REVIEW 216: ONCE UPON AY TIME IN MUMBAI DOBAARA

Release date:	August 15, 2013
Director:	Milan Luthria
Cast: Language:	Akshay Kumar, Imran Khan, Sonakshi Sinha, Pitobash, Sonali Bendre Behl, Chetan Hansraj Hindi

Those who’ve watched Once Upon A Time in Mumbaai will recall that it ended with Shoaib Khan (Emraan Hashmi) assassinating his mentor Sultan Mirza (Ajay Devgn). The two were said to have been inspired by real-life gangsters Dawood Ibrahim and Haji Mastan. Once Upon Ay Time in Mumbai Dobaara (OUATIMD) takes off where that film left off, with Akshay Kumar playing an older Shoaib and Sonali Bendre Behl making an appearance as his long-time lover Mumtaz whose younger version was played by Prachi Desai in the first film. In terms of story, what you see in the trailers is what you get with OUATIMD: Shoaib, now a senior don, falls out with his young protégé Aslam (Imran Khan) when they both fall in love with the same woman (Sonakshi Sinha). Simplicity can be a good thing, but not when it translates into lack of depth. And sadly, while there is much to toast, there is just too much to lament in OUATIMD.

The first film was far from brilliant but it did have memorable music, production design and costumes complementing a screenplay filled with 1970s/’80s style Bollywood dialoguebaazi that was enjoyable coming from actors who could carry off those flourishes. In Dobaara, the bad news is that Akshay’s heavy-voiced dialogue delivery makes too many of his lines sound tedious and contrived especially in serious scenes. The occasional glimpses of his trademark comic timing are not enough. The good news is that Imran Khan rises beyond expectations. The junior Khan is likeable but has so far come across as an actor whose performances have reflected his own urbane real-life personality. Here in OUATIMD, a long soliloquy in a hospital room shows that he still has a long way to go, but where he’s indulging in deliberately over-dramatised talk, he is far more convincing than his older co-star.

Sonakshi Sinha as Jasmine, the love of both their lives, is a mixed bag in this film. Coming as Dobaara does after her excellent performance in Lootera, it’s nice to see that here again she’s not just a pretty adjunct to the hero as she’s been in too many films with Salman Khan and Akshay himself. OUATIMD’s screenplay belongs as much to her as it does to her male co-stars which is a pleasant change in the male-dominated universe inhabited by Akshay and Salman. Sonakshi still needs to get past her extreme self-consciousness about her large eyes, pretty lashes (false or real, I can’t tell) and distinctive profile, which seems to have afflicted most of her directors too so far, but she is undoubtedly a natural actor who owes it to herself and good cinema to do more Looteras and less (god, it hurts to name the film) Jokers.

There are some significant asides worth noting in the casting. Gender norms have been turned on their head with the contrast between Imran’s slimness and Sonakshi’s largeness. It’s not that she’s overweight (absolutely not!) but this is a big-boned, broad-shouldered woman who does not conform to prevailing social diktats on female beauty. Aslam and Jasmine reminded me, in terms of physicality alone, of Huma Qureshi with a puny Nawazuddin Siddiqui in GoW 1&2. Little steps like these are what evolution and revolutions are made of. Interesting too that right after SRK’s character announced he’s 40 years old in Chennai Express, 30-year-old Imran gets to be the beau of 20-something Sonakshi while 45-year-old Akshay is the senior lusting after her. Perhaps Bollywood is finally seeing the light about age-appropriate roles for gentlemen.

Rajat Aroraa’s writing for OUATIMD is inconsistent. Some of the dialoguebaazi is amusing, it does have several effective thriller elements and does touch some emotional chords, especially in the climax; but Jasmine’s emotional graph is poorly explained and there’s only so much you can take of lines like “Naam bataa diya to pehchaan bura maan jayegi” and “Peene ki capacity, jeene ka strength, account ka balance aur naam ka khauf kabhi bhi kam nahin hona chahiye”. Director Milan Luthria (Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai, The Dirty Picture) seems too acutely aware of having a major male star as his hero, or at least that’s the impression created by Akshay’s introduction scenes in which excessive time is taken to reveal his face. On the other hand, Shoaib’s initial interactions with Jasmine are filled with humour, though there’s nothing quite as funny in the film as the scene in which Aslam teaches her English and elsewhere when she must suffer the consequences of those lessons. Considering that this is a Bollywood gangster film, it’s surprisingly un-bloody. Some of the action is top-notch, most especially the long chase sequence within and atop a train involving a sprightly Aslam.

While care has been taken to maintain the film’s period look, the lack of attention to detail in other aspects is irritating (a woman lies in hospital after being shot in the back, with bandages underneath her unchanged – and almost unscathed – clothes). Most of the supporting cast are either unimpressive (Chetan Hansraj playing Shoaib’s sidekick Jimmy even sounds confusingly like Akshay) or they’re given short shrift which is so unfair when you’ve roped in talents like Mahesh Manjrekar and Pitobash. Vidya Balan is wasted in an inexplicable guest appearance. Sonali Bendre Behl though looks lovely (gosh, she’s ageing so gracefully!) and pitches in a neat performance which makes you wonder why Hindi filmdom doesn’t have bigger roles for her. Sandip Shirodkar’s background score is effective in building up the suspense, but Pritam’s songs – except for Yeh tune kya kiya – are nothing to write home about. Tyyeb Ali is more energetic in the film than it appeared to be in the trailer, but it’s hard to understand why this classic song has been reprised from Amar Akbar Antony when the music director, choreographer and director couldn’t give it half the zest and verve of the original and when, well let’s face it, Imran Khan ain’t no Rishi Kapoor!

