Blame it on the Akhtar siblings.
Thats right.When two highly talented siblings collaborate on a movie project, the leaast you expect is a film that makes sense.One that has a well-knit story, a strong script, great dialogues[after all they are Javed Akhtar's progeny] and competent acting.Of course good music and fabulous locales are an added bonus.
It seems the director of the highly original "Luck by chance" decided to concentrate on good music and fabulous locales;the rest obviously took a back seat.
The result-a two and a half hour "reality show- road trip" with three guys and a few babes who join them once in a while.Give me a break guys, if I wanted to watch a "Visit Spain" show , I would choose a one hour program on "Doscovery Travel and Living"[or TLC as it is called these days] Atleast their shows are honest and dont pretend to be something they are not.
This movie didnt work for me.And I have not even started comparing it to "Dil chahta hai" ,which was a dream debut for Farhan Akhtar, the director.Why, if DCH was a Mozart symphony, ZNMD(the movie,not the music) is like an electronic synthesizer 'symphony' from the Mozart of Madras.And we all know who sells more albums in India-its definitely not the Viennese composer.
So what went wrong with ZNMD?Lets take a long, hard look ..
Acting-
Hrithik Roshan-Hmmmmmmm,lets make him take his shirt off, dance a bit, romance Katrina..that'll bring in the masses/Come on, Farhan, you got a superlative performance out of Hrithik in 'Lakshya',surely you could have utilized his talent better?
Abhay Deol- Whats the protagonist of Dev D and Manorama six feet under doing ,potraying a weak, simpering idiot?Just doesnt seem right.
Farhan Akhtar-Zoya gave him a Luck by chance, he was great in 'Karthik calling Karthik and Rock on.Alas, a few funny lines and a few tears does not a great performance make.
Kalki Koechlin-seems a misfit as a bitchy ,possessive girlfriend.Although she tries her best to be disliked, and succeeds.
Well, look who is the surprise package of the film-its Katrina Kaif!Never before has she palyed any character with such effortless ease.Maybe its because the character is close to her real-life persona,maybe its because we have zero expectations from her as an actress?
You put Naseeruddin Shah and Dipti Naval in the cast, teh least you expect is that they will get a few decent scenes.No such luck-while Naseer was rewarded with 2 scenes, poor Dipti got 2 short phone conversations,thats it.
Story- three guys on a road trip overcome their fears and discover themselves on the way[yawn!how can you stretch it over 2 and a half hours?]
Script-Hrithik takes off shirt, Hrithik dances, Farhan and Abhay dance too, they have a few drinks, they pick up some babes, some bull fighting, some sky diving, some deep sea diving.
Dialogues-I,Farhan Akhtar, am the dialogue writer of this film and I also play the funny man.Ergo, I get the best lines, the rest be damned.
Direction,editing-whats that?Let them have a ball-the audience loves watching good looking womn and men get dirty in a tomato fight,besides doing other fun things.Watch the beautiful people and dont complain abut getting your money's worth.
If this movie is supposed to represent the spirit of the youth, heaven help us,for the movie is vacuous ,empty and soul- less.The characters are never established ,they have no depth.The movie simply lacks a strong core.
I strongly urge Farhan Akhtar and Zoya Akhtar,if they ever get to read this, to go back to 'Dil Chahta Hai' and 'Luck by Chance' and to remember that its the story ,script and strong characters that make a movie, not stars, not locales or good music.You take out the soul from a movie and you got nothing.And thats what you take home form this movie-nothing.What a waste of the combined talents of the cast ,director,music directors,the cinematographer.What a pity.
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Idiots or geniuses?The '3 idiots' team is on top!
The 3 idiots-Aamir,Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Raju Hirani
By now everybody and their uncle must have watched what is arguably the best Hindi film of the year 2009.So let me try to keep this brief.Allow me to talk about the concept of the movie and the message it delivers-and very successfully ,too!This one is from the heart.
