First-generation NRIs, especially those in the US, will often sigh that they belong nowhere. Used to the comforts of the West, they cannot return to India, but thanks to their innate Indianness, they don’t feel they belong there either. The characters of Maneesh Sharma’s Shuddh Desi Romance are something like that. They express disdain for arranged marriages. Gayatri (Parineeti Chopra) goes as far as saying that the nation’s lies and double standards are exposed in these unions. And yet, they haven’t fully learnt to handle live-in relationships. They see the point, the convenience, but old habits die hard, and when Gayatri’s live-in boyfriend Raghu (Sushant Singh Rajput) learns about her exes, one of whom was a dolt who was a little too free with his hands (“dimaag chalta nahin tha, haath rukte nahin the”), his face falls. He doesn’t say anything, but you can hear the wheels in his head turning: Was he a better kisser? A better lover? Did she do things for him that she won’t do for me? You see where a lot of this is coming from in an early speech, where he says that women have, um, desires too, but there’s a little pause in that acknowledgement. He hunts for the right word, the least offensive word, before he lands on… armaan.
These contradictions are painfully funny. Raghu is okay with Gayatri’s smoking and he regularly steps out to buy cigarettes, but when a “neighbour uncle” speaks of her past, he becomes his father, his grandfather – he cannot help poking and prying. The title may be a tongue-in-cheek allusion to the fact that this sexually liberated story is anything but a shuddh desi romance, especially given that this isn’t the metros we’re talking about but (comparatively) small-town India. It’s the kind of place where everybody knows everybody else. (After ordering two plates of gulab jamuns, Raghu tells the waiter that he’ll pay him the next day. You can’t imagine this happening in a Café Coffee Day.) But this isn’t the small-town India we know from earlier films – here, being ditched at the altar isn’t the end, simply a new beginning. These folks seem to be in a hurry to make up for lost time. The graffiti on a bathroom wall reads “pyaar do pyaar lo,” and a bride makes out with an electrician on the day of her wedding. Still, they realise that there’s nothing that really binds these relationships, no family to protect you, no society to answer to. All this freedom comes at the price of not knowing how long it’s going to last.
With Bittoo Sharma in Band Baaja Baraat and the characters Ranbir Kapoor plays for Ayan Mukerji, we’re seeing a new kind of Hindi film hero, desi men who are really children and who (are forced to) grow up in the presence of the strong, decisive women around them. Raghu is the latest in this relatively short line. Tara (Vaani Kapoor), whom he starts dating at one point, actually tells him, “Tum sachmuch bachche ho.” He’s a kid, and she cannot stop smiling while looking at him, despite his propensity to say and do the most awful and inopportune things (which, really, is what a kid does). Raghu’s career, too, is all over the place. He’s a registered tourist guide, but we often find him faking it as a member of a wedding procession or else selling overpriced bandhni dupattas to gullible American tourists. He tells the first one that these dupattas are made by Iraqi orphans, and after a while, when the script turns full circle and deposits us back at this scene, he hoodwinks another tourist by invoking orphans from Afghanistan.
Jaideep Sahni’s script is filled with such echoes. (We also get an echo from Maneesh Sharma’s Band Baaja Baraat when we see pigeons at the opening of both halves of the film. Someone should ask him what this is about.) The characters go around in circles; the events follow suit. At the theatre I saw the film in, some people got restless with this seemingly adrift quality, but as much as you want to scream to the characters “Make up you bloody mind,” you realise that the film is about those who cannot make up their minds. (We’re meant to be frustrated by their indecisiveness.) The stuck-in-an-endless-loop nature of the writing is essential. (One step forward, one step back, one step forward, one step back…) If the events were too driven, too focused, we’d be seeing a different movie, with an entirely different set of characters. And sometimes, these echoes result in laughs. In one of the film’s most riotous scenes, Raghu and Gayatri, in turn, assume an overly casual air and try to find out – from Goyal (Rishi Kapoor, enjoying himself in a hugely entertaining performance) – more about the person they’re living with but not married to. We recall this scene as Gayatri complains later, “If you’re in a stage of the relationship where you’re washing this man’s undies and he’s enquiring about your past, is he worth it?” And we want to say, “Well, you were asking about him too.” So much for her contention about double standards.
