Wah Taj, Trailer and Preview: Heritage fight

‘Wah’ is an Indian expression, roughly equivalent to the English ‘wow’ or ‘great’. The Taj in the title refers to Taj Mahal, India’s biggest tourist attraction, among the Official New 7 Wonders of the World. It was elected by more than 100 million votes, to represent global heritage, and announced at the Declaration Ceremony, on 07.07.07. Among the many brands the monument has spawned are the Taj group of international luxury hotels, run by the billionaire Tata family, and a tea, marketed by a multinational food and beverage company. “Wah Taj”! is a pun that is used as a tagline for the tea, which has been promoted by top media personalities for decades.

On the 8th of September 2016, 463 years after the monument to love was completed, a group of media-persons were invited to attend the launch of a film trailer. The film is called Wah Taj, though it does not have even a remote connection to the tea or the hotels. But yes, it has a lot to do with the wonderful edifice in Agra, built by the fifth Mughal Emperor, Shah Jahan (1592–1666, full name Shahab-ud-din Muhammad Shah Jahan, also spelled Shah Jehan), grand-son of Akbar. No less a personality than Amitabh Bachchan has lent his voice to the trailer, which suggest that the film is a black comedy leveraging on a universal tourist attraction to highlight the plight of the Indian farmer, who tills the country’s land, deserves to be treated on par with a building that has been built upon the soil

Shreyas Talpade and Manjari Fadnis (sometimes spelt Phadnis) star in this modern day parable about a Maharashtrian farmer who suddenly finds some papers in his attic that establish his ancestral claim over the land where the Taj Mahal stands today. The interiors of Maharashtra have been plagued by dwindling agricultural land and failing crops, leading to scores of suicides in recent years. In the context, this windfall is a treasure that the farmer decides to lay claim upon. “The land belongs to me. Demolish the Taj Mahal,” he demands. So begins the court-room battle, legal fight for the heritage site.

Writer M. Salim told me that the idea came to his mind when he was visiting the Taj. He saw that a huge crowd had turned up, as it does every day, and wondered how much money is generated by the entrance fees alone, and where does it go. Inquiries revealed that the amount is huge, and that all of it goes to the Central government’s coffers. Salim lives in Mumbai, not too far from the suicide-ridden districts, and a plot began to germinate. Incidentally, Salim, a TV serial veteran, has earlier written films like Aatma, Hey Bro and Love Recipe, all of them sharply contrasting with the plot of his latest penmanship.

Immensely gifted Shreyas Talpade and the seductively vulnerable Manjari Fadnis play the farmer and his wife. They were both dressed in their film costumes, and looked every inch their parts. Manjari got a few hormones pumping with very little between her neck and her last vertebra, a point that Shreyas brought home at least thrice, even making her turn around, for the benefit of eyes and lenses. Seated in the first row was his wife Deepti, and he nodded at her as twirled Manjari. Also present was actor Hemant Sharma, whose face has immediate recall value for those who have seen his iconic series, Office Office. He was happy to have been cast as a villain. Two other actors, Rajeev Verma and Vishwajeet Pradhan, were conspicuous by their absence. (Vishwajeet later used the social media to plug the film, insisting that it was worth seeing, and not because he was in it).

Talpade is directing a film for the Deol brothers, Sunny and Bobby (sons of actor-producer Dharmendra, and actors-producers in their own right), but was reluctant to say anything about that project, except that he is thrilled at the faith they have reposed in him. Producers and co-producers of the film include Jayantilal Gada, of Popular Entertainment Network (PEN), who has been around for over 25 years, but is currently best remembered for backing another off-beat subject recently, Kahani.

It is director Ajit Sinha’s debut. Sinha has been associated with various films, as chief assistant director/researcher. Completed in 2014, Wah Taj was frowned upon by the Central Board of Film Certification, at two stages of approach, for making a highly inflammable film, and denied a certificate for exhibition. Relevance passages of the Indian Cinematograph were quoted in support of their stand. At the third stage, the Appellate Tribunal, it got cleared, without any deletions, but with a UA Certificate, meaning that children can only see the film when accompanied by adults. Music director Vipin Patwa, who attended the event, gave us a sample of his work, a bhajan. There is a sufi song too, and, when asked by this write, he confirmed that it is in the true, traditional qawwali mould.

Talpade, who is proficient in native Marathi, regaled the crowd with some role play and evocative poses. He also recalled that Fadnis had used her charm to get the best lines of dialogue and the most catchy songs apportioned for her role, though she denied any such thing had happened, attributing it to Talpade’s sense of humour. Right from Iqbal, through Welcome to Sajjanpur and more, Talpade has earned his laurels (I shall desist from mentioning a film called Great Grand Masti).

Fadnis, who comes from a Mumbai/Pune Marathi background, has not mastered the language, having studied in military schools in various locations. English and Hindi come to her more easily. In her 14-year career, she has done just about the same number of films, but this is the first time she is playing a rustic Maharashtrian wife. You might recall her roles in Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na and Grand Masti 2. Wah Taj, which should have been released two years ago, hits the screens on 23 September.

Construction of the Taj Complex began about 1631 AD. The principal mausoleum was completed in 1648 AD, by employing thousands of artisans and craftsmen. It took five more years to complete the complex. That makes 22 years. And all this was an ode to the love of his life, by ShahJahan. Known to the world as Mumtaz Mahal, she was born in 1593, and married to the Emperor in1612, at the age of 19. After exactly 19 years of wedded bliss, she passed away. Her real name was Arjumand Banu Safavi, and she came from the royal family of Iran, the Safavid dynasty. I am sure M. Salim is not aware that Arjumand Banu was my ancestor, from my mother’s side, and the story of the Safavids in India was chronicled by my family in a coffee table book a few years ago. Is it material that can turn into a historic epic film? My Irani friends, and some Indians who have visited Iran and seen the influences of the Safavid culture, say it is. Salimbhai, are you listening?

P.S.: We found out at the trailer launch that I had acted in a TV serial that Salim had written: the film fanatic family caper, Filmi Chakkar.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaRQpetZMfk