COURT MARITAL
Hrithik and Aishwarya shine as married royals… when not smothered under the bloat of Ashutosh Gowariker’s historical romance. Plus, the year’s film-to-beat.
FEB 17, 2008 – I HAVEN’T LAID EYES ON PICTORIAL REPRESENTATIONS of Jahangir as an infant, but going by Ashutosh Gowariker’s Jodhaa Akbar, he was doubtless the handsomest baby in all of Mughaldom. And how could he not be, with Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan for parents – those flesh-and-blood advertisements for eugenics, with those cheekbones and that jawline and that hair and those eyes? Hrithik occupies screen space with such silent poise and regal bearing, it’s hard to believe this is the same actor with the loosest limbs in Bollywood. And while Aishwarya’s beauty is no breaking news – in fact, that’s the only explanation for the longevity of her career – she’s so luminous from certain angles, it’s as if the cinematographer lit her from within. When I first saw these two together, my concerns about the film – based on rumours that it’s too long, too this, too that! – simply melted away. There are films that you go to because they change your life, your perspective, your reason for existence. Then there are those that function primarily as tourist brochures on celluloid, showing you beautiful people and beautiful places, all from the comfort of your well-upholstered seat in an air-conditioned theatre. If Jodhaa Akbar had been merely the latter, if Gowariker had done nothing more than train his camera on his leads – after positioning them in and around the period architecture that’s almost as good-looking – I’d have considered my four-something hours (including commercials and intermission) extremely well spent.
Unfortunately, Gowariker isn’t content with the story of a Mughal emperor named Akbar and a Rajput princess named Jodhaa getting married, overcoming their differences and living happily ever after. (And this alone would have made for a wonderful addition to our canon of romances, because with the exception of Mani Ratnam, almost no other mainstream filmmaker appears interested in exploring aspects of love after marriage.) Gowariker wants to contextualise this love story within the political turmoil of the period – and while this is no doubt necessary when you consider that we need to know the kind of man Akbar was and the kind of woman Jodhaa is before they become Jodhaa Akbar (what a nice touch that her name comes before his in the title, for it’s her influence that tempers him to greatness), Gowariker simply isn’t equipped with the skills to tell that story, the whole story. To make an epic entertainment out of all these disparate elements is perhaps impossible without a dash of go-for-broke madness, and Gowariker is too sane a director, too methodical, too… nice. What he’s very good at is in filling in the emotional landscapes of people – think of the moment in Swades when Shah Rukh Khan finally comes home, by drinking water that isn’t bottled – and when he moves beyond people and into politics, he’s plainly out of his league. I was left wondering why this filmmaker with such love for old-fashioned filmmaking – he foreshadows the evil that’s to come with a shot of a dark cloud enveloping a full moon – didn’t take a leaf or two out of Mughal-e-Azam, which blissfully abandoned all pretence of addressing history and therefore functioned marvellously as just a love story.
Jodhaa Akbar takes a long, long time to take off, and even when it does, it doesn’t soar so much as stay airborne for small durations between bumpy landings. You get a glimpse of what’s in store when, early on, Gowariker unleashes the battle of Panipat. There’s no energy in this sequence, and it’s so laughably staged, it’s as if the extras leapt into position a half-second after the director yelled, “Action!” A later sequence that has Akbar taming a wild elephant is worse, with Hrithik dodging this way and that, trying his darnedest to convince us that the beast is a mortal danger – while the poor pachyderm just lumbers along, shaking its head as if puzzled by this man’s inexplicably enthusiastic exertions. But even with the non-action sequences – say, the ones involving discussions on taxes or religion – the staging is so flat, you feel title cards could have done a better job. This happened, we’re told in a plodding fashion, and then that happened, and then this happened, and then that happened… After luring us into theatres with the promise of a love story, Gowariker gives us anything but that for long, dull stretches. A crucial subplot involving a threat to the throne is downright ridiculous, considering the villains behind these machinations have barely been developed as characters, and we’re meant to take them seriously.
And when a largish chunk of a film is filled with things you don’t much care about, it’s a huge problem. Gowariker wants to do justice to every single detail (the end credits feature a “food dresser for the Rajasthani meal”) and to every single actor, right down to the insignificant slave girl who makes an exit after relaying a crucial bit of information to her emperor. (The camera lovingly keeps her in focus as she does a salaam and exits the frame, instead of having her leave while the scene shifts to the others.) You wish all that time had been used to accommodate more scenes of Ila Arun, say, who plays Akbar’s wet nurse. This is a fascinatingly complicated character – filled with love for the emperor she has breastfed, and equally filled with insecurity over his increasing attention to his new wife – but the way she comes across is as a petty, scheming, cardboard vamp. Then there’s Akbar’s mother (played by a stiff Poonam Sinha), who could have made for an interesting counterbalance against the wet nurse who’s supplanted her as Akbar’s mother-figure, but all Sinha does is smile benignly and appear and disappear with alarming suddenness.
But thankfully, Gowariker pulls off the love story – at least the portions of it written around moments between Jodhaa and Akbar. (Away from politics, they are just people, see?) The first great sequence between them occurs as strains of a bhajan sung by Jodhaa waft over to Akbar’s court, as he is being questioned about his decision to let his Hindu wife build a temple in her quarters. The acrimony is instantly soothed over by the melody. Akbar excuses himself and wanders off in search of the source, he reaches the pooja room, removes his footwear, tiptoes around the wife he hasn’t fully seen unveiled, and when he comes around, she stops and turns and they face each other… Whether it’s due to Akbar locking eyes with Jodhaa or Hrithik Roshan finally justifying his pairing with Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, this is the moment that begins to restore some balance to the movie. And there’s a beautiful coda, as he walks away lost in thought – not an emperor who’s taken leave of his queen but a smitten man who’s left behind a beautiful woman. It’s these silences that Jodhaa Akbar needed more of, these little stretches of nothingness that let us bask in the pleasure of a made-for-each-other couple at the cusp of falling in love.
Had the film been culled down to just its Akbar and Jodhaa moments, it would have still made for a not-bad love story. There’s a hugely entertaining sequence where Jodhaa prepares lunch for Akbar (courtesy, I guess, that “food dresser for the Rajasthani meal”), and the second half features a lovely stretch where Akbar tries to apologise for packing off Jodhaa to her father’s home over a misunderstanding. If these scenes don’t quite crackle and pop the way truly great love scenes do, they’re at least written and staged well enough to provide much-needed respite from all the courtly intrigue surrounding their union. And I liked how Gowariker depicts Akbar and Jodhaa as practically mirror images, the only differences being those of gender and religion. Towards the end of AR Rahman’s moving Khwaja mere khwaja number, Akbar sees a blinding light and gets in step with a group of whirling dervishes, as if in a trance – and later, this blinding light visits Jodhaa as she prays to her God for her husband’s life. An early instance of Jodhaa winning a swordfight when a manservant distracts her opponent’s attention is mirrored later, when Akbar wins a swordfight when a maidservant distracts his opponent’s attention. And even as children, we’re shown that he is handed a sword before a battle, while the paintings she makes aren’t of plants and skies but of forts.
But when they get married and when he senses that she may not be interested in him, he tells her that his religion gives her the option to walk out of the marriage, while she gently counters that according to her religion, this is a “saat janmon ka bandhan.” I expected the Azeem-o-shaan track to feature first, because it extols the emperor and would seem the perfect backdrop for a strutting Hrithik Roshan, but it makes sense that the first numbers we hear are Manmohana and Khwaja mere khwaja. The initial encounters between Jodhaa and Akbar are almost entirely coloured by religion – his and hers – and it’s only when a compromise and an understanding is reached that we get to the beautiful love song Kehne ko jashn-e-bahara hai. (The song sounds lovelier without any instrumental backing, when it echoes around Akbar and Jodhaa when they are separated for a brief while.) And it’s only when they become soul mates that Gowariker lets loose the awesome In lamhon ke daman mein, and you note that the push-pull dynamics of the composition – which kept you wondering when you just heard it – finally make sense, for the mood alternates between tender romance and torrid passions. Looking at it logically, this song has no business coming in so late and lasting as long as it does, but it provides such a beautifully satisfying culmination to the great love story we’ve been promised that you don’t want it to end.
There is this thing that Aishwarya does where her lips slacken just a bit, with the outline of a smile waiting to be born – and she uses this to great effect in her scenes with Hrithik. She is less sure when she has to hold forth about this and that, but whenever the camera catches her in a pose, she’s exquisite – I know this doesn’t sound like a compliment, but trust me, it is – and for all the problems with Aishwarya’s “acting,” I cannot see any other present-day heroine as Jodhaa, just as there’s no one else you can replace Hrithik with as Akbar. From the authority and the compassion in his refusal to behead a defeated king to the close-up intensity in his prayer at the shrine of Shaikh Chisti, from his self-mocking heroism during an argument with a grain merchant in Agra Bazaar to the self-aware sexuality while wielding a sword bare-bodied for his new wife’s benefit, this is one of those star turns that almost carries the movie. Almost – because Gowariker doesn’t allow his star to entirely break through. He gives us a look at Akbar’s dark side when the emperor has a traitor thrown from a height (and when he doesn’t die, he’s brought back up and callously tossed over again) — but this one-off instance doesn’t translate into a sustained shades-of-grey portrayal. (Had that been the case, the wild elephant that was tamed earlier could have been a stand-in for Akbar, who’s himself “tamed” by Jodhaa.) Hrithik is there in practically every scene, but other than those where he’s with Aishwarya, his edge is mostly blunted by Gowariker’s bloat – and the Akbar we get is simply a nice, sweet, charming bloke who incidentally has to run, oh, an empire. There’s an intimate two-person drama in here somewhere, buried under all the pomp and pageantry, and it’s too bad we catch only the occasional glimpse. Walking out, I felt as if Gowariker had zeroed in on Romeo and Juliet and then devoted most of his attention to detailing the internecine dealings between the Montagues and the Capulets.