The movie ,as all Raju Hirani movies, takes itself lightly-for me the last really big,highly successful Hindi movie that came close was 'Om shanti Om' (it was entertaining coz the director, the highly intelligent Farah Khan, never got carried away ,and it showed!).That is the beauty of this brilliant director's movies.His movies are meant to entertain you;never, ever does he get preachy.Recall the powerful messages delivered ever-so-lightly by the two amazing 'Munnabhai' flicks;they stay with you for a long, long time.As a critic has rightly said, Raju Hirani is the Basu Chatterjee of our times.I would add the great Hrishikesh Mukherjee's name to Raju's gurus.These geniuses packed a punch without ever, ever taking themselves seriously.At no point in this movie, as in any Hrishikesh Mukherjee movie, do you get bogged down by the 'message' of the film.The entire movie is total paisa vasool.You never get bored ,and you are 'in' the film throughout, without realizing it.That,I feel, is the hallmark of a brilliant movie.
Coming to the message of the movie.I havent read 'Five point someone' and I certainly wont be tempted to despite Chetan Bhagat's recent antics, coz I just dont enjoy Chetan's writing style-no offence meant.I gather Chetan's book was a saga of three friends who had a tough time at IIT.The movie goes much, much beyond the story of those 3 unfortunate engineers.It talks about the entire education system.Aamir ,very effectively delivers the following three messages in the movie,without pontificating-
1.DO NOT FOCUS ON EXAMS.Remove all fear from your heart and enjoy your schooling, college ,whatever.No matter how tough your subjects and how idiotic your teachers and how hard they try to kill your interest in your subject.How many times has that happened to some of us-you start to develop an interest in a subject ,and along comes an idiot teacher who spoils it for you.You've got to fight and tell yourself you wont be bogged down.
2.FOLLOW YOUR DREAM.Think about your career choices with a cool mind before making your final choice.And even if you made a wrong choice, dont fret.Its NEVER too late to change your direction and follow your dream.
3.CHASE EXCELLENCE,AND SUCCESS WILL FOLLOW.Its so easy to say these words; so difficult to implement in real life.All of us are in the habit of measuring success by the criteria for success that were devised possibly by people of our parents generation;the Midnight's Children who saw independent India go from strength to strength ,and were eager to be part of that growth process.Bungalow with swimming pool, membership of elite clubs, admission [for your kids] in elitist schools, three cars in your garage, the latest gadgets.......;the race never ends.and you stay a rat forever.Our elders love to talk to youngsters about how successful a Bill Gates or a Steve Job or closer home, a Narayan Murthy is.No one bothers to tell these young people about these geniuses' journey.How each of them ,and countless other 'successful' individuals didnt chase success ,but focussed on achieving excellence in their chosen field .Through sheer hard work,through repetitive ,sometimes brain dead work.Their struggle, their frustration,how friends and acquaintances poked fun at their seemingly 'stupid' ideas at first.
By making this wonderful movie ,Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Raju Hirani have done all of us,especially those of us who have young kids ,a BIG favour.Perhaps they hadnt envisaged the reach and 'success' of this film.And by 'success',I definitely am NOT referring to the box office business it has done.For me, this movie is successful because at the end of it, my 11 year old daughter realized that SHE was Raju Rastogi.That the way she was going, she could possibly end up making a wrong choice of career like Farhan Quereshi.And that ,if Phunsuk Wangdoo the gardener's son could do it,so can she and her friends.Most of our kids study in factories where the focus is on competition -if you are neither a topper in academics, nor an achiever in any other co-currcular activity like sports or music or dance, if your picture doesnt appear in the school magazine,you are treated as a loser.And heaven help our kids from idiotic teachers who are totally obsessed with 'finishing the syllabus' rather than ensuring that each and every child understands what the hell he/she is 'teaching'.
Of course, with Aamir leading this team, there was no way the movie could be mediocre.Coz the whole of the movie watching population of India trusts Aamir's judgement.If he does a movie, it must be worth watching,right?
So lets put our hands up for this amazing team for giving us such a wonderful ,entertaining,funny, warm and inspirational movie.
I have a strong feeling they were chasing excellence ,and success just followed them!
By now everybody and their uncle must have watched what is arguably the best Hindi film of the year 2009.So let me try to keep this brief.Allow me to talk about the concept of the movie and the message it delivers-and very successfully ,too!This one is from the heart.
