Beginning with a confession, I really love to write about films that do not compel me to just pen down a routine review but extract something else out of me that was somewhere hiding within, waiting to come out with a strong, relevant message about our society as a whole pointing towards its dark corners.
After a long gap, SAIRAT (meaning Wild)comes as one of those immensely relatable films and for the first time it’s a regional language love story (in Marathi) that has made such a massive impact in not even Maharashtra but in other states too wherever it has been released or has reached with English subtitles. So having a lot to put down on paper, here is what I personally felt after watching the film in a theatre, recalling the days we used to passionately dance along the songs running on the screen in the good old 90s.
SAIRAT as a means to check your pumping heart.
In natural terms, there are visible signs of our body getting old entering the middle years post the age of 35-40. But there is no way to check whether our heart has also gone old or its still able to feel the same love we felt around the age of say 18 something.
So where medically there is no means to check the young spirit left in our pumping heart, I can suggest a simple method to check that whether you are still young at heart or not using the medium of cinema that once in a while witnesses a strong film such as SAIRAT.
And the method is, that if you cannot feel the attraction, are not able to relate with the characters, not feel like singing with the songs, not willing to dance with the crowd, do not suffer along with the couple and are much talented to have your own unrelated thoughts watching a movie like SAIRAT, then YOU HAVE ACTUALLY GONE OLD both from the body as well as the heart and certainly misunderstood the whole concept of love and living life unfortunately.
In other words, you might have started using more than 5-10% of your mind getting much closer to ‘An Einstein’ with your growing age, but if you are not able to celebrate SAIRAT then you have already gone old (or rather sick) missing the crucial point and had probably left living many years back, without even realizing the big mistake made unconsciously.
Luckily, SAIRAT passed me in the test with all positive results and falling in love with its every single minute even in my fourth decade of living, the film loudly declared that I AM NOT DEAD YET and very much alive and kicking with a heart and its feelings intact dancing along “Zing Zing Zingaat”.
SAIRAT gave me my youth back as after almost two decades I found myself again falling in love with a girl on screen post Smita Patil in NAMAK HALAAL, Juhi Chawla in QSQT, Madhuri Dixit in DIL/TEZAAB and Rani Mukherjee in KUCHH KUCHH HOTA HAI. It was difficult to think beyond ‘Archie’ even for days after watching SAIRAT in the National Film Festival in New Delhi. And believe me, I haven’t seen such a celebrating house-full crowd ever before in a festival screening, where not only people were sitting on the floors but there were lots of whistles and shouts throughout its first half that was really hard to believe (unlike a festival environment).
There’s a SAIRAT in every decade largely depending upon a young Archie.
Cinema's most beloved genre has always been LOVE-ROMANCE since the origin and it will stay the same forever with a young love story ruling every new decade unarguably. Therefore we always have a cult romantic saga in every passing decade unconditionally and its also always the girl who plays the more important role in winning over the masses than the young boy.
In cinematic terms, try searching a love story that solely worked due to the boy and the girl had no charm of any kind being just average.
The exercise is going to be extremely hard, as be it CHORI CHORI, MUGHAL-E-AZAM, BOBBY, JULIE, EK DUJE KE LIYE, QSQT, TEZAAB, MAINE PYAR KIYA, DIL, DDLJ, KKHH, BAND BAAJA BAARAT, ISHAQZAADEY or more, the innocence of its fresh young girl was actually more responsible for its instant connect with the people in comparison to the charming boy.
Here many would like to argue that its always a balanced impact of the couple together in a love story. But I would humbly like to disagree as it has (evidently) always been a 60-40 or even 70-30 ratio in favour of the girl (in a love story) right from the early days of our cinema proved repeatedly. Mentioning an undeniable truth, whatever claims the men go on making in terms of contribution to the world since the origin, the actual fact remains that our whole life majorly revolves around the existence of woman alone and the truth is widely visible the moment we study all the artistic expressions made either in poetry, music, art, drama or cinema in particular.
Hence, no doubt a film becomes successful when it has a hero connecting with the audience through his action, emotion or drama presented in any other genre. But a film literally becomes HUGE the moment it has a girl clicking with the majority of audience in a big way, hitting a straight jackpot, which exactly is the case with SAIRAT having an Archie conquering hearts all over crossing the boundaries of language, region or culture surprising one and all.
