Rediscovering RGV's Satya
DECADE OF AGGRESSION
Sometime in 1998, a dear friend dragged me to a nearby theatre to watch a film that had been getting rave reviews from all over. I wasn't too keen on watching a film, and didn't feel like watching a movie filled with mostly unknown faces. Even more because my friend's interpretation of the reviews made it sound like a boring, artsy flick made to impress critics. Despite my protests, I was arm-twisted into spending a couple of hours watching a movie I didn't want to, just because my scheming friend had already bought two tickets in 'black'. Ten years on, Ram Gopal Varma's Satya remains the best Hindi film I have ever seen.
TECHNIQUE AND BRUTALITY
How do you show an ordinary man who comes to Mumbai, the city of dreams, with absolutely no intention of becoming a movie star or an industrialist, getting sucked into and later taking control of the underworld? J D Chakravarthy was perfect for the role of Satya, mainly because he didn't look like a Hindi movie hero. Bearded and plain-dressed, he could pass off as a normal man you'd see on a local train. How he suffers the misfortune of meeting Jagga and his men and getting beaten up by them, being framed and jailed and the subsequent scuffle with gangster Bhiku Mhatre, an event that reshapes Satya's destiny.
How do you detail the characters who become important parts of this man's life and the story? Not just Satya (the protagonist) or Bhiku Mhatre (Manoj Bajpai, the actor who walked away with the accolades), but every single character, all of them, even the ones who would seem insignificant (to other filmmakers) have been fleshed out so well and portrayed so brilliantly.
Ram Gopal Varma must've had a razor-sharp vision for this movie, for everything is in place. Be it the editing, the screenplay, the dialogues, the script or the performances, Satya remains an unparalleled force in cinema, and not just Hindi movies.
NEXT PAGE: Manoj Bajpai is to Satya what Amitabh Bachchan is to Don
URBANEYE
Mehta has gone mad..........But seriously, "ram gopal
varma's satya" is "the greatest hindi movie ever
made"
"best bollywood film"!!!
Aditya mehta, you rgv obsessed freak!!! Your writing is
amazing!!!!!
Satya is the best movie from bollywood!!!!!!!
rgv rulessssssssssssss n so does bhiku mhatre
Circa 'satya' era films were belching out
glorification of underworld, overhyped marriage set sagas
and some passable unnoticed other movies. Stylization was in
utter confusion - be it costume, camera, sets, bg score etc.
that is when rgv scored with satya - a movie well at par
or atleast made an attempt to be at par with the likes of a
coppola or scorcese.
i remember people excited during the first half with the
rise of crime and staya getting sucked into the underworld.
However as we emerged out of the theatre as the film ended,
there wasn't much of even a soft murmur...Such was the
state of shock that wore the audiences.
this was because rgv's depiction of violence scarred
the shit out of wanna-be glorified crime gangster yuppies as
well as wanna-be glorified crime gangster film directors!
simply the golden days of rgv, then.
A lot of people must have gone to see this film bored but
curious...And they all came back speechless...I agree that
sholay was a copy, but not just of one movie...Scenes in
sholay have been lifted from a few western films...
while satya is a remake of rgv's drohi
satya is my fav hindi film too and i think it is the best
one of all time
Finally someone wrote about this awesome movie...Surely it
is the best one from india...What a story and acting wow
Best hindi movie ever
Thanks for this article...I often wondered why this film was
of sent to oscars...Indian system and public alike have a
poor cinematic taste...I remember people complaining about
violence and darkness of this movie...