MeraPahad Community Of Uttarakhand Lovers

Daayen Ya Baayen     
Tradition-modernity. Rural-urban. Hope-despair. Consumption-frugality. Experience-theory.
Doesn’t it sometimes seem like we may end up spending our entire lives pendulum-ing between these poles? Dipping into her Uttaranchal childhood, first-time director Bela Negi negotiates these heavy-duty extremes in the most delightfully humble way, only to emerge with an incandescent little gem of a film. Daayen ya Baayen is the story of an utterly inconsequential human being – a small blip on the grand radar of things, a man named Ramesh Majhila who returns from Mumbai to his village in the Uttaranchal hills.
A poet at heart and a crusader with a newly discovered crusade, Majhila discovers it takes a lot more than his books, his grand dreams for a Kala Kendra (arts centre) in the village and his modish jeans to re-enter a world he thought familiar. His wife is unrelenting in her disappointment at his return, his school-going sister-in-law groans in embarrassment when he begins to teach in her school, his mother wraps the newborn calf with his expensive scarf and the village drunks are thrilled to have a new victim for their daily gossip. In the midst of all the insults and disappointments, Majhila wins a brand new car in a TV contest.
The rest of the film follows the fame and misfortune thrust upon Majhila by his new possession – a series of misadventures that mirror the epic journey he must undertake within himself to regain his footing and win back the respect of the one soul that adores him, his son. This is a film that says everything without speaking much. That it also does so without losing its lightness of touch, its fineness of detail, its irreverence or its big-hearted warmth for each and every character it encompasses in its mini-epic sweep, is nothing short of a miracle.
Some more reviews can be found here:
http://parotechnics.blogspot.com/2010/08/daayen-ya-baayen.html
http://networkedblogs.com/p26225944
http://passionforcinema.com/daayen-ya-bayeen-movie-review-hills-and-wheels/
Daayen ya Baayen Trailer
Some Kafila readers may have read an earlier post of mine on the Bombay film industry called ‘Maya Bazaar’. In the two years it took to make and release the film, Bela Negi has experienced all the frustration that a director without pedigree must undergo in that star-obsessed, bad-cash-flushed, bad-karma-saturated world. No wonder then, that the film has been a victim of almost zero publicity. In a time of branding and product placement, Daayen ya Baayen doesn’t pretend to be a ‘crossover’ film, a ‘multiplex’ film, a ‘parallel’ film or a mainstream film. It doesn’t seek to make a grand comment, it simply wants us to watch, with empathy and humour if possible. Please watch it if you find it playing in a theater in your city, if simply to throw in your lot against the Bollywoodisation of all creative labour in our times.
Daayen ya Baayen releases this Friday, the 29th of October, 2010.   
http://kafila.org/2010/10/27/daayen-ya-baayen/
 

Director: Bela Negi
Cast: Deepak Dobriyal, Badrul Islam, Jeetendra Bisht
Rating: ** ½


Ramesh Majila (Deepak Dobriyal) returns to his small scenic village in the hilly terrains of Northern India. He claims to have worked as a writer in Mumbai though we never get to know anything on that. He now plans to settle in his village and takes up the job of an English teacher in the local school where he gives dramatic lectures and recites verbose poetries.

Life changes when one of his random voluble verses qualifies as an ad jingle and wins him an unexpected car, the only swanky automobile in his tiny township. While he becomes the talk of the town and envy of many eyes, Ramesh gets more and more obsessed with his valued vehicle. But when his car is stolen, he sets out on a journey to recover his prized possession and in process his pride, as well.

Director Bela Negi attempts to give the film a folklore feel, somewhat like a Malgudi Days episode, and also succeeds to an extent. The characters are so real and zany and the casting is absolutely impeccable (possibly involving some local actors too). Though almost the entire cast comprises of first-time faces you soon warm up to them for their quirky yet funny traits. Ramesh’s TV soap-addicted wife (Bharti Bhatt) is a household occurrence and his innocent son (Pratyush) is adorable. The aged village shylock (Jeetendra Bisht) with his two sidekicks and the computer-illiterate school teachers are hilarious.

But while Bela Negi creates credible comic characters, the prime problem with her writing is that the narrative keeps loitering aimlessly for a very long time. Without a cohesive plotline and clear-cut character conflicts, the film practically heads nowhere in the first half. Too much time is expended on Ramesh’s philosophical preaching inside and outside the school until the car is inducted in the anecdote by interval point. That literally imparts drive and direction to the narrative but one sincerely wishes that writer-director Bela Negi (who triples up as the editor) could have kept the story short and sweet.

Ramesh’s bigger aim in the story is to open a Kala Kendra (art centre) in his village but that conflict is handled very frivolously and figuratively in the film. He trains some students to present a play to the local MLA but we never get to see the act or in what way it would influence the politician. Moreover the entire chase to get back his car to achieve this final goal is absurd because the car, in no way, contributes to win the minister’s consent.

Ramesh’s loquacious limericks give the film an intermittent abstract feel. Also his sidekick’s (Badrul Islam) unselfish endeavours to monetarily support Ramesh seem somewhat far-fetched. Nevertheless the film has a very refreshing and realistic sense of humour emerging from its characters, conversations and comic scenes. Cinematographer Amlan Dutta beautifully captures the virgin locations of the Uttarakhand hill-station on his lens.

Deepak Dobriyal gets dramatic at times and hams at other instances (like in his drunken stupor). But other than that, the immensely talented actor gives a decent performance and carries the entire film on his shoulders. All other character actors are commendable. Child actor Pratyush as the son is charming. Bharti Bhatt, Badrul Islam and Manav Kaul are superb. Jeetendra Bisht appended with his two sidekicks is side-splitting.

Daayen Ya Baayen is a simple but stretched film. It’s elongated yet enjoyable to an extent.
     http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/media/entertainment-/entertainment/Movie-Review-Daayen-Ya-Baayen/articleshow/6821628.cms 

नॉएडा में कब और कहाँ लग रही है बताते रहिएगा साहब

Instead of 4.45 it can be obsolutely possible at 4.50. No one would object.