ON A VERY BASIC LEVEL, MITHYA COULD BE DESCRIBED as the pitch-black sludge that trickles out of the bottom of a distillation tower after the essence of Don has percolated past stages labelled Black Comedy, Surreal Nightmare, Chaplinesque Pathos, Existential Drama, Shakespearean Tragedy, and so on – but nothing, really, prepares you for the mind-bending mix of feel and mood that is Rajat Kapoor’s latest film. At first, it seems that Kapoor is simply going for an arty-indie spin on the blockbuster that gave us the Big B’s most iconic double-role performance. VK (Ranvir Shorey) is a struggling actor who just happens to look like Raje, the city’s most dreaded gangster. A rival gang (consisting of a scene-stealing Vinay Pathak, Brijendra Kala and Naseeruddin Shah) succeeds in substituting VK for Raje for reasons I’m still not very clear about, but then, this substitution is, for all purposes, a MacGuffin. You only think it has something to do with how the rest of Mithya unfolds, while what follow aren’t revolutions around plot so much as ruminations on philosophy. This is a film best seen when you know very little about it. Going in, I wasn’t aware of even the amount I’ve told you this far, and coming out, I was practically shaking at the madcap brilliance of it all. Spoiler alert till the close of this paragraph – but I’ll be very, very surprised if I see a moment this year that surpasses in emotional heft the last scene of VK’s, when he utters but one name. It’s a one-word dialogue that leaves your heart in your mouth.
Ranvir Shorey has always been on the fringes of the films he’s featured in so far, but if Mithya doesn’t catapult him to another league, I don’t know what will. Alternating dazzlingly between slapstick and soul, the actor gives one of those performances that can only be described as career-defining. He leaves behind such a wake, we seem to be feeling the aftershocks of his acting even in scenes where he does virtually nothing, as when VK’s image is silently reflected on a photograph of Raje made to look like Al Pacino in the Godfather films. (A meditation on duality? A telling underscore of the man VK was versus the man he now is? A cheeky in-joke? Who knows?) If I had to crib, I’d go with the somewhat undercooked Neha Dhupia character (she plays a moll) and the overly precious flourishes like a couple of gangsters named Ram and Shyam. The latter is a needlessly self-referential touch in a film that’s as far away from Bollywood as is humanly possible – because after a while, the grand storytelling ambition behind the seemingly simple double-role switch doesn’t echo Chandra Barot and Don so much as Kurosawa and his Kagemusha. By the end, I was both thoroughly exhilarated and thoroughly depressed, because beginning next week, it’ll be back to the grind. Whether from mainstream Bollywood or niche multiplex avenues, I don’t see anything coming across soon to top the magnificently written (and realised) Mithya. Bravo! Bravo! Bravo!
Copyright ©2008 The New Sunday Express. This article may not be reproduced in its entirety without permission. A link to this URL, instead, would be appreciated.
Aditya Pant
February 16, 2008
Very true. It is the love story that’s the heart of Jodhaa Akbar… the historical flab could’ve been cut drastically. But I don’t complain because I love history. From whatever history I’ve read the character played by Ila Arun – Mahan Anaga – was a far more iteresting that is depicted. She virtually ran the kingdom with her connivance. It was a nice touch by Ashitosh to have built the conflict in the Jodhaa Akbar romance through a character that was really conniving. The other aspects of her connivance were ignored for they didn’t had any relevance to Jodhaa and Akbar. But if Ashutosh’s intent was to pad this love story with tons of history, Maham Anaga’s story would have been much more captivating.
Another aspect of history that was ignored to ‘immortalize’ the love story between Jodhaa and Akbar was that Akbar was already married at least once before he met Jodha. Some historians describe Akbar as a king with “insatiable sexual apetite” and in his younger years ‘feasted’ on every good looking woman she met. He is believed to have 300 wives and concubines in his harem. Now, how can anyone believe the Jodhaa-Akbar love story if this fact was shown….So I guess it’s fine. But it would have been interesting to see the politics (even though fictionalized) between his first wife and Jodhaa…maybe that might have made the love story more compelling!
And I must say, the songs work wonderfully in the context of the film and my initial disappointment as a stand-alone music experience is gone. This is a great soundtrack (though I’m still disappointed with Manmohana). The way Khwaja and In lamhon are picturized is outstanding.
And, if Raj is reading this: This film is another proof of his argument about Rahman’s BGM being underwhelming.
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Aditya Pant
February 16, 2008
About Mithya, as I mention in my review, “Unless every other actor decides to significantly reinvent himself later during the year, this would definitely count among the best performances by an actor in 2008.”
http://urgetofly.blogspirit.com/archive/2008/02/10/mithya-review.html
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Bala
February 16, 2008
Wow…that’s high praise indeed ….I was expecting something of the sort..but still 🙂 ..I hope I like it 🙂
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claustrophobic idiom
February 16, 2008
[i]I cannot see any other present-day heroine as Jodhaa[/i]
I actually disagree with that.I think Aishwarya has been in too many of such roles now(although this is one of her better turns).I would like to see Vidya Balan in such a film.I think she has a certain old world charm and the spunk of a feisty independent woman about her which should fit right in ,in such an environment.And when tapped by the right director can work wonders(as Parineeta showed).
Your review though,is just superlative(yet again).Couldnt agree more with you(although cant express the same with such verbal flourish as you).
Actually,there was a moment that summed up Gowariker’s lack of focus for me.In the scene where Ila Arun is talking to Hritikh and Hritikh is hardly listening as he is paying attention to Aishwarya(who was initially in the corner of the screen) as he begins to pay more attention–the camera amazingly put Aishwarya in an out-of-focus frame and Ila Arun in a centered one!!
And finally,I am so glad that someone loved Mithya as much as me.Bravo,forsooth!
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vimal
February 16, 2008
Hi BR,
Great writeup.But didnt get if u liked the movie or not.
I personally feel the movie is just an average movie made with a lot of grandeur. And if you ask me frankly if I liked it, it’s a big NO. Probably I expected a lot. Some of the plots reminded me of the movies that came in the 80’s and early 90’s :
* An evil godmother instead of a step-mom. But the existence of such a mother is recorded in history as well. As Aditya mentioned, it is the portrayal that goes wrong here.
* A treacherous brother-in-law and at the end, the hero’s sister runs and pleas him to pardon her ‘suhaagan’.
* Some of the characters eves dropping and leaking vital information at the most crucial points in the movie.
* A person nearing death speaking for so long a time and seconds before his death the important characters of the movie coming in front of him from nowhere.
* The hero is bedridden and the heroine goes and prays for hrs. After sometime, light rays enter the respective rooms and voils! the hero opens his eyes.
If the movie had the same cast and crew with a subject that takes place in the modern era, it would definitely see the dust as the story and basic plot offers nothing new.
Akbar taming a wild elephant as u mentioned was so funny. It got even funnier with the fact that the elephant looked small during the taming session but once he mounts onto it,the elephant appears so huge!!! The color of the eyes of both Akbar and Jodha differ once they are grownups. Also, no where in history, it has been mentioned that Akbar had two thumbs in his right hand !!!
The movie like Ashutoshs’ earlier ones had a message. This time about unity among the communities. What goes wrong in JA is that though the message gets clearly conveyed in the first one hour, a lot of unnecessary scenes simply add to the length of the movie and makes the message very bland. And you also need the guts to see an emperor like Akbar trying to woo his wife all the time and somehow win her “Dil” !!!
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oops
February 16, 2008
tss mixed review for JA here !
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Sid
February 16, 2008
YES!!! I kept visiting the blog since last Friday to see what you had to say about Mithya — only because I thought it was BRILLIANT and is an early contender for my year-end #1 slot! I heard that it opened poorly but maybe it’ll pick up like Bheja Fry (although I didn’t think much of that film).
I’m 100% positive that no performance this year is going to top Ranvir Shourie’s.
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Rahul
February 17, 2008
The movie was a major let down.Aish looked anemic.Hritik doesn’t even try to act.Looking good is enough for Dhoom movies but here,you are portraying a legend and you must at least make a pretense that you believe in the character.There is no scene of the movie that one would remember after leaving the theater.
Actually there is one scene that I remember.
Hritik :Kya aap mujhse pyar karti hain?
Aish: Haan,aur aap?
Hritik:Haan main bhi.
This scene is enacted with about as much feeling and conviction as:
Hritik :Kya aap Samose khayengi?
Aish: Haan,aur aap?
Hritik:Haan main bhi le loonga.
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Vivek
February 17, 2008
Can’t agree more with the part on background score, some parts of Rehman’s background score were embarrassing to say the least. And its almost like Ashutosh forgot halfway through a few scenes that there was a movie underway.
Another joins the “could have been a great movie” list
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Sagarika
February 17, 2008
brangan: “It’s these silences…, these little stretches of nothingness that let us bask in the pleasure of a made-for-each-other couple at the cusp of falling in love.” Touche!
