Do Not Cry Over Salim, the Lame!

30Apr08

Salim Langde Pe Mat Ro is arguably the best movie ever made in the Hindi film industry in the bildungsroman genre. When it comes to presenting the moral degradation and the eventual redemption of an ordinary on-the-street person, this movie is a sure winner. It reminded me vaguely of Mira Nair’s Salaam Bombay.

Saeed Mirza has cast Pavan Malhotra as the lead in Salim Langde Pe… as the protagonist and Malhotra not only justifies his selection for the role but also provides an insight into the reason for his being largely unseen in mainstream cinema. He is an actor who manages to get into the skin of the character he plays and so would rightfully be a miscast playing the unbelievable characters in the disappointing movies made now a days. That he played Tiger Memon in Black Friday is perhaps only a vindication of his brilliant acting skills that are not meant to be displayed to all and sundry.

Salim Langde Pe… traces the life of a small time loafer Salim Langda who comes from a lower middle class family in a poorer section of Mumbai. Salim has ambitions of becoming rich, preferring the shortest way up. He takes to petty crimes and thuggery, spending his days as a carefree goonda who is often exploited by the local mafia. Having lost his brother in an accident, he often feels neglected by his parents and sees himself as the blacksheep of the family. He is also a religious bigot but that is more due to his ignorance and blind faith in the inciters of communal tension than his own beliefs. This changes when he sees a short film on the communal riots that sweep the city some time in the past. After coming into contact with his would-be brother in law, he begins to see things in a different perspective. His perception of things is transformed and he stands up firmly against what he used to believe in earlier. Taking the responsibility for his sister’s marriage after his father is sacked from his job and fails to find another, Salim finds a job and decides to lead an honest life. Uneducated and unskilled Salim gets a job in a garage and declares in almost a comic manner his desire for becoming the second best mechanic in the world next only to his employer.

The title of the movie is only apt as it forbids the viewer to cry over Salim, a man who has been redeemed having found out the real purpose of his life, and so is not a subject of pity but admiration. Salim deserves respect, not sympathy. There is one scene which could perhaps highlight the whole theme of the movie - Salim goes to meet his future brother in law and tells him that he has begun to see light; then he runs out onto the street and shouts out his name into the night expressing his desire to lead a respectable life. And thus Salim becomes a new man, shedding his ragamuffin image for good, his redemption complete.

The movie features some brilliant acting by Rajendra Gupta as the future brother in law of Salim, Sudhir Pandey as a local crime lord, Makrand Deshpandey as Salim’s right hand man, Ashutosh Gowarikar as Salim’s protege, Neelima Azim as his love interest, Ajit Vachhani as a tea shop owner and Vikram Gokhale as the weary father. It also features a rare dance sequence by Pavan Malhotra, Makrand Deshpandey and Ashutosh Gowarikar. One hears the famous Hawa Hawa song and a couple of stirring ghazals in the movie which only makes things more interesting. Sharang Dev’s music has a longing in it, a haunting gut wrenching feel and a melancholy undertone. There are some powerful scores running throughout the movie. I wish the soundtrack of the movie was available too.

It’s sad to see Saeed Akhtar Mirza not being as active in the film industry as one would like him to be. NFDC which used to produce brilliant movies as these, is in a sorry state of affairs itself. I managed to get this DVD after a lot of searching. If this movie was to be re-released in theatres, I’m sure it’d run to full houses. There is now a trend of looking back into the past and a bunch of successful re-releases such as these would only work to restore and regain the faith of viewers in Hindi cinema.

Watching this movie requires a lot of courage and an unfeeling heart. And one can’t stop thinking about it till long after. Salim Langde Pe… proves that inspite of the crap churned out year after year, niche movies can still rule hearts. The only thing that this National Awardee would be ruing is that it has to share its place of pride among some not so deserving ones. This movie doesn’t lecture one about national integration and religious tolerance rather brings out issues such as these through the events in Salim’s life. This has to be the strongest point of the movie as audiences rarely want to be lectured to. Salim’s journey takes one into dark streets and blind alleys, but it also delivers the promised neverland amid all the murkiness. Just remember, Salim langde pe mat ro.

Filed under: Experiences, General, Movies, Music, Society, The Dark Side, Trivia, Uncategorized   |  
Tags: Ajit Vachhani, Ashutosh Gowarikar, Classics, Cult Hits, Hawa Hawa, Hindi Cinema, Makrand Deshpandey, National Award Cinema, National Film Development Corporation, National Integration, Neelima Azim, NFDC, Pavan Malhotra, Rajendra Gupta, Saeed Akhtar Mirza, Saeed Mirza, Salim Langde Pe Mat Ro, Sharang Dev, Sudhir Pandey, Vikram Cokhale