23rd March 1931: Shaheed

In the collection of films such as Lagaan and Rising, Shaheed comes across as rather grim but otherwise does a great job of describing another key moment in Indian history. I will never stop envying Indian cinema for the perfectly positive point it manages to wring out of any similarly problematic subject - whether it's anti-British revolutionaries or problems within its own ranks (typically in Water with the plight of widows). Shaheed's pacing is not easy to adapt to, yet the narrative style is abundantly helped by the ubiquitous music and winged revolutionary speeches that have had the same character and punch all over the world since the French Revolution. Of course, in addition to the reigning Deol actors, I really appreciated the item with Aishwarya, which helped the overall promotion of the film and reminded it where it would have otherwise fit in. (13/07/2011)