She, a diva on any other day, survives drowning, a gory ambush, and a terrible storm. He, a seasoned Indian soldier, has hacked to death far too many men to count. Both are stranded, miserable, and hungry. Then they try to one-up each other. The setting couldn’t have been more convenient for a romance, where boy and girl go from hate to love.
They chance upon a hidden stash of food and alcohol. A few drinks later, they’ve eased up enough and start talking about their fears and secrets. Despite letting their hair down, there is an inexplicable tension in every friendly push and shove in the mud. And when they share a passionate kiss in the muddy bog, it changes their lives completely.
A love story begins in the forests of Burma, amidst the raining bullets and detonating bombs. Somewhere near is her fiancé, an older man with a temper. A villain or the other hero in the girl’s life, it’s hard to tell.
Rangoon‘s story of forbidden love in British India during World War II is also Vishal Bharadwaj’s tribute to the world of showbiz in the 40s.
*****
Rangoon‘s director Vishal Bharadwaj surely knows how to tell a story, even if it involves unnecessary twists and turns. But Rangoon is high on plot confusion, and it’s the actors who save the day. A story about showbiz and a love triangle, in Rangoon we also get a war film. Vishal Bharadwaj packs it together with a little too much melodrama. Melodramatic in the opening scene, the interval, and even the ending. But we can forgive him – almost – because he lets the characters shine more than the story. It almost seems deliberate.
Kangana Ranaut’s character – Julia – is an adaptation of ‘Fearless Nadia’, the 1940s stuntwoman who had a cult following after Hunterwali. Julia is spoilt, whiny, vain, and a diva, expecting things to work at the snap of her fingers. But underneath those layers of fairness creams and make-up is a woman who longs to be treated with dignity. She wants to yell that she’s more than just a pretty face, that she can do the things all the men in her life stop her from doing.
Treated as an object throughout the film, one initially wonders why Kangana would accept a role where she’s no more than a pretty toy for the two lead characters. But soon enough, you know why she chose to be Julia, the fearless stuntwoman.
Introduced as a creation of Rusi Billimoria (Saif Ali Khan) the Parsi cinema producer behind all her films, everybody looks at her as a pretty face with no brains. Nawab Mallik (Shahid Kapoor) even asks her why God made pretty girls dumb. However, she’s quick with retorts, and unabashed about anything to do with her mind and body. Despite being a source of entertainment for all the men fighting in the war, distracting them with her reel-istic prowess with swords and knives – Julia represents all those women on screen who never get a chance to have a story told from their perspective.
Julia is that woman in showbiz who was way ahead of her time, and will probably continue to be even in this era.
*****
Saif Ali Khan’s Rusi Billimoria, the British sympathiser and jealous lover, is a classier version of his Langda Tyagi role in Omkara, another Bharadwaj film. He’s not a villain; he’s just not used to having his “toys” taken away. From making Julia the star she is to using her as his mistress and finally his fiancé because he really does love her – he’s more than just another jealous man. Rusi’s character is unsettling when we consider that he practically raised her since she was 14 years old. His jealousy, the heights of poetry he hits, are all reminiscent of (and perhaps inspired by) Vladimir Nabokov’s beloved Humbert Humbert in Lolita.
But among the two male leads, Shahid Kapoor is clearly Bharadwaj’s favourite. In their third collaboration, Kapoor is even better. Like fine wine, he seems to age with every Bharadwaj film he stars in. His roles are increasingly serious, his dialogues exude sincerity and emotion, and those eyes say far more in silence.
As Nawab Mallik, a soldier, a spy, and the film’s tragic hero, Kapoor plays the other broken character alongside Julia, finding a kindred spirit in her. He’s also dedicated to his country as a soldier, doing everything he can to escape from the barbaric hands of the Japanese and outsmart the British generals. At the same time, Nawab shows vulnerability in Julia’s company, revealing that underneath all that bravado lies a timid young man who wishes to see his country free; and spend endless hours making love to his beloved.
*****
A nearly perfect cast for a story that gets too predictable, too mediocre, and juggling too many genres, Bharadwaj’s Rangoon could end up being one of his most forgettable films. And when it’s not the story, it’s corny dialogues like “Pish posh, I’m White so I’m right!” or “Praan jaye par vachan na jaye (I may die but my promise won’t)” uttered by the British characters.
Recommended
There’s also the nationalism of scenes in which Nawab sings “Subh Sukh Chain” the Provisional Government of Free India’s national anthem. Twice. In this age, when anyone not standing up for the national anthem makes them “anti-national”, these scenes leave the audience confused – to rise or not to rise? Probably not the effect Bharadwaj intended.
But ultimately, with an unsatisfying ending, Rangoon leaves you wondering: why did the man who has brilliantly adapted Shakespeare’s plays into Hindi cinema bring so many twists into an already complex plot? A messed up love story would have worked just fine.
*****
The Rangoon review is a Silverscreen original article. It was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the movie. Silverscreen.in and its writers do not have any commercial relationship with movies that are reviewed on the site.