Tamasha (1952)

Meena ji and her music videos exist on a different plane than the rest of the movie. She was so wonderful as Kiran, one of her rare non-tragic roles (and hence, one of the least talked about). Dev Anand is quite good too, with his nuanced portrayal of a himbo. Meena ji and Dev didn't really have much of a chemistry, but Meena ji's screen presence is enough to take care of that. 

Tamasha is a delight in the technical aspect too. I don't know much about cinematography and all that jazz, but I did appreciate the overall aesthetics of the movie a lot for some reason. That's pretty much it. Oh and let me just say that this one deserves all the clout that Imtiaz Ali's Tamasha has. Don't fight me on it!! And Meena ji deserves more recognition for her comic and non-serious side. She might have been the best "tragic queen" Hindi cinema ever saw, but she was also way more than that. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Shyam Singha Roy (2021)

There is honestly nothing more annoying than a movie that has flashes of being a good movie, but turns out to be a bad one anyway. Not only have you watched a bad film, but you have also been cheated of all hope and it's exhausting, to say the least.  Also, when this movie is a first day first show, you can't help but feel betrayed. Full "I trusted you!" moment only.  The first half was so tedious to sit through, I genuinely thought of leaving after the interval at one point. I didn't though, because Sai Pallavi only made her entry in the second half, and let's face it, she was the real reason for me to go watch it anyway. I mean, Nani was a huge pull factor too, but after Tuck Jagadish (2021) and V (2020), I was a little wary of trusting this man completely. As I should, because look what he made me sit through... again! (I swear to god, if the Nazriya film isn't good, I just might never watch a Nani movie ever again). Back to Pallu though- she is the onl
Read more

Aasai (1995)

My only regret is that I wish I knew absolutely nothing about this movie before watching it. I know I'm 26 years too late to the party, but honestly, not knowing the basic premise would have made things even more scary and messed up, not that there wasn't enough of those sentiments already. But to watch it unfold like the psychotic drama it was on the big screen, while innocently expecting another cute sweet love story featuring foetus Thala... I would give anything to have that experience. I know we love poking fun at Prakash Raj for being the evergreen villain, but it takes an Aasai for one to truly understand why he's earned that reputation. He really brings to life the evil but powerful psychopath who can manipulate people and situations to get what he wants, and I swear I was shaking a little when the movie ended because he is just that good at driving the point home. That's the thing about well-written thrillers- they work excellently as horror movies because you
Read more

Prem Patra (1962)

Honestly, I was already prepared to love this movie, simply because it stars both Sadhana and Shashi Kapoor. Moreover, this is the only movie that they did together, so I was very excited to see this one anyway. But even with all this, I was still not prepared to find this movie as beautiful as I did. First of all, the storyline is excellent- typical Bollywood trope of miscommunications and switched identities. However, there's nothing over-the-top about the movie. No melodrama, no excessively intense emotions, and certainly no unnecessary fight sequences. Just a quiet passion that blooms as the story progresses, and makes you fall in love with the idea of love even more. There's also no "villainisation" of any character- even the characters who make mistakes are treated as humans, not reincarnations of the devil himself. After all, it's human to make mistakes, the movie seems to say- and to add to that lovely sentiment, it also says that it's human to apol
Read more