The City that was Bombay - My Thoughts on Mumbai Meri Jaan (2008)

Ae Rah-E-Bar-E-Mulq-O-Qaum Zaraa
Aankhen Na Chura, Nazren Naa Jhuka
Kucch Hum Bhi Sunen, Hum Ko Bhi Sunaa
Ye Kiska Lahu Hai, Ye Kaun Mara?

There are some days in your life that you cannot forget ever and then there are some days that never let you forget ever- and still there are some other days that though forgotten never are actually forgotten- they appear so to the untrained eye but lurk silently behind the veil of consciousness and keep us aware by being consistently a part of our nightmares and other psychological incidents.

One may try and try hard but somehow the memories of the days refuses to let go - one such day in the life of Bombay / Mumbai and every man in Mumbai is the day Bombay relived the horror of the 1993 blasts - 11 July 2006

I will never forget this day - this was the day my current career was getting a fillip and I had received a confirmed letter of intent from an employer that I was very keen to join in the capacity that had eluded me for a long time. I looked forward to meeting an old friend and I remember leaving the office premises and travelling downtown to meet him at Churchgate station. We met at Gaylord, a popular restaurant in South Bombay and decided to take a train to Andheri, a suburb of  Mumbai where another friend was waiting for us. Somehow and now I am not sure why, maybe because I wanted to take a bite or maybe because I wanted to call up someone on my mobile and was unable to get a clear signal (it was as bad as today, even then) we got down at Bombay Central.

I remember my friend chiding me and calling me a real fussy character for being so stupid and getting off a seat on a train and that too on the Western Line where getting a seat in the evening locals is like getting a glimpse of God Almighty. Little did we know then that it was indeed God Almighty who was guiding our actions because just a few stations later the bombs kept on the train by those who kill in the name of God blasted in the compartment where we had been sitting just moments earlier and ripped apart that same compartment of iron and steel as if it was made of paper and mud.

I remember going all stunned when I heard of the blasts and rushing all the way to Andheri by whatever transport I could to check if our friend who was supposed to receive us on the station was fine. I will never forget the stress I underwent as phone lines dramatically went dead and all we could hear all over was about the deaths all around us. We never could make it to Andheri - what we saw on the stations between Bandra and Andheri was enough for us to get out of the cabs and start helping the guys around.

All around me was death and destruction; all around me was pain and sorrow; there were people and corpses and it was difficult for me to judge where the people ended and the corpses began.... beneath a pile of corpses, there would be a man still sighing away and similarly among stunned men that were still unfortunate to survive after going through that disastrous and dastardly act lay silent corpses, reminding the ones left to survive both the frustration and happiness of being alive despite all that had happened.

It was not easy for any of us to forget that day; it has not been easy for any of us to make peace with the pain we felt that day but then as they all say - life does not wait. It moves on. Maybe I do not have emotions and so it was easier for me to detach myself from the act and stand confidently and start afresh like the spirit of Bombay that refuses to die - and hence is the subject of abuse by one and all, again and again and then yet again but for others like my friend, it was a major debilitating experience. Hence, when we went to see Mumbai Meri Jaan, what we were doing was not just trying to check the authenticity of the film; but also relive a part of our life that we left that fateful day on the tracks of Western Railways and along the stations of Mumbai and try to exorcise the demons of a fate that befell people whom we never knew but often met in those compartments of steel and iron.

Mumbai Meri Jaan (transliterated as Mumbai my love or Mumbai my life, depending on how you look at it. Transliterating a work of art in Hindustani - Hindi / Urdu is the most difficult thing to try; since both being highly evocative and emotional languages; words have multiple, varied and emotional meanings) is one of the few films that have dared to place that incident in the times and context of the times and studied the impact of the incident on different sections and strata of society. Unlike the classic Black Friday which studies the March 1993 bombings in the causes and effect paradigm and is a well-shot classic that reflects the reality behind the blasts; Mumbai Meri Jaan does not discuss the blasts or the causes of the same -it only delves deep into the psyche of the common man on Mumbai's streets and looks at the impact of that incident on common people.

Mumbai is too diverse of be cast into one colour - if there was ever a true metropolitan city, then Mumbai could surely put up it's hand and lay claim to the same - hence this movie is a sort of a deep look at this incident from the points of view of different characters with different characteristics, culled from the different layers of strata and society that make up what Mumbai is. So we come across different people - like a street tea vendor who ekes out his living by selling coffee and tea on the streets, a TV reporter used to trivializing human tragedy and making them into human interest stories so as to convert it into higher TRPs for the Channel, a man given to extreme disgust and hatred for another community, a man with firm values of patriotism shaken by the aftemath of the blasts and in denial of the circumstances and a motley group of policemen frustrated with both the detoriating circumstances and their impotence and helplessness when faced with forces that make policing a farce.

