The one person who gives me goose bumps with his voice resonating in the dark ambience of the theater other than Amitabh Bachchan is Gulzar, and this time too I did feel the same after a long time as the sound came,
“Lakeerein Hain To Rehne Do …………,
Kisi Ne Rooth Kar Gussey Mein Shaayad Khench Di Thi.........,”
And Gulzar very thoughtfully writes these lines with a crystal clear vision, as now after more than six decades of the partition, the lines have been drawn forever and there is no possibility to delete them in any way through any kind of mutual agreement as it seems. So in that case, the best solution we all have is to accept these lines or borders as it is and start living in harmony caring for each other beginning a new phase of friendship, affection and understanding for a better future. Therefore,
“Lakeerein Hain To Rehne Do…., Kisi Ne Shaayad Gussey Mein Aake Khench Di Thi….!”
Another truth revealed in these lines about the film and its general acceptance with the public is that it might not be able to make an instant connect with the viewers as more than two generations have changed in these 65 years. And today it actually requires a quite deep, introspective and emotional soul to feel for that torturous massacre witnessed in those cruel times by our unfortunate ancestors. In fact that is the reason, I have used the phrase ‘A brave off-beat attempt’ in the title keeping in mind its limited appeal for the youth who are just looking for their icons coming up with catchy songs, romance and some routine fun elements in their well marketed movies made by the big production houses.
Coming to the film itself, it begins well and keeps you guessing, walking on a unpredictable path right till the end. The first half remains engrossing; mainly due to the brilliant dialogues having a fine mix of Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi well rendered by two most underrated actors of the present times i.e. Vijay Raaz and Manu Rishi. Interestingly the whole 100 minutes of film revolve around these two characters only, wherein one is the director (Vijay Raaz) and other is the dialogue writer (Manu Rishi) of the project, playing it superbly. And actually that should say a lot about their exceptional untapped or unrecognized talent by the Hindi Film Industry till date.
So the film progresses fine till its first 50-55 minutes and has something significant to convey about the loving relationship existing between the people of India before partition. But it soon starts walking on a monotonous path, sadly losing the charm in its entertaining dialogues too, taking the magic away. Actually in its initial moments there remains a subtle mix of surprise, joy, comedy, emotion and unpredictability all together in the conversations between the Indian Army cook and the Pakistani soldier. But after the intermission, the two key characters have nothing much to say to each other and the director is only left with the emotional and uncertainty cards with him to play with. In other words, in its second half it becomes more of a sarcastic take on war, focusing on the changing relationships as the gun exchanges hands, heading towards an optimistic climax.
Expressing the truth, KYA DILLI KYA LAHORE is no doubt a courageous and first of its kind of Anti-War film in Hindi cinema revolving around only 2 key & 2 supporting characters in all (reminding you of Oscar Winner NO MAN’S LAND (2001) from Bosnia). But at the same time it also goes stretching to an unnecessary length after a while and thus is not able to build up the impact of its initial hour, later on. Further pointing towards its basic content, there are numerous stories penned by renowned writers such as Saadat Hassan Manto, Ismat Chugtai, Rajinder Singh Bedi, K. A. Abbas, Qurratulain Hyder and more, which are just perfect for reading or for staging plays targeting a particular section of viewers. But making a full length film on those stories might not be possible due to their ‘to the point’ approach of saying things in a simple, sarcastic manner. And KYA DILLI KYA LAHORE occurs to me as one of those great stories only, which would have been perfect for a play or just an enlightening read but not quite right for a 100 minutes film.
Yet what scores the maximum in this experimental project are its soulful, thought provoking lyrics by Gulzar and entertaining satirical dialogues by Manu Rishi, deserving all the praises. Worth watching performances by both Vijay Raaz and Manu Rishi add to its overall score too but its actually Manu Rishi who completely wins over the viewer with his commendable act of a confused cook, undoubtedly. Raj Zutshi, Vishwajeet Prashan are just ok as the two supporting actors whereas Art Director does his job extremely well creating the Indian-Pakistan border in Fiji. The film has an intelligent background score (played at a lower volume) and a fabulous Gulzar song “Kissey Lambe Ne Lakeeran De”, well composed by Sandesh Shandilya and as usual wonderfully sung by Sukhwinder in his exceptional style. The song really hits you hard the moment it begins at a very crucial point just after a bullet misses its target unexpectedly.
So despite its shortcomings, this daring show put together by a talented cast, deserves to be seen once to feel that explosive time period the movie is all about, i.e. just 6-7 months post the Independence when anger as well as heartfelt emotions were at their peak display for sure.
However on a concluding note, I would like to mention two words which thankfully are not discussed much in the present era as they used to be, before the 80s. And those two words, which might be new to the present generations, are MUHAJIR and REFUGEE.
Where MUHAJIRS is a term largely used for those people who migrated to Pakistan from India during the Partition, there REFUGEES is the word used for people shifting base from Pakistan to India in 1947. The words had a kind of humiliating feel associated with them at that time and I still remember a question, often asked when I was a small kid that,
“Tussi Pichhon Kithon De Ho?” (Where are your ancestors from actually?).
To which I had no answer at all, as I really didn’t know and used to run to ask my father about the actual village we have come from. Later I also came to know about several colonies in our locality which were actually called Refugee Colonies earlier, before being given a new official name by the government.
Anyway those forgettable times are now history and the borders are still there, consolidating our mutual existence as two neighboring countries only……………….and that's what makes a blessed poet write,
"Lakeerein Hain To Rehne Do..............,
Kisi Ne Rooth Kar Gussey Mein Shaayad Khench Di Thi.................,
Inhi Ko Ab Banao Paala Aur Aao Kabaddi Khelte Hain,
Lakeerein Hain To Rehne Do..............!"
Rating : 3 / 5 (Including special credits to the outstanding lyrics by Gulzar)
