4 / 4 STARS
DIRECTOR: KAMAL HAASAN
ACTORS: KAMAL HAASAN, SHAH RUKH KHAN, NASEERUDIN SHAH
ACTRESSES: VASUNDARA DAS, RANI MUKHERJI
MUSIC DIRECTOR: ILAYARAJA
STORYLINE:
Kamal Haasan plays Saket Ram, a man who lived in India during the partition. He is friends with Amjad Ali Khan (Shah Rukh Khan), a muslim. But during the Calcutta riots, Saket loses his wife Aparna (Rani Mukherjee) to the violence. In his fury, he begins killing Muslims, and by a twist of fate, ends up in an anti-Gandhi organization.
Eventually, Saket Ram is told to shoot Gandhi for they believed him to be the cause of all the violence. By this time he has remarried according to the wishes of his elders to Mythili (Vasundara Das). His marriage doesn't settle him down. He leaves her to go and assassinate Gandhi.
At this time, by another twist of fate, he is led to a soda factory to retrieve a weapon, and as coincidence would have it, the factory is owned by Amjad's uncle. There the two old friends meet but when the Muslims at the factory learn that the weapon is Saket Ram's, they assume he uses it to kill Muslims and draw their weapons on him.
A fight ensues in which Amjad tries to save Saket's life, all the while beseeching him to end the violence. When Amjad learns the actual intent of the weapon is to shoot Gandhiji, Amjad does his best to talk Saket out of it (right in the middle of the fight) with Saket spouting a lot of anti-Muslim dialogue.
However, Hindus storm the soda factory, and the Muslims are attacked. When Amjad is hit in the head with a sledgehammer by a Hindu, Saket changes heart and does an about-face and fights from the Muslim point of view.
In this shootout, Amjad dies.
Saket goes to Gandhi and is introduced to the Mahatma as a man who saved many Muslim lives. Gandhi congratulates him and Saket feels very guilty. At this points, he listens to Gandhi's words, and decides he was mistaken, but just as he's decided this, Nathuram Godse stands up and assassinates India's Father.
OTHER CAST:
There are a lot of actors in this movie. Most notable among them are Nasser as a policeman in 1999, and Abbas as a doctor, also in 1999. Though Abbas' face is one of the first we see, it's kind of hard to recognize him as he is thinner and now sports a moustache! Gandhi's great-grandson appears for a short time.
Gandhi is played extraordinarily well by Naseerudin Shah. Om Puri, of English movie fame (City of Joy) makes an appearance as Goyal, Gandhi's assistant.
REVIEW OF THE COSTUMES AND SETS:
The costume direction (done by Sarika Kamal Haasan) and set direction is nothing short of excellence. Minute details are examined, and if the Subash Awards had an award for set direction (we might have one in the coming year, you never know), I am confident, even at this early time in the year, that HEY RAM would win the prize.
Make-up is also marvellous, done by a Hollywood team, just as in "Indian" and "Avvai Shanmugi."
COMMENTS:
This is one of the masterpieces of Tamil film, and one of the very few Indian films I would not be ashamed to show to a Westerner. Kamal Haasan is amazing, whether it is in acting, directing, singing, etc. He is one of the cine field gems of the entire world. Another actor who really makes an impression is Naseerudin Shah as Gandhi. The man becomes Gandhi in a way that even Ben Kingsley could not. He is amazing.
Everything is extraordinarily done. Kudos to Kamal Haasan for gutsily making a film he wound have definitely known would not have done well commercially.
Very few things detract from the movie. One is that, for the sake of realism, the actors converse easily in English, Hindi, and Tamil. It's hard to follow. Hindi actors themselves speak Tamil for the film, and while that is certainly commendable, it makes it even harder to follow. Another minor thing is that the boy who plays Kamal Haasan's grandson is a poor choice.
Shah Rukh Khan, one of the best actors of Hindi cinema, does a neat job, but his acting pales in comparison to Kamal Haasan's.
NOTE ON THE MUSIC:
Excellent music. At first, I thought "sumaar," but it goes with the film in such a powerful way. "Nee Paartha Paarvai" is melodious. "Ram Ram" is rousing. "Isaiyil Thodunguthamma" and "Kama Deva", while different and too classical for a younger audience to listen to, work well in the movie. The only really okay track is "Ramar Aaanalum," but even that has its good points. Only Ilayaraja could have written such great and, ultimately, appropriate material for the film.
RECOMMENDATION:
Definitely watch it in the theater if you don't mind sad and thought-provoking stories; but if you're the kind of masala person who wants only brainless patter (meaning three-quarters of the Tamil population, speaking conservatively), I guarantee you won't like it.
VIJAY VANNIARAJAN