The Tashkent Files
U/A; Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Director: Vivek Agnihotri
Cast: Mithun Chakraborty, Naseeruddin Shah, Shweta Basu Prasad, Mandira Bedi, Pallavi Joshi, Rajesh Sharma, Vinay Pathak, Pankaj Tripathi, Vishwa Mohan Badola, Prakash Belawadi, Achint Kaur, Prashant Gupta
Ratings: 

Based on true incidents, director Vivek Agnihotri's Tashkent Files, is a fictionalised film with cinematic liberties. In form, it is a blend between a courtroom drama and an online game with different task levels. In purpose, while seeking answers to the mysterious death of India's second Prime Minister, Lal Bahadur Shastri, who died on January 11, 1966, in Tashkent, it implores you, as a citizen of the nation, to question for, "your right to truth".

The film has a kind of stark simplicity: Apart from a brief set-up and a briefer epilogue, a major portion of the film takes place within the four walls of an inquiry commission which is so akin to a jury room, as nine prominent and responsible citizens headed by politician Shyam Sundar Tripathi (Mithun Chakarobarty) debate on the "common conspiracy theory", that surrounds Shastri's demise.

It is an open fact, and no denying it, that there have been various theories surrounding the mysterious death. The Shyam Sundar Tripathi Commission is set up after the investigative journalist Raagini Phule (Shweta Basu Prasad) is coerced by an anonymous well-wisher cum source, into writing an article that digs into the nation's past.

The well-wisher dishes out nuggets of information via a telephonic conversation which appear like stages of an online game.

Soon, Raagini is also roped into the Commission for being a journalist who has done a lot of investigation on the subject. She propels the narrative and drives home her point based on the Mitrokhin Archive II, which is a collection of handwritten notes made secretly by the Russian KGB defector Vasili Mitrokhin.

Dedicated to the journalists of India, the film, on the face of it appears balanced, but the tone and texture of the narrative definitely appear slanted. Sample this; "Gau bhakt, topi pehnewala baba, kaun the?" This question subtly and surely ignites a sense of underlying brotherhood that forces an ignorant viewer to seek the truth.

And so, on the pretext of speaking the truth, the narrative digs out the bitter and indigestible political history of our country. Also, while smirking at our democracy and our education system, the film makes each one of us feel guilty as it opens a Pandora's Box but shows us nothing that we are not aware of. And the last frame, stating that the facts mentioned in the Mitrokhin Archives have not been proved or verified till date, clearly shows that the plot along with the dialogues, is clever and manipulative.

This is a film where tension comes from personality conflict, dialogue and body language, not action. The drama within the confines of the claustrophobic room appear forced and staged.

On the performance front, the film is Shweta Basu Prasad's canvas. She is effective as the ambitious, yet vulnerable Raagini. She holds her steady against the dynamic Mithun Chakraborty, who gives an equally new and varied dimension to his Shyam Sundar Tripathi.

The duo are aptly supported by an ensemble cast which includes; Pankaj Tripathi as Gangaram Jha, Mandira Bedi as the social activist Indira Joseph Roy, Pallavi Joshi on a wheelchair as the historian Aiysha Ali Shah, Rajesh Sharma as a prominent government contractor Omkar Kashyap, Vishwa Mohan Badola as the aging Justice Kurian Abraham, Prakash Belawadi as the senior bureaucrat GK Anantha Suresh and Prashant Gupta as Vivendra Pratap Singh Rana, all members of the commission.

Naseeruddin Shah as the master brain politician PKR Natrajan and Vinay Pathak with a scarred visage as Mukhtar, the person who helps Shweta unearth the mystery in Tashkent, have their moments of onscreen glory.

Mounted with ace production values, the visuals of the film do not boast of any cinematic brilliance. The songs with the lyrics, "saare jahan se achcha" and "sach jalta hain" are lost in the narrative.

Overall, with aggressive pacing, the film is well-researched and potent in nature. But with the timing of its release and the undertones in its messaging, this film appears to be a propaganda film that neither ignites any patriotic fervour nor journalistic appeal.

Also Read: Vivek Agnihotri's The Tashkent Files lands in legal trouble

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The Tashkent Files
U/A: Mystery
Director: Vivek Angnihotri
Cast: Shweta Basu Prasad, Mithun Chakroborty
Ratings: 

Guess who's watched Steven Spielberg's The Post (2017), based on the New York Times' Pentagon Papers revelation, given that an envelope filled with a certain case-file (in this film) mysteriously lands up on a newspaper reporter's desk, piquing curiosity, and leading finally to an exposé as front-page news the following day. There is also a gravelly voice of the unknown "source", guiding the journalist in this film, all through the case. The anonymous caller refers to the reporter as his Deep Asset. He seems more like Deep Throat himself.

