A look back at Raja Krishan Menon‘s 2003 debut directorial Bas Yun Hi as it celebrates 22 years. We also get some insight as the director talks with Subhash K Jha.
The young 20-nothing metro-waasi never had it so good. Or bad. After Freaky Chakra where a freaked-out sutradhar, played by veejay Ranvir Shorey, gets all foamy and frustrated when he can no longer control the destiny of the characters he creates, this time another veejay turned, ahem, actor Purab Kohli sets up a fey doll Veda (Nandita Das) to woo a superstitious friend Rohan (Rajiv Gopalakrishnan) as a joke and then behaves like Aamir Khan in the post-interval half of Dil Chahta Hai.
The prank gets a yucky yank when stupid Cupid, the devilish matchmaker Aditya, realizes he loves flaky Veda for himself. He sulks like a brat being denied his favourite television show and finally grins when she consents to be his girl.
Between the sulk and the grin lies a yawning stretch of barren land that no amount of jokey quips and urbane humour can fill. In fact, the problem of making cinematic sense outside the conventional parameters of entertainment is even more acute in Bas Yun Hi than in all the other metrocentric fables that have hit theatres in the last two years.
The dialogues, though all in Hindi, are more in the strain of an American sitcom than reflective of the citified youth in the Indian metros who apparently spend all their free time (which means ALL the time) discussing dating and mating strategies. The question is how real is the urban reality being projected into the young urban ‘Hinglish’ fables?
All the characters in director Raja Menon’s feeble fable on metro-foibles speak in Hindi. Instead of adding to the film’s authenticity, this choice of tongue seems a lingual aberration. It’s hard to imagine why a dude like Aditya, who spends all his time at pubs and other trendy places, would write a love letter in Hindi unless he’s trying to impress a presence far beyond the immediate characters.
That we fail to be impressed isn’t entirely Aditya’s fault. The characters and their constant banter are more like a pantomime of an urban lifestyle than the real thing. The onrush of callow bacchanalia is like Farhan Akhtar’s Dil Chahta Hai without the dil or the acting talent to support the rhythms of wry raillery. Choppy editing and an effort to mime the humour from Hollywood’s romantic comedies considerably reduces the impact of intended witticisms.
When Nandita Das’s character Veda is complimented for her hair the first time, she says, “Oh, I keep doing things with it.” But when the same happens a second time, she looks bewildered. Obviously, the second sequence is supposed to occur first so that the two scenes can collectively make a satirical statement on the affectations of urban youngsters.
Sure, the décor is right. And so’s the attitude(including a dig at the popular soap Kyunkii Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi). The character speaks with the correct intonation, and the narration is suitably zany. Even the coffee cups at Aditya’s pad seem right. Firget the foam, you suspects there’s no brew in the cups. As the characters pretend to sip an illusory nourisher, you wonder about the point behind the pointless prattle of a generation which in debutant Menon’s hands seems as faded as the demin they wear.
The film seems to work better on the storyboard level than in execution. Raja Menon’s direction suffers from a deep sense of disorientation. In trying to be true to the hip milieu, Bas Yun Hi ends up being unnecessarily casual. The characters don’t say what they feel as much as they ought to.
The performances are uniformly uneven. Every haha actor seems to be doing what‘s expected of him or her without conveying any of the underlying contexts of the romantic conflict. Unlike Freaky Chakra, which to a large extent was redeemed by Deepti Naval’s undeniable sensitivity as an actor and a human being, Bas Yun Hi in no way gains from Nandita Das’s presence. Nose ring swinging from her nostril, her attitude is that of a girl trying to belong to a milieu which isn’t really worth belonging to.
Jehangir Chowdhary’s cinematography is unremarkable. You feel all the technicians are trying to recreate the verve-filled ambience of American Desi without getting to the heart of the urban cool. Ridiculing the foam of an average Indian soap is fine. But man, where’s the foam in your espresso???!!!
By the time the characters work out their designer – karmas, we are way beyond caring about what they do to their loved lives. For a film that falls astoundingly short in every department, the music by Rajiv-Merlin is…er, pretty cool!!!!
Raja Krishan Menon Speaks on Bas Yun Hi
What do you recall of your directorial debut, Bas Yun Hi?
We were all young and passionate. We made that film selling everything we owned and then some. A friend had a US credit card on which we took out a 30 lakh loan for the total budget of 85 lac. It was a film where everyone came together and gave it their all. It was a beautiful experience.
What were the lessons you learnt from this experience?
Creatively, I learned that the only stories to tell are the stories that mean everything to me at that given moment, not because that’s what is working or double guessing what the audience wants. Bas Yun Hi definitely redefined how and what stories I choose to tell.
Did Bas Yun Hi open doors to your future?
Those were the days of true creative freedom and Bas Yun Hi guided me to write and make Barah Aana and every film that cane after, because of all the lessons I learnt on that film.
Was it tough getting your first film into movie theatres?
Shyam Shroff helped distribute the film. Those days, we did not have multiplexes, so it was different. I feel it has become harder now to release theatrically than it was those days
Tell me about the unusual casting.
Purab Kohli was a veejay, and I really liked him in a series he had done, so I approached him. Nandita Das actually got in touch with me because of Uma D’Cunha, who was casting the film. It was wonderful to have someone with her pedigree reach out to me. I couldn’t believe she would want to be part of such a small film, But she came on board. Tannishtha Chatterjeee was a revelation to me. I watched a screen test she had done for some other project and was mesmerised. What an actor she has evolved into!
Would you like to see Bas Yun Hi back in movie theatres?
Not the way it is.Maybe it should be re-made? I think my second film Barah Aana is the one I’d like to see back in theatres again.
