The Hindu : New Delhi News : Yesterday once more in good old Walled City of Delhi... .

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Aug 20, 2006

New Delhi

New Delhi

Yesterday once more in good old Walled City of Delhi... .

ZIYA US SALAM

AHISTA AHISTA

(At Delite and other Delhi theatres)

It is back to an age more leisurely, less frenetic. An age when it was no sin not to be able to speak the Queen's language. This is about a time when women dried red chillies on the rooftop and boys flew kites. Debutant director Shivam Nair's new film this week is that kind of nostalgic exercise that is likely to get a few bonus points from those with a weakness for the days gone by. And those whose heart still beats for Shahjehanabad, that part of Delhi where the past lives with consummate ease with the present.

Shivam Nair's insight is so refreshing for a newcomer. Those addas at the chaiwala, those crowing roosters in the morning, those guys calling pigeons in the evening, those STD phone booths open till midnight. And those burqa-clad women and men in kurta-pyjamas! They are all there, as is the little peek into the Walled City of Delhi where the houses often are at a handshaking distance from each other. All making for delectable cinema: no violence, no fancy clothes, no candyfloss romance, no designer emotions. Thank God for all that.

And after a series of semi-clad - or semi-nude, whichever you prefer - girls in scores of movies, it is indeed a relief to see a girl who covers her midriff, conceals her shoulders, keeps the cleavage under wraps. As a girl left stranded by her boyfriend at the marriage registrar's office in Darya Ganj, young Soha Ali Khan manages all this without for a second looking less than charming. All along she is a picture of quiet dignity. When she lowers her gaze, she looks beautiful; when she opens her eyes, she looks sparkling. The dimples, the delectable smiles are all there. Now if she could only learn a bit more about acting, she would go places. At the moment, she has her mother's beauty with her father's acting skills.

Try as she might, there never is any pathos in her voice. Spontaneity is something she is unaccustomed to. As a girl with no place to live in an alien city and not much in the purse, she is seldom able to evoke sorrow. Her tone is stilted; her eyes only occasionally act as her ally.

It is more of the same with the hero Abhay Deol, who covered himself with some glory in his debut film, "Socha Na Tha". As a typical Old Delhi boy here he fails to get the dialect right. For instance his friend is `aa raha' (coming) and not `aa riya' as they speak in the Walled City. Add to that his stiff body movements and you know this guy was meant for a five-star romance, for chasing girls at a multiplex in a metro, not somebody meant to climb up a ladder to disturb an old lady drying her chillies under an open sky or chatting up the street crowd near a marriage bureau.

Nair's film could have been a real delectable treat had his lead cast been better. And the director had not decided to keep the snail company all through. The film moves slowly, ever so slowly.

There is so much attention on each frame that grass could have grown under the feet of the characters. The film moves so slowly that by the time you step out a stubble might have grown over a clean face.

Yes, Soha Ali Khan's Megha does find a toehold in the form of Deol's Ankush who acts as a witness in the marriage registrar's office. But where was the doubt anyway? Nothing unpredictable, little drama, very little pace. In short, Nair's film ends as a visual treat that fails to tug at the heart. Enamoured of the name? Go in for Esmayeel Shroff's film of the same name 25 years ago. Nostalgia is not such a bad companion, after all!

CLICK

(At Satyam, Patel Nagar, and other Delhi theatres)

This here is a sad little comedy. Call it an out and out comedy at the risk of being called irresponsible. Call it a satire at the risk of being wilfully inaccurate. Simply accept the fact that director Frank Coraci's film is a quaint little affair where man is the master of his destiny, yet realises that the more things he conquers, the more frontiers he loses.

Adam Sandler gets an author-backed role as an architect who can craft his own future, his own past.

All thanks to a new universal remote with which he can even see his conception. He can control his life: when his dog barks, he can put him on mute mode. He can fast-forward a dinner with an aunt, low on humour.

When his wife (Kate Beckinsale) screams, the mute comes in handy. The man can go fast-forward, get the riches, get a promotion. A press of a button and the kids grow up too. The man can rewind and choose to see what he wants to see. Life is fun, and the remote a handy little tool. That is, if you swim on the surface only.

The more things you want to set right, the more things need to be set right. And as you go from one thing to another, you lose out on life itself. And those who mean the world to you: wife, parents, children. That is what gives this Sandler-Beckinsale starrer its poignant value.

The comic sequences are not devoid of depth, the pathos lurks in the shadows of joviality.

The remote is used as a symbol of man's search for the unseen, even as he ignores the obvious.

Watch this one when you are alone. When you want to smile and often end up sighing. Watch it for Sandler who is predictably efficient and Beckinsale who is gloriously beautiful.

"Click" may just be the right click for a thinking man. And his family.

JUST MY LUCK

(At Spice PVR, Noida; and Delhi theatres)

Enjoyed some gentle smiles with "Ahista Ahista" and "Click"? Now, stretch your luck a little, try "Just My Luck".

A story as delicious as an ice-cream on a late night back from work, this one talks of a girl who knows no wrong, and the guy who gets nothing right.

Then they meet. And the roles reverse.

First the girl has the Midas touch. Rain stops for her; money comes her way. She has the luck. He needs it.

They kiss. And luck is transferred! Now he gets the bucks, she is left in the lurch. All perfectly enjoyable situations without for a moment asking you to use your grey cells.

With lots of situational humour interwoven into what is essentially a routine romantic comedy, this film by director Donald Petrie is meant for Lindsay Lohan's growing list of fans. Watch it for her, and you might just smile along. Trust your luck!

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