Cast: Anita Kanwar, Lalit Tiwari, Gopi Desai, Manish Gupta, Aditya Lakhia
Director: Kamal Swaroop
When I got the news that PVR is releasing 'Om Dar B Dar' after 25 years of its 'origin', I felt 'different'. Was the film incomprehensible in 1988, was it made ahead of its time, and are we ready to 'understand' it now?
The surreal montage of images still seems disconnected and after repeated viewing you may get a sense of a particular scene, but this process will be so exhausting that ultimately you will start questioning your own logic. Basically, you will be back to the point where you began.
Is this an acceptance of not understanding the visual language used by Kamal Swaroop? Certainly not, but then how can one be sure of a particular meaning. The images (I don't dare to call them plots) are the representation of to and from movement of ideas. What does this mean? This means, the filmmaker is on a trip which may or may not absorb you as an outsider viewer. If you connect to a particular scene then it's completely a result of your own experiences in life. For example, there is a character in the film which says, "Jao anusuchit ho jao." Also remember, it was made in 1988 when Mandal-Kamandal ruled the roost. However, in some other scene you will see the same character saying, "Wahan jao jahan ghadiyal tumhe nigal nahi sakta." Such things can be interpreted in several ways. It could be anything from running ahead of the time to taking solace in the past.
You see the dissection of a frog in 2-3 scenes, and began to believe it as the common thread, but once it stops appearing on the screen, you start doubting your mental conditioning. Why do we need to be provided a common thread all the time? Isn't it because of the Hindi and English film industry which always forced on portraying a complete 'story'? Some of our most read mythological texts also have three act structure, but what about a film which uses mythology as the reference point of absurd and bizarre developments.
Gayatri (Gopi Desai) and Jagdish (Lalit Tiwari) are 'involved' because he gives her a lift on his cycle. Oh I forgot, this happens when they hear each other's voice on radio. Now, the 'Vividh Bharti' kind of radio is cramped inside rural boundaries, so some of us may not get the connotation of Jhumritalaiya.
I guess I am deliberately making a mistake of mistake of reading between the lines. There have been Avant-garde writers who didn't bother about subtexts; they wrote what came to their mind. It's like 'the theatre of the absurd' which believed there is absolutely no meaning of life and we commit a mistake when we 'try' to find one.
The mise-en-scene covers Ajmer, a city in Rajasthan, which is close to Pushkar. Interestingly, the drama never shifts out its basic premise, though there are references of Dubai and some other places.
'Om Dar B Dar' challenges your depth, to say the least. You are free to reject the film out-rightly, but you will keep doubting your decision throughout the process, which means it will remain in your sub-conscious as an unsolved mystery. In short, what's the point of the exercise of understating a film forcefully!
"Mere pass hone ke liye zaroori hai ki mera sapna fail ho jaye," can't this line be interpreted in at least 4 ways according to the interpreter's age? This is the beauty of Kamal Swaroop's extremely discreet film.
'Bablu Babylon se, Babli telephone se' and 'Meri jaan AAAAA...' are two songs in the film, which can also serve as the release points for relatively 'commercial' viewers. Over the years, several directors have copied the idea shown in these two songs and the spectators treated them as master storytellers. Just imagine, if the diluted form of 'Om Dar B Dar' can do so much what effect would the entire film have on them, if seen in entirety.
Trust me, it's just fine if you don't understand it, but don't even think of skipping this film which has acquired the cult status even without hitting the screens ever. Kamal Swaroop can be anything from a wayward wanderer to a genius, but he has made 'Om Dar B Dar' an altogether distinct 'experience'. You are not allowed to miss this film.
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