Suneel Darshan: Commercial but not so classy

A successful Bollywood director was once asked: So should stars do a different kind of cinema?

His response: Different is a wrong word. We should stop striving to make different films and concentrate on making classy, commercial films.

I think that quote pretty much sums up what Suneel Darshan, the subject of this post (and the director referred to above), tries to do as a film-maker. It’s a bit odd that he has a problem with ‘different’ films, though. I mean, it’s one thing to prefer to do things a certain way, and quite another to discourage doing things differently. But anyway, in past posts, I have praised the adventurousness and edginess of Ram Gopal Verma’s work, and the charm and simplicity of the films made by the late Hrishikesh Mukherjee. I decided to do a post on Darshan’s films when I realized that of the eight films he has directed so far (the most recent being ‘Shakalaka Boom Boom’ (SLBB)), I’ve seen five. Not bad. But I’ll admit that I haven’t consciously sought them out.

Interestingly, Suneel is not the only filmmaker in his family. His brother Dharmesh has directed successful films like ‘Dhadkan’ and ‘Raja Hindustani’. Also, his son is about to enter the industry as an actor – I wonder if Suneel and his kid will be able to pull off a Roshan-type debut successfully.

When I think of the Suneel Darshan movies I’ve seen, I would definitely say they are ‘commercial’ – they are very formulaic, deliberately aimed at achieving box-office success by pushing the buttons of the target cinema-going audience. I’m no snob, and I know that filmmakers need to eat, so I don’t necessarily think that’s a bad thing. However, I do think there’s a problem when filmmakers, in the quest for commercial success, start to insult the intelligence of their audience. I think cinema-goers are a lot smarter than some directors give them credit for – and Darshan, unfortunately, seems to be one of those directors.

In the interview referred to above, Darshan talks about making ‘classy’ commercial movies. I’m not sure he’s not achieved a ‘classy’ touch to his movies – commercial they are, but classy? When I think of ‘class’; I think of elegance, understatement, sophistication, style, grace and taste. These are not words that truly describe the Darshan movies I’ve seen. The films are not irredeemable, they do have certain things to recommend them, but classy? Hmm… the jury’s still out on that one. Having said that, though, he can make an entertaining (if slightly shallow) type of film when he tries.

There are some common denominators to the Darshan films I’ve seen – catchy, trendy music; stereotypical characters, gloss (think snazzy clothes and loads of make-up), some skin and sexiness, some good drama, lots and lots of heightened emotion, romance, a bit of gore, cheesiness galore, and love scenes that go a little further than most Bollywood films (see the Akshay/Karisma scenes in ‘Mere Jeevan Sathi’ and ‘Ek Rishtaa’).

Speaking of Akshay Kumar and Karisma Kapoor; like every other filmmaker, Darshan has his usual suspects. He seems to love Akshay very much (of the 5 Darshan movies I’ve seen so far, Akki shows up in 4), Lolo, Bobby Deol and (in smaller doses) Juhi Chawla and Mohnish Behl. Darshan seems to have shifted his focus from Akshay to Bobby a bit – he gave Bobby a role previously reserved for Akshay (‘Barsaat’, which would probably have fared much better with Akshay in the lead role – not because Akki is better than Bobby, but because he’s much cheesier), and also gave him a lead role in SLBB. Darshan has said in an interview (can't find it right now) that he thinks Bobby is best actor in the Deol family (needless to say, I disagree).

Anyway, on to the Darshan movies I’ve seen (in the order in which I viewed them):

‘Ek Rishtaa – The Bond of Love’: I’ve blogged about this movie before here… I liked this film, and it’s the Darshan movie I’ve liked the most. Its music was quite sweet, I thought most of the songs were very good. The story was fine, until about three-quarters of the film, when it just seemed to get out-of-control – it felt like the writer was grasping at straws, trying to wrap it all up in a hurry. On balance, though, the story was not bad at all.

The star cast, led by Amitabh Bachchan and Rakhee, worked together quite effectively. I liked the way Akshay and Amitabh interpreted the father/son relationship of their characters. Mohnish Behl and Juhi Chawla did quite well too.

