Desicritics Category: Media: Films

Movie Review: 13B - Not Fear's New Address

IdeaSmith — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 07:40:14 EDT

Flush with the success of my earlier movie plan which turned out such great results, I decided to go one extra and spice up my next movie outing as well. So, I proposed 'Kitsch is Kool'. The idea was to do something unusual with a touch of whackiness, all in the name of entertainment. I decided to pick something different. Comedy...nah, we did that last week. Oscar winners...too bloody high-brow (Besides it was more fun to diss celebrity style)! Drama...umm, show me something else. How about horror? And what could add more ice to the chills than watching it in a rundown, semi-seedy theatre to add atmosphere? No comfortable plush sofas to sink your face into during the scream-moments, no multiplex comfort food of caramel popcorn and seat-delivered colas. Just rattling, creaky rexine seats where your knees bumped into the cold metal of the seats in front of you, each time you shrieked. 13B at Chandan cinema was the plan.

I'd love to tell you how, full of daring and adventure, I set forth with my brave bunch of movie-buff friends. Instead, every single one of them chickened out!!! Even my plaintive sell of

But guys, just imagine the thrill of facing up to your fears! After all, darr ke aage jeet hai!

was met with,

No!! Darr ke aage nightmares hai!

Like that. Hmph, so I ended up mall-ratting as usual and watching 13B in the aforementioned multiplex complete with comfort food. So not kitschy, definitely not kool. Maybe that took away from the experience, maybe my review would have been nicer if we had gone with the original plan.

13B is driven forth by Madhavan who despite his cult status in Kollywood (the Tamizh film industry, for the uninitiated) has failed to make a splash on the rest of the Indian audience. To his credit most people have fond memories of him in Banegi Apni Baat and Sea Hawks but the big screen seems to be rather cruel on South-Indian men, doesn't it? Considering the hero is a very large proponent of a movie's appeal, it already starts off with a handicap.

In addition, 13B is playing in that rather unfashionable genre of Bollywood horror movies. After the steady Ramsay brothers diet of B-grade potboilers (Veerana, Khooni Murda), the Indian audience was introduced to relatively more sophisticated offerings minus the ketchup-blood and clay-masks of yore. Ram Gopal Verma played guardian angel to this movement with Bhoot and Darna Mana Hai. I don't know how commercially successful they were, compared to the other Bollywood fare but they certainely ushered in a new age of horror in Hindi movies.

Cut to the present. The audience has been seeing a steady stream of 'experimental' movies right from the short-length skits favoured by Nagesh Kukunoor to NRI flicks to collages (Darna Mana Hai, Dus Kahaniyan) to audience-targetted films. Purely from a marketer's standpoint, now would have been a good time to take a leap forward in the undeveloped theme of horror movies. By that premise, 13B is over a decade too late. Raat was made ages ago, Urmila's wide-eyed Bhoot has shocked us all years back. What else is new?

The characterization of 13B is extremely dated with a honey-sweet joint family that precedes the generation of saans-bahu politics. None of the characters really stand out. Poonam Dhillon in her comeback avatar could have done so much more, had she just had a bit more to do than look annoyed at being disturbed during her noontime soap viewing. Sachin Khedekar (who shot to fame with Sailaab, a king among Hindi TV soaps) was perhaps a little too larger-than-life for TV but shrunk to his podgy-man frame in the movie. The movie doesn't exactly make the best case for Madhavan to kick-start his Bollywood career either, since he alternates between huffing & puffing up the staircase (what on earth was that about the broken lift anyway??), wide-eyed mania and goofy grins. That boy needs a lesson on not smiling too much, it makes me want to call him Mr.Cheese (and not as in Kya cheez hai!).

What's worse, there was actually a background score! Not a soundtrack to add dimension to the horror theme, a fullblown honest-to-Hindi-movie-goodness, background score complete with running around trees and *shudder shudder* an item song! This was about the only scary thing in the movie (and trust me on this, I'm a real 'fraidy-cat otherwise).

