Rani Mukherjee may be my favorite Bollywood success story. Her debut film, Raja Ki Aayegi Baarat, was a box office disaster. Her second film (and the subject of this review) was Ghulam
(1998), in a forgettable, eye-candy role. Rani’s naturally low, hoarse
voice is one of the most distinctive in the industry; the producers of Ghulam
considered it a liability, and so, in only her second film Rani’s lines
were dubbed by another actress. That should have been enough to end
her career, but before she could go the way of Kirti Reddy, she was
saved by another distinctive voice.
It’s rare for a Bollywood actor to sing his own songs. For whatever reason, though, Aamir Khan provided his own singing voice for the song “Aati Kya Khandala”. (And while he shouldn’t give up his day job, Aamir does have a nice enough singing voice - it reminds me strongly of the late Jake Thackray. He’s certainly a better singer than Shahrukh.) “Aati Kya Khandala” became an enormous hit in India, keeping Rani in the public eye long enough to land the part of Tina in the enormously successful Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Ghulam is a remake of the Marlon Brando classic On the Waterfront, and from what I can gather, a fairly faithful one. Before we get to the heavy drama, though, the film meanders into 50’s teen rebel territory. Siddhu (Aamir Khan) is one of the roguish but essentially good-hearted orphans who inhabit Indian cinema. We first see Siddhu in court, and as his lawyer (Mita Vasisht) gives a passionate speech about how she believes in his essential goodness, he helps himself to the contents of her wallet. Of course, he is very quick to defend her honor later when a friend jokes that she must be getting “something else” in exchange for her services, thus establishing that yes, deep down Siddhu is a Good Indian Boy. All is quickly forgiven, though, and the boys have a fun day out on the town, shopping, picking pockets, and generally being criminal but not malicious.
Siddhu’s brother Jai (Rajit Kapoor) works as an accountant for Ronnie (Sharat Saxena), who is both criminal and very, very malicious. Ronnie used to be a boxer, and after discovering that Siddhu is an avid boxer himself, he decides to help the kid out by throwing a little goon work his way. Jai is clearly not happy about this, but doesn’t raise any strong objections. After all, it’s just this once, right? Siddhu doesn’t seem terribly enthusiastic either, but rather than offend the bad-tempered crime lord, he does the job, convincing a local cricket player to throw the next match.
A little later, Siddhu is riding his motorcycle when he’s passed by a biker gang lead by Charlie (Deepak Tijori). Since we’re still in 50’s teen rebel territory here, he engages in a little macho competition with a Mysterious Helmeted Rider, and winds up falling off his bike in order to avoid a serious accident. The Mysterious Helmeted Rider turns out to be a girl (Rani Mukherjee), of all things, and when the rest of the gang shows up there’s a little scuffling. The police arrive, though, and Siddhu and Charlie make arrangements to settle things later that evening with a “10:10 run”.
The rules for the 10:10 run are very simple; a train comes around the corner at 10:10. Siddhu is to run at full speed directly toward the train, jumping out of the way at the last minute and planting a little flag at the point where he left the tracks. If he fails to beat Charlie’s record, he’s supposed to bow every time they meet. (I’m really not sure what’s supposed to be in this for Siddhu, but oh well.) Siddhu makes the run and beats the record. Then, when Charlie trips while trying to set a new record, Siddhu pulls him out of the way of the train. Then, for an encore, Siddhu pulls the mystery girl (who I shall start calling Alisha, since that is her name) on to his bike to escape from the approaching police, thereby handily winning her heart.
So Siddhu is now a charming good-natured rogue with a motorbike and a girlfriend. But he can’t escape heavy social drama for long; things change when he meets Hari, a crusading social worker who is encouraging the people of the neighborhood to stand up to Ronnie. Siddhu believes in staying out of the way, and he tries to get Hari to give up his crusade, but to no avail. When Jai asks him to set up a meeting between Hari and Ronnie, he thinks he’s helping his friend, and is rather unpleasantly surprised when he sees Ronnie casually toss Hari off a bridge into the path of an oncoming train. A guilt-ridden Siddhu turns to Alisha for comfort, but she is mourning the sudden death of her brother Hari.
There’s nothing terribly surprising about Ghulam - Siddhu finds the inner strength to stand up to injustice, and wins back his girl in the process. The end. And since both the hero and villain are established as boxers, there’s a good chance that the climax will revolve around Siddhu’s ability to take a punch.
Still, while Ghulam is formulaic, it executes the formula well. I was particularly impressed with the handling of Siddhu’s redemption; all too often (in both Bollywood and Hollywood), a character can simply declare “Okay, I’m a good guy now” and the sins of the past are promptly forgiven. Here, though, Siddhu makes a real effort to make amends with the people he’s wronged in the past.
