Thursday, June 7, 2007
Of Ghalib and review of a review of Cheeni Kum
Mat pooch ke kya haal hai mera tere peechhe,
Tu dekh ke kya rang hai tera mere agey,
Baazi chahe atfaal duniya mere agey,
Hota hai shabboroz tamasha mere agey...
Someone whom I haven't seen for a few blue moons sent me the above lines. Now, I usually need an interpreter for Ghalib. I have one local interpreter and another I call up in New York. These lines reached me without any help, though. I guess that's why some of my more sensible friends swear on the genius of the fellow. Today he made me smile and write about a movie that I thoroughly enjoyed watching ten-odd days ago.
I almost didn't see Chini Kum. I was so discouraged by Khalid Mohammad's review of the movie. And then my fondness for movies got the better of me. Thank God for that! I thoroughly enjoyed watching the movie. Along with Metro, it happens to be my favourite movie of the year so far.
I am no critic and finer points of movie-making escape me regularly. But I found the setting interesting, the story plausible and the acting of Amitabh Bachchan and Tabu (particularly the latter) very very good. All of which made for a most entertaining two and a half hours.
Khalid Mohammad in his review exhorts Amitabh Bachchan to act his age and give up on his 'Sexy Sam' (obvious reference to his character in Kabhi Alvida Na Kahna) image. Sixtyfour year olds cavorting with women half their age stretches viewers' credulity, avers Mohammad. Personally I thought it somehow offended Mr. Mohammad's sensibility.
At some point in the movie, Amitabh tells Paresh Rawal : "You are jealous of me. You cannot imagine someone my age can be happy, can be looking forward to new things in his life. You had me slotted in a particular image and now you are upset that you had presumed wrongly." Bachchan could have been talking to Khalid Mohammad.
I thought Big B and Tabu looked rather good on screen. Two mature inelligent people who made mature intelligent conversation. They looked far better than, for instance, the pairing of Dharmendra and Nafisa Ali in Metro.
Cheeni Kum is very different from Nishabd. In both the films Big B is seen being attracted to women far younger than him. But that's where the similarities end.
Admittedly Jia Khan and the Big B looked a complete mismatch in Nishabd. But that was not just due to their age gap. The difference between Tabu and Jia is not just in their years, but also in their histrionic abilities. Tabu is a classy actress and methinks one of the most under-rated actress of our times. She has two national awards in her kitty -- for Chandni Bar and Astitva, should have won another for Maqbool, if you ask moi.
I liked Cheeni Kum because of the dialogues. I am sucker for intelligent dialogues and there were a fair number of them in this movie. I loved it when the chef remarked to his colleague: "Tere aur Maya ke beech koi hai. Tere daant." And thoroughly enjoyed Tabu sending Amitabh on a jog, after he had held her hand.
Now I remember the connection between Ghalib's lines and Cheeni Kum. Both made me smile.
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7 comments:
I quite liked Cheeni Kum. One of the better movies of the year surely. Looking forward to Jhoom Barabar Jhoom next week. I can see Ghalib is back on the blog, but as far as I am concerned, mum's the word.
I want to make clear from the beginning that I have not seen Chini Kum. Not that stops me from offering my expert comments...
Though, I have seen long ads. for the movie of Zee TV.
All these rash of movies about older men and younger women might be a sign of Indian cinema growing up or breaking new ground etc. BUT..how come men get to live out the philosophy of "age is just a number" or advocate B.S. like " the bags under my eyes are full of wisdom"? [Even if it IS the bigB] And how come women everyday are harassed by ads. insisting that looking young is the only respectable way to live (OK, I admit I'm almost 40..but I'm angry about a lot more than that).
If you think these movies about older men and younger women are somehow more 'psychologically realistic' or 'shockingly refreshing' or 'morally complex" you are falling for the oldest trick in the book --- that these exciting adventures of this Man are about Humankind.
Call me when they make a movie about a 60 yr. old woman and a 40 yr. old guy-- I'll have my vicarious visual orgasm then....
its bazee chahe atfal duniya mere aagey...
yes i am the local interpreter ;-)
The mistake's been duly noted....and corrections carried out....
R
Here is your ghalib sher for the day...
Unke aane se jo aa jati hai mooh par ronak
woh samajhtey hain ki beemar ka haal accha hai...
thanks for the correction...
((between there are others also... just incase you decide to give up Ghalib))
Cheeni Kum was a good film till half time I thought. Amitabh Bacchan, no doubt, is the stalwart he is made out to be. There is a scene in which he is dressed in all white… ready to go and visit Tabu upon her invitation for the quiet dinner (ahem!). Girls in the cinema let out a small shriek when Mr B strode across the screen. He still has that affect…. And then top that with the fact that he is also the style icon (touted as best dressed man in India), the living legend; whatever and however many controversies he may be part of.
Then what can you say in praise of Tabu as an actress that hasn’t been already said. If someone hasn’t seen ‘Namesake’, they may have missed out on the best acting this year by two most gifted Indian actors (the other being Irfan Khan).
So both of them carry it off - an improbable but not impossible love story! You can see the chemistry, the brilliant intellectual banter makes it convincing and brilliant screenplay – it all works. Not to mention, the rainy London backdrop (Chelsea, of all the places) adds a smoky character to the film.
I was enjoying it so much and then all hell breaks lose as the scene shifts to Dilli. Hey, you have Shangri La (product placement), goondas in the typical eve teasing scene, Mr B giving a ridiculous reason as to WHY a man would want to get married Tabu and above all the tasteless caricature of a Gandhian. What a waste of Paresh Rawal. A friend said this may have been done to add comic relief to the film. Ok, but why then so late and wasn’t Zohra Sehgal enough or Sweeny ‘Sexy’ for that matter.
So, my problem with the film is a) they pooh-poohed a father's reluctance about marrying his daughter off to a 64 year old man! Was it really that unexpected in the given social context? Poor imbecile Gandhian! b) Why again marriage was made to be the only logical conclusion of a sentimental bond between two people. A recent Hollywood film called ‘Prime’ had a similar plot, where an older woman (Uma Thurman) gets into a relationship with a much younger man, where the age difference was something like 15 years. There was very convincing chemistry between the couple but the denouement very different from Cheeni Kum. They don’t end up together because there is almost a generation’s gap.
Anyway, my point is that two people can be drawn to each other at any time, in any age and in any circumstances. It was a nice love story with an illogical, flimsy end I thought. Rather should say, Hindi filmy end.
Well, your blog, dear Rajan, is taking a life of its own independent of you. I'm responding here to 'Vineeta's' comment on Tabu in Namesake. So, might me your territory but you see we are taking it over.
Now, The Namesake, I thought, was one of of the rare sui generis items: a movie that worked better than the book. I agree with Vineeta in that I loved Tabu in the movie. Also, the guy who played Gogol's dad was just amazing ( as in other stuff I've seen him).
But, when I read the book, I did not really like Gogol's strange self-searching (which seemed peculiarly self-absorbed) through various female liaisons. It seemed to strike a wrong cord, imposing a purely Western existential crisis on to a ABCD consciousness. That part of the novel bugged the heck out of me.
(Though, in all honesty, what do I know... perhaps it was because the novel was pushing some maternal buttons for me as one bringing up kids in the big bad US. -- I'd like to know other Indian readers' opinion on this).
But the movie on the other hand seemed to smooth out this bumpy phase much better. I did felt comparatively less alienated with the action as a viewer than I did as a reader.
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