Too bad, the movie that I’ve been eagerly awaiting for far too long now, the one movie with the lead pair that I believe has the perfect on-screen chemistry to set our hearts afire (an asset that was rather poorly leveraged in their first gig together, D2) opts to trade in this precious chemistry bit for oodles of history. Disappointing, but I shall nonetheless keep an eye out for the DVD, if only for the sake of “and for all the problems with Aishwarya’s “acting,” I cannot see any other present-day heroine as Jodhaa, just as there’s no one else you can replace Hrithik with as Akbar.” I implicitly trust your judgment on that as with the fact that the few scenes they’re together, they light up the screen…thank goodness for small mercies!
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rads`
February 17, 2008
Beautiful, as always. 🙂
I know this doesn’t sound like a compliment, but trust me, it is – and for all the problems with Aishwarya’s “acting – She’s growing well isn’t she? 🙂
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sakthi
February 17, 2008
R u planning to see “Anjathey” (chithram pesuthadi director miskin’s second movie). The movie is better, like to read ur take on it 🙂
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Amrita
February 17, 2008
I think I was helped by the fact that I kept my expectations low – I knew going in that there was no way in hell they were going to make the movie I’d have loved to watch, with psychotic characters flipping between tender moments and extreme violence, but for what it set out to do, I thought it did rather well. At least Gowarikar made the gorgeousity (not a word but you know what I mean) count for something.
The only bits of the film I had real quibbles with were the war scenes (seriously, $10 million dollars and all the research books in the world – and they couldn’t find a single book on military strategy that would have elevated the war games into something more interesting than a hack job?) and the anti-climactic ending in which Gowarikar slipped back into his Swades side and gave us that little speech about religious tolerance in India.
Other than that – not a bad way to spend 4 hours of my life. 😀 Oh, and Ila Arun = made of awesome.
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Amrita
February 17, 2008
PS – I now absolutely have to watch Mithya. Thanks for the recco.
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brangan
February 17, 2008
Aditya Pant: “But I don’t complain because I love history.” The problem wasn’t about the history but about it being presented so dully. Oh, and Akbar had an “insatiable sexual appetite?” Er, how exactly to these things get to be known? Just asking, of course 🙂
Bala: I do hope a second viewing shows that I’ve not overreacted, but the movie left me on such a high, I didn’t want to hold back in the review 🙂
claustrophobic idiom: Yeah, but Vidya’s done herself no favours by her choice of roles after her breakthrough? I mean, after Heyy Babyy and Bhool Bhulaiyya…
vimal: “But didnt get if u liked the movie or not.” Didn’t this line give it away? “There’s an intimate two-person drama in here somewhere, buried under all the pomp and pageantry, and it’s too bad we catch only the occasional glimpse.” Those are some interesting points about the routine masala elements.
oops: but what did *you* think?
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brangan
February 17, 2008
Sid: Oh finally someone who didn’t care much for Bheja Fry. I just didn’t get the fuss around it at all.
Rahul: That samosa bit had me in splits (besides leaving me somewhat hungry). Thanks 🙂
Vivek: About BGM, yeah, the only “decision” that stood out was the Kehno ko re-do at the beginning of the second half. The echoey feel of the piece went very well with the emptiness of the mood.
Sagarika: You’re right about the chemistry, though. These two do make a good couple. Or maybe it’s just the looks that blind us to whatever’s not working between them 🙂
rads: “She’s growing well isn’t she?” Well, either that, or she’s picking roles more suited to her.
sakthi: It’s gotten rave reviews right? I should catch this…
Amrita: Ah, but the real question is, is “not a bad way” the same as a “good way”? 🙂
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Anush
February 17, 2008
Finally caught the movie … expected a LOT and hence it was slightly dissapointing , but still as a love story it is really good as you summed it up ! The supporting characters and plots somehow wasnt that impressive and the war & action sequences didnt quite make it …
But the lead pair did make up for whatever was missing , still feel it could have become something much more !
I was wondering where Birbal was and expected Tansen probably to contribute a song or two 🙂
But then i guess these guys came much later ..
On the whole it was a nice movie and a good review as usual sir !
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Srini
February 17, 2008
The movie ran like a history tetbok for the first 30 mins and all I can remember is that there were a lot of Rajput kings. Period.
In a movie where culture was represented in the visual detail, Khwaja Mere Khwaja looked like it was picturised by the 4th assistant director. Very amatuerish… The white lights , I am sure depicted “being one with the cosmic silence of the universe resonating with the inner sounds of a Yak” (??)
My pet peeve – Cannonballs… Why can’t we spend a little to make the battle scenes look memorable. The extras in the batle sequences reminded me of B.R.Chopra’s Mahabharatha. Even Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan’s forgettable “Last Legion” had better battle sequences.
The handwritten scrolls – some are opulent… some look like they were scribbled 10 minutes before the shot was canned…
I do not know why, but or the first time I thought that Ashutosh Gowariker was running out of creative vision. Opulence and detail can hardly make up for good cinema. I could distinctly see frames lifted from:
– Kingdom of Heaven – The ones where the Christian army marches forward in the desert like a mirage
– Troy & 300 – Spears and Shield solo combat
– Mask of Zorro – The catherine Zeta Jones fencing sequence
– It happened one night – “Walls of Jericho” (The cloth dividing the bed ) … This has been used atleast in 2 remakes of the same movie…
The movie had so many cliches :
-Masked dancing eastern mystic beauties
– Tribal people with large bamboo toothpicks in their hair
– A bunch of extras where one of them overacts in a song sequence & the rest look like cardboard cutouts
– The people in concentric circle dance
– The plump jovial court official
Nikitin Dheer is wasted in this movie… Showed tons of potential and intensity in his role as Sharifuddin…
There were frames which one would remember and cherish like the one in which Jodhaa wiggles (or curls) her toes as a cue to the to the uneasy situation which the wedding night has put her in… Or the one where Jodhaa shows a hint of desire when she glances at Akbar’s glistening body … Or the fallen Sharifuddin saying Jahanpanah to show his submission to the emperor though there is a spear next to his hand …
Some sequences were straight from Amar Chitra Katha – the thrown twice from the terrace bit 🙂
I thought my wife summed up our feelings pretty neatly – “What a waste. All that they were able to show in the movie was how hard Akbar tried to get Jodhaa into bed and how he finally succeeded”… If only…
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Aditya Pant
February 17, 2008
BR: ” how exactly do these things get to be known?” Godd question….I have always wondered where facts end and interpretation begins in history 🙂
Btw, the facts about Akbar’s sexual appetite are referenced in the works of Abul Fazl and Badayuni (both courtiers in Akbar’s courts)
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Aditya Pant
February 17, 2008
Srini, the thrown twice from the terrace bit is recorded in history. 🙂
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vimal
February 17, 2008
Glad that im not the only one who dint like Jodha and Akbar !!!
Btw, according to the link, Mithya is also a remake.
http://movies.indiatimes.com/News__Gossip/News/Mithya_is_a_remake/articleshow/2780356.cms
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Rahul
February 18, 2008
There has been this thing coming from many quarters that they cant imagine anyone except Hritik as Akbar.Huh! What am i missing?Have people stopped caring about acting? If one only cares about the look one should watch MTV videos.
But its not his fault.I think it was a very bad decision by Shri Govarikar to caste Sri Hi- Tech Roshan of Dhoom and Krisshhh fame in this movie.
As for who else, there is a Manoj Bajpeyi.There is Anil Kapoor.
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brangan
February 18, 2008
Anush: Yeah, a lot of people told me they expected to see Birbal and Tansen.
Srini: “All that they were able to show in the movie was how hard Akbar tried to get Jodhaa into bed and how he finally succeeded” But that’s true of a lot of love stroies, no, the chase being a part of the thrill and all?
Vimal: The film in that link sounds quite different. The article makes a very vague case against Mithya.
Rahul: Shri Bajpai and Shri Kapoor? Somehow I don’t see that at all…
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Aditya Pant
February 18, 2008
Vimal: If a pair of look-alikes is all that is required to call Mithya a remake, why not call it a remake of Don for the basic thread of the plot is more similar to Don. Or call this German flick a remake of Don!!!
Or, blame it all on the Bard 😀
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Sudhir Nair
February 18, 2008
I whole-heartedly agree with ur Mithya review ..i only hope that the movie succeeds so that many such off-the-beaten tracks films can come up..
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raj
February 18, 2008
“And, if Raj is reading this: This film is another proof of his argument about Rahman’s BGM being underwhelming”
Aditya, Thats not what I would have wanted to hear. Though considering the reviews, it may be that the movie is not inspiring enough or deserving enough. All the same, I think Rahman isnt appreciative enough of the grammar of cinema. Like I said, it is still a basic “scene by scene” based approach for him – and while that works for songs, as it always has, BGM is a different animal abd I’d rather appreciate if he says “look, this is not my game – get someone else to do it” to the directors. Afterall, SD Burman to Madan Mohan never scor3d BGM for most of their movies, including major ones. But then in today’s commercialised world, that is not just on…
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raj
February 18, 2008
BR, I think you are under estimating Bajpai. I think you are getting caught up in the bollywood dictum of “looks good, acts good”, “looks not so good, acting also not so good”. Akbar, as Aditya might testify based on his reading of Mughal history, wasnt exactly a handsome man so Bajpai against Aishwarya Rai could have been a rather appropriate casting. And it may have explained Rai taking time to warm up to Akbar. Somehow, it is hard to believe that with Roshan Jr. 🙂
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Sudarshan
February 18, 2008
I actually went into the theatre expecting to love Mithya. Came out badly disappointed. Mainly because it seems to be two totally different movies before (smart, dark comedy, the Rajat Kapoor half) and post-interval (Satya, the Saurabh Shukla half). And the second half seems like a very lazy bit of writing IMHO.
