Tamasha Movie Review: Imtiaz Ali’s Mera Naam Joker Moment

If you flip through filmography of accomplished directors, you will find at least one film that goes on to become a symbol of their pedigree. ‘That one film’ may not necessarily be the directors’ most accomplished work or a roaring commercial success, yet it beams with the faith, idea and conviction of its creator.

Imtiaz Ali seems to have invested that kind of energy into Tamasha. The film is Ali’s most complex, ambitious and audacious take on emotions – be it his pet theme of love (Jab We Met and Love Aaj Kal) or his relatively recent fascination with identities and personality traits (Rockstar and Highway). Tamasha is resplendent with sumptuous and powerful designs, but sadly it is dragged down by its inconsistent and indulgent treatment.

Story:

Destiny conspires to make Ved (Ranbir Kapoor) meet Tara (Deepika Padukone) in the picturesque island of Corsica where the two decide not to divulge their real identities in order to make the most of the moment. They hit it off instantly doing crazy gigs and crisscrossing mighty mountains, leafy forests and clear, blue waters. The fairy tale ends within a week when Tara comes back to India leaving behind much more than her heart at Ved’s disposal. 4 years later, she meets the ‘real’ Ved in Delhi – a regular corporate retard in his impeccable tie and suit. Their attempts to reunite fail as Ved battles to overcome his inner demons and struggles to script his own story.

The film’s first hour is surprisingly wasted and annoyingly drifty where two of the most talented actors of our times are stationed in the picturesque island of Corsica and left to do sweet nothings. While you relish the stunning landscape and marvel at the lead pair’s sparkling chemistry, the stretched ‘Tamasha’ and the callous screenplay put you off. Things change for good from the second hour, when we get to know the real Ved, his inner conflicts and Tara’s late realization of what she just let go off.

Themes and Motifs:

Tamasha makes a fierce attempt to deal with the notions of chasing your dreams, scripting your own story, and how true love can help you achieve all of this. It tries hard to be that vehicle of inspiration, that ray of hope for millions of young and restless people who take up regular, conventional jobs and compromise with their inner calling. But, the means to drive home this message is thoroughly sketchy and even absolutely random at times. There are occasions when the film seems to be going in circles and the director needlessly convolutes simpler messages.

Imtiaz Ali chooses the interesting backdrop of a drama (Tamasha) and tries to examine emotions through the prism of a stage play. Like a typical play, the film is divided into ‘acts’ and things actually go on pretty smooth till here. The complexity level of the narrative goes quite a few notches up as Imtiaz invests a tad too much into flashbacks and tries a bit too hard to connect us to Ved’s childhood. Yes, we get that the bachpan connection is critical to our hero’s overall evolution in the film, but this connection seems too larger than life at times. So does the occasional self-indulgent sojourn of the film where pointed emphasis is laid at a parallel play, stories of famous lovers (including mythological Ram and Sita), clowns and stage-like camera and lighting.

The film also comfortably leaves behind some loose ends , which if tightened, would have given more meat to the screenplay. What were Ved and Tara doing in Corsica? How come ‘role play’ bit of Ved’s personality never manifested itself after he met Tara in India? Also, enough light is not thrown on Ved’s and Tara’s unusual behavior, specially Ved’s, whose antics go beyond the realm of role play and infringe in the territory of psychology.

Performances:

Despite its inconsistent screenplay, Tamasha manages to sail through because of the riveting performances by its lead actors. It is such a relief and an absolute joy to see Ranbir Kapoor return to form. Wait, he just does not come back to form, he is in fact at the top of his game by literally owning every single frame that he is a part of. The actor comes up with a beautifully restrained and a deliciously nuanced performance that will easily go down as one of his best.

