Chakravyuh

I saw Chakravyuh on the heels of the Mumbai Film Festival where for a week I viewed movies a day from the world over. It was a mixed bag with some being surreal, some steeped in emotion and some that simply told a good story. The thing in common between all these movies was the sense of telling a truth as closely as possible. The surrealist ones made your mind swirl, the emotional ones had me crying out aloud and the good story just made me say 'wow'.

Perhaps I was spoilt by this week of truth and expected the same from Chakravyuh. Perhaps it was too much to expect but I came away disappointed on all counts with the movie. The 'Naxal movement is a strong point to build a story on and there is a lot that a film can build on emotionally and politically taking that issue as a central theme.

Chakravyuh offers a sanitized version of the whole issue. the villagers wear spotless white saris and the posters on the police walls look fresh out of a photocopier, as my friend pointed out to me. It is also a bit unbelievable that someone as urbane and suave looking as Abhay Deol can infiltrate the Naxal inner group and convince them of his authenticity.

The characters of both, the cop Adil played by Arjun Rampal and Kabir his close friend are badly sketched. Their motivations for their actions are not fully explained which leaves you unconvinced about their characters.

If an audience starts laughing at the most emotional and critical juncture in the movie you know that all is lost. And that is what happened in Chakravyuh at the end and I as part of the audience laughed maybe the loudest. Esha Gupta's dialogue at the end will perhaps go down as the most ridiculous two words ever said in a death scene in a movie.

I just expected much more from Chakravyuh. There is so much debate and conflict in the Naxal issue and there is so much to discuss and ponder. But what we get is some diluted version of the 'Jay-Veeru friendship ( and I felt definite homosexual undertones, though that may be due to too many sex scenes in the Film Festival 'movies!) and a cosmetic glossed over sanitized pat approach to the whole debate. Disappointing.

I find it saddening that this film was not promoted the way it should be, and perhaps would never be viewed by people who are actually ignorant about the Maoist situation.

Chakravyuh is as accurate a portrayal of the grim reality of Naxalism as you can get in commercial cinema, and at times I was surprised that this film actually got through the censors. Prakash Jha mentions Salwa Judum and Government atrocities, replaces Vedanta with Mahanta and as a coup de grace, clearly mentions at the starting that nothing is fictional, and everything is inspired from real events. Kudos!

The film tracks Adil Khan (Rampal), a Police officer posted in a Maoist stronghold who agrees to let his friend Kabeer (Deol) infiltrate into the Naxal ranks and act as an informer for him. While initially the Police scores some big wins due to Kabeer, slowly he understands the Maoist cause, and starts getting alienated from Adil.

The story is simplified and linear, and small events follow one another to take the narrative forward. The direction is simple and clear, which worked and failed for me at the same time - While this might be easy to understand, there was no room for subtlety or finesse. The names of the Naxal leaders like Rajan and Juhi are not topical, and the lingo was a localized form of Hindi (so that understanding is NOT hampered) which I suspect is not used anywhere. Also, Mr Jha does not let go of the urge to introduce theatrics like a mandatory item number (and the use of a previous one from Gangaajal) and product placement (XUV 500).

Cinematically, Chakravyuh doesn't attempt greatness and steers away from subtle moral conflicts. The weakest link is shoddy acting by Arjun Rampal, Esha Gupta and the guy who played Mahanta's son. These people are simply not mature enough for a serious film. This one is a proud addition to Gupta's resume, who has only worked as eye candy thus far.

All said and done, it takes gall to approach a controversial subject in Bollywood and treat it honestly. The film talks about the dualism of the Government and the coexistence of good/bad elements on both sides. This film should inspire better ones, and thus deserves an encouraging response and much word of mouth to succeed.

And I have done my bit.

There is a dialogue near the beginning of the film: 'Mat le yeh transfer Adil, mujhe isme kuch bhi acha nahi dikh raha'. (Don't take the transfer Adil, I can't see any good in this) It seems this statement would foreshadow the film's fate but it is only after this scene that the film picks up steam and never runs out of it. Chakravyuh doesn't wish to present a didactic document on the Naxal movement but decides to tell a story as well.

Chakravyuh is about two friends: Adil (Arjun Rampal) and Kabir (Abhay Deol) who were both training to join the police. Adil becomes the good cop, Kabir, well, he doesn't really become the bad cop since he dropped out of the academy owing to his temperamental attitude. He was fit for some other job and that job turns out to be going undercover and infiltrating the Naxals of Nandighat district. To keep the ploy undercover, nobody, not even the police must know about it. Soon, Kabir gets 400 odd blows from the police and lands straight into the Naxal territory.

