Those who found Madhuri
Dixit a little out of sync with the milieu in Dedh Ishqiya were in for a
surprise when during the intermission the promo of Gulab Gang played. Suddenly,
Madhuri seemed pitch perfect. Give it to the setting or the canvas painted by
director Soumik Sen, it sounded like a genuine clash of interests between two
women. Maybe it is because of the fact that it is set ‘somewhere’ in the Hindi
heartland where you can generate your own dialect and mannerisms. At some
places it reminds of Mirch Masala as Rajjo (Madhuri Dixit) has set up an Ashram
where women armed with axes and sickle and dressed in pink nine yards, mete out
the evil and seek out justice for one and all while making hand-ground spices,
hand-woven baskets and hand-woven saris. When the party she was campaigning for
reveals its true colours, Rajjo has a whole new battle on her hands and the
evil comes in the form of another strong woman Sumitra Devi played by Juhi
Chawla, who seems to be in a mood to get dirty this time. This Holi, Gulab
could well be the colour at the box office.
STYLE
FILES
There was a time when
Vidya Balan’s sense of styling was a matter of Internet humour. But a series of
hits have ensured that costume designers are taking her inputs in sketching the
outfits for her character. Once her styling sense was called outdated; today
individualistic yet believable is the description for her. The latest to praise
her is Jayati Bose, who has designed her look for Shaadi Ke Side Effects.
“Vidya had a really realistic perspective when it came to styling her
characters onscreen. She helped me keep the character of Trisha real,” says
Jayati. Director Saket Chaudhary says, “Styling Vidya Balan in the film was
relatively easy since she knew her character inside out and knew exactly the
kind of clothes to wear with every situation in the film. Her inputs took the
character to an all-new level.” Perhaps he is forgetting Ghanchakkar, where her
penchant for dressing according to the quirks of the characters took an ugly
turn.
TADPOLE
GETS A FRESH LIFE
The restored version of
Kamal Swaroop’s Om-Dar-Ba-Dar is finally here. Made in 1988 with the help of
NFDC, the film made it to the festival circuit and then shuffled out into
obscurity like its character Om. Teachers in film schools talk about the
rebellion of tadpoles but the students don’t easily get to the depth of this
avant garde film which has assumed cult status over the years. Mixing politics
with mythology and techno music with biology, its imagery of the exuberance of
adolescence has withstood the test of time. This week PVR Director’s Rare has
brought it to cinemas. One hopes Swaroop will finally get his due.
MALL
FEAR
They started as the
shining example of the country’s booming economy but once the recession hit the
roots of the economy, many malls started giving a ghostly vibe. Eerie silence
and dim-lit parking started to scare the patrons. It was a matter of time before
a filmmaker got inspired. So we have Darr@The Mall releasing in a multiplex
soon. As the title suggests it is shot in various malls and storyline suggests
that these are haunted by spirits. Directed by Pavan Kripalani of Ragini MMS
fame, it has Jimmy Shergill, Nusrat Bharucha and Arif Zakaria in lead roles.
Jimmy says the film has an international feel to it and it is time horror
stories start getting respect in the country.
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