Barfi: locked little fingers

After Rockstar, I suggested that one should promise self to watch every Ranbir Kapoor film in 2012 because in the contemporary list of actors, nobody is half as good as he is in the ‘talented’ department. He probably works very hard but his effortless act shows up more as ‘gifted’ than ‘hard worked’. He delivers the goods, each time above expectations. He’s that boy in school who always stands first and we are used to it. So, I will shrug off his brilliance in the film as 'another great performance, as expected'. Nevertheless, one cannot dismiss the other complements to this film. Shruti, played by Ileana, is a breath of fresh air in this acting classroom. She lucidly amalgamates into the beautiful Bengali woman unadulterated with glamor. Every time she is onscreen in a saree you want to tell her how beautiful she looks! Priyanka earns her brownie points as Zhilmil! How often does a main stream actress get to play challenged roles? Sadma... anything else?

However, beyond the meticulously chosen cast, the film appears to be a work of heart. For once, we have a story that outweighs its cast. It flips between three time periods of 1972, 1978 and present day, and some of these flips between the time zones are brilliantly executed. (A 1978 married Shruti goes through the tunnel to come out as a 1972 engaged one). 'If you appreciate the little things in life, you shall see, a paper sparrow flaps its wings by a train window too', the story tells us. In spirit of these little things, Anurag Basu, walks the talk throughout his film: the commonplace man-behavior of pricking out one’s nasal hair or straightening out the trouser that’s jammed in the butt crack, the broken mirror pieces used as communication tools, the joy of decorating the glass window panes with water melon seeds and a shoe as an identification of someone familiar, someone you know and recognize. However, at the very core, the story is of ordinary love between a man and woman with extraordinary sensibilities that touch our emotional nerve. Its miraculous to note that despite the cognitive limitations of those involved in the love story, they have a love that’s limitless. It opens up our hearts to ponder over our infinite capacity to love.

Anurag Basu speaks an altogether different language of love that is comprehensible to everybody in the audience. Although nobody would have studied the sign language we all get what Barfi tells Shruti the first time he meets her. “You are captivating. Here, I offer my heart to you,” and he puts his heart at her feet. From that moment on, we get to know Barfi and we like him instantaneously for his openness, simplicity and honesty. His character solidifies before our eyes... the fun, the frolic and the carefree. Later, we also relate to his agonizing rejection where his proposal to Shruti is dismissed for reasons of his cognitive disabilities and, therefore, deviant from 'prospective husband' norms in society. We learn he is a good son and always gets in trouble. A lot of us enjoy his Charlie Chaplin like humor and playful pranks which are introduced throughout the film to keep it light hearted. By this time we have gotten to love him.

The story then moves into the subplots of kidnapping which is only laying foundation for the love that will later unfold. I understand there are probably multiple instances where these sub plots have loose ends (say you can see the kidnapper nonchalantly walking away into the tea farms when Barfi heists the van and runs away with Zhilmil. Really are we that dumb?) However, Anurag keeps us so gripped that we tend to ignore these loops holes. We may even forgive him later. But for now, we just want to know what happened to Zhilmil?

Now is the miraculous part of the story. We see the journey of how two people connect, understand and entice each other. The glitter in the dark forest with the large bubbles, lets call it artistic freedom, we don’t question its practicality? We just realize that Barfil uses it to get Zhilmil home. The communication with mirrors and the joy of spitting watermelon seeds are endearing dimensions as compared to modern day dating nuisances. He amuses her with more Charlie Chaplin humor and she wants to be amused each time he enters home, so he throws her a little scared dramatic feat, each time he enters home.

We see him grow, some would say into a man, do some odd jobs and provide for Zhilmil. Take care of her, look after her. He notices how ecstatic she gets looking as folk dancers dressed up as giant dolls. So, if someone thought, inviting them to the wedding was a means for entertainment - really how foolish are you? Its his gesture of love to make her smile; be ecstatic on her wedding day. She on the other hand wants to fan him while he eats and her autistic brain wonders whether she could be that sexy woman who shows off her navel in a saree? Then one day, amongst all this eventful life, Barfi decides to assess Zhilmil on his lamp post test of togetherness.

