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Filmistan
With temperatures dipping by as much as 10 degrees Celsius in the last two days, the ennui and lethargy of summers finally disappeared. Feeling rejuvenated enough to venture out on a summer afternoon, I went and saw Filmistan with my friend. Having no idea as to the cast or crew or theme of the film, it turned out to be a huge surprise. One of the most creative films out of Bollywood in a long time, for sure. In the initial scenes I thought I had come to watch a spoof on Bollywood, with this new actor and his near perfect comic timing, spewing dialogues and mannerisms from all things Bollywood. Short and ordinary looking, the hero appeared unimpressive though funny and I settled down with my coke ( diet) to watch the comedy. Or so I thought!
The movie revolves around an unemployed, wannabe actor, Bollywood mimic, trying to find work in Bollywood. But he soon finds himself heading out to Rajasthan as an AD in a documentary being shot by an American crew on the Pakistan border! They land in trouble with the paperwork and are accosted by Rajasthan police. The irreverent Sub-Inspector of police ( or was it an Inspector? Never mind ) refuses to acknowledge the presence of the woman member of the apprehended film crew in his typical "hum auraton ke moonh nahi laga karte" style and with our Bollywood buff of a hero twisting his way out of a sticky situation, I thought, wow this is an interesting comedy, set in the familiar topography of Rajasthan! Few scenes down the line, it turns out to be a damn serious movie with cross-border terror theme and jihadists with their gun-toting gang of kidnappers and killers! Our hero gets kidnapped in roguishly Bollywood style but it turns out to be a case of mistaken identity. Despite the twist in the tale, the film maintains its pace and the "Tadka" of Bollywood continues.
Our hero is held captive in a Pak village by the jihadis in the family of, no prizes for guessing this one, another Bollywood buff, a DVD pirate! Great scenes follow! One, where our hero provides dialogues from a Salman block-buster when the DVD sound fails, or when he gets beaten up by his captors and is thrown into his kuccha room. Bollywood is furthest from my mind then and I am thinking " this movie IS getting serious" ! But he gets up from the dark corner, sees the children peeping inquisitively from the window,and the true blue Bollywood freak that he is, spontaneously and mischievously breaks into " maar daala, ho maar daala, maar daala, haan maar daala". An act, replete with nakhras and jhatkas of Madhuri! Or when he is shooting his own ransom demand video with the goons rattling "roll, rolling, acting". Retake after retake and even the jihadists started looking and sounding human! The naked power of Bollywood!
The two Bollywood buffs conspire for the hero's escape but the genre has got clouded by then! Honestly I couldn't be bothered, as I thought that this was a hugely innovative way of showing the differences and similarities, the bonds and the barriers between the two nations. The first time Director uses some clever tools to buttress the theme of savagery! The village that is the backdrop of the movie is dry as hell, barren to the core and has a strange absence of women! After all it's a living village, so where are the women? Some pre-pubescent girls, along with loads of boys, sure, but no women! The food is cooked by the men, the missing buttons are sewn by the men! The one scene where you have women, is when they are watching a cricket match between Pakistan and India on a mobile video van! The absence of women serves as such a powerful imagery for a ruthless setting! How clever!
A brilliantly directed movie, with great acting by everyone, particularly the two Bollywood freaks, Sharib Hashmi and Inaamulhaq, this one is not to be missed! A Saturday well spent, I would say!
With temperatures dipping by as much as 10 degrees Celsius in the last two days, the ennui and lethargy of summers finally disappeared. Feeling rejuvenated enough to venture out on a summer afternoon, I went and saw Filmistan with my friend. Having no idea as to the cast or crew or theme of the film, it turned out to be a huge surprise. One of the most creative films out of Bollywood in a long time, for sure. In the initial scenes I thought I had come to watch a spoof on Bollywood, with this new actor and his near perfect comic timing, spewing dialogues and mannerisms from all things Bollywood. Short and ordinary looking, the hero appeared unimpressive though funny and I settled down with my coke ( diet) to watch the comedy. Or so I thought!
The movie revolves around an unemployed, wannabe actor, Bollywood mimic, trying to find work in Bollywood. But he soon finds himself heading out to Rajasthan as an AD in a documentary being shot by an American crew on the Pakistan border! They land in trouble with the paperwork and are accosted by Rajasthan police. The irreverent Sub-Inspector of police ( or was it an Inspector? Never mind ) refuses to acknowledge the presence of the woman member of the apprehended film crew in his typical "hum auraton ke moonh nahi laga karte" style and with our Bollywood buff of a hero twisting his way out of a sticky situation, I thought, wow this is an interesting comedy, set in the familiar topography of Rajasthan! Few scenes down the line, it turns out to be a damn serious movie with cross-border terror theme and jihadists with their gun-toting gang of kidnappers and killers! Our hero gets kidnapped in roguishly Bollywood style but it turns out to be a case of mistaken identity. Despite the twist in the tale, the film maintains its pace and the "Tadka" of Bollywood continues.
Our hero is held captive in a Pak village by the jihadis in the family of, no prizes for guessing this one, another Bollywood buff, a DVD pirate! Great scenes follow! One, where our hero provides dialogues from a Salman block-buster when the DVD sound fails, or when he gets beaten up by his captors and is thrown into his kuccha room. Bollywood is furthest from my mind then and I am thinking " this movie IS getting serious" ! But he gets up from the dark corner, sees the children peeping inquisitively from the window,and the true blue Bollywood freak that he is, spontaneously and mischievously breaks into " maar daala, ho maar daala, maar daala, haan maar daala". An act, replete with nakhras and jhatkas of Madhuri! Or when he is shooting his own ransom demand video with the goons rattling "roll, rolling, acting". Retake after retake and even the jihadists started looking and sounding human! The naked power of Bollywood!
The two Bollywood buffs conspire for the hero's escape but the genre has got clouded by then! Honestly I couldn't be bothered, as I thought that this was a hugely innovative way of showing the differences and similarities, the bonds and the barriers between the two nations. The first time Director uses some clever tools to buttress the theme of savagery! The village that is the backdrop of the movie is dry as hell, barren to the core and has a strange absence of women! After all it's a living village, so where are the women? Some pre-pubescent girls, along with loads of boys, sure, but no women! The food is cooked by the men, the missing buttons are sewn by the men! The one scene where you have women, is when they are watching a cricket match between Pakistan and India on a mobile video van! The absence of women serves as such a powerful imagery for a ruthless setting! How clever!
A brilliantly directed movie, with great acting by everyone, particularly the two Bollywood freaks, Sharib Hashmi and Inaamulhaq, this one is not to be missed! A Saturday well spent, I would say!
