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We waiting….More than half of 2007 has passed by us and we still haven’t been dazzled. We’re not talking about it incessantly everywhere, from schools, colleges, offices to nightclubs and kitty parties. We’re not humming its songs from the bathroom to boardroom, or posting it all over the www. We’re not dissecting it, tearing it apart or flattering it with a zillion controversies.
Yes. The Big Bollywood Bang of 2007 still isn’t here. That one (atleast one) all-India smash hit! The crowd puller and darling of critics alike. The resoundingly successful, adventurous new face of Hindi cinema.
I’m not talking of ‘good’ movies, or quirky multiplex films that made you go “Hmmm, I that was interesting”. I mean 2007 hasn’t been a total dud uptil now. I enjoyed Don, oodles of fun and very stylish. It was refreshing to have Ramu mark a ‘Ramu-ish’ return to direction with Nishabd. The dance bar numbers of Shootout At Lokhandwala still make me want to get and jiggle. Metro was light, frothy and a lovely ensemble cast led unarguably by Irrfan and Konkona. And I fell absolutely in love with Cheeni Kum, by far the coolest and wittiest film of this year. An ode to zesty, zingy singles the world over, it featured the sexilicious pair of Tabu and AB and an equally yummy script. But am quite aware families must have preferred to picnic at the Sunday matinee show of Shrek 3. Cheeni Kum was a delightful little bite of foie gras, not falafel or farsan! very niche film. And it may have left me in a happy sugarless daze, but it certainly didn’t sock me between the eyes. That’s what I mean by ‘Big Bang’. Speaking of farsan, I forgot Guru, the biggest hot of ’07 so far. Er um. Ash and Abhi (not to forget the wonderful Mithunda) managed to keep you engrossed for three hours, after which you promptly forgot about it. Many dialogues got the requisite ceetees and smiles, and Mani Ratnam always manages to get you involved in whatever rags-to-riches, ring-a-ring-a-roses plot he’s narrating between sepia-tinted dance sequences. But still; that ‘sock-‘em the face’ quality? No, Guru didn’t have it. The larger-than-life cinematic experience is still eluding us.
What did? Let’s rewind to 2006. A rocking year for Bollywood with a list of smash hits like Krrish, Fanaa, Dhoom 2, along with unexpected multiplex winners like Khosla Ka Ghosla and Dor. It’s like great stories, gorgeous men and women, zingy dance sequences and chartbusting music were falling like stars from an overlit sky. In between this masala-mix of massive entertainment and sense and sensibility, three films managed that impossible feat. Just managing to stand up to Superman Hritik’s singlehanded va-va-voom rock’n roll act in Dhoom 2 requires courage and substance. The super-sexy Ash and super-bored Abhi couldn’t manage it. Neither could the return of Kajol or a knockout performance from Ayesha Takia. What saved the year from a being a Hritik showcase (Who’s complaining? Who’s complaining!) were the Big ‘Uns of 2006. The Maharathis. Lage Raho MunnaBhai, Rang De Basanti and Omkara. And of course, the big bomb overseas, Kabhi Alvidaa na Kehna. I liked it. Really, I did, despite SRK hamming, AB hamming and Rani hamming. The music rocked and the costumes and sets brought in the moolah. But KJo knows as much as we do, his extra-marital saga doesn’t deserve to be in the Big Bangs of 2006.
Let me admit, my least favourite of the triumphant trio was Lage Raho. Of all the three, it was the least risky. The filmmakers may shout themselves hoarse saying they bet on the Gandhigiri theme and it could have backfired. But cmmon! The movie was like a dabba of roshogullas topped with dollops of shudh ghee. All the possible clichés one could invent to make the Indian public sob and smile at the same time. Ladled richly with the writer-director’s unique brand of crackling, street-smart, Mumbaiyya humour. Bang on target, each time. It was Rajkumar Hirani who was the hero all the way, redefining Bollywood comedy for the millennium. He rescued the sequel from being drowned in the mediocrity Sanjay Dutt’s uncreasingly unsufferable do-gooder act, Vidya Balan’s Colgate smile, and the smashing Boman Irani teethering very very close to hamming. For me, however the Munnabhai brand works only because of one man, Circuit. Any other actor would have reduced the over-the-top tapori to a caricature. Not the super-duper Arshad Warsi.
