Stories

This Dussehra, a Hindu festival that signifies the victory of good over evil, I came across a message that was circulating across WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram that read “Never draw a line around a woman”.

We’ll have to dig a little deeper to fully understand what this means in the context of the festival.

But in short, Dussehra is celebrated as the victory of Lord Ram over Ravan, who captured Goddess Sita with ill intentions. On this day, effigies of demon King Ravan are burned to signify destruction of evil – literally and symbolically.

You may be wondering what has this Hindu festival got to do with the Emma Mackey starrer Emily?

The crux of the above-mentioned statement is the essence of the film and the sentiment it carries for women in every era.

“Never draw a line around a woman”

Based on the life of author Emily Bronte, Emily takes us on a journey that would’ve / could’ve been the inspiration for to write the bestseller “Wuthering Heights”.

The biographical drama introduces Emily atop a hill, talking to herself. She’s one with nature, with the breeze gracing her face and fingers.

Only, she’s not talking to herself – she’s narrating a story between a captain and the queen. Fictional characters developed by Emily through whom she’s vicariously living her present.

She is animated and perky with a twinkle in her eyes as she feels both characters’ emotions and their being. But not for long…

As she climbs down the hill, so does her spark. She transforms into a reclusive young lady, doubting her every move and her existence all together, in a world where she was a misfit.

In a world that is constantly drawing boundaries her to fit in with the rest of the crowd.

A vibrant girl on the hill who moved with confidence, is now too afraid at the foot to even look above her own shoes with a fear of being judged. Or perhaps being punished for thinking differently.

Again, you may still be wondering how does any of this have any correlation with Dussehra?

Emily is a young girl who is imaginative, fierce, and enigmatic, which is also the reason for being misunderstood and a misfit in society.

A heartbroken Emily is forced to wear a literal and metaphorical mask to protect herself from judgement. The pain of being an oddball or perhaps too progressive for her time.

She is fighting for her place in a confined world that’s always rejected her for being eccentric. A world that keeps pushing her deeper in a box and drawing boundaries around her for thinking different.

A world where’s no freedom in thought.

Emily finds solace and comfort in her stories, with fictional characters that give her life. A highly imaginative introvert drowns herself in thoughts that are too wild for people to appreciate or even comprehend.

It’s far easier to simply live inside her head, in a world she has created without boundaries or restriction in thoughts.

She’s loud, provocative, emotional, overwhelmed in her imagination and even thrives in the world made with a pen on paper. But she’s too intractable for the real world.

But it’s only a matter of time till she pushes that line of restriction to a space where there’s total freedom in thought and action. A place in the world where she’s remembered and celebrated as one of the most popular novelist and poet to have ever lived.

Emily, written and directed by Frances O’Connor, is a heartening and inspiring journey of womanhood, love, sibling rivalry and freedom in thought … with a touch a goth.

Cinematography by Nanu Segal is worth praising for capturing the most scenic frames and skilfully setting the tone especially in moments of eerie silences.

Last but not the least, the magnetic presence of leading cast members Mackey and Oliver Jackson-Cohen make it a gripping watch.

The slow-paced screenplay may not be for everyone, but the film’s heart is in the right place to transport you to a different time in the world. A world with yet another woman who had the courage to walk over the line drawn around her and set herself free.

Choice. A concept you need to elude yourself from while watching Pushkar – Gayatri’s Hindi iteration of their slobberknocker offering from half a decade ago.

To gauge Vikram Vedha objectively, you need to treat it as a standalone.

Set in the heartland of our nation Uttar Pradesh (UP), the film oscillates between the underbellies of Kanpur and Lucknow. A nefarious gangster Vedha (Hrithik Roshan) is on the prowl, sneaking through the fingertips of police like sweat trickles through the neckline.

All until he voluntarily surrenders himself to them and what ensues thereon is the tussle of power and moral perplexity.

Alike the story’s inkling towards they grey matter, cinema in today’s world has evolved beyond the realms of good or bad. To understand an offering meticulously, one has to acknowledge the fact that every film comes with its own share of upsides and shortcomings.

No film is entirely abysmal as long as the trailer tickers don’t prompt you to leave your brains at home. Even the worst of content pieces carry some redeeming qualities.

The recent release Brahmastra Part One: Shiva despite of being a steadily plain fantasy film had its own moments of grandeur and exhilaration to balance the experience. Vikram Vedha, too, has its own cart of goods.

It is a rider film. A mainstream project designed to draw money in a state of economic flux of the film industry. It is a visual feast mounted atop the shoulder of tested crowd-pullers like Hrithik Roshan and Saif Ali Khan to expose a new flair of cinema to a wider audience and see if the remake trial and error method could bear fruits and forge new creative gold.

That’s why you remake stuff. To try new mechanisms in front of a different addressable market.

Vikram Vedha mostly succeeds on the showboarding and pageantry, with whistle-worthy moments galore in the film to entice the galleries – the major chunk of moviegoers whose monies make or break a film’s business potential.