With a theme like Sab Khairiyat Hai, I was rather hoping this story would experience a Stepford Wives-esque ephiphany and explore the sublimnal horror of mind-controlled perfection. No such luck. By the end of the movie I'm only left with the feeling that there is someone who's even more petrified of gadgets and technology than I am! After all, my nightmares have never been of spooked television sets (even if I did entertain a haunted lift once). It looks like the makers were rather spooked with the idea of making a movie too. If you're looking for chills down the spine, ask a friend to dump an ice-tray down your shirt. Don't bother with 13B.

Mira Nair, You Are Clever!

Freya — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 06:27:13 EDT

I never got the opportunity to write about Slumdog Millionaire since I wasn't fortunate enough to see the movie, though I saw a few scenes. There was so much controversy when high profile people like Amitabh Bachchan and Arindham Choudary and the slum people were all against Slumdog because it portrayed India in bad light. I would just say there's nothing called bad and good when it comes to portraying something or somebody. Nobody can deny that Danny Boyle portrayed India truthfully. Naturally, all the controversy disappeared when the movie was picking up awards everywhere and our own Rahman and Resul won the coveted Oscars. Nobody had anything to say against it even though we all know that Rahman won because Danny Boyle took it. Jai Ho! was definitely not Rahman's best work.

Anyway, the point here is not that. But related to it. Since Slumdog released, so many people who were against or for it started comparing it with Mira Nair's Salaam Bombay! Asking why that didn't win any Oscars and why wasn't there a hype like this etc etc even though we know the reason- Mira is Indian. But after the Oscars, Salaam Bombay! got a whole different attention regarding the slum people who acted in it. Hearing what Boyle did for child actors Rubina and Azharuddin, the new question arose, what did Mira Nair do for her actors? Nothing great, it seems after that certain rickshaw-driver who acted in Salaam Bombay! 21 years ago expressed his grief. Now, Mira Nair with her films about to release certainly does not want bad publicity. So, what do we see here, fellas? Salaam Bombay! is getting re-released! Yes, according to Nair, it will release across the country tentatively in May.

"For the film's release" she says, "we will be bringing together everybody who was a part of the film all those years ago, including the kids. We want Salaam Bombay! to be seen by today's youngsters who might have never see the film."

True, I never saw it. It was released before I was born. But is that the real reason, Mira? I don't think so.

Nair talks about how she planned to share the profits of the film with the street kids, something which apparently didn't happen 21 years ago and she's decided to do it now. With Shobaa De writing about slum kids, Slumdog and Salaam wherever she could, Nair is unfortunately left only with this option. Mira Nair, you are damn smart.

Ishq-Mohabbat-Pyaar-Vyaar: A Tribute to Filmy Love

Seema Dhindaw — Sun, 8 Mar 2009 03:42:39 EDT

Now that the controversies surrounding Valentine’s Day are in the past, I thought it would be fun to have a glimpse at the strange, comic and unusual things that love compels us to do. Catchy toe-tapping Bollywood tunes, the occasional romantic comedy, and sometimes corny poetic expressions have encouraged many of us to perform otherwise unthinkable, highly embarrassing acts of love. We can look back and laugh at spectacles that love or the illusion of it has inspired. The influence of the film industry, particularly Bollywood, hasn’t made matters any easier for those who have been pierced by Cupid’s arrow. In fact, many a times it is the sole culprit for implanting those bizarre and unrealistic ideas about love during those vulnerable, young growing years.

I grew up listening to Hindi film songs and religiously watched one Hindi movie a week with my family. When we were too young to know the implications of romance or love, my brother and I would act out the parts of hero and heroine, using trees at the park to play hide and seek which was followed by a high speed chase. We would eventually find ourselves running towards each other only to end the charade in a playful sibling fight instead of breaking into a song. When we didn’t know lyrics we would make them up. If we didn’t know the steps to a dance, we would choreograph our own crazy moves and our parents would watch sometimes in shock and at other times in dismay.

