Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Ten stories - one movie

Dus Kahaniyan

Have you read those Kumudam and Ananda Vikatan half page stories with a twist? After reading few of them, you can easily guess what the twist would be. Several stories of Dus Kahaniyan fall under this category. It should be interesting to the people who are encountering short stories(albeit in visual medium) for the first time.

Of the ten stories(dus kahaniyan, yaar!), Poorna Manshi and Rice Plate had received the maximum good reviews.

Rice Place stands out due to Shabana Azmi and Naseerudin Shah. I have never seen Naseer in a similar role, with a child like Smirk, he endears you. In general, I don't like Shabana Azmi and always felt if Smitha Patel had been alive, Shabana wouldn't have had the chance to rule the Parallel cinema world like she did. Inspite of the grudge, she stole the show in this Hindu Muslim Behen-Bhai story.

Poorna Manshi never gave me enough time to get into the characters. This was one of the stories that made me realize why this 10-15 minutes stories in a movie format would not work. umhmm.. that is me clearing my throat, what I say next might feel way too much of an analysis but the truth is, I feel(umhm..) it is very important to establish an emotional connect with the characters especially in a story as this. That takes time. Here, before I could empathize with Ma, Beti, the story was over.

'Matrimony', is a well executed story with Mandira Bedi and Sohail Khan would perfectly fit under the typical half-page short story with a twist. So do three more stories, 'Strangers in the night'(conversation between two stone faced people), 'Gubbare'(lovely acting by Nana) and 'Lovedale'(pathetic in all ways).

The Gangster one with Sanjay dutt and Sunil shetty(Sunil/Suniel - they can add all the alphabets they want, but I am going to use only the required alphabets in a name!) was going for something good, yet hadn't crystalised well.

With regard to actors, the already known good ones like Manoj Bajpai, Nana Patekar, Naseeruddin, Shabana stand out. To my surprise, Amrita was good too. Others don't surprise you either. Neha gave me an unintentional laugh. Sanjay dutt and Sunil shetty together kill the last story.

Compared to Scriptless bollywood movies, this is definitely a DVD watch.

5 comments:

  1. Sachita-

    please visit my blog to pick up your award.

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  2. Oh yeah - how I miss those Kumudam / AV stories. Thanks for you recommendation - will try to watch this. Congrats on your award.

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  3. I will rent it out sometime..thanks for the recommendation.

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  4. Sachita- I've booky tagged you, see my blog for rules and details.

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  5. Mitr, Thanks for the award. Book tag will be done soon.

    A-Kay,
    Thanks for the congrats plus for starting this whole thing of awards, it surely spreads joy around.

    Na_an,
    I thought you would have already caught this:)

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