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A
presence of mind was drastically missing, as poor Jimmy
Shergil struggled with his Bihari accent to play a medical
student who first heckles then wins the hoity-toity
Miss (Diya Mirza) on the campus.
The song and dance sequences were so tackily done you
wondered if the camera by chance crept into the rehearsals
instead of the final take.
But we're straying… Back to the story… Jimmy
is a Hindu, Diya is Christian. His father won't have
any of their marital plans. Jimmy leaves in a huff…
but runs into Diya who now smokes like a chimney, drinks
like a fish, and acts like ham.
One feels rather concerned for the people at Sahara
who actually commission these mal-functioning movies…
Come on, guys. You can do better. |
Look
at the leaps and bounds being made by international cinema.
The other week I was watching BBC's eminently viewable Talking
Movies where a French director was speaking on how tough
it is to market his film in the US. We seem to be stuck
making movies that best belong in the cans, if not the trash
can… forget the Cannes Film Festival.
****
Star
Plus' Saara Akash had the leading lady sneaking into
enemy territory to rescue her baby from Rakshanda Khan who
played a reluctant terrorist. While she turned a new leaf,
the soap branched into a jungle of activities. Men ran around
with fake guns 
while
the two ladies argued on extremist morality. A baby wailed
in the background to complete the chaotic picture.
Some soaps clearly mistake the pitch of voice and multiplicity
of sounds to indicate a gripping narrative.
Heard veteran actress Kamini Kaushal lecturing everyone
on the girl-child being the ghar ki izzat on LOC.
It was a VERY long speech. And by the time it ended we had
all ceased to care about the homily.
****
On
television everyone simply wants to have fun... at any cost.
Star One's Bluff Master (hosted by a guy who grins
so meanly he makes the prize money seem like the wages of
sin) featured a 'Daku-Hasina' special where villains and
molls of moviedom got together to make some money out of
a concept that trivializes consumerism. The contestants
wore menacing expressions throughout. Gulshan Grover wore
dark glasses to avoid eye contact with the other contestants.
But he still managed to be more polite than music director
Ismail Durbar on Zee's Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge.
Durbar was downright rude to the young boys and girls, taunting
their accents, scoffing their abilities. Jatin-Lalit were
far more tolerant judges. But they had to face the brunt
of a mother's wrath who all but hit them for rejecting her
child.
These
live talent-scouting contests are becoming occasions for
a circus of hysteria. On Sony's Fame Gurukul a girl
who feigned a tummy ache to avoid an appointment was given
a dressing down by a teacher on-camera. There was another
boy who got a 'surprise' call from his girlfriend on his
birthday. The entire 'conversation' was staged so awkwardly,
one didn't know who was more embarrassed - the people who
were put through the drill, or viewers who have to watch
singers do a spot of 'acting'.
****
MTV
got Cyrus Broacha to conduct a really cool interview with
Shah Rukh Khan who was elected the youth icon of the year.
Both the host and guest were in their element. Broacha asked
jokey questions like whom does SRK prefer, Broacha or Oprah
Winfrey. He even asked SRK if he has chest hair.
SRK promptly pulled up his teeshirt to show that he did
not.
Star News got the director Manish Jha and his leading lady
Tulip Joshi from the new film Matrabhoomi. They weren't
quizzed about chest hair. But were asked some really incisive
questions, like why would audiences want to see a dark and
depressing film like theirs.
Perhaps in her endeavour to prove she was still a sunshine
girl, the actress promptly said they all had fun when the
camera wasn't looking.
It's amazing how everyone wants to prove how blithe-sprited
he or she is even while promoting a film that fights female
foeticide.
*****
For
some real fun tune in to Star One's The Great Comedy
Show. Last week there was a hilarious episode on the
smoking ban where every actor puffed away on the cancer
stick in a hospital scene to beat the smoking deadline.
And why was Dia Mirza smoking in Sahara's film Prateeksha?
Was it because she wanted to beat the ban or was she playing
a troubled soul?
Kitu
Gidwani and Simone Singh are stunningly watchable as "soutans"
battling over a supine Ayub Khan. The confrontation sequences
between them at the hospital were not quite like Rekha and
Jaya Bhaduri in Silsila. But the dialogues were meaningful
and mellow…