Things are going swimmingly until just before the interval, when we have an accident that puts the whole ‘mission’ in serious jeopardy. As an audience, we think ‘Oh no, this means everything’s screwed up, something interesting needs to happen if things are to work out.’ But nothing does – the danger/tension created at the interval point just keeps going on and on and finally reaches the logical conclusion, without VK/Sonam getting to do anything about it. There’s no ‘working out’, the movie’s as good as over by the interval. I’m not saying that we need a happy ending, necessarily, just some change of path, some *incident*, some action by the leads, instead of just following the expected path.
Oh well… This doesn’t mean that I’ll stop going to watch Rajat Kapoor, Vinay Pathak, or Ranvir Sheorey every time they appear in a movie, just that the expectations will be a little lower. Agree with you, though, that I came away very impressed by Ranvir’s performance – we need more of that.
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Aditya Pant
February 18, 2008
Raj: SDB and MM did not even arrange for their own songs. They were clear about what they wanted in a song, and left it to ‘experts’ to accomplish that vision. I think that’s a good approach. If you’re good at arrangement, as some composers are, then it’s fine, but otherwise why not let others do that?
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Shwetha
February 18, 2008
Regarding Mithya, Sudarshan’s words sums up very well what I felt… I came out feeling cheated – mainly from the different treatments in the first and second halves and the ending….I did want a Bollywood ending or something to have worked out in some vague fashion or an ending open with possibilities.
Though It might be the effect of the brilliant performance by Ranvir Shorey, making me care so much for VK, that I could not take it… I somehow wanted him to overcome the situation. I was almost depressed that day, saying how could they do this to him…
ps – Anyone seen “Mixed Doubles” ? Its an earlier movie by Rajat and was shown on Zoom TV recently.
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raj
February 18, 2008
aditya, let me clarify. I agree with what you say. Really, that’s what I had hinted at – basically, they were comfortable enough to say that it wasnt their game, BGM. It doesnt take an iota of greatness away from them. Rahman should feel comfortable enough similarly – ‘cos he is a great composer even without that feather in his cap. But that would take gloss off his commercial profile – which is probably why he reluctantly does do BGM – with the results showing the lack of an organic approach.
But, yes, orchestrating skills define your completeness as a composer, dont they? Maybe this is where Salil Chaudhary rules over his peers. Having said that, what about the prelude to hoton pe aisi baat – given the input about lack of SDB’s arrangement skills, I would definitely like to hear something definitive on who was responsible for that mesmerising piece of orchestration.
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brangan
February 18, 2008
Sudhir Nair: Mithya seems to be divising people. I guess I’ll have to see it again. But a first viewing left me absolutely dazzled.
raj: Of course I’m not underestimating Bajpai, just as I’m not about to overestimate the chances of such an actor playing the lead in a multicrore production. The only way historicals like this one can make their money back is by casting stars, and if we want to compare other potential Akbars with Hrithik, we should consider the stars and not the actors. Otherwise, my favourite representation of a long-ago character would be Salim Ghouse playing Rama in Bharat Ek Khoj. It was a superb move by Benegal to subvert the conventional, Raja Ravi Varma notions of physical beauty in our deities/historical figures/whatever. But even that was possible only on television.
Sudarshan/Shwetha: (1) It *is* like two different halves. It begins as something oriented on plot (hence the “movie-movie” devices like comedy, etc.) and then morphs into something about philosophy. That’s why, I felt, nothing “interesting” happens, plot-wise. (2) About needing “some action by the leads”, I felt the point was about the things that *happen* to them, so they aren’t agents so much as reactors. (3) The finality of the ending was just perfect, I thought. Every character is accounted for, and somehow, life goes on for those still alive. (4) “brilliant performance by Ranvir Shorey, making me care so much for VK, that I could not take it” Actually I suspect you liked the film more than you think you did. This means it really got to you 🙂
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DPac
February 18, 2008
Rangan saaab…
that was very tame!!!:-)
i half expected jeetendra and Thuder thighs to make a guest appearance along with the drumbeats of azeem-o…shahenshah…
more ‘angst’ here
http://passionforcinema.com/royal-spoon-feeding-at-its-worst/
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Aditya Pant
February 18, 2008
Raj, I’m not sure but I think RDB was responsible for orchestration in Jewel Thief.
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Ganesha
February 18, 2008
So how come you’re devoting 500 words to Mithya and several thousand for the one above it, the one you think is a lesser film? And how come most of those 500 words seem to read between the lines that you are reviewing an Alternative film? I like the fact that reviews of such films are included in the first place — but constantly labelling them “multiplex” and “urban” and “niche” — and it extends to beyond the words, you really do seem to use different yardsticks when you write about them — does nothing to bridge that gap that people see between their normal Friday releases and these ‘other’ films. And you in a position of potential influence should be doubly conscious of furthering that divide.
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Rahul
February 18, 2008
“The only way historicals like this one can make their money back is by casting stars”
brangan,point taken.I would think that a powerhouse performance by a non star may drive the movie;but then maybe i am just being optimistic and maybe its about the kind of movie one chooses to make.Either you go for an out and out script and character based movie;or you garnish it with set pieces like sword fights and other such glitzy action sequences.You spend a lot on lavish sets etc and you drive up your costs to a point when not taking a star would be unsafe,besides being penny wise pound foolish.
Let us for a moment assume that,Sri Hi Tech Roshan was the best bet among the available stars.
Shouldn’t there be some emphasis on acting? Big directors have been known to be tough on their stars.One sees the cool composure of Sri Hi Tech as if proclaiming to all and sundry- “I look the shit and that is all that matters.Everything else will take care of itself”.It could be that both the director and actor tried and its the best that they could come up with.Or else, it could be that they are so confident of the tangibles in the product that wasting time over intangibles like acting isn’t worth it anymore.The emphasis is less on acting well but more on acting just enough as to not appear bad.We have got a fine product anyway.
(End of rant.Thanks for bearing with me:))
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brangan
February 18, 2008
DPac: Man, that was some angst 🙂
Ganesha: I don’t choose which review gets to be the main one. Had Mithya been a solo release, I could have pushed for it, but considering that it was even released a week late here, is it any surprise, J-A got to be the focus? And Mithya *is* an Alternative film, and it *is* “multiplex” and “urban” and “niche”. Why shouldn’t I label the film that way when the film makes no bones about this anyway? The divide does exist, and thank heavens for that. Oh, and if you’re keeping tabs on word count, we don’t get previews for Hindi films down here, so it’s all a question of how much I can pack in between a late-Friday viewing and an early-Saturday submission.
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Shankar
February 19, 2008
raj, nice article…
http://www.hindu.com/mag/2007/04/29/stories/2007042900160500.htm
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s
February 19, 2008
For once, I caught the movie before reading your review and its end up being this movie!
The only benefit I got was to stare at the doll-like lead pair and if Manoj Bajpai starred in this movie even that would be taken away.( i am sorry, but with a script like this, i don’t see how manoj bajpai alone would have salvaged it).
Ps:I feel the same way as Aditya said, sticking with the history and that dynamics it offered would have offered a much better drama. Jodha(or watever the hindu princess name was), was his third wife, one of his three cheif queens and the mother of Jahangir. But she was not like a noorjehan to ShahJahan. I don’t understand this urge to paint history with today’s moralistic brushes.
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raj
February 19, 2008
Shankar: thanks for that link.But somehow I felt it beat around the bush with no definitive take.
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raj
February 19, 2008
br, that’s an explanation, alright 🙂
However, you do say that the commerce of it, whether it makes commercial sense or not, whether it makes money or not, doesnt, infact, shouldnt, matter to you? Did you really say this or am I imagining it? Or, didnt I read the comment space on No Smoking in proper context?
So, why worry about that now? If Roshan is just a strutting peacock, why shy away from saying that?
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raj
February 19, 2008
BR, on second thoughts, dont bother. it just so happens that your thoughts are published from time to time and to contradict a previous opinion is an inalienable right that we all get to exercise – especially since our thoughts arent recorded as frequently/prominently as yours. Why should you be denied the right? 🙂
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Shankar
February 19, 2008
raj, I don’t think the point of that article was to make a definitive view but rather to ask – Having hit his 40s, how is ARR going to re-invent and change the rules of the game again? For instance, G.V.Prakash (nephew of ARR) sounds uncannily like ARR (and Harris in some numbers) in many of his compositions. The technique is the same, the special effects sound the same. Basically, I don’t think GVP has his own unique sound yet. On the other hand, ARR (until now), Harris, Raja etc can all claim to have their own easily identifiable sound. Of course, ARR is also a pioneer in using technology and his sound is being aped by many young upcoming composers. So the natural question would be how would ARR now change the rules of game and redefine it?
It is a general article 🙂
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Shalini
February 19, 2008
Watching “Jodha Akbar” made me grateful that I’m not a film critic.:-) Why? Because unlike professional critics, I have the luxury of providing simplistic, non-analytical “reviews” of films that I see.
So, here’s my review of JA – didn’t like it. Didn’t “dislike” it either. The whole experience was just one great big shrug of the shoulders.
