Lafangey Parindey (2010)

Whenever they say everything’s possible you should know it’s Bollywood they are talking about because yes literally everything is possible in that land. Lafangey Parindey, directed by Pradeep Sarkar and produced by Aditya Chopra is another Bollywood movie which proves the stated fact. The plot of Lafangey Parindey takes us into the lives of Nandu [Neil Nitin Mukesh] and Pinky [Deepika Padukone] who live in a small colony or ‘vadi’ as they call it. Pinky is an extremely talented dancer who has very high aspirations and wants to get out of the locality she’s living in because people there can’t understand her dreams. Pinky aspires to win India’s Got Talent through dancing on skates. Winning this competition is her only ticket out of the small colony she is living in.

Nandu, who lives in the same colony as Pinky, is a one shot boxer working under Usman Bhai’s gang. One day while driving, Nandu accidently runs over Pinky and that’s when life takes a different route for both of them. While the world and Pinky herself think that it was Anna who ran over Pinky, Nandu is the only one who knows the real secret but remains silent about it. Pinky loses her vision and dreams both in that accident but not her desire to win the competition. That’s when Nandu finds her out and teaches her how to see using other senses that she has and Pinky chooses Nandu as her partner for the competition. While they are teaching each other and practicing together, the two fall in love as Pinky regains her confidence and starts watching the dream to win ‘India’s got talent’ again. The story, however, takes an expected turn when Pinky finds out who her real culprit was.

Clearly, the story is average and falls short on the expectations build by Yash Raj Films. There are absolutely no unexpected twists and turns that would stick your eyes to the screen, which is a major flaw of Lafangey Parindey. Like I said before, there are some things which are completely unbelievable like Pinky losing her sight in an accident in a scene and in the next scene you watch her standing up and making a decision to dance without learning the daily things at first. Then she starts dancing perfectly that too on skates. That’s a little too much for someone who is blind! Also, the dance that gets them through the first round of competitions isn’t good enough for selection. Moreover, Nandu falls in it too, which makes one only wonder who was judging it.

The dialogue is excellent and breathes life into the roles. The comical lines make you laugh while the emotional ones touch your heart. Keep in mind though that this isn’t a comedy so there are a very few dialogues that would make you laugh! The tapori language used also makes one smile once in a while.
Throughout the film, Deepika stands out. She has enacted every scene with such excellence that you can’t pick out any flaws. The part where she is trying to understand that she has lost her vision is beautifully done and touches your heart instantly. With every upcoming film, Deepika is proving that she is really competent and a mixture of beauty with brains. This is probably the best acting she has done so far. As far as her looks are concerned, she is beautiful in Lafangay Parindey and her outfits suit the role perfectly. Seems like the designers really understood what is demanded from the role.

Neil Nitin Mukesh could do a lot more. In some areas he is expression less especially when emotions are expected to be shown! Had he been more expressive, the audience could have related more to him. I personally think he isn’t well suited for the role of a gangster either. Deepika out shadows him completely.

The chemistry between Deepika and Neil is fresh partly because they have never been seen together before and partly because it’s different from most Bollywood films. There are no looking-into-each other’s-eyes scenes or singing and dancing at mehndis or near the Egyptian mountains. Indeed Lafangey Parindey is filmy but in its own special way, which in fact is the beauty of the film. The way Pinky  flirts with the shy Nandu is quite delightful.

The music fails to soar high or add to the charm of the film. However, there are scenes where the music is incorporated really well and hence blends. All in all, Lafangey Parindey is an average movie, which falls short from the expectations that Yash Raj Films have probably because it’s a bit too predictable. You can totally afford to miss this one and wait for something that lightens up the screen in the best way possible! Let’s just hope that happens soon because Bollywood has been very disappointing lately – Hafsah Sarfraz

Cast and Production Credits

Year – 2010, Genre – Drama, Country – India, Language – Hindi, Producer – Aditya Chopra, Director – Pradeep Sarkar, Music Director – R. Anandh, Cast - Neil Nitin Mukesh, Deepika Padukone, Piyush Mishra, Manish Chaudhary, Viraj Adhav, Namit Das, Vinay Sharma, Palomi, Amey Pandya

Tere Bin Laden (2010)

Finally. After more than a month of hype, re: glowing reviews, Bollywood’s A-list joining the Twitter bandwagon to praise the film [yes, KJo's on my Twit-List], and abysmal torrent downloads ['HQ DVD rip' - not!], Tere Bin Laden makes its way to your local DVD shop.

It seems India’s just woken up to the concept of political satires, but given the critical and commercial success of both Tere Bin Laden and Sundance darling Peepli Live, India seems all set to give competition to, say, Wag The Dog or [dare I say it] Dr. Strangelove.

I’ll be honest: I had incredibly high expectations from the movie as I popped on the passable camera print on my DVD – and 90 minutes later, I have this to say: fans of the genre, rejoice! Not since David Zucker’s 1980 cult-classic Airplane! has a satire played out with such ferocious sophomoric glee. Mindless Akshay Kumar farce this is not [and thank God for that: after Chandni Chowk to China, Kambakkht Ishq, De Dana Dan and the recent horror-show Housefull, I was ready to write off Bollywood]; lampooning the world’s most infamous personality was always going to be an uphill task, but director Abhishek Sharma and his motley crew emerge triumphant with a satire that is subversive and yet features subtext [Osama-phobia, anyone?] galore.

