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agent927
Reviews
Parzania (2005)
Clichéd, hokey and trite.
There is much news in the Indian media about this film, the second outing by the director of "Kehtaa Hai Dil Baar Baar," which apparently was a "remake" of the not-so-funny Ben stiller comedy Meet the Parents. There is also much praise being showered on the director about his 'struggle' to get this movie distributed in India despite the alleged opposition from powerful political forces lobbied by the hindu extremists. While I applaud the director's courage in the face of the apparent opposition, this film is an absolute mess.
The acting by most of the actors is abysmal, unnecessarily melodramatic and contrived. The dialog sounds like it was written by a 5 year old. Naseerudin Shah does bring some gravitas to his role, but much as he tries, even he cannot save the film from floundering miserably. Especially in the third act, which almost put me to sleep. The Gujarat massacres marked some of the darkest periods in India's recent history and perhaps forever polarized an already troubled nation. To tell that important story requires serious and mature film-making. This film is anything but.
The character of the drunk, foul-mouth American lends nothing substantial to the story and seems to be there for no reason except to be the stereotypical disillusioned "gora" (read: gringo) trying to seek some answers in Gandhi's India. Is this the directors way of pandering to the deep Indian insecurities of wanting desperately to be "important" on the world stage? Perhaps.
Most of the characters are flat and two dimensional. The child actors are the worst. What was with all that skipping down the street a-la wizard of oz? Where do you actually see kids doing that, expect maybe in those laughingly cheesy "family" movies from the 50s! Lassie anyone? Using English as the primary language of the film makes little sense, since you just cannot take the characters seriously. They come off as forced and stilted. For no reason some characters lapse into Gujarati and Hindi as well, making the director's intentions even more muddled. There are other deep flaws in the script. Why that moonshiner and pimp suddenly discover morality and enormous courage to turn on the hindu nationalists and the police at the end is still quite a mystery. Perhaps it was the incredibly asinine expression on his nephews face as he tore off the pinups on his walls, and he just couldn't live with that anymore. I am not sure how the director lived through shooting that, or those clownishly squirmy looks on the faces of the cops at the hearing. I have seen high school specials that seem like high art compared to the "acting" I saw in this piece of garbage. Even the violence of the riots is too sanitized, and I don't mean the lack of blood and gore. This film conjures about as much emotion as a piece of plastic. And don't even get me started on the musical score! Rub your fingers together for the 100 tiny violins playing the sappy music of yore. *someone please pass me the aspirin* So, here is the moral of the story folks: Trust not the hype generated by the Indian media, and stay as far away from this film as you can. The director should return to his true passions - making cheap and cheesy bollywood remakes of cheap and cheesy Hollywood trash.