mistercharisma Reviews

Aitbaar (1985)

A classy Hitchcockian thriller

[6/10 · 16 December 2004]

Mukul Anand's films always had a touch of class. And this remake of Hitchcock's "Dial M for Murder" is special. The plot is effortlessly Indianized, although it is difficult to imagine why any husband, however vain and philandering he may be, would want to snuff the life out of the beauteous Dimple Kapadia. She's a vision. Almost a match for Hitchcock's ice maiden, the incandescent Grace Kelly.

Cinema has never been such an effective vehicle for whodunnits. Why did a murder take place? That's something films tackle well. Not who did it. Even the original Hitchcock film was much too wordy. Anand has made game attempts to make it more visual but as a whodunnit it still doesn't work. The whole plot hinges on the key hidden underneath the staircase carpet. It's a bit too much, when the revelation eventually comes. Much ado about so little, you sigh! The other event in the film that makes you sigh is a sizzling dance done in skimpy clothes by Leena Das for Raj Babbar. Leena sizzles.

Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... (2001)

A tearful and regressive film

[1/10 · 16 December 2004]

Karan Johar has become something of a celebrity film director in India and this is a film largely responsible for that status, though the equally preposterous "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai" has a lot to do with it as well. Here's a film that is outrageously implausible and that at its core is unacceptably regressive. The whole film hinges on a telling comment made by Jaya Bhaduri, as the long suffering wife, to the domineering, ramrod-straight Amitabh Bachchan. In what is intended as the dramatic summit of the film, Jaya says to Amitabh words to the effect that for Indian wives their husbands are "pati parmeshwars" (husband who are their gods) but Amitabh is only pati (husband), not parmeshwar (god). That's supposed to be an ultimate put down. Amitabh stares shamefaced at his feet, shattered by this admonition.

I find it hard to believe that a young film-maker in the 21st century can peddle such regressiveness and is getting applauded for making a slick entertainer. For me it's an insufferable film with busy images that are utterly hollow. Designer clothing and expensive sets that fill the wide screen but do nothing whatsoever to lift the insipid drama doled out by Johar.

There have been a television serial done on the making of this film, on why Johar chose the actors that he did and how he shot key scenes in his film. The hype surrounding the film is fake. Even seasoned film reviewers in India have praised the film and called Johar among the brightest talents in Hindi cinema. Don't fall for it. Johar is a supreme fake. Almost as big a fake as Sanjay Leela Bhansali, whose sickly sumptuous "Devdas" and even sicklier "Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam" redefine hopeless kitsch.

Until a few years ago the Rotterdam Film Festival used to have a section where they celebrated pot-boiler films which were made with such passion and panache that it lifted them above the level of run-of-the-mill films made in bad taste. When I attended the film festival many years ago, I recommended some Indian film directors working in Bombay whose oeuvre perfectly matched that description. Among the names I proffered were Ramesh Sippy, Rahul Rawail, Shashilal Nair and to some extent J.P. Dutta. When it comes to someone like Karan Johar (or Bhansali), the only special category that comes to mind is of films that are dressed up beautifully but are horrendously bereft of any dramatic or cinematic merit. Supreme fakes. Both Johar and his film.

Silent Waters (2003)

A film, subtle and noble

[8/10 · 8 December 2004]

Nothing prepares you for the subtlety and searing honesty of this film. There is something ennobling about watching it. The director gives us vignettes of life in Pakistan, circa 1980 and 1999, and paints the portrait of a country in the grip of a ruinous Islamization. General Zia-ul-Haq took the country backward by several years through his repressive policies and Sabiha Sumar shows us glimpse of what he did to the country.

In a film so subtly wrought, it is unusual to be struck particularly by acting performances but for Shilpa Shukla is a revelation. It is a splendidly understated performance and I must say her sensuality stirred me too.