Reviews: Kal / Chocolate
Baradwaj Rangan
Two multiplex movies veer off the mainstream. One is more interesting
for its ambitions than its achievements. The other sounds tasty but
ends up terrible.
By Baradwaj Rangan
(C) The New Indian Express - September 23, 2005
Does anyone ever really get over an ex? For that matter, does anyone
really ever stop loving an ex? Would you go to a party if you knew your
ex would be there too? Is the
we're-no-longer-together-but-we're-still-friends routine ever
possible? Would you cut off contact with friends who are friends with
your ex? What if those once-beloved friends became not-especially-nice
people, the kind who steal others' boy/girlfriends, or who play dirty
to succeed in business?
When such questions crop up within fifteen-odd minutes of a movie,
especially a multiplex movie, you know you're in for some arty navel
gazing -- and the first fifteen-odd minutes of 'Kal - Yesterday &
Tomorrow' deliver both art (a romantic scene plays out in a room with
candles covering every inch of the walls) and navel gazing (of Bhavna
-- the gorgeous Chitrangada Singh; she even _cries_ beautifully --
we're told, "Woh apne beeti hui kal mein khoyi hui thi"). (That line,
though, should have been, "She was lost in her past." It's hard to
imagine these Page 3 ultra-dudes speaking _any_ Hindi, let alone such
existential musings about "beeti hui kal.") But soon, her ex (Shiney
Ahuja) arrives unannounced, possibly seeking an alibi so he's not
suspected of murdering his wife (Smriti Mishra). Yes, I said "alibi"
and "murder" -- for 'Kal' takes a sharp turn after the initial
portions, becoming something of a why- and who-dunit.
That's easily the best thing about 'Kal'. What keeps it interesting,
if not always satisfying, is its ambitious mix of genres -- soap
opera staples (man in a coma, girl snatching her best friend's
boyfriend) rubbing against thriller elements (an unexplained death,
detective work involving a flycam). But that's also the problem with
'Kal'. Soap operas appeal to the heart, detective thrillers appeal to
the head -- and the movie doesn't satisfactorily resolve these
contrasting appeals. It's not that thrillers can't have an
emotional undertow, or that soaps can't be intelligent, but 'Kal'
tries to be too clever by half -- as if this genre mix weren't
enough, there's apparently a metaphorical layer too. As Bhavna's
story moves ahead, she keeps losing her friends -- two are murdered;
one ends up in a hospital -- and I wondered if these losses aren't
really an indication of how she (or for that matter, anyone) has to
shrug off the 'kal' of the past in order to enter the 'kal' of the
future.
It's nice that a movie lends itself to so many readings, yet I found
'Kal' a bit contrived -- calculated and designed to within an inch of
its life; but there's no denying that director Ruchi Narain is
someone to watch out for. Her film has almost novelistic depth, not
just in how the characters are fleshed out (especially by seniors Boman
Irani, Sarika and Saurabh Shukla; the youngsters, in comparison, come
off a tad showy and self-conscious) but also in the attempts at larger
statements, like how our TV culture is all about high society, or how
everything depends on technology today. (It's a bit much to believe
that these people manage to video-record _every_ moment of their lives,
even the spontaneous ones, but there's a genuine emotional payoff to
watching these clips play out on Bhavna's computer. These are her
friends, not ours, but their footage is no different from the yellowed
letters or fading photographs that helped earlier generations travel
back in time.)
And talking about time travel, you don't have to go too far in the
past to get to a point when something as complex -- and at times
confounding -- as 'Kal' would have been utterly unfeasible; it
wouldn't have gotten funding, it wouldn't have gotten an audience.
In that respect, 'Kal', even if not as great a movie as it wants to be,
is a glorious testament to what the multiplexes have made possible: the
revival of a parallel cinema alongside the more mainstream
entertainment.
----
The plot of 'Chocolate' has to do -- I think -- with drug
smuggling, and I'm willing to bet that the drugs that didn't get
smuggled ended up being snorted by the dialogue-writer of the film.
There's no other way to explain seemingly hallucinatory exchanges as
the one where Sushma Reddy tears her shirt open and screams, "Main bhi
bra pehenti hoon," or the one where Irrfan Khan suddenly turns to
Tanushree Dutta and declares, "I salute you, my mother," or especially
the one where Arshad Warsi, in the middle of a covert operation,
exclaims, "Women can fake orgasm; why the hell can't they fake
silence?"