OUATIMD is not an absolute washout though. Far from it. Despite its flaws, Luthria and editor Akiv Ali have given it a certain pace especially as it hurtles towards its rather unexpected climax. The lasting impression though is of a sliver of a project, not a fully fleshed out film.

Rating (out of five): **1/2

CBFC Rating (India):	U/A
Running time:	2 hours 40 minutes

Photograph: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Once_Upon_ay_Time_in_Mumbai_Dobaara!

REVIEW 98: THE DIRTY PICTURE

Release date:	December 2, 2011
Director:	Milan Luthria
Cast:	VIDYA BALAN. Also starring Naseeruddin Shah, Emraan Hashmi, Tusshar Kapoor, Rajesh Sharma

Must every Hindi film that gives primacy to its heroine be about sex and skin show? The question’s been asked by some people since The Dirty Picture’s promos were released. Well, when you see the film you will discover that over, above and beyond the bawdy bedroom scenes and blatant display of bosom, The Dirty Picture is about an actress who has thrown herself into a role and lived the part with no apologies, no holds barred! Seriously, Vidya Balan … wow!

The Dirty Picture is set in 1980s Madras and revolves around an aspiring actress called Reshma (Balan), a girl who fled home because she wanted more out of life than the marriage her mother was nudging her into. Her evident penury in the city does little to stem her feisty spirit, her sense of fun and her passion for cinema which is so great that one day when she’s famished and down to her last few rupees, she chooses to skip food to watch a film instead. Reshma’s persistent visits to film studios pay off when a producer finally notices her doing a sexy dance as an extra in a scene that his prudish director Abraham (Emraan Hashmi) snipped out of a film. Reshma is Discovered, she is renamed Silk, the traditional clothes are exchanged for hot little Western numbers, and her acid tongue and penchant for publicity make her an overnight headline grabber. She is every man’s dirty secret, the actress they fantasise about but don’t take their wives to theatres to watch with them. The Dirty Picture is the story of The Rise and Fall of Silk.

The highlights of this film are Vidya Balan, Vidya Balan, Vidya Balan … and Rajat Aroraa’s crackling dialogues. Oh the joy of hearing Abraham say, If Silk was the last woman on earth, I’d get a vasectomy done! The excellent make-up genuinely highlights the decline of the marquee star (though I’m not sure why her ascent to glamourdom had to be marked by her dark skin lightening up). The costumes and styling perfectly recreate those tawdry films of the 1980s. There’s also some supremely intelligent music direction by Vishal-Shekhar whose gorgeous Ooh la la – so beautifully picturised! – transports us back three decades.

I also enjoyed the way language has been used in this film. The costumes and car number plates make it clear that the story is set in Tamil Nadu, but director Milan Luthria (who earlier collaborated with Balaji on Once Upon A Time in Mumbaai) has wisely chosen not to get his cast to desperately struggle with accents. Nor are the Hindi dialogues peppered with Tamil. Such half measures often lead to amusing inconsistency. Interesting decision, Messrs Luthria and Aroraa!

Of the supporting cast, Naseeruddin Shah is good as the male star who retains his numero uno status despite his advancing years and expanding waistline, in an industry that easily tires of its leading ladies. But the actor I hope will get nominated at all the Awards next year along with Balan is the excellent Rajesh Sharma playing the producer who discovers Silk. Earlier this year, Sharma turned in a fabulous performance as a policeman with shades of gray in No One Killed Jessica. I can still hear him say, “Aap kaunsi duniya main rehti ho Sabrinaji?”

The kilos that Balan gained for this film are very much in evidence, as a sexily voluptuous Silk degenerates into the alcoholic and pot-bellied falling star. The impact of Vidya’s courageous physical transformation and acting, combined with all that entertaining dialoguebaazi however, do not alter the fact that The Dirty Picture is a highly flawed film. The performances by Tusshar Kapoor (as Naseer’s younger brother) and Hashmi lack depth, the story (especially in the second half) is riddled with loopholes and not enough attention has been paid to the character graphs! Which leaves me with too many questions that the film fails to answer … A starving Reshma/Silk is propositioned by a sleazy man in a theatre one night; she refuses to prostitute herself to him despite her desperation, so how come she does not think for a second before casually sleeping with the hero of her very first film at the very first sign of trouble? What explains Abraham’s extreme animosity towards Silk and his dramatic turnaround? Why did Reshma/Silk’s mother abruptly change her mind about her daughter right in the end? Was Silk in love with her superstar idol or was she simply hurt at being mis-treated?

There is also a certain dishonesty in the approach to the subject that is gnawing at me. For months, the producers let it be known that The Dirty Picture is the story of south Indian cinema’s sex symbol of the 1980s, Silk Smitha. Then on November 4, in the shadow of legal action from the real Silk’s family, Balaji Pictures issued a statement clarifying that the film is “a work of fiction, and any characters’ resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental”. So if this is not the late Silk Smitha’s biopic, if the leading lady in this film is only a composite of several actresses of that era, then why has the character been called Silk and why was Silk Smitha’s birthday carefully chosen as the release date for this film? Are such publicity stunts justified when it involves the reputation of a human being who can no longer defend herself?

The ethical debate apart, this would have been half the film that it is right now without Balan and the sharp dialogue writing. All those lovely individual ingredients have somehow not been cooked up into a wholesome whole, but are so darned good on their own that The Dirty Picture ends up being paisa vasool. And seriously, Vidya Balan … wow!

Rating (out of five): ***

CBFC Rating:                       A

Language:                             Hindi

Photograph courtesy: http://www.facebook.com/thedirtypicturefilm