I saw Saawariya yesterday, at Priyas. I had to; after all it is a Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s. The day before I watched Om Shanti Om, and today I saw No Smoking. All three are abjectly disparate. They must be having their own fan-following (the Movies, I mean), but am not sure about them statistically. Anyway, let’s see them one by one.
Saawariya
I’d been waiting for this ever since I heard about it. I assumed it to be a blockbuster right from its inception. It would have done the same for Ranbir and Sonam what Phool aur Kaante did for Ajay or Kaho na Pyar Hai for Hrithik, but let’s first accept it.. Ranbir isn’t as talented as either of them. Nonetheless, he is definitely better than many of his peers though, solely by virtue of his face, looks and dance. And He can act too! The movie, though ostensibly is about him… And yet you can sense Bhansali Ji pervading in each and every nook and corner of the movie. In all departments, he has a say. And an above-average say, for sure. The movie reminds me closely of Devdas minus the sunlight and the reddish touch modified to pan-blue. As usual, the sets are elegant, the setting exquisite, the blueness and flip-flops making quotidian streets eloquently grand. And that’s precisely why you’ve to watch it on 70 MM screen to appreciate this finesse. Definitely not the best work of Bhansali, yet a commendable gesture to promote scions of two very different –yet, ironically Namesake- Bollywood families.
P.S- Mute-Deaf-Musical, Gujrati love and Beauty, Reddish-Orange Magnum Opus, Blackly Handicapped, Blue-White Fyodor Dostoevsky… And they say He is repetitive and predictable. Rubbish! What next, Bhansali Sir?
Om Shanti Om
Shahrukh, Farah… What else could you’ve expected? No matter what the people say, I say that the movie is lovingly hilarious. That’s it. And nothing else, in no other way you could possibly appreciate this one. Shahrukh does the routinely monotonous “good” acting, the same clichés played and said time and again. Highly dramatic or over-acting – whichever you prefer- is also equally applicable herein. If you have to enjoy the movie, there is a way out- watch it as purely senseless comedy movie, you sure would relax your facial muscles quite a bit. The USP of the movie is definitely Arjun Rampal, looking all the more deadly in grey-locks! Ofcourse, only next to (slurp!) lascivious Deepika. She is Ambrosial.
No Smoking
Weirdly Intellectual. That’s Anurag Kashyap for you. The guy is himself a smoker, to quote him, “I’d quit smoking only when I won’t have the money to buy it”. This guy making a movie promoting anti-smoking in the most of eerie of ways ever witnessed… where all the anti-smokers smoke themselves… Something is definitely missing somewhere. The movie is overtly symbolic, and am yet to decipher it. It left me disturbed, though in strangely pleasant of manners!
Saawariya:
From a bird’s eye view, the dream world of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Saawariya looks like a vague cubist painting, with houses in hues of blue and green. And it is a world where the sun doesn’t shine. Not at least in the course of the story.
It did enchant me with its visual beauty, but did not touch me where it matters the most – heart. And the reason for this is that Sanjay Leela Bhansali has given more importance to creating the right ambience rather than capturing the essence of the story….Like you say devdas -sunlight;-)
OSO:
Well just a word of advice to all netizens/readers/movie watchers across the globe. Don’t, for God’s sake don’t, raise exclamations like kab?, kyun? kahan? as OM SHANTI OM begins to unravel. This is atypical Manmohan Desai film presented in a novel avtaar by Farah Khan. It’s definitely not for pseudos or advocates of arthouse cinema….
Agree with you completely on the Arjun Rampal point.
No Smoking:
Havent seen the movie yet!:-)
Nice blog. Saawariya s bore and OSO is decent!!!!
@ Prachi
Their wasn’t any essence in the story to capture, so no point in trying. It was an out and out, ‘Visual Treat’. I’ll rest my case here.
That’s precisely what was intended by Farah and Shahrukh. And they have accomplished it pretty well.
I’d say, watch it.. for the sake of all weirdness in the world, would appreciate your viewpoint 😉
@Ashu
Very much your personal conjecture, and I respect it.