BollyGuru

Little Zizou

Starring- Boman Irani, Imaad Shah, Jahan Bativala

Director- Sooni Taraporevala

Running Time- 101 minutes

Rating- ***

With big budget movies facing drastic money cuts and bombing at the box office, 2008 can be called the year of the small budget films. A film like Oye Lucky Lucky Oye was nominated in the same categories in award ceremonies as a Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi or a Rock On!!. Audiences watched A Wednesday as enthusiastically as they watched Dostana. With the trend continuing in 2009, it seemed perfect timing for Little Zizou. 

Director Sooni Taraporevala who earlier penned scripts of Diaspora  films like Salaam Bombay, The Namesake and Missippi Masala gets down to her first directorial venture.  Little Zizou piqued enough interest before release with its overall look. Set in the Parsi community (which was earlier tributed in the successful Being Cyrus), the storyline deals with current issues of identity and fundamentalism pervading the community, all narrated through the eyes of Little Zizou aka Xerxes, a 11 year old motherless and longing-to-be-loved Parsi boy

The dynamics of the Parsi are remarkably different from other religions. The old generation continues to live the same old world they always did. (“We have been living in the same house for four generations where do we go now?” remarks an old lady when told of eviction) 

The middle generation is stuck having to choose between two polarities. One is fanatism and protection a dwindling community represented by self proclaimed preacher Cyrus II Khodaji (Sohrab Ardeshir) who has formed the Parsi Liberation Army to cleanse the community banning converts and unions with non-Parsis. The other side is given by free-speaking liberal-minded Boman Pressvala, (Boman Irani) who inspite hating Khodaji never discriminates against his children. His beautiful wife Roxanne (Xenobia Shroff) is Zizou’s surrogate mother much to the displeasure of her human-hating animal-loving daughter Leah (Inayah Bativala). 

Zizou can’t connect to his older brother Artexerxes (Imaad Shah) because Art is “Lost in his own world” With being busy writing graphic novels, trying to build a flight simulator and wooing Zenobia (Dishad Patel), Pressvala’s older daughter, Art represents the youngest generation disillusioned with fundamentalism and his ‘bogus humbug father’. 

 Taraporevala scores in the  first half which is full of delightful character sketches. With Bollywood always reducing Parsis to mere caricatures of ‘Rustom’, the film succeeds in going beyond the usual bawa cliches. Each character is lovingly etched with the director also showing how they shaped up to who they are as she is aware the film is an introduction of sorts to the Parsi world. Being a ‘bawi’ herself, she makes sure to give an in-depth picture.

 However the second half takes the form of a docudrama and thats where the charm factor dulls down. Somehow the issues between the two warring parties come across as individual problems rather than larger community issues. All it takes for Boman Irani is to have a heart ataack and he has public support. The track featuring Roxanne’s mother (Mahabanoo Mody-Kotwal) and Zenobia’s boyfriend Arjun (John Abraham, in a guest appearance) is left midway. Cyrus Broacha and Kamal Sidhu hardly have screen time.  Bend it like Beckham maintained the actresses fascination with the footballer throughout the movie. However amidst the chaos Big Zizou is forgotten. 

The acting matches the hype it created. Boman Irani once again delivers a perfect performance of a man being the lone voice of reason and his interaction with wife Xenobia Shroff is highly endearing. The film is full of spectacular supporting starcast- Mahabanoo Mody-Kotwal as the grand old dame still living in her past is regal. Imaad Shah, inspite of being non-Parsi stands out while Sohrab Ardeshir creates pity and hatred for his character with the audiences.

However the two stars of the show are the children Jahan and Inayah. Jahan’s narrative role  never clashes with the story rather offers an unbiased view of it. His desire to establish a connection with his mother (He asks his brother, “Did she see me before she died?”) and his talk about ghosts and angels with Inayah strikes a chord

Special mention to the highly qualified technical team- Arjun Bhasin and Shahnaz Vahanvaty’s costumes, Nitin Desai’s production, Amrita Singh’s art design and Bickram Ghosh’s music contribute minute details all which creates the perfect setting for the old, quaint Parsi world. 

In all, watch Little Zizou. Get a glimpse into a hitherto unknown world and come out feeling good with a smile.

Delhi 6

Starring- Abhishek Bachchan, Sonam Kapoor, Waheeda Rahman

Director- Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra

Running time- 140 mins

Rating- **

Delhi 6 was unanimously expected to be the first hit of the year 2009. Its song Masakalli was on top of the charts.The quaint old bylines of Chandni Chowk, Delhi with postcode 6, were sepia-toned one notch giving it the old world charm. With his previous movie Rang De Basanti being one of Hindi cinema’s greatest, there was no way Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra could go wrong.