In fact such is the impact of the girl’s onscreen portrayal on the masters that even the National Award jury had to acknowledge the amazing contribution of this 15 years old, school going girl by giving her ‘a special mention’ award this year among the other major winners.
So after a long gap post the late 90s, it’s a Marathi film that has surprisingly emerged as the latest cult romantic saga of the new decade (instead of any Hindi film), which is certainly an encouraging news for the Indian Cinema, but at the same time not so great news for the Hindi film industry unable to deliver anything even close to SAIRAT in the new millennium.
Why the film connects instantly with various sections of viewers?
The most appreciable aspect of SAIRAT is that it instantly makes a connection even if the viewer is not known to the language the actors are conversing in. And this magic becomes possible due to a highly believable and realistic small town ambience created by the director, far away from any glamour or forced filmy touches. The slice of life local flavor wins your heart right from the opening cricket match and then one just falls in love with the narration post the ‘swimming in the well’ sequence shot brilliantly.
Moreover, the characters do not seem to be written deliberately but look like straight coming out of real life, like the supporting friend with a limp, another in the garage, the short statured violent son of the politician, the helpless teachers of the school, the lady helping them in the slums and the build-up of the final horrifying sequence involving the kid.
Having said that, no doubt the film’s climax leaves you with a deafening shock, well-conceived by the director using the power of silence. Still one cannot deny the fact that it’s actually the first half of SAIRAT (of around 90 min.) which is an ultimate winner, adding a lot to the film’s repeat value resulting in a much longer run at the box office yielding the rich returns.
Elaborating on the same, SAIRAT is nothing without Archie and her adorable magnetic act, putting it in specific words. And it’s the way she talks, stares, walks, drives the tractor/bike and gives those killer expressions while dancing is the real strength of the film winning hearts all over. For instance just the way she strongly stares (while driving the bike) at Parshaya making a demanding pout, makes you fall in love with the girl at once taking you back into your college days. And mind you, this is not any exceptionally beautiful girl we are talking about. SAIRAT’s Archie is a simple next door girl with a little dark complexion and a strong built too, nothing like the usual mainstream heroine breaking the set (silly) norms.
Here let me explain the same putting it in a different way sharing my own state of mind before watching SAIRAT.
At times it happens that you take a look at a poster or watch a few clips of an upcoming movie and don’t really develop any kind of liking for the lead girl with no exceptional looks or any sensual appeal. But once you watch the movie spending 3 hours looking at her innocent, adorable mannerisms, you just fall in love effortlessly and have nothing else in mind while walking out of the theater, other than the same (now) ‘beautiful girl’ stealing your heart away.
That’s in fact the power of cinema in its true form that works big time in SAIRAT.
A collective effort reaching hearts.
Completely knocked down by Archie (Rinku Rajguru) and her innocent, unforgettable expressions (refusing to get out of my mind), there can be no denial to another fact that SAIRAT actually turns out to be a ‘major path breaking venture’ due to a splendid collective effort by its entire team including Parshya (Akash Thosar), Langdya (Tanaji Galgunde), its music director duo Ajay-Atul, the DOP, the background score department and the captain of the ship Nagraj Manjule.
If the million dollar casting provided a perfect base for the project, it was an equally praiseworthy visualization by Nagraj that actually resulted in a product like SAIRAT setting new standards for Marathi as well as Indian Cinema. So it was truly heartwarming to read the news of its lead couple being awarded a big appraisal by the makers, post its hugely successful run resulting in some unexpected numbers. But hope they would also reward the entire team too, as the film heads towards its next financial milestone in the coming weeks.
Amazingly nothing new, yet fresh as never before.
Having praised the film in length in the above sections, now it will be even more surprising to add that SAIRAT has nothing new or fresh to say in either its subject or the story line giving you the actual picture.
There is nothing in SAIRAT, you haven’t seen before and there is nothing in the film you didn’t know about as the harsh reality of our society depicted in various projects of the past. The film has everything already conveyed several times before in the earlier romantic classics of Indian Cinema. Yet the fact that it’s still able to leave such a strong, mesmerizing impact on the people all over, certainly says a lot about its magnificent end result and the team effort led by Rinku Rajguru as the lifeline of the project undoubtedly.
Its outstanding music setting an eye-opener example for the entire industry.
