कोर्ट (मराठी): सिर्फ सच...और सिनेमा! सिनेमा और सच के सिवा कुछ नहीं!! [4.5/5]

अगर आप कभी असल ज़िंदगी में कोर्ट नहीं गए, तो प्रबल संभावना है कि आपके मन में कोर्ट की जो थोड़ी-बहुत परिकल्पना होगी, हिंदी फिल्मों से उधार ली हुई होगी। जहां वकील 'तू डाल-डाल, मैं पात-पात' की तर्ज़ पर गला-काट जिरह कर रहे होंगे, मुलज़िम कुशल कारीगरी से बनाये गए बड़े से कठघरे पे हाथ टिकाये बार-बार 'योर ऑनर, ये झूठ है' का जुमला फेंक रहा होगा और जज साहब भी इंसाफ का हथौड़ा 'ऑर्डर-ऑर्डर' की धुन पर बजाने में पूरी तरह मशगूल होंगे। भारत में जहां हज़ारों-लाखों मुकदमे सालों से 'तारीख़ पे तारीख़' का दर्द झेल रहे हैं, कोर्ट में इस तरह के अति-उत्साह, अप्रत्याशित जोश और अविश्वसनीय रोमांच की उम्मीद करना एक तरह से बेवकूफ़ी ही होगी। ऐसा ही कुछ चैतन्य तम्हाणे की राष्ट्रीय पुरस्कार विजेता फिल्म 'कोर्ट' के बारे में भी कहा जा सकता है! यथार्थ के इतने करीब एक ऐसी फिल्म जिसमें बनावटीपन 'दाल में नमक' जितना है, वो भी एकदम सही मात्रा में, न कम-न ज्यादा!

मराठी के जुझारू लोक-गायक, गीतकार-लेखक और विचारक नारायण कांबले [वीरा साथीदार] पर पहले भी सरकार-विरोधी, जाति-संप्रदाय विरोधी और सामाजिक उत्तेजना भड़काने के आरोप लगते रहे हैं पर इस बार उन्हें एक मजदूर को आत्महत्या के लिए उकसाने के इल्ज़ाम में पुलिस ने गिरफ़्तार किया है! दो दिन पहले अपने एक जोशीले गीत में कांबले ने 'इस तरह जीने से तो गटर में डूब कर मर जाना अच्छा' का शंख फूँका था, और आज सफाई-कर्मचारी वासुदेव पवार गटर में मरा पाया गया. बहरहाल, मामला कोर्ट में पहुँच गया है! सरकारी पक्ष की वकील नूतन [गीतांजलि कुलकर्णी] ने दो-ढाई पेज का मुकदमानामा एक सांस में खत्म कर दिया। बचाव-पक्ष के वकील विनय [विवेक गोम्बर] जमानत लेने में असफल रहे. अगली तारीख मिल गई है. नूतन मुंबई की लोकल ट्रेन में पति की डायबिटीज़ और खाने में कम तेल इस्तेमाल करने फायदे बता रही हैं. विनय डाइनिंग टेबल पर अपने माँ-बाप से शादी न करने के मुद्दे पर लड़ रहा है. अगली तारीख पर दोनों फिर आमने-सामने हैं, पर एक अहम गवाह की तबियत ख़राब है! एक और तारीख से यहां किसी को कोई तकलीफ़ नहीं, फैसले की किसी को कोई जल्दी भी नहीं।

गौरतलब हो कि इन सबके बीच मृणाल देसाई का कैमरा थोड़ी दूरी बनाकर, एकदम सांस रोके चुपचाप आपको वास्तविकता का स्वाद चखा रहा है, जैसे आप सिनेमाहॉल में नहीं, वहीँ कहीं एक कुर्सी पकड़ के बैठे हों. फिल्म के एक दृश्य में बचाव पक्ष के वकील एक रेस्टोरेंट से बाहर निकल रहे हैं, कैमरा सड़क के पार से उन्हें देख रहा है, एकदम स्थिर। एक ख़ास जाति के दो लोग वकील साब के मुंह पर कालिख पोतने लगते हैं, फ्रेम में सिर्फ रेस्टोरेंट का दरबान दिख रहा है और बाकी का पूरा घटनाक्रम आप सिर्फ आवाज़ों के जरिये देख पा रहे हैं. बेहतरीन प्रयोग!