And so the other mother of political-journalistic dramas, Alan Pakula's All The President's Men (1976), on the Watergate scandal, has also been dutifully checked. If anything, the brief for Naseeruddin Shah, who plays a wily minister, spouting one-liners on the murky art of politics, may well have been Kevin Spacey from House Of Cards.

That said, The Tashkent Files, beyond all else, is essentially modelled on Sidney Lumet's courtroom drama 12 Angry Men (1957), which was brazenly, blatantly lifted by Basu Chatterjee's Ek Ruka Hua Faisla (1986) - without any context whatsoever, given that jury trials had already been abolished in Indian courts by late '60s, early '70s.

To be fair, this film provides some background to why a grand-jury/committee has been appointed by the government - with that young newspaper reporter herself on board! Never mind. Actor Shweta Basu Prasad plays this lead role, and she does a fine job, by the way. So does everyone else - Mithun Chakroborty, Pankaj Tripathi, Prakash Belawadi, Pallavi Joshi, Mandira Bedi - in what's a rather fine line-up for any film.

The aim is to probe supposedly strange circumstances under which Lal Bahadur Shastri, India's second Prime Minister, died in his hotel/chalet in Uzbekistan (then USSR), after sealing a deal with Pakistan, post 1965 war. Was Shastri poisoned? Or did he die of cardiac arrest, as officially recorded? The group in the room delves into this mystery, presumably 53 years after the event!

Frankly, call it propaganda if you will, we must welcome this genre, regardless of the quality of recent output, that have mainly targeted folk from Congress - right from a tiny portion of Sacred Games (Rajiv Gandhi), to films like Indu Sarkar (Indira Gandhi), The Accidental Prime Minister (Manmohan Singh, Sonia, plus Rahul Gandhi) - putting faces to actual names, without fear, even if on account of (currying) favour.

Sure, this goes down well with the current dispensation, otherwise trigger-happy with censorship of all kinds, films foremost. The fact is that, barring notable exceptions, Indian, or at least Hindi cinema, has been bereft of robust political commentary, and an iron curtain has been lifted from an unexpected quarter.

God knows deaths of Shastri, or for that matter, Subhash Chandra Bose (also widely referred to in this pic) aren't the only local mysteries. There have been many question marks over possibly political motives behind several prominent deaths, some of them more recent: Haren Pandya, Lalit Narayan Mishra, Justice Loya, Gauri Lankesh … This is apart from a staggering number of politicians who keep dying in either car or copter crashes (Munde, Pilot, Scindia, etc).

The meat of the material (book-quotes, interviews) on Shastri's demise, before the writer-director (Vivek Agnihotri) - most of them apparently accessible to public - is however scant enough to be reproduced (as is, with a voice-over) in a 15-min video. Rather than sit through over a two-and-half-hour long feature, that in its effort to spin a thriller, instead of grabbing you by the eye-balls, throws up such garbled, gunny-bag gyanpatti, so much bak-bak, you constantly feel like stepping out of the hall of darkness, for a smoke break (no; don't wanna know what the filmmakers were smoking).

And so practically everyone sitting in this 12 Angry Men style committee is essentially a terrorist: "intellectual terrorist," (historian), "social terrorist" (NGO activist), "judicial terrorist" (retired judge), "TRP terrorist" (print journalist!), "racial terrorist" (someone who judges people for their religion, which incidentally is not a race anyway)…

If you must know more: There is call-back to 26/11 attacks, parliament attacks, CWG, 2G (scams)… So-called secular folk will apparently come with a fauj (army) to go after everyone in this country. "Bloody, heartless, capitalists," savages will kill us with fries and cola. And socialism is the ultimate evil, anyway.

This, coming from a filmmaker, who I'm told popularised the term "urban naxal" on Twitter, referring to the relatively affluent, who care for the completely marginalised - arguing that this is all done with the intent of destroying the 'nation'! Not going to judge him personally. He's allowed his hate/opinion, or general lack of empathy. Certainly not falling into that Twitter trap.

