OLLO is an incredible study of human character
********Spoilers ahead******
Our sense of humor deteriorates as we grow older. The simple things that could cause me and my friends to titter when in the assembly line at school would now probably draw only an irritated frown. We were perfect when we were kids or at least could hope to be one day. As adults, flaws in others probably remind us of our own and we can no longer see the joke in it. We cannot laugh it off any more. We bitch, critique, gossip and rail. But through the protagonist called Lucky Singh, director Dibakar Banerjee gives us a chance to be that perfect naughty kid again laughing away the whole length of the movie at the expense of very harmless and human faults of others. Check out one of the random shots in the beginning of OLLO when a Policeman speaks into the mike ‘I would like to invite…’ only to be greeted with a screeching feedback. I started smiling then and didn’t stop till the end of the movie.
Yes, Lucky Singh is a thief. But apart from the fact that his chosen profession would not make any parent proud, he could be that perfect innocent kid that we once were and the director pits him against other ‘decent’ people in the movie, in the process asking us an uncomfortable question or two, though we may not realize it till we have digested the movie by the next day.
Nobody is spared. Not even Lucky Singh’s sweetheart, Neetu Chandra in a career defining role who in the beginning of the movie could be the symbol of purity- ‘I don’t touch her when she is drunk’- but then later in the movie tells him- “You know I can’t take your money. Keep it on the fridge.” Even she cannot make Lucky a ‘better’ man. Instead she will compromise in the conveniences and the love of his company.
As Lucky Singh traverses through life for a redeeming guiding force which he never obtains from his father, he will come across a couple of father figures- both brilliantly played by Paresh Rawal and a stroke of casting genius- who he will look up to and later look down upon as they will use, humiliate and throw him away. ‘Take a slap from me before you go’ he says to the third Paresh Rawal, the ‘honorable’ Dr Handa but cannot bring himself to do it as Handa cowers in front of him.
Lucky doesn’t shy away from delivering the slap to his friend and confidante, the magnificent ‘Bangali’ played by Manu Rishi when he realizes that another person that he thought he could depend on had betrayed him.
Dibakar continues to show the two faced nature of almost every character in the story. Even the seemingly monstrous looking father of Lucky Singh who doesn’t appear to have a decent bone in his body- when he says “I’ll get you when you come to me for your school fees” has to be the most dreadful dialogue ever uttered by a father to his son in Indian Cinema- appears completely broken when he is called by the Police to bail out his erring son. ‘I am not responsible for him’ he pleads. ‘We ate the same bread and water. I don’t know why he turned out like this’ and you can almost feel sorry for the guy.
Incredibly, this tragic plot is actually a funny movie. We laugh at the idiosyncratic characters like the railing father, – ‘Which red? Maruti Red or the Red from the slap on your face?’- at the genuinely smart one liners that the dialogues are filled with, – ‘of course, it’s my Happy Birthday, comes only twice a year!’- and at the incredible nimble mindedness of Lucky Singh in every sticky situation when he converts problem to opportunity again and again and again.
Isn’t that what luck is all about anyway?
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
cudnt agree more.
My only problem with these kind of films is that they are made for the audience to laugh. The characters say the dialogues so plainly, without they themselves tittering of laughing their hearts out. Its like eating food without salt and chilly !!
@kcp- Yes, we are laughing at the characters and the absurdity of the situation. There is no joke being cracked for the characters to laugh about. There are different kinds of humor and OLLO showcases a rich variety. There’s even the kind that you are looking for in the movie. Not sure if you have seen the movie but watch out for the scene where Lucky asks the policeman escorting him in the plane if they aren’t afraid that he will escape. The policeman’s reply will crack you up!
i saw the movie yesterday and liked it a lot. It got lot of layers and it takes its own time to grow into you. It does not do any kind of spoon feeding to the audience and lets you decide how the characters are
Gr8 movie watch it !!!
I love the Lucky’s childhood scenes,. JABBARDAST!!!
Its India, its in Delhi,..
still the look of the film is completely new to me,.
(Need to study those scenes),.
One could make nice storybook out of it,.
