My $0.02 :- Gulaal Disappoints Itself…
iView Author: Nimish Atra (Pune, India)
Email: hellonimish@yahoo.com [at] gmail.com
…And I say that after giving myself and the movie a good three chances, Paying it a farewell visit as there’s a probability it might go off the screens today, And standing up for ovation at the end credits against heads turning towards us with “You-must-be-from-PFC” expressions writ large on some faces – minus the Gulaal, of course!
Make no mistakes, I found Gulaal an extremely watchable movie – for reasons already discussed in some very nicely composed posts on PFC before – And frankly I cant think of much I could add either as interpretation or in flattery that hasn’t been published on this forum since it hit the screens. Hence I’ll try to limit this post to some personal observations, opinions and objections – As personal as those who felt Gulaal elevated and enlightened Indian film-making – My personal take on why the movie works for me, but lets itself down…
A Socio-political drama – that’s one genre closest to my heart, And when narrated in legendary Shakesperian theme of love, power, greed, deceit – another favourite of mine – creates an irresistible concept. Imagine a powerful cinematic blend of 2 of the finest 21st century movies we have made – Vishal Bhardwaj’s Maqbool and Sudhir Mishra’s Hazaar Khwaishein Aisi. The movie begins with fireworks in a superbly shot and performed opening sequence, And ends on a Diwali – in between it does achieve the fever-pitch and near-nuclear moments celebrating its titular theme and Red, the colour signifying revolution, passion, love, betrayal. Things look consistently great till the inconsistency and last hour begins – I did contemplate the option of going plot to sub-plot with detailed explanation on what left me high-n-dry, but after the advisory feedback mails I received for my previous post, Maybe it’d be better to simply say the later part didn’t have the intensity to keep me glued and involved – Comparatively, after a stunning first half, which makes things look worse. Another aspect – the Power equations, which is the most important factor in Political and Underworld flicks, didn’t seem consistent to me. Also after the rousing build-up too many threads were left hanging – someone justified it as Dickensian where I’d beg to differ – it remains Shakesperian in my opinion, and that by itself is oxymoronic. Its was Socio-political, Alright. But the ‘Political’ track in Gulaal had the same flaw which the ‘Social’ track a Madhur Bhandarkar movie suffers from – the so-called ‘off-the-headlines’ depiction – Things get way too simplified towards the end, After having started off so real the movie enters the montage mode balancing all the characters and their stories, however the way out from here is unacceptably easy and dismissively dealt with. And No, I don’t say this ’cause the twists didn’t look convincing enough, Corleone family’s and Charles Kane’s tale didn’t convince me either, though there’s an old-school thought that says before convincing its audience maybe a movie should convince its own characters. And that sums up all the seemingly small but unmistakable blotches in the film. Not for comparison per se, but just as a standing reference please recall Tigmanshu Dhulia’s heartbreakingly under-rated debut movie for the way it handles the genre, as I labour to make out some simple points in my inconsequential opinion.
Unquestionably, the grandest achievement of Gulaal are the performances, the best we have seen this film-maker extract from a phenomenally talented cast. Kay Kay recently quoted “I’m Sachin Tendulkar of my profession” – Well, good actors are seldom known to be modest, but when it comes to art we could surely overlook someone’s down-to-earthiness if its followed by such downright-brilliance. Right from the incredible opening speech, the seething anger, imposing dialogues delivery, glorious shudder – Sure, this movie gave him the leeway to launch into complete, bristling furious avatar, and the actor took the opportunity with full-throated enthusiasm, Here he lives Dukey Bana and his aura, and wins the much deserved Man-of-the-Movie title. Aaditya Srivastav, often hailed by Gulaal’s director as the nation’s finest actor – Blame it on over-exposure considering the number of CID episodes I’ve seen or the under-exposure on big screen – that sounds an over-statement to me, Still there’s never been any doubt over his talent. The funeral sequence, Or scene before he shoots his half-brother deserve a mention, Although the moment that stands out is the one at post-election party – a superbly written sequence where Karan mocks Dilip’s knowledge about ‘Rajniti’ and congratulates