Tag: Vijay Varma

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IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack: An immersive web show revisiting a hugely agonizing period

IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack web series banner

The decision of releasing the three terrorists is something that is debated even to this day. Refreshingly Director Anubhav Sinha doesn’t take any sides and neither does he resort to the current over the top nationalism

Starcast: Vijay Varma, Manoj Pahwa, Aravind Swamy, Pankaj Kapoor, Naseeruddin Shah, Dia Mirza, Rajiv Thakur and others

Based on the book: Flight Into Fear – The Captain’s story by Devi Sharan and Srinjoy Chowdhury

Director: Anubhav Sinha

Writers: Adrian Levy and Trishant Srivastava

Production houses: Matchbox Shots and Banaras Mediaworks

Streaming site: Netflix

No of episodes: 6

Cinematography: Ewan Mulligan and Ravi Kiran Ayyagari

In simple terms the story of ‘IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack’ focuses on a flight hijacked by three Pakistani terrorists. The flight was going from Delhi to Katmandu. After being taken hostage the airplane lands at three different locations before the final destination of Kandahar which was then under the control of Talibans. These terrorists want the release of their imprisoned Kashmiri comrades along with a dead body of a militant. Director Anubhav Sinha and the other two writers recreate the eight harrowing days in a gripping manner. The continuous negotiations between the Indian agents and the Pakistani terrorists and the efforts of the passengers for survival is depicted authentically.

Passengers in the hijacked plane

Before going forward, I will slightly touch upon the unnecessary controversy that the show has found itself in. A section of people has raised objection to some of the hijackers having Hindu codenames, this objection feels very redundant. Assuming false names is a very common practice when you don’t want the real identity to come out. When the terrorists used certain code names how can a director change it, specially as this is based on a true story.

Now moving on to the show, earlier too we have seen stories of this genre where a larger-than-life hero saves the day. Here that has been subverted in a refreshing manner. Vijay Varma’s Captain Sharan Dev is the major pivot of this story as he is the head pilot. But the character never comes across as larger than life. He is as vulnerable as the other passengers and the fellow staff; Sharan Dev simply wants to survive through this ordeal so that he can meet his daughters again. At the same time, he shows determination too. This mix of fear and determination has been wonderfully portrayed by the actor. With this web show Vijay Varma once again proves his capability in adapting to different roles.

A mix of fear and determination

This web series follows a pattern of blending real life situations with dramatized events. A voice over runs alongside the archival footage. The merging of archival footage and the re-created scenes is not easy to blend but director Anubhav Sinha does a very good job in intermingling both.

IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack is also refreshing in its portrayal of the terrorists. Thanks to the nuanced writing they never come across as one note characters. There is a scene of them participating in Antyakshari with passengers. In another scene one of the terrorists comforts an air hostess who vomits as she is unable to bear the stench. There is also a moment where a terrorist expresses his admiration for Sharan Dev.

The series also does a wonderful job in portraying the sheer hopelessness of the situation. In a particularly impactful scene, a helpless flight attendant is trying to clean out an over flowering toilet. It is a very disturbing image.

There isn’t much space in a show like this for lighthearted moments, but Manoj Pahwa raises many chuckles with his sarcastic humor. He plays an aggressive official and the senior actor as expected delivers a solid act. Whether it is the scenes of negotiation with the hijackers or his conversations with the suave Aravind Swamy in the role of an MEA official. In spite of a bulky physicality the actor commands your attention. Aravind Swamy as the smooth-talking officer with a different approach is charm personified.

Manoj Pahwa commands your attention

Aravind Swamy as the smooth-talking officer is charm personified

Like other hostage dramas this too comes with certain backstories. Anubhav Sinha does not explore them in detail but there is enough to chew on. For example, you have an orthopedician shrugging off his responsibility in saving a heavily wounded passenger. The same attitude can be seen later when he is stranded with a differently abled son. The Director links this behavior to a larger picture concerning the politicians and bureaucrats. Hijackers get into the aircraft with guns and bombs in a very convenient manner. These scenes show how a security lapse can result in deadly consequences.

The crux of ‘IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack’ is more about the emotional battles, and less about combat. This has come out well. The role of Afghanistan in rescuing the passengers also gives the show some of its most heart warming moments.

Rajiv Thakur, a comedian earlier does a good job in the role of a menacing hijacker. Yes, the actor does fall short on certain occasions particularly in the scenes with Manoj Pahwa but still it is a commendable effort. Among others Dia Mirza and Amrita Puri also do a fine job. As a member of Press Dia portrays both the tenderness and intensity in an effective manner. Through the track of her and Amrita Puri Anubhav Sinha brought the conflict between newspapers and television into the story.