Waiting for the Original DvD, to capture those frames
@Shekhar, that was the only bright spot for me too dude.
Saw the movie today, and man what a movie! Kinda felt sad for Abhay Deol/Lucky mid-way. And thought this was a very well written piece on the movie.
Am a COMPLETE Abhay Deol convert now. Hadnt seen a lot of his movies (in fact, Manorama is the only other). Used to kinda dislike his dialogue delivery and body language in general… Was completely overawed by his (brilliant) portrayal… It was there at the back of my mind before watching the movie that he might not be able to get that charm to the character, but wow he was amazing!
But, I kinda felt Neetu Chandra wasnt as good (ofcourse competent and all) but found her to be probably too subtle for me… In the sense that it took me quite sometime to realise she was being superficially moralistic as well…
Have seen the movie and liked it a lot. The comedy aspect of the movie reminded me of the comic style used by coen brothers in OBWAT and fargo. Simply superb
But a problem I had with the movie was that I felt there was quite a bit of anachronism… e.g. that Vinod Khanna thing dint really come off all that well… I mean, if the movie was set in 70s or 80s, then I would have thought that was a wonderful thing to have used… but then the director shows a Delhi with CNG autos etc (came around 2004). Then there was this thing with Manu Rishi’s (wonderful acting, btw) hairstyle/look which, I felt, made it more in the 80s… Ofc later in the movie there is the (somewhat) hi-tech/modern digicam and stuff which again makes it atleast late 90s or the 2000s… Then there was this song (as a ringtone – cant recall which) and even taht implied something like 2007…
Hard as it is to believe, given what they look like these days, but the three Hindi film heartthrobs of the 1980s would have to be Mr. Anil “Gorilla” Kapoor, Govinda (no really!) and Mithun.
I had lots of friends from the kinds of neighbourhoods that Lucky came from (Dibakar shot the film in Sarai Rohilla, and I had friends from Dev Nagar, WEA, Prasad Nagar etc.).
Govinda and Mithun were leading in the wall poster stakes through the mid-80s, but Tezaab changed everything and suddenly Anil Kapoor was it.
No one ever spoke of either Rishi Kapoor or Vinod Khanna – both were seen as relics of the 70s.
But these are minor quibbles – everything else is just spot on. The restaurant scene was amazing – 100 rupaye wala paani!
rbehemoth- yes, Abhay Deol is fast becoming a favorite with me too! Good point there about the time when the movie is set in. In the end they do say that Lucky stole some 214 odd VCRs (?). VCR’s were outdated by mid nineties I guess.
Agreed. Abhay Deol is fantastic… Had some issues with the pace of the movie but again that was minor issue or may be I have to see it again… Especially loved the 3 roles given to Paresh Rawal.. not only because of his unbeatable performance but the presence of a exploiting ‘father’ like character throughout lucky’s life… interestingly presented and put..
Dibakar’s forte is how real the characters in his movies are and, he is in top form here… LOVED the scene when lucky is ont he roof and his father throws various things at him.. scene.. Especially becasue, of ‘nanga’ sikh running around and shouting along with his father.. ‘Gem’.
Again, loved Abhay’s performance…. restrained and effective, intelligent and emotional, all packed into one great act……
Need a few more or a lot more viewings of this one….
Loved the film and all the small details (like his love for family portraits of other people)(I might have missed some but I always watch a film carefully). I’m sure the film is set in the 90s, with young lucky growing up in the 80s. The hairstyles and the accents and all the snapshots that are right out of a 90s family album, wow! I can easily pardon the CNG autos as it would be an unimportant and expensive detail to fix.
Abhay Deol is a brilliant actor without doubt.
Here’s a news article from 2003 related to this film —
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/101975.cms
That last scene when actually families come to find their respective stolen goods – the 2 ladies fighting for jewelery, the one refusing to take the imitation jewelery – ironic that that infact amted to stealing and Lucky is the one who as the man says ‘dekha na..yeh hai saccha aadmi..”…really liked that…i think ill have to see this quite a few times…many such gems in this films that one can dwell on…super…
15 yr old Lucky on his first date; outside a guy asking whos bike is parked here…
Lucky in mid-twenties may be on his first date with Sonal; outside the cafe guys fighting for parking of his car..((this scene was superbly shot, outside the chaos; inside L and S talking…)
I liked the connection…
OLLO needs to be watched at least 2 times to get all minute details. I didn’t observe the parking (bike & car)thing on his two dates. Thanks Arthi.