Rajputana for the triumph, And doesn’t forget to order a “Republic” in between. Its an extremely safe thing to say in hindsight but Deepak Dobriyal was a man to watch out for right since I saw Omkara, After shining in the finest scene of Delhi-6 against Abhishek, He rocx in many sequences in Gulaal as well – Some wittingly wordless, others wickedly worded. There’s this effortless brilliance in his dialogue delivery which reminds me of some Raghuvir Yadav performances and that’s as big a compliment as I could have paid him, not that he needs one. Ayesha Mohan and Mahi Gill didn’t impress me too much, the later probably owing to the way her character was etched and the former was given a part in her debut more complex than what Deepti Naval played in her latest, One feels for her cause she looks sincere though the short-comings look pretty obvious too, for instance, in what I felt was the worst scene in the movie – the final closed-door confrontation between Kiran and Dilip – And that brings us to Raja Chaudhary – I liked the way he started, playing an ordinary, timid, weak man and he does well too. Its only towards the end when he exhibits more shades of the character that it all begins looking card-boardish and later, forced and silly. There’s something peculiar about his dialogues delivery too….hmmm….but then maybe one shouldn’t nitpick a newcomer as much, Also he does deserve some brownie points for being the guy who conceptualized Gulaal (If I’m right Dev.D was Abhay Deol’s concept and he got to play the lead too, exciting trend this!) Now this leaves me with 3 of my personal favourite performances from the movie…
Abhimanyu Singh played Ransa with such gumption and gusto, and makes him so enchanting that we actually miss the character after he’s chucked off. It was a screen-scorching performance, his finest ever by a mile. The 2nd character is Anuja played by Jassi Randhawa – My biggest grievance to the writers for the way its fleshed out – Ask me those “What-you-would-have-done” questions and my first response would be cross-out Mahi Gill’s whole character and mujras, And hand over the entire screen-time to this woman – Right from the first frame, sitting naked in a darkened room, her body-language, walks, talks, those eyes, speaking against society’s moral nihilism with her own existential nihilism, She lights up every scene she’s in. I’m unsure if she’s indeed such a fine actress, but there’s no denying that here she was a casting masterstroke! At last, and by no means the least, is Piyush Mishra – Is he a better Lyricist or Actor? I do have my reservations about the ‘music’ of Gulaal but the poetry which took many of us back to CBSE Standard 9th hindi textbooks is sheer magic. Its no news that Gulaal was shaped around Pyaasa’s “Ye Duniya Agar Mil Bhi Jaaye” – though Piyush Mishra has gone on records saying he finds Sahir Ludhianvi’s poetry “Not impressive” – but his sure is, which is a heady and poetical mix of rustic rendition with Dinkar, Iqbal, Bismil, Sahir, Majaaz, Dhumil, Zauk, the mhenwa folklore, the colours, the power, the revolution, the earthiness, Globalization, Communist socialism, the faux’duer and much more….Though I have met quite a few who questioned the originality quotient of the poetry but in my capacity and whatever knowledge I have of Hindi literature its bloody top-class stuff. That said, and with bucketful of shame for never having seen him perform on-stage, I think he’s a better actor – only marginally though. His best scenes, expectedly, construct movie’s most unforgettable frames – First, his Prithvi Bana desperately looking for something, finding it difficult to explain, getting on nerves of his brother, before he picks up a torn Rajputana map from the bin – a subtle and profound statement which shows the mirror, And though the writers deserve full-marks here, So does Mr. Mishra – his dialect, his mannerism, that tinged aloofness – awfully fascinating stuff. Second, As the flashback ends, Kay Kay and Raja argue over the essence of the revolution, enters Mr. Mishra again with a scathing remark on the Raj Thackerays of the world, the same inimitable mannerism, parlance – a word for Rajeev Ravi’s masterclass the way this scene is shot – another satire, sniping statement, we’re taken through pulsating tempers and metamorphical ethos, the simmering frustration and resultant psychosis, the 3rd chapter of Rashmirathi, and the gunshot – Clap-worthy cinema on every count those 5-minutes! I recently read in a Piyush Mishra interview that he was offered the chance to play Prem in Sooraj Bharjatiya’s ‘Maine Pyar Kiya’ 2 decades back which he turned down and it eventually went Salman’s way. So there, He gave us something to complain about!
