A brief note on Sanjay Dutt in LoC…
This is in any case an underrated film. To my mind this work is despite the director’s indulgence at a great many points easily superior to the earlier Border. Because its nationalism is not as banal and its characters are much more differentiated. But most importantly for the reason that Dutta really fashioned an old-school epic in the Hollywood mode with magnificent vistas and some real tour-de-force sequences, as for instance the pre-interval action segment. It’s a sprawling work that certainly could have done with less repetition in more ways than one. But it’s also an authentic piece of cinema that was well-worth multiple trips to the theater (for this viewer).
The Sanjay Dutt character here possibly represents the actor’s best outing. His performance is about as ignored as the film itself. He plays his character with a certain weariness and knowingness. War for him isn’t an excuse for nationalistic bravado or buddy humor or sentimental gloss. It is simply something to get through. Dutt is empathetic in this part in a very calibrated way. He’s always been good at evoking a brand of humanism that is not marked by statist definitions though it’s not a talent of his that has often been tapped. He was similarly in fine form in the otherwise empty Mission Kashmir. In general he has specialized throughout his career in playing the somewhat unhinged even psychotic urban type but there are these other rare and less celebrated interludes where he is always uncomfortably an ‘agent’ of the state. His Munnabhai films in this regard present this larger configuration in more accessible (palatable!) form.
On his very best day(s) Dutt’s persona took the angry young man’s legacy forward in the anti-social, psychologically unstable ways I have just referred to. Unsurprisingly therefore Naam with the exception of Agneepath offers the only worthwhile reading of Deewar. Dutt’s iconic characters in this regard might even be considered a bridge to Abhishek’s Lallan Singh or his Beera (elsewhere I have contrasted Raavan and Khalnayak). Sadly Dutt himself never quite had the discipline or focus through his career to exploit this persona much more expansively. There are for all this a number of interesting chapters in this sense that hint at something valuable.
LoC nonetheless brings across the ‘other’ Sanjay Dutt…. deeply wounded but not quite violently lacerated, still a trader in human empathy and not quite willing to be dead enough to stop rescuing others until the end of war..
SATYAMSHOT 
March 23, 2013 at 5:25 PM
congrats satyam–a wonderful note which though ‘random’ & ‘brief’ was better than some recent ones–a return to form by u
Actually, even i liked this film loc
it needed so much editing that at one stage, one forgot what editing meant and what all should be edited
BUt jp duttas war movies like border and loc did have their moments
Besides some ace music by javed akhtar & hold your breath, anu malik
Loved this sentence and agree–
“LoC nonetheless brings across the ‘other’ Sanjay Dutt…. deeply wounded but not quite violently lacerated, still a trader in human empathy and not quite willing to be dead enough to stop rescuing others until the end of war..”
A similar inderstated seething performance was by dutt in mission kashmir…not sure if uve seen it
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March 23, 2013 at 6:54 PM
oh so uve already mentioned ‘mission kashmir’–oops didnt read earlier (as usual) hehe
“He plays his character with a certain weariness and knowingness. War for him isn’t an excuse for nationalistic bravado or buddy humor or sentimental gloss. It is simply something to get through. Dutt is empathetic in this part in a very calibrated way. He’s always been good at evoking a brand of humanism that is not marked by statist definitions though it’s not a talent of his that has often been tapped. He was similarly in fine form in the otherwise empty Mission Kashmir. “–wow thats satyam of yore that i have been missing…!!
Satyam–rise above this spin and defending lesser folks like abhishrek and rohan sippy!
As in the kaante dialogue—
“Taqdeer tera bistar garam karna chahti hai
Aur too sofe pe sona chahta hai?”
