BUN-TOTING BUREAUCRACY
What’s worse than a Priyadarshan comedy that isn’t funny? A Priyadarshan drama with no focus, that’s what.
JUL 25, 2010 – PRIYADARSHAN’S SELF-PROCLAIMED PURPOSE on earth is to churn out comedies of confusion, but with Khatta Meetha, he’s made a drama of confusion. Is this, like Arjun, the valorous saga of a defeated young man who redeems himself by exposing crooked establishment figures? Is this, like Saaheb, a melodrama about a son who, sadly, can never find favour in his stern father’s eyes? Or is this, like Hera Pheri, a minor-key morality tale about desperate people resorting to disreputable ways of making money, until shown the errors of their ways? The director cannot make up his mind and he opts for an unholy mix, embellished with his now-familiar slapstick touches like a can of red paint missing its intended target and exploding, instead, on the portrait of a patriarch. The result is to the brain what candy is to teeth – and there isn’t even the consolation of a sugar rush.
It’s easier to dismiss a movie that doesn’t work if it just wants to be a no-brainer comedy. It isn’t as easy to look away when it actually wants to be about something – something important like the fact that builders and politicians and bureaucrats are selfish and corrupt and think little about the common man, who, therefore, is forced to turn selfish and corrupt. Well, who knew? This decades-old storyline is done no favours by interminable scenes with no sense of narrative focus and populated with characters who appear and disappear at will. Why stage the brutal murder of an innocent if this incident is never going to referred to again? That makes it look as if the “topical” issues (that resulted in the murder) were raised only to prop up the climactic action sequence, involving, like Arjun, a satchel of secret files.
The aggressively choreographed dance sequences are even more unbearable. Is there anyone, at this point, who’s not sick of rows of blonde chorus girls encroaching on a supposed representation of middle-class Maharashtrian life? The leads come bearing names like Sachin Tichkule (Akshay Kumar, playing a construction contractor) and Gehna Ganpule (Trisha, as a bureaucrat), and that’s the extent of their rootedness. You could transpose them to Tamil Nadu or West Bengal and the story wouldn’t skip a beat. I suppose, in a film worth discussing, we might wonder how someone as cynical as Gehna came to work for the government, spouting platitudes like “Abhi bhi desh mein sachaai aur insaaf zinda hain.” Here, all I could do was giggle at her hair, done up in a bun. The bun, as we know, is the universal semaphore for severity, the hairstyle of choice for leather-clad dominatrices and Cold-War Russian spies and, of course, dour Indian civil servants. Too bad this film has room only for the latter.
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varun
July 24, 2010
As I wrote in your ‘Kanchivaram’ post, Priyan seems to be living the life of Vengadam, stealing a single thread of silk (money) everytime he makes such a senseless comedy (or dra-medy). And with all the silk he had collected, he managed to make one very fine piece of saaree in ‘Kanchivaram’.
But strangely, even after Kanchivaram, he goes on making such obvious trash with his much vocal disdain for ‘Bollywood audience’. (He went on record in an interview saying he knows all this is not cinema, but if people who put in money at both the ends of a film-chain are happy, why should he care?)
So either he has another Kanchivaram up his sleeve, or like Vengadam, he has gone insane in the end.
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B.H.Harsh
July 24, 2010
Didn’t Udaan deserve a “between reviews” or a “Bitty Ruminations” ? Or You actually managed to skip it?
I don’t think Khatta Meetha is Priyadarshan’s worst in recent times or anything (As most of the general verdict seems to indicate) because Akshay Kumar atleast tried something vaguely different.
However, I can’t make out your opinion about the same. Why do you skip the performers completely at times? Or do you miss them by choice 🙂
By the way, This double-edged referencing to Arjun has got me curious now. Would love to know what you think about it..
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Harish S Ram
July 24, 2010
at least trisha’s hair do is looking d part of a collector or watever she plays .. .lol … thats laugh out loud for a movie which every1 is bashing in unity.
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E Pradeep
July 24, 2010
Another Malayalam remake down the drain:(…What a pity, when for a change, the original, which served as a satire on bureaucracy, was directed by Priyan himself!!!
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Arun
July 24, 2010
I assumed this’d be one of those movies that would get relegated to those double-header reviews that you do where the crappy one gets a one parah dismissal at the end.
No Udaan? oh wait some other reviewer covered it last week right? how did you like it? havent been able to get tickets yet.
2 new Amit Trivedi albums…I think its time you did a piece or atleast a bittyrum on him…after not doing any for Dev D’s music.
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Padawan
July 25, 2010
BR: Have you seen Naanayam? If so, what are your thoughts.
KM was such a bore that I have already wasted 2 hours of my time…I am not going to waste more by discussing about it.
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vikram
July 25, 2010
Hi BR, on an unrelated note, how’s your new online home…
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bran1gan
July 26, 2010
BH Harsh/Arun: Haven’t caught Udaan yet.
Padawan: I wrote about Naanayam in the comments of some old post. (Maybe in a BR too.) Didn’t do much for me.
vikram: uh, fine I guess.
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Srijith
July 26, 2010
The Malayalam original was a wonderful movie, with Mohanlal and Shobhana, and an ensemble cast of reliable supporting actors. However dumb, the script is, they could create magic, by sheer believablity of the characters.
