Sankat City: What it could have been, what it is.
Print
Let’s begin with Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa. One of the few ‘Bollywood’ movies that dealt with a loser’s story. The movie made us sink into his shoes and helped revisit our vulnerabilities. It also commented intelligently on youth’s lack of choices, and only few clearly defined options of future that they gulped. Rather, forcefully. A loser who bent all the rules in the book, but still remained what he was – a loser. Although the last scene got trapped by the contagious disease called ‘Happy Ending’ or ‘binding all the threads together’ that had been prevalent in Bollywood movies since forever, even then the movie was one of the finest of the decade. Pankaj Advani wrote the screenplay for that movie. It always helps to know where the director is coming from.
But, Sankat City’s fault not lies entirely with director’s surprisingly stunted cinematic vision, but rather failing to realise even its most basic requirement. Living up to a promising script. A script that contains some of the most weird, zany characters, but when translated on screen, the consequence is not inebriated laughter, but listlessness . The jokes are inconspicious by their absence, and it hurts the movie’s prospects because social commentary is not the director’s aim here. At least not the primary one. Although Advani’s attempt is undeniably laudable and honest, but, don’t we all understand and appreciate the cliched ‘Don’t talk about the labor pains. Show us the baby’?
The most potent weapon in the movie of these kinds is dialogues. But, that is not a mean feet to achieve. Specially because one attempts to tackle madness with a subtle method. Less effective dialogues only causes the method to appear more wobbly at a tangible level. The method is then no longer hidden, but is rather exposed, bringing all the flaws on surface. Sankat City ails from this major problem. Ek Chaalis ki Last Local and 99 were prime examples of smart dialogue writing in the movies of same genre. Yes, I am not even attempting to raise the bar by mentioning Tarantino and Guy Ritchie. Even in the Bollywood playground, the dialogues of Sankat City are uninteresting and pedestrian.
However, Sankat City doesn’t suffer from hangover of any film. Pankaj Advani’s voice is essentially his own, and that is heartening to note, however detached it may be from tickling the funny bone is a different thing all together. Characters don’t become weird and interesting just by default. They have to prove their madness. The fact that Fauzdaar substitutes ‘j’ by ‘z’ every time he speaks doesn’t make him a very appealing character. There is nothing else he does to hold your attention. The character had a lot of potential to seamlessly switch between aggression and comedy. That’s what these kinds of characters can do. They coax you into their mannerisms, and when they unleash their venom with blinding alacrity, you almost feel guilty by laughing at the wrong time.
Fauzdaar does nothing of the sort. Briefly, when he chides Pachisia for not slapping the captive followed by a hesitant, wobbly camera closing up is one of the few times the character looked interesting. The movie had a motley of potentially interesting characters on paper. Consider this: A gangster who has a thing for sexy sirens, a homosexual baba, a con woman who is not out and out black, a goon who struggles with English as much as with his life and his overtly emotional co-worker, a stupid goon, and his lover, a sex worker. Pretty interesting characters these. However, the director’s inability to go full throttle with them robs the movie of many potentially rib tickling moments. When Fauzdaar meets the Dynamite, it could have been an insanely, complex, comical epic scene. However, Advani trivialized the whole thing by showing us a silly 20 second dance number. Amongst the pack, KK stands out. The consistency in his character is remarkable. Papa will geeo you breakfast, still makes me chuckle. It is not the kind of role we are accustomed to see him play. But, even then his execution looks effortless .
Over the top characters are a dangerous territory, not because they stand the fear of being rejected outright by people hopelessly running after realism. They are a dangerous proposition because they are difficult to carry. Some characters are intentionally over the top to quench people’s quota of laughter(Most of them are formulaic and poorly written too). But, one there is even a remote intention of taking a dig, the character’s loudness seems shallow. Because then, one is sure the mannerisms are supposed to justify the self depreciating humor dedicated to a much higher cause. Sadly, they don’t in this case. So, Chunky Pandey’s ‘Ye role different hai’, and the usual inanites that he mouths merely transports the message the director wants to convey. It doesn’t touch us in any way, and thus doesn’t a warrant a laugh. Same holds true for Lingam, and Dr.Zhivago. They are irritatingly loud and hence, mere caricatures who do not justify their presence. Here the character’s justification is not related to whether they mean something in the context of the story, which is obvious they do, but into the larger context of adding that quirkiness which movies like these are known for.
