#Mukkabaaz : Andrei Tarkovsky,
the great Russian filmmaker , in his celebrated book “Sculpting In Time” states
“No other art can compare with
cinema in the force, precision, and starkness with which it conveys awareness
of facts and aesthetic structures existing and changing within time.” And
Anurag Kashyap is a master in depicting contemporary society, its political
underbelly and its fault lines. Often criticized
for not catering to the mainstream masala ogling audience, Kashyap delivers a
solid punch with Mukkabaaz , making strong statement about the times we live in
, in the guise of a sports film , while ensuring his film gets enough whistles
from the front benchers as well.
Kashyap’s film opens with Cow
traders being lynched and filmed and ends with “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” and in
between he exposes the umpteen deep rooted malice that we conveniently shove
under the rug, sometimes in the name of development, sometime in the name of
culture and often in the name of our new found nationalism. Kashyap, thankfully,
doesn’t hold back his punches this time around. It seems he is out to express
himself and he does that with élan’, exposing caste
system to cow mob, patriarchy to the dirty politics in sports federations. Mukkabaaz
is not your regular chest thumping, jingoistic sports film. It’s a film where a
passionate boxer , pays a price , for being born in a lower caste , for being
in love with someone from upper caste , for daring to tread the path less
travelled or may be for being born in times like these . But in the end he
emerges as a winner, not by being triumphant in the ring, but by letting go. And
in that sense Mukkabaaz is deeply philosophical too. Kashyap has even wittily named his characters.
The main protagonist , who tells his parents “ jab aap shunyo ho to apke ghar
se kya Aryabhaat Niklega” is named Shravan Kumar . The film’s villain is names
as Bhagwan Misra .
Besides Kashyap’s terrific direction,
Mukkabaaz benefits from the phenomenal acting of its ensemble cast. Vineet
Singh may just have had his Zanjeer moment. The man seems possessed in the
entire film expressing myriad emotions with aplomb. It’s not just his physicality
but the way he even portrays his emotional vulnerability is astounding. Zoya Hussain , playing a dumb girl is a power
house of talent . She couldn’t speak but her eyes spoke enough to keep the
audience and Shravan hooked. Ravi Kishan playing an uncharacteristic role comes
across as a revelation.
Mukkabazz’s background score
and lyrics are incredible. It beautifully captures everything the film wants to
tell. The dialogues are razor sharp and the film uses generous amount of sarcasm
and humor to take the story forward. It is only the length of the film that
makes it look like a drag towards the climax.
With Mukkabazz , Kashyap makes
a statement , a no holds barred one . In
the context of the times we live in, it is an extremely important film. It may
not be Kashyap’s best, but it is one of the finest that you will watch this year.
And mind it, it’s not just about boxing
or sports! And to me that is a knockout punch.
