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KAMINEY

© Hindi Cinema Blog


Kaminey, Vishal Bhardwaj’s newest venture, has left critics and audience expressing anything but indifference. This month, Pushker Awasthi, our Indian collaborator ever since Cinema Hindi’s inception, writes about his experience watching Kaminey on the silver screen. Thank you so much, Pushker for your contribution. Here is hoping we will have the pleasure of reading you more often.

Kaminey. After having been at loss of words I can simply express how much I loved it… It reflects a new type of cinema being made in India and, despite the fact that it does reflect Quentin Tarantino’s influence, its content is purely Indian as it presents a well executed Bollywood Masala. It is Vishal Bhardwaj’s first commercial movie and offers a brilliant direction, writing, acting, background score and photography to his audience.

With the release of Kaminey, Vishal Bhardwaj has proved to all that he is a cinema genius and that a good director will always be good, regardless of the kind of story that he wishes to unfold before his viewers. Vishal’s previous work consisted of serious films featuring realistic people and situations. He unhurriedly dissected and explored the darkness of the human mind and soul without ever succumbing to the temptation of becoming apologetic.

However, let us go back to Kaminey.

Kaminey might dissapoint some of Bhardwaj’s followers if they compare this film to the others he had directed so far. However, one must not forget that he has remained true to his essence with the slight difference of wholeheartedly embracing the Bollywood Masala genre. Kaminey is an all out masala film that strangely does not require the moviegoer to leave his brain at the theatre entrance, which is usually what the audience must do before it starts enjoying a regular Bollywood film. Vishal has definitely opened up a space for Quentin Tarantino in Indian cinema in the same way he saddled Shakespeare firmly into Indian soil. To his credit, he never copied him, as Sanjay Gupta did with Kaante based on Reservoir Of Dogs. No. He has made Tarantino’s influence his own.

It is fascinating to live every moment of the film and indulge in it. Kaminey breaks every rule as far Hindi Masala films are concerned and let me tell you how:

First of all, Masala cinema has a cardinal rule that says that if you have twin brothers, or even simply two brothers, one of them must be a good guy and the other must be a terribly bad guy. During the climax, the bad guy ends up paying for his sins and making a sacrifice. Kaminey displays another take on brotherhood. Guddu and Charlie are different. Neither of them is perfect, neither physically nor emotionally. Guddu is embarrassed about his stammering while Charlie has a pronunciation problem but never feels bad about it. Guddu is a good but weak man, almost ready to crawl under the circumstances but nevertheless having a gentle soul. Charlie has tasted life as it is and knows how to wriggle out of problems and never ever feels self conscious about lisping.

Another of Kaminey’s novelties is that it changes the type of language used by the story’s characters to communicate with each other. The Bengali Brothers, for whom Charlie works, communicate purely in Bengali without ever translating their conversation in Hindi or English. This is not customary in Hindi cinema, which tends to make the characters translate whatever is spoken in foreign or regional languages into Hindi, for the audience’s sake.

Moreover, Kaminey’s photography is extremely enthralling, making the audience jump! Even the background is so powerful that it sucks the spectator in with every single movie frame.

Last but not least, a special mention goes to the song 'Duniya Mein', in which Vishal gives tribute to legendary music director and genius, the late R D Burman. Never, at any point in time, is the audience left remembering that song pictured on Rajesh Khanna (in the film Apna Desh), as Bhardwaj greatly succeeds in attaching the same song to to the screen presence of the film’s main character, Shahid Kapoor.


TEXT BY: Pushker Awasthi

EDITING: Aline CineHindi






11 comments:

Anonymous said...

a very well written review which in fact forced me to see the movie twice . i loved the music, the choreography ,the direction . the movie is a must watch .the characters appear so real and close to us ,its really praiseworthy. well done vishal bharadwaj and well done pushker for forcing me to watch the movie a second time with a new vision.

Anonymous said...

waiting for the review of dil bole harripa and wanted from pushker .
hey pushker , are you in the film world? how can i contact you ?

Aline Cinehindi said...

COMMENT BY PUSHKER:
I thank you, who ever you are, for liking my writeup about "Kaminey" and I am glad you could enjoy the second viewing of it as much as I did. I am flabbergasted by your request to read my reviews of "Dil Bole Haddipa" and "Wanted" given that I am not a film reviewer but just another person like yourself who loves movies which soothe his senses.

I am not from Film World although you never know when I might take my jump in there and be part of that fraternity. Dil Bole Haddipa is not my kind of movie, critics have been ruthless with it and the media have already declared it a flop. Some people however, specially youngsters, have enjoyed it and in fact yesterday, when my kids went to watch it despite my discouraging them, they got to cool their heels at Barista as the house was full. So I guess I will be curious enough to watch it and see what is attracting youngsters despite its prematurely having been declared a flop.

As far as "Wanted" is concerned, it has already been declared a Hit and and people are flocking to see if Salman's magic has worked. "Wanted" is a typical masala Bollywood affair, luxuriously coloured with a South Indian movie style and violence. If I happen to be coaxed frantically by my friends then I may give in and watch it.I do hope to keep writing about movies which I like and hope to bring good reading to the people who follow this blog.

Anonymous said...

hi pushker
your response to my comment came as a pleasant surprise to me. dil bole harippa may be a good movie but i have to wait to watch it till i read your review on it . so don't disappoint your fans now ,we are waiting for another review from you .
are you planning to enter bollywood? that will be a great thing . all the best .how to contact you personally? your id?

Anonymous said...

hi there
ajab prem ki ghazab kahani..............waiting for your review
a seceret admirer

Aline Cinehindi said...

Hello anonymous fan of Pushker's,

We hope Pushker will soon write more reviews for the pleasure of all again.

Great to know you have enjoyed his take on films.

sonia_net_gal@yahoo.com said...

hiiiiiiiiii
just dropped in to say hiiiii to you . so what do you think about 3 idiots ? your review is awaited .can you post your personal e-mail id ?you haven't answered my previous question. please do ,i am eager to know if you have any plans to enter bollywood in some way? i have a good collection of stories which i would like to discuss.
all the best

Anonymous said...

waiting for the review of 3 idiots ............ pushker, be quick in writing reviews as we wait for them desperately . you never answered my question ...are you from bollywood or planning to go there? please send me your mail id
love you muuuah

Aline Cinehindi said...

Hi!
Back from Christmas holiday and glad to find your comments! Pushker is indeed preparing a new review that should be up soon, so keep checking the blog for a new write up. :-) You may contact Pushker by sending an e-mail to our staff. He has received all your comments and thanks you for your support.

Anonymous said...

thank you so much for the reply .

Aline Cinehindi said...

Anonymous Pushker fan,
Check out Pushkers joint review of 3 Idiots along with the video he features in (new posts). Hope you like it! :-)

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