Rajiv Thakur cast against type

A special mention must be made about Pankaj Kapoor and Naseeruddin Shah playing senior officials. They are actors par excellence with a huge body of work behind them. It is a pleasure to watch the two veteran actors in one frame. Their interactions are laced with conflicting ideologies but underlined with mutual respect.

The cinematography of Ewan Mulligan and Ravi Kiran Ayyagari is also first rate. Both do a splendid job in capturing the high tension through their lens.

One aspect of the show which feels slightly underwhelming is the structure. The cuts between the episodes feel abrupt giving the impression that this was originally planned as a movie, but this doesn’t hamper the proceedings in a significant manner.

The final moments leave the viewers with a lot of thoughts on how the hijack happened so easily in the first place. But I suppose there is always scope for security lapses.

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Vijay Varma: A Decade Of Formidable Talent – From ‘Pink’ To ‘Jaane Jaan’

If we observe Vijay Varma’s filmography, we predominantly notice two types of roles – negative/grey roles and cop characters.

Vijay Varma started his acting career in 2008 with a short film titled Shor. But his big screen debut started with Chittagong in 2012. It was followed by late Satish Kaushik’s Gang of Ghosts (2014) and Priyadarshan’s Rangrezz (2013).

However, none of these movies gave a significant push to his career until Pink (2016) came along. Since then, as the saying goes, there is no looking back for the Bollywood actor. Vijay Varma is an FTII student, and this clearly shows how the actor has adapted to different roles. If we observe his filmography, we notice that two types of roles majorly stand out – negative/grey characters and cop roles. Let’s check them out here:

Ankit Malhotra

Pink was a breakthrough film for Vijay Varma where he played a deeply misogynistic person -Ankit Malhotra. He was the one who eggs on Rajveer Singh (Angad Bedi) to take revenge on Taapsee Pannu’s character, Minal. Ankit Malhotra just doesn’t stop there,  he also molests her in a moving jeep and throws her on the road. He really looks menacing in that scene. We hate him as much as Angad Bedi.

Moen

Zoya Akhtar’s Gully Boy (2019) saw Vijay Varma as a neighbourhood crook Moen who was also a friend of Ranveer Singh’s Murad. He was not a psycho but had his own grey shades. Throughout the film, viewers couldn’t make out if he was good or bad. The Bollywood actor owned the part with a brilliant performance.

Sasya

In Imtiaz Ali’s web series She (2020), Vijay Varma played a drug peddler named Sasya. In spite of not having a lot of screen time, he owned every frame that he was in. What also added to the performance was how he spoke Hyderabadi Deccani – a language spoken in Hyderabad where he grew up. Vijay also got the body language of the drug peddler spot-on.

Hamza

In Darlings (2022), Vijay Varma played an alcoholic, abusive husband named Hamza to Alia Bhatt’s Badru. He was someone who was extremely cruel and at the same time, lovey-dovey depending on the situation. Vijay looked like a truly scary psychopath. The actor received a lot of positive hate for his portrayal of Hamza. By Vijay’s own admission, it was not an easy task to be an abusive husband to the “heartthrob of the nation.” The Bollywood actor also said that he was very scared of unintentionally hurting Alia in the scenes involving physical abuse. Those scenes were so real that every time he appeared on the screen, we were as terrified as Alia. Coincidentally, their first feature films (Chittagong and Student of the Year) were released in the same month (October) in 2012.

Anand Swarnakar

Initially, the viewers have a positive impression of Vijay’s character Anand Swarnakar in Dahaad (2023). Apart from being an excellent Hindi professor, Anand also runs a mobile library for the underprivileged. But soon, this bubble breaks as the real face of Anand is revealed. Vijay Varma was absolutely terrific – both as a middle-class married man struggling to make ends meet and as a serial killer who has severe unresolved issues with his father.

Adi

Monsoon Shootout is an early film by Vijay Varma shot in 2013. It had its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, but theatrically, it was released four years later in 2017. In the movie, Vijay Varma played a cop who was deeply influenced by his father’s principles. His father told him that all life’s choices were not black and white, and there was a middle path too. In spite of sharing screen space with a heavyweight like Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Vijay Varma more than held his own. He did a swell job of showcasing the different nuances of his character.

Ravi Shankar Tripathi

In the web series Kaalkoot (2023), Vijay Varma’s Ravi Shankar Tripathi was vastly different from the mainstream cops that the audiences are used to. For example, Dabbang (2010) and Singham (2011). He was a soft-spoken cop who considered himself a misfit in the police department. There was a constant desire in him to resign. But as the show progressed, his character underwent a transformation. This show had come right after Dahaad where he played a serial killer. He made the audience forget that this was the same man who appeared as a serial killer.

