BRING ON THE WOMEN!!

Rajkumar Santoshi’s ‘Lajja’ (2001) is one of those movies that I find frustrating.... Let me start by stating my opinion of the film - which is that overall, it’s not a good film. The script is often clumsy, clunky or corny (and sometimes all three), and the directing and editing are pretty shoddy sometimes. There are elements to the story that are either superfluous or actually detract from the power of the film (e.g. the presence of Ajay Devgan’s character, Bhulwa).

But what frustrates me about ‘Lajja’ is the flashes of radiance in it, the elements that do work, the things that could have made for a really good movie if they hadn’t been overshadowed by the sucky stuff. I really like Rekha’s earthy performance, for example... but I think my favorite thing about ‘Lajja’ is the relationships between the female characters...

... especially the relationship between Vaidehi (Manisha Koirala) and Jhanki (Madhuri Dixit):

Looking over my collection of Vaidehi/Jhanki screencaps got me thinking about girlfriends (the platonic kind) in Hindi films. ‘Bromance’ is a central feature of a lot of Bollywood movies, and has been for decades. Alas, the same certainly cannot be said for relationships between women. I love my girlfriends – I’ve always had great relationships with funny, smart, strong, compassionate women... and I love reading about female relationships. I also love watching vibrant, interesting female relationships on the big and small screens, but that doesn’t happen nearly enough when it comes to Hindi films. Relationships between women are generally skimmed over and sidelined.

Yup, onscreen relationships between women are almost always peripheral in Bollywood – there were really no female equivalents of the two-hero movies that Amitabh Bachchan starred in alongside Shashi Kapoor/Dharmendra/Vinod Khanna/Rishi Kapoor/ Pran in the 70s and 80s. Neither are there female counterparts to contemporary, mainstream movies about male friendship, like ‘Rock On!’, ‘Dil Chahta Hai’ and ‘3 Idiots’. There are plenty of films in which there’s real affection and friendship portrayed between sisters, cousins, or women related by marriage, although again, this is usually peripheral – forming the backdrop to the central story (which is often dominated by a man or two).

But, in stark contradistinction with the many films about friendships between men who aren’t biologically related, there just aren’t many films with similar stories involving women. Probably because the consensus is that such movies won’t do brisk box-office business, and perhaps there’s a little of the whole ‘women can’t stand to share the spotlight with each other’ stereotype in the mix as well. But I figure profitability is probably the key issue.

I have been thinking hard, trying to remember Bollywood movies I’ve seen that have platonic female relationships at their core (with the exclusion of relationships between biological sisters), and I’m not coming up with a whole lot. Apart from ‘Lajja’, there’s the lovely ‘Dor’, of course, with Ayesha Takia and Gul Panag playing two women thrown together by a combination of tragedy and serendipity....

... and there's the gorgeous 'Fire', with Shabana Azmi and Nandita Das burning up the screen in a compelling (and controversial) story about love, sex and self-fulfilment...

And of course this year, there was ‘We Are Family’, which I haven’t seen (and don’t really want to)....

... but there aren’t many more, which is why I’m really looking forward to Vidya Balan and Rani Mukherjee in ‘No One Killed Jessica’ (I know it’s not really about the women’s relationship, but at least it’s a theme), and to Deepika Padukone and Priyanka Chopra’s rumoured two-heroine film.... I really hope these movies do well and open the door to other films with women and their relationships at their centre. I would love to see more –for example, I would love to see something with Madhuri Dixit opposite Aishwarya Rai again – but this time, not converging in concern over a childish drunk à la Devdas, but in a smart film about women balancing (and/or failing to balance) career, romance and family. Or I would love to see Vidya Balan and Mahie Gill star in a good old-fashioned, honest-to-goodness buddy romp with a sparklingly witty script. Or maybe Jaya Bachchan and Shabana Azmi in a movie about two older women rediscovering themselves through their friendship.... And one of my most enduring dream movies is a remake of ‘All About Eve’, starring Shabana Azmi, Konkona Sen Sharma and Aamir Khan. Hey, a girl can dream, right?

... Anyway, I’d love to hear about the Hindi movies you’ve seen that featured interesting female friendships... am I exaggerating their scarcity? Which ones would you recommend? And who would you like to see in your dream Bollywood movie about female friendship?

