From Bollywood
Wednesday, December 22, 2021
Saturday, April 1, 2017
Thursday, March 2, 2017
Wednesday, February 15, 2017
Wednesday, February 8, 2017
Thursday, January 26, 2017
Saturday, January 21, 2017
Monday, May 6, 2013
Movie Review: Bombay Talkies
Straight
up, Karan Johar's film smashes his own mould - forget about loving your
parents, Johar shows a gay youth Avinash (Saqib Saleem) pummeling his
father while quitting home. Avinash befriends glamorous Gayatri (Rani),
wife to Dev (Hooda) with whom she has passionless, infrequent sex.
Avinash meets Dev - sparks fly. While Saqib convincingly portrays
odd-ball Avinash, Hooda simmers with tangible tension. It all ends in
tears, delightful coming from the archetype of extra cheese himself.
This is Karan Johar unleashed - and impressive with his taut film.
He's followed by Dibakar Bannerjee, adapting a Satyajit Ray story, featuring Nawazuddin Siddiqui as Purandhar, dreamer with a theatrical past - and a tiny Bollywood role. Dibakar quietly underlines how talent needn't dazzle the world but simply please the people we love. Siddiqui and Amrapurkar - popping up in a vision - crackle while Nawaz's act sans words is superb. However, elements like an emu are lost in translation, leaving you wanting less whimsy, more control.
Zoya Akhtar presents better balance. Little Vicky (Naman) loves being a girly dancer. Katrina Kaif's his muse - his manly dad isn't amused. This unpretentious flick explores childhood's innocence facing magical, kitschy stars. There's some meandering but tight acting makes up.
That isn't so with Anurag Kashyap's short from stereotypically scatological small-town-land. Vijay from Allahabad must have Amitabh Bachchan taste a (possibly fungal) murabba to please pitaji - he succeeds but fails. The trouble is, neither the dialogues nor the acting move you enough to care. Kashyap indulges himself and eulogizes the Big B - but also has chota shehris looking pretty banal. On the upside, BT's best song amidst a lackluster score's here - but there's too much sugar for this short to stay crisp.
So, BT's a good experiment, celebrating movies, mindsets and Mumbai's moods - but it isn't the coolest film doing so. Woh picture abhi baaqi hai, mere dost.
He's followed by Dibakar Bannerjee, adapting a Satyajit Ray story, featuring Nawazuddin Siddiqui as Purandhar, dreamer with a theatrical past - and a tiny Bollywood role. Dibakar quietly underlines how talent needn't dazzle the world but simply please the people we love. Siddiqui and Amrapurkar - popping up in a vision - crackle while Nawaz's act sans words is superb. However, elements like an emu are lost in translation, leaving you wanting less whimsy, more control.
Zoya Akhtar presents better balance. Little Vicky (Naman) loves being a girly dancer. Katrina Kaif's his muse - his manly dad isn't amused. This unpretentious flick explores childhood's innocence facing magical, kitschy stars. There's some meandering but tight acting makes up.
That isn't so with Anurag Kashyap's short from stereotypically scatological small-town-land. Vijay from Allahabad must have Amitabh Bachchan taste a (possibly fungal) murabba to please pitaji - he succeeds but fails. The trouble is, neither the dialogues nor the acting move you enough to care. Kashyap indulges himself and eulogizes the Big B - but also has chota shehris looking pretty banal. On the upside, BT's best song amidst a lackluster score's here - but there's too much sugar for this short to stay crisp.
So, BT's a good experiment, celebrating movies, mindsets and Mumbai's moods - but it isn't the coolest film doing so. Woh picture abhi baaqi hai, mere dost.
Monday, January 30, 2012
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)