Karisma (playing Nisha) and Akshay (playing Ajay) were a cute couple and had nice chemistry together (I love their ‘Mohabbat Ne’ number), but the biggest problem I had with the film revolved around these characters. The story was quite sexist in the way Nisha’s place in Ajay’s family was treated. Nisha made her share of mistakes and apologized for them – but Ajay treated her pretty badly as well, and never apologized or even admitted to being wrong. Their story was also quite shoddily resolved, which was pretty annoying – after spending a lot of time on how the couple got together and the crisis they faced, the resolution was pretty much thrown away. In fact the entire ending was unsatisfactory – the closing scene is particularly cheesy, unrealistic and irritating, and detracts from the overall standard of the film.

Having said all that, I liked ‘Ek Rishtaa’.

‘Jaanwar’: Oh, ‘Jaanwar’. I said a bit about it here. It’s impossible to take this film seriously, really. But its heart is in the right place. The film is one big stereotype, packed to the gills with many smaller stereotypes that don’t always work well together. But, its heart is in the right place. ‘Jaanwar’ opens with a vicious car-chase, making it clear that this is one of the films that won Akshay his ‘action hero’ stars when he was younger. Then we see that Akshay’s character (‘Badshah’) has been trapped in a life of crime since childhood, by an evil ‘Fagin’ (from Dickens’ ‘Oliver Twist’) type. Of course, this is a respected Bollywood plot device – I recently saw it brilliantly deployed by Raj Kapoor in ‘Awaara’ in the ’50s.

Before long, we come to a scene with Karisma Kapoor (playing ‘Sapna’) dancing for money. She too is oppressed, by a mean uncle who’s greedy enough to sell her body to the neighbourhood lecher. Naturally, Badshah comes to her rescue just in time – but oops, I forgot to mention that before that, she had saved his life and nursed him very prettily, so he’s kinda returning the favour. Of course, they fall in love… but things don’t go smoothly for their relationship...

To cut a long story short, Badshah, so sadly led into crime in his youth, serendipitously gets the opportunity to bring up an adorable little kid on the straight and narrow – and of course, he abandons crime in order to do so. Unfortunately, the kid actually belongs to a young couple (played by Mohnish Behl and Shilpa Shetty), who, when they find him, are desperate to get him back. Meanwhile, the Fagin-type that was abandoned by Badshah re-discovers him and wants his pound of flesh. Sapna manages to return to the story as well. CRISIS! And resolution – everyone ends up happy somehow (except for the bad guys, of course). And did I mention that Johnny Lever is in there for laughs? Ha ha.

Yup, that’s the kind of film ‘Jaanwar’ is – it has a little bit of every major Bollywood stereotype out there in its mix, and it doesn’t always work, but you just can’t bring yourself to dislike it. It’s really cheesy, but it’s also quite entertaining. And the earnestness of the actors makes it work, somehow. There are some cute moments, some amusing ones that are actually meant to be serious (the ‘comic’ moments are actually not funny at all – Lever is wasted in this one), and it’s so funny to see Akshay sporting some luscious long brown tresses (they made him look sooo funny), wielding a hammer, and shouting angrily and passionately at every opportunity (one thing I will say for Akshay: he is game for everything, no matter how mad or daft – a bit like Salman actually – and the ridiculous, silly part of me totally respects that). In short, it’s all harmless good fun.

‘Dosti: Friends Forever’: I blogged about ‘Dosti’ here… the leads were not bad but the details were pretty appalling. I still can’t get over the fact that the kids aged 20 years but the world stayed exactly the same. And the female roles were really bland and uninteresting – I can almost conclude that Darshan doesn’t have much use for women in his films – he seems to use them a bit like fashion accessories – a tear from a neatly-kajal-ed eye here, a flash of leg there, a little conflict over a very undeserving man there.

‘Barsaat’: I’ve also blogged about this one before – here. Bobby Deol was miscast, but Bipasha Basu was even more so. The film just doesn’t work.

Humans or dolls? You decide.

‘Mere Jeevan Sathi’: My most recent expedition into Darshan’s world, and one of the worst movies I’ve seen in a while. Released last year, MJS is the story of a woman (played by Karisma), who is obsessed with an up-and-coming singer (played by Akshay Kumar: a very cringeworthy performance, in a role that’s too young for him). Unfortunately for the obsessed lover, our singing hero is already in a serious relationship with his high school sweetheart (played by Amisha Patel). This, naturally, does not stop him from making a mistake that sorta messes up his life for a while.

