Main Madhuri Dixit Banna Chahti Hoon turns a critical eye to Bollywood, and does this in a good way. There are several layers to comment this movie on: since most of the above commenters already talked about the plot and the message of the movie, I'll talk a bit more about the film-technique.
The main thing I noticed is how the movie plays with 'reality' and ' virtuality' in quite a postmodernist fashion: whenever in real-life, ' fake' or 'unreal' emotions are in play, there's a typical Bollywood-song: when Chutki sings about her dream to become the next Madhuri in the beginning for example, and when supporting role Rumi also sings about is dreams to become famous: through use of this technique the viewer realizes that part of why Chutki wants to be famous is not only because she has a real and unique talent (which she obviously has), but also because she has a certain narcissistic bent, which becomes apparent through the rest of the movie, for example in how she treats her best friend and husband Raja. The rest of the song and dance we see is carefully integrated in the movie so that there is no ' break' from the movie, something some bollywood-movies suffer from. Another technique used is at the moment when Raja and Chutki go to see her debut-film and in a near-empty theater witness how the movie excites derision and contempt in the few drunks who bothered to buy the ticket for Chutki's first movie: at the moment when reality really sinks in into Chutki's self-centered world-view, and when Raja for the first time really shows how he feels after all the bad treatment he got, the film-picture suddenly goes grainier and the colors become a bit staler, as if we were sitting at a drive-in back in the 70's or something. Those ' most real' moments are shot in an ' unreal' moment. We can interpret this as meaning that this is the moment where both characters display the film-like heroism so much talked about, but on the other hand it also signifies the disconnect there is between Bollywood and everyday reality: any moment like this in a cliché-Bollywood flick wouldn't be important.
There's more little gadgets like these, which make the movie a really well-thought out expose and critique of all types of Bollywood-clichés: not only the plot is a comment on Bollywood, but also the techniques used, the way the characters are built up , and more. In that sense it is a very good movie, and very good acting by lead actors Antara Mali and Rajpal Yadav.
At the same time, this impressive intellectual tour-de-force does make it more difficult to really identify very deeply with the characters and to really feel all of the emotions - and that is one of Bollywood's strong points: these movies are usually guaranteed to bring tears to your eyes and smiles to your face. While there are some emotionally tense moments there, the obvious flaws in the main characters, e.g. Chutki's narcissism and Raja's overall shyness, necessary to drive the plot, these necessary flaws do also irritate sometimes and at certain points seem to be unbelievable. Again: these character flaws are necessary, they don't compromise Antara and Rajpal's good acting, and they drive he plot, but their obviousness from the beginning on does make the characters reactions a bit more predictable and less identifiable with. The most interesting character is Raja's, who seems to overcome his naiveté quite quickly and from halfway in the movie onwards is constantly seen asking the right type of questions in every situation, and most interestingly, in some sentences even seems to be harking back on his knowledge as a farmer (e.g. when he talks about getting to know the film-industry from the stem and the root) to make sense of big-city Bombay.
So, all in all this is a good movie which may speak a bit more to the mind then it does to the heart. It is good to see that Bollywood is able to play with their clichés and standards. Don't get me wrong: I love the standard Bollywood movie, exactly for their 'unrealistic' topoi like song and dance and the us of color. But this movie reminds us all that their are more ways to a make a good movie, and that India is picking up on all of them. Go see it, enjoy it, and think about it.
The main thing I noticed is how the movie plays with 'reality' and ' virtuality' in quite a postmodernist fashion: whenever in real-life, ' fake' or 'unreal' emotions are in play, there's a typical Bollywood-song: when Chutki sings about her dream to become the next Madhuri in the beginning for example, and when supporting role Rumi also sings about is dreams to become famous: through use of this technique the viewer realizes that part of why Chutki wants to be famous is not only because she has a real and unique talent (which she obviously has), but also because she has a certain narcissistic bent, which becomes apparent through the rest of the movie, for example in how she treats her best friend and husband Raja. The rest of the song and dance we see is carefully integrated in the movie so that there is no ' break' from the movie, something some bollywood-movies suffer from. Another technique used is at the moment when Raja and Chutki go to see her debut-film and in a near-empty theater witness how the movie excites derision and contempt in the few drunks who bothered to buy the ticket for Chutki's first movie: at the moment when reality really sinks in into Chutki's self-centered world-view, and when Raja for the first time really shows how he feels after all the bad treatment he got, the film-picture suddenly goes grainier and the colors become a bit staler, as if we were sitting at a drive-in back in the 70's or something. Those ' most real' moments are shot in an ' unreal' moment. We can interpret this as meaning that this is the moment where both characters display the film-like heroism so much talked about, but on the other hand it also signifies the disconnect there is between Bollywood and everyday reality: any moment like this in a cliché-Bollywood flick wouldn't be important.
There's more little gadgets like these, which make the movie a really well-thought out expose and critique of all types of Bollywood-clichés: not only the plot is a comment on Bollywood, but also the techniques used, the way the characters are built up , and more. In that sense it is a very good movie, and very good acting by lead actors Antara Mali and Rajpal Yadav.
At the same time, this impressive intellectual tour-de-force does make it more difficult to really identify very deeply with the characters and to really feel all of the emotions - and that is one of Bollywood's strong points: these movies are usually guaranteed to bring tears to your eyes and smiles to your face. While there are some emotionally tense moments there, the obvious flaws in the main characters, e.g. Chutki's narcissism and Raja's overall shyness, necessary to drive the plot, these necessary flaws do also irritate sometimes and at certain points seem to be unbelievable. Again: these character flaws are necessary, they don't compromise Antara and Rajpal's good acting, and they drive he plot, but their obviousness from the beginning on does make the characters reactions a bit more predictable and less identifiable with. The most interesting character is Raja's, who seems to overcome his naiveté quite quickly and from halfway in the movie onwards is constantly seen asking the right type of questions in every situation, and most interestingly, in some sentences even seems to be harking back on his knowledge as a farmer (e.g. when he talks about getting to know the film-industry from the stem and the root) to make sense of big-city Bombay.
So, all in all this is a good movie which may speak a bit more to the mind then it does to the heart. It is good to see that Bollywood is able to play with their clichés and standards. Don't get me wrong: I love the standard Bollywood movie, exactly for their 'unrealistic' topoi like song and dance and the us of color. But this movie reminds us all that their are more ways to a make a good movie, and that India is picking up on all of them. Go see it, enjoy it, and think about it.