It is not as if Advani doesn’t have anything to say. He says, and says it rather well in plenty of situations. Most notably in the movie’s climax when KK and Rimi are trying to find the money in the heap of garbage. Isn’t it analogous to trying to make a fortune in a city which is full of scum(people)? Or, that scene when KK plays with his fishes. One of the few things in the movie(or, even in the dynamics of the frenzied city as a whole) that is not corrupted by the shadow of monetary gain. The fact that KK and Rimi Sen’s story don’t have a romantic angle to it. The swapping of bags and the meteor twist is really smart too. The movie has its moments, but few and far in between.
The movie could have been an intelligent homage to all the Bollywood absurdities we have grown up watching, and it gets some of the things right too, but on a macro level the movie leaves a lot to be desired for. It became a slave to a genre and couldn’t justify its place there.
I wish the highly discussed New wave Indian film making doesn’t resort to mere mutual back slapping, but rather cultivate and encourage serious criticism. Where every rebuttal is not encountered with ‘It is his first film’, ‘atleast he made a film’ , ‘the movie was made in trying circumstances’ , ‘go make a film yourself’ ( Lest I be misunderstood, this is a general statement and is not directed at any one particular!). Or, with excessive cynicism such as ‘Look! he is trying to sabotage our baby’. Our collective goal is much more higher and shouldn’t be impeded with such trivialities.
Tags: Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa, Mindless comedy, Pankaj Advani, Sankat City
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
Brutal, honest and well written review.
loading...
hi tanul.
i went in with different expectations. i thought its an out and out comedy and id be jumping on my seat. but it wasnt that. but still i dont feel disappointed with the film. its something else. i dont how to describe it, its kind of a crazy film. i like it bcos its different. different in the sense.. well if the film was that which u said in ur review it shouldve been, it wouldve been a kind of routine film for me. routine but still very enjoyable, paisa vasool. but this film doesnt have all that and it might look like a defect. but bcos of that, this film is something else, it doesnt really live by the genre. its very cool that it dint do full justice to its genre, the comedy caper or whatever. the experience of watching this film was very new for me, and i like it. but yes, i think buying the dvd with the multiplex ticket money is a better thing(for me). seeing it in a single screen with reasonable ticket price wouldve been the best option for me.
loading...
As a lover of good movies, I can no longer have reviews or thoughts cloud my appreciation of the film going experience. Talking points are the latest necessity of the day and there is an ample amount available on the internet. Its like people are no longer able to see a film anymore without first guarding against the dreaded ‘it went over my head’ phenomena.
Just as cinema itself is a way of looking at the world through someone else’s eyes, criticism is a way of looking at movies through someone else’s eyes. Yet, the movies themselves don’t change — only our perceptions of them changes. On the one hand, a piece of film criticism is kind of like an adaptation. It offers an interpretation of the original, but does not replace it. Other “versions” still exist, just as they always did.
This is the reason people, not just cinephiles, will know box office receipts for the weekend, which matters so little, unless you have invested finances in the film, that it boggles the mind at its uselessness. But we demand quantifiable integers, we demand metacritcs to tell us the success of a film in easily understandable percentages, how it fares in comparison to other films released the same weekend in prio years.
Part of the problem with most reviews these days is the snark factor, ruined by reviewers vying to see who can be the cleverest in their put-downs.
For me, the most recent example of a bad movie ruining a good review–or rather, a plethora of good reviews–is “Slumdog Millionaire”. After nearly every critic raved about its status as the feel-good movie of the millennium, I was surprised to find myself sitting through a two hours of repugnant, reprehensible tripe. So there- you have it.
Film criticism often operates on a veneer of objectivity (“This film is…”) rather than directly addressing viewer response (“This film seemed to me…”). But is there an absolute standard for whether a film has “good health”? Different movies generate different responses, but that does not mean one is absolutely inferior or superior to another via that response.
Yes, there should be some absolutes applied but not to the extent that criticism becomes a matter of arithmetic.
One of the things we have to remind each other is that what’s in your head is not always what ends up on the page, nor does it translate into something that can enter someone else’s head.
But for a critic to “improve upon” a movie and not just alter the audiences perception they would have to write a new scene or go out and film something themselves, work within the form. Adding something to art, the way you define it. You do that and I can bet that hundreds will trash it.