The way these characters are shaped, shaded is beautiful, and there are terrific individual moments with the leads. (All of them are very good, especially Rajput, who gives a touchingly awkward performance befitting an awkward character.) Raghu snaps at a bus conductor when he’s packed off by Tara, but he bursts into a smile and apologises when he sees that she’s written down her number for him on a currency note. First, we think Tara is a cool customer because her reaction when a calamity befalls her is to ask for a cold drink – but later we realise what she was really doing, what was really going through her mind. Speaking of cold drinks, it’s a sight when Raghu asks for one at a wedding. He’s so tentative, so hesitant – that this flake ends up being something of a Casanova (or “Kamdev Ji” as Goyal hilariously puts it) is one of the film’s great jokes.
What doesn’t work as well is the overall narrative. The relationship between Raghu and Gayatri progresses so quickly it’s almost comical. One moment, they’re cautiously pecking each other’s lips, and the next she’s shaving her legs in the bathroom as he lathers his face. It’s easy to see why he says “I love you” so quickly – that’s very much in character with his need to say and do the “right” thing, often without thinking about consequences. (He does something similar with Tara when he decides he needs to apologise for hurting her.) But I didn’t see this chap as someone who’ll steal a quick kiss when the girl seated beside him in a bus reaches across to get her bag. (He’s a child, yes, but still…) With Raghu and Gayatri, it’s easier to see what drives them apart than to sense what brings them together. Of course, love knows no sense or reason, but when someone has been burnt as much as Gayatri has been in her past relationships, there’s the sense that she’s moving too fast. She says as much, but then gives in to this man who does almost nothing to convince her that this time things will be different. This looks odd, given the flintiness with which she approaches life (and love), insisting, for instance, that she’ll give no discounts for a job she’s doing for Goyal, who’s something of a mentor. Odder still – with this writer and director – is the show-and-tell: a lot of what’s meant to be inferred from this story is blurted out by the characters to the camera. (“We often run after things once they slip from our grasp,” and so forth.) And for a film that strives to be so subtle, some of the contrivances are graceless – like the ride to the station that initiates the eventual confrontation between Raghu and Gayatri. (The priest in the back seat, though, is very funny.)
Allow me to trot out a theory, that Sahni’s scripts work best when handled by forceful and unsubtle directors, people who are the exact opposite in terms of sensibility. His writing is a little too clean and neat – every t crossed, every i dotted – and it needs a touch of unruliness. The films of his that I’ve enjoyed the most are Company and Aaja Nachle, the former a thrilling genre exercise whose unruliness came from a filmmaker who isn’t afraid to show off, and the latter a “minor film” whose unruliness came from its Bollywood star-vehicle clichés, which Sahni surmounted beautifully. With almost all of Sahni’s other works, there’s something missing, and I think that something is energy. When a subtle writer’s work is filmed by a subtle filmmaker, maybe we end up with too… understated a product. A little brashness isn’t out of place in a love story, and Maneesh Sharma found that quality in Habib Faisal’s screenplay for Band Baaja Baraat. (Faisal also co-wrote Salaam Namaste, another film about a live-in relationship.) While I was relieved that this love triangle did not involve a scene where Tara and Gayatri ended up fighting over Raghu, I couldn’t help wishing that they didn’t seem so much in control of their emotions, always saying the right things, the wise-beyond-their-age things (though Tara has a spot-on line about how we remember the times we stopped being in love rather than the times we started). We don’t need sad songs in the rain, but surely some messy emotion isn’t too much to ask for in such a tightrope-walking romance.
Copyright ©2013 Baradwaj Rangan. This article may not be reproduced in its entirety without permission. A link to this URL, instead, would be appreciated.
adit
September 7, 2013
great review….planning on watching the film soon…would not entirely agree on the last bit about sahni’s scripts working best with directors who have ‘flash’. Rocket singh is one of my favourite films. I liked it because the director was not trying too hard to engage the audience, just plain simple, solid storytelling
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Ashish
September 7, 2013
Uff ye title itna shuddh hai. loved the review.