The real stunner of 2006 was Rang De Basanti. I don’t remember any flashy promos except snippets of the title song with Daler Paaji booming like only he can. You saw it and you went “Oye, nice music. Oh, A.R Rehman. Can’t be bad eh? And look at all these where-the-hell-have-I-seen-them-before actors and oooh, oh… Aamir”. Chalo yaar dekh hi lete hain. Looks promising. Unsuspectingly, you settled into our seats, popcorn in case of inflicted boredom (remember the director’s last film was Aks?), the credits rolled, and then…BAM! Hit right between the eyes.
A gang of aimless college loafers are transported by a camera-wielding Brit babe into a forgotten era of national heroes, until, in a strange twist of time, the reel roles become real! What a screenplay, what a terrific ensemble cast: brooding new eyecandies Kunal and Siddharth, effervescent Soha, lovely Alice Patten, fiery Atul Kulkarni and a superbly restrained Aamir. Not to speak of the most rocking sound track of the year! Now that’s what I call risk-taking. After a horrendous debut with Aks, Rakeysh Om Prakash Mehra (yes, he’s ONE person, says SRK) corrected all his wierdo errors in RDB, but he didn’t compromise on his vision and integrity. He didn’t dumb down the script, he didn’t make it mushy and saccharine. He didn’t do the ‘right’ thing, he did what he wanted. And it worked like a charm.
Omkara was the dark horse. People was wondering what the talented Vishal Bharadwaj was upto with his ultra-filmi huge starcast. Granted, it aroused the most curiosity, but not a soul knew what the maverick writer-director was upto. After having seen and admired Maqbool, I was prepared for dark intensity. But minutes into the movie, as Langda Tyagi hijacks Rajju’s baraat and sends the panicky groom to try and stop Omkara from abducting his bride, I was reeling with shock!! Talk about intensity, this was downright repulsive! The language got increasingly profane and I had to duck repeatedly to avoid the stinging venom and generous pichkaris of asli desi (hinterland, not Mumbai) gaalis splattered around like gulaal at Holi. It was not until halfway that I realized our desi genius was not ravaging Shakespeare but weaving together (at breakneck speed) perhaps the wildest, raunchiest (and definitely the most original) interpretation of one of the bard’s most famous plays. What a stinging stroke of genius. Of course, while Ajay and Kareena brooded and sulked as their roles demanded, Saif and Konkona breathed fire into theirs, making it difficult to even tear your eyes away from them for a second. The pink T-shirted metrosexual and the kohl-eyed Mrs Iyer, slipped into the skins of their flamboyant UP-ite characters like makkhan onto aloo parathas, making Sanju baba look like a pet rabbit, and Aamir like a pre-teenager. Undoubtedly, performances of the year and possible a few more years down the line.
Whoosh! Just the recent memories of the Big Three get me all revved up. Such a tough act to follow. Yes, Cheeni Kum, Don and Metro were ‘interesting, and ‘refreshing’. But Bang Bang? No, we haven’t heard that sound yet? May we expect it? Looks doubtful. The Bollywood skyline looks more experimentative than expansive this year. There’s Gandhi – My father coming up. Very Very curious. A hit with critics and the ‘thinking’ audience’, but you don’t expect a film on the Gandhi family’s woes to hit the marquee in splendid style. Then Farah Khan’s Om Shanti Om. Obviously going to be oodles of fun, but just a bigger, newer, more stylish declaration of love to Manmohan Desai. Nothing extraordinary. Chak de India. A rousing ode to women power and a sexy stubbled SRK. Inspiring, yes. Awe-inspiring? No. O yes, and there’s Madhuri’s Aaja Nachle. Put on your dancing shoes.
We were asking for something ‘new’, and we’re getting it. Lots and lots of variety. The next time around, can be have it super-sized please?
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