Snipper: Kaminey

Writing exhaustive reviews has not been possible lately, because of various reasons. Hence I’m trying to capture quick reviews and hence the name Snipper J. The below is still lengthy and you’ll hopefully see shorter versions next time around….
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Snip-In:

Vishal Bhardwaj’s best ever directorial work after Omkara. Climax of Omkara was soaked in a bloodbath and could have been less violent (as against the tragic Othello L). But Vishal is stunning in all the departments with Kaminey. I guess in his mind this time he was not comparing his work with numerous versions of Macbeth and Othello, as Kaminey seems to be an original one and not depiction of classics of Shakespeare (Maqbool and Omkara) or Ruskin Bond (Blue Umbrella).

The plot, editing (can be confusing at times for hardcore Desi movie buffs ;)) and storytelling is fabulous. I read somewhere that Vishal superseded Torantino (Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill). Can’t say about that, but yes the pace and the overall treatment was at par with any Great Hollywood Action Classic.

The most remarkable aspect after direction was Shahid. I realized while walking out of the theatre that I was treating Guddu and Charlie as 2 distant characters and there was no Shahid involved even in scenes where the 2 brothers are in the same frame. Only in first couple of scenes (song - Bhanwraa) Shahid was prominent instead of the character. The biggest success in portraying the 2 opposite protagonists lies in not using any deliberate external differences like the makeovers or dress-code etc. Within Bollywood I am not able to recall any other double-role played with equal vigor at least in last 2 decades (a recent good one was Shahrukh’s DON – He played the two characters differently but Shahrukh was not able to separate himself from the character J)

Priyanka, Amol Gupte, Hrishikesh Joshi, Chandan Roy Sanyal (Michael) have acted superbly.

Shahid and Priyanka at picnic, captures one of the most intense and at the same time the wittiest scenes of Bollywood till date.

Cinematography was great. Some low angles and a few hand-held camera shots help in keeping up the pace of the movie. Gray and black hues have been extensively used throughout the movie which goes well with the theme – It subtly tells that in every one of us a gray shade exists and so is the title ‘Kaminey’. The sound effect of rain in the backdrop adds to the thrill. But one more time unfortunately we get to see the dark, ugly, and poor side of Mumbai. That could have been avoided to some extent.

Snip-Out

Climax
The climax revives memories of Tashan L, but thankfully it gets over quickly and is also more bearable in the background of the earlier great 2 hours of the movie.

Tashi in Taxi
Tashi is shown as a real BIG drug mafia and throughout the movie he is relishing in luxury. However in the climax he and his side-kicks get out of age-old Premier Padmini taxis, don’t know why ;-) Also till the end he appears to have South East Asian Origin, but in the climax he asks in Marathi ‘Bhope kuthe rahto?’ That sounds odd and funny.

Disconnect with the Charlie’s dad’s quote
Charlie at the start while narrating the story mentions, ‘Mere baap ne marte waqt hame ye bola tha…’ However later on when his dad commits suicide in the movie, he do not speak anything with his 2 kids while dying.

Sub-Titles
I guess the whole movie refers to incidents taking place within 1-2 days and mention of the date / time / place in sub-titles would have been great to involve viewers more and for keeping in-line of the pace.

Snip-o-meter
Dhan Te tan!
Take a bow to the ever revolving new-age Indian Cinema.
Overall a must see as it’s a great entertainer and for an acting marvel by Shahid. It’s a vrooming Ferrari ride.
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Yogesh Dixit