Filmworld
'Ab Tak Chappan2': Better than expected cop and gangster flick (Hindi Film Review)
By
By Subhash K Jha Film: "Ab Tak Chappan 2"; Cast: Nana Patekar, Gul Panag, Ashutosh Rana,
Mohan Agashe, Govind Namdeo; Directed by Aejaz Gulab; Rating: ** 1/2
(two and a half stars)
Get this. If the cop-and-gangster genre must continue to flourish in Hindi cinema, it must seek sustenance in the cliches.
That's
what debutant director Aejaz Gulab does in the sequel to the
highly-rated 2004 film. Taking the character of the "encounter
specialist" cop out of his (11 year?) retirement, the narrative
constructs a combustive plot about the nexus between politicians and
criminals, and the conflict that arises when ideologies are squandered
in greed and opportunism.
Admittedly all this has been done to
death in earlier film. Yet, "Ab Tak Chappan 2" had me hooked. A lot of
the film's spirit and energy flows from the central character. As played
by the still-riveting Nana Patekar, Sadhu Agashe is a simmering relic
of discontent ready to explode at any given moment. No wonder he has
exiled himself in Goa from the scene of the crime.
The splendid
steel-complexioned cinematography by Siddharth More captures Agashe and
his son(Tanmay Jahagirdar) in a foamy filial harmony that never rings
phoney.
In a sharp swerve away from the tranquility the narrative
moves into the smothering crime scene in Mumbai without space for us to
exhale. The encounters are brusque, brutal and devastating. The
director being an action specialist, weaves the action into the drama
and avoids all humbug. There are no songs punctuating the drama,not even
in the background. And this must be the only cinema in the underworld
in recent memory with no item song.Ah, bliss!
Barring a pungently
punctilious background score by Sandeep Chowta which incorporates
sounds and streams from the 2004 film, "Ab Tak Chappan 2" avoids
trappings and adornments and goes straight for the kill.
The
twists and turns may be predictable and you may occasionally wonder why
the gangsters and their goons are all coffee-coloured of pigmentation.
This film goes even further down the road to skin-tone stereotyping, Raj
Zutzi, playing a ganglord, even has a black woman of African descent as
his personal help.
But the film remains true to the rules of the
gangster genre to the very blood-splattered end. It would be unjust to
give away some of the twists and turns. But I must make mention of the
space that the director makes for the emotional bond between Patekar and
his son. The boy wants to be a full-time musician while the father
gently suggests he should think of supplementing his "passion" with a
more practical vocation.
The father-son exchanges ring true. The
writing, though self conscious, polemical and verbose, knows what it is
talking about. Don't go by what you have read and heard so far. "Ab Tak
Chappan 2" does ample justice to its characters.
Nana Patekar is
in top-cop form. His wry rage at the politics of corruption is
eminently relatable. You feel the bitter resentment of this
conscientious man who wants to cleanse what is nebulously noted in the
narrative as "the system". His silent rage on losing the most precious
person in his life and his hardhearted refusal to let an empathetic
crime reporter (Gul Panag) remain a part of his life, are chunks from
the plot that move you.
The supporting cast knows its job only
too well. Stand-out performances come from Vikram Gokhale and Govind
Namdeo. Ashutosh Rana, usually so out there, is surprisingly reined-in
over here.
"Ab Tak Chappan 2" may lack the subtle cynicism and
insinuated acrimony of Shimit Amin's original. It is nonetheless a
gripping 'gaatha' dunked in gore and violence about the blurred line
between the law and lawlessness.