These poses by Akshay in 'Mere Jeevan Sathi' still leave me absolutely gob-smacked.

What can I say about this film? It’s really trashy and the story is just dumb and annoying – from beginning to end. The performances are nothing to write home about – Akki, in particular, makes you cringe – he is just so OTT and cheesy. Lolo and Amisha are given the most horrendous, hackneyed lines ever. Lolo is not bad in some bits, but she totally overdoes the ‘femme fatale’ thing and becomes a sort of caricature. Amisha is way too sweet – any sweeter and she’d turn into a big ol’ bag of sugar. And the Akshay/Karisma love scene I mentioned earlier in this post probably was striving for tasteful sensuality, but it’s really just trashy and a bit eeuw.

There is so much to dislike in MJS, so many scenes and moments that make you cringe, so much senselessness in the plot… I can’t even begin to tell it. You do get a sense for what they were trying to do – it’s an attempt to have ‘grey’ characters – Karisma’s crazed character is portrayed quite sympathetically… but I’m sorry, I just think it’s all a load of rubbish – not much thought seems to have been put into it. So much is just pointless and/or extremely annoying (I wouldn’t mind the former as much – this is Bollywood, right? – if there weren’t so much of the latter).

They put so much eye make-up on Amisha for this movie, that sometimes you just can't see the whites of her eyes. Frightening.

There’s an older MJS, released in 1972 and starring Rajesh Khanna and Tanuja, that’s quite an interesting movie – some extremely camp and OTT grooviness, a storyline that’s a bit bizarre (different from the new one, although naturally there’s a love triangle – or two – in there as well – sigh), some great RD Burman music, and a really fun and silly lead role that only Khanna could play with such skewed relish. It’s a fun and sometimes even thought-provoking memento of the time in which it was made.

I wish I could say something complimentary about Darshan’s MJS, but I can’t – I could say Amisha and Karisma look great, but that would be praising Darshan’s apparent penchant for showing off the beauty of his female stars and just not giving them much (or much that’s meaningful or sensible) to do. I could say the songs are not that bad, but then I didn’t really like them either. So I’ll just say this is an awful film. A pity to end this piece on a downer, but there you go. I think – no, I know, that Darshan can do better than this mediocre film – what I’ve heard about SLBB isn’t promising, but hopefully he’ll do better next time. There's always next time.

You should know there's something amiss when the guest at your engagement ceremoy has wind blowing in her hair and you don't.

And just because it's fun, here are a couple of funny subtitles from MJS:

1. 'What do you take me for...? A prostitute? A blood whore?' This subtitle is less funny than disturbing, actually.

2. 'I'm free! Free! Free from my dreams!' This one's kind of weird 'cos Akshay actually says this in English, not Hindi, so there is no real need for subtitles. Except he says 'free from your dreams'. The funniest thing about it is the grandiose arm movements he makes, though.

And, finally, a very classy goodbye from Akshay:

MOHNISH BEHL - Consistent

I think of Mohnish Behl (sometimes credited as Mohnish Bahl) as one of Bollywood’s less prominent, but more consistent, actors. He is definitely not one of the big stars in the industry, and I’ve never seen him play the leading man in a movie (never even really seen him dance apart from some simple, undemanding stuff in ‘Hum Saath Saath Hain’) – but his performances are usually well-executed and solid. He always a good complement to a cast and does a good job of supporting the big shots in each movie. I really like that. Mohnish is in his forties now, and he’s the son of the late and great Nutan Behl, a very talented actress from way back. He also happens to be a good singer, as well as an actor. Apparently he’s had more success with TV series than movies – which doesn’t surprise me because he’s usually second (or third, or fourth) banana in his films.

I’ve read somewhere that Mohnish is known for playing the ‘bad guy’, and has basically been pigeon-holed into that role, and I think, maybe, at least part of that is attributable to his ‘dark’ looks – and I’m not referring to skin tone (although he is dark-skinned) – I’m talking about the prominent jet-black eyebrows, the strong nose, the somewhat brooding profile. But when he smiles, a genuine full-on smile, I think he looks as charming, sweet and harmless as a little boy, which is why I quite like him when he plays a nice, serious, sweet, kind-hearted good guy – I think he does rather well with those roles, even better than he does with the stereotypical bad guy.

