I'd never have even heard about it if it were not for a review I glanced at in a magazine.
It's the kind of mag that gives low- mid-spectrum ratings to most movies, so the 4-star rating caught my eye and I read on. The more I read, the more it sounded like my kind of movie.
The movie is great without being fantastic. It made me chuckle, and at one outrageously funny moment that jumps at you, I laughed so hard I thought I'd wake my neighbors up (in Mumbai, they're a few feet away from you even if they're in their own homes).
It's a simple story, really. Girl falls in love with a boy. Family finds out about the affair and try to get the boy thrashed at the hands of a cop because of all the bad things they hear about the boy. Girl's Daddy (Bauji; Sanjay Mishra) realizes the boy ain't a bad egg, and it affects him deeply. So much so that it snaps a fundamental anchor -- of believing obvious 'truths' and heresy without questioning -- and he steps right into an existential crisis. He decides to believe nothing other than what he sees and hears himself. No heresy. No books. No newspapers. No conventional wisdom and knowledge.
Does Goes exist? Possible but he can't see him with his own eyes. So he stops performing pooja.
What follows is how the life of a lower middle class joint family is thrown into turmoil because of Bauji's crisis and ends rather dramatically. If you watch the movie, do send me a note to tell me what you thought happened...and why.
What works for the movie?
1) Sanjay Mishra. He really works well for the movie. You've seen him in a hundred movies but possibly don't know his name. He is the reluctant protagonist of the movie and he looks the part of Bauji so incredibly well. He doesn't really act. He 'becomes' Bauji.
2) Bauji is a character that works. He's mild, agreeable, malleable, eccentric, tender, obstinate, practical, philosophical...all in one go. Like most 'normal' people, really.
3) Enjoying a movie, for me, has a critical element -- ability to suspend disbelief. Possibly, I find it much harder than most desis to suspend disbelief. The beauty of this movie is that Rajat Kapoor uses a support cast that's not familiar at all and that makes it easier for my disbelief to go take a hike. Hence, there's no 'Ohh, Raghuvir Yadav's playing xxx...'. The cast are the characters. Period. And, yet, many of the characters have a unique presence, like Bauji's daughter, his son, the gambling den owner, the Pandit's son...they have facets, traits, and quirks. Bauji's wife (played by Seema Pahwa of Baboo didi from Ferrari ki Sawari fame) is stellar in her role.
4) The dialogues are quirky. The exchange about how two parallel lines don't really meet, but do meet in infinity will get a knowing chuckle from you.
5) THAT funny moment that totally cracked me up. It'll do that to you too.
6) The end really jumped at me. Totally WTF!
Gotta give movies like this a shot otherwise all we'll end up getting are Chennai Express, Ready, and Don N, and that would be tragic.
Go watch it, not as charity, but because splendid cinema is slipping under the radar for want of marketing dollars, and you're missing on quality movies.
Mildly Spiced champions the cause of good under-appreciated movies and so should you. So go.
3.5/5
It's the kind of mag that gives low- mid-spectrum ratings to most movies, so the 4-star rating caught my eye and I read on. The more I read, the more it sounded like my kind of movie.
The movie is great without being fantastic. It made me chuckle, and at one outrageously funny moment that jumps at you, I laughed so hard I thought I'd wake my neighbors up (in Mumbai, they're a few feet away from you even if they're in their own homes).
It's a simple story, really. Girl falls in love with a boy. Family finds out about the affair and try to get the boy thrashed at the hands of a cop because of all the bad things they hear about the boy. Girl's Daddy (Bauji; Sanjay Mishra) realizes the boy ain't a bad egg, and it affects him deeply. So much so that it snaps a fundamental anchor -- of believing obvious 'truths' and heresy without questioning -- and he steps right into an existential crisis. He decides to believe nothing other than what he sees and hears himself. No heresy. No books. No newspapers. No conventional wisdom and knowledge.
Does Goes exist? Possible but he can't see him with his own eyes. So he stops performing pooja.
What follows is how the life of a lower middle class joint family is thrown into turmoil because of Bauji's crisis and ends rather dramatically. If you watch the movie, do send me a note to tell me what you thought happened...and why.
What works for the movie?
1) Sanjay Mishra. He really works well for the movie. You've seen him in a hundred movies but possibly don't know his name. He is the reluctant protagonist of the movie and he looks the part of Bauji so incredibly well. He doesn't really act. He 'becomes' Bauji.
2) Bauji is a character that works. He's mild, agreeable, malleable, eccentric, tender, obstinate, practical, philosophical...all in one go. Like most 'normal' people, really.
3) Enjoying a movie, for me, has a critical element -- ability to suspend disbelief. Possibly, I find it much harder than most desis to suspend disbelief. The beauty of this movie is that Rajat Kapoor uses a support cast that's not familiar at all and that makes it easier for my disbelief to go take a hike. Hence, there's no 'Ohh, Raghuvir Yadav's playing xxx...'. The cast are the characters. Period. And, yet, many of the characters have a unique presence, like Bauji's daughter, his son, the gambling den owner, the Pandit's son...they have facets, traits, and quirks. Bauji's wife (played by Seema Pahwa of Baboo didi from Ferrari ki Sawari fame) is stellar in her role.
4) The dialogues are quirky. The exchange about how two parallel lines don't really meet, but do meet in infinity will get a knowing chuckle from you.
5) THAT funny moment that totally cracked me up. It'll do that to you too.
6) The end really jumped at me. Totally WTF!
Gotta give movies like this a shot otherwise all we'll end up getting are Chennai Express, Ready, and Don N, and that would be tragic.
Go watch it, not as charity, but because splendid cinema is slipping under the radar for want of marketing dollars, and you're missing on quality movies.
Mildly Spiced champions the cause of good under-appreciated movies and so should you. So go.
3.5/5
