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Lafangey Parindey
Director : Pradeep Sarkar
Writer : Gopi Puthran
Music : R. Anandh
Cast : Neil Nitin Mukesh, Deepika Padukone
What goes for the film : A potentially explosive premise, beautiful music and well-thought lyrics
What goes against the audience : Pradeep Sarkar, Neil Nitin Mukesh & Deepika Padukone
Cinemaa Opinion : The Pure vegetarian pizza hut analogy doesn’t seem very inappropriate. Scroll down for a detailed review.
Vinaashakaale Vipreetabudhdhi
For quite some time now, we’ve been lambasting Yashraj Films for their lame choice of scripts. And not without reason. We just couldn’t do anything else when they dished out fare like Dil Bole Hadippa & Badmaash Company. Forget the scripts, these films were asking for such a treatment right from the concept stage. With Lafangey Parindey though, they did stand a good chance to stem the tide.
The vagabond birds (that’s what the title literally translates to) in the film are “One-shot” Nandu (Neil Nitin Mukesh), a streetfighter on the roster of Usmanbhai (Piyush Mishra) & Pinky Palkar, a spunky neighbour of Nandu’s. Nandu loves to fight blindfolded and can finish off his opponents with just one killer punch. Pinky loves to figure-skate and dreams of winning a talent show. A freak accident leaves Pinky blind and ties up the lives of the two. The plot had potential for moving drama, heartwarming romance and explosive action. It was a copybook formula plot, as they say. But they also say Vinaashakaale Vipreetabudhdhi (The illogical side of the brain takes over when one’s headed towards disaster) and Lafangey Parindey shows a higher affinity towards the latter.
The first wrong step YRF took under the Vipreetabudhdhi influence was signing up Pradeep Sarkar to direct the film. Now, Pradeep seems to be hell bent on proving that his 2005 debut, Parineeta, was a lucky fluke. If his Laaga Chunri Mein Daag had missed out on an avenue or two in killing his reputation, Lafangey Parindey looks quite eager to do the finishing honours. Not that I doubt his capabilities, but there indeed is a fault elsewhere. If LCMD suffered from the sensibilities of the 70, Lafangey Parindey showcases the aesthetics of the same era. Well, almost. The costumes in the film are the contribution of the 90′s. To cut a long story short, Pradeep Sarkar is stuck in a time warp. He handles the film the way you’d expect a trade union leader to handle the responsibilities of the CEO of a multinational. In other words, he’s completely out of place and depth.
The police investigation angle in the film is a complete waste of time. The guilt angle, if handled well, could have added a completely new dimension to Nandu’s character. The training sessions, where Nandu teaches Pinky to see without eyes and Pinky teaches Nandu to figure-skate, are hurried and nonsensical. Which chawl dweller in his right mind would waste cooking dough as a training prop, and that too in quantities enough to feed 10 people? And didn’t anyone in the unit know that it takes weeks for one just to get used to skates on his feet and years of penance to become a good figure skater? And in all this nonsense, any opportunity of showing a decent relationship curve between the two leads goes right out of the window. As for the talent show part, I won’t say anything except that I badly desire a toke of whatever stash they were smoking while writing and filming those bits. The climax of the film is forced, farcical and contrived to the hilt, especially Pinky’s emotional tug-of-war at the end which looks more like a random case of moodswings given that it all happens over just one day. Pradeep : Its not your chunri thats getting the daag anymore, its our brains. So, please give us a break and take a permanent one from filmmaking yourself. Everyone knows now that Parineeta was a flash in the pan and you needn’t reiterate it anymore.
The next mis-step prompted by its Vipreetabudhdhi took YRF into a casting ditch. The lead characters in the film have lived in a chawl for their entire life. They’re a passionate duo with strong personas. These characters needed good actors to play them. YRF goes ahead and picks Neil Nitin Mukesh as Nandu. Neil just can’t look or act the part, however hard he might have tried, visibly so. For Pinky, they zero in on the prettiest non-actor of our times, Deepika Padukone. I’ll eat my words and chase them down with gutter water for good measure if someone can show me one difference between the pre-blindness and post-blindness Pinky. Deepika had said in one of her interviews that playing a blind girl was challenging. Wonder how she knew that, for she never tried. Compare these two with the brilliant Kay Kay Menon who is wasted in a two minute cameo. Or with Piyush Mishra, who exudes a chilling presence as Usmanbhai, but to no avail since the character itself doesn’t hold the significance that it should have. Makes me wonder if our actors have actually been slotted into some unwritten but well-institutionalised grades.
