Aug 22, 2003 06:09 PM
3676 Views
(Updated Aug 22, 2003 11:14 PM)
If you thought you are in 21st century, prepare for a rude shock as MSAMD tells you of a village which has never seen electricity, dont know what is a car and worse still dont know what on earth is even a bus. If you think that is some remote place on top of Himalayas, it is not. But then this is not present, or is it? In an era when experiments themselves have become routine, MSAMD ventures in a satire mode and churns out kitsch of heavy duty Lagaan style story build up, telling with good amount of oomph thrown in. The impact of Lagaan is so heavy that an entire assembly of support cast is same, the way camera moves and even the screenplay develops, it is Lagaan, Lagaan and more Lagaan. It just has a story idea not development, not even into a concept.
So the film starts of (like Lagaan) with Amitabh Bachan informing you that this is a village and it does not have electricity as of now but it has just got it. Interesting! mercifully you are spared the thoughts that this does not have water (which seemed like more important) or pucca roads or such like things. So it has electricity and now how does it behave. What are its repercursions on all in the village is what this shows. And then someone thinks of the next development step and gifts them a TV with a dish antenna. This is still in a village which some time back had no electricity. Wow! you want to say. Pretty imaginative. And then ofcourse, it is breaking of a whole new world order which results in one after another stupid series of events which ultimately convince the village head that his empire is going to end and then what next a final show down (ala Lagaan though on a different pitch) with even a pre-climax song (ala Lagaan). In between we have factors like villains sister falling for the hero (Lagaan?) and treachery among villagers in tying up with villain (Lagaan again?). After watching such heavy duty Lagaan stuff one asks what was this, a study of pros and cons of Satellite TV on Indian way of life? If it was, it certainly did not build up like that. Some scenes like hysteria following TV is comment on impact of Film fashion on us and some even on the effect the number of godly serials have. Well the God's may not have complained but the priest certainly did and set up the movie for the climax.
Pretty interesting one would say. However, it is not the story which is at fault but its execution. First of all, the heavy Lagaan hangover kills the movie from frame 1. Now you cant make a better so easily. This one too tries to concentrate on eccentrities of its support cast but not gets half way as good. It also has a largely external heroine character but unlike Lagaan this is not an effortless seaming in the story. The villain is not as fluidly emoted in the script either. Loud caricature like a Amrish Puri from Mr India completely ends up becoming a most horrible character in the film. And then the movie just goes in hundreds of minor plots in themselves for a minute or two and then remembers oh! there is a main story somewhere as well. The camera work is interesting but looks too forced from Refugee and Lagaan. The way dialogues are written has a J.P. Dutta stamp all over. And then we have an English style background score. It just keeps reminding you of Lagaan and you just cant keep thinking of Amir and wishing you had taken a ticket for Lagaan instead. But that is not what really kills the whole film. The whole film is based on a flimsy premise and needed to be only 90 mts. long at most and this one goes on and on and hence, the satire becomes an emotional tale of uplifitng and human spirit. There is also a case of study of development and its effects and in trying to incorporate so many visions in one movie, the track gets derailed completely. And why did we need to have a TV or better say TV alone to symbolize development captured by a TV again is not effectively established. Satire needed strong witty earthy background voice not heavy Lagaan style barritone of Mr. Bachan. The songs and dances though are somewhat good.
Abhishek Bachan - well he would have to wait a bit more I guess. He carries a Refugee hangover himself. The support cast is pretty unsupportive, derailing the film at every possible opportunity. As I said most are for Lagaan and their get up also seemed inspired heavily from them. Kachra is the worst of lot, shaking more than SRK and Hrithik combined when delivering dialogues. There is also Raageshwari is a complete honcho poncho role of a TV reporter and wait the absolute horror is still to be disclosed. CHUNKEY PANDEY !!!!!!! Brave it now at your own risk. The only plus point the movie has really is Lara Dutta. Now she just looks like having walked out of Miss Universe Competition alright but she looks ravishing and stunningly beautiful and as the camera moves to capture her each and every curve, your eyes get a feast last seen from Kareena in Ashoka. The rusti background, the relative motion, the skimpy bright costumes and her perfect figure, if only film was about her. Direction is a little confused which is amazing since director knew what he is making. He just messed it up by bringing too many issues into this one simple film, which if had been done well would have been an effective satire on what constitutes development?
It is difficult to rate movies like this since you dont know what to make of it. I would give it 1 star at most since the director has worked with some heavy duty names but then rest all were so young and fresh that I would be pretty generous and give it 2 stars. Now for the recco, no! Go watch Lagaan if you are in mood for such stuff. Simple.
