Comments on: Hey Ram: Kamal’s visions, India’s nightmares

By: manixaj

manixaj — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 02:21:54 +0000

Hey Ram will always remain the unheralded gem in Kamal’s collossal career…he was close in delivering, in what seemingly was his objective - not a Hindi, Tamil, Urdu etc, movie - but an all encompassing Indian visual experience. That his vision was not reciprocated with deserving reception from the Indian audience signifies the long hardous task film-makers like Kamal have in attempting to shake off the traditional perimeters of Indian movies - pulsating songs, pelvic dances, romantic rain-soaked interludes, good guys bashing overacting villains in synchronised ballet manouveres and the likes …

By: Qalandar

Qalandar — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 16:08:02 +0000

manizaj: agree with you 100% on Hey Ram’s brilliance as a film. However, don’t blame the “traditional perimeters” of Indian cinema (damn, I like those too! LOL!): in any country in the world, in any cinema/audience, Hey Ram-level of seriousness makes less money than the out-and-out commercial film (in France, no way the Truffauts and Godards made comparable money to the idiotic farces). That’s just a fact of life, and we should instead feel happy that there remain people who are willing to finance cinema for artistic/creative reasons, etc.

Also: some of these films are ahead of their time. When Hey Ram was released I went to the cinema to watch it, and none of my friends were interested. Seven years later, they have all borrowed the DVD from me and all have wondered where this film had been hiding and why they hadn’t previously seen it!

Where I will agree with you is that in other countries there is a certain cinematic literacy, such that box office performance is not seen as the be-all and end-all. In India the reality is shamefully different — but for this I blame not the audience but the so-called professional critics. The critics are such that instead of properly reviewing a film, if they feel it will flop they will maul it! The basic ethics of reviewing a work are absent. This is where the internet is useful: now after having seen so many “amateurs” write and talk about indian films, I have no hesitation in saying that “we” do better work than 99% of the so-called professionals (always excepting the great Baradwaj Rangan, who writes for the New Indian Express, who is my favorite)…

By: Jagmohan Singh Khurmi

Jagmohan Singh Khurmi — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 08:45:28 +0000

The greatest hindi film ever made ! Outstanding ! Bold ! Shows the true face of Islam
We are sick of the usual bollywood hindu-muslim bhai-bhai bullshit. Man, I am moved by this movie. Now I know why it was so importent to get rid of Gandhiji.