If Satya and Company were filmed on the actual streets and crowded slums of Mumbai, it was Parinda which broke new grounds by shooting on real locations to show the harsh reality of street crime.
The depiction of Mumbai underworld was shifted from glossy, theatrical spectacles to gritty, grounded realism. Actually, Parinda set the stylistic and thematic blueprint which influenced crime masterpieces like Satya and Company.
Though Shiva too deserves a mention, but Parinda (in Bollywood) focused on the complex moral dilemmas and vulnerability of mobsters.
Also, there were no clear heros in Parinda (a sort of exploring the gray areas between good and bad). This was also seen in the main characters of Satya and gangsters in Company with criminals still having human feelings.
The supporting character of Anna (Nana Patekar) made a great impact which was also seen in Bhiku Mhatre’s (Manoj Bajpayee) character in Satya.
The difference being Anna had a manic, psychotic and chillingly quiet demeanour while Bhiku Mhatre was loud, magnetic, vibrant and highly unpredictable in contrast to Anna’s cold ruthlessness.
Chopra used dark moody lighting and shadows to give a serious look in Parinda. Varma further used this dark “Mumbai Noir” style to show a gritty city.
He too adopted dark, shadowy and realistic visual style which perfectly matched the serious and dangerous tone of his stories. The natural sounds and silence were smartly used to build tension in Parinda.
Varma hired expert sound designers to make the gunfire and city noises feel real in Satya and Company.
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