Chand Bujh Gaya (2005) User Reviews

A controversial piece

[suchenwi · 7/10 · 18 April 2008]

This was the first movie of 28-year-old director Sharique Minhaj, and as evident from IMDb, his last too. With a central conflict (hero & heroine stuck in the middle of Hindu/Muslim riots) somehow similar to that in "Mr. & Mrs. Iyer", the two still differ very much. In style, but not too much in value.

The film was first rejected by India's Censor Board, one of the reasons being that the Chief Minister (of Gujarat) actor bore "an uncanny resemblance to Narendra Modi". Wikipedia tells more about Modi's career and the controversies around him (he was last reelected as Gujarat CM in December 2007). So beside the tragedy unfolding, this movie also has a strong political message (that the chief minister let the rioters go unchecked), which is also echoed in other news resources on the Web. About the riot representation, Minhaj was quoted as saying "If there is one incident where minorities are being targeted, the next shows Hindus being attacked". His message, from the first to the very last shot, is an appeal to unity among Indians, regardless of religious affiliation.

In second instance, the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal again refused to let this movie be shown. - I'm not sure about the ensuing story, (I read one quote by the director: "The board asked us to cut seven out of the total 16 reels. When we sought revision, we were asked to cut nine reels and re-shoot portions elsewhere."), but it finally got released sometime later, and even made it to be dubbed and subtitled in German, which is how I could get it.

I watched it twice, and the second time around I liked it more. Part of the music is fascinating (the schoolchildren's song&dance is touchingly patriotic, but quite too long and repetitive though), and Faisal Khan provided an interesting face (which in the light-mooded first half was surprising, but in the dramatic parts impressed me much). The Sikh clowns (police and train conductor), obviously thrown in for comic relief, didn't appeal much to me. But in general, I found this movie very viewable (many train scenes, too :^) and thought-provoking, especially after some research on the back-story.

I cannot call it bad. Pity it seems to have ended his director's career immediately...

dear lord, no

[elsterusa · 3/10 · 31 May 2007]

As of May 31, 2005, 13 people have voted for "Chand Bujh Gaya." It has a weighted average of 9.9 and an arithmetic mean of 7.4. Nine people have given this a 10/10, two a 2/10 and another two a 1/10. I'm on the side of the nay-sayers for this movie. I hated it.

It had potential to be something special, at least in the early stages of pre-production. A film about the Godhra train burning was just what needed to come out of Bollywood, especially with the ever-increasing Western interest in Indian movies. Director Shariq Minhaj really messed up that opportunity with this film.

The story is average, especially for a Bollywood film. The popular themes one would find in Indian films (culture-clashes, tradition, star-crossed love) are all here. Minhaj thought that s/he would spice things up a little by making the main character an extremely annoying joker. S/he also put in this really weird part about these two twin brothers who have to tell their family's history because it's SO funny. (It's not.) Also, where there should have been serene silence, s/he either put in a boring and overlong musical number, or loud and cheesy music. Where there should have been little dialogue, s/he put too much.

This example is based on an actual exchange that occurred in the film:

(Two people are rushing to get to a car in order to find someone)

Person #1: "We must hurry."

Person #2: "I know, we don't have much time."

#1: "Come on."

#2: "Let's go."

(They finally leave.)

As if that weren't enough, the real problems start during production. Faisal Khan plays the annoying joker, a Hindu man-child who falls in love with a Muslim woman. He looks lost playing the joker, and only gets a real opportunity to display his apparently limited acting skills after the train firebombing. Shama Sikander doesn't ruin her performance, but that's because her character isn't that deep. Frankly, nobody's character is that deep. God bless him, they try as hard as they can, but their performances are either not enough or are overshadowed by the bad ones. Also, sometimes the characters aren't given enough time to be developed, such as some guy who was called "CM." Apparently, his in an important character, but it is introduced in the last twenty minutes of the movie. Oy ve.

The four musical numbers are not good. The first one is too long, although the dancing is decent. The other three consist of characters moving around in slow-motion as someone sings in the background. For all of these scenes, the music sucks. (Some of you may be thinking that I have something against Bollywood dance music. I don't. I happened to enjoy a lot of the song-and-dance numbers in "Sharabi" and "Ek Mahal Ho Sapno Ka.")

The cinematography is horrible. For about half the movie, important characters are left out of the shots. Sometimes, the man behind the camera tries to fix this by slowly moving the camera, but this just puts other people out of the shot. Again, oy ve.

Also, the last two minutes have to be the most drawn-out moments I've ever seen in a movie.

So, what don't I hate about the movie? The second unit scenes, particularly the train firebombing and the resultant riots. Sure, sometimes you can clearly see the protective gear that the stuntperson is wearing when s/he is set on fire. Sure, sometimes the extras who are running away from the rioters are smiling and look like they're having the time of their lives. But, this is a low-budget picture. The producers probably couldn't afford to do re-shoots, so they had to work with what they had. For the most part, the second unit director knew what s/he was doing, and most of his/her scenes worked.

Still, the vast majority of this movie was awful. I don't know what these nine voters who gave it a 10/10 were smoking, but it must've been pretty powerful. If you're like me and enjoy watching movies while you're sober, stay away from this one.

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