To digress a bit, Wittgenstein famously commented on Monet’s legendary work ‘Impression, Sunrise’ that the analysts made it what it is today more than the artist himself. About Gulaal, its well-known that this guy makes movies in a distinctly radical style, Uses multi-layered narrative, Metaphor driven etc all – So as an audience we’re kept on edge and required to read between the lines at times, though I have a feeling (which is an open topic, if you please) that we have gone beyond reading between lines, Now we’ve started reading between words, and of late been reading between the letters too. I’m extremely fond of twisted realism, dotted narrative whirling around abstractionism as well – Joyce and Dostovesky wouldn’t have been what they are but for their prowess to exploit it – but there’s slight different between literature and cinema, the later limits the executions of figurative ideas where story largely rules, And a badly told story with bright and brilliant metaphors still makes a bad movie to me as an audience. Coming back to over-analysis, PFC regulars would remember how much time and energy we spent racking our brains over the ‘possible interpretations’ of Ranvir Shorey’s character in ‘No Smoking’ and Dancing-trio in ‘Dev.D’, Untill the man himself (in those rare occasions when he cared to acknowledge his audience with an answer) explained that those characters actually meant nothing thesis-worthy. It might seem like I’m simply practicing the art of denouncing, but honestly, I’m just wondering – how far is too far?….the names of characters, the hues and shades, the words unsaid, passing-by extras, the colours of Dukey Bana’s wife’s sarees, Ransa’s bike registration number, And I’ve just analyzed another bit – Perhaps Ayesha Mohan was named “Kiran” cause she provided that “Ray of hope” to her brother’s aspirations? Actually I’ve an equally ridiculous reasoning for why Mahi Gill owned a Philips soundsystem too, which I better keep to myself.
Counter argument could be people criticize it only when they fail to decipher, and who’s someone to decide the limits for everyone? Well, it’s extremely subjective, though I’ve always felt in movies there’s a tangible elasticity to place these elements that allows to add a layer of signifying pictures to the proceedings, and to generate new meanings from old at real time – its not like Art schools where we’re supposed to write assignments on frozen frames, It keeps rolling here….But then perhaps its primarily individualistic approach of every mind and should be respected that way. And then we have the symbolism – When aptly used symbols and metaphors have the powers to revolutionize a movie, however the point is how critical is it for them to merge with narrative instead of standing out like a sore limb? Some of the most brilliant motifs that stayed with me were Kubrick’s bone-to-spacecraft magic in ‘2001 – A Space Odyssey’, Lynch’s use of Blue in ‘Mulholland Drive’, the Birdie analogy in Darabont’s ‘Shawshank Redemption’, Antonioni’s river Boats, Closer home, In the director’s very own 93 Bombay Blast movie the million-words a jumping Dog speaks, Or in his 2nd release an attempted love-making scene where we’re shown the woman’s left hand. Priceless. All. But is showcasing symbolism in its own such a big deal worth all the hue and bouquet? Aver vindication, Try to watch NDTV-India at 2130 hours on weekdays for “Special Report” presented by Ravish Kumar for the poetry, the metaphors, the symbols and the sense it draws. Coming back to Gulaal, Some of those work wonderfully well, for instance, how Mr. Mishra wears around his neck the Rajputanized version of the man who claimed his group had beaten Jesus Christ in popularity, excellent comment on the character it was – But some don’t, for example, the recurring “Hello.There-Hell.Here” (with/out Democracy Beer) Neon-pyrotechs, I’d love to know if it did have a deep sense or synecdoche attached to it in the context of those parts. Actually my confessions-of-a-confused-mind are not Gulaal-specific, Moreover on my part its just an Observation I wanted to share more than an Opinion – Does anybody else feel the loss of objectivity here? On how at times some movies are watched and analyzed through the proverbial ‘Sacred cow’ perspective by default, whereas the same acts would’ve been ridiculed to shreds in other movies? Maybe our passion for cinema gets more passionate about certain cinema? Or the liability lies square on being over-analytical? Or perhaps its high-time I learn to practice what I preach!