Making a major contribution in its splendid success, SAIRAT has just four exceptional songs that can easily be presented as an ‘eye opener’ example before the entire composer brigade of Hindi film industry at the present. All chartbusters placed well in the film, you truly cherish the notes even when you cannot understand even a single word sung in an unknown language. Their compositions, wonderful arrangements, the fusion of traditional and western sounds, the enigmatic strings, the symphony (recorded abroad), the renditions, the visuals, the picturisation and the overall hypnotic impact can only be felt and not expressed even in a long write-up.
In fact the moment I am writing these lines, the songs are still being played in the room as I haven’t stopped listening to them since last month (which admittedly has happened after a long-long time, with any film soundtrack in particular). At times the soundtrack does remind you of the known style of maestro Illayaraja. But even a resemblance to his style is nothing short of a big compliment for both Ajay-Atul strongly proving their remarkable talent.Mentioning a major highlight of SAIRAT in its extremely intelligent use of music throughout the film, just look at the way Nagraj uses the songs, the background score and the silence in the film’s two halves in a specific sequence purposefully.
The film’s first half is pure celebration of love reaching out to the viewers in four steps and all the four songs get used in these first 80-90 minutes itself making you a part of the couple’s eternal love-story conveyed skillfully.
The second half has no song as such, breaking another set norm of our Indian love stories wherein there mostly is a sad song coming in the final hour of the film depicting the pain of separation. The background score plays a major role in this specific part of the film showcasing the hard times and then Nagraj calmly takes you away from that too heading towards a killer climax.
Slowly building a base to hit you as hard as possible, the moment you get close to that final blow, he simply pulls out all the strings of his musical instrument putting it to a complete silence. And it’s this painfully hurting silence only that he wishes you to take back home thinking about the ‘new world of hatred’ we are living in.
As a mirror shown to the society not interested in any change.
The last 10 minutes of SAIRAT are supposed to be the most important and educative moments of the film in reality. However I have a major fear of its significant message somehow getting lost in the big shadow of its immensely likable first half to be honest. And the reason behind such fear is that at many places there was news of people asking for the “Zingaat” song to be played again after the film is over, only to enjoy some more good time dancing to its spirited music.
Just imagine people asking for a replay of that song post that brutally upsetting last scene....... ruining the whole hard work…..!!!!!
As a matter of fact, there is a deep psychological reason behind the above mentioned instance in particular, as in reality a big majority of our viewers in the present times is not willing to consider anything beyond their usual entertainment in the theater. They are not at all interested in knowing about any ugly, evil reality of our society looking at its bleeding wounds and all they demand in return of their money spent is entertainment and entertainment alone without any preaching attached.
In other words, everyone perfectly knows what SAIRAT as a film is trying to convey through its harsh climax. But they are all more eager to discuss its first half in particular, only to avoid looking at the problem following their ages old habit of staying away from the core issues. So you will find numerous people willing to talk at length about the film’s music, its cinematography, its fresh feel, its young Archie selected from a school winning a national award, a Marathi film earning more than 50-60 crores for the first time and a lot more. But you will rarely find people willing to discuss the issue SAIRAT is trying to bring forward with those blood soaked baby steps walking towards the final fade-out…………!
The problem is there to be found in every big or small state of our country like a National Concern but we have always refused to be a part of any change since last many decades quite clearly and willfully. Our young couple used to die in the end of such love stories made in the 80s (QSQT) and the couple is still dying in the same manner three decades later in the year 2016 too, which is nothing less than A BIG SHAME for our country, society and people all together, if only one wishes to look at the issue rising above all kinds of discriminations.
So where at one end I felt deeply satisfied watching SAIRAT and its young couple taking me back into my youth, I felt equally depressed looking at the people walking out of the theater with all smiles, singing their chosen songs instead of getting genuinely hurt and emotionally moved thinking about the poor loving souls and their innocent child.
Crossing the barrier of a Regional Language Film
On a concluding note, you might have not opted for any Indian regional film (with English subtitles) till now due to your own personal reasons (that I refuse to accept anyway). But with SAIRAT, its time you begin watching these precious worth watching gems made by our own Indian filmmakers moving way ahead of their contemporary directors of the mainstream Hindi Cinema.
Otherwise, I will have to say that this uncaring, stubborn attitude shown towards our own regional language cinema is nothing different than another degree of the same racial or caste discrimination the film is talking about.
Hope that provokes you enough to just go for it at the earliest!
Rating : Movies To See Before You Die.
