Review: Rog
Baradwaj Rangan
ROG
Baradwaj Rangan
(C) The New Sunday Express - Jan. 16, 2004
After 'Jism' and 'Paap', the unstoppable father-daughter factory of
Mahesh (writer) Bhatt and Pooja (producer) Bhatt is out with 'Rog',
yet another film with a one-word title, two-piece outfits, three-way
romantic relationships, foreplay... And it's yet another film whose
roots lie in forties' Hollywood noir -- if 'Jism' was 'Double
Indemnity' with a single-minded focus on Bipasha Basu's booty, 'Rog'
tries to reshape 'Laura' with the shapely South African model Ilene
Hamann.
Directed by Himanshu Brahmbhatt, 'Rog' tells the story of cop Uday
Singh (Irrfan Khan), as he goes about investigating the murder of Maya
(Hamann, who really should have been called Kaya, body, considering
her curves rival a mountain road in a James Bond stunt sequence). It's
all meant to be about the unravelling of the mystery, the unknown, the
X, but it's actually all about the sex -- at least, during the
character introductions.
Himanshu Malik (any more wooden, and you could put him through a
shredder and make yourself a nice little box of matchsticks) pops out
from what is presumably a woman's bedroom. Shyamolie Verma (former
leading light of the Indian modelling industry and, based on her
performance here, current laughing stock of the Indian film industry)
gets herself a massage, wearing a teeny towel that allows for ample
camera movement up and down a bare leg. And adman Suhel Seth, as yet
another did-he-or-didn't-he, shows up in front of a chessboard, making
the moves for both sides -- which, in some quarters, is known as
playing with oneself.
But as ridiculous as all of this is, it's actually preferable to the
sight of poor Irrfan Khan trying hard to make something meaningful of
his underwritten, underdeveloped character. But what can one actor --
one admittedly fine actor -- do when mostly asked to stand in front of
Maya's photograph and stare at it endlessly! (And I do mean endlessly
-- entire swatches of uninterrupted screen footage are devoted to this
picture-gazing activity. The only time anyone yelled 'Cut' was
apparently when the costumer arrived to make Hamann's clothes; there's
nothing she wears that doesn't at least have a slit, a good-sized
tear, or a huge gash across.)
Next you'll probably want to know about Ilene Hamann's performance,
and I suppose, for someone new to the language, it must count for
something that she delivers with finesse such intricate verbal
flourishes as, "Kab... hua... yeh... sab?" In any case, her line
readings are hardly what you'll care about during such times as when
she straddles a man, throws her head back, and begins to simulate
motions clearly inspired by the hydraulic jack.
Here and there, you can see that the intent was probably to make a
sophisticated film, one that investigates not a crime as much as the
creepily obsessive emotions that sometimes lurk inside us. (Uday falls
for Maya even though she's dead.) But as I walked away, I was happy
about just one thing, that Uday is shown to be an insomniac -- which
means at least one person should be able to stay awake through the
ponderous slog that is 'Rog'.
rkusenet
"Baradwaj Rangan" <b_ra...@hotmail.com> wrote
> After 'Jism' and 'Paap', the unstoppable father-daughter factory of
> Mahesh (writer) Bhatt and Pooja (producer) Bhatt is out with 'Rog',
> yet another film with a one-word title, two-piece outfits, three-way
> romantic relationships, foreplay... And it's yet another film whose
> roots lie in forties' Hollywood noir -- if 'Jism' was 'Double
> Indemnity'
I thought Jism was copied from "body heat".
> Shyamolie Verma (former
> leading light of the Indian modelling industry and, based on her
> performance here, current laughing stock of the Indian film industry)
Shamolie Verma!!!! sounds familiar. I have a vague memory of her.
Wasn't she famous for some cigarette advertisement. Somehow I link
her to a cigarette.
rk-