You must understand the whole of life,
not just one little part of it.
That is why you must read,
that is why you must look at the skies,
that is why you must sing and dance,
and write poems
and suffer and understand,
for all that is life.
~ Jiddu Krishnamurti
It is
rare in Hindi movies to get to see a realistic portrayal of an actual event. I
am not sure why but a general preference is to over-dramatise the incidents
& deliver performances in the style of Sohrab Modi. Of course such movies
& such performances - on & off screen - are also appreciated too often
without a thought about the kind of substance or sometime even lack of it
behind; thus ringing the cash register or voting machines - as the case might be.
The real
life is not a drama though, and hence it was indeed heartening & refreshing to see two real
life incidents portrayed so humanely in two outstandingly crafted movies
back-to-back - within a week – first Neerja & then Aligarh.
Aligarh
is about the human conscience, love & empathy which must remain the
cornerstone of our value system & not the other way around where our value systems decides our response to love & empathy. The movie is
also as much about the morality-preaching, right to privacy & hell-hounding
media as about conscientious & sensitive journalism – perhaps a rare
breed today but was not so always – at least not in the times (& I intend
the pun) of till early 90s. Could it be the case that like the politicians, we also
deserve our journalists? But I am digressing.
Being a
movie about a poet perhaps made it easier, but Aligarh flows like a poetry –
and as Prof Siras tells in the movie – where the nuances were found not in the
words but in the pauses in between (Shabdon men nahin, Antaraal men).
Hansal Mehta has imbibed this, and one finds well-crafted
scenes with such pauses aplenty – Prof Siras getting down to translating
his own poem amidst the cacophony in the court room, or his advocate (Ashish
Vidyarthi) after delivering a fine & case winning speech finding Prof Siras
snoring away are just a few instances.
Despite
him chiding us for tagging the adjectives rather than understanding,
an absolutely inspired performances by Manoj Bajpai as Prof Siras - watch him
blushing when his is called a good looking man, his eyes when he talks of going
away to America, his fears when he hears a strange sound and the melancholy
while listening to Lata’s Betaab Dil Ki Tamanna Yahi Hai– and Rajkumar Rao
without any dialogue-baaji & melodrama is the kind of treat one does not
get served too often.
And if
not for these performances, Aligarh is worth watching because “being human” is not
to generally tag & criminalise & shun away – because of our collective
power - but to understand & be inclusive to even those who may have preferences or ideologies different
from us.
Hats off to Hansal Mehta & his team!
