I scoured the net for reviews of this movie and didn’t come up with a single one. Seems a pity that such a great movie should have its first independent review on the net written by one such as I.
The film is about two struggling photographers, blah blah. If you haven’t seen it, go see it first. On with the review.
It is hard to find fault with this movie. The writing, which for me is the best part of any movie, was superb. Initially I thought some of the plot devices a bit ludicrous, but this ludicrousness is what makes the film so great. How else could you have that whole time-bomb sequence which ends with Pankaj Kapoor et al having a serious discussion with soot on their faces! Ahuja not recognising the drunk d'Mello etc. might seem like bad writing but a clean plot was not the point of the film. Quite the opposite. The nothing-is-impossible writing distracts you while the film delivers a subconscious roundhouse punch. I don’t remember them all but the film is so full of great lines and subtle nuances that it is almost impossible to list them all (or is it?)
All the actors were wonderful except perhaps Satish Kaushik, who was saved by his lines. (Mr. D'mello, rukiye please!) Bhakti Barve was sizzling in this movie. She didn’t spend close to enough time on screen for me. Neena Gupta was forgettable. Om Puri was superb. Everyone was great. What am I saying?
There’s one scene in particular which really impressed me, the one with the time bomb. With ten seconds to go for the bomb to burst, Tarneja et al start counting the seconds. I don’t know if this is an accident or the directors mind-blowing take on James Bond, where there’s 22 seconds to defuse the bomb which last for eight minutes of film. Anyways, they start counting and they’re counting all wrong, far too slow and then you realise that the clock is ticking off the seconds so you can count and it’s already been way more than ten seconds and you’re going ha ha, this is cool, when they finish counting to zero and precisely at the moment, the clock strikes eight. The film maker controls the universe. One second is elastic. Wonderful!
All the scenes are great. There are some touches which totally blew me away like the photograph of Indira Gandhi in Bhakti Barve’s (so hot!) office reminded me that we used to live in a highly authoritarian country. The political commentary is not just on the surface, but everywhere. I’m at a loss for words, so I’m just going to watch it again, take notes and write another review. And then maybe the day after as well. What am I doing on Sunday? Nothing? So maybe another one then.