In the last decade, Mumbai has seen many new film institutes coming into existence for training the young brigade willing to work both in the front and behind the silver screen. The change is no doubt good and in fact the most needed one too in the current scenario where many young energetic minds are coming in to join with a clear vision and career plan. The latest ones in the news include Anupam Kher's Acting School and Subhash Ghai's private campus kind of institute with a wider vision called Whistling Woods International.
Now a bigger institute like Whistling Woods undoubtedly has its own resources, equipments, crew and even studios in order to give their students a practical experience. And obviously with everything available right in the campus, the students would readily like to make a film of their own as their course assignment or may be as their show-reel for their future struggle. The thought is indeed appreciable as it provides the right kind of encouragement to the students along with some valuable practical experience with everything being made available to them as their course material within their own campus.
But Is it fare to take such one movie made by the students themselves with their limited abilities and then release it in the theaters for the viewers to watch it by paying a handsome ticket price? Truly speaking, I don't think so. And that's the reason why I really didn't like "LOVE EXPRESS", even when I seriously wished to applaud the honest attempt made by all the new youngsters in the film. In straight words it is really not worth of spending that much amount in a multiplex theater for a common moviegoer.
The film is exactly like an amateur student attempt to make an enjoyable family comedy. It revolves around an arranged inter-caste marriage which suddenly brings in tension and confusions within the two families. The writer makes use of all the already well known ingredients of a Hit comedy in his script but the film sadly remains a mediocre product throughout. It has a supposed to be enjoyable train journey of all the Baraatis together, a few Punjabi Sikh characters to make you laugh with their funny faces and expressions, two parallel love stories running along in the narration, a flirting clever old man and one good party track to dance upon. But unfortunately neither the script nor the direction gives you anything in return of your money spent.
Debut director Sunny Bhambani works on a story idea which was also followed by Imtiaz Ali's SOCHA NA THA released in 2005. All the young actors in the film show their excitement more than the acting which should become another lesson in their ongoing course in the institute. Veteran Om Puri as the elder marriage fixer seems to be enjoying his role very casually and the rest of the cast just acts as their routine job. The soundtrack has only one interesting track "Dance Like A Punjabi" inspired from the beats of "Soni De Nakhre" from PARTNER and Cinematography gives you nothing great to write upon.
In all, LOVE EXPRESS made me reach the following 3 important conclusions : 1. Mr. Subhash Ghai was very right in thinking of a strategy of giving the viewer two such movies at the price of one ticket. He had planned to release two such small budget films together in the multiplexes, which could be seen at a single ticket bought. But for some unknown reason the planning didn't materialize and the viewer became the victim in the end.
2. Its high time for Bollywood directors to understand that its not fare to use the characters of a particular community, just as JOKERS on the screen and they need to take extra caution while doing so. Though in LOVE EXPRESS, Sikh characters are not used as a direct medium of jokes or laughter but the sarcasm intended by the writers and the director is pretty clear in their characterizations.
3. Thirdly and most importantly, if owners of Film Schools wish to release their in-house contents for public viewing, then they can easily do so by releasing DVDs of their Institution's films having more than 2 or 3 movies in one DVD (as released by the Pune's Film Institute too).
But its really not acceptable that they start serving the amateur kind of stuff made by their students as their new releases in the theaters for the innocent viewers to see for a heavy price. That in my opinion is not Cinema but is a cunning way of making some commercial value out of your own student's amateurish works made available to you without incurring any huge costs or efforts.
I hope Bollywood doesn't start this new process in the name of Innovation.
Now a bigger institute like Whistling Woods undoubtedly has its own resources, equipments, crew and even studios in order to give their students a practical experience. And obviously with everything available right in the campus, the students would readily like to make a film of their own as their course assignment or may be as their show-reel for their future struggle. The thought is indeed appreciable as it provides the right kind of encouragement to the students along with some valuable practical experience with everything being made available to them as their course material within their own campus.
But Is it fare to take such one movie made by the students themselves with their limited abilities and then release it in the theaters for the viewers to watch it by paying a handsome ticket price? Truly speaking, I don't think so. And that's the reason why I really didn't like "LOVE EXPRESS", even when I seriously wished to applaud the honest attempt made by all the new youngsters in the film. In straight words it is really not worth of spending that much amount in a multiplex theater for a common moviegoer.
The film is exactly like an amateur student attempt to make an enjoyable family comedy. It revolves around an arranged inter-caste marriage which suddenly brings in tension and confusions within the two families. The writer makes use of all the already well known ingredients of a Hit comedy in his script but the film sadly remains a mediocre product throughout. It has a supposed to be enjoyable train journey of all the Baraatis together, a few Punjabi Sikh characters to make you laugh with their funny faces and expressions, two parallel love stories running along in the narration, a flirting clever old man and one good party track to dance upon. But unfortunately neither the script nor the direction gives you anything in return of your money spent.
Debut director Sunny Bhambani works on a story idea which was also followed by Imtiaz Ali's SOCHA NA THA released in 2005. All the young actors in the film show their excitement more than the acting which should become another lesson in their ongoing course in the institute. Veteran Om Puri as the elder marriage fixer seems to be enjoying his role very casually and the rest of the cast just acts as their routine job. The soundtrack has only one interesting track "Dance Like A Punjabi" inspired from the beats of "Soni De Nakhre" from PARTNER and Cinematography gives you nothing great to write upon.
In all, LOVE EXPRESS made me reach the following 3 important conclusions : 1. Mr. Subhash Ghai was very right in thinking of a strategy of giving the viewer two such movies at the price of one ticket. He had planned to release two such small budget films together in the multiplexes, which could be seen at a single ticket bought. But for some unknown reason the planning didn't materialize and the viewer became the victim in the end.
2. Its high time for Bollywood directors to understand that its not fare to use the characters of a particular community, just as JOKERS on the screen and they need to take extra caution while doing so. Though in LOVE EXPRESS, Sikh characters are not used as a direct medium of jokes or laughter but the sarcasm intended by the writers and the director is pretty clear in their characterizations.
3. Thirdly and most importantly, if owners of Film Schools wish to release their in-house contents for public viewing, then they can easily do so by releasing DVDs of their Institution's films having more than 2 or 3 movies in one DVD (as released by the Pune's Film Institute too).
But its really not acceptable that they start serving the amateur kind of stuff made by their students as their new releases in the theaters for the innocent viewers to see for a heavy price. That in my opinion is not Cinema but is a cunning way of making some commercial value out of your own student's amateurish works made available to you without incurring any huge costs or efforts.
I hope Bollywood doesn't start this new process in the name of Innovation.