Ram Gopal Varma and his cadre of Film Makers are respected and feared at the same time by the Mumbai Film Industry which is comprised of three factions-the older Yash Chopra's who have lost touch and they are the dinosaurs of the Industry. The younger crowd the likes of Johar clearly have prostituted their talent by falling into the fishnet thrown by the likes of SRK, whose motive is selfish and enriching at the expense of the Industry. Then there is the middle ground the likes of Ram Gopal Varma, Vikaram Bhatt and Nagesh Kukunoor, who have the courage and conviction, but they and their actors are chastised and black listed by the SRK/Johar crowd. I will see any movie from the RMG Banner with some reservation like "Dharna Mana Hai" which is more an aberration than norm. The best movies the Banner has produced were "Mai Madhuri Dixit Banna Chaahte Hoon", "Bhoot", "Company" and "Ab Taak Chappan". This movie is in the lines of "Teen Dewarien" by Kukanoor with a starking and violent female prison infested with gangs who prey on the new entrants like locusts nothing different from a male prison but more vicious. Prison movies are never a Commercial success since there are not located on the slopes of Switzerland where the main leads can dance to a 24 piece orchestra conducted by a Malik or a Rahman. Urmila Matondkar who is a discovery of Ram Gopal Varma has given an impeccable performance in a movie that the other actresses would shun away from. Saif Ali Khan who is one of the better actors with the last name Khan has done a superb job. The thing that stands out with this actor is his diction with a voice fit for an actor unlike Salman Khan who delivers his dialog like an obscene phone call. This movie is testament to the belief that good actors invariably end up with good directors or the other way around as in this case, Sriram Raghavan. The movie is spell binding with great authenticity of the prison scenes. This is one of the movies you derive pleasure from watching instead of the false sense of satiety of watching the the filth that is delivered in the name of cinema most of them dtarring the ugly Sharukh Khan Salman Khan and Amir Khan.
Review of Ek Hasina Thi
