The trend has started, from Farah Khan’s maiden Main Hoon Na and the eagerly awaited Om Shanti Om, to Sriram Raghvan’s Johnny Gaddaar, and now Pradeep Sarkar’s Laaga Chunari Mein Daag. It is time for Hindi cinema to yet again relive the classic 1970s, and while its predecessors have done justice to the entertainment offered in the decade gone by, Pradeep Sarkar miserably fails to recreate the cinema of the 1970s, which has seen a diverse range of classics, by legends like Yash Chopra, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Manmohan Desai, amongst others.
The plusses first! The glamour is on an all time high, the sets look appealing, the camera is very eye-friendly, and the picturisation of the beautiful house on the Ganga ghaat in Varanasi, and the song Hum to aise hain is delightful. Amongst the actors, Konkona is the pick of the lot, and exhibits both the juvenile and the mature sides of her character very well. In terms of spontaneity and camaraderie with the camera, she somewhere fills in the void which is created after Kajol. Even her unpolished yet endearing dance steps are a testimony to the same. Just as it is said for every film of hers, she is an actor to watch out for. Kunal Kapoor is adorable and has the spunk which is required for the role. It is in fact only the Kunal-Konkona track which has something new to offer as far as the film goes.
Amongst the other performers, I guess it is high time both Rani and Jaya Bachchan stop playing the quintessential bechari, and the archetypal suffering mother respectively. They are both good in their roles, as performers. However, in the myriad range of emotions that they exhibit, none looks fresh and new on their faces. Now should one extol them for the consistency in their performances, for having mastered those expressions by going through them again and again, or criticize them for yet again repeating themselves, remains the million dollar question. Abhishek and Anupam are both there, just there in the film. None of them do any value addition to the plot, and perhaps every action of theirs is so typical, that they merely run through their parts mechanically, then be it Anupam craving for a son, or Abhishek donning on the mask of a modern day Ram, as he accepts his Ahilya, who here is stained, not stoned.
Musically this is one of the less ear-friendly movies of the year, and ironically it still does hold on to the Yash Raj tag. Not to forget the fact that the same director-lyrics writer-music director trio gave us the unforgettable Parineeta. And for heaven’s sake what was that mujra doing in the film anyway? At a time for Indian cinema, where directors are making conscious efforts to keep the audiences inside the theatre, this film has this number picturised on Hema Malini, which assures that the audience stays at bay. How one wishes that the director would have tried to do something similar with Hemaji, the way he did with Rekhaji in his debut film.
The plusses first! The glamour is on an all time high, the sets look appealing, the camera is very eye-friendly, and the picturisation of the beautiful house on the Ganga ghaat in Varanasi, and the song Hum to aise hain is delightful. Amongst the actors, Konkona is the pick of the lot, and exhibits both the juvenile and the mature sides of her character very well. In terms of spontaneity and camaraderie with the camera, she somewhere fills in the void which is created after Kajol. Even her unpolished yet endearing dance steps are a testimony to the same. Just as it is said for every film of hers, she is an actor to watch out for. Kunal Kapoor is adorable and has the spunk which is required for the role. It is in fact only the Kunal-Konkona track which has something new to offer as far as the film goes.
Amongst the other performers, I guess it is high time both Rani and Jaya Bachchan stop playing the quintessential bechari, and the archetypal suffering mother respectively. They are both good in their roles, as performers. However, in the myriad range of emotions that they exhibit, none looks fresh and new on their faces. Now should one extol them for the consistency in their performances, for having mastered those expressions by going through them again and again, or criticize them for yet again repeating themselves, remains the million dollar question. Abhishek and Anupam are both there, just there in the film. None of them do any value addition to the plot, and perhaps every action of theirs is so typical, that they merely run through their parts mechanically, then be it Anupam craving for a son, or Abhishek donning on the mask of a modern day Ram, as he accepts his Ahilya, who here is stained, not stoned.
Musically this is one of the less ear-friendly movies of the year, and ironically it still does hold on to the Yash Raj tag. Not to forget the fact that the same director-lyrics writer-music director trio gave us the unforgettable Parineeta. And for heaven’s sake what was that mujra doing in the film anyway? At a time for Indian cinema, where directors are making conscious efforts to keep the audiences inside the theatre, this film has this number picturised on Hema Malini, which assures that the audience stays at bay. How one wishes that the director would have tried to do something similar with Hemaji, the way he did with Rekhaji in his debut film.
From the sewing machine, to the visuals of Bombay for the struggling woman, to her chanting the Hanuman Chalisa, when her prince charming meets her, to her sister realizing about her true identity; there is nothing in this movie which hasn’t been on Indian silver-screen since time immemorial. Such films only consolidate the belief that Indian films bear and breed stereotypes. Speaking strictly in a post Parineeta context, director Pradeep Sarkar has lost it this time, and in a big way. Not only is his film dated, but is also extremely slow and boring in several portions. The length can be trimmed down drastically, and it better be.
In one of the scenes, Rani refuses the first monetary acknowledgement of her bodily services, and in the immediate next scene, a typically well-groomed up market, and stereotypically ‘feminine’ looking woman, advises her about not letting her spirit die etc. and then immediately trains her to be the high-class, high-priced, super niche and exclusive escort. If only individual scenes would have fetched and Oscar, this one should have been India’s official entry. Honestly, this is one of the CLASSIC scenes I have ever come across on Indian silver-screen. And another nugget is Rani’s gorgeously revealing, or shall I say transparent black saree, in which her sister gets hold of her true identity. In my opinion, even if Rani would have worn an outfit with the print ‘I am call-girl’ written all over it, it would have probably been far more subtle than this one. A rare gem by designer Sabyasachi, this outfit should also go down the annals of history as one more of the classic offerings of Laaga Chunari Mein Daag.
All in all, a film whose graph swings from average mostly, to a good on certain specific occasions (The Konkona-Kunal track), to bad mostly, Laaga Chunari Mein Daag is more like a stain on director Pradeep Sarkar’s credibility.
2 comments:
Granted the film sticks to a number of cliches. Granted that the film has some gaping holes. Granted that the movie makes u restless as the pace is listless and slow. But what i dont grant u is that the film could be called a complete washout. A whole lot of critics have called the movie regressive and sticking to the quintessential cliche, but I believe that if that was the case then we would have been shown a scene in which the family would have rejected the "soiled" daughter and called her a 'daag' on the name of the 'kull'. how many films have we seen this happening in? But in how many films have u seen the younger sister actually understanding exactly what led to her older sister turning into the high level escort that she is? That scene is one which definitely deserves an award...as soon as konkana says Natasha? i was waiting for the tirade of how could u do this to us and ur family etc etc...it was a refreshing change to see the way she reacts...kudos to Konkana Sen for the amazing way in which handles this scene...Agreed that the holes in the plot leave u wondering what the director was thinking, but, i loved the movie because of Konkana, the visuals and also its diversion from the get-out-of-my-house-because-u-have-soiled-the-family-name kind of movies....
"Now should one extol them for the consistency in their performances, for having mastered those expressions by going through them again and again, or criticize them for yet again repeating themselves, remains the million dollar question."
Sahi hai bhidoo :)
Ash
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