Here Priyan, knows he cant achieve the same effect, with actors like Akshay and Trisha, so like you said, he would resort to inane dance numbers.!
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Riju
July 29, 2010
Ah yet another Priyadarsan trash out from the pipeline. As some have already said the malayalam original, Vellanakalude naadu by Priyan himself, is considered a classic, for all reasons that this film is not even pretending to have, for its simplicity, sharpness in the script, low-keyness ,interlacing of black humor and above all some extra-ordinarily natural perfomances.
Now coming to Priyadarsan himself, as a director in mal cinema in the late 80s-early 90s period, he was a director very much in the mode(and in the leagues) of someone like Manirathnam(of pre Roja era). Essentially commercial filmmakers who presents entertaining cinemas with a combination of what’s called commrcial ingrdients of Indian cinema(esp the colourful songs with an array of dancers among other things) but they were able to deliver a heart into them with thier passion, fresh perspctives, an unseen novelty in execution and a visibly surplus of energy . They were able to make movies and characters that ever refuse to go from your memory.
But its interesting that both of them took a similar decision to move up north to try their luck, around the same time. But somhere along the lines paths diverged. While Mani saw a bigger scale up there in bollywood his movies grew bigger in ambition( though not neccessarily in quality). Whereas in Priyan’s case he took a path to the opposite pole along the lines, films stooping the quality to the underground while decibels could reach sky high. So while Manis films are still eagerly awaited, even each priyan film name is heard with a disdain (ie for audiences like us who look for atleast a bit of credibility and sense).
But it may not be that Priyan is completely lost his old wizardry. A film like Kanchivaram still makes some of them believe he still has it in him. Maybe he has more Kanchivarams(or even better ones) up his sleeve, waitin to come out once he exhausts of all the craps and pennys he’s been makin. But can’t expect it to ever come of through his Hindi movies though.
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Anu
July 30, 2010
In an interview (Filmfare) some years ago, Priyadarshan claimed that the reason he began to make movies in Hindi was because Bollywood directors remade his Malayalam movies and destroyed them; that they weren’t original. Already incensed with what Priyan had ‘achieved’ in Hindi, I mentioned this statement to my brother who promptly said that Priyan had never made an original movie in Malayalam, so where the hell was he going to make an original movie in Hindi?
He started, I think, with Doli Sajake Rakhna, which was a lift of Faasil’s Aniyathi Pravu, then continued with Viraasat (a scene by scene copy of Thevar Magan), Gardish (Kireedam), Muskuraahat (Kilukkam) Garam Masala (Boeing Boeing) Chori Chori (Chithram) Hulchul (Godfather) and so on and so forth. As far as I can see, his worst excesses were when he murdered Manichitrathazhu (Bhool Bhullayya) and Katha Parayumbol (Billo)and of course Children of Heaven (Bum Bum Bole).
Unfortunately, it is not just his own movies that he copies and destroys – sensitive movies made by Faasil, Sathyan Anthikkad, Sibi Malayil et al provide unending fodder for his destruction, erm – direction.
Now, when there is a period in Hindi movies where I can once again go to a movie based on the director’s name(Vishal Bharadhwaj, Dibankar Ghosh, Rajkumar Hirani), I stay away from all things Priyadarshan. (This one, I was forced to watch – call it being captive audience or domestic torture.)
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Snorter
July 30, 2010
Did you mean Dibakar Banerjee anu? http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/broadband/video/Movie-Promos/vrXeeF84/3/Theatrical-Trailer-Aakrosh.html this is a trailer of Priyan’s next.. definitely looks better than KM!!!
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Harry
July 30, 2010
I agree with what Riju said earlier and also with Anu to some extent. Priyadarsan has now for long been ‘butchering’ some wonderful films into bollywood. The problem is not that they are remakes but how he typically he strips them off all of what made them essentially good/great cinema and stuffing them up with all inane buffoonery.
But there is no denying that back once he was a director with a midas touch.Some of his best works in malayalam in 80s-90s can clearly show that it had a master’s hand behind them, one who had vision,purpose and genuine talent and they could rank among the best commercial cinemas in India. As said most of his best works were not any remakes at all. Even when he did for some those days, it was just inspired works. Just taking an essence from other story and transforming them into a completely new film capable of standing in its own legs. They can’t be called remakes the same way Nayakans and thevarmagn’s can’t be called direct remkes, inspired maybe.
But these days as already said he doesn’t care, but i hope he knows what he’s making and returns back once again to what he’s really good at.
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The Other Sun
August 1, 2010
As a non-South Indian, I certainly find Priyadarshan’s style in his Hindi movies fresh and adorable. When in the name of commercial Hindi movies, all I have suffered are the likes of David Dhawan films, or even Karan Johar/Yash Chopra films, then films like Priyadarshan’s or,say Ghajni, look amazing and feel like a breath of fresh air. They can’t be compared with other recent commercial yet groundbreaking films in Hindi like Lagaan, Lage Raho Munnabhai, 3 idiots, or arty films like DevD, Kaminey etc. The films brought in from the South have an amazing freshness about them. Therefore I don’t understand the disdain that South Indians have for them. Maybe they are used to even better things!
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munimma
August 3, 2010
The other sun – you need something to compare it with. Why don’t you watch the originals (even with subtitles they have been handled better)? Anu listed some of them in one of the comments.
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