The first track in the film features the common man on the train who got saved due to God and is battling his personal devils since then. Madhavan has always been a class apart from his contemporaries and he maintains that brilliance in the movie as well. As a man who takes a principled stand on all issues and is patriotism personified to a fault, the slow weaning of his character from his feelings of devotion to his city and country due to the psychological impact and post-event trauma was something that would definitely require a large dose of serious application by the actor and to his credit, the descent is as fluid as can be. The actor is adept at describing the mindset of a man who has been a part of the blasts, experienced it first-hand and seen near and dear ones impacted.

The scene wherein he stands at the station days after the blast, unable to enter the compartment and then takes a cab to office - I remember that scene, wherein he's clutching his bag tightly in the cab while in the background a train is running - shows the actor in complete command of his performance. Equally brillaint are his scenes in the shower, his interactions with his pregnant wife and the final coming to terms with the truth and the gaining of an insight into the dictum that life is ever-changing and keeps moving on.

The impact on a common man of a death-enhancing encounter can only be felt and can only be understood - it's practically impossible for one to explain it in black and white terms - this experience is primarily a difficult emotion, not easily given to words and hence only an actor worth his salt can bring life to that emotion - this is exactly what Madhavan does. One can feel the fear that has seeped into his psychosis by the way he tries to reason out with his friends ably played by Narayana Shastri and Gaurav Chopra about whether NY is safer than Bombay. Agreed the track ends somewhat simplistically and in a complete Bollywood fashion but still it's better than many other top blockbusters

Then we have a track that features the world of sensational TV coverage. Soha Ali Khan as Rupali, an ambitious and on-the-move TV journalist who does not think twice before trivializing a human tragedy to a human sob and interest story to garner brownie points and increase TRP ratings is so realistic that you would be reminded of a classmate or a friend who has shown similar traits in the corporate jungle. Bets are on that you yourself may have been viewed in this light at some time of your career as well.

And then as if to prove that Time never stays constant but is constantly changing, Times change and she is suddenly made aware of the feel of the searing pain when she loses her own in the mayhem that surrounded the blasts and finds that she has lost her own fiancée to that incident. In a moment, the shoe is on the other foot and the pain that was just a human interest story suddenly becomes a personal issue.

The sensationalism of the press has been a major issue and often we find realms of pages devoted to that space but the impact as shown by the performance of this young lady brings home the fact much more strongly than a thousand tasteless documentaries and articles on the subject. Soha performs her role with a dignity that can only be imagined and after a point of time, one not only feels her pain but cries with her - specially when the production house she worked with, in a bid to catch eyeballs goes to town sensationalizing her personal pain and proclaiming to the world her personal loss by such an insensitive comment 'Rupali Bani Rudali' (Rupali becomes a tearjerker).

Some of the scenes that one needs to appreciate are the ones wherein she is being asked to give an interview about her loss and the way she breaks down in the midst of it all and the scene when she sees her personal life becoming fodder for TRP wars. Soha endears with a vulnerability that can only come from confidence and faith in one's art. The track does leave a few loose ends towards the end but on the whole is stronger than most.

The third track in the movie is the track that involves one of the gifted individuals to come to Hindi Cinema in recent times - Kay Kay Menon. Kay Kay plays a right-wing fanatic from a community (it can be any community), totally given to hate and disgust at the other community and one who refuses to have any dealings with the other community and is paranoid and hateful to the extent of being a blind chauvinist to the glory of his own religion and community; looked at from a distance, he can be anyone from any community, someone you can meet on the streets of Mumbai or the streets of any other city, proudly proclaiming the supremacy of his race, religion, creed, community, sex, language, caste or whatever it is that he is a fanatic of!

The height of his hatred is when he chides his friend for appreciating a song by Mohammed Rafi stating that it would be difficult to find a man among the Muslims who would appreciate a song by Kishore Kumar! The irony of the situation is the song that's shown as playing in the background - 'Kar Chale Hum Fida' from Haqeeqat - one of the best patriotic songs in the history of Hindi Music

Kay Kay is excellent in his performance and two scenes stand out in the film - one when in a state of drunken stupor he stops a poor old baker and asks him about bombs and then hits out at policemen trying to save that poor man from his grip and the other when he impersonates a Muslim name to find out information about a Muslim guy who has been missing from his home since the bomb blasts.

The manner in which he holds the sweets offered by the mother of the guy, as if they were not sweets but bombs in disguise, speaks volumes for this man's inherent talent - many have performed the fundamentalist but when Kay Kay performs, he performs! Just look at the way he tries to shy away from the mother when she looks at him with probing eyes and you will know the difference between an actor and a star.

The track involving him and how he changes from the fundamentalist to a man open to all influences is well written but there are times when you would feel the transformation very simplistic. Having said that, I would still say that this is one of his best performances and Kay Kay really defines himself in the role

And now we come to the track that defines man and his ability to take advantage of the most saddest of the tragedies. Irfan as Thomas plays a small-time street vendor who makes his life around coffee and tea that he sells in the silence of the night. Sir Charles Chaplin once said that the most difficult performances are those that are performed only with the eyes and with this brilliant performance, Irfan proves that he has in it that quality that separates great actors from good actors.