Having chosen to remake 'The Usual Suspects', director Vivek Agnihotri
clearly felt a lot of things were missing in the original -- things
like a cigar-puffing lawyer (Anil Kapoor) who uses terms of endearment
like "ducky duck," a robbery that's executed by people in Saddam
Hussein and Osama bin Laden masks, and characters named Rocker, Pipi,
Tubby, Sim, and Monsoon. Had 0.025% of the effort that went into these
desperate attempts at hipness been applied towards streamlining the
plot -- a couple is arrested in connection with a robbery; a lawyer
tries to prove their innocence -- into a tight, thrilling narrative,
this 'Chocolate' wouldn't have been so bitter.
The film looks fantastic and Pritam's peppy tunes are stylishly
choreographed, but the performances are either straight-out rotten or
strangely indifferent. Anil Kapoor appears out of his depth in a
larger-than-life role, Irrfan Khan's spaced-out eccentricity seems a
bit tired -- but why blame these usually-competent actors? You'd
phone in your performance too if you discovered you were only fourth
most important in the general scheme of things -- the first three
being Tanushree Dutta, her thighs and her breasts.
Gafoor
> Having chosen to remake 'The Usual Suspects', director Vivek Agnihotri
> clearly felt a lot of things were missing in the original -- things
> like a cigar-puffing lawyer (Anil Kapoor) who uses terms of endearment
> like "ducky duck,"
[snip]
> Anil Kapoor appears out of his depth in a
> larger-than-life role,
The only lawyer in Usual Suspects was Kobayashi, IIRC. But
that wasn't a larger-than-life role atleast in the original movie.
Who plays the Verbal character in Chocolate?
Baradwaj Rangan
the Chazz Palminteri equivalent, except that he's a lawyer here. He
does the interrogation.
yeskay
What was so good about US anyway, except for the surprise ending? I
think it is
way too hyped. It is as confusing as Mission Imp 1.
Gafoor
Kevin Spacey was brilliant in the movie. But I also think it's
a highly overrated movie - it's far too slow.
rkus...@yahoo.com
> Kevin Spacey was brilliant in the movie. But I also think it's
> a highly overrated movie - it's far too slow.
'overrated' and 'slow' is synonymous with Sixth sense.
Gafoor
We have discussed this before, I think :-)
I loved Sixth Sense. Usual Suspects as Decent.
But the worst was "Jaal the Crap".
Gafoor
> rkus...@yahoo.com wrote:
>> Gafoor wrote:
>>> Kevin Spacey was brilliant in the movie. But I also think it's
>>> a highly overrated movie - it's far too slow.
>>
>> 'overrated' and 'slow' is synonymous with Sixth sense.
>
> We have discussed this before, I think :-)
Here
http://groups.google.com/groups?q=insubject%3A%22jaal+the+crap
asi...@my-deja.com
Haven't seen the Usual Suspects. I loved the Sixth Sense. Btw, if you
haven't seen it yet, see 'The Fight Club'. Get past the first 30-40 odd
minutes. Quite an "okay" film with very good screenplay. A bit
pretentious, but worth one look. Can't tell you much more since this
film has some twists which make it interesting.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0137523/
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/fight_club/
Cheers
Arun
Champak Bhumiya
were
overrated. In usual suspects, if you play close attention to the
opening
sequence the ending would be obvious. there were also enough flaws with
sixth sense. nevertheless for those who like sixth sense watch Haunted
*ing
Kate Beckinsale. It is much more chilling and shocking than sixth
sense.
Champak
Gafoor
> Gafoor wrote:
>> rkus...@yahoo.com wrote:
>>> Gafoor wrote:
>>>> Kevin Spacey was brilliant in the movie. But I also think it's
>>>> a highly overrated movie - it's far too slow.
>>>
>>> 'overrated' and 'slow' is synonymous with Sixth sense.
>>
>> We have discussed this before, I think :-)
>>
>> I loved Sixth Sense. Usual Suspects as Decent.
>>
>> But the worst was "Jaal the Crap".
> Haven't seen Jaal. But I thought both Usual suspects and Sixth sense
> were
> overrated. In usual suspects, if you play close attention to the
> opening
> sequence the ending would be obvious.
What was there in the opening sequence?
Put a spoiler alert if your reply.
yshi...@hotmail.com
Gafoor wrote:
> rkus...@yahoo.com wrote:
> > Gafoor wrote:
> >> Kevin Spacey was brilliant in the movie. But I also think it's
> >> a highly overrated movie - it's far too slow.
