Blown away - part 2

The first paper went much better than what I had expected. For a few hours last night, I was getting the feeling that after Chemical Engineering, I was going to suck at the other stream that I was trying to specialize in. Not that low on self-confidence now. The worst is over. The next exam, which starts in about an hour, should be easier. And so I decided to write a little more about Aaja Nachle.

I really don't get what the critics, or most of them at least, are cribbing about. Was there ever any doubt that we were going to watch this movie for any other reason. And the one reason we saw the movie for delivers. And how. This is what a Star is. The elan with which She makes a comeback would make one believe that She never went away at all. I remember when I first heard about Her marriage (I was in school then), I had this really sad feeling in my stomach (or it could have been something I ate the previous night) that we'll never see Her again doing what She does better than anyone else - the equivalent of a Kapil Dev maybe, the perfect all-rounder. Then Devdas gave hope that She'll be around. But that wasn't to be. Finally. more than five years after Her last outing as Parvati, we have Diya. And one feels happy that there are some things that one can always rely on to come good.

Coming to the movie, even if you take Her away (how can you seriously, though!), it's still a pretty enjoyable film. OK, I am kidding. I can't imagine this film without Her. But the film does not let Her down really. We have an interesting story - a retelling of Lagaan in some ways - shouldered by a very competent cast. People like Vinay Pathak, Ranvir Shorey, Raghuvir Yadav, Akhilendra Mishra, Yashpal Sharma, Sushmita Mukherjee are some of the most reliable actors you can ask for in a supporting cast. Then there's Irrfan Khan, who can't get even one expression wrong. Divya Dutta is prone to overacting on occasions, but thankfully manages to avoid that here. Kunal Kapoor is meant to look rigid for most of the movie, and he is good at that, isn't he? I would have preferred someone more 'glamorous' in the role of Anokhi, but she's pretty much Irrfan Khan's female counterpart in Hindi cinema today. Jugal Hansraj isn't all that noticeable in this crowd, with all due respects. And the best thing is that all these characters, for most parts, aren't cardboard figures. They have cliched characteristics, but one misses these cliches in A-grade movies of our times, where the only people you see are super-affluent, English-spouting, metrosexual unreal characters. Even the odd gaali is such music to one's ears when it's shown in an authentic manner.

Not that the movie's setting is completely authentic. The village is too good to be true. The final show couldn't really have been staged by any village/town in a month. Politicians, even if they are Laloo Yadav, do not join a dance show. Even royalty-turned-MPs are possibly not that benevolent. But, it's less unbelievable than Amitabh Bachchan living in a Tudor castle close to Delhi's Chandni Chowk in K3G. And much less incredible than the fact that a 40-plus woman can still manage to take your breath away in in the title track of the movie....to be continued...got to leave for the exam.

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Forgot completely after the exam about this thing. Came back to write about another movie I just saw, and found it incomplete. I won't go on more about how much I liked Aaja Nachle...just notice the absolute glee on Vinay Pathak's face when he is dancing (and dancing well) in the Jawaani sequence of the final extended performance. The song's great too (with lines like 'Ghar ki murgi nahin yeh chhutta saand jawaani').