Alternate Movies

What is the worth of a human life?.This is a question that has been asked so many times in so many movies.Saeed Akhtar Mirza asks the same question in his own way in this movie.Whether its the thousand's who died in hiroshima or a dead man in the local neighborhood, what is the worth of those lives?.The government protects even the smallest of its properties, but how well does it protects its citizens??.That's another question the movie throws at us.

The movie starts with lines "...For Safdar Hashmi".The movie is about a small time thief and goonda, Salim Pasha,who lives with his parents and sister in bombay.His neighborhood is one of those shady neighborhood were crime and illegal activities are accepted professions.Actual it is not an illegal activity it is just another dhandha(buisness).You don't look up at a guy, who leads a decent life.You look up at the Don, the big guy, who makes the most out of the illegal business.



Salim being a muslim, has come to know that nobody will trust him and nobody will give him a job because of his religion.So he does his own job, which is steeling and extortion.The movie takes us into his life, his happiness, his views and his background.Even though he is far away from us in terms of his involvement with illegal activities and life style.He is one of us, when it comes to family and his dreamz to live a happy life, to marry off his sweet sister and be a man his father will be proud off.

He is not a close minded and rigid guy.Various incidents that happen around him.Makes him change his mind to quit his unlawful activities and become a law abiding citizen.What happens because of that decision is the rest of the story.



I liked the way the movie was constructed.Getting us into the life of a colorful character the director, makes us see his neighborhood, understand his views, takes us through his transformation and make us attach to his dreamz.And with a beautiful climax he make us question ourselves.



The ending is not a typical one .It an ironical one which forces u to think about everything from a man's worth to the attitude of the society.i thought about the fate of the hero then the lines at the start of the movie which said "...For Safdar Hashmi".I felt heavy.

The movie with its funny and easy going characters might make you feel light and identify it as any other bombay character that u come across in the regular movies.But it is not so, it is a very realistic portrayal of a generation that is taking violence as a career and the society that differentiates people on religion.It is a beautiful study of what goes in the mind of a muslim youth in bombay.Very rarely have movies been made in india, which gives a closer look at the mind of a minority without much of the commercial cinema elements.



Salim's brother in law comes as the clean guy with good morals in midst of all the rowdy elements.He is a proof reader "who corrects other's mistakes" in a urdu newspaper.He correct's salim's mindset also.Talking about salims dead brother he conveys the important message that the easiest thing to do is to become a rowdy and the hardest thing to do is to live with dignity.



The movie takes us back to the days of the tele serial Nukkad. which was also directed by saeed akthar mirza.You can see the same type of setup in this movie.Neighborhood shops, the usual gang that hang around the shops, various
colorful characters etc.



Pavan Malhotra as Salim has given a great performance.Makrand Deshpande and Ashutosh Gowariker come as his buddies Peera & Abdul.The movie won the awards for Best Cinematography(Virendra Saini) and Regional Feature Film at the 1989 National awards.That year it had to compete against Adoor's Mathilukal and Pawan against Mammokka.Mammokka walked away with the best actor award.

Links

Pavan Malhotra interview
Saeed mirza on chaosmag.com