Johar begins Bombay Talkies with ajeeb dastaan hain yeh hinting the conflicting, intriguing and queer nature of the story that is gonna unfold. The characters are beyond the misleading demeaning stereotypes you find in hindi movies of the past decade. Avinash(Saquib Saleem) is out in the open and Dev (Randeep Hooda) is married to Gayatri (Rani Mukherjee) and is a closet case. The conflicting nature of the leads gives the emotional depth for the movie. Gayatri brings Avinash home from work and he meets Dev , they connect through music. Dev is struck by the chutzpah in Avinash , he is jealous and also is threatened by Avinash's independence and his identity.For Avinash the conflict is as internal as external. It is like he was living a meaninless lonely life for years and years and now all life has come crowding in a single hour. Hooda stuns you with the poignant portrayal of a man who has been running from himself all his life, among the three he is the best,Rani carries herself exactly like a modern day woman, she is alive mature and sophisticated Her final scene with Hooda where she breaks down and immediately redeems herself with such brashness that makes you believe -Rani needs only 15 minutes a year to tell u she is the best. Saqib for a newcomer shows immense promise . Johar has used the most poignant melody "lag jaa gale" giving overtones of desire edged with a sense of irrevocability.This half an hour of compelling cinema reduces Johar's three hour epics to insignificance.
When Siddiqui performs no one even touches their androids , calls go unattended messages unnoticed. While celebrating a hundred years of Hindi Cinema it is important to notice that an actor like Siddiqui struggled for 10 years to make it to bollywood. We gave a decade to the good for nothing Govinda and what about Uday Chopra,Harman Baweja,Zayed Khan the list is endless. Siddiqui plays the role of a failed actor who wants everything in his life to be easy . His practices are discursive, he wants to work, he wants to do business, he wants to act, he is unsure of everything except the fact that he loves his daughter and he loves her very much. Adaptation of Satyajit Ray's short story the film rides on Siddiqui's shoulders. After being hesitant in his entire life Siddiqui regains his belief through a nothing of a role in a movie. The last few minutes of the movie shows you that Siddiqui is beyond words.
A woman in a mans world is always appreciated what about the contrary?. Zoya explores this thorough the curiosity of a child. A twelve year old kid finds himself totally drawn to katrina and her dancing. He loves her moves and wants to follow her , he finds football detestable and dancing passionate. His father stands between him and his destiny . The story finds space when the kids elder sister understands and encourages the latent talent in her brother. .The boy who appers in Chillar Party also, is a gifted actor with electrifying moves. The movie questions the sexist perception of art especially dancing.
The last one in the anthology by Kashyap is a bit of a let down. One because it does not have thedepth or the relevance depicted by the other three. Also because it looks more like an indulgence in the the stardom of Mr.Bachchan. The movie is about the death wish of a Bachchan fan to carry a Murabba to bombay and give it to Mr.Bachchan to eat half of it and the rest to be brought back for him to savor.He entrusts this duty to his son(Vinay Kumar). The movie drags since it is low on substance and it even takes hues of sycophancy towards the end when the protagonist meets the star.Also Vinay Kumar is no Tom Hanks of The Terminal to keep you occupied throughout this capricious whim. But we can forgive Kashyap he gave us Wassepur and Dev D, without him the past decade would have been irrelevant in the history of Indian Cinema.
