Battlefield blues

SPENDING IT

IN A post-film interview, J P Dutta quite gallantly refused to comment on his four-hour plus post-Kargil epic LOC Kargil, but couldn't resist playing the last-minute usher's role and blurting out: "It's better than Saving Private Ryan."

Forget being close to Spielberg, it would be safe to say that out of the many hyped war movies that India has produced, LOC Kargil would not have much of a problem occupying the lowest rung.

It's difficult to comprehend how a man who has composed scenes of 35 mm poetry in lavish sand dune dramas like Batwara and a sleeper gangster masterpiece like Hathyar could let such rubbish pass the editing table without a cut.

Apparently a crore has been spent already in trying to reduce the audience and the distributor's woes by reducing the film by around 30 minutes. But word of mouth, Mr Dutta, is more potent a weapon, than the Bofors guns, at least when it comes to box office casualties.

The film is shot lavishly with multiple cameras, a huge crew, real battlegear and artillery and the biggest star ensemble money can buy "" but sadly, without a script.

So what we see, is first a parading of the stars from Devgan to junior Bachchan, making their grand entries, repetitive flashbacks with their love interests, a couple of song-athons and then the repetitive war reconstruction sequences.

Somewhere between the cacophonic background score and the blotting paper-faced higher authorities belting out instructions and 'well done' with equal morbidity, the tension of lives and honour at stake, while negotiating mines and mortars is well and truly lost.

The problems of the film are further amplified by the caricature-like portrayal of the brave men . But when Dutta does wring out pathos from an audience , he uses the worst of cliches "" slo-mos of bullet-riddled martyrs dissolve into frames of their respectives beaus singing sadder versions of sad songs.

If your ears are still ringing post-LOC, what better antidote than EMI and Virgin's recently released anthology.

The two music labels have consistently been bringing in chartbusting music from across the world, in better assortments than most other labels.

So when they tied up with New York-based India Archive Music, one wondered whether they would be able to come up with stuff that could sit alongside the musical wealth of HMV in shop shelves.

Rashid Khan's rendition of "Megh Malhar" puts all such speculation to rest. The protege of the late Nisar Hussain Khan saheb, has created monsoon magic in a rendition that can well and truly be compared to Ustad Amir Khan's immortal "Barkha Ritu Ayi".

The bonus "Bhairavi" thumri will make many Rashid fans wonder why a proper thumri compilation of the maestro has till date not been compiled.

Among the other stand-out recordings are Sitar Samrat Vilayat Khan's sombre, intense version of "Shree". The Imdadkhani harkat during the raspy gat is vintage Vilayat, something which many live concert regulars probably miss nowadays.

But who are we to 'expect' things from a genius who once turned down the Padma Vibhushan on the grounds that the selectors were incompetent to judge him!

Contrasting sharply with the Ustad's sacred puritanism, is sarod superstar Amjad Ali Khan's 'brand new' creation Raag Tribute to America.

Amjad has, in the past composed utterly forgettable ragas, which he alone performs, like Tribute to Germany and Priyadarshini (dedicated to Indira Gandhi).

This one is no exception. The saving grace in this CD is his interpretation of the Bhimpalasi, which apart from his rich tonality, has nothing very new to offer.

Cassettes for Rs 75 and CDs for Rs 245.