These two steps had more or less damned Lafangey Parindey to a certain dark fate. Surprisingly though, the film packs in a pleasant surprise in an element that once used to be one of YRF’s biggest strengths. Swanand Kirkire proves himself as one of the finest contemporary lyricists in the Hindi film scene with some inspired lyrics that encapsulate the essence of the film beautifully. And newcomer R.Anandh composes the songs to the tunes they deserve. The Lafangey Parindey soundtrack is beautiful, and the placement of the songs is immaculate. A rarity in these days when the soundtrack of a film is more of an independent commodity than an element of the film itself. And that one stroke in the film that gives a glimpse into Pradeep Sarkar’s capabilities. though his time-warp is all-enveloping otherwise.
If someone from YRF is listening, here’s a piece of my mind. You guys can bring about a huge positive change in our industry if you really wish to. You have the resources, the connections and I hope, the goodwill too. All you need to do is dismantle your camp and sincerely look for better alternatives for the likes of Pradeep Sarkar, Neil Nitin Mukesh and Deepika Padukone. And don’t worry, you won’t lose out commercially. A concept like this, if executed by able hands and with an able cast will surely make a lot of money. Punishing good actors with bit roles just doesn’t cut it and neither does pandering to self-styled stars in your camp. Over and out!
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45 Comments
Looks like both Neil and Pradeep Sarkar are living on past glory( Johnny Gaddar and Parineeta respectively. I don't understand what is the problem with these star kiddos, that they can't play a down to earth character.
Now both Aamir Khan and Sanjay Dutt, were star kids, come from rich backgrounds, but they essayed some of the best tapori, chawl dweller roles, be it Munna in Rangeela, Siddhu in Ghulam, Raghubhai in Vaastav or apna Munnabhai. It just shows these new bunch of Star Kiddos don't have the talent, plain and simple.
On a side note, what do you think are the most memorable Tapori/Chawl characters in Bollywood? My list
Aamir Khan- Rangeela, Ghulam
SRK- Ram Jaane( yeah i know the movie was bad).
Salman Khan- Hello Brother, Judwaa
Sanjay Dutt- Vaastav, Munnabhai series, Naam, Kabzaa.
Anil Kapoor- Tezaab
Naseer- Hero Hiralal
Mithun- Quite a lot of movies.
Sunny- Arjun, Paap ki Duniya( in a more lighter vein).
Agree on the Neil & Pradeep Sarkar part…though I won't even call it past glory. Glory should have some semblance of consistency. And Aamir & Sunju are far better actors than Chota B, Neil etc. There's just no comparison between the two.
I wish this film was made by someone like a Shriram Raghavan. Would've kicked ass. I'm so eagerly waiting for Agent Vinod.
Of course Amitabh's Antony Gonsalves to date the most memorable Tapori character IMO, also liked his Tapori act in Khuddar.
Any others?
Casting coup total…abhi ye log KayKay ko Neil ka role bhi de sakte the and it may have turned 180 degrees …
Kunal Khemu & Neetu Chandra would have done a better job
magar humesha kisi faltoo chikne ko utha kar le aate hain…..acting ability is not the cheese on a pizza its the base itself.
Aamir said a lot about how he trained for his Rangeela role. Log kuch seekhna hi nahi chaahte.
..I hope Jaideep Sahni didnt have anything to do with this shit.
Hmm… another film down the drain. And I thought Deepika at last 'sounded' promising, after watching the first trailer. Wishful thinking on my part!
Anyway, I live in hope and hope that Agent Vinod will be better….
I think it is insulting, how our best actors are relegated to bit roles or villainous roles, while models/star kids take away the best ones.
I am excited about Agent Vinod. But there is also Kareena Kapoor in it. I find her too 'cocky'. For me, she spoilt 'Omkara' with her labored 'ji bas'. Too bad Devgan waited till the end of the movie to strangle her!
Correction – Not 'strangle'. 'Suffocate' is the right word…
@Debashri…sahi boli tum…VBhardwaj khud hi Kareene ki safedi se obsess ho gaye aisa laga…..Many girlfriends of mine couldnt stop raving how fair Kareena looked in this movie and hence how much prettier…..
She is spunky all right but all our actresses overdo the perkiness bit. They dont bubble like a Farida Jalal or Madhuri anymore..
That brings me to another issue, where have the actors gone? I mean every Gen has it's own breed of actor-stars.
50's- Dilip, Raj, Dev
60's- Sunil Dutt, Raj Kumar, Manoj Kumar
70's- AB, Rajesh Khanna, Shatru, Vinod Khanna, Dharam
80's- Anil , Sunny, Jackie, Govinda, Sanju, Mithun
90's- Aamir, Salman, Shahrukh
I mean all these were stars who had their own share of great performances. You could list out their really great movies and performances that were wowie. And they could easily do any kind of role.