At home, it often felt like our parents were either villains in our lives or the stars of an ongoing Hrishikesh Mukherji film about complex marriages. When mom got upset over something, dad would sing and dance in a comical attempt to cheer her up. My brother and I would laugh in amusement, squeal in embarrassment or even play along. On Saturday mornings, mom made delicious parathas while melodious tunes played on the weekly Indian radio program. We anxiously counted the minutes, our eyes on the clock for the parathas and for the eagerly awaited weekly Namaste America television program that aired with previews of latest Bollywood movies, top ten songs and sometimes a special treat: an interview with one of the stars. Every week, I had a new crush depending on who was being interviewed and my brother had a new fight scene or dance move to play out. When Prabhudeva came on the screen we lost quite a few porcelain items. One of my first crushes was Salman Khan. I had a shirtless poster of his on the wall of my bedroom. That poster made a long journey with me from a small back alley in Rourkee, India and lived through my teen years in L.A. I remember my cousins hollering at me then for picking Salman over Shah Rukh. Today, if I make it back to Rourkee, I know for sure I will bring back a Shah Rukh poster instead. Tastes have changed.

In my teens, thoughts of how I would meet my knight in shining armor and what he would be like were always at the back of my mind. When I looked at Bollywood films for answers, the romances and love stories were fun and exciting, full of song and dance sequences, offering me hope but none or little practical advice. Hollywood portrayed a completely different perspective. Issues surrounding religion, career, premarital sex and race were at the forefront. Titanic, Father of the Bride, Sliding Doors, Sleepless in Seattle and many of Woody Allen’s films made things either too simple, fairytale-like or way too complex for me to grasp. Movies like Silsila, Lamhe and Chandni gave me hope that even if my soul mate was much older, married, missing after an accident or suffering from a predictable bout of amnesia, somehow miraculously and by defying every righteous principle, moral value and perhaps by way of nothing short of a miracle, he would end up being with me.

After watching Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, the prospect that I could have a guy best friend who would suddenly start to develop feelings for me years later when I grew my hair out, lost some weight and played basketball in a saree was extremely exciting. After a few years of shooting hoops, it didn’t take me long to realize that wasn’t happening. You’ve Got Mail offered hope of a promising fairytale romance which began after meeting a faceless stranger in an internet chat room. Thereafter began my brief and dangerous love affair with virtual chat rooms. I had my share of terrible experiences and realized that in the online world everything wasn’t as perfect or safe as the movies portrayed. As an adult, when I watch my nieces online, I feel a protective urgency come over me.

I slowly began to lose hope of finding my Prince Charming when one day I watched Dil to Pagal Hai. It suddenly all became crystal clear to me. Learning how to dance would lead me to the love of my life. I had to become just like Madhuri Dixit. A famous Kathak teacher was coming to Southern California for two months and taking her class was my only hope. I begged and pleaded with my parents. My dad made a few ill-timed jokes about California being earthquake prone and my mother politely suggested alternate hobbies that did not require much grace or rhythm. But they finally gave in to my childish whims and soon I was practicing tapping my feet to “tha thayi thayi” and undulating hand movements.

I observed in dismay that the Kathak classes were going too slow and I wondered if all this foot-tapping would break into a full-fledged dance any time soon. I figured I would have to be dancing to a song and not just these random beats in order for the love story to proceed smoothly. Nothing of the sort happened of course and the lessons were aborted within six months. I was left dolefully massaging the blisters on my soles.

After watching Maine Pyar Kiya, I turned to my amused parents and asked them if we had family friends that I could visit for a vacation in India. They did! And they even had a son. But as luck would have it, before my flight even took off, their beloved son had announced that he was in love with the girl next door and by then I wasn’t into love triangles any more. So I spent my vacation falling in love….with India and its people.

Recently, Hollywood, after years of criticizing the blatant escapism showcased by the Hindi film industry, finally caved and embraced the rags-to-riches, love story of Slumdog Millionaire. While controversies over the depiction of poverty in Slumdog continue, as an American, I was more taken by the moving story which spans several years and brings us a saga where tragedy, separation, loss and hardship, are all conquered by the one relentless pursuit of love. In India, love trumps all and I felt like this film captured that spirit.

