The three recent releases were all average to above average films that were widely appreciated by the viewers mainly due to the cast or the individual merits arousing the spirit of nationalism. However in reality, they were actually not true to their chosen genre with contradicting execution and content not matching their inviting taglines.
Here are some revealing afterthoughts on the three that might force you to reconsider, knowing more about their conflicting presentation.
102 NOT OUT
Widely publicized as a family film revolving around a 102 years old father and his 70 years old son living alone in their ancestral house, this supposedly positive film strangely doesn’t end with any positive reunion of the family contradicting with its well-publicized social message.
On the contrary, it concludes... further widening the distance or breaking all relationships and communication between the father (Rishi Kapoor), his son, daughter-in-law and the grand-kids ending on an unusually negative note. To be honest, this strongly reminded me of the Golden Era where such ‘destructive or negative climax’ ruining the entire family, would have never been approved by the makers realizing their moral responsibility. But 102 NOT OUT doesn’t express or feel any kind of loss in willfully breaking-up the entire family in the end as some kind of a new-age film.
Sold in the name of family drama, it would have been ideally true to its genre, if for instance Amitabh had accompanied Rishi to the airport and slapped his grandson right in front of the public, making him realize his grave mistake, asking him to bring in his wife and kids at the earliest to meet their grandfather and himself too, before he finally says goodbye due to his terminal illness.
That kind of an ending would have actually qualified 102 NOT OUT as a genuine ‘message oriented’ positive family film without any contradictions.
RAAZI
Presented as a tense thriller based on a real-life political story from the early 70s,
RAAZI contradicts its specific genre of a ‘spy-film’ as it never portrays the opponents as any sharp, intelligent, trained, tough people working as Pakistani spies and officers.
In reality a spy is actually needed or called in (to be sent to the rival’s camp), accepting the fact that they are planning something big or drastic maintaining the secrecy in such a way that is not being cracked by the appointed team of experts on this side. But RAAZI never gives that kind of image to the officers, spies, investigators on the other side of the border, presenting it as a too convenient spy film, full of huge cinematic liberties ignoring the reality as well as the logic.
Moreover, the film was proudly publicized with a tagline “An Incredible True Story” or “An Unknown True Story”, whereas it is made on a novel that is mostly based on the imagination of its writer Harinder Singh Sikka, smartly marketed as all real and authentic by the PR team.
For a moment, just think…… will any strong willed nationalist spy loving her nation more than anything else, ever reveal the country’s top-secrets of the past for just a book to be written on her? - No she will never do it.
And the courageous lady neither did it nor she approved everything written by the author truly following the protocol.
She only briefly narrated a few incidents (including the murders), as clearly accepted by the author in an interview given to Filmcompanion. And he openly admits,
“Sehmat provided me with the skeleton of my book – how her husband died, how her father died. The remaining 70% – how she got close to the top brass etc – came from my imagination.” (Here is the
Link)
And this fact strongly contradicts the tagline “An Incredible True Story” mentioned in its publicity posters and campaign.
PARMANU: The Story of Pokhran
Quite similar to the case of RAAZI
, John Abraham’s PARMANU too serves the viewers a largely fictionalized and over-simplified account of a highly important, proud national event, presenting American Intelligence and their spy agents as some incompetent caricatures.
Remaining solely focused on the hero, the film indicates as if the whole nuclear tests program was a brainchild of a one person alone and others were only assisting him. The makers are never interested in sharing the information of which team or who made the actual bombs, how the preparations were going on from years or who initiated this program and when?
Above all, just like RAAZI here too, at one end the makers project the events as per the real happenings of those times loudly publicizing it in the media, but on the other begin the film with a disclaimer saying,
“All characters and incidents portrayed and the names used in the film are fictitious and any resemblance to reality is pure coincidence.”
Similarly at one end they use a lot of actual footage of news, speeches and more featuring the key leaders of those times at regular intervals in the film, but on the other begin with the second disclaimer saying,
“The actual footages shown in the film are merely intended to give desired effect to the narrative of the film”
And this……. in a film, which was openly and so confidently sold and promoted as a project based on a real national achievement giving an authentic account of the same titled PARMANU The Story of Pokhran.
Do give this a thought, since the above three films were all promoted in a different specific manner contradicting with their actual content. In other words, where 102 NOT OUT was not any positive message oriented family film, both RAAZI and PARMANU were not real but highly fictionalized account of two actual happenings of the past.
But of course clearly mentioning that would not have generated any similar excitement or hype.
Cheers!
