The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : This deserves a quiet burial

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Aug 18, 2007
ePaper

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

This deserves a quiet burial

INSIPID FARE: Despite an impressive cast ‘Buddha Mar Gaya’ falls flat.

Film: Buddha Mar Gaya

Cast: Anupam Kher, Om Puri, Ranvir Shorey

Director: Rahul Rawail

Cinemagoers of the country unite, you have little to lose and some dignity to protect. Threatening to tear the moral fabric apart is the seasoned Rahul Rawail, the man who once gave us ‘Betaab’ and ‘Arjun’ and now attempts to shove ‘Buddha Mar Gaya’ down extremely reluctant throats.

No concessions to morality, delicate or otherwise, this film is most disrespectful to human sensibilities. Not only does it mock normal intelligence, Rawail has the audacity to call it a black comedy. Either, he has never watched one in his long, otherwise illustrious career. Else, he is just ridiculing the appreciation skills of the audience.

Ribald venture

Supposed to be the story of an old multi-millionaire businessman – Anupam Kher in one of the most embarrassing roles of his career – the film has all that a ribald venture encapsulates: plenty of cheap sex, innuendoes, people with a different predilection, guys who swing both ways, swamis who look for gratification of the mere mortal kind, sadism, and…. All this vulgarity is sewn around the one-strand story: Kher’s company’s shares would come crashing down if the news of his death is leaked! So, there is that huge charade of the dead man being given a make-up, driven down to attend a cremation, the Prime Minister sending his representative to meet him, and the like.

Of course, there are frequent detours from alternately concealing and revealing the corpse. There are plenty of ‘fleshy’ tales with every member of the businessman’s family having a less than honourable past: if one is a former bar girl, the other is a former practitioner of the oldest trade. And the man himself had gone away after answering lust’s call one last time!

It is all too much to bear. An ensemble cast of proven comedians like Anupam Kher, Om Puri, Ranvir Shorey and the utterly desperate Raakhi Sawant, fails to do the film any favours. And Rawail comes a cropper in handling something worse than slapstick.

If he was attempting a sex comedy, the film does not show enough zest. The oomph factor is almost zero. For an average humorous film, it has no pace, no zing. Bad music, terrible acting, amateurish sets, and absolutely obscene sequences. In short, a complete disaster. ‘Buddha Mar…’ deserves to go away without any rites of watching.

ZIYA US SALAM

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Andhra Pradesh