And this lisp becomes the metaphor for the film too. There's spunk, elan, all the nice adjectives out there but, the lisp of it all is that it is all so pointless.
What do I have to say about Kaminey?
- The language! wow! nice!
- The execution! the film making skill! wow again!
- Flawleff performance by Shahid.
- A completely poinless film.
I'd been so eager to watch this film, what with all the hype, the people talking around, rumors of "intelligence" of the film floating around and everything. I tried hard to catch it the whole of last week, but work was priority and the nights belonged to my office workstation. Finally I made it to the cinema halls this saturday, eagerly snatched a couple of tix from the ticket window. I ensured that I did not miss a single moment of this film. I was there an hour early and waited the while, mobile in silent mode, self in eager mode. I did not miss a single moment of the film, but, I missed the point.
I distinctly remember a certain breed of student, back I was in school. These guys were regarded as the "brillant minds" of the class. They were the toppers throughout the twelve years of my school education. I distinctly remember them. They could study any book or subject. Mug-up scores of pages with commas and fullstops accounted for. Put 15 points in a 10 point essay (10 points got you 9/10, there was one point for neatness. I got 9/10 mostly, but to my credit, I have scored 0/10 too, yay!!!). They'd solve the most ridiculous math problems, if not by logic then by "practice" - practice made perfect (The great Indian schooling adage).
Once while talking to one such student friend (yes, I've been in the worst of companies), I said "I hate the freedom struggle stories in history. There's so much tragedy in there, it's sad" (this is the gist, the censored version, you don't wanna know the rather unscholarly, expletive ridden original). The reply I got from the "brilliant mind" was, "Oh! yes yes good point, there is tragedy, yes, I will put this in my essay. Tragedy makes it appealing. I'll go and collect quotes about tragedy..." He went on to win the best student prize. His parents were proud, he was happy and the Sun shone upon the valley. In the middle of all this, did you notice how pointless it all was? There was no meaning to tragedy, no reason "why", just hard work and ass crack crust. Just put your head down and work, meaning? Who cares? This thought has become one of the cornerstones of the Indian urban mindset. A manager expects that from the employees. A father expects that from a child and a school teacher expects that from the class. All about numbers, ratings and hard work. All devoid of meaning. Pointless.
Personally, I find it impossible to work hard when I know it is all pointless. And no, to all the detractors, you cannot have a good product, if the labor was not well meant. My personal involvement today shines through my products, my team and my body of work.
But, the head-down-and-work approach can take you far! Far above the rest of the Indian cinema in fact. Each time I see a Vishal Bharadwaj, I am reminded of my erstwhile "brilliant minds", present day "management professional" friends. An amazing amount of hardwork, an awesome awesome film. All pointless.
To me a line-by-line interpretation of Shakespeare's work is an academic exercise, not art from the heart. If you'd wanna do a Shakespeare for the modern day, try taking examples from Romeo+Juliet, Shakespeare in Love and Hamlet2. See how personal these works are, the thoughts and intent of the creators shine through. A blow-by-blow Indianized version is still just an acedemic exercise. Although it makes for a very good, but, meaningless film. What was the point of Omkara? or of Maqbool? But they were very very good films right? Yes, I agree.
Even in a field as dead boring as software, a "personal" touch makes all the difference (have you seen Apple's awesome products?). Then in an artform like cinema, where communication is the backbone, how can we leave aside the personal touch and work? Films need to be deeply personal. Period. If it doesn't move the creator, it should not be made. I am not talking of just the author or the director or the camera guy. No. I talk of the collective. You must find what moves you about a subject and build your body of work around it.
And henfe the problem with Kaminey. The pointleffneff getf to you after a while, even though you are engaged with the ftory, fay 70% of the time.
Great filmmaking, great music, great camera work (although I didn't agree with a few shots there), neat editing (again we coulda cut away a few snips more). All with nothing to gain in the end. Shahid does shine through though. He depicts two different men with a lot of elan. A job really well done! Ms. Priyanka Chopra - The poor girl tries hard, but sadly it looks like she doesn't have a knack for the natural act. No one else acts well enough for a mention. The dhan-te-nan song looked so nice in the small youtube window. It totally fell flat, slow, unresponsive to the energy of the music on the big screen.
I am in pure awe of the amount of "Mehnat" - hardwork that Vishal Bharadwaj has put into the film. Each shot is well thought out, put together with great skill, nothing is done without a reason. Except probably the film itself. The sum is so much lesser than its parts here.
Edit:
While watching the flick, I was constantly reminded of Guy Ritchie's first - Lock, Stock and two smoking barrels. It looked like some of the shots were also filched from it, esp. Bhope in the climax. It's probably a coincidence and hence besides the point.
:)