Aadaab arz hai 😉
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March 23, 2013 at 8:37 PM
It’s precisely because I’m an Abhishek or Rohan Sippy fan (and I don’t mean this in the causative sense) that I am also willing to call Dutt’s LoC performance arguably his best, a view which I might be alone in holding on the entire planet! One might find any or all of these views absurd but it’s the same sensibility behind each one! But here I’d also say that Dutt’s performance in LoC is the kind of thing I like tonally even from other actors. And even as larger matter I am usually much more interested in ‘mood’ and ‘tone’ from actors that their overall competence level. Or rather I take the latter as a given but I also find most competent actors competently boring! Because they’ve completely predictable. To achieve tone in a very precise way and to suggest nuance within, specially so with performances that don’t require high energy acts, is very hard and it’s not something that’s easily appreciated. For instance BM to my mind is a fantastic Abhishek performance again because of tone. It might be as impressive as Yuva or Guru. But the latter two performances have the more obvious hooks for the audience. With the latter the character has a certain range, there’s the look and so forth. With the former it’s a very charismatic part throughout, has a certain gesturally etc. BM is neither one nor the other. Abhishek’s choices are fairly limited here as long as he chooses to maintain that tonal consistency. In these cases an actor has to create space on more or less claustrophobic terrain. Similarly Dutt (though I obviously don’t think as highly of him as an actor otherwise) has relatively few scenes in LoC and not too many lines. But he manages to suggest all of this. It comes about principally by way of tone. In any case I am very consistent about the qualities I like in a performance. It’s not just about ‘doing’ certain kinds of parts. For instance (and this will offend Saurabh!) I have never see an Ajay Devgan performance that I have been even remotely impressed with as much as Dutt’s in LoC. Even though he’s done lots of very serious, even important roles. He’s even received accolades for a number of them. Nor have I liked him even in terms of just setting the mood as much as Dutt in a number of films. Because once more there is nothing unpredictable in Devgan’s performances at any end of the equation though I do find him effective with a certain masala gesturally in something like Singham. I’ll certainly grant him this.
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March 23, 2013 at 10:14 PM
Satyam:
Am neither a fan nor a hater of the son..but there is one performance you keep missing of his..NAACH..I think that was a superbly handled understated performance..that performance did show..at least in bits..his being able to match the master in MILI..the sombre range and pitch..
Man, this was one of the better, personal movies from RGV that flopped..so bad that I cannot even find the Hindi version on you tube
The terribly ‘crafted’ but superbly scored Veer Zaara took away the honors that year I think..
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March 24, 2013 at 12:50 AM
yes I have a weakness for this film, specially the first half. Unfortunately RGV went rather tame in the second but still one of his better works leaving aside the obvious big ones.
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March 23, 2013 at 9:07 PM
“To achieve tone in a very precise way and to suggest nuance within, specially so with performances that don’t require high energy acts, is very hard and it’s not something that’s easily appreciated.”– totally agree there & have been saying this for a while as well..
Managed to find this link wherein I listed some random good mood-pieces / performances that I’ve liked–what did u think of these ones?–
As for abhishrek-I’ve said earlier–there’s a thin line between ‘cultivated nuanced restraint’ & ‘pseudo-security driven lethargy’. Whilst abhishrek is certainly capable of the former, he has wandered over into the latter on many occasions (past that ‘thin line’!) I would rate his performance in sarkaar raaj & umraao jaan higher than the sippy flicks in that respect ..
Ps : would also add some other mood pieces which don’t have to be ‘heavy’ monotone morose ones only.
Ranbir in rockstar: for eg there’s a scene wherein he is surrounded by a crowd of young autograph seekers for the first time–but he doesn’t seem to be able to hear anything!! And must add-that nargis fakhris was a ‘heartfelt’ performance too (though without acting skills)
Btw Deepika in cocktail was a good (mood) performance that got hidden under her red bikini (for most)!
Ps: reminds me: have some Bollywood naive buddies coming over -may show em cocktail –to ‘introduce’ them to bw/besides revisiting it myself lol
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March 24, 2013 at 8:54 AM
haha shown it!-As a return favor for ‘cocktail’-got passes 2 some morning filmmaking /auteur workshop-possibly a screening-maybe ‘stoker’ shortly 🙂
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March 24, 2013 at 12:50 PM
Geee love young ‘cinema students’ jotting notes& love behaving as some young indie actor/maker myself –who knows lol
Anyhow -incidentally film was ‘stoker’ —
Enjoyed it thoroughly –wow (unsure how much is d ambience/drink/company though) 🙂
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March 24, 2013 at 2:24 PM
im a bit ‘spent’ rite now-Will jot something on stoker later today–dont wanna write inappropriate stuff here(which i never do) hehe
But Stoker has probably been the film of the year so faar for me…,maybe im exaggerating right now–will punch something on it in a few moments..
ps–satyam hav u seen it?
ps2–maaan whattta a bunch of audience…….hot
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March 23, 2013 at 10:21 PM
This is an excellent note on a very underrated film and performance. Thanks for this Satyam. Loved your last line.
