Hey Ram

Hey Ram -- Oh God *

MAIN CAST
Kamal Haasan -- Ram
Atul Kulkarni -- Shri Ram
Rani Mukherji -- Aparna
Shahrukh Khan -- Amjad **
Vasundhara Das -- Mythili

BRIEF PLOT OVERVIEW
Like Pinjar, Hey Ram chronicles the effects of India's tragic partition through the eyes of a single character, a Brahmin archaeologist named Ram. Ram's original belief that India should remain a united country and his trust in men regardless of their religion are shattered when his beloved wife is raped and murdered by a gang of Muslims. Driven mad by grief, Ram joins Shri Ram, a Hindu fundamentalist, and agrees to take part in a plot to kill Gandhi, the supposed cause of it all.

FILM -- 4.5/5
Though it was made in the year 2000, Hey Ram suffers from one of the biggest pitfalls of 90s films: the sound and picture quality are very smudgy and poor. This doesn't change the fact that the film is wonderfully directed; amazing care has been taken with the camera angles and the lighting, producing various emotions in viewers and connecting us to the characters, even when some deep-seated part of us says we cannot agree with their actions. Even sound (low quality though it is) is used to the film's advantage, like in the opening sequence, when the sound of mucus being pumped out of Ram's throat is played in sharp contrast to the nonchalant conversation between two younger men. The script drags a bit in parts, but is still wonderfully written, meant to build your spirit, then break it with a single blow. A great example of this is the scene prior to Aparna's rape, where there is so much happiness between her and Ram, but her talking about how she's afraid of being sexually assaulted builds that tension in the viewer's mind, since we know what's going to happen, and when it does happen...it still hurts us. And these are not scenes like those found in Bandit Queen or Rome, because while they are terrifying and heart-breaking and difficult to watch, they are not inserted just for shock value. Trucks full of corpses, men hung in trees, children throw in to fires...they are truly representative of the horrors of the Partition, and that honesty, if anything, is what makes them so hard to swallow.

CHARACTERS -- 5/5
Kamal Haasan's performance is absolutely incredible. His portrayal of Ram is perfectly nuanced, and the character's journey from a happy human being to an insane force of rage and destruction is incredible. I was constantly moved by Haasan, even when Ram did something completely despicable, because he played the part so well. I felt the opposite about Shri Ram, whose intense hatred for Muslims and their "enablers" made me shiver. But Shri Ram is supposed to make your blood boil and breath run cold, and Kulkarnki manages to do all that and more. We are forced to listen to Shri Ram filling Ram's ears with poison in a way few villains have before. Shahrukh Khan received top billing for his role as Amjad, even though the part is very short. Yet it's an important role, as he is a Muslim and Ram's closest friend, and it's one SRK handles well. Rani Mukherji's part is equally short, but doubly important, as her death is the catalyst for Ram's mental breakdown. She doesn't get to do much in the way of acting, but she looks beautiful while she's on-screen, and she has surprisingly lovely chemistry with Kamal Haasan. (Word to the wise: they even have a love scene! Gasp!) Hema Malini makes an appearance, and I liked both her and Vasundhara Das, who played her daughter Mythili. The latter's innocence is purposely placed in opposition to Ram's jaded outlook on life.

SOUNDTRACK -- 4.5/5
"Chahe Pandit Ho" sounds a little cheesey, thanks the the harmonica and flamenco-esque beat, but the vocals and the lyrics are lovely. Mythili sings a beautiful, clasically-styled tune with perfect soprano vocals. Ram's flashbacks are laid under "Chhan Ki Jawla Thi Tan Mein," a sad song with piano music backing it. A medley of classical tunes makes up "Iprit Zala," which is resplendent with tinkling bangles and lovely women. I found the background music a bit off, thanks to the fact that it sometimes tries to play dramatic melodies with high-flying flute notes. For example, the music that they play during death scenes...it sounds like something you'd hear when a couple of Disney characters are causing mischief. The orchestra work makes up for it, though, as do the many Hindu devotional chants scattered about.

OVERALL -- 5/5
Hey Ram is marred by minor cosmetic flaws, like the poor sound and picture quality, but other than that, it is an absolutely incredible, powerful film. Like Pinjar, the point isn't that one religion is better than the other, the point is that religion can lead us to do horrible things. Both the Muslim and Hindu mobs are driven by prejudiced principles that separate people and make them do inhuman things in the name of a god or an ideal. It is people who are sick, not their religion; it is people who craft and create religious boundaries between each other and justify their actions with their religions. Hey Ram is not a happy movie, which tampers its replay value, but its a film I think everyone should watch at least once, thanks to its relevant subject matter and its excellent performances. Be warned, however: it is not for the faint of heart.

TOTAL SCORE -- 19/20 (almost perfect)





* The word "Ram" is played on several times throughout the film. First of all, there's the obvious translation of, "Oh God!" However, the last words of Gandhi--who was assassinated during this film's timeline--were supposedly, "Hey Ram." Furthermore, the main character's name is Ram.

** Amjad is often referred to as a "Mussalman." This means "Muslim." Somebody told me it came from an old word for "Turkish," but I've never been able to verify that.





A COUPLE OF SIDENOTES:

One thing many people notice about Hey Ram is its symbolism. And indeed, there is a lot of it: the elephant in the streets, the piano, the color white (actually, color in general), Ram's drug-induced dreams, his shattered glasses...there is deep meaning attached to just about everything you see in this film, so look around for it.

Now for a personal story. I first saw this film a few years ago with an Indian boyfriend (the one mentioned in my review of Swades) and his grandmother, a tough Punjabi woman who was a huge fan of Shahrukh Khan. (Cute, yeah?) While my boyfriend and I squirmed in our seats, his bebe sat through the whole film as silent and stern as a stone. When the film was over, my boyfriend asked her something in Hindi, which lead her in to a long-winded speech I couldn't understand a word of.

Her words must have been powerful, though, because my boyfriend looked absolutely stunned and refuses to give me a complete word-by-word translation even to this day. But he said that, in summary, his grandmother found it pitiful that so many people want America to be considered a "Christian nation," when giving a religion sole ownership of a country simply divides everyone in to these awful battles. (His grandmother, of course, was alive during the Partition.) He translated just one of her phrases directly for me, but it's a phrase she used many times throughout her speech, and it has always stuck with me: "This is yours, and this is mine...why do you want such pain?"