MOVIE REVIEW: MAMMO

I had heard a lot about the cinematic genius called Shyam Benegal. Associated with many movies, which broke all rules of conventional film-making and created what is known as the "Parallel Cinema Movement": films where there was no hero or heroine, no dances, no melodrama, songs, action and happy endings. These films showed real people, showing real emotions, and the society being the villain and the supporting hero, all at the same time. He gave the film industry, names like Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, Shabana Azmi, Smita Patil, Govind Nihalani, people fresh out of acting schools, looking for quality work in an industry dominated by mammoth stars like Amitabh Bachhan and Dharmendra, who had a huge fan following. And thankfully, people did take notice to the intellect of this former ad-film maker. This is what I had heard about him, but the first film I saw of him, Sooraj ka Saatvan Ghoda, being aired on Doordarshan, a good 10-15 years, put me to sleep midway through the movie. Commercial, masala fares were my tastes.

After so many years, when a revolution is coming in the world of film-making, when lines between "art" and commercial cinema are blurring, when new-age film-makers are telling stories about us in the most convincing styles, I thought let's see what Mr. Benegal made in those times. Being a movie fanatic, and brought up on a staple of dishoom-dishoom flicks, I thought of changing my tastes, venturing into an unknown territory. I had seen the first half of Zubeidaa on TV and liked it very much..... excellent performances from the cast, and what looked like a great script. Then I heard, that Zubeidaa marked the last part of the trilogy of films written by noted film critic and director Khalid Mohamed and directed by Shyam Benegal, the other 2 being Mammo and Sardari Begum. So, was pretty interested in catching Mammo.

As I have mentioned already, Mammo, Sardari Begum and Zubeidaa are semi-autobiographical (please correct me if I am wrong) stories woven around women who made a telling impact on the life of Khalid Mohamed. Mammo tells the story of Riyaaz (probably based on Mr. Mohamed.... played by the HUGEly underrated actor in films, and a noted theatre actor Rajit Kapur, popularly known as Byomkesh Bakshi), a film writer, who lives with her maternal grandmother
, Fayyaazi (played by Surekha Sikri Rege), after her mother, Zubeidaa's demise. His father, a spineless man, had long ago abandoned him and his mother (shown vividly in the film Zubeidaa). They live in a lower middle class flat in Mumbai. Then begins the flashback when Riyaaz remembers his Mammo Naani, sister of his naani Fayyaazi. Cut to the past when young Riyaaz is around 13-14 years old (played by child actor Amit Phalke), right on the brink of adolescence, with rising curiosity levels coupled with the shame of living a lower middle class lifestyle. One day the doorbell rings and in comes Mehmooda Begum Ahmed Ali or Mammo (played by Farida Jalal) to live with them.

Mammo married Ahmed Ali,against the wishes of his family, in the pre-partition era. Partition saw them moving to Pakistan. Although Mammo couldn't conceive, she was showered with love and affection by her husband. After her husband's death, her in-laws started torturing and ill-treating her. With no one to call her own in Pakistan, she comes to live with her sister Fayyaazi and grandson Riyaaz.

Mammo is a motormouth, extremely blunt but very caring and sweet person, though she has a tendency to follow her heart, much to the displeasure of Riyaaz, who doesn't quite take a special liking towards her. But over time, things start to get better between the two as Mammo starts to become a part of the family.

But there is a problem: Mammo is on a tourist visa to India, so evidently, she could not stay forever in this country. Every time she makes lame excuses just to prolong her stay in India to the officers in the visa office(forgive me for forgetting what those officers are called who raise the time limit for tourist visas). But a sudden twist of fate has her forcibly sent back to Pakistan back the police officers here. What happens to Mammo, Fayyazi and Riyaaz after that?

Though this movie may be named after Mammo, the film tells 2 stories: one of Mammo, of course, and other of young Riyaaz-- his life and friends, his trysts with cigarettes, adult films and pornography, his embarrassment that he is not as wealthy as his friends, his personality quirks, his irritation on seeing a guest trying to become part of his family and his dreams of becoming a writer some day--- all common actions and aspirations of adolescent youngsters.

Actually, there is nothing much happening in the movie, till 90% of the movie is over. It just shows how Fayyazi and Riyaaz have problems adapting to Mammo, who plans to live with them forever, their fights with Mammo, Mammo's talkativeness and her temper. But it is the character of Mammo and the character of Riyaaz which keeps the viewer's interests alive. Two people with mercurial tempers.... and their collision and how a bond starts to develop between them is very well depicted.

This is my first full-fledged, serious viewing of any Shyam Benegal flick, and I am very satisfied with what I saw. Although it may not be path-breaking cinema, it is a very sensitive and poignant depiction of human emotions. I am now looking forward to watching many more movies by Mr. Benegal. There are certain scenes which just break your heart:

1. Riyaaz's outburst when Mammo calls all his friends to his place to give him a surprise party on his birthday.

2. Mammo talking about the trauma of partition.

3. Mammo being dragged away by the police, without even letting pack her bags, and put on the train back to Pakistan.

4. Riyaaz running all the way to the VT station to look for Mammo and their emotional separation.

Though there is one problem which I found in the movie, and that is, there is no mention of what happened to Mammo when she reached Pakistan. She had nobody to call her own there, how did she survive there? and how did she return back to Bombay after a good 10 odd years?

Music wise, there is just one song, but what a song!! written by Gulzar and rendered by Jagjit Singh (need I say more!!), Yeh Faasle Teri Galiyon Ke comes at the very critical points in the film, and enhances the impact of a few scenes, especially when Mammo leaves home after Riyaaz's outburst and Fayaazi and Riyaaz search for her all over Bombay and find her in Haji Ali Dargah, and when Riyaaz and Mammo get separated.

Now over to the performances: Farida Jalal gets a lot of meat in the role of Mammo and she comes up with a sterling performance. It seemed like the role was written having her at the back of the mind. You CANNOT imagine ANY other actor performing such a complex role with effortless ease as she does. She took to the role as a fish takes to water. No surprises that she won the Best Performer-Critics in the Filmfare Awards of 1995. A Fantastic performance!!

In the role of young Riyaaz, Amit Phalke delivers a knockout performance. The role of Riyaaz was of an equal standing to Mammo's. To stand up and hold his own in front of acting powerhouses like Farida Jalal, Surekha Sikri Rege, Himani Shivpuri and Srivallabh Vyas, kudos to Amit Phalke for displaying supreme confidence. And Shyam Benegal also deserves a compliment for extracting such superior performance from a young actor. A performance at par with, if not better than Darsheel Safary's in TZP.

Surekha Sikri Rege as Fayaazi, is pivotal link between Mammo and Riyaaz. She is , as usual, brilliant in her role as she brings out all facets of her character--- as the strict disciplinarian, as the caring grandmother, as the still-a-small-girl-at-heart when she reminisces her childhood with Mammo and as the acid tongued lady in her confrontations with Riyaaz and Mammo.

Among other actors, Himani Shivpuri, as Anwari, and SriVallabh Vyas as her short-tempered husband, are competent and carry off their roles effortlessly. Rajit Kapur is totally wasted as he is there at the start and at the end of the movie..... it is very much like a guest appearance.

Overall, a very heart-warming film by Shyam Benegal. Watch it for feel of real characters, whom you relate to instantly (though lack of any 'masala' stuff in this film does make it boring for people looking for total entertainment)

My Rating: ***1/2