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Merkwuerdige Liebe
September 7, 2013
Terrific review, as always… Kindly explain the term “minor film”… I remember you’d used it somewhere else too… in your Kaminey review I guess… There, I thought it meant an anti-epic, whereas here, it appears to be suggestive of Aaja Nachle’s old-school melodrama quality…
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Pradyumna
September 8, 2013
https://twitter.com/MasalaOmellete/status/375945224335286273
And you did not disappoint. http://bit.ly/1ashGfH
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Rajesh
September 8, 2013
I’m surprised you didn’t mention Chak De India as one of Jaideep Sahni’s best scripts. It started the run of perfectly resolved screenplays for me.
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shjani
September 8, 2013
First I read this on mobile phone as a part of notification email about your new post, did not notice the full tilte of your review. Now that I am on a proper device to read this, it is almost LMAO. Good one, Rangan Sir,
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Sriram
September 8, 2013
Never really got a hang of the movies theme. Its fine to follow your heart and all that, but making a mockery of system of marriage was overdone and offensive. If they are so openmided about a live-in, will it be too much of an emotional stress to just get a divorce. The last scene involving a little boy/ girl, who are shown confused and most likely end up like the movie’s protagonists in the future – too easy and another mockery of audience intelligence.
Saw the movie just for Parineeti, should have just stuck to that instead of trying to make sense!!
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Abhirup.
September 8, 2013
Awesome review, as usual. As for the film, I must say I am beside myself with joy at finally having a love story where the couple isn’t made to marry and settle down into domesticity: it’s annoying, indeed, when even the contemporary romances, including the recent ‘Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani’, can’t think of any other conclusion, and that too after making the hero mouth uber-smart lines at the beginning about how marriage and monogamy are overrated and how it is possible to find love and fulfillment without them. That this one sticks to its guns and doesn’t turn the film into yet another ode to marriage alone makes it worth a watch in my opinion. Plus, the performances, the camerawork, the music, the dialogues, and, as you mentioned, the circuitous nature of the proceedings are all very good.
I agree that some of the contrivances don’t work, and the device of making the actors speak directly to the camera doesn’t, either. But I didn’t share your other misgivings. You say Gayatri “gives in to this man who does almost nothing to convince her that this time things will be different.” Well, as she says, she is impressed by Raghu’s honesty: while his jilting of Tara wasn’t a particularly nice thing to do, at least he listens to his heart and doesn’t enter a wedlock where neither he nor Tara is going to be happy for the sake of propriety. And that he can dare to do what he feels is right, conquering the lure of Tara’s luminous beauty, is bound to have an effect on Gayatri–here is a guy, she thinks, who left a girl that beautiful for ME. It’s very likely that this flatters her enough to give him a chance. Plus, there’s the charming, forthright manner in which he approaches her in the gulab-jamun eating scene. So, yeah, while there’s no guarantee that things are going to be “different” with Raghu, there ARE factors which make it possible for her to fall for him. As for whether their relationship proceeds too quickly, well, that’s subjective. Personally, I didn’t think the pace was an issue. It’s not as though they quickly fall into a bliss; they have misunderstandings and arguments too. True, Gayatri has had bad experiences with her exes. But some people are more let’s-take-the-plunge-and-see-what-happens type than the rest, and Gayatri, to me, came across as that sort of a person. She takes her chances, and while she hasn’t been able to completely let go of her earlier experiences, she refuses to be held back by them, especially when she has met such an unusual young man as Raghu who openly declares his attraction to her. Raghu’s kissing of Gayatri in the bus, by the way, is completely in character; I am surprised as to why you find this odd. This guy is impulsive by nature. The kiss is yet another example of that. The conversation with Gayatri has already made him think, as he says, that she is compatible with him. His kissing her is what he thinks a valid way of making Gayatri understand how serious he is in his pursuit of her. It may not be the most appropriate thing to do, but for an impulsive guy like Raghu, it’s not unexpected either.
All in all, a film well worth the viewer’s time. Would you agree?
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MANK
September 8, 2013
Great Review BR. But i disagree with you about jaideep sahni’s scripts. I think that Chak de india is the best script he has written, a perfect example of a 3 act structure script very well done. Also the director of the film Shimit amin is not a flashy guy at all. Considering the rousing nature of the subject, it was a subtle film. It also had Shahrukh Khan at his much more controlled and subtle best. So i would like to know why you dont think that highly about CDI and the requirement of flashy directors to bring JS scripts alive.
