B & B & B
Yeh world hai na world, there are two types of people in it. One who love watching mad caper movies and spend money doing so and the other, who love making such movies and also end up making a lot of money out of it. As you can imagine, the smart ones are those who move from the first category to the second category.
After a long time, I gotta watch a real no-brainer with an entertainment value totally worth the money. Right outside Rex cinema (where I watched the movie), I can imagine a box saying, "Please leave your brains here before you go ahead and watch the movie". As the credits start rolling and you see the Biggest B rapping by waving his hands Eminemsque, you know what to expect out of the movie. Whatever initial doubts you might have about this movie being an emotional drama seeing the first confrontation between Baby B and Babbar (another B) is quickly put to rest once Rani mukerjee makes a tongue in cheek remark at Kareena on screen.
And from then on, for a long time to come, the movie moves like a music video. Every con job they accomplish is shown in glimpses between songs that are belted out in quick succession (though no one is complaining because they are really hummable numbers). And then enters Big B, who's now perfecting the art of playing a whacko (The scene where B swears that he will catch both Bs and shoots the glass pane is so 70ish, you almost hear kitne aadmi te kalia in the background!)
On the scales of creativity, the film is a lowly 3 on 10 - None of the con jobs are creative; even the romantic scenes lack imagination; the characters are quite two dimensional and the situations et emotions cliched. But what makes the canvas come alive is the amazing chemistry between the small ~B and the only non-B (the bubbly babli). They light up the screen like a khan and a ~K did a decade ago. They have an amazing repertoire of expressions which will leave you in splits even before a word is uttered (watch out Junior B's expression in the climax). Abhishek is good, no denying that. The woodenness of his face and movements is still there but has reduced substantially. He exudes confidence on screen and personifies mischief. There's not much acting that he's forced to do and that suits him fine. But, it's Rani who steals the show right from under his nose. She's so adorable (even with those extra pounds that she's put on) and lingers on the screen even after the lights are off.
Everyone involved in the movie has been stressing the point that the movie is a tribute to the 70s bollywood. Thankfully they did. Of course, one can spot the sholay link when b & b wear identical costumes and ride the bike doing the same antics as "Yeh dosti hum nahin ...". But if the tacky sets for the scenes in the train were in any way a tribute to the movies of the yesteryears - the only way they could have made it obvious was by placing subtitles explaining their intention. The one guy sitting next to me was wondering aloud why YashRaj films was trying to save money by putting up sets like these for the simplest of scenes (I am still not sure if it's any cheaper but I could understand why he thought so. Tacky is the word!).
The music is awesome; really peppy - Just the kind of songs that make even the dullest of assignments at work worth working on. And yeah, Aishwarya rai - I loved her (though ~M didn't). It was then I realized that 5 minutes is exactly the amount of time she can be on screen without letting it dawn on you how fake she actually is.
In summary, Bunty aur Babli could have been a helluva good movie with a little more thought. But the way it is, is still a good paisa vasool (God! I sound so much like those guys whose reviews I hate to read!).
After a long time, I gotta watch a real no-brainer with an entertainment value totally worth the money. Right outside Rex cinema (where I watched the movie), I can imagine a box saying, "Please leave your brains here before you go ahead and watch the movie". As the credits start rolling and you see the Biggest B rapping by waving his hands Eminemsque, you know what to expect out of the movie. Whatever initial doubts you might have about this movie being an emotional drama seeing the first confrontation between Baby B and Babbar (another B) is quickly put to rest once Rani mukerjee makes a tongue in cheek remark at Kareena on screen.
And from then on, for a long time to come, the movie moves like a music video. Every con job they accomplish is shown in glimpses between songs that are belted out in quick succession (though no one is complaining because they are really hummable numbers). And then enters Big B, who's now perfecting the art of playing a whacko (The scene where B swears that he will catch both Bs and shoots the glass pane is so 70ish, you almost hear kitne aadmi te kalia in the background!)