Brangan – Don’t you sometimes wish you could get away with being that inarticulate?:-)
As an aside, with JA, my disillusionment with A R Rahman is complete. Alas, he is not (as I hoped back in the days of “Roja”) the MD who is going to inspire me out of the music of the 50s into the modern age.:-(
Thanks for the great review of “Mithya” – shall locate a legal DVD of it posthaste. 🙂
PS. Aditya – not true that SDB didn’t do the arrangement/orchestration for his songs – he didn’t for *some* of them.
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Krishna
February 19, 2008
my grouse with JA is that it missed out on effectively exploring a romance that offered so much in terms of scope. ok, they probably played safe and kept the interpretations to “permissible” levels, but this had potential.
and what do we get? a half-cooked mix of politics and pat romanticism, that’s neither the high-adrenaline War Epic nor mughal-e-azam. at 40 crores, they could have done with some perspective too.
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brangan
February 19, 2008
s: “The only benefit I got was to stare at the doll-like lead pair and if Manoj Bajpai starred in this movie even that would be taken away.” 🙂
raj: I meant that the commerce of it *does* make a difference in the casting. It doesn’t matter to ME, as a viewer/reviewer, but I don’t see how it cannot matter to the producers. And I did not think Roshan was a strutting peacock. (Where did you find this phrase, BTW?) I thought he was quite good, and said so in my review. I do exercise my inalienable rights to change my opinions, but I don’t see that any opinion has been changed here.
Shankar: But what has hitting one’s 40s got to do with the music one makes? I thought the score for ATM was great fun, very nicely done, and it was just last year 🙂
Shalini: You know what an ideal world would be? If I could get away with a review as brief as yours and still get paid the way I do now 🙂 Imagine all the time that could be spent on other things 🙂
Krishna: “half-cooked” is right. And you know what’s strange? That in general, this film has gotten such raves from critics.
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Vijay
February 19, 2008
I dont necessarily agree that Rahman has to turn over the BGM to someone else. Why should he? For a guy who is handling broadway musicals and stuff like LOTR he is more than well equipped to handle the BGM of movies. I dont think he has to turn it over to someone else just because a few people here think he is not good enough. He has improved by leaps and bounds since his initial years and I thought his work in Iruvar, RDB, Lagaan, Swades, 1947-Earth etc. were all pretty good. And Rahman will only improve further, being the constant learner he is. Also, who are the long list of composers out there who are really that much better at BGM and would also be willing to do just the BGM and not the songs for Rahman’s films? Answer-nobody. I dont think SEL or any other composers out there are any more equipped than Rahman is, to handle BGM. I havent seen any impressive body of work as far as BGM is concerned from any other contemporary composer. Dont think I am just defending Rahman here, I have my own beef with him as regards to several other things. But I dont find this argument about turning over BGM to someone else compelling. If some of the older MDs did it it, maybe because they probably werent equipped to deal with it in the first place.
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Shankar
February 20, 2008
Baddy, hitting the 40s has nothing to do with making music. I didn’t say that…the writer of that article said it and I don’t believe her focus was really on the 40s rather than how ARR would reinvent himself and pioneer something new since he’s known to do that. I was only referring to a host of current young composers who have been impressed by ARR’s body of work as well technique and aped him, in the process sounding a lot like ARR himself.
As for the ATM score, sure a few songs were awesome. However listen closely to “Valayappatti Thamizhae” and then to “Kummi Adi” from Jillendru Oru Kathal. I was really amazed by the similarity in tune for both songs…seemed almost like a rework. I do love the “Marilyn Monroe” song though.
Vijay, I do think Raja has an impressive body of work in BGM among contemporary composers. Again, I’m not saying this as a cliched comparison between ARR and Raja (as it is often portrayed) but just what I believe in. As for ARR handing over BGM to others, I’m not really in favor of that. This happens a lot in the Hindi film world but I feel that a composer for a film is equally responsible for both songs as well as BGM to create that unique mood and feel for the movie.
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vamshi
February 20, 2008
I agree with Vijay that no contemporary of Rahman’s is strong at BGM. His last line was confusing however. If it was not confusing and i understood it right, then he is sadly mistaken. Of his so called “oldies” Ilayaraja was an absolute master at BGMs which no-one doubts (even rabid ARR fans), in Hindi RDB used to give great BGMs. Some of the Malayalam music directors like Johnson, MG Radhakrishnan are quite good. Even Kalyanji-Anandji used to give good BGM – their score for Zanjeer still sounds great. Hindi movies have long had this practice of having different BGM directors. In one Hindi movie, they followed this same practice, but with Ilayaraja who promptly sued them. They don’t do this with the King.
On Mithya – i agree with some of the junta here, the second half left me non-plussed. What kept me going was Ranvir Sheorey’s acting. It was badly written towards the end – VK spending an evening with Raje’s kids, etc. were so boring. I was really impressed by the possibilities which the first half threw up, but there were no further twists in the tale. I was hoping that there was a last grand twist – like VK faking his ailment, (a la Usual Suspects). However not the tragedy it turned out to be.
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Vishal
February 20, 2008
Hi Baradwaj,
I think the rave reviews for Jodhaa Akbar tell us more about how competent our Indian movie critics are than about the movie itself. I was reading Subhash Jha’s review on Mithya and I got the impression that he was putting it on the same level as Superstar (he did like it, though). I haven’t seen Superstar yet but I have seen Mithya and somehow, I find that difficult to believe. Your thoughts?
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Vijay
February 20, 2008
Also, to Baradwaj and others who might be interested, I posted elsewhere an article from the online music magazine archive studio-systems(which has several old but interesting articles from 70s/80s music by the way) regarding how several old popular MDs like Naushad had just composed the melody and left the BGM part to assistants. Here Amaldev, a trained musician and a successful malayalam film composers talks about how he felt “cheated” when he joined Naushad’s troupe where he found Naushad only did the melody and used his assistants to do the BGM
http://www.studio-systems.com/Playback&Fastforward/PlayBack/1986/December/Dec30.htm
Read thru that. Could be an eye-opener for those who were’nt aware of this kind of practice going on
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s
February 20, 2008
I am surprised you didn’t find problems with Hrithik’s performance.
He seems to be fine in donning any of the heroic expressions. But give him anything mere mortals undergo,he immediately transport s me to a 6th standard school drama.
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zap
February 20, 2008
On Mithya – The portion of the film I liked best was the actual introduction of ‘mithya’, that onset of the feeling of being in between the real and the unreal, for both Ranvir’s character and the audience. From a characterization point, Ranvir’s VK should have recognized his VKness post the wonk on the head. I think the one word scene you liked was the reason the script went the way it did. The terrific cinematic revelation and melodrama that scene evokes would have been too much to resist.
But for me it struck discordant, though the film remains my fav Indian film of 2008 yet.
Baradwaj, would really appreciate a review of Ramin Bahrani’s ‘Man Push Cart’ or ‘Chop Shop’. Cheers and keep writing man!
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Aditya Pant
February 20, 2008
Vijay: I was a bit surpised about reading this article because I always thought that Naushad specialized is arrangement/ orchestration/conducting. That said, I don’t think there’s anything wrong in MDs using ideas of their assistants. A creative process works well as team work. It’s like expecting the CEO of the company to do everything in the company.
Many MDs in the film industry started off as assistants. if the MDs they worked under didn’t let them come up with their own creative inputs, I don’t think they would have become independent MDs.
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Aditya Pant
February 20, 2008
BR: “And you know what’s strange? That in general, this film has gotten such raves from critics”
Is that really true? Except Taran Adarsh, Rajeev Masand and one or two more, it hasn’t really got raves. Agreed, very few critics have dismissed it as ‘bad’ or ‘flawed’, but raves? No.
The recent film that really got ‘raves’ was TZP. This one hasn’t got *that* kind of reviews.
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Jabberwock
February 20, 2008
“Strutting peacock”, no, but I think I described Hrithik as a preening peacock with pectorals (peacoctorals?) in my review.
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raj
February 20, 2008
“I dont think he has to turn it over to someone else just because a few people here think he is not good enough”
Vijay, nor do I :-). But thats not going to stop me from expressing my opinion – and yes, its just my opinion, not an indisputable fact.
As for the Naushad example, that is precisely what I had mentioned earlier, though I didnt take his name. I remember this Jerry Amaldev thingy, too.
I think Aditya’s CEO example shows a fundamental difference between the people who grew up on Bollywood and people who grew up on the bonafide genius of IR, MSV and now ARR. We are used to geniuses who could handle all departments of film music, per se. Whereas I guess in Bollywood, it is accepted that the job of a composer is to compose a tune and give the rest to others. They dont give much importance to BGM as such(Which explains the likes of Anu Malik being succesful and ‘respected’, well, not exactly respected but I feel in his case he is not reviled enough!). Except Salil Chaudhary, I cant think of a composer who gave importance to BGM in all the history of Bollywood. What? Did you say Vanraj Bhatia? Who is he? Kareena Kapoor wouldnt know him therefore he doesnt exist 🙂
Again, it is just perspective. Every composer has his strengths/weaknesses and it can possibly be argued, as I think you sometimes do, that IR’s tunes are very weak in general compared to MSV or Madan Mohan etc. It is a never-ending argument really
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Raj
February 20, 2008
Raj,
Vanraj Bhatia just doesn’t exist in the universe you’re talking about, in my opinion (or, because I’m the station master!), even if Kareena Kapoor knows him all too well.
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Zero
February 20, 2008
Last comment was mine, lest everyone is wondering if Raj has the habit of talking to himself.
