Monday, January 14, 2008

Khoya khoya Chand is Pakeezah on speed.

Beautiful. Etched. Grand. Cruel.

Dialogue very fine, fast and if you miss a subtle point or two, zoom, its gone!

A 2000’s treatment for a movie about the movie making business circa 1950’s.

This rediff review says it all. If a feel good film is what you were looking for- this is not it.

The characters sound true to life, delineated with just enough, nothing over the top. A sketch in a few swift lines and the rest of the colors you’ll fill in yourself; that fat financier, that aging diva, the hero recommending his current flame as the next Garbo, the starlet taking “everyone does this” shortcuts to becoming a star, don’t they exist even today?

Incredibly complex lifelines, too much at stake. Yet that sepia and lavender- lace feel to it.

Nothing is what it seems. Everyone and everything is dispensable.

Layered characters. Dig a little, and ” What is in it for me” is all that matters.

You think later about the characters, and their behavior, this is the way it is, and this is the only way it can be, there is no other alternative, not really given this background and this lifeline.

The music is period classical and tinsel town chorus classic, both apt in their own place.

Some of the scenes didn’t render too well on dvd, dark blobs on the screen, or a black surface for way too long.

Either you’d like this very much, or not at all.

9 comments:

CRUSTY MOM-E said...

Thank you for your lovely email!

This post..hit me hard.."nothing is what it seems..everyone and everything is dispensable.." I know what you mean. For me, just when I think I "know" or can say I have a "friend," things change..how we adjust to it is the trick, right?
Sad that there is no other option with their heartline..it is after all, their line.

Always,
Crusty~

austere said...

Yes, no place is this "I me and myself" syndrome more obvious than the movie industry.

If subtitles on a foreign film weren't horrid, I'd ask you to see this, but the nuances are lost without the cultural connect.

Portia said...

I hear a lot of truths in there. I think I might like it if I were to understand it. I'm glad you got to see it...I hope you found it at a price competitive to the man on the corner:)

AmitL said...

I'm convinced,I'm convinced..I'll see this movie soon..but,err,'what's in it for me?',I wonder.

Anonymous said...

Don't worry, I am here.

The house is coming together, will post again soon. Am inundated with people needing me, like spiritual duct of sorts. So many orbs around me that I don't even know them all by name.

Take Care,
P

Anonymous said...

ab toh dekhni hi padegi!

Arunima said...

watching it this weekend.

austere said...

because, amitl- more Guru Dutt than Karan Johar family social type this one is. Cruel, I said. Portia- some of this must be India specifc, though from what I've read H'wood isn't very different.

Proxima- Tough. painful, Not easy to bear, this gift and so much it drains from you. I'm glad I only have a base level kind of gutfeel, how true depends on how I've been.You take care, Ms.

austere said...

Arunima- you were warned!