“When will Kashmir get its azaadi? ” shrieks one of the chic militants in this shindig of cheap thrills and bumpersticker jingoism.
The audience roared with approval every time the brave soldiers of stunt co-ordinator Tinu Verma’s first directorial venture made nasty digs at the enemy across the border. A boisterous and jokey soldier played by Sharat Saxena whose only wish is to have his favourite song played on the radio, says, “Pakistan doesn’t understand that even if we stand and pee on their border their entire country would be flooded.”
Now this is serious Paki- bashing. Far more critical and damning than anything we’ve seen on the theme of militancy and /or border disputes like Sarfarosh, Gadar, Indian and of course J.P.Dutta’s Border from which Verma seeks several thematic and visual reference points.
No harm in going to the classics for inspiration, or for that matter, indulging in jingoistic bashing in the name of nationalistic pride. But Verma, eager to cash in on the current belligerence against Pakistan , clearly and brazenly crosses the line of control.
This is nationalistic mayhem at the highest decibel. And there’s nothing anyone can do to stop Verma from being a rabid patriot even if it means forsaking basic good taste , and pure and simple logic.
Verma tries to appease the Indian Muslim by drawing a sharp line between militants and the Islamic religion. Many of the brave patriots on the “right” side of the border are shown to be Muslim characters. But hey, when his hero Albaksh converts from reluctant militant to full- blown patriot he sports a conchshell-shrieking Hindu tikka on his head. What do we make of this??!!
In his pursuit of a hysterical horizon in the fervently saturated frames Tinu Verma sacrifices all claims to objectivity. The militants are reduced to indulging in utterly filmy antics. We’ve had filmmakers like Gulzar and John Mathew Matthan portraying the tragedy of terrorism in Maachis and Sarfarosh with a great deal of socio-political sensitivity.
Tinu Verma moves in the reverse direction. He isn’t bothered with historical or topical accuracy as much as redhot rabblerousing. Hence the intelligence officer Sonia(Tabu) demonstrates a severe scarcity of basic intelligence by dancing in the terrorists’ den dressed as an arabesque seductress. As Tabu slides and slithers to prove there’s more(or less) to her than Chandni Bar, the camera catches her cleavage in caressing detail.
Ah, an ideal antidote to militancy! Before we can catch our breath after that heaving and thrusting performance by one of India’s finest contemporary actresses , it’s time for Tinu Verma to bring on more arebesque gyration , this time performed by Malaika Arora , as the film’s main villain Lala Sultan(played by director Tinu Verma) watches on with his faithful right-hand man Albaksh(Arbaaz Khan, who incidentally happened to be Ms Arora’s husband in real life).
Having got over the dancing bit Verma gets down to the serious business of telling his patriotic story. Let ‘s straight away make one thing clear. Maa Tujhe Salaam isn’t Sunny Deol’s story. It’s the story of Albaksh’s reformation from an unthinking unquestioning slave to the secret terrorist Lala Sultan to a true Indian patriot who teams up with Major Pratap Singh(Sunny Deol) to bring down the militant nexus.
Verma’s script makes commercial sense but no common sense.In all fairness the war scenes and the prolonged climax where Deol runs across the border with an Indian flag through a gauntlet of bullets, is action of the nail-biting variety. Also, the horse race in Lala Sultan’s village where Albaksh rides his master’s neighing pride to victory, is stunningly shot. But where’s the reaction to the action? The characters seem a pretext for the vibrant vista of violent visuals that Verma has created within the theme of militancy.
Though the breathtaking snowcapped outdoors in Kulu Manali have been brilliantly used to duplicate the Kashmir Valley the rest of the film’s concerns build rather than cut away from the topographical sham. As the prolonged fight at the battle front enters its critical phase we find ourselves looking at the landscape rather than the characters.
The performances don’t help diminish our sense of growing despair at the marginalization of the characters. Arbaaz Khan in the pivotal role is all body no brawn, all seawater no prawn ,all Gushan Grover no Pran. His immobile face refuses to convey the wounded faith and pride of an . Battling his way through shouts and bullets for “Azaad Kashmir” Arbaaz Khan behaves more like Sylvester Stallone in Rambo than a passionate patriot. We cannot help but recall Chandrachur Singh’s innocence and vulnerability in Maachis as we watch Mr Khan muscle into his beat-the-bullet role.
Director Verma has woven a romantic angle into his protagonist’s character. Watching Arbaaz Khan romance his Kashmiri sweetheart Nargis(newcomer Monal) in the freezing snow seems more of a fashion than genuine passion. The two even get out of their clothes in the snow to make love in the freezing temperature.
Iced titillation, anyone? Tinu Verma and Sudesh Berry as champions of Azaad Kashmir and Paki-occupied Kashmir, respectively wear the right clothes and facial expressions. The other supporting characters look their parts but part from their looks when it comes to conveying the inner lives of their characters. And poor Rajat Bedi! After dancing in the militants’ den with Tabu he simply vanishes from the plot. Not fair since he swayed far better than Tabu.
To have Mohd Rafi’s Ab tumhare hawaale watan saathiyon from Chetan Anand’s Indo-Chinese war film Haqeeqat playing in the background , as Pakistani militants massacre the Indian soldiers, is a misguided stab at sentimentality in this coldhearted crowdpleaser of a film.
It’s Sunny Deol in an extended peripheral part who once again holds Hindi cinema’s growing patriotism in a perspective. The entire climax of the film has been deflected from the formal leading man Arbaaz Khan to Deol, and rightly so. Who would want to watch any actor but the imposing Desh-Bhakt of the new millennium roaring down the battleline to rip the militant leader Gulbaksh(Sudesh Berry) into two physical halves as Arbaaz screams the film’s favourite catch line , “Doodh mangoge to kheer denge Kashmir mangoge to cheer denge.”
By then, we want neither kheer nor Kashmir. Just earplugs. And a break from pseudo-patriotism.
Sunny Deol didn’t seem too enthusiastic to own the film after its release. “I know Maa Tujhe Salaam isn’t my film. But the exhibitors, distributors and everyone involved with the film wanted to make a profit. There’s nothing wrong with that. It is a small role which developed into a bigger one as the film progressed. Yes, I am aware the film is being sold to the audience as a Sunny Deol starrer. But what can I do about it? I am hoping my fans would have guessed by now that I don’t have much of a role because I never spoke too much about the film. Anyway, there is enough of me in Maa Tujhe Salaam. I have a feeling the film will go down well with the masses. I did the film because my friend Tinnu Verma directed the film. It is a film about Kargil . The length of my role is relatively small as compared with what I generally do in my films. That’s it. I haven’t done a single day’s extra work for Maa Tujhe Salaam.”
