The Hindu : New Delhi News : The Beauty and the bore at the cinemas

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Dec 02, 2007
ePaper

New Delhi

New Delhi

The Beauty and the bore at the cinemas

ZIYA US SALAM

THE BEAUTY AND THE BORE: Madhuri Dixit’s comeback vehicle “Aaja Nachle” has little to recommend it beyond her well appreciated charms while Josh Hartnett’s “30 Days of Night” is steeped in stereotypes all the way.

AAJA NACHLE

(At Delite and other theatres in Delhi and elsewhere)

Bollywood continues to be the biggest collective fantasy of our cinemagoers. And more than five years after she last faced the camera for Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s much talked about “Devdas”, Madhuri Dixit, now back with “Aaja Nachle”, has probably launched a million fantasies among fans dazzlingly diverse in terms of region, race and religion. After a long hibernation comes renewal for the lady who has known no failure.

Gratification follows half a decade of denial. Tranquillity often breeds triumph, and Madhuri, post-motherhood, comes back every inch the queen she was. Debutant director Anil Mehta’s new film is a wonderful showcase for Madhuri’s not so insignificant charms. Her eyes don’t lack in delight, she still provokes admiration. Her smile still makes many a heart miss a beat. If at the start of her career with films like “Tezaab” and “Hifazat” she was like a river in spate, today she is contained, calm. She belongs as much to the connoisseurs as the commoners.

Here now she is the life, breath and joy of Mehta’s film which is otherwise contemptuous of the elementary virtues of story-telling. A film so self-defeating that it almost does not deserve Madhuri. And the lady, who is better than the film, for sure, deserves better. And to think the film has been released on a controversial note with a section of the audiences demanding deletion of a casteist lyric in the title song!

More is the pity. Cinema is supposed to be that ultimate example of teamwork where every cog is vital. Here, too, it all revolves round the pivot, as it should. Every shot of Mehta’s film is conceived and executed with Madhuri in mind. Every line is written with the lady as the sole focus of attention. Every dance number is designed to give her the best opportunity to show her dancing skills, her almost bare back, her electrifying smile. And the camera even acts as her best friend: there are few laugh lines, fewer wrinkles are allowed a moment’s prominence. But hey, it is all fair and fine for the fans to be besotted with Madhuri, but not such a great idea when the fellow cast and crew members join the admirers’ club. That is exactly what brings down this film. Everything is so centred on Madhuri that the director forgot to have a story, the slightest semblance of credibility is given the go-by. And the editor merrily joins the fan club, taking along his scissors gift-wrapped with him!

Again more is the pity because the single-strand storyline of an artiste who comes back from the U.S. and wages a battle for a local theatre, under threat from the forces of rampant and haphazard development, surely had some potential. It is something that could have struck a chord with the discerning viewers. However, the director goofs it up. He, too, joins the admirers on the sidelines. Instead of focusing on the story, developing some sub-plots, he only ends up providing a platform to Madhuri to project her dancing skills.

Even as she puts on a ragtag coalition of local amateur artistes for a performance that stands between theatre’s survival and demolition, the camera just zooms in on her. So she gets to dance as part of practice. She gets to do more of it in a song. Then another. Of course, some of it is unavoidable as she is supposed to be a choreographer here. But there is too much of an overdose. All credit to Madhuri that she does not show signs of fatigue!

But the story does. Right from the time Madhuri challenges the local MP to give her time to revive the theatre, to the final denouement, snail’s-pace is a constant companion. And even as little Konkona Sen in a role clearly inspired by her fine performance in “Omkara” provides some bright moments, it is hilarious to see the likes of Akhilendra Mishra, playing a local politician here, go through the aerobics steps: far-fetched, indigestible, completely avoidable.

Again, more is the pity because the music is good, with a nice lilt and a positive feel. The cinematography is fine too. And the support cast does its bit. Then, of course, there is Madhuri in her element. The passage of years has failed to dull her charms. Just so sad that Anil Mehta’s film fails to match her zest, her oomph. The film has her style. It needed her soul too.

Watch “Aaja Nachle” if you are a Madhuri fan. Her comeback provides hope that Bollywood might finally have space for heroines beyond 40 but happy to conform to the stereotypes of male fantasies.

30 DAYS OF NIGHT

(At Spice PVR, Noida, and other theatres)

Ghosts may not be the resident evil of Hollywood, but they certainly make their presence felt. And quite like our much maligned Bollywood, they revel in stereotypes too. Here in director David Slade’s film they come brimming with the predictables. Dark nights, deserted stretches. Eerie wind movement. Frightening branches of timeless trees. Sudden thud. Broken glass. And lo, the ghost has struck. Wild screams. Desperate movements of hands and feet. In vain. Blood flow s. The first victim captured.

Now on to the next. All that you have seen in horror films is back here with a bang: the challenge is to find an iota of novelty, something that an occasional cinemagoer would not have seen. Or heard. It is a challenge too tall, viewers soon discover.

Yes. Despite being based on a graphic novel by Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith, the latest horror film from Columbia has very little by way of novelty. And it isn’t consistently engrossing either. Set in Alaska, where every year the sun does not shine for a month, leaving the little township of Barrow in all-enveloping darkness, it is a simple story of vampires on the look out for human victims. There is a minor difference: the vampires strike when it is dark, and cannot withstand the heat and light of the sun. So the month-long darkness is just what ghosts pray for!

That effectively translates to cold-blooded murders on the screen as the residents diminish in numbers and live in fear: the guy cowering away in a corner could be the next. Or could it be the lady in red?

Starring Josh Hartnett in a pivotal role – he is the sheriff who can restore order and faith – the film maintains a decent pace.

There are a couple of moments when the director is actually able to surprise the viewers with a vampire attack. They are mere crumbs of comfort.

The larger slice of visually appealing, gut-wrenching drama is missing. Avoid.

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

New Delhi