An unfair cut

Dear Mr Priydarshan,

i have watched all the comedies that you made, with the intention to get a good laugh. And i found a strong reason to say that clean topical comedy has been born again because of you. If one director can take the mundane middle,lower middle or lower class setting, preserve their respective dynamism, their many shades, and yet deliver a side splitting comedy, its you. The sharp wit in the dialogues, and the native humour in the situations are all your trademark symbols of new found vigour for laughathons. Dazzling camera and cinematography were always your strong point, well before bollywood woke up to you post Hera pheri. These points are proven beyond doubt in the latest venture of yours called Billoo. i yet again warmed up to the rib tickling fun patented by you, well i almost enjoyed the whole movie, the emotional part well taken too. Well almost. It will not be fair to say that the entry of the superstar Sahil Khan played by Shahrukh was not brilliant. What detailing, what imagery! Wow! And the song settings, exceptional. The wry humour was evident throughout, culminating in the most funny scene of the year, the police inspector's dialogues fumbling one. And finally a well orchestrated climax. Every thing was right, well almost.Here is where the danger zone is, this well almost there thing. For some, it passes off as good effort. For some it just cannot escape extra bit of scrutiny. That is the funny part in the balancing game, just cannot be thinly balanced on a extra heavy plank. A superstar like Shahrukh Khan would need some heavy dose of fireworks to please the masses, not just two songs and a few far between scenes. Not fair Mr Priyadarshan Sir. This is not just a story about Billoo, its about the phenomena called King Khan. Where is the showcasing of your prized ticket? Keeping the two protagonists apart all through? Not fair Sir. You almost scored ten on ten with the rest of your craft, sometimes exceeding past experience, but not at the cost of keeping the highly prized USP under wraps for a full 120 minutes. That has proved fatal. This is a very late review. All the noise around the movie has died down, its over. But i still watched it for you, just to see if i find the reason for the dismal showing. i did. And it just looks like someone snipped the most precious moments of your movie before release. One was half the title, second was the reason this may have hit bulls eye. Change your barber sir, pronto.

WELL D

Er..that would be WELL DONE Mr Anurag, stupendous job as a sensitive, artistically inclined ( although a bit dark) brave new face of bollywood. Well done indeed. You truly are a great student of cinema. Zooming on then,to the bizzarely twisting life of a modern Devdas, one does get the feeling of helplessness and bitterness that some indulgences and prejudictions of this man begets him. He is easily drawn into the most prolific killing trap of all romances;doubt and jealousy. Spoilt brat that he is, soon enough he hits the bottle to confront his callous shallow self. And predictably looses wheel after wheel in a already bumpy shaky ride of his life. Turning into an insufferable nervous jerk of an alchoholic, he stumbles into the life of his alter ego, the taunting, sizzling, soothing social outcaste, his Chandramukhi. Never to be sure of anything, he looses some more of his sanity here too, for a brief while even trying to serenade his by now ex, messing up every bit of it. All along he chases his own shadow, always unsure, always the heartbreaker, always the impossible. A few near fatal episodes later, he calms down some what, but looses everything that he was so proud of all his life. The climax isn't that gloomy, a detour from the classic novel. That's alright. The purpose is served. We end up smacking our lips at a great feast(and boozing)of in your face cinema.This is great stuff man! Only the brave travel the path less frequented, and this director shows a thing or two about creating a niche.The dark atmosphere is suitably fed with a controlled narrative, the out of control life of a looser perfectly showcased. The film never looses its focus, albeit a little repetative with the boozing binges of our fallen hero, but we gulp that down too in a single shot. Bring on more directorji! Deol the third is by now the most celebrated artist of the parallel movement. And he doesn't dissapoint. The ladies steal the thunder from time to time, as per their screen space.The music has a few decent tracks with one of them really a emosonal rejuvenator. Good camera work, especially of the drunken scenes. The cinematography captures every mood perfectly. Dialogues are deliberately colloquial and expletive laden, adding to the zing factor. Finally the dream merchants have started to deliver out of the dream world. Keep going. The world is watching.