Aamir could play the rustic villager in Lagaan and the urban dude in Dil Chahta Hai, at the same time. And SRK before his Raj-Rahul phase, came up with a series of great performances.
But it seems our current crop of stars are more brands than actors. AB Jr did well enough in some movies like Yuva and Guru, but he has proved a huge misfit in other roles. Hrithik has gone from an actor to a brand, every movie he does a couple of dance steps, and gives the same old cho chweet expressions. Right now i only see Ranbir Kapoor as a star who can act. And the rest, ahem.
Ok also adding Saif and Ajay to the star actors list.
But it is like we seem to be running out of choices. Want an intense role, go for Ajay. Want a mature romantic role go for SRK or Saif. Want a hard core action her go for Sunju or Akshay. What happened to the new kiddos on the block?
Great review. Will be glad to give it a miss….
Watching the promos no one will guess the lead are supposed to be chawl dwellers….
DnD : Neetu Chandra would have been great in this role. She was fab in Traffic Signal & Oye Lucky. Sadly, these days she just gets to do crap like The Apartment. And I actually thought the same thing as you mention while watching the film. Kay Kay could have been an awesome Nandu.
Thanks for reminding us of Farida Jalal. Was watching Bobby the other day and couldn't help thinking how she has still maintained the same spunk (she was just as bubbly in the Sunnypaaji starrer Zor). And Madhuri is timeless.
DnD & Debashri : Kareena has given one very good deglam performance but that one's hardly ever mentioned. Govind Nihalani's Dev. And she was quite good in Chameli too. I don't think she's as bad as you've found her to be. But yes…she hasn't really been consistent with the good performances enough to be noticed for them.
Ratnakar : I think it is more to do with the way the culture of our industry has turned out. Till the 90's, even though the quality of our films had gone down considerably, there was a level of integrity among the actors. The lack of general quality had more to do with the lack of finance & ability than one of corrupt intentions. These days, it has morphed into an issue of a corrupt studio culture that has taken firm roots over the last decade or so.
We have the infrastructure to compete with the best in the world. We have the money to make good films. If one were to compare the budget of a major hollywood blockbuster with a major bollywood one, keeping in mind the purchasing parity of the two currencies and the overall cost of production in the two countries, one will see that our films have much bigger relative budgets. The problem is with the distribution of this budget across different departments of the film. A major chunk of a film's budget is eaten away by the stars' dues. Another big chunk goes towards marketing and promotions. When it comes to the actual film, only a part of the original budget is left out. The people who can really make a film good (the non-star actors, writers, technicians etc.) are paid peanuts and that would naturally result in poor quality. For the non-star actors, writers, technicians etc., it then becomes a case of quantity over quality, since they too have to survive. Sadly, the studios are being run by B-school products who have no real love for cinema, just for the balance sheet. Makes me wonder if granting an industry status to the film industry was a hurried and arbitrary step just like giving 24 hour licenses to TV news channels.
Ravi : Strangely, these wadi-dwellers from Mahim always choose places in the fort area for their biking escapades.
Bollyfan – Kareena, I found better in 'Dev' and 'Chameli'. Definitely. Even in 'Omkara' and in some parts of 'Kurbaan'. These movies were definitely better than her run of the mill performances. But she has an over-the-top characteristic to her acting. Even when she is trying to play a 'different' role, she doesn't lose that. And that worked very well for her in 'Jab We Met'. But I don't find her in the same class as some of the other good actresses we had/have. She isn't bad, but she is highly overrated. I haven't seen her lose herself in a role like Vidya Balan, Tabu, Konkona or Mahie Gill.
. No more! These new ones are really bad. In 'Veer Zaara', I really wanted to give Rani Mukherjee a dubbing artist, when I heard 'Khuda'. It was disgraceful to be playing a Pakistani and not even being able to say a word as simple as that (and that didn't end there). She was nice throughout the film – as nice as we expect someone to be in a Yashraj film these days. But really, why is it that our actors/actresses sound convincing as urban yuppies , fail when they get a slightly small town/gaaon walla type role? (and let's not count the 'Mumbaiyya' accent here. That has been done to death in our films.)
Also, another complaint I have -and that's not just against her, but a lot of our new actors and actresses – is that, they don't know how to speak Hindi without a 'twang'. And hence, anything other than an urban role and most of them sound really out of place. Hema Malini's and Rakhi's dialogue delivery used to irritate me
Ratnakar – I beg to differ on Ranbir Kapoor
. I don't think holding a cigarette and staring into space qualifies as good acting. He's alright. But doesn't have the charisma or the acting chops of some of our previous star-actors. Again, his dialogue delivery is either insipid, or over-the-top. He's definitely one of the better ones amongst the star kids. But that's about it, for me. Hritik still has hope. I am waiting for another performance from him to match his performance in 'Lakshya'. And I am sure he can do it….. he's really good. But I think the way he looks -'gora chitta, light eyes' – stops him from getting more serious roles. If there's one star – actor in the generation after SRK/Aamir/Salman I have faith in, its him.
