Charming Little Zizou
LITTLE ZIZOU
Cast: Jahan Batiwala, Iyanah Batiwala, Imaad Shah, Sohrab Ardeshir, Boman Irani, Zenobia Shroff, Shenaz Patel.
Director: Sooni Taraporewala.
UPs – Very well-directed film.
Downs – Very simplistic.
Number of weeks: 1.
BO VERDICT: FLOP.
SOURCE – rediff.com
A very simplistic approach to make a film is a downer or is it that they are trying to say that since it’s a very simple film the audience just didn’t care much?
A few months ago – Was watching an episode of ‘Get Shorty Get Big’ on some TV channel. That particular episode had Anurag Kashyap (can’t escape him on PFC….my apologies for that) judge and interact some short films made by the participants.
One particular shot film gained my attention. It was a bit too abstract and Anurag pointed out that it was a brilliant concept but should have been made in a very simple manner. Just as the short filmmaker had explained the film after it was shown and no one understood it. The short-filmmaker took offence and said “what’s the fun in making it simple” with a direct gaze into Anurag Kashyap’s eyes the maker of No-Smoking then.
Simple is an abuse and maybe the resort of people who are less creative than the more complicated mortals around. Hmmmmmm….
Little Zizou is unabashedly simple yet so eccentric and bizarrely entertaining like the community it’s based on.
My walks to school was thru 5 gardens where maybe 20% of the 250,000 Parsies stay. My census might just be proved wrong in between writing and publishing this post.
A lone 90+ year old standing alone in her/his huge sprawling balcony stating into zero zone.
Chaka chak white Fiats parked.
Latest bikes or rather foreign bikes parked in the compound.
An old man limping out of an Agyari.
A well endowed beautiful woman in a floral skirt and a white top walking her son/daughter to kindergarten.
A random “madar$$#@@…..bhen#@@$…sala….” heard as I look back ….. a sweeper and a middle aged man dressed in chick formals engrossed in a verbal brawl.
A friendly pat on my back from my classmate’s grandma… being called “dikra” (son/kid/boy) just sounded so sweet….
That walk to my school….that particular stretch would be a completely different world…just at arms length….a different universe.
Sooni Taraporewala and team transported me to my growing up days. Mysterious, eccentric, laid back, beautiful, charming and very very very SIMPLE.
We get a peek into all this thru the eyes of Xerxes. Lost his mother when he was born, he is actually not sure if she has seen him at all…..his elder brother assures him she has.
He bunks school cause he loves spending time with Roxanne Aunty….she is the exact prototype of my childhood crush….my walks thru 5 gardens….. He sees a family he never had in the Presswalas….he Plays football and can juggle the ball exceptionally well….a Big fan of Zidane…..and yes….HATES HIS FATHER, a self proclaimed God man who is building an army to fight against the invading Russians.
Boman Presswala leads an agitation against this fraud who is out to create utter chaos in this already dwindling community. Presswala runs a 100+ year old publication…Rustom-E-Hind.
The liberal crusader against the fraud fanatic. Never heard of a Parsi fanatic though…this was an eye opener.
Xerxes brother is a laid back drifter. He and his friends are on a mission to build a flight simulator out of a scrap Boeing cockpit and also runs a Bawa Blog.
The film is as laid back in narrative like the community I have seen for a distance but you will find it spiced with unusual quirks as you travel into Xerxe’s world.
The boy is a find. Filmmakers in recent times have bit bulls eye with their kid casting. Add Jahan Bativala to the list. Imad Shah, have always loved…Dil Dosti and here….he is the epitome of cool for me. He and Prateek Babbar are the coolest boys around.
Boman, people say he is awesome. He is a super actor but does hop that extra yard which is not needed. Sound like a pseudo here but I pray he just stops himself a bit. He is a treat otherwise.
Zenobia Shroff – Little Zizou did not take me back to my childhood in particular….she Definitely did. FAN-BLOODY-TASTIC with a hint of serious childhood crush bias.