BTW, Vinod Khanna was translated as Clint Eastwood in English sub-titles.
OLLO needs to be watched at least 2 times to get all minute details. I didn’t observe the parking (bike & car)thing on his two dates. Thanks Arthi.
BTW, Vinod Khanna was translated as Clint Eastwood in English sub-titles.
This scene – when lucky climbs onto the balcony of a house, from outside there shud n a door n window may be also, but next shot hes getting into the room thru the window there is a bed next to it and no door…i just never went out of my head hence so…
The bhajan singer is in the middle of a line (woh to gali gali gali gali) when paresh rawal makes him stop, later when given the permission to sing again he starts from the exact spot he left on (gali gali gali gali gaane lagi). I laughed out loud.
When I saw that scene when Gogi bhai stops the singer I thought how manipulative this guy is…found the whole thing so dark n real….
but Dr Handa’s character was the worst. Educated indiv but still so damn crafty…
The way the police officers kind of gave in everytime….i njoyed that….was real…n all of them were naturals in front of the camera…
Kunal, Arthi- Yes I loved the minute details as well.
The parking arguments is actually a very good point. It occurs in atleast three places- one when Lucky is stealing his first car at the wedding, then when Lucky is in the restaurant with Sonal and also when he is in the restaurant as a young boy. I don’t know why such scenes were included. maybe to give a sense of the milieu that people are always fighting over little things…
“Yeh Saccha aadmi hai!” has to be my favorite dialogue in the movie…!
And what about this one. One of young Lucky’s friend dies and Bangali tells him ‘He got into bad company’. Why was that scene there? Did Lucky learn anything from that? Did that make him a loner? Somebody who worked only with Bangali as his associate…?
mindless comedy and no match to khosla to ghosla, weak story line!!
i am disappointed
Sorry, not a full fledged comedy but ya funny in parts !!!
my two cents
a very very good film…the photographic-narrative was really a nice idea
nice humor nice performances brilliant script but i still find some scenes quite pointless like that entire slo-mo in the care and various other things
the accent makes it a little hard to get the jokes at times,and this is coming from a person who could get all the humor in snatch without subtitles
really ncie music
also somehow this film echoed citizen kane for me
im not saying plagarised but lucky and citizen kane are both people to spend and acquire money in search of something that money can not buy
did any1 see that or was it just me ?
i liked the film so much that lazily little me was even inspired to do a write up on this but my stupid comp at home has crashed so at nine in the morning ive bunked my college lecture and i write this from a cyber cafe
Vivek- I thought the slo-mo in the car was a very nice touch by Dibakar. The scene itself was very important as it establishes the character and spirit of Sonal and why Lucky is flipped out for her.
As for similarities with citizen kane, I wouldn’t know as I couldn’t watch it for more than 40 minutes…
@21 dazedandconfused
You know I too am trying to figure out the importance of that friend who dies. Isn’t he the same guy who gets beaten by those two goondas (on the motorbike) when Lucky and his friends are beating up that school kid? I wonder if it shows Lucky that if you are weak, let people trample on you or don’t stand up for yourself, that you’ll be finished – literally in the case of that friend. Any thoughts on this anyone? (the OLLO DVD better have a director’s commentary. Dibakarji, if you’re reading this then, hint hint)
@Pratik
Its a same guy
saw the movie today. absolutely loved it.
the better part of the movie was the young lucky part. the guy portrayed it really good. it was so innocent, somehow, the innocence was lost in some scenes with abhay.
the scene that is on replay mode in my mind is the slo-mo car sequence. the background score at that point is brilliant (never thought that the ‘Tu raja ki’ track would be used so beautifully).
it definitely is one of the best movies this year.