DnD – I agree Kareena is spunky. And I like that in her. going deglam is okay, but that doesn't make her a great actress. Unfortunately, I agree with you on the 'fairness' factor too. Our audience is quite hung up on color and that, I think, is one of the reasons why she keeps appearing as one of the 'top' actresses. There were a couple of scenes in each of the movies that we have all mentioned here, that I really liked her in. I still say, she has potential. But she has to get over how 'great' she is, to really find out how much better she can be.
Read your review…but i share different thoughts…Though will agree with few points…but as a movie didn't find it very disappointing at all…on the second thoughts is far better than Badmaash Company…and if not Neil then Deepika atleast delivers a good performance!! very much paisa vasool…may be i saw the morning show which is less expensive;)
Govind : If Deepika acted well, I'm sure you'll be able to point out at least one difference between her character pre & post blindness.
One feels nice about the thing just because the basic premise is good. And while we relate to the basic story, we tend to ignore several minus points of the film. As a critic, my primary job is to identify what makes a film worth watching and what doesn't. In the case of Lafangey Parindey, I hardly see any strong reasons why one should.
The execution is a fail at all levels. The lead actors couldn't act to save their lives. They just don't look like wadi-dwellers. The training and romance angles, which could have made this a good film, were wasted. The talent show parts were super idiotic.
Paisa vasool is a subjective term. And if you're satisfied with mediocrity in return for your money…its your call completely. But as far as I'm concerned, mediocrity just doesn't cut it with me anymore. Especially from YRF who have the money and resources to make great films. Sadly, this mediocrity is what keeps the likes of Udaan, Tere Bin Laden etc. out of the running for longer spells at the box office.
I do respect your take but when one talks about UDAAN and TERE BIN LADEN is different angle altogether…it's not the screen space it's the people who took their decision and kept them selves away from above mentioned movies ( Though i loved both of them) What i feel is…where technicalities are concerned this movie dosen't fall short for sure be it production value, Camera work agreed movie lacked punch but then again when you are making movie for masses you got take care of loads of things. i didn't find movie superb but yes one star or calling it avoidable too doesn't do anything good for the cinema.The climax dance sequence i guess worked for me…RAB NE BANA DI JODI too had similar ending which didn't work for me. I hated badmaash company as it lacked loads of things but this one kept me hooked to my chair for long.
I am sure you would have seen worst movies than this…for those movies too you would have given a verdict as AVOIDABLE. Now take example of the worst movie which you have seen and compare it with this one…do you still think you would call this effort AVOIDABLE. I never said reviews shows a different picture it's just the verdict which i though was too harsh and somewhere this movie deserves a better verdict.
I am writing this because i know i can share my point of view with you but all the Khalid's and Mayank Shekhar's (they too have called this movie avoidable) i have no idea how to convey this to them (And yes i am no fan of Deepika or Neil)…Sometime i feel film critics in india are taking their role too literally…What's your take?
Govind : You're always welcome to share your view here.
I have my own take on the screen space issue. Am going to write a post on it soon. Don't really want to dilute that by putting up my views in detail here. But I'll surely continue a discussion with you on that point once the post is out.
As for the production values in LP, I felt they were not up to the mark. The neighbourhood where the film is based looked straight out of N. Chandra's Ankush (In fact, the art direction+cinematography in Ankush was far better than in LP). The costumes are a bit too hep for wadi dwellers. These wadis are crammed for space and the film shows them having access to huge spaces in Bombay out of all places. There are many more points about the production values here but I guess you get my drift.
The underdog winning has become a kind of staple in YRF films. Not just RNBDJ, even Dil Bole Hadippa, Roadside Romeo & Aaja Nachle also having similar themes. And the climax dance was not up to the standard of a winning performance in a talent show really. The rope act was better.
I personally don't believe in ratings since there's no standard guidelines that one needs to follow while awarding ratings. If a one star by a certain critic is equivalent to a 3 star from another, what purpose do star ratings serve? As for calling a film avoidable, I don't see any degrees in it. There's nothing like less avoidable or more avoidable or even less or more watchable unless you are specifically comparing one movie with another, which is not the case in a review.
Film critics should take their role literally, IMO. Its a serious thing to do and a critic carries a whole lot of responsibility on his shoulders.
Debashri : I agree with you on Kareena that she's not as good an actress as Vidya, Tabu, Konkona & Mahie. But I'd still say that at her best, she can match these ladies. She remains highly mercurial though.
