India Masala
Bollywood and culture in an emerging India
Is Bollywood’s unity a farce?
For more than a week now, Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan has been in the centre of a storm — after his comments supporting the participation of Pakistani players in the Indian Premier League.
In the same time period, we have also seen the half-hearted response that the Shiv Sena’s response evoked from Bollywood. Not a single producers’ body or any industry organisation has spoken out against the fact that the Sena might prevent “My Name is Khan” from being released.
There have been some sporadic voices, mostly on social networking sites like Twitter, or some quotes on television, but hardly any concrete voices.
There has been some criticism of the fact that Amitabh Bachchan spoke of the “fire in the belly” of Sena supremo Bal Thackeray, but one mustn’t forget that when Bachchan and his family were targeted by Sena rival MNS, he didn’t see much support from the film industry either.
Striker: Sporadically good
Chandan Arora’s “Striker” is one of those sleeper films — the ones which don’t have big stars or a big marketing budget, so that you don’t find hoardings at every street corner or its stars on every reality TV show.
But perhaps it is because of this that you go in without too many expectations and allow the director to pleasantly surprise you — at least in some parts.
Siddharth, whose last Hindi film was “Rang De Basanti” stars as Surya Sarang, a young man trying to make it big in Mumbai who lives in the far-flung suburb of Malvani, an area which forms a an ideal backdrop for the film.
He is also a champion carrom player and even impresses local don Jaleel (Aditya Pancholi), who asks him to play in one of his many gambling dens.
Is ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ A.R.Rahman’s best score?
Waking up on a Monday morning is so much nicer when you wake up to good news, isn’t it?
A.R.Rahman winning two Grammys for “Slumdog Millionaire” certainly made my day, but as television channels played its theme song “Jai Ho” over and over again, I found myself wanting to hear some of his other compositions.
“Dil Hai Chota Sa” from “Roja” perhaps or “Naina Milaike” from “Saathiya”, “Ay Hairathe” from “Guru” and my favourite — “Arziyan” from “Delhi 6″.
While “Slumdog” and “Jai Ho” have captured the world’s imagination, I wonder if it is his best work.
Shilpa, at the risk of getting beaten up by Rahman fans, I do not even think AR Rahman is India’s best talent. He is very very talented, yes. He stands out especially when compared to a mass of very average performers in a over-competitive industry. Who are we comparing Rahman to, SD Burman? Naushad? If these award committees ever cared to research Indian music deeply or seen beyond India’s beaten-to-death poverty, they’d be in for a shock. So, to answer your question, no, Jai Ho is at best a pop song, a very poor one at that.
Ishqiya: Raw, gripping cinema
Even if you didn’t know it before, the first few frames of debutant director Abhishek Chaubey’s ‘Ishqiya’, will confirm that he has imbibed a lot of his skill from his mentor Vishal Bhardwaj. The look, tone and feel of the film are all very reminiscent of Bhardwaj’s films.
That said, Chaubey does bring his own sensibility to the film, depicting the arid, gritty landscape of Western UP and its people with a freshness that we haven’t seen very often on screen.
His characters are equally gritty, and have rough edges, and speak in a language we aren’t too used to hearing on screen, but feel so much more real. So when we meet Khalujaan (Naseeruddin Shah) and his nephew Babban (Arshad Warsi), two small-time crooks who run away with money that belongs to a local don, they seem to fit right into the landscape of the film.
On the run, they take shelter with Krishna (Vidya Balan), a widow who lives alone. But when the money goes missing and the don threatens to kill all of them if they don’t return it back to him, they devise a new plan to get back the money. In the midst of all this is the film’s main theme — Krishna’s relationship with the two men, her motives and what love means to her.
Hi Shilpa, I saw the movie yesterday and fully agree with your take on it…. although the character that made the most impact on me is the guy who plays Vidya’s dead husband. Powerful work there.
Rann: Sticks to the clichés
The news business in India has grown to such an extent in the last few years and pervaded our lives so much, that a Bollywood film on the subject was bound to come out sooner than later.
