Since having found the 1974 "Curry Western" Dacoit film Khhotte Sikkay to be pretty enjoyable,I became very intrigued,when I read a good amount of praise on the IMDb's Indian movie board about a recently realised movie which took a look at one of India's most successful athlete's:Paan Singh Tomar,who later became one of India's most infamous Dacoit's.
The plot:
1980:
Getting information from his informants which could lead to him getting the biggest story of the year, a newspaper reporter rushes to get a relative of his, (who is also taking care of his young niece) to come along with him to the very outskirts in the city,in the hope of finding one of India's most famous Dacoit's:Paan Singh Tomar.
Arriving to the location,the reporter is met by a group of men who claim to be members of Tomar's gang.Due to the group being unsure about how genuine he is,they decide to keep the niece and uncle as a "safe guarantee",and tell the reporter that he is the only one who they will allow to meet Tomar.Taking him to their hideaway based at a run down building,the reporter finally gets his chance to come face to face with Paan Singh Tomar.
Tomar shows a strong dislike for the reporter,due to him deciding to get straight to the point and making his first question be :"How did you become a Dacoit?"
Fearing that he is about to lose the scoop of the year,the reporter does a hasty back track,and instead decides to make his first question: "When did you pick up a gun for the first time?".
Feeling that the report may actually be here for more than just a "cheap thrill",Tomar begins to tell him,how he went from being a 7 time Steeplechase champion surrounded by people whose tradition he deeply respected,to finding himself chewed up and spat out into a world filled with betrayers of any tradition,which lead to him deciding that the only one who could do the right thing and show that corruption did not decay everything around people:was himself.
View on the film:
For the handful of cars and motorbikes that appear in the film,director Tigmanshu Dhulia shows them right at the very edge of the frame,to give a strong feeling that they are about to drive off to a completely different era miles away from the movie.Despite the very best attempts from my DVD players to stop me from seeing this film, (the first player jammed at the half way point,and ended up constantly bringing up the sign "No DVD in player",whilst my spare DVD player would only play the film in black and white!) they were thankfully unable to stop Dhulia's tremendous directing from shining.
With Dhulia choosing specific moments in Tomar's athletic career and Dacoit period to use a slow-mo effect to show Paan gaining the respect of his peers in the athletic ranks,to slowing down the moments when fatal shots are fired during a number of terrific,tense gun battles, (with a stand out one being a shoot out that Dhulia beautifully sets in the middle of a river) to show that the applause Tomar use to hear during his moments of glory,have now been replaced with the sound of people taking their final breath.
Looking at the fantastic screenplay of the film, (which IMDb has weirdly not credited) Writers Dhulia and Sanjay Chauhan brilliantly take the traditional Wild West "baddie" role,and spin it into a new exciting direction.Using Paan Singh Tomar's (played by a great.focused Irrfan Khan) athletics training as a place filled with "old guard" traditional soldiers and police officers,who teach Tomar skills about concentrating and being determined,which would also be given to any lonely gunslinger,who finds themselves to be the only brave enough person to protect a town from being taken over.
Getting away from the athletics,Dhulia and Chauhan use Tomar's family farmland being taken over by a ruthless gang,as the moment for when Tomar calls for the cavalry to arrive and save the day.Sadly for Tomar, Dhulia and Chauhan expertly show that the era when "the cavalry" and other figures who are meant to stand up and protect the "common man's" town from being over run with outlaws,and to also wear a badge of authority (such as a sheriffs badge) with honour,instead of seeing it as just a cheap piece of silver.
Getting Tomar to see all of the corruptions and tragedy's happening around,the writers slowly show Tomar relies that he is the last person left,who strongly keeps to the tradition of knowing what good and evil is,which leads to him having to make an unimaginable decision of leaving "the cavalry" and everything he has valued for his whole life,to become the thing that he has hated most,in the hope of having the chance to do the right thing.
The plot:
1980:
Getting information from his informants which could lead to him getting the biggest story of the year, a newspaper reporter rushes to get a relative of his, (who is also taking care of his young niece) to come along with him to the very outskirts in the city,in the hope of finding one of India's most famous Dacoit's:Paan Singh Tomar.
Arriving to the location,the reporter is met by a group of men who claim to be members of Tomar's gang.Due to the group being unsure about how genuine he is,they decide to keep the niece and uncle as a "safe guarantee",and tell the reporter that he is the only one who they will allow to meet Tomar.Taking him to their hideaway based at a run down building,the reporter finally gets his chance to come face to face with Paan Singh Tomar.
Tomar shows a strong dislike for the reporter,due to him deciding to get straight to the point and making his first question be :"How did you become a Dacoit?"
Fearing that he is about to lose the scoop of the year,the reporter does a hasty back track,and instead decides to make his first question: "When did you pick up a gun for the first time?".
Feeling that the report may actually be here for more than just a "cheap thrill",Tomar begins to tell him,how he went from being a 7 time Steeplechase champion surrounded by people whose tradition he deeply respected,to finding himself chewed up and spat out into a world filled with betrayers of any tradition,which lead to him deciding that the only one who could do the right thing and show that corruption did not decay everything around people:was himself.
View on the film:
For the handful of cars and motorbikes that appear in the film,director Tigmanshu Dhulia shows them right at the very edge of the frame,to give a strong feeling that they are about to drive off to a completely different era miles away from the movie.Despite the very best attempts from my DVD players to stop me from seeing this film, (the first player jammed at the half way point,and ended up constantly bringing up the sign "No DVD in player",whilst my spare DVD player would only play the film in black and white!) they were thankfully unable to stop Dhulia's tremendous directing from shining.
With Dhulia choosing specific moments in Tomar's athletic career and Dacoit period to use a slow-mo effect to show Paan gaining the respect of his peers in the athletic ranks,to slowing down the moments when fatal shots are fired during a number of terrific,tense gun battles, (with a stand out one being a shoot out that Dhulia beautifully sets in the middle of a river) to show that the applause Tomar use to hear during his moments of glory,have now been replaced with the sound of people taking their final breath.
Looking at the fantastic screenplay of the film, (which IMDb has weirdly not credited) Writers Dhulia and Sanjay Chauhan brilliantly take the traditional Wild West "baddie" role,and spin it into a new exciting direction.Using Paan Singh Tomar's (played by a great.focused Irrfan Khan) athletics training as a place filled with "old guard" traditional soldiers and police officers,who teach Tomar skills about concentrating and being determined,which would also be given to any lonely gunslinger,who finds themselves to be the only brave enough person to protect a town from being taken over.
Getting away from the athletics,Dhulia and Chauhan use Tomar's family farmland being taken over by a ruthless gang,as the moment for when Tomar calls for the cavalry to arrive and save the day.Sadly for Tomar, Dhulia and Chauhan expertly show that the era when "the cavalry" and other figures who are meant to stand up and protect the "common man's" town from being over run with outlaws,and to also wear a badge of authority (such as a sheriffs badge) with honour,instead of seeing it as just a cheap piece of silver.
Getting Tomar to see all of the corruptions and tragedy's happening around,the writers slowly show Tomar relies that he is the last person left,who strongly keeps to the tradition of knowing what good and evil is,which leads to him having to make an unimaginable decision of leaving "the cavalry" and everything he has valued for his whole life,to become the thing that he has hated most,in the hope of having the chance to do the right thing.