Rather than relying upon a solid script, director Vishal
Bharadwaj heavily banks upon craziness! A striking feature of this one is
probably the frenzy momentum brought about against a rural setting.
Matru (Imran Khan) is the indebted servant of Harry Mandola(Pankaj
Kapur), a wealthy business man who wants to deceive the poor farmers and
purchase their land to build a factory. Chaudhri Devi (Shabana Azmi) is a
greedy politician who wishes to help Harry for her own benefits. Bijli (Anushka
Sharma) is a wild and carefree bird who is in love with Devi’s son, Badal.
Bharadwaj seems to have switched from realism to surrealism.
He does not bother to justify the events or character-changes unfolding on screen. He clings on to a sense of madness that requires no justification. It
seems like he wanted his cinema to portray one hell of a mad-house radiating
laughter, but unfortunately his sense of humor, runs out of novelty. His comic
scenes are limited to histrionics of a drunken man, sting of honey bees, office
hour flirting between the aged, throwing cow-dung and calling a fat woman
dressed in pink, “gulabi bhains”! Further disappointing is how these elements
seem to have been forced into the script.
Pankaj Kapur’s character has been sketched interestingly. Note
how well he steers the drunken act. But after a point of time, you
get bored of the dragging humor. A bearded Imran plays his part well. He seems
to manage it all effortlessly. The energetic Anushka Sharma is good, but again
she doesn't do things any differently from what she has done before. Given her
talent, it is more versatility that is expected of her. The veteran Shabana
Azmi shines in parts but disappointingly ends up making a caricature of her
character. Or probably that was meant to be a satire designed to induce humor!
The movie turns senseless towards the end which makes you see
the brainlessness of it all! This one’s a light hearted drama not asking itself
to be taken seriously. As for the director, he seems less inspired by
Shakespeare (he's the man who made Maqbool and Omkara afterall) and more by the likes of comedy filmmakers. Now that’s some change!
The pink cow act shall remain the movie’s novelty.
RATING- 2 stars
