Dec 09, 2010 12:10 PM
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This is the era when majority of producers are busy making films that either deals with beaten to death love stories so that it can propel the college students to the theaters or they prefer to make comedy films because they act as stress busters & have succeeded in clicking at the box office. Intentions crystal clear - they want to recover their price. No harm in it though.
But there are a few handful of film makers who believe in themselves & have attempted to give something different to the viewers & irrespective of the fate of the films at the box office they have not stopped from experimenting.
Ashutosh Gowarikar is one such man who post Lagaan has always tried to give something different & though his films were well made yet the viewers have given them a cold shoulder. He is back with his latest product Khelen Hum Jee Jaan Sey, which again is a film on a different subject & is adapted from a book 'Do or Die - The Chittagong Uprising 1930-1934' that is based on a true story.
The film narrates the story of few freedom fighters led by Surjya Sen (Abhishek Bachchan) & deals with an incident that took place in 1930. The premise chosen is Chittagong. They plan to attack all the five major locations of the British at the same time on one eventful night.
Everything was well planned & the date was fixed 18-4-1930, which was Friday. Unfortunately it was not just another Friday, it happened to be Good Friday, when none of the British officers would be present at European Club, which was one of the 5 places they had chosen to attack & this turned out to be a loophole in their plan.
What were the repercussions? Did the team of Surjya Sen succeed in their mission or did the cruel British managed to catch them? You will have to watch it on the screen.
We are so fortunate to have born in independent India & majority of us don't even bother to discuss those days when India went through slavery of ruthless British for almost 2 centuries. Uncountable number of people have sacrificed their lives to free the nation from the rule of British, which finally happened on 15-August-1947.
We often hear or read or say the British were cruel, ruthless, etc. How true is that? Watch KHJJS to know the brutality they possessed. It will send shiver up your spine. I actually closed my eyes as the thought itself was so terrifying, when one of the Indian was being tortured in the prison, just minutes before he is to be hanged.
The entire team of KHJJS is to be appreciated because they have done a good homework on almost everything & have presented a film that must be seen by all film lovers otherwise it would be such a waste of a praiseworthy effort by Ashutosh Gowarikar & his entire unit.
First & foremost the subject chosen is fresh as it was known only to a few people but since the film deals with history I am afraid it would remain limited to few people only. Because in the times when MBAs, Post Graduate Diploma in Management & other professional fields have dominated the market & with a low percentage of people who want to study history, not many would be interested to know what happened in the past. At least the number of the people in the theater confirmed that.
But having said that & the having seen the cold shoulder given to the film, it still succeeds in creating an impact on the viewer.
There are 3 songs & it comes & goes off the screen at a quicker pace. So they don't act as a speed breaker in the narration as they are well written.
Dialogues are very good as the writer has ensured that they bring the right impact on the viewer & at the same time do not follow the path of typical desh prem stuff that will attract seeties.
Production values are well controlled. The sets made to give the feel of 30s do look authentic.
Due to the demand of the story either new comers or of unknown people were required to play the role of the youngsters, who finally did a reasonable job as their roles were restricted to the limits.
Deepika Padukone does a good job. Though the lady love of Skander Kher scores over her.
Sikander Kher though did a fantastic job but still needs to think seriously about his looks.
Abhishek Bachchan once again gives a very dignified performance. No screaming or speaking heavy duty dialogues but has steel like firmness in his voice. Watch him in the court room scene.
Ashutosh Gowarikar maintains his place of a director who know his job well. A very fine film made by him, which unfortunately has not been accepted by the viewers. He has kept all the commercial elements that are essential for a film to click at the BO away from the script as there was no need of it since it dealt with history. But the fact remains the same that you cannot take history out of you because whether you accept it or you don't, it is always based on facts.
The flaw that I noted in the film was Deepika Padukone calling Abhishek Surjoda, like everybody else in the film does & then she falls in love with him. In Bengali when you add the word DA to the name of the person you call, it means you are calling him brother.
