...I wanna be noticed too!!
Page 3 - *** and a 1/2*Madhur Bhandarkar...
He sure is one of those filmmakers that comes to our mind when we talk new-age Indian alternate cinema. And for a movie nerd like moi who always says - mere to teen ma hai, ek maa, ek durgaa maa aur teesra cinema... he would count among those local deities, who is rising to fame a la matajis or babas (no offence to any religious fanatics... oops was i harsh?!)
Page 3 is one of his latest offerings...
Reminiscent of his debut venture Chandni Bar, this film is deals with the life of Madhvi Sharma, an idealist journalist (deja vu?) and her tryst with reality. (bah! i sound so constrained hehe)
With a very predictable plot, but a free flowing screenplay... the story does seem to strike that 'i can see myself in their shoes' note with the viewers. Nothing is left untouched, from child abuse to casting couches, from swapping of partners to homosexuality... every contemporary as well as conventional issue is handled, and with delicate finesse.
Konkana Sen steals the show without doubt, in her role as Madhvi Sharma... smart, idealist, naive, intelligent... she's a real character alright... and none better than Konkana could delivered this all! There are good performances by the rest of the cast, that goes without saying, but you wonder at times whether the talent and calibre of an acting genius like Atul Kulkarni, especially after his top notch performance in Bhandarkar's own Chandni Bar, should be wasted on a trivial front seat pleasing role like this... you heart does stop to feel with him. But on the other hand, Rehan Engineer proves his acting prowess once again in the 'different' roles. After winning more than just accolades in his debut film Everybody Says I'm Fine... he delivers a winning performance in the role of a helpless homosexual, who is manipulative as well. That was what was best of Bhandarkar, all his characters were nearly rounded and had shades of grey, unlike the cliched black and white prototypes.
A must watch I'd say... don't miss out on this sincere effort :)
posted by Sue @ 7:30 PM
1 Comments:
Hey Su! Very good review! I really liked the free-flowing screenplay and the characterization. In addition to the ones you have mentioned, I think Bomman Irani as Page-3 editor did a good job too!
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