‘TAAL’, ‘CHORI CHORI’ AND ‘PYAR KIYA TO DARNA KYA’

There’s been quite a bit of activity in my Bollyworld of recent. I recently watched 3 movies, to be discussed in the lengthy post below. I also saw ‘Just Married’ at the cinema yesterday, to be discussed in my Esha Deol post ('Dharam’s Children' Pt.III), whenever I get round to it. And I have quite a few movies to look forward to in the coming weeks. Yum.

‘TAAL’

I watched ‘Taal’ over the weekend. I like when you can tell that a writer/director has made a film close to his/her heart. With ‘Taal’, Subhash Ghai set out to make a modern story with a strong musical element. The musical element, provided by A. R. Rahman, is indeed strong, with a soundtrack that’s quite varied and a bit adventurous. While I didn’t like every single song, I enjoyed most of them, especially ‘Ishq Bina Kya’, sung with beautiful, emotional nuance by Alka Yagnik. I wasn’t surprised to discover that A. R. Rahman and Alka both won Filmfare awards for this film. In line with his focus on the power of music, Subhash Ghai also gives himself a cute little cameo singing along to his Walkman in a market.

As far as the story goes, it’s nothing ground-breaking. A rich boy named Manav (played by Akshaye Khanna), on a visit to Chamba, falls for a lowly village damsel named Manasi (or Mansi, played by Aishwarya Rai), and she (after a little resistance) returns his affections. When Manasi’s father, a renowned folk singer named Tarababu (played by Alok Nath) finds out, he tries to bring the affair into the open (and to forge suitable family ties) by visiting Manav’s father (played by Amrish Puri), who has lately become a friend. Things don’t go very well during the visit, and Manasi and her father are despondent until they meet a famous pop singer named Vikrant (played by Anil Kapoor), who gives Manasi a shot at fame and a new lease of life. But Manav still wants Manasi, and isn’t prepared to take ‘no’ for an answer (in fact his unshakeable confidence that he will get his Manasi back is a bit weird and annoying).

While the story is nothing new, I like the way it was told. I enjoyed the beautiful scenic shots in Chamba, and I thought the song picturisations were very lovely. As mentioned above, the music is charming, and some of the choreography is very good (some of it is dodgy). While the film as a whole is a bit uneven, with some really good scenes and some bits that were just out of place, I enjoyed the way it was wrapped up. I liked the emphasis on relationships, and the fact that all the relationships in the film got some attention and resolution, from the obvious (Manav and Manasi, Tarababu and Manav’s father), to those that would typically be considered less significant (Manav and Vikrant, Manav and his father, Manasi and Vikrant).

I thought the performances were quite strong. Akshaye Khanna hands in an understated and quite mature performance, and although I found his character very annoying in some parts of the film, I think Akshaye handled him quite well. He lets you see the courage, strength and confidence of the character, although some of that I felt was a bit questionable. He is also quite sweet in some scenes, especially with Ash.

I loved Aishwarya in the first half of the film – or perhaps I should say I loved what Ghai did with her (and the character of Manasi) in the first half. It was an unusual treatment – Ash (nicely stripped down, with wavy, simple hair and little make up) plays an innocent girl becoming aware of herself, the opposite sex (in the person of Manav) and most interestingly, her power over the opposite sex. I like that Manasi was depicted as fighting a battle she not only did not want to win, but one she knew she would eventually rejoice over losing. Ash plays this Manasi well, with a sexual awareness, sensuousness and intensity that is compelling, yet simple and without guile. The second, post-fame and success, meek and a bit majboor, burdened with love and divided loyalties, Manasi we meet in the second half of ‘Taal’, I found much less interesting, because she was someone I’ve seen many times before.

Alok Nath is good with these kinds of roles, and ‘Taal’ is no exception. I especially liked him and Ash in the scene at Manav’s home in Bombay (it was a bit of a stretch, though – I think realistically, most people would have just upped and left after a while). Amrish Puri is very good in his role as well. And there is a sweet little pooch called Brownie who had no wondrous abilities and was just so cute.

But for me, the standout performance in this film is by Anil Kapoor, with a gorgeous, meaty comic role (he won a Filmfare award for it). His character, Vikrant Kapur, is self-consciously over-the-top and dramatic, but also intelligent and even a bit sensitive. Vikrant is a showman, constantly playing ‘pop star’, surrounded by lots of spandex-clad dancers who just never seem to stop dancing and just seem kinda trippy. He even has his dancers on the go when he’s recording songs in the studio. He’s really crazy (his scene expounding his ‘7 Commandments’ is priceless comedy), but somehow you don’t find him annoying or grating (at least, I didn’t). Even when he starts acting out of character (as he does later in the film), he does a funny little scene to remind you he’s still the wacky Vikrant you’ve come to like. And in the midst of all the craziness, there’s a depth to his character that comes through here and there.

