Kaminey-Pure Film Noir

Film Noir literally means Black movie. The name was given by French critics for the black & white low-budget Hollywood movies released between 1940 & 50's. Though these movies were produced on extremely shoe-string budget (if we consider big budget films like Gone with the Wind) but their content were very high. A typical film noir was based upon crime story published in pulp magazines like The Black Mask. Writers like Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Dorothy Hughes were very popular among producers. What impressed the French critics to apart these movies from regular buffs is the use of camera. The low key black & white visual style has roots in German expressionist cinematography. Cinematographers like John Alton had key role in making beautiful noir movies. Hindi films like C.I.D & Aar Paar (both produced by Guru Dutt) clearly inspired from noir's.

In recent time we have considerably number of movies which can be called as Film Noir. Ek Chalis Ki Last Local, Manorama-Six Feet Under, and Johny Gadddar are some of the films. Vishal Bhardwaj's Kaminey is the latest entrant.

The characters should be either in black or white shades. As we can see in Kaminey every character except Guddu is selfish. Everyone is using someone else. Bhope bhau, the two Anti-Narcotic Cell inspectors, Tashi the gangster, Bengali bros., Charlie & Mikhail are clearly portrayed in black shade. Sweety Guddu's love interest is actually a simple character but she had been forced to marry Guddu. Even the jockey and the small child in Bhope bhau's house is also shown selfish. Kaminey fulfills first criteria of Film Noir but not in full sense. A pure Film Noir tells story of a private detective or a police inspector but we will forgive Mr. Bhardwaj.

The second criterion is use of camera. Tassaduq Hussain's cinematography is excellent; the use of colours, camera angles, camera's frantic movements and outdoor locations in shooting reminded me of Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire. The low key visuals and use of bluish shade made the movie more tense and dark.

Charlie's 'Booking Window' and 'half naked Charlie racing along with White Horses' are the best images I've ever seen in recent time. In Omkara also Vishal uses similar kind of images to show protagonists psyche.

For me Kaminey is more than Film Noir. It is the use of a genre to show the reality of a big metro. After Raj Thackeray's campaign against North Indians this film shows its cosmopolitan face. Use of Marathi, Hindi, Bengali, English dialogues without subtitles to show Raj Thackeray and his gang that Mumbai is for all Indian's not for single region. There is one scene in which Vishal wanted to make know his observations on Mumbai's civic problems. Mikhail is in his sports car and Charlie is running, they had a race, in this scene the camera is placed behind Mikhail, it's raining heavily and the car goes through potholes. We can literally feel the bumps. Vishal wanted to illustrate us that regionalism is not Mumbai's problem but good civic facilities are its forte. Raj Thackeray should make their agenda by focusing on employment, civic facilities, shelter for poor and helpless people, peace not vote banking.

Vishal Bhardwaj, Raj Kumar Hirani along with Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra are the three best directors in contemporary India. They use tried and tested commercial formula to discuss some of the present-day issues India is facing.

At the end, I hope they would give us more meaningful movies which would be considered as classics down the line.

Sayonara!!!