I also think that Dutta, in Hathyar, really provided the right marriage between Dutt’s ‘anti-social character’ and the nationalistic milieu (Dharmendra in Ghulami is another example)- one of film’s great scenes is in the climax is where Dutt’s character is in a toy-shop and remembers his own dad’s toy-store. He then throws a globe before being shot by the police. I also think this is one of Dutta’s only film which take place both the rural and urban setting- Dutta is exceptionally great with his camera during the portions which take place in desert. And notice how Dutta’s films differ from Bhatt’s even when the lead in their films played similar ‘mislead youths’/’youths turned against state’- in Naam Dutt’s character never gets an opportunity to redeem himself, in Hathyar he does (there is another fine scene where Dutt is not able to bring himself to committ a thievery for the very first time in his life which he needed to do so as to survive). And the youth in Dutta’s (and even Rawail’s Arjun and Dacait) films were not selfish folks like Naam- they carried a political charge with them (compare that to Thikana, Kabza etc) and even when they had to sell their soul in order to survive (Hathyar again) they did so unwillingly
I think Pukar offers a very uncomfortable situation- here you have Bachchan’s character remaining ‘anti-national’ throughout most of the film. The thing is it would have been more digestable had the character been played by someone else since Bachchan is not expected to do any wrong (for all these years no one even questioned his involvement in the Bofors case).
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March 24, 2013 at 12:54 AM
I like Hathyar a lot though Dutta’s pace is a bit too slow for the subject. This works in his Rajasthan films where a sense of ennui for want of a better word often pervades the films and is consonant with his pacing choices. Interesting note though..
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March 24, 2013 at 12:31 AM
I actually didn’t like LOC despite the fact that I liked Border. I think that Border had just enough characters that it could focus on all of them and develop them. However, LOC was a cluttered mess. With an excessive amount of characters, and jumping around from character to character, explaining their back story. This was supposed to be a War/Drama, not Melodrama. Plus, the movie’s songs were also incredibly stretched and sometimes unjustified, unlike Border. Border achieved its goal very well. In fact, I think Border has probably been the best war film to come out of India.
And I think Sanjay Dutt’s best performance was in Vaastav, followed by Munna Bhai. I think Sanju really shines in those movies.
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March 24, 2013 at 8:51 AM
“And I think Sanjay Dutt’s best performance was in Vaastav, followed by Munna Bhai.”
I concur and most likely we are among the rest of the population to think so, as well.
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March 24, 2013 at 9:06 AM
In my view while Vaastav was a good performance it is nowhere near Naam and Munnabhai. I will also have Kabzaa, Hathyar LoC, Khalnayak, Zinda, Mission Kashmir over it.
Also quite a fan of his romantic turn in Saajan and his supporting role in Dushman
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March 24, 2013 at 10:48 AM
i also think dutt does better in ‘quieter’ roles. i’ll take mission k, saajan over khalnayak, vaastav etc. the ‘psyhotic’ twist to the angry young man was his thing, but that’s hard to pull off after bachchan. i always thought he came across as trying too hard in those roles.
in lighter roles, munnabhai has become iconic but i also liked him in fluff like haseena maan jayegi and khoobsurat (a bad remake of bawarchi but dutt was fun to watch here, probably also the last time he looked presentable on screen)
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March 24, 2013 at 1:17 PM
“the ‘psyhotic’ twist to the angry young man was his thing”
I agree with this and I wasn’t trying to suggest that these were great performances on his part. Just that the persona itself took the legacy of the angry young man further in certain directions. Because one of the things about the angry young man in this regard (elsewhere I have talked about this with respect to Yuva and so on) is that his was almost always a very proportionate kind of ‘anger’ precisely because the subject at the center was also always ‘rational’. The Agneepath moment comes at the very end of this history and therefore Bachchan couldn’t go anywhere with this ‘advance’ that late in his career. But the insight was an authentic one. To rewrite Deewar you need to make Vijay psychotic! There might be hints of such an approach in the canonical films but these don’t define the larger subjectivity in question.
