That girl in the yellow boots
Anurag Kashyap, the changing face of Indian cinema, brings out “The girl in the yellow boots”. Since the movie talks about a girl upfront there are no points for guessing who the lead actor is going to be. In an interview Anurag had mentioned how he doesn’t make movies with a large budget because he just doesn’t have anybody putting that kind of money into his movies. His star cast is mostly unknown but what he does is make stars out of them through his movies. He is a true genius movie maker who has a Howard Roark (Fountainhead’s protagonist) philosophy of movie making. He makes movies that serve his own pleasure of how a story has to be narrated. Will the end product be one that the audience appreciates? Well, that isn’t his concept.
That girl in the yellow boots is Kalki Koechlin who manages to confuse you with a Brit and American accent. She is from England living a rather undignified life of a shady masseuse in Mumbai. She is on a mission. Her mission is driven by a letter. She is looking for someone and the pursuit of her search and the culmination is the movie. There are other characters in the movie that serve a collateral purpose but nothing significant. She has a boy friend who is a newbie. The boy friend she claims is a distraction to her. This distraction is a hopeless junkie who is being blackmailed by a Kannada don. Somehow his character is neither original nor does it serve any aesthetic purpose. It is clichéd that a girl who is a masseuse should find a guy who is a junkie. She is pretty, talks with an accent and lives in Mumbai and in her pursuit to discover what she wants to discover goes to places such as German Bakery etc. Does this character have to get stuck with a drug addict? I don’t know, Anurag certainly thought so.
Gulshan Deviah last seen or first seen in Shaitaan plays the Kannada don. He is the saving grace of the movie. He is responsible for all the lighter moments in an otherwise intense movie. He also is the flavor of this otherwise bland soup. He is exquisite, his timing is brilliant and if Yash Chopra doesn’t cast him in a movie for the next 3 or 4 years he might just become a star. He has a Vijay Raaz kind of a presence and is the most noteworthy thing in the movie.
The movie as expected is sexually explicit in both language and action. But the movie’s story line demands certain amount of dirtiness and the sprinkling is generous. The movie runs at a singular pace making the audience shift uncomfortably in their chairs and makes them notice the person sitting next to them chews popcorn very loudly. It doesn’t grip the audience enough and it may put a few to sleep and disgust a few to a point of not watching anymore Anurag Kashyap movies. But I think that’s the distinction he enjoys. He claims openly that the movie is not for the weak hearted and it is his genuine attempt to depress you.
The movie has its moments. The movie has a certain suspense that is maintained from the start till the end. The beauty of maintaining suspense is throwing the audience off track. This is where the movie is brilliant. The movie will compel you to draw conclusions about the end both by the presence of vintage actors and certain surprise entry of characters. After you are thoroughly confused the movie brings you to the end which you might have thought before but have completely dismissed it thanks to the developments. The movie ends on a note that will make most of the audience come out and shoot saliva on the road. It leaves a genuine bad taste even though it might be reality.
Dear Anurag, we love you. Your movies are excellent, technically sound and stories are rich in content. But please do understand our lives in general are not very euphoric. Hence we attempt to escape reality by indulging in two or three hours of pseudo world. We empathize with reality but also understand reality is disgusting. Chopras and Johars were making morons out of us showing family versions of fairly tales. Can’t you pick reality that can probably inspire? Because, you have a gift of saying it well. So you say something beautiful and we’ll listen.
That girl in the yellow boots is Kalki Koechlin who manages to confuse you with a Brit and American accent. She is from England living a rather undignified life of a shady masseuse in Mumbai. She is on a mission. Her mission is driven by a letter. She is looking for someone and the pursuit of her search and the culmination is the movie. There are other characters in the movie that serve a collateral purpose but nothing significant. She has a boy friend who is a newbie. The boy friend she claims is a distraction to her. This distraction is a hopeless junkie who is being blackmailed by a Kannada don. Somehow his character is neither original nor does it serve any aesthetic purpose. It is clichéd that a girl who is a masseuse should find a guy who is a junkie. She is pretty, talks with an accent and lives in Mumbai and in her pursuit to discover what she wants to discover goes to places such as German Bakery etc. Does this character have to get stuck with a drug addict? I don’t know, Anurag certainly thought so.
Gulshan Deviah last seen or first seen in Shaitaan plays the Kannada don. He is the saving grace of the movie. He is responsible for all the lighter moments in an otherwise intense movie. He also is the flavor of this otherwise bland soup. He is exquisite, his timing is brilliant and if Yash Chopra doesn’t cast him in a movie for the next 3 or 4 years he might just become a star. He has a Vijay Raaz kind of a presence and is the most noteworthy thing in the movie.
The movie as expected is sexually explicit in both language and action. But the movie’s story line demands certain amount of dirtiness and the sprinkling is generous. The movie runs at a singular pace making the audience shift uncomfortably in their chairs and makes them notice the person sitting next to them chews popcorn very loudly. It doesn’t grip the audience enough and it may put a few to sleep and disgust a few to a point of not watching anymore Anurag Kashyap movies. But I think that’s the distinction he enjoys. He claims openly that the movie is not for the weak hearted and it is his genuine attempt to depress you.
The movie has its moments. The movie has a certain suspense that is maintained from the start till the end. The beauty of maintaining suspense is throwing the audience off track. This is where the movie is brilliant. The movie will compel you to draw conclusions about the end both by the presence of vintage actors and certain surprise entry of characters. After you are thoroughly confused the movie brings you to the end which you might have thought before but have completely dismissed it thanks to the developments. The movie ends on a note that will make most of the audience come out and shoot saliva on the road. It leaves a genuine bad taste even though it might be reality.
Dear Anurag, we love you. Your movies are excellent, technically sound and stories are rich in content. But please do understand our lives in general are not very euphoric. Hence we attempt to escape reality by indulging in two or three hours of pseudo world. We empathize with reality but also understand reality is disgusting. Chopras and Johars were making morons out of us showing family versions of fairly tales. Can’t you pick reality that can probably inspire? Because, you have a gift of saying it well. So you say something beautiful and we’ll listen.
Nice written, as always! And thanks for the info!
ReplyDeletePS: you missed "say" in the last line.
Thanks and thanks bro..corrected it
ReplyDelete