I find consolation in knowing that I wasn’t alone in my filmi craze. Cousins, friends and siblings were also influenced by the love stories in the popular movies of the time. Unrealistic expectations and dreamy romantic ideas had infiltrated their minds as well. They too have sung in the shower, practiced pick up lines in front of a mirror and danced around the room in a towel like Kajol. I remember watching as my cousins practiced the famous pose of Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio in Titanic, standing on the edge of a balcony above a sea of busy city traffic amidst the beautiful symphony of random honks. Much to my delight, on one trip to India, I helped a cousin plan many a secret rendezvous with her lover. Objections of their being together by their parents didn’t stop them from eventually eloping. The rage and tragic aftermath they faced from their families caused them much grief but their ambitious first steps together set off a trend in the family. Five other elopements followed in quick succesion within the next three years. Inter-cultural, inter-religious and inter-racial marriages were becoming more common. Old barriers fell away over the years. Thanks to inspiration from the popular films of the time, stale prejudices began to dissolve, bringing together soul mates across these divisive lines.

So all in all, these filmi influences have had the power to unite, bring positive change and offer hope to all of us who wait patiently to find that one true love. In addition to the cute, comic and sometimes foolish things that films have inspired all of us to do without their influence, life, both in love and looking for love, would not be as much fun.

Do You Remember Those Caves? A Poetry Film on Gwalior

Amitabh Mitra — Sat, 7 Mar 2009 00:26:12 EST

do you remember those caves

at the foot of the fort

where we used to play

and the old cemetery

we once hid from the sun

and hordes of maratha warriors

cascading behind a broken window

hunting relentlessly

for stolen moments.

the heart was then a street

pursuing days and nights

and a subdued sky

hid a longforgotten secret.

imprisoned

we traveled the eyes

and hopes

of another day.

Poetry, Art and Film by Amitabh Mitra

Movie Review: The Pink Panther 2 - Pink Diamonds And Jade

IdeaSmith — Wed, 4 Mar 2009 06:44:06 EST

After a spate of Pudinhara-inducing movies like Valkyrie (heavy: good but seriously serious) and Dilli 6 (does this city produce anything palatable??), I decided I really needed something different. So underlining my pukka suburbanite status with Vodafone Tuesdays, I found myself in a multiplex late last night, watching Pink Panther 2.

The movie was just what the doctor had ordered for my ailing mid-week spirits.

What really works for the film is that it is just implausible enough to be funny, never erring into the area of ridiculous. Also, if you missed the first Pink Panther, no worries - even with a repeat cast and plotline, the movie is complete in itself. All you need to know is that the Pink Panther is not a person or even an animal (don't scoff, I was asked that at this show and I asked the same question at my first movie!).

Steve Martin as Inspector Clouseau, gives a perfect encore with the flourishy, fumbling, funny Frenchman act. His comedy is resplete with slam-dunk-downstairs slapstick and liberally laced with lingua franca humour. He's undoubtedly the star of the show.

The movie does have a few other goodies to offer other than this talented white-haired funny guy, though. A few of the jokes from the earlier movie show up again in snide references to hamburgers and karate. I particularly loved the irritating Ms.Manners with her unrelenting demands of politically correct speech. My favorite exchange in the movie was:

She's ze kind ov' woman you have ze babies with.
Ze babies??
Yez. Lots of ze babies. All day long ze babies.

Alfredo Molina, the evil Doc Ock of Spiderman 2 makes an appearance as a Brit detective and he's flanked by Andy Garcia repeating his romantic villian act of oily-guy-who-almost-bags-girl-but-she-finally-picks-the-hero act (Ocean's Eleven). He is a perfect counterfoil to Steve Martin as Clouseau's Italian rival at work and in love. The odd thing is that the first time I saw each of these actors in their respective aforementioned roles, I thought,

He looks like an Indian!

Which brings us to the Indian who is not that woman they all want to have 'ze babies' with. Please, please stop calling her India's ambassador to Hollywood! If you must, give that title to A.R.Rehman; at the least the man has talent! But Ms.Rai? She's got a real talent for not being noticeable at all!

