A Potpourri of Vestiges Review
By Murtaza Ali Khan
By choosing
to release Taish simultaneously as a
film as well as a six episode series, Bejoy Nambiar has mounted an interesting
storytelling experiment. Film and series are of course two very different
mediums and both have their own strengths and weaknesses. A story which works
in one medium may not work in the other and vice versa. But, before we analyze
the two versions of Taish, let’s
first try and put the storyline into perspective. Set in the UK, Taish revolves around a family of
gangsters and a family of doctors. The two worlds clash amidst a wedding and
all hell breaks loose. It’s essentially a tale of friendship, betrayal, love, and
revenge. Taish stars Harshvardhan
Rane, Pulkit Samrat, Sanjeeda Shaikh, Kriti Kharbanda, Jim Sarbh, Abhimanyu
Singh, Saurabh Sachdeva, Saloni Batra, Zoa Morani, Ankur Rathee, and Ikhlaque
Khan in pivotal roles.
People look up to Hollywood
when it comes to depiction of raw and gritty action. But what Bejoy Nambiar
achieves in Taish is no mean feat. We
are treated with some brilliant moments of action, whether one speaks of combat
or chase sequences. And Taish is not
just about raw and gritty action, for it also offers intense and deeply
passionate moments of romance. The brilliant editing, trippy soundscape, and breathtaking
cinematography elevate Taish above anything
seen in the Indian entertainment space in the recent years. The single most
amazing thing about Taish is that it
starts on a moment of high intensity and Nambiar is able to maintain the level
of intensity for the most part. Of course, there are many tender moments in
between, but it does live up to its title which basically translates to rage
and passion.
When the two-time
Oscar-winning director Ang Lee cast Tony Chiu-Wai Leung for the part of Mr. Yee
(a special agent and recruiter of the puppet government set up by the Japanese
occupation in China) for his film Lust,
Caution (2007), he made the actor study the performances of Marlon Brando
in Last Tango in Paris (1972),
Humphrey Bogart in In a Lonely Place
(1950) and Richard Burton in Equus
(1977), in order to give him a sense of wounded masculinity, which Lee thought
was right characterization for the role of Mr. Yee. Now, their masculinity can
be described as wounded because among other things there is a sense of
self-destructive drive in all these characters. For example, the widower character
Paul played by Brando in Last Tango in
Paris enters an abusive relationship with a young girl while he is still
mourning his wife's recent suicide. Bogart’s temperamental screenwriter
character in In a Lonely Place, Dixon
Steele, a murder suspect, falls in love with a neighbor while on the verge of a
breakdown. Now, I think we can safely add Harshvardhan Rane’s gangster
character Pali Brar from Taish to the
above list. Pali’s self-destructive drive is a result of losing out the love of
his life to his own elder brother who is like a father to him.
Palli is a powerhouse of a
character and Rane immortalizes it by delivering the best performance of his
career thus far. It's such a treat to see a non-Punjabi actor demonstrate such
command over the Eastern Punjabi dialect. Rane showed a similar command over
Punjabi in J.P. Dutta's Paltan also
but it mostly went unnoticed. Fortunately for Rane, it didn’t escape Nambiar’s
attention. Rane's chemistry with Sanjeeda Shaikh in Taish is absolutely riveting to watch and savor. Pulkit Samrat manages
to show a different side to him in Taish.
In a couple of scenes with Rane, he is even able to hold his own. Jim Sarbh is solid
as ever. Some of the scenes that he shares with Pulkit and Kriti are really intense.
Also, Saurabh Sachdeva, Abhimanyu Singh, Ikhlaque Khan, Saloni Batra, and Bikramjit
Gurm deserve special mention for their memorable performances.
The film version of Taish runs at 143 minutes. On the other
hand, the total runtime of the series is 178 minutes. Both versions are
streaming on ZEE5. While the former unfolds in a linear fashion, the latter
follows a nonlinear narrative. After finishing both the versions (series followed
by film), I decided to approach the director with a basic question. I asked, “Which
of the two versions do you personally prefer, Bejoy, and why?” And I got a very
interesting response. “It’s a tough question, Murtaza. Each version has its own
pros and cons and for me it’s extremely difficult to choose one over the
other,” Nambiar replied. So, which of the two versions is superior, according
to me? Well, that simple depends on whether you prefer to watch it in a single
seating or want to conveniently watch just one episode at a time. Perhaps, the
film version can be approached as the theatrical cut and the series as the
director’s cut. Nambiar’s films are always technically brilliant and one
Hollywood filmmaker that he can be compared with is Michael Mann. Just like
Mann, Nambiar has always been considered a master of style. But his films have
always been accused of lacking substance. With Taish, however, he seems to
have successfully married style with equal parts of substance.
A version of this article was first published in The Daily Guardian.
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