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EDITOR'S PICK
Rating: ****
Some films are meant to run that extra mile to go beyond being a mere cinematic
experience. As we see names of real-life athletes who died unsung flash across
the screen at the end of Paan Singh Tomar we realize what we`ve just
witnessed in the past 190 minutes of taut playing-time is not just film. It`s a
treatise on what destiny has in store for people who do not conform to
socially-acceptable definitions of success.
Indeed Irrfan Khan as Paan Singh Tomar typifies that criminal neglect of all
athletes in our country barring cricketers who, as we all know by now, are
grossly overrated sportsperson.
Tomar was a steeplechase runner. Not that it made any difference to his destiny.
In the army for the long innings Tomar, we are told, took voluntary retirement
to look after his family and land in his native village.
This is where Dhulia`s riveting screenplay, where not a moment is squandered in
self-indulgent editing, gets truly astounding. Abandoning the manageable hurdles
of the steeplechase Tomar took to the gun to avenge the wrong done to his
family.
There are hurdles, and hurdles. And some impossible to overcome.
The two lives of Paan Singh Tomar, in the army as a celebrated sportsperson and
as an outlaw on the run in the Chambal valley (not on a horse, please!) are
brought together in a stirring blend of the brilliant and the haunting.
While Dhulia`s earlier works suffered for the lack of a suitable budget Paan
Singh Tomar is technically a polished piece of cinema with the editing (Aarti
Bajaj) and background score (Sandeep Chowta) adding a dimension beyond the drama
of the driven athlete.
The film is shot by cinematographer Aseem Mishra with an intriguing blend of a
bleeding authenticity and a poetic resplendence. Indeed, Tigmanshu Dhulia`s
training as a racounteur of a tale of social injustice and damnifying outlawry,
harks back to the director`s association with Shekhar Kapoor`s Bandit
Queen.
In portraying Paan Singh`s leap from celebrated athlete to wanted bandit, Dhulia
avoids the ostentatious brutality of the circumstances that made Phoolan Devi a
social outcast. Paan Singh Tomar has very little on-screen violence.
It`s the heart that bleeds profusely and invisibly in almost every frame.
The unspoken question, why do we treat our athletes so shabbily, trails the
narrative, as does the other larger question of social inequality and the
subversion of law.
Unlike other films with a strong social message Paan Singh Tomar
never stops being a truly liberating cinematic experience. Of course much of the
credit for the film`s sledgehammer effect goes to Irrfan Khan`s central
performance. As Paan Singh Irrfan is in one word, flawless. There is not a
single shot in the film that he gets wrong. He follows his character`s destiny
with an intuitive alertness that leaves no room for ambiguity in the
interpretation of the character`s complex life. And it`s not just about getting
the character`s spoken language and body language right. Irrfan goes way beyond.
Would the other grossly overrated Khans of our cinema kindly watch Irrfan`s
performance?
The dialogues range from the t to the refreshing. Comments on subordination and
oppression are often laced in laughter. God knows we need a sense of humour to
survive the progressive rampancy of socio-political injustice .
The beauty of watching Irrfan transform into Tomar is the seamless leap the
actor takes into the character. Irrfan is blessed with first-rate supporting
actors, many of whom we haven`t seen much on screen before. They add to the
film`s high level of authenticity by just not looking like and speaking their
lines like actors.
The scenes showing Irrfan running with other actors are beautifully captured as
moments of metaphorical significance. Somewhere down the line the scenes showing
Tomar jumping over hurdles on the race track merge into the larger picture to
tell us, life on field and life outside the race track have one thing in common.
You have to keep running, no matter what the odds.
Paan Singh Tomar is a terrific edge-of-the-seat entertainer. The synthesis of
two genres-the sports film and the dacoit drama-is done with such confident
ingenuity that we hardly realize when one ends, the other begins.
No one gave a damn about me when I won medals for the country. Today when
I`m a baaghi(rebel) everyone wants to know about Paan Singh Tomar, Irrrfan
says caustically.
Hopefully after this film we`d learn to care for our unsung heroes a bit more.
Oh yes, a word on the stunning soundtrack. From snatches of old Lata Mangeshkar
melodies to radio announcements on Nargis Dutt`s demise, time passages are
achieved through incidental snatches of voices caught in mid-air.
Life`s life that.You never know what you will experience in that raga we call
existence until a snatch of a line hits you from a distance.
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From a small town of Madhya Pradesh, rose an athlete who ruled the steeplechase event at the Indian National Games for 7 years in a row and whose record stood unbeaten for 10 years. His name was Paan Singh Tomar, but, his fame didn`t stop there - he became even more famous or rather infamous when he gave up his running shoes and went on to become a `Baaghi` and wreaked havoc in the Chambal Valley. Paan Singh Tomar is the true epic journey of a talented runner who turned into a rebel!