Jul 07, 2003 08:48 PM
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(Updated Jul 07, 2003 08:50 PM)
There are movies that make you feel good. And there are movies that make you feel disgusted. Not often does a movie that leaves one untouched. That’s how I felt about MPKDH. Indifferent. I did not like the movie. I did not hate it.
I did not leave the theatre abusing the filmmaker and I did not leave the theatre singing the many songs (some nice) that he managed to find place for in a story that never evolved. A piece of bread without butter or jam. Not dislikable but not entirely likeable either.
The most beautiful thing about movie watching is to feel a part of the one giant voice, laughter or teardrop that the entire audience in the theatre is a part of. There are movies like “Lagaan” which nearly converted the neighborhood theatre into one frenzied, roaring, cacophonous cricket stadium. Even Mr. Barjatya’s much loved and sometimes equally criticized HAHK left the entire nation with a goofy grin that was so difficult to wipe off for the 3 and half hours the film sang its many songs and celebrated its many family festivals.
The interval was the defining moment for MPKDH. Smoke diffusing cigarettes that refused to end their vile life in the ashtrays, popcorns that got chewed on lazily and sodas that washed down the fiery samosas in a docile laidback theatre foyer. No one in a hurry to get back into the seats before the next dialogue boomed out of the stereophonic speakers. And funny enough – no one abusing their way out of the theatre gates with a mouthful of rhythmic, rhyming, colorful hindi swearwords.
NO REACTIONS – For a movie from a man who thought the hindi movie screen to make friends with its audience again – Mujse Dosti karoge, the man who reintroduced arranged marriage to the discerning Indian youth as a romantic alternative to the (everyone does it) love marriage culture, the ONLY man who made Salman act (on screen), well - decently.
Along with the many ‘reasons of failure’ that will now be volunteered by our wise film pundits, I humbly volunteer my own – Mr. Barjatya tried too hard. He tried too hard to re-engineer his film making style which he probably thought had gone out of vogue. The man, who changed the nation’s film watching habits, tried to change himself and came undone.
He made a soul-less movie - a movie he probably did not believe in, situations and dialogues he was never comfortable with, characters he never understood. Watch how the best performance from the movie comes from Abhishek and Pankaj Kapur (and the dog). Mellow and understated – Much like the maker himself. Performances that did not work – the hysteric mother, a loud parrot (what was that), louder Hrithik (so much talent – so little application), unrestrained Kareena (watch her more effective in the more restrained second half). The end result - a loud, colorful movie the maker never believed in. A movie that never spoke his language. A movie that could never look its audience in the eye and tell them a story they would love.
Better luck next time Mr. Barjatya. I wonder if he can rejuvenate himself as a film-maker or destroy himself trying harder.
