Stunning work by director Sabiha Sumar, I was blown away by the brutal and painfully upfront reality of this film. This film is stripped of all the glitz and glamour yet still it manages to be a beautiful portrayal of the harsh reality of life. I much appreciated the wedding scenes and the Mujra (yes, as intense as this film is, it still manages to chuck in a cute Mujra and a beautiful wedding) scene, they sort of prepare you for the depressing nature of what's to come.
Whomever cast Kiron Kher in 'Rang De Basanti' must have fallen in love with her heart-wrenching performance in 'Khamosh Pani' first before doing so. This character reminded me so much of her character from 'RDB' - a beautiful mother, powerless (except for prayer) and helplessly watching her son go down a destructive path. She is strikingly intense yet thankfully subdued as the single aging mother of a young boy named Saleem who is coming of age and has begun to keep secrets from her. At first, it all seems harmless when we find out that Saleem has only been sneaking away to meet with his sweetheart Zubeida (played by equally intense Shilpa Shukla) in an abandoned building, their regular meeting spot where they sit and dream about how their lives will be, and do other things just like young people in love do. But it isn't until a close friend of Saleem's introduces him to a group of dangerously Islam fanatics that the trouble starts.
The on screen transformations is particularly spectacular, in terms of the way Saleem looks when the film starts (a beautiful young man), to the way he looks when the fanaticism begins to swallow the love he has for his mother and lady love as well as for life as he knew it (a ghost of the boy he used to be) and finally, years later when a chanced glancing at a telly screen leads Zubeida to spot the man she once loved giving a religious speech on a political channel (a mostly unrecognisable Saleem). While much props should be given to Sumar for brilliantly capturing such vital pictographic scenes, actor Aamir Ali Malik should be lauded as well, for throwing himself held long into this character. Kiron Kher is so good in this film that it is impossible to put her brilliant acting into words. To say that she was stellar, would be an understatement.
The religious war between India and Pakistan is not something new, but what baffled me was the level of ignorance that the Muslims displayed in this film. Making fun of Sikhs and calling them the best friends of Lice was just out of line! Calling them unbelievers just because your religion is different from theirs? All the killing and fighting. It all seems senseless because God listens to us all regardless of the way we pray to him. It was so heart-wrenching to watch what happened to the women and children when the Muslims came to take over Pakistan, those scenes were very hard to take. And when Ayeesha/Veero (Kher's character) finally caved into the pressure, it was hard not to shed a tear in disbelief. She was sold out. Sold out by her brothers, sold out by her son, sold out by her father, sold out ignorance and the blindness of mankind.
Whomever cast Kiron Kher in 'Rang De Basanti' must have fallen in love with her heart-wrenching performance in 'Khamosh Pani' first before doing so. This character reminded me so much of her character from 'RDB' - a beautiful mother, powerless (except for prayer) and helplessly watching her son go down a destructive path. She is strikingly intense yet thankfully subdued as the single aging mother of a young boy named Saleem who is coming of age and has begun to keep secrets from her. At first, it all seems harmless when we find out that Saleem has only been sneaking away to meet with his sweetheart Zubeida (played by equally intense Shilpa Shukla) in an abandoned building, their regular meeting spot where they sit and dream about how their lives will be, and do other things just like young people in love do. But it isn't until a close friend of Saleem's introduces him to a group of dangerously Islam fanatics that the trouble starts.
The on screen transformations is particularly spectacular, in terms of the way Saleem looks when the film starts (a beautiful young man), to the way he looks when the fanaticism begins to swallow the love he has for his mother and lady love as well as for life as he knew it (a ghost of the boy he used to be) and finally, years later when a chanced glancing at a telly screen leads Zubeida to spot the man she once loved giving a religious speech on a political channel (a mostly unrecognisable Saleem). While much props should be given to Sumar for brilliantly capturing such vital pictographic scenes, actor Aamir Ali Malik should be lauded as well, for throwing himself held long into this character. Kiron Kher is so good in this film that it is impossible to put her brilliant acting into words. To say that she was stellar, would be an understatement.
The religious war between India and Pakistan is not something new, but what baffled me was the level of ignorance that the Muslims displayed in this film. Making fun of Sikhs and calling them the best friends of Lice was just out of line! Calling them unbelievers just because your religion is different from theirs? All the killing and fighting. It all seems senseless because God listens to us all regardless of the way we pray to him. It was so heart-wrenching to watch what happened to the women and children when the Muslims came to take over Pakistan, those scenes were very hard to take. And when Ayeesha/Veero (Kher's character) finally caved into the pressure, it was hard not to shed a tear in disbelief. She was sold out. Sold out by her brothers, sold out by her son, sold out by her father, sold out ignorance and the blindness of mankind.