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Sunday, April 28, 2024
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BOLLYWOOD SAHEB BIWI AUR GANGSTER
EDITOR'S PICK
Rating: ***
Absolute power corrupts absolutely. And the power to create cinema that takes
the prevalent language of narration into the domain of the dark and
unpredictable is a privilege belonging to some politically savvy filmmakers.
Sudhir Mishra tops the list. Tigmanshu Dhulia follows close behind.
The manner in which Dhulia brings into play the murky, sleazy politics of Uttar
Pradesh is remarkable for the fusion of lies and truth with the borderline
between the two extremes simply blurring.
Sahib Biwi Aur Gangster is an audacious tongue-in-cheek homage to
Guru Dutt`s timeless classic Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam. Don`t believe
the director`s protestations to the contrary. Dhulia`s film even opens with an
unabashed tribute to Guru Dutt`s film with skeletons being dug out during an
excavation.
There onwards there are plenty of skeletons tumbling out of secret places in the
zamindar`s (Jimmy Sheirgill) bedroom and other workplaces, all leading to a
series of climaxes, many of them aggressively sexual in nature.
Dhulia deconstructs and demystifies Meena Kumari`s alcohol-laden mysterious
Choti Bahu from Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam. As played by Mahie Gill in
Dhulia`s new-age deconstructed version of the old film, the wife is a
full-blooded sexually dissatisfied, curious and predatory creature somewhat
annoying in her insistence on going against the rules of her husband`s crumbling
`haveli`.
Scenes showing the wife`s rebellious streak are awkwardly constructed.
It is no coincidence that the intruder in Dhulia`s film is a libidinous
over-ambitious driver whose hunger for sex and power drives him to
self-destruction. As played by Randeep Hooda, he is quite the opposite of the
gentle shy besotted little creature that the Choti Bahu befriended in Guru
Dutt`s film.
Sahed Biwi Aur Gangster creates a world far removed from Guru Dutt`s
classic, and yet the two works are miraculously joined at the hip. Almost every
character from the Guru Dutt film is replicated if not parodied in Dhulia`s
film. There is even Deepal Shaw playing a modern day version of Waheeda Rehan`s
Jabaa from Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam.
Waheedaji`s reaction to her new-age avatar is awaited.
Sex and politics fuse into the fading crumbling feudal world of Dhulia`s cinema,
creating a potent mix of passion and politics. As the goon, who dares to enter
his benefactor`s wife`s bedroom and dreams of taking his place, Randeep Hooda
has the best lines and graph graph for his character. Here`s an actor who is yet
to get his due.
Mahie Gill plays the desolate wife with an absolute absence of enigma. Meena
Kumari didn`t quite know what she was searching for. This woman knows exactly
what she wants and finally gets it through the nozzle of the gun.
Jimmy Shergill has over the years evolved as an actor of subtle skills. As the
embittered husband and doddering landlord he brings to the storyboard a kind of
gentle persuasiveness that goes beyond the narration. His scenes with his
father`s mistress are gems conveying wry disdain for a woman who controls the
resources of a rapidly crumbling feudal kingdom.
Dhulia is in the habit of bringing into play the political forces that determine
human nature in Uttar Pradesh.
Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster turns progressively Shakespearean towards
the end with three protagonists hurling towards self-destruction. As they delve
toward doom you are left with no choice but to watch the characters as pathetic
paradigms of an era that has long gone.
The crumbling sepia-toned interiors and colour tones scream out a message of
live and let live. But it`s too late, Dhulia`s characters are felled by their
own greed and lust.
Guru Dutt would have probably choked at this badland bawdy burlesque of
Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam. Lekin man-na padega, boss. Tigmanshu Dhulia`s
homage to Dutt is saucy if somewhat uneven in tone and jagged at the edges.
Actor Kay Kay Menon, who is gearing up for the release of his upcoming film "Phamous", says he always wanted to shoot a film in the badlands of the Chambal ravines.Kay Kay was interacting with the media at the trailer launch of the film along with Jimmy Sheirgill, Pankaj Tripathi, Mahi Gill and director Karan Lalit Bhutani here on Thursday.Read More
Based in a small town in the Northern part of India, Sahib
Biwi aur Gangster is a story packed with intrigue betrayal and ambition between
a beautiful Begum, her Nawab husband and an ambitious young boy.
The Nawab and his Begum, live in their ancestral royal house trying to maintain
the status and structure their ancestors had left behind. But due to the
changing time, some extreme financial conditions and the long gone habit of a
royal having a mistress, the Nawab tries real hard to maintain his status and
financial conditions.
His rival political party, belonging to Gainda Singh is on a constant mission to
eliminate the Nawab and his allies, to get a hold of the administration, which
has been with this royal family for decades. Eventually leaving him with just
one Kanahiya who is Saheb’s most trusted and dangerous servant.
Due to the Nawab’s interest in his beautiful mistress, Begum suffers seriously
from the lack of his attention and tries to put every bit of her effort into
getting him to come back to her or even spend a moment of his time with her. The
Nawab starts taking contract killing assignments to be able to cope up with his
lifestyle and to be able to get a stronger hold over his political situation
while campaigning for the elections, which becomes a difficult battle
considering the loss of his allies and deteriorating financial situation.
The drama in the plot walks in when the same rival gang plant Babblo, to get
information and plot the Nawab’s killing, as the temporary driver for Begum as
her age-old driver meets with an accident, which was also conspired by the same
group.
Begum suffering from the lack of her husbands attention and slightly hysterical
due to the same gets into a sort of sexual relationship with this young driver
who seems to be giving more of his time to her.
In this process, Babblo falls deeply in love with the Begum and lands up
confessing of his connections and intentions in front of the Nawab. This is
exactly the point where the entire drama between the Sahib, his Biwi and Babloo
the gangster begins.
The story is filled with twists and turns as Biwi uses Babblo to get the
mistress killed to gain back the lost attention from her husband. Babloo manages
to fulfill her demand but in turn gets ambitious and wants the begum for himself
and the power which Saheb now holds after he eliminates Gainda singh.
Biwi is worried since she knows that Babloo wants to eliminate Saheb,
how this brutal triangle gets deciphered forms the climax of this story.
Colors promotes Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster Returns Stills