As the film’s title appears on the big screen you hear RD Burman's signature crooning that cross fades with the suggestive panting of a man at an audition for a chocolate ad and that pretty much prepares the viewer that the film will be a light hearted take on films. Amid light hearted film humor, Filmistan beautifully deals with the much talked about Indo-Pak relationship and subtly drives home the point that we are all the same irrespective of which side of the border we come from. “Ghar, khana, shakle sab same hain,” quips the abducted Sunny Arora as he can’t believe he is Pakistan.
Director and screenplay writer, Nitin Kakar chooses a rather sensitive cross-border issue for his first film and uses Hindi films as a successful tool that bond people across the borders. The animosity is forgotten when heartwarming discussions on Kapoors and Khans gain momentum and recalled the next moment when a running commentary decides who the winner was on the cricket field.
Sharib Hashmi plays Sunny Arora, the Delhi boy who despite realising his lack of talent as an actor dreams to be a big star because his life thrives on Hindi films. Nitin Kakar writes a heart-warming character in Sunny who is cheeky, friendly, happy-go-lucky and famously filmy. Even in the gravest situations he finds solace in Hindi film dialogues and songs. That’s why after being beaten up by his abductors he unabashedly performs a Maar dala to his applauding audience of young Pakistani kids.
In an industry where subtlety is a far cry, Filmistan comes as a refreshing change. So when the struggling actor Sunny Arora tries to help someone lying in the middle of the road, the RJ on his car stereo sells the next song: from Bobby, lyrics by Anand Bakshi and Lataji on the vocals. The song screams- Ayyeee phasaaaa; a subtle musical comment on how the main protagonist is gagged and transported to Pakistan.
The only grouch I have is that the film doesn’t quite hold the amazingly written scenes together. It seems the scenes were written separately, like different thoughts, and then beaded together in a film. Hence they look slightly disjointed and not parts of the whole. The upside is that it adds many layers to a story that could have been just another Indo-Pak story.
On one hand, the scene between Sunny and Hakeem ji evokes a deep sense of longing amongst old people who were born in Hindustan, on the other, the scene between Sunny and Aftab suggests the possibility of uniting both nations that would boast of world’s most envied cricket team and an unbeatable music industry. The film also makes brief comments on how the youth is misled by various extremist groups in the name of religion and how everyone is guilty of watching pirated films.
My favorite was the movie screening scene where a pirated version of Maine Pyar Kiya is played out to villagers in Pakistan and how Sunny Arora mouths every dialogue with aplomb when the CD goes mute for a few minutes in between. The dialogues ofMaine Pyar Kiya are cleverly chosen because when Bhagyashree says, "Hamare papa aur aapke papa bhi toh dost hain," it subtly refers to the possible friendship between the two nations.
Sharib Hashmi (who briefly worked in my office at ARN many moons ago, yay) loses not a single note as he plays the ever-so-talkative, chirpy, clean hearted Amritsari Punjabi boy Sunny Arora. He displays fear at his failed attempt to escape and sheer charm and unadulterated obsession with films the next moment as he plays different Hindi film actors to the young kids of the village.
He has also written the dialogues in the film that are raw and rooted in the context. In a scene Aftab (Inamulhaq) summarizes the film in a beautiful dialogue “He could be Yousuf Khan in Pakistan and Dilip Kumar in India, it’s all the same.”
After playing Shiva in Agneepath, he plays Aftab who has a flourishing pirated CD business and is a diehard Hindi film fan. His face shines up and his eyes sparkle as he holds a professional camera. His resolve to help his Indian friend is both convincing and award winning. BRAVO!!
Sachindra Vats, the editor of Filmistan deserves a special mention for keeping the film both taut and short before it became too preachy or dramatic. The film ends on a song, the last line of which says Laanat teri lakeera noo (shame on these borders) that beautifully encapsulates the essence of the film.
The film makes so much sense to the cine goers in Dubai. After all where else do we share our apartment, lunch box and power point presentations with the people from the other side of the border? I highly recommend this film.
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