KHELEIN HUM JEE JAAN SEY

Very little or nothing has been written or made about some of the smaller instances of the Indian Freedom struggle. Surely it would not have been possible without the small but significant and heart rendering contributions from the unknown citizens of this country. Who spent their blood, tears, toil and sweat to give us a freedom that we probably don’t value as much – or at least that’s what most of the people in the movie hall, watching Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey (KHJJS) felt – coz they found a lot of the stuff in the movie quite funny to say the least. I wonder why. Considering that the movie, as most of you would be aware of by now, is about the armed resistance in Chittagong (or Chattagram / Chottogram) between 1930-34. One of the several small but extremely concentrated efforts by the average Indian.


They year is 1930. Surjya Sen (Abhishekh Bachchan) is a school teacher in Chottogram (now known as Chittagong – Bangladesh). He is approached by a whole bunch of teenagers thanks to being famous as a freedom fighter. Their playground has been taken away from them by the British Army and they now have nowhere else to play football. Exasperated, they approach Surjya to help out. Surjya has over the years since the loss of his wife rallied a few people who are committed to the struggle for freedom. Nirmal Sen (Sikander Kher), Ananta Singh (Maninder Singh), Ambika Chakroborthy (Shreyas Pandit), Ganesh Ghosh (Samrat Mukherjee), Tarakeshwar & Lokenath Bal (Feroze Wahid Khan). They are a small bunch of people but willing to rally around Surjya, to start a movement which they hope will be the spark the nation has been waiting for – like most other freedom fighters of their time surely.

Nirmal is also in a romantic relationship with Pritilata Wadedar (Vishakha Singh) and has just returned from spending a few nights in prison for good measure. Pritilata is close friends with Kalpana Dutta (Deepika Padukone). Both of them are quite taken in by the concept of the freedom struggle and are extremely keen to make a difference. Their request to join Surjya Sen’s movement is accepted, albeit reluctantly. Hot on their heels, a small incident leads the teenagers to also enlist themselves in the movement. Now this is a tricky situation for Surjya but he is convinced that the kids have the right fire in the belly to really make a difference. This, in fact pushes him to recruit a whole bunch of fresh teenagers also. Once the troops are ready they go about planning a small but very pivotal uprising in the freedom struggle. The idea is very simple actually. Hit the Brits where it hurts them the most – The Telegraph Office, The Nangalkote Railway Line, Police HQ, The Cantonment and European Club – All at the same time.

KHJJS is yet another attempt by Ashutosh Gowariker to regain the credibility that he had kind of lost with the masses after the debacles of Jodha Akbar and Whats your Rashee? But well – he doesn’t come too close honestly. I mean there is an improvement but nothing that really inspires a huge amount of confidence. This is a Gowarikar that comes nowhere in the thinking vicinity of the expertise that he showed with a movie like Swades which I believe is one of the best movies made in this decade. But the story is strong enough to strike a chord with the viewers. Anything that is about the freedom struggle should logically right. I was quite disappointed though to see some 8-10 people who walked out. I mean what do you expect from Gowarikar – as the recent joke goes – even if he were to make a movie on premature ejaculation it would go for 4 hours. This one finished in under 3. Have come to expect the pregnant pauses and stretch in his movies in an attempt probably to pay attention to detail but falls woefully short.

KHJJS was above my expectations. I expected a complete flop but turned out to be average. Nothing too great very honestly but just about makes the cut. Performances were decent all over. AB Junior is still in the shadow of Yuva and cannot come upto the level that he is capable of.  Deepika continues with her confidence on screen but is below par. Vishakha Singh seems to be an earnest actress. So does Sikander Kher. Most of the support cast comes out with a sincere performance. The teenagers actually stand out the most with their attempt – at times overshadowing the lead actors. The actor playing Subodh Rai stands out the most for my money’s worth. Pity I don’t know short hand and could not take down the names in the credits as they were running.

The sad part though is the complete lack towards consistency. Freedom fighters in crisp white shirts, random shots of Deepika @ yoga, hard bound books on the Russian and irish revolution which don’t seem like they are from 1930 at all, revolutionaries having canvas shoes etc. just don’t add up for a director of the class of Gowarikar. Guess there is not much of class there. Some poignant scenes and decent music round off KHJJS for me. Not terribly disappointing. Worth a dekko I guess. 5 on 10.