It is tough to give your own perspective when the whole world has already passed its judgement. But it can also be an education. After watching Billu Barber and Delhi-6, I feel they are my case-studies. I don’t want to serenade or shrill on them, but they are so reminiscent of this movie-creativity ethos in Bollywood that they warrant some commenting.
I still remember reading Taran Adarsh’s review on Dil Chahta Hai, when the movie had just landed on the silver screen. Even if I am not literatim in sync, he had said something like this, “These young film-makers think they can uproot the basics of Bollywood by putting a creative, but abstruse, genius into their films, and expecting the average movie-goer to not only appreciate but also lap it up in its entirety. The film has risen only to meet its doom.” Aah, an apocryphal promulgation, it turned out to be! The film was certainly embraced, if not lapped, by the erudite or non-erudite. So, fast forward nine years now. There is a deluge of these films, high on so-deemed cinematic brilliance, and low in so-despised masala content.
I consider Billu Barber and Delhi-6 the apotheosis of this concept, but blinkered in its opinion and misguided in their execution. Why do I say that? Take Billu Barber first. Priyadarshan is a master in narrating and depicting the bucolic aura of mellow rural areas; just watch his Virasat or Malamal Weekly. Here too, he brings out great scenes of rural orderliness or messiness, but fails to let them rule. I think he is not to blame for this though. The blame has to go to SRK, the producer and the (supporting) actor. He must understand that putting irrelevant item songs of his, supposedly meant to attract people, instead attacks and attenuates the main story. Famous clippings from his previous films would have suited the wallpapers in Billu’s saloon, but not in the songs. For a moment, please stop being Shahrukh or even Shahir Khan. Continuing this, did SRK want to take a dig at his political rivals by including those tasteless jibes with school-manager, Dubey? I hope he was not doing so, but you can’t escape the despicable attempt to leverage the medium of movies. Moving away from this SRK influenza, another area where the film fell short was the never-exhibited friendship of Shahir and Billu. The ending could have been more stretched, and simultaneously attached to let their bonding come out naturally. It felt too abrupt when Shahir narrates his story and by quirk of fate, he meets his childhood friend. This should have been a Sudama and Krishna story with some common strands of interaction. These trivial cribs and carps apart, the movie was a joy. It always feels good to be back into the rustic aura of barber shop, gossiping men outside, primary school environs etc. The acting front too was good, with Irfan, SRK and even Larra Dutta carrying their roles with aplomb. But at the end of it, you felt, it could have been a classic, had not the whims taken over. You get this feeling, watching movies like TZP.
These feelings get extended when you watch yet-another-near classic, Delhi-6, the next day. Rakyesh OmPrakash Mehra has been different in both his earlier movies, Aks and RDB. So, it is natural for him to be different in Delhi-6 too. But so different? If the movie would have been named Kala Bander, no noise would have been made. The references-simile or metaphor- need to be depicted in movies too, but one has to decide where and when. What was more important in the movie-the protagonists’ long-lost Delhi’s Indianness or the Delhittes’ fickle goodness and badness, exhibited through Kala Bander? Perhaps both, and that is what the director wanted to show. But he never intertwined them. In one moment, it was the slapped Abhishek Bachchan, and then in the next reel, he was an endeared person. His love-story never appeared to exhibit any love. The Hindu-Muslim unity and fight were too sudden and artificial to like and loathe. In short, it was too esoteric for me sometimes. But at the rest of the places, it was so likable. It brought memories of the narrow alleys, and the ever-teeming life of Delhi. Music, as praised before, had an add-on alluring effect. Acting too, especially of the hot-headed Vijay Raaz, was top-notch. If only, the movie too could have been?
My views are more cynical, when I consider the fact that I liked the movies more than I disliked. But those wisps of wistfulness colour them black; and here lies the catch too. Hope nobody stops attempting these movies, for they are far more a promise than a failure, and if and when we, both the makers and viewers, get it right, it is truly a creativity paragon.
I still remember reading Taran Adarsh’s review on Dil Chahta Hai, when the movie had just landed on the silver screen. Even if I am not literatim in sync, he had said something like this, “These young film-makers think they can uproot the basics of Bollywood by putting a creative, but abstruse, genius into their films, and expecting the average movie-goer to not only appreciate but also lap it up in its entirety. The film has risen only to meet its doom.” Aah, an apocryphal promulgation, it turned out to be! The film was certainly embraced, if not lapped, by the erudite or non-erudite. So, fast forward nine years now. There is a deluge of these films, high on so-deemed cinematic brilliance, and low in so-despised masala content.
I consider Billu Barber and Delhi-6 the apotheosis of this concept, but blinkered in its opinion and misguided in their execution. Why do I say that? Take Billu Barber first. Priyadarshan is a master in narrating and depicting the bucolic aura of mellow rural areas; just watch his Virasat or Malamal Weekly. Here too, he brings out great scenes of rural orderliness or messiness, but fails to let them rule. I think he is not to blame for this though. The blame has to go to SRK, the producer and the (supporting) actor. He must understand that putting irrelevant item songs of his, supposedly meant to attract people, instead attacks and attenuates the main story. Famous clippings from his previous films would have suited the wallpapers in Billu’s saloon, but not in the songs. For a moment, please stop being Shahrukh or even Shahir Khan. Continuing this, did SRK want to take a dig at his political rivals by including those tasteless jibes with school-manager, Dubey? I hope he was not doing so, but you can’t escape the despicable attempt to leverage the medium of movies. Moving away from this SRK influenza, another area where the film fell short was the never-exhibited friendship of Shahir and Billu. The ending could have been more stretched, and simultaneously attached to let their bonding come out naturally. It felt too abrupt when Shahir narrates his story and by quirk of fate, he meets his childhood friend. This should have been a Sudama and Krishna story with some common strands of interaction. These trivial cribs and carps apart, the movie was a joy. It always feels good to be back into the rustic aura of barber shop, gossiping men outside, primary school environs etc. The acting front too was good, with Irfan, SRK and even Larra Dutta carrying their roles with aplomb. But at the end of it, you felt, it could have been a classic, had not the whims taken over. You get this feeling, watching movies like TZP.
These feelings get extended when you watch yet-another-near classic, Delhi-6, the next day. Rakyesh OmPrakash Mehra has been different in both his earlier movies, Aks and RDB. So, it is natural for him to be different in Delhi-6 too. But so different? If the movie would have been named Kala Bander, no noise would have been made. The references-simile or metaphor- need to be depicted in movies too, but one has to decide where and when. What was more important in the movie-the protagonists’ long-lost Delhi’s Indianness or the Delhittes’ fickle goodness and badness, exhibited through Kala Bander? Perhaps both, and that is what the director wanted to show. But he never intertwined them. In one moment, it was the slapped Abhishek Bachchan, and then in the next reel, he was an endeared person. His love-story never appeared to exhibit any love. The Hindu-Muslim unity and fight were too sudden and artificial to like and loathe. In short, it was too esoteric for me sometimes. But at the rest of the places, it was so likable. It brought memories of the narrow alleys, and the ever-teeming life of Delhi. Music, as praised before, had an add-on alluring effect. Acting too, especially of the hot-headed Vijay Raaz, was top-notch. If only, the movie too could have been?
My views are more cynical, when I consider the fact that I liked the movies more than I disliked. But those wisps of wistfulness colour them black; and here lies the catch too. Hope nobody stops attempting these movies, for they are far more a promise than a failure, and if and when we, both the makers and viewers, get it right, it is truly a creativity paragon.
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