Preethi had mentioned this movie to me as a good movie to watch and even without watching I predicted it would be lousy and hence not worthy of my attention. It wasn't lousy, I'll give it that.
The movie gripped me with its narrative. It was well paced at first. Didn't fall into any of the cliches I was expecting. The dialogue was crisp for the most part, economical is another word I'd use for the dialogue. Tabu was bewitching. She's a very beautiful woman and it bothers me when she does these overly artsy roles. I suppose it's better than the running around trees that she used to do earlier in her career, but still, this was a perfect role for her.
Sadly the movie couldn't avoid the biggest trap, the third act. Even as I was watching the beginning of the movie, I felt that if this movie managed to navigate the tricky third act, it would be an amazingly entertaining movie. But it didn't and it isn't. The Paresh Rawal character seems woefully underdeveloped in relation to the others and the whole part about him starving himself was silly. It stretched out the movie and didn't add anything to it other than lip service to tackling the age difference issue.
Another aspect I had a problem with is calling the kid "Sexy". That's not just an adjective they use to describe her, it's basically her nickname in the movie. Now the former would have been creepy but the latter is just ridiculous. Especially when there are heavy dialogues that talk about her. It's laughable to think that someone can talk your emotions and feelings about a kid called Sexy with a straight face. Yeah, I get it. Everyone is so cool that they can joke about a relationship between a 64-year-old man and a 8-year-old girl. So cool that he calls her Sexy, and she pretends to be jealous about his girlfriend and he confides in her. But come on, isn't that exactly why we laughed at Joey Tribbiani when he confides in a Dakota Fanning character and then her bear? Enough with the overly mature kids already. And enough with the faux flirting between them and the adults. It's been done to death and I really hope no one does that in real life and thinks it's cute. Although, I will admit, the scrawny, little, child actress who acted in the movie did a good job and is really cute.
Overall it was a movie worth watching. Just don't tell anyone I said so.
1 comment:
I think my biggest complaint with the movie is the little girl and just about anything to do with her. I might be far removed from reality but this whole idea of the kid being overly philosophical and being able to deal with cancer just freaks me out! I also hate the fact that a director would have a set up in this "Anjali/Geetanjali" style. One fragile character seems to be ready to kick the bucket at any time and they keep looking at the director as if to ask "Is it time yet ?". All this while the director keeps looking at his watch and the script writer and finally yells excitedly "Go!" and BAM! just like that he/she is dead!.
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