An evocatively titled gangster film, Allah ke Banday makes an interesting start, then rapidly descends into the usual mix of guns and goons, each more bloody and violent than the other. Fully filmy in its obvious telling, Alah ke Banday is set in the mean chawls of Mumbai, packed with over-cooked back ground music, bombastic street dialogue and cussed goons. Vijay and Yakub are two street kids staying in a chawl called Bhool Bhulaiya, just one of the many obvious metaphors the director resorts to. The older, reserved Vijay has an ailing mother, while the brash cocky junior, Yakub, is an orphan child staying with them. When still in school, the mohalla brothers get into crime, first peddling hashish for the local boss, then running scams with a friendly pimp (Zakir Hussain), before graduating to robbing stores. Once while splitting the loot with the local boss, there is an altercation and the kids shoot the boss. So they are caught and sent to a juvenile reformatory. The reformatory is a vile place run by a depraved warden with a limp, Naseeruddin Shah. Here the kids are beaten up, abused and eventually gang raped, but instead of cowing down, the brothers get even more hardened. They bide their time, before killing the older boy who had raped them, which brutal act gives them new found respect. Eleven years later, they emerge from the juvenile centre as Sharman Joshi and Faruk Kabir, a debutante actor who also wrote and directed the film. So far Allah ke Banday has been interesting, with the child actors doing a superb job, but now the film becomes senseless. Sharman & Faruk head back for Bhool Bhulaiya, determined to be the chawl’s top warlords. So they get in touch with Zakir Hussain and the battle starts. First they recruit all the urchin kids, train and arm them with lethal guns, then attack the local goon’s headquarters, resulting in a massive shoot out. However, the cops don’t come, making you wonder what part of Mumbai this is. Then the victorious brothers take over a large hill top bungalow, surrounded by gun toting kids, a la the searing City of God. Then the film becomes scattered as bit characters appear. Atul Kulkarni essays the poorly written role of a teacher, who tries to protect his students, all of which gets melodramatic and painful. Sharman finds a girl friend, Anjana Sukhani, and starts wooing her hesitantly, while Faruk remains edgy and violent, with a mad energy. Then a deal goes wrong and Sharman kills his own gang kid by mistake, which leads to lots of soul searching in the chawl. Eventually, the cops land up, there is a dramatic shoot-out, and lots of people die. Naseeruddin has a bit role and is totally wasted in the film, while Kulkarni hams his way through an embarrassing performance. Sharman is intense except his make up looks dodgy in parts, while Faruk is all passion and little skill. Zakir Hussain is brilliant in his scenes, while the ladies have pretty little to do really. The film is shot well, the action is tight and the music is evocative, though it doesn’t fit well with the plot, which in the end remains predictable. Stuffed with attempted street speak, “Kya maa phad raha hain” and “Idhar se kamti hole”, is the level of dialogue writing in the film. So proceed at your own risk. DIRECTOR Faruk Kabir ACTORS Faruk Kabir, Sharman Joshi, Atul Kulkarni, Zakir Hussein, Naseerudin Shah, Rukhsar, Anjana Sukhani RUN TIME 1hr 30 mins CERTIFICATION A |
