The greatest thing about Vishal Bharadwaj’s kaminey is that you cannot work out why it is working. You cannot work out why you are laughing amidst the ugliness of violence in perhaps India’s first real dark comedy. And why in the final moments of the film with the brilliant background song by Vishaal himself, you finally get the point of the film. With Violence all around you, you sense innocence caught in the crossfire of unnecessary violence. And finally you come away with a great sense of the pointlessness of it all. It’s terrific.
Yes the cinematography is great, as are some of the performances, the script and the editing. But it is ultimately a director”s brilliant vision of the world that is playing through. Vishal better think hard about how to surpass this one. Hidden also in the credits is Sabrina Dhawan, who also wrote what I think is Mira Nair’s best film – Monsoon Wedding, which also had the same pattern of many stories being told separately and that finally come together in a great emotional revelation.
Did Vishal have to use the idea of stuttering and stammering with the main character though ? It was a little over done and the only thing that harked to a more traditional form of comedy in Indian films. The film could have done with a little less of that.
Kudo’s to Ronnie Screwvala and his team at UTV for backing a director’s vision. No one could have read the script of Kaminey ( or DEV D for that matter) and found a commercially successful film. They are taking chances and winning. Both films – and especially Kaminey were risky films and are hits.
Hi,
First one to comment…:)
loved the movie, and tried putting my views in few words here http://forgottogrowup.blogspot.com/2009/08/tv-se-theatre-se.html#comments
i follow your blog very regulary. It comes across as a a very neat, organized pattern of thoughts.
keep blogging!!
cheers,
Deepti
Just one question: Any plan of yours to produce off-beat film like that ?
Different And stand-out
Success & Failure – The roller-coaster ride.
Why isn’t UTV’s risk appetite & visionary thinking backing the director’s vision for ‘Paani’?
Namaste,
It seems like a fun movie with a message,haven’t seen it yet.For some reason the length of Indian movies and many other things keeps one away from watching them,i think the last movie that i watched was ‘Samay’., more recently the Canadian movie on an Indian family-Videsh(A great movie,Preity did a fine job).
I must admit one of the reasons not to watch bollywood comedies is the us of physical or other deformities/handicapped person as a ‘fun’ element,wonder why do we Indians find a reason to make fun of others health problems,is that not being callous.
If you have given it a good review,i guess one should go and see it..but again the stammering aspect would stop me.
Have a nice day.
AV/Abhinav vats
Great film…a remarkable one.
Kavitha has a good point. 🙂
Am waiting eagerly to see Kaminey in this corner of the world (where some Indian film fans have noticed that UTV sometimes rhymes with new concepts in Indian cinema – remember Rang de Basanti?).
I have’nt seen the movie yet but I am pretty sure it must be a gr8 creative movie since most of the Indian film Fraternities are praising, which is rare and giving thumbs up.
Thanks
Mani
Canada
I lovedddddddddd the movie. Totally. It was superb. I in fact liked Shahid Kapur this way than in his romantic avtars…he carried it off well and he was super cute even when he was a kaminey…so that is from a giggly girly fan of SK.
I think everyone did a good job…including PC and the Bhope and the thope’s and even the Tashi character. It was brilliant.
The movie did not make me feel stupid. The director did not have to spoon feed me. He did not do a lot of stupid intro scene for every character. It was crisp, caught my attention, brilliant BG score and also songs. He did not waste time with item numbers or any of those other typical commercial crap. I loveddddddd it!!!
Make more such movies pls?
Hi Shekhar,
Can you ever make movies like Masoom or Mr. India again?
To be very frank, I found it difficult to comprehend your Hollywood movies. They were really very deep and intrinsic for me.
Did you loose that innocence in the whole process of growing up?
Cheers,
Ravi.
Dear Sir,
I am tushar parab,23 years old, an Architect, passed out this year from Mumbai University, Just wanted to chat with you, coz am became a fan of you from the show India s got talent. your voice is amazing, Befor the show i dint know very much about you, but the show gave me push to search more about you and dats why today m here on your blog. and i think now i know more about you cause i read everything about you whatevre is there on Internet.
Anyways coming to the point , Sir i have one story which is totaly incomplete, coz i stuck somewhere , and need some one.. experts help, and you are the first one whom m approaching,STORY is toataly in mind not on paper only i able to wrote 2 pages.
title of the story is {LOST IN U.K.} Its about a architecture student who wants to persue masters in U.K., From a middle class family, n the tRAGIDY happens to him when he reched U.K. – accident -memmory loss – tragidies- terrorist- how gte away from uk. thats all.
I know your the busiest person, stil help me out if you have time. thanking you , waiting for reply
Shekhar why dont you write a blog on Hindu killings :
Jinnah. He had a pistol. He used it. Tarun Vijay Wednesday August 19, 2009
“I am not prepared to discuss ethics. We have a pistol and are in a position to use it.” So said Mohammad Ali Jinnah while delivering his presidential speech at the Muslim League convention on July 19, 1946.
What followed was an unimaginable massacre of Hindus in Kolkata on August 16, 1946. Six thousand killed, twenty thousand raped and maimed.
Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee, the then leader of Hindu Mahasabha had said, “Jinnah is out to destroy the very soul of India.”
If one single instance should be cited to understand what Jinnah really was, it would not be his speech in the Constituent Assembly, Karachi, often quoted by Indian Hindus, but his call for “Direct Action”.
That was August 16, 1946, known as the day of “great Calcutta killings”. After the “Direct Action” resolution was passed by the Muslim League on July 19, 1946, its president, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, said in his valedictory speech: “What we have done today is the most historic act in our history. Never have we in the whole history of the League done anything except by the constitutional methods and by constitutionalism. But now we are obliged and forced into this position. This day we bid goodbye to constitutional methods…. Now the time has come for the Muslim Nation to resort to direct action. I am not prepared to discuss ethics. We have a pistol and are in a position to use it.”
Syama Prasad Mookerjee, the then leader of the Hindu Mahasabha, who had said, “Jinnah is out to destroy the very soul of India”, organized Hindus fearlessly and foiled Jinnah’s plan to oust Hindus from Kolkata. He formed a volunteer group of the Hindus named the Hindusthan National Guards, resisted horrendous goondaism of the League and moved in the riot-affected areas giving courage to the victims of a planned slaughter and orgy of violence by the League’s marauders.
Syama Prasad Mookerjee was traveling all over India awakening the masses to rise against the partition plot. On October 8, 1944, at a United Provinces Hindu Conference, he said, “The sooner Mr Jinnah understands that Pakistan in any form or shape will be resisted by Hindus and many others with the last drop of blood, the better for him, for he will then quietly descend on realities and himself plead for a just and equitable settlement. None but an agent of imperialism will so block the path of Indian unity and freedom as Mr Jinnah is doing.”
Dr Mookerjee, who is respected as the ideological icon and source of inspiration by the Bharatiya Janata Party, was a devotee of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother. In fact, he had been in close contact with Sri Aurobindo, who had said, “The idea of two nationalities in India is only a new-fangled notion invented by Jinnah for his purposes and contrary to the facts. More than 90% of the Indian Mussalmans are descendants of converted Hindus and belong as much to the Indian nation as the Hindus themselves. This process of conversion has continued all along; Jinnah is himself a descendant of a Hindu,converted in fairly recent times,named Jinabhai and many of the most famous Mahommedan leaders have a similar origin.”(SABCL, vol.26, page 46).
It was Dr Mookerjee who stood firm and tried to organize a people’s movement against partition. He said: “Hindus regard this country as their sacred and holy land. Irrespective of provincial barriers or the diversity in faiths and languages there exists a remarkable economic and cultural unity and inter-dependence which cannot be destroyed at the will of persons and parties who think it beneath their dignity to regard India as their motherland. We must live and die for India and her liberty.” (24th December 1944).
He disagreed with Gandhi placating the Muslim demands and said,”As soon as the other communities realize that the Hindus of India are united and have pledged themselves to stand together for the attainment of their ideal and have adopted a policy of understanding and tolerance to all classes of people residing in India, other communities whose support we are seeking in vain today will then join us voluntarily and on terms honourable to all.”(“Awake Hindusthan”, Page 12).
He further said: “Our experiences in recent years have proved that much as we would be willing to surrender the rights and interests of the Hindus for the purpose of placating other communities, much as we would like to pursue the policy of delivering “blank cheques” the response from the other side is slow and halting, if not sometimes hostile in character.(“Awake Hindusthan”, Page 13)
In this context, I would like to add that however different Jinnah might have been , we just can’t belittle Nehru before Jinnah. Nehru belonged to us; he fought for India’s freedom, spent years in jail and had an Indian dream. We may have a thousand differences with him on policies and programmes, but so what? That would be our “domestic matter”. Jinnah led our motherland’s vivisection and he never fought for the freedom struggle.
MJ Akbar has written these lines describing his persona,”Muhammad Ali Jinnah, aristocrat by temperament, catholic in taste, sectarian in politics, and the father of Pakistan, was the unlikeliest parent that an Islamic republic could possibly have. He was the most British of the generation of Indians that won freedom in August 1947. As a child in the elite Christian Mission High School in Karachi, he changed his birthday from 20 October to Christmas Day. As a student at Lincoln’s Inn, he anglicised his name from Jinnahbhai to Jinnah. For three years, between 1930 and 1933, he went into voluntary exile in Hampstead, acquired a British passport, set up residence with his sister Fatimah and daughter Dina, hired a British chauffeur (Bradley) for his Bentley, kept two dogs (a black Dobermann and a white West Highland terrier), indulged himself at the theatre (he had once wanted to be a professional actor so that he could play Hamlet) and appeared before the Privy Council to maintain himself in the style to which he was accustomed. He wore Savile Row suits, heavily starched shirts and two-tone leather or suede shoes……Despite being the Quaid-e-Azam, or the Great Leader of Muslims, he drank a moderate amount of alcohol and was embarrassingly unfamiliar with Islamic methods of prayer. He was uncomfortable in any language but English, and made his demand for Pakistan — in 1940 at Lahore — in English, despite catcalls from an audience that wanted to hear Urdu.”
That was a bit of Syama Prasad and the related reflections that may prove worthwhile in the present political debate enveloping the nationalist school of politics. At the end of it, what the Gita has said and the RSS teaches us must make the final lines to this blogpost:
It’s better to die unwavering even in tatters than to change track midway and die stinking rich.
That’s Dharma.
Krishna said: “Swadharme nidhano shreyo (to live and die in ones’ own path alone is the life worthwhile and adopting the ‘other’ dharma is horrible)”.
For small desires we lose a lifetime’s achievements and glory.
History was never made essentially by those who became state heads, but often by those who didn’t.
Or by those who gave up everything for others’ good, honestly. Syama Prasad and Deen Dayal Upadhyaya are two major icons of faith for the Hindu nationalist parivar. Both created history and died in their early fifties. Both were mysteriously ‘murdered’. Their lives must light the path of those who care to follow swadharma.
That’s BJP’s legacy too. As it is of other ideologically committed organisations of the saffron hue.
Lincoln didn’t shy away from the civil war and stood like a rock on the question of American spirit and unity. So was Syama Prasad. He died but didn’t bend.
Hey!! Shekhar
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Howz ‘U’
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Psst…Missed ‘U’
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you sense innocence caught in the crossfire of unnecessary violence. And finally you come away with a great sense of the pointlessness of it all.
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Brilliantly said….
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Myself was in a different kind of journey within…which makes one feel…So POinTless!!
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Hey Im back okie!!
Chayei nahi pilayengei aap?
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Errm KanJOOSSs
Eh heh
Hugsss
***’Rudra’***
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I fail to understand, despite all hammering in the mind…
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That why do we have to cling to history of the past?
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No intance has been perfect in history of mankind nor kingdoms…as of in coutries….
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Why do we bend backwards? and collect the past in our hands to strike the present?
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Can we never rise above?
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Can we not let history linger in its own ‘Journey’ and build/ construct beeter views, vision, perception to make a better change?
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The same set of ‘Complexities’ is faced in future genrations with a new dimension always….lets the the dimensions in our hand and then see it from there….a step ahead…not dancing about bushes of the past…
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The generation has advanced so is the complexity…it’s time we rose to the ‘Occasion’ and blend ourselves to the new generation to fight what they do…..why they do? how? when?
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Now what was i saying huh?
‘A bend is not an end, it’s a beginning’
Hey Have a rockin day…
Cheers
DQ
OOOps
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lets the the dimensions in our hand
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Lets take the new dimension in our hands…
Thank U
Shekhar – Please find my reviw of KAMINEY. If you could please use your proximity and access to Vishal and/or Anurag Kashyap to deliver them these thoughts, I would appreciate it. Thanks.
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KAMINEY – Not So Fuperb
As I read reviews from prominent Indian newspapers and garnered that almost all of them had a rating of 4+, my heart beat with joy that KAMINEY had indeed turned out to be what it promised to be. With a collective sense of vindication that the multiple reviews had granted me, I walked into the theater in Minneapolis which screens Indian movies primarily for the Indian populace. I had also pulled along my American friend so that I could proudly show him that Indian cinema had come of age and that not every film has actors dancing on the Alps at the drop of a hat.
As the reels began to unfold, I found myself waiting. Waiting for those moments on the screen that would give me goose pimples; that would make me jump from my seat witnessing the actions and reactions of the characters; that would just take over my sense of imagery with the images that the maker of the film would print on my mind via the screen. Nothing of that sort happened. No wait, it did happen at its fullest only during two points: one during the Dhan Te Na song, and two, during the finale of the movie—the climactic shootout in which death rules and life is at mercy. It’s a Vishal Bharadwaj film, and I have to wait till the end in order to get the thrill that Mr. Bharadwaj promised and all the newspapers that promised that Mr. Bharadwaj kept his promises? Where was the roller-coaster ride that the newspaper proclaimed was the mainstay of the film? I walked out of the theater and sadly, not much remained in my cinematic conscience that would propel me to recommend the movie to others or to sing paeans of glory.
I do not wish to dwell on the story-line of KAMINEY. It is disappointing to talk about that since I expected more. Of course, there are twists, but in the end, the twists are really not that brainy! They do not make you go, ‘WOW, so that’s why this character earlier said that, or did that! God that’s so sharp! Now it makes sense.’ Scenes that are wittily written are so few and far between and instead of a full-hearted laugh; they just manage to elicit a chuckle out of you. Bhope’s playing along with Mikhail and demoting himself before Mikhail in the rail-car, Guddu, the bridegroom, shyly and reluctantly coming along on a scooter while Sweety, the bride, dances in gay abandon and enjoys the process of getting married to the hilt and thus tearing away years of traditional expectations and depictions where the bride is expected to be coy and demure while the bridegroom to be more in control and demonstrative, Sweety giving in to her basic nature of explosiveness and demanding whether she had raped Guddu to get herself pregnant, the inspector remarking, ‘You two,’ to Guddu and Sweety when they are busy discussing whether the child to be born would be male or female, the singing confession of Guddu, Bhope telling Charlie, ‘ Sa ko Fa nahi bolega to kya ‘La’ bolega?’ And that’s it. This is the short list in the 2 hour 10 minute movie that promised an abundance of witticisms and visual panache. And pray, what is this obsession with hand-held camera work giving us head-ache inducing shots? While the visual tone of the movie is brilliant, the shaky stills are really a pain. It is the same issue with that outstanding movie PUBLIC ENEMIES. Shot in a hitherto unknown clarity using digitization, the resolution is mind-blogging but again the shaky camera-work is such a turn-off. If I want to watch ‘that’ type of reality camera work, I will watch COPS sitting at home! I venture into the theatres because I want to see some stunning camera-work that only film-makers or people having access to the technical marvels and know-how can provide, not to watch something that I can produce amateurishly!
The problem with the movie is, things fall so conveniently into place and the supposed twists and turns turn out to be so spectacularly linear that the emotional reaction of the audience (my reaction, at least) is cold, to say the least. Right before the intermission, it is clear that the main reason Charlie and Guddu are picked up by Bhope—agreed that Bhope quickly realizes that Charlie is not Guddu and adapts to the situation, but still, that doesn’t make up for the fact that it is a convenience-driven scene— and the cops are that they are twins and hence look the same! Why then is an oft-repeated twin brothers’ lost-and-found formula is scorned at as repetitive by the ‘alternate’ film-makers? Just because the particular shot of Charlie surrounded by Bhope and his thugs in the rail-car and Guddu being accosted in a police-van is shot with an effective background score and good camera work, does it make it any better than Mr. Bachchan’s flicks of yore with the same content albeit shot clumsily? If things like these are what the papers and netizens (especially passionforcinema.com aficionados) are going gaga over, then sorry, I cannot subscribe and clap my hands. It might be a sort of tribute to the yester-years’ Hindi flicks, but sorry, the old wine in this new bottle is definitely not alluring.
There has been such a talk about the ‘terrific’ ensemble cast that I expected either the single character effects—Sholay (Samba) or Qurbani (Amjad Khan); or a combinatorial magic—Satya (Bhiku Matre’s gang members) or Chashme Buddoor (Siddharth, Om, Jai). I found none. There is not a single character (including Bhope, inspite of a very good portrayal by Gupte) that I take home and wish I could be that.
The good things? Shahid Kapur’s portrayal of the twins, wherein he successfully erases from the audiences’ minds his almost linear portrayals as lead man with a muscled body and a baby face. Not once did I see any lapse of the actor back to the emotional bags that he emptied in all his movies uptil KAMINEY. Priyanka Chopra’s fine act as the feisty Marathi girl is indeed praise-worthy. The climax shot brilliantly in a haze with an outstanding background score and song that rings like an ode to the elements of life like greed, deceit, lies, is a ‘must’ take-away for the audience.
There are so many stereo-typical depictions and ordinary scenes that they make you cringe. The back-story to Charlie and Guddu’s antagonism owing to the ‘inability’ of Charlie to come back with 5000 rupees to release their father from jail is really the last straw. This ‘remorse-filled protagonist’s’ scene has been played out so many times in Hindi movies that it just jolts you when you realize that a man of Mr. Bharadwaj’s talent has succumbed to using this ploy. And pray, what exactly does Tashi—or even the 2 black characters, thrown in only for the ‘international’ feel—say or do in the movie that the newspapers have gone gaga over his portrayal? Well, I take that back since there is one, and only one, scene when he says he would rather have bitches in his life since he is always surrounded by dogs. A smart line, that one. Except this line, all that he does is provide a cosmetic job to the movie; in hats, with a hookah, with huge ear-rings and unruly moustache and a tiny beard, and particularly fluent English and good Hindi. When Bhope starts playing Bhope Tope with Mikhail, I knew right then and there how this would end. Bhope would play along, and eventually kill Mikhail. Contrast this with the scene in SATYA when the character of the politician (Mr. Govind Namdeo) shoots Bhiku Mhatre (Mr. Manoj Bajpai) point blank when Mhatre is actually ecstatic about the politician’s victory in elections. The scene is extremely chilling and effective in its intention and depiction. In one single moment, the director hits the audience with the futility of the machismo of underworld and the power of opportunity. The politician waited for his opportunity to strip Bhiku of his gun-fested machismo, and when the opportunity presented itself, he just grabbed it. In that single shot, the director visually sterilizes the rabid potency that he carefully constructed of the character of Bhikhu Mhatre. All the gun-slinging, weapon brandishing shenanigans of the gang-lord are so disdainfully tossed down the drain that the audience, which all-along enjoyed and wished to be the alter-ego of Bhiku Mhatre, suddenly starts dreading even being around the ‘likes’ of Bhikhu Mhatre. Bhiku might have been a lion many times in the movie, but he actually dies the death of a helpless rat at the hands of a wily fox. This is what the director conveyed brilliantly, and this is what shook the audience and what the audience understood. This is a huge success as a director (writer/screenplay writer – forgive me but I am ignorant of the exact semantics of film-making) in that the same train of thought that emerged from the director’s mind passed on to the audience’s collective interpretation. The scene is so powerful that nothing comes in between the director’s gift and the audience’s receipt.
Apart from 5-6 verbal witticisms in the movie KAMINEY, ask yourself if you take anything else with you after the reels have stopped unfolding. Contrast this with the writing of Mr. Guy Ritchie’s SNATCH. Compare this with gems like the scene when Tyrone reverses his car and smashes it into a 4-tonne truck. The guy in the back seat asks him what in the hell he just did? Tyrone replies,’ I couldn’t see it, it’s at a funny angle.’ The questioner just stares beyond the rear windshield and remarks exasperatedly, ‘Tyrone, you were reversing. When you reverse, things come from behind you!!!’ Do you find any writing of such caliber and dead-pan humor in KAMINEY? Please do show me if you find one. And no, I won’t be satisfied with 1 or 2 of such instances. They are in manifold in SNATCH, and I expect at least the same count in KAMINEY.
