Review: 'Allah Ke Banday' has a racy script, solid performances

Film: Allah Ke Banday
Cast: Naseeruddin Shah, Sharman Joshi, Atul Kulkarni and Faruk Kabir
Director: Faruk Kabir
Rating: ***

Ishqiya, made by debutante director Abhishek Chaubey, was 2010’s first film worth lauding. Later in the year came another first-time director Vikramaditya Motwane’s Udaan, followed by Peepli Live, which marked Anusha Rizvi’s debut.

In a year when debutante filmmakers have led the way and brought fresh concepts to screen, comes another decent effort from first time writer-director, Faruk Kabir, in Allah Ke Banday (AKB). The film may not be as impactful as the other three, but it’s definitely a compelling watch.

AKB is about the lives of two kids, Vijay and Yakub, who are from the slums of Mumbai – the city’s ‘Bhool Bhulaiya’ – and part of a network of children employed by ganglords. The boys are fearless and in a hurry to become ‘bhais’ in their own right.

Even at 12 and 13, they plan the robbery of a jewellery store to the minutest detail and also ‘double cross’ their boss. When a man is stabbed, they make sure they steal every last valuable on the dying man, showing no mercy or pittance. After all, they live in a merciless world themselves.

After a plan goes awry, Vijay and Yakub land up in juvenile prison, and their infamous reputation follows them in. They are in on a murder charge, which means more ‘ijjat’ from the other convicts, as Vijay puts it. But the warden of the jail (Shah), who runs a tight ship, won’t let the two kids have it easy.

Along with some of the older boys, the warden begins a process of torture which changes the two kids into hard, vengeful boys in stead of softening them like the warden would ideally want. Soon, they take their revenge by killing one of the older boys, which leads to the warden’s suspension.

Following the incident, Vijay and Yakub become quasi-bosses in prison. Eleven years later – after completing their term – the two re-enter Bhool Bhulaiya once again, older, smarter and even more ruthless this time (Joshi and Kabir play the grown up Vijay and Yakub). And their thirst for power and money has only grown.

Even though there have been Hindi films made on life in prison, like Ek Haseena Thi and Jail, this is the first time a film touches on the life of juvenile prisoners since Salaam Bombay. The film also has traces of Sleepers, where Kevin Bacon played one of the brutal prison guards who rapes juvenile prisoners.

But Kabir’s story – that of kids being used as part of a crime network – is largely original and his screenplay is peppered with enough twists and turns to keep you hooked. Unlike films that have kids growing into older actors within fifteen minutes of screen time, Kabir takes his time to narrate the life of the children and then gives equal footage to how they are transformed into older, hardened criminals.

His story is bolstered by solid actors like Sharman Joshi, Naseeruddin Shah and Atul Kulkarni as the school teacher who stands up against the older Vijay and Yakub. Kabir himself pitches in with a surprisingly decent acting debut as the slightly sanki Yakub.

The film’s two stand-out performances, though, are by Kulkarni, who appears only post-interval but manages to make an impact, and by Joshi, who proves that he can pull off lead roles with aplomb, if the right story comes along.

While Kabir impresses with his writing and not-so-bad acting skills, his treatment doesn’t always live up to the film’s potential. The background music is jarring, and seems to be used as an unnecessary device to lend the film the ‘thriller’ effect.

Also, AKB could have done without the unnecessary melodrama and the ‘bimaar maa’ angle. When the kids are pronounced guilty by the judge, Vijay’s mother – played by Suhasini Mulay – cries on screen for what seems like an eternity.

After another intense sequence, the camera focuses on the convulsing faces of the two children, while a female singer croons a high-pitched song in the background. Kabir needn’t have resorted to such unnecessary gimmicks, and could have made a bigger impact by keeping it subtle.

Overall, though, Allah Ke Banday manages to impress with an interesting plot, a fast-paced screenplay and some good acting. Recommended.