Review of Aks The Reflection

Introduction

Aks is Hindi cinema`s first big budget attempt to make a complex supernatural action thriller that borrows much from American films like Fallen, Seven & Face Off. Yet this film is one of the kind never seen before on Indian screen and goes deeper into the psyche of a disturbed individual.

The film starts off like an action film with extreme and impactful editing, cinematography that tell its own story with each frame shot, and unbalanced colours which sets the tone and mood for unease. But then the whole style changes when a turning point occurs within the plot half way into the film. The unease mood turns to one of darkness, with shadows and lighting evolving more on screen, thus helping the plot to become one of the supernatural.

Indeed these literal on-screen film techniques are a marvel to view as the film literally goes beyond just telling a story on screen. It channels our thought process and after viewing you somewhat feel that you have experience something extraordinary but can never put a finger on what. Its only after your second or third viewing of this film you can see what makes Aks so compelling.

The technical values look extremely detailed and well constructed. What makes it even better is that it actually helps in telling the story and is not just presented to look great. It has a purpose and serves the looking audiences well, its something many Indian and Hollywood films are now lacking = visuals with purpose.

The screenplay is one that has been thought of carefully. It is also one that ends up being very intellectual and to some viewers could be one that is disturbing. The characters in this film are not simple they are all three dimensional, having both normal and dark ideas about life as all beings do. It tackles all subjects possible, from death to marital rape, and is done in a away that is not offending on-screen but completely effective in your mind.

Credit goes to both the cast and the crew for taking on such a difficult subject and turning it into something amazing. Amitabh Bachchan excels in his main role and many scenes will showcase his brilliant unseen talent by the western audiences. It is one that deserves an award nomination. His movement, dialogue & presence is deeply encapsulating, even when his character undergoes a massive change in the plot, becoming the root of evil. It is his best work to date since the 1975 blockbuster film Sholay. Raveena Tandon as a stripclub worker also brings something new in Indian cinema. Her look and performance is stunning and impressive.

Aks is director Rakesh Omprakash Mehra début feature film, after directing music video`s in India. It certainly is one that shows promising signs of a career, which I will be following closely.

Video

The DVD is presented in a 1.85:1 letterbox widescreen aspect ratio. This was completely upsetting for me as a viewer since the film was shot in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1. The excellent cinematography is completely butchered as cropping has a very much intrusive presence on this DVD. To make things worse EROS have advertised on the DVD box that this film is presented in anamorphic and in its original aspect ratio! This is a complete lie and EROS should change the box design.

Furthermore it looks like the disc was incorrectly encoded. When you set your DVD player as "wide" mode then the film plays as a letterbox 1.85:1 ratio. However when you set the DVD player as "letterbox" mode then the film plays the cropped 1.85:1 video, squashed onto a 2.35:1 frame. The anamorphic encoding was incorrectly flagged, and this disc should be recalled and redone.

The picture quality is quite poor. Some compression artefacts can be seen, and film grain is present during some special effect shots. The film source used showed some signs of film dirt and also had crazy number markings flashing on the screen in certain places. If the source came from an interpostive print then it would have fixed this problem, but instead EROS have decide to use an old cinema print.

Dark details are weak and this furthers makes viewing quite hard on this disc since the film was shot with minimal lighting, and much scenes become hard to understand. Colour saturation was too weak in places and some scenes had colour bleeding problems. Lack of sharpness also showed weak picture information. Picture quality is bad on this disc.

Audio

The Dolby Digital 5.1 Hindi soundtrack features ordinary fidelity. Sound effects are spread for a compelling sense of space within the 360 degree circle around you. While the music score by Ranjit Barot is at times both engaging and expansive within the multichannel sound mix. However some light hissing and noises can be heard during quieter portions of the film. This suggests to me that indeed a poor source was used.

Features

The DVD comes in a two DVD set; one disc with the film (DVD-9), and one disc with extras (DVD-5). The extra disc is only filled with press kits issued by producers to advertise the film on satellite and cable TV. The disc contains an average 45 min making of feature, which does have some behind the scenes moments. But the cast and crew commending themselves too much on the excellent job they have done.

Next up is an interview feature which seems to be edited from the making of programme. The cast and crew revels furthermore revelations about the film. Both of these features have some entertaining values but are not one you will be watching twice.

The film come in two optional subtitles; English and Spanish. Both subtitles will make non-speaking Hindi viewers understand the film, altought a couple of grammatic errors can be seen. Menus for both discs are quite dull.

Conclusion

The DVD is a major disappointment as it has ruined a wonderful film, which had excellent production values that will never come across this disc. Avoid this version at all costs.