Why Gulaal worked for me? The performances as I mentioned, the poetry so brilliant that we shouldn’t be surprised if it doesn’t get Filmfare nominations next year, the Dialogues responsible for some of the movie’s most explosive moments and the moments itself which momentarily gave me hope that Black Friday could be bettered. It fails itself due to the prospects the build-up creates, As for me I’ve taught myself not to have insane expectations from any film-maker, unless, of course, if his first name starts with ‘V’ and last name starts with ‘B’ (and its not Vashu Bhagnani). Interestingly, and equally conveniently, Gulaal was promoted as the writer’s “Angriest script” – ‘Titus Andronicus’ was Shakespeare’s angriest script, for the sake of perspective! – All said and more meant the 520 bucks I’ve spent on Gulaal were almost worth. Almost. And its not Vikram Bhatt either.
Some of the people I respect the most when it comes to Cinema felt Gulaal was the director’s finest work yet – We discussed it for hours, Argued over all their pros, Weighed against all my cons, Tried to play with every possible interpretation with all honesty and gave it another viewing with them on a largely empty screen yesterday, There was this huge temptation to toe their POV instead of sounding like a cinematically-illiterate teenager to the movie’s huge fanbase – But then what the heck! Even Zee Limelight would agree that I’ve provided enough revenue to them for the least I deserve is freedom to have an opinion of my own, And this not being a matter of National security – I chose to disagree.
By the way, Saw Gulzar and Javed Akhtar at FTII last Sunday. Saw Anurag Kashyap too – Would have liked to know his opinions about the transition from ‘Bollywood’s favourite Mistress’ to ‘Industry’s newest Housewife’, About the hope in Kafkaesque existentialist philosophy and the pleasure in being driven by “Other woman” psyche, About the DVD’s of Mean Streets and Blood Simple, About the country’s most talented film-makers except Imtiaz Ali, Zoya Akhtar and Dibankar Banarjee, About the finest directorial debut-of-the-decade he hasn’t played himself in, About nation’s most promising actor barring one we haven’t heard of since his celebrated ‘Celebrity Angst’, About his Veer-ras definition and favourite Paharganj hang-outs, About ‘chhote parde ki badi kahani’ RajuBen, About the chances if I’ll ever get to watch another 5/5 after Black Friday, But then for obvious reasons I convinced myself to look out for the answers on screens instead – When’s Paanch releasing?
My Verdict :- 3.5 / 5
~Nimish
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 written. I agree with almost all the points you’ve made, except for the fact that I will always have monumental expectations from Anurag. Comparisons are unfair, but unfortunately they are inevitable as well. And I have not really come out of the cyclone that was called Black Friday. Conclusively, I loved Gulaal more that Dev.D.
try to be precise next time!!
even i feel that Black Friday is his best film…Gulaal didn’t convince me as a whole…Dev D was good but Black Friday better…No Smoking i did not get it as a whole again…may be i’m naive…nevertheless all r pathbreaking…
@Nimish
dude u write really well…even i hav felt dat i’m treating AK’s film as a puzzle…don’t know whether it is good or bad…
very well written …Gulaal was a missed opportunity. I felt the weakest link of the movie was Dilip. he had a single expression on his face throught the whole movie, it was bland(no offense to the actor, he did a wonderful job and I believe nobody could have done it any better). Talking about symbolism , you either get it or you dont, the interpretation of which is left to the audience ,it seldom concurs with the director’s views which is perfectly fine as that is what any work of art is meant to do.
PART 2 nahi hai iska..infact trilogy kar dena blog ki…Y is everything getting so pedantic in here?..KK kidar hai yaar tu …Bring back Shivaaaaaaaaargggggggggggggghhhhhhh to PFC
Regarding acting, KK was brilliant. H emoved some facial tissues/muscles. Most of the other “actors” did not do it – and I find this trend to be disturbing in Hindi Cinema.
kcp, do you think the same about Abhimanyu Singh and Deepak Dobriyal’s acting?
Having interacted with some of the royalty, I feel His Highness Maharaja of Rajpur is an awesome cast!
I was glued to the seat thoroughout the first half hoping that the interval would keep getting delayed but in the 2nd half, it seemed to lose its path – a similar problem faced in Dev D where the director seemed to losing his way at the end.Crisp editing would also have made the movie better.
Still trying to understand the significance of Prithvi Bana and the ArdhaNaari in the movie..
Brilliant nimish, ur writing style is absolutly brilliant yaar …i wish i had seen the movie to understand the article better tho
hahah….loved the last para!!!!!
man how can u say that about ak on pfc??????