And that twang in the accent is so irritating. That was one of the main things which prevented Neil and Deepika from looking the part of their characters, apart from their acting limitations. For that matter, even Saif suffers from a similar twang. Though he worked hard to hide it in Omkara, it still came out in many dialogues of his. Rani Mukherjee's voice modulation is the pits. And so is Chota B's, a sin considering that he has a voice modulation institution in Paa.
twang se yaad aaya Lara Dutta & Irfan Khan (chakkar aa rahe hain is casting coup se !!!) in Biloo Barber as gaanv walaahs. Other than colourful lehangas and cholis Lara couldnt do anything remotely gaanv-wallah.. Irfan kaise kar gaya role maloom nahi
The Lagaan woman(oppostit Aamir) was very good ..pity she fizzled out. I had so much hope from her.
On the lighter side Im remembering Sharmila Tagore playing gaanv wali…uske nakhre + voice in constant persuasion and trembling lips… we had cartoons before too.
okkkk casting coup ki maa…Deepika has been signed by Vishal Bharadwaj for a movie…..Ghor Kalyug…Neetu, Sandhya Mridul, Divya from Dilli 6 , ye sab mar gaye hain…Inko heroine ka chance kyon nahi milta…
Next VB is going to sign Prachi desai and Im gonna sue him.
Shaant gadadhaari bheem, shaant!
BTW….VB signing Deepika is truly shocking. Sach mein ghor kalyug.
Regarding Sharmila, were you talking about Talaash? The one with Jubilee Kumar.
DnD, Bollyfan – Yeah, I saw that. I hope it is just a rumour. When I saw it, I was like, "Dude, sign me instead
. Even I'll be better than her" LOL! But seriously, if that IS true, what is wrong with Vishaal? Or should I get optimistic about his choice and think he's going to perform a miracle?
Deb, when Prakash Jha had to take Katrina , no surprises in VB taking on Deepika. Problem is these guys have to bow to the distributor's whims, No Kat, No Deepika, No Priyanka, no Kareena, Pikture nahin chalegi.
This is the problem when we get the MBA types to run things. Most of them have zilch creativity and innovation, and you can trust them not to go off the beaten track.
@ Deb, my assessment on Ranbir was based on Rocket Singh, it surely was an excellent performance. Rajneeti was nothing too great.
Ratnakar – You know……. I don't mean to compare Hollywood with our film industry, but even the average actor has some kind of training at least. That might be a reason, we see better performances here on an average? In India, I know, we hardly have any acting schools and the new ones that are there now, I don't know how good they are. But, most of those who attended FTII or NSD are way better than the ones who come from the modelling world or those who are celebrities' kids. In cases, where they aren't able to attend any of these schools, wouldn't it be better to get experience acting in plays and television? In India we place so much emphasis on education in other fields, but when it comes to acting, we mostly have fresh faces, whom we often have to tolerate for years, until they learn something, or fizzle out. And the ones that take the pain and educate themselves, we don't care about. We definitely have a problem there…. that is why we land up with an excess supply of Imran Khan/Zayed Khan/Deepika/Katrina types….. while we keep giving supporting/villain roles to the truly wonderful actors. This has been going on for ages – and its about time it stopped.
, and give us some work to go 'Wow!' about. Like Abhay Deol made me go, in 'Manorama….'.
.
I am so sick of reading star kids giving interviews on how they need to 'think about their parents' reputation' (the latest one I read was, Shatrughan Sinha's son. You'd think the guy was already a superstar!) ! I wish they would think about our tolerance levels for a change
As for Ranbir, I would still say, he is strictly okay this far. Rocket Singh was probably his best performance till date, and he was good in it. I don't deny that. He was convincing. He was nice in 'Wake up Sid' too. But I didn't find him excellent. He has hope though
Deb, way back in 2004, i had written an article Fortress Bollywood. It has been 6 years since then, nothing has changed.
http://www.planetbollywood.com/Features/s040703-1...
Nothing has changed, since then, except that i have added 6 years more to my age, and my belly size has somewhat lessened.
Debashri : Our acting schools were nicely torn apart in Luck By Chance. Did you see it btw?
Bollyfan: Yes, I did.
I kind of expected the 'acting schools' to be like that …. based on the actors and actresses we get from there. Its like a crash course – do some dancing, some fighting, some body building and if you have time, some emoting … and you are done 
. Of course, the latest fad in 'Bollywood' is attending the Lee Strasberg Academy or NYFA, but I am sure most of them are again going for the crash courses to 'hone' skills that don't exist in the first place 
.