This scene was hilarious: 'Arrest him!' 'No, why should I?' 'Arrest him!' 'No!' 'Then dance!' Loved it...

All-in-all, I liked ‘Taal’. Not sure if I’d like to watch it again, but I enjoyed it very much and think Ghai and his team did a good job.

‘CHORI CHORI’

This was such a chore to watch. I just found it flat and bland, there was nothing particularly cute, or sweet, or endearing, or enjoyable about it. It was just a load of ‘blah’ for me. And it’s a bit perplexing for me because the film stars two of my favourite Bollywood actors, Rani Mukerji and Ajay ‘the hotness’ Devgan. I so wanted to like their performances, to enjoy the movie, but it just wasn’t happening.

Let’s start with the obvious – the tagline for this movie is ‘Everyone falls in love’. It should’ve been ‘Everyone falls in love except the stars of this movie’. I did not believe that they fell in love, I could not relate to their angst, torment and emotion, there was less than zero chemistry between them, and it was just… not good. And then the story – it wasn’t charming, or sweet, or witty – although it was obviously trying to be. It wasn’t even offbeat, edgy, black comedy – which I think it was also trying to be. It was just blah – a bit annoying, if anything.

I didn’t like the characters – Rani’s character is meant to be street-smart and sharp, yet somehow likeable (I think). I didn’t feel any of it – I just thought she was such a big fat liar and kept lying with an amazing casualness and ease which I found somewhat appalling. Maybe I need to loosen up, but I didn’t like her at all. Ajay’s character was a big fat bore and just seemed empty, uncaring, selfish and uninteresting – even his excitement and passion was half-hearted. The depiction of Ajay’s family is no more than an unwieldy caricature, and Ajay’s ex, played by Sonali Bendre, really does nothing except look sad/regretful.

The music in the film is not particularly great either. In fact, there’s nothing particularly great about this film. It looks pretty enough, but it lacks heart and substance. And it’s sad, because it has potential (I guess). And because I’m always searching for slightly sensational theories to back up observed phenomena, perhaps the biggest lesson of ‘Chori Chori’ is: never make a romantic movie opposite your cousin’s husband, especially when you and said cousin don’t get on well enough to laugh over a few drinks at the movie launch party.

‘PYAAR KIYA TO DARNA KYA’ (PKTDK)

Once upon a time I tried to watch this film – but then a few minutes into it, a shirtless guitar-playing Salman Khan leapt out at me and I was exasperated. I think I was in one of those I-don’t-want-no-crap moods that day – I skimmed over a few scenes and then just gave up. Looking back, I think I had just suffered through Salman’s ‘Lucky – No Time for Love’, which I absolutely hated – so my Salman tolerance-level must’ve been at an all-time low. Recently, I got a chance to borrow a few DVDs from a fellow Bollywood fan, and there it was in her collection – PKTDK. I thought to myself, why not give it another try? At the very least, you’ll be able to give your ‘slacking’ Dharmendra movie list a much-needed boost. I’m glad I did.

PKTDK, like ‘Taal’, is basically a rich boy (played by Salman) meets and falls in love with lowly girl (played by Kajol) movie. However, on this occasion, the major obstacle to the lovers’ bliss is Kajol’s over-protective and rather violent bhaiyya (played by Arbaaz Khan), who takes fierce delight in battering all of Kajol’s prospects. Salman does not help his case by making a terrible first impression on bhaiyya, and also by being a young, happy-go-lucky kinda fella. Despite his best efforts, bhaiyya remains stubbornly unimpressed. Can’t believe I haven’t mentioned my darling Dharmendra yet, who plays Kajol’s wise and strong chachu, who has looked after her and her brother since the loss of their parents. To cut a long story short, obviously there is much drama but love prevails at the end because the protagonists (Salman in particular) are determined to take risks in the name of love, and not to give way to their fears (hence the title).

I really enjoyed this movie – it was actually fun and kinda sweet. Kajol and Salman both did well, and I think they made a nice couple, surprisingly. The songs are mostly cute. There’s a scene with ‘duplicates’ of Bollywood stars that’s really quite funny. And there are quite a few hilarious subtitles, some of which are showcased below (we always love that!)

Don't know why I love this... I just do.

'Wed me thee'?? If you're going for the Shakespearean approach to subtitling (nothing wrong with that, it's always fun), at least do it right and say 'wed thee me'...