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Gradwolf
September 8, 2013
You think Shimit Amin is forceful and unsubtle? I mean for a sports underdog story, Chak De India is far subtle right? Even Rocket Singh for that matter. Amin has had the most successful collaboration with Jaideep Sahni I feel.
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brangan
September 9, 2013
The last para was a PS, an afterthought, and here’s what I meant. Sahni’s subtlety is definitely welcome. I wouldn’t want all films/characters to be this way (we need variety, after all), but it’s a nice change to have a few writers write this way. And Sahni is simply fantastic at writing flawed/rooted/unspecial characters like the one Ranvir Shorey played in “Aaja Nachle” (reviewed here.)
But there’s a tendency in his screenplays to make all characters (at least the main ones) seem a little too understanding, a little too wise-beyond-their-age, a little too in-control of their emotions — even in situation that we’d lose control in when faced with them in real life. I feel his scripts need a little unruliness, a bit of vulgar snap — which someone like Anurag Kashyap does so effortlessly. (Recall that ticket-eating scene in “Dev.D”?)
There were places in this film where Tara, especially, should have snapped. But she’s (again) so understanding, so wise-beyond-her-age, so not prone to tantrums or explosions, so in-control… A director with flashy tendencies may have spurred Sahni to relook at these decisions, as directors have inputs on scripts too.
Merkwuerdige Liebe: Oh, I used minor film in quotes to be a bit sarcastic, because those big Bollywoody films aren’t treated on par with the supposedly “subtler” films these days 🙂
Pradyumna: Oh man, I need to change my writing style pronto 🙂
Rajesh/MANK: But CDI owed a lot to the genre template no? What Sahni did in terms of shading between those set lines was very good, I agree. I think “Company” is a far superior example of a “genre film” that transcends these set lines.
Sriram: I don’t think there was a mockery of marriage. Just that these three characters didn’t care for it. Rishi Kapoor is there to balance out the other generational viewpoint.
Abhirup: I didn’t mind the kiss when it happened on the bus, but given his hesitation with asking for the cold drink — later — I looked back at the kiss and thought it was odd that this chap could take an “impulsive” chance like that and yet dither over grabbing a cold drink. Something didn’t gel there for me.
Gradwolf: No, I’m saying he’s among the filmmakers who’s *not* forceful and unsubtle 🙂
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Gradwolf
September 9, 2013
Yes yes, my last sentence in that comment should have been my first. I feel Amin and Sahni have collaborated best and Amin is of course the non-flashy kind.
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Abhirup.
September 9, 2013
“I looked back at the kiss and thought it was odd that this chap could take an “impulsive” chance like that and yet dither over grabbing a cold drink.”
Come on, it’s obvious that it isn’t the grabbing of a cold drink that Raghu dithers over. He is nervous and hesitant because of the sudden re-appearance of Gayatri in his life, and that too on the day when he, goaded on by Goyal, is thinking of proposing to Tara. He has done several mental push-ups and is on the verge of popping the question, when his ex-flame enters the picture. Now what does he do? His heart tells him to go for Gayatri again. But the memory of being jilted by her is yet to fade from his mind, and he doesn’t know if she is interested in him any more. Even if she is, what about Tara? Should he ditch her once again? His sense of “doing the right thing” revolts against that; as he tells Goyal, “Har bar dil ki thodi na sununga?” But he KNOWS that he HAS to listen to his heart, or he shall never be happy. His happiness, though, is probably going to come at the cost of hurting Tara. These dilemmas are what make him behave like that in the cold drink scene. I mean, given how casually he buys cigarettes, and tells the waiter that he would pay for the gulab jamuns later, it’s clear Raghu isn’t the dithering sort. So, there’s no way that a bottle of cold drink would make him fumble. There are other things are work around him and in his mind, and those account for his behaviour in that scene.
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Salil Shankar
September 9, 2013
Oh, and I thought more economy would heighten the neatness of Sahni’s writing, and was much needed here 😀
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indianmalefeminist
September 9, 2013
Good one BR! I’m gonna watch this now surely, you’ve got me really interested with this. As for CDI following the genre template, what are we comparing CDI with now? I am not really big on nationalistic films, but I thought it did break confines – although it is about Kabir Khan ‘redeeming’ his public image and what he couldn’t achieve and all that – it did also spend equal, if not more, time on the internal conflicts, politics (which was very loud, but hey), sexism, etc. and everything was treated with great sensibility by Shimit Amin – and still had it’s share of drama IMO. Rocket Singh wasn’t that subtle at all in my view, except for some parts (liked it though).
