Kaminey

Kaminey
Vishal Bhardwaj | India | 2009
135 min

Kaminey (Rascals/Scoundrels) is Vishal Bhardwaj’s first movie after achieving commercial success. Most directors would lose their footing by this point, amidst big budgets, bigger stars and a bloated stardom. The good ones learn to adjust, and continue making movies their way, taking advantage of the extra resources at their disposal. Bhardwaj does just that. With all the anticipation, popularity and pre-release success already associated with Kaminey, he nonetheless delivers an astounding movie that stays with its eccentric characters and the situations they find themselves in.

Guddu and Charlie (Shahid Kapoor in a double-role) are twins. One stammers while the other has a lisp. Estranged after their father’s death, Guddu chooses to fit in with the normalcy of everyday, middle-class existence while Charlie takes the get-rich-quick path of horse-race betting, dreaming to one day own his own betting booth. When one of them gets involved with a gangster’s sister and the other runs head-first into a multi-million drug deal, their lives spin out of control as a bevy of characters get involved in a mess of personal gains.

Bhardwaj drapes the movie in the dirty colors of Mumbai’s slums. As it must be for those that live there, the world around the characters becomes a de-facto background, never being focused on. Taking a cue from Tarantino, Kaminey is aware of the audience’s knowledge of this world, and eagerly works with it. Cinematographer Tassaduq Hussain, bringing his experience of gritty realism from Bhardwaj’s Omkara, mixes a sense of escapism into the visuals using shots that lack the clarity of crisp focus. Going mostly hand-held, we rarely see scenes from a preset point-of-view, instead observing them like an onlooker in this over-populated city where witnesses abound but hardly exist. A foot-chase sequence is seen in cuts from one place to another, a shoot-out is seen in short scenes from within. Hussain drops and raises the camera often for a vantage point, adding to the absurdity of the situations. Vishal Bhardwaj, being at heart a radical music director, underlines the story with a passionate score that works because of its devotion to indulge.

The director’s biggest achievement in Kaminey however, is the set of characters he uses to populate the story. Essentially scoundrels, they retain a quirkiness that brings subtle humor to the forefront of the bloody chaos that the movie displays. Amongst them, almost one upping the slime-ball ratio, are three eccentrics: Bhope, Mikhail and Tashi, each living a violent yet separate existence until they collide. All three are played by debutantes or relatively unknown actors. In fact, although this is a mainstream feature, the cast comprises of only two recognizable faces. The others, undoubtedly taking their cue from the air tight script, turn in performances that match the confidence of the maverick director. At one point, when two of the power hungry gangsters face off, their arrogant words are absurdly accompanied with laughter. Yet, the brilliance of this scene comes from the imbalance created by a gun-shot, their own one-upmanship and also their ability to laugh through it all. Shahid Kapoor, in his most accomplished performance yet, shines as Charlie. In contrast to the meek and stuttering Guddu, he plays Charlie as a smart street dog who is only interested in his piece of bone. That is, until a larger one drops on his lap. The visual allegory of Charlie as a race-horse works as a master-stroke, not just symbolizing where his dream lies, but also what Charlie himself has become in the scheme of things. And as the brothers’ lives intertwine, Bhardwaj drives the movie to a cinematic climax that is not as much a surprise in predictability as it is in execution.

Five films, five gems. There seems to be so much more in Vishal Bhardwaj’s pouch that is yet to come. From children’s films to Shakespearean adaptations, rural living to urban gangsters, he seems to be exploring his own zenith. With Kaminey, he triumphs in his ability to merge sensibilities of non-conventional, art-house cinema with commercial Bollywood masala. What will he explore next? Give him another well-deserved solid pat on the back, sit back and wait for his next release.