Saw this film at Asian film festival 2003 and loved it ...
The film is about 5 struggling rock band- Luke(Kay Kay), Joy(Fernandes), Murgi(Aditya ), Shulia(Tejaswini Kolhapuri), PornD(Vijay Maurya). Their struggles, frustrations, dreams,delirious illusions etc etc. Everything boils down to the need of money. Yes they need it and desperately.
Luke is the undisputed, uncontrollable loose cannon leader of the band, Guitar and Gaanja for him !!! Joy has a fetish of food and trusts Luke implicitly. Absolute loyal. Somewhat of a 'chamcha' PornD is the butt of all jokes, thanks to his crush on Shulia. Always at logger heads with Luke. What u call a 'phattu' Shulia - dates more men than the number of handkerchiefs u might have lost in your life Murgi is a friend of Luke somewhere in between PornD and Joy. A very realistic skeptical guy who acts as a catalyst between the two diametrically opposites
They plan a kidnap heist ..and then things snowball into ransom - rage killing - serial killings - escapes - mistrusts- self doubts - near insanity !!!And yes the film isn't predictable
The dialogs are profane, and yes it is a more profane/real 'Dil Chahta Hai'. "Franz Kafka, Van Gogh, Michelangalo were unrecognized geniuses in their life. Recognise me !!" - Luke's graffiti
Half the time I was either laughing or being overawed by the lines. The scenes are organic and the lines flow seamlessly. As a morbid-crime-psycho-thriller film, it got me hooked. Yes clearly, this is no fantasy,romance, 'feel good' film.
However, midway through the story, a possible weak point comes. I couldn't understand the point of the guys breaking into the house, robbing and catering to their baser instincts, and started eating food from the fridge and listening to music. Yes, they are doing this after they have robbed the house.
Actually, I don't need to, because many of such serial killers are known to be 'trigger happy' and impulsive. I know it doesn't make sense when u see it on screen, but when i look back, "Everything needn't have logic". I agree. That scene seemed an obvious reference to A Clockwork Orange, Kubrick's disturbing film
What I love the most in the film is the dynamic relationship between the 5 characters. How their equations change during the turn of events. How each one reacts to another differently as the film progresses. And yet it is organic and perfectly believable. You might have met these characters somewhere in your real life. If the characters of 'DCH' are real, then the characters of Paanch are 'realer' !!! At least, I could identify more with them more than Sid,Aakash or Sam. I'm not saying DCH is bad or trying to compare Paanch versus DCH. I'm just talking from the screen writing craft point of view.
Performances - Kay Kay (Luke) and Vijay Maurya(PornD) are BRILLIANT .. TOO FRIGGIN BRILLIANT. Had the film been released back then, Kay Kay would've become a 'method acting' star and not an 'method actor' . In fact so much so that the role Kay Kay plays almost is surreal and yes there are shades of Kay Kay being an imaginary alter ego almost like Tyler Durden meant. Tragic !!!
Vijay Maurya is the dark horse in the film. He is a cringer, a insecure coward-creep who cannot stand up for himself. He is the bullied one in the class,office, college anywhere. A real life character You might have met him almost everywhere. Tragic that this actor is still not renowned.
Joy performs well. Tejaswini Kolhapuri is at times slightly irritating ..especially in her monologues. Aditya Srivastava deserves a special mention.
Music and lyrics are WOW !!!!!!!!!!!!! Indian rock songs Vishal Bhardwaj had explored into perhaps an uncharted territory and Abbas Tyrewala has written the best lyrics of his life i guess. 'Tamas' and "Khuda Hoon Main" are gut wrenching .... "Paka Mat", "Kya Din Kya Raat" are colloquial unlike any other Bollywood filmy song
The film does rock. A noir film .. cult film. even though it may look a little dated, it is a must see.
This film should have been released in India in 2000 after completion, but ran into troubles due to censor issues and producer issues i guess ... since then it has not been released in theaters...