The reason I am writing this is because I am confused about the mutual admiration society formed by directors like Mr. Anurag Kashyap (who, by the way, went so vehemently after BLACK calling it a ‘deceit’ and ‘pretentious and pseudo-intellectual’, that it seems Mr. Bachchan swore never to work with him). The same analysis that he used for BLACK can very well be used here. Just because it is Vishal Bharadwaj this time doesn’t mean he should be spared. At least, Mr. Sanjay Leela Bhansali was honest when he said that this is the cinema, the narrative, the visuals he believes in and will continue to make movies this way. ‘Over-the-top’, if one may call it so, is the kind of depiction he relishes, and hence that will adorn his creation. You can like it or hate it.
KAMINEY is definitely a better film from the Hindi film industry’s stables that do not often churn out race-horses that could stand out in a crowd. It is a good film yes, but only as far as the Hindi film industry is concerned. Calling Mr. Bharadwaj the ‘Quentin Tarantino’ or ‘Guy Ritchie’ of Indian films is a far-fetched effort in admiration. Mr. Tarantino made a 2 part movie in KILL BILL whose story-line could be explained in less than 8 words. And he kept his audience engrossed for over 4 hours. Achieving that level of mastery over the audience’s minds is no mean stroke. KAMINEY, on the other hand, is a better movie by the standards of entertainment that we have in the Hindi film industry.
I have written this as an honest statement of my feelings after more than ‘eagerly’ waiting for and watching the movie. And I am writing this and want Mr. Kashyap or/and Mr. Bharadwaj to read this because I do believe they have the capacity to take criticism and the intelligence to consider and analyze whatever is written. This is not an effort to run down the movie. I am no film-maker; have done no film-studies or attended any film-making course. I am just a movie fanatic, a worshipper of the motion pictures. And this piece is just that – the honest reaction of an enthusiast to a piece of art. I hope the directors/writers get the essence of what I am trying to say. I might encounter the blog-bullets of directors (no prizes for guessing who) who would again retort to the inane debate of what right a person who hasn’t even shot a single reel of cinema or held a handy-cam for God’s sake have to ‘critically’ analyze months of hard work and creative imagination. Well, there is a simple answer to that. When companies come out with new products based on surveys conducted by their marketing/business managers regarding the customer requirements of a product, they expect honest answers that would help them improve the product further. If a customer says he or she is not happy with the cell phone buttons or SIM card being placed or held a particular way in a cell-phone unit, the electronic/assembly engineers do not go repudiating them with, ‘What the hell do you know about electronic assemblies or manufacturing? You aren’t even an engineer.’ Well yes sir, we are not, but we are paying to buy your product because you promised us that you would provide us with something that would be comfortable to use and would be different from the other products on the shelves. And so, we have the utmost rights to say we are satisfied when we get what we asked for or to say we are not satisfied when we do not get what we asked for and what you promised to deliver.
SATYA moved me by its grittiness, PARINDA shook me with its outstanding canvas of the underworld hitherto never painted on the Hindi screen, AGNEEPATH affected me by demonstrating how one man’s performance could carry an entire movie, DIL SE wrangled my heart with the purity of undying love and the sensuousness of a man-woman relationship, BLACK arrested me with the lead man’s performance, SHOLAY enthralled me by the very fact that even milli-seconds of the 3+ hour movie dripped with entertainment, and KAMINEY left me sad over what it turned out to be versus what it could have been.
As we sat in an Indian restaurant after the screening over a hot cup of ‘chai’ in one of the chilly nights of Minneapolis, my American friend asked me what I thought of the movie. I said, ‘It’s a good film but I have seen such films before.’ He replied, ‘I agree, and I have seen better.’ I had to concur.
–Aneesh Joshi, Minneapolis, USA
P.S
• Do not go nailing me on the ‘exact’ details of the characters or their names in ‘SNATCH’ or ‘SATYA’. It has been a long time since I watched these movies and I do not remember the precise details. But I do remember the essence of those mesmerizing scenes and writing. And that’s what I have tried to capture.
Another opinion on the subject is to be found at http://shobhaade.blogspot.com/2009/08/kuch-kam-tha-kaminey-mein.html .
Yes go ahead and read shobha de’s blog..for sure she is one good movie critic and knows alot about movie making..
Please.who are u kidding. Is that a review she wrote or a personal grudge..it is more bitching than review.
Movie comments reserved till I see it.
But Dhantanan is YOUNG, superb. Hats off to Gulzarji.
