Movie: Bombay Talkies
Directors: Karan Johar, Zoya Akhtar, Anurag Kashyap, Dibakar Banerjee
Cast: Rani Mukherjee, Randeep Hooda, Saqib Saleem, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Naman Jain, Ranvir Shorey, Amitabh Bachchan (cameo), Katrina Kaif (cameo)
Rating: ***1/2
“Ajeeb daastan hai yeh, kahan shuru kahan khatam”
What better way to describe Bollywood. A machine built on dreams and emotions that has been churning out yarns of stories for 100 years now. A strange narrative, always expanding, always growing, encompassing multiple facets of Indian society, sometimes modern, sometimes ancient and yet essentially Indian. How do you capture over a 100 years of such movie magic into a single bottle? The answer lies in this movie.
Its about “the fans”
Its about our love affair with movies, how they shape our dreams, hopes and imaginations. How they play a significant part in shaping who we are and what we aspire to be. This movie attempts to capture the essence of the relationship between movies and its “fans”. There are four short stories in this movie, each offers a different slice of life.
The first short directed by Karan Johar dishes out a very unconventional love triangle. The first scene itself makes it loud and clear that this is not your standard KJo song and dance affair. A young boy storms into his house and shouts at his father that he is gay and not a eunuch, and that there is nothing wrong in being either. Karan Johar takes a rare departure from his entrenched ways of sticking to big stars and big canvases. This time the focus is on real characters dealing with real life. Never knew KJo had it in him to deliver the “real” stuff and not fluff. The only hope is that going forward the trend continues.
The second short is by Dibaker Banerjee, based on a Satyajit ray short story “Potol Babu Filmstar”. Nawazuddin Siddiqui plays a struggling actor/businessman trying to keep things together for his family. An ardent film buff, he keeps his bedridden daughter entertained by his endless bollywood tales. And one fine day, he gets the glorious opportunity of being in one. The short also resurrects the forgotten legend Sadashiv Amrapurkar in a cameo, that must be seen to be cherished. A splendid affair bound by simple performances, the story touches you in many levels.
The third short by Zoya Akhtar deals with fantasies of a young boy trying to fit in to his father’s wish of being a footballer, while secretly he aspires to become a dancer like Katrina Kaif. This is a story that everyone will relate to at some level. From young to old, we all are struggling to fit in, denying our uniqueness of any chance to express itself. This feeling is so beautifully captured, that it will leave you smiling ear to ear, while you hide away your welled up eyes. This one is easily my favorite of the lot.
The last story is by Anurag Kashyap who doesn’t stray too far from his forte, yet carves out a story worth cherishing. The story captures the demi-god status the stars enjoy, through the hilarious struggles of a young man from UP trying to fulfill his dying wish. What is his wish, is the interesting part. Interesting why, because we know it could be so real. I had a feeling that this was one of the stories that maybe actually happened with Big B. But thats just me speculating, I guess that is the beauty of it, that it felt so close to reality.
So there you have it. Sure signs of hope, that finally Bollywood is slowly maturing, or rather going back to the golden age of intelligent cinema. The movie is not without its flaws, but its the message that shines through loud and clear. A message of hope and optimism, that we are slowly but surely moving towards a new dawn. But do sit through the end, to enjoy the bright and shiny stars of today and tomorrow, gracing the screen together to celebrate 100 years of cinema. The song is forgettable, but if you are a bollywood fan, you will scream your heart out, once they are there.
I know, I did.