Wazir, Amitabh Bachchan and Farhan Akhtar make their move

Whatever you do don't miss the first ten minutes of Wazir, all the elements of a really top thriller are present; fear, trepidation and sadness mingle with each other in an unrelenting fashion. 

Against the refrain of the soulful Tere Bin, Tere Bin the main protagonists; a happy family whose lives change in an instant are rapidly established. Everything moves at breakneck speed. Hearts are broken, enemies made, relationships torn apart, it is eyes glued to the screen stuff, and although the plot becomes telegraphed and somewhat predictable from this point onward, one dare not take ones eyes off it for fear of missing out on a crucial twist. And there are a good few.

What Wazir lacks to make it an outstanding movie, is an edginess. That nervous trepidation that one associates with the cut and thrust of chess, and by that I don't mean blood and gore, but shock and awe. 

Chess is well suited to shock and awe, on the surface it looks civilized, but in reality it is brutal. Think about how every piece meets its fate, the Knight is knocked over, the Bishop succumbs, Pawns are sacrificed and the winner is the one who corners his opponents King, leaving him with no chance to escape, so there is brutality to it, and that brutality is mostly psychological. 
The best example of it is in the first Harry Potter movie, Philosopher's Stone where it is brilliantly demonstrated in the game of Wizards chess.

To be fair, most of it is this evident here, but to suit Bollywood's sensibilities the plot plays more to the heart than to the mind, and in the thriller genre, the filmmaker who manages to lay claim to the ownership of the hearts and the minds of the audience, is the one who achieves greatness. 

Director Bejoy Nambiar gives it his best shot, not only because he has tried something different but because the performances, background score, the songs, editing, camerawork and especially the action sequences are truly top notch. The only question is how differently might it have turned out had he challenged Vidhu Vinod Chopra and co-writer Abhijat Joshi, to reconsider certain aspects of the script.  

About the performances; Farhan Akhtar's role is another exercise in intensity, exactly what we've come to expect from an actor who takes to all his parts in that manner. Being pitted alongside one of the greats of Indian cinema in Amitabh Bachchan brings out the best in Akhtar. 

Bachchan's acting is up to his usually lofty standards, but the introduction of his character takes the sting out of the proceedings. For someone who has to be manipulative, he is way too pleasant, too nice. And if there's one thing great chess players who are engaged in the game are not; is nice. They may look like nice people, and may even be likable but when the board comes out and the pieces are stacked, nice goes out the window, likable ceases to exist and just two things; destruction and self-preservation are the tools they wield.  

Neil Nitin Mukesh has a scene stealing role akin to a villain in a superhero movie. He doesn't feature in a single throwaway sequence. Nice one NNM.


Mention must also be made of Aditi Rao Hydari who conveys a strong silent presence and theater stalwart Manav Kaul is superb as the Kashmiri politician, his character is pivotal to the entire drama. John Abraham's role is so small that at best he can claim to have been a part of a Vidhu Vinod Chopra film. 

Wazir is a tale about two broken men; a police officer who loses everything including his will to live after a devastating encounter, and a chess master who through his own experiences provides him with a chance to gain retribution. Their mission is mutually beneficial. For challenging conventional thinking and achieving enough in its relatively short running time of just under two hours, for being different and interesting, Wazir merits a thumbs up...

    

                      

The thinking person's Chopra

With Wazir due for release on Friday (08 January) let’s dwell a little bit on the brilliance of Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s filmmaking style and in particular three scenes from his vastly underrated; Eklavya – The Royal Guard (2007).

By way of a refresher or if you haven’t seen Eklavya it features Amitabh Bachchan in the role of the royal guard to the Maharajah (Boman Irani). 

Saif Ali Khan plays the foreign educated prince who is in love with a commoner (Vidya Balan). 

Sanjay Dutt is a gritty police officer, while Jackie Shroff and Jimmy Shergill are an up to no good father and son combination. 

The story deals with the betrayal of loyalty and belongs in the thriller genre, and while the 

plot unravels at a slow pace the thrills come thick and fast. 

It's not a long film just 138 minutes running time but it is an intense one.

My focus is on three scenes in particular:

1. At timecode 37:30 Sanjay Dutt urges Amitabh Bachchan - whose character’s eyesight is not as sharp as it once was but whose hearing is almost supersonic - to demonstrate his dagger throwing prowess which involves picking out the minutest of items with a pin point throw. In this instance a tiny set of ghungoos (bells) are tied to the feet of a dove which is then let loose. For good measure, Bachchan’s character is blindfolded and all he has is the sound of the bells to pick out his target, its a thrilling sequence
2. At 52:50 Bachchan is escorting the maharajah on an evening drive when the combination of a herd of camels and a passing train forces their vehicle to stop. Against the backdrop of the setting sun, a hurtling hooting train and the nervous clutter of camel hooves, they come under a surprise attack. What unfolds on a hot evening in the Rajasthan desert is riveting. Chopra revealed that he pre-recorded the background score for the scene six months before he shot it, and that it was filmed like a song. The result is operatic, a symphony of sound and vision, and an assault on the senses.
3. My favourite sequence comes in at 1:18:00. Jimmy Shergill is enjoying a private screening of the film Parinda the movie with which Chopra first announced himself (nice touch). Shergill is alone in the theatre when Bachchan enters and is instantly reprimanded and told to “get out”. As Bachchan turns to leave, he flicks the power switch and everything turns to darkness. Now Bachchan’s baritone voice and Shergill’s nervous breath are the only two characters, one filled with menace the other exuding fear, Bachchan’s characters keen sense of hearing and poor eyesight become the weapons with which he taunts Shergill whose only hope of survival is to stop himself from breathing!!!??? … It is an iconic moment in Indian cinema, that is masterfully executed.            

Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s production house is living proof that brilliance doesn’t happen by accident. It is a painstaking process and while he may not always get it right (remember Kareeb?), when he does it is awe inspiring. 

The LA Times described Eklavya as “a lost film of David Lean”. High praise indeed!

In a South African context the name Chopra immediately conjures up images of Yash and Aditya Chopra, but Vinod is the thinking person’s Chopra and all his productions from Parinda to PK come from this school of film-making. 

He is a master technician, who tries something with each of his stories, challenging his actors to embrace complex characters and supporting them though it with memorable sequences. 

Although Wazir hasn’t been directed by him, Bejoy Numbiar has, it is his baby as he has been working on it for well over 15 years. Chopra co-wrote and produced it and with high-calibre actors like Amitabh Bachchan and Farhan Akhtar heading it up and against the background of the game of chess, masterful sequences are guaranteed. 

Your move Vinod...

Wazir releases in South Africa on Friday 8th January 2016 at Suncoast, Killarney, Monte Casino, Gold Reef City, Gateway, The Zone-Rosebank, Canal Walk-Cape Town, Galleria, Pavilion and Trade Route Mall. 

It is a Prabhu Nepal Africa release.