Cross-posted at http://madaboutmoviez.com/2011/12/03/the-dirty-picture-way-too-dirty-for-its-own-good/
Since the 1st teaser of this movie with Vidya Balan in the red saree turned up on Youtube a while back till today when this movie hit theatres, It managed to catch the attention of everybody who’s laid eyes upon it. The movie however just doesn’t bother to do that. The promotion for this movie has been relentless (Not as much as Ra.One), but equally in your face. The past few days on Twitter have belonged to this movie. And considering how the audiences are so starved of quality entertainment that they are willing to accept even what I refer to as “Quasi-Entertainment”. And considering the crowd, there is no doubt that this one’s gonna give a happy ending to the box office this year.
So the story starts off with a glimpse of Reshma, who is not content living the life of an unknown. She has a devilish streak to her as is evident when she disturbs her neighbours in the act as they are getting too noisy for her. Her backstory which is shown over the typically 80s styled credits is equally fascinating as it shows her running away from what is revealed later to be a forced marriage. She wants to break into the movies very badly as is shown during her early attempts to get into tinseltown. Her big break in the industry comes by a stroke of absolute luck which turns her from Reshma to Silk and then on, the story goes via the typical biopic template of Rise, Plateau, Descent, Downfall and finally Redemption except of course, there’s no redemption in this story.
The story also provides us with a glimpse of the various people who enter and exit her life at different points of time. We have Suryakant (Nasseruddin Shah), The aging superstar who’s beginning to understand that he’s at the end of his reign, Ramakant (Tusshar Kapoor), Suryakant’s shy writer brother, who is not sure whether he wants to stay in his brother’s shadow or get out, Abraham (Emraan Hashmi), The maverick writer who wishes to make movies that are different from the typical slam bang fare that the movie makers of that era are dishing out.
I have a major gripe with Milan Luthria. Till date, other than Taxi 9211, none of his other movies have ever lived up to the potential of their stories. This guy has a tendency to work with the best stories, create heavy duty anticipation by the interval, and then deflate it by the time the end credits roll. This movie sadly is no exception. The 1st half of the movie grabs your attention right from the 1st scene and dares you to look away from the screen. The 2nd half of the movie however loses interest and tells you “Chal, jitna dikhana tha dikha diya, ab aaraam kar thodi der keliye”.
The best moments of the movie however are mostly in the 1st half. Scenes like her serendipitous entry into tinseltown, her absolute glee at audiences walking into cinema halls just to see her one song, her 1st meeting with Suryakant etc etc, stand out brilliantly. But in the 2nd half sadly it all goes for a toss as like always, the director seems clueless about how to move things towards the climax.
Sadly, other than the author backed role of Silk and Suryakant which would’ve been ruined in the hands of a lesser actor, the rest of the cast is either woefully underwritten or worse, underutilized. Emraan Hashmi’s character goes from maverick to sellout in just a few scenes with just a line of explanation that doesn’t quite explain the change in his mindset. Tusshar Kapoor’s character is not even explained clearly to us and is taken for granted by the director just like the other characters in the movie. The 2 characters who you wish featured on screen more often i.e Selvaganesh (Rajesh Sharma) and Nyla(Anju Mahendru) who incidentally is based on Devyani Chaubal, the gossip columnist of yesteryear with an extremely acerbic pen are criminally underused and ignored. In fact, some of the better scenes in the movie involve interactions between Silk and these 2 characters.
The music of the movie relies on only 2 songs, Oo La La and Nakka Mukka. These 2 songs keep your feet moving, otherwise the rest of the songs are typically pedestrian fare. The background score which in some scenes has a Hans Zimmer hangover manages to stay in your head though. Ishq Sufiyana for some reason seemed like a rehash of the chill version of Bahara to me!
Vidya Balan is the biggest reason you should watch this movie. She lives the character of the enigmatic, yet brash Silk who wishes to live life on her own terms. Her character however is like the movie. Brilliantly written in the 1st half, Highly inconsistent and confusing in the 2nd half.
Nasseruddin Shah too suffers from a very badly sketched character, which is meant to come off as a caricature. But the man is not considered one of our finest actors for nothing. He manages to give the character a shred of dignity and pathos. Emraan Hashmi does his usual cocky routine. However it is still quite watchable as opposed to Tusshar Kapoor’s character which only stands out in a scene where he channels the style of his father.
Overall, This is a movie that could’ve been so so so so so much more and doesn’t hesitate to remind you of that fact, but somewhere along the way, was either too scared or too disinterested to be that.
3/5! Watch for Vidya Balan. She is worth it.
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