All About Raakh....

One of my Favourite movies to date !!!

Raakh is an experimental film. Its important and different because its abstract in nature and its very difficult to be judgemental in the end. First it brings depression and then after sometime, when we are almost through with the film, (after all the judgemental mind activities are stopped), it brings satisfaction of seeing a different way of storytelling. You are convinced with the progress and content of the story or not but fact is this that this is the way director has presented his visual story. Its also a crime and revenge genera oriented film but its treatment is different. It tries to search the violence but with minimum or no stunt/action. Raakh does not bring same degree of entertainment as another revenge drama Sholay brings but at same time, audience never gets any leisure moment to feel to leave the seat and film keeps him attracted throughout the film and continues shaking him with the treatment of the subject.Technically film is stylish and cinematography, light and sound department, provide it that stylish look and at same time actors with minimum make up on their faces, look more like the characters they are playing in the film than the glamorous actors.One can see pimples and their after effects on the cheeks of Aamir Khan. Pankaj Kapoor�s face is filled with black moles and pimples. Supria Pathak and Naina Balsawar are with minimum possible make up. Film has raw touch and yet it has something special which binds the audience till end and leaves us in depressive mood in the end, because film has depresssive end. Raakh was happened 13 years before Irr�versible and still Raakh has not lost its charm. Raakh opts path of realistic cinema but still it has dreamy touches of usual hindi cinema. How the lead male actor takes his revenge is shown in simplistic way but yet the idea to take law in his hands is still filmy, how he meets up with two people (Sheikh and Naina), who give him love and support when he is broken, after he leaves the home, is not less filmy. But it�s a different story telling. Director has selected this way of showing his story and it works. During the film, it maintains hunger and curiosity among audience and also generates an uneasy wriggling inside.
Raakh is not confined by usual story telling procedure which has been prevalent in hindi cinema. Stories are defined and analysed on the basis of country, a defined time period and atmosphere [social, political, economical and climatic (if they are unusual) conditions] prevailing in that era. Raakh shows India. Usually we have stories which are started with �Once upon a time� but Raakh starts with �Some years later from now, in a big city�. Though it is not clear why Director has used this concept of showing a story which happens in future because technically, film shows the era, which is devoid of computers, mobile phones and even pagers and presence of Maruti 800 and Maruti Vans on the roads, clearly makes it a film of late 80s, the time period when the film was made. City is not defined but all those who have seen Bombay know its Bombay by seeing many places of Bombay and then a scene in Bhindi Bazar. But except Hasan Karmali no other character speaks language of Bombay and its general style of Hindi used in the film. Hasan Karmali says only “Shanpatti kar raha hai saala”, which is the clue that he is bombay based mafia. Once a person in his house tells a joke with Gujarati touch also, otherwise characters speak normal hindi which cant be representative of a particular region of India. So director has managed to create a defined environment to show his story and he touches many factors - Confusion and aimless lives of young people, Irritation of parents with the undefined manners of their children, corrupt policemen and their nexus with mafias, frustrations of police officers who wish to do something, orphans and life of a single adult woman, Woman�s trial to hide the fact that she has been raped because she knows and feels that her parents will have to suffer a lot, woman�s compromise in marriage and life etc.
Characters of the film, carry the names of actors, Like Aamir Khan plays Aamir Hussain, Pankaj Kapur plays Inspector Pankaj Kapur (P.K) and Naina Balsawar plays Naina.
* * * *In nut shell, its story of Aamir Hussain, whose Ex Girl friend, Nita, is raped and he kills the rapist and his gang members with the help of a police inspector P.K, who is frustrated from his police department.
Director starts his film through a voice over of Aamir Khan and voice carries us inside the film. In that way its autobiographical film of Aamir Hussain, the character played by Aamir Khan. Aamir�s voice tells us that at the age of 21 only, his life has been turned in to the ashes (Raakh) and then voice carries us to the journey of destruction of his life.
* * * *Aamir and Nita : Film reaches in a party and camera captures the scenes as if they are part of events happening in our neighbouring sites. We see, characters enjoying the party, dancing in very ordinary way, uttering useless dialogues in a casual way, which we find in real life. And then central character, Aamir Hussain, enters the place and witnesses his ex. girl friend, Nita (Supriya Pathak) standing with her new friend. Aamir still loves her and feels jealous by seeing her with another boy. When he sees her going upstairs, like any ordinary boy he approaches her and says with hitch,� Nita, I have to talk to you�. She responds with even more awkward way,� What you have to talk, Here Now?�. No much effort is acting and perhaps this is the motive of the director, to show them like ordinary people and not actors who are playing some roles.
