Dekh Tamasha Dekh

One of the best satires I have ever seen in my life. The director has done a decent job in bringing this movie alive, all the characters are worth praising. The movie revolves around a small village but life is same everywhere - the same people live together, fight together, smile together and die together. At places it might touch your heart and at places it might make you laugh but its much more than just a movie - its reality. The movie also raises the question that are we all safe together or we need to get an advice from these so called religious leaders that mislead and divide us. So please watch this movie for its uniqueness and beautiful message. Recommended to all, 4.5/5 stars... Peace... I hope this will change our mentality in a positive sense.

It is one of the best movie I have ever watched. The writer and director started the movie in a clever way. Initially, it was hard to predict the story. Most of the actors and actresses were new face. But their acting was superb. It is a sad movie with a story of reality. It gives a good message to human beings. I request everybody to watch it. Firuz Abbas Khan did a spectacular job. At the end of the day - it is all about humanity. Nothing more than this. People from Indian Sub continent should watch it. I hope more people will come up with this kind of movie. Human life is very important on the earth. Hurting other human beings is not acceptable. This movie should have more songs for entertainment. But it is OK.

Well typically I hate Indian movies - the big name ones with all the dancing singing where everyone is happy and the plot is pretty much as predictable as it gets. Generally I wonder how directors are able to put their names to those works knowing how derivative they are (besides the oodles of cash they get). This movie stands far and above those. It tackles serious matter and does it in some ways that I haven't seen before. Sure the bit about the Muslim girl/ Hindu boy story has been explored before but here it takes on a serious tone. The Hindu boy seems to actually be a parody of the "one-liners" Bollywood actors spout but the the girl is actually human enough to see through them. On top of that there's the addition of actual voices of reason throughout the story! The author, the journalist and the commanding officer all take very fresh perspectives of what happens in the town. There were admittedly a few issues in terms of the fact that they try to shoe in some humour here and there and whilst it's not particularly glaring it does seem to me that the movie would be better served without them.

It's tackling of fundamentalist religion is great in that it doesn't actually draw a clear distinction between the average believer and the "moderates". In this town the people slavishly follow their leaders and religions without thinking for themselves. The hooliganism is presented in very real terms ( for India at least) and the preaching of religious leaders are unfortunately quite close to what really is said in mosques and by Hindu leaders in India.

The end as well is done spectacularly well. I expected a bloodbath and I was glad no such thing occurred. The technicality served and excellent point of how pointless rituals can not only cause communities to tear apart but also lead to destruction of property and death. SImpy superb and this beats out any other Indian movie I've seen thus far quite cleanly.

Directed by the renowned theater veteran Feroz Abbas Khan as his second film post GANDHI, MY FATHER (2007), this is indeed a courageous attempt by the makers, since there is not much possibility of such a dark, sarcastic film becoming a big box office success in the current scenario.

Reportedly based on some real life events happening in a small town, the film truly reminds you of the recent Muzzafar Nagar incidents leading to a huge loss of life, faith & trust among we all Indians. Made as an intelligent black comedy with many worth praising insertions, DTD surely could have become a daring, path breaking film of the recent times, if only the director had delivered it with a better pace & a more disturbing tension in its conflicting scenes. But keeping the weaker points aside, I would still like to recommend watching it mainly for the following well written and worth-praising scenes, taken straight out of our real lives fast heading towards a scary future.

1. The most valuable sequence in DTD is related to an old experienced historian, who is opposed for writing a controversial book on religious history and is then forced to peacefully withdraw or face some drastic consequences. Ignoring the threat, the calm historian willfully pulls out his hearing machine in between the heated conversation and the act indeed is a treat to watch, executed beautifully. Next all published copies of his book are burned (reminding you of many latest similar references) and that is exactly how history is now being forcefully re- written with a specific motive in almost all the religions proving them better than the rest.

2. A wonderful courtroom scene wherein there is no proof of a dead person's birth, marriage, original religion or his so called religious conversion at all. But still the judge is supposed to give the judgment about the real owner of the dead body without any valid arguments put forward.

3. A hilarious symbolic sequence in which Satish Kaushik (the owner of a local newspaper) is disgracefully talking to his imported puppy and the employed Indian editor together.

4. In a mourning scene, the few women instantly stop wailing & start leaving as soon as someone says the water is back in the taps for a limited period.

5. As a newly appointed police officer comes to join his police station, he is stunned to see 'A Religious Pooja' going on in the station itself and all the policemen attending it instead of going to their assigned duties.

6. A Muslim leader openly addresses a meeting provoking the youth to attack is aggressively opposed by a Muslim journalist only who is thrown out of the meeting. And on the other hand a Hindu leader clearly warns the police officer in charge, not to interfere in their planned procession at all and do nothing.

7. And lastly the undisclosed biased attitude of policemen when they personally know the convict and his particular religion. Following a quite honest and ironical treatment, the film simply reveals the truth that how riots are willfully triggered through an intentional planning by the two opponent leaders openly, whereas they also maintain constant contact with each other simultaneously behind the curtains.

Intelligently written by Shafaat Khan (mostly as a play), the project has been made at a smaller scale with a clever cinematography which shows you the riots just through the window of a moving car without going out in the wide showcasing any big mob. Also the sound department beautifully uses only the natural sounds in the backdrop, creating a very realistic feel throughout in a worth noticing manner.

With a short duration of less than 2 hours, DTD no doubt remains a comic yet alarming take on a burning issue edited thoughtfully. And with appreciable performances by Satish Kaushik (Leader/Newspaper Owner), Satish Alekar (Historian), Sharad Ponkshe (Hindu Leader) and Vinay Jain (the new IPS officer) along with a fairly impressive supporting cast, it can easily be rated as a praiseworthy attempt for sure, representing the meaningful cinema.

Having said that, the film still isn't any great masterpiece or hugely engrossing watch too, mainly due to its few theatrical scenes & the multiple sub-plots resulting in a clumsy feel. Moreover few gags also do not work at all like the one about the police dog or the dead body's guard taking his clothes off. Plus the film was wrongly promoted with Satish Kaushik as the lead actor (in the posters) who actually has only few scenes in the movie unexpectedly.

Summing up, DEKH TAMASHA DEKH made me think about the last moments of Bhagat Kabir in the past, which also generated a verbal debate among the followers upon the final rituals to be followed. Interestingly in the film too the whole fight is for the body of a converted Muslim only, whom Hindus wish to cremate and Muslims wish to bury, leading to the big bloody clash. And the storyline honestly made me imagine that if there happened to be a death of any similar saint in the present times too then that surely would have resulted in some cruel riots between communities, timely engineered by the opportunist politicians, unarguably.

Anyway with a hope that we all become capable enough of realizing the ugly tricks played by our greedy leaders well in time before hurting the other. Do try to watch this thoughtful attempt as a must ignoring its theatrical feel and all the weaker points mentioned in the review.