On the scales of creativity, the film is a lowly 3 on 10 - None of the con jobs are creative; even the romantic scenes lack imagination; the characters are quite two dimensional and the situations et emotions cliched. But what makes the canvas come alive is the amazing chemistry between the small ~B and the only non-B (the bubbly babli). They light up the screen like a khan and a ~K did a decade ago. They have an amazing repertoire of expressions which will leave you in splits even before a word is uttered (watch out Junior B's expression in the climax). Abhishek is good, no denying that. The woodenness of his face and movements is still there but has reduced substantially. He exudes confidence on screen and personifies mischief. There's not much acting that he's forced to do and that suits him fine. But, it's Rani who steals the show right from under his nose. She's so adorable (even with those extra pounds that she's put on) and lingers on the screen even after the lights are off.
Everyone involved in the movie has been stressing the point that the movie is a tribute to the 70s bollywood. Thankfully they did. Of course, one can spot the sholay link when b & b wear identical costumes and ride the bike doing the same antics as "Yeh dosti hum nahin ...". But if the tacky sets for the scenes in the train were in any way a tribute to the movies of the yesteryears - the only way they could have made it obvious was by placing subtitles explaining their intention. The one guy sitting next to me was wondering aloud why YashRaj films was trying to save money by putting up sets like these for the simplest of scenes (I am still not sure if it's any cheaper but I could understand why he thought so. Tacky is the word!).
The music is awesome; really peppy - Just the kind of songs that make even the dullest of assignments at work worth working on. And yeah, Aishwarya rai - I loved her (though ~M didn't). It was then I realized that 5 minutes is exactly the amount of time she can be on screen without letting it dawn on you how fake she actually is.
In summary, Bunty aur Babli could have been a helluva good movie with a little more thought. But the way it is, is still a good paisa vasool (God! I sound so much like those guys whose reviews I hate to read!).
posted by Rathish at 9:15 AM
7 Comments:
2 dimensional characters .. didn't you get a hint when they didn't hand you those multi-colored glasses at the entrance to the movie? :) And I never have heard of the term 2 dimensional ... usually 1 dimensional is used to say they sucked big time.
And who the hell is M? Shaggy has an M and you have and M. This M seems to be quite a Muse. :)
*Groaning* Another one bites the dust..I never thought YOU of all people wud actually LIKE the brainless caper !! I almost screamed out in the last scene at airport where AB snr tries to catch ur bubbly babli by calling up her cellphone - "Switch off your Goddamn Mobile Phone bimbo" !! and not a con worth remembering ..tchh tchh...or was it tssk..tssk...( whatever,as long as u get the point )
I totally agree! The movie was quite a disappointment! I totally fail to see how it could have gotten good reviews. I feel they gave 1 star for each of the actors and threw in 1/2 star for the movie. The only dialogue worth remembering was Rani's at the end: "Agar meine aur ek baar aam ka achaar banaya to mein mar jaongi...". Teeheehee
@Sanketh - Dude, there's this subtle difference between the images on screen and the "characters" - I mean the character potraits in the plot. When I say they are two dimensional, I mean they are caricatures (as in they are long (like AB) and wide (like Rani)) but there's no depth (tsk tsk, the third dimension!!) :)) this is getting more difficult to explain than I thought. Hope you got the point.
@Sachin and @Anonymous - I guess I have actually screwed the movie enough in every department :) the only good thing I mentioned was the chemistry. And since when did movies have to be good to be entertaining. Bring on the hoot and whistle, spray the pop corn & the coke. Let the witty front benchers have a roll! :)
One more point! the mobile is as you said the dumbest thing in recent times. wanted to mention it in the review but missed it :)
My brain which i intelligently left back in the fridge@home,would rot,i thought!
Anonymous is abso rite about that "Aam ka achar,thats the only thing i liked abt the movie"
And ratish,u thot rani has put on weight?i thot she had lost..
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Post a Comment
<< Home