Ranbir’s Ved is tragic, funny, romantic, goofy, vulnerable, exciting – all at the same time. I also believe that actors whose faces ‘talk’ are perhaps heads and shoulders above others. Ranbir’s face can talk, shout, scream, cry, without uttering a single word. Equally impressive is Deepika Padukone as she never really lets Ranbir completely steal the show. Her expressions, body language and emotions look as real as 24-carat gold. Together, Ranbir and Deepika display a cracking chemistry and it’s a pity that they have not been paired together more often.

AR Rahman’s music gels very well with the film’s theme and atmosphere. While Matargashti is quirky and peppy, Agar Tum Saath Ho beautifully depicts melancholy and sadness. The film’s cinematography (Ravi Varman) is too much ‘stage-like’ at places but the camera does roam at the right places in Corsica and even Delhi. The editing of the film (Aarti Bajaj) is impressive given the unusual weaving of the story.

Overall, Tamasha is Imtiaz Ali’s most complex film till date that houses both mediocre and spectacular moments. Add to that an element of complexity in narrative that cripples its overall acceptability and makes it possible for many to actually not like/understand several sequences in the film.

Not easy to like. Not easy to reject. Leaves you thinking for long. Tamasha could well be for Imtiaz Ali what Mera Naam Joker was for Raj Kapoor – his most honest but perhaps the weakest film.

Rating: *** (Good)

P.S. – Half a star extra just for the Kapoor lad.

Box-Office Analysis: Lessons from TWMR and Piku Success

The Hindi film industry can’t hide its excitement. Almost like a young girl going out on her first official date with her childhood crush. The buzz in Mumbai is that ‘Acche Din’ are finally here and there’s now no looking back at what has been a disastrous, to put it in polite words, first few months of 2015 at the box office. With not a single ‘Super Hit’, forget about Blockbusters, and hardly a couple of clean ‘Hits’ in the Jan-May period, the industry was clearly looking down the barrel in terms of business and revenue. But, with Tanu Weds Manu Returns (TWMR) getting a phenomenal response from the audiences all across the country, we are all set to witness the first Blockbuster of 2015. Yes, you read it right. That elusive blockbuster is finally off the block!

TWMR’s weekend collection was over 38 Crores INR, the biggest opening weekend of the year, closely matching the collections of a much-bigger film like Gabbar Is Back. In the overseas market, the film raked in close to 15 Crores, again the highest opening weekend in overseas this year, beating the previous best of 12 Crores set by Piku couple of weeks back. On the face value, these numbers may look pretty healthy but not exactly path-breaking. However, if you dig a little deeper and analyze the overall film business scenario, you will realize that TWMR is nothing less than a thunderstorm in this prolonged period of dryness at the Box Office.

If the weekend business of TWMR came as a much-needed relief to the industry, the film’s historic collections on Monday must have sparked off jubilations in the film circles. The film collected 8.5 Crores INR on its first Monday, which is equal to/slightly more than its Friday business. Such a strong hold of collections on Monday is literally unheard of in recent times and this ensures that the film will have long and strong run at the ticket windows for at least a couple of weeks. Now, 100 crores, that much-abused and much-publicized number, is definitely on the cards and the sky is the limit for TWMR, given the excellent trend at the box office.

But, for Bollywood, success of TWMR and Piku (expected India Business to be more than 80 crores), another actress-oriented film that released in early May, signals a huge paradigm shift and a definite changed pattern in what differentiates success from failure. We list down a few box office lessons from TWMR and Piku:

1. Get the Budget Right:

Before the release of Piku on 8^th May, Bollywood only had three clean hits – Badlapur (Budget: 25 Crores INR, Business: 52 Crores INR), Dum Laga Ke Haisha (Budget: 15 Crores INR, Business: 30 Crores INR) and NH10 (Budget: 13 Crores INR, Business: 32 Crores INR). Badlapur and NH10 found limited appreciation among the multiplex audience and still managed to yield profits largely because of their sensible budgets. Contrast it with Bombay Velvet which is struggling to touch 25 Crores lifetime business and was made at a humungous budget of over 100 Crores INR! This period also saw the release of two films of Akshay Kumar, a huge star across India, but both of them – Baby and Gabbar Is Back – could only be best described as semi-hits with lifetime collections in the 80-90 Crore INR range. Needless to say, a little discipline from the producers, in terms of budgeting, could have easily sailed these two films into the ‘Hit’ category.

