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Release
date:
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May 22, 2020
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Director:
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Pushpendra Nath Misra
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Cast:
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Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Ila Arun, Raghubir Yadav, Swanand Kirkire, Anurag
Kashyap, Dipika Amin, Bijendra Kala, Rajendra Sethi, Ragini Khanna, Cameos: Chitrangda
Singh, Sonakshi Sinha, Ranveer Singh, Amitabh Bachchan
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Language:
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Hindi
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Though Nawazuddin
Siddiqui has built his reputation largely on grim, sometimes even grisly roles, we know he has the
genes for comedy. We know it from Lunchbox in which he was
sweet and charming and comical in an otherwise pensive scenario. We know it
from other, lesser films too in which we caught flashes of his funny
bone. Ghoomketu – now
streaming on Zee5 – is his
attempt at an all-out comedic performance in an unconventional Bollywood
project.
Produced by the now-defunct
Phantom Films and Sony Pictures, Ghoomketu has been
languishing without a release for some years. It is easy to see why – why the
concept found backing and why the completed film could not find takers. Ghoomketu’s
writer-director Pushpendra Nath Misra (creator of the Netflix series Taj Mahal 1989) obviously had a good
idea to begin with. He also then wrote a neat beginning and end. The bit that
comes in between though, the bit that makes up the length of a film,
flounders.
Ghoomketu is named after its
hero, a 31-year-old aspiring writer from small-town UP who wants a career in
Bollywood. The film opens with him having run away from home, leaving behind
his joint family. In Mumbai, a corrupt policeman is tasked with tracking
down this runaway who is trying to convince a producer to buy his terrible
scripts.
From the word go, it
is evident that Ghoomketu has little talent. Such a leading man is perfect
material for hilarity or for perceptive commentary on the arts or whatever a
filmmaker wishes to explore through him. Bad artists can make for great cinema
– after reading this review, try watching Tim Burton’s 1994 film Ed
Wood starring Johnny Depp as the eponymous real-life American director
reputed for making horrendous films.
In Misra’s case, having
thought up an interesting character, he seems not to know what to do, which is
ironic since the film displays as little imagination as its protagonist.
The opening half hour
or so of Ghoomketu is entertaining. I found myself giggling at
the intentional silliness of the scenarios and characters. Too
soon though, it became clear that the film is aiming for a certain whimsy
that it does not have the depth to achieve.
The use of graphics,
animation, superstar cameos and the narrative device of getting the hero to
talk directly to the camera end up feeling like window dressing in the absence
of substance. After a while then, Ghoomketu becomes a long
wait for a flight to take off.
Siddiqui tries hard
and is initially effective. Beyond a point though, the script does not have
enough meat for him.
The supporting cast is
a roll call of actors who have in the past
shown superb comic timing, and at places in Ghoomketu some of
them do manage to elicit laughs.
Bijendra Kala and
Rajendra Sethi are a hoot. Yadav is under-utilised and his Dadda is given
little to do beyond scream at people. Kirkire gets to be mopey. Kashyap, making
a rare acting appearance, shows some spark in his introductory scene but the
writer has not bothered much with his character thereafter. Ragini Khanna who
carried the Hindi TV serial Sasural Genda Phool on her
shoulders and was impressive too in the Hindi film Gurgaon is wasted
here.
The actor who gets
decent material to work on and remains a sweetheart throughout is Ila Arun as
Ghoomketu’s adoring Bua – it helps that her interactions with him are the film’s
best-written scenes. In the passage in which the senior lady explains to her nephew
how she plans to act her way through a particular situation with his father,
Arun steals the show from right under Siddiqui’s nose. We need to see more of
her in Hindi cinema.
Ghoomketu boasts of
several star cameos. Chitrangda Singh looks stunning in her few moments on
screen. Sonakshi Sinha, Ranveer Singh and Amitabh Bachchan’s tiny roles seem to
have been written with more care than the main characters. Sinha and Singh do a
fair job. Bachchan seems to have had fun playing his part – that is actually
nice to see.
There is a tasteless
fat joke running through Ghoomketu. I know, I know, some of you
will point out that real people do make insensitive comments and a reality should
not be censored on screen in a bow to political correctness. Look back though
at how Sharat Katariya handled a similar theme in that Bollywood gem Dum Laga Ke Haisha. The issue is not
what characters in Ghoomketu say or do, but that the film itself seems
to be tickled by the thought of a plus-sized woman. In its attempt at
profundity, it even appears to be using a slim woman as a metaphor for a man’s
dreams coming true and for a Paulo Coelho-esque moment of treasure-finding
involving an important character. Uff.
The twist in the
climax is not bad at all, but it is inconsistent with what we have been told
until then about Ghoomketu’s writing abilities. Lost in this film’s
wafer-thin screenplay is the pleasant soundtrack by Sneha Khanwalkar and
Jasleen Royal. More’s the pity.
Ghoomketu is being
released directly online during India’s nationwide lockdown prompted by the
COVID-19 pandemic. In these dreary times, it would have meant so much if its
content had been a reason to celebrate. It’s sorta okay, but that is
hardly enough from a film starring this stupendous cast.
Rating (out
of 5 stars): 1.5
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Running time:
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102 minutes
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This review has also been published on Firstpost:
Poster
courtesy: Zee5
