Honestly dont know if I should take the train home or just simply run away from all reality!
Just landed in India, and thought of a novel manner to tackle 'jetlag'. Why not 'fatigue' the jet lag away by watching two new Indian movies... in two days! And thanks to the absence of a theatre (cinema hall) back home, where we live, in The Gambia, it seemed a novel way to un-lag ourselves.
The top two reviews we had been following were for the ShahRukh south India based film, 'Chennai Express' and for the epic biopic of Milkha Singh, brought to life by one of my all time favorites, Farhan Akhtar.
Going by reviews and friendly internet banter, we decided to go for Chennai Express first. We humorously decided to leave our brains behind!
The following day we went for the more serious film, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (Run Milkha Run), prepared for a mentally challenging and motivating evening, we loaded our brains, and handkerchiefs too.
The emotions we went through after each of these films that weremade in styles diametrically opposed, were equally and contrastingly different.
I actually came out of Mayajaal, where we watched Chennai Express, after a few hours that whizzed past us louder and faster than the train itself, filled with snippets of colourul, loud dialogues, music and over-dramatic fights, surprisingly, in a cheerful mood and a smile. (This, despite the reluctant and un removable chewing gum some kid had left on my seat - for which I had to hop into the store below and buy a new shirt). The songs and dances were entertaining. The Tamil dialogues, the characters that spewed Tamilness, the Hyderabadi Tamil spoken by the beautiful heroine, the sometimes silly and sometimes old 'sic' jokes, the sometimes predictable ShahRukh laughter and dialogue, the "ketchup overflowing" fight scenes, echoing with standard Martina Navratilovaish grunts, all seemed to vanish into thin air once I steppd oout of the theatre and the sheer beauty of the locales, the heroines dimples and the happy ending was all I could remember after the movie. I was actually smiling. I still Am.
The next day, The next movie mission. We managed to get tickets at the Skywalk place in Aminjikarai, some 25 gruelling kilometers from home. Yet, determination to watch this most highly rated film , egged us on!! The theatre was better, seats more comfortable, and we sat back, loaded with popcorn, all set for a good film.
We could have shot ourselves!
The Anti climax was quite perverse. Expecting the high standards of acting, production and direction that we know Farhan Akhtar to deliver with seemingly little effort, I felt stumped! Cheated by the DRS system! We had our brains along. We were trying to analyse what hit us. Did the Director forget his brains too? I may sound too critical. But it was a let down. First impressions : Long. Too Long.... .. Toooo LONG.. .. and excruciatingly repetitive. Dragging. The storyline though, did seem quite good and innovative. I didn't know much about Milkha Singh except of his fourth place in the Rome Olympics. I guess I learned a lot about him from the film. The synopsis of the film was great. Moving the film story, from a sporting loss and invisible disgrace after the Rome Olympics, to an exciting Indo-Pak contest, with a happy ending.
The film should have been just as long as the synopsis. An exageration of his childhood misdemeanors, the repetitive stealing of coal, rubber ball messaging services, to ultra gory scenes of his past, over explicit sound clips of his sisters nocturnal plight, long drawn description of his overseas love affair with a phirang, ....then those nice but similar 4,5 or 6 repetitive bhangra laced songs, then the first icing ... slap, slap, ..slap and slap again.. .. and just when you thought those agonizing slaps were over...two or three more slap, slap slaps...those self inflictied slaps to exhibit his regret at missing training, and then ... the cherry on the icing - the milking of Milkhas sweat, repeated twice in sweaty steamy detail... kind of left us with a feeling that the Director had lost the plot!! The film then shockingly dropped the very raison d'être Milkha transformed from a troubled, delinquent, revenge seeker to the 'motivated-to-become-honest' army man - His Love. The Object of his determination. The Heroine - Sonam Kapoor...The Director just lets her disappear. You do imagine that the successful athelete rides back to Pakistan to look for her... and its a single dialogue - his friend says shes gone. and while Milkha sobs a good half an hour (tears this time and saliva) to bring the gory flashback of his fathers death, ... the movie is as good as over. A good editor could have easily have trimmed this marathon epic into a 90 minute award winning biopic. Instead, we left the Cinema hall wanting to run away. Bhaag Raam Bhaag was all I could think about in the aftermath.
The Anti climax was quite perverse. Expecting the high standards of acting, production and direction that we know Farhan Akhtar to deliver with seemingly little effort, I felt stumped! Cheated by the DRS system! We had our brains along. We were trying to analyse what hit us. Did the Director forget his brains too? I may sound too critical. But it was a let down. First impressions : Long. Too Long.... .. Toooo LONG.. .. and excruciatingly repetitive. Dragging. The storyline though, did seem quite good and innovative. I didn't know much about Milkha Singh except of his fourth place in the Rome Olympics. I guess I learned a lot about him from the film. The synopsis of the film was great. Moving the film story, from a sporting loss and invisible disgrace after the Rome Olympics, to an exciting Indo-Pak contest, with a happy ending.
The film should have been just as long as the synopsis. An exageration of his childhood misdemeanors, the repetitive stealing of coal, rubber ball messaging services, to ultra gory scenes of his past, over explicit sound clips of his sisters nocturnal plight, long drawn description of his overseas love affair with a phirang, ....then those nice but similar 4,5 or 6 repetitive bhangra laced songs, then the first icing ... slap, slap, ..slap and slap again.. .. and just when you thought those agonizing slaps were over...two or three more slap, slap slaps...those self inflictied slaps to exhibit his regret at missing training, and then ... the cherry on the icing - the milking of Milkhas sweat, repeated twice in sweaty steamy detail... kind of left us with a feeling that the Director had lost the plot!! The film then shockingly dropped the very raison d'être Milkha transformed from a troubled, delinquent, revenge seeker to the 'motivated-to-become-honest' army man - His Love. The Object of his determination. The Heroine - Sonam Kapoor...The Director just lets her disappear. You do imagine that the successful athelete rides back to Pakistan to look for her... and its a single dialogue - his friend says shes gone. and while Milkha sobs a good half an hour (tears this time and saliva) to bring the gory flashback of his fathers death, ... the movie is as good as over. A good editor could have easily have trimmed this marathon epic into a 90 minute award winning biopic. Instead, we left the Cinema hall wanting to run away. Bhaag Raam Bhaag was all I could think about in the aftermath.
Go watch Chennai Express expecting nothing. I feel for Non Tamil speaking Indian bretheren who will have to try and read English subtitles at Chennai express speed. This may be one reason for poor reviews for Chennai Express from Non Tamil Speaking critics. The Tamil speaking critics may criticize Deepikas Hyderabadi accent, but I thought that was a deliberate and genuine twist. The producers may however have to include Bhojpuri, Gujarathi, Hindi, Malayalam, BEngali and Tamil subtitles too for this movie to have cross cultural appeal all over India.
Bhaag Milkha Bhaag may need a better editor. I'd beg them to add a few more scenes for Sonam Kapoor. Id advise BMB (Luckily they didnt name the film Bhaag Oh Milkha Bhaag ( the acronym may have ben apt though) viewers who are ardent fans of Farhan Akhtar, to watch the film while cooking a four course Indian meal, without using the remote control. An hour of cooking during the movie may help you retain your admiration for Farhan Akhtar.