The Plot, or Hum Sab [Bin Laden ki] Umeed Se Hain: Ali Hassan [Ali Zafar], an ambitious young news reporter from Pakistan and licensed Ullu Da Pattha, is desperate to migrate to the US in pursuit of the American dream. His repeated attempts to immigrate [with help from Jamal Bhai - head of immigration consultants 'Lashkar-e-Amreeka' - major LOL] are shot down as his visa is always rejected. Just when he thinks he’s going to be stuck at a dead-end job at ‘Danka TV’, reporting nonevents [case in point - Man at vegetable stall: 'Iss mooli ne to mere saare khwaab hi poore kar diye' / Ali: 'Kese?' / Man: 'Bass..kar diye'] he comes across a [woman-ogling, irreverent, kanjoos poultry farmer - poor Osama must be writhing in his grav- well, wherever he is] Osama bin Laden lookalike, Noora [Pradhuman Singh]. The reporter then hatches a scheme with unlikely [and quirky] allies: an aspiring stylist Zoya [Sugandha Garg], affable sidekick Gul [Nikhil Ratnaparkhi], a USA-bashing RJ, Qureishi [Rahul Singh], and office-temp Lateef [Chirag Vohra] who’s fluent in Arabic, to produce a fake Osama video and sell it to news channels as a breakthrough scoop. Unfortunately, there are serious [not My Name Is Khan or New York serious: think 'Operation Kick-Ass'] ramifications as the White House gets involved and dispatches a overzealous secret agent [Barry John and his coordinated carrot-munching cronies] on Ali’s trail.

The [extremely fast-paced] film pays homage to the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker school of comedy right from the onset: the airport announcement(s) are reminiscent of Airplane!’s opening sequence; of course, with a desi tadka. The prelude, a laugh-out-loud deportation sequence, that segues into the opening credits [hello, wildly popular Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy track 'Ullu Da Pattha'!] sets the tone for the hilarious scenes that follow. And boy, do they.

Ali Zafar is to Tere Bin Laden what Ranbir Kapoor was to Saawariya: definitely the find of the season, the roguish superstar-in-the-making moves onscreen like a seasoned pro, with impeccable comedic timing to boot. The paidayshi glass-half-full critic in me waited for him to drop the ball/ham it up à la Govinda of yore, but his performance was consistent throughout.  Pradhuman Singh was another revelation: be it in Noora or faux-Osama avatar, the man brought on the laughs, and then some. Post Omi Vaidya [Silencer/Chatur - 3 Idiots], Bollywood is introduced to yet another firecracker of a performer. However, it isn’t fair to single out an actor: it’s the whole ensemble that works in the film’s favour. For example, Ali’s scenes with his TRP-hungry boss at Danka TV, Majeed, played by the pokerfaced-yet-priceless Piyush Mishra, are absolute gold: his character makes for a clever dig at the news industry; the politics, the power struggle. From Sugandha’s no-nonsense portrayal of Zoya [I've liked this girl since Jaane Tu..Ya Jaane Naa! - note Noora's wickedly 'suggestive' scenes with her], Rahul Singh as the ‘voice’ of Osama [after a wonderfully restrained performance in Madhur Bhandarkar's Jail, he's back with a bang]; heck, even to Majeed’s wife [your typical nagging housewife], everyone pitches in fine performances.

However, it’s writer-director Abhishek Sharma who’s the real hero of the enterprise; from slapstick to sardonic, audiences get the full monty, far as humour goes. Sample this sequence: Majeed ‘dealing’ with a Burqa-clad Gul over ‘Osama’s’ video: ‘Ab dikhao naa!’ / Gul: ‘Oye, bola na, maine sirf Burqa pehna hai, baqi cheezen wahi hain jo tumhare paas hain.’ / Majeed: ‘Array bhai jaan, maine kaha tape dikhao naa!’ Bludgeoning innuendo; crude even? Definitely, but then, it works so beautifully because no actor goes over-the-top in their delivery.

My favorite sequence in the film, however, has got to be secret agent Ted describing the wacky ‘Operation Kick-Ass’ and the details of their Osama-hunt; the series of comic-book style images storyboarding their each move is priceless. A close second, though, is the entire penultimate sequence at the Danka TV studio – think hand-grenade, think martyred murgha, think chase sequence a la Andaaz Apna Apna, think ‘Habibi George Bush – Tuaadi Maa Di -’; its madcap mayhem through and through.

The only downer was that despite some wonderful production design [recreating Karachi in Hyderabad sets], almost all male characters [read: extras] are, rather stereotypically, shown with white prayer-hats on their heads – but at least India’s moved on from the Veer-Zaara representation of Pakistanis [seriously, who says 'Adaab' as a form of greeting - it's Pakistan, not a Devdas set!] Oh, and umm, regarding Barry John’s accent, I’ll just let The Hollywood Reporter do the talking: “..a transplanted Brit with a garbled American accent so atrocious that one wonders if this is India’s revenge for decades of bad American characterizations of South Asians.”

There’s always going to be the ‘high-brow’ critics that’ll dismiss the film as a prolonged public-access comedy sketch, but then, the film is unabashedly mainstream; with an inventive script, politically incorrect yet riotous humor, and entertainment value aplenty, the film’s global terrorism and paranoia, the lighter side of. However, I’ll let you be the judge.
As for me, I’m a certified ‘Ullu Da Pattha.’ – Osman Khalid Butt

Cast and Production Credits

Year – 2010, Genre – Comedy, Country – India, Language – Hindi, Producer – Pooja Shetty Deora, Aarti Shetty, Director – Abhishek Sharma, Music Director – Shankar Mahadevan, Ehsaan Noorani, Loy Mendonsa, Dhruv Dhalla, Cast - Ali Zafar, Barry John, Chirag Vohra, Nikhil Ratnaparkhi, Piyush Mishra, Rahul Singh, Seema Bhargava, Sugandha Garg, Pradhuman Singh, Chinmay Mandlekar