This is the scene where I missed a heartbeat. Such ingenious metaphor to answer the age old question in love, “Will you be with me till the end of life?”. This lamp post metaphor was a marvel. Zhilmil is the only one who stands his test of time and in that moment he seals the deal of love with her. He tells Shruti through a sign that says, “my heart goes out to her.”

A director’s ability to make the audience miss a heartbeat speaks volumes of his creativity. Remember Titanic? The one scene that makes you believe Rose loves Jack? Well, for me,  its the one where Rose is all set to sail shore on a rescue boat. As the boat drips a level down, she keeps looking at Jack... and then in a split of a second jumps back onto the sinking Titanic followed by a dramatic union of the lovers. “You jump, I jump, right?”, she asks Jack. In that moment, we believe her love for him.
 
The lamp post scene convinces me of Barfi's unflinching love for Zhilmil from that moment on. He will never give up on her. She is the one for him. She locking her little finger with his, is her vote of confidence. His gesture to touch his forehead against her is his way of saying, “I love you.” Its that simple. Period.

That's the story I was touched by. I loved the film for its ingenious depiction of human sensibilities. Fantastic one, Mr. Anurag Basu!!

Cocktail: A Deepika Padukone film

So, I have wondered whether I want to write about Cocktail which as a story completely fails but if I don’t then I wouldn’t have a few words to say about Deepika Padukone.

I have liked her from the very start, that is, Om Shanti Om. Sensational screen presence as I have always said; so no matter what the review said I would have gone to watch her. The beauty of some species is such a vivacious sight that, without knowing it themselves, they can stir senses that can calm, soothe, stimulate, animate or vivify. In that context, the dusky sorceress party girl is a look she pulls off so ingeniously that watching her is poora paisa vasool. I don’t see a reason for anyone to go and watch the film if they weren’t interested in her. She doesn't make an impression in every film, like ‘break ke baad’, but the promos of this film especially encourage one to go and watch her.

Today’s fact is Bollywood isn’t making any love stories since DDLJ; that’s the last one that comes to my mind. The recent ones are just some shallow-hearted crap thrown in our faces as entertainment with a few exceptions like Wake Up Sid. So I don’t know what to expect from films that are heavy on the star cast and appear as love-triangle?

So, Deepika was my reason to watch. Be it a saree appearance in Cannes and filmfare, the profile of a yesteryear actress in OSM or the bikini clad hottie; she dazzles in most of her appearances. It probably may have to do with the fact that her versatility flips her between a supermodel and the regular pretty girl next door at the flick of a finger! One cannot miss if not acknowledge her real life audacious persona to tattoo a boy friend’s initials coupled with her grounded background. All jokes aside: Ranbir Kapoor’s movies flopping, Yuvraj’s form dropping, Mallya’s businesses flopping; this woman will leave behind a legacy.

As far as the movie goes we love the independent, fun Veronica character with her ‘his bun in my oven’ jokes. She is kind to shelter a stranger in her home. She values friendship more than boy friends and does what her heart pleases. What I don’t get is the director’s portrayal of why she suddenly flips and wants to play wife to a man she would have left in days or a fortnight? I don’t get why she would force men’s palms on her ass - was that to let us know she was easy? So I would call this flipping of personalities more schizophrenic than love concussion but that is the writer’s/director’s debacle. What I did take note of though is the actress made her pain apparent to the audience through a sorrow swallow in the neck and in nonchalant shutting the door in a friend’s face. If you let her be the person she is, you may actually find a lot more of her character in the breakup. To me she came across as a person who tried to keep calm in her pain; selfish enough to keep her love to herself; open enough to be his whore; destructive enough to be used. People do crazy things in love, don’t they? What I don’t get though is the love - when and how the fuck did that happen?

As far as the other two characters in the movie are concerned Mira (Diana Penty) is pleasant and one likes her. Gautam (Saif) looks puffed. Literally, like someone’s blown air into a balloon and this balloon happens to be his face. They are impossible to pay attention to because their dialogues are more appalling than them. They leave no impression whatsoever.