In this regard by the way note how the whole ‘vigilante’ approach favored by Southern cinema (historically) is a weak reading of all this. The focus in these films is shifted to the entire socio-political framework in a very abstract way. Which is why the violence needed to address it has to be ‘crazy’. But that isn’t the Agneepath/Yuva mold or the Dutt one from some of his important films. This is a form of subjectivity that results from the failure of the original Vijay solution. In other words Vijay dies in Deewar or gets reconciled with his politically tame brother in Trishul or returns home at the end of Kaala Pathar etc etc.. but in each case he either has to disappear from his world or get domesticated (or at least normalized in the social sense). So the problematic framework whether in its statist guise or the bourgeois one (whichever perspective one prefers) lives on. In Lawaaris the protagonist comes very close to getting unhinged but the script merely flirts with this ‘danger’. But this film is nonetheless the halfway point between Deewar and Agneepath. Had Heera never been reconciled with his father he would have become the Vijay of Agneepath! In any case once that original Vijay formulation fails the result is this unhinged successor of Agneepath or Yuva and so on. Or else the weak vigilante one where you become a mass killer! I exaggerate just a little! The later manifestation is not necessarily a better solution. I for one prefer the old to the extent that there is more romanticism to it in terms of its possibilities. However the new one is the more realistic option in certain ways, specially so in the age of a capitalist enframing of politics that is far less susceptible to any alternative destabilization that might have seemed to be the case in the 70s. Those older hopes turned out to be illusory ones but still had a certain plausibility in that older age. Today at any rate, or at least for the time being, the unhinging of the subject really seems to be the only true option. Which is not a response I’m completely at peace with but I don’t find it a weak one. Will add here though that Raavan in this sense as well takes up the challenge. Because here you have not just a psychotic but even a slightly schizoid character and more than this you once again have a larger framework that implicated politics and religious belief and so on in an ‘epic’ sense. Beera dying at the end repeats the Deewar moment in a somewhat different way and in general the second half of the film tries to recapture that romanticism albeit in more measured ways. But this is the film that I think accounts for this entire angry young man history and furthermore tries to provide its most challenging present-day formulation or response. Other than Ghulami I cannot think of another major commercial film in Hindi (much as I like Khakee or much as I might admire Agneepath) since that great sequence involving the angry young man that is so interesting on all of these questions.
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March 24, 2013 at 2:48 PM
This is an excellent comment.
“Or else the weak vigilante one where you become a mass killer”-
And I am reminded of B.R. Chopra’s Aaj Ki Awaaz (a film I actually like) becomes rather troublesome on this score especially when Chopra’s art/social film sensibilities are mixed with the entire vigilante approach. A better film dealing tangentially with some of the topics is Andhaa Yudh (remember this one. A very engrossing film with Raj Babbar playing an assassin trying to kill a boy with Nana Patekar as a cop on Babbar’s hunt). And the other variant is the RDB one where you have a group of frustrated youths taking the law in their own hands- Ankush is a prime one
My favourite on this vigilante killer theme is Ajith’s Citizen though
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March 25, 2013 at 1:50 AM
Re: “My favourite on this vigilante killer theme is Ajith’s Citizen though”
I didn’t care for the film very much, but the flashback/investigative portion, where the IAS officer digs up the fate of Ajith’s hometown, was fantastic. Absolutely riveting!
