This is a Bollywood blockbuster indeed, but with a big difference. It is not set in India .... but rather in New York, and is about the lives of Indian diasporans there (and by implication in the West generally). So it is a puzzle as to why the film was not made in English, as it easily could have been, with the bilingual actors using their own authentic voices for an equivalent Hindi version. After all a lot of the dialogue in whole or part is in English, reflecting the true life-style of the characters it portrays anyway.
Be that as it may, the readily decipherable English subtitles (which also appear when English is spoken!) do make it easy to follow the movie (more so if one has a smattering of the lingo), which however is long, too long at 3 hrs and 13 mins! The first hour or so is just plain poppycock: caricature of the traditional Bollywood-style extravaganza of carefully choreographed dance, colourful costumes and loud accompanying music, scenes of surreal shenanigans and a mixture of brash baffoonery and bashfulness - enjoyable no doubt to the mass loyal followers of Hindi cinema, but embarrassing for the critical viewer because of its lack of intellectual subtlety and nuance. This is no art movie; it is a commercial production for a vast global market that now spans across continents from India to the Middle East to Africa and to Europe and North America in the West and Australasia in / and the Far East.
But what is so especially novel about the film, so we are told, is that it deals with a taboo subject: of adultery and sexuality, in a very explicit way, which goes against the grain of the standard Indian movie fare. That kind of social realism may be seen as a revolutionary departure in a wholly Indian setting, but not one involving NRIs (`Non-Resident Indians` a term that, alas, is open to misconstruction and challenge because it takes no account of the varied nature of the Indian diaspora which comprises not only those who actually hail from the sub-continent and may retain Indian nationality but also the progeny of those who left its shores generations ago to form immigrant communities in diverse colonial societies in the far corners of the British Empire, eventually to settle in Britain or other parts of the West, more appropriately called `persons of Indian origin` or PIOs). So the movie-makers are to be congratulated for daring to touch on a sensitive issue in a way that would not be offensive to their multi-million mass home audiences. For them this is truly a `Bollywood blockbuster` because it stars a galaxy of their heart-throbs: Amitabh Bhachan, Sharukh Khan, Rani Mukherjee, Preity Zinta, Abhishek Bhachan et al, and contains all the gimmickry and other associated elements designed to appeal to and entertain them.
The plot, shorn of its hype and many pointless highways and byways, can be reduced to a simple scenario: of how two mis-matched couples struggling to cope with their unhappy marriages and moral dilemmas born of a cultural inheritance that inhibits their freedom of action and even expression of sentiment, come to terms with their inner emotional and personal conflicts. This broad theme is explored against the background of the daily hassle and struggles of living and working in the world`s greatest metropolis, though the city portrayed in this movie is not the New York of Manhattan or Marathon Man - the backdrop scenery has not the same dynamic edge.
The real life father-son (Amitabh and Abhishek Bhachan) also play the same character roles in the story as Sam and Rishi respectively. Their celluloid affection for each other (greetings of "Hey, dude" as well as genuine and feigned exclamations of exasperation that often pass between parents and grown up children) may or may not be mirrored in actuality, but in the movie it strikes a poignant note. The older Bhachan`s sexual antics come across at first as those of an ageing playboy bent on making up for earlier missed opportunities but later these give way to a paternalist concern for the welfare of his son and more especially of his daughter-in-law and protege Maya (Rani Mukherjee) even though she is cold and unfeeling towards her husband, and in fact advises her to get out of an unloving marriage rather than endure it. There are of course lots of twists and turns to the story, with the other couple (Rhea - played by Preity Zinta - and her good-for-nothing hubby Dev) weaving in and out of focus as Dev and Maya get drawn ever closer to each other through a succession of romantic trysts.
After all the early silliness, it is when the movie moves on to the plateau of relationships that it begins to hold our serious attention. When confidences are exchanged and there is a corresponding build up of empathy and understanding all round, we do feel drawn to the characters, with the one exception of Dev, played by Sharukh Khan - a cantankerous and truly obnoxious figure masquerading as an Al Pacino verisimilitude - his speech full of `shit`, his manners equally crude, his demeanour gruff - (think of A Scent of a Woman or Dog Day Afternoon) - except that he doesn`t quite pull it off! If his foul-mouthed temper was the result of a sporting injury that finished off his career as a rising football star, and if his damaged psyche dictates all his actions, then that does not sit well with the notion of spiritual redemption through love. His domestic relations with his wife (a smart business executive) and mother-in-law are never too well disposed, but it is his cruelty to their only son that is so shocking that not even the rather limp attempt to bring about a soft reckoning between them at the end mitigates the sheer horror of his total unsuitability and indifference as a parent.
The absence of chemistry between the married partners of each couple leads to their inevitable rupture but the tantalising expectation of a cross- affair between Rishi and Rhea never materializes beyond some chaste exchanges, while we are allowed to witness the one and only sexual encounter in a hotel room that is the denouement of the movie (a la Madame Bovary), albeit rather suggestively than in sequenced detail, as the fulfilment of their illicit desire by Dev and Maya. There are all kinds of peripheral goings on and other loose ends all of which have to be tied up somehow, which is done either hurriedly or half-heartedly - hallmarks of a long story that is short on direction!
