It was probably a mistake to watch both the movies back-to-back. Both are the kind of movies which, once you have wattched them, stops you from watching another one for at least a week. And it is probabaly no surprise that both, at their heart, has the central theme of obsession. And both use extensive metaphors and symbols to carry forward their theme. But that doesnt mean that both are similar. Both are completely opposite,as films. But then too much differecne means that they tend to be closer and similar in this vicious circle of opposites.
One is disguised in the form of a fable-- where two children are obsessed by one donkey and one of them takes to dangerous means to get the donkey back. The symbols are quite clear. As a country India and pakistan are nothing sort of children, fighting over a trifle. In the larger scheme of things, this is indeed childish and trifle. And all the emotions and attachment would look insignificant if we will take a look at the suffering that veryone tackles everyday. In the movie we have two very sensible children who solves the problem of possession quite easily. One of them ventures towards the wrong path but immediately realises his mistake. He pledges to make 'thousands of rounds' to get back his Birbal instead of resorting to the other way of Idris. And on the other hand the other child immediately understands the situation and returns Birbal to its rightful owner. But then Birbal will never remain 'only' of tahaan. Its very easy to imagine the future. These two children have started a friendship of lifetime and beyond. And Birbal will always remain with both of them. It is a beautiful tale of not just obsession but of love, hope and friendship. Each and every character is simply a personification of all the events and issues of modern-day Kashmor. And just one question is asked in the film-- "To whom does this valley, this mountain belong?" And the simple answer is "no one". Probably, in retrospect, there is another question-- If these two children can be so sensible, can't all the so-called intellectuals and diplomats be? Why not take a leaf out of these children's book? And this is not just being asked for the problem of Kashmir. All the differences are because of this obsession.
In stark contrast to this serene (but very disturbing), peaceful fable of Tahaan and Birbal is the in-your-face, dark montage of 'Love...Power...Revolution". It catches you unawares; jolts you out of your sleep and mauls you completely. Once the movie ends, you just want to run away-- out of this world-- to anywhere. you feel as if you are just a hapless, helpless fellow caught in the spider's web. Even the option of killing others or yourself is snatched away from you. And like and extremely poor, weak puppet, you want to take rest after the whole day's toil. But you cant even sleep. You just hope that this is a nightmare. it indeed is! But it is REAL. You cant wake up to find everything all right. The 'ray' of hope that was there in Tahaan is nowhere here. Its all dark night and we are just 'raat ke musafir'. There is no point fighting. The ore we fight the worse it gets. And then we realise that probably it is not all so easy as Tahaan makes it look like. It is much more complicated; the obsession is too deep-rootes and no one is cjild here; and it is not the question of donkey (I doubt that; probably it is even less significant than Birbal was for the two children). At the macro level it is just the stroy of a family where everyone is related to the other. One brother is killed by another. And its completely at the personal level that the story moves forward. But hardly do we realise that it is all about a personal grudge, revenge and obsession. Nowhere is this 'personal' emphasised but everywhere the root is intensely 'personal'. And in all this the only loser is one who has no personal connection to whatever he is doing. Somehow the movie is prphetic also. It resembles a lot to the case of Aman Kachroo. The family members neglects the boy's complaints and he is killed. And this is what makes the stroy even moe poignant. The story moves at so many levels and layers that it is just not possible to keep track of all of them in a single viewing. There is, in fact, no story or a central plot. There are only themes; The issues and all these finally reach at obsession. Everyone is obsessed with one thing or the other. And the movie comes out as the montage of all the sub-plots; all the smaller incidents. There looks something of a sort of story. But then if you are asked to tell the story...............blank; not possible. whose story will you tell-- the Rajput senapati, the Rajpu, weak student, the rajput, bastard sister (or her brither), Jarhwal; the naked girl in the dark room; the keep of the Rajput senapati; the Rajput poet with his 'ardhnareshwar' or all those people standing with gulaal smeared all over the face; or many more. Each character is a story; a sub-plot and they are brought together in an extremely violent situation. The fil is a bif question on the 'unity' itself which the gulaal seeks to achieve but fails miserably. And then beyond all these and with all these is the music. The film belongs as much to Piyush Mishra as to Anurag Kashyap, if not more. The music is the voice of the movie; it is the common each situation. And in the end it also surrenders; you are left with the world of dark, sinister conspiracies. Adding to this voice is the extremely extraoridinary art direction and stage setting-- just look at the room of that student. '69'-- just this smal rendering speaks volumes-- a sexual posture; and the shape reveals as if it is the broken, round glass of Gandhi, Subhash and many more "idiots", who talked about unity, peace and freedom but failed miserably. Or that "Hello There" converting into "Hell here". Or that sports bicycle. This single room is the world which the music talks about; the 'duniya' which everyone is urged to save; and finally left as it is to us. You are urged to do a lot; but there is no readymade or permanent solution; and the worst solution is killing someone. The problem never dies with one person. Despite all the violence, the movie looks very Gandhian in the end-- you can't achieve anything by killing the person whom you think to be the culprit. And the concept of gulaal (the symbol for untiy, love and peace) is completely reversed (symbolising the reversal in our own perception and world-view); and the fact that the movie ends on Diwali night summarises the mood of this very well-directed and choreographed montage.
