Such a brilliant movie!!!! SUCH A BRILLIANT MOVIE!!!!! One of those where I paused five minutes in so I could start taking notes. I will be doing a full Annotated post later. But this is just sort of an intro to the Motwane career and a sense of the film so you can decide if you want to see it.
Freakin’ Vikramaditya Motwane!!!!! Burst on the scene with Udaan, a slice of life film about parental abuse. Followed it with Lootera, a poetic period tragic romance. Followed that with Trapped, a high concept film with one actor in one set the whole time. And then Bhavesh Joshi, his take on the superhero vigilante film. Now this, which is some weird meta-commentary on stardom and film and realism and, most of all, a vicious joke on Motwane’s best friend and creative/business partner Anurag Kashyap.
Motwane’s films are all shockingly different from each other. Really, you would not think they were the same director, except that they are all equally brilliant. Oh, and they tend to drag at the end. He struggles with endings. He’s someone who knows exactly the final shot he wants, and that is perfect, but the lead up to it tends to wobble. In this film, he conquered even that small weakness!!!! He built in a different structure for the last 15 minutes that re-energizes the movie and takes care of his ending drag issue.
Anyway, should you watch this film? Did you like Fan? Or Luck By Chance? Did you enjoy that intellectual/emotional deconstruction of film and stardom? Or, alternatively, did you like Mardaani? Or Talaash? That gritty noir action feel of the real city? Or, do you secretly find Anil Kapoor very sexy, especially when he is a bit bad? Or, do you kind of hate Anurag Kashyap and enjoy watching him suffer? If any of these things are true, watch this movie!
If you like romance and escapism and fantasy and happiness, NO! You will be very angry with me if I make you watch this! It is brilliant, but also dark dark dark and gritty gritty gritty.
Okay, that’s all I’ve got. If you want to see this movie, watch it, and then meet me at the Annotated review.
dontcallitbollywood 
So I won’t like this? I thought I wouldn’t. Should I fast forward to stare at Harsh?
LikeLiked by 1 person
You will really enjoy the Harsh bits! Just fastforward until Anil gets to his house and keep watching until he leaves, and you will get all the Harsh bits.
On Tue, Dec 29, 2020 at 2:34 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
>
LikeLike
Great! Thanks!
LikeLike
I literally screamed with laughter during Harsh’s parts. He also has an amazing bit close to the end of the film that you need to watch as well.
LikeLike
Harsh is SO GOOD! And it has retroactively made me reconsider my opinion of his intelligence. You need to be really smart to be able to play dumb. Is it possible his whole instagram feed is an elaborate joke on the world and actually he hates sneakers and likes to relax by reading Proust?
LikeLike
The bit with the window made me laugh. Didn’t see the end bit! I will look that up.
LikeLike
What was his bit at the end? I couldn’t find it.
LikeLike
It’s very quick, he drives a car and shouts out “Insaan!”
On Tue, Dec 29, 2020 at 3:20 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
>
LikeLike
Aah, I can’t find that fastforwarding. Back to watching him film close ups of his legs on instagram.
LikeLike
For Popka:
LikeLike
I haven’t managed to finish this film yet, but so far it got me thinking about Anil’s choice of roles. In contrast to the way he is set up here, I feel like he *doesn’t * try to go for the classic “hero” roles anymore. Instead he has found a niche where he plays his age, a father of grown children. But in those more recent movies of his that I have seen, he still comes across as more important than just “father of the hero”. Dil Dhadakne Do is an ensemble cast, in ELKDTAL he’s kind of the central character in that it’s his heart that needs changing, and so far, he’s very much the protagonist in this. Slumdog Millionaire also fits in nicely, opening up options. He’s very much someone that at least the movie version of Kashyap might be jealous of.
LikeLike
I agree. In this movie, his “Anil Kapoor” character is established as someone trying to hold on to stardom and overshadowed by his daughter. But it’s slightly different in reality, Anil is gracefully stepping back and, despite that, is still more popular than the younger generation. Remember in Fan how you realize that Shahrukh is actually playing “Aryan Khanna”? Someone who is almost the same as “Shahrukh Khan”, but slightly different? Anil is doing the same thing here, portraying “Anil Kapoor” who is almost the same as the real one, but slightly different.
LikeLike
The fight scene at the Kapoor house puts this one on the Christmas movie list forever! Also found it interesting that his wife was the only one who managed not to appear on camera.
LikeLike
His wife, and also Rhea (his other daughter). So really it’s just the three professional actors of the family. But I found it hilarious all the near misses of Sunita NOT appearing. Oh oh! she’s gonna be at dinner! no, she’s angry and hiding in her room. He’s gonna see her in her room! no, he gets dragged away.
And yes, that Christmas tree fight is awesome.
On Tue, Dec 29, 2020 at 3:24 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
>
LikeLike
IMO people who don’t like “gritty” don’t need to shy away from this, because when actors are playing themselves, gritty becomes farce. I think i laughed at anything gritty because they were playing themselves. To illustrate what I mean, I’ll make up 2 examples not in the film: if Sonam wore grungy sweats, or if Harsh were looking ugly, that would be gritty in a normal film, but it’s farce if they are playing themselves in the film. Hope that makes sense?
I liked the film, but its pacing was uneven, and it felt more like a first time director’s project, rather than a veteran’s project. IIRC luck by chance was Zoya’s first solo effort as a director – these kinds of projects tend to be. But it’s great that streaming platforms give these directors avenues to be experimental in ways that they couldn’t afford to be for cinematic releases. I’ve recommended it to my Indian filmy friends.
LikeLike
I will say that Harsh in his fancy designer jumpsuit thing being all over dramatic was definitely farce.
On Tue, Dec 29, 2020 at 6:52 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
>
LikeLike
I’m not totally averse to dark, especially the way this is set up as a fan-style inside out look at the perils of stardom. Also I like the idea of Anurag being tortured.
LikeLike
Anurag totally lets himself be put through the wringer, it’s fun!
On Wed, Dec 30, 2020 at 1:42 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
>
LikeLike