'Bombay Talkies'

Celebrating cinema; deconstructing and restructuring the Bollywood dreams....
"Har kissa hai cinema ke jaadoo ka......" goes the song accompanying the opening credits, and those words say it all...... it is all about celebrating the magic of cinema, and somewhat magical was this experience of watching this anthology, this collage, of four films, for me. I believe cinema can move us, and that is why they are aptly called movies and the moving images connect with our souls, they let us relive the passion that is ever-present in our hearts. You know, my life has been a journey through films, and Bollywood has been an essential part of it. Watching 'Bombay Talkies' paralleled my personal reflections and my full-bodied association with cinema, in general, and Hindi cinema, in particular.

Four contemporary directors. Four short films, four distinctly different narratives. Connected only by their referencing of Hindi cinema, popularly termed Bollywood, and its obvious appendages and accessories. What better treat could we have asked for as a celebration of cinema, or rather a celebration of Indian cinema's hundred years, hundred years of narrating emotion, after all we are a bunch of emotional fools, and we are not known to eschew emotions..... instead, we love our cinema steeped in emotion, every cinematic frame that has been lauded and will be lauded again is likely to be characterized by the emotions that ooze out, that drench us, and enrich us at the same time. 'Bombay Talkies' doffs its hat in that direction. However, this time, as the format chosen by the acclaimed and/or popular directors being that of short films, the content is definitely non-mainstream, at least not the core kind. Yet, neither are the shorts influenced by the very much thriving and buoyant French shorts, or other European ones. At best, one is reminded of the Iranian films, especially in one or two of the segments.

Now, the question arises - how successful is the entire outcome? Is the bouquet worth celebrating in itself? Does it fulfill its objective? Does it overwhelm? Is it a definitive collaboration of creative contributors? Does the cinematic tribute relevant for the diversity and heterogeneity as much as the monolithic compulsions of Bollywood?
Well, those posers can have one debating, and tearing hair, but the answers are many. For me, the avid movie buff (movie junkie) that I am, the experience as a viewer was refreshing; I smiled, I chuckled, I shed a tear as well, and I marveled...... and I must say that I left the theater thoroughly entertained. I felt that Bollywood isn't facing an extinction threat, our films have evolved - they have come a long way indeed - and will continue to do so, despite the challenges faced by cinema in general, in this age and time.

Karan Johar, Dibakar Banerjee, Zoya Akhtar, and Anurag Kashyap - the four directors - have proved their worth...... they may have varying degrees of success, they may have faltered at places, and made us sit up and take note of their prowess in the best of moments (and moments there are aplenty that stay with us after the curtains come down)..... the makers, their outpourings, aided by superlative contributions of the cast and crew (which include talents both old and new) are what make 'Bombay Talkies' a special film for me (and I know I am not alone).

'Gulaal': The Revolution Continues

Anurag Kashyap is a filmmaker who loves to provoke, and is too ambitious, however his ambition stems from creativity as well as his characteristic dynamism. He might not always fully realize his ambition on screen - yet he tries, relentlessly, and it is this very effort which makes us viewers sit up, and take note. We can never afford to be indifferent, we can never fail to respond to his kind of cinema!
'Gulaal' is a revolution, not so much because it has political elements dramatically placated in the narrative, but more for the manner in which Anurag Kashyap attempts to turn the age-old cinematic conventions on their head! He makes full use of the colors, the sights, the sounds, the locales, the characters, the realistic backdrop and the surreal images, and gets us involved in the violence-induced potpourri.
In his own admission, the director has said that he had been much angry and frustrated when his film 'Paanch' got banned! It was before 'Black Friday', and he wanted to say a lot at that time. The new states of Uttaranchal and Jharkhand were formed. The 27th and 28th state. He was upset as to why these new states were being formed. At that time, he was introduced to a part time model, Raja Chaudhary, who had written a story on college politics, which Anurag found to be 'a nice story but nothing more' and that eventually, after much research & meat being worked into it, 'Gulaal' was conceived. First it was supposed to be produced by Michael Arrakal, but after a small schedule, the film got shelved. He went on to make 'Black Friday' after that. Jhamu Sughand then stepped in to produce 'Gulaal' as the release of 'Black Friday' was stalled by the Court. However, the troubles weren't over; a new set of bottlenecks cropped up. 'Gulaal' was stopped midway alongwith 'Johnny Gaddar' and 'Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na', the two other films of Jhamu. The former was picked up by Adlabs and the latter by Aamir Khan. Nobody picked up 'Gulaal' because it lacked saleable names. Kashyap made 'No Smoking', 'Return Of Hanuman' and 'Dev.D'. Finally it was Zee Motion Pictures that bought the project and decided to complete and release it. 'Gulaal' now graces the screens just as Holi - the festival of colors - has just wrapped up, and as the success and acclaim are still being showered on Kashyap's 'Dev. D' that is still enjoying a good run at the city plexes.
'Gulaal' stars Raj Singh Choudhary, Jesse Randhawa, Abhimanyu Singh, Kay Kay Menon, Aditya Srivastav, Mahie Gill, Deepak Dobriyal, Ayesha Mohan, Piyush Mishra and Pankaj Jha. The music & lyrics are by Piyush Mishra; Editing: Aarti Bajaj; Art direction: Wasiq Khan; Cinematography: Rajiv Ravi. I found it to be aptly continuing the revolution that Anurag Kashyap has started as he emblazons the screens with the powerful cinematic vehicles, and cements his position in Bollywood as a maverick scriptwriter-cum-director.

'Dev. D' - A Revolution on Screen!

SaratChandra Chattopadhyay's classical romantic hero, Devdas, was a drunken escapist, a doomed lover, a Bengali protagonist who reflected his failure in coming to terms with his own emotional scruples & that of others, but he can hardly be called a rebel. However, Anurag Kashyap has given Devdas a new spin. Dev, the hero, is still the loser in love, but it is his angst that burns the screen. It is the rebellious director himself who has taken ample liberties with the story and the characters, using his imagination & creativity to infuse life in each of the characters in a modern setting, and using crisp & witty dialogues, real-life situations lifted straight from the newspapers, mind-boggling cinenatography, stylized editing, catchy musical score, psychedelic surrealism, and wonderfully amoral sexuality as powerful tools. It is a trailblazer of a movie; unsettling, provoking, unconventional, and thoroughly irreverent. Abhay Deol, as the titular protagonist, has put in a power-packed performance, and so have the apparent fresh faces - Mahi Gill (as Parminder/Paro), Kalki Koechlin (Lenny/Chanda) & Dibyendu Bhattacharya (Chunni).