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Cast:
Shiney Ahuja, Soha Ali Khan, Sonya Jehan, |
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Rajat Kapoor, Vinay Pathak, Sushmita
Mukherjee, |
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Dipannita Sharma |
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Music: Shantanu
Moitra |
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Lyrics: Swanand Kirkire |
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Costumes:
Ashima Belapurkar, Niharika Khan |
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Banner:
Holi Cow Pictures Pvt. Ltd |
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Editor: Archit Rastogi, Ruchi Narain |
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Producer:
Prakash Jha |
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Direction:
Sudhir Mishra |
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film is set between 1953 and 1965. Junior artiste Nikhat (Soha
Ali Khan) goes through multiple casting couches from the age
of 14 till she catches the attention of top star Prem Kumar
(Rajat Kapoor) who gets her a big break. He also patronizes
Zafar (Shiney Ahuja), a writer from an aristocrat family
that has fallen on bad days thanks to his debauched father,
whom Zafar could not forgive even on the latter’s deathbed. |
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Zafar ‘repairs’ a script that Prem Kumar is sure
will be a disaster and becomes Prem’s favourite, and
this film (with Nikhat) proves a hit, bringing out
the worst in top heroine Ratna (Sonya Jehan) who
becomes terribly insecure. But due to constant
interaction Nikhat and Zafar come close and get into
a relationship. Considering Nikhat like his
property, Prem is livid and drops them both from his
new film. But the director quits Prem’s film, signs
Nikhat and Zafar and delivers a hit. |
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After
that comes turbulence. Zafar wants to film his life’s
traumatic story and turn director. His marriage to Nikhat
has been called off due to the latter’s commitments and she
opts out of his film too. Zafar signs Ratna but the film
bombs. Nikhat goes back to Prem and a film is signed. But
she starts drinking. A whole lot of confusing reels later,
she dies – of a hole in the heart! But not before Zafar
directs his own triangular love saga with (once again) Prem
Kumar and Nikhat in their real-life roles, and exorcises the
ghost of his father haunting him for not having forgiven
him. And the show goes on…
Every
story should have a purpose (not necessarily a message) and
direction. But Sudhir Mishra’s story and script seem
directionless and pointless. What is he trying to project in
this film? Is this just an indulgent tribute to cinema of
the past? If that’s so, the detailing is authentic and the
caricature characters are well-etched (especially the
Punjabi producer stereotype and the Bengali director). The
sets, the costumes, make-ups, sets and the sets shown within
and of course the songs (great job by Shantanu Moitra but
hardly exploited in the film) and background score (Shantanu
again) are well-researched and apt. And yes, the lyrics (Swanand
Kirkire) are outstanding. |
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But as a human drama, as a look at the lives of
junior artistes, top stars and the workings of the
film world, this film works only partly. You can,
for example, empathize with Nikhat throwing stones
at the cad producer to whom she lost her virginity
at 14, but the Zafar-father angle sucks and is
overdrawn. The twists and turns in who has broken
off and patched up or is sleeping with whom become
confusing and frankly, by that time, you do not
care.
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The
attempt to make Nikhat have shades of Meena Kumari
(alcoholism, fragmented multiple relationships), Madhubala
(a hole in the heart and a sob story) and a traumatic past
fails, partly because Soha Ali Khan lacks the maturity to
bring in the nuances but mainly because of the poor script
that fails to evoke sympathy for its protagonists.If
Mishra’s script (barring some excellent spoken lines and
parts of the first half of the film) is disappointing, his
directorial expertise is erratic and there are few punches.
The editing (Archit D.Rastogi and Ruchi Narain) vacillates
between jerky (suggesting over-shooting) and soporific and
the second half is tedious where one keeps expecting the
film to end for a full twenty minutes before it does. |
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Another handicap is the miscasting. Once again, the
role of Nikhat needed a more experienced artiste
even if Soha tries her best and does justice to
several sequences. Shiney is dull (pun intended) and
beyond a point (say the first 30 minutes) his
monotone, single junkie-like expression and
non-performance begin to grate. Rajat Kapur hams, as
he is meant to. But he can in no way epitomize a top
star. Sonya surprisingly makes a mark, Sourabh
Shukla hams too, and the rest of the cast is
strictly average. |
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Vinay Pathak is wasted, just like the time we spend going to
the movie hall, watching the film and coming home, when we
could spent it in more fruitful ways, like revisiting
classics like Kaagaz Ke Phool (also based on the film
industry) or any great films of the past. |
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