| Author | Message | ||
     Filmbuff Comedian Username: Filmbuff Post Number: 1442 Registered: 11-2011 Posted From: 203.83.248.32 Rating: N/A |
Overall the movie left me underwhelmed, like most movies nowadays. Either i have become jaded or my bar has risen. Vishal Bharadwaj, for the most part, could not decide what kind of tone he wanted for the movie - the movie is neither a full blown satire (like Khosla ka ghosla) nor it is a serious movie (like a Shanghai or Hazaaron Kwaishein Aisi, one of my favourite Hindi movies ever). The movie alternates between these two tones, making it quite inconsistent. You have a couple of scenes where the movie runs like a PG Wodehouse script then it suddenly becomes something like a Shyam Benegal or Govind Nihalani movie. VB is a good writer, his understanding of language, behaviour etc is very nuanced. However most of the characters look underdeveloped. He does not build any empathy for the villagers, lot of unnecessary scenes that could have been edited and instead used that screentime for developing characters, even the role of Shabana appears undercooked. He also resorts to traditional stereotypes - heroine is the usual chirpy girl (the characterisation in 99% of Indian movies), the groom is the bumbling ass, the leftist JNU revolutionary.. etc I did like the wordplay in the movie, am sure people up North would have caught some of the lingo better. Pankaj Kapur is excellent, you just want to have more of him on screen, Imran is surprisingly good, Anushka wears short dresses and jumps around.... In handling the same issues but with a tighter screenplay, consistent messaging and a longer smooch - Shanghai did a much better job. |
