Hey Ram (2000)

हे राम

Kamal Haasan's daring, intense film Hey Ram draws heavily on the symbology of Hindu myths to tell its story about the spasms surrounding partition.  Even though much of that layered meaning is shamefully lost on me, the film's commentary on sectarian violence - an issue that always gets to me - is both compelling and moving.

Saket Ram (Kamal Haasan) is an archeologist, a scholar and an intellectual.  Though he is a Tamil Brahmin by birth, his own political beliefs are open, progressive, and secular.  Ram's ideology is shaken to the core, though, when, in rioting following the announcement of Partition, his beloved wife Apurna (Rani Mukherjee) is brutally raped and murdered by a Muslim gang.  Ram is distraught to the point of madness, and he wanders the streets of Calcutta in a daze.  He is recognized as a fellow Brahmin by a charismatic Hindu nationalist, Abhyankar (Atul Kulkarni), who tells him that revered hero Mahatma Gandhi is true cause for the violence.  Abhyankar convinces Ram that obliterating Gandhi would solve the "Muslim problem" once and for all and allow the creation of a great Hindu nation.  Ram, traumatized and thirsty to avenge his loss, joins Abhyankar's plot on the revered leader's life, and is selected to be the lone assassin.  His quest to fulfill what he perceives to be his destiny brings him face to face with an old friend - his former colleague, a Muslim, Amjad Ali Khan (Shah Rukh Khan) - and in the heat of battle Ram must decide where his true loyalties lie. 

Ram's arc is driven by his extended case of post-traumatic stress disorder; recurring visions of Apurna's violent demise haunt him and goad him in his descent from humanist man of science to the incarnation of a vengeful impulse.  The film is rife with images of masculinity, as if Ram feels less of a man for having failed to save his beloved wife from the rioters.  The pull of the Hindutva ideology on Ram is presented as a way to restore his manhood.  In his dreams he is beefcakey, bare-chested and strong.  In one arresting sequence, after he makes love to his new wife she transmutes into an enormous rifle in his arms.  And when Ram's Hindutva group plots the assassination, the group's leader (a deposed maharaja whose motivations are closer to bitterness and greed than to ideology) exhorts Ram to show the world that Hindus are "real men," not "effeminate lovers of truth."

While the powerful imagery (as well as the names of some of the characters) suggest analogues to the Ram of mythology that I don't fully understand, I can grasp the film's larger point:  Sectarian violence as a whole, says the film, is a hallucinatory spasm of PTSD, and only real connections with family and friends can stop it.  Indeed, Ram's first attempt on Gandhi's life is interrupted by his father-in-law, and it's the strong pull of his friendship with the Muslim Amjad that finally snaps him out of his Hindutva torpor.  Ram's true ideology seems to be the progressive, humanist one he expresses at the beginning of the film; his Hindutva phase is presented as a trauma-induced hallucination, taken advantage of by the darker forces in the film. 

The film supports all these rich layers of narrative with very good performances by a vast, accomplished cast - in addition to those mentioned above there are brief appearances by the likes of Hema Malini, Girish Karnad, Om Puri, and Naseeruddin Shah as Gandhi.  Ilaiyaraja's soundtrack is memorable too, especially the haunting "Janmon ki jwala," in which Ram reminisces about Apurna.  Even with the limitations of my own inadequate background, Hey Ram is a powerful story, well told. 

Comments

Hi Joseph

If you have seen the hindi version which does have Kamal in the lead, I stand corrected and that is fine by me!

I think we are all sharing our interests, views and knowledge of hindi cinema via Carla's blog who is making such an effort in having an interest forum like this. I think we all do recognise that and should allow Carla to keep the show on as she rightly says.

cheers

Meera

oops I meant to say "interesting forum" - a typo there. My apologies

Meera

[Vatsala]

So many comments! And so much emotion! I quite forgot what I wanted to write.....

Oh yes, as usual great review Carla. Haven't watched it, but trust your words. Is the violence too much? Because like maxqnz, my appetite for violence has withered too. Moreover, stories of communal riots and partition always leave me shaken, guess they are too close to heart. Also, they are sad because those problems still exist in India. Wish it was really just history!

I think Kamal Hasan is a very good actor, but I wouldn't call him the best. I have never seen his subtle side, always found him a little over the top. Don't you agree?

BTW, I would read your book too :)

I re-read your last comment and realised that you wanted that to be the last one! Oops! But now that my lazy self has typed so much, I am just going to post it anyway. Please maaf kijiye!

[carla]

No worries Vatsala - I didn't want to shut down all comments, just to take a break from the controversy before people got angry again.

The violence in the scenes of the Kolkata riots is indeed very, very difficult to watch. Apurna's death is also brutal and graphically portrayed. I have a very low tolerance for violence in the movies and almost did not make it through these scenes. I feel fortunate to have the luxury of turning my eyes away; I've only ever encountered that kind of brutality in the movies and have never had to face it in real life.

I do think it's worth watching the movie despite these difficult scenes, but I wouldn't begrudge anyone who computes that balance differently.

As to Kamal Haasan's acting - this is the only film of his I've seen. In it, I would not describe him as over the top. He spent a lot of the film in wounded silence. I'd say his performance was quite solid and appropriate to the tone of the story.

[maxqnz]

"I've only ever encountered that kind of brutality in the movies and have never had to face it in real life."

Same here, but my Dad was a teenager during Partition, and after Earth:1947, I think I'll leave the stories he told as word pictures rather than imprints of film images. So I apologise if I contributed to the rancour in this thread, and look forward to your review of David Dhawan's remake of Breakfast at Tiffany's.

[Advait]

I took my younger sister to the movies to watch this movie and had to leave within the first bit as she was horrified by the graphic depition of violence and Rani's rape haha

I really really enjoy movies like this, its a pity that Kamal Hassan lost a lot of money on this project discourages other producers/directors from attempting projects like this..

One of the best works of literaure/cinema I have come across about partition is this book called 'Freedom at Midnight' written by Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins. What makes it especially good is that it is written by completely neutral people and refrains from taking sides or anything of that sort. Should check it out if you guys get a chance..

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