The movie ,as all Raju Hirani movies, takes itself lightly-for me the last really big,highly successful Hindi movie that came close was 'Om shanti Om' (it was entertaining coz the director, the highly intelligent Farah Khan, never got carried away ,and it showed!).That is the beauty of this brilliant director's movies.His movies are meant to entertain you;never, ever does he get preachy.Recall the powerful messages delivered ever-so-lightly by the two amazing 'Munnabhai' flicks;they stay with you for a long, long time.As a critic has rightly said, Raju Hirani is the Basu Chatterjee of our times.I would add the great Hrishikesh Mukherjee's name to Raju's gurus.These geniuses packed a punch without ever, ever taking themselves seriously.At no point in this movie, as in any Hrishikesh Mukherjee movie, do you get bogged down by the 'message' of the film.The entire movie is total paisa vasool.You never get bored ,and you are 'in' the film throughout, without realizing it.That,I feel, is the hallmark of a brilliant movie.
Coming to the message of the movie.I havent read 'Five point someone' and I certainly wont be tempted to despite Chetan Bhagat's recent antics, coz I just dont enjoy Chetan's writing style-no offence meant.I gather Chetan's book was a saga of three friends who had a tough time at IIT.The movie goes much, much beyond the story of those 3 unfortunate engineers.It talks about the entire education system.Aamir ,very effectively delivers the following three messages in the movie,without pontificating-
1.DO NOT FOCUS ON EXAMS.Remove all fear from your heart and enjoy your schooling, college ,whatever.No matter how tough your subjects and how idiotic your teachers and how hard they try to kill your interest in your subject.How many times has that happened to some of us-you start to develop an interest in a subject ,and along comes an idiot teacher who spoils it for you.You've got to fight and tell yourself you wont be bogged down.
2.FOLLOW YOUR DREAM.Think about your career choices with a cool mind before making your final choice.And even if you made a wrong choice, dont fret.Its NEVER too late to change your direction and follow your dream.
3.CHASE EXCELLENCE,AND SUCCESS WILL FOLLOW.Its so easy to say these words; so difficult to implement in real life.All of us are in the habit of measuring success by the criteria for success that were devised possibly by people of our parents generation;the Midnight's Children who saw independent India go from strength to strength ,and were eager to be part of that growth process.Bungalow with swimming pool, membership of elite clubs, admission [for your kids] in elitist schools, three cars in your garage, the latest gadgets.......;the race never ends.and you stay a rat forever.Our elders love to talk to youngsters about how successful a Bill Gates or a Steve Job or closer home, a Narayan Murthy is.No one bothers to tell these young people about these geniuses' journey.How each of them ,and countless other 'successful' individuals didnt chase success ,but focussed on achieving excellence in their chosen field .Through sheer hard work,through repetitive ,sometimes brain dead work.Their struggle, their frustration,how friends and acquaintances poked fun at their seemingly 'stupid' ideas at first.
By making this wonderful movie ,Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Raju Hirani have done all of us,especially those of us who have young kids ,a BIG favour.Perhaps they hadnt envisaged the reach and 'success' of this film.And by 'success',I definitely am NOT referring to the box office business it has done.For me, this movie is successful because at the end of it, my 11 year old daughter realized that SHE was Raju Rastogi.That the way she was going, she could possibly end up making a wrong choice of career like Farhan Quereshi.And that ,if Phunsuk Wangdoo the gardener's son could do it,so can she and her friends.Most of our kids study in factories where the focus is on competition -if you are neither a topper in academics, nor an achiever in any other co-currcular activity like sports or music or dance, if your picture doesnt appear in the school magazine,you are treated as a loser.And heaven help our kids from idiotic teachers who are totally obsessed with 'finishing the syllabus' rather than ensuring that each and every child understands what the hell he/she is 'teaching'.
Of course, with Aamir leading this team, there was no way the movie could be mediocre.Coz the whole of the movie watching population of India trusts Aamir's judgement.If he does a movie, it must be worth watching,right?
So lets put our hands up for this amazing team for giving us such a wonderful ,entertaining,funny, warm and inspirational movie.
I have a strong feeling they were chasing excellence ,and success just followed them!
Thursday, February 12, 2009
The day of the underdog-Slumdog Millionaire
"India is at the center of the world, and I am at the center of the center".This line, spoken by Jamal's brother Salim,somewhere in the middle of the movie, as he looks down from a skyscraper into the slums from where he came , probably best sums up the position of 'Slumdog Millionaire' today.The most vociferous reactions to this astounding sucess that has taken the whole worldwide entertainment industry by storm,have come from Indians.You have heard them all-the movie shows us in a poor light,it takes away from our achievements as a nation,and so on and so forth.Now hear me out-this movie is all about Bollywood.Thats right.I dont have to look at the credits to tell you that the screenplay and dialogues have very strong Bollywoood influences.The basic story, of course, is written by an Indian.