This film still has a chance at the Box Office. if you are into crime films, and realism then this film is highly recommended.
rating - 4/5
The film is about 5 struggling rock band- Luke(Kay Kay), Joy(Fernandes), Murgi(Aditya ), Shulia(Tejaswini Kolhapuri), PornD(Vijay Maurya). Their struggles, frustrations, dreams,delirious illusions etc etc. Everything boils down to the need of money. Yes they need it and desperately.
Luke is the undisputed, uncontrollable loose cannon leader of the band, Guitar and Gaanja for him !!! Joy has a fetish of food and trusts Luke implicitly. Absolute loyal. Somewhat of a 'chamcha' PornD is the butt of all jokes, thanks to his crush on Shulia. Always at logger heads with Luke. What u call a 'phattu' Shulia - dates more men than the number of handkerchiefs u might have lost in your life Murgi is a friend of Luke somewhere in between PornD and Joy. A very realistic skeptical guy who acts as a catalyst between the two diametrically opposites
They plan a kidnap heist ..and then things snowball into ransom - rage killing - serial killings - escapes - mistrusts- self doubts - near insanity !!!And yes the film isn't predictable
The dialogs are profane, and yes it is a more profane/real 'Dil Chahta Hai'. "Franz Kafka, Van Gogh, Michelangalo were unrecognized geniuses in their life. Recognise me !!" - Luke's graffiti
Half the time I was either laughing or being overawed by the lines. The scenes are organic and the lines flow seamlessly. As a morbid-crime-psycho-thriller film, it got me hooked. Yes clearly, this is no fantasy,romance, 'feel good' film.
However, midway through the story, a possible weak point comes. I couldn't understand the point of the guys breaking into the house, robbing and catering to their baser instincts, and started eating food from the fridge and listening to music. Yes, they are doing this after they have robbed the house.
Actually, I don't need to, because many of such serial killers are known to be 'trigger happy' and impulsive. I know it doesn't make sense when u see it on screen, but when i look back, "Everything needn't have logic". I agree. That scene seemed an obvious reference to A Clockwork Orange, Kubrick's disturbing film
What I love the most in the film is the dynamic relationship between the 5 characters. How their equations change during the turn of events. How each one reacts to another differently as the film progresses. And yet it is organic and perfectly believable. You might have met these characters somewhere in your real life. If the characters of 'DCH' are real, then the characters of Paanch are 'realer' !!! At least, I could identify more with them more than Sid,Aakash or Sam. I'm not saying DCH is bad or trying to compare Paanch versus DCH. I'm just talking from the screen writing craft point of view.
Performances - Kay Kay (Luke) and Vijay Maurya(PornD) are BRILLIANT .. TOO FRIGGIN BRILLIANT. Had the film been released back then, Kay Kay would've become a 'method acting' star and not an 'method actor' . In fact so much so that the role Kay Kay plays almost is surreal and yes there are shades of Kay Kay being an imaginary alter ego almost like Tyler Durden meant. Tragic !!!
Vijay Maurya is the dark horse in the film. He is a cringer, a insecure coward-creep who cannot stand up for himself. He is the bullied one in the class,office, college anywhere. A real life character You might have met him almost everywhere. Tragic that this actor is still not renowned.
Joy performs well. Tejaswini Kolhapuri is at times slightly irritating ..especially in her monologues. Aditya Srivastava deserves a special mention.
Music and lyrics are WOW !!!!!!!!!!!!! Indian rock songs Vishal Bhardwaj had explored into perhaps an uncharted territory and Abbas Tyrewala has written the best lyrics of his life i guess. 'Tamas' and "Khuda Hoon Main" are gut wrenching .... "Paka Mat", "Kya Din Kya Raat" are colloquial unlike any other Bollywood filmy song
The film does rock. A noir film .. cult film. even though it may look a little dated, it is a must see.
This film should have been released in India in 2000 after completion, but ran into troubles due to censor issues and producer issues i guess ... since then it has not been released in theaters...
This film still has a chance at the Box Office. if you are into crime films, and realism then this film is highly recommended.
rating - 4/5