Sankat City did to me what it was meant to- entertain. And HOW! It was entertainment that did not degrade itself to buffoonery. Or stoop down to any critics satisfaction of their own personal needs as the be-all and end-all of the art form they’re covering. It IS all that it could have been and more. Keep them coming, Mr Advani.
loading...
all the gushing about this ordinary movie was making me sick. your brave review has reposed my faith in the PFC community. however, be prepared to be lynched by the ‘cinema bullies’, who will tell you how this movie was a homage to the style of some obscure Algerian director who died penniless in the streets of Rome after a long, tragic and distinguished career. or whatever. they are gonna get you dude. this is not a discussion. this is 1984, and big brother just told us to watch 3 movies.
loading...
Go Go Go mate….
Although surprised at first with brotha’s recco on Saif/Deepika little did I realise it was directed by Yakub…
loading...
the one directed by yakub, and the one directed by shakespeare….i would have seen these right after brushing my teeth in the morning, no reccos needed. however i feel brotha was nudged to peddle this one…
loading...
Well for all you know, brotha might have formed his own Koffee less MMC…
loading...
This is by far the most honest and the best review of Sankat city I have read so far. I can see that the writer had some expectations with this movie and ended up being a little disappointed. I feel that some of the characters failed to make an impact as much as they should have.
loading...
Tanul, you are right. I have just seen the film. It is pedestrian. I did not laugh, at all. Yesterday night, I mentioned this to a few of my friends. Surprisingly, they agreed. So, I found I am not in absolute minority. And here you are with your article.
The dialogues fail the film, big time.
loading...
Tanul…its a different thing to watch the movie in a theatre and other when you watch…erm…while i appreciate your opinion..i still dont think..we have reached a level to give our opinion on a movie as simple/complex movie watching it for free..crappy print..on a laptop..with the helpfulness/helplessness of having intervals at will…also.i do understand it is impossible in some parts of the world to see a “certain” movie..but then..isnt our opinion based on a few shitty things(you and many know about it)..then why compare..bother..compare..not fair!! however fair you have been in writing an article about it.
Its as good as writing bad about a movie before it was released( because you were fortunate to watch at a festival or private screening)
loading...
You were expecting to see a Guy Ritchie movie, weren’t ya ? That’s why the dialogues seemed kinda faded and jaded !!! What about the mannerisms ? Weren’t those absolutely mind-blowing ????? Ek se badhkar ek….
loading...
OM,
I think if I can appreciate a movie by watching it on laptop and highlight the whys in that case(Luck By Chance), why not when I did not like it. There were no intervals forced or otherwise that came in my way that would have altered my way of seeing the movie. My reaction would have been the same had I watched it in a theatre. I never complained about how bad the movie looked, just to give you an example.
loading...
My reaction was quite different. I had a great time watching the movie and I think it is one of the better comedies to come out of Bollywood in the recent past. The dialogues didn’t strike me as mediocre at all. The screenplay was tight, unlike say a ‘99′ which released recently and the performances were all above par.
The cinematography wasn’t plush but somehow seemed to fit in with the rustiness of the characters and their surroundings.
One is reminded of ‘Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron’. Especially the scene in the bus when the bags slide over the floor of the bus. Remember how the casket with the dead body in JBDY slides across the street?!
I just felt that the ending was a bit abrupt. The movie will never become cult but there are many things to appreciate in it!
loading...
Thanks a ton Tanul, I feel so good now!
IMO – The script was insanely brilliant. Period. But the brilliance just didn’t translate on screen. During so many scenes, I was telling myself, “this must have sounded great on paper”. And as Kalki said, after reading the reviews I was expecting to laugh my ass off. But I hardly let out a laugh. I guess just a couple of times, in the whole movie!!!
The suitcase con in bomb squad suits was whacky, but fell flat. It didn’t even make me laugh. Now, even if I agree that my laughathon expectations were unfair, but I could very well tell that the bomb squad scene was trying to make the audience laugh and failing in it.
The garbage dump scene was effing awesome. It was the first time I was actually laughing-out-loud. The last scene @ fauzdaars place with Baba and KK, worked perfectly for me. That was pure black comedy. And everything came together quite well. But I guess it was too late in the day.