Yes, yes I got that she turned out to be the real crook. Could anyone miss that with the last scene having her draped in hot pink? But really, tell me just how does a hot (?) woman in fabulous clothes, surrounded by not-so-hot-guys and one decidedly drab madam in Paris manage to not stand out at all? I mean, at least as eye candy? So much for her dusky features making her look exotic, La Rai just looks tired, over made-up and haggard. All the chances for some high drama are wasted in her affected, posturing. Jade isn't just the colour of her eyes, it describes the person.

Really, don't go watch Pink Panther 2 because it has an Indian in it. Go watch it for Steve Martin and his madcap capers.

Irrfan 'The Mindblowing' Khan

Ankur Bhatia — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 07:06:50 EST

Irrfan Khan is not your regular hero but he is one of the rare breed of actors who can kick some serious butt even if he is pitted against your typical hero in his very own backyard. But he hasn’t reached such a stature overnight. It’s taken years of TV serials, numerous passable films and a lot of hard work. He got his first break in films with Mira Nair’s Salaam Bombay but unfortunately his scene was deleted before the release. He went on to play the role of Senapati in the famous Chankya on TV and was also seen in the award winning film Ek Doctor Ki Maut in 1991. Still, it wasn’t until 2003 that he was really noticed in India even though he did The Warrior which won the Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film.

In 2003 came Haasil, a gem of a film based in Allahabad about student politics and love which got Irrfan his first Filmfare award for the negative role as Ranvijay Singh. This was what his career needed and he hasn’t looked back since then. Over the past 6 years he has done films across various genres and played so many memorable characters. His performance in films like Maqbool, Life…In a Metro and Mumbai Meri Jaan speaks volumes about his range and talent. It was because of such performances that he got films like The Namesake and the Angelina Jolie starrer A Mighty Heart which got him rave reviews in Hollywood.

The Namesake in particular was a special performance by the man who just expresses so much by his body language that he doesn’t even need dialogues. He makes you live his character along with him which is something that can only be said for the likes of Al Pacino, Robert De Niro etc.

If people were wondering what more can this man offer, he has given us another unforgettable performance as Billu. He captured the helplessness and simplicity of Billu perfectly and did it so naturally that it was hard to believe he had ever been anybody else but Billu. Hats off to this fine actor who, in spite of not having the personality of a star continues to inspire and amaze. He is a complete superstar in my book and I hope we see many such performances.

Oscars 2009: Slumdog Tops The Grade

Aaman Lamba — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 07:31:12 EST

The Oscars have a certain glamour that outstrips most other award ceremonies. Much of this allure is deliberately cultivated, of course, and given the large number of film awards events, one wonders why the Oscars should particularly matter. They do matter, though, and the nominees and winners are treated with far greater recognition than those of many other awards.

The pop-culture effect of Hollywood is fading fast, though, being replaced by a variety of media sources - from the 'long movies' of television dramas to Internet webisodes. The Oscars don't reflect this, treating only the feature-length films and shorter vignettes as deserving of Academy recognition. Their American bias seems to be giving ground to some extent, with recent nominees and winners in the mainstream category being more representative of global cinema trends.

This year's Academy Awards were pretty much along expected lines, from the presentation to the winners. Many great films of 2008 were not even recognized, ranging from the Swedish teen-vampire tragic romance Let The Right One In to the great Western Appaloosa.

From the films that were nominated, the odds-on favorites were The Strange Case of Benjamin Button and Slumdog Millionaire. Apart from Best Foreign Film, most of the other awards went along expected lines. Slumdog Millionaire picked up eight awards, notably in the technical departments and the big two, Best Director and Best Picture. Benjamin Button took three awards, and Dark Knight two, including the sureshot Best Supporting Actor for Heath Ledger.

Smile Pinki, a feel-bad-feel-good film, bagged Best Documentary, throwing further light on the Indian contribution to this year's Awards. A R Rahman and Rasool Kutty took their place in the spotlight for Best Score, Best Original Song, and Best Sound Editing.