Zero (in case the comment system insists to have it its way)
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Priti
February 20, 2008
Zero, Ofcourse he doesnt. I had to literally scour for names and this is the closest that I could think of – Bharat Ek Khoj wasnt half-bad
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Zero
February 20, 2008
Priti,
Somehow, the Bombay art house of the 80s didn’t use Ajit Varman that much at all. The little that I’ve got to hear of his scores (which is so less by itself), he’s much superior.
Baradwaj, pardon the digression.
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Ravi Krishna
February 20, 2008
“Bollywood and people who grew up on the bonafide genius of IR, MSV and now ARR. We are used to geniuses who could handle all departments of film music, per se.”
When was MSV great in BGM??? Of the 3 you mention above, only IR was great in BGM. ARR is so-so. Sometimes he does well, but mostly crap.
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Rahul
February 20, 2008
(The post contains spoilers)
Re Mihtya,The second half was fzr superior than the first.The script had enormous potential. The first half was entertaining, but pretty generic.The big bang in the script for me came when VK not only empathized with Raje,but slowly starts living out his life in a way that is not “hero worship”.He is still VK,but he borrows chunks from Rajes life to fit into his own;those which he was missing.Throw in an amnesia,and now VK has kind of a buffet of memories to choose from.You have the recipe of a top notch psychological thriller in the league of Hitchcock’s SpellBound etc. In the hands of a less competent actor\director;this wonderful idea could have been botched up. But Ranbir shorey and Rajat Kapoor played this out very warmly and underwhelmingly.I also loved the way the movie has been resolved.
My nitpickings from the movie are only because I expected this movie to leverage and develop that idea more.The pre interval comedic bits were not really required.Also,Shorey’s part was acted and written in a similar happy go lucky way through out the movie.The contours of his character transformation haven’t really been bookmarked.
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APALA
February 20, 2008
Dear BRangan:
Excellent review, as usual! Nice flow of words, man!!
Yet to see Mithya but did see Jodhaa – Akbar. I think you came out with an upbeat mood after watching JA just like I did! Right?! I think Ashu (the director!) did excellently in the love scenes and shows that’s his forte but the “action” scenes came-off not-so-nicely (just like in Lagaan!). But I enjoyed the movie on the whole and thought Ash (the actress!) is getting better at her role selection and acting!! Well, the “celebration” song was spectacularly picturised and started liking that song more after the seeing the visuals!! But as far as BGM goes, the less said about ARR is better!! I seriously doubt ARR’s commitment in that area!! (I remember Kamal-sir’s interview long back in a tamil magazine: “Imagine the hero being in a deserted place. He is all alone. Some think just “silence” is enough to bring out the eerieness. But if he can hear a wind-mill’s “creaking” in some distance – it comes across more effectively and solidly”. (He said about “Chekku-maadu” in tamil. I don’t know what you call that in english!!).
Bottomline: J-A was really enjoyable and I liked it.
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Aditya Pant
February 21, 2008
Raj: I’m in no mood to argue, but your comment here again smacks of the same thing as our earlier discussion not very long back. You really love to bring this up, don’t you?
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Vijay
February 21, 2008
“Vijay, nor do I :-). But thats not going to stop me from expressing my opinion – and yes, its just my opinion, not an indisputable fact.”
Raj, I know that is just your opinion(that he is not great in BGM) and I am not arguing against it. What I am arguing against is the solution that you proposed -that Rahman hand over BGM to someone else. If every MD was to turn over some section of the music in which they are not the absolute best to someone else, then we will have 3 or 4 MDs for every film 🙂 Unless Rahman himself had said at some point that he was bored of BGM and felt pressurized to do it, I dont see how such a suggestion can strike your mind. If he had said something like that though, I take back my comments.
If not, a better way to think about it(once again, in my opinion) is that, based on the few really good works that Rahman has done in BGM so far and the improvement he has made overall over the years, that he continue to choose works that inspire him and motivate him to work even better. Because Rahman is a constant learner and also has the right attitude. Atleast thats what I would hope for, as a fan.
I wouldnt want anyone, especially an artist of his calibre to have such a defeatist attitude and hand over BGM to someone else.
“Every composer has his strengths/weaknesses and it can possibly be argued, as I think you sometimes do, that IR’s tunes are very weak in general compared to MSV or Madan Mohan etc.”
Yeah but I would have never suggested that IR hand over the tunes department to MSV(even in the late 80s/90s) and just focus on the interludes 🙂 I would have only wanted IR to be more creative or put more effort into his tunes or be more selective in the films he chooses to work.
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Vijay
February 21, 2008
“Vijay, I do think Raja has an impressive body of work in BGM among contemporary composers.”
Shankar, I didnt exactly consider him a contemporary composer 🙂 He belongs to the previous generation and for all practical purposes, almost retired from film work 🙂
Out of the currently active lot, Rahman probably has more films where he has done impressive BGM than anyone else.
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Vijay
February 21, 2008
“Vijay: I was a bit surpised about reading this article because I always thought that Naushad specialized is arrangement/ orchestration/conducting. That said, I don’t think there’s anything wrong in MDs using ideas of their assistants. A creative process works well as team work. It’s like expecting the CEO of the company to do everything in the company.”
Aditya, this is not quite like like CEOs using ideas of employees. That analogy might not be very accurate here.
why, you yourself have admitted to being fooled into thinking that Naushad specializes in arrangement. Now imagine how frustrated the musicians under him would be, when they handle a major portion of the song but dont get credited anywhere and remain unknown faces.So ethically its wrong.
This would be like you coming up with a novel idea while working with a firm or University and your boss/professor takes credit for it and files the patent exclusively in his name leaving you out.
The CEO employee analogy doesn not work here.
But the next question is, OK if suppose Naushad had somehow acknowledged or credited the contribution of his assistants would it have been OK?
I would still say no.
While execution of the idea can be teamwork, the idea itself cannot emanate from several assistant musicians. Thats my personal belief. You cannot have 6 or 7 guys adding different things into the song. Music is not piecemeal work. The musicians can improv a bit or maybe embellish a little here or there. But I firmly believe that the whole idea has to emanate from the music director in order to have the flow and cogency. Spontaneity is affected when too many cooks get involved.
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RP
February 21, 2008
Good review. Most of the time, your glowing reviews are for movies that I do not enjoy (how could you not enjoy Om Shanti Om??). But for JA, you were spot-on. I could have done without some of the historical background (quite a bit could’ve simply been expressed through narrative rather than showing characters). The songs are beautiful and although many people don’t like Manamohana, I love it. It has a certain old-world devotional feel to it, simple melody and structure, yet not very easy to grasp in the first or second listening. Unfortunately, I’d have to agree that Gowariker and Raman have not used the background music properly. Why does every single scene need to have BGM? Sometimes it is wise to just let the audience immerse themselves in the dialogues without any background score. It makes it more realistic(in my opinion). In your review of the music for JA, you wondered if the picturization of In Lamhon would live up to the magnificence of the song. I too felt that way when I heard the song. And to my relief, I thought it was the best picturized song in the movie.
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brangan
February 21, 2008
Shankar: “a host of current young composers who have been impressed by ARR’s body of work as well technique and aped him, in the process sounding a lot like ARR himself.” Yeah, that’s right. ARR talked about this when I interviewed him, kinda saying that the sound wasn’t just *his* anymore.
vamshi: “In one Hindi movie, they followed this same practice, but with Ilayaraja who promptly sued them. They don’t do this with the King.” Is this Anand-Milind you’re talking about? Can you refresh my memory about the incident? Thanks. About Mithya and “but there were no further twists in the tale,” my take was that the film abandoned the narrative for more intriguing diversions into plot-free territory. That’s why I liked it so much, because it set you up to expect something and then toys with your genre-expectations, so to speak — much like No Country For Old Men sets you up to expect a Western-ish cat-and-mouse, but changes tracks abruptly halfway; astounding film by the way, and yes, even the ending 🙂
Vishal: I haven’t read the review in question, but other than the double-role-swap thingee, there’s almost nothing in common between the films, whether in what they aim to do or how they are made.
zap: “The terrific cinematic revelation and melodrama that scene evokes would have been too much to resist.” Yeah, but still, people are saying this gave no sense of closure, while I thought it absolutely did. It made everything that came before click into place.
Jabberwock: Ah right. I knew I’d read it somewhere…
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brangan
February 21, 2008
Zero: “lest everyone is wondering if Raj has the habit of talking to himself.” Uh, whatever you say sir 🙂
Ravi Krishna: “When was MSV great in BGM???” Actually, I was wondering about that — not because of MSV’s skills so much as the prevailing industry trend of the time was to use stock music. Maybe a film here or there may have been different, but…
Rahul: “The second half was fzr superior than the first.” Absolutely, and looking back, this second half made you rethinki a lot about what otherwise seemed — as you say — a “generic” first half.
APALA: “I think you came out with an upbeat mood after watching JA just like I did!” Not quite. I’d have been more upbeat had it ended an hour earlier, or had been written well enough to justify the extra hour. But yes, Ash is getting better (rather, the directors she’s working with know how to use her well)
Vijay: “Yeah but I would have never suggested that IR hand over the tunes department to MSV…” Vijay, this is a bit of a sweeping statement, isn’t it? IR and MSV are very different composers, and perhaps the rigidly classical bent of IR (undeclared motto: thematic symmetry and congruence above all else) didn’t allow him to break out into free-flow flights of unpredictable melody lines like MSV (eg. the opening lines of Chittukuruvi mutham koduthu, where each line soars almost independendtly of the previous one) — but I don’t see how you can declare Raja’s tunes as lacking in any respect. It’s not as if he put in godly interludes and propped them up with undeserving pallavis/charanams. Even a “simple” song like “Ennai thottu alli konda mannan perum ennadi” will bear this out; godly ludes and gorgeous tune — all IMO of course 🙂
RP: “Most of the time, your glowing reviews are for movies that I do not enjoy (how could you not enjoy Om Shanti Om??)” 🙂
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s
February 21, 2008
When did you interview AR Rahman? I would definitely rem.