> >
> > 'overrated' and 'slow' is synonymous with Sixth sense.
Haha!Truth be told I like Shyamalan's work,yes even Signs where
someone pointed out in a rather acidic fashion that Shyamalan has
become Shyam Ramsay!Heres the stuff I like about Shyamalan
Grim atmosphere
Great lightining
Moving performances
He revolutionised how silence is used(and abused)
Made the horror genre respectable again(I think after Exorcist,The
Sixth Sense was the only horror movie nominated for Academy Awards in
major categories)
Surprise endings(obviously!)
Great soundtracks(all are amazing)
stuff that annoys me
His cameos(Shyamalan as a drug dealer?Shyamalan as a redneck
vet?Hahaha!)
ponderous self important forced dialogue
too sappy , emotionalises the most mundane issues,MNS is too much of a
soccer mom
cheesy looking monsters
>
> We have discussed this before, I think :-)
>
> I loved Sixth Sense. Usual Suspects as Decent.
I liked Usual Suspects actually.Though I cant watch it often.I think
Kevin Spacey fully deserved the award.
Gafoor
> Gafoor wrote:
>> rkus...@yahoo.com wrote:
>>> Gafoor wrote:
>>>> Kevin Spacey was brilliant in the movie. But I also think it's
>>>> a highly overrated movie - it's far too slow.
>>>
>>> 'overrated' and 'slow' is synonymous with Sixth sense.
>
> Haha!Truth be told I like Shyamalan's work,yes even Signs where
Shyamalan's best movie was Unbreakable.
Sixth Sense next.
Signs was crap & Village was OK.
> someone pointed out in a rather acidic fashion that Shyamalan has
> become Shyam Ramsay!Heres the stuff I like about Shyamalan
>
> Grim atmosphere
> Great lightining
> Moving performances
> He revolutionised how silence is used(and abused)
> Made the horror genre respectable again(I think after Exorcist,The
> Sixth Sense was the only horror movie nominated for Academy Awards in
> major categories)
> Surprise endings(obviously!)
> Great soundtracks(all are amazing)
There is a scene in Village where the heroine is alone. Everyone
else has gone into the underground thing. The monsters are going
to come. The background music is chilling. Suddenly out of
nowhere the hero comes & takes her hand & takes her to
the underground hideaway. The background music smoothly
transitions into romantic music. That scene was brilliant.
Other than that the colours in the movie were brilliant.
Shymalan should delegate the story writing to someone
& concentrate on the direction. He is a truly great
director.
What's his next movie after Village.
By the way, Shishir, did the Red colour in Village
denote the Red states & how they are living in their
own world? :-)
I really liked the ending of Village but like Usual Suspects
the rest of the movie had very little.
> stuff that annoys me
>
> His cameos(Shyamalan as a drug dealer?Shyamalan as a redneck
> vet?Hahaha!)
Redneck vet??? Are you talking about Signs - why redneck?
Master Chief
Gafoor wrote:
> What's his next movie after Village.
Champak Bhumiya
> What was there in the opening sequence?
> Put a spoiler alert if your reply.
>
> > there were also enough flaws
> > with
I was pretty sure it was Kevin spacey somewhere near the middle and the
clue
in the beginning was as follows:
Well in the opening sequence there is a killing and before the killing
there
is a conversation between the killer and the person who got killed. The
one thing I inferred from this conservation was that it seems that the
person who got shot *KNEW* the person he was talking to and had killed
him.
Later on since kevin spacey was the only person from the team who was
alive
I was pretty sure he was the culprit.
Champak
yshi...@hotmail.com
Gafoor wrote:
> yshi...@hotmail.com wrote:
> > Gafoor wrote:
> >> rkus...@yahoo.com wrote:
> >>> Gafoor wrote:
> >>>> Kevin Spacey was brilliant in the movie. But I also think it's
> >>>> a highly overrated movie - it's far too slow.
> >>>
> >>> 'overrated' and 'slow' is synonymous with Sixth sense.
> >
> > Haha!Truth be told I like Shyamalan's work,yes even Signs where
>
>
> Shyamalan's best movie was Unbreakable.
> Sixth Sense next.
> Signs was crap & Village was OK.
