Bombay Talkies

This is not a review. These are just my views of the anthology film.

(Contains spoilers.)

I enjoyed Bombay Talkies. I carried the film back with me after I walked out of the movie hall. I discussed it with various people and finally decided to write about it.

 

Karan Johar’s Ajeeb daastan hai ye – It began with a bang; in a very non Karan Johar way; with a beginning that would shake you up and makes you sit up and watch. Touching up on the sensitive topic of homosexuality he gave us a very intense audacious film to mull about. Astute and poignant relationships coupled with brilliant acting by Rani Mukherjee, Randeep Hooda and Saqib Saleem.

Saqib, constantly reinforcing the fact that he is gay to everyone he met, with a need to rebel against the system and Randeep trying to conceal his sexuality preference and the fight with himself; the conflict of mind they both go through; the undercurrent attraction and passion – it was all brilliantly portrayed. Rani too was fierce and superb

Except for a couple of sleazy dialogues - gale me mangalsutra, aankho me kamasutra – (said by a fresher to a boss just did not make sense), there were some very witty one-liners. The songs (Ajeeb Daastan hai ye and lag ja gale) were aptly used to augment the film.

Dibakar Banerjee’s Star – If you have read Ray’s Patol Babu filmstar you would agree that it is not an easy story to be made into a film. And that was my apprehension when the film began. But Nawazuddin Siddiqui was spectacular. It’s always a pleasure watching him act and he did a perfect Patol Babu.

I thought that Nawazuddin could have done a better job with the Marathi dialogues. Somewhere I felt they lacked the clout. Sadashiv Amrapurkar was brilliant, just brilliant. Seriously, he was awesomely brilliant.

The cameo by the emu was a true feel good. And as I write this; just the thought of the final shot by Nawazuddin, silently enacting the day’s story to his daughter, against the melancholic tune by Tagore; modified by Banerjee is giving me goose-bumps.

For those who haven't read Patol Babu Filmstar do read the story here. (english translation)

 

Zoya Akhtar’s Sheela ki Jawaani – The film began with numerous kids saying what they want to be when they grow up. So I thought it was about kids and their dreams.

Then there was this child who had no interest in football but yet he was being forced by his father to play the game since it was a very ‘guy thing’. This led me to believe that the movie was about wrong parenting. The boy then started showing interest in his mother’s makeup and jewellery and dressing up like a woman. So I said to my self, “Oh this is a LGBT story”.

And then the boy started showing keen interest in dance and wanted to be Katrina Kaif (The movie also has a fairy Katrina Kaif giving advice to the boy about hiding his dreams till others are ready to accept them). Then he began helping his sister to make some money by dancing to Sheela ki javaani so that she could go for a school trip. And I thought, “Ah this is about sibling love.”

 Somewhere the film confused me. I couldn’t gauge what message Akhtar was trying to give us. It also ended very abruptly.

The high point of the film was the acting capabilities of both the kids, especially the boy. It sure was a difficult role to act.

 

Anurag Kashyap’s Murabba – The initial dialogue where the father conveys to his son Vijay to get a solitary murabba tasted by Amitabh Bachchan so that he can then eat it – as his last wish, was enough for me to know that I had already fallen in love with the film. That, followed by the Bachchan song made it sure for me.

The entire quest by the son to get the murabba tasted by Amitabh Bachchan; the struggle and the anxiety he goes through for it was brilliant. Vineet Kumar Singh has amazing acting skills. A cameo by Amitabh Bachchan is always welcome. Don’t we all just love his mere presense on the screen?

I loved, LOVED, L.O.V.E.D. the Bachchan song.

Somewhere being a supper sucker for anticlimax I would have liked the movie to end where the jar falls off and the murabba gets stamped upon. BANG! That’s it! But well.

The tagline Achaar ke martabaan me murabba nahi rahte failed to impress me.

***

The anthology film ends with star studded song celebrating 100 years of Indian cinema. It did not feature Salman Khan; Hence I refuse to talk about the song.