Ravi – I think you missed my “facial tissue/muscle” part !!
@ Glaeronius :- Dev.D has slight edge in my personal ratings, but then again its extremely subjective – And so is having expectations from a certain film-maker….Thanx for the comment!
@ Ahmad Raza :- I begin every article with the same intent, but…!
Some editing tips please…
@ Rasik :- Thank you!….And maybe that’s your prerogative, even if you over-analyze, I feel its more Good than Bad for cinema – My only point was one shouldn’t lose Objectivity while doing it, which in itself is not an objective point!
@ Renish :- Very good point! It should be left to every individual’s sensibility…
@ Sammy :- ha ha….You wouldn’t be surprised, but the one posted here is actually an ‘edited’ version!
@ Kcp :- Absolutely! He’s arguably one of the finest ‘actors’ we have right now…
@ Ravi :- Deepak is undoubtedly brilliant, but perhaps he’d need to do more to join THAT league, Also most of us didn’t know who’s Abhimanyu Singh before Gulaal happened – So same for him…
@ E Pradeep :- My interpretation of Prithvi Bana is strictly on lines of classical Shakespearean Jester characters – I’ve seen RSS’s ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’ and Puck’s resemblance to Mr. Mishra’s demeanor in Gulaal gave a strong hint, Also his place in the script, the lines, satire and the impact pretty much serve the same purpose with subversive potential. And about ‘Ardhnaari’ – there have been interpretations ranging Prithvi’s ‘inner-conscious’ to ‘alter-ego’ – Though my personal feeling is it was a plain plot character meant to ‘complement’ Mr. Mishra’s Prithvi as companion, in his profound eccentricity (like Feste’s for parrot or Olivia’s father in Twelfth Night), as an artist, as a ‘wise-fool’ joining the innocence-ignorance-freedom-wisdom dots – it just completes his persona, like the Lenon locket – And both are taken away at the same time. Though I also felt, the intention was precisely to paint it metaphor-heavy and leave it mostly unexplained for interpretations to keep the ambiguity alive!
I’d written my detailed interpretations of both characters in this post, but had to edit-out later cause of the length, So in case you’re interested, Or wanna share your own version – drop me a mail…
@ Amar :- Thank you sir!….Its available on MovieOnDemand…
@ Vishal :- It didn’t mean malice of any kind….Anyway, Thank you!
Well written dude …
Nice writeup man but as a moviegoer it dissappointed me. I had totally flipped on anurag’s work after seeing black friday but unfortunately he has only disappointed me since. haven’t watched dev d but after the super self indulgent no smoking, gulal was a bit of a let down. it’s a hackneyed over done narrative with no new elements to it. i feel anurag has started taking himself too seriously and some sort of insecurity propels him to prove his intellect in every frame. intellect can also be expressed simplistically. having a charlatan or the ‘conscience man’ is way too in your face.
Of course there are great performance and some technical brilliance but i feel the soul of the film is missing a bit too glaringly. a narrative so emotionally charged cannot be treated only with half baked intellect. i hope i’ll find my faith in anurag back soon.
16 – Mail me the interpretation
My God !…..a long long long good writeup!…one thing is there….we like it or not…we are talking about the movie called “GULAL”…..cant ignore….that’s Anurag’s charisma.
I really like one dialogue ” iss desh ne har shaqs ko jo kaam tha saupa….usne uski Maachis jalake chod diya”.
:-)
Well written bro…its my fav anura kashyap movie after black friday…symbolism is a part of all his films and i agree public compliant only when they dont understand it..so if someone overanalyse or underanalyse totally depend on their own IQ…wat say?
The review is fine, but why do you need to bring in those complex analytical symbolism questions here? That is a good topic so address it in a well detailed but separate blog. Overall, it’s gripping in parts and not so much at times, just like the
movie.
your review is coming when the movie has left the theaters…lol
slightly long but fab analysis as always, keep writing…
@ Avi :- Thank you!
@ Rishabh :- Strong words and opinion! I hope you find your faith soon too…
@ Bimby :- And just before that the “Samajh ke suno” quip….his charisma is in his craft never questioned about….Thanx for your comment!
@ Sahil :- Not entirely, Allow me to compose another post elucidating the point!
@ Ankita :- I thought it’s relevant, but fair criticism. Accepted.