The dark horse was the Japanese film Departures which was not well-known and not a strong contender for Best Foreign Film, where it was up against fine films like Waltz With Bashir and The Class. Conspiracy theorists will no doubt see the fell hand of the Elders of Zion behind this non-event, too bad for them.

Sean Penn and Kate Winslet received the acting awards for Milk and The Reader, shutting out the fine performances by Mickey Rourke and Meryl Streep.

Movie Review: Slumdog Millionaire - Phir Bhi Dil Hai Filmistani

IdeaSmith — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 07:36:52 EST

Slumdog Millionaire is that rare combination of a strong plot and skilful storytelling that marries grit and glamour seamlessly.

You would think that a firang's depiction of India would be all 'exotic desh'...swollen-bellied babies starving outside the Taj Mahal and begging children. The movie does have hunger, poverty, slums, streetkids and beggars. Even the Taj Mahal. But of course, can you realistically expect a foreigner to be able to resist showing that in a movie about India?

And yet, Danny Boyle manages to veer away from cliched expressions and brings us the story of the great Indian dream. Money, love, fame, glamour all after struggle, grit, disappointment and insurmountable hurdles. What's all this hoo-halla about glamourising poverty? Haven't you heard of rags-to-riches tales?

I remember the hysteria that gripped the nation surrounding the first winner of Kaun Banega Crorepati. Why was the show so popular? I doubt anyone going through the Indian education system could really, truly care about learning and knowing more. The quest of knowledge was certainly not what kept people glued to the show. Why then did people dance on the streets, why was there so much excitement surrounding the jackpot success of a guy nobody knew? Because he was one of them. Just an anonymous one of the millions. He represented a dream that was suddenly a possibility. What one of them them could do, the rest could very well aspire to.

What's a boy from the teeming millions doing shaking hands with the most famous man in the country? That's real life meeting larger-than-life. Look me in the eye and tell me that that doesn't touch you.

Movie Review : Dev D, Cult To The Core

Ankur Bhatia — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 06:03:10 EST

Its not often that one comes across a cult film, one that becomes a benchmark for film makers for years to come. But the funny thing about such movies is that they very rarely appeal to the masses. Dev D is one such film which a lot of people just could not stand and others fell in love with it, including me. Its just a question of whether the sensibilities of such a film hit the right spot in your mind or not.

Dev D for me is a beautiful film, one that is a modern age classic. Every frame, every sec, every dialogue, every song of the film is poetry in motion. I am not going to get into the story since everyone knows what it is. But there are a lot of differences from the original Devdas as Dev in this film is not as a big a loser as described in the book, and this becomes clear by the end of the movie.

Mahi, who plays Paro is top notch as the girl who is madly in love with Dev and would do anything to make him happy, even if it means going to a different city to get her nude photo developed or getting a mattress into the fields to have sex. Kalki is also good but her inexperience shows in crucial scenes which hold them from reaching their full potential. Evidently Abhay Deol puts in a scintillating performance as Dev. He underplays effectively with the help of subtle gestures with his eyes and gives a new dimension to this Devdas.

But all this does not make it a classic (though it plays a part), it reaches that benchmark because of the treatment given by Anurag Kashyap in adapting this saga into a modern age version. The picturization of songs is there to be seen, admired and fall in love with, specially <i>Pardesi</i>. And the songs are not in there for the heck of it. All of them enhance the mood of the film and their timing is just perfect, specially <i>Emotional Atyachaar's</i> Rock version with the timing of its scream. The camera work is another one of its highlights. From the underwater shots to the shot of a completely drunk Dev getting up with a shaky camera, all of it is fantabulous.

If you like Dev D, you wont be able to forget it. It will stay with you and make you feel as if you are in a trans.One that you don't wanna get out of.

Movie Review : Anurag Kashyap's Dev D

Nishit — Mon, 9 Feb 2009 04:23:00 EST

An egotistical brat returns from London to meet his childhood love, only to blow her off with his sadistic ways, resulting in his childhood sweetheart getting married to a widower and the brat resorting to liquor and a kothewaali. That's as crisp and accurate summary of Devdas as one can get. Still it's surprising to see fascination of Bollywood with the character and the story. Three times, three directors have made their version with top actors of respective times. Anurag Kashyap definitely does not belong to the aforementioned genre. He believes that those movies and the story itself is too melodramatic. He believes that Devdas is nothing but a sore loser. And that's how Devdas takes a big leap of faith, if you will.