So this is a Deepika Padukone film. You will like a major part of her inspite of the despicable story telling technique. That’s all there is to this film. If you don’t like Deepika, don’t bother. Spend your 200 bucks and time elsewhere.

Ishaqzaade: Rustic, lascivious and anticlimaxed!

‘If a rose by any other name would smell as sweet,
then rose needs a new name.’

Names and titles make an impression, usually of character and personality we tend to associate them with. I would imagine ‘Monique’ to be some hot, sexy, French redhead. I stand impressed with how Preity Zinta fit into the image of the gorgeous sound of ‘Zaara’.  Anytime, if I am to think of Preity, the first visual that comes to my mind is the rescue scene from ‘Veer Zaara’ where she dazzles in white and modestly accentuated with accessories. Do we tend to like Dior, Gucci, Prada slightly more because of the sound of speech their names make? Do we tend to think of French as snoots because what they pronounce is so different from how the language is spelt? Why is it that when Sushmita Sen speaks (especially in Hindi or Urdu) we attend her vocals with focussed, undivided attention?

Preity in 'Veer Zaara'

‘Ishaqzaade’ by the very virtue of its name makes itself conspicuous! I looked up the hindi and urdu dictionaries today but the first search retrieved no responses. “I shall ask a couple of my friends later,” I said to myself dismissing the idea of any more research. The urdu sounding word has a rustic appeal with curiosity as to what it actually means? Is it just made up? Then probably the movie is made as a testimony to what the word stands for.

In summary the movie is as follows: Vernacular backdrop. Two families, political rivals, same hindu-muslim formula. Youngsters in love. The wrath of double crossing. Coming to terms with family hypocrisy. Realizing that you can also be the target of death by the very people who brought you to life. The story keeps you engaged for two-third of the movie. I wasn’t bored until the last 25 minutes when I thought the director was now just stretching it. I mean with so much shooting, somebody has to die and that too quickly!! Unfortunately, the story ends in a catastrophe and I don’t buy the ‘honor killings’ issue that the director sells in the end. One cannot make a masala pot boiler and then just attach a ‘honor killings issue’ tag to it. The issue is not completely out of place but the end is not as horrific as the issue and I was untouched with the emotion of sorrow like in ‘Ek Duje ke liye’ or ‘Qayamat se qayamat tak’. Now, I am older and wiser, but I have a sense of art and depiction. So, still untouched with the sorrow emotion. The director should have worked harder on a better ending as he did for most of the film.

Here’s why one should watch: The actors do a splendid job and are very comfortable in their skin. Their characters are rustic, zestful and hormonal that resonate very well with a mass youth population of India, probably why the movie shall book profits. They share sensational chemistry. Arjun Kapoor (as Parma) shines in his debut performance. Nice abs, sexy persona. Parineeti Chopra promises herself a future with this one. She could probably be the celebrity role model for the future generation: no obsession with size zero, khao, piyo, mast raho. She is good-looking, charming, vivacious! For a size able number of minutes one shall find them digging each other’s mouths; however if you are on a first date and are expecting to get action on a weekend night this shall be a good warmup. Another reason why the youth shall watch and director shall book profits. Sex shall continue to sell as long as kids metamorphose to adolescents and adolescents to horny 20 year olds. Gauhar Khan does a good acting job quite contrary to the real life perceived-bitchy self.

Spiritual enlightenment: We live in a country with places where religions and castes continue being a matter of false pride and honor. Superiority is established on these premises. Vote banks are designed around these premises. Women are abused, molested, raped, sometimes an outcome of the castes they were born in.

The worth of a human life becomes questionable when people love outside of a caste or religion!

Recently, facebook stories have seen a commotion over statements by Barack Obama on ‘gay marriage’. The cautious won’t celebrate these statements because these statements are not backed by policy. North Carolina banned gay marriage on account of certain conservative religious views.

We live in a world where human right becomes questionable when people love someone of the same sex.