@ Rakesh :- Yess….Someone ought to have the last word!….Thank you…
Awesome post man…great analysis. i don understand much of the technicalities about cinema, but symbols interest me….can you please send me your interpretations about symbols in gulaal, I would like to learn about ardhnari’s character…
I myself have noticed a few symbols, not sure m rite in interpreting them or not, anyways here are they(I asked anurag the same, and waiting for the answer):
1) Wasn’t there a “CROSS” in hands of the Raja’s potrait in the background of the song “Rana ji”?did it symbolized christian fundamentalism?
2) Wasn’t there a symbolic connection of david’s five pointed star(symbol for zionist movements) shown in the end in the form of the neon light on the roads when Dilip Singh was going with a gun,wearing that army helmet on his motorbike?
3) When Dukki’s wife ask him to open a box of sindoor which was already opened, wasn’t she imagining herself to be a virgin and asking for sexual pleasure from her husband.
4) I am confused about ardha nari.
Please send me your views and interpretations, my email id is “gimmehell@gmail.com”
I agree that Gulaal was a missed opportunity..It really failed to communicate anything at all to me, in a complete manner. I also failed to see from whose POV am I to see the proceedings? One moment I saw Dilip’s, the other it was Kay Kay’s, the next it was Ayesha, the next it was Deepak… It just left me all confused..
…
And when the hell, suddenly, abruptly, quite mindlessly, did the film turn into a love story?? When did the love happen?? I am sorry, if it was shown, I totally missed it.
@nimish: do let us know the philips symbol ka logic, however weird u thinik it is.
good write-up
Vashu bhagnani !!
LOL
u meant Vishal bhardwaj i think?
Great take on the movie man,bravo!!
@ Sachin :- My interpretation….
1) The Cross in Raja’s left hand, in my opinion, was a remark on our outlook towards west more than religious fundamentalism – In one scene Abhimanyu Singh makes a sarcastic comment about it too….If I’m correct a similar Cross was bestowed upon when a King used to get Knighthood or as ‘Mark-of-honour’ from the British, And him flaunting it in his portrait perhaps stood for the same.
2) Star of David – It was brought to my notice by a friend….And yes, in all probability it stood for Zionist movement, thus the symbolic revolution…
3) The box scene – I felt it was more Psychological than Symbolical….I can’t recall the exact term for that form of human behaviour, But in relationships there comes a phase when people actually look out for ‘reasons’ and ‘excuses’ to get close to their partner….Maybe it was symptomatic of the kind of relationship she shared with her reckless husband.
4) Ardhnaari, I’ve got 3 interpretations – 2 versions by 2 of the most cinematically brilliant minds I know, And lastly my own interpretation as I mentioned in the post….Though, I’d like to repeat, the character’s arcanely depiction looked forced – the kind of literature Samuel Beckett is blamed for, just to make things unfathomable!
Lastly, these are my personal interpretations, Please feel free to disagree and write-in your own version…
@ Arati Raval :- Agree with both your points….Especially the first one disturbed me as well…
@ Crazyrals :- Glad that someone picked it!
It’s a public forum and I wouldnt want to get into Moderator’s bad books….Thus I request you to shoot me a mail, I’d love to share my ridiculously weird (and equally disgusting) symbolic reasoning….And you’ve been warned!
@ K. Prasad :- Yess….Like there’s just one ‘AB’, there could never be another ‘VB’ for me…
Interesting post and spot-on review! Ayesha’s character plays acoustic guitar and in the scene around the table with her brother and cronies, she plays the intro to Pink Floyd’s “Goodbye Blue Sky” just before Raja’s character bursts in, gun in hand..
Its does not get more symbolic than that!:)
AK is has somehow stuck with this feeling that if u can overwhelm the viewer intellectually,then u would be considered better director.
And also this stupic RVG school of thought that u can replace few brilliant clips for a tout script in a movie.
Where are brlliant scrpts like Satya or a shool??
For Black friday and Dev V,AK had to remain loyal to the original concept.But with flicks like No smoking,Gulal where he got some free hand he went overboard playing to the AK fan gallery.
@ Neil :- For die-hard Pink Floyd fans like you and me – Yes….But I’ve met scores of ardent cinema lovers complaining about such use of external references as symbols in movies….Anyway, Thanx for your comment!