The works fine and seamlessly for the people who avail cinema as a recreational service. Folks who grind the week under God’s hot sun, meddle with personal conflicts everyday and want an escape on a weekend from the otherwise mundane and testing life.

Vikram Vedha is a delectable and slurpy proposition for India’s working class audience. The machismo, the high-speed entrances, exits and confrontations, dialogue-baazi et al.

The film comprises of all elements that a 2 Bade Hero Wali Picture is expected to flaunt. In that parlance, Vikram Vedha is a completely satisfying watch and superior to most other actioners released over the years.

Contrary to the recently revered overboard style of action, this action flick has controlled, slick and uber stylistic action sequences. If you roared watching Dhoom 2, Race and Don, quite likely that the single screen conditioning in the child within will be content to the brim.

The portion of the audience Vikram Vedha might struggle to satisfy are the cinema enthusiasts. The ones on social media and OTT, who’ve grown up watching bangers after bangers from the Hindi film industry and has evolved exorbitantly in taste now. The relatively smaller and harder to please portion of the market that is rapidly growing in number courtesy being the youngest population in the world. This portion of the audience is far more hungrier for challenging content and believes in calling a spade a darn effing spade.

For this demographic, Vikram Vedha falters on certain levels.

Right off the bat, it isn’t rooted enough as a story. An idea that originated and was designed for Chennai has been transported to UP by makers who seemingly aren’t very well versed with the culture of the region.

Alike many predecessors, Vikram Vedha treats the dialect rather casually. The Kanpuriya and Lucknavi lehja are spoken in a very caricaturish tone. Every other word has a “wa” added needlessly – bandookwa, junglewa, shatakwa. You get the drill.

This film, too, fails to understand that kathit and likhit dialect sound starkly different. But weirdly enough, this time around, Hrithik Roshan’s dialect doesn’t sound overboard and suits his mad-hatter character. Saif Ali Khan’s Vikram is to be excluded from this list of errors as his hold on the language is bang on. Perhaps his ancestral roots play saviour here.

A major downer for Vikram Vedha is it’s controlled aggression. A story boiling with rage, travesty and personal turmoil, it never completely lets go of the carnage and holds back a lot of venom.

A film of such sort where no character is black or white, where morality and moral high grounds are non-existent, the ordeal should’ve been afforded the license to be tenfold acidic rather than being philosophical and romantically nonchalant.

Which steers us to probably the biggest and gravest pitfall for the film. The performances. The supporting cast has fashionably tanked in this film. Everyone except Satyadeep Mishra has been wasted with the lacklustre material.

Since the story doesn’t organically blend and belong to its universe, the subplots seem rushed, phony in connotation and hence rob the film of the emotional investment and consequent impact desired.

While Vikram Vedha scores maximum as a stylishly shot and packaged film, the lack of depth in screenplay and dialogues choke out its incredible possibilities. A neo-noir film clad with expositions, the performances never reach the imperative impetus of mind bending internalisation. If only the writing could’ve tried to break through and not fit in.

Vikram Vedha is enjoyable because of its leading men. Hrithik Roshan and Saif Ali Khan and visibly having a ball out there. We meet Roshan after almost four long years and the hazel eyed wonder-boy from our childhood. A man who seems to be owning his essence way more than before.

Presented like a rugged Tom Ford megamodel, Vedha is a fun ride because the actor playing it is having joy playing a mad-hatter.

Saif Ali Khan, over the past two decades has metamorphosed as one of the most evolved actors in the industry and no complaints from him either.

These two men made the most out of already iconic characters and they don’t even remind you of R. Madhavan or Vijay Sethupathy in either light. That’s a victory for both parties.

The music is surprisingly forgettable. The trio of Vishal – Shekhar – Hrithik have given us Bang Bang, Ghungroo and the duo of Hrithik Roshan – Ganesh Hegde have given us the timeless It’s Magic and Let’s Party. They miss the beat this time. But watching a gangster dance isn’t much of a viewer demand either. So, that can be given a pass.

To understand Vikram Vedha in a nutshell, we have to flip a page from the pro-wrestling playbook. We all have grown up watching WWE. It’s primarily a combat sport, where athletes hitting the superkick are galore. But only Shawn Michaels turned the superkick into the Sweet Chin Music.

For he made it into a moment, blended his move into storytelling. That’s why no matter how good a wrestler is, you remember those who create moments. ‘Cos you remember those, who made you feel something.

Vikram Vedha has a great arsenal of moveset. All it needs is to blend the moveset into storytelling. A tale inspired by many tales of Betal Pachsi, Vikram Vedha is enjoyable and passable enough to grow into a franchise. Go all in balls out, own its skin and dive deep into the madness.

Pushkar – Gayatri are gifted makers and a massive credit to the Indian film industry. They deserve boatload more such opportunities.

Aur kasam bata rahe hain, aisa kar diye toh agli baar gadar mazaa aayega aur tajjaub bhi hoga.

Watch the exclusive interview with Pushkar-Gayathri here: