Ghanchakkar by Rajkumar Gupta is an attempt to dive into fairly uncharted waters in Bollywood. Examples of Black Comedy humor from the past few years in Bollywood include good attempts like Delhi Belly, Saat Khoon Maaf and Gali Gali Mein Chor Hai. Depicting serious events like running away with the loot from the bad guys in a manner where the mob moves in with you is done rather humorously. An accomplished and renowned criminal well versed with safe breaking and combinations who has pulled off possibly the biggest heist in his life meets with an accident and looses all memory of recent events. He forgets about the loot, he forgets about the heist and of course forgets that the mob is about to come after him.
In typical caper fashion Ghanchakkar chronicles the events of the mob encouraging our protagonist to remember where he's hidden the money. From the occasional beatings, to coaxing and to even visiting medicinal babas they look for an answer from a man with short term memory loss. Emraan Hashmi as the poker faced Sanju Atre plays the role of the pivotal "victim of circumstances" in black comedies. An Interesting change for Emraan as he switches to a nascent genre. From the Limca book of records "kissing champ" to challenging roles like in Shanghai and Ek Thi Dayaan, Emraan Hashmi has impressed me as an actor who doesn't hesitate with experimenting outside of his comfort zone. Along with his Punjaban better half Neetu Atre (Vidya Balan) they make the most imperfect and volatile couple. As a dark comedy would demand Vidya doesn't play the typical worship your husband coy wife but a loud Punjabi head of the household who would beat gangsters with a broom to protect her husband. Her food may need a few tea spoons of salt but her subscription to Vogue, Cosmo and Femina are up to date. I thought Vidya and Emraan complimented each other well as the eccentric couple to set the tone for a rather delightful black comedy.
Emraan's accomplices in the bank heist are "Pandit" (Namit Das) and "Idris" (Rajesh Sharma). They return 3 months later to collect their share of the loot to only get frustrated by a man with a continuously changing story. Is he lying or has he really lost his memory? They give him a week to return the loot or threaten dire consequences. Almost like a boy rummaging through his grandparents suitcase for his present, Emraan tries to piece together the puzzle as to where he could have possibly left the loot. With his Travolta inspired pony tail look he plays the perfect lead in this black comedy. A man who shifts through a myriad of emotions from being calm, collected, humorous, frustrated, confused to what eventually boils down to an emotional outburst of anger. He questions his actions, the intentions of his wife and whether he has been conned out of the money since his memory loss. A lot of satire kicks in to the film such as Emraan's attempt to appease his fashionista wife by wearing a bright red branded nightsuit with a polka dotted top and pajamas as a sense of style and fashion, brandishing a fork like a musketeer when confronted by dreaded mobsters, to receiving a call from his mother during a gun fight with regards to the whereabouts of his loot. After seeing her husband bruised, punched and injured would you expect a house wife to take on armed mobsters, beating them with a broom stick till they apologize profusely for their behavior. Well this is clearly where comedy and woe can co-exist in a film like Ghanchakkar.
The way I would sum up Ghanchakkar is formulaic predictability, but overall a good effort. Over the years we have been subjected to many a landmark black comedy whether highly English like Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels or trendsetting like Reservoir Dogs. A gloomy crime setting with unusual characters that culminates in a fast paced artless gunfight. As a dark comedy Ghanchakkar satires and goes through the motions with a minority of twists and turns, something I wish they had run with. Rajkumar Gupta has played it safe by using the exact same model here like a horse with blinders. He hasn't ventured even the most slightest outside the box. The lazy pace is commendable owing to the nature of the characters. The characters are intentionally not well rounded enough for you to get too engrossed as black satire simply brings pre-existing flaws and contradictions into a harsher light. The method in the madness of dark comedy is showcased from living with gangsters, parodies and references of old classic Bollywood films as a reference for emotion to a mystery man revealing himself in the end aboard a train.
