REVIEW: Allah Ke Banday (2)

BOYS TO MEN

Back in the '70s and particularly in Amitabh Bachchan's 'angry young man' films, the protagonist's childhood sequences were used as a ploy to well up his character's angst and frustration about society. It was a foundation for the grand entry of the rebel without a pause, who'd vindicate the cause of the helpless masses. One amongst them, towering over the screen like a messiah. This formula found many clones all through the '80s and the '90s, with little success.

In the case of writer-director-actor Faruk Kabir's Allah Ke Banday, it's the childhood sequences that take up nearly half the film and form the backbone of an otherwise insipid narrative about juvenile criminals and the lawlessness of the city's netherworld. Best friends Vijay and Yakub (both playing with great confidence by unknown child actors) who live in a seedy slum called Bhool Bhulaiya sell charas instead of going to school and dream of getting more than their small 10 per cent cut and enough to afford medical treatment for Vijay's sickly mother (Suhasini Mulay).

They execute a daring daylight robbery at a jewellery store, but when the local ganglord tries to rob them of their share of the loot, Vijay shoots at him in desperation. He doesn't die at the boys' hands, but they get framed for his murder anyway, and land up in a juvenile home that's brings alive visions of hell.

The warden (played as a marvelous cliche by Naseeruddin Shah) picks them out for special attention and they're beaten up, raped and tortured. But through it all, they manage to keep their spirit alive, come out several years later as grown men (Sharman Joshi and Faruk Kabir) and plan to take over the same slum where they once lived.

The second half, which shows them snuffing out local gang-lords (very sketchily etched) with the help of an army of children drawn from the neighbourhood, gets messy. Their only real adversary is a reformist school teacher (Atul Kulkarni, high on ham) who tries to talk sense into them. There's also a girl who Vijay takes a liking to and a moving scene with the erstwhile warden at a cafe.

But that's about all there is.