Maybe where we disagree is what we consider to be ‘subtle’, I guess. 🙂
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MANK
September 10, 2013
But CDI owed a lot to the genre template no?
I dont think that CDI owed that much to the genre template as you say compared with something like chariots of fire or Miracle.If he wanted he could have made it really rabble rousing and jingoistic which is also part of the genre template. if you look at it as a redemption movie about Kabir Khan then there also you find that it doesn’t follow the usual narrative arc as a good amount of time is spend on the team members and their mutual issues as well. Speaking of genre templates , I think your favorite JS movie Aaja Nachle owes as much to the genre template as CDI.The stranger/outsider coming into an idyllic/conservative community and changing its structure which has been done to death in foreign and indian movies. Also AN was a rip off of ‘Chocolat’ with madhuri’s character almost a replica of Juliette Binoche’s character,with dance substituted for food. I don’t know whether you caught the connection between the movies. I would like to hear your views on this..
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brangan
September 11, 2013
indianmalefeminist: The point isn’t whether CDI is a “good” film. IMO, it certainly is (and Sahni has never written a “bad” film so far). But there were no surprises there for me, not much in terms of the little scenes that stand out — though in the sense of the overall narrative, it was very good. It was a very *smooth* film, all t’s crossed, all i’s dotted.
MANK: “The stranger/outsider coming into an idyllic/conservative community and changing its structure” — this is not a genre in the strictest sense. This is a theme, you could say, which less “fixed” than a genre, and there were other things happening in the film (eg. we don’t find this outsider being “examined” the way it’s done here in too many films). CDI is a genre film, IMO. Iron-clad rules and templates, though having a good screenwriter and director, the film definitely felt fresh in parts. I agree about SRK’s character being relatively free of cliches, as I wrote here.
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Sarkari Job
September 13, 2013
Good review…. Good Movie too.. Both looking as good jodi.
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Ranga
September 13, 2013
Curious about your self-censorship. Why F**k and not Fuck? Practicing safe sex (oops, s*x) ?
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Kutty
September 13, 2013
Ah! Good to have you back. After those Thalaivaa and Mariyaan reviews, thought we might lose you!
Like Pradyum, I too thought of something you might mention in your review but then you haven’t. So guess you aren’t as predictable as you had feared. This was with reference to the kissing scene on the bus and then the first kiss at Parineeti’s place. The awkwardness in the first one and the more protracted kiss at her place took me right back to BBB. You had written then that it was perhaps the best shot kissing scene in Bollywood and I could not agree more then. And now again, Maneesh Sharma manages to get the tone just right in the kissing scenes. Hope the other directors follow suit.
And I too was hoping to have a character to root for, maybe Tara, maybe Raghu, maybe Gayathri but then just could not hook my viewing experience to the emotional roller coaster of an individual character. But then, I gave up by the interval (no comparison with the similarity in the cut to the interval with Mouna Guru?). And the movie was much the better for it.
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Arun
September 13, 2013
Where is Utkal Mohanty’s review ?
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Utkal
September 14, 2013
Arun: I haven’t seen it yet.
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venkatesh
September 15, 2013
And here we go : Sahni speaks : http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/cinema/shuddh-desi
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Bhowmik
September 15, 2013
Loved the metaphors used in this movie. The Coke (Thanda) and the various songs constantly playing in the background – suggesting the on-goings.
Here is my take on Shuddh Desi Romance. https://www.facebook.com/notes/bhowmik-haria/shuddh-desi-romance-my-take/586966408029280
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Utkal
September 15, 2013
I had high expectations from Jaydeep Sahni- Maneesh Sharma combo, but what I feel like saying to Raghu, the film’s protagonist is ‘ You’re not the only one with mixed emotions’.