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March 24, 2013 at 7:43 PM
Satyam: do write something on Special Chabbis…I hope you enjoy the movie as much as I did…
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March 25, 2013 at 4:37 AM
Re: “Will add here though that Raavan in this sense as well takes up the challenge. Because here you have not just a psychotic but even a slightly schizoid character and more than this you once again have a larger framework that implicated politics and religious belief and so on in an ‘epic’ sense. Beera dying at the end repeats the Deewar moment in a somewhat different way and in general the second half of the film tries to recapture that romanticism albeit in more measured ways. But this is the film that I think accounts for this entire angry young man history and furthermore tries to provide its most challenging present-day formulation or response.”
Note also the inversion of the traditional “angry young man” trope, at least as you have identified it; in the older films, the de-stabilizing force has to be domesticated (or sacrificed, as in Deewar; the fact that this happens after a rapprochement of sorts with the Deity simply underscores this), in order that the status quo may continue (even if the status quo is hardly un-marked by the Bachchan intervention). Whereas in Raavan, Beera is killed precisely when he seeks to conform himself to the bourgeois ideal in some sense. Stated differently, Ratnam’s film is staged (whether or not it recognizes) in a world where the politically aberrant – the insurgency/criminality, the oppressive state response – is well accommodated in the status quo: the insurgency IS THE NORMAL STATE in large swathes of the country (consider the fact that the AFSPA and its suspension of civil liberties – effectively a kind of martial law – has been in place for over two decades in Kashmir, and even longer in certain North-Eastern states; this is in fact the normal state). It is only when Beera falls in love, tries to “form a couple”, i.e. in the most mainstream manner possible, that he becomes vulnerable and is killed – it is this normalcy that cannot be accommodated within his world, because his world has been assigned a different place in the state scheme of things. Ratnam pursues this logic almost mathematically here: if the state of exception has become the rule (aside: it increasingly has in Ratnam’s own work over the last few years, moving from a standard centrist-liberal interest and concern for the health of the nation in light of the margins – Roja, Bombay – to a concern with the marginal in and of itself – Dil Se, Raavan, Yuva/Aayutha Ezhuthu), then in that world the normal is aberrant, and cannot be tolerated.
Raavan is consistent with the Dutt reading – I second the earlier point that Dutt represents the most interesting extension of the Bachchan persona – of the angry young man. The most striking thing about Dutt’s personae is that he has what Amitabh never did in those great films from the 1970s: angst. Bachchan’s characters are possessed of an Olympian self-confidence that is part of what makes them compelling, but that also makes him a bit remote: he may be admired, the way a God is, but he is something other than human. With Dutt, the world is fractured beyond repair, hence his hurt and vulnerability come across as something existential, and not simply a function of something that has happened to him (Naam and Hathyar are two obvious examples). He isn’t psychotic so much as that he seems psychotic in a world that is broken.
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March 25, 2013 at 8:17 AM
Extraordinary comment, specially the first longer paragraph, which I completely agree with in every sense.
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March 24, 2013 at 3:23 PM
“the ‘psyhotic’ twist to the angry young man was his thing, but that’s hard to pull off after bachchan”-
That’s a terrific point Antya. To add it notice how when Dutt turned psychotic it was always due to a trauma related to his onscreen mother (both the major tiffs because of which Dutt turns to the dark side in Naam and Khalnayak)- the ‘mother’ here makes those crises very ‘personal and selfish’ which is very different from AB’s roles where these crises were more ideologically motivated than personal because the mother was not the root cause for them (even in Deewar he had become a gangster much before his mother and brother find out about it and notice how that once the confrontation with the mother happens Vijay’s bad days begin. In Trishul he fights ‘for’ his dead mother but not ‘with’ her. And notice how in AB’s case- from Mera Baap Chor Hai in Deewar to watching his did die in Pukar- the trauma is associated with father which IMO makes the anger less personal and allows it to be politically charged). The one exception is in Agneepath where there is a continuous clash with mother and as Satyam said this is one portrayal which has psychotic shades
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March 24, 2013 at 3:42 PM
The thing with Dutt’s similar persona is that while it was very usefully employed in the 80s in films like Naam or Kabzaa or Hathyar and maybe Sadak later on eventually in the 90s he became mostly the psychotic gangster kind of figure. His characters were far less interesting this way. Most of the time they were just about bravado and the whole macho posturing with guns and so forth. The whole vulnerable self of the 80s was completely buried. This is why the Munnabhai films were so appealing because even if in comic form some of these qualities that made him endearing were retrieved after a very long time.
