Makdee: Even adults can learn.... Review on Makdee

Sunday mornings are so sleepy!!

They welcome you with open arms to a day full of life; a day which aims to energize you with the magic potion to overcome another hectic week ahead.

It was one of those mornings. I got up at 7. After the morning jogging, I had some oats and milk for breakfast. Then sat down with the morning paper. I had not seen a decent movie in days. So I quickly browsed through the movie section of the tabloid.

As my eyes were wandering through the movie page, they got stuck on an unusual name. Titled 'Makdee', the film seemed to draw my curiosity. I rang up Arvind, my pal, and fixed up with him to see the matinee show of the film at PVR, Saket.

The film, directed by talented music composer, Vishal Bharadwaj, had been widely propagated as a children's film. Perhaps that was the reason that we were greeted with a thin crowd at the theatre for the movie. Majority of the crowd consisted of parents with little kids, attractively attired and trotting away playfully on that sunny January afternoon.

Very few all-adult groups were there and we were standing out in the crowd. Still there was something about the movie that by the very title of it I was able to sense a different kind of entertainment in store for us.

As the titles began in the darkness of the theatre, I laid back comfortably in the ergonomically designed seat and fixed my gaze at the 70 mm screen.

The movie wasn't disappointing. In fact, it was a very well made work of art.

Any movie is composed of two elements. The first is the depth of its story content or what the director is trying to convey and whether the same is being properly conveyed or not. The other element is the presentation of the movie. A movie is convincing and therefore well crafted if it has the above two elements in equal measure. More importantly, if the director is able to narrate what he/she actually meant to unfold through the movie, then the movie is said to have a soul and stands out as a masterpiece.

Coming back to 'Makdee', in the aftermath, I feel that the movie has the above two elements in almost equal measures. In totality, the depth of the story or the soul of the movie is slightly heavier than the presentation. Here by the term presentation I mean all the decorative accessories to the movie like lyrics, music, photography, sound, editing, lighting, make up ET all.

The film is, essentially, a story of two sisters, Chunni and Munni. Chunni is robust, smart and tomboyish. She is a pain to everyone in the village including her own parents. Munni, on the other hand, is meek, and more feminine in nature. In the village there is an old haunted house, which is said to be the abode of a wild witch. All and sundry in the village fear to venture into that house.

The story moves ahead with the adventures of the smart Chunni in the haunted house with the witch. How the mischievous sister gets reformed of her pranks due to her interactions with the witch forms the meat of the narrative.

The music by Vishal is in keeping with the theme of the film. So are the lyrics by that master who seem to weave gold with his words especially when children are concerned. Remember Masoom, Parichay, and Kitaab.Yes, I am talking about the soulful Gulzar.

Vishal Bharadwaj dons the directorial baton for the first time in this movie. He has done a decent job in his first outing and has managed to bring out natural, flawless performance from the protagonists, mainly children.

To add a touch of class, there is the prowess of Shabana Azmi. The versatile actress has done a fabulous job as the wicked witch. If the make up man had shown a little more deftness in adorning her with the witch get up, her acting would have blossomed much more fold. Here lies the weak point of the movie.

The flow of the narrative is kept tight. It strictly is confined to the main theme. No scene appears to be out of sync with the main storyline. The songs are all situational and hummable. They contain the exuberance and joyfulness of a child.

Looking back, I can vouch one thing for sure after watching 'Makdee'. 'We, adults can learn many things from even an essentially labeled children's movie'. Surely such movies are a welcome change from the usual 'Glam bang sing a song' routine that is dished out to us directly from Bollywood.