I am completely in sync with Shobha De’s review posted by Sidhusaaheb above.
One could get the idea the director had in mind, but it just didn’t work, wasn’t a fluid read. The movie was fragmented and incoherent, superficial emotions thrown in out of place, bad acting, stupid script, unecessarily complicated layering, half-baked political messages – all in all a huge mess. The soundtrack and cinematography are a mild positive.
And Tarantino is an over-hyped director. Soulfulness should be the primary criterion for any filmmaker.
Finally I watched the movie And :
Kaminey – The movie seems to be different because it generates the shadow of fear but above all the continuity – claps for the editor.. And yes, Vishal jee – good job if not excellent.
Because it could be much better if love angel was as powerfully emotional as Charlie – The bad character.
Last 10 minutes or so – it is another movie or so called bollywood movie And momentum is lost. The music reminds me Late R.D. Burman sahab.
***star if not ****
Cheers !!!
But yes, violence should be less if possible.
Well its a nice movie .. but I still wud debate on the cinematography … its good in certain aspects .. but I guess the reason why steady cam’s were used were good .. but at least some point of focus should have been maintained … I guess over used of steady cam did spoil the movie technically
” WORK OF ART IS NEVER FINISHED, ONLY ABANDONED. … ” Leonardo da Vinci.
To me this movie is one of the best in recent times, Despite an ordinary script,Vishal did a wonderful job at narating it. Pretty good work been done on characterisation,backround score and music.There is no end of digging and criticising any work of art….But you really see the passion of maker in this movie,and that’s what matters.
Some are going to like it or some are not, can’t please the whole world. But I do appreciate his wonderful passion and congratulate to the whole team of “Kaminey” for its box office success.
Dhan tan!
Sanjay
no doubt, it s a different movie altogether. full of violance but still has the innocence. I like the way the film ends with an innocent love song “Pehle baar muhabbat ki hai” by mohit chauhan. I love the track. especially for the lyrics
Humne gilhari k jhoothe matar khaaye the
ye barkat unn hazrat ki hai
pehli baar muhabbat ki hai”
Like it or hate it, but this movie is a must watch, i suggest. Thanx
There are directors. And there is Vishal Bhardwaj. Few directors in Bollywood can claim to match Vishal Bhardwaj’s insight of human psyche. Every film of his explores a singular emotion in a gamut of situations. While Makdee explored Fear.. Omkara was an abstraction on jealousy, Blue Umbrella- innocence and so on. Kaminey is a film on meanness. It takes a nosedive into the deepest, darkest crevices of the human brain-where no bad is bad enough…Where relationships have lost their significance..where social give-and-take is a transaction.
The music is great and used at just the right places. All in all.. it is a must watch for all those who think they have fed enough on mindless flicks to watch some real cinema. This one will bring your faith back! (coz I’d seen 7 movies in July, and almost lost my faith in Bollywood! this one brought it back–for the time being!)
You can also read my reviews at http://boxofficepeople.blogspot.com
Shekar Kapur, you havn’t
made a decent a movie in years.
Why do you think you have
the right to talk our
American director like Mr. Tarantino.
Tons of films like KAMINEY are made in JAPAN, KOREA, NEW YORK, PARIS, GERMANY.
Every year movies similar to KAMINEY are
released at the festivals.
I had the chance of watching KAMINEY
with a group of college students from my family.
They said it’s SUCKS.
If KAMINEY is so good, why the
young generation hating it.
KAMINEY – same gritty crap over and over.
Big deal. I watched tons of movies like this.
Nothing new here.
Rekha
I dont understand what people liked about Kaminey. I had a lot of expectation from Visha Bharadwaj after watching Omkara. Kaminey is an average movie and it disappointed me. The cinematography was good but other than that nothing is significant.
The story is a classic one, where two brothers choose two different paths and good one prevails. The script was not convincing. So many unnecessary characters like the Black guys from Angola or the Bengali brothers. There are a lot of scene which were not needed, specially the gun purchase episode or the art auction in south africa.
The acting was also very compromised. The Sahid Kapoor’s characters were limitted to stammering only. The side characters were not so strongs. Only priyanka chopra did a good job I guess.
