"Old wine in New Bottle"!

Hello and a Good Morning to all Bloggers!

I thought why not entertain you with a few humble offerings on contemporary cinema after some serious issues.

The last movie I had seen was "Showman" Subhash Ghai's latest offering  "Yuvvraaj" with leading actors of the industry in it. His productions are generally known for the extravagant styles in them.

His last product though, was a take on Terrorism and myths around it which came last year(Black & White).

This movie though has streaks of his Extravagant Storytelling,yet has a dreamlike element in its treatment.We in Niscort are taught film appreciation with some movies screened at the institute.

This was not a part of that exercise for me and my  movie-buff partner, Father Jerry from Chennai who is pursuing Broadcast Media here. I am in the Print course. So I would be able to inform you about the storyline with valuable inputs from Father jerry, who happens to own a audio-visual studio in Chennai.

The movie if told in a nutshell tells the story of a family in Europe where a Father creates a huge wealth for his three sons but ends up his life observing that they have lost family values and declare themselves as "partners" than brothers and play dangerous mind games with each other in need and greed of money. 

The tale as I have told earlier is related in a treatment similar to fantasy.Here Songs are an integral part. Hollywood musicals to name one of the most popular happens to be "My  Fair Lady". This type of literature and other works of art meets motion art  in contemporary Hindi cinema can be said to be Amol Palekar's "Paheli" and the recent "Saawariya".

The Tagline "the Musical Extravaganza" proves right.The first song "Aaja Main Hawaon mein..." itself is an escape to fairyland and carefree life which is led by Salman Khan who hates his  father for disowning him. He has a sympathiser in Katrina Kaif's character,who in Father Jerry's opinion is just a "doll" in the sense she is made to look opposite of her glam-image in all the movies she has acted in. She does not carry the oomph-factor along with her but is shown as a simple elite society girl from Prague. Father further adds,

"Her face is given more importance, than her body as exclusive closeups of her face suggests,in short she is made to look feminine and dignified."

As far as the acting is concerned, Salman Khan looks good in scenes, especially ones which show his show his Con-like capacities to convincingly tell a lie.His confidence to take risks in order to mould situations in his favour are worth applauding.Zayed Khan playing Salman's younger brother looks handsome and acting wise excels in the emotional scenes, especially ones with the outbursts, coupled with vocal strains.(but that is as all of you would know is his forte which he displayed in Main Hoon Na..) . Anil kapoor playing an  autistically challenged big brother is worth mentioning and  is the linking chain between his other two brothers. One of the symbolisms in the movie are the diverse manequins kept in the green-room of Kapoor when he is grooming himself for the orchestral-nite. In my opinion they seem to denote the different and complex characters of individuals. 

The look of the film are the extravagance showed in Zayed Khan's over the top lifestyle contrasted with the simple and innocent world of Anil Kapoor with music and Bala,the child of one of the servants in the mansion.

The story can be summarised as "old wine in a new bottle", with the tried and tested storyline for audiences. The clash of joint family values is shown as being in odds with the So-What Attitude of West in the garb of independent-living.

A last thing about the movie is that it takes its viewers to an elite, affluent society. Simple family values are shown in a costly manner. The positivity or that silver lining is shown with the triumph of paternal-love which can be contrasted with the cold dialogue of the story,

"We are not brothers but partners"!, uttered by Zayed Khan in their ploy to pocket his late   father's wealth.

This is not taking any stance but Mr.Ghai could have made something on some other issues but he chose to say a story differently and that is courage enough!