Lets look at some of the highlights of the screenplay-
Slumdog who becomes a mafia don's right hand man-think Bhiku Mhatre in 'Satya'
Good brother-bad brother-done to death in Hindi movies-think 'Ganga-Jamuna'[Dilip Kumar],'Deewaar'[Amitabh-Shashi Kapoor],'Ram-Lakhan'[Anil Kapoor-Jackie Shroff]-you get the drift.
Good brother-bad brother-done to death in Hindi movies-think 'Ganga-Jamuna'[Dilip Kumar],'Deewaar'[Amitabh-Shashi Kapoor],'Ram-Lakhan'[Anil Kapoor-Jackie Shroff]-you get the drift.
Childhood sweetheart from the slums who sticks with the hero through tough times -think 'Parinda' again[Anil Kapoor-Madhuri Dixit]
Need more proof that this is a Bollywood love story,a typical 'poor boy who gets the girl and the glory in the end' story that has been done to death in our Hindi movies.Shouldnt we be pleased that an Indian story is making waves at box offices and award shows around the world?
What about the actors?Anil Kapoor ,Irrfan Khan and Saurabh Shukla are as Bollywood as you can get.And they play their parts competently-whether its Anil as the arrogant SOB superstar we all love to hate,Irrfan as the cop who can differentiate between the right and the wrong, and Saurabh S as his sidekick who has no sympathy for vermin slum dwellers.
Dev Patel and Frieda Pinto may not be part of Bollywood, but they are definitely 'Indian' actors ,judging from the sensibilities they bring to their roles.Freida lights up the screen with her smile, and the young Dev's sincerity tugs at your heartstrings.Together, they create hope and magic on the screen.You start rooting for these young lovers from the very beginning.Perhaps this touching, simple love story appealed to audiences round the world coz it was touching and simple!
Now for the big one,and this is what our NRI friends (and Mr.Bachchan)are most upset about-this film shows Indians in a bad light.Really?Isnt it true that Dharavi is Asia's largest slum?Isnt it true that Hindu-Muslim riots have happened in Bombay?Dont these slumdwellers actually live and exist among us good folks in our cities?The bai working in a posh Malabar Hill flat may be commuting from Dharavi everyday,the urchin selling magazines on Linking Road, the rag picker living at Churchgate station,they are all creatures of flesh and blood, like the thousands of better off Bombayites that they come across in our homes and on the streets everyday.If you cant bear to face reality ,I suggest you look the other way,as most Indians do anyway.And if you can actually feel happy if one of them makes it big, then the movie has achieved far more than its original purpose -to entertain audiences.
So, my dear friends and fellow Indians, its time to rejoice.Lets not fight this warm feeling ,the very same feeling that we get when India wins a test series, or Yuki Bhambri wins a grand slam tournament.Lets embrace this Indian movie whole heardtedly.Its as Indian as you and I.Its about Bollywood and its about India.How does it matter if some dumb members of an American or European audiences start believing that all Indians start life from a slum or work for the mafia at some time in their lives?Today,we are too self assured as a nation to worry about such silly notions that others may have about us.
It deosnt matter that this isnt Danny Boyle's best,neither is it A.R.Rehman's .These two gentlemen have proved their mettle in the past, again and again.Perhaps the awards were long overdue.Perhaps the Globes ,the BAFTAs and the Oscars want to appreciate these two gentlemen for their body of work, not just this movie.Does it really matter?
Yes, better,more deserving movies have been made in India this year.'Taare Zameen Par' was perhaps , a superior movie,fit for the international audiences and definitely award material.But then,the box office success of movies is highly unpredictable.Why did this movie make it big, we ask.Perhaps in these times of global recession, we needed a simple love story, a tale of triumph of the underdog to help us believe in love and hope and all those wonderful things that money cant buy.Perhaps the world was ready for a story about a slumdweller from Bombay getting the big bucks and the girl,coz a Black guy whose father is a Kenyan Musim just got in to White House.Who knows, who cares?Today its Will Smith, tomorrow it will be Brad Pitt who will want to work with Aishwarya Rai.
Guess who will have the last laugh ?
"Jai Ho!"
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