But this is the sort of know-all, grand con-spiracy theory picture - regurgitating catch-phrases like "presstitutes", "Lutyens Delhi," "fake news" - that emanates from a world-view wholly derived from spending far too much time on social media.

The gist of this juvenilia (that 15-min vid) is at best, currently Juhu-Versova's version of JFK then, ideally forwarded on your uncle's Whatsapp group. No, nobody's reopening any files for this, or getting rattled up to relook at laws (as was the case with the Oliver Stone masterpiece). A whole lot might just get bored, though. I'm just waiting for this genre to grow. Baby steps, I guess.

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Illustration/Uday Mohite

I am looking for a sapiosexual guy." That's the line, which ran below the photograph of a gorgeous woman, on writer Jaidev Hemmady's Tinder page. Chancing upon it a few months ago, Hemmady had two options - either swipe left or right. He chose the latter. Why? "I had never heard the word before. It immediately aroused my curiosity," the 35-year-old recalls. Thinking of it now, Hemmady tells us it was probably his most foolish decision ever. "When we did begin to converse, I asked her what she meant by sapiosexual," he says. She said it was "fascination for intellectual men". "So, would she choose an average-looking man with the IQ of a rocket scientist?" To his surprise, the girl typed in a 'NO'. "He has to be both, handsome and smart," she insisted.

One possible reason for this artifice in vocabulary could be the nature of online dating. Here, as everywhere else, first impressions matter. Only last week, IllicitEncounters.com, UK's leading dating website for married people, released a survey after analysing four lakh profiles, where it threw a few words of caution when describing oneself on dating apps. While words like 'confident' and 'honest' earned a good score, 'shy' and 'happy' were major put-offs. With technical details playing a key role, relationship coaches are now being roped in to add finesse to people's dating profiles. When we enquired, most coaches claimed that 50 per cent of their clients were currently investing in online image building. The rules may differ for each, but if you want to be a smooth player in the swipe game, here's what you could do.

Ritesh Uttamchandani

Treat profile pic with kindness
Some time ago, freelance photographer Ritesh Uttamchandani was asked if he was interested in clicking profile shots for dating apps. "Some of the photos you see on these apps are horrendous, boring and repetitive," he rues. Uttamchandani, who joined a few dating apps out of sheer curiosity, says that because of the nature of his job, it wasn't hard for him to see through the sham behind the lens. According to him, there are four kinds of set images common to most profiles - the side profile, the exotic destination shot, the selfie and one that flashes a facial asset. Of the four, he advises avoiding the selfies. "Pout selfies are the worst."

If Uttamchandani is thinking aesthetics, London-based Dr Siva, who is a physician and relationship expert and runs drsivacoaching.com, says that the profile picture also reflects how serious you are about the dating game. "Larger women should not be ashamed of their body type. Men like women who are comfortable in their own skin," claims Dr Siva.

Mumbai-based Shiva, the head coach of Real Man Academy, which runs dating and seduction workshops, advises following the ABS rule. A implies having pictures that show you lead an 'active' lifestyle. B means portraying a 'bold' body language. (Example: no crossed legs). S is showing off your 'social' circle. "If there are women in your photograph, it's good, because it shows they are comfortable with you."

Nidhi Sharma

Be quirky with your bio
"Be original when describing oneself," says Nidhi Sharma (47), personal branding coach at Bon Impressions in Mumbai. "Never put up an inspirational quote in your bio. It would be stupid to believe that someone is going to date the person who scripted that quote," she says. Instead, she suggests writing something that reflects your attitude towards life. Elizabeth Sullivan, a dating coach, who runs Lovementor.com in London, advises using positive language to describe oneself. "Add some humour.

But, don't force it because people can see through it." Hemmady says, "I prefer women who don't shy away from talking about their food adventures."

Dr Siva

After you've been swiped right
According to Nidhi, a lot of men come across as being very forceful and persistent, once they've got a right-swipe from someone they have taken a liking to. "Begin with a 'hello, how are you?' even if that means sounding a tad bit formal. Let the rapport develop before getting personal," she suggests.

Also, when your 'prospective date' messages, do not respond immediately, says Shiva. "It shows you have lots of free time. At a subtle level it communicates that she/he is the only person who is texting you."

Being online all the time can also be a turn-off. "That shows you don't have much going on in your life. Especially on weekends, be completely offline. As the saying goes, fake it till you make it," Shiva says. Online dating is just a tiny window to your world. "It's a practising tool, until that door really opens," Sullivan says.

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