I watched the late night show of Mumbai Se Aaya Mera Dost, hoping to destress after a hard day's work.
Instead, I came out of the theatre more stressed out than ever! The film has nothing worth appreciating except Anu Malik's score.
The first thought that came to mind was that director Apoorva Lakhia has yet to recover from his Lagaan hangover. The song picturisation (especially the one where the villagers decide to fight it out with the thakur after Aditya Lakhia's murder), camera angles, locales and characters are all from Lagaan!
The beginning with Amitabh Bachchan's voice-over looked promising, what with the idea of how village life changes with after the arrival of electricity, but it was a big thud after that. The shot where Abhishek Bachchan first appears was absurd. Why was he posing like a dacoit in the middle of the desert and looking straight into the camera?
The Rajasthani dialect is sparsely used in the film, as if the cast realises that only a few scenes are shot in Rajasthan. Lara Dutta's accent is too sophisticated for a village belle. Likewise Abhishek. Except for Chhote Thakur and the village priest, no one sounds like a Rajasthani.
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There is not much humour in the film. The scene where Chunky suggests 'things' to his apparently gay friend is crass. But yes, the villager who does everything in slow motion after watching the slow motion effect on television evokes laughter.
Lakhia's turn as director is shocking, if one were to look at his credentials. He worked with Hollywood's Ang Lee (The Ice Storm) and Ashutosh Gowariker in Lagaan, which is one of Indian cinema's landmark films.
Lakhia missed out on costumes, storyline, logic and characterisation. A village hooks up to cable television with just a dish antenna, without any decoders/channel tuning, etc. Why are our cable operators/government/media moguls fighting about CAS if it were so easy?
Abhishek wears designer shirts although he is a poor villager who has been working in Mumbai for over 10 years as a servant to a rich family. His employer (Chunkey Pandey) gifts him a 29-inch television set with a dish antenna when the poor boy returns to his village.
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The performances are bad as well. I heard Abhishek declined to do the film initially but after two years, agreed. Was he not getting films or did he want to do another Refugee? He needs to re-train himself in the art of acting. He is too wooden and stiff.
Lara could have done well without doing this film. She looks unconvincing as a village damsel. She is capable of a lot more. The others were just a crowd around these two.
The film is a big flop. Abhishek will have to wait for Kuch Naa Kaho to give him that hit he is looking for. Lakhia needs to go back to being assistant director and producers need to look for another way to recover their money lost on this utterly avoidable movie.
ALSO SEE
Mumbai Se Aaya Mera Dost: The rediff.com review
'Abhishek is such a prankster'
Mumbai Se... is close to my heart: Abhishek Bachchan
Mumbai Se Aaya Mera Dost: A Slide Show
I'll fight till I die: Apoorva Lakhia
I blame Abhishek for my dirty nails: Apoorva Lakhia