But the problem with films such as “Rann”, much like the ones that come from the Madhur Bhandarkar stable, is that there is a thin line between going overboard and staying restrained.
When you are dealing with a subject that touches us in our daily lives, and with characters who have been borrowed from real life, it is extremely difficult not to make a caricature of a film.
To be fair to him, Ram Gopal Varma tries. But “Rann”, which has been billed as an expose on the media in India, doesn’t straddle that line; instead the film resorts to clichés as a storyline and caricatures as characters, and thus never takes off.
some 4 years back i have sended a story concept to ram gopal verma’s film factory, now read my contcept THE WAR and watch RANN, if u find similarity then wht would u say???
THE WAR
One of the most trustworthy newspaper in maharashtra named as THE WAR is siverely facing financial crisis, though the readers kept following, but the circulation steped down. The rival of this paper got rapid growth and the graph of circulation shows stipprise growth. Obviously,the editor of THE WAR is a man of doctrine and he follows the principles at any cost. He is such a successer who blindly follow his late senior editors. Meanwhile the govt. declared assembly election.Maharashtra & particularly mumbai has got status of the hub of all antisocial and illigal activities. Like others, chief minister and his ministry of this state is also drawned deeply in curruption. They never fail to capture any opportunity to make monetory benefits. On other side, THE WAR is fighting for maintaining its reputation and tradition. The bitter truth is its weapon. All of sudden, one bad news rocked THE WAR and its worrior !! News was, group backed by state govt. (behind the screen) launched an attractive newspaper.With the help of highly modern technology this newspaper speedily became no.1 daily. It creats economical chaos for THE WAR but its editor fought the battle for financial firtilizer through advertizements. During this, because of a high voltage news article,both the rulling and opposition parties amoyed with him.Not only this,the mass also joined hands with the editor.Huge appriciation worked like hight inflamable fuel and the editor unearthed lot of big scandles of the politicians.The govt and even opposition were rocked to bottom as well. The readers affectionally returned to help THE WAR and govt aided (mouth peace) newspaper scrumbled down with loosing its temperary row popularity. THE WAR again got the pick. The bettle of the THE WAR successfully thrown out the ruler party, and even opposition could not make their way through. Wth all wide eyes the lone other party got the majority and sworn in to the govt. The editor of THE WAR thought that he has been succeded but he knew later that the politics is the worst then other. New CM successfully tried to buy all the leading newspapers but THE WAR. The govt angrily and spitefully stopped issuing advertisements to THE WAR. Day by day this newspaper suffered a lot monetarely bacause of other molice tactics of the govt and the opposition, which led a disasterious crisis.Financial loss found more space then income in the account book. It became routine. At last the editor surrounded with various kind of enimies, started the struggle of survivel even with the help of YELLO JOURNALISM without any hasitation. The editor was unknown about a great ugly conspiration,which took place during this ugly battly, and it was set bye the ruler and opp. The elected candidates were promotted behind the scene by the ruler-opp.The editor revealled the hidden link between bollywood and underworld,started black mailing some filmmakers,actors and other while colour industrialists.He gathered ruppees in weights of tonnes !! Of course this crore of ruppes were spent in welfare activities of unearthing scams !! Many burnt people including nasty politicians cruely planned an assessination of the editor. SUPARI was given to DON & BHAI LOG. some govt aided newspapers started ugly campaign of propaganda against the editor of THE WAR , which abusively portrait an image of the editor as villian from the HERO in the mindset of the mass. As if these were not enough some politicians launched the defematory legal fight against the editor.Among all these he struggled and suffered a lot and at last he has to pay costly. THE WAR claimed life of the WORRIOR !! “THE TRUTH SOMETIMES LOSES”
Veer: Epic disaster
This has got to be one of the most difficult reviews I have ever written. All I have done so far is stare at a blank word document for more than 15 minutes. Words fail me, but I will have to do it, because I will not allow those three hours of my life to be in vain.
