Sehar

I remembe wathching Sehar for the first time ,it was late 2007 and i had gone to my home for a holiday ,the last scene was ON (the train shoot out one)and then movie ended immediately after thaat,i was disappointed since i really liked the scene and esp pankaj kapoor's acting ,Now Sehar had released in 2005 but I had never heard of it ,i was not really a "cinema lover" those days ,in any case i am sure i wouldnt be able to see it since there is no cinema hall in our city :) ,i finally managed to catch it again on TV and have watched it again and again over the last few yrs


ok,so coming back to Sehar ,it a story about rise of organized crime in UP and interecut with formation of STF to tackle it,with the main character as ajay (arshad warsi.police officer) and gajraj singh(gangster,sushant singh) on the opposing sides of the law ,now both the characters are in a way mirror image of each other as in both want to create a new system in place of existing old system ,as in gajraj wants "VARSCHAV" (total control) and doesnt think twice before finishing old gangsters ,ajay wants to set up STF(special task force) to tackle him and his seniors also oppose his idea(its very much similar in context to public enemies ,it came much later last yr ,as in FBI is set up to tackle john dillinger's looting of banks,FBI starts using a very scienitfic approach similar to be followed by STF by recruting tiwariji(pankaj kapoor) to help them track gajraj,in general i feel kabeer kaushik may be a fan of micheal mann cinema)

there is also character of ajay's mother and love interest played by mahima choudary(she seems to have come out from the set of another movie,she is always wearing sleveless sexy sarees,i checked with my frnds in lucknow,there is no historical proof to verify that such sexy sarees can be worn in lucknow colleges)but hnstly she looks reallly fetching ,i wonder how ajay is able to focus on gajraj :),there is also a track of ajay's father ,who has commited suicide after being court martialed from army for being a coward

as gajraj wants total control ,he starts killing every one who opposes him ,police initially ignores him but he just keeps going in his brash arrogant way ,without giving a fuck about police ,politicians etc,ajay is also trying from his ends but he doesnt get local support from the various cities in UP ,so he asks for setting up STF which is rejected intitially,later gajraj crosses the limit and kills a visting NRI (who happens to CM frnd)and kidnaps his grandson ,only after that STF is set up,now i feel this is sort of sarcastic comment on our rotten ,corrupt system ,STF is sett up only after elite is affected ,

Ajay recruits tiwarji ,an expert professor of cell phone technology,played superbly by pankaj kapoor,now tiwarji is afraid of gun even when its in his sight(there is pay off later in the end),with the help of tiwarji ,ajay mission gathers steam and he kills many of his gang members,gajraj also kills few STF ppl ,so cat and mouse game is going on and on but the movie never gets boring ,dialogues are really good and u need to know good hindi to unstd their true meaning,

there is also a good scene when ajay's senior justifies encounter killings while arguing with a senior lawyer who says that he hasnt done correct thing by killing a gangster in cold blood,finally ajay manages to catch up with gajraj (who is planing to contest election ,if he goes thr with his plan he will be out of reach of STF and may well be drafting laws in our parliament ,such is the sorry state of our democracy),ajay realizes this and wants to finsih him before he goes ahead with his plan ,he manages to track him with the help of tiwariji ,they go the nijamudin railway station in delhi ,gajraj mangaes to escape but not before he kills a politician there ,(the guy who used him to kill his rivals in party,another comment on politics/criminal nexus),there is an encounter in train ,in the end ajay is also killed by gajraj ,when finally gajraj is about to jump in the river ,tiwarji comes and shoots him and the expression on the face of pankaj's kapoor is mix of fear and courage ,he finally manages to not only touch the gun but he kills a dreaded gangstger,

i really liked the movie ,the screenplay is superb ,dialogues suit the milieu in which the film is set ,the film is told in flashback structure ,tiwariji is telling this story to a TV crew,lots of scenes are well written esp the hierarhical structure within govt system esp BABU/POLICE relationships,the way you have to take order and keep ur mouth shut and swallow ur pride even when u know that other side is wrong ,also screenplay is very objectively written,it is showing gajraj as a very focused,dedicated ,planner who is very ambitious,he is not shown as a villain in terms of standard bollywood movies,as in he is not dancing with half naked women,he is not a comic villain,fool etc he gives equal fight to police as in a villain with a mind of his own(another micheal mann trait),ajay character is also well written ,his relationship with his mother and his falling in luv with mahima is shown well ,tiwarji is also a everman guy,he is an observer or helper in the whole movie expcept the last scene in which he becomes a participant ,

the movie is shot well ,nothing flashy but serves the pupose,lot of long shots have been used to establish geography,then camera moves as per the character importance in the scene,encounter scenes have been shot well as in very realistic

editing is superb,lot of good transition hooks have been used esp a hindi song when a gangster is killed in delhi encounter ,music suits the movie

overall a good fst movie by KABEER KAUSHIK ,i dont no what happned to him ,he weent on to direct chamku and hum tum aur ghost ,i think he is not getting the support to exercise his creative freedom ,even chamku had flashes of kabeer kaushik brilliance but hum tum was a disaster ,hopefully he ll get back on track ,