Saigal's voice blasting from a broken radio, crowded chairs & sofas with rotting pizzas underneath and cockroaches, Indian style toilet in a latrine-style condition (now, the electric guitar mixes with Saigal's mono drone), water dripping, then flowing, but not into the bucket, and the wide, disgusting butt-crack lying on a bed, in a dark-dingy Delhi dishevelled apartment. And the movie starts...
Yup, that's the first clue that this is not your everyday average Aamir Khan family entertaining- heart warming- meaningful film. In fact, quite the opposite. This movie is not for the family by a mile, is shockingly heart-wrenching not warming and utterly meaningless from the first to the last second of the movie. And that's why it is so amazingly brilliant.
Delhi Belly offends, stuns, bites, pokes, shakes, and makes you laugh till your tummy hurts. The movie appeals to you at a basic human animal level, the part of you that revels in the raw and the senseless. It forces you to shed your inhibitions, and go with the flow that Abhinay Deo has planned for you. Once the movie starts, you have no control. Abhinay has you by the b@*#s and he takes you on roller coaster ride for 100 odd minutes that leaves you breathless and panting, laughing out of the theatre thinking "Woah! What the F*#! was that!"
For at least a week after the movie, I kept playing the dialogues and scenes of the movie in my head over and over again, and laughing at it, over and over again.
If Vishal Bhardwaj is staking claim to being the Quentin Tarantino of Indian cinema, then Abhinay Deo clearly has the makings of a Guy Ritchie. Delhi Belly was a brilliant movie, and will be classified as one of the coolest movies of our times. And it was clearly up there in style, plot, dialogues, humour with the likes of Snatch and Lock Stock. Abhinay, one request. Please don't listen to the critics when you make your 2nd film!
Delhi Belly is a wild storyline and a masterfully crafted plot. It tells the story of 3 regular Delhi early jobber blokes, sharing an apartment, going about their single guys lives - girlfriends (make up, make out, break up), work, eating, drinking, and... well, er.. crapping. And even as we realise that one man's crap is another man's diamond, the one plot gets entangled with another, and before we know it, the 3 guys are involved with gangsters, desperately trying to stay alive.
The brilliance of the movie is definitely in its story that's well told and a never-seen-before plot. But equally the brilliance of the movie is in the randomness of the non-storyline and the non-plot. In fact, it's the random, totally irrelevant angles that become the most relevant highlights of the film, and stay with you. The kathak dancing neighbours upstairs (who's foot sticks out before the roof finally collapses), the entire Jaa Chudail pre-sequence and sequence, the burkha clad Vir Das trying to sip a glass of water and spilling it, the 5 minute conversation between the gunda and the quality-control obsessed room service boy, the jealous Punju boyfriend who is chasing Imraan Khan with a gun, the orange juice ass wipe, ...These random interventions in the movie were, in the end, what made this movie so special. Abhinay, you would make Kundan Shah (Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron) proud. Remember, the phone sequence between Naseer and Tarneja's assistant, after the disastrous Ahuja meeting, or the legendary Mahabharat sequence.
And then there are the priceless dialogues and the one liners, eg. "Sir, Lundri" or the exchange between Kunal and Vir, after it all turns upside down:
Kunal:"Dude, did they shave your head off before hanging you?"
Vir: "No, I did this to myself"
Kunal: "What is this, f**!!ing Mill On The Floss"
And finally the unimitable music. The brilliance of the story-writer, dialogue/script writer, screen-play and editor is only matched by the genius of Ram Sampat's music. And not just because of a certain Bengali gentleman's name in one of the songs. The music and the lyrics lift the movie experience and while there are hardly any songs in the movie, they allow the movie to live on. The entire album is extremely enjoyable to listen to, be it the rock anthem of Bhaag DK Bose, the outrageously hilarious Jaa Chudail, the movie tempo-creating Nakkadwaaley Disco, Udhaarwaaley Khisko, the whacky disco track I hate you like I love you, the Punju tullie-feel number Sweety Sweety, the love ballad Tere Siva (wow, Ram, you can sing too!) or the unique rock Saigal Blues, where it all starts.
The actors do a good job in delivering the script-writer and Abhinay's vision. Imraan Khan delivers possibly his best performance yet, with few short dialogues that he's capable of delivering with a straight face. Vir Das is hilarious and redeems himself after many lacklustre Bollywood performances (this is what you do best Vir, stick to this). The new girl (Poorna) surprises with her confident performance. But, the real find is Kunal - the fat bastard of the group, the butt crack that introduces the film, the belly which becomes the reason for the entire plot.
Aamir, after nauseatingly taking the centre-stage in all of your movies (even though the movies were fabulous), you have redeemed yourself by making a film, where you're practically not there. Thank you for making this movie. It marks the coming of age of Indian cinema, and we love it. Aamir, you rock.
All in all, a must-watch movie for all movie buffs, who appreciate different kinds of entertainment, who appreciate new styles and sensibilities, but most importantly who can let go and give into their spontaneous lighter side and just enjoy the right-there moment of utterly raw, wild, trippy, random humour.
Friday, August 26, 2011
Monday, August 1, 2011
Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara 2011
The story is not unique (3 guys go on an all-boys adventure holiday road trip, as a 3 week bachelor holiday before one of them ties the knot). The philosophy it stands for is nothing new (live life today, to the fullest, in the moment, letting go and not just get caught up in life's traps). The 3 lead characters too, we've seen before (the poor funny guy who is really not so happy, the 2nd generation business family son who's a regular guy, the hot shot money obsessed, all work-no play stock broker).