फिल्म को सच्चाई का रंग देना हो तो कलाकारों का किरदारों में ढल जाना बहुत जरूरी है। 'कोर्ट' में पता लगाना मुश्किल हो जाता है कि कौन अभिनेता है? और कौन असली किरदार? अगर आप गीतांजलि कुलकर्णी को पहचानते नहीं तो पहले दो दृश्यों में आप उन्हें कोई असल ज़िंदगी की वकील समझने की भूल यकीनन कर बैठेंगे, जिसे नाटकीय अभिनय का 'क-ख-ग' भी नहीं आता! हालाँकि उनके मुकाबले विवेक गोम्बर थोड़े ज्यादा सचेत नज़र आते हैं, पर 'शिप ऑफ़ थीसियस' के बाद ये एक ऐसी फिल्म है जिसमें अभिनय, अभिनय नहीं लगता, संवाद रटे-रटाये नहीं लगते और फिल्म कुल मिलाकर भारतीय सिनेमा को एक नए मुकाम पे ला खड़ा करती है!

अभिव्यक्ति की स्वतंत्रता पर सत्ता का पौरुष-प्रदर्शन देखना हो या सदियों पुराने तौर-तरीकों और सामाजिक मान्यताओं को आधार-स्तम्भ बनाये बैठी भारतीय न्याय व्यवस्था की जीर्ण-शीर्ण, जर्जर हालत की बानगी देखनी हो तो और किसी कोर्ट के दरवाजे खटखटाने की जरूरत नहीं, बेहिचक चैतन्य तम्हाणे की 'कोर्ट' देख लीजिये! साल की सबसे अच्छी फिल्म, अब तक की! [4.5/5]

DETECTIVE BYOMKESH BAKSHY: Splendid, spectacular & mesmeric! [4/5]

A man goes missing. The detective offering help doesn’t even blink or think before giving out his verdict that it is a possible case of murder. His one of many simplistic theories draws even the son in suspicion. As a viewer, you don’t need much time to realize that he is not your usual ‘unrealistically intellectual’ beast like Sherlock Holmes and is not at all a detective but a detective in making. Dibakar Banerjee’s splendid-spectacular & mesmeric murder-mystery thriller DETECTIVE BYOMKESH BAKSHY! may not be able to flabbergast you with terrific twists and reckless revelations but then, it also never ceases to engage with enticing visuals, imaginatively authentic art-design to recreate the nostalgic period, acquisitive music score, brilliantly written characters and some really well-directed sequences for a cinematic treat.

It is Calcutta of 1940s. Japanese are constantly trying to snatch the control over the city from the British. Chinese drug mafia wants to make it a world drug capitol. The young ones are fighting for freedom. The ‘newborn in business’ Byomkesh Bakshy [Sushant Singh Rajput] is trying to prove his theory of missing man’s murder for his forced client Ajit [Anand Tiwari]. He is the same who joins Bakshy later as his sidekick or subordinate. The connecting threads lead him to a powerful politician, his sultry & seductive mistress [Swastika Mukherjee], an intimidating dentist-cum-Japanese tutor and a kind and obliging [Neeraj Kabi of ‘SHIP OF THESEUS’]. For the most parts, Bakshy is only seen finding links between two loose ends. For times, when we all are modified to watch razor-sharp detectives seeing it from miles and acting against it in an electric-speed; there is hardly anything in the plot you would describe as ‘extremely surprising’ but the ambiguity in the air never goes missing.

DETECTIVE BYOMKESH BAKSHY! is stylishly shot gorgeous looking film where everything you see is fabricated, but how aesthetically and inventively! This is the world nowhere close to what we have seen in Doordarshan’s Byomkesh Bakshy series. The case-to-be solved here also doesn’t have limitations of being just another family affair. Dibakar Banerjee takes it on a bigger canvas to make Bakshy’s first case the biggest of what we have seen before. His Calcutta is nothing but a painting with brilliant art-design powered with nostalgic posters on wall, ‘approaching vintage status’ ambassador cars, man-pulling rickshaws on streets and Bata leather shoes for instance. In one momentous shot, we see camera following Bakshy-Bakshy bumping into a stranger-camera following stranger-stranger bumping into the man following Bakshy and then again camera getting back on track to follow the man; all this exercise through the windows of an ambassador car. See it, and you won’t miss it.

