Baiscope Movie Recommendation #1

This week's recommendation: Prahar, Nana Patekar's directorial debut. The first half of the movie is a hard hitting look at an Indian Army commando training camp, very reminiscent of Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket. The gritty depiction of the gruelling regimen appears very real, mainly because Nana Patekar actually spent time at an army training camp in Pune before writing the script.

The second half of the movie is a Major's attempt to make sense of the civil society, where the black and white rules of the army no longer seem to apply. The Major's need to restore order into his surroundings leads him to take matters into his own hands, and eventually to dementia.

Synopsis (by The Tribune):

NANA PATEKAR’S Prahar spelt out his vision of dispensing justice in a society trapped in a morass of helplessness and indiscipline Maj Chauhan (Nana Patekar) ran a gruelling commando training centre. One of his wards Peter D’Souza lost a leg in an anti-terrorist operation and was discharged from the centre. He took charge of his family’s bakery in Bombay. When he refused to pay protection money to local criminals, he was killed by them. An outraged Maj Chauhan confronted and eliminated the criminals. After trial, the court verdict was that Maj Chauhan had lost his mental equilibrium. He was ordered to undergo psychiatric treatment in a lunatic asylum. Dimple Kapadia and Madhuri Dixit impressed in a deglamourised role, but Nana Patekar stole the thunder as a military Pied Piper.

Highly recommended.