[ad_1]
Vishal Bhardwaj has been making movies for over 20 years now but a large section of the movie-going audience started paying attention to him only after he made films like Maqbool and Omkara. However, long before he made films that are now considered some of the best that 21st century Hindi cinema has to offer, Vishal made a children’s film that starred Shabana Azmi as a witch who turns little children into farm animals, and Shweta Basu Prasad as Chunni and Munni, twin girls who are chalk and cheese.
When Makdee released in 2002, it was a unique children’s film that catered to a younger audience but unlike many films of its genre, it didn’t talk down to its core audience. In India, children’s films aren’t seen as a lucrative proposition as such, what would explain their severe scarcity? But when Vishal Bhardwaj started making Makdee, he decided to treat it like how one would treat a coming-of-age film but shot like a thriller. Makdee was the story of a girl named Chunni whose identical twin sister is kidnapped by a witch and held in a mansion. Chunni goes from being an uncontrollable menace to becoming a responsible and ultimately wiser girl as she dispels the myth of the witch and saves her sister, and village too.
Shweta Basu Prasad and Aalaap Majgavkar in Makdee
Vishal was first making Makdee with the Children’s Film Society, the institute that backed children’s films in India, but they believed it didn’t look like a children’s film in the traditional sense, and rejected it. In an interview with Rediff at that time, Vishal said that they wanted him to “spoon-feed young minds like a typical children’s film of the country.” At this time, the society was being led by director Sai Paranjpe, known for films like Katha and Chashme Baddoor, and Vishal said that she objected to Vishal’s idea of shooting it like a ‘modern-day thriller.’ “I refuse to treat kids like idiots,” he said. So much so that Vishal got the impression that Sai wanted to re-edit his film and he refused to bow down. Shabana Azmi, who had worked with Sai in films like Saaz and Sparsh, was also left “gobsmacked” and couldn’t believe when the Children’s Film Society demanded that Vishal return the money he was given to make the film. But, all of that worked in Vishal’s favour as the film managed to get a wider release than it would have gotten with the film society.
The film starred Shweta Basu Prasad, who was just 10 at the time, and felt just as respected on set, as her character was on paper. In a recent chat with OTT Play, the now grown-up actor recalled that she was never made to feel like a child on set, but she was pampered endlessly. She recalled that she would always be present during meetings and while she wasn’t old enough to understand the technical aspects of filmmaking, she would always be included in the regular goings-on on set.
Makdee showed Shabana Azmi in a terrifying avatar that was enough to give sleepless nights to the young audience. In a scene where Shweta’s Chunni feeds some toffees to the witch, it almost feels like the witch’s nails would dig into her skin as she tries to scare the young girl sitting in her lap. The film hinged on Shweta’s ability to perform as the clever Chunni and the innocent Munni. After Chunni is made to believe that the witch has magically transformed her sister into a hen, you see her having an emotional meltdown in front of the farm animal. The scene completely rests on Shweta’s ability to make you believe that an irrational breakdown is the result of deep-rooted trauma, and she manages it in a way that only children can.
A few years after Makdee, Vishal Bhardwaj made another children’s film called The Blue Umbrella, and while his career is celebrated for the likes of Haider, Kaminey and 7 Khoon Maaf, Makdee, which isn’t available on any OTT platforms, continues to be a timeless children’s film that is just as enjoyable even today.
Click for more updates and latest Bollywood news along with Entertainment updates. Also get latest news and top headlines from India and around the world at The Indian Express.
[ad_2]