With subtle and deadpan humor, film is a delightful watch. When at a drug-making company’s office, Bakshy jokes about him providing blood-sample that it is a must for every candidate before the job-interview, we see the whole lot of young candidates disappearing like a Jeannie. In another just after the blood-bathed climax, Ajit instructs his home-servant to make some tea as the police can visit the crime-scene anytime soon. Though Sushant looks very much in skin of the character, it’s the supporting cast that excels in the performance-sheet. Anand Tiwari as Ajit is a spot-on. Neeraj Kabi makes his act a balanced yet exceedingly outshining one. One more significant contribution one can’t ignore is the outstanding music score by Sneha Khanwalkar. My first move after the movie got over was to put the album on my playlist.

At the end, Dibakar’s DETECTIVE BYOMKESH BAKSHY! is like a strong and effective opium intake once taken you will sure get addicted to it, sooner or later. Expect the unexpected while watching it but don’t forget, even Bakshy is a man with many drawbacks. Don’t expect him to beat goons single-handedly. Watch it for being one of the most magnificent looking films of simple nature and nostalgic feel. [4/5]           

GULABI GANG: Deeply disturbing, shocking yet entertaining! Recommended!! [4/5]

More than 3 hours and I am still feeling suffocated with an utterly devastating insight about how inhuman, ruthless and cold-blooded our society can be. Wooden faced impassive men are shamelessly trying to cover up a planned murder of a young girl to avoid legal consequences for the family in question; quoting a Ramayana stanza that reads it’s all written in the destiny and we are no one to change. There is also a mother who doesn’t blink in doubts while confessing that she would totally understand the intensity of the crime if their sons could kill their own sister for dishonoring the family by marrying a man of her own choice. If this all looks or sounds an exaggerated dramatized plot of some thriller, let me pinch, punch and shake you up to the harsh reality we are in.

Nishtha Jain’s shockingly real GULABI GANG is packed with such shameful episodes and each one makes me feel like crying out loud over our dying empathy for humanity but that’s not all. There is a ray of hope too and in the courageous name of Sampat Pal, the founder lady of a pink clad women group aka the Gulabi Gang.

In the Bundelkhand Region, Sampat Pal runs an organization at her own to help women fight against crime. We all have seen her in a reality show on Indian television. We all, at some point have laughed at her overtly simple behavior but here, she beats us all and emerges as one of most determined, powerful and extremely concerned social worker. She can smell the fishy. She can make things in process. She can talk unhesitantly for the right. With her gang of 15000+ members, she does ‘dharna’ and ‘hunger strike’ against the powerful and corrupts. She leads, guides, educates and empowers the suppressed women around her. She shows us to be the voice for a change in this conservative, regressive and thoroughly patriarchy ruling power of men.

Nishtha Jain brilliantly documents the workings of the gang. From capturing the all burnt into ashes body of the girl murdered to questioning the local police in charge for their inactivity in filing the case, she actively participates as an earnest investigative partaker. Watch out for a shot where camera shows villagers of all ages gathered to witness the event but don’t really want to be vocal about and start moving out to leave the frame empty at the end.

Documentaries are known to be dead factual and less entertaining but GULABI GANG is sure an exception. If it makes you cringe with deeply disturbing truth of our society, fuming over your helplessness to bring some change and feel extremely sensitive about the sufferings women are facing in some part of our country not very far from where we are, it also fills you with its sheer proportion of entertainment. For instance; in an incident, as Sampat Pal recollects, one uninformed lady was told to give her vote on the symbol ‘Chair’ of course on the ballot paper but she ended up putting stamp over a wooden chair nearby and the mistake got repeated for more than 50 times for the women next in line. Ironic but entertaining!

Overall, there can never be a pretext why one should not watch it. We may not have time to spare from our ‘comforted’ life schedules. We may have our own priorities in life to make it better but trust me; this is bigger than yours and definitely not something out of this world. A little concern and some acknowledgement will do much in restoring the humanity in us. A must-watch! [4/5]