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Making a molehill of a mountain
Scenes from the films, "Kya Yehi Pyaar Hai" and "16 December", now showing across Delhi.
KYA YEHI PYAAR HAI
(At Odeon and other Delhi theatres)
HERE COMES an ode to the beauty of woman. A woman -- actually not much more than a girl -- called Amisha Patel in a film called "Kya Yehi Pyaar Hai". Ever since she made her debut opposite Hrithik Roshan, Amisha has been forcing the critics to sit up and take notice. By no means a great actress, she brings to her work a simmering sensuality hard to miss even for those who do not quite keep temptation as an abiding companion. There is an endearing innocence about her, the kind of beauty that leaves you panting without having moved half a mile. If her curls are nothing ravenous, her frame seems to have been chiselled for plunging necklines. Add to that her voice that seems to be perfected to bring out the pathos of the hapless, she evokes the most gallant of masculine emotions. Here she takes on her main rival, Kareena Kapoor, in her own domain. The competitive streak comes to the fore -- what Kareena can do, I can do better. Hence Amisha, who had not exactly reached where she is climbing on a heap of clothes she shed along the way, makes up with abandon here. Now caressing her plum cheeks against the surging tide of sea, now resting her long, autumn brown locks on her almond-hued back, now shaking a leg on the dance-floor, she seems to enjoy it all. And manages to communicate the same feeling to the viewer.
However, love's labour is lost in this sea of mediocrity churned out by K. Murli Mohan Rao who had in the past given us some appetising fare like "Prem Quaidi" and "Anari". The way he goes about this tale of endless love makes even most beautiful of human emotions unreal. And worse, unappetising. This film attempts to make a virtue out of ordinariness. Often pedestrian, it is only occasionally pleasant. And that is only when Amisha sashays in to light up the screen.
"Kya Yehi Pyaar Hai" is the kind of film you and I would have seen, heard or read about countless times. Quite similar to "Mujhe Kucch Kehna Hai" -- which happened to be Kareena Kapoor's first hit -- this is the tale of a boy who loves a girl who does not quite reciprocate. He finds in her the joy of life, nay, life itself. She finds him as interesting as a paper strewn across her while crossing the road. He waits for her at the bus stop, she looks out of the window. He chases her to the college, she buries her head into the computer. Finally, he asks. She refuses. And then follow a few sermons on there being more to life than just love. A career, a gold medal, for instance. A fine premise for a film, one would say. Only thing is the director is not able to develop the relationship beyond the rigid stereotypes any novice can churn out. So from the girl's refusal, it deteriorates to her abusive father's refusal for the match. Along the way, there are kicks and punches thrown in for good measure - not to forget countless songs tailored to capitalise on the leading lady's obvious assets. Predictably, one such blow melts the stubborn girl's stone heart. Now, haven't we seen that many times over?
Sorry to say, but Murli Mohan Rao manages to make even love a less than loveable emotion. The die-hards may just watch it for Amisha who is simply difficult to forget in a film many would like to forget in a tearing hurry.
16 DECEMBER
(At Shiela, Chanakya and other Delhi theatres)
IT IS not the kind of film the masses would watch just for a lark. It is not even a film the cinemagoers would happily queue up for. Nor is it the average patriotic film churned out by Bollywood. And therein lies its USP. It is a patriotic film in its own right but there are no jingoistic dialogue which seem to be a regular feature of a Bollywood offering these days. It also does not have a one-man army taking on entire battalions, like we have seen in countless Sunny Deol films. Instead, the film, dealing with Pakistan's surrender at Dhaka in 1971, is actually a superb spy and camera-in-peephole drama that keeps you glued to your seat.
Without a major box office draw, "16 December" marks the coming to fore of alternate cinema within the mainstream. The subject is strictly mainstream, but the handling is refreshingly different. The snooping camera angles, the silhouettes, the dim tones all add to the eerie feeling that someone somewhere is going to give in. In its own way, it brings back the Tehelka way of operations. Hence we have a four-member intelligence team walking around with tiny camera attached to their watch, their button, their carry-bag. And capturing the photos of white-collar criminals ready to sell off the country for a few hundred crores. It is during one such snooping exercise that the always on-the-move brigade lands its hands on a politician with astronomical assets in a EuroSwiss Bank. The man manages to transfer the money to a terrorist agency before conking off. And the organisation wants to avenge the humiliating loss in 1971. It all boils down to a nuclear bomb being smuggled into India's Capital via a number of terrorists for the fatal explosion. And nipped in the nick of time operation.
"16 December", deriving its name from the day LtGen Niazi surrendered to LtGen Jagjit Singh Aurora, is only a work of fiction but borders very close to reality. The names of the terrorists, the leaders and everything are almost parallel to real life.
With Danny Denzongpa and Gulshan Grover the only veterans, debutant director Mani Shankar still manages to get good performances from his cast, including Milind Soman, making a comeback long after "Tarkieb" failed to work. It is basically a director's film in which Mani is able to hold the viewers' attention almost all through, barring two songs thrown in the second half - the first half does not have a song - as a concession to frontbenchers. Superbly crafted, excellently cinematographed, it is tautly edited. And may just mark the coming of better technology to Bollywood.
ZIYA US SALAM
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