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Aamir

Movie Aamir Director Rajkumar Gupta Producer Ronnie Screwvala Cast Rajeev Khandelwal

Sonia Chopra

Finally, finally, finally. A film that one can blindly recommend after a cascade of disasters the past few months. Aamir is strong both in style and content, and unlike most films of late, doesn’t lazily compensate one for the other. Peggy Lee's atrociously happy song It’s a good day sets the tone for the busy Mumbai International airport where friends and family are uniting with loved ones. Everyman Aamir Ali (Rajeev Khandelwal) is coming to India after three years of studying medicine in London. But strange things begin to happen immediately – he’s forcibly handed a mobile that gets only incoming calls from an undisclosed number. The caller instructs him to take a particular cab and get to a commissioned spot. When Aamir tries to reason with the caller first and then begins questioning this bizarre behaviour, he’s informed that his family has been kidnapped and he must do as told for them to be alive. Then on, Aamir is at the mercy of the next call that tells him the next location, and the next order to be followed. Through this web of instructions that are slowly acquiring a communal colour (“what have you done for `our’ people”; “this is `our’ fight”), Aamir – hungry, tired, angry and confused – goes through dingy lanes, suspicious motels, and a restaurant that curiously refuses to serve him water till he is finally a mission away from uniting with his family. But that final task is what Aamir can’t find the stomach for. For those who always associated Rajeev Khandelwal with Sujal, the film is a revelation. Khandelwal has made a smart move to take on films – he has presence and is surprisingly adept at tackling this very challenging role. His performance remains consistently good and never does his tone go over-the-top or become monotonous. Garjraj Rao, as the religious fanatic caller whose face is never revealed, gives a marvellous performance through his voice alone. Yes, Aamir is No Smoking-Black Friday hung-over (debutant director Rajkumar Gupta had assisted Kashyap in Black Friday), but the influences are more overt and technical than in core story. It has the eeriness of No Smoking and producer Anurag Kashyap’s hand is clear in capturing the essence of the dark underbelly of the city (Dongri, Bhendi Bazaar, Bandra Masjid etc) through hidden cameras and masterful camerawork. There were many who saw No Smoking and wanted to like it if only they could understand it fully – this film (still Kafkaesque, but simpler) is more palatable in its linear story. Gupta does very well in his first directorial venture and has a penchant for lovingly capturing the voyeuristic nature of bystanders who expressionlessly watch the harried situation of the suited-booted, young man. The background music is very interesting and includes songs like Chakkar Ghumyo and Haara (music by Amit Trivedi; lyrics by Amitabh) that add a bitter-sweet comment on Aamir’s situation. Other nuances are a delight, like the letters of the run-down National Restaurant missing and the capturing of faces of ordinary folks, like photographic portraits. Most importantly, the film has characters that last a few minutes of screen time but leave a massive impact – the mysterious prostitute, the chatty cabbie, the really big man with a meek voice, the Karachi partner who speaks from a plush upper-middle class drawing room and so on. There is some simplistic, though enjoyable, symbolism -- the caller playing with a puppet and meat being chopped implying he’s a fresh bakra. Cinematography (Alphonso Roy) is excellent; the camera is often mobile and tracking while remaining unobtrusive. There is drama in every frame—even a shot where Aamir is walking along on a deserted road, has a trickling tap in the foreground for effect. Art decoration by Wasiq Khan (how do they get the indoors to be so authentic; notice the uniquely carved furniture) gets a full thumps up. Sound designing is brilliant. Editing by Aarti Bajaj is skillful in its use of intelligently well-timed cuts. But above all, a film really succeeds if it can manage to make you feel for the character; if it can involve you to the extent that you wonder what you’d do in a similar situation. Aamir succeeds on both counts; you feel a great empathy for Aamir and are therefore glued in to every turns the story takes. Interestingly, this film is a superlative effort of several feature first-timers from the producer (UTV Spot Boy), director, lead actor, cinematographer and music director. Don’t miss this one.