getting an immediate benefit, it will honor a commitment stretching into the future. Also, we must keep in mind that our problems won’t end even if we make Kashmir an independent state. We must have the perspective right before thinking about any solution. This film is definitely a help, as it reminds us of some long-forgotten and some perennially-ignored facts.

The Last Word

Gadar is essentially a “prem katha”…though of the Sunny Deol variety. The story is oft-repeated – a love marriage out of your class and religion, and the ensuing family pressures, and how, finally, the families bow before the lovers’ grit. The director has just changed the background and suitably adapted the script. That’s all there’s to it and I wish that people won’t draw inferences that lie outside ambit of logic. Yes, Gadar has its flaws, but all this hoo-ha seems to be unjustified and motivated.

Frankly, I don’t think that Namrata and Manu have even seen the film (due to the long lines at the booking counters, or otherwise). And this makes me seriously doubt their journalistic credentials.

The original article "Gadar: Riding High on Controvercy" is now available at: http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20010709&fname=Gadar+%28F%29&sid=1&pn=1 It is also presented below:


Hot Cake Aesthetics

Beginning as a box-office underdog, 'Gadar', because of its jingoistic idiom, has appealed to the prevailing mood and become a super-duper hit

NAMRATA JOSHI

One just needs to stand outside a cinema hall to gauge the success of a film. Houseful boards, the throng of families trying to jostle their way in, long booking-counter queues and manic scalpers offering to get you the best of seats in the balcony—scenes of a filmi frenzy that you thought had gone out of fashion. The euphoria is palpable, in fact, it only gets magnified once the reels unspool in the 70 mm darkness. "Baap baap hota hai, beta beta hota hai... Beta baap se nikalta hai...Hindustan Pakistan ka baap hai..." The hero's comic sidekick thunders these brazen lines. The audience reciprocates with cheeky wolf-whistles, deafening claps, loud catcalls and roars of approval. Welcome to Gadar—Ek Prem Katha, the millennium's superhit clarion call to patriotism.

Till yesterday the film had been the quintessential box office underdog. Gadar's Rs 18-crore flashback to the Partition got somewhat dwarfed by the Rs 25-crore epic sweep of Lagaan's cricket at Champaner. Uttam Singh's tepid music provided no competition to A.R. Rahman's inspired compositions. Worse, Sunny Deol's fading charisma couldn't stand up to the media blitz unleashed by a savvy Aamir Khan. What's more, Gadar was sold at about Rs 2.75 crore per territory to Lagaan's more reasonable average of Rs 2.25 crore.

But after almost two weeks, Gadar seems to have a clear edge at the box office (see infobox). While it's early days yet to club them with the all-time blockbusters, the films have all the makings of one, having connected with the audience in a way that Kaho Na Pyaar Hai did one-and-a-half years ago. The other semi-hits of the year, Jodi No. 1 and Mujhe Kuch Kehna Hai, have overnight become as stale as yesterday's leftovers.

They're calling Lagaan "lambi race ka ghoda (the long-distance runner)", but it's the success of Gadar—kept in the headlines by a controversy that's still unspooling—that's the surprise. While the media and the filmdom itself has fallen hopelessly in love with Lagaan, it's Gadar that seems to be emerging as the distributors' favourite. Outlook talked to the well-known trade analysts and the verdict has been unanimous: it's a close duel in which Gadar could become the bigger blockbuster.

The trivia-gatherers have a little nugget to offer on this much-celebrated match. Aamir and Sunny have had two similar outings together. First time it was a case of Aamir's Dil pitted against Sunny's Ghayal. Then Raja Hindustani crossed swords with Ghatak. While Aamir had been ahead in the earlier bouts, this time it's Sunny who has taken the lead. In fact, Gadar might be Sunny's biggest hit till date, bigger than Border and Ghayal.

To be fair, Lagaan's slightly lower collections are also because it has only three shows a day as against Gadar's four and the timings of the shows are also proving to be a bit inconvenient for the viewers. Nonetheless, Gadar's success in some pockets has been unbelievable. In Nizam, Hyderabad, a Muslim-dominated area, the film had a remote chance of making it, so the run began with a mere 10 prints on Friday. However, by Monday, the prints had to be upped to 12 and by Thursday 14 prints were in circulation. "In Punjab the occupancy has been 140 per cent with the theatre owners putting up extra seats and sofas to accommodate the overflow," says Amod Mehra, a trade analyst. "It's creating havoc, going over-capacity in East Punjab territory," says Komal Nahata, editor of Film Information. According to Taran Adarsh of Trade Guide, in Punjab Gadar is set to surpass the run of the biggest hit Hum Aapke Hain Kaun.

While Gadar has set north India afire, Lagaan has hooked the spectators in the west and the south. In upmarket halls like Delhi's PVR Anupam and Priya, the clash of audiences is not so pronounced. Both are faring equally well with the young people going in for Lagaan and the older lot preferring Gadar. The overseas market is more Lagaan-inclined while Gadar's hold has been very pronounced in the small towns. Bareilly is a classic instance. According to Trade Guide, Lagaan could log in only 40 per cent collection here to Gadar's 84 per cent. Similarly, in Bhilai Lagaan mustered 62 per cent collection while Gadar lined 99 per cent. "Lagaan is the film of the gentry, Gadar is for the masses," says Mehra. "Lagaan is working better in the A grade centres while Gadar is faring better in B/C class cities," says Nahata. According to Mehra, in the long run, Gadar is likely to rake in about Rs 7-8 crore from each of the five major territories in the country with Lagaan making about Rs 5-6 crore. Incidentally, HAHK has the record of raking in the most moolah with an awesome Rs 50 crore in earnings.