After reading rave reviews @ a rate of 1 every 2 days, I kept telling myself “Sankat city was defeated by my bloated expectations aroused by PFC”. But I guess after ravings from stalwarts like Saeed Mirza Kundan Shah and Annurag Kashyap, our opinion hardly counts. And Pankaj Advani would give a damn about us. And that makes me feel sad.
loading...
Its my kind of a movie review. It has been written well after the movie is released- so it doesnt affect the movie’s box office returns, it has offered honest opinion and informed readers what to expect, and more importantly has not given any “stars”.
loading...
Hey by the way only one person in the office has seen the movie and his opinion I trust about movies. He said sankat city was 25% of what the movie 99 was. Would that sum it up?
loading...
“He said sankat city was 25% of what the movie 99 was. Would that sum it up?”
No, it would not. Infact that statement is unfair to both 99 and Sankat City. Watch it for yourself and arrive at a decision!
loading...
@Tanul – phaadu review! very well written. must confess, if it were some other film, might have given it a miss based on your writing, but then, not
. review apart and out of curiosity, how was the quality of the dvd/download you saw?
loading...
Brilliant Tanul…you may stand as an odd man out…but you stand right…thats more important…kudos..
99 was definitely the best Hindi movie of the year for me…’Sankat City’ did not work…
I watched it in the cinema hall…Lot of people were laughing…including my friends whom I did lot of PR to take them to the hall…but they laughed the same during ‘Khambakht Ishq’ also… Laughs in the theatre, by the same audience who laugh at Akki comedies, cannnot judge whether the film is good enough as some earlier reviews has mentioned…
If well marketed SC would have been a great hit, sure…but a brilliant film…no it is not…
You are perfectly correct in pointing out that the film has its brilliant moments, but lost out to several elements. In my opnion it was some real bad casting (For example, Anupam Kher should have played Ganpat, and Faujdaar should have been Om Puri or ever Paresh Rawal…Kher, would have bee really funny as the amnesiac Ganpat..but is bland here as Fauzdaar)
loading...
Pankaj,
. I watched it on live streaming, the quality wasn’t trashy, but, then it wasn’t amazing either.
First of all apologies for seeing it online. But, then such is my love for mindless comedies that I had no other option. Btw, the review does not suggests people to skip the movie
loading...
I agree with most things in the review. Watched it in a movie hall with enough people. What can I say – I liked a lot of things but as a whole it was not as good as 99. Maybe because quite a few “funny moments” appeared to be contrived.
loading...
I disagree that the movie was ‘pedestrian’. Misguiding review talking only about negatives- I don’t see a mention of Yashpal Sharma & Manoj Pahwa’s brilliant performance.
I guess, to each his own (perception and review).
Or May be I have bought tickets to watch this film, so watched with concentration…….
loading...
@ Tanul- I do appreciate your honesty in projecting what you felt after watching SC.No movie can universally work and I guess SC is no exception.But I certainly do not think that the movie suffered from a wrong choice of casting or that the dialogues were poor.I would call it a good film, nothing more.I give it some extra brownie points because I feel that the movie has been very well made for its budget and that the entire team seemed to enjoy working together and this showed on screen, a fact that Pankaj himself has admitted.
loading...
Thanks a lot, Sethu. It is the co-existence of different opinion that makes PFC an exciting place!
loading...
Superb! Something I was waiting for. I happened to wait for sankat city with immense enthusiasm. More so because of all the hype on PFC.
After the movie I was kinda not satisfied, but felt that at least not a Akshay kumar mindnumbing comedy.
Then I saw Burn after reading, thats when I realised what a smart comedy is. Charector, acting, camera and unfazed story line.
Mr Advani, it was ‘just your first film’, hope you can come up with something that does justice to the MONK!
loading...
PFC has done an awesome job of promoting Sankat City (and it needed the most considering its budget).
Coming to the movie, it was an overall good experience (some brilliant sequences, some good, some over the top and some plain bad). Many said the same and my inference was same from the reviews (more reviews in PFC dont mean exceptionally good movie, for that matter KI also got 3-4 reviews
) .You dont find many who said ” I didn’t like the movie” (which translates to average – excellent for many). Thats an awesome job done considering the budget, the promos and cast. Considering the options we have in theatre I would prefer watching sankat city than others. Having said that I like to read the negative aspects of every good movie.
loading...
