Bejoy Nambiar is one of my favourite directors. His flavourful pastiche includes such masterly portraits of human desires and failings as Shaitaan, David, and the underrated Solo, not to mention the brilliant Dange.
I could go on and on. But there is this other thing that Bejoy has now done in collaboration with the ever-enterprising producer Aanand L Rai. It’s called Tu Yaa Main. I watched it a bit late when it has already taken a beating at the box-office. This is a massive blow to the rapidly evaporating breed of Good Cinema, and by that I mean cinema which is worth watching not for its message or its cinematic qualities. But simply for its high entertainment value.
The last 45 minutes of Tu Yaa Main is shot in an emptied swimming pool. I kid you not. You won’t step into an open stretch of pool for the next twenty-five years. As far as underwater terror is concerned Tu Yaa Main (awful title!) is next only to Stephen Spielberg’s Jaws and that came a good fifty years ago.
Tu Yaa Main is the aqueous equivalent of a hijack drama like Neerja. The only difference is in the assailant’s identity.
The smartly cut narrative begins as a class-challenged romance between an over-privileged influencer Avani (Shanaya Kapoor) and a workingclass rapper Flow (Adarsh Gourav). The two actors are well cast, and kudos to Mukesh Chhabra for that. Kapoor , however, needs to work on her dialogues. It is hard to make out what she is saying.
Not that the spoken word is of paramount relevance. Tu Yaa Main is decidedly a film where action speaks louder than words. Its ameer-gareeb romance is swept aside , as the two protagonists run… rather, swim for their lives.
Director Bejoy Nambiar’s biggest challenge was to make the crocodiles look as lethal as the sharks in Jaws. In this he succeeds swimmingly, evincing gasps and moans from the audience as Avani and Flow attempt to escape their deadly opponents.
This is a grossly neglected film which deserves a much bigger audience. Don’t let it be swallowed by the big sharks.
