I wonder if Bollywood had to make a ‘Zero Dark Thirty', they would
necessarily show
Akshay Kumar fist fighting with Osama Bin Laden, before strangulating him
around his arm. To a loud cheer and whistle from the audience Akshay Kumar
would deliver, "Osama ye Bharat Maa ke betey ka haath hai, isse bach
pana mushkil nahin naamumkin hai".
Why can’t
Bollywood give a serious and an honest treatment to any story that deserves
serious storytelling? Why it is always that in the name of showcasing true
events on screen the Stars show case their own grandeur? Why do they forget
that the story is always bigger than the storyteller?
Why not the star
studded skills are left in vanity vans and a fair and sincere justice is meted
to the stories likes Mangalyaan- ISRO's pioneer space mission to Mars The
mission was a magnanimous achievement by a prestigious institution and it
deserved more than just a commercial movie treatment as is shown in Akshay
Kumar starrer Mission Mangal. The public does need entertainment while watching
a movie but entertainment is very much possible without a song and dance
sequence too or without few dumb sense of humour or showing over the board
sequences like Akshay Kumar jumping across the table to reach ISRO chairman and
deliver his words. Do you think in real life the esteemed scientist portrayed
would have jumped across the table when he could have sublimely walked around
it? Do you think the scientist would have carried a LPG cylinder over his head
inside a meeting hall with full meeting going on to fry puri for
practical demonstration on fuel saving? Why the scientists would mop the floors
and paint the walls as is portrayed in the movie, instead of focusing entirely
on the project? That, too, dancing? In the accent of Akshay Kumar "hainn?".
They actually showed scientists dancing with brooms and all! Come on Bollywood
grow up. Either you show a fiction with all your masala or show a movie based
on real life story with real well researched events. You don’t mix up nonsense
with sense and then say that's a sincere storytelling. Was it necessary to show
a Muslim woman unable to get a rented accommodation because of her religion?
Was it necessary to drop in a Saas-bahu angle, even when it was no where
connected to the actual Mission Mangal? Why do you try to dole out same social
message in stereotyped manner in movies which are based on real scientific
endeavour? Don’t make your movies feel preachy every time we sit inside a
theatre. There are far more people doing that now a days on social network. The
first half was such a khichdi around
the Mars Mission it felt as if we were watching a family drama based on lives
of five women and not a movie based on space exploration. Just when the script
went out of control, and as if to assure us that we are actually watching a movie
based on Mars exploration, the director dropped in a song. No points for guessing the words of the song.
It was Dil me Mars hai. And because Mangal grah sounds
similar to sanskrit word mangalam so there was also a background chorus
of Om Mangalam Mangalam Mangalam. Ridiculous! Mars my foot.
There were few
moments during the movie when I wished I was struck out of the theatre by an
asteroid or consumed by a solar wave. During the launch when the communication
was lost with the satellite, Tapsi Pannu switched off and on the entire
communication system as if it was a desktop computer. Guess what? The
communication was re-established as well. Kudos! Well it just doesn’t happen
dear. In the end I was waiting for Akshay Kumar to tilt the rocket to 60 degree
before firing the propulsion like a Bajaj scooter in Patiala. I am sure he
would have suggested that before dropping the idea as too scientific. The movie
used the word ‘home science’ very often. Rebudgeting a project is actually
rebudgeting and not just home science as is portrayed in the movie. Well in
their word they should understand that you don’t add masala to all the
vegetables at home. Some vegetables can be cooked without the staple masala and
still tastes good. And if all you have is MDH masala in kitchen then you better
don't add it to Maggi and say that's Maggi. Maggi deserves a special treatment
and so does few stories. By the way , what was the need to show a safety-pin
prickled on the legs of Akshay Kumar during an irrelevant fight sequence inside
the metro. Did someone laugh? I didn't.
Trust me, public
is far more intelligent now a days. You could have done away with that typecast
American accent English speaking character, portrayed by Dalip Tahil, to show
he is more inclined towards NASA. As if, in entire ISRO, the only English
speaking scientist is the one who talks about NASA.
Instead of absurdly
making a more than two hour self tell tale, Bollywood should make one and half
hour intense movie on such topics. The public in India is smart enough to lap
it up. A serious treatment to such topics can be more engrossing and
entertaining. It is time Bollywood try to sincerely compete for Oscars and not
just eye the 100 crore collection. If all that matters is box office collection
then please maintain the sanctity of such magnificent stories like Mangalyaan.
I suffered from
intense strokes of indigestion while watching the so called
Based-on-true-events Mission Mangal. The next on the offer that week was Batla
House, based on a true and much debated police encounter. But I felt
sorry for my stomach which would have flooded out the moment a serious plot was
interjected with the O saaki saaaki re saaki saaki. An item
number in between a controversial encounter based story. Isn't that strange?
Well, back to
Stranger Things on Netflix.