Iam the happiest man in the world today!thanks tanul!
loading...
when are the results out for Band Bajao contest?
loading...
Dude that was unwarranted…put your point and debate…why bring a third person? If there are legion of fans who believe him, let them. If you don’t thats fine. Nobody is asking you to be too na?
loading...
Agreed… and I apologise to the third person… cos I am well… a fan…
Just that @Kartik Malla made two points in his comment – all the gushing about SC and the third person’s reccos… And I could not resist the temptation of commenting about the second point (since one was being discussed by everyone else)…
I am sure there are some more (including the fans) who share the feeling… Just that I agree this is not the right forum….
loading...
@cherish
hey is your last comment fr me?
loading...
@avijit pathak
No No, that was for the above comment made by ’sucker’.
loading...
Kunal,
I Totally agree with what you have written.For me Sankat City was a big downer and believe me i felt cheated as i have gone to watch it on the recommendation of AK.He wrote such glorious things about the movie that it skyrocketed my expectations.To me it was a poor show all together.I Won’t give it a benefit of doubt by saying that the script was zanny or the characters were insanely wierd….. Bad movie is a bad movie and lets be honest…when at Pfc we don’t leave a chance to tear apart any big budgeted mainstream(so called) movie then we should maintain that honesty with these small films also.we should not be a sucker to any movie shelled out on the name of creativity or pathbreaking cinema.
Comparing sankat city with JBDY is all non sense.One is at the epitome of Black humour genre and other to me is pedestrial.
This is in no way means any offend to Pankaj Sir and his abilities.SLB gave Black and he only gave sanwariya….ROM gave Rang de and he gave Delhi 6…AK gave No Smoking and also made Brilliant Gulaal,Dev D and Black Friday….So please lets be true to ourselves and celebrate good cinema only on this site…..Else we have had enough of Indiafm and Buzz18’s….
loading...
Totally agree with the author and the comment by Topaz.
The movie had great potential but it was horrible. Where KHKN scored was the dialogues. It had some of the funniest dialogues ever like the ‘Patank Hatte Se kat deti hai’.
If this movie had great dialogues like that and the actors not overacted like that then it would have been a good movie.
loading...
Very well written Tanul, although i dont agree with everything you say, but you have made some very valid points here…I too felt that the movie was good but not as good as all the others here are making it to be…it had a lot of potential and is def better than most of the inane nonsense that is being peddled around but again i think Sankat city movie experience as a whole was a little anti climactic after all the brouhaha here…
loading...
Havent seen the movie (wanted to but a couple of friends who saw it dissuaded me), but if its all this bad how come its got great reviews everywhere? (Not a rhetorical question.)
loading...
I think I know the answer.
All reviews are based on the
.
Intellect,
EQ,
Background,
Exposure to art forms,
Sense of humor and the
expectations from the movie
.
of the reviewer.
So before you read any review keep the above points in mind.
.
NAI (No Authority Intended)
loading...
Thats true, but the reviews the movie received were almost unanimously positive. But the layman seems to not like it (my friends are educated, intelligent and love good movies, even some art ones, but they are not related to the film world).
loading...
I’m thinking about these things for the past few days. What is great cinema anyways. Can someone term a film as a good film or maybe average film. The answer is actually a NO. Whatever it is, anyone who wishes to voice an opinion needs to say “I found the movie awesome” or “I hated the movie”. But all of them (including me) end up saying “the movie sucked”, which is wrong. I know this may not be a big deal to many, but this how it it ought to be, ideally.
So is there anything like great cinema. Of course there is. The movie which transcends and appeals to a greater number of people with different Intellect, EQ…and so on, can be termed as great cinema. And on the flip side, there are bad movies, no doubt, which get hated almost universally. I know these are pretty basic things, but people tend to forget them.
Now, Cinema as an art form, is a completely different territory. The film which can be related to only by its maker is the best art film. Because he is the only one of his truest kind. From what I’ve read, Martin Scorcese is deeply attached to his movies, and claims that his films are his true expressions. If he is really to be believed then he might be the few ones who is able to make art cinema which is widely relatable.
Shit!! ignore this rant!!!
I guess sankat city is good cinema which didn’t appeal to few, i guess on basis of our sense of humor (I love Kya Kool Hai Hum :P). Period
loading...