When these guys are sitting on an open space and enjoying cold drinks and talks, a powerful hoodlum, Hasan Karmali, reaches there in a jeep with his gang and sees the Nita and finds her attractive. Karmali goes and sits adjacent to Nita and tries to touch her body. Her boy friend objects but Karmali pushes him away and Aamir, watching the whole drama from a distance is filled with anger and he reaches there and gives a punch to Karmali. Karmali�s gang members attack Aamir but he stops them and they leave the place. Nita scolds Aamir for interfering in the affair and says that its wise to ignore such ruffians. Aamir is still angry and frustrated. Aamir�s friend asks him to drop Nita at her home and we see Aamir driving a car, another male friend of Aamir is sitting on his adjacent seat and on the rear seats Nita and another girl are sitting. Song �The lady in red� is playing inside the car and Nita apologises to Aamir that she talked with him so rudely and asks him if he is alright. See Aamir�s dialogues, �You were looking beautiful today, but then you always look beautiful. But you have become thin. Are you taking a good care of yours?�.
Suddenly their car is stopped by Karmali and his gang. They break the front glass of the car and pull Aamir, forcibly out of the car. Aamir�s male friend run away but they beat Aamir and Karmali pulls Nita also out of car but another girl is not touched and she hides inside the car. Karmali rapes the Nita. Wounded Aamir, sees a motorcycle rider standing at some distance and he runs towards him to sought help but biker starts his motorcycle and drives away.Aamir and audience hear crying of Nita and then its darkness all over. Karmali and gang leave the place and a glass bottle comes, flying in air and breaks near the place Aamir is lying on the ground. Its early morning time but still, darkness is there. A three wheeler breaks the silence and Nita gets up and goes to car and enters inside. Violence with Aamir is shown but Rape is not treated in a way as is shown usually in hindi films. Nothing is shown explicitly but the sense of the event is there.
Broken Aamir thinks that Nita got raped because of his fault of fighting with the Karmali. He goes to a police station and police officer humiliates him and runs him away. He goes to Nita�s house where she says that he should not have come here and asks him to go away.Aamir does not know if Nita still loves him though she says that if anything happens to Aamir, she will feel very bad but she does not show any indication that she has plans with Aamir. Aamir�s journey seems of a lone person. When he again meets Nita after some times, she asks him why he left the home and if he has done it because of him then its not good.She says,� Only I know what I have suffered. Nothing will be changed for me, even if they are punished, if they are ever punished�. She advises him to forget the incidence.Aamir finds it difficult to forget his love towards Nita, memories of their old loving moments and the guilt that because of him Nita got raped. He burns with feeling of revenge but he finds that Nita has been changed and it looks like he is fighting his own battle. He realises and asks himself that why and for whom he is fighting this war? But he gets no answer and he goes ahead on his journey of revenge. He kills one by one the people responsible for the rape of Nita and his voice sums up his story with the saying,� Today on 7th September, I have to be sentenced punishment for charges of murder and in same city Nita is going to be married with someone else�.This is a depressive love story. Aamir take revenge but he does not get his lady love. From this angle he does not get anything and spoils his life before it starts flourishing.* * * *Aamir and PK:
After the rape when Aamir goes again at the spot where he had fought with Karmali and gets Karmali�s address from a person selling drugs there. He reaches to Karmali�s house but Karmali�s men see the knife with him and take him to police station where Inspector P.K (Pankaj Kapur) is sitting.P.K gets interested in his talks after knowing that Karmali and his men raped a woman. He has been investigating case against Karmali for years but he can�t arrest him as Karmali is a powerful and rich mafia. Though P.K is frustrated with the police department�s corruption and his inability to take actions against Karmali but he cares a lot about his job also as this is the only earning medium for him. He manages to make Aamir understand that police will investigate the matter and he will be informed and in the mean time he should convince the rape victim to give witness in the court.P.K calls Aamir�s father and tells him that his son was brought to his office by goons and he was having a knife with him. Aamir�s father (Achyut Potdar) beats him and warns him that his association with Nita will destroy his life. Aamir leaves the home in the night.Aamir tries to buy a pistol and bullets from Ustad (Jagdeep), but they both are caught by police and Aamir calls Inspector P.K from the police station. PK gets angry but somehow he helps Aamir to takes him out of the police station. Aamir also recalls that it was PK on the motorcycle on road in the night of 