Ever since I missed Dus Kahaniyaan in the theaters, I’ve been anxiously (well, not very) waiting to watch it on TV. I did, last Saturday on Set Max. It is probably the first time a non-English prime time weekend movie ended in just over two hours.
I enjoyed the experience, and appreciate the attempt.
Like always, I also have cribs/comments/suggestions that could improve each of the stories, at least for me. My biggest crib is that it is not an anthology with an underlying theme. A common theme not only allows us to compare the stories against each other, but can also allow us to remember them all with a greater ease. (I accept the possibility of mixing up one with another as well.) In that way Darna Mana Hai works better.
Despite all analysis, anthologies are welcome especially for prime time TV.
Warning: Spoilers ahead.
1. Matrimony: A wife concocts a simple scheme to wear her paramour’s gift — a necklace — with permission from her husband. This is the best story in terms of the twist in the tail end. But Mandira Bedi’s clichéd narrative slightly screwed up the show. I blame the writer, not the narrator. Narration in movies should seem original, if it is to be there at all. “Beautiful, bored, lonely wife of a rich husband…” is a stereotype that can be understood without a voice over. Had Sanjay Gupta turned off the narration, it would have been a better story.
2. High on the Highway: A non-story about a hip couple on a high. I felt that the non-linear narrative was a desperate attempt to heighten the audience’s interest in this pointless piece. The best non-part is the title.
3. Pooranmasi: Not just non-metro, this is the only rural story in the basket. Forbidden and hitherto restrained thoughts unleash when a widowed(?) mother wears her daughter’s colorful dupatta(?). Throughout, I sensed a lingering mystery, a fantasy that we often associate with folktales. Had the mysterious lover not been shown during the climax, the story would still have had that mysterious aura.
4. Strangers in the Night: All points to Neha Dhupia. This story works only because she has now become a stereotype for a perpetually horny woman. There is a surprising twist at the end. As a ten-minute story, it is interesting. But if you look back into the nitty-gritties long after you’ve watched it, you might notice the implausibility of the woman’s actions or worse the artificiality in the narration through intentional misdirection.
5. Zahir: A “struggling writer” is smitten by his neighbor whose work involves “taking international calls”. On discovering that the neighbor is not a call center girl but a call girl, his wrathful passionate actions doom him. I have two complaints: the setting and the rape scene. A struggling writer and a call girl living on the eighteenth floor of a posh society in well-furnished apartments is unrealistic, especially when the latter is shown dancing in Chandni Bar, not escorting rich men. And, though I am only guessing, rape scenes aren’t so (f)rigid.
6. Lovedale: The story of a young bride who upon encouragement from her lovelorn father — which seemed a little over-enthusiastic — and a few signals goes after her true (impulsive) love a day before her marriage. Very predictable, I couldn’t help thinking that the fantasy element overshadowed the impending conflict in the relation. People might not notice that the girl and her dad fell for the boy and his mom respectively. A Balachander movie would’ve been in the making had that mom stayed alive!
7. Sex on the Beach: When opened, a mysterious book on the beach traps a reader in the form of a hottie who lures him into her lair. Tareena Patel looks genuinely alluring while looking scary. Dino Morea was perhaps made to look the way he did only for the female viewers not to feel left out. I wonder what happens when the book is opened by a straight girl. The only memorable thing about the story is the golden bikini that brings back memories of Princess Leia.
8. Rice Plate: A staunch anti-muslim Hindu Tamilian learns a lesson of religious equality in her journey to a railway station in this sweet story. Konkana Sen was better as Mrs. Iyer than Shabana Azmi here. And Naseeruddin Shah had little to do. Warm, but I felt something amiss.
9. Gubbare: A young wife learns about a happy married life from another old husband while they travel as strangers in a bus. Again, good though predictable. My main complaint is that writers — including yours truly — don’t reach for the full-stop quickly enough. We know about the devoted husband and his marital life by his talkativeness. There was, thus, no need for his gibberish to be shown in the cemetery even after we’ve discovered the truth about his wife.
10. Rise & Fall: The title hints an epic, doesn’t it? That is the reason why this story doesn’t work. It shows the rise of two lads who become blood brothers and rise to rule the Mumbai crime world, in parallel with their fall as one betrays the other. The moments that presage the rise/fall, in my opinion, are not as momentous as the actual rise/fall that happen over years. The stunts in heavy rain reminded me of the new Haywards advertisement with Sanjay Dutt and Suniel Shetty. The background score at times makes it harder to hear Suniel’s low voice.
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