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Heroine material or the lack of it
Featuring infidelity and other relationships at MAMI
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Deepa Gumaste
Reclusive, eccentric middle-aged women aren't considered heroine material in Bollywood.
But ad filmmaker V K Prakash makes an entire film about one such lady and, to a large extent, succeeds in impressing his audience. His first Hinglish film (he has earlier made a feature film in Malayalam), Freaky Chakra was shown at the 5th International Film Festival of Mumbai on Tuesday.
With the kind of audience turnout and response he received, Prakash must be hoping that some eager distributor with shower him with kindness and buy the film.
Interestingly, the script of this unusual film hasn't been written by a professional writer, but by seven people working in Prakash's advertising agency. "It started off with the idea of a lady living alone in a flat. Then we brainstormed and developed the plot, sequences and the structure of the film, all in seven days," recalls Prakash.
As is the case with most films made on ridiculous budgets, the pre-production of Freaky Chakra took 10 days, while the actual shoot lasted just 20 days! For most part, the story is played out in a residential colony in Bangalore where a widow and former doctor named Ms Thomas (Deepti Naval) lives; through the eyes of it's 'writer' (Ranvir Shorey).
He introduces us to the other oddball characters living in Ms Thomas's building; a single, middle-aged bank officer called Mr Sundaram (Sachin Khedekar), who has taken voluntary retirement from his job and now spends all his time thinking of Ms Thomas. He makes dirty crank calls to her at night and rings her doorbell each day begging her to cure various imaginary illnesses.
But Ms Thomas has stopped practising medicine after her husband died of a heart attack at home. She feels guilty of not being able to save his life. We're introduced to a few other quirky inhabitants of the colony and the monotony of their everyday lives. Just when the slow pace starts getting on your nerves, the 'writer' brings in a nameless young 19-year-old (Sunil) who barges into Ms Thomas's house in the middle of the night and asks for a PG accommodation.
In a very contrived situation, she takes him in and thus begins Ms Thomas, aka Janki's transformation from being an irritating hag to becoming an extremely attractive woman. The second half of Freaky Chakra is delightful to watch and it is heartening to see at least one filmmaker take the relationship between an older woman and a much younger man to its logical end and not leave them hanging like in Dil Chahta Hai or Leela.
Which brings us to the other pertinent question this film generates. Why this sudden interest in older woman - younger man love stories? Says Prakash, "This is not a new theme. It has been dealt with in the past in Tamil and Malayalam cinema, and even in Hindi with a film like Doosra Aadmi. It's just that two films on a similar theme have been made around the same time."
But he claims he knew nothing of Leela till leading lady Deepti Naval told him about it and believes that there is very little similarity between the two. Except, of course, Deepti herself, who has acted in both films. "I accepted this role because I felt it offered me something new in terms of characterisation," she says. "I can see a woman who's 40+ and very eccentric and high strung. Bringing about a transformation in her personality was quite challenging."
Needless to say, the actress executes this difficult role with characteristic brilliance. Her costar Sunil, who has been acting since the age of five, has a lively screen presence and that he can hold his ground in front of Deepti is a major achievement. Sachin Khedekar's performance is thoroughly enjoyable, but the writers have done grave injustice by not giving his poor character any kind of conclusion.
French filmmaker Fracois Truffaut's swansong, The Woman Next Door (1981) is the story of former lovers, Bernard and Mathilde (Gerard Depardieu and Fanny Ardant) who find themselves unintentionally reunited as neighbours in a small French village. Although both are now married to different people, they revive their rocky relationship to disastrous effect. The film is a good example of how two people in love can manage to bring out the worst in each other!
Another film about infidelity is Michael Gunther's debut effort The Honey Trap. Set in contemporary London, this is the story of a disturbed woman named Catherine (Emily Lloyd) who suspects her fiance Jonathan (Anthony Green) of cheating on her and employs a private detective to spy on him.
This act sets off a chain of events that spiral out of her control and leads to devastating consequences. What starts off as a suspense drama ends up being a bizarre psychological thriller leaving the audience thoroughly confused about what the filmmaker is trying to convey.
Bollywood at the Festival: It is heartening to see several Hindi filmmakers drop by at the Film Festival to watch movies from various parts of the world. Among the faces one sees on a regular basis are Ashutosh Gowariker, Mansoor Khan, Vinay Shukla, John Matthew Mathan, Shyam Benegal and Govind Nihalani.