10th June when Nita was raped by Karmali. First P.K refuses but later admits that he was there for sometime. He sends Aamir away and himself goes to attend a party where he meets Karmali also. After drink, P.K finds it unable to control his emotions and he reveals before everyone that Karmali had raped a woman. His bosses from police department are also in the party and he is shown exit soon and next day he is suspended from the services. He is very frustrated. He is suspended and his inability to do against Karmali, reminds him about Aamir and he goes out in search of Aamir. He catches Aamir and reminds him that he knows every detail of Karmali and his gang but they know him and he cant do much but with his help Aamir can kill Karmali. P.K gives training to Aamir and when Aamir gets pistol first time, he is overwhelmed with the feeling and does childish acts with pistol in his hands. P.K gets angry and scolds him and says that a bullet can kill a living person, like them, within few seconds. He says to him,� With this Toy, people are killed, people who are alive like you and me. You push the trigger and a man becomes dead before your eyes. Its not easy to kill a person. You kill a person and feel uneasy but you have tasted blood and soon you are ready to kill another, it becomes a habit. There is no end�. He puts pistol on his head and says that this disease has only one solution. He says further a dialogue which captures the pyschology behind owning an armament. He says,” banduk hum mardon ko mard bana detee hai, (Gun makes us men, The Man).When Aamir is ready to kill, P.K carries him to a place where his first target is sitting inside a restaurant. Aamir goes inside and shoots him. Similar scene was used in Satya where Bheekhu Mahatre sends Satya inside the restaurant to kill a person. But to have feeling of revenge inside is one thing but to kill someone is different. After killing one person, Aamir cant bear the psychological pressure and he vomits, cries, and requests PK that he has to go back to his home. P.K says,� Go�. You wanted to take revenge, you?But Aamir comes back in the morning and soon he kills two more member of Karmali gang. One night when Aamir and Pk are sitting, PK asks about Naina, if Aamir told her anything. Aamir denies but says she was asking about PK. PK smiles. Aamir tries to know about personal life of PK but PK ignores the questions.Now Aamir has to kill the last man of Karmali Gang who was there on that night, and he catches him inside the cinema hall where �Carvan� film is screened. But Aamir recalls that he had seen this film before with Nita and soon he realise that he cant kill today. He takes out pistol but cant shoot the person and he runs away and person runs behind him. PK, waiting outside of the cinema hall, sees that person running behind Aamir and shoots him.Now Karmali and his father are very aware and its time for Karmali�s sister and police takes care of their security. Aamir gets ready and wears nice prince suits and P.K comments,� you look good like this only. I should not have brought you in this garbage. You have not seen much life. You still have time to go back. You should not go ahead today to kill Karmali�.But Aamir refuses and goes to the wedding place and enters the crowd.PK kills Karmali but PK is also killed in this last chapter of their revenge and Aamir is caught and sent to jail.* * * *
Aamir takes law in his hands because of Nita and PK helps him in his journey of taking revenge and on this journey, he meets Sheikh and Naina.
Aamir, Sheikh and Naina:
After leaving his home, Aamir sleeps on the wall near sea and an orphan boy Sheikh, wakes him up and takes him to his residing place, a ruined and abandoned building near graveyard. Aamir spends his days with Sheikh but he is unable to forget Nita, his love towards her and her rape. He asks Sheikh if he can get a gun and Sheikh carries him to meet Ustad (Jagdeep), who demands Rs 3000 for an imported pistol with bullets and Aamir goes back to his home when his parents are away and he steals the money.When he returns from his home he meets with Nita and her talks makes him disillusioned and while walking on the roads, Aamir comes before the car of Naina (Naina Balsawar) who takes him to her home and he start living there with her. She buys new clothes for him and after few days he recalls Sheikh and visits him at his living place. Sheikh tells him that he has been very disturbed and he could not sleep and he searched him all the night. He says that Aamir forgot him. Aamir tells him that he has got a house. Sheikh becomes happy and says its good as rains are approaching but soon he realises that he cant go with Aamir. Aamir says that new house does not belong to him and he will have to ask the owner. He writes his address and gives it to Sheikh. Sheikh is sad but Aamir goes back to Naina�s place. Sheikh and Niana, both provide Aamir, a good company, care and affection. With them in life, Aamir gets some solace from his tormented past but the thing that he is unable to forget his past life and later PK searches him and again provide energy to take revenge, compels him to leave both Sheikh and Naina so that he can continue his journey of revenge.
