The night ends and all that........

I watched Nishant last night. I had picked up the VCD over the weekend. What a movie! For the uninitiated, Nishant was directed by Shyam Benegal in the mid-70's. The story written by Vijay Tendulkar and set in 40’s is about four brothers who rule a village in Andhra Pradesh with an iron hand and then how a rebellion overthrows them in a super climax!

The movie has few standout points!

What an ensemble of talent! Naseeruddin Shah, Anant Nag, Mohan Agashe, Amrish Puri, Girish Karnad, Shabana Azmi, Smita Patil, and Kulbushan Kharbanda light up the screen with their electric performances. None of them is wasted in the movie—that is a tribute to the maker. None of them tries to upstage the other in the movie. Even the unsung Sadhu Meher is brilliant in a cameo.

The movie takes you to that era—an era you will find it difficult to relate to if you have led sheltered lives in cities. If a book or a movie can take you to that era and through the story provide a social commentary of the times and the place, the job of the maker is done! This movie is no exception—it takes you to that era and you can relate to those characters, empathise with them and feel for them!

A case in point is a verbal exchange between Karnad, the schoolteacher whose wife has been kidnapped by the lecherous brothers and Kharbanda, the corrupt cop.
Kharbanda: Why do you want to register a complaint?
Karnad: Because she is my wife
Kharbanda: Even if she comes back, will she be your wife? Then why complaint?
(I felt like slapping the cop!)

There is another scene where the hostage, played by Azmi, begins to flex her muscles, much to the dislike of the wife, played by Patil. Shah, who is smitten by her, rushes to his elder brother, played by Puri, for a solution. The elder chieftain, with a deadpan expression, says, “Keep emotions out of a relationship. You already have a wife at home." Riveting stuff!