And of course, it was so great to see my Dharmendra kicking bad guys’ behinds and being all fatherly and sweet. And his voice still does ‘it’ for me. If I have any complaints about Dharam in this film, they are (a) it would have been nice to see more of him; (b) his dubbing skills seemed a bit off – there was sometimes a glaring lack of sync – like once his lips said ‘strong boy lakhta hai’, but his voice said ‘he’s a strong boy’ (I think I'm nit-picking); and (c) there were a few ‘voiceless’ scenes where they deliberately don’t let you hear the character’s voices – and I would've liked to hear his. Anyway, whatever, I don’t care enough about this to bother about it much. It was just nice to see him again.

But the craziest thing about watching PKTDK was the realisation that I AM CHANGING (and not in a cute, inspirational I’m-getting-stronger-and-wiser Effie-White-in-Dreamgirls way either). No – I am changing: from a girl who didn’t like Salman at all, to one whose Salman tolerance-level is currently rather high! I mean, the shirtless scene didn’t bother me that much this time. I didn’t wince much at his silly, goofy wiggling-his-bumbum scenes. I wasn’t constantly rolling my eyes at his frequent corniness – OMG! I think he just might be (gasp!) growing on me. I find this very, very, very disturbing.

SHAKESPEAREAN BOLLYWOOD ('OMKARA') - and a bit on 'HONEYMOON TRAVELS'...

‘Omkara’ is a very lovely film. I especially love the fact that it is very Shakespearean in tone, yet very Indian at the same time. As an adaptation of ‘Othello’, it succeeds admirably. As a Bollywood production, I think it’s in a class of its own. It’s very ‘grown’, there’s just something ‘mature’ about the film that really appeals to me. There are some lovely scenic shots in the movie that just stay in your memory, and some breath-taking sequences. The music is great (I love the ‘Beeri’ song), and the stellar, dynamic cast does a great job.

Ajay Devgan as ‘Omkara’ is dark, brooding, and just beautiful to watch, like he was in ‘Company’ – I always like him in roles like this. Saif Ali Khan – I totally see why his performance as ‘Langda’ has garnered such praise. It’s a marvellous performance and so unlike his typically ‘pretty boy’ roles. Nice one – I hope he continues to stretch himself like this – I like the guts he exhibited in taking on this role. Vive(i)k Oberoi still has 'that puppydog cuteness' as Amy aptly calls it, in his performance as ‘Kesu’, but he proves again that he’s also a promising actor.

I’m no Bebo fan, but I have to admit she does well in this role – I especially liked her in her final scene – she conveyed the heartbreak and pain of her character well. As with ‘Asoka’, I can’t really fault Kareena in this film. Konkona Sen Sharma pulls off a relatively small but actually pretty challenging role with class. And Bipasha Basu (who, God bless her, can’t act but makes up for it in sheer va-va-voom) is fantastic in her dance numbers as the seductive ‘Billo’.

One thing I liked about ‘Omkara’ is that there are no glowing, positive characters – everyone has that slight shadowing to them – they’re all flawed (some more than others) and really not very admirable (even ‘Dolly’, Kareena’s character, is fully aware of what Omi does and still wants him), which makes it easier to sort of stoop to their level and try to understand their motivations. It’s fascinating to watch how their enemies are not outside them (although they think they are) but within them. Their enemies are their fears and doubts, their mistrust, their blind trust. It’s enlightening and instructive to see how we often can inexorably lead ourselves to our own deaths and fail to grasp at the lifesavers that get tossed out to us now again, mainly because of our lack of esteem, confidence and trust in ourselves. In that sense, as I said before, it’s a very Shakespearean Bollywood film.

I usually don’t like sad endings, but I guess they’re easier to live with when they’re expected. I wish they’d toned down the whole darkness/light imagery thing between Omi and Dolly, though – after a while I was like ‘Ok, we got it. There’s a contrast. Othello is dark, Desdemona is fair. We get it!’ But that’s really a very small complaint. I loved this film.

I have to complain about this, though – this is really not fair, not when I am sincerely doing my level best not to have a full-fledged crush on Mr. Devgan. This is just not right…

And, why, pray tell me, WHY have they gotta do this to me??

And this… this is just so wrong on so many levels… so so so unfair.

