Making
a
film
mocking
the
sacred
cows
isn't
easy
in
this
country
where
every
artiste
stumbles
on
a
sensitive
organisation,
green
saffron
or
yellow,
every
step
along
his
way.
Film:
Dharam
Sankat
Mein;
Cast:
Naseeruddin
Shah,
Paresh
Rawal,
Annu
Kapoor;
Director:
Fuwad
Khan;
The
makers
of
Dharam
Sankat
Mein
(DSM)
must
be
applauded
for
going
where
angels
and
agnostics
fear
to
tread.
Of
course,
Raj
Kumar
Hirani's
PK
did
it
recently,
how
can
we
forget?
And
before
that
Umesh
Shukla's
Oh
My
God
(OMG).
Much
of
Rawal's
performance
in
his
new
religious
satire
is
a
repeat
of
what
he
has
already
done
in
OMG.
Now
there
is
the
added
responsibility
and
burden
of
representing
the
BJP.
Rawal
takes
on
the
tricky
task
of
being
both
non-religious
and
finally
hugely
respectful
towards
all
religions.
To
make
his
pro-government
stand
even
more
cogent,
the
film
is
shot
in
and
around
Ahmedabad
in
the
lives
and
colonies
of
Gujarati
families.
This
gives
the
narrative
a
quaint
and
comfortable
lived-in
structure
even
when
the
dialogues
raise
thorny
issues
on
the
Great
Religious
Divide.
The
film
outwardly
seems
to
scoff
at
ritualistic
religion.
The
script,
derived
from
Josh
Apignanesi's
"The
Infidel" turns
the
satire
on
anti-Semitism
to
a
pro-Islamic
statement.
The
very
idea
of
talking
religion
so
openly
on
screen
seems
audacious
enough.
There
are
scenes
in
the
early
part
of
the
film
where
Rawal's
Gujarati
Hindu
character
scuffles
verbally
with
his
Muslim
neighbour,
played
with
emphatic
elan
by
Annu
Kapoor.
These
scenes
are
the
backbone
of
the
film.
The
dialogues
penetrate
sacrosanct
spaces
occupied
by
both
the
religious
orders,
offending
both
and
thereby
hurting
none,
so
to
speak.
Hats
off
the
Rawal
and
Kapoor
and
the
dialogue
writers
(Alpesh
Dixit,
Sanjay
Sharma,
Vijay
Desai)
for
the
absorbing
lines
shared
by
the
two
characters.
Pithy'
the
words
are
lost
in
contrived
translation.
In
trying
to
be
faithful
to
the
original
material,
Dharam
Sanket
Mein
ends
up
being
a
bit
of
a
botch
and
a
whole
lot
of
hash.
The
twist
when
Rawal's
wife
suspects
him
of
having
a
homosexual
affair
with
his
neighbour
fitted
in
well
into
the
original.
Here
it
looks
forced
and
embarrassing.
"Tumhe
kya
lagta
hai
main
gay
hoon?
Main
bilkul
straight
hoon," Rawal
chuckles
to
his
screen
wife,
making
you
wish
he
was
gay
after
all...Perhaps
the
tedium
of
tirelessly
lampooning
ritualistic
religion
would
have
broken.
The
film's
main
dramatic
core
when
Rawal
discovers
his
Islamic
parentage
is
squandered
in
trying
to
be
sassy
and
funny.
Throughout
the
film
while
Rawal
discovers
his
religious
identity,
audiences
become
more
and
more
confused
about
their
own
religious
allegiances.
Adding
to
the
identity
crisis
are
the
songs.
Punjabi
star
Gippy
Singh
shows
up
dancing
to
Bhangra
beat
whose
significance
is
as
hard
to
decode
as
the
reason
why
Naseer
would
take
up
a
role
so
ridiculously
over-blown.
Naseeruddin
Shah
as
the
Hindu
godman
Neel
Anand
Baba
is
quite
evidently
modeled
on
a
certain
self-styled
rock-star
guru.
Naseer
seems
to
have
a
lot
of
fun
chanting
the
cheesy
lines
and
being
extra-friendly
with
female
devotees.
The
fun,
alas,
never
filters
down
to
the
audience.
There
is
an
inherent
dryness
to
the
drama
that
is
hard
to
ignore.
And
even
harder
to
digest.
As
the
screenplay
serenades
a
stupendous
surfeit
of
absurdities,
you
are
left
counting
the
blessings
inherent
in
the
theme
of
infidelity.
It
gives
filmmakers
the
freedom
to
think
out
of
the
box.
Though
how
far
that
freedom
is
taken
is
entirely
a
matter
of
individual
vision.
Dharam
Sankat
Mein
has
some
lucid
moments
of
self-questioning
where
the
religious
divide
is
pungently
scrutinized
and
satirized.
Hilarity
at
the
cost
of
organised
religion
is
not
an
easy
target
to
achieve
for
any
filmmaker.
This
films
achieves
a
remarkable
threshold
of
thoughtful
humour.
Though
a
lot
of
it
is
gradually
eroded
by
over-punctuated
satire,
this
is
that
rare
film
which
takes
potshots
at
the
religious
divide
without
offending
anyone.