I would say all in all Ghanchakkar is a noble effort in cinema and story telling on Rajkumar Gupta's part. No standout performances with regards to acting but each character has played their part to make a good wholesome black comedy as is the case with most of them even in the west. Thoroughly enjoyed the theme song "Ghanchakkar Babu" and that little illustration in the start, Story telling through little details.
In typical caper fashion Ghanchakkar chronicles the events of the mob encouraging our protagonist to remember where he's hidden the money. From the occasional beatings, to coaxing and to even visiting medicinal babas they look for an answer from a man with short term memory loss. Emraan Hashmi as the poker faced Sanju Atre plays the role of the pivotal "victim of circumstances" in black comedies. An Interesting change for Emraan as he switches to a nascent genre. From the Limca book of records "kissing champ" to challenging roles like in Shanghai and Ek Thi Dayaan, Emraan Hashmi has impressed me as an actor who doesn't hesitate with experimenting outside of his comfort zone. Along with his Punjaban better half Neetu Atre (Vidya Balan) they make the most imperfect and volatile couple. As a dark comedy would demand Vidya doesn't play the typical worship your husband coy wife but a loud Punjabi head of the household who would beat gangsters with a broom to protect her husband. Her food may need a few tea spoons of salt but her subscription to Vogue, Cosmo and Femina are up to date. I thought Vidya and Emraan complimented each other well as the eccentric couple to set the tone for a rather delightful black comedy.
Emraan's accomplices in the bank heist are "Pandit" (Namit Das) and "Idris" (Rajesh Sharma). They return 3 months later to collect their share of the loot to only get frustrated by a man with a continuously changing story. Is he lying or has he really lost his memory? They give him a week to return the loot or threaten dire consequences. Almost like a boy rummaging through his grandparents suitcase for his present, Emraan tries to piece together the puzzle as to where he could have possibly left the loot. With his Travolta inspired pony tail look he plays the perfect lead in this black comedy. A man who shifts through a myriad of emotions from being calm, collected, humorous, frustrated, confused to what eventually boils down to an emotional outburst of anger. He questions his actions, the intentions of his wife and whether he has been conned out of the money since his memory loss. A lot of satire kicks in to the film such as Emraan's attempt to appease his fashionista wife by wearing a bright red branded nightsuit with a polka dotted top and pajamas as a sense of style and fashion, brandishing a fork like a musketeer when confronted by dreaded mobsters, to receiving a call from his mother during a gun fight with regards to the whereabouts of his loot. After seeing her husband bruised, punched and injured would you expect a house wife to take on armed mobsters, beating them with a broom stick till they apologize profusely for their behavior. Well this is clearly where comedy and woe can co-exist in a film like Ghanchakkar.
The way I would sum up Ghanchakkar is formulaic predictability, but overall a good effort. Over the years we have been subjected to many a landmark black comedy whether highly English like Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels or trendsetting like Reservoir Dogs. A gloomy crime setting with unusual characters that culminates in a fast paced artless gunfight. As a dark comedy Ghanchakkar satires and goes through the motions with a minority of twists and turns, something I wish they had run with. Rajkumar Gupta has played it safe by using the exact same model here like a horse with blinders. He hasn't ventured even the most slightest outside the box. The lazy pace is commendable owing to the nature of the characters. The characters are intentionally not well rounded enough for you to get too engrossed as black satire simply brings pre-existing flaws and contradictions into a harsher light. The method in the madness of dark comedy is showcased from living with gangsters, parodies and references of old classic Bollywood films as a reference for emotion to a mystery man revealing himself in the end aboard a train.
I would say all in all Ghanchakkar is a noble effort in cinema and story telling on Rajkumar Gupta's part. No standout performances with regards to acting but each character has played their part to make a good wholesome black comedy as is the case with most of them even in the west. Thoroughly enjoyed the theme song "Ghanchakkar Babu" and that little illustration in the start, Story telling through little details.