And yet, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara works beautifully and how. Logically speaking, there is not many ingredients in the movie that are brilliant, but all together, it just comes through. What Zoya Khan has successfully managed to achieve is a rare feat in movie making. It's a movie that lives with you much longer after it's over. In many ways actually you could say, that the true experience of the movie begins after you walk out of the theatre and the few days after it. Many brilliant movies, with great plots and powerful characters serve as great entertainers, that you clap at, marvel at, enjoy during, but then move on away from as quickly, after it. Not ZNMD. This movie lives on, as an experience you can feel for much later.
ZNMD belongs to that special genre of movies that are "feel movies", that leave behind what the film felt like, not necessarily linked to the story line or the dialogues. ZNMD is a light, free, spontaneous, sunny film that leaves a glow in you. While you are trying to follow the storyline of the movie, what's really happening is that you're soaking in the Spanish countryside, the fields, the sea, the drive, the sun. While you're empathising with Imraan's search for his real father, what you end up feeling, is his poetry (Humne dil ko yeh samjhaya…Dil aakhir tu kyun rota hai... Duniya mein yunhi hota hai). While you're watching Arjun so obviously falling for Laila, you unknowingly feel the wind of the Latin farms flowing through your face while driving in the open air convertible. While you're sorry for Kabir for being trapped in the upcoming wedding, you're subconsciously dancing in abandon with señorita, kneeling and hugging her belly.
The magic of ZNMD is not in the movie. It's in the several moments in the movie, that collectively leave you with not what you liked about the movie, but how it made you feel. It's a sensorial movie, that opens up and fills up the senses. And in that it again breaks a stereotype. Thats possibly, it's biggest success. It does not fit to a paradigm of movie genres. It's not a comedy movie, but it's funny in parts. It's not an action movie, though it does have action. It's not a romantic movie, though it does have romance.
And what makes the experience complete is Shankar Ehsaan Loy's once again master piece sound track, that captures the essence of the movie. Once again, SEL give an album and a background score that is unique to the movie, and not typical or predictable. Over the years, we've come to realise that there is no SEL type. Every movie and it's sound track is unique. And ZNMD sound track is exactly that, unique. Capturing every moment, feel of the film.
Farhan Akhtar is fabulous in the movie, with some terrific performances, over-shadowing Hrithik who gets exposed for his limited skill in trying hard to be spontaneous & unrehearsed. Abhay Deol is not too bad, and is able to carry off his normal, seedha buoooy role. Katrina delivers a surprisingly polished performance. And Kalki is wasted playing a possessive, conventional girlfriend.
But, all in all, a great young fun movie, which is a must watch, on the big screen to be able to feel the movie, in the way it's meant to be. Its got it all. Deep sea diving, Para gliding, Bull run, Tomatina festival, and the Spanish country. Many have called it Dil Chahta Hai of 2011, and that's quite true. 150 minutes of pure young abandon fun.
And yet, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara works beautifully and how. Logically speaking, there is not many ingredients in the movie that are brilliant, but all together, it just comes through. What Zoya Khan has successfully managed to achieve is a rare feat in movie making. It's a movie that lives with you much longer after it's over. In many ways actually you could say, that the true experience of the movie begins after you walk out of the theatre and the few days after it. Many brilliant movies, with great plots and powerful characters serve as great entertainers, that you clap at, marvel at, enjoy during, but then move on away from as quickly, after it. Not ZNMD. This movie lives on, as an experience you can feel for much later.
ZNMD belongs to that special genre of movies that are "feel movies", that leave behind what the film felt like, not necessarily linked to the story line or the dialogues. ZNMD is a light, free, spontaneous, sunny film that leaves a glow in you. While you are trying to follow the storyline of the movie, what's really happening is that you're soaking in the Spanish countryside, the fields, the sea, the drive, the sun. While you're empathising with Imraan's search for his real father, what you end up feeling, is his poetry (Humne dil ko yeh samjhaya…Dil aakhir tu kyun rota hai... Duniya mein yunhi hota hai). While you're watching Arjun so obviously falling for Laila, you unknowingly feel the wind of the Latin farms flowing through your face while driving in the open air convertible. While you're sorry for Kabir for being trapped in the upcoming wedding, you're subconsciously dancing in abandon with señorita, kneeling and hugging her belly.
The magic of ZNMD is not in the movie. It's in the several moments in the movie, that collectively leave you with not what you liked about the movie, but how it made you feel. It's a sensorial movie, that opens up and fills up the senses. And in that it again breaks a stereotype. Thats possibly, it's biggest success. It does not fit to a paradigm of movie genres. It's not a comedy movie, but it's funny in parts. It's not an action movie, though it does have action. It's not a romantic movie, though it does have romance.
And what makes the experience complete is Shankar Ehsaan Loy's once again master piece sound track, that captures the essence of the movie. Once again, SEL give an album and a background score that is unique to the movie, and not typical or predictable. Over the years, we've come to realise that there is no SEL type. Every movie and it's sound track is unique. And ZNMD sound track is exactly that, unique. Capturing every moment, feel of the film.
Farhan Akhtar is fabulous in the movie, with some terrific performances, over-shadowing Hrithik who gets exposed for his limited skill in trying hard to be spontaneous & unrehearsed. Abhay Deol is not too bad, and is able to carry off his normal, seedha buoooy role. Katrina delivers a surprisingly polished performance. And Kalki is wasted playing a possessive, conventional girlfriend.
But, all in all, a great young fun movie, which is a must watch, on the big screen to be able to feel the movie, in the way it's meant to be. Its got it all. Deep sea diving, Para gliding, Bull run, Tomatina festival, and the Spanish country. Many have called it Dil Chahta Hai of 2011, and that's quite true. 150 minutes of pure young abandon fun.
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