Release date - 11’th Jan 2013
One Word which describes the film – Eccentric
Best Dialogue –
Music – Vishal Bhardwaj
Budget -40 crore
The first big budget film of the year is a dark comedy which focuses on the the farmers of the country who are under big debts and the industrialists who with the help of corrupt politicians want to take the poor farmers ' lands to make Special Economic Zones.
The film starts with a shot of a stretch limousine crashing into a bar in the middle of a wheat field with Mr Mandola saying that "Gulabo andar , Hariya bahar " . It's only after sometime that we come to know that Gulabo is the name of the local whiskey brand which transforms Mr Mandola , an ambitious ,insatiably greedy industrialist with capitalist ambitions into a generous socialist Hariya who provokes the villagers to take a morcha against himself.
After that the film goes on till interval in a confusing way with lots of characters who are not given any proper introduction .
There is Mandola's servant Matru who has studied Law in the city & wishes to lead a movement one day. Imran Khan has shed his lover boy image and has put on the rustic look . I think this is Imran's best performance till date. He has put on the perfect Haryanvi accent and body language and is comfortable in acting with a veteran actor like Pankaj Kapoor.
There is Mandola's Oxford retrurn daughter who in Matru's words has a Meena Kumari complex .Anushka Sharma is clearly still in the Jab tak hai jaan phase as she roams around in the big haveli and village in micro shorts which totally seem very out of place in the Haryanvi set up.
Then come the corrupt minister, Chaudhari Devi (played by Shabana Azmi) who thinks that " jab hamari pragati hogi tabhi to desh ki unnati hogi" and her dim-wit son Baadal (played by Arya Babbar) .
We can't control our laughs when she compares her son with sons of other politicians "Yahi farak hai tum mein aur Rahul, Sachin aur Jyotiraditya mein!"
Badal and his friends exchange lame Knock-Knock jokes which I think is a dig at the current generation.
Last but not the least there are the numerous villagers ,and the only thing which made the kids smile 'the gulabi bhains '.
After a dragging first half the film catches speed in the second half but most of the audience was so bored that they didn't pay much attention to the subtle humor or realistic story.
In a line the film has a very good message , though we hope the director had scripted it in a better way .
Must watch for Pankaj Kapur fans .Can be seen in theaters .
Rank- 5 (Films I have seen in 2013 )
