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Some cheer, some oomph, some yawn, some action... .
ZIYA US SALAM
FLASHES OF BRILLIANCE: Tabu saves Khalid Mohamed's "silsilay" from slipping to tedium.
SILSIILAY
(At Odeon and other Delhi theatres)
Film-maker Khalid Mohamed speaks his language through his characters. He speaks of Muslims as they are - reasoning, thinking souls, some romantic, some materialistic, some pious, others more inclined towards things mundane, even profane. They are not exactly some paan-chewing buffoons or gun-toting stereotypes we have got accustomed to with some help from dream merchants of Bollywood. Thank God. Against this backdrop comes Khalid Mohamed's "Silsiilay" as a natural progression of the process initiated by him with "Fiza" and "Tehzeeb".
Here Khalid deserves two cheers. Both for the fact that probably for the first time in Hindi cinema he talks of a Muslim woman's right to divorce, a woman who dissolves marriage before the man can send her packing with those three dreaded words.
But Khalid is Khalid. He picks on the subject well, he shows flashes of brilliance, you even come to believe that for the first time in his career he might actually make bold to bite, not just nibble. But that is not to be. Somehow he is not able to put the pieces together. After kissing the subject, he just tapers off, equivocates, engages in euphemism. And we end up with a film that promised so much but delivers much less. That it does not sink to downright unbearable agony is because of that inexhaustible artiste called Tabu who forever manages to impart a new shade to any portrayal.
As the second wife of a contractor with a glad eye, she infuses her character with rare dignity, and an embellished charm that ignites the screen. Too sad, it comes too late in the film to alter its box office prospects.
STROKE OF BRILLIANCE: Stephen Chow's "Kung Fu Hustle" is an exhilarating venture.
Want to watch "Silsiilay"? Undertake the trip if you are a Tabu fan, if you want to see Rahul Bose singing probably for the first time in his career, and for Celina Jaitley who is quite plausible as the contractor's latest killing. But all these packages come in small measures. In between, there is time to yawn, to catch up on two winks. Sad that this attempt to undo the damage done by B.R. Chopra's "Nikaah" turns out to be a lopsided exercise.
BACHKE REHNA RE BABA
(At Shiela and other Delhi theatres)
Here come two queens of oomph promising the joy of the forbidden fruit. There is Rekha who has shown more sparkle in the twilight of her career than many have managed at high noon. She has had men across generations swooning over her. She has made a habit of defying convention. Pitted opposite her ageless Con Queen in this Govind Menon film are the undulating charms of Mallika Sherawat who as usual gives it all in more ways than one. As Con Queen Jr, she is fond of G-strings. After all, sun, sea and sand are all supposed to be embraced by every sensuous beauty. All those curves, all those curls and the lingering camera are all there to please the men, to tease the women.But this time, the two queens have probably bitten off more than just the forbidden apple. They have strayed into zero-tolerance zone, courtesy Menon who scoffs at all norms of social probity.
It all begins on a pretty promising note though. The two girls - yes, try saying anything else to Rekha at 50-something! - try to con men who have dug their heels in life and display a belly of prosperity. A doctor here, a gutka king there, a bar owner at still another. The men come with a use-by date and duly depart leaving the stage - and the beach - to the female of the species. But here the most dangerous is not the female of the species but lifeless statues. Yes, we know artists in Renaissance Europe painted and sculpted nudes, as they do so now everywhere. But this is something different. Hard facts: What beauty queens reveal is suggestive, what the statues show is vital. It is trickery, it is debauchery, it is an attempt to make a box office killing in the name of an artist's licence of creativity. Again and again the film has sequences of male nude with desire uncloaked, all set to attract catcalls from the stalls.
CON CASE: Timeless Rekha and daring Malika Sherawat team up with mixed results in "Buchke Rehna Re Baba".
The director manages that all right but leaves you wondering what is Rekha with all her abiding charms doing here? And what about the Censors? Didn't they cast two blind eyes here? Pray, in the end here only the cinemagoers are conned. By the queens, by the director, by the Censors.
SSUKH
(At PVR Vikaspuri and other Delhi theatres)
Time was when his name was sufficient to fill the stalls. "Ilzaam", "Coolie No. 1", "Raja Babu", "Khuddaar", all endeared him to the masses even as the critics sneered and the connoisseurs jeered along. Mocking at all norms of convention and giving a new elasticity to morality, Govinda's films raked it rich at the box office with the high point being reached with "Bade Miyan Chhote Miyan" where he outdid even Big B in comedy.
Times change. So do the predilections of cinemagoers. And today, Govinda's films hardly find any takers, often arriving and departing unsung, unseen. This film by his brother Kirti, though his first release since he entered the Lok Sabha - that is excluding the moth-eaten "Khullam Khulla Pyar Karen" - is likely to meet the same fate.
There is a touch of amateurism almost all through and Govinda's sincere attempts at emoting are nullified by a script that is thinner than the paper used for publicising this delayed venture. Here he plays a simpleton, a guy working in an advertising agency who finds himself playing husband to his wife's best friend. A plot like many others in the past, a film like many other forgettable ones too.
Want to remain a Govinda fan with enduring memories of his David Dhawan days? Stay away from "Ssukh".
Yes, another day, another age he was "Hero No. 1". Today...
KUNG FU HUSTLE
(At Moviepalace and Delhi theatres)
First things first. Pigsty in director Stephen Chow's film is a little slice of India. There are guys bathing at a public tap, there are weavers all scrawny, there are ruffians good for nothing. All such tell-tale signs of downtown India. That familiarity, however, is not the only reason why one should watch "Kung Fu Hustle". The film lives up to its name but actually goes beyond. There is a relentless flow of humour to coalesce with sprightly action that would cheer the youngsters, amuse the adults. There are special effects that are inventive and a pace that is exhilarating.
So what is "Kung Fu Hustle" all about? It is about Axe Gang, a law unto itself. The whole community in Shanghai lives under fear. Until one man stands up to fight. With a tubby sidekick, though. But does he? Don't the duo cause more harm than good to the Pigsty residents? And what about that fat lady who can withhold water from a man bathing at the public bath, or rule over two kidnappers?
Interesting plot. Swift pace. Good action. "Kung Fu Hustle" has them all. All expected. Where it scores are its occasional profound lines. You don't expect sentences like "memories can be painful, forgetfulness a blessing" in a film that sails across on action. Enjoy the ride by leaving the brains at home.
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