I’ve seen Mohnish in 9 films so far – 4 in which he was the baddie, and 4 in which he was (basically) a good guy. In the 9th one (‘Astitva’), he was neither bad nor good, at least not in a stereotypical way – he was just a guy who made a big mistake – what he did as a result was definitely wrong (and he really suffers for it), but the real ‘baddie’ in the film turns out to be someone else…

HUM AAPKE HAIN KOUN…!: This was my first Mohnish Behl film, which is why I was rather taken aback to find out that he is known for playing baddies. In HAHK, a much younger Mohnish plays Salman Khan’s serious, quiet, responsible, and generally ‘good’ bhaiyya. He and Renuka Shahane (playing Pooja) make a lovely couple in this film – they have two very sweet scenes in particular – the charming ‘ice-breaker’ involving paint spilled on his clothes when he and his brother go to ‘check Pooja out’, and the scene where he helps Pooja put on her necklace before she goes to visit her parents. She asks him if he’ll come with her, and he sweetly says he’ll come and get her at the end of the trip. I love that scene because it shows the real closeness and intimacy between this rather restrained, shy, ‘traditional’ and seemingly very conformist pair. It’s also the last moments he spends with his wife (sorry, spoiler for those who haven't watched HAHK - she dies when she goes to her parents' home), which is really just sad. Although Salman and Madhuri Dixit are the definite frontliners in this film, I love the jodi that Mohnish and Renuka created in just a few scenes together.

ASTITVA: This is one of my favourite Bollywood films simply because of its subject matter - the fact that it tackles honestly and directly the harsh everyday issues which are usually glossed over or sugar-coated in Bollywood – free will, infidelity, self-determination, marriage, the power imbalances between men and women. It also showcases a wonderful performance by Tabu – the best I’ve ever seen her do. Mohnish plays a romantic, handsome music teacher who falls in love with his student (played by Tabu), who also happens to be a married woman. Tabu is not in love with her teacher, but she is lonely, and aching for the attention and love her too-busy husband deprives her of. So they fall into bed one night – it’s the only time it happens but Tabu gets pregnant. Desperate to protect her marriage, she allows hubby to believe the child is his – but of course, years later, everything starts to unravel. I love Mohnish’s performance here – in many ways he’s just a plot device to move Tabu’s story along, but despite the ‘smallness’ of his part, he gives the role his best shot – he’s restrained, sincere and believable.

That's Mohnish singing away in the background in 'Astitva', while Tabu wonders if she dares to act on her desire for him... nicely shot song by the way.

HUM SAATH SAATH HAIN: I have a special spot in my heart for this film (made by the makers of HAHK) because the music really rocks, it’s very family-oriented, and it tackles some of the real-life issues big families face. Sadly it bombed in India, but I love it. Salman Khan (in a likeable role for once – although he still can’t resist taking off his shirt), Saif Ali Khan (all fun and mischief) and Mohnish all play three close, loving brothers; and Sonali Bendre, Karisma Kapoor and Tabu play the women they love (by the way, they all fall in love with female versions of themselves, which is rather silly but kinda cute in the film).

Mohnish plays the eldest brother – he’s quiet, responsible, wise, and cares very much for his family. He has a disability, for which reason many prospective dulhans have turned him down – until Tabu comes along and falls in love with him and his entire hamdan, and then realises she really wants to be the eldest bahu in this family, and to look after everyone for the rest of her life – I mean she actually takes the entire family on her honeymoon trip – and they go to her in-laws’ village for the honeymoon! No-one in the real world is that nice and adorable and selfless, but it’s kinda sweet – Tabu manages to make it look like it’s all genuine free choice, NOT obligation or convention or tradition, that makes her do this – which I guess is why I liked it. Anyway, things go swimmingly until there’s a family crisis and all the happy-smiliness is challenged.

I love Mohnish and Tabu is this film – they are too cute. There’s the scene in which Tabu comes to tell him she really wants to marry him; and there’s the wedding scene in which he takes out his traumatized hand and she supports it with hers, and he looks all moved and surprised. I love that so much (see photo above). Then there’s also the sweet scene in which she talks to him and Salman about their relationship. Tabu is a stabilising force, a bridge-builder in this film, I like that. I also really liked the natural-ness, genuineness and sweetness (but with the necessary depth) of Mohnish’s performance. He smiles a lot but somehow you believe his character is really happy (or happy in a sad way, as the case may be) and not just faking it – you know?

