Gurugram: Kingdom Of Nostalgia

Gurugram is a city of nostalgia. Situated 32 KM southwest of the national Capital the place in its own strange little way lets one relive the childhood memories, more so if you were born in a small town.  The summers here are all about long, frequent, unannounced power outages. 6-8 hours of repeated, unapologetic power cut is what you get ready for, as the memories of growing up in a pre-liberalized India comes crashing in.  The city doesn’t allow you to look too far away for company .It has lots of incubation centers, not only for startups, but also for mosquitoes. And the poor insects are always ready for company and quite flexible too. Depending on how your boss treated you on a particular day, you can decide if you want to unleash yourself on them or helplessly go to sleep as they sing and sting.   

The traffic here is a connoisseur’s delight.  On the connecting roads, they move in all direction , at the same time , as the helpless traffic police stands still exactly like the hapless Gandhi statue , that symbolizes secularism while the mass celebrates beef ban and pork fest . And on the highway, that apparently is the life line of the city, the circus begins at the stroke of 8 in the morning and 6 in the evening. The sight on most days can be compared to the sight of ants moving towards food item at negligible pace in one straight line. Call it the power of pheromone or the symbolic representation of herd mentality.

Every time one intends to indulge in small pleasures of life, the city like a true Bournville chap, asks one simple question- “Have you earned it “. So if you want to watch a good film (e.g. MuktiBhawan. Anarkali of Arrah, A death in the Gunj) either you have to fight the traffic woes to travel far off or risk safety and sacrifice sleep to catch them at odd hours. The choice of course is yours. And if you are the kind who loves to explore a city and its happening places, Gurugram of course offers few places. Actually two to be precise, Cyber City and sector 29. You can keep visiting them till you die of boredom or claustrophobia.

As far as the seasons are concerned the Weather God here follows a simple binary programming mechanism.  In between navigating through dense smog and braving blows of strong loo wind, you do encounter bouts of passing showers. And buoy those quarter hour of quick shower are enough to drown most city roads as you sail through your childhood memories of paper boat voyage. When you move towards the outskirt, along with pigs you can also spot peacocks and peahens. I was told their numbers are dwindling. But you can’t blame the peahens for that. May be the polluted city air that makes us teary eyed every now and then isn’t doing enough for the sanskari peacocks to cry. 

But as a city that houses the “who’s who” of corporate India, the city that headquarters most of MNCs ,Gurugram reminds you that life is a great leveler. Like a true Indian Dad it reiterates at every given opportunity that you must struggle hard today if you want to be happy someday.

The city bears a strong resemblance to Katrina Kaif. In spite of not learning the “ A” of acting in fifteen long years  she still commands  a premium and Gurugram in spite of being a below par place to live still gets the best of talent. One has looks, the other has opportunity. She started her career with Boom (yes the film was named boom, blame it on nostalgia once again) and Gurugram with the boom in Indian economy and American dream.   And both I guess have been lucky. One was close to Salman, the other to Delhi, at least they were when both of them started out! 

A death in the Gunj

A death in the Gunj :  Konkana Sen Sharma does it once again , this time as the debutante director . Her firstborn champions the art of simple story telling. It is eerie, atmospheric and moody- yet in each of its characters one will find a slice of his own life. The opening shot of the film sets the tempo and mood as the narrative moves back to the beginning of the week when the story started unfolding in the idyllic colonial outpost, McCluskiegunj. While on the surface A death in the Gunj looks like a slow paced thriller with an eerie sense of impeding doom, deep within it is a study of human behavior.

The story unfolds as Nandu along with his family and cousin Shutu visits his old parents living in McCluskiegunj to celebrate Christmas and New Year. They are joined by his friend Vikram, the hot headed poster boy of machismo and Brian. Each one of them are unique to each other and yet somewhere underneath they are so similar – opportunist to the core. And therein lies the crux of the film.  The film bares open the complexities related to human behavior and how they react differently to different situation. While Shutu gets bullied and exploited by most, the moment he got an opportunity, he too leaves the little Tani alone, who has been his only constant companion and goes on an escapade with Mimi ( Kalki Koechein) . Sexually trapped Mimi , rejected by Vikram , uses Shutu to gratify her sexual desires . Nandu doesn’t even waste a minute to blame his wife Bonnie when Tani goes missing. The interpersonal dynamics are brilliantly exposed. There are few telling scenes in the film. Watch out for the scene where Tani discovers Shutu’s name is not engraved on the family tree and co relate it with the climax. Then there is a scene where the entire family is having dinner and Shutu is conveniently forgotten. He is repeatedly bullied and sidelined. There is a constant fight going on inside his mind. The turmoil is so palpable. After all we all have been Shutu at some point in our lives.

The brilliance of the film lies in its ensemble cast, its beautiful characterization, its serene cinematography and the earthy back ground score. Each character has been crafted with care and each one of them gives a solid performance and Vikrant Massey leads the pack. His Shutu, will forever haunt you. The fluidity and flexibility with which he plays the character is remarkable. Ranvir Shorey , Tillotama Shome and Kalki are in fine form. Arya Sharma as little Tani is adorable. It was endearing to see Tanuja , back on screen after long and watching Om Puri , probably for one last time on big screen, as he says “ Tulsidas wapas nehin ayaega” is nostalgic .

 “A death In the Gunj” is a finely crafted tapestry that exposes the myriad hues of human psychology. It will be right up there along with “ Udaan” as one of the best Debut films made in India. Its a tribute to Konaka’s ability to bring the finest together and get the best out of them. Go explore the complexities of human behavior and the art of simple story telling!