Dont Give Up on Bollywood
You will come across some film projects that will make you think like Halla Bol. I have watched so many Bollywood movies I know that bol means talk or speak.
The reason why I will drop Halla Bol written and directed by Rajkumar Santoshi, in my shopping cart for original stories is its different take on Mumbai, where most of the Hindi movies are made.
Halla Bol is about how brotherhood is not about sharing common interests. It is all about erecting a fence to keep out outsiders in order to protect dark family secrets, sometimes of a criminal nature. Ashfaaq (Ajay Devgan) belongs to a popular street theatre group run by Sidhu everyone calls Guru (Pankaj Kapoor).
It is popular because its drama is about corrupt politicians, India and the World Bank and indifference to human suffering like somebody being beaten to death in public and nobody has a seen a thing. It is street theatre. I’m not from the culture, so I don’t know what street theatre is called in India, but it used to be a popular story line in older films.
Ashfaaq is so good, Guru speaks to someone in the film industry which results in the launch of his acting career. He marries Sneha (Vidya Balan) his childhood sweetheart. He becomes so big he changes his name to Sameer Khan.
Sneha catches him one day and he pleads that it means nothing, everybody does it. “I come back to you every night,” he says. She moves to another room in their mansion and tells him that she is not leaving for the sake of their son.
Guru is shocked that his disciple has turned into a selfish and arrogant person. Ashfaaq’s father nearly dies when his son reminds him that his name is Sameer Khan and not Ashfaaq
A few minutes, later two men try to force Rashmi to dance with them. She refuses. Sameer goes to the loo and sees two men sniffing cocaine. They leave and Sameer admires himself in the mirror.
The two men who were sniffing cocaine calmly walk out of the party. They shot her in cold blood. They are sons of local prominent politicians.
The media reports that nobody saw anything.
Sameer Khan also did not see anything.
When the police interrogate him about taking a photo with the dead girl Rashmi, he says he does that all the time because of his work.
His conscience needles him. He calls Ritu and gives her a suitcase of money, saying it will not bring back her sister but it will help her with her studies. Ritu rejects it. Guru, his old teacher hears about Rashmi Sahini and comes to visit Sameer Khan.
What is interesting about Halla Bol is that it is not the two murderers who fight Sameer Khan but their fathers, especially Gaikwad an M.P. of the ruling party, played to perfection by Darshan Jariwala.
Movies are fiction. They are also based on real life. I understand Halla Bol was inspired by Jessica Lal’s murder because she told a politician’s son that she was not serving drinks anymore because the bar was closed. Later on Bollywood made a film called Nobody Killed Jessica but I didn’t see it.
Sameer Khan also did not see anything.
When the police interrogate him about taking a photo with the dead girl Rashmi, he says he does that all the time because of his work.
His conscience needles him. He calls Ritu and gives her a suitcase of money, saying it will not bring back her sister but it will help her with her studies. Ritu rejects it. Guru, his old teacher hears about Rashmi Sahini and comes to visit Sameer Khan.
What is interesting about Halla Bol is that it is not the two murderers who fight Sameer Khan but their fathers, especially Gaikwad an M.P. of the ruling party, played to perfection by Darshan Jariwala.
Movies are fiction. They are also based on real life. I understand Halla Bol was inspired by Jessica Lal’s murder because she told a politician’s son that she was not serving drinks anymore because the bar was closed. Later on Bollywood made a film called Nobody Killed Jessica but I didn’t see it.
Nonqaba
is the author of Sweetness The Novel.
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