Iyanah Bativala – Again, wonderful kid casting.
Sohrab Ardeshir – as the fake God Man he is the only one who alters the tone to buffoonery in this otherwise apt portrayal of the clan.
Give Little Zizou a look……it will charm you.
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
THANKGOD someone else, just one person on this planet besides myself, thinks that Imaad Shah is a damn cool guy!
I thought he was fantastic in ‘Yun Hota Toh Kya Hota’, but have been THE ONLY person to think so.
Chalo, shukar hai that i can rest assured that Imaad has 2 fans in his fan club.
What drove me mad was that even in the making of ‘Y.H.T.K.Hota’ dvd, Naseerudin didn’t even mention his son!
He mentioned Konkona, Paresh etc…
Anyway, back to ur post!
Ji haan, hum yeh picture zaroor dekhenge :-)
Rick please lend me some money….i wanna watch it….lets go 2gether and you also buy the popcorn(large) and coke
imaad is talented..watch dil dosti etc…he is better in dat..then YHTKH….
But Little Zizou is not a flop.According to box office india and it is a realiable trade website it has done well on a very limited release.
Ok so is someone else here who thinks that YHTK hota was a cool movie as well? ;)
just adding to wat u said vasan…people (escpecially in movies business) are scared of simplicity…and it is extemely difficult to achieve and capture simplicity on screen…for eg. Zhang yimou’s films…in fact more than all genres it extremely tough to handle a simple film with water thin story line…you know there is a water thin edge…
Liked what you wrote….u too said it so simply..:)..will watch this def’ly…tho i wonder how u’ll consider Imaad cool? He’s blank n usually just walks thru his roles dead pan..YHTKH and DD etc…
@ Vasan, excellent post. I wasn’t sure in the very beginning if you were on the side of liking this charmer of a film – the FLOP heading in bold letters threw me off… but am glad to read that you enjoyed LZ, I did immensely. It connected to my roots and I am not a Parsi. Imagine that! Your insight and your character descriptions, along with comments on the cast are right on!
@ Mars, not sure why you keep questioning my choice of film and the words I used when describing who my favorite actors are in said film. You don’t do the same of the guys… Not in the same condescending way as writing that I “Have attached myself too much to this film”. Really?! Each of us is free to pick a particular film as favorites and a particular actor, for his/her depiction of the character. It’s not about the # of scenes they are in, as in the old acting credo “there are no small parts, just small actors”… End of discussion, I hope.
@ Steve, no you are not the only one. If you read my post you would know…
Although I’ve seen only one movie i.e. Dil Dosti ETC by Imaad shah but I am a fan of him.
yeh people simple film about some not so simple people…..
Imad….agree he sleep walks…i kinda found it cool….maybe one or 2 films more and i might just reconsider….till then….he is COOL
Sorry Nina, there are so many posts that I miss as I check this site with my mobile phone, but i’ll try and find ur post.
Is it about Little Zizou or Imaad bhai himself?
Tejas!
YES, I LOVED ‘Y.H.T.K.Hota’!
Infact, I even told Konkona that I did.
She disagreed :-(
Like 90% of the world :-(
I still feel the film got a raw deal because of it being Naseerudin’s debut film.
“Give Little Zizou a look'–'–it will charm you.”
i did…and it charmed me too…
Yeah Steve, I too think YHTKH was a pretty nice film.
Yes Fatema, it is a really good film, and it grieves me that not many ppl watched it, and those who did, slated it.
Chalo, I wish Naseerudin all the best with his next venture.
Whenever that may be.
Even my library has rejected the film and have put it for sale in the reduced items box.
Ofcourse, I did the deed.
I now have 2 copies of the film :-)
Rediff doesn’t know the difference between simple and simplistic. Simplistic is easy, simple is very tough. Little Zizou is an effortless charmer of a film. Nice approach to the review.