I saw ‘Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd.’ based on Carla’s review. I had seen the trailer a while ago and thought it would be very daft, but I agree with Filmi Geek’s assessment of it – taken for what it tries to be (a fun, light-hearted movie with a few life lessons here and there), it’s really quite good. It is realistic in some parts, and fun and OTT in others - but I think it all balances out pretty well. I really liked it. The music was nice, most of the acting was good, and it worked for me. But where did they get that wooden, stilted guy (Vikram Chatwal) from? His acting needs a great deal of work - his delivery was pretty painful to watch - I found myself dreading his scenes, a shame since his co-star (Sandhya Mridul) was really good. But Angela would be proud of her boyfriend in this movie, he has just a little screen time but he looks so so good and does so well with what’s he’s given. Nice…

Anyway, the notable thing about seeing this movie for me is that I think I am now in love with my dear Dharam’s nephew (and lookalike), Abhay Deol. Sure, he’s not as fine as his uncle (but then, few men are), but he looks pretty damned good to me – and he can dance (which, in the Deol family, means a lot). Ed.: He actually claims he can't dance, though. So yeah, I think I’m in love. Dharam still has my heart, but I’ve given a little teeny piece of it to Abhay (no big deal, lots of actors have little bits of my heart – the good thing is that there’s more than enough to go round). And now I shall promptly stop being silly… Enjoy your week, everyone.

‘VIJAYPATH’ – Revenge, Ridiculousness and Ruthlessness

So finally I am posting my review of the action movie ‘Vijaypath’ – it’s about time. My copy of this movie is really poor quality, so I must apologise for the pictures in advance. What can I say about ‘Vijaypath’? A lot, potentially, but I think I’ll try to curb my natural tendency towards verbosity – here are five statements about this film.

1. ‘Vijaypath’ is a nice slice of mid-90s fabulousness – Ajay Devgan looking hot in tight jeans and some big ol’ sunglasses, Tabu looking… umm, loud in some crazy clothes, and a supporting cast made up of the same old actors we’re used to seeing.

2. ‘Vijaypath’ is a stereotypical revenge flick – young boy’s family is ripped from him, young boy grows up and takes revenge on the bad guy. In this film, Ajay’s character is the son of a judge’s loyal friend and driver. The judge and his family make Ajay’s character part of their home, and the judge’s young son is like his brother. The judge steps on some powerful toes who decide to take their revenge by cruelly murdering the judge and his family. Ajay is also blinded, but just before the judge’s son dies, he donates his eyes to Ajay’s character.

Flash forward to a few years later… and Ajay is a young man who has sworn to wear dark glasses until he gets revenge, in honour of his ‘brother’. Equally bitter… no, much, much, more bitter about the loss of the judge and his family, is the judge’s younger brother (let’s call him Uncle); formerly an honest policeman, who was left permanently disabled in a clash with the bad guys. He and Ajay’s character live together. They spend all their time plotting revenge. Uncle even turns his crutch into a killing machine – that bit’s actually quite funny. Meanwhile, the bad guy is living it up in his mansion, with his daft nephew for comic relief. To cut it all short, things go all kinds of crazy, but Ajay’s character eventually gets revenge (yawnnn) for all his lost loved ones.

3. On the path to revenge, a lot of stuff happens… some of it verysad, all of it very action-y, and some of it very silly. Tabu’s character falls crazy in love with Ajay’s character, but he isn’t interested. You see, all he cares about is revenge. But Tabu gives it her all – she does a very wacky dance (to a song called ‘Ruk Ruk Ruk’) for him, a dance involving policemen, people in raincoats, cheerleaders, clowns, furry toys and even (rather disturbingly), beggars.

She even arranges for Ajay to be attacked by the clowns… poor thing.



Does it all work? Does Ajay fall for the Tabu character? You’ll have to watch the movie to find out (of course it works - eventually).

4. Another thing happens on the way to revenge (not funny though). Ajay’s character is so ruthless about it that he tortures the bad guy’s stupid but harmless nephew by unleashing angry birds on the poor bad-haired thing. This was not funny. This annoyed me. Ajay’s character tried to justify it based on the wrong done to his family, but… no, no, no. Ajay’s character should have gone to jail for that… instead he gets to ride off into the sunset on his Yamaha, with the beautiful Tabu for company.

5. Finally, this film is so formulaic and easy to predict that only a few things made it worth watching for me.

One: Ajay – looking very hot, even with the big ol’ glasses – all in serious mode like I like him. Two: Tabu’s crazy song and dance – totally OTT and totally worth watching.
Three: It was fairly watchable – what you’d call an ok timepass.

Four: The subtitles are HILARIOUS - I posted a choice few here a while ago.