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Aditya Pant
February 21, 2008
Vijay: Agree that the CEO analogy was a rather lose one. My point was that MDs can let their assistants come up with suggestions for a song, which I believe would emnate from his guidance of what his vision for the song is. While I don’t dispute the claim in the Nuashad story, but every such story has two sides to it and it is possible that both sides might present the argument in a way that favours them. So, I would not take the fact that Naushad (or any other MD) left various elements of the music completely to their assistants at face value.
Having said that, I do believe that an MD who can handle most aspects of a song on their own is superior to those who can’t. That’s a reason why i consider IR (and also ARR) as gods of film music (depite the fact that people think that i am one of those “who grew up on Bollywood” and have no exposure to the “bonafide genius of IR, MSV and now ARR”.)
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Vishal
February 21, 2008
Baradwaj,
Wasn’t No Country for Old Men absolutely stunning? Best movie of 2007, imo. For all the hype about Juno (a good movie with some terrific performances), I found it slightly overrated. Maybe it was the trying-too-hard-to-be-clever dialogues? Did you get a chance to watch it?
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Vijay
February 21, 2008
“Vijay, this is a bit of a sweeping statement, isn’t it? IR and MSV are very different composers, and perhaps the rigidly classical bent of IR (undeclared motto: thematic symmetry and congruence above all else) didn’t allow him to break out into free-flow flights of unpredictable melody lines like MSV”
Baradwaj I dont want to get into that debate now, maybe some other time. I actually said that I would NOT suggest IR handing over the tunes department to MSV(even if Iam of the opinion that he was’nt as good as MSV in the melody department ). Now what IS sweeping is a few ppl here saying that Rahman is so bad that he should hand over the BGM to someone else. I am surprised that you didnt think THAT was sweeping, whereas you are protesting a comment which I had’nt even made about IR yet 🙂
Even if Rahman was inept in BGM and there were half a dozen composers currently better than him in BGM (which is certainly not the case, the reality is quite the opposite) I would still not suggest that someone of his calibre accept defeat and hand it over to someone else. That is outright insulting to someone of his calibre. I would just stop with saying that Rahman should work to improve on his limitations.
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Vijay
February 21, 2008
“Yeah, that’s right. ARR talked about this when I interviewed him, kinda saying that the sound wasn’t just *his* anymore.”
Baradwaj, you interviewed ARR?? where is the transcript man?
I have a beef with you media types. You are probably an exception so its not fair that I include you here, but most of the rediff/sify and other e-zine interviews focus mostly on the same cliched issues and questions. why is that no one has asked him about this BGM issue yet? If you have had, pl share his response here. Most of the time it is about past or future projects and songs. Sometimes I wish I had 30 mins to chat with a guy like Rahman 🙂
But looking forward to the transcript of your interview
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raj
February 21, 2008
vijay, i do not disagree with you at all. The branganesque way of saying “I agree with you” is because of the magnitude of the agreement :-).
Well, firstly, as brangan put it, I do not necessarily agree with the weak tunes part on IR though I respect your opinion on it. And I think you know that that’s because of the nature of his composing style – just as trashing MSV because he didnt give the orchestration as much prominence as IR is flawed. However, I understand that, due to my interaction with you over the years thro tfmpage, that your reactions on IR are sometimes hyperbolic owing to rabid IR fans so I think I surely know where exactly you stand on IR and MSV, which is pretty much i guess where brangan or me stand.
That Rahman is better than most contemporaries on BGM is indisputable. However, thats not much of a consolation for me. I mean, when a Ravi Krishna queries “ARR is so-so in BGM”, I canoot disagree whole-heartedly and thats where the problem is. I would like ARR to bridge the gap and enable me to safely rebuke the ravi krishnas (no offence, ravi krishna:-) but until he takes the piece-meal scene-by-scene approach and take an organic approach to BGM, I dont see him bridging the good-to-verygood gap.
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raj
February 21, 2008
And to those who question MSV’s BGm skills, well, he wasnt exactly IR but I’d give him a lot more credit than his bollywood contemporaries in that dept. Vijay himself might be able to explain this better
In any case, I was talking about orchestration.
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RAJ
February 21, 2008
aditya, lastly I am sorry if I offend you but I think that CEO example, while I understand your POV, shows why you can never understand the reservations of someone who grew up, as I say, on IR and MSV, to appreciate composers who willingly take credit or even openly delegate part of their responsibilities. That reeks of Anu Malikness to me. As we say in Tamil, Even if you open your third eye, thats my say and I shall say it.
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Vel Murugan
February 21, 2008
To Vijay and Others: While we are at Naushad allowing his assistants to do the BGM parts and also talking about how the composer should be the only one to be responsible for a song on the whole. Have we not heard singers in interviews calling ARR as someone who ‘brings out the best’ from them.
As such we have heard in many places as to how ARR allows the singer to do his/her their own thing for sometime before deciding or choosing what ‘he’ wants.
Isn’t it something more like just ‘deciding-selecting-and arranging’ rather than composing…
Am not demeaning ARR and his skills here… but just to see if people can bring in more stuff on this.
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Shankar
February 21, 2008
Baddy, couldn’t agree with you more. IR does understand the medium of cinema very well and scores according to that. His tunes can never be classified as lacking even in comparison to others. He just has his way of doing things. If his tunes really weren’t upto the mark, they wouldn’t be so evergreen even now among listeners and FM stations.
Vijay, he might be retired as far as you are concerned, but he still averages more releases than ARR even now!! 🙂 Maybe you don’t follow IR as much nowadays, in all the languages, and are not aware of the terrific BGMs he still scores in his films? 🙂
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brangan
February 21, 2008
Vijay: I’ll put it up when it gets published, and then you can say if you have a beef with the piece or not 🙂
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Su
February 22, 2008
hey i would love to know what you felt about No country…is a review in the offing ?…maybe an Oscar special 🙂
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Bala
February 22, 2008
wowwww…and the back ground music debate is still on :)on different posts too I can’t believe what I started 🙂
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Vijay
February 23, 2008
“I mean, when a Ravi Krishna queries “ARR is so-so in BGM”, I canoot disagree whole-heartedly and thats where the problem is. I would like ARR to bridge the gap and enable me to safely rebuke the ravi krishnas (no offence, ravi krishna:-) but until he takes the piece-meal scene-by-scene approach and take an organic approach to BGM, I dont see him bridging the good-to-verygood gap.”
Raj, how will he do all that if has to hand over the BGM to someone else? 🙂 We both agree somewhat on our opinions about the quality of Rahman’s BGM. Its just that I dont want Rahman to throw up his hands and give up and hand it over to someone else. That seemed like a harsh verdict from you. He is not flawless but he is’nt that bad either that he has to give it up to someone else(and who that someone else is, is a big question mark). He has quite a few examples which shows that he has improved over the years and has potential to do better work. He is a guy who is just not satisfied being the same year after year.
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Vijay
February 23, 2008
“Vijay, he might be retired as far as you are concerned, but he still averages more releases than ARR even now!! 🙂 Maybe you don’t follow IR as much nowadays, in all the languages, and are not aware of the terrific BGMs he still scores in his films?”
Shankar, I am aware of all that but it doesnt change my opinion on the quality of his recent works. Also No. of movies doesnt matter as much as the quality of those movies. D.Imaan is probably doing more movies than both ARR and IR right now 🙂
However, Naan Kadavul could turn out to be an exception. We’ll see.
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Ravi K
February 23, 2008
ARR’s score was almost comically overbearing in some scenes. A recurring sting he used made me expect the Spanish Inquisition to pop out at any moment.
Overall a good film, though not an entirely successful blend of romance and courtly intrigue. I felt that Gowariker didn’t connect those scenes well.
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oops
February 23, 2008
ok i’ve seen some “non official” images on Youtube few days ago. I don’t understand hindi and there were no subs so i won’t make a full review here.
On action : Ashutosh should take someone to help him to direct fight sequences if he can’t do it properly. The first battle at the beginngin was really pathetic. Chinese can make these work with less budget than his. So it’s time to take lessons from others asian countries and really evolve on this aspect. No comment for that “elephant scene”, really embarrassing.
Decorum : not too much luxury has been used. It’s quite simple compared to what could’ve been done. But it worked for me and for the type of story he was trying to tell. No need for more.
Songs : none of them really moved like the last one in Swades for example, but all of them are quite good. Nothing great, but as long they follow the flow of the movie, it works for me.
Performances : except for Roshan Nanny, none of the second roles were really good. Time to be really over budget, and offere big money to real actors for these roles please !! Ok they are not the main actors, but they are important too !
The lead pair : Great. Roshan is hot as ever, but sometimes appears wooden. Nuances is sometimes needed. Ok he’s a king, but a king is a man too. No need to take the pose 7 days a week lol. Ash is more spontanuous. Even though her character is less developp, Gowariker offers her more feelings to show. That’s what save her.
The end for now 🙂
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vamshi
February 23, 2008
Baradwaj, if my memory serves me well, i think that movie was Mahasangram where they got Anand-Milind to do the BGM or some songs (in addition to Raja’s). The only thing i remember about that movie was that it had Vinod Khanna.
