The Hindu : New Delhi News : Laughter, vulgar and some brilliance

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 14, 2006

New Delhi

New Delhi

Laughter, vulgar and some brilliance

ZIYA US SALAM

TIMELY ESSAY Anubhav Sinha's "Tathastu" is pertinent film with fine performances.

TATHASTU

(At Shiela and other Delhi theatres)

Kudos! In the season of laughter, Hindi cinema dares to get serious. Anubhav Sinha's "Tathastu" may not make it to the list of exceptional movies, but he manages to raise a point about a society where the rich control the riches, the meek bring up the earth under the feet of the mighty. But like in love, those who stay silent, suffer too. And finally recoil at the system where a child in need of a heart transplant can have the operation only after the doctors have fleeced the poor father of the last penny.

It is a topical, if a niche audience essay, one that could not have been better timed: We are living in an age where insurance firms ask us to sign forms without reading the fine-print, doctors cast Hippocrates' oath aside. With his go-for-the-jugular approach, Sinha shames the man in many of us, provokes the law-abiding citizen in all of us. Really, his tale of an eight-year-old child in need of a heart transplant leaves you shaken: he may not have been able to do a Bhansali of "Black", but he manages to give us enough evidence that another day he might just come up with an essay without any of the rough edges of this venture. This one here is a work in progress; the finished product will be worth looking forward to.

Talking of a finished product, Sanjay Dutt, he with many a "Vaastav" under his belt, is beginning to resemble one. As an ordinary worker who must shell out Rs.15 lakh to save the life of his son, he never goes overboard. His frustration, his anger, even his passion is all controlled, well directed. For long he has been accused of trying to hold centre-stage in every shot, here he shows the passion and the skill to do so in a deserved manner. Yes, he is no Bachchan who carried the long monologue with such finesse in "Baghban" that any companion would only have eroded the effect, but Dutt embarrasses no one with his long speech at the end.

And he gets able company from everybody else in the cast, including Amisha Patel, who plays a sweet, simple girl next-door faced with the prospect of losing her only child. Not to forget Jayaprada, making a comeback as a doctor. Some of the passing years have left their imprint on her chiselled beauty, undiminished remain her acting skills in a role where her speech seldom stains eloquent silence. There is Gulshan Grover too with an understated presence that is quite refreshing.

The film has its flaws all right: we have the unique case of a woman in labour in a heart hospital for delivery! And a doctor held hostage one moment, being free to work out a solution with the cops the next! And a few little asides added for dramatic effect. But these are the oversights of a man too focussed on the goal to keep in mind small details. Overlook them. Appreciate the purpose. Watch "Tathastu". It is cinema with a purpose, art not divorced from responsibility.

TOM DICK AND HARRY

(At PVR Naraina and other Delhi theatres)

If Sinha takes a step forward with "Tathastu", Deepak Tijori takes two back with "Tom Dick and Harry", a film so drenched in vulgarity that for a while inside the hall you wish you also momentarily suffered from the handicaps of the film's heroes: deaf, dumb, blind. It is embarrassing, it is obnoxious, it is crude. And Tijori manages to take insensitivity to a new low: his heroes are all laughed at for their limitation, and the director makes their handicap into his licence to put together sequences where even a modicum of dignity is cast aside for cheap thrills. Talking of cheap thrills, they are plenty here, and might just keep the turnstiles busy.

But the success, however limited, of such a film marks the failure of a society that is yet to treat its specially-abled people with anything other than pity or ridicule.

Here Dino Morea plays a guy with hearing impairment, Jimmy Shergill with speech handicap and Anuj Saawhney with vision problems. That the three laugh at their state is fair enough: We have had too many weepy sagas down the line. But it gets disgusting when the people around take potshots at them in this confused story of three guys in a rented apartment who struggle to pay their rent, and dream of beautiful girls. Dino, on his part, manages to score a point or two over Jimmy who gets the tougher role of projecting everything with gestures. And Saawhney? Well, anybody who gave him acting certificate should immediately be asked to confiscate the same. He is hopeless. Much like Celina Jaitley. Stay away from this film. Its vulgarities, mainly featuring Rakesh Bedi, Kunika and Avtar Gill are intolerable. Its insensitivity is unbearable. These laughs are real expensive, man.

POSEIDON

(At Wave, Noida; and Delhi theatres)

Many might be reminded of "Titanic", and Wolfgong Peterson's film might lose out in comparison. However, as usual the comparison is odious, and "Poseidon" is a film soaked in brilliance. There is nothing that is unpredictable about the drama, not a minute when you don't know what is likely to happen the next moment. Yet, the director keeps you in eager anticipation of the next gush of water, the next lightening, the next tragedy to engulf the inmates of the huge ship: They must get to the shore before the waves get to them. The seconds are ticking by, and every moment life is getting more precious, more precarious.

There are human relations to take care of: an estranged father-daughter duo, a single mother, a vile man, a handsome hunk, a kid... .all have their tales, all contribute to the human drama that enfolds even as a natural calamity lurks in the corner. Josh Lucas, Kurt Russell, Jacinda Barrett, all do justice to their parts. But it is essentially a director's movie, sinking ship, surging waters, gloomy night and all. How's it in comparison to the first one? That was in 1972, and we will save that unequal match.

Watch "Poseidon" because they cannot make "Titanic" every day. Watch it despite the human elements being at a low ebb in what is essentially a fight for survival.

CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN-2

(At PVR Spice Noida, and Delhi theatres)

Tired of the water saga? Catch up with "Cheaper by the Dozen-2", a sequel so delightful that it tickles you all through. Director Adam Shankman's film grows on you so gradually that you don't notice that you have been sucked into the world of two high school rivals, now grey around the sideburns, and their expansive families. Within no time, the camaraderie gives way to a war of the families, not a petty fence squabble of nosy neighbours. Here, even as the women play the pacifiers, the men, Steven Martin and Eugene Levy up the ante. Paternity might not be decided by the numbers, but in this essay we have Martin's Baker family of 12 kids, and a wife who must smile through the troubles.

Then we have Levy's Murtaugh family, not a layer removed from conceit or cunning. The exchanges between the duo are hilarious without being loud, but it is the reaction of their kids and the spouses that wins the day for the movie. Interwoven into this madcap show is a little teenage heartache, a stolen kiss, and a daughter who must savour the last meal together with the family before she goes away, expectant and a tad sad. Watch it. Some nice emotions, some good laughs, no cheap thrills. It is a nice way to take the family out. Prepare to drive down with the brood!

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