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March 24, 2013 at 5:45 PM
Interesting discussion. I also liked the 80’s phase better here. Not a fan of the later gangster roles.
Also, dutt gained attention with Naam but I have always felt K Gaurav’s was the definitive performance there.
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March 26, 2013 at 12:16 AM
I think just judging how well he portrayed the character in the film, Vaastav just took it. I actually liked his performance in Naam, Hathyar and Mission Kashmir. But they came nowhere near Vaastav. Munna Bhai was a close one.
I think what actors should learn from Sanjay Dutt is that he’s incredibly relaxed. He isn’t by any means a great actor, but, some actors are noticeably stressed or nervous. I think Sanju is the actor who looks the most relaxed when the cameras are on, which is a great thing.
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March 24, 2013 at 10:42 PM
i think munnabhai film rejection was srk’s biggest folly and sanju baba just played it to the T. As Raju H often says – sanjay dutt doesn’t like to rehearse his lines so he lets him be in front of the camera…..but then srk had rejected rdb and 3 idiots also i guess….
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March 24, 2013 at 11:50 PM
If SRK did those films, those films would have become SRK MBBS, RDB hahaha, 4 Idiots.
Sanjay dutt is quite a versatile actor and he handled comedy, serious, stupid roles rather well. Born actor? He had the face, physique and talent to carry off any role easily. I loved him even in SOS. And Parineeta. He reminded of his father in Parineeta. Actually he is a better actor.
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March 26, 2013 at 12:17 AM
Thank SRK that he didn’t do Munna Bhai, and neither did any other actor. No one, and I mean NO ONE could have done it better than Sanju.
RDB and 3 Idiots are two where I could see the films being improved if Shahrukh was in them.
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March 26, 2013 at 12:24 AM
Hey arsh- how r u doing m8- r u in canada? and how’s the video editing-may need some help from u .. For some ‘home video’ stuff lol
Btw u surely are a v sane srk fan
There’s another srk fan here -who I have ‘reformed’ somewhat hehe
“If SRK did those films, those films would have become SRK MBBS, RDB hahaha, 4 Idiots.”– haha sanju
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March 26, 2013 at 2:48 AM
Hi Alex. Yeah, I’m in Vancouver. I HAVE THE TICKETS FOR TOIFA!!!! 😀 So pumped!
All of SRK fans are sane. It’s just the “fanboys” that are generally the problem. I’m sensing “oldgold” was the other fan??? 😛
I’m actually done with video editing…well, for now anyways. I’m actually starting work on my very first 3D game in the summer. I guess, in a way, I might need to do some “cinematic directing” during that. Should be fun hopefully. 3 books … 800 pages, 500 pages and 350 pages approximately. READY TO DO THIS!!! 😀
Anyways, how’s life at satyamshot and otherwise?
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March 26, 2013 at 11:46 AM
“Hi Alex. Yeah, I’m in Vancouver. I HAVE THE TICKETS FOR TOIFA!!!! So pumped!”– good boy arsh
What’s toifa? If its an awards nite– y dont u get us proper coverage, a writeup and nice pics — close ups of stars
Hehe no upskirts though…
May need some help with video editing if another buddy doesn’t sort it…
“All of SRK fans are sane. It’s just the “fanboys” that are generally the problem. I’m sensing “oldgold” was the other fan??? “– ha yeah Oldgold earlier was a blind fan of srk– not sure whose fan is she now 😉
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March 26, 2013 at 11:58 AM
“I’m actually starting work on my very first 3D game in the summer”-
Great stuff Arsh. For a long time I too wanted to develop games but have never been good with programming so left the idea. Anyway assuming that you might be into gaming (as in ‘playing games’) as well which are your top 5 games currently. I am waiting anxiously for Bioshock 2
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March 26, 2013 at 1:25 PM
I hope Satyam doesn’t get upset that we are sidetracking a little bit.
