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Reviews
Kashmir The Story (2018)
Ok documentarry
Mostly a well made documentary but they have left out some very important episodes in history. Essentially projecting the maharaja as more of a villain and the Abdullahs as more benign than they actually were. The maharajah and Nehru were not on good terms and Nehru and Abdullah were in spite of Abdullah's plans to keep kashmir in a state of conflict forever by keeping the more radical local Muslims happy by hanging the proverbial anti Hindu carrot over their head much to their loss economically and socially. Also passing unequal policies but accepting unreasonable Indian aid for the state,thus playing both sides.( Nehru was never known to be a good judge of character). The British were not far behind in creating mischief with Brown and his Muslim officers along with infiltrators massacring the maharajah's soldiers posted in Gilgit. That's when ,left with no choice,he decided to go to India for help and signed the accession which was completely legitimate,whether one likes it or not. Nehru's blunder was going to the UN prematurely in spite of Sardar Patel's objection who was handling the princely states at the time. Possibly on Abdullah's advice which would have served his interests very well as he knew the conditions would never be fulfilled. Also the interrelations between Junagadh,Hyderabad and Kashmir are not explored well as all three were connected in negotiations of annexation and as Sardar Patel's correspondence shows would have led to a definitive resolution on the Kashmir issue if UN was not part of the picture.
It is however a good starting point and one of the more balanced ones on the state.
Upkar (1967)
Upkar -A tale of benevolent favors
This movie was a trendsetter in many ways. Born out of a meeting between then prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri and Manoj Kumar at the screening of his immensely popular Shaheed in 1965,the story was written in a 24 hour period on the filmmaker's train journey back to Mumbai and released 2 years later after the prime minister's demise.
The issues tackled in the movie were extremely significant at the time,with India facing acute food shortages in addition to fighting multiple unprovoked wars in a short span of time. Some stay relevant even today. Though there is a trend currently to treat patriotic films with extreme viewpoints,many dismissive, this movie is far from being jingoistic.(I do admit I prefer realistically picturised movies over CGI generated visuals,even in the so called patriotic ones) .It might seem formulaic to some because movies that came after followed this formula. This is a movie of a more innocent and non jaded time and needs to be viewed as such. For example,a city girl wanting to stay in the village might be perceived today to be docile or all sacrificing but one really has nothing to do with the other ,even today. An example in real life is the husband -wife doctor duo of Prakash Amte and Mandakini Amte. And never in the movie is it indicated that she's giving up her career. In that she's actually a more 'modern' female character than many portrayals of her in contemporary movies as the gali spewing,drinking,cigarette smoking bindass girl,who's supposed to be a tomboy but looks like she's spent hours in a salon,who also in real life would probably never get a job,because oops!... in our efforts to look contrived modern, we forgot to get an education along the way! In contrast this movie handles a lot of topics with sensitivity and maturity, each character representing a differing viewpoint. No woman is falling at any man's feet to get his 'charno ki dhool' and the dialogues between the protagonist/doctor or doctor/brother with regards to courtship and marriage are surprisingly matter of fact. I especially like that it lacks the typical over the top mother- son melodrama of most Hindi movies. Here the mother is less emotional than the older brother about dividing the land ; there's also no overdrawn dialogue between the two when the older brother leaves town. There is also no unnecessary west vs east mischaracterization in absolutes(there is a perfectly good natured non Indian character and a number of unsavoury Indian ones). Most performances are good,the standout is Pran as Malang chacha, especially because he was playing against character. This movie, to its credit is a well written original,unapologetic tale about who we were then as a country,talking more about what it should mean to us, about recognizing it's needs and our duty as citizens towards fulfilling them and most importantly about what dreams are really worth chasing.
The Kashmir Files (2022)
Simply the truth
There are some movies which transcend regular expectations. Where talking about the actors and screenplay and cinematography,though important, becomes almost secondary to the story. This is one such movie. Though all have done a highly commendable job,with a subject as powerful as this,what it needed was someone to make it with the right intent. In that the filmmakers have succeeded. It is a honest movie made with integrity,a rarity nowadays. There is no surreptitious-ness about it,as we have seen with other movies on Kashmir in the past .The sheer horror of the situation and the apathy towards the suffering which continues till date,will make you think of the absolute lack of humanity and the trivializing and normalizing of it by vested interests who otherwise shout hoarse about human rights. This is an episode in our history that needed to be told,be it a documentary,docudrama or in any other form. That it happens to be a well made movie that will stay with you is almost incidental.
Shershaah (2021)
STORY OF A HERO
I usually do not write reviews. I felt compelled to do so after watching this one. Not only is the movie excellent technically and performance wise, it captures the realities of the Kargil war and events leading up to it very well. While the usual suspects(critics/reviewers)might
be critical of the heroism portrayed(don't think they have found much else to criticize),it's not the movie which is the problem,they are either not familiar with Captain Batra's real life or are extremely jaded/political in their viewpoint. As we all know almost all events in the movie are true to life. So if the ultimate sacrifice of a soldier sounds like nationalistic jingoism to some ,maybe they need to reconcile this with their conscience.
The Silence of Swastika (2021)
A new lense
This documentary is special for many reasons. In addition to its high production value and well researched narration ,this is the first one of its kind to tackle the subject of appropriation and repackaging of ancient Indian ideas and symbols by the west,either to malign or use for commercial gain. The hope is that it is the first of many such endeavours to correct the wrongs that we all have been blindly accepting without question for a long time.