Hi Rekha, I agree with you.I did not like this movie “KAMINEY” at all. It was so gloomy and baseless. As it is life is very complicated and we want to enjoy beautiful and meaningful movies..:)
aneesh joshi….my god!! its like u took d words out of my mouth…i wrote things somewhat very similar in response to poonam saxena’s blog about kaminey on hindustantimes.com…my my!! u know i had very similar thoughts abt. kaminey after watching it…n i m not even a movie fanatic like u …
P.S. i m pretty sure if it would have been a ram gopal verma movie,,it would have been trashed completely..
All those people who don’t like the movie Kaminey have just one problem that they’ve stopped using brains while watching movies. Thanks to movies like Kambakht Ishq, Singh is Kingg which’ve broken box office records too, (i fail to understand HOW can someone appreciate those movies)
People have developed the habit of everything being spoon fed to them..
why?! That’s why, there are only 2 kinds of people now, those who understood the movie and brilliance behind it , HAVE absolutely loved it, given it 4/5 or more; and those who haven’t cared to think during the movie…and hate the movie…
(same goes for DEV D)
Well, it’s really sad for bollywood as a whole that people have become o stupid…
and good directors might not be motivated enough to make good movies, while stupid mindless flicks like Golmaal returns, Singh is king etc will keep making, and breaking records..
Easy now, Mansi Satijaji!
Don’t go about caling people stupid just because they didn’t like Kaminey. Why do you assume that the same people applaud rubbish like Kambakht Ishq, Singh is King or Golmaal Returns?
I believe that those who love such ‘blockbusters’ would never even think of seeing Kaminey in the first place.
So you think there are only two kinds of people: The ones who like Kambakht Ishq & then the ones who like Kaminey & Dev D? Nobody in between?
C’mon, get real.
There are people who love a Kill Bill, but hate The Godfather. There are those who love The Godfather and not care much for Cinema Paradiso. And then there are people who love crap like Saw I, II, ….VI as well as a classic like Silence of the Lambs.
So don’t classify ‘intelligent’ people as only the ones who loved Kaminey. That’s stupid.
Hi Shekhar,
Sorry to disturb you again on this post,but i saw Kaminey…after a gap of very many years-one saw a hindee film.As an aam Bharteeya my verdict-Fantabulous!!!
One gets the following messages,thats the essence of this movie.
1.Dnt make fun of people with any kind of handicap,here speech impairment-and the police needs to be sensitive handling such cases.
2.The nexus of crime which links politicians,police,underworld,national and international drug mafia …is absolutely detrimental for the society ones own conscience.
3.Greed is not good.
4.Family ties can get effected-society can get effected…by the tremendous crime we have in the country-noones ready to talk or do anything about it.
5.India is for Indians wether a UP person lives in Haryana or Maharashtra,a Kashmiree lives in Manipur,Mizoram or Tamil nadu,An Arunchal pradesh person lives in Tamil nadu,or a Keralite lives in New delhi-India is for Indians and politicizing regional stuff is only againSt the very constituiton of India.
6.Lovers can come form any parts of the society,Drugs kills,A diamond is just a rock.
7. Get purity and honesty back into ourselves and the society.
A great movie by a great filmaker.,so many hidden messages in the movie-for instance a blind student going downstairs…
Great movie Shekhar…a hearty congratulation to Vishal.
You are right,its a great movie by a great film maker.
Regards
AV
Great music too 🙂
ASALAM O ALEKUM
i m hina my age is 23 how r you shekhar g
plz sir do reply me
i m ur dewani tyep of a fan
basicaly i m from pakistan but now i m in london
i wana learn each and every thing abt the movies your experiences i m a student in acting school in london but i wana join u plz sir give me 1 chance i wana prove my se1elf to someone acting is not my hobby its in my blood its my junoon my ishq my dewangi and most of all its is in my soul plz sir do me a favour you are my ideal and my dream man
I see this blog. I love the movie and I follow your blog very regularly. Thank you for sharing this blog…
Kaminey is so good film.The work done in this film by shahid kapoor and priyanka chopra is superb.Also the producer had done so much hardwork for making this film.
Shekharji,
Definetly Vishal is a wonderful director who handles different plots with new sense and vision. He has capacity to put literature into cimena in a different way. He has worked on shakespeares themes. But I would like to watch his presentation on Leo Tolstoys work.
Sir,
I wana ask if u give chance to new people.
Or can u help with that.
Thank u