AA — TOIFA is an awards show. I’m going there exclusively for Shahrukh. I’ll bring a camera with me to the show, and hopefully get a few pics. Not particularly good though. But we’ll c. I can certainly try the video editing thing, but, for my gaming commentaries, I generally just use it just to cut the video down. And where is Oldgold nowadays? 😛
Saurabh — Thanks Saurabh. I’m not good with programming either (yet), but, if you gotta do it, you gotta do it! I am professionally going into to go into the field of gaming, so, that should put some perspective on things. Currently my top 5 are:
1) Uncharted series (BY FAR)
2) GTA: San Andreas
3) Heavy Rain
4) Far Cry 3
5) GTA: 4
I’m waiting most anxiously for “The Last Of Us” 🙂
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March 26, 2013 at 1:31 PM
It’s best to have these unconnected discussions in the box office thread.
On that note I’d say the same to some others here who tend to put up links or whatever in posts with very specific topics. If there is no connection and you can’t find an appropriate thread just put it in the box office one.
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March 26, 2013 at 5:05 PM
“And where is Oldgold nowadays?”
@ arsh–in one of my pockets!!
ps–hope to get good footage from toifa from u …cheers
🙂
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March 26, 2013 at 1:52 AM
What happened to your balance? Aakhir fan to bahar aa gaya.
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March 26, 2013 at 2:11 AM
Munnabhai role could have been played by Bachchan in his younger days. And now, hold your breath, Arshad Warsi or even Ranbir.. It is a misconception that certain roles cannot be played by others.RDB is in Bachchan’s domain abd now a Hrithik could have done that role, not SRK. These actors could have given different interesting interpretations. even 3 I is not such a difficult role and yes SRK could have played it but not improved on it. Now I am ready for brickbats.
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March 26, 2013 at 2:37 AM
I think that was quite a balanced approach, especially considering this is an opinion-based matter.. Munna Bhai was played by Sanju to perfection imo. And you know what, maybe you’re right that SRK might not have improved the other films, but, I don’t know (and I’m sorry if my last statement in the comment came off as me thinking it was a factual statement. It was just an opinion). I’m just giving my objective opinion. And as for balance I said that SRK could not have done a better job than Sanju did in Munna Bhai. Let’s leave it at we don’t know and we probably never will since Shahrukh didn’t do those films. Eh? 🙂
So in conclusion, erm, I’m sorry I don’t agree with you??? 😥
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March 26, 2013 at 2:36 AM
Not necessary that a film gets improved due to another actor. Different interpretation maybe, that’s all. In fact some people have felt that SRK’s Devdas could have been done more authentically by aamir. Aamir would have done it differently, for sure. Nobody can claim that my favourite would have done it better.
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March 26, 2013 at 2:42 AM
Possibly could have. But, whoever did their respective parts did them quite well (though, I must say that 3 Idiots was carried largely by the script…no, not because of the actors’ lack of talent or anything like that. Just that the roles didn’t require a lot of range.). Of course we know that Aamir has a lot of talent from movies such as Fanaa or Earth (for me, these are prime examples of amazing performances by Aamir).
But, as I said, we simply don’t know.
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March 26, 2013 at 2:38 AM
I think that other actors could not have done this role is what is star system is all about. It is as much saying that certain persons are indispensable. Indira gandhi died. We got another PM. Vajpayee’s term is over. And now Modi and Nitish are competing for the job. Hitler died. Germany did not. Vyayantimala aged. We got Hema Malini.Hema aged and we got other stars. Let the Khans retire. We will get some fresh talent.
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March 26, 2013 at 5:35 AM
Thing is we get attached to our favourites. For me there can never be another Sanjeev Kumar, yet other actors have manged to lure me back to the screen even after his early demise.
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March 26, 2013 at 6:00 AM
Agreed that life doesn’t stop, even after the worst of tragedies, but certain voids remain unfilled.
If we look at the stars/composers/dancers/singers/lyricists/directors of the 50’s, there is not even one field in which the greats of those days have been adequate ‘replaced’.
