Flimistan Movie Review (Hindi)
Movie review by Zulfiqar
Nitin Kakkar’s ‘Filmistan’ is a near global cinema. Near because it almost reaches there but falls short by a yard or two. It reaches in terms of emotion, universal brotherhood and drama, but falls short at the plot-drawing. It may be a partial way to look at things because what ‘filmistan’ possesses is a story with great flair and plunging drama. It makes the lack of sub-plotting look invisible.
It starts with Sunny, the great movie-buff and probably the best movie-buff in Indian cinematic history, landing an assistant director’s job in a documentary movie. he actually aspires to be an actor but is shown closed doors when he performs at various auditions. He follows the foreign crew of his movie to Rajasthan and, in a jumble of sorts, he is kidnapped by Pakistan terrorists when they mistake him for the foreign director. He is shipped over the border to a nomadic village in Pakistan, where he is held hostage. His cinematic spirit, inherent in him, attracts the locals but keeps the extremists amazed. The house where he is held hostage is owned by a simple local, but it is his son, Aftaab, in whom Sunny finds a great friend. They both plan his escape.
The strength of the movie lies in the ever optimistic character of Sunny (Sharib Hashmi), who finds humorous situation even in, not the toughest, but excruciating of times. He impersonates almost every Indian actor and times their mimicry to his audience’s joy. There are many scenes in the first half which just live out the sheer joy of something called cinema. Sunny doesn’t look desperate, when he is isolated and kept hostage. He doesn’t look frustrated when nobody speaks to him. But he is like a cat on hot bricks when ‘maine pyar kiya’ is being shown to the villagers and he rues that he is not one of the audience. There is more to his madness when he lip-syncs the muted dialogues in the movie. Aftaab (Inaamulhaq) is another gifted addition to the cast. He is on the other side of the border but never in spirit. He sells pirated CDs and gifts the patrolling parties, obscene ones. But he is the citizen of filmistan and finds similarity in Sunny. And so does he share his pain. And the other main angle is the terrorists. There is shown a bifurcation in the held group. One is adamant with religious principles and logically finds the protagonist villainous, when he had done nothing of the sort. Another fellow is a person of fate and clearly confused regarding why he is holding the gun. But the best part of the cast is probably the group of villagers. They depict the innocent, ignorant spirit of the common populace, which is under the harrow for reasons never related to it.
Filmistan has a double edged spirit encasing the escapist medium called cinema and cross-border terrorism founded on controversial reasons. It is ironic that Sunny finds solace in movies while his life hangs in balance. We don’t know whether to laugh at his craziness or pity his position. In the second half, the director doesn’t create new situations but relies on the melodrama of cross-border realism. In Oscar winning cross-border movie, ‘no man’s land’, there is a lot of drama and abundance of plot points to ponder. Filmistan relies on the strong story line but not in creating off-shoots. Despite all these minor misgivings, it is a poignant and darkly humorous movie, which would never fail invoking in a real movie lover divided views regarding geographic separation.
It starts with Sunny, the great movie-buff and probably the best movie-buff in Indian cinematic history, landing an assistant director’s job in a documentary movie. he actually aspires to be an actor but is shown closed doors when he performs at various auditions. He follows the foreign crew of his movie to Rajasthan and, in a jumble of sorts, he is kidnapped by Pakistan terrorists when they mistake him for the foreign director. He is shipped over the border to a nomadic village in Pakistan, where he is held hostage. His cinematic spirit, inherent in him, attracts the locals but keeps the extremists amazed. The house where he is held hostage is owned by a simple local, but it is his son, Aftaab, in whom Sunny finds a great friend. They both plan his escape.
The strength of the movie lies in the ever optimistic character of Sunny (Sharib Hashmi), who finds humorous situation even in, not the toughest, but excruciating of times. He impersonates almost every Indian actor and times their mimicry to his audience’s joy. There are many scenes in the first half which just live out the sheer joy of something called cinema. Sunny doesn’t look desperate, when he is isolated and kept hostage. He doesn’t look frustrated when nobody speaks to him. But he is like a cat on hot bricks when ‘maine pyar kiya’ is being shown to the villagers and he rues that he is not one of the audience. There is more to his madness when he lip-syncs the muted dialogues in the movie. Aftaab (Inaamulhaq) is another gifted addition to the cast. He is on the other side of the border but never in spirit. He sells pirated CDs and gifts the patrolling parties, obscene ones. But he is the citizen of filmistan and finds similarity in Sunny. And so does he share his pain. And the other main angle is the terrorists. There is shown a bifurcation in the held group. One is adamant with religious principles and logically finds the protagonist villainous, when he had done nothing of the sort. Another fellow is a person of fate and clearly confused regarding why he is holding the gun. But the best part of the cast is probably the group of villagers. They depict the innocent, ignorant spirit of the common populace, which is under the harrow for reasons never related to it.
Filmistan has a double edged spirit encasing the escapist medium called cinema and cross-border terrorism founded on controversial reasons. It is ironic that Sunny finds solace in movies while his life hangs in balance. We don’t know whether to laugh at his craziness or pity his position. In the second half, the director doesn’t create new situations but relies on the melodrama of cross-border realism. In Oscar winning cross-border movie, ‘no man’s land’, there is a lot of drama and abundance of plot points to ponder. Filmistan relies on the strong story line but not in creating off-shoots. Despite all these minor misgivings, it is a poignant and darkly humorous movie, which would never fail invoking in a real movie lover divided views regarding geographic separation.
Comments
Post a Comment