HEY RAM

A vintage look at the partition of India and Pakistan, Hey Ram is Kamal Haasan’s second directorial venture. It deals with a very controversial subject and is presented in a way that is unlike any other film that has dealt with it before. He says, in his own words, that the film isn’t trying to recreate history, but rather it shows our history in a different light. This is quite different from what we learn in school! What do you think?

The movie starts from the deathbed of an 89-year-old man, Saket Ram (Kamal Haasan), with his grandson by his side. As the film continues, Saket Ram slips into a flashback, where he is working on the Mohanjedaro site in Karachi as an archaeologist. Amjad Khan (Shah Rukh Khan) is accompanying him there. There is much merry making and dancing with their fellow English Sahibs until then.

As Saket Ram visits his wife Aparna (Rani Mukherjee), the movie takes an unexpected turn. There is already a lot of strife in Calcutta due to Jinnah’s demand for a separate Pakistani state. All hell breaks loose when Saket Ram saves a Sikh girl from an angry Muslim mob. The mob led by Aparna’s tailor- Altaf, breaks into Saket’s house, assaults him, ties him down and very gruesomely rapes and murders his wife.

This is a real hair raising scene and also very well shot, especially the scene where they show Rani’s throat slit and blood oozing, ugh! Saket Ram becomes maniacal after this, killing every Muslim in sight in retaliation for his wife’s disgrace.

While on his apparent sortie, he encounters a group of Hindu fundamentalists led by Abhyankar (a Marathi stage actor). He is told by Abhyankar that the Hindus should unite and protect their brethren from the Islamists, whom he thinks are just intruders from across the Khyber.

Saket Ram, under the influence of alcohol, consummates the marriage, allowing Kamal Haasan to include yet another sizzling scene. His responsibility is then shifted to assassinate Mahatma Gandhi when his friend Abhyankar is paralyzed in a bizarre accident. However, upon getting swept up in a conflict between Muslims, Saket Ram regains his senses and reunites with old pal Amjad Khan, an enthusiastic Gandhi supporter. But both become trapped in the battle and Amjad eventually gets hit by a bullet.

Kamal Hasan as Saket Ram / Bhairav

Shahrukh Khan as Amjad Ali Khan

Hema Malini as Ambujam, Mythili’s mother

Rani Mukherji as Aparna

Girish Karnad as Uppili Iyengar

Naseeruddin Shah as Mahatma Gandhi

Om Puri as Goel

Vikram Gokhale as Maharaja

Saurabh Shukla as Lalvani Sindi

Nassar as Ibrahim – a Police Officer

Abbas as Dr. Munavar

Atul Kulkarni as Shriram Abhyankar / Ramakrishna Pande

Sowcar Janaki as Mythili’s grandmother

Vaali as Bhashyam Iyenger , Mythili’s father

Iravati Harshe as Nafisa

Vasundhara Das as Mythili

A vintage look at the partition of India and Pakistan, Hey Ram is Kamal Haasan’s second directorial venture. It deals with a very controversial subject and is presented in a way that is unlike any other film that has dealt with it before. He says, in his own words, that the film isn’t trying to recreate history, but rather it shows our history in a different light. This is quite different from what we learn in school! What do you think?

The movie starts from the deathbed of an 89-year-old man, Saket Ram (Kamal Haasan), with his grandson by his side. As the film continues, Saket Ram slips into a flashback, where he is working on the Mohanjedaro site in Karachi as an archaeologist. Amjad Khan (Shah Rukh Khan) is accompanying him there. There is much merry making and dancing with their fellow English Sahibs until then.

As Saket Ram visits his wife Aparna (Rani Mukherjee), the movie takes an unexpected turn. There is already a lot of strife in Calcutta due to Jinnah’s demand for a separate Pakistani state. All hell breaks loose when Saket Ram saves a Sikh girl from an angry Muslim mob. The mob led by Aparna’s tailor- Altaf, breaks into Saket’s house, assaults him, ties him down and very gruesomely rapes and murders his wife.

This is a real hair raising scene and also very well shot, especially the scene where they show Rani’s throat slit and blood oozing, ugh! Saket Ram becomes maniacal after this, killing every Muslim in sight in retaliation for his wife’s disgrace.

While on his apparent sortie, he encounters a group of Hindu fundamentalists led by Abhyankar (a Marathi stage actor). He is told by Abhyankar that the Hindus should unite and protect their brethren from the Islamists, whom he thinks are just intruders from across the Khyber.

Saket Ram, under the influence of alcohol, consummates the marriage, allowing Kamal Haasan to include yet another sizzling scene. His responsibility is then shifted to assassinate Mahatma Gandhi when his friend Abhyankar is paralyzed in a bizarre accident. However, upon getting swept up in a conflict between Muslims, Saket Ram regains his senses and reunites with old pal Amjad Khan, an enthusiastic Gandhi supporter. But both become trapped in the battle and Amjad eventually gets hit by a bullet.