Aamir Khan is, as always, quite good. The relationship with his brother is particularly well done, especially in the “I could have been a contender” scene. (And no, he doesn’t actually say “I could have been a contender.") As for Rani, she’s there to look pretty and occasionally be sad. The dubbed voice is a little distracting, but she’s really not on screen long enough for it to be a problem.
It’s rare for a Bollywood actor to sing his own songs. For whatever reason, though, Aamir Khan provided his own singing voice for the song “Aati Kya Khandala”. (And while he shouldn’t give up his day job, Aamir does have a nice enough singing voice - it reminds me strongly of the late Jake Thackray. He’s certainly a better singer than Shahrukh.) “Aati Kya Khandala” became an enormous hit in India, keeping Rani in the public eye long enough to land the part of Tina in the enormously successful Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Ghulam is a remake of the Marlon Brando classic On the Waterfront, and from what I can gather, a fairly faithful one. Before we get to the heavy drama, though, the film meanders into 50’s teen rebel territory. Siddhu (Aamir Khan) is one of the roguish but essentially good-hearted orphans who inhabit Indian cinema. We first see Siddhu in court, and as his lawyer (Mita Vasisht) gives a passionate speech about how she believes in his essential goodness, he helps himself to the contents of her wallet. Of course, he is very quick to defend her honor later when a friend jokes that she must be getting “something else” in exchange for her services, thus establishing that yes, deep down Siddhu is a Good Indian Boy. All is quickly forgiven, though, and the boys have a fun day out on the town, shopping, picking pockets, and generally being criminal but not malicious.
Siddhu’s brother Jai (Rajit Kapoor) works as an accountant for Ronnie (Sharat Saxena), who is both criminal and very, very malicious. Ronnie used to be a boxer, and after discovering that Siddhu is an avid boxer himself, he decides to help the kid out by throwing a little goon work his way. Jai is clearly not happy about this, but doesn’t raise any strong objections. After all, it’s just this once, right? Siddhu doesn’t seem terribly enthusiastic either, but rather than offend the bad-tempered crime lord, he does the job, convincing a local cricket player to throw the next match.
A little later, Siddhu is riding his motorcycle when he’s passed by a biker gang lead by Charlie (Deepak Tijori). Since we’re still in 50’s teen rebel territory here, he engages in a little macho competition with a Mysterious Helmeted Rider, and winds up falling off his bike in order to avoid a serious accident. The Mysterious Helmeted Rider turns out to be a girl (Rani Mukherjee), of all things, and when the rest of the gang shows up there’s a little scuffling. The police arrive, though, and Siddhu and Charlie make arrangements to settle things later that evening with a “10:10 run”.
The rules for the 10:10 run are very simple; a train comes around the corner at 10:10. Siddhu is to run at full speed directly toward the train, jumping out of the way at the last minute and planting a little flag at the point where he left the tracks. If he fails to beat Charlie’s record, he’s supposed to bow every time they meet. (I’m really not sure what’s supposed to be in this for Siddhu, but oh well.) Siddhu makes the run and beats the record. Then, when Charlie trips while trying to set a new record, Siddhu pulls him out of the way of the train. Then, for an encore, Siddhu pulls the mystery girl (who I shall start calling Alisha, since that is her name) on to his bike to escape from the approaching police, thereby handily winning her heart.
So Siddhu is now a charming good-natured rogue with a motorbike and a girlfriend. But he can’t escape heavy social drama for long; things change when he meets Hari, a crusading social worker who is encouraging the people of the neighborhood to stand up to Ronnie. Siddhu believes in staying out of the way, and he tries to get Hari to give up his crusade, but to no avail. When Jai asks him to set up a meeting between Hari and Ronnie, he thinks he’s helping his friend, and is rather unpleasantly surprised when he sees Ronnie casually toss Hari off a bridge into the path of an oncoming train. A guilt-ridden Siddhu turns to Alisha for comfort, but she is mourning the sudden death of her brother Hari.
There’s nothing terribly surprising about Ghulam - Siddhu finds the inner strength to stand up to injustice, and wins back his girl in the process. The end. And since both the hero and villain are established as boxers, there’s a good chance that the climax will revolve around Siddhu’s ability to take a punch.
Still, while Ghulam is formulaic, it executes the formula well. I was particularly impressed with the handling of Siddhu’s redemption; all too often (in both Bollywood and Hollywood), a character can simply declare “Okay, I’m a good guy now” and the sins of the past are promptly forgiven. Here, though, Siddhu makes a real effort to make amends with the people he’s wronged in the past.
Aamir Khan is, as always, quite good. The relationship with his brother is particularly well done, especially in the “I could have been a contender” scene. (And no, he doesn’t actually say “I could have been a contender.") As for Rani, she’s there to look pretty and occasionally be sad. The dubbed voice is a little distracting, but she’s really not on screen long enough for it to be a problem.
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