When you have insomnia, you're never really asleep... and you're never really awake said Ed Norton’s character in Fight Club. Exactly my sentiments. I have joined a new organization where I will be working nights till the end of this year. Though this provides me with ample time and bandwidth to download movies, I hardly get time to watch them. Watching movies on the big screen almost seems like a luxury.
But finally after 2 weeks, I made it! I got the chance to watch Johnny Gaddar on Monday. I was really looking forward to it cos Sriram Raghavan’s debut Ek Hasina Thi was a mind-blowing experience. I really liked JG cos it was very different from the average Bollywood thriller. The title sequence, for example, is amazing. Not since Casino Royale have I seen a title sequence this good. The film was a tribute to James Headly Chase and Vijay Anand and many scenes and shots paid direct homage to them. Some of the shots and transitions were very clever. One might say that it was not really a slick film but I believe that is where JG’s style lies – simplicity.
I was loving the film and then came the climax. It reminded me of some of the telephonic conversations of B&W Hindi films. It goes like this….a character is busy doing something when the phone rings. He/She picks up the phone
“Hello……..kya?.......Bhaiyya ka accident ho gaya hai?........Unki jaan khatre mein hai?”
You know what I mean? This is what I call the DA or Dumbness Allowance. Through some ridiculous dialogues (and acting), we are told something that the filmmaker thinks we are not intelligent enough to interpret. Subtlety, common sense and interpretation go out the window.
I don’t want to spoil JG for those of you who haven’t seen it but simply put, the ending insults your intelligence. Same thing happened with Jhoom Barabar Jhoom. I know the film took a beating at the box office but I loved the film. But I felt like shooting Shaad Ali in the head when I saw the end. A movie that screams class till the end, turns crass. On the other hand, consider a movie like The Prestige by Christopher Nolan. The whole movie is littered with clues and when you watch the movie for a second time, you realise that it was all front of your eyes. Here is a film that challenges you every second and thus keeps you glued to the screen.
For Bollywood, not much has changed since those B&W hindi films. Filmmakers still think that the audience is not smart enough to take a hint. Today’s audiences are capable of appreciating good cinema (Bollywood, Hollywood and International). And don’t give me any of that, 80 percent-of-India-lives-in-the-villages bullshit. Villager is not synonymous with dumb. Some of the urban movie-goers, on the other hand, might need a crash-course in common sense.
There's no point in making a smart thriller for dumb people and you cannot expect people to get smarter by watching dumb thrillers. Give the audience a chance. We may not look it but we’re pretty smart. And for those of you who just don’t want to use their brains while watching a movie, Partner is out on DVD.
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2 comments:
Wots next! Waiting..
Aggarwal sure is smiling!
To add to da name woes, I had my fair share too. But in my case, it was surname. People had all kinds of versions and suggestions for mine.
They ranged from having a single letter 'g' to dropping an 'a'.Worse, my regional identity got mixed up.
I am assumed to be from Rajasthan and in case i debate it, I am done for. I'm told how so-and-so they know is from Rajasthan with the same surname, ofcourse spelt differently. And the sermon follows - how i dont know about my origins!! Origins!!??!!
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