Coming from the Aamir Khan stable, one expects an outstanding movie. The movie is entertaining, not outstanding.
Placed in a rustic Bundelkhand that the movie calls 'Mukhya Pradesh', the movie is the story of a farmer who decides to commit suicide so that his family would get the lakh rupee compensation that the government has promised.
The movie does not make you go rolling in laughter: it is subtle and intelligent. However, the sarcasm tickles you AND pinches you at the right spots. The movie overall only entertains without making any point as such.
Nasiruddin Shah and the actress who plays the female news reporter are memorable. Raghubir Yadav is the best among the cast as Budhia. Though the story is about Natha, the character is hardly visible. It is, in fact, the point of the movie - in the pursuit of news-making, the actual victim/story is left aside.
The song 'Des mera angrez hai babu' is very good - the only one that I remember, in fact. The dialogues are slightly difficult to understand and I must admit that I did not understand the dialect in parts. Some of them are, however, hilarious. The locations chosen look perfect for the setting of the movie. The pre-interval portions of the movie are fast-paced and crisp; the climax surprises you to some extent.
Overall, I could have done without watching the movie. However, don't regret watching it either. It's a movie for the 'cultured/intelligent' audience. Maybe I am away from that as of now.
Disclaimer:
Every post in the blog is an original piece of work by the blogger. Do not use the pictures, posts on the blog without the consent of the blogger.
Aaditya and Me by Aditya Joshi is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License
Aaditya and Me by Aditya Joshi is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License
Des mera rangrez.. not angrez!
ReplyDeleteThere are so many points in the movie that suggests that a great deal of thoughts went into making of the movie.
ReplyDelete1) The hindi local news reporter who died in the end did a shayari on Iraq bombing and Oil politics.
2) The english speaking women news reporter is mostly likely Barkha Dutt.
3) "Mal-mutra" wala scene - the reporter there talks about how psychological condition of the Natha can be inferred from analysis his "Mal-mutra". This scene is so gross.
4) Attitude of beaurocracy : always in state of inaction or denial.
5) Superb depiction of poverty in India.
6) The anti-climax at the end. You expect something fabulous to happen at the end but the movie leaves you abruptly. Message is "Life goes on ..."
7) Comparison of the whole incident with Mela.