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Friday, April 26, 2024
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BOLLYWOOD AURANGZEB
EDITOR'S PICK
Sapna se badaa apna hota hai...It`s okay to sacrifice one`s dreams for the sake
of those you love. This is a recurrent thought in this hard-hitting family drama
about fatally flawed people who flock together, in search of a happiness that is
snatched from them by a fate far more cruel and savage than what we generally
see as destiny.
The destiny that seems to underline the lives of writer-director Atul
Sabharwal`s drama of family feuds is as flawed as it is rich in resonances. And
why not! Perfection is as boring as it is unbelievable. Sabharwal spreads out a
hectic hefty horizon of dark grey black and ominously immoral people who share a
common genealogy but are not afraid to kill one another for personal gains.
Welcome to the world of unstoppable ambitions. Half-realized dreams thread their
way through Sabharwal`s intricate plot, much like those gigantic
cement-mortar-glass skyscrapers that kiss the sky in half-constructed
questionable glory in the film`s excellently-composed frames. The cinematography
by N. Karthik Gnaesh provides a panoramic view of Gurgaon`s super-affluent
landscape. It also provides us an insight into the anxious souls of
half-finished lives trapped in the mirage of their absurd aspirations.
Each moment in "Aurangzeb" tells a heartbreaking story of betrayal and
bloodshed, of men and women who have forsaken a life of peaceful sleep to pursue
wakeful dreams that leave them famished and restless.
At first "Aurangzeb" seems plotted with too many twists and turns. And
then as you watch the tale of twin bothers (Arjun Kapoor, very much in
character) and a stepbrother, played by Prithiviraj, who turns out to be the
moral foundation of this empire of compulsions, you fall into the rhythm
patterns of Sabharwal`s quiet volatile and implosive storytelling.
The film`s grand design subsumes a scintillating galaxy of memorable moments.
Nothing in the film is what it seems. There are illegitimate relationships and
business interests jostling with their more constitutional counterparts. The
twins-device serves as a vivid indication of the moral ambiguities that
undercore the world of corporate deals.
Supreme power and supreme wealth are what the characters seek in this film.
Funny, how they end up nullified or dead at the end. None more so that the
all-powerful cop played by Rishi Kapoor. A closet-extortionist, this powerful
policeman`s family-mafia runs parallel to Jackie Shroff`s vast empire of drugs
and other criminal activities.
Arjun Kapoor crosses comfortably into both the nefarious kingdoms. Playing the
traditional `Ram Aur Shyam` game, he seems to nail the brotherly mirror-image
into a slide show of shifting loyalties. It`s a compelling double whammy from an
actor who made a sizeable impact with his first film last year.
Prithviraj who made his Hindi debut with the disastrous "Aiyya" last
year, springs a stunning surprise as Arjun`s half-brother. He is the voice of
this vast plot`s nebulous conscience. It`s finally Prithviraj who redeems the
film`s shifting moral values to recover a moral centre for a world that seems to
spin out of control with its penchant for power and greed for wealth.
I`ve to make mention of the very talented Swara Bhaskara who plays Prithiviraj`s
wife. The super-talented girl has just two brief sequences. But she wrenches
your heart. Tanve Azmi`s motherly act has its moments. Amrita Singh as a
scheming she-devil is the traditional home-breaker. It`s a stereotypical
bad-girl role, given a reined-check by the actress` ingrained grace. Sasheh Agha
in a role clearly inspired by Parveen Babi in Yash Chopra`s "Deewaar"
is cast in a role that deserved a far better actress.
Atul Sabharwal`s direction bears ruminative remnants of the mighty filmmaking
legacy of Yash Chopra and Mani Ratnam. The script outwardly sounds like a
potboiler about the shifting equation between the legitimate and the outcast.
But the tone adapted to tell this potboiler tale is authentic, underplayed and
constantly credible. It`s as if Manmohan Desai suddenly decided go the way
Shayam Benegal did in "Kalyug".
The film is a marvel of impeccable casting. Every actor gives his best, none
more so than Rishi Kapoor who as the illimitably corrupt cop pulls off yet
another masterly antagonist`s part.
"Aurangzeb" springs many unexpected surprises. It is a work which
doesn`t shy away from screaming silences and penetrating whispers. The
softspoken words delivered in a natural even pitch is often so far-reaching in
their implications that we keep returning to the dialogues much after the
characters have spoken them and moved on.
Yes, much in "Aurangzeb" is imperfect. The ambivalent tone of
authenticity in a plot that seems inpired by the melodramatic blockbusters of
the 1970s is really an exercize in self-indulgence. It`s as if the director
wants to prove his intellectual superiority over the material he has chosen to
deconstruct. But the contradictory tone somehow works in a way we`ve never seen
before.
Gurgaon on the outskirts of Delhi becomes a hotbed of intrigue and drama. But
underneath the conspiracies and the killings is a tragic tale of blood
unnecessarily spilt for advantages that finally mean zilch in the absence of
loved ones to share the loot with.
"Aurangzeb" has an epic sweep to its storytelling. But it`s also an
intimate portrait of family values gone to waste. It is really the sound of
stifled sobs that we carry home of characters who thought they knew it all only
to realize at the end that they somewhere lost track of their inner self in
pursuit of distant dreams.
Actor Arjun Kapoor, who sports a buzz cut typical of police recruits and embodies the heartland policeman in the first look of his character from "Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar", says change has been the only constant in his journey of 10 films in Bollywood.Read More
Directed by Atul Sabharwal and produced by Aditya Chopra, AURANGZEB stars Arjun Kapoor, in a double role, along with Prithviraj, in lead roles in this intriguing and gripping drama. The film boasts of an enviable and dynamic ensemble star cast of Rishi Kapoor, Jackie Shroff, Sikandar Kher, Amrita Singh, Deepti Naval, Tanvi Azmi, Swara Bhaskar and also launches Sasha Aagha.
Press conference of film Aurangzeb Stills 