One is disguised in the form of a fable-- where two children are obsessed by one donkey and one of them takes to dangerous means to get the donkey back. The symbols are quite clear. As a country India and pakistan are nothing sort of children, fighting over a trifle. In the larger scheme of things, this is indeed childish and trifle. And all the emotions and attachment would look insignificant if we will take a look at the suffering that veryone tackles everyday. In the movie we have two very sensible children who solves the problem of possession quite easily. One of them ventures towards the wrong path but immediately realises his mistake. He pledges to make 'thousands of rounds' to get back his Birbal instead of resorting to the other way of Idris. And on the other hand the other child immediately understands the situation and returns Birbal to its rightful owner. But then Birbal will never remain 'only' of tahaan. Its very easy to imagine the future. These two children have started a friendship of lifetime and beyond. And Birbal will always remain with both of them. It is a beautiful tale of not just obsession but of love, hope and friendship. Each and every character is simply a personification of all the events and issues of modern-day Kashmor. And just one question is asked in the film-- "To whom does this valley, this mountain belong?" And the simple answer is "no one". Probably, in retrospect, there is another question-- If these two children can be so sensible, can't all the so-called intellectuals and diplomats be? Why not take a leaf out of these children's book? And this is not just being asked for the problem of Kashmir. All the differences are because of this obsession.
In stark contrast to this serene (but very disturbing), peaceful fable of Tahaan and Birbal is the in-your-face, dark montage of 'Love...Power...Revolution". It catches you unawares; jolts you out of your sleep and mauls you completely. Once the movie ends, you just want to run away-- out of this world-- to anywhere. you feel as if you are just a hapless, helpless fellow caught in the spider's web. Even the option of killing others or yourself is snatched away from you. And like and extremely poor, weak puppet, you want to take rest after the whole day's toil. But you cant even sleep. You just hope that this is a nightmare. it indeed is! But it is REAL. You cant wake up to find everything all right. The 'ray' of hope that was there in Tahaan is nowhere here. Its all dark night and we are just 'raat ke musafir'. There is no point fighting. The ore we fight the worse it gets. And then we realise that probably it is not all so easy as Tahaan makes it look like. It is much more complicated; the obsession is too deep-rootes and no one is cjild here; and it is not the question of donkey (I doubt that; probably it is even less significant than Birbal was for the two children). At the macro level it is just the stroy of a family where everyone is related to the other. One brother is killed by another. And its completely at the personal level that the story moves forward. But hardly do we realise that it is all about a personal grudge, revenge and obsession. Nowhere is this 'personal' emphasised but everywhere the root is intensely 'personal'. And in all this the only loser is one who has no personal connection to whatever he is doing. Somehow the movie is prphetic also. It resembles a lot to the case of Aman Kachroo. The family members neglects the boy's complaints and he is killed. And this is what makes the stroy even moe poignant. The story moves at so many levels and layers that it is just not possible to keep track of all of them in a single viewing. There is, in fact, no story or a central plot. There are only themes; The issues and all these finally reach at obsession. Everyone is obsessed with one thing or the other. And the movie comes out as the montage of all the sub-plots; all the smaller incidents. There looks something of a sort of story. But then if you are asked to tell the story...............blank; not possible. whose story will you tell-- the Rajput senapati, the Rajpu, weak student, the rajput, bastard sister (or her brither), Jarhwal; the naked girl in the dark room; the keep of the Rajput senapati; the Rajput poet with his 'ardhnareshwar' or all those people standing with gulaal smeared all over the face; or many more. Each character is a story; a sub-plot and they are brought together in an extremely violent situation. The fil is a bif question on the 'unity' itself which the gulaal seeks to achieve but fails miserably. And then beyond all these and with all these is the music. The film belongs as much to Piyush Mishra as to Anurag Kashyap, if not more. The music is the voice of the movie; it is the common each situation. And in the end it also surrenders; you are left with the world of dark, sinister conspiracies. Adding to this voice is the extremely extraoridinary art direction and stage setting-- just look at the room of that student. '69'-- just this smal rendering speaks volumes-- a sexual posture; and the shape reveals as if it is the broken, round glass of Gandhi, Subhash and many more "idiots", who talked about unity, peace and freedom but failed miserably. Or that "Hello There" converting into "Hell here". Or that sports bicycle. This single room is the world which the music talks about; the 'duniya' which everyone is urged to save; and finally left as it is to us. You are urged to do a lot; but there is no readymade or permanent solution; and the worst solution is killing someone. The problem never dies with one person. Despite all the violence, the movie looks very Gandhian in the end-- you can't achieve anything by killing the person whom you think to be the culprit. And the concept of gulaal (the symbol for untiy, love and peace) is completely reversed (symbolising the reversal in our own perception and world-view); and the fact that the movie ends on Diwali night summarises the mood of this very well-directed and choreographed montage.
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