Kaminey - FOUR ftarf ;)

My first impression of Kaminey was that it was a good quality Hollywood movie wearing Indian clothes. If we have a chance of ever winning the Oscars, it will be Vishal Bharadwaj who brings it home for us. Do please remember that you read that here first :)

Vishal Bharadwaj’s style of movie making in Kaminey feels like it has been inspired by Hollywood movies like Pulp Fiction and others in its genre and even though you know that the style is somewhat copied, you’ll want to give him full marks for contextualizing the style and using it effectively. Vishal always gets the cinematography, music and screenplay right in his movies, so no surprises there. I must admit that the music and cinematography did remind me of Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Babel.

Mumbai [slums, railway stations et al] has been shown like you would have seen in no other Bollywood movie. The slums etc. have not been used as props but are just naturally part of Kaminey’s multi pronged storyline. We Mumbaikars take the pace and energy of our city for granted, it is only through movies like this, that we realize how energetic it is and how it operates at break neck speed without too much breakage. The city has been captured objectively and wonderfully, from the eyes of a man born and brought up, up North.

I liked Shahid Kapoor’s acting for the first time only in Jab We Met, though I didn’t like the movie. I knew then that this guy will go places if he has even a slightly deep role and a good director. Vishal has catapulted Shahid into another league with Kaminey. Shahid’s lisp and stuttering sound very natural unlike all those Bollywood movies where a caricature is made of people with such speech impediments. He plays 2 very different roles with great skill and one does forget that it is being played by the same person. You actually suffer when he stutters and your heart goes out to him. Shahid will definitely walk away with at least a couple awards for this performance. One of the most memorable scenes in the movie is when a corrupt narcotics officer makes Guddu [Shahid] sing out information, to avoid his stuttering.

Vishal has also successfully stayed away from caricaturing characters, which must have been a herculean task given that this is a thriller with a shade of humor. Everyone has a reason to be where they are and the humor emanates from tricky situations rather than naught ;) . Even when Bhope the gangster politician teases Charlie [Shahid] on his lisping, it doesn’t sound condescending but actually sounds funny – all because Vishal makes everything fit into place very well.

I have never been impressed with Priyanka Chopra’s acting skills and have wondered how she laps up one award after another. I am aware that she is immensely popular, almost everyone I know likes her but I have never really been convinced of her acting prowess. She surprised me in Kaminey, looks like she too needs a thinking director to get the best out of her. She definitely puts a lot into her character and makes it look real and believable. As ever, she looks great so the guys don’t need to worry about her non glamorous get up.

Almost everyone in this movie has given a good performance. Amol Gupte [the brains behind Taare Zameen Par] who plays Bhope will dazzle you with his perfect rendition of a Maharashtrian gangster turned politico. The actors who play Bengali gangters also do a great job.

Vishal has also broken some stereotypes with this movie, it is not your usual Bollywood twins fare, and Bengalis who are normally some kind of artists in most movies are gangsters in this one! He has researched his movie and demonstrates well his knowledge of the Bengali gangs and their personality. Also, many languages are spoken in this film including Marathi, Bengali, Afrikaan and Portuguese. Though one can guess what is being said, I do wish he had provided subtitles everywhere for more clarity.

Looks like Vishal wanted to use the film medium to discuss the Bihari’s and UPites not welcome in Mumbai debate. He addresses the issue without getting preachy and by weaving it beautifully into the storyline.

So then why have I given this amazing movie a 4 and not a 5, you ask? According to me Maqbool is still Vishal’s best film, the only one worthy of a 5 star rating. Kaminey is fabulous but hasn’t attained the heights [depths?] of a Maqbool.

Also, I wonder if he has done more explaining than is required in attempting to make Kaminey a commercial success. His movies have always received critical acclaim, but have not exactly been jingling the cash registers. So he has tried some commercialism tricks like explaining scenes and using more than necessary songs. I think the movie could have been made crisper and tauter [and riskier?] eg., the title song could have very well been combined with the entire father dying explanation episode.

All said, do please go and watch this movie, you may want to watch it more than once. It has been strangely given an “A” rating even though movies with more adult content have slipped through the censors untagged [eg. Gajjini was given a U/A!!]. Don’t let the swine flu scare worry you too much, just carry a large handkerchief and cover your mouth and nose while you watch this superb movie :)

I feel Vishal would have taken more risks and would include more adult content if he weren’t making movies for the Indian film industry. He does sometimes seem like he is containing himself and showing only glimpses of what he would have otherwise dared to honestly show. This is a genuine hurdle that he and other filmmakers like him must be suffering, as creative people. Must be very hard for him to come up with winners like Kaminey given such constraints.