@ Santosh :- Your opinion makes some valid points….If you could expand it into a post on PFC….Or feel free to drop me a mail for discussion over the same…
Wow, that post really got into the skin. Intricate critique.
I felt differently about some things you weren’t impressed about, that made this film for me. First thing: I don’t know what a good performance is. Once I know it any performance like that is boring. If KK didn’t vary his intensity he’d get boring for me (one reason why Samuel L jackson tends to annoy me a lot.) The moment one feels an actor is an actor, its boring. There’s a happy uneasiness I felt about Ayesha Mohan, Raja Choudhary, and Jesse Randhawa. Ayesha Mohan didn’t feel like an actor. She felt like a 19/20 year old, and spoke like she went to one of the convent schools of the town. She made me feel like she was an optimist who wants to do the right thing. There’s nothing in her that hints her darker intent. And she’s cold when she reveals the truth. Made me uneasy. For me, Ayesha Mohan, was a casting wonder of the film.
And Raja Choudhary is as clumsy as a real guy could be. He’s a loser and he felt like one. He made me feel uneasy about him. And made a good experience for me.
And yes Jesse Randhawa’s character caused a lot of intrigue, just like Chunni in Dev.D caused me a lot of intrigue, and the ardhnarishwar. But you need these unsolved mysteries to puzzle you. These work sometimes and sometimes they don’t. But resolving them through more exploration of them leaves the experience insipid.
(Sorry for taking up all this mind space in the comments section. My first post. Took the liberty to indulge.)
nemo,
would you ever keep short and crisp ? Never heard of editing darling ? But then you know i always feel that it takes away punch from your writing.
Another thing which you have rightly pointed out that this forum is about cinema just in case people using pfc acronym too much have forgotten let me remind them its passion for cinema. so no matter however much some of you guys heroworship AK lets give other people a fair chance. Infact i stopped reading pfc for a while because it seemed to be only about AK and frankly that bored me. (Got back again as nimish writes regularly here and is a good friend so came back to read his posts.) All you guys who deride people like karan johar let me just remind you he caters to a niche audience and they love it. With Kjo people tend to get personal which is obnoxious.
@ Sriram Venkitachalam :- Very good argument, I honestly wish you had indulged more!….And about the actors, especially the first 2 – I’m all for rawness of a character, and when a character itself makes me feel uncomfortable at the revelation it truly makes a movie and the moment unforgettable….Case in point, from North by Northwest to Chinatown to Shawshank Redemption and many more….
Though I felt that here the ‘Performances’ were raw and uncomfortable more than the ‘Characters’….Anyway, its my personal opinion and your views are well respected in disagreement….
@ Pooja :- Fair criticism, and I’m not gonna defend it. Just a fact to add though – It was a 9-page article which was edited to 6-pages before publishing it on PFC, So yes I’ve heard the word!
About AK and KJo – I’m optimistic cause both have been honest. In his latest post AK asked people to write about other movies as well, instead of making PFC look like an AK fan club. On the other hand, In one of his blogs KJo confessed that he feels he’s made only trash in the name of cinema so far and seeks redemption with his next. Just words, but enough to fuel the hope of my faith…
Brilliant writing,Bang on target! the title suggest that your not quite satisfied with the film… however the points which you mentioned were not strong enough to say that the film disappoints itself. perhaps you have very high expectations from AK… my expectation was – it should be better then Dev D, and it was better then DEV D, n i’m satisfied. Gulaal according to me is AK’s best work after Black friday(i haven’t seen paanch)reason being breathtaking performance by Kay Kay menon, superb opening scene, penetrating poetry and music by Pyush mishra and a tight and bold direction of Anurag kayshap. the only thing which went wrong was the casting of jessi Randhawa, sure the girl has lot of talent and as you said has very expressive eyes still i think shy was hopelessly miscast. Raja Choudhary who plays a very substantial role and has the maximum screen time, ironically his Character fails to leave any impact on viewers mind. n before i finish my crap, one thing i can’t resist asking why didn’t you ask those questions to our very own AK.
Maybe our passion for cinema gets more passionate about certain cinema?
My exact feeling about most of the analyst around here.
But i must admit i enjoy reading each and every feedback.