Raakh

During the first week of its release the reception to Sholay (1975), which was a slow starter at the box office, was giving Ramesh Sippy sleepless nights. He even contemplated changing the ending when the projectionist of a theater where the film was playing dissuaded him. He told Sippy to give the audience some time to react because they hadn't seen anything like Sholay and perhaps didn't know how to respond. They were in shock, he said, and for some reason Sippy believed those words. He held on and in a few days the tide turned forever. Not all new things are as lucky. Some like Sholay gain instant recognition, some need to be rediscovered as time passes, but some like Raakh (1989) are stranded in between. At the time of its release, Raakh was one of the most keenly anticipated films primarily because it was the second release of new box office sensation Aamir Khan. The fact that Raakh was as different from Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988) as chalk from cheese only made the prospect more intriguing for the new kind of audience that was emerging in the late 1980s. A book, it is said, ought not to be judged by its cover or a film by its advertisement, but the gun wielding Aamir in a stubble on the artwork made it quite clear that neither was the actor the same boy next door from his debut nor was this a typical film. In spite of the buzz it generated with the baby-faced Aamir playing a young man who decides to become a killer in order to avenge the rape of his girlfriend Raakh couldn't manage to make audiences respond in time. Set in a nameless Indian city in somewhat dystopian future, the only joy Amir (Aamir Khan), a young man from a rich disconnected family, finds is in the arms of Neeta (Supriya Pathak). The age difference between them doesn't bother Amir, but Neeta is not too keen to think about the future. One night on their way back from a party Neeta is molested by a local crime lord, Hassan Karmali (Homi Wadia), and the otherwise reticent Amir reacts violently to the mobster’s overtures. After a while the goons follow the couple and Neeta is raped in front of a helpless Amir. Frustrated and unable to do anything Amir is looking for a release for his rage and becomes a recluse. He leaves his home and breaks off communication with everyone. He meets a cop, Kapoor (Pankaj Kapur), a ticking time bomb of a renegade himself, who decides to help Amir, in his quest for revenge. Amir doesn't know that Kapoor, in fact, is an eyewitness to Neeta's rape and feels betrayed when he learns of the truth. Kapoor is soon suspended and teams up with Amir in order to avenge the crimes the Karmali brothers have committed. The two set off on a mission and one by one end up eliminating members of the gang. While Kapoor barely shows any remorse the once innocent Aamir, too, has lost all his sense of morality. When he first kills someone he is overcome by a sense of guilt but that feeling leaves him and soon enough he is transformed into a cold-blooded killing machine. As Amir is further receding into a world of hopelessness, Neeta makes an attempt to put her past behind but by now Amir is a different man. The revenge thriller was by all means an unlikely film that a star like Aamir would attach himself to in the late 1980s. Directed by Aditya Bhattacharya, the son of filmmaker Basu Bhattacharya, Raakh was also cinematographer Santosh Sivan and editor A. Sreekar Prasad's first foray into Hindi cinema. It went to win three National Awards in 1989 for Best Supporting Actor (Pankaj Kapur), Best Editing (A. Sreekar Prasad) and a Special Jury Award (Aamir Khan). The song-less film was a departure from the norm not only for popular cinema that had come to identify Aamir Khan as the next big thing but also for Parallel cinema, which was undergoing a transition as its poster children like Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, Shabana Azmi and Amrish Puri were fully entrenched in commercial films. The kind of foreboding desolation that laced Raakh throughout its storyline, as well as execution, was also something that was rarely seen in Indian cinema. It was exceptionally brooding, forlorn and at times it even showed what inspired it such as the iconic Robert DeNiro whipping a gun out in front of the mirror in Taxi Driver but to see a recognizable star playing a lead in a narrative that was essentially irremediable was unique. Although it had an extremely short shelf life, Raakh more than made a dent as far as the then up and coming Aamir Khan’s reputation as an actor was concerned. The 180-degree turn that he managed between Raj of Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak and Amir of Raakh might well be the only instance in Hindi cinema where a young actor-star displayed such range in a matter of months. Usually in India when a film with all the right credentials ends up failing one attributes it to being ahead of times and Raakh does deserve that honorific. Darkness, today, for a film is something limited to it being under lit like in the case of a Kaminey (2009) but the time when Raakh was made it meant something else. Although released in the same year as JP Dutta’s Hathyar (1989) as well as Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Parinda (1989), which went on to redefine Hindi cinema’s urban crime thriller milieu, Raakh’s darkness that is embedded within both it’s narrative as well as the hearts of the characters is matchless. One argument that is often given by fans is that had Raakh released before Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak the trajectory of Aamir Khan’s career would have been different. Interestingly enough Nuzhat Khan, Aamir's cousin sister and Nasir Husain's daughter, was associated with both Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak and Raakh (she co-wrote the film with Aditya Bhattacharya) recalls how Bhattacharya was certain that it would be Raakh that would truly ‘launch’ Aamir. Ironically enough when a re-release of Raakh was being planned in 2009 it was Aamir himself who urged his fans not to see the film as he was backing the producers during their standoff with the multiplexes and wasn’t happy at the prospect of old films beings released to lure audiences during the tussle. Nevertheless, Raakh still remains one of Aamir Khan’s most unfeigned performances and a film crying out to be rediscovered.

• Gautam Chintamani is the author of the best-selling Dark Star: The Loneliness of Being Rajesh Khanna (2014) and Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak – The Film That Revived Hindi Cinema (2016) | Tweet him – http://www.twitter.com/gchintamani

  Images

1. Movieloverz (link- http://www.movieloverz.org/old-bollywood-movies/5420-Raakh-(1989).html)
2. tamercome.blogspot.ca (Link- http://tamercome.blogspot.ca/2014/11/raakh-1989-dvdrip-xvid-english-sub.html)

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