The film starts spectacularly, with the protagonist speaking to the audience a la Woody Allen, then the establishing of the lanes of Jaipur, with the halwai’s assistant scratching his bottom with kniefe before peeling potatoes with it, leading to the coming together of the baraatis for hire under the aegis of Goel Caterers / Goel Decorators. There are couple of gems of lines exchanged between the wedding bnad members. ‘ Is baar agar ‘ Yeh Desh Hai Veer Jawano ka’ ya ‘ Aaj Mera Yaar ki Shaadi ‘ bajaane ko kahaa to…” or ‘ Mein bajaaun toh kaan mein pain, aur tum paadon bhi toh Tansen?”
The way Raghu piles on Gayatri in the bus, leading to the unexpected kiss, and Gayatri’s response establishes the characters of the lead protagonists. Both are in search of a little romance wherever they can get it and have the charm to find willing partners. Raghu’s running away from the marriage ceremony sets the drama. And what follows is the best passage in the film. The courtship, the nature of their chemistry, and the gradual working of the boundaries of their relationship is frank, insightful and well written as well as well performed.
But things get really muddled and meandering post interval. While the characters are generally well-etched and the lines consistently well-written, it is the plotting that is pretty half-cooked here. First, the business of running away through the bathroom route was okay once , maybe twice, but after that it was once too often. The characters bumping into each other at marriage receptions also shows lazy plotting. Then there is also the incongruity of these things happening in a city like Jaipur. You can get bold girls like Gayatri and Romeos like Raghu, but they would conduct their affair with much more discretion. Moving in your attaché as bhaiya won’t simply wash. The attempt at showing the loss of faith in traditional arranged marriages and search for meaningful romance in small town loses its credibility on account of this.
The central triangle is also unsatisfactory because of the way the character of Tara is written. In a film like Cocktail, Veronica and Meera were two distinctly different characters, who dressed, moved and spoke very differently. Saif choosing Meera over Veronica went on to demonstrate that the heart has its own reasons. It si not possibility to explain passion and chemistry along lines of traditional factors of compatibility . While it is nice to see strong women characters , both Tara and Gayatri knowing exactly to how make Raghu dance with a wag of their finger is uninteresting as well as unconvincing, as is Tara’s coming to Jaipur to face here deserter and take him to some kind of task. One does not go to this length after a broken arranged marriage.
I have many other quibbles too. The denouement is not appear to be a logical conclusion, or a satisfactory resolution to the problem set up in the narrative. You don’t bounce from one relationship to another to still remain uncommitted at the end of it. I mean you may as well do, but then that’s not goos stiry, one that is particularly interesting. The trajectory of the romance too is not true to any credible progression. If the spark he felt for Gayatri was genuine there is no way he could have gone on with Tara the way he did. One could have swallowed it if it was shown that while his chemistry with Gayatri seemed to be intense, what he felt for Tara was the real thing. He did not know it. Because he had never had a chance to get close to Tara. With Tara’s character too , it would have been more convincing if she was not paidhaish cool but had really come to Jaipur, become an air-hostess and acquired some confidence.
I am also not very happy with dispensing of with all parents from the equation. Even a more commercially mounted film like Yeh Jawani Hai deewani has Parishit Sahni as Ranbir’s father, and …. as Deepika’s mother. And in Cocktail we have Dimple Kpadia as Saif’s mother. If you are trying to capture small town relational dynamics , parents have to be very much part of the equation. Dispensing with them is again lazy writing and plain escapism.
Throughout these unconvincing and unsatisfactory passages there are many nicely written lines and well-staged scenes. The three-way interaction in front of the Ghumta Phirta Suachalay is one such scene. Or, “ Tum paidhaish chalu thay yaa koi infection ki wajah se..”. or when Raghu asks Tara how often she flkies abnd ‘ Yeh uparwale log kaise hote hain?, she replying’ “ Jaise neechewale log hote hain.” And ‘ Mujhe jab kuchh samjh mein nahin aata toh mein thand order karti hoon. Ek tasalli hoti hai chalo, kuchh nahin toh cold drink to hai!” Reminded me of Woody Allen’s line from Annie Hall, ‘ But we all need the eggs.”
But what makes the filma pleasant watch for most part si the absolutely assured performance with not a single false note by all the three lead actors – Sushant Singh Rajput, Parineeti and newcomer Vani Kapoor. And Rishi Kapoor too deserves a bow for playing such an effortless and believable Goyal. I also loved the way Maneesh Sharma has sused the songs from old Hindi films in the soundtrack . Very unobtrusive, but very effective.
