“Tumhara ishq ishq aur hamara ishq sex!”A few debut films give us such a rustic feel full of colloquial Indian lingo, quirky humor set in tone with deglamorised characters full of flesh and blood. Director Abhishek Chaubey makes his presence felt with this debut film (naturally under the mentorship of Vishal Bhardwaj) and it’s a film one has to watch to feel the spicy mixture of Indian chutney. The most praiseworthy thing about Chaubey’s film is its authentic look of small town India (read Gorakhpur, UP) where intriguing, dark stories are everyday affair which we never pay enough attention sidelining with page 3/ celebrity glitterati.
In a nut shell, it’s just a tale of two con men who falls in love with a widow and that’s what makes thing complicated. The initial first half of wooing the women with light moments shifts gear in the second half with dark, tightly edited and surprising twist of the tale where the tension and envy rules between two players amid planning subplot of kidnapping. It would be better if Chaubey would wind up the end in less predictable way. All trio- Naseer as Khalujaan, Arshad as Babban & Vidya as Krishna delivered fine performances while being characters and all of them have each quality scenes packed with some striking lines. Watch Nasser when he says, “Agar main aurat hota to…” Arshad when he says his latifa. Chaubey has highlighted Arshad Warsi and he’s thing to watch here.
Chaubey is the part and parcel of Uttar Pradesh and knows damn well how to represent it on screen without shading any inhibitions. Here Vidya calls Naseer, ‘ch***m sulphate’, wears cheap 250 bucks sarees, gives one of the most passionate kiss I ever seen on any Indian film so far. The music has some ethereal tunes, apart of ‘Dil bachcha hai’, watch the soothing fusion thumri kind of “Badi dheere jale naina” sung so wonderfully by Rekha Bhardwaj. Also see the use of almost forgettable classic old melodies of Hemantda, Mannadey & Lata adding spice to the dark humor on car tape, party, radio or ring tones.
A fresh and well attempted debut film to watch this season.
Ratings- 7.5/10
5 comments:
And the cinematography is great too. Mumbai as Gorkhpur has been shot so well, smelling of sweat.
oh yeas, rightly reminded..the sets are fabulously original and camerawork is exceptional..
heres a fact: the film was shot in a North Indian village and not mumbai sets, at least that is what a local tabloid tells me. I loved the slang abuses, im still laughing over that.
ya...absolutely true...I have also read it in Sunday Indian Express...it was shot in wai and gorakhpur
Wai, yes, thats a town in Maharashtra, I always thought it was a sub-urb of Mumbai. Guess i got that wrong.
No north-Indian village though.
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