Movie Review: A Wednesday
September 8, 2008 14 Comments
I saw “A Wednesday” yesterday. And here is what I think – its a superb muvee. And if better not wait till a wednesday to watch this movie. Watch it TODAY!
Its a movie driven by 2 big factors- and I am counting some great acting by Naseer, Kher, Shergill and Bashir as just one of them. The other is some very tight editing. All of about 100 minutes, the movie keeps you with the motions all through. And there are these minor subtleties, attention to detail that you should/can not miss.
Coming to a detailed download of what I really liked –
Lead actors- Nobody doubts their skills anyway. But Naseeruddin Shah and Anupam Kher are talents that have been wasted more often than they have been utilized by mainstream bollywood. Some of their finest performances are relegated to the perjoratively called parallel cinema. But here comes a movie, where Naseer crafts yet another mindblowing performance. And needless to say, he does not need to Ham, speak too many dialogues, get into mindless histrionics, and break into a song and dance routine to do this. From the first shot, his body language is that of a frustrated common man trying to game the system. There is nothing about him that makes him stand out from the crowd. Anupam Kher, on the other hand, is the second in command here. A more routine role of a Police Commissioner does not stop him from acting his heart out though. You can see an officer worn with age and different frustrations, and who has started getting amused by the trivialities of a police job (such as an actor running for security at the first possible threat, or using the minority card for no reason or the innumerable times he might have been forced to submit under political pressure). I read somewhere that the only scene where these actors come together, Anupam wanted it re-shot simply because he felt that he did not play his part as well as Naseer played his. When you see the scene, you realize that there is nothing that either of the two could have done better in that shot.
Lest I forget mentioning Jimmy Shergill and Amir Bashir – these two have done a great job. Its good to see Jimmy Shergill stick to what he is good at. A restrained and angry role. With a bare minimum set of dialogues, you still see his screen presence. Amir Bashir is equally good as the dependable cop. The bus scene where the extremists are trying to instigate the two and bothe Jimmy and Amir are not speaking, their face expressions are wonderful.
Others are ok, and have carried the movie through. Because of these four, they largely becamme unnoticeable. Especially, Deepal Shaw.
Story – Refreshing, to say the least. The best thing – they never reveal the name of the commoner out to game the system lest it be construed as a religion sentiment. Because the movie, in my head, belongs to the genre of thrillers, and not as much to the genre of “serious cinema”. There are a lot of implicitly answered questions which a lot of movies spend too much time answering. Commissioner having clear ideas about an encounter, or him realizing that there are no bombs and yet ordering the final acquiescence. The entire room changing their personal stand on the situation without altering their professional stand.
Simplicity – the story is not about using too many gizmos and gadgets to befuddle the system. It uses basic information that probably is available on the internet to blow the daylights out of an outdated system. At some point, a young college dropout says as much to the commissioner of police. It treats the story like a common man’s set of questions – whats stopping the terrorists to bomb this particular local railway station? Where is the security? These fat hawaldars? What if I just leave a bag somewhere here? Can I hack someone’s cell? etc.
Editing/Direction – its all of 100 minutes long. And does not lose you at any point in the movie. Keeps moving. At quick pace. Its moving at such a pace that even Naseer looking at his watch looks like an aberration! 🙂 Neeraj Pandey – You rock! Sorry – Pandey ji!! You rock!
Overall – please please watch it. It is shameful that we keep saying that bolllywood does not come up with good cinema, and let these occasional wonderful movies not become the commercial successes that they deserve to be!
About Amit
As I Was Saying 
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I really liked the movie. But one thing which I could’nt understand in the movie was the link of one of an early scene [which showd Naseerudin Shah placing a bag full of RDX (i presume) at the Railway Station] with the rest of the movie. That bag was not talked about in the rest of the movie.
I know that it is now an old movie but I saw it today. Please correct me if I am wrong in what I say.
Thanx. I like your blog.
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from what I remember, it never did have a bomb in it!!
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@Sauravi – Glad you liked it as well! 🙂 Welcome to the club
@Aditya – I didnt like Hello.. let me know what you felt!
@Sudipta – Yep! :)You should! 😉
@Srini – Yep.. I second that!
@Economist – Thanks for the offer.. Will reach out soon! 😉
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Hey
sory to write to you like this, but i could not find the contact form. I really like your blog and i was wondering if you would maybe like a link exchange with my website http://www.sayeconomy.com . It is not really that big yet as yours, since it is not up so long yet, but it is gaining visitors soon and i am putting in some advertising campaign in next day as well.
Another option is, if you would maybe like to publish some of your articles on my blog? You can of course post a link to your blog under the article!
Well let me know on info@sayeconomy.com . I would really like a link exchange.
Thank you in advance for your reply. Sory about this post again, just delete it once you read it.
Cheers,
Matt
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What an awesome movie!! Please watch this in the theatre or buy the DVD – this is the kind of movie making that we need to vote with our wallets.
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I have heard lot of good things about this movie. Must check it out.
Sudipta
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Will be looking forward to your review on Hello. The teasers look fantastic and i like the fact that its a completely homegrown script. Btw check this out – http://www.youtube.com/v/SMJ229q2Gek (its a little jhatku but i like it)
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Totally agree with u Amit.It’s a fantastic movie and both the old duo delivered a dazzling performance.
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@StillThinking – Let me know what you think of the movie once you watch it! 🙂
@!Dhawal -Phew! That comment is a blogpost in itself! 🙂
@Dunbar – I was expecting to write as well.. honestly, I liked the movie.. and there are specifics that I think I would want to write about.. but as my facebook status said – am trying to steal some time… got any? 😉
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Was expecting you to write on “Rock On”.
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If EVER a movie REALLY deserved to go into the Oscars from India, this should be the one. Hats off to Neeraj Pandey, Naseeruddin Shah, Anupam Kher and the entire crew for making a film which really deserves to complete the ‘Trilogy’ after Aamir and Mumbai Meri Jaan.
If there is a kind soul who wants to invest some money for registering a website domain which could voice in for the submission for A Wednesday as the official entry into the Oscars this year under best foreign picture category, pls contact me at dhawal.moghe@gmail.com
I will be more than happy to design some webpages for it.
This film should be india’s entry for oscar’s because
1. It is a SHORT pic (1.5 hours only)
2. No songs
3. 2 Top actors (Shah and Kher) giving performance of the year
4. Extremely well character selection
5. Obviously – “THE MESSAGE” of the Stupid Common Man
6. Showing the police dept in good light (rarely this happens in bollywood)
7. Shows the ‘Solution’, NOT the ‘problem’ – unlike Aamir and Mumbai meri jaan.
8. Accurate potrayal of media – their good AND bad points
9. FANTASTIC directorial debut by Neeraj Pandey, and wonderful Cinematography and photography (Fuwad Khan)
10. If we don’t send it now for the Oscars – the world won’t know that we are “Not resilient by choice, we are resilient by force”
Let the world know what the Stupid Common Man of India experiences, and what it need, what it wants, and what it WILL do if the cockroaches don’t stop
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Riveting description of the performances. Will definitely give it a watch.
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