The Dirty Picture

I must start this review with an anecdote from a few of days back. I was on my way back from the village (read Bangalore) and was taking the Indian Airlines flight. My song of the day was “Oooh La La”. Just kept humming it through the day. En route to the airport we were having this conversation that The Dirty Picture will be one of the top 5 movies of the year and that Vidya Balan will clearly get 2 nominations for the year – The first movie of the year No One Killed Jessica and The Dirty Picture. In fact, now that I think of it, she could win both awards – Best Supporting Actress for NOKJ and Best Actress for TDP.

Anyways, as I was humming the song and boarding the flight, I was also chatting up with my colleague. We did not say anything about Naseer Bhai – how can we say anything about one of the best actors of our time. We were just intrigued about his role in the movie and how he would essay it. We both agreed that Emraan Hashmi would have, by the end of the movie ticked off from his list another actress – only this time, it would be a genuine actress and not a random aspiring starlet. And the unanimous agreement – actually question was – What the hell is Tusshar (now without the Kapoor) doing in the movie? And as I was saying this out aloud, I entered the flight only to be greeted with a vision that I will not forget for the rest of my life!!! There on Seat1D, and smiling right back at me (surely she heard my comment about Tusshar) was Vidya Balan in all her simplicity. And did she look gorgeous? Hell Yes!!!!

I must say, that most of our discussion was bang on. Vidya Balan gives her 110% as always and generates an aura around Reshma aka Silk that will generate emotions starting from the rank depraved to the completely sympathetic thanks to the pitiful end that we know Silk Smitha had. Some really good dialogues dot the otherwise slapstick ones. But then it is The Dirty Picture. So slapstick was to be expected and I give Milan Luthria full credit for the same. Probably the best movie from the Luthria stable but it would not have been possible without the stunning performances of the cast.

I terms of other aspects, The Dirty Picture was probably below par. Editing was quite below par and the movie was way too long – probably 2.5 hours which turned out to be nearly 3 thanks to the breaks and trailers. While the songs were good, they were quite ill placed especially Ishq Sufiyana which kind of hits you out of the blue about 10 minutes from the end. And Honeymoon Ki Raat was also kind of wasted. I thought the movie could have easily finished in about 2 hours. Kind of moved away from the basic concept so aptly captured by Reshma that the movie business is about 3 things – Entertainment, Entertainment & Entertainment. 7 on 10 and definitely makes it to the top 5 movies of the year for me.

Watch the trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NM8m4_DLZtY

Allah Ke Bandey

The trailers were mightly impressive. The cast – extremely strong to say the least. The story seemed to have been inspired from the 1996 movie by Barry Levinson – Sleepers. The reviews on twitter were very positive. And I was hoping to see the next 7 on 10 movie of the year. But it was not to be I guess. Never judge a book by its cover or a movie by its trailer.


Vijay Kamble (Sharman Joshi) & Yakub Ansari (Faruk Kabir) are a couple of 12 year olds living in Bhool Bhulaiyya, a Chor Bazaar. They live with their aging and dying mother (Suhasini Mulay). She is Vijay’s biological mother and has adopted Yakub since his parents died in a train accident. Bhool Bhulaiyya is controlled primarily by Mafkaan Yeda and his right hand man, Nana. The kids understand that if they have to get anywhere within the place, the best way out would be to join the gang. They start running drugs and doing small time “Bhaigiri”. But these petty crimes aren’t going to get them into the big league. When their mother is diagnosed with an extremely weak liver and has no other choice but to be operated upon, the kids decide it is time to take the next step. They approach Mafkaan with a plan to rob a local jewelry store. Nana doubts them but Mafkaan is impressed with their spunk and gives them the green. The boys commit their first serious crime. When they are done with the job, they are about to run off with all the spoils without giving Mafkaan his share of 50%. But Mafkaan lands up. A scuffle ensues and Yakub shoots Mafkaan.

It only takes the cops a couple of days to track them down thanks to the detailed description given by Nana. But most importantly, Nana has taken advantage of the situation and shot Mafkaan already. So when the kids get rounded up they get charged with multiple counts and eventually find themselves in juvenile prison. This is the beginning of their worst nightmare. The Jailor (Nasseeruddin Shah) and KT the in house gangster use most of the kids for their own pleasure. And also run a drug racket within the premises. Our enterprising duo soon find themselves in trouble in an attempt to take on the system. When they get violated for the first time, Vijay decides its time to play it cool and strike when the moment is right which they soon do and take control of the situation instead of succumbing to it.

AKB is not a complete take off on Sleepers. It seems to be inspired in bits and pieces though. There are streaks of almost every slum movie that has been made in the past few years from the likes of Slumdog Millionaire to City of God. Somewhere it doesn’t seem original. Faruk Kabir as an actor looked like a good prospect in the rushes but eventually turns out to be a damp squib. The support cast is average with Zakir Hussain playing the lead duo’s trusted lieutenant – Ramesh Bhai. One wonders why Anjana Sukhani and Rukhsar were ever involved in the entire movie. Even the sex scene that Anjana Sukhani is part of is fairly insipid to say the least. They were both furniture and not even the best looking furniture one can expect. The saddest part is that a fabulous talent like Atul Kulkarni is all but wasted with barely a few minutes of screen time. There is nothing that Nasseruddin Shah has to prove anymore. His execution of the nasty warden is almost flawless. Sharman Joshi proves once again that he is definitely one of the best that we have on the block currently. And lastly but not the least – the child artistes – who I believe were very good in parts but not completely awesome. I hate to say this about kids and don’t mean to be a dampner but seriously there have been better performances by children on screen even if it was required to be as raw as AKB. Having said that, there is tremendous potential in both. And if someone can help me out with their names it would be great.

Marginally above Average direction and decent editing + cinematography make AKB worth a watch. But it doesn’t do justice to the power packed cast. Yet, it’s one of the better movies released of late. I am only disappointed because it could have been so much better. Watch it for the supporting role from Nasser and a strong lead performance from Sharman. I give it 6 on 10.