So what's the fuss all about? While Lagaan's cinematic quality shines through, the peculiar tug of Gadar is slightly difficult to reconcile with given the fact that it is one of the most aesthetically challenged films of recent times starring a histrionically challenged hero. But Bollywood, like its movies, has easy explanations for its success stories. "It's the action climax which has clicked. After a long while we don't just have gunfights and car chases but raw fist fights," says Mehra. "It's the content and the massive scale of the film," explains producer Nitin Keni of Zee Telefilms, the moving force behind Gadar. "Maine Pyar Kiya brought in a barrage of love stories, with HAHK came the family films, with KKHH youth became the flavour of the day. Gadar has brought in a new story and a new way of story-telling," says Adarsh. This novelty, however, is less about stirring the dormant imagination than about appealing to the collective gut which is currently obsessed with the national (read communal) counterpart. Says Vinod Mirani of Box Office: "It has appealed to people's mood. Our guy just picks up his girl from under their noses and scores over the Pakistanis."

At the outset, what wins the day for Gadar is a potent packaging of mush and jingoism masquerading as patriotism. The first half of the film is nothing more than a soft-focus romance between a rough and tough but good-at-heart and musically-inclined truck driver and the coy, beautiful, vulnerable and waif-like Ms Goody-Two-Shoes heroine, who also happens to be a rich Muslim—a token coming together of two communities in strife-ridden times. Never mind the obvious lack of chemistry between Sunny and Amisha Patel (who looks young enough to be his daughter), the relationship is too cloyingly sweet, pretty and ponderous to hold the viewer's interest, its ostensible political correctness notwithstanding.

What ignites the viewers is the second half, a lethal brand of nationalism built on hatred and a patriotism in the form of unbridled violence—not just physical but linguistic as well. Gadar is a cunningly manufactured film. One which desists from saying anything negative about the Indian Muslims. Instead, the battle is pitched against the Muslims on the other side of the line. "The common Indian Muslims are taking to it because the Muslim girl is protected by the Sikh and he is even willing to convert to Islam," says Mehra.

Perhaps that's the reason why the protests against the film appear to be so misplaced. Clearly, the protesters are holding the wrong end of the stick here. The umbrage at the heroine being called Sakina and objecting to the scene where she offers namaaz while wearing sindoor is too facile and lends further credence and legitimacy to Gadar's jingoistic game. "When a film is successful everyone wants to use it to their advantage," says Keni. Latest to jump into the fray is Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray himself. In a report carried in the party mouthpiece Saamna, he gave a clean chit to Gadar finding nothing provocative in it. He said the protesters (from their organisational mirror image, Ali Sena) "should be kicked out of the country". He further wrote that when the protagonist is forced to say "Pakistan zindabad", a section of Muslims in the audience applauded—his version of the Tebbit test which he has employed in the field of cricket earlier.

Fact is the protests are working in the film's favour. Its success is a shot in the arm of the new, emerging genre of patriotic films that play on the animus against Pakistan. From the stodgy and cardboard Bharat of Manoj Kumar to the panoramic and pretty 1942, A Love Story, Roja and Bombay, patriotism has now moved on to represent a duel between "them" and "us". Border, Pukaar and Sarfarosh played on the same sentiments, but while their messages were reluctantly concealed, with Gadar the anti-Pakistan rhetoric gets a blatant new idiom that strikes an immediate chord with the masses. Sample some gems: "Hindustaniyon, kaatna humse seekho," says one rioter. "Kis Pakistan ki baat kar rahe ho. Agar humne tumhe 65 crore rupaye nahin diye hote to tumhare sar par tripal nahin dalti," roars the hero.

According to film critic Deepa Gahlot, jingoistic tendencies started creeping into Hindi films "when terrorism raised its violent head". "The horrors of cruel and random killing of innocents needed to be presented in a manner that would serve to console a disturbed national psyche. And that meant the home side always had to triumph and cause the other side maximum damage," she writes.

There's no room for shades of grey, the portrayals are completely black or white. Pakistanis are villains and traitors, a Pakistani woman seems to know nothing more than producing a huge brood of kids. And our hero is the quintessential Indian, one who has forgotten the hatred for "them" and moved on. He never initiates violence but is forced to retaliate when provoked by the enemies. He is willing to embrace Islam, say 'Islam zindabad', even 'Pakistan zindabad' but when they coerce him to say 'Hindustan murdabad', he can't help but uproot the nearest hand-pump and turn into a demolition man, an act that's sure to give Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sly Stallone an inferiority complex.

"The film exploits hatred commercially. It does not have any element of courtesy," says film critic Shreesh Mishra. While defending the right for Gadar to be screened, actress and MP Shabana Azmi says she found it provocative. "It subliminally reinforces the canard that any Muslim is automatically a Pakistani. It confuses issues of nationalism, religion and identities," she says. Keni feels that Gadar doesn't take any potshots at Pakistan or at Muslims. "It's pro-India. Can't I say Hindustan zindabad in my own country? We have been far too defensive about this for far too long," he says.

At a time when President Pervez Musharraf comes calling, Gadar shows that the ghosts of Partition have still not been laid to rest. They continue to haunt us in new shapes and forms.

First Week's Collection

Territory	Gadar	Lagaan
	(28 shows)	(21 Shows)
Bombay Circuit	Rs. 2 cr	1.75 cr
Delhi-U.P.	Rs. 2.25 cr	1.50 cr
East Punjab	Super Hit	Hit
C.P. Berar (parts of MP & Maharashtra)	Rs. 1 crore	60 Lakh
C.I.	Rs. 20 Lakh	25 Lakh
Rajasthan	Rs. 50 lakh	30 Lakh
Nizam	Rs. 40 lakh	50 Lakh
US	Rs. 90 lakh	1.5 cr
UK	Rs. 50 lakh	1 cr

*Approximate figures, Source: Trade journals