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Shankar
February 24, 2008
Vijay, I thought we were just discussing whether Raja had retired or not (not the quality of his recent work) 🙂
BTW, I’m also looking forward to “Pazhassi Raja” and Sathyan Anthikad’s yet untitled film that is due for Vishu. Raja usually scores good songs as well as an efficient BGM track for his films.
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Aditya Pant
February 24, 2008
vamshi: Ir was Mahadev
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Vijay
February 24, 2008
Shankar, thats why I said for all “practical” purposes I consider him retired. I know that he is doing a film here and there still on paper, just like how MSV was doing some films in the 80s as well. But nothing much noteworthy.
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Shankar
February 25, 2008
Vijay, well…for me the day he retires is when he officially hangs up his boots (which I know will never happen since musicians like him keep working). But anyways, coming back to the original discussion, Raja still trumps anyone out there today when it comes to BGM scores…by a mile!! Even a colossal failure like “Adhu Oru Kanaa Kalam” had a terrific BGM score and especially the climax score was sheer poetry. That climax score to me was an example of a man who understands the medium of cinema brilliantly (as raj so eloquently explained) and who is head and shoulders above anyone (with regards to BGM) today…contemporary or otherwise!!
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oops
February 25, 2008
vijay, appadi illa. Oru frustration-la solradhu dhaan. I am not saying that someone else would do better than ARR in BGM. If you ask for names, I would just have to say IR, and even he may not be tuned to the likes of Gowariker. I just want someone else to do the screw up 🙂
There’s a point in what you say however the bottomline is, it is not about music skills per se – it is also about exposure to and understanding of cinema, like, say, Baradwaj Rangan does :-0. Unfortunately, ARR doesnt have contemporaray makers who he gels with who arent past their prime or never-were-and-never-will-be-purveyors of good cinema. I mean, SJ Surya? Shankar? He might as well opt out. Jodhaa was an opportunity but if the film was uninspiring, what can anyone do.
I agree that within the available opportunities ARR did a fabulous job in Swades, Iruvar and the songs of Zubeidaa.
It is quite unfortunate that the opportunities on alternative cinema that ARR got were Benegal-past-his-prime, Khalid Mohemmad(yeeks..), MF Husain(double yeeks..). Andhi Mandhaarai was way too early in his career.
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Gaipajama
February 25, 2008
BR, Wasn’t Ranvir’s acting just supercalifragilistic….? Your comparison to Kagemusha was spot-on. Full marks to Rajat Kapoor for taking the cliched double role switch to high art while being wickedly funny. But it felt like he was in a rush to end the movie post-interval. He could have spent more time developing several characters. Pity he or ranvir will never be considered for any of the awards.
“…this song has no business coming in so late and lasting as long as it does…”
I thought that song made perfect sense. Considering that the two have very few private conversations (there is always somebody looking on, a royal thing perhaps) the consummation of their love as a logical climax of the love story (should have been the climax of the movie).
Other than the energy that the lead pair carries, the story played out like a high-concept version of “biwi ho to aisi”. All the action scenes were pretty dull, including the swordfight-as-substitute-for-intercourse scene (mask of zorro, watch much asutosh?).
PS: could you split your multiple movie posts into separate posts in the future? It would make the comments a little easier to read.
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sureshkumar
February 26, 2008
Rahman’s background score for JA is just as good as the movie…
http://backgroundscore.blogspot.com/2008/02/listening-jodhaa-akbar.html
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chalam
February 28, 2008
Hi Rangan,
Checked out mithya after reading your exhortations. wasnt as impressed as you sounded to be. Granted, it’s an interesting take on the underworld and confused identities and a lot of cheeky in jokes, but other than the shorey character hyperventilating and sleepwalking alternately, I did not find anything as ground breaking as you made it out to be. Would be curious if you can write a little more on Mithya. Wonder if my installment based viewings took the bite off the piece.
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brangan
February 28, 2008
Su: Reviews if an when film gets released. Sorta Oscar special coming up in the column this sunday.
Bala: Yes – and I hope you’re happy.
Ravi K: “I felt that Gowariker didn’t connect those scenes well.” Yeah, the writing was really choppy, though I feel a more dynamic director could have still pulled this script off.
oops: You got all that from a YouTube viewing? Wow!
vamshi: Ah yes, Mahadev. It had the Hindi version of ‘Andha nilaava thaan…” (something like “Mujhe baahon mein le lo saajana,” IIRC) Mahasangram was the one in which Sonu Walia got drenched in the rain. Totally different movie dude 🙂
Vijay: I completely agree about the “retired for all practical purposes” bit. I think the last couple of songs that registered were Enna solli paaduvadho and Ilankaathu veesudhe, though I doubt many people heard the former…
oops: I’m assuming you’re raj?
Gaipajama: “swordfight-as-substitute-for-intercourse scene”… Ah, a phallic symbol spotting. Film studies student, are we? 🙂
sureshkumar: Hey, thanks for the link. Good post man.
chalam: “wasnt as impressed as you sounded to be” coul;d be just a matter of taste, but I do recommmend single-sitting viewings for serious films. For me, the film worked largely because of the — as Gaipajama puts it — “cliched double role switch to high art while being wickedly funny”
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oops
February 28, 2008
Rangan, the entire movie was uploaded on Youtube during two days and then removed.
And no, i’m not Raj 🙂
Sometimes, a different name is written when we submit a comment. So if you don’t change it, the computer (or the website… or god who knows lol) give you someone else’s name.
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Sagarika
February 29, 2008
brangan: My friend Ramsu says Hot on the heels of all those Jodhaa Akbar reviews comes this sublimely hilarious post A day in the life of Jalaluddin Akbar. This is by far one of the most hilarious pieces of writing I have come across in recent times! But I betcha you’re not gonna take his word for it, are you? 🙂
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oops
February 29, 2008
opps you were not talking to me, misunderstood…
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Silk Smitha
March 5, 2008
I don’t see why AG couldn’t have thrown in some Birbal for light relief and Tansen for some better music. So what if they came later in Akbar’s life? Since he did away with the 199 other wives and created this illusion of a celibate Akbar who is also a socialist secularist rather than the blood-thirsty expansionist which he was in his youth, why not add some more masala? And since they showed enough heads being squished by elephants, why not show Ash and her cohorts cutting 50 kg of sabzi? The funniest bit it the movie was the Republic Day Parade, wasn’t it, what with Kashmiris dancing in firans, and Gond tribals in headgear – I almost expected him to salute and announce the Beating of the Retreat.
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Aravind
March 9, 2008
Nice review of Mithya. One major request – could you please NOT club 2 or more reviews together in the same post? The comments usually make for an interesting read and need to be separated movie-wise. Thanks 🙂
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grazd
April 1, 2008
Aditya Pant:
I know these comments are long closed, but I have to take issue with Mr. Pant, about ARR’s music being ineffectual.
IMHO, his brilliantly sung Khwaja-mere-Khwaja needs no depiction whatsoever. I closed my eyes in the hall to get feel the full force of Rahman’s voice overpowering me. He reigns supreme whenever composing anything with an overtly Sufi theme. consider noor-un-ala from Meenaxi. A director who asks ARR to do a sufi number, is like Sachin Tendulkar being given a slightly wide outside the off stump rising delivery that gets rapiered(sic!) through point for four.
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Aditya Pant
August 26, 2008
Grazd: I know it might have been ages since you posted this comment, but I must clarify my stand. I never said that ARR’s music was ineffectual (I only made that comment about the Background Music). If you’re referring to my observation that I started liking the soundtrack only after watching them on screen, then that comment should be read in the context of my comment on an earlier post about JA’s music. I noted there, that except Khwaja, none of the tunes appealed to me after a few listens. So I’m not really contradicting your stand. In that comment I even singled out the Sufi qawwali from Meenaxi as being ARR’s best in my opinion. Here’s a link to that post (read the very first comment)
http://www.desipundit.com/baradwajrangan/2008/02/02/between-reviews-the-mughal-ear/
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Radhika
September 7, 2008
Sat down to see mithya with an anticpatory slurp after your review and emerged a tad let down. Ranvir is superb and the first half was great – black comedy and the whole Don/Sarkar spoof. All this vaporized in the second half which took itself far too seriously and if Rajat Kapoor’s intention was to keep the audience off balance, well, he succeded because I couldn’t make up my mind whether I was watching a Bheja Fry kind of tongue-in-cheek comedy or a dead-serious Company gangwar. In the beginning, VK shows interesting signs of being able to adopt the gangman character at will – I thought they would use that morphing ability – or that of his loss of identity – instead it descended into an RGV kind of underworld boys story.
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vijay
June 20, 2009
I happened to catch Mithya recently and wanted to revisit this page to read the comments. I think I have to sort of agree with Radhika. The two halves of the movie felt like it belonged to different genres, much like Sethu. Was it a black comedy or a tragic love story with amnesia/gangwar as the backdrop? I wish it had stayed as a black comedy throughout as it had some potential. Somewhere in between Fargo and Usual suspects.The shift in tone bothered me.
The conclusion and the single word utterance that BR points out didnt quite have the same emotional impact on me(although I agree it was surprising) only because their relationship was’nt quite as well developed and was just a subplot throughout.
I’ll probably catch it again if I have the chance to see if I feel any different. But nevertheless, a very unique effort.
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ch.
February 7, 2010
who isAshutosh
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