When I first saw the trailer of Love, Sex aur Dhokha, I had a small feeling of deja vu. Was this going to turn out like another Karthik Calling Karthik with a slick trailer and then nothing more? But I decided to take the plunge and watch it because of the faith I have in Dibakar Bannerjee.
LSD opens up with an 80’s style Telemarketing-style trailer as seen on Doordarshan. So I sat in the hall thinking this might not be that bad. And boy was that the right call. This is a movie about our very real, very perverse fascination with reality drama. Set in 3 parts, each dealing with one of the title’s 3 nouns respectively, it’s a movie which uses the hidden/secret camera technique to full effect to titillate our senses.
The movie starts with love, a track about the very Bollywood style romance that Indians have lapped up from the early 90’s. The characters are simple, sweet and very much in love with each other. The soapy style affection we have to romantic films can be seen with the lead character’s fascination with “Adi Sir”, a reference to Aditya Chopra who delighted the country with soppy love stories exactly like the one featured in the track. Part 2 deals with Sex. Much talked about for the editing that the scene with the actual act has undergone, the message is still very much there and still very much “In-your-face” as well as “On-your-screen”. And with Dhokha, track 3 completes the triumvirate of with a neatly fleshed story involving the casting couch.
The success of this movie lies in the fact that despite being made for the big screen, Dibakar Bannerjee shuns sugar-coating the movie. This is a very real film which most people cannot associate with but have definitely heard or read about something similar. The brutality towards the end of “Love” is a shocking scene, one which will haunt you for a while.
Each track has its unique flavor, and it is the language used in each that grips you. Whether it is the father in “Love” openly spouting profanity or the lengths that the Editor of a news channel is willing to go to any length to get a story, this is a movie that thrives in being “real”. At times it feels like your watching an episode of Big Boss.
Each of the 3 tracks meet up and at some point in time, you will realize what a great job the man behind the camera has done to get them all to meet so seamlessly. It’s almost Tarentino-like.
A word for the crew – the screenplay is exceptional. Not once do you feel like the dialogue is crass. Yes there are expletives, but it’s the language that gives it that earthy, realistic touch. The editing is not far behind. Tightly cut, it’s a movie that does not meander, and that is real credit in this age of 120 minute+ dramas. The cherry on this handheld camera drama is the cast. Not one big name and yet all of them perform their parts with élan.
Shock therapy is fast gaining a following amongst Bollywood filmmakers. First it was Anurag Kashyap with his sequence of movies that culminated in the new-age Dev D. Now it is Dibakar Bannerjee who is following his footsteps. Love, Sex aur Dhokha is a movie that will shock you. It will cause a few of you to shudder. Some might even get angry that filmmakers treat their subjects and actors like pieces of meat. And that is precisely why you should watch it. This is the new age of films, and LSD is a great start.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Saturday, March 6, 2010
कार्तिक काल्लिंग कार्तिक
The best part about Karthik Calling Karthik (KCK) is the opening credit sequence. Very tastefully done, with good music, the credits are an excellent beginning to what should have been (at least on the basis of the pre-release promos and trailers) an excellent movie.
Sadly however, this is far from the case. KCK fails simply because it never really knows what it should be. As someone who watched the movie, I’m equally confused. Was this a movie that was meant to be a thriller? Was it supposed to be cool? Was it supposed to deal with a sensitive psychological condition? At the end of the movie, I couldn’t really care less. I was happy that it was over.
Farhan Akhtar stars as Karthik, a meek, hard working nobody in a real estate company. So meek, that he takes it upon himself to ensure that the paperwork of the entire office is in order apart from doing any an all work that his boss piles on him. Deepika Padukone plays Shonali, a woman who comes to work at 1:00 PM, and does apparently no work. The track between Karthik and Shonali is as straightforward as it gets in a Hindi movie. Boy is meek. Boy likes girl. Girl is a hotshot. Girl is unaware of the existence of the boy. No great surprises in either of their lives until Karthik gets a call (just as he is trying to commit suicide) from surprise surprise, Karthik.
Karthik the caller gives all his gyaan to Karthik the listener. Inspired by these 05:00 AM calls, Karthik the meek transforms from himself into a super cool Karthik. Apparently, Karthik has been to an IIM and graduated at the top of his class, and then gone on to break all previous records of CA.
This is where you will start to laugh at the ludicrousness of the story. Not only is Karthik a super brain doing a rubbish job which is impossible, he also turns too cool too fast. The same guy who was insulted by his boss in front of the entire office can now go into his boss’ office and show him (an the rest of an office) to be complete imbeciles. He also spouts cool one word lines like “Chill”.
Unlike in most great thrillers where the butler does it, here we realize (much too late to care) that the culprit is the phone! I’m not going to reveal too much of the script to you, but suffice to say that the “twist” is quite lame. Karthik embarks on a blind journey taken quite too literally, but that too does not seem to help.
The acting is mediocre. Akhtar seems to be far better as the meek Karthik rather than the super cool one. Padukone continues to ham her way through performances winning audiences over with her assets more than anything else. The directing is ok, but the real hooter here is the editing. How long did it take to get to the point? Really, it should have ended in the first half. And when it does end, everything seems fine!
This is a movie that you should watch with no expectations. Do that, and you wont come out disappointed. Better yet, wait for the DVD.
Sadly however, this is far from the case. KCK fails simply because it never really knows what it should be. As someone who watched the movie, I’m equally confused. Was this a movie that was meant to be a thriller? Was it supposed to be cool? Was it supposed to deal with a sensitive psychological condition? At the end of the movie, I couldn’t really care less. I was happy that it was over.
Farhan Akhtar stars as Karthik, a meek, hard working nobody in a real estate company. So meek, that he takes it upon himself to ensure that the paperwork of the entire office is in order apart from doing any an all work that his boss piles on him. Deepika Padukone plays Shonali, a woman who comes to work at 1:00 PM, and does apparently no work. The track between Karthik and Shonali is as straightforward as it gets in a Hindi movie. Boy is meek. Boy likes girl. Girl is a hotshot. Girl is unaware of the existence of the boy. No great surprises in either of their lives until Karthik gets a call (just as he is trying to commit suicide) from surprise surprise, Karthik.
Karthik the caller gives all his gyaan to Karthik the listener. Inspired by these 05:00 AM calls, Karthik the meek transforms from himself into a super cool Karthik. Apparently, Karthik has been to an IIM and graduated at the top of his class, and then gone on to break all previous records of CA.
This is where you will start to laugh at the ludicrousness of the story. Not only is Karthik a super brain doing a rubbish job which is impossible, he also turns too cool too fast. The same guy who was insulted by his boss in front of the entire office can now go into his boss’ office and show him (an the rest of an office) to be complete imbeciles. He also spouts cool one word lines like “Chill”.
Unlike in most great thrillers where the butler does it, here we realize (much too late to care) that the culprit is the phone! I’m not going to reveal too much of the script to you, but suffice to say that the “twist” is quite lame. Karthik embarks on a blind journey taken quite too literally, but that too does not seem to help.
The acting is mediocre. Akhtar seems to be far better as the meek Karthik rather than the super cool one. Padukone continues to ham her way through performances winning audiences over with her assets more than anything else. The directing is ok, but the real hooter here is the editing. How long did it take to get to the point? Really, it should have ended in the first half. And when it does end, everything seems fine!
This is a movie that you should watch with no expectations. Do that, and you wont come out disappointed. Better yet, wait for the DVD.
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