some few days back i happened to visit one of the city theatres for viewing the newly released commercial flick by the very cerebral vishal bhardwaj. Infact till date whatever classic vishal had filmed be it shakespearean or bond, he has deconstructed it in such a novel manner that atleast i myslef is a big fan of his.Very few directors in our film fraternity work on literary classics one after another,vishal is one among them.Eversince the release of the movie there has been rave reviews everywhere in film journals and entertainment pages calling it out and out commercial attempt made by vishal. Indeed he himself much before said the same thing...but what strikes me is the blend of ideas that he has made in the movie treating them in a very masculine cavalier manner.The mumbai gang wars,world of the jockeys,racial orthodoxy,psychedelic drugs,inferiority complex of the marginalised(a stammering guddu),or even most importantly presentation of the so called "buddhijibi" bangalis as the three 'mental' brothers making a gang,all are breathtakingly presented with the excellent camera effects and brilliant directorial execution of a story which has multiple layers folding and unfolding.Although the story here again is not vishal's original and is a borrowed one from the kenyan playwright cajetan boy,but here again we find his signature all over the film in a wonderful topical adaptation.Infact the issue of marathi racial orthodoxy is quite significant in a time when we every minute are squaring it off in many discourses and debates regarding xenophobia in australia and raising our voices in a cacophonous call of justice,little looking at the mirror.The crisis is alarming and truthful filmmakers like vishal have shown it with much honesty through bhope bhau n his army battling it out for the marathis,as they feel they are gradually being marginalised..vishal therefore raises a big question before us.Dont we ourselves engage in racial profiling?..chinkis and gujjus as we often terminologise..buck up the belt or else voices are bound to be raised in your own houses.. what attracted my senses the most is the treatment of a relation named brotherhood in the film.Infact there is something conradean in the relationship between guddu and charlie,the inseparable twins,who can't breathe without the other.The betrayal of guddu inside the mumbai local train(a situational call) and his act of retribution at the fag end by staying beside his brother,finding him amidst the ruins,being actually concerned for him and even charlie's realisation comes through guddu's words.."zindagi ne ek mauka aur diya hain tumhe,is bar sahi rasta maat chorna", reminds one of the famous conradean brother relations that establish their immortality of love through guilt,betrayal and retribution.More interesting is that every prominent relation in the movie is fraternal..be it the three mental bangali brothers shouting " buro boyoshe vimroti" or the police officers from the anti narcotics department or even the black brothers that have come to tashi..even sweety is known by her brother bhope bhau..guddu primarily associates her with that relation.Amidst this whole gamut of fraternal bonds there exists a bond that appeared to my senses as something of that lawrentian
'blutbruderschaft' or blood brothers,the brothers under the skin,charlie and mikhail..chandan roy sanyal is a theatre veteran,his potrayal of mikhail is undoubtedly the best perfomance by a cast in the movie.charlie and mikhail's brotherhood reminds one of the great lawrentian brothers george and cyril.'Sonamoni' and 'puchu' as they refer to each other seals a bond that surpasses all other bond in the story.In every move of theirs is a phallic exuberance that fills the ambience with energised masculinity.the brilliance of the camera in 'dhan ta nan' revolving in 360 degrees with the excellent psychedelic light effects builds up their " brave new world".
charlie and mikhail emanate the phallic energy that makes the story truly masculine.The term phallic is used in strict masculine terms here unlike the lacanian unisexual usage.Mikhail is charlie's life-force,his other half for that matter.To describe their relation the perfect word is again a bangla one,"keora " friendship.A friendship that runs like the wild eqqus breaking all stonds."run charlie run" then becomes the marathon charlie undertakes to be at the zenith and again the run that he is engaged in with his brother mikhail to seal their immortal relation.
KAMINEY with brilliant individual performances,sharp edits,wonderful cinematography fails to hold the brilliant pace that the movie begins with after the interval but soon it is restored towards the final wrap up.The condensation of time frame,narrative structure defying chronology in time, are dealt with immense perfection by vishal bhardwaj.The very cerebral twists,his very realistic treatment in scenes where guddu sweety is talking of love with a street dog by their side or even the two wet crows in a frame,are to be interpreted as the hallmarks of a realist film.KAMINEY startles us as one of the best movies made on the bombayunderbelly,oops!!..to go by bhope bhau 'ts 'mumbai' underbelly..though it might not have sent the cashboxes ringing all over,but isn't that the case with all vishal movies that otherwise are assests of indian cinema..with the birth of a great actor in bollywood through mikhail and equally commanding performance by fahid (wen 's' becums 'f')KAMINEY is one of the best movies the indian film industry has seen in recent years....
