main hoon movie madaari, Khatte meethe kisson ki layaa phulvaari, kaise sabke sur pe chadhi yeh khumaari har kissa hai cinema ke
A tribute to the 100 years of indian cinema, a mixed bag of four insane short films by four respective directors is the sparkling ‘Bombay Talkies’. An ensemble film, with an ensemble cast had only one thing in common, the four stories are interlinked with the string named Cinema. Each of the story has Cinema in it, in it’s own unique way. Brilliant direction, cinematography and tangy music by Amit Trivedi, it’s hard to conclude which one of the four is the best.
‘Ajeeb Dastan Hain Yeh’ by Karan Johar talks about a successful urban couple, Gayatri(Rani Mukherji) and Dev(Randeep Hooda) are married for 23 years but something went missing, they missed romance and passion. Avinash (Saqib Saleem), Gayatri’s colleague who has been ostracized by his family for being homosexual, his intervention into their household topples each one’s life. Some naked truths surface and the background echoes, ‘Kisi Ka Pyaar Leke Tum/Naya Jahan Basaaoge/Yeh Shaam Jab Bhi Aayegi/Tum Humko Yaad Aaoge’ intensifying the impact of the stormy events. Johar has evolved as a film maker. He transcended from his candy floss movies to reality.
‘Star’ based on Satyajit Ray’s short story, ‘potol babu’, directed by Dibakar Banerjee tells a tale about a struggle of a failed man, Purandar(Nawazuddin Siddiqui) who tries to be an actor, whose daughter looks up to him. Luck knocked once at his door, and he did open the door that not only showed him the path of self knowledge wrapped in illusions. Stagnant camera frames from a large distance, which made the object looked smaller, worked as an imagery alluding to his real petty state. Siddiqui as usual was the winner, specially at the concluding part when he mimes the day’s special happenings to his daughter, with the echoing background of Tagore’s Tobu Mone Rekho in flute.
‘Sheila ki Jawani’ directed by Zoya Akhtar is no less than magic. A 12 year old boy from a middle class family crushes and stamps the celebrated notions of conventions and dreams to be a dancer when he grows up. Domineering parents were shocked to see their son wearing a dress, heels and lipstick and dancing all around the room, but he kept on dreaming, and his innocent mind projected a fairy, who inspired him to keep faith and move on. At last, he cherishes his dream, on stage with innumerable spins and a divine smile, he weaved magic with echoing ‘Sheila ki Jawani’ in the background. Katrina Kaif who was appropriate in the fairy’s role, was good, may be for the first time, and the little boy was no less than his father, Ranvir Shorey. Compared to the other films, this one seemed a bit abrupt and less logical, still it was magic in itself.
‘Murabba’ by Anurag Kashyap pictures Vijay(Vineet Kumar Singh) fulfilling his father’s(Sadashiv Amrapurkar) last wish of visiting Amitabh Bachchan in Mumbai, to give him a bite of Murabba, that Vijay’s mother made. He wants his son, to come back to Allahabad with the other half of the Murabba, so that he can peck on it and live his rest of his life peacefully. Thus the journey begins, with its inhuman hurdles of insults. At last, he is successful in his mission, but was he successful in coming back home with the other half of the Murabba is a mystery. To decode that, hit the theatres.
The film had the Kashyap hallmark undoubtedly with a touch of stupidity and hilarity in the story. The special cameo of Big B is a treat and both the actors were immensely good.
Smart thoughts and precision, was the key to this film. Sensitivity, ordinary lives of ordinary people, monotonous dreams and predictable breaths, we all know about it, but somewhere we miss the magic, the thrill, the comic, the wholesomeness of our ordinary simple life. ‘Bombay Talkies’ stirs up the ‘missed’ in you.
