NOTE: Spoilers ahead!
Maybe I'm watching too many random hindi movies. But really, you have to agree that this is a currently popular Bollywood movie, which is many steps ahead of the rest.
Ratna Pathak is a widow who's not, lo and behold, graying and wearing a white sari! She is struggling to deal with her past, tradition, loss and trying to do whatever she can for her (and her son's) future.
And guess what! The girlfriend doesn't actually turn into a vamp the moment she is dumped. She's in a really sticky situation and she says - I'm alright, I'm the way I need to be - and if you can't deal with it, so be it. Without you, my world won't end, Surprise!
I liked the brother too. They all called him crazy and then finally ate their words. People are different and everyone cannot fit into the mold. His obsession with his art, his fascination with the rat - were all very endearing.The exchanges between the aforementioned girlfriend's parents are downright disturbing - but you don't see her getting too melodramatic about it.
When the hero finds out about his father, he's not wailing or weeping!These are all people with very serious, very real problems. But they're not painting the town red. People go through severe, brutal personal tragedies and still go on - if they didn't it would cost them their sanity. Besides, maybe I needed some of that thing too ...
D'uh, of course the movie was cliched. And puh-lease, you cannot call it great art. Besides, it's Bollywood. It's bashing the Box Office! But you know what! I thoroughly enjoyed the movie for all the little things that it was able to say under the garb of a Bollywood hit.
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2 comments:
I watched this movie twice and liked it both times. It is interesting how you have parsed different aspects of it some of which are indicative of why the movie has been appreciated. The seemingly casually thrown phrase “maybe I needed some of that thing too” was quite a surprise. And then you end by saying it is not ‘great art’. Maybe not. But, just a few words about art – art of any kind is a stimulant to our brain. But, if art is only a stimulant to brain then why is it not looked down upon in the society like cigarette smoking? Maybe because it is more subtle in effect and is not carcinogenic. Another thing – an artist does not understand the brain, but he/she has an intuition about how to create an overall positive effect in the observers’ mind. Just to bring to your notice, there are few people who, instead of letting the intuition take control, are trying to parse the ‘art’ (loosely) like you have done. Prof. Ramachandran is one such person. See this: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/vilayanur_ramachandran_on_your_mind.html
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