Please ignore the above rant. I realise it is total crap!!
loading...
Well by your own definiton your rant’s certainly not art if it appears total crap to the creator himself.
But then who is to say crap is not art.. I wholly expect a shot of a cow emptying its bowels in slow motion to be made into a full length motion feature and raved about by passion-for-cinema regulars in the near future, the way they rave on.
loading...
Tanul,
Superb take on Sankat City I did not like it one BIT, and i agree to the hypocrisy mentioned. we must be honest. when I look back the Kind of passive promotion that was happening here in PFC pre and post release looks more like a startegyor highly Biased opinion unlike your take.
loading...
Tanul, if you really wanted to add your 2 cents on the movie ( how it should’ve been as per your sagely vision, or your distorted verdict about it ( exclude me please!!! ) on behalf of the tens of thousands of others who spent MONEY on it and came out loving the movie), you should’ve at least spent some moolah on the ticket/ legal DVD!!! Bootleggers, in my opinion, don’t have the right to review a movie they saw illegally. Tut tut.
And if you did commit that crime, you should’ve at least kept shut about it!!
Now, I noticed the usage of the word ‘I’ just thrice in the review. Which leads me to think that you must have read ‘The 10 secrets of writing reviews that will keep readers coming back’ since you insist on calling yourself one!!! I understand that it can be very tempting to get wrapped up in metaphors and tie yourself in linguistic knots.
“ It always helps to know where the director is coming from.” Do you?
I am all for criticism. Healthy criticism. Criticism helps each one of us grow as individuals. Criticism that puts a point across without giving it the stamp of generality. I, for one, do not give you the authority to speak on my behalf.
But if criticism gets as low brow as some suggestions made out here ( Kartik suggesting that AK was ‘nudged to peddle this one’) then it would be much better if self respecting individuals refrain from participating in this forum.
As for me, I am done with this.
loading...
@Aarti, I live in a place where they don’t release any Indian movies (except SM if you ever want to call it Indian)… There are no shops which sell official DVDs….
My only source of cinematic pleasure is 1. This guy who gets the pirated DVD a week after the release 2. or my super speed internet connection (the only decent thing that happened to me since I moved out of my beautiful Mumbai) 3. or me packing up some stuff whenever I am home
“In your opinion” do you think i should ever attempt a review.. or would you rather prefer that I send a cheque to the distributor/producer/ director/actor etc before one.
No offence… Just something that got me thinking… hmmm….
loading...
hey some people like some movies and others don’t. thats fine. but if you look at the weak-at-the-knees ecstasy of the multitudes of reviewers at PFC for sankat city, i ask myself why would these people, exposed to so much culture and intelligent cinema be willing to sell their souls for this seemingly movie of the millennium. The only reason for the usually sane and unbiased PFC authors to lose their marbles over this one seems to be the fact that AK asked us to watch this. We create our own Big Brother. That was all that I implied. If you read my comment in the context of its literary source, you will realise, I didn’t blame AK at all. The poor guy maybe liked the movie or maybe was promoting a friend’s movie (I would do that, anyone would) but if we lose all our perspective and bind ourselves to everything he says then we just appear as sad sycophants.
Get some individuality and chill out.
loading...
plus, what has spending money and appreciating cinema got to do with each other. tarentino worked in a video library and got his fix for movies there as a store clerk with privileges. sanjay gupta buys the hollywood dvds before he rips them off.
at least the the guy was honest (which too, somehow brings out a disapproval from you!), tanul has already apologised to the director and explained why he had to watch it online. so come up with something better to bash him.
loading...
@Karthik…Pankaj was blogging for quite a while in PFC and his posts raised curiosity for sure. And am sure for PFC regulars thats enough reason to watch it. And AK also recommended it. So expectations are bound to increase further. I myself went in with lots of expectations. But wasn’t blown away as such. But at the same time didn’t get bored or felt bad. It was good clean entertainment.
For the best of the movies in world, there are detractors and am sure for Sankat city also there will be. Why are you hell bent on proving your statement again and again. Move on dude! And also the more you bring in AK, the more cheap your argument looks.
loading...
He he. Just wanted to share something. I have a 2 year old daughter and therefore cannot go to a theatre. Till that time. I buy DVDs from internet sites and sometime lie to my wife and go with office guys to theatres. However its not always possible.
