LOOTERA – A cinematic poetry.

‘A film for cinema lovers!’

It takes courage to make such a film. Yes. Though Vikramaditya was inspired by a story, it takes great determination and sheer perseverance to make a film like this which takes the audience on a completely different journey all together.  The film mesmerizes you and makes you nostalgic if you ever had faced the similar kind of things in your life. Well, that can be expected from a director whose first film was Udaan. Vikramaditya Motwane takes a bow to the commercial cinema side of Bollywood with his latest venture Lootera. Although the film is immensely inspired by the story of O.Henry’s Last Leaf, at no point in time does it make you feel that you are re reading the short story.  Lootera is a complete new thing in itself.

The film has everything, which is required for a hit the box office. Most of the reviews, as the critiques have died somewhere down, gave a four star rating. I don’t believe in star system though. If a film is good, people do watch it, no matter what the stars suggest.

Well, for Lootera, everything falls in line. The story has its own charisma. You know what is bound to happen but you do get a few surprises, which wakes you up and says – Hey! Wake up, this is not reading the book thing, you are watching a movie.

Motwane has, in very good fashion framed the location. It is so pleasing to see Bengal through the lens of Motwane and in the second half the snowy 1954 Himachal through the same craftsmanship. He is surely a well trained student of Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Some of the song sequence, with panning and dollying cameras, reminds you of Bhansali’s work.

Well, Sonakshi did a pretty good job. But Ranveer for me was not apt for the film. Motwane should have thought of someone else but if the budget refrained him from doing so, it’s understood. We all do compromise in our work, don’t we?

Ranveer is good looking guy, but the seriousness just didn’t match with his image. He still looks and acts like a Delhi wala boy from Band Baja Baraat. Well, Divya Dutta is ‘deaf’ & ‘dumb’ in the film. The one guy to watch out for is Adil Hussain. He is a superb actor and with his presence on the screen he makes the reel look so real. You will know what I am talking, if you have seen lessons in forgetting. 

Amit Trivedi has done a wonderful job by keeping the frames together intact with his superb sense over music. Shikayatein and Zinda are my personal favorites. All that happens when you have two choices to make and on the contrary both of them are important, so what is the situation like? All this is included here in LOOTERA. Everything you want to know could be seen in the movie. I don’t really want to go deep into the story because there’s a difference in “Seeing and Reading”. So when you can actually enjoy the cinematic beauty, why should I waste it by telling you!

I am always open for your precious feedbacks! Let me know what you feel, if you have seen the film.

ITEM SONGS IN B’WOOD: DETERIORATED LYRICS?

If we trace the footprints of item songs used in ‘Bollywood’ we will have to go back to the 70’s era. No doubt that the first name strikes in our mind is Helen. But here I am not pointing out the visuals but the use of obscene lyrics. If we listen to an old item song and try to figure out what it means we won’t find anything much obscene in it.

For instance, take ‘mehbooba-mehbooba’ from the film ‘Sholay’, there is nothing wrong about the lyrics. The words used are proper Hindi and also there is no obscenity. There are many such examples which could be taken from the retrospective Indian films.

Tracing the deterioration of “item songs”, we don’t have to go much time back. It all started with the demand of exposing more in the Indian cinema. After all, why in a perfect going track would we want a sudden entry of a woman, half dressed and dancing with others without any reason! For now let’s keep the dancing aside and get to the lyrics.

Starting with “munni badnaam hui”! The phrase says it all. Can you imagine a girl singing it openly or a little girl dancing to it? What message does it conveys to the society, a constructive one, definitely not! And the list just goes on, “jalebibai”, “anarkali disco chali”, “Sheila ki jawani ”or“ chikni chameli”. We listen and watch these songs with our young ones or elders and expect them not to understand the core meaning of it! How is it possible to even think like this.

No matter who you are, if you are an Indian you are bound to be conservative in nature, if not openly then somewhere in the back of your mind. The lyricist is giving what you want. Should we believe this to be true? Do we really want what we are provided with? If that, so then it means that the lyricist is saying that we are not that intellectual and we will listen to every nonsense he/she is writing.

We should not just “listen” but actually listen. Getting to know the meaning should also be one of our agendas. If we consider in context to politics, we discuss with our peers to the deepest of our thoughts and confusion. So if we can do it in the terms of politics then why not films and item numbers.

I heard this recent song from Madhur Bhandarkar’s Heroine, “Halkat Jawani”. Now to every Indian the word “Halkat” is very familiar and the meaning too is known to all. So, can on one hand we expect our young generation (kids especially) to see and grow with the world and also on the other hand expect them not to imitate that in their social lives?

It surely is up to us to decide what to listen and see and what not to.  We have the right to say no! So it is up to us whether we should go gaga over these lousy item song lyrics or praise it.