We the Write stuff.

Let’s forget the Jokers and the Anton Egos of this world and go way back. The modern agent of evil is not a straight forward nihilistic mastermind of death and power any longer (what a shame!). Nowadays the modern villain is more of an anti-hero, who probably has been pushed so far off over the edge by humanity that the audience has no other choice but to sympathise or even empathise with the character. You know what?
Screw that.
Bring on the violent and the merciless! Bring on the destruction of good for no rhyme or reason! Bring on the ruthlessness that only existed in 80’s villains! Bring on…MOGAMBO!

Yes, I just recently watch Mr. India for the nth time, and originally I was going to talk about the entirety of the brilliance of that movie, but I just thought that maybe I should just focus on what I think to be one of the greatest characters ever in film history. After all really what is Mr. India without Mogambo? He’s just another awesome guy fighting not-so-awesome villains. Throw Amrish Puri with a horrendous blonde wig into the fray, and NOW we’re talking. Because all heroes need to prove their heroism. The brilliance of Mr. India is that he is the aam aadmi (regular person) so to speak; he is the everyman who decides that his country is in shit and that it needs to be rectified. The over-quoted “with great power” line cannot be more appropriate. But like all good vs. evil scenarios there must be the anomaly. There must be the rogue. He is the Smith to Mr. India’s Neo, no! Smith is the Mogambo to Neo’s Mr. India.

Mogambo is the melodramatic epitome of evil albeit with what he thinks to be a noble cause. He is also tired of all the corruption in India and decides to take over in a dictatorial manner, thus making him more so an idealist, than anything else: “Mogambo ke irrade aasman se bhi unche hain!” (Mogambo’s aims/intentions go higher than the sky!) And the power he commands! Just see that opening scene when they first reveal the very Dr. No-like technological fortress and Mogambo himself appears for the first time. From the rings drumming upon the globe-armrest, to the soldiers he commands to jump into the lava pit just to confirm his authority, and finally to the soldiers themselves who offer themselves as sacrifice, there last words only being “Hail Mogambo!” That is respect you can’t freaking buy man. Also, Mogambo has the greatest dialogue delivery ever, man! That slight rise in pitch in the middle of each sentence? Classic. And the suit. Who doesn't love the suit?

And even his demise (as it comes about after a kickass fistfight with Mr.India), just shows the resilience this man has. After being pretty much electrocuted on the very destroyed controls of his missile silo, he still in typical fashion commands the scene, putting Mr. India in a catch-22: Either him and the gang explodes, or India itself!

Amrish Puri (May he rest in peace) created one of the most formidable and sadistic villains of all time in a movie that has become cult greatly because of his presence and sheer ability to be hated, and though Gabbar Singh and many others have come close (some may argue that Gabbar was still better) there is still an undeniable likability about the often hilarious but fundamental concept of villain in Mogambo. The debate I guess will go on and perhaps I don’t rate him as the best in history but man, he’s pretty high up there, and I hope that this character gets his due, and ki once more perhaps Mogambo probably khush hua.

Fun Fact: Mogambo means 'passion' in Swahili!

Okay, I just saw the 9 AM show for ‘8x10 Tasveer’. Before I begin I want to talk about Akshay Kumar’s character. There are several scenes in the movies that display his badass action qualities, but my favourite was this one: Akshay Kumar and Ayesha Takia have been almost run over by what looks like a 2 ½ Ton GMC Jeep. After they dodge that, the vehicle reverses and turns once again to face them. Akshay Kumar gets up and back onto the narrow path, pretty obviously pissed that the truck has tried to run him and his girl down. They both face each other, the car revving its engine furiously while the veins on AK’s head start throbbing, in a shot not unlike the Hulk VS. the Abomination. AK gets so damn pissed he screams loudly and starts to run towards the car, and I swear to God its so hilarious because after a lot of overheated engine-revving the car promptly reverses as fast as it can and pretty much runs away from Akshay Kumar. This action-quality, which includes the alpha-male smoldering and I-have-a-secret secrecy, remains displayed on his face through out the entire movie.

But man, He’s just so cool.

Getting to the point. The movie is basically about Jai (Akshay Kumar) who is a sort of forest ranger-action guy in a reserve in Canada who lives with his girlfriend (A pretty bland Ayesha Takia) and is somewhat estranged from his rich-oil-company-owning father who is desperately trying to reconnect with him. In the mix are his father’s dubious friends which includes Girish Karnad (what the hell was he doing there?) and Jai's mother who is still close to him.

Jai has the power…to see the past!

Nobody really explains why though, and he keeps a stopwatch by his side, because for some unexplained reason if he stays in the photo-past for over a minute he goes into a kind of cardiac arrest, which also for some reason requires him to have a blood transfusion (but he doesn’t bleed, hello?). The watch is for the audience I guess, and goes thoroughly ignored in the film. Also for those who are interested, he looks into the past through the eyes of the person (which blinks by the way!) in a very Being John Malkovich-esque form.

The plot is as follows, that his father is killed after having a heart attack aboard his boat, and then proceeds to fall over the edge of the railing which gives way very mysteriously. Lucky for Jai that his mom takes a photo just before the accident! The photo has all four friends standing together in it and in a rashomon style, Jai must find out what exactly happened and if there is murder involved (duh).
Now the movie is long at about 2 hours 15 mins and does tend to drag a lot during the middle. Along with some okay direction, the acting is nothing great and the action sequences are few and brief. Jaaved Jaffery’s character was annoying and unneccessary, and the character of BB (What the hell was that all about?) is just plain dumb. The editing is well done and apart from the rap song at the end, (which I quickly exited the cinema to avoid) the score was good including the groovy opening track. Nagesh Kukunoor's script needed a lot of doctoring, but had potential for a decent movie.

Now, heres the deal. This would have been another really big waste of time, if it had not been for the ending. There is a super genuine WHAT THE F*CK?! moment, that is so unbelievable for a second, that the whole movie was worth my ticket money. I’m not saying it was well constructed or anything, but because and only because it was so bloody outrageous and despicable in nature, I laughed to myself in the theatre and thought “Shit man, this is just great bloody cinema”. It is so vile and wrong, but I just loved the director for saying ‘You know what? Screw everything, I’m going to make this so freaking weird that not even batman could see it coming’. Batman can see EVERYTHING coming.

But I know, I know. I asked for this. I wanted a Hindi action film, and I got it…bigtime. I guess my final word is if you do go for this film, just watch it for its hilarious ending. Oh and Akshay Kumar is so cool.