KOYLA: In this intense, violent and rather ‘different’ (and therefore interesting) Rakesh Roshan film, starring Shahrukh Khan and Madhuri Dixit, Mohnish has a very small role – his character appears in just one scene. It’s a pivotal scene in some ways, but it’s still just one scene in a 3 hour film. But he does a really great job, and hands in a memorable and moving performance as Madhuri’s brother who comes home to find her in the oppressive custody of the evil chief (played with frightening relish by the late, great Amrish Puri). Mohnish disappears from ‘Koyla’ after that violent, bloody confrontation – but he does strike you when he comes in. Again, a small role, but he does a good job with it.

JAANWAR: This is a funny little action thriller starring Akshay Kumar and Karisma Kapoor. Actually, it’s not trying to be funny, it’s dead serious – but it’s so OTT and silly in parts that you can’t help but laugh. I think it’s good fun though. Here Mohnish plays the father of a son who was lost in an accident, and who after several years has been forced to accept that his missing son is probably no longer alive. Shilpa Shetty plays Mohnish’s grieving wife, who refuses to accept that her son is dead. Unbeknownst to the couple, their son was found by Akshay’s character, a reformed criminal, and is alive and well. How they get him back is another story – Mohnish makes some mistakes, but he eventually sees the error of his ways, and all comes right in the end. Mohnish is good in this film, not spectacular or anything, but one of his scenes with Akshay in his son’s bedroom sticks out in my mind – he really manages to express the frustration, grief and desperation of his confused character effectively.
From 'Ek Rishtaa' - Mohnish is the guy in red right at the edge of the screencap - he was all bruised and banged-up and stuff so I didn't really want him in my screencap at the time...

EK RISHTAA (THE BOND OF LOVE): Here Mohnish plays the bad guy – a really bad guy who pretends to be good in order to weasel his way into the affections of Amitabh Bachchan, Rakhee, and their picture-perfect little ‘ek raja hai, ek rani hai’ family. He wins the heart of the patriarch first, then wins over and marries the sweet, unsuspecting daughter, played by Juhi Chawla; and then proceeds to drive a wedge between AB and his son (played by Akshay Kumar). He does a good job in this film – he really is very, very evil. But I still think he does good better than he does bad…

BOL RADHA BOL: I just saw this terrible, abysmal David Dhawan film over the weekend – it is really, truly awful. It stars Rishi Kapoor, who is actually not bad acting-wise (despite the awful garish sweaters he favoured at the time, the awful dancing, and his repeated use of the word ‘bugger’) and Juhi Chawla (who smiles and opens her eyes very wide and generally plays the cute card waaay too much, and only really acts in like 2 scenes, in which she’s actually good, which just makes you wonder why she didn’t act right through – and who by the way is not a good dancer AT ALL – I must remove her name from the list of good Bollywood dancers I did a while ago – but I digress). There’s also a ‘wonder dog’ called Sheru/Moti – I don’t like the use of 'wonder dogs' in Bollywood films at all, it creeps me out – especially in a film like this, in which there’s a scene with the characters laughing and cheering while two dogs fight. Awful. The scripting is really bad, the story is silly and the film is poorly shot, and… not good. Anyway, Mohnish is again the bad guy, with his hair all slicked back to make him look evil. He does look evil, and he does ok with the part, but it’s not a memorable performance.

RAJA HINDUSTANI: Again, Mohnish plays the cartoon-ish stereotypical bad guy – he laughs at poor village-y Aamir Khan (in the title role) and tries to make him look stupid, because he lacks all the social graces the man who marries Aarti (played by Karisma Kapoor) should have. Again, Mohnish does ok, he does the whole snide horrid thing well, but it’s nothing special.

KAHO NAA… PYAAR HAI: We all know and remember this film as Hrithik’s ticket to Bollywood superstardom, and to be honest I can’t remember too much about Mohnish’s performance – except that he played a dirty cop who connived with the bad guys to get rid of our hero. I think he played it well… but it was probably not very demanding.

So, as far as Mohnish Behl is concerned, for me:
When he is good, he is very very good
And when he is bad, he’s umm… not bad…