Karan Anand

In Sujoy Ghosh’s Jaane Jaan (2023), an OTT film, Vijay Varma appeared as a charming cop. It was the closest he came to doing romance. The scenes where he flirts with Kareena Kapoor’s Maya D’Souza were so adorable to watch. He gave the film some much-needed lighter moments in an otherwise tense atmosphere.

Vijay Varma is now 37. He has already done 24 films, including web series. Here’s hoping that our filmmakers will tap his potential – much more in future – which goes beyond the above-mentioned characters!

Published in SouthFirst on 15.10.2023. Click on the below link for https://thesouthfirst.com/entertainment/vijay-varma-a-decade-of-formidable-talent-from-pink-to-jaane-jaan/

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Jaane Jaan: Another Compelling Thriller From Sujoy Ghosh

In spite of obvious similarities with the Drishyam films this Netflix film stands on its own thanks to the atmospherics and the powerful cast.

Jaane Jaan (Hindi)                 

Starcast: Kareena Kapoor, Jaideep Ahlawat, Vijay Varma, Saurabh Sachdeva and others

Director and writer: Sujoy Ghosh

Additional writer and dialogues: Raj Vasant

Based on: The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino

Producers: Ekta Kapoor, Shobha Kapoor, Akshai Puri and others

Production Companies: Balaji Motion Pictures 12th Street Entertainment etc.

Streaming site: Netflix

Genre: Mystery/drama

Running time: 2 hours and 19 minutes

For those who are not aware Sujoy Ghosh’s  Jaane Jaan is based on the famous Japanese novel ‘The Devotion of Suspect X’ by Keigo Higashino. This novel has seen many adaptations. In fact the Drishyam films are supposed to be inspired from this novel.

Jaane Jaan has been an eagerly awaited film for two reasons. One is its director Sujoy Ghosh who has established his credentials as a thriller specialist with Kahaani and Badla. Two is the diverse star cast featuring Kareena Kapoor Khan, Jaideep Ahlawat and Vijay Varma. Jaane Jaan is not in the same league as Kahaani but there is a lot to like here too.

Jaane Jaan primarily revolves around three characters. The setting of this film is a misty hill station called Kalimpong in West Bengal. Maya D’ Souza (Kareena Kapoor) is a single mother who works at the local café. Naren Vyas (Jaideep Ahlawat) is a mathematics teacher at a local school. Naren is also Maya’s neighbour. He is socially awkward but is besotted with Maya. Maya comes with a dark past which is connected to her ex husband Ajit Mhatre (Saurabh Sachdeva). Her new life is shaken up by his re entry but in an accidental scuffle husband dies. She buries him with the help of her neighbour.

Vijay Varma is a police Inspector who is assigned the task of finding Ajit Mhatre. For a change his character Karan Anand is not a deranged psycho (like in Darlings, Dahaad and Pink). What follows is a survival thriller of a determined single mother in the style of Drishyam films. In this case she also has the help of her besotted neighbour .

First and foremost Jaane Jaan is not about who the culprit is. So it is not a story of whodunit in the classical sense. It is more about how the culprit evades the authorities. Sujoy Ghosh takes his own sweet time to establish the daily routine of Maya and how Naren secretly loves her. For some the slow pace might be a hindrance but these portions are necessary in the overall scheme of things.

A big plus for Jaane Jaan is the technical department headed by Avik Mukhopadhyay. He captures the different colour pallets brilliantly through his lens. His cinematography is such that the hill station becomes a character in itself.

The background music composed by the band of Shor Police is in complete sync with the mood of the film. There is no scope for songs in a film like this but the title number pictured on Kareena Kapoor makes for a good watch and listen.

Kareena Kapoor Khan successfully takes off from where she left in Laal Singh Chaddha.  Her Maya D’ Souza is a mixture of steely resilience, vulnerability and charm among other things. Kareena delivers a knock out in her debut digital project.

The way Jaideep Ahlawat who played Naren is smitten by Maya brings a smile to the viewer’s face. His love for Maya and the extent to which he helps her makes you wish that Maya had ended up with him. He was terrific in bringing out the various nuances of his character.

Vijay Varma for a change is a charming cop and the actor plays it with the required coolness. It is refreshing to see Vijay in this avatar. The scenes between Vijay and Kareena are good to watch. During the investigation Karan also falls in love with Maya and the scenes where he flirts with her are adorable. Saurabh Sachdeva is pitch perfect as the abusive husband in his brief screen time.

Jaane Jaan does suffer from editing issues. The film could have been cut short by fifteen minutes. The climax has the typical shock value of a Sujoy Ghosh thriller although it might not be everyone’s cup of tea.