Review of Kurukshetra

Introduction

Inorder to beat the piracy trade, EROS has decided to author on DVD their newly released films in India as soon as they release, thus making the films come quicker on to the DVD market, beating the piracy trade. However after their collaboration with Indian labs on the DVD`s of Shikari (2000) and Dil Pe Maat Le Yaar (2000) which was not upto mark, EROS hopes to improve thier products to high DVD quality. This is their first title that falls into this category......does it succeed?

Video

The DVD is presented in a widescreen aspect ratio of 2:25.1 which is near its original theatrical aspect ratio and retains the image that the director had shot the film in. The picture quality is further enhanced for widescreen television owners, transferred in anamorphic. This indeed shows the support of original aspect ratios & anamorphic from EROS and one hopes that it continues on future titles.

The print shows small signs of wear and tear in the form of small dust particles and black lines appearing on the print. The print could have certainly be a lot more better if all of these particles were cleaned off as the film was transferred as soon as it was released. The wear and tear will be noticeable to viewers as they will know that the film is brand new and seeing these blemishes on the print might be interruptive. Still it is an improvement on EROS past DVD`s like Shikari, Karobaar (2000) and Dil Pe Maat Le Yaar which had some wear and tear problems. Personally I didn`t mind the minor wear and tear as it gave the film a very distinctive look and help increased the mood and tone of the narrative.

If your worrying about this problem of wear and tear then don`t be as the film still manages to look rather fresh and has a presence of sharpness, with help from the anamorphic transfer, that will burden you with many details images that are both impressive and rather natural. Most of the wear and tear problems are limited to the start, reel changes, interval and end of the film.

The picture showed no signs of any compression artefacts, but due to the small budget and time constrains of the film tiny signs of grain is seen. But this is normal as the film was shot like this and similar grain images was seen when shown on cinema. Even with the grain the picture information is rather precise and never distorted. Even shimmering is down to a minimum as are moiré patterns, only seen in a couple of scenes at the start of the picture.

Colour fidelity is what is expected when a DVD is authored in India, rather colourful and very glossy, seeing as nearly all Indian movies are shot and transfer like that in laboratories. Thankfully the colours are well represented here and are never seen to be distorted or incorrectly coded. The colour green seen in the environment of songs sequences are rather luscious depicting all the shades rather well. The colours also handle mutation and mundane shades with precision, as seen when a sequences takes place in a shanty town set in Mumbai.

Dark and contrast details were also rather exceptional, even beating the theatrical showing of the film as so many shades are seen that help the viewers to understand in all conditions of light.

Audio

The Hindi Dolby Digital is a pure and original 5.1 Dolby track and is an improvement over the many DVD`s from EROS which had a weak 5.1 surround system, manly most of the DVD`s I have referred to in this review. All channels have a great time pumping out sound without difficulties at all. Clarity and tone is handled as expected from a 5.1 mix, while the front mix creates a presence of a 180 degree field around you that is very involving and helps the imaging of the film.

The surround mix is also rather aggressive but only comes into play during a music sequences/score or when action is involved. Very dynamic in range and aggressively used, but in minor instances. A soundtrack that was original intended by the director and very well done on this DVD. There are no signs of any sound distortion.

Features

Menus are well animated and are easy to navigate, while the overall packaging of the product was rather nice and added value.

No other extras are on offer.

Conclusion

After the many excellent films from Mahesh Manjrekar in a span of just two years, the director decides to look on the values of law after looking at the values of crime in the wonderful Vaastav (1999), which also starred Sanjay Dutt in the lead role. However this films fails to ignite the way his pervious film did due to the rather predictable plot and characterization which has been done in much better films like Shool (1999), Yashwant (1996), & Akyala (1990). Yet this film was a marvel to view solely on performances from the whole cast. If the screenplay was improve to be more realistic and harsher then this film could have been something that would go beyond audiences exceptions.

I should mention the dialogues used in this film. At times it seems reasonable why the film was rated A in India and over 18 in various countries. The dialogues are very ordinary and very obscene. This is perhaps the first major commercial Hindi film which shows the real life in the form of linguistics used in Mumbai that adds tone and mood this film needed to be different from the others. Dialogues are indeed well written but it will certainly offend some viewers. I was also pleased that the Indian censor didn`t cut them out seeing as the film was rated A (Over 18). Hopefully censorship will be more open with Indian films which are rated U/A (Over 12) or A.

Sanjay Dutt seems to be on top form in all of his movies for the past two years, and continues to provide an excellent portray of a police commissioner. The role is suited to him physically and his maturity in age, and helps audiences to engage into his acting rather well. The rest of the cast do a formidable job as expected in a Mahesh Manjrekar film. The song score fails to generate melodious tunes, the technical values seemed rather rushed as the film was shot rather quickly and while the climax was very well handled the scene after it showing him in a Janta Ki Adalat television programme was very crass and was not needed. Still it is an entertaining film but not one of Mahesh Manjrekar`s best.

EROS shows signs of definite improvement after the previous DVD releases of Shikari, Karobaar & Dil Pe Maat Le Yaar. This DVD boasts great images and sound.