|| Shree Ajay Devgn Prasanna ||
Sanjay Leela Bhansali is a painter. Like all his other movies, he knows how to create the most gorgeous camera frames. Colourful, magnificent, lavish. Exciting, epic. Even filled with horror, lonely, suffocating, filthy. And so after The Batman, and Jhund, this movie brought forth the spectacle of Bollywood. And I loved it for that. The next movie I plan to see is The Kashmir Files. So this was a necessary breather, and the movie needed post-pandemic. I felt, "Yes, aaj mi picture pahun alo."
The story is based on an actual Gangubai who was a very interesting person in her own right, and obviously unknown in the mainstream media. Here is her wiki page in case you are interested. Her rise from being sold into sex-work to the queen of Kamathipura and subsequent political lobbying for the protection of their kingdom and possible legalization of sex-work is the crux of the story. The movie is adapted from Mafia Queens of Mumbai by Hussain Zaidi. I am surely going to pick this book up in the future. What that also does is that the story remains interesting, since it was originally written by an author. And SLB is good at adapting anyway. Therefore, there is some amount of interest throughout (more so because a peep into this side of Bombay is an illicit interest we all have but rarely articulate), and it is not a slogfest.
Alia Bhatt is an excellent actor no doubt. From innocence, to Mafia Queen, broken hearts, broken bones, and broken aspirations. Her expressions, demeanour, and swagger are on point. I will credit her with the singular force running this movie and giving meaning and justice to the set-pieces.
Vijay Raaz's acting as a eunuch was very good. He is already an excellent actor. But if you haven't, take a look at the excellent villain that was Sadashiv Amrapurkar as Maharani in Sadak.
For some reason, transitions are in the form of blackouts. Whereas that may seem like the opening and closing of chapters in her life, they seemed rather unnecessary. Other scenes (the musical performance following her beau's marriage, and her dancing during Navratri and the fade-out following it) seemed more a directorial whim rather than something the movie required. However, I am in two minds about whether those two songs should be cut out. They would have taken away from the entertainment/pure Bollyfeel and made it crisper at the cost of losing out on the 'feel'. What they probably needed was a justification, as in "Ka baghu mi he gana, point kay ahe?" A similar moment where I was wtf was the Mhysa-Khaleesi moment when all her comrades get around and hug her.
I will not say much about the social issues raised in the latter half of the film. The small comedy portions were worth it. The speech is the standard we would have learnt in school debates. The ending is a good throwback to the beginning of her wanting to be a film star. I was mainly looking forward to Jim Sarbh, as I saw him mentioned in the credits. He does his usual Sarbhactic acting.
This movie does not explore the lives of the sex-workers or the ecosystem of Kamathipura in detail (other than visually). The only extremely poignant scene (which I am borrowing from another review I had read on Twitter, and I was actively on the look-out for) was when Ganga's co-workers treat her like a doll and position her hands, legs, and demeanour to attract clients and put her to work, making her Gangu. This was not that kind of movie anyway, so I do not begrudge SLB for the same. But yes, by glossing over hardships, or rather not depicting them more starkly in contrast to the 'positive' camaraderie the women have with each other, there may be some injustice done, if not an opportunity lost for a stronger message.
City Pride Kothrud has expanded with three more screens and a special 26-seater private screening theatre too. This is on another floor. I was first surprised when I got a ticket for screen 7, but later was even given a tour of the private theatre thanks to a school friend, Aman Vani whom I met there (That's Pune for you!). The refurbishing and expansion are quite nice. Do give it a visit.
Rating: 2 Beards/5
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