Yesterday I got hold of an important guy in Mumbai who does nothing the whole day, but sells pirated English DVDs to people. I got hold of 15 (He doesnt come, if its anything lower) amazing movies. During conversation, he mentioned that all anti-piracy activists were his clients! That apart, he dropped important names and that too from Bollywood. Many were film makers! Amazing isnt it.
loading...
spending money and appreciating cinema have everything to do with each other because making a film and spending money have a lot to do with each other. i do watch movies in the back alley when they are not available and at those times I don’t take the license to critique the films.
loading...
Kartik, the fact that people exposed to so much culture and intelligent cinema (according to your comment ) asked you to watch this movie was probably based on the illusion that MOST of the people here have some semblance of intelligence. But looking at some sleazy, cheap digs made around here, I must say that they were so very mistaken.
Now, go back to the style which suits you the most ‘bakwaaaaas movie yaaaaar, da whole tym I wuz lukin at my watch but krina luked gr8’ or something to that effect. And while you’re at it, take a handful of people along with you.
You get my drift.
loading...
wow. aren’t you full of yourself.
so if any one as much as utters the name of The Director who also happens to be a blogger here, will be labeled cheap and sleazy?
you could go and slander some reviewer on his blog because the poor guy has some linguistic issues, and thats constructive criticism?
who made you the resident cinephile here anyway?
why are you and people like you reducing this place to a back-slapping, self-congratulatory ghetto of mediocrity?
why won’t just READ what i have written, put a hand on your heart and stop the facade?
why has The Director who also blogs here himself confessed that this place no longer inspires him?
unfortunately, you won’t even attempt to get my drift.
loading...
I fully agree with Topaz said. It is a better movie , better than the usual ones but when someone like AK recommends it , you expect more.
Btw Who defines good cinema ? What is the definition ? Technically brilliant ? Thought provoking ? Entertaining ? or Good Timepass ?
loading...
Hi,
Wonder what would have be every1’s take on the movie if it had not been recommended on PFC?!Good article.Let’s cut through the hype!
Regards,
Santino
loading...
@Nitin
Haha… The definition itself is crap man!!
The “cow emptying its bowels” !!! lol… there is a film with a single 35-minute shot of a man’s face to capture his facial expressions as he receives a blow job http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0130515/
loading...
Hi Tanul, first of all this is really a balanced review, i have read in a long time. You have really written very well. And when the Director has himself dubbed it as Phaadu!! than thats the ultimate compliment.
I can understand why some people are rallying around you for they needed a voice to express their displeasure. Most people including master directors like Saeed Mirza and Kundan Shah have praised this movie, and those who went with high expectations were let down a bit.
It is also heartening to see that of the people who liked the movie and there are many at PFC, they have not swamped upon you and didn’t drown your POV with their acerbic writngs, barring few notes of dissents and sarcasm that was expected.
Its easy to say to each his own but it is really diffciult to practice it. Lets hope, PFC would encourage such vibrant thoughts with similar stoicness in future as well.
loading...
The jokes are inconspicious by their absence
“There are many. However, the film itself in its entirety is engaging and interesting. Where were the jokes in Jaane bhi do yaaro and Bheja Fry”
Social commentary is not the director’s aim here.
“Where was any gyan given by anyone in the movie”
The dialogues of Sankat City are uninteresting and pedestrian
“The characters themselves were pedestrian and dialogues were appropriate”
Faujdar’s character had a lot of potential to seamlessly switch between aggression and comedy
“Agree here with you”
When Fauzdaar meets the Dynamite, it could have been an insanely, complex, comical epic scene
“Isnt it already?”
Lingam, and Dr.Zhivagoare irritatingly loud and hence, mere caricatures who do not justify their presence
“All characters in the movies had a purpose. No one was inserted just for caricature sake”
Most notably in the movie’s climax when KK and Rimi are trying to find the money in the heap of garbage. Isn’t it analogous to trying to make a fortune in a city which is full of scum(people)?
“Agree totally with you. In fact the camera zoomed to the city, sitting from the garbage heap”
It became a slave to a genre and couldn’t justify its place there
“How can it do justice to its genre and still not justify its place there?”
Our collective goal is much more higher and shouldn’t be impeded with such trivialities.
