The master filmmaker, Shyam Benegal comes back with a film that revolves around social messages. There is a certain feel that makes you want to like the film and to quite an extent you have a good reason too but since the story doesn't grip pretty well it's an experience that's so-so.
The chief reason for enjoying the films are two - the locale that provides a kind of freshness and acting. The latter is mainly due to one person - Boman Irani. Benegal relies on his usual set of actors to fill-up other characters (Rajat Kapoor, Lalit Tiwari, Ila Arun and others) to do a good job and everyone does well.
However the problem lies in the structure - there are too many angles and too many characters who come across as uni-dimensional. When the focus is to focus on the various themes, it tends to do too much.
Boman is a driver who comes to visit his village to get his daughter (Minishaa Lamba) married and decides to open a well, for which he is supposed to get government funding. As he goes through the various legalities he discovers the enormity of the problems he and others face as nothing happens without a bribe. Together with his daughter and her lover he makes an plan to con the system and uses the politics to get his work done.
Benegal tries to point out the hassles of the systems by revolving the plot around the water problem and also comments on various other themes like women reservation & daughter-seen-as-a-burden. He plays within the comedy genre and as such most of the characters end up being caricatures.
This still would have worked but for the plot to move smoothly. The challenging middle-act meanders here and there - the so-called rising complications are not just cohesive. Despite being the man driving the case, you are not necessarily sold in to this strong motivation; this seems to be the case of doing too much and not finding enough meat to chew.
Once it's established that the system sucks, then....the story tries to go on other aspects. To give the due, all the other threads do revolve around the main plot but eliciting laughter tends to be the focus, which makes the focus on the characters and their excessive antics.
I wonder if working with a talented actor like Irani tends to create its own pressure. Irani is exceptional in creating mannerisms and providing exceptional characterization; this demands that the story should flow exceedingly well else the attention is drawn to him.
The film starts pretty well in establishing the story but loses its control as it attempts to cover too much of a ground.
On minor front (or major, depending on how one's sees it) - there seem to be some continuity issues. Just before Lamba's wedding, a tragic scene unfolds - her friend 'sold' to a Sheikh in Gulf has been abandoned; her mom is understandably broken and in the very next scene she is playing the 'dholak' with gay abandon.
I am also not sure if the opening scene was required. Irani is a driver in Bombay and since he arrives late (by two months,) his boss wants to fire him. But as he is going to Pune Irani tells him to hear his story and then take a call. Except for some sort of a metaphorical meaning (maybe?!) there is no use of this story.
Since this is not the main track and one has no purpose of being on the drive, this could have been cut to the scene in office itself. In fact, if one wanted, the whole office scene coud have been chucked and the story would have worked as it is.
Benegal is perhaps the most learned filmmaker in the country, who has made terrific films. To see such fare, which you want to like very much but isn't there doesn't make you feel pretty good. Maybe this was a quick-shoot, a quickly-done-with-flick but that's not justification for missing the bus.
But one can't give up the hope that he would be back with a much stronger tale. So...fingers crossed for the next one.
Rating **
Max Rating ****
[Viewed at Fun Chembur, 11.15am show with Jaspal on 27th March, 2010]
No comments:
Post a Comment