Q&A FILMI ISTYLE

The opening sequence in Slumdog Millionaire shows a lanky yet suave looking boy in his late teens being tortured in a police lock up, the officer on duty saying; we know you cheated, just tell us how. The viewer tends to summarise the entire movie then and there,thinking, uh huh they implicated a contestant who had just became a millionaire because of his background?, that's sad.But hold on, the writer of the novel, from whose material the movie is made, had other plans, total filmi plans which apparently a certain Mr. Boyle appreciated a lot.Welcome then to the world of Jamaal, a boy of the rugged slums who grows up running around semi naked on the streets covered with( you wouldn't believe what) to fetch an autograph of the iconic Mr Bachhan.That this little encounter with big B and other facets of the tiny tot's roller coaster life has some significance in his millionaire avatar is the heart and soul of this 'see it to believe it story'. The film has an impact on the mind of the viewer, no doubt about that, the plausibility of the story not withstanding. We see a grown up Jamaal on the sets of KBC anchored by Anil Kapoor (extraordinary), getting over question after question with a determined look on his face.He actually is perplexed by the choice of questions as is revealed later.Possibility has a thing with timing, improbability has a thing with situations, and here, we encounter improbable possibility, and gulp it down because it is bollywood filmy ways being celebrated by a hollywood director.What more do you want?.Sit back then, and soak in the craftiness of a seasoned Mr Boyle, as he embarks on a back and forth narrative, well orchestrated sequences, and extra dollops of high drama.You laugh at the silly masala movies? Shame on you! This guy from far, takes every possible masala trick, and presents a rollicking rags to riches saga with all the seriousness and intensity that he would otherwise display for his native production.The obvious glitches include the choice of the teenage couple, both look very unlike slum kids and carry an accent straight out of the ABCD flicks that we see.The much hyped music is by far a strange mix of 90's bollywood and Rehmanised rap.Acting department if ably led by Anil Kapoor, the rest of the cast merely holding a candle to the real star.The production values expectedly are great, the visual chutzpah evident.Camera is deftly handled, so is the rich cinematoraphy. All in all, you get value for money, who said there cannot be a much celebrated globalised version of 'in our face'desi drama?.That's exactly what brings the west to east.

SHORT TERM GAINS

Amir khan likes to challenge himself. He is excellent more often than not. In this venture, which is essentially a southern flick with similiar sensibilities, he reaches a greater height in terms of performance, less so cinematically. Ghajini promises the moon, and lands in a man hole in earth itself. A breezy rollicking first half takes you through the lives of an upcoming model, Kalpana and a multi millionair cell phone company owner, Sanjay Singhania.One just savours the rare comical streak seldom found in a female lead, and a restrained, gentlemanly demeanor in a male lead also rarely seen these days. Amir and Asin(impressive) strike up a sparkling chemistry inducing chuckles galore through the courting routine. Just then destiny and plot point take a gory twist and the language of sublime cinema is lost to some hellishly orchestrated bloody shots. No one complained about the more grotesque sequences in some well known movies of yesteryears, they were made to order.Here, a seemingly goody goody flick is dragged to messy labriynth as if to make enough impact on a vunerable audiences mind and not to indulge in the plot itself. Here is where an ordinary director and an extraordinary cine czar differ.Murudagoss(hope i got it right) firstly commits a blunder by leaving the two halves ie first and second, poles apart, i couldn't connect to the change in character of Sanjay, his anguish boiling over, tripping him to the brink of insanity. Secondly the rampaging anti hero is repeatedly paired opposite a second female lead which serves very less purpose and dilutes the narrative, the lady also being burdened with these unnecessary numbers (A R Rehman oddly off colour). Three hours plus for a one man army dhishum dhishum saga is a bit of a drag too. Even the hero's 15- minutes -only memory condition could have been handled much better. Action, the strongest point of the story, is more on the Rajni starrer variety, only less airborne in nature.The movie is carried on the well built shoulders of Amir. He is likely to walk off with a few statuettes this year for this performance. Ably supporting him is the spunky Asin who looks set for better things. A special mention for the brilliant photography, cinematography and camera. Good sound recording and saucy dialogues perk up the proceedings,though the same can not be said about the lyrics(latoo...latoo...what's wrong Prasoon Joshi?). A fine movie material which had the potential of a gold mine is squandered by the makers for a short term gain. Alas and alack.