B.A. Pass

A movie so great that it simply blows your heads off. Every character is grey. No one is moral and every body is a victim of circumstances.

The film is the pinnacle of movie making. the sheer audacity, rawness, and unrealistically realistic treatment creates magic on screen. and believe me one time is not good enough.Director Ajay Bahl has handled sexuality in a very mature manner, without being sensationalist.

I'm the kind of person who watches movies for their rawness and realism.Udaan,Dev.D,Gangs of Wasseypur,Shaitan and Kaminey are among my favourites.Now I'll add B.A Pass to my list.

Don't miss this one!

Ajay Bahl's debut film starts off with brilliantly, and creates an intriguing atmosphere, but ends unsatisfactorily. It's a coming-of-age tale of innocence lost and conscience compromised. What starts off as playful seduction, Mrs. Robinson/ Hanna Schmitz style, spirals into a chain of prostitution, lies and betrayal. Even with an interesting story and well-shot scenes, the screenplay and the lead's (Shadab Kamal) acting failed to properly show the sense of urgency and desperation. Though the film's approach towards themes like poverty struggles, empty marriages, sexual urges and escort systems is commendable, it fails to explore them properly and deeply. Though the movie is well-made, and quite bold (for Hindi Cinema), when the whole ordeal is over, you're left with an odd aftertaste, not sure of what to think.

Though Shadab Kamal looked cute and innocent enough for his role, his acting was little single-pitched. Shilpa Shukla was mesmerizing as the seductress and lady pimp.

Good effort.

Victimized and exploited by the neon-lit dreamy world of pleasure & passion, middle-class aspirations & expectations for a better life often find a road going nowhere but to a convinced end near the dark dell of death.

Ajay Bahl's erotic but sensitive adult-thriller B.A.PASS dares to replicate-recreate a modern-day 'quite harsh & dark in reality' real world set in the Pahargunj area of Delhi, celebrated or rather infamous for banned provisions of ideas to get high on life. Prostitution and sex-rackets is just one of them and also the premise of the film that hasn't been touched before on such brutal level.

Adopted from a short story 'The railway Aunty' by Mohan Sikka, it is a saddening story of a young man who, after losing his parents in an accident, is now bound to live with his 'not so-kind' aunt. To make things worst, purposely he becomes a sex-slave to a sensuously attractive lady of seduction. The game of passion & pleasure that too with so much of easy money involved in it, soon lands him in the darker and deeper world of male prostitution. The more colorful it looks in night, the more drained & hollowed it sounds in daylight.

Beautifully shot, smartly conceived, nicely written and confidently performed by first-timer Shadab Kamal & the immensely impressive and bold Shilpa Shukla make it an honest effort that touches you with its bravura but brutal portrayal of sex, seduction, depression, desperation, dejection, oppression and betrayal. Divyendu Bhattcharya & Rajesh Sharma provides a good supporting cast. Deepti Naval in her 2-scene guest appearance leaves a mark.

But at the last, it is Ajay Bahl who impresses you with his confident take on the story to create a sensitive thriller out of it, rather than lurching on making it a sleazy sex-drama. Though the aesthetically shot love-making scenes are an essential part but sometimes they look just a distraction from the gritty story-line.

Subject may sound as a pleasurable watch but I would not misguide you as the sensuously bold posters of the film suggest you. It is a film of merits but not for masses who fancy tickling in the lower part of body more than sensing 'staying for long' bleak human emotions.

No pun intended and not that many colors to be honest. The rest is sort of "if you know, you know". But that aside, let me say up front that I am quite surprised by how the movie tackles certain things. Do not expect nudity in this, but just the fact that it does engage in erotic situation alone ... I did not expect that at all.

I mean a movie that has to put a disclaimer (while the movie is running on the bottom of the screen), that smoking is bad for your health ... well you know you can't really do everything or rather show everything. Although violence does not seem to be an issue here either. Not that there is too much of it. But certain scenes may offend you ... depending on your thresshold and how sensitive you are of course. The ending is a bit of shocker ... and may make you give this a point more than I did.

The movie is an adaptation of the story railway aunt and its just fine noir The highlight was the aunt character played by Shilpa Shukla, who stole the entire movie. The thing that made me like this movie is the uneasy ambiance surrounding the poor boy throughout the movie. The scenes when the boy takes his feelings to the zenith when his sisters were troubled and when he is treated as a servant in his own relatives' house were shown so aptly. Had few issues like the reason the boy took up 'that' job/gig (see the movie and you'll know it) is still questionable to the book writer/director. The screenplay is cool for a débutant but could've made far better with such a twist in the climax.