I came across an interview of Vidhu Vinod Chopra recently and being me; I had to google him up. I landed on his wikipedia page and laid my eyes upon Khamosh. This movie was made in 1985 and boasted of a huge star cast. I remembered watching this whodunit when i was a kid. I knew I would not be at peace till I see the movie so I happily gave up working out in favor of watching Khamosh. I must say I am not the least disappointed. This is a mystery so if you are planning to watch the movie please don't read further as I will be revealing the plot. Do watch the movie and come back to read this as it is definitely worth watching.
Film: Khamosh
Cast: Amol Palekar, Shabana Azmi, Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapoor, Soni Razdan, Deepak Qazir & Others.
Music: Vanraj Bhatia
Director: Vidhu Vinod Chopra
*Spoiler Alert* Story Revealed after Jump.
The Story:
The movie is based in picturesque Pahalgam in Jammu & Kashmir. A hindi film unit is shooting for a movie Aakhri Raat. That night Amol(Amol Palekar), the hero is nominated for a political party seat and the heroine Shabana(Shabana Azmi) wins the national award; to celebrate the occasion producer Dayal throws a party where the remaining characters are introduced. An upcoming actress Soni(Soni Razdan) who wants to star in Dayal's next movie, refuses to "co-operate" with him and ends up slapping him. Mrs Leela has been an extra all her life and wants her daughter Meenu to become a heroine in Dayal's next movie. Dayal's brother Kuku(Pankaj Kapoor) a drug addict has the hots for Soni who refuses his passes. Director Chandran(Sadashiv Amrapurkar) wants to wrap up this movie soon to start the next movie. The next morning Soni is found hanging from a tree, leading people to assume that she committed suicide. Enter Captain Bakshi(Naseeruddin Shah) Soni's brother.He refuses to believe that her death was a suicide and starts investigating. All the clues point to Kuku and he is arrested. Shabana spots Amol hiding a revolver and it dawns of her that he is in fact the murderer. Bakshi, who learns the truth arrives just in time to save Shabana from being killed by Amol and shoots him. It is revealed that Amol had an affair with Soni and fearing that it could harm his political aspirations, kills her.
Post Script:
This is Vidhu Vinod Chopra's second movie. It is laudable how he chose the unconventional plot for this movie. There are no songs, no dances, no fights nothing except crisp screenplay. It is important in a murder mystery that the identity of the culprit is not revealed and Vidhu does that with élan. The movie keeps you hooked till the very end and the tiny little details that build up the mystery are well developed. It is brilliant how the actors are called by their original names, it adds a personal touch to the characters. The 80's movie scenario is poked fun of by Vidhu. Calling the director Chandran is an indirect nod to the South Indian movie directors who dominated the industry during that era. Amol Palekar is a revelation. His acting as a murderer in the climax scene where he reveals his true identity to Shabana just knocks you off your feet. Shabana is nice, another feather in her acting cap. It is Naseeruddin's Bakshi that charmed me and I must say he looks dashing.
Worth Re-watching?
Yes. Surely one cannot watch a mystery again. I do watch a mystery the second time because I like to look for clues along the way. Watch this movie and you won't regret that decision.
No comments:
Post a Comment