But he did- largely with the explorative mode of the script. Mehra established the basic storyline- NRI grandson comes back with dying grandmom back to her old Delhi home so that she can die there, and soon discovers Delhi-6 and subsequently India. Roshan wanders about Delhi interacting with the interesting bunch of loving peaceful residents. One of them is Bitu, (Sonam) a sparky ambitious girl refusing marriage and dreaming of being the country’s next singing star. 

Love obviously follows next but a tad too late in the movie and that’s where the problems start. Once the premise is given, there is nothing for Roshan to do. No explanations on his life back in America, job, girlfriend and why does he just not do anything except observe others and try changing and sometimes interfering in their lives. 

The hot topic which has got all tongues wagging is attacks by a black monkey man. All strange incidents and murders are quickly blamed on him. No one has ever really him, but the rumours get stronger day by day. The previously communally peaceful neighbourhood soon begans to doubt the other. 

On the upside, each actor is handpicked by Mehra. Rishi Kapoor as the wise Ali, Supriya Pathak as the loving older sister in law, Waheeda Rahman-graceful in each frame- each of add wonderfully to the film. Atul Kulkarni’s meek act and Divya Dutta as the beautiful untouchable sweeper stand out amongst the performances This may not be his best performance, but  you can see the hardwork put behind Roshan by the Junior B. Its good to have Sonam Kapoor back on stage.

One can tell Mehra knows Delhi. However the blend of a variety of themes under a large one does not leave a good taste in the mouth. The whole monkeyman is based on a real incident but sounds surreal in the movie. Roshan-Bitu’s love story gains prominence only in the last shots. The Ramayana depiction is not an  apt metaphor for current events, (Mehra achieved the Bhagat Singh juxtaposition in Rang De Basanti perfectly)

The music features in ten best albums by AR Rahman. Masakalli, Delhi 6 title track and Genda Phool are on top of the charts. Prasoon Joshi’s lyrics are outstanding

Overall if you don’t go with any expectations, you may be able to feel good. But a movie with this star cast and a director like Mehra, its impossible not to expect and hence Delhi 6 is a let down.

Luck By Chance

Starring- Farhan Akhtar, Konkona Sen Sharma and pretty much the rest of Bollywood

Director- Zoya Akhtar

Running time- 156 mins

Rating- ****

Tribute to Indian cinema can either be full of cliches as seen Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi’s hit song or . However a real Bollywood has not yet been since the 1994 blockbuster Rangeela. Who better to bring that cinema back than a debutante director with star parents, a star brother/director and close interactions with the whole industry?

Zoya Akhtar brings us Luck by Chance. Cinema with all its charms, glory and realities- none melodramatic rather subtle with none of the starcast going to histronics.

The story about budding actor Vikram Jaisingh (Farhan Akhtar) who by chance gets a call from producer Romi Roly’s office. Roli (Rishi Kapoor, absolutely hilarious) usual hero Zafar Khan chooses a Karan Johar movie over Roli’s love story and walks out. With no other actor avaible, he goes in for a newcomer. Vikram lands the lead role due to his charm and appeal to women, as decided by the pretty … (Juhi Chawla, delighful) in love story starring opposite pretty bimbette Niki Walia (Isha Sharvani, charming and completely gorgeous). Her mother Neena is the yesteryear diva (who better than the ever-youthful Dimple Kapadia for the role) who along with her daughter has the hots for Vikam. Little do they know, he is already seeing struggling actress Konkona Sen Sharma stuck with side roles and ad films. But does fame make Vikram forget those who supported him when he was no one?

If Ram Gopal Varma used his three lead characters to successfully describe the industry, Zoya goes all out bringing the whos who of the industry together. If Farah Khan got 31 stars for one star, Zoya coos even the most reluctant stars (Aamir Khan cameos in the film’s first five minutes) to the unknown (writer Mushtaq Sheikh responsible for Om Shanti Om) to the cameo-friendly (Abhishek Bachchan for atleast five minutes is a must in every movies nowadays). The two main actors- Farhan Akhtar and Konkona Sen Sharma are top-notch and even amongst an A-list starcast hold their ground.

The strength of Luck By Chance is that its main theme of representing the Indian film industry is done by the best in the industry themselves. The script however does go weak towards the last half hour becoming preachy and the end is highly abrupt. 

Do watch the movie, get a glimpse behind the scenes of India’s most sought after industry. Finally, Bollywood is captured for what it truly is.