There are ways and ways of describing just how bad a film is. But this one truly beats me. Suffice to employ the same hubris with which Sanjay Leela Bhansali likens himself to Bimal Roy ("If today Bimal Roy made Sujata or Do Bigha Zameen he'd be slammed by critics. They'd destroy him"), and proclaim, "If someone gave me one-third of Saawariya's budget and the same story, I'd have made a better film."
Honestly, I'd heard so many unflattering adjectives ascribed to it, besides which, my own vision was already coloured Black from my last Bhansali outing. So I went in assuming that whatever was out there would surely be better than the worst I've imagined! It wasn't. It was actually much, much worse. And then one had heard Bhansali's bleeding heart crying out for justice on national television asking critics to take off their tinted glasses and weigh his film on merit. He doesn't realise it's better this way – if they attacked him, it would still be a softer blow considering his 'haloed' reputation as a genius filmmaker.
If they decided to review Saawariya on merit…well, what's there to discuss? The kitschy blue sets in nowhereland (or is it in Baz Lurhmann territory? But even Moulin Rouge –colossal drag as it was -- had a sense of temporal and spatial unity) the character-less people living on this bizarre set (and we're not referring to the prostitutes!), the acting, the dialogues, the music, the direction (or lack thereof??)? And oh, let's not forget the star kids. I kept watching Ranbir making an ass of himself and wondering how he failed to inherit the spontaneity his father had as a 16-year-old in Mera Naam Joker. Sonam Kapoor is even worse of, because while Ranbir gets adequate screen time for us to at least gauge his potential, she has precious little to do. Except make you feel ticklish with her sudden bursts into unexpected, eerie laughter.
A senior executive at Sony mentioned a few weeks before the release of Saawariya that Bhansali had kept his film tightly under wraps and didn't show it to anyone at Sony all the way till the release. Now I'm wondering if the director ever saw the entire film himself or did he just doze off like he used to at the FTII while learning film direction (he mentioned in an interview that he'd never watched the classics of world cinema because he had an eye problem that made him doze off midway through screenings!) – and therefore lost his way so very badly.
Deepa Gumaste
Honestly, I'd heard so many unflattering adjectives ascribed to it, besides which, my own vision was already coloured Black from my last Bhansali outing. So I went in assuming that whatever was out there would surely be better than the worst I've imagined! It wasn't. It was actually much, much worse. And then one had heard Bhansali's bleeding heart crying out for justice on national television asking critics to take off their tinted glasses and weigh his film on merit. He doesn't realise it's better this way – if they attacked him, it would still be a softer blow considering his 'haloed' reputation as a genius filmmaker.
If they decided to review Saawariya on merit…well, what's there to discuss? The kitschy blue sets in nowhereland (or is it in Baz Lurhmann territory? But even Moulin Rouge –colossal drag as it was -- had a sense of temporal and spatial unity) the character-less people living on this bizarre set (and we're not referring to the prostitutes!), the acting, the dialogues, the music, the direction (or lack thereof??)? And oh, let's not forget the star kids. I kept watching Ranbir making an ass of himself and wondering how he failed to inherit the spontaneity his father had as a 16-year-old in Mera Naam Joker. Sonam Kapoor is even worse of, because while Ranbir gets adequate screen time for us to at least gauge his potential, she has precious little to do. Except make you feel ticklish with her sudden bursts into unexpected, eerie laughter.
A senior executive at Sony mentioned a few weeks before the release of Saawariya that Bhansali had kept his film tightly under wraps and didn't show it to anyone at Sony all the way till the release. Now I'm wondering if the director ever saw the entire film himself or did he just doze off like he used to at the FTII while learning film direction (he mentioned in an interview that he'd never watched the classics of world cinema because he had an eye problem that made him doze off midway through screenings!) – and therefore lost his way so very badly.
Deepa Gumaste
2 comments:
Well, I havent seen Saawariya but have read quite a bit about its inadequacy in various departments. You really seem to have summed it all up into one review ;)
Now i really cannot bear to see this film! Though to tell you honestly, i was hoping it would thrash OSO only to dim the arrogance of Farah and Shahrukh Khan. (Which is how that Roy fellow-host kept referring to Sonam Ana Ranbir of Jhalak Dikla Ja - "Sonam and Ranbir Kapoor"!)
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