The Young energy: Aditya Bhattacharya, the director of Raakh, and son of noted film maker Basu Bhattacharya, was around 25, when he conceptualised, made and directed Raakh. Though before also he had directed a short silent film with Aamir, which could be said as first camera facing attempt for Aamir, after he gained the adulthood, because he had already acted before as a child actor in, Yadon ki Baraat (1973) and Madhosh (1974). Aamir was also under 25 when Raakh was made and he played here role of a 20-21 year old young man. Aditya Bhattacharya later migrated to Italy.Supriya Pathak and Naina Balsavar both were in their late 20s. In the main lead, Pankaj Kapur was the only experienced actor, who had acted before in atleast 12-13 films and had a hugely successful TV serial Karam Chand in his credit. For many Raakh was their first film. Raakh was debut film for cinematographer - Santosh Sivan, composer- Ranjit Barot, Editor - A. Sreekar Prasad and Art Director - Partho Sen Gupta etc.* * * *
With the low budget (NFDC?), and considering the fact that many talented technicians, were starting with this film, Raakh, was a commendable work in hindi cinema. There is something special about Raakh and it has made it a must watch film for audience, who wish to study the filmography of Aamir Khan. Aamir has a raw touch here in his performance and that is used wonderfully by director Aditya Bhattacharya. Here we don�t find Aamir of Dil Hai ki Manta nahin or even QSQT. In Raakh we don�t find a refined and perfectionist Aamir, who controls and uses even his nostril�s movements in The Rising. Director has taken care that Aamir should resemble with the character of Aamir Hussain, and thats why he is realistic here. He is not allowed to act on a refined and better level and his efforts are canned in such a way that audience feel that an actor of Aamir�s calibre could have done these scenes in better ways as he has been doing in his later films. But here his progress walks along with the phases come in the life of the character. The raw Aamir has perfectly fitted in the role of a confused young man whose Ex Girl Friend is raped and he thinks that it has happened because of him and thus takes law in his hands. Aamir had to be an ordinary boy with whom such things could happen. Even Aamir�s dialogue delivery is controlled and he does not go for a refined way of mouthing his dialogues. Rather, when film starts and he tries to talk to Nita (Supriya Pathak) in a party, he says his dialogues in awkward ways.On the other hand Pankaj Kapur, being an experienced actor has used his command over acting, and develops mannerisms for the character Inspector P.K (Pankaj Kapur). He and Aamir Khan, carry the film on their shoulders. PK plays mature and experienced police inspector and Aamir Khan plays immature and confused Aamir and their portrayals are the backbone of the film.Many scenes are taken (or shown) during early morning when Sun is about to rise and darkness is still or during late evening when Sun is about to set and darkness is trying to shadow the dim and golden light and it increases the impact in the film. There are few scenes which look like paintings. Light and shadows are used with high technical skill.But there are few lacking also if director had no special meaning associated with these scenes. For example, in one scene, electric bulb is spreading its light in the room and yet an oil lamp, is lit on the table in the house of PK. If its left burning then it may have some special meaning, because in the night when electricity supply goes off, then PK lits the lamp and next day when they kill Karmali’s men and come back, lamp is still burning and light bulb is also on. Because its first film for many technical people so such editing mistakes can be overlooked but they are there in the film and at many places parts of the scenes are stretched which should have been edited out because characters are sitting idle, or not speaking and doing anything. One such scene was, when PK carries Aamir from Naina�s car to a restaurant and holds his hand so that he does not escape. Lacking in editing is more visible in the flasback scenes, whenever Aamir goes back in to his memorries related to Nita. So many times its not clear if its present time or he is back in memory. A good editing creates distinguishable differences. Though Raakh had got award for its editing. It could have got award for cinematography and light and sound. But then awards are given on the basis of competition between few selected films in a particular year.And is it necessary to have parts of Sheikh and Naina as the branches of main story? Could not it have been more short and sleek product with three main characters, Aamir, Nita and PK only?Background music matches with the subject and maintains the tone of the progress of the story throughout the film and few songs are adequately used in the background.Director Aditya Bhattacharya, though did not spend much space in elaborating the feelings of the characters after the events in their life and film moves fast in that department and he did not go deep in to the psychological presentations of the moods of his characters and rather showed them as facts and parts of his story and this dealing bring a different touch to the film. He made an excellent film and though film was not a commercially hit but it gathered much praises and its strange that he left India. Perhaps he saw wider creative perspectives in Italy to explore western film market. Hope he creates more films like Raakh.

PS: This review was taken from a movie review site.This is not my review,though i agree what has been written about the movie.