Coffee House….That Hopefully Doesn’t Exist…
Its the end of April and I just did a random check on the number of movies released this month. Hindi films, I mean. I did this because I just saw one today and what it set me off to do is find this list. I came across seven, of which I haven’t heard of two until now.
I may get curious about these two, may be interested too but I don’t think Ill venture out for a watch. This aversion is what my experience today has brought in. The experience of viewing the movie ‘Coffee House’. I go ahead and watch a vaguely known film because of the concept and names of actors associated with the project and then what happens? Two hours of mata phod. My head went for a toss.
It begins right from the introductory credits. To introduce me the coffee house where the story / stories is/are supposedly to be naturally given form by its patrons, what do I get? Some song with beats that has this chorus line ‘Lets have Coffee’. It seems to command to the young and old alike there ‘Move your body’, ‘Shake your body’. And they willingly give in. Ohhkk…What makes it worse is that the shop is one thats a made set with props et al. It looks like a basic plain version of the ones on the K serials on TV.
Song done. Next, Paintal as the owner of the shop, is describing to a new waiter who the regulars are. As he points out across to the various characters I am going to be getting to know more about, zoom goes the camera to each one, offering a close-up and a background of each. These just jumped at me. Diverse yet not quite gelled together as the sub-plotlines. Ashutosh Rana, his wife Sakshi Talwar and their theatrical gang in some animated discussion. A group of four oldies (Vijay Nagpal, Javed Khan among others) who pass their time there, discussing their homes , the state of the nation and other mundane stuff. Then the third, a group that flummoxed me by its mix. A villager from remote part of north India, a simpleton and a young guy perpetually with a laptop, seemingly ‘in’. All three sharing rather not so innocuous jibes mainly targeted at their backgrounds. Everything seems so forced. Its a real put-off. I pretty much knew now that this is going a tedious watch with too many affectations. I did anyway.
So then we get to know Ashutosh Rana. Runs a newspaper owned by his wife (Sakshi T). Idealistic intentions intact, he sole purpose is to bring a positive change in the corrupt system though his writings and street theatre. Does it work? At what cost? The premise, as interesting as it may seem here, when I watched it onscreen, I didnt even find it funny. It was so contrived and jumpy that the ease with which the struggle of a motley street-play group smoothens out to give way to large scale protest was just too unbelievable. The obstacles just disappear with confrontations and dialogue that made me wince. The trio takes on the system in a language that it understands. So catch the corrupt by being one. The plot of getting some obscure rail contract becomes just an excuse for the three to nail the targets. The politicos. Are politicians so damn naive? Their readiness and silences makes it look silly frankly. But Mr Utopia is impressed and asks them to join his group. Then the third plot of the four oldies where one helps the other to sort out issues with his son. Easier done than said in this case. If not that then the oft repeated ‘This government will fall’ liner that becomes the point of discussion then. Oh man. It was terrible. Obviously can they be left out of the group then? Nah. And I dont even want to get started on the romantic angle / triangle (Harsh Chayya here) that will show the big guns to be
bad ad the strugglers to be ones with rectitude. Topping this are a song and an item number that are jarring to the core.
In all this where is the coffee shop set? Its there, popping up at times, a reminder to all that this is where it all began. This is where they should be there for all the points of action. They are, but I wish it were otherwise. The set is so damn artificial that it made the whole scenario look like a farce. It didnt matter what happened, I wanted it to end. Thats it. Even if these people didnt meet in the shop it wouldnt have mattered. I wish it did. The intent of the movie would be a vastly different one. One that had more meaning.
The well known actors are there, and they are good. But the narrative is written such that it makes me wonder what is it that they agreed to, to be in this film? None seem the money-spinner kind. Then why? Performancs don’t even act as a saving grace. Sad, but true. I know, its very easy for me, an outsider, to write negatively about a film, but when such ambiguities form the main plot, what then.
Personally, I come from a place that has two very very well know coffee shops where the regulars are college-goers discussing acads and other interests, youngsters meeting up for casual chats, some for work discussions and lastly group of oldies who are freqeunters for more than thirty years. All of them have a life of their own but its the relation that they develop with that coffee shop, its owners, the waiters, with other known faces that make the place ‘The Coffee Shop’. Nothing of that sort happens here.
Now, Im not sure when I’ll catch up with ‘Chowrasta Crossroads of Love‘ which stars Atul Kulkarni, Victor Banerjee and Rupa Ganguly. The other, it doesnt matter.
Coffee House [Movie site doesn't work and its not put up anywhere else so check the stills] by directed Gurbir Singh Grewal (Who is he? Well, neither did I know until this movie. Its his first Hindi movie after the Punjabi flick Mannat. He talks about CF here. I haven’t watched it.)
Main leads: Ashutosh Rana, Sakshi Tanwar, Vinod Nagpal, Javed Khan, Harsh Chayya
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
Well, grew up in and around a REAL ‘coffee house’in college st, kolkata i don’t think i can withstand 2 hrs of matha phod.
And after lackluster Bong Connection & Bow Barracks I do not expect much from AD from Crossroads..whatever, except for Darjeeling scenery. Pity, Victor Bannerjee has to still work is such shabby movies.
I have watched Chowrasta….pathetic excuse of a movie…very loud and vulgar filled with over the top acting by the entire cast….
I was planning to watch Chowrasta.Now I think will watch Luck by Chance and Dev D again.
Chowrasta is a poor remake of Kanchenjangha, a Ray masterpiece. After seeing bong Connection and bow, Barracks, it seems Mr.Anjan Datta has run out of ideas.