Kashyap's Devdas is not totally a biography of a man of misery. Dev, Paro and Chanda all get their own narrative until they converge. Dev, in the beginning, is no cute child artist who gives a hug or an innocent kiss to his childhood love. Instead he threatens his girlfriend to bite her hand if she doesn't obey him and he does. In one of the rare hilarious moments of the movie, when asked to leave for London, Dev asks whether he is being sent to London because he was caught smoking or for calling his father 'Sattu'. Shahrukh Khan's passion towards Paro was expressed by the melodramatic Koi tumhe chhue yeh main bardaasht nahi kar sakta, while Dev (Abhay Deol) here, looking at nude picture of his girlfriend,with expressions full of lust, goes Paro, main aa raha hoon. Paro (portrayed beautifully by Mahie Gill) too, on the other hand is no silsila yeh chahat ka girl of yours. She succumbs to lust as easily as her man does. I was probably the only one in the whole cinema to laugh out loud when she starts carrying a mattress on her bicycle stand, but that shows the extent she is willing to go to follow her lust and that of her man. When, the currently cult song, "Emosional Atyaachar" by Patna ke Presleys starts playing during her marriage celebrations, uncaring of her surroundings she breaks into a zesty dance, much to the shock of her relatively-old husband. When asked by his ex about physical satisfaction from the relationship, she not only retorts, she goes on to say, tumhe tumhari aukat dikha rahi hoon. While Sarat Chandra's Chandramukhi does not have much background to identify with, Kashyap's Chanda (Kalki Koechlin) goes through roller-coaster of teenage romance, scandals, hatred until succumbing to Easy Money for her life. Dev's journey of rise, fall and redemption goes through dark -- figuratively and literally -- nights, lots of vodka, mountains of Himalayas, grief over his father's death, misery of a criminal and a lot more. Even if that meant the story dragged a bit and the whole arbitrary second half of "self-discovery" and "epiphany". That's where the movie deserves its share of criticism.

The two strongest departments to come out of this movie are cinematograpy and music. Kudos to Amit Trivedi and Kashyap for not only creating surreal music, but also blending it to the film so beautifully that in spite of 18 tracks, it never distracts from the narrative, but only adds to the effectiveness. For example, after confronting her ex, when Paro leaves the hotel, in slow frames, hiding her sorrowful eyes with sunglasses, to the tunes of saavan barse/ chubhan de hazaar/ saavan barse. It's amazing how much sense Dhol Yaara Dhol or Paayaliya makes after having actually seen the movie. DevD's sojourn through underground pubs and drug bars reminds you of another visually stunning expression of misery, Requiem for a dream.

Originally, Abhay Deol himself conceived the idea of Dev.D and he knows his character well. It's sure a challenge to portray someone whose perpetual mood is that of sorrow and masochism. I will go on to say that Devdas is one of the most unidimensional characters you'll ever come across in hindi cinema in the ranks of all babujis of Alok Naths and maas of Nirupa Roys and Reema Lagoos. Only for that, if for nothing else, Abhay Deol deserves accolades. Mahie Gill as Paro makes an interesting debut. She does not make a cute or girl-next-door debut, but a role that requires her to shed clothes in the first few minutes of the movie and not for titillation. Challenging and well done! Kalki Koechlin is passable as the Canadian-Indian high class prostitute. Chunni here gets more color than Sarat Chandra's counterpart here. He is not just an accomplice of Dev, but a shrewd drug dealer and an accomplished pimp. Kashyap will surely get some of the fans back he lost with No Smoking.

Thumbs up for a beautifully crafted and visually stunning film. I say bring on more!

PS:- Just as I was about to publish this, I got the answer for the Special Thanks to Danny Boyle frame at the beginning of the movie.