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Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Tamasha

A few minutes into the movie and I thought, 'Kahan phas gaye yaaron'. It was a drag, the narration going back and forth.
But as the plot unraveled, I could see what the director, Imtiaz Ali, was trying to say. He plays with a whole lot of human emotions and shows that within each one of us is not just Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, but numerous facets to who we are and why we behave the way we do.
Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone meet in Corsica, an imaginary fictitious land. In this land, the two of them promise that they would only tell  lies to each other. The logic? So that they could get away from boring reality...from the boring circle of girl meets boy, boy tries to woo girl, they fall in love etc. etc.
They promise not to meet each other in the 'other' world but inevitably they do and that changes Ranbir's outlook to life. He comes to terms with what he is and what he has always aspired to be. The simple story line is about how each of us subjugates our aspirations to become this boring self who grows up to study what our parents want us to (an engineer), waking up to the alarm, work from 9 to 5, follow a set routine, get promoted over a period of 5-10-15 years' time
Deepika's rejection of this Ranbir, hugely upsets him and it is then that he sets on a path of self-analysis.
The movie begins with a young Ranbir fascinated with story telling by an old man on the hills and it is to this man that Ranbir turns to at this juncture of life. He narrates his life story and wants the old man to complete it for him. But the old story teller tells him that the answers all lie with him and is he fearful of listening to those answers? Suddenly enlightened, Ranbir feels free and sets out to do what he always knew he was good at.
The movie has an Inception-like narration though not as intriguing nor as ingeniously woven.The narrative contains little conversation, which was okay but for the songs that keep interrupting the flow.
The movie reflects the awakening in today's youth who have the luxury to refuse to tread the beaten path. Relatively free of financial constraints (unlike former times), they'd rather find happiness in listening to their heart.
The narration may be a bit opaque but what stands out is Ranbir's absolutely brilliant performance. It is a delight to watch him so easily slip in and out of all the multiple personalities that he portrays thus transcending his last few debacles.
The chemistry between Ranbir and Deepika is so evident, you wonder what they are actually doing with other partners in their real life. Deepika matches Ranbir in his energy and is the key factor to the twist in the story.
When you go to watch, go with the expectation that it is not the typical romantic, feel-good movie and is definitely not a 'leave your brains at home when you go to watch this one' kind of movie.

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