For Signs the sum of parts was lesser than the whole but I still like
it.I am still undecided whether I like Sixth Sense or Unbreakable
better,I liked Unbreakable better at first,but I saw Sixth Sense again
recently and wow!I think both movies owe a LOT to James Newton
Howard(composer).
>
>
> > someone pointed out in a rather acidic fashion that Shyamalan has
> > become Shyam Ramsay!Heres the stuff I like about Shyamalan
> >
> > Grim atmosphere
> > Great lightining
> > Moving performances
> > He revolutionised how silence is used(and abused)
> > Made the horror genre respectable again(I think after Exorcist,The
> > Sixth Sense was the only horror movie nominated for Academy Awards in
> > major categories)
> > Surprise endings(obviously!)
> > Great soundtracks(all are amazing)
>
> There is a scene in Village where the heroine is alone. Everyone
> else has gone into the underground thing. The monsters are going
> to come. The background music is chilling. Suddenly out of
> nowhere the hero comes & takes her hand & takes her to
> the underground hideaway. The background music smoothly
> transitions into romantic music. That scene was brilliant.
> Other than that the colours in the movie were brilliant.
>
> Shymalan should delegate the story writing to someone
> & concentrate on the direction. He is a truly great
> director.
I have no problem with the story writing.But the details ie screenplay
and dialouge should be left to others.
>
> What's his next movie after Village.
No idea!But we can be sure it is set in around Philadelphia!
>
> By the way, Shishir, did the Red colour in Village
> denote the Red states & how they are living in their
> own world? :-)
Haha!I will answer to this below due to spoilers!
>
>
> I really liked the ending of Village but like Usual Suspects
> the rest of the movie had very little.
>
> > stuff that annoys me
> >
> > His cameos(Shyamalan as a drug dealer?Shyamalan as a redneck
> > vet?Hahaha!)
>
> Redneck vet??? Are you talking about Signs - why redneck?
Well yes the accent,his plaid shirt,pick up truck,backwoods etc.I
guess affirmative action has hit the redneck community too!
spoiler.....
Regarding the political aspects of The Village,I have heard that
Walker,the cheif of the village(as in George Walker Bush) uses a fake
boogeyman to isolate his populace from the real world thru fear and
terror.
As for the color scheme ,in all of Shyamalan movies ,bright colors seem
to signify menace or impending doom,be it the mother in Sixth Sense who
wore red at her daughters funeral,all the psychic visions of Bruce
Willis had the wicked people in super saturated colors.This scheme was
missing in Signs for the obvious reasons.And in the Village it was too
obvious.Shyamalan is also inspired strongly by the Wizard of Oz,not
just the colors but also on the importance of water(Unbreakable and
Signs).I find the ahem colorful political interpretations interesting
but ultimately they dont seem hold much..you guessed it..water!
yshi...@hotmail.com
Why I had no idea!Theres that water again!
yshi...@hotmail.com
asi...@my-deja.com wrote:
> Gafoor wrote:
> > rkus...@yahoo.com wrote:
> > > Gafoor wrote:
> > >> Kevin Spacey was brilliant in the movie. But I also think it's
> > >> a highly overrated movie - it's far too slow.
> > >
> > > 'overrated' and 'slow' is synonymous with Sixth sense.
> >
> > We have discussed this before, I think :-)
> >
> > I loved Sixth Sense. Usual Suspects as Decent.
> >
>
>
> Haven't seen the Usual Suspects. I loved the Sixth Sense. Btw, if you
> haven't seen it yet, see 'The Fight Club'. Get past the first 30-40 odd
> minutes. Quite an "okay" film with very good screenplay. A bit
> pretentious, but worth one look. Can't tell you much more since this
> film has some twists which make it interesting.
I think this film is far better than okay.I dont know why you think it
is pretentious.Maybe you mean it is technically a bit showy,yes but it
is notdistracting ,that is what we expect from the personality of Tyler
Durden!I think Fight Club is the best film of 1999(I am not sure if
Thin Red Line was 98 or 99,if 99 then TTRL is the best),it attacks
materialism and cheap sentimentalism more effectively than American
Beauty and also shows what misguided idealism can lead to.
I would also recommed the book by Chuck Palahunik.I once waited 1 hour
and half for him to sign my Fight Club DVD in 2001.I think there are 3
or 4 commentary tracks on DVD,by the writer ,director and actors,Ive
listened to all of them and realized how much this film is
misunderstood!Especially by Mr. Fatty McButterpants himself Roger
Ebert.