Ratnakar: I don't know how I missed your comment and hence the link. Read the article. So true. The actresses that you've mentioned (and there are some more) have had to make compromises – not the casting couch kind, but of being in a number of movies as wallpapers, before they were considered to have any talent at all. Of course, PZ has more or less stayed away from those kinds of films, but that is the story of the majority of actresses …..
Debashri : That comment had gone into the moderation queue due to the link in it.
@Deb totally agree about teh serious competent actors languishing which Kat makes crores with a dubbing artist or not…Audience itni narrow minded hai ki unless u have a good looking thing on screen we dont accept them. What the shit was Subhash Ghai making Yuvraj with an arsenal of incompetent guys excluding Anil kapoor & rehman's awesome music. Amitabh roots for his thouroughly inept progeny and Priyadarshan churns shoddy stuff with no respite .
Ashish Vidhyarthi & Irfan khan have to become villians only till a "Warrior" happend to them and then we sit up and take notice. Till then a NIrmal Pandey & Ravi Vaswani would have passed away. Anupam Kher & Alok Nath & Paresh Rawal must play a friend and uncle, grand father to death to survive …I remember Anita Kanwar became a reclusive figure despite her work and there never was any hope for Neena Gupta/Deepti Naval .
Its horrible to watch Neetu chandra doing sexy photoshoots / wierd news stories to get roles …Even Konkona manages to survive probably coz she is Aparna Sen's daughter and has connections otherwise Divya Dutta is one heck of a talented woman. Whys is she not getting roles?
@DnD : I couldn't have put it better. **Applause**
You know it is so ironical, once upon a time in a Feudal Indian Society, Bollywood was believed to be one of the few places where it did not matter where you came from, and who you were, as long as you had the talent.
So a fruit seller called Yusuf Khan became a legend called Dilip Kumar, a letter reader at the Post Office called Dev Dutt Pishorimal Anand became Dev Anand, a Partition refugee called Balraj Dutta who interviewed stars for a living became Sunil Dutt.
And this continued well into the 70's and 80's, when we had a Virar Chawl ka Chokra Govind Ahuja becoming Govinda, a former Naxal became a rage called Mithun, and of course our own Bihari Bhaiyya Shatrughan Sinha, who started as a villain and then went on to become a hero.
Now Indian society has become more open( at least in the urban areas) and it is possible to get a job based on your merit, unlike the 70's or 80's where only Sifarish mattered. Indian cricket has moved away from the big cities to the Hinterland. And the national team is led by a guy from Ranchi( would have been unthinkable a few years ago). And yet Bollywood seems to have gone in the reverse direction, becoming more of a Closed Door Society, shutting out new comers, who don't have a Godfather. And it can be seen in the way almost 90% of our movies flop, and the simple reason is Actors who can't ACT.
Right now Bollywood is becoming like those ancient Indian kingdoms, where being the son of the King, made you an automatic ruler, irrespective of your merits. Well it is well known what happened to the Dynasties when weak rulers took over, be it the Mughals or the Marathas or the Cholas, they just self destructed.
It sucks to see talented actors like Manoj Bajpayee, Sanjay Suri, Kay Kay sitting on the sidelines, while the "NO TALENTED ASS CLOWNS" get the leading roles.
Looking back on late 80s early 90s when the SRK phenomenon happened we has mindless but better entertainers in tezaab, raju ban gaya gentleman, Darr, Baazigar..till Karan Johar arrived and then its all a fashion parade….This guy reeks filmi snobbishness from every pore of his body and were it not for the sucess of small budget movies there would be no "Wake up SID" for sure….My BP rocked every time I saw his Koffee with Karan …Why on earth does a talented man with obvious flair waste it away ….he reflects everything that is wrong with typical Punju upperclass mentality (cant help write this ) and will spoof it too if that sells.
I remember watching a Javed Akhtar interview where he candidly talks about how his kids can only make movies of their urban, upscale life for that is all they know. I love their stuff but dont want to see movies in the same background as Dil chahta hai all the time.
Its so fucking unreal to watch kids vacationing and partying all the time unless they are Sallu/Govinda…I loved Jaane tu for some reasons (the banter of the shahs and Paresh Rawal) and then now all I feels is cheated for watching insane partying for 3 hrs …Aamir & Abbas ki public dhulaai honi chahiye and now we have another khan on our hands and this one aint no Aamir.
World class cinema for the Chinese and Koreans, is taking the best of techniques from abroad, and narrating their stories, using those techniques. You will rarely find Chinese or Korean or Japanese movies about Rich Chinese or Koreans or Japanese living in US/Australia. They make movies about people in China or Japan or Korea.
World class cinema in the lexicon of Chopras, Roshans and Johars is doing a Copy paste of a Hollywood Flick, setting it in US/UK/Australia( take ur pick), doing more Copy Paste of scenes too.
