The Hindu : New Delhi News : Kid Hanuman returns with a potpourri of imagination

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Sunday, Dec 30, 2007
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Kid Hanuman returns with a potpourri of imagination

ZIYA US SALAM

Of Deities and Earthlings: “Return of Hanuman” and “Showbiz” close off Bollywood releases for the year.

Of Deities and Earthlings: “Return of Hanuman” and “Showbiz” close off Bollywood releases for the year.

RETURN OF HANUMAN

(At Spice PVR, Noida, and other theatres in Delhi and elsewhere)

Anurag Kashyap is a patient man. He better be, considering he had to wait for almost half a decade to see his first directorial venture make it to the silver screen. But this has been a year of many firsts in Bollywood, and Anurag can afford to smile. So forget that angry spat with a section of journalists. Really, 2007 is his coming-to-the-screen-near-you year. He may not yet be the finished product. Nor even are his films. Yet even in their relative failure they have man aged to convey that here is a talented filmmaker who listens to his heart and uses his head even if he is yet to get the combination right.

It all started with the much-delayed “Black Friday” finding cinema halls, and some takers inside them. Then came “No Smoking”, rubbished by many but hailed as a feat in experimental cinema.

Now comes “Return of Hanuman”, initially called “Hanuman Returns”. This time, Anurag is in safe territory -- tried, tested, somewhat triumphal too! Some kind of a sequel to the original that set standards for Hindi animation, this film plays it safe. At times even too safe. For the greater part, Anurag sticks to the usual way: we have Hanuman with Narad as his companion. There is the white-bearded Brahma and countless demons. However, unlike the cute-cute Hanuman of a couple of years ago, there is this time a modern touch, a little blend of mythology with modernism. Call it a concession to the cola-sipping, Spiderman-watching generation, but Anurag’s Hanuman reeks of less faith, more commerce.

So in a bid to connect to the urban crowd, the film has a smattering of English, and some takes on seasoned Bollywood stars. Hardly anyone escapes Anurag’s attention: besides the Ajit jokes and Shah Rukh’s hamming, there is more than a bit of Amjad Khan and Sanjiv Kumar as Anurag challenges his bad guys to recall an identifiable past all over again. So we get the timeless “Kitne aadmi thhe….” dialogue with the “baccha” replacing Khan’s “woh do aur tum teen….” It is good as a novelty, as a ruse to strike a chord with the viewers, but hey it gets a shade repetitive. Similarly his Statue of Liberty take is cute and the guitar-strumming Narad good, but semi-clad Menaka in Brahma’s world! That is not quite what the doctor ordered! And some of the innuendos are completely uncalled for in a film whose target audience is likely to have more kids than adults.

Story? Well, to expect the unexpected here would be a folly: Hanuman this time comes on earth as a precocious child. He stands up for a neighbourhood kid bullied by other kids. He also has the magic mantra to overcome all evil: he is child-god after all! However, poor Hanuman is let down by some of the art work. His eye movement is not as bewitching as it could have been. And the special effects, including the “Pralay” eruption, are on expected lines. Not much to complain, not much to carry home either. Almost like the film.

Yes, this latest animated mythological is likely to amuse the kids. That’s all. Maybe Anurag can please a wider section of the audience some day. That would be the destination. At the moment, as a filmmaker, he is still a work in process. Watch the journey.

SHOWBIZ

(At Satyam, Patel Nagar, and other theatres)

In our competitive times, hardly any man can afford to rest on his laurels. And no man can afford to have anybody trifling with his reputation built over years of solid work. Unfortunately, seasoned filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt, forever defiant, often a deviant, seems keen to play the exception to the norm. Why else will he hand over somebody like Raju Khan to take the directorial baton of a film and lend his name to the credits! Let truth be told: “Showbiz” has noth ing, not even remotely, that will suggest that Bhatt Saab took any interest in the proceedings. Even the customary music, the evening silhouettes go missing. There is not even a dash of melancholy. All that remains is a wooden Mrinalini Sharma. And a new termite-ridden hero, Tushar Jalota!

If you want to gamble, go to a casino. Don’t commit hara-kiri on the screen. Greed, like old age, is a deadly foe of all charm. And the maverick filmmaker is probably guilty of milking his reputation here, the idea being to make hay while the sun shines. So in recent times we have had films like “Nazar”, “Awarapan” and “Rog” from the camp that prides itself on its sensitivity. All those films, despite all their obvious flaws, had something to carry home for the paying viewer. Here that semblance is dropped as Raju decides to spin a story about a reality hunt winner – talk of capitalising on the new-found reality! Throw in a dirty bit about the media being too intrusive, too irresponsible, and you have a film that seems to have borrowed generous slices of stereotypes.

Not content, Raju throws in a couple of his own!

Result? A mish-mash of a film that takes you nowhere. It is not going to do Raju pride. He does not do the viewers any favour with his pedestrian saga. Of course it is too small to harm Mr. Bhatt’s reputation, but is enough for a warning: Complacence is a veritable enemy of progress.

Stay glued to real life. Or the small screen. “Showbiz” is no show.

NANCY DREW

(At PVR Saket and other theatres)

We read her in high school and the memory stays. Here is a chance to update those sepia-tinted days with a cine visit to “Nancy Drew”. Time seems to have stood still for her: she is still a teenage sleuth, still does the things she did years ago. Director Andrew Fleming takes a time-tested tale and resists the temptation of dusting off the character or giving a new modern look.

The retro feel works fine here even if the film is unable to impart the same delight as our books have done for years. Nancy finds herself solving a murder mystery here. What’s the surprise in that? It comes from the screen characterisation of her friends and co-artistes: they are all young, maybe even younger than we anticipated in our teenage fantasies.

Go for “Nancy” for that nostalgia trip. There is little else to recommend an otherwise predictable tale.

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