2. Content is (Still) the King:

Dum Laga Ke Haisha probably had the best word of mouth of the year before Piku and TWMR hit the screens. A good word of mouth for these films ensured that even though these films didn’t open to record-breaking collections on day one, but eventually gathered steam and came into their own on their first Mondays. While TWMR pulled off a stunner by not dropping at all on its first Monday, Piku and Dum Laga Ke Haisha witnessed a miniscule 30% drop in collections compared to Friday. Piku showed how a topic as drab as motion could be the key subject of a motion picture! If your content is genuine, out-of-the-box and most importantly, as per the understanding and likes of the audience, you are very much in the game. So, grand scale, lavish sets, star power and a ‘Hollywood-ish’ look and feel would lead you nowhere! It’s no coincidence that Piku (story of a Bengali family living in CR Park), Dum Laga Ke Haisa (set in Haridwar) and TWMR (set in Haryana/Delhi/Kanpur) are all earthy and genuinely ‘Indian’ stories. Point to note for screenwriters out there.

3. Girl Power on the Rise: 

Anushka Sharma debuted as a Producer with NH10 and the film went on to become a solid hit at the box office despite an off-beat theme, no prominent male lead and an ‘A’ certificate. Ditto for Piku, which was brilliantly marketed as a Deepika Padukone film. The initial marketing of Piku was solely driven by Deepika, given the limitations of brand Bachchan and Irrfan Khan’s niche face value. Similarly, Tanu Weds Manu Returns was marketed as an out and out Kangana Ranaut film who is at a Vidya Balan-like high post the success of Queen. Kangana’s star pull can be gauged from the opening day collections of TWMR which are better than two Akshay Kumar films that have released this year.

4. Khans Still Rule:

You may not exactly like the kind of films they do each year, but all the three Khans still rule the roost at the Box Office. In fact, only Shah Rukh, Aamir and Salman can ‘guarantee’ a box-office success in truest sense of the word. If first half of 2015 was very disappointing for the industry, it was mainly because there was no Khan film in the offing. Akshay Kumar is still a big star but only ‘certain’ types of his films go on to become huge box-office grossers. Hrithik Roshan is another huge star but his frequency of releases has been very low. Ranbir Kapoor, considered to be the youngest superstar, perhaps needs to think over the choice of his films as his last three releases have bombed at the box office.

All these key pointers make TWMR and Piku significant box office successes of 2015. Just when we thought that the first half of the year will mostly go dull and dry, and the box office will have to wait for something like a ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ to light up the proceedings, then came the much-needed respite in form of these twin hits. These films have not just set the cash registers ringing but have also reaffirmed the audiences’ and the makers’ faith in this old adage – quality content will eventually find its place in the heart of the audience. And these two films have also sent out terse and clear reminders to those who believe that mediocre work mounted on grand scale and starring a popular actor will yield them dividends. Let this get it straight – only the Khans can sell off ‘anything’ to the audience right now. Nobody else.

'Cocktail' Belongs to Deepika Padukone!

Cocktail arrives with a huge baggage of expectations. The promos and music of the film gave us the belief that it perhaps has all the ingredients of an 'urban epic' on contemporary friendship and romance. So, does the trio of Saif Ali Khan, Deepika Padukone and Imtiaz Ali (Co-writer) succeed in scaling new heights of romance post their highly successful outing in 'Love Aaj Kal'. The answer is- yes, but only partially. While the first half of the film is full of some beautiful light moments, the second half is stretched and aimless at several places. In between all of this, there are some quirky dialogues, memorable sequences and an incredibly brilliant musical score.