The former gives us Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Red Cliff and Tae Guk Gi.
The latter approach gives us Dhoom and Kites.
Movie makers in China live under a dictatorship, where Free thinking is prohibited, where free speech and dissent are luxuries, and yet they manage to come out with movies that are visually stunning and have such a layered storyline.
And we live in a "Free" nation, where we have freedom of Speech and Thought, yet most of our movie makers, can't really seem to Think, they prefer to do a Copy Past 8 out of 10 times.
The good news this year, most of the over hyped block busters like Kites, Khatta Meetha, Aisha and now Lafangey Parindey have been given a massive thumbs down by the audiences. I am not sure though if our Ego Maniacs will learn.
Hrithik claims that Kites, was too ahead for Indian audiences. FUCK YOU MAN, you do a rip off of a 90's Tony Scott Movie Revenge, and your Dad's Koyla, and you expect us to fall for that TRIPE.
Subash Ghai claimed that Yuvraaj will be appreciated 10 years from now. Oh man these people seem to be living in some Fantasy La La Land. Mr. Ghai, Yuvraaj, Kisna and Yaadein, were such terrible pieces of crap, that i doubt they would be appreciated even 100 years from now on. Get out of your dream world.
Ratnakar: I am also a big fan of Iranian cinema. They might not have the technical excellence of Korean or Japanese cinema, but just imagine the kind of restrictions they work under! It is unimaginable, the films that they come up with. When it comes to story telling and portraying the social system/structure, the gender gap – I think Iran ranks is second to none. Beautiful films, under a tyrannical regime. Some of their actors have had to flee the country for simply acting in films outside of the 'guidelines' laid down by the govt.
, since they had to endure the film for one more hour …. I did not know Hritik said that the movie was ahead of its time! Seriously? Has he seen the movie himself? Forget the copying part….. the movie was junk. The only other people in the theatre were pulling out their hair, while we were laughing our guts out at how ridiculous the film was! What was so 'ahead of its time', I'd like to ask Hritik if we ever meet 
– the Latina actress, the love story/ revenge storyline…. what exactly?
And our filmmakers, with all their money and definitely a lot more freedom, compete amongst each other for the most expensive 'song'/'costume' , who's able to shoot in Seychelles first, whose film has more 'bikini' shots etc. (In the past few years, if a movie has a 'bikini' shot, that became the highlight of the movie!) Is it any wonder then, that we are not exactly making the best of movies?
As you know, I saw the English version of 'Kites' and I was told by a lot of friends, including people in this forum, that I got lucky
Subhash Ghai was never a great director, though he gave us some entertainers. But since 'Saudagar', his movies need to be categorised in the
absurd wave'. Have you seen 'Yaadein'? There is ACTUALLY a scene where Hritik throws his t-shirt over a grunting crocodile's head, so it can't see the actors and they can escape! It is one of the most ridiculous scenes ever in 'A-List' Hindi cinema. Ghai has been going from bad to worse – Pardes (where he totally messed up the geography… and overdid the des-pardes divide), Taal (where Anil Kapoor was behaving like he was on some kind of medication that made him jumpy and loud), Kisna, Yuvraaj (what was Anil Kapoor even doing in that movie!)…. what's next? Apart from the music – and he's been smart to get the best guys working on his music – there has been nothing to look forward to, in his films. Just looking at the trailer you knew that Yuvraaj was complete crap! (And after watching the film, I couldn't believe he actually used some scenes from 'Rain Man'!!!!!!!)
I sincerely want these movies to stop now, at least for a while …… while we get to watch more of Kashyap, Bharadwaj, Dibakar Banerjee kind of cinema, which make 'sense', while also bringing true new talent to the audience, not just a Kingfisher Calendar model, an Ex Ms.India, a politician's son or a actor/producer's kid. I am sick of watching them and their antics – on and out-of-screen. I want to see good cinema and our guys better make them 'available' for us!
DnD – Totally second your thoughts! I felt an excruciating pain when Ravi Baswani passed away. I was thinking… how many of them do we have to sacrifice, so that incompetent, mediocre actors can make a fortune off us (yes, off us, because we pay for tickets), while great actors continue to pass into oblivion because they are not offered good-enough roles. We – as an audience – I feel have been guilty at least to some extent of encouraging mediocrity by watching mediocre actors in mediocre films. Now those very actors and the filmmakers who made those films, think that they are Gods, just because they have got so used to the fame that we have given them!
. We have created a Frankenstein over the past few decades and now we are facing the consequences.
. Because, if you strictly take talent into consideration, that is how it should be, rather than the other way round.