Prakash Jha makes good use of the sun-dried rural terrain. After scanning through various parts of our motherland, telling pertinent stories, he now zooms in on Naxalites. In the age of cop masala movies, which indulge in fantastical violence, here's a film that is probably more violent, more gripping but also definitely more socially responsible. It doesn't become as offbeat as a turd like Shanghai, which bores you while telling a sterile story. Chakravyuh has a story that may seem run-of-the mill and formulaic at first but the skillful writing creates an involving film. The deft drama is fused with compelling action sequences, which add to the tension. Salim-Sulaiman's fervid score agitates the intrigue.

Arjun Rampal is the best-looking non-actor we have. I'm not calling him a bad actor, for that he has to be an actor. No, I'm not insulting him either because I've seen some good actors ruin a good story with their need to “perform”. Manoj Bajpayee does not get enough meat to chew on but whatever meat he does get, he devours it. I wish we got more of Om Puri's character too.

Esha Gupta could be mistaken for a zombie with a cake on her face each time she appears on screen. She looks oddly miscast, a sleepwalking doll wearing only one expression throughout. Anjali Patil, who plays Juhi the passionate Naxal, is a true find. She owns each scene she is in, not to mention, better looking than the cake.

Abhay Deol is another winner in the film as he makes us root for his character with his proficient turn. Juhi and Kabir's sub-plot is brilliantly restrained. I'm sure if they were two big stars they would have had to fall in love and reduced the film to petty entertainment.

On the flip side, the film is a tad too long and there is one song which is just plain horrendous. The tawdry voice over narration at the end does bring the film down a bit by spelling everything out but at least it doesn't drill the point into our heads by having a character make a speech. They don't claim to solve our lives and admit not having the answers yet. Not picking sides blatantly, Chakravyuh is an important film worth watching.

Watching Chakravyuh one cannot but lament at the lows Prakash Jha as sunk to in terms of storytelling. It is hard to believe this is the same man who gave us hard hitting films like Damul, Mrityudand and Gangajal.

Arjun Rampal is a police officer who plants his loose tempered friend Abhay Deol in Naxals ranks to secure the capture of Rajan, played by Manoj Bajpai. Abhay instead turns over into naxal folds and starts fighting against the police. Their story of betrayal and friendship runs in the backdrop of the naxal problem of India replete with land hungry politicians and businessmen and gun totting villagers.

Chakravyuh is almost like there are two films happening parallely, occasionally meeting in points to produce disastrous results. The friendship and betrayal track struggles hard owing to some really bad acting from the leads. The track is also forced to carry on its weak back the issue of naxalism, which though well meaningly inteded, ends up stumbling.

Jha conjours up a particularly inept cast for the entire film, right form the leads to the side characters. Save for Om Puri and Manoj Bajpai, who are criminally wasted, none of the actors are able to take their roles above mediocrity. Arjun Rampal is wooden and SRK mimic in his freshly pressed linen shirts even in the thick of MP's forests. Esha, who actually wears a perfect makeup and lipstick in the middle of an encounter with naxals, is as plastic as plastic can be. Abhay Deol is sincere like a lost lamb, unable to channel the passion his character should have to switch sides with the outbands.

The issue at hand, though addressed with sincerity, lacks the hardhitting treatment one expects of Jha. The flash points between government, tribals business and land are simplified to the least possible denominator with stereotypes and cliches aplenty making it all seem like a school skit farce. Added to this the lengthy monologues of grandstanding between every actor makes the proceedings more like a Bhandarkar film.

When Madhuri held a gun to her husband's head in Mrityudand, she ceased to be Madhuri the Super star, but embodied every wife in the Hindi heartland trying to reclaim respect nad dignity in a marriage. When Abhay and Arjun pit themselves against each other, all they stand for are a commercial wannabe attemtping an "actor" makeover and a actor trying to gain commercial acceptance.

Jha himself, is on a highway to commercial sell out- box office acceptance seemingly being more important than artisitc authenticity for the director these days- nothing is more symptomatic of this than the utterly unnecessary "item song" by Sameera Reddy.

While Chakravyuh is not as bad as his last , Aarakshan, it is not a patch on what he has done before. Watch it once for a momentary sigh and wrinkle on the forehead for the naxals and injustice. Move on to your life after the token sympathy, just like the makers of the movie seem to have done.