BA Pass
Year: 2013
Director: Ajay Bahl
Cast: Shadab Kamal, Shilpa  Shukla, Dibyendu Bhattacharya

A film about a gigolo- a guy getting paid to get laid!

Bollywood has indeed come a long way. That’s why we are seeing movies on such explosive, explicit themes. But is BA Pass just some sleazy soft porn or is there more to it?

What’s the plot?

After his parents’ accidental death, a young college student (Shadab Kamal) is forced to stay with his aunt’s family, while his two young sisters are shunted to a ladies’ hostel. His feeling of isolation is further compounded by the discriminatory treatment handed out at his new residence. In his aunt’s kitty party, a wealthy lady (Shilpa Shukla) spots him and invites him home. An illicit affair begins at the behest of the lady, who doesn’t just stop there and turns the lad into a sex-toy for a secret circle of frustrated middle-aged housewives. But what will happen when these dangerous liasons are exposed? Will his unlikely friendship with a grave-digger (Dibyendu Bhattacharya) save him from the shattering consequences?

What’s hot?

·         Director-Cinematographer Ajay Bahl superbly captures the dark, dangerous and ultimately depressing tale set in Delhi’s Pahargunj district.

·         The plot based on Mohan Sikka’s short story ‘The Railway Aunty’ works on many levels. It is as much a story of a lonely young lad, getting manipulated by the vicious world; as it is of unfulfilled lives, giving in to lust, greed and betrayal.

·         Shilpa Shukla delivers a powerful performance of a cold, calculative adulterous seductress.

·         Shadab Kamal is convincing as a young vulnerable college boy, who gets sucked into a vortex of misadventures and misfortunes.

What’s not?

·         The multiple hot bedroom sequences and explicit dialogue are not suitable for family viewing.

·         A taboo theme for many viewers.

·         A stark, dark film featuring a little known cast.

Verdict

If you belong to the conservative ‘Clean Wholesome Cinema’ brigade or to the ‘Entertainment-Entertainment-Entertainment’ mass movement, then stay miles away from BA Pass. It won’t pass your test!

But if you are an open-minded movie-buff willing to try out different cinematic genres, then it is a film worth watching for its hard-hitting realistic portrayal of human mind’s (and body’s!) frailties and failures. It is a film that goes much beyond the seedy bedroom activities, bringing us face to face with a morally complex, wicked side of the world about which many of us hardly know anything!

Rating

3 ½ stars.