GHAYAL ONCE AGAIN: Where Pain replaces the Punch! [1.5/5]

Nothing hurts more than a second-rate sequel to a classic. I am not being unreasonable here with mediocre script, sloppy direction and forgettable performances; they come and go like seasons in Bollywood but how you can be so careless and recreational while even trying to replicate the magic of one of the most powerful ‘anti-system’ revenge dramas on Indian screens. If I would love to remember Rajkumar Santoshi’s GHAYAL for its sheer intensity in the hovering emotions that could turn a common man into a roaring, raging, rebellious bull, GHAYAL ONCE AGAIN for me is just a poor example of outdated, formulated and shamefully flawed filmmaking.

Ajay Mehra [Sunny Deol] has served his 16 years’ sentence for killing Balwant Rai [Amrish Puri] and now runs Satykaam- a news agency that dares to stand up against injustice of all kinds. Satykaam is more of an organized anti-crime movement with a technically sound work-base buried under ground and hundreds of activated members flaunting their ‘I am a Satykaam’ badges and stickers. Ajay is seen fighting with his reminiscences from the troubled past [in a set of weirdly conceived and poorly executed graphic visuals] until his friend-cum-admirer Joe D’Souza [Om Puri from the original cast] gets murdered. The war is inevitable between a powerful businessman [Narendra Jha] on one side and the man himself with Dhai kilo ka haath and four youngsters [They have captured the crime accidentally] on the other. And the whole city will stand still to watch the grand show.

Sunny Deol gets a deserving applaud for setting his story in a present day. The timeline of the events looks credible. Ajay Mehra has aged, but not in his anger management. The corrupt syndicate between the business world, politics and media is hinted well. One such easygoing news channel has office walls painted with famous Bollywood dialogues. I have no idea who’s on the receiving end. But that’s the only thing positive about the film. Once he decides to build a gripping story around all this, he gradually loses his sense of authenticity to the conveniently bad filmmaking.

Some films are a visual treat; GHAYAL ONCE AGAIN is a visual [graphics] disaster. Imagine Sunny Deol banging his head on the wall with exactly 5 visual windows playing old footage of GHAYAL around his head! The pain is so transmittable, I tell you. The editing jerks could be an additional chapter in any film school syllabus. At one, Sunny is trapped in a traffic jam only to appear in the very next scene controlling a hijacked helicopter. Don’t leave the theatre if it offences your intellect; wait until he rams into a skyscraper abode of the villain. Now, you can.

One of the very few watchable moments has Narendra Jha playing the influential businessman and a father in a catch-22 situation. He is no typical villain who loves to share every move with his family. He hides his drink when his little daughter shows up. He gets worried as a parent when his drug-addicted son commits murder. He is no Amrish Puri to Gulshan Grover or Dan Dhanoa. Jha proves his fitness for the part but the writing is so one-dimensional, you only have sympathies for him. Sunny Deol directs himself and makes sure he sets the screen on fire especially with the action sequences. Watching him entering into a frame running towards camera in slow-motion is the only part I can relate to the Sunny Deol of GHAYAL. For the rest, he doesn’t bring anything electrifying or amply satisfying. In fact, the scenes showing his emotional outbursts are amusingly testing.

Overall, GHAYAL ONCE AGAIN lacks the punch. The same punch that GHAYAL still manages to knock its viewers out even after 26 years in a row. The man had his own share of stardom with the film. The film deserved a better tribute from the man. [1.5/5]

SHOLAY 3D: A visual heritage in Cinema for the next generation! [5/5]

As a devoted movie lover, my most desirable dream came true this week with Ramesh Sippy’s magnum opus SHOLAY getting re-released in 3D after 38 years of its very first release. I was, until, one of those few unlucky who hadn’t experienced this all-time blockbuster and the biggest entertainer in Indian Cinema on big screen. So first and foremost, no matter how many times you have seen it before, no matter how religiously you have learnt all its juicy dialogues by heart…you should rush to the nearest cinema to relive this enormously engaging film bollywood has ever produced. History repeats itself but not so often. So be a part of it!

Despite taking inspiration largely from Sergio Leone’s ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST [‘68] for the ‘mouth-organ’ themed background score & sound designing for family-massacre sequence, George Marshall directed segment in HOW THE WEST WAS WON [‘62] for the train-robbery part and John Sturges’ THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN [‘60] for the plot, Bollywood’s tribute to ‘spaghetti western’ cinema SHOLAY finds its root very much in our ‘desi’ soil and there exists the formula of its never-ending success.

Hats off to the writer-duo Salim-Javed for giving us characters that never lose their magical charm, colloquial quirky dialogues that never get out-of-the fashion and a drama that keeps us engaged and entertained all the way through its perfect and balanced mix of emotions. Who would not react in chuckles when Jai asks wisely, “tumhara naam kya hai, basanti”! How could you not feel the rage of vengeance in Veeru when he calls for the final encounter with, “Gabbar Singh! Main aa reha hoon”! Try to hold yourself from laughing when, modeled mockingly on Hitler, Jailer instructs his orderlies, “aadhe idhar jao, aadhe udhar jao…baki mere saath aao”! Have you ever seen a villain as cold-blooded & brutal as Gabbar who shoots his own sidekicks soon after making them burst into laughing only to prove a point that, “jo darr gaya, samjho marr gaya”? And my most favorite that has social significance also, is the unsaid inherent romance between Jai & Radha. Does your heart not bleed when Radha expresses. “laal, peele, neele, hare, socho toh rangon ke bina zindgi kaisi berang lagegi” cut to the while-clad Radha forced to live a colorless life of a widow.

Apart from Hema Malini playing the chatty tanga-girl Basanti, Sanjeev Kumar as the intensely gritty Thakur Saab and Jaya Bhaduri’s compassionate Radha, this is probably one of those rare films where every single actor cast has come out with an unforgettable presence on screen and definitely a remarkable work of his/her career. Dancing Queen Helen in the sensuous ‘mehbooba o mehbooba’ dance number, Jagdeep in a 2-scene role as ‘Soorma Bhopali’, A K Hangal as Imam saab in the heart-aching ‘itna sannata kyun hai bhai’ act, Leela Mishra as Mausi and everyone else.

SHOLAY was also a trendsetter in many senses. The era of 70’s in Bollywood with formula action entertainers that finds its base in violent vengeance seeking gangster-dacoit movies, was unquestionably lead by SHOLAY. Dharmendra’s foray into ‘kutte-kameene, main tera khoon pi jaaoonga’ mode took a giant leap after the very same. Amitabh dying in the end became a profit-formula & a sure-shot success-mantra for many Bollywood producers and last but not least, the emersion of 70-mm stereophonic sound technology for a king-size ground-breaking entertainment. Who all have experienced it before on screen can vouch for that.

The new form of SHOLAY in 3D has only improved and enhanced the experience. There are added 3D effect-gimmicks also that will make you satisfied with the glasses. The background score and songs are brilliantly been reworked in an enhancing Dolby digital atmosphere. CG effects keep the freshness in the visuals alive and intact but these aren’t and shouldn’t be the criteria to judge the film. Watch it for the status it has achieved through all these years and still doesn’t smell rot and old-fashioned. Classic in other words! This one is a visual heritage in cinema you should pass on to the next generation. Take your kids & family as I say, “History repeats itself but not so often”. Be a part of it! [5/5]