Saturday 15 October 2011

My Friend Pinto

The Assistant Director of Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na and Guru has definitely learnt something from his experiences but he still has a long way to go as can be seen with his directorial debut with My Friend Pinto. That UTV and SLB have both backed this new fellow on the block would seem to indicate that he has some talent. And it does show up in bits and pieces in what is largely a comedy of errors and multiple story lines that will confuse the hell out of even an avid movie watcher. Raaghav Dar, in his attempt to create a dark comedy of sorts lands up creating a goulash of silly sequences barely holding on to each other. All of this woven into a story line that is trying to tell you that one of the most amazing relationships in life are with your closest friends and one must value it to the hilt. Dear Mr. Dar – we are all aware of this and appreciate your effort to try and remind us of the same. But you surely picked up one convoluted way to communicate it. The good news though is that there is definite potential and with just a little bit of hard work and dedication (blah blah blah), you will find yourself on greener pastures.
I have always described Prateik (who has chosen to drop the Babbar from his name to avoid embarrassment I am sure) as a sincere, yet inadequate actor. He seems to have picked up most of his acting genes from papa and not from mama (which could also be one more reason to drop Babbar). With MFP he does nothing much to redeem himself or take it one notch higher in my books at least. The attempt to play the innocent village boy from Goa, Michael Pinto, falls pretty flat. The exceptionally talented cast of Kalki Koechlin, Divya Dutta, Rajendranath Zutshi and Makrand Deshpande seem to find themselves in a fair bit of trouble. Quite certainly, the script did not match their expectation. I think they have been wasted throughout the movie. While I was aware that Mak Deshpande had already lost it and Divya Dutta has never been done justice in Bollywood despite her exceptional talent, I would have hoped that Raj Zutshi and Koechlin sign up for roles that demand the intensity that one has come to expect of them.

Somewhere along the way – I would guess about 15 minutes into the movie – you are actually left wondering about the number of story lines that have cropped up. You would have to be really engrossed into the movie to keep in touch with every single thing that is happening – because there is just so much going on. And the humour is silly at best for most of the time. The music from Ajay Atul is borrowed – especially the last track (from The Mask). The interesting part was the start credits which did not call out a single member of the cast. Very different. And of course there is Kalki when she smiles who looks stunning to say the least. Overall a watchable movie but I am going to drop my rating from a 5 on 10 to a 4.5 on 10. Didn’t stay with me. MFK is a tad better watch for the weekend.

Trailer on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-KEteB1u38

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