Attention to the smallest detail in a film can go a long way in helping it reach out widely. In filmmaker-writer Vasan Bala’s sophomore feature, Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota ( The Man Who Feels No Pain ), it’s the witty, intelligently thought out (and not merely literal) subtitles that help convey the essence of the Indian pop culture references to a Western audience.
So, Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth get referred to as Tom Hanks and Vin Diesel, “Matunga Ka Feroz Khan” becomes “Mumblecore Justice League” and the code words “ komdi mein somdi ” roll out as “Ninja Stealth Cat”.
A mad, frantic potpourri of Bollywood iconography, right from the title, inspired from a recurring dialogue in Amitabh Bachchan’s 1985 Mard — Jo mard hota hai usko dard nahin hota hai (a real man does not feel pain) — to the punchlines, the film could have easily passed the international festival crowd by. But the first ever Indian entry in the Midnight Madness section — devoted to genre films — at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) 2018 didn’t just garner love and appreciation but also went on to win the Grolsch People’s Choice award in the category.
Mard Ko Dard… held its own, steady and solid, at the press and industry screening. Things got better and bigger at the first public screening in the 1,200-seat Ryerson Theatre. “The audience was interacting with everything, was high on energy,” says Bala. He compares it to the Indian single-screen experience — at a Chandan or Aurora in Mumbai, for instance. “It was how I saw movies as a child. No one was holding back, everyone was out there to have a great time.”
Mard Ko Dard… is about the vulnerable superboy Surya (Abhimanyu Dassani) who suffers from congenital insensitivity to pain — he cannot comprehend the threshold of pain. The weakness eventually becomes his strength. Surya plunders through several VHS tapes of action films, dreams of defeating 100 opponents in a kumite tournament, has to keep drinking water to stay hydrated and has a thing against chain-snatchers. His grandfather Ajoba (Mahesh Manjrekar) fires his dreams. There is more eccentricity by way of a one-legged karate master, Karate Mani, and a clichéd psychotic villain, Jimmy.
From Django to MGR
What helped the film forge a strong connect, I ask Bala. “Having conversations with my childhood self,” he says. Filmmakers such as Alfonso Cuarón, Guillermo del Toro and Quentin Tarantino have also been doing the same.
Martial arts movies and action comedies (that have inspired his film) unite childhoods, Bala says. “A question like ‘have you seen a Jackie Chan film’ can be a conversation starter, a way to bond.” Mard Ko Dard… is not entirely blood and gore as genre films are known to be. Bala’s love letter to the movies he grew up watching (from Amar Akbar Anthony to the Franco Nero-starrer Django , from Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon to Peter Jackson’s first zombie outing Bad Taste , from Jackie Chan to MGR action films) is crazy yet not outrageously so, and curiously endearing.
Despite being a fan, he is not entirely in awe of genre films and brings his own peculiar touch to it. In fact it’s a quintessential “underdog wins the day” story, both when it comes to the hero and the film (made at a budget of less than $2 million dollars). Nobody expected either to succeed.
Bala eventually takes Mard Ko Dard… back to Stephen Chow’s “grounded in reality” films that were all to do with an underdog who is yet to discover himself. “All of them instilled hope,” he says.
Then there is delectable whimsy, gloriously brought out in the “love at first fight” sequence, with Kishore Kumar’s classic ‘Nakhrewali’ playing in the background as a badass Supri (Radhika Madan), while duelling goons, finds her way to Surya’s heart.
Emotions keep pace with the action, but the energy and jocular tone, the wit and eccentricity, are never compromised on. Bala treats the genre with respect and intelligence without getting too serious or uptight about it. It’s a fun and steadfastly entertaining ride with a fantastic hero-heroine and Gulshan Devaiah, Manjrekar, Jimit Trivedi and Shweta Basu Prasad in supporting roles, all bringing the house down.
The film also manages to tap, however unconsciously, into issues like toxic masculinity and gender inclusion, currently the hot topics at TIFF. “By centreing the story on Surya, an empathetic young man who feels no pain, and Supri, complex enough to beat up bad guys but still perform the role of a dutiful daughter, Mard Ko Dard… taps into current anxieties despite being a genre film,” says Aparita Bhandari, Toronto-based journalist and producer of Khabardaar podcast.
There is a line at the very start of the film: “ Har mindblowing kahani ke peeche bahut bure decisions hote hain (There are many bad decisions behind every mindblowing story).” Were there any in the Mard Ko Dard… story? There were many false starts and the film was almost abandoned, says Bala. It took six years to put Mard Ko Dard… together, finally with producer Ronnie Screwvala on board. It took shape on the editing table in the hands of editor Prerna Saigal, his wife, while raising their first child.
The mindblowing turn for Bala, whose festival-hopping Peddlers (2012) is yet to find commercial release, would be to see Mard Ko Dard… released and screened in Chandan or Aurora where he himself grew up watching films.
The writer is in Toronto at the invitation of TIFF.
namrata.joshi@thehindu.co.in
