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Paa (2009)
Paa is waah - well, mostly
The plot is predictable, more so the end and especially if you have bothered to look up "progeria" on Wiki. It has holes, is unbelievable in parts, sheds some unwanted light on unneeded details and can be, on the whole, termed inconsistent which, under normal circumstances and also given Balki, the writer-director's past track record (he seems to have a fetish for Big B in abnormal roles - remember Cheeni Kum?), is a perfect recipe for disaster. For some odd reason, Paa isn't one. And while it isn't exactly a gem, it has just about enough going for it.
So Amitabh Bachchan is too tall even when it comes to fully grown adult roles. The camera-work need to be out of the world in order to be convincing - sadly, it's not. And those of you expecting to see some tricks out of Appu Raja's book (remember Kamal Hassan's dwarf act?) will be disappointed. Then we have the unnecessary political details that are conveniently forgotten later in the film, which might be considered by some as a blessing in disguise, given that the politico-media rhetoric is not well done at all (a dynamic young MP from Uttar Pradesh who happens to be from a political family which may or may not be holier than thou - surprise!) Inclusion of some form of political commentary seems to have become a filmmaker's benchmark of sorts and Balki fails miserably on this count, since it is obvious he could not decide what he exactly wanted to portray - the rise, fall and subsequent rise of an over-idealistic Amol (Abhishek) all of which happens within a very short span of time, doubts regarding his father's wealth and thereby honesty (thus questioning the foundation of Abhishek's 'politics is not a dirty world') or a snapshot of the sleazy reality and the associated cynicism fuelled by the opportunistic media. Also, if strained personal equations take time to heal, public perception and the media's stance does not switch overnight either.
Then we have Vidya Balan - now here's another actress who looks gorgeous but cannot act to save her life. Worse, she chooses to reprise a role from a film which owes its success to the humour, not to her wooden act (I'm obviously talking about Hey Babyy here) - the angry, young and unforgiving single mother who will obviously relent at the very end. End result - she reaffirms the faith reposed in her by her critics. The latter part of the second half where she is required to emote and hams every time she tries to do so is a pain and takes away the good memories of the part leading up till then.
So what's good? Well, Amitabh owns! Leave alone the height issue, and what we have here is a gem of a performance - the make-up not only helped in disguising him, but also enabled him to deliver the dialogues in an almost perfect child-like accent (I say almost perfect because you just know that it is Mr. Bachchan - which is hardly surprising given that his is one of the most easily recognizable voices). Every scene with him in it, inevitably cracking a smart-Alec comment or two, or behaving only like a school-kid does is a gem, so much so that the second half seems to drag only because all the melodrama hardly ever gets Auro involved directly.
His weird dance might seem repetitive after a few times, but as far as Auro's wisecracks go, while a few of them may have been a bit too mature for a 13-year-old, most of them are the kind of things a middle school-goer would say - and it's the way that they're said that seals it. Abhishek, in spite of a somewhat weakly written and insufficient role, performs adequately, as do the supporting actors Paresh Rawal and especially Arundathi Nag as "Bum" (watch it to find out why). Overall, the first half is a breeze while the second half drags - and while the music is nice, the later songs seem to have been force-fed into the scheme of things - but that's alright.
Granted, that there are many chinks in the armour - and as a viewer, you should keep that in mind while you go watch this one. And go watch this one you should (exactly once, of course) if only to relive what we left behind way back on the platform of that unknown little station called 8th standard - an uncared-for piece of baggage full of silly jokes, laughter, mannerisms along, sadly, with our innocence.
LSD: Love, Sex Aur Dhokha (2010)
Brazen brilliance - love it if you want to
Real life is tediously slow and for the most part lacks excitement. Happy endings are rare - there are, no doubt, moments full of happiness but things rarely (if ever) end there. There is sadness - truckloads of it, and that is why most people perceive cinema to be an out-and-out entertaining medium which must almost always rely on escapism.
Little wonder then that reality on the big screen is not meant for everyone. Every now and then, we have had brave filmmakers who have tried to depict things as they are, with varying degrees of commercialization and success. But barring a few, such films have been confined to the fringes, and their makers have had to make do with critical acclaim on the festival circuit instead of box office records and popular awards. The current crop is luckier - this happens to be the information age, technology has progressed by leaps and bounds, production houses are in place and most have an indie wing ready to finance (viable) experiments, and globalization has only helped them get in touch with and learn from their counterparts from all over. But above all, we have multiplexes - and with young, urban India more than willing to spend, chances of recovering the production costs are much higher.
Of course, none of the aforementioned things actually guarantees anything. A film has to be made well; it has to strike the right balance between style and substance, between reality and cinematic liberties; it has to connect with its audience, and Khosla Ka Ghosla and Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! had firmly established the target audience of Dibakar Banerjee. Ever since the title of Love, Sex Aur Dhoka was revealed, it had been causing the most extreme reactions everywhere. Admirers of his previous works were skeptical about Ekta Kapoor being the producer. Add to that all the rumours about the seven-minute sex scene, full frontal nudity, phalana, dimkhana, and the buzz was palpable. After watching the film, one thing was much more clear than anything else - those who had any preconceived notions of the wrong kind should not have gone for it.
Three carefully interwoven stories (one, the love story of two film making students; two, centred around a couple of supermarket employees; three, revolving around a sting journalist, a wannabe model and a pop-star) are connected by two crucial incidents at the setting of the second story. If one has to nitpick, there are quite a few things that come to mind. A student filmmaker will not forget to switch his camera off every single time. There was at least one camera too many being used to film the song sequences in the student film. Security cameras provide low-resolution video feed and no audio whatsoever. ZIMA is in Andheri not NOIDA; fishermen with a Bambaiyya accent aren't found in that area either; Borivali National Park? WTF! And that scene there was the only one they could have actually done without. Then, people on the eastern fringes of Delhi rarely if ever use the words 'khallas' and 'chindi'. The senti background tune could have been done without - too many instances of it esp. in the latter half. There were a couple of goofs with the chronology - in one scene, the guy is shown to have bruises even though he gets beaten up couple of days later, and the final title track sequence would have tied things up neatly if they only they hadn't tried to include it in the time-line.
The fact that this film deserves two thumbs up in spite of all this shows just how inconsequential these minor blips were in the overall scheme of things. Superb concept, good story, (mostly) rock solid acting and peppered with memorable dialogues (albeit a bit inconsistent and not of the level of DB's previous) delivered in an authentic accent almost every single time (casting all newcomers was a masterstroke - each and every one of them suited their assigned role to the T), addictive (but underused) music (Sneha Khanwalkar, take a bow) with lyrics that will make your ears stand up and your fingers hit the rewind button (separate music review soon) - to cut a long review short, brilliant execution. Those who want to watch it for the sleaze will be disappointed - the action is tempered, the shocks cushioned. Those who want to get offended, will get offended; ditto for those who want to get bored. But those of you who go in with the sole purpose of being entertained will love it. Different not for the heck of being different, a true anthology film and the first real experiment, this one is compulsory repeat viewing.
Don't take your girl out for this one, unless you're looking to give her an excuse to dump you - but if your relationship survives this, dude, she's for keeps. KKG and OLLO both won national awards. In all probability, LSD won't. And in case, just in case it does, it would only mean one thing - that India is finally coming of age.