And in conclusion, in spite of the unsatisfactory narrative, I will still applaud Jaideep Sahni for his refreshing take on romance, his attempt at portraying relationships and its contours in concrete details rather than in the abstract. And more than anything else, for making the women talk. I mean I like to see women in films dance, smile, simper, cry… but more than anything, I like to see and hear them TALK. I mean that’s why I like Woody Allen and that’s why I like Eric Rohmer, that’s why I like Richard Linklater. That’s why I liked Cocktail, that’s why I liked Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani and that’s why I somewhat like this too. I only wish the talk came from more real characters and more genuine thoughts and feelings.
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venkatesh
September 15, 2013
Utkal : No snark, genuine question – Do you have a blog ? Do you know how to create one ? Do you need any help in doing so ?
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Utkal
September 15, 2013
Venkatesh: I dont have a blog. Help in creating one will surely be appreciated.
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Sev
September 16, 2013
Didn’t you find Sushant Singh’s voice annoying? I noticed this in his TV series, and earlier movie as well. His voice is too low (for lack of a better word).
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Bhowmik
September 16, 2013
Utkal, loved your thoughts. Exactly my sentiments. Do read my note in the above mentioned comments section! Very similar points.
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Utkal
September 16, 2013
Venkatesh: I want a simple blog with one lead visual. and posting on 4 or 5 broad categories. Something simple that I don’t have to spend too much time on for setting up. You can send me the simple steps to: umohanty@hotmail.com
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venkatesh
September 16, 2013
BR : Do you mind doing the needful (exchange of email id’s -Utkal ) please ?
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numerounity
September 16, 2013
Good one! Here’s my review- http://www.numerounity.com/2013/09/movie-review-27-kisses-shudh-desi.html
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Rahini David
September 17, 2013
So what happened after that? Did Utkal create a blog with vekatesh’s help?
The suspense is killing me.
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venkatesh
September 17, 2013
Rahini: Its ok i am on it – we are in “probably” in different time zones , i have sent Utkal an email.
p.s: BR is going to start charging an “introduction” fee, quite soon.
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Mambazha Manidhan 2.0
September 24, 2013
lovely, lovely movie.
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Varun (@varungrover)
September 26, 2013
BR-ish references I spotted in the film:
At one point – “Seedhe seedhe haan karti hai, ya chalna hai thaane..” from Kabhi Kabhi plays on the radio. A song in which Rishi Kapoor is genuinely confused between two girls. Super-meta choice!
At another, ‘Wo chali wo chali dekho yaar ki gali’ from Padosan plays which has the next line as ‘na na na…meri jaan, dekho jana na wahaan..’ – another commitment phobia song. (Also, a girl genuinely confused between 2 men in Padosan.)
And (over-analysing) – 1st visual in the bus in 1st scene is Sallu (and Katrina) on TV – Sallu being the most candid celeb in recent times about never marrying and experimenting with girlfriends in real life.
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thealterblog
October 4, 2013
You didn’t think the emotions in this film were somewhat messy? To me, it seemed like that rare film that doesn’t try too hard to tie up loose ends, and that was part of it’s appeal to me.
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Haakri
October 7, 2013
Can anyone please tell me what happens at the end of the film.really need to know.
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venkatesh
December 7, 2013
How come no one has referred to the language in this movie – just saw this again – the language is delectable , lovely.
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Rocky
September 17, 2018
Liked this article a lot-
None of these women, be it Tanu or Rumi display any actual ambition apart from their disregard for convention. A strong, feisty woman can be one without stealing a smoke or drinking herself into an alcoholic haze. A man’s smoking, drinking and promiscuity do not define his masculinity and strength – feminism in films also can go beyond these dubious badges of ‘honour’.
Which is not to say, we shouldn’t have women drinking or smoking in films or in real life. They should do whatever pleases them – but vice signalling shouldn’t ideally be their defining characteristic. This depiction makes them almost as lacking in dimension as women in a Luv Ranjan film. And let’s not get started on those films.
https://www.thequint.com/voices/opinion/liberated-woman-of-bollywood-manmarziyaan-rumi
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