Aarakshan Review : All smoke and no fire

In an early scene from the film involving Deepak (Saif Ali Khan) & Poorbi (Deepika Padukone), director Prakash Jha can be seen lurking around unobtrusively in the background, a la Subhash Ghai. He needn’t have gone that far to stress the Ghai influence on Aarakshan – the film is reminiscent of Ghai potboilers of the 90′s from start to finish. The only difference being that this one masquerades as a comment on a socio-political issue and this chip on its shoulder is the biggest factor in making it an intolerable 3 hours spent at the cinema.

With a title that translates into Reservation, promos that flash the R-word repeatedly and a controversy conjured along caste lines, one would have expected the film to be woven around the theme of caste-based reservation. Instead, we are served the cliched good v/s evil saga, with reservations being sidelined to a mere plot point. And once the issue has served its purpose (takes barely 30-45 minutes), it vanishes completely from the scene (though Jha does get minor characters to mouth the R-word a couple of times, sans any consequece to the film). What takes its place is the issue of the commercialization of education. And even that is painfully superficial, more so given the length of the film (a good 170 minutes).

Techically, the film falls flat on its face. Calling the screenplay amatuerish would be an understatement. It follows a classical three act structure but has zero clarity on some of its basic tenets. Saif’s Deepak Kumar is clearly the main protagonist during the setup but he’s nowhere to be seen during the conflict (by when Prabhakar Anand is firmly established as the protagonist), only to make a meek and pointless return during the final act. The confrontations, except for the one between Anand & Bajpayee’s Mithilesh Singh, lack any semblance of depth and hence, are utterly unconvincing. The poor editing adds to the faulty screenplay and makes the already long film seem endless. The cinematography is below-average, making even real locations look like cheap sets.

There have been several instances in the history of Indian cinema where enterprising direction has more than compensated for the lack of technical brilliance. And while Jha’s recent outings have been less than satisfactory, he has displayed the directorial enterprise that was badly needed in Aarakshan. Sadly, as mentioned above, he has chosen to continue from where he left in Raajneeti, and has taken giant strides further down the abyss. He focusses heavily on the melodrama (more of mellowdrama due to the shallow content), leaving other aspects of direction untouched. And that results in some glaring gaffes. A couple of examples – the resignation of a college principal making the top feature on the Yahoo! India homepage (or was it Yahoo! Bhopal?); Saif calling Deepika from his mobile from the US and Deepika’s phone displaying a landline number from Bombay. And worst of all are the cringe worthy mathematical equations spouting forth from the mouths of various characters, age & background no bar.

Jha proves completely inept even at extracting good performances from the team. Amitabh plays himself for the umpteenth time and Bajpayee hams like there’s no tomorrow. Deepika Padukone & Prateik would do us a great favour if they move on to an alternate career – maybe modelling would work well for both. Looking good doesn’t really translate into acting well. The supporting cast, most of them good & sincere actors, hardly have anything to do. The only silver lining here is Saif Ali Khan, switching between warmth & intensity at will and coming up with a terrific performance. His confrontation with Bajpayee in the college canteen is perhaps the best scene in the film and arguably the only one where Bajpayee displays his true mettle as an actor.

Which brings us to the hullaboo surrounding the film. There are only two logical inferences one can make from the controversy about the film being anti-dalit or anti-reservation. One is that this entire controversy was a well-played publicity stunt aimed at creating a hype around the film to pull in the crowds. The other is that the politicians raking up the issue even after having seen the film were reinforcing the stereotype of the politician played by Vinay Apte in the film – politicising non-issues for selfish ends. Interestingly, both these inferences point at a common symptom. The general public is seen as a brainless mob that can be manipulated by the most hare-brained of stunts. I rest my case.