Indian (1996)
[Um, so here's the review I promised 2 days ago, complete with haiku summary!]
Corruption is wrong
Even a bad son should die
By his father's hand
To me, the most interesting thing about the film—besides the random animals at Ishwarya’s (Manisha) petting zoo!—is the way the old dude goes about executing a revenge plot and turns into a national folk hero. Like Rang de Basanti, I guess I don’t completely understand the deep frustration with government as experienced in India. However, I think Shankar (the director) did a better job of actually showing the depravity of the system than in RDB where it was mostly implied. The story of the old widow and Senapathy’s daughter in Indian clearly present the face of victim and victimizer.
Also, Kamal Hassan is amazing playing both father and son. I mean, how many other actors have done a scene where they’re chasing themselves down to kill themselves?! [Sidenote: This is the third Indian film I’ve seen where someone snuffed a family member for ideological reasons!]
Bottom line: It’s a good film. Definitely worth watching. I hate graphic violence so I probably won’t watch it again but as usual, Kamal Hassan does an excellent job even if he can’t dance and gets dressed in fugly outfits. ;0)
Posts
6 comments:
Nice Review t-Hype
Shankar is the master of taking serious problems as a plot and turning them into blockbuster movies.
Most of his movies covered problems in Indian society.
Gentleman - corruption in Education system
Indian - Corruption in Bureaucracy
Mudhavalan - Corruption in Politics
Anniyan - Corruption in Society or Apathy of common man.
Interesting - when you mentioned you would be reviewing 'Indian', I thought it was the Sunny Deol movie. This one definitely sounds interesting.
Fugly outfits, yes. But you're saying he can't dance?! This is the first time I've heard anyone say Kamalhassan can't dance! If anything, he's been known as someone who is trained in classical dance and as one of the best actor-dancers (esp in films like Salangai Oli). Some would even say that kamal can dance just as well as your bollywood boyfriend ;)
DG, I haven't seen the Sunny Deol flick. Is it good.
Hey aswin, that's why I put the smily face at the end. If you click on the link you can read the tongue lashing I got from the readers at Bollywood Fugly when I said the same thing.
My conclusion: Kamal Hassan could dance about 10 years and 20lbs ago!
The Sunny Deol one isn't very good IMO - it's just a lot of anger and testosterone and people beating other people up. Sunny plays a decent cop who tries to fight the corrupt system. Its attempt at social commentary is probably laudable, but a bit simplistic and derivative. It's watchable, I guess, but not good.
Sunny Deal is like the Steven Seagal of India. He keeps on making movies that nobody watches. Once upon a time, I think one his movies was good. Not anymore.
Post a Comment