Saif Ali Khan plays Gautam, a 'flirt' who can not control his urge to go behind beautiful women. More often than not he succeeds in charming women of all hues and nationalities, Veronica (Deepika Padukone) being the latest of them all. Veronica, herself, is a free-spirited 'rich bitch' who in a sense is the female version of Gautam. But all her flings aside, she is a girl with golden heart who helps out Meera (Diana Penty), a simpleton who has just arrived in London from India, and has to deal with the shock of a fraud marriage. Veronica and Meera live together and soon Gautam moves in on the virtue of being former's 'boyfriend'. They are visited at their apartment by Gautam's loud Punjabi mother (Dimple Kapadia) who is bride searching for her son. What follows next is a cocktail of triangular romance between Gautam, Veronica and Meera.

Cocktail boast of some endearing moments in the first half. The unique bond shared by the three leads brings smiles on your faces, and some of us can even relate with the principle characters and the kind of fun-filled situations they land in. Proceedings breeze past in front of you as long as Veronica and Gautam are into their non-committal relationship, and share a very warm camaraderie with Meera. Problem surfaces as soon as cupid strikes the trio in Cape Town, and the awesome threesome undergo emotional distress. There are some sluggish talk heavy scenes in the second half that induce yawning. Also, the predictable path of the storyline post intermission leaves a lot to be desired. But, despite all these flaws Cocktail manages to sail through mainly because of its very entertaining first half, cleverly juxtaposed musical score and brilliant performance from the self-proclaimed rich bitch Veronica, that is Deepika Padukone.

In fact, Deepika comes across as the cornerstone of Cocktail. She looks absolutely stunning and sufficiently wild as Veronica, expressing and holding back emotions with aplomb. You are not just mesmerized by her sumptuous looks, impeccable wardrobe and scintillating grooves, but also by the way she handles difficult emotional scenes post interval. Cocktail is surely one of Deepika's finest performances till date, at par with Love Aaj Kal, and should bring in a flurry of award nominations for her.

With films like Salaam Namaste, Hum Tum and Love Aaj Kal to his credit, Saif Ali Khan by now is an expert at playing the quintessential urban dude. But in Cocktail, Saif looks cocky at places. There are a few scenes where the actor displays his perfect comic timing, but in a lot of scenes he looks jaded and out of touch. Also, he looks 'aged' at many places and some of his supposed one-liners fall flat. The debutante, Diana Penty, comes across as a pretty lass and gives an average performance. She has the habit of being monotonous with her body language and facial expressions despite the sombre nature of the character she plays. Dimple Kapadia as Saif's mother is very effective while Boman Irani does not get his share of brilliance despite of having ample screen time. Randeep Hooda in a cameo is a total waste.

Director Homi Adajania easily comes out of the dark mould of his debut film 'Being Cyrus'. He shows good craft in creating some identifiable characters but struggles in execution of emotional scenes. Interestingly, Homi seems to be in command till the story (Imtiaz Ali, Shaad Ali) proceeds in its merry path, but falters as soon as writing goes slightly weak. Anil Mehta's cinematography captures London and Cape Town beautifully. Special mention should be made for remarkable camera work inside the night clubs that plays a crucial role, along with the music, in pushing the audiences in party mode.

Pritam's music is uplifting, perhaps his most accomplished work since Love Aaj Kal. 'Daaru Desi' and 'Tumhi Ho Bandhu' are peppy while two tracks (Angrezi Beat and Main Sharabi) borrowed from Honey Singh's album 'International Villager' are like icing on the cake.

On the whole, 'Cocktail' is a heady blend of some fun-filled and  few ordinary moments. Despite its 10-odd minutes of surplus length and untidy second half, the film rides high on Deepika Padukone's spirited performance and Pritam's foot-tapping music. This one is to be watched with your dosts and yaars, followed by some Desi Daru (afterwards)! A cool summer gift from Bollywood.

Rating- ***3/4 (Good)