But despite some of these flaws, there is a kind of symmetry in the finale: relationships do fall into place, the characters do get their just deserts, and above all the message is conveyed: that just as Indian diasporans are coming to terms with modernity in the West where they have settled, so Indians back at home (the `desi` types) who hitherto have largely been the voyeurs of alien occidental lifestyles too are becoming more adept at adapting and handling them in the context of their own rising middle-class aspirations and affluence - that is already evident from the daily soap opera features of domestic Indian tv screens. All said and done, the movie is an experience not to be missed.
But what is so especially novel about the film, so we are told, is that it deals with a taboo subject: of adultery and sexuality, in a very explicit way, which goes against the grain of the standard Indian movie fare. That kind of social realism may be seen as a revolutionary departure in a wholly Indian setting, but not one involving NRIs (`Non-Resident Indians` a term that, alas, is open to misconstruction and challenge because it takes no account of the varied nature of the Indian diaspora which comprises not only those who actually hail from the sub-continent and may retain Indian nationality but also the progeny of those who left its shores generations ago to form immigrant communities in diverse colonial societies in the far corners of the British Empire, eventually to settle in Britain or other parts of the West, more appropriately called `persons of Indian origin` or PIOs). So the movie-makers are to be congratulated for daring to touch on a sensitive issue in a way that would not be offensive to their multi-million mass home audiences. For them this is truly a `Bollywood blockbuster` because it stars a galaxy of their heart-throbs: Amitabh Bhachan, Sharukh Khan, Rani Mukherjee, Preity Zinta, Abhishek Bhachan et al, and contains all the gimmickry and other associated elements designed to appeal to and entertain them.
The plot, shorn of its hype and many pointless highways and byways, can be reduced to a simple scenario: of how two mis-matched couples struggling to cope with their unhappy marriages and moral dilemmas born of a cultural inheritance that inhibits their freedom of action and even expression of sentiment, come to terms with their inner emotional and personal conflicts. This broad theme is explored against the background of the daily hassle and struggles of living and working in the world`s greatest metropolis, though the city portrayed in this movie is not the New York of Manhattan or Marathon Man - the backdrop scenery has not the same dynamic edge.
The real life father-son (Amitabh and Abhishek Bhachan) also play the same character roles in the story as Sam and Rishi respectively. Their celluloid affection for each other (greetings of "Hey, dude" as well as genuine and feigned exclamations of exasperation that often pass between parents and grown up children) may or may not be mirrored in actuality, but in the movie it strikes a poignant note. The older Bhachan`s sexual antics come across at first as those of an ageing playboy bent on making up for earlier missed opportunities but later these give way to a paternalist concern for the welfare of his son and more especially of his daughter-in-law and protege Maya (Rani Mukherjee) even though she is cold and unfeeling towards her husband, and in fact advises her to get out of an unloving marriage rather than endure it. There are of course lots of twists and turns to the story, with the other couple (Rhea - played by Preity Zinta - and her good-for-nothing hubby Dev) weaving in and out of focus as Dev and Maya get drawn ever closer to each other through a succession of romantic trysts.
After all the early silliness, it is when the movie moves on to the plateau of relationships that it begins to hold our serious attention. When confidences are exchanged and there is a corresponding build up of empathy and understanding all round, we do feel drawn to the characters, with the one exception of Dev, played by Sharukh Khan - a cantankerous and truly obnoxious figure masquerading as an Al Pacino verisimilitude - his speech full of `shit`, his manners equally crude, his demeanour gruff - (think of A Scent of a Woman or Dog Day Afternoon) - except that he doesn`t quite pull it off! If his foul-mouthed temper was the result of a sporting injury that finished off his career as a rising football star, and if his damaged psyche dictates all his actions, then that does not sit well with the notion of spiritual redemption through love. His domestic relations with his wife (a smart business executive) and mother-in-law are never too well disposed, but it is his cruelty to their only son that is so shocking that not even the rather limp attempt to bring about a soft reckoning between them at the end mitigates the sheer horror of his total unsuitability and indifference as a parent.
The absence of chemistry between the married partners of each couple leads to their inevitable rupture but the tantalising expectation of a cross- affair between Rishi and Rhea never materializes beyond some chaste exchanges, while we are allowed to witness the one and only sexual encounter in a hotel room that is the denouement of the movie (a la Madame Bovary), albeit rather suggestively than in sequenced detail, as the fulfilment of their illicit desire by Dev and Maya. There are all kinds of peripheral goings on and other loose ends all of which have to be tied up somehow, which is done either hurriedly or half-heartedly - hallmarks of a long story that is short on direction!
But despite some of these flaws, there is a kind of symmetry in the finale: relationships do fall into place, the characters do get their just deserts, and above all the message is conveyed: that just as Indian diasporans are coming to terms with modernity in the West where they have settled, so Indians back at home (the `desi` types) who hitherto have largely been the voyeurs of alien occidental lifestyles too are becoming more adept at adapting and handling them in the context of their own rising middle-class aspirations and affluence - that is already evident from the daily soap opera features of domestic Indian tv screens. All said and done, the movie is an experience not to be missed.
Ramnik Shah
(c) 2013
Surrey England
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