Some people really ARE indispensable. Great singers inspire composers to produce music otherwise that may never have been created, and perhaps the same is true for great actors.
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March 26, 2013 at 8:26 AM
I know, I know. Here I am slipping into philosophy. There is void only when there existed something. When that something has not existed at all, there cant be any void or loss. So it is a relative thing. The perception of cant be replaced. The only things which I feel cant be replaced are parents and our near ones. Because every person thinks that he or she is the central point of existence and rightly so.
As LS says, we feel attached and thus we feel about the importance of those actors. Those who swear by Rahman will not likely like those lovely old songs of yore. There maybe some exceptions. Waiting for some more brickbats.
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March 26, 2013 at 10:19 AM
Haven’t seen LOC, but this is an interesting comment with some terrific exchanges here as well.
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March 26, 2013 at 12:00 PM
It takes a lot for me to actually ‘read’ something, even more to ‘read’ something completely(& I know it’s a bad habit)
But have read this piece in completion
This brief note is perhaps the best by Satyam this year ( that I have read!)
Ps: though I didn’t enjoy the raavan comparison. Abhishrek tried valiantly but he simply lacked the wherewithal & sheer charisma this role required idiot was to work (& overcome flaws in manis writing& characterisation). To give abhishrek credit, can’t think of anyone current who could’ve taken this film to success. (Inspite of multiple things in it that I loved in it besides Rahmans music and ash)
Again–@ the risk of repetition, enjoyed this particularly (again)..
“His performance is about as ignored as the film itself. He plays his
character with a certain weariness and knowingness. War for him isn’t an excuse for nationalistic bravado or buddy humor or sentimental gloss. It is simply something to get through. Dutt is empathetic in this part in a very calibrated way. “
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March 26, 2013 at 12:14 PM
Sometimes I don’t care for reams and reams of lengthy writeups (that I never read…)
But this one line shows the calibre of the writer–
““His performance is about as ignored as the film itself. He plays his
character with a certain weariness and knowingness. War for him isn’t an excuse for nationalistic bravado or buddy humor or sentimental gloss. It is simply something to get through. Dutt is empathetic in this part in a very calibrated way. “
I also feel dutts own roller-coaster life ‘helped’ him in getting the pitch of the role right (though I’m sure he didn’t want himself to go through all that to ‘prepare’ for these roles!)
Incidentally in my recent violent/torture theme films, saw a few scenes of zinda (old boy)-dutts personal anguish came thru (to me)
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March 26, 2013 at 12:36 PM
A Superb note here and a fabulous follow up by Q.
LOC defnitely had merit but JP Dutta got too self indulgent.
Agree on Dutt’s performance here.
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March 26, 2013 at 6:57 PM
Thanks to you, I watched Sholay again….to hear/see “kota sikka” dialogue…..had a ball watching…
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March 28, 2013 at 7:36 PM
A remarkable note on an otherwise forgotten performance…
You’re absolutely right, that for all the VAASTAVs and KHALNAYAKs, Dutt manages to bring a certain amount of pain and silence to some roles which outdo his louder efforts (but go largely unnoticed).
His performance in ZINDA is another….
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March 28, 2013 at 7:40 PM
Mahesh Bhatt used to bring out the quieter Dutt mould really well in NAAM and KABZAA and to an extent later in KARTOOS even. Not many directors know how to tap into this side of Dutt as an actor (VS say the KAANTE/MUSAFIR type role or the ALL THE BEST type comic roles).
His performance in SHABD is another such instance….forgotten movie, fogotten performance.
As for LOC, one of the best films EVER made in Indian cinema, there are parts of LOC I would take over ANYTHING J.P Dutta has ever done in his career (including HATHYAR and GHULAMI).
Pity this didn’t work, but hey…its a 5+ hour war film done with authenticity, what was J.P Dutta thinking from a boxoffice perspective? To me, he remains one of the last, most authentic directors in Hindi cinema. LONG LONG wishing he gets back to doing films like BATWARA, HATHYAR, KHSATRIYA, GHULAMI, BORDER and LOC!
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