Let me set the record straight at the outset.
a) I have liked all Karan Johar films till date including the much maligned KANK.
b) I do not dislike SRK the actor but I am not a fan of his either
c) Judging by the trailers of MNIK, I had a feeling that the film will be a washout and it did not seem appealing to me.
After all the controversy surrounding the release and multiple positive reviews here and here and here and here (I could not find a single review where the film got less than 3 stars) I thought to myself that the movie cannot be a flat out dud. Expectations still not skyrocketing but at least there was this anticipation of watching the film.
Coming to the film itself. The concept of the movie was not bad - the implementation of it was totally flawed and bollywood'ish. Liberal doses of unwanted melodrama, which if I may mention, did not evoke any emotion.
Rizwan Khan (SRK) suffers from an autistic condition called Asperger's Syndrome and moves in with his brother in San Francisco after his mother's death. He is allergic with fast moving objects, loud sounds, strangers, new places and the color yellow. Of course he is allergic only when the director wants to utilize that facet of his character. Rizwan takes the spoken word quite literally and is quite, for lack of a better word, childish in his demeanor. He befriends and then marries a divorced Mandira (Kajol), who also has a teenage son. 9/11 happens and due to communal tensions everyewhere, his son gets involved in a fist fight at school and gets accidentally killed. Believe it or not Mandira blames this on Rizwan (due to which they got the last name Khan) and kicks him out of her life. She tells Khan to return only after he has met with the president of USA and told him that his name is Khan and that he (and his son) are not terrorists. So that the president can tell HIS people that not all muslims are terrorists. Our Mr. Khan then embarks on a journey to meet the president and many melodramatic and bizarre moments later gets to meet Obama duplicate (which IMHO was the most hilarious moment in the entire film) and convey him the message. Done and dusted. This is the story.
Kajol's acting was very good. But her role was cut short. The fall jackets that she wore were nice. Though the opulence surrounding a Karan Johar movie was clearly missing from this movie.
SRK's acting is bound to generate mixed reactions. I personally liked his acting. It appeared to have been liberally borrowed from Tom Hanks' act in Forrest Gump but not even a shadow of Hanks' performance. However thankfully SRK did not over ham.
Good to see Sugandha Garg (who played Shaleen in Jaane Tu ... Ya Jaane Na) back on screen although it was an insignificant role. BTW - I did not know that this girl has married Raghu Ram (MTV Roadies fame)
The camera work at places was fairly decent (Golden sunlight when Rizwan was getting his haircut, downhill on SFO downtown). However it fell apart in more than one place (Most noticably in the Georgia flooding sequence, where the scene was captured in a studio for maintaining production values and also when Rizwan showed Mandira the view of SFO downtown at sunrise).
Music was functional at best. SEL disappoint on that front. The background score can go unnoticed. Noor-E-Khuda was best of the lot and decently picturized.
Funny portions with African American Mama Jenny and Funny Hair Joel in Georgia were too inspired from Hollywood and hardly funny.
The best portion of the film was when Obama duplicate meets our very own not-a-terrorist Rizwan Khan. It was a moment to be savored. Be ready to whistle in the theatre - Cannot imagine Karan Johar can produce such a moment on celluloid.
All in all, the movie deserves a generous 2 stars out of 5 because I am in a good mood and am writing this review 3 days after watching the film.
*****
4. Who will Cry...?
1 week ago
4 comments:
I liked the movie for the very reason that it lacked the Karan Johar opulance and for a change did not have a single scene of SRK running in slow motion with his fall jacket and hair flowing in the wind, or SRK shooting basketball with 20 somethings. This film shows the mature side of Karan Johar's direction. I think his character was suited to his age and gave a pretty believable performance of Aspergers syndrome ( I liked to see bollywood doing their homework in science for a change, before just characterizing all their ab-normal characters as 'Pagal').
I loved the detailed way they showed the family life of first generation indian americans and the part after 9/11 where people changed their appearance to avoid public ridicule. I liked the bit with Vinay Pathak and SRK and also the realistic potrayal of Kajol and SRK's married life. The part where how it is possible for an ordinary person to travel to meet his president, and in the end actually meet him too.
Although I agree that I laughed too when Karan Johar actually showed fake Obama :-)
This film captured a lot of small things in such a realistic way that it made the rest of the film rich and engaging. I did not like Kajol in the film though and the way she pulled a Himesh Reshammiya with her voice and the part where she kicks SRK off from her life after her sons death, but I loved her Fall jackets !! I think the Hurricane part was not well researched and was thrust in the movie just to be made a venue for the random stabbing. That was over done, but excusable since we were not expecting KJ to pull a Lagaan anyways.
All in all it was much better than I expected from the trailers and KJ did his homeowrk about America and Indian Americans.
Nice elaborate comment San.
The Wilhelmina sequence (40 minutes out of approx. 150 minute movie) was a shame.
I'd say that the movie felt bearable only because it wasn't as bad as many expected it to be and because it was a departure from the usually hamming SRK.
I actually prefer Karan Johar's unabashed candy floss cinema rather than such attempts where he completely lost track half way. Give me KKHH or KHNH anyday as compared to KANK or MNIK.
I am sure it is as difficult to meet the president of US as it is to meet the president/PM in India (if not more).
Vinay Pathak sequence was overdone. The Gujju hacker made hacking look as easy as eating dhoklas!
The sequence in the mosque where young muslims are shown so-influenced-by-jihad one minute and doing a complete U turn in a minute after a completely non-powerful utterance by Rizwan was laughable.
All in all, liking or disliking a movie is a completely personal opinion and depends on a lot of factors including location and mood. For instance, I liked Pyaar Impossible quite a lot. Quite staggering!
Oooh Missed Pyar Impossible from my radar among too many movies (hindi + Marathi). Maybe because it has Uday Chopra. I Like the Chopra girl though, so may be will remember to get it next time. Right now have Toh Baat Pakki on the list, and also waiting for Atithi Kab Jaoge (for Paresh Rawal and Konkona). Liked the trailor song of that movie.
I agree totally that liking/disliking a movie depends on location, mood and company as well. Plus now-a-days for me the movie should not be the dimag-ka-dahi making sorts.
Do you watch Marathi movies? I would recommend Zenda. Its on the Senas. I though that would be stressful, but surprisingly it was not.
Watch PI at your own risk. I don't know anyone other than my sister and me who have liked the movie. Too HS I guess ;)
You'll like it if you like PC.
I watched a few marathi flicks last year (Valu and Tingya) on friend recommendations. I found them to be quite mediocre. The problem is with low production values. I may watch Harishchandrachi Factory.
"Toh Baat Pakki" trailors are promising. But the reviews aren't. So not sure how good it will be. And Atithi looks like typical Ajay Devgn non-sense caper in the lines of Golmaal, which I completely detest. So I am not too keen on that.
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