You know you love movies when over a freakishly early morning flight, having had two hours of sleep the night before, you still choose on flight entertainment over catching up on much needed rest*. And so how fitting is it that the movie in question was Bombay Talkies, Bollywood's tribute to 100 years of Indian cinema.
When the film released over a year ago, I remember reading laudatory reviews of Karan Johar's short about a couple in a loveless marriage and the upheaval caused when a young man arrives on the scene. Johar of course deserves credit for veering into untested waters, but inspite of the mostly solid acting (Randeep Hooda as Dev is fantastic) I lost interest about halfway through-unforgivable in a 20 minute film. I think the issue was a tonal shift from understated** to weirdly melodramatic where people are slapping each other, then kissing, then slapping around again. Which would have been fine if we could believe the dry straitjacketed Dev to be capable of that kind of emotion. It begins well though, and the unfolding of the events in the movie while framed by the street kid's rendition of 'Ajeeb Dastaan Hain' was great. Another neat sequence was when Saleem drags Hooda to listen to the child sing. It's the sort of scene we have seen in more conventional love stories before, but here it works because an unconventional courtship is treated so lightly.
That said, I would have liked Johar's short much more had it not been followed up by Dibakar Banerjee's odd little film. Because that's a man who understands tonality. And the importance of lived-in, real characters. In one introductory scene a lower middle class couple is cleaning their tiny Mumbai apartment in perfect harmony. The wife is hanging out clothes in the balcony while standing, feet apart on the railings, and the husband while sweeping the floor passes nonchalantly from underneath her spread legs. But such a realistic backdrop doesn't stop Banerjee from introducing heavy doses of whimsy. After all, when was the last time that a Hindi film introduced an emu as someone's 'bigdi hui laadli'? I could talk a lot more about the film, but then the review would veer towards gushing.
The third film was Zoya Akhtar's story about a young kid (played adorably by a child with the most innocent smile) who wants to be a dancer. The point of view character is the child, so the treatment of the subject-simple-works rather well. Katrina Kaif makes a special appearance and stinks at even playing herself. She (her character) gets the best dialogue in the film though- 'Sometimes you have to keep your dreams a secret'.
The last short in Bombay Talkies is Anurag Kashyap's rather uncharacteristic feature about a man's (Vijay's) quest to meet Amitabh Bachchan. Uncharacteristic so far as the trailers of his films are concerned-my vociferously mainstream tastes have always prevented me from actually watching the full length feature. To my surprise there were no dark undertones and morally debauched characters-the short's U ratedness would have made Hrishikesh Mukherjee proud. Some moments were laugh out loud funny, when Vijay assures the guard at Bachchan's home that the actor would welcome him since he was from Allahabad as well, and the guard, from Kanpur wouldn't understand. Kashyap's biggest victory though is that he makes us care for Vijay and remain invested in his journey. I couldn't bear to look at the screen when the jerk on the train drops the murabba container on the floor (I was hoping he would eat it though-that would fit into the tribute to Bollywood theme).
Overall, Bombay Talkies makes for a fun viewing experience. I have one issue though-a celebration of Bollywood should have incorporated some decent songs. All we get however is an insipidly picturized mish-mash of movies through the decades as end-credits. Disappointing.
*And then spend all the time in the waiting lounger blogging about it.
**It is Johar we are talking about, so not that understated.
When the film released over a year ago, I remember reading laudatory reviews of Karan Johar's short about a couple in a loveless marriage and the upheaval caused when a young man arrives on the scene. Johar of course deserves credit for veering into untested waters, but inspite of the mostly solid acting (Randeep Hooda as Dev is fantastic) I lost interest about halfway through-unforgivable in a 20 minute film. I think the issue was a tonal shift from understated** to weirdly melodramatic where people are slapping each other, then kissing, then slapping around again. Which would have been fine if we could believe the dry straitjacketed Dev to be capable of that kind of emotion. It begins well though, and the unfolding of the events in the movie while framed by the street kid's rendition of 'Ajeeb Dastaan Hain' was great. Another neat sequence was when Saleem drags Hooda to listen to the child sing. It's the sort of scene we have seen in more conventional love stories before, but here it works because an unconventional courtship is treated so lightly.
That said, I would have liked Johar's short much more had it not been followed up by Dibakar Banerjee's odd little film. Because that's a man who understands tonality. And the importance of lived-in, real characters. In one introductory scene a lower middle class couple is cleaning their tiny Mumbai apartment in perfect harmony. The wife is hanging out clothes in the balcony while standing, feet apart on the railings, and the husband while sweeping the floor passes nonchalantly from underneath her spread legs. But such a realistic backdrop doesn't stop Banerjee from introducing heavy doses of whimsy. After all, when was the last time that a Hindi film introduced an emu as someone's 'bigdi hui laadli'? I could talk a lot more about the film, but then the review would veer towards gushing.
The third film was Zoya Akhtar's story about a young kid (played adorably by a child with the most innocent smile) who wants to be a dancer. The point of view character is the child, so the treatment of the subject-simple-works rather well. Katrina Kaif makes a special appearance and stinks at even playing herself. She (her character) gets the best dialogue in the film though- 'Sometimes you have to keep your dreams a secret'.
The last short in Bombay Talkies is Anurag Kashyap's rather uncharacteristic feature about a man's (Vijay's) quest to meet Amitabh Bachchan. Uncharacteristic so far as the trailers of his films are concerned-my vociferously mainstream tastes have always prevented me from actually watching the full length feature. To my surprise there were no dark undertones and morally debauched characters-the short's U ratedness would have made Hrishikesh Mukherjee proud. Some moments were laugh out loud funny, when Vijay assures the guard at Bachchan's home that the actor would welcome him since he was from Allahabad as well, and the guard, from Kanpur wouldn't understand. Kashyap's biggest victory though is that he makes us care for Vijay and remain invested in his journey. I couldn't bear to look at the screen when the jerk on the train drops the murabba container on the floor (I was hoping he would eat it though-that would fit into the tribute to Bollywood theme).
Overall, Bombay Talkies makes for a fun viewing experience. I have one issue though-a celebration of Bollywood should have incorporated some decent songs. All we get however is an insipidly picturized mish-mash of movies through the decades as end-credits. Disappointing.
*And then spend all the time in the waiting lounger blogging about it.
**It is Johar we are talking about, so not that understated.
No comments:
Post a Comment