We are responsible, because we give preference to 'fairness', 'dancing ability', 'figure/physique', etc over acting ability. No wonder we are left to deal with ripped muscles and pretty smiles, while we complain about bad films/acting now
The case for actresses is even worse! In India, it would be impossible to think of an equivalent of Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, Catherine Keener, Viola Davis or even a Sandra Bullock – and not because we don't have talent – but because we always want to see our actresses as 'hot' and playing roles expected of them by the society. And how many of our top actresses have actually ventured out to do something 'out of the ordinary'? (please spare me the 'de-glam' roles! They are such farces!) Same goes for actors, but as a society, we are kinder towards men – even if they are ugly. Women are not so lucky.
What I am trying to say is, maybe it is time for us to change – as audience and society – so that we can finally get to see some good movies, rather than 'fluff overdose'.
Seriously, my dream is to see Deepak Dobriyal in a lead role in a great movie, with Abhishek Bachchan as his sidekick with 5 minutes of screen time
I was recently watching Woody Allen's Match Point and it struck me how they've lifted the Hrithik-Barbara-Hothead buildup straight from there. Its a stylishly done copy paste from multiple sources that filmmakers used to get away with once upon a time due to the audiences' lack of exposure. Now, with so many movie channels, the audiences have seen so many of their sources. Either they're too dumb to realise that or they've taken the audiences' chalta hai attitude too much for granted.
I completely agree with Debashri's contention that this is our own Frankenstein. Sadly, for every one person who sees through the glitz, there are 10 more out there who are still under the influence of it. And our lazy filmmakers, who have hit a formula of commercial success even if the film doesn't do well at the BO, will continue doing what they've done since forever. Keep making dishonest films. I was reading Taran Adarsh's business round-up of Lafangey Parindey and though he acknowledges the bad business it's been doing, he passes the buck on a million things except that it was a bad film. That's the coccoon these big budget filmmakers live in. If a film is ahead of its time, people in the future will duly acknowledge it. Tom-tomming now that its ahead of its time reeks of wannabeness.
To top it all, we have the distribution/exhibition mafia which ensures that the barest minimum of people are exposed to better cinema. A film like Manorama SFU didn't even last a proper week in most of the theatres. I had to travel from Chembur to Goregaon just in its second week to catch it. The film was playing for only two shows in the entire city of Bombay in its second week. I'm yet to come across a single person who didn't like Udaan but it barely managed 3 weeks in spite of the massive online w-o-m. In contrast, Aisha is still running 20 shows in Bombay (3rd week). And it'll get a minimum 6 week run. Where is the justice?
A certain filmmaker put up a status on FB that dissed critics. I tried debating it with him but the moment he felt cornered, he retreated saying that his status message was beyond our comprehension. That's it. SRK tweeted y'day that he wants ideas to improve our films. And then a couple of customary tweets lamenting our "bad scripts". What about the closed culture rife with nepotism and corruption of all kinds? Doesn't he know that already? If he really wanted our films to improve, he could've done a lot from the position he's in. But then, to expect anything more beyond mere grandstanding and mumbo-jumbo from these people is foolhardy IMO.
dint come 2 my mind before…but as u say it, they must have taken a clue from match point 2….nevertheless, I enjoyed Match Point…one of the more commercial ventures by Allen…
Debashri, Ratnakar, Darkndusky n Bollyfan: Chindiyaaan kar daale inudstry ki…..Maaki kir kiri…..
You guys are bang on abt what ails bollywood…..enjoyed reading ur comments….
chalo.. ek nigaah masaal movie yaani ke badi budget ki movie par daal len…
Ive nothing against them provided they truly entertain you …
Kites pehle se hi doobti naiyya lag rahi thi….Im a fan of Hrithik after seeing his cameo in luck by chance, Dhoom 2 , Fiza Mission Kashmir Lakshya in particular , the ET one (pardon the early onset of alzhiemers..) for some parts. …as you see yaadein, Kabhi khushi dont figure on this list.
Hrithik ka jadoo Jodha Akbar me dekh hi chuke the. Not only did he look drop dead handsome he did a decent job too. Akbar himself would be proud in his grave. Whatever was lacking in that movie was purely Gowrikar's fault.
I thnk Hrithik gets conned by his dad into doing his movies…Ek firangi ladki ko lelo, western type movie banaate hain , fantastic action daalo and ur chiselled looks will propel the movie to new heights…Oops Koi Khaayi mil gaya
Thank goodness he is doing Zoya's movie now. It has got to be better anyday. He is definitely one of the better performers of today and extremely capable in every deptt. He needs to make make varied choices and do all kinds of cinema. Do these multi- karodpati actors really feel they have all to lose if they do a small budget off track movie…
I thought the advantage of small movies was that at least you wouldnt get typecast…while leaving you creatively fulfulled. ..