Perhaps I am being a little overdramatic here, but this drama is nothing compared to the extremely loud, jingoistic and nauseating drama that Anil Sharma’s “Veer” indulges in, so kindly bear with me.
This three-hour film is nothing short of an ordeal to watch and the fact that it is laden with bad performances, tacky make-up, some really corny dialogues and the fakest blood and gore you have ever seen, means that at the end of the movie, you are willing to pull your hair out in frustration.
If you have seen earlier films by director Anil Sharma, you will know that subtle is not his style, and in “Veer” he makes sure he lives by that credo.
lol.. Interesting..its seems your drama would have made a better movie than salman’s version
Chance Pe Dance: Fails to rise above ordinary
Ken Ghosh’s “Chance Pe Dance” is not what you would call an original film, choosing to tell the age-old tale of a struggling actor looking for a chance to make it in Bollywood. From the first scene, you can predict exactly how the story is going to go.
That said, a lot of films do tell oft-repeated tales. But many of them do it with such panache and imagination that you are hooked all the same. Like last week’s “Pyaar Impossible”, “Chance Pe Dance” doesn’t pass this test.
This is a film that fails to rise above the ordinary at every step and in every frame, and makes two-and-a-half hours inside the theatre seem like an ordeal.
Shahid Kapoor plays Sameer Behl, an upbeat, at times too cheerful actor who is waiting for his big break in films. He has no money to pay his rent but manages to wear branded clothes, sports designer shades and drives a car through the length and breadth of Mumbai.
After Kaminey, ‘Dil bole hadippa’ and Chance pe dance’ are real disappointments from Shahid Kapur… even though he must have signed / worked on these films before Kaminey became a hit.. but still these movies certainly drag down his image as a good actor.
Pyaar Impossible: Dumb and dumber
One look at the promos and posters of “Pyaar Impossible” and you will know it’s not the most original love story ever written.
The beauty and geek concept is one that has been played out many a time, but even the most rehashed plot can be resuscitated by fresh writing and spontaneous performances.
Instead, director Jugal Hansraj proceeds to concentrate on making sure that Priyanka Chopra’s clothes get skimpier by the scene and insert meaningless songs and jokes, thus leaving this movie bereft of the one thing it needed the most — heart.
Priyanka plays Alisha Merchant, a beautiful but hassled single mother who finds it tough to balance her job as Public Relations head in a software company and her rebellious six-year-old daughter.
Dulha Mil Gaya: Excruciatingly bad
How long does it take you to decide whether a movie is going to appeal to you or not? It didn’t take me longer than the opening credits of Mudassar Aziz’s “Dulha Mil Gaya“.
Call me judgemental, but when you see a rather chubby Fardeen Khan attempting to woo a pretty young thing in the most half-hearted way possible and Sushmita Sen referring to everyone in sight as “daaaaahling” even before the opening credits have rolled, you cannot help but cringe.
As you settle down for what will be a very long three hours, you hope that some cinematic miracle will make this film bearable. But of course, that is hoping for too much. When your lead protagonists are named Shimmer (Sen) and Donsai (Khan), what else can you expect?
So Donsai aka Tej Dhanraj, playing perhaps the most clichéd role in Bollywood history, has an eye for the pretty ladies but an aversion to commitment and marriage.
Spoof cinema of Malegaon
Shaikh Nasir is one of several makers of low-budget, spoof movies set in the industrial town of Malegaon, around 300 km from Mumbai, and a world apart from the glitzy sets, big-name stars and lavish productions of Bollywood.
For 10 years, Nasir has made films with local actors and almost no equipment, often on a budget of a little more than $1,000. Many are parodies of Bollywood hits. His latest though is a parody of Hollywood’s Superman.
(View video interview below)
(Flip cam video by Urvashi Sibal)
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The Wall
I love Gul Panag. Can she speak Malayalam? She should start working in movies down south. She’s a fine actress and this column in the Indian Express is by far her best work.