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THAKSHAK (1999)
Produced, Written and Directed By Govind Nihalani Music: A.R. Rahman Starring: Ajay Devgan, Tabu, Amrish Puri, Rahul Bose, Govind Namdev (aka Govind Namdeo), Nethra Raghuraman, Vineet Kumar, Anupam Shyam, Atul Kumar, A.K. Hangal, Vihang Nayak, Kanti Madia
Running Time: 171 Minutes
CineRating: 7.5 out of 10
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Released a year after Ram Gopal Varma's groundbreaking Satya, this slick gangster melodrama covers similar thematic territory but in a more conventionally opulent Bollywood-style. In many ways, though, Thakshak is an equally engrossing film, if not moreso on some levels due to Govind Nihalani's vivid cinematography, a superlative cast, and another terrific batch of songs from A.R. Rahman.
Ishaan (Ajay Devgan) and Sunny (Rahul Bose) are close friends as well as budding business partners, with both being expected to take over the construction empire forged by Ishaan's father (Amrish Puri) and Sunny's grandfather. It's an empire that has been built upon greed, intimidation, and violence -- three elements that adequately describe the volatile Sunny, whose hair-trigger temper is made even worse by his aura of invincibility (the police can hardly touch him because of his connections) and his ambition to rule the Bombay underworld. Ishaan, on the other hand, is simply an obedient son who doesn't know any better. At least not until he begins a relationship with the beautiful student-dancer Suman (Tabu). A pacifist, Suman is blissfully unaware of Ishaan's unsavory doings, but Ishaan himself begins to develop a troubling conscience the more he sees of the gentle Suman. His situation is complicated by the fact that, as his father once pledged his loyalty and support to Sunny's grandfather, Ishaan too must now follow the same vow and relegate himself to being Sunny's right-hand man.
After a landowner stubbornly refuses to sell his property to the construction company, Sunny, Ishaan, and a cohort pay the owner a late night visit and force him at gunpoint to sign over his land. Not satisfied, the rabid Sunny instigates a massacre of the landowner and his entire family, which the stunned Ishaan can barely bring himself to participate in. While trying to restrain the daughter, Ishaan foolishly unmasks his face -- an act that will come back to haunt him after the daughter manages to survive her bullet wounds.
Director Govind Nihalani is a deeply-respected arthouse director whose various films (Ardh Satya [1983]; Drishti [1990]), have won numerous awards and widespread critical acclaim -- but little in the way of boxoffice adulation. Thakshak marked Nihalani's first (and last?) foray into the world of Bollywood glitz and glamour, and the director's artsy background gives this familiar tale of divided loyalties a sheen of high-class gloss and welcome intelligence. An ace cinematographer by trade, Nihalani's luminous photography makes Thakshak one of the handsomest Indian crime flicks I've ever seen -- and a stark contrast to the gritty simplicity of Satya. Although the plot proceeds in a predictable manner and turns on a couple of extreme coincidences, Nihalani invests the material with a generous feeling for his characters and keeps the tension at a taut level for most of the film's near three-hour running time. For a Bollywood novice, Nihalani plays the requisite song-and-dance game with surprising finesse. The movie's two soft-and-slow numbers ("Khamosh Raat" and "Bheegi Bheegi" aka "Boondin Se Baaten") are both modestly but perfectly realized, with the latter entirely centered around an ethereal Tabu dancing joyously in the rain. Only the movie's final number ("Jumblika Jumblika") seems completely pointless within the context of the story; its inclusion here was probably due solely to the fact that it was the most popular song on the soundtrack.
With his dark, angular features and menacing eyes, Ajay Devgan (Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam [1999]) is, perhaps, typecast as a criminal don, but there's no denying that he seems much more in his element here than in silly comedies, where his strengths as an actor are often lost at sea. As he proved in Ram Gopal Varma's Company [2002], Devgan can dominate the screen in the hands of a sympathetic director, and with Thakshak he gives one of his most compelling performances by effectively conveying the emotional burden of an increasingly tortured soul. As Ishaan's romantic interest, Tabu radiates her typical brand of incomparable Tabu-ness: she's disarmingly sweet, soft and the kind of woman whom you can readily believe Ishaan would throw away his underworld connections for. Under Nihalani's affectionate gaze, Tabu has never looked more beautiful, and she proves her mettle as a dancer in the dazzling and infectious song-and-dance number "Rang De" (aka "Miye Rangole").
However, the real surprise is Rahul Bose (English, August [1994], Bombay Boys [1998]), who almost steals the show with his wired yet restrained portrayal of Sunny. Perfectly capturing the warped essence of a man whose arrogant behavior has become monstrous due to the lack of societal constraints, Bose is a chillingly coiled sociopath, always on the verge of exploding in someone's face. The performance ranks up there with Nana Patekar's in Parinda and Manoj Bajpai's in Satya, and it's surprising that Bose hasn't followed up his work here with a prolific Bollywood acting career (he made his directorial debut in 2001 with Everybody Says I�m Fine -- released in 2002). With able support from Amrish Puri and Govind Namdev (the corrupt politician in Satya), the film is let down only by the casting of novice Nethra Raghuraman -- a tall, slinky, and vapid model-like beauty who stands out like a sore thumb primarily because her underwritten character exists mainly to showcase her in three song-and-dance numbers.
Greeted upon its release with dismal boxoffice and mixed critical reaction -- some of which suggested that Nihalani was slumming in an attempt to achieve Bollywood success -- Thakshak has since faded into the shadow of Satya, while Nihalani has gone back to the world of arthouse cinema with a rare Indian sci-fi effort Deham [2000]. Although talky and marred by a completely out-of-place Hong Kong-style action setpiece near the end (which is scored with some of the worst background music in the movie), Thakshak is a highly intriguing mixture of highbrow art and pulp fiction. The film might actually play better to viewers outside of India, where its visually extravagant presentation of familiar but edgy gangster fare may generate a more offbeat resonance.
The Video Sound DVD features a colorful and vibrant-looking print, but it's presented in the wrong aspect ratio, leaving characters partially cut off the sides of the screen in several scenes. There are two versions of this disc available, one with optional English subtitles and one without. Although the DVD cover may indicate the English-subtitled version, it might actually be the non-subtitled disc. Menu shots from below are from the non-subtitled version.
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DVD Specs:
Video Sound DVD
All Regions
Removable English Subs (none for the songs)
Making of Featurette
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