In an era where craftsmen rewrite norms and rules to prove prejudices wrong, changing a popular phrase to Thank God It’s Wednesday is justified.
Neeraj Pandey, in one of the most spectacular directorial debuts that Hindi cinema has recently seen, proves many a prejudice wrong. For a few decades now, dependence of movie success on the stars in the cast, lavish budgets and plush locations has been excessively huge. A Wednesday, as the rightful representative of multiplex cinema with lower budgets and lesser luxury, not only broke such vanity, but also attested that cinema can be created differently, yet successfully.
Script with a backbone
A Wednesday confirms that all that a good film requires is a well-crafted script and a director with a vision. The film is outstandingly scripted by Neeraj. The fact that he tells the story through a protagonist without a name shows Neeraj’s conviction and the script’s uniqueness. The scenes flow effortlessly from one to another with an amazing amount of unpredictability that chills you and a determination to prove a point. The dialogues are so to-the-point that you end up sharpening your auditory sense by listening carefully to not miss a word. When Anupam Kher confidently invited his officers to his place for a drink in the evening just before sending them to a dangerous operation, the whole theatre just gasped.
Coming to the issue that the movie discusses, terrorism is not a new subject to the Indian audience. But the treatment Neeraj gave the movie makes it different. The movies we had seen until now were unreal representations of the worlds of terrorism and bureaucracy where citizens were mere puppets. This movie, however, broke the silence and spoke how citizens feel strongly about the bloodshed and conspiracies going on behind their backs. As the protagonist puts it, “we are resilient by force, not by choice.”
The message, however, never even once came across as ‘war is the way to fight back.’ There lies Neeraj’s penning prowess. He was able to tell the story of a man who believed that the goal justified its path, yet, convey the message of change with a conviction that never gave way to violence or radicalism.
The representation of media in the movie is very interesting and genuine. Media dancing to the tunes of governance is not a promising sight in a democracy. However, that is the fact which is bluntly depicted in the film. It also talks about how plurality and competition in media has done some damage apart from rendering audience with multiple choices. When the protagonist, who is not entirely in a positive light from the law and order perspective, calls up a journalist to report the unusual proceedings, she succumbs without reasoning it out because she is aware that ‘if not me, someone else.’ Also, the news channel covers the staged encounter with honesty that a layman will never decode.
Conceptual flaws
Some glaring errors in the movie cannot be left out without mentioning though. The film which tried to be as secular as possible and executed beautifully the omission of a very necessary name for its protagonist to avoid religious undertones, faltered in the characterisation of Arif Khan (Jimmy Shergill). He was shown as a dubious man with unwarranted violence in him and whose intentions cannot be predicted or understood.
There is also a very sarcastic laugh that Naseeruddin Shah delivers when Anupam Kher announces Arif as his officer-on-mission. Both of these are huge conceptual errors which throw Islam in a bad light and are hard to be pardoned in a movie that aspires to inspire nationalism which is anything but secular in the Indian context.
Another department where the director could have shown more thoughtfulness is the characterisation of his actresses. Neeraj may justify the depiction of Naina Roy (Deepal Shaw) as a passive receiver on the grounds of his prerogative to unleash the truth of media. However, showcasing Inspector Jai Singh’s (Aamir Basheer) wife in the most obvious manner possible (a house wife who does silly-talking) was not required. Either a faceless voice (like Shah’s wife) or a woman with a better outlook would have been far more appreciated. While there is no argument on the fact that it is a total ‘man-movie’ and no claim for equal representation when it does not make sense, an ounce more of sensitivity towards gender will help Neeraj deliver better.
The performances
Riveting is the best word to describe the performances by two stalwarts of Indian cinema. A film that is essentially a telephone conversation between two people would fail miserably had it featured anyone short of Anupam Kher and Naseeruddin Shah. The mesmerising dialogue battle in the climax between the two gives goose bumps. The intimacy, with which Shah delivers the deepest of insecurities and concerns of the ‘stupid common man,’ is stupendous. Shah’s versatility comes out in the fact that he performs his conversation with the terrorists also with the same amount of believability. Anupam Kher has put up an act that is very subdued, yet powerful, as the Commissioner of Police, Prakash Rathore. Even his silences and pauses are so meaningful for a viewer who watches the movie closely.
Jimmy Shergill, Aamir Basheer, Deepal Shaw - each and every person in the cast is so appropriate that you see real people in front of you rather than characters. Aamir‘s Sub Inspector was a role where the casting was particularly well done. However, the part where the-remnant-of-a-Channel V-VJ was made to appear as the biggest star of Bollywood only next to the Khans was ridiculous. May be the jocular effect is what the director intended; but it did not suit the film’s overall mood.
Technical perfection
The movie has been technically quite well made too. The cuts are crisp and the shots are tightly packed into each other that you don’t have a moment to flutter your eyelashes. Neeraj has collaborated with his editor Shree Narayan Singh in the best way possible to give the movie the effect of a thriller. The camera work adds a lot to the script in building up the mood of the film. There are no songs stereotypical of a Hindi movie; only fine background music by Sanjoy Chowdhary that keeps up the movie’s tempo.
Despite all the analysis, the final judgment, as for any other feature film, happens at the theatres. The standing ovation that Shah received is enough to understand how much the audience appreciated the movie. Any Indian with genuine feelings for his/her country couldn’t have helped empathising with Shah’s character and finding their unheard voices reverberating through his.
A success of this dimension was probably unexpected for a small movie with hardly any actors who are stars. That is exactly the reason why that accomplishment becomes all the more impressive. It is the success story of a movie that relied solely on its script and the talent of its human resources – no marketing gimmicks, no formulas, no star acts, nothing. This gives much hope in all the right directions for the Indian film industry that provides bread and butter to many. More importantly, it stands as a testament to the much elevated sensibility of the Indian audience.
