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By
this time, we all know how good
a theme “A Wednesday”
was. It had amazing screenplay,
dialogues, performance and direction.
It is said by a few that Unnaipol
Oruvan (UPO) is the exact replica
of “A Wednesday”.
Comparisons have been made by
many about which version is
better. This post would analyze
both the versions and bring
out their differences. Some
other minute differences have
been skipped for brevity sake.
Places where UPO is
better than Wednesday:
First Scene:
UPO had a more natural feel
to it by showing Mohan Lal narrating
the experience while he takes
his dog to a walk. In the Hindi
version, the Commissioner is
let off after this incident.
Placing Bags: In “A
Wednesday”, Naseer is
shown placing the bags very
obviously (in the middle of
a staircase and within a police
station bypassing two cops in
the process). He makes no effort
to hide the bags. Also, the
rest room is inside the complaint
room of the police station.
Cop Sethu dropping wife
scene: In “A
Wednesday”, the cop Jai
drops his wife at the railway
station. This scene had no importance
at all to the movie and was
just shown to introduce Jai.
UPO made it a necessary scene
by also making Kamal place his
bag in the same scene. Thoughtful
indeed!
At police station:
Naseer is rude to the police
officer within the station.
He tells “What do you
mean by how do things get lost”.
A common man is expected to
talk politely to a cop, especially
when he is on a mission. Kamal
controls his anger with great
poise. |
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Actor
part: In “A Wednesday”,
the actor walks alone to the Commissioner’s
office. He has an unnecessary flashback
scene too. The actor reacts poorly when
the threatening call comes and he hugs the
cop which was uncalled for. Also, commissioner
Anupam makes no effort to look at the demands
of the actor. UPO corrects these flaws.
Introductory Scene of reporter:
This scene is no way related to the movie
in the Hindi version. We have reporter talking
to a guy who survived an electric shock.
All this effort just to introduce her. Kamal
conveys three ideas in this scene- the content
in the TV program, the basis for selecting
the reporter and showing the responsible
common man aspect.
Call Testing: Naseer is
shown receiving a call from his wife and
he answers it before configuring his devices.
After talking to his wife, you find that
all the things are arranged at Naseer’s
end. UPO corrects even these minute flaws.
Government negotiation: UPO gives
more weightage to the Chief Secretary role
as a bridge between the CM and commissioner.
A CM who works at the grassroots level as
shown in “A Wednesday” would
also have no problem in being the negotiator,
but it doesn’t happen. Having the
CM’s voice and showing his house makes
it appear more genuine in UPO. Interactions
and rift between Chief Secretary & Commissioner
are better brought out in UPO.
Other Flaws in “A Wednesday”
that have been corrected in UPO
• Commissioner demanding the Chief
Secretary to come within 15 minutes
• The Hindi version shows
a huge bomb squad arriving, immediately
searching the place where the bomb is kept
and diffusing on their own- all these happen
within 15 minutes
• Commissioner Anupam is shown extracting
information from the agent himself. Also,
the agent lets out the information on just
seeing Arif, what is the background for
the same?
• The cops make no effort to move
the reporter from the police station area.
• Naseer’s photo is shown in
Intelligence report. Not sure how his name
figured in such a short time. Dialogues
like even his wife does not know what he
is doing are strange. That means you have
got the man too!
• The cop telling the Commissioner
“we are always one step behind the
terrorists” is demeaning.
• Arif comes in police jeep to catch
the arms guy, thus allowing him to escape.
• Even in scene where the credit card
lady calls, Anupam interrupts her after
a long time.
• Location: The choice
of an old airport over a secured newly laid
Juhu Airbase is good indeed.
• Using traditional techniques to
draw sketches
• The reporter sees a police escort
vehicle passing her vehicle in the Juhu
Airbase.
• Vehicle Choice:
The choice of the vehicle to escort the
terrorists is done better in UPO. Also,
in Wednesday all terrorists are only handcuffed.
They could possibly launch an attack.
• Asking terrorists to stay near the
bench was not a good option.
• Basis: The narratives
(flashbacks) by the terrorist and the common
man were not gripping
Welcome Additions in UPO
1) Better use of facts- Kandahar, 26/11,
Meenambakkam, Sri Perumbudur, Coimbatore
and Best Bakery. Tied all these together
well.
2) Armory room scene: Good
addition of scenes and dialogues.
3) Having the IIT drop out fact in UPO lent
more credibility to the hacker role.
4) Terrorist locations:
Keeping terrorist in different place (Bangalore)
is well thought too.
5) Making the cop Sethu to rehearse before
communicating to the media and the Commissioner
viewing what was captured during the recording.
6) Making changes in script post 26/11-
Bullet shields and familiarity with call
routing techniques.
7) Religion based: The
way Mohan Lal tries to find out if Kamal
is Hindu or Muslim repeatedly
8) Ending scene dialogues:
Addition of dialogues like Voter id, invisible
man, “Terrorism is instant, why shouldn’t
justice be so”.
9) Last scene- totally
different. In Hindi, you are not able to
figure why Anupam develops a soft corner
for Naseer suddenly.
Scenes where Wednesday is better
than UPO
1) Call tracing was better shown in Wednesday.
2) Before bomb diffusing scene, Anupam’s
dialogue to cop Jai brings out how the cops
are ready to sacrifice their lives.
3) Presentation: The presentation
about the terrorists is much better in Wednesday.
It explains what they did in various parts
of India.
4) Chase scene where Arif
catches arms guy. Having the arms guy caught
by police was better than having him in
ICU and getting him discharged to general
ward.
5) Some dialogues in Ending scene
by Naseer- some dialogues were
too good, The way Naseer tells that my wife
is afraid when I go out, she calls me every
2 hrs to see if I am fine, we are resilient
by force and not by choice, common man was
taking care of household, should I wait
for something to happen to my family member
to take action were very good. UPO has omitted
some of these intentionally because they
were not relevant from a Tamil Nadu context.
Other Aspects:
UPO showed light fading away as the evening
approached. Better choice of the construction
building and other locations.
Acting:
Mohan Lal clearly scores over Anupam Kher
(with all respects to Anupam’s good
work). Mohan Lal brings out the cool, fleet
thinking aspect of this role better.
Kamal and Naseer- both have done exceedingly
well. In a role where you are seated in
the same place and doing a similar action,
Kamal brings out excellent voice modulation
and variations in facial expressions better
than Naseer. The reaction he gives when
he hears the name of the cop itself deserves
a special mention. This extraordinary man
can act like a common man too!
Lakshmi as Chief Secretary enacts a brilliant
performance and so is Ganesh Venkatraman
as Arif Khan
Definitely, UPO scores over Wednesday, in
most of the film making aspects as clearly
evident from our analysis. A remake has
its own advantages and provides opportunity
for correcting the flaws found in the original.
If you have creative minds like Kamal and
Chakri, you are more likely to add fresh
appealing content too and present the film
in the best possible manner. While UPO deserves
all the credits it truly deserves, take
your time to salute the original for its
daring attempt to make a film with No songs,
crass comedy, fights, heroine, larger than
life characters and not sticking to the
conventional duration of films.
Films like these are sure to stay!
Thanks & regards,
Karthik
karthik.cit@gmail.com
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