Review: ‘Madaari’ fails to put up a show
Irrfan Khan-starrer tries too hard to prove a point better films already proved in the past
Madaari tells story of a man who wants revenge from the system. PHOTO: FILE
KARACHI:
When you name a film Madaari, you’re bound to put up a show. Since the name itself means puppeteer, an element of self-doubt seeps into the viewer’s head rather subconsciously. Unlike the subjects of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, you keep looking at what you’re looking while expecting a sense of forthcoming deception. Whenever a new reality is about to be formed, you doubt it, thinking that maybe you’re being deceived by the puppeteer, by the film.
In the Irrfan Khan film, that unfortunately isn’t the case; there’s no looking back here because there isn’t much beyond the illusion being projected on the screen. No sense of surprise, no element of deception. For deception has only been used as a narrative gimmick, that too in a fashion that doesn’t leave you in any supernormal state. You keep chasing for the wow factor the way Jimmy Shergill runs after the kid, expecting a return for his efforts like you do for your money. It just ends like another Bollywood film on your DVD shelf.
Madaari advocates street justice
I guess people had upped my expectations or perhaps the film was doing exactly what the people wanted: catharsis. For in a country where living conditions are such that an average person doesn’t want to retain the memory of yesterday and doesn’t want tomorrow to come, a preachy narrative always does the job.
There’s a reason why Mustafa Kamal, once the sweetheart of Muttahida Qaumi Movement, is bought by the public as the face of a cleansing mission against the party. Previously the face of a more liberal Pakistan, Imran Khan ends up doing politics of religion. All that is made possible because the public only needs a punching bag and someone to punch it for them. They want to vent out and cinema and TV play a key role in doing that.
Having said that, even catharsis can be done more thoughtfully, in a way that actually provides an alternate way of thinking to the audience. Irrfan is not the first one to take the law in his hands and make lawmakers accountable for their illegal acts. It has been done to death, in fact to genocide; A Wednesday being a recent example from Bollywood and Maalik from Pakistan. Some may find the comparison with Maalik a little uncalled for, but if you look at it, both Ashir Azeem and, in this case, Nishikant Kamat are trying to do the same thing: expose the system. One just has a bigger budget, better writers and obviously Irrfan.
Did Irrfan Khan really criticise Islamic practices?
It is understandable that a message is always the soul of a film like Madaari and with the Faiz poem in the end, it does lift a few dead spirits in the cinema. But any message can be overshadowed by a preachy approach and that style of hammering audiences with the ‘Right thing to do’ or a ‘Wake-up call’ has been quite loyally continued in Madaari. The director ends up committing the same mistake he criticises by underestimating the audience’s capability to comprehend subtleties and deeper ideas. Perhaps even he should get out on the streets and pick the microphone.
Verdict: It gives out a strong message so watch it only if you too want to expose the system
Published in The Express Tribune, July 28th, 2016.
When you name a film Madaari, you’re bound to put up a show. Since the name itself means puppeteer, an element of self-doubt seeps into the viewer’s head rather subconsciously. Unlike the subjects of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, you keep looking at what you’re looking while expecting a sense of forthcoming deception. Whenever a new reality is about to be formed, you doubt it, thinking that maybe you’re being deceived by the puppeteer, by the film.
In the Irrfan Khan film, that unfortunately isn’t the case; there’s no looking back here because there isn’t much beyond the illusion being projected on the screen. No sense of surprise, no element of deception. For deception has only been used as a narrative gimmick, that too in a fashion that doesn’t leave you in any supernormal state. You keep chasing for the wow factor the way Jimmy Shergill runs after the kid, expecting a return for his efforts like you do for your money. It just ends like another Bollywood film on your DVD shelf.
Madaari advocates street justice
I guess people had upped my expectations or perhaps the film was doing exactly what the people wanted: catharsis. For in a country where living conditions are such that an average person doesn’t want to retain the memory of yesterday and doesn’t want tomorrow to come, a preachy narrative always does the job.
There’s a reason why Mustafa Kamal, once the sweetheart of Muttahida Qaumi Movement, is bought by the public as the face of a cleansing mission against the party. Previously the face of a more liberal Pakistan, Imran Khan ends up doing politics of religion. All that is made possible because the public only needs a punching bag and someone to punch it for them. They want to vent out and cinema and TV play a key role in doing that.
Having said that, even catharsis can be done more thoughtfully, in a way that actually provides an alternate way of thinking to the audience. Irrfan is not the first one to take the law in his hands and make lawmakers accountable for their illegal acts. It has been done to death, in fact to genocide; A Wednesday being a recent example from Bollywood and Maalik from Pakistan. Some may find the comparison with Maalik a little uncalled for, but if you look at it, both Ashir Azeem and, in this case, Nishikant Kamat are trying to do the same thing: expose the system. One just has a bigger budget, better writers and obviously Irrfan.
Did Irrfan Khan really criticise Islamic practices?
It is understandable that a message is always the soul of a film like Madaari and with the Faiz poem in the end, it does lift a few dead spirits in the cinema. But any message can be overshadowed by a preachy approach and that style of hammering audiences with the ‘Right thing to do’ or a ‘Wake-up call’ has been quite loyally continued in Madaari. The director ends up committing the same mistake he criticises by underestimating the audience’s capability to comprehend subtleties and deeper ideas. Perhaps even he should get out on the streets and pick the microphone.
Verdict: It gives out a strong message so watch it only if you too want to expose the system
Published in The Express Tribune, July 28th, 2016.