Thomas belongs to the strata of society that has always been overlooked. This is the strata of society that leaders and statesmen meet once in 5 years and then forget for the next 5 years. These are the people who suffer indignity,  frustration; people who do not exist except in reality; people who are not valued except on paper but people who die whenever there are riots, blasts or any other hooligan activity - whether State-sponsored, whether Party-sponsored or whether Foreigner-sponsored.

Irfan as always is brilliant - he does not have many dialogues but does an actor of his calibre require dialogues? His silence is eloquent and shows his and every emotion of a dispossessed man threadbare.The scene where an emasculated and a frustrated policeman  unable to bear the barbs of common citizenry thrashes him and destroys his livelihood for the day while he bears it all silently is a lesson in performance to young actors. The scene where he is thrown out of a mall with his wife and children and the cry of anguish that he lets out in silent and impotent desperation is as strong as the waves of a tornado that lash on the deep sea on an angry night.

Look at him as he scans his heart for pain that cascades all pains and the way in which he goes about taking vengeance for the humiliations and hurt that came his way for being poor. Feel his anguish as he is thrown out of the mall since he's poor and feel his pain as it all happens in front of his wife and children. No man worth his salt would allow himself to be insulted in front of his wife and children. For him, the fact that the Bombay Blasts have taken away a lot of life does not mean anything - to him it's just another thing that happens in the city, to the rich man for a change and for him, it's only an occasion for vengeance.

The way he goes about making those hoax calls and spreading thin the police force of an entire city and the way his walk mirrors his feel-good factor shows a perfect psychological high for a wronged man and Irfan performs it brilliantly. But the man is not evil at heart; when faced with the consequences of his revenge on others, he repents and his repentance is much more convincing than Madhavan coming to terms with his trauma or Kay Kay coming to terms with his new-found secularism.

But the segment that engages everyone the most and is the most eloquent is the story that combines two brilliant actors in one foil - Paresh Rawal and Vijay Maurya.

I would be lying if I say that this is not the best segment in the film - Both Paresh and Vijay play cops (Havaldars to be precise) but that's where the similarities end. Vijay as Sunil Kadam is a rookie policeman frustrated with the system and sad at being able to do nothing worth mention. He was supposed to be on a vacation with his newly wedded wife but the blasts have forced him to leave everything and come back to work. The double standards in the police force are so well portrayed that you start feeling for the idealism of the young man and fearing for the death of innocence that is his final destination and when it comes, the tears are real - both on screen and off screen.

The Tears of this young man make you remember and draw parallels with our own hearts to that dark, bleak day in our lives that we wish to forever consign to the back of our conscientious mind - the day we made peace with our desire and killed our conscience. For where would be these blasts, if we would not be a part of the corruption that allows it to flourish.

For any gutter to flourish anywhere on Earth, we require people to throw their filth in that running water; so before we get up from our commodes and point a finger to others, let us also note that some filth flows from our commodes too.

But the man who beats all competition hollow is the man we have all grown up on - Paresh Rawal!

As Head Constable Tukaram Patil, Paresh Rawal is magnificent. The regret of a man who's due to retire the next day but has done nothing worthwhile in his 30 years of service; the impotence of a man who has been in the police force but never pulled a trigger once; the frustration of one who has proved impotent or more precisely allowed the system to emasculate his potency; the man who hides his disappointments behind his humour and the man whose only passing advice to his ward is to not live his life the way he lived it is a painful way to look at life. Paresh is the only one who could have pulled it off and he DOES pull it off.

His monologue at the end of his non-illustrious career is something that will always haunt me to the end of my life for in his failure, I can see mine and of many others like me who could have been something more. When he speaks about Bombay being made of 7 islands and being devastated by 7 bombs, we, as the audience get goosebumps.

Everything about Head Constable Tukaram Patil is brilliant- he's common; so are his pains and therein lies the uniqueness of his pain. Impressive Sir! Really Impressive!

Hats off to the direction of Nishikanth Kamat. I salute him and give him a standing ovation. This is indeed a masterpiece and I personally think this man has done an excellent job while executing a film of this standard. The film wisely stays away from heavy-duty preaching but still manages to convey more than has been conveyed by directors who make jingoistic movies but end up with no value added to the menu - only noise!

Each and every scene in the film stands out and tells us of it's uniqueness. The metaphors employed by the director are brilliant and fit the bill well. There may be simplistic answers to a few segments and I am sure both Kay Kay and Madhavan segments could have been stronger; on the whole the film stands tall. His use of the Mohammed Rafi song in the end invokes within each one of us the same emotions that have made the song the Anthem of Bombay

Ai Dil Hai Mushqil Jeena Yahan
Zara Hatke, Zara Bachke,
Yeh Hai Bombay Meri Jaan

Still, we all love you Bombay! Whether you are Bambai, whether you are Mumbai or whether you are Bombay, you will always be Meri Jaan

Bambai Meri Jaan !
Mumbai Meri Jaan !!
Bombay Meri Jaan !!!