“But there ALWAYS will be people with different sensibilities. And there will always be different movies, catering to these different sensibilities. You see we need entertainment too!”
loading...
After reading AK’s review here and Jai Arjun’s on Jabberwock, I recommended it to several people, and went for 1st day 1st show, dragging along 4 reluctant friends (whom I had earlier convinced about Manorama Six Feet under successfully). In the end, I felt cheated and out of 600 bucks, since they refused to pay me back for the tickets.
In my opinion, this was a wannabe Guy Ritchie movie that has its moments (Fauzdaar’s 1st meeting with Pachisia, the money in the waste dump), but too many cringeinducing scenes, (the last scene, the Chunky Pandey scenes, the “she’s a bad girl” soundtrack everytime Rimi would appear, the constant Bengali gibberish by Rimi).
Guess, sometimes, shit happens!
loading...
I think Pankaj Advani was vastly over-estimated before his first film.
I almost saw Sankat City twice,because it came recommended by an industry insider.
The first time, I found it to be very mediocre. The second time, I didn’t change my opinion and stopped the DVD after an hour.
In terms of creative output-Sankat City is on par with Apna Sapna Money-Money, Money hai to Honey hai or Fool and Final (which was an indianized version of Snatch-right down to the way Sunny Deol (Brad PItt) flexes his hamstring muscles against his tummy.
Sankat’s screenplay was very contrived. There is a thin line between inspired madness and banal kitsch. Sankat City is banal. There isn’t one good twist or connection in the film that seems inventive or ingeneous. The moment the radio announces that an earthquake is about to hit Mumbai- anyone can bet that the natural disaster’s going to have a say in the final scheme of things.
The casting could have been better. Anupam Kher is clearly Not able to strike the balance between chilling menace and goofy humour that the director intends to extract out of him.His character lacks sting and zing. Is Mr. Kher incapable of such an act? Certainly not. He’s an excellent actor. So, if he doesn’t deliver-whose fault is it? The director’s-of course. Also, Chunky Pandey as an ageing, over made up matinee idol is loud and absolutely unbearable from the word go. Ditto for his hyderabadi duplicate.
Lastly, the dialogues, cinematography and music are awful too. If there are too many unidimensional characters in the story and they keep jumping in and out of every scene, it is important for the director to at least have a strong cinematic style ( or at least a good signature tune) to hold the film together. Butt no one seems to have told Mr. Advani that.
In the end, I couldn’t believe that the same same Pankaj Advani had written Kabhi Haan, Kabhi Naa.
loading...
Guys, please don’t give me undue credit for Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa. I was ‘merely’ a co-writer. Now, believe…
loading...
Tanul, I just saw the film this Saturday and I couldnt have agreed with you more. The film had the scope of becoming a fabulous film, but alas, it somewhere faltered. I felt nothing for no one. Just a few “Oh no’s” and “shit!” here and there. All I took home with me was Dilip Prabhavalkar’s character.. How fabulous he is! I was disappointed as I thought the film would be something that sticks in my head. Sadly, it didnt. I really think it was better written than directed. And that bar song could have really be done without!!
loading...
Hi Tanul,
You are absolutely ’spot on’ with your review of Sankat City. I watched it in a theatre (btw there were just 8 patrons in the whole theatre) It doesn’t feel any better watching it in a theatre. The insipid dialogues.. the hammy acting.. the stereotypical characters.. the beaten to death gags.. the seemingly funny (?) twists.. all fell flat. I was hoping the crappiness would end once the opening scene with Chunkey Pandey is over, and after KK enters the frame the movie will pick up. But no.. even the normally reliable KK couldn’t do any justice. It was all downhill.
I would say the mainstream cinema is much better.. atleast they don’t make any pretence of being “hatke” !
It’s worst movie I have seen in a long long time..
The only good thing about SC, is that i came across your review.. Will look forward to your reviews in future. Keep writing.
loading...
I am as full of myself as you or anyone else is. Which director has confessed that this place no longer inspires him?
I READ what you’ve written, I place my hand over my heart and I say- you aren’t worth my time.
loading...
true. maybe when you grow up. till then chew on your hubba bubba.
loading...
Dear all,
why does nobody talk about Rimi? Is she not licenced to be included in this forum? I think she was good.
loading...