Hey Ram (2000) :
Brief Review -
A rebellious film that fights and also struggles against its own rectifying nature. It's tough to review this film and take one side but I'm trying to find intermediate. It's okay if someone hates me for this review and i am all open to recieve slamming and abuses for a while. Hey Ram is an alternate storyline from history that depicts India's Partition and the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi by Nathuram Godse. How many people here have seen Marathi Play 'Me Nathuram Godse Boltoy'? If not, then watch it first (available on YouTube) and then watch this film again to understand why i said that it struggles against its rectifying nature. The same actor who has played Nathuram Godse's role in this film plays the lead role in this controversial Marathi play. I was stunned after seeing that Marathi play and how it explored small small details from Godse's point of view. Please note that i am not trying to glorify Gandhi or Godse either, i am just putting up facts and situations any Human could have faced. A coin always has two sides and mostly in popular culture we have only seen positive side of Gandhi. Maybe, that was necessary to avoid upcoming disasters but i am just asking for neutralized version of the events. Me Nathuram Godse Boltoy and Jabbar Patel's 'Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar' (2000), these two different forms of drama showed me that slight bit of negative side of Gandhi's principles and i salute the makers for their guts. I am not trying to judge Gandhi, Ambedkar or Godse, i am just trying to look at the things from different angles. Hey Ram starts off as a rebellious film and the events shown in the film actually makes it reasonable but later towards the end it rectifies that rebellious act and loses its hard-hitting values. This is my perspective to look at it, others may differ and Bhakts might even found it offensive but i don't care. I wasn't born in 30s or 40s to judge these events in my youth so i don't really care what people think and what has happened almost 40 years before my birth. That doesn't change anything in my era and the society i live and i don't think it would have changed anything even if Gandhi wasn't killed. Anyways, let's talk about the film or i might just speak something controversial to hurt some people. Hey Ram is brilliant when it comes to filmmaking aspects, no doubts. Acting, music, cinematography, art designing, sets, costumes and direction everything is top notch except for the straight forward writing and tight screenplay. It takes too long to explain the same old theories of Gandhiwaad. Haven't we seen it before this film released in 2000? Maybe the execution wasn't so great for others like this but the main idea was definitely outdated. Had it been sticked to the rebellious nature and then tried to make things clear from some other point of view then i might have liked it more. Kamal Haasan is superior as Ram. His versatility, expressions, rage everything was impressive. As a director, he did even better. That framework, those pauses, zoom ups and what not. His directorial skills and vision to look at things can be noticed there. All the other cast members have also done a fine job with their small small roles. Some scenes in the film are just amazing. I mean, something i haven't seen before but i can't judge the entire film on the goodwill of those scenes. Overall, tremendously courageous attempt but not fully justified.
RATING - 7/10*
By - #samthebestest.
A rebellious film that fights and also struggles against its own rectifying nature. It's tough to review this film and take one side but I'm trying to find intermediate. It's okay if someone hates me for this review and i am all open to recieve slamming and abuses for a while. Hey Ram is an alternate storyline from history that depicts India's Partition and the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi by Nathuram Godse. How many people here have seen Marathi Play 'Me Nathuram Godse Boltoy'? If not, then watch it first (available on YouTube) and then watch this film again to understand why i said that it struggles against its rectifying nature. The same actor who has played Nathuram Godse's role in this film plays the lead role in this controversial Marathi play. I was stunned after seeing that Marathi play and how it explored small small details from Godse's point of view. Please note that i am not trying to glorify Gandhi or Godse either, i am just putting up facts and situations any Human could have faced. A coin always has two sides and mostly in popular culture we have only seen positive side of Gandhi. Maybe, that was necessary to avoid upcoming disasters but i am just asking for neutralized version of the events. Me Nathuram Godse Boltoy and Jabbar Patel's 'Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar' (2000), these two different forms of drama showed me that slight bit of negative side of Gandhi's principles and i salute the makers for their guts. I am not trying to judge Gandhi, Ambedkar or Godse, i am just trying to look at the things from different angles. Hey Ram starts off as a rebellious film and the events shown in the film actually makes it reasonable but later towards the end it rectifies that rebellious act and loses its hard-hitting values. This is my perspective to look at it, others may differ and Bhakts might even found it offensive but i don't care. I wasn't born in 30s or 40s to judge these events in my youth so i don't really care what people think and what has happened almost 40 years before my birth. That doesn't change anything in my era and the society i live and i don't think it would have changed anything even if Gandhi wasn't killed. Anyways, let's talk about the film or i might just speak something controversial to hurt some people. Hey Ram is brilliant when it comes to filmmaking aspects, no doubts. Acting, music, cinematography, art designing, sets, costumes and direction everything is top notch except for the straight forward writing and tight screenplay. It takes too long to explain the same old theories of Gandhiwaad. Haven't we seen it before this film released in 2000? Maybe the execution wasn't so great for others like this but the main idea was definitely outdated. Had it been sticked to the rebellious nature and then tried to make things clear from some other point of view then i might have liked it more. Kamal Haasan is superior as Ram. His versatility, expressions, rage everything was impressive. As a director, he did even better. That framework, those pauses, zoom ups and what not. His directorial skills and vision to look at things can be noticed there. All the other cast members have also done a fine job with their small small roles. Some scenes in the film are just amazing. I mean, something i haven't seen before but i can't judge the entire film on the goodwill of those scenes. Overall, tremendously courageous attempt but not fully justified.
RATING - 7/10*
By - #samthebestest.