Ek Ruka Hua Faisla

I saw this movie back in '98 on SONY TV. It was very engrossing. I thought it was a great one until I came across Sidney Lumet's 12 Angry Men. I'm giving it 8/10 for being true to the original and not including unnecessary song sequences or deviations as seen in other remakes. The movie has some good performances from each of the actors. The movie may be one of the few movies devoid of female actors. I don't know whether this is true or not but one of my friend told me this movie is shown at IIMs for briefing on negotiations and dealings. Also I wonder whether there is any such jury system in India as shown in the movie. Well anyway a good remake and worth watching again and again.

This is probably the best Hindi remake (The original is a fantastic Sidney Lumet movie, "Twelve angry men" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050083/)) I've watched. K. K. Raina is no Henry Fonda; but he's done a great job -- as has the rest of the very talented cast; and none more than the brilliant Pankaj Kapoor as the broken-hearted father/juror no 3 (played by Lee J. Cobb in the original) Ironically, what makes it work is the fact that it is such a complete plagiarism; it is guided entirely by Lumet's masterpiece in style and substance. The cast and the crew have done an excellent job with the execution; but they could have probably done it without the director. An interesting artifact of the plagiarism is that we have this movie about a hung jury -- when India doesn't have a jury system at all! Oh well! Given that Bollywood is all about plagiarism anyway; I guess we should be thankful when they occasionally do a good job of it!

To overcome our prejudices, to think beyond what we know and to observe the real truth without any presumptions of the observer is not something easily achieved. Many scholars like J Krishnamurthy have even called this practice as the greatest form of meditation one can do. This sounds true, since most of us all are so prepossessed with our knowledge, that the reality in front of us is always shadowed by the images projected by our mind, our thoughts and our accumulated concepts.

"Ek ruka hua faisala" is a story of such 11 men, who are all biased in their decision over a legal verdict, a murder case. The twelfth person in the group was an indifferent guy who tries to convince the group by his rationale thinking. It's decided that until any consensus is reached within the sequestered jurors, they all have to sit together and listen to what others are saying.

The movie left me thinking behind, the way I view things myself, the way I take my decisions, where does this promptness to do something comes from, am I ever reached at the reality before judging the activities of mind as right and wrong. I think most of the times it never happens.

The life would be much different if we are able to observe the things without the burden of our past knowledge. I hope in that case, we may as spontaneous as a little child and might have reached more closer to the reality then.

All the performers have done their part exceptionally well, particularly Pankaj Kapur, who played a stubborn middle age man. I have watched some of his movies like "The Blue Umbrella", which left an impact of his performance on me. And this knowledge was with me all the while I was watching him again, listening to the dialogues he delivered. It seems once again I have seen what I wished to watch, I have appreciated what I was prepared to appreciate and the distinctness between the observer and the observed is lost again.

The movie is a master piece, the story and the concept behind needs to be observed.

The 99% movie is filmed in one single room. And camera angle is set very thoughtfully. All the actors have done a really wonderful job. Which no other Indian actor has done yet. Not even Amitabh or Raj Kapoor can do it. I have seen the film 3-4 times. And every time I have seen the movie with same excitement. The way the actor gets the confidence of all the jurors is really good. The dialogues are really realistic. It seems that you yourself are one of the juror. And you too want to prove that the boy is innocent.

Really one in a million movie.

" Ek Ruka Hua Faisla " Too Good To Resist......

I can't remember watching a film where every 10-15 mins I have exclaimed, "Too good, too good, too good!" or "What a film!" 12 jurors, in a single room, for two hours, no change of scenery - it still manages to keep you riveted, and much more!

A timeless film which has so many undertones - morality vs reason, fact vs opinion, sincerity vs flippancy, assumptions vs critical thinking... and more. Inner conditionings of each character are brought out so well, there's also social commentary that's relevant even today.

Each of the 12 actors (most from NSD) have put their all into the roles. The film is a remake of ''Twelve Angry Men' which I haven't seen. But Basu Chatterjee has created one of India's best film adaptations here.

Truly an intellectuals' delight.