Over the last few months, I've become increasingly jaded and cynical about Hindi cinema. The choices seem to be narrowing to increasingly violent and brutal films with good performances or soulless masala clones with production line Barbie dolls for heroines, and songs that are forgotten seconds after they finish. I've been pushing myself to reach 150 BW films watched, and it has increasingly seemed like a waste of time and effort, often leaving me angry at the time chewed up by the drek on offer. In the last week, I've sat through Aashiq and Gumrah, both films that left me bewildered and angry at their awfulness.
Then, today, I finally got to see HAHK. I went in expecting to loathe it. Despite my vigorous efforts, I just couldn't. Cinematically, there's almost nothing right with this film, but it was still great fun to watch. One IMDb review disparaged it by calling it "just a shaadi cassette", and I think that was right on the money. I also don't think that it is such a bad thing. There's an artless naivety and innocence to the film's spirit that makes it easy to overlook the fact that watching it will induce a coma in the saccharine-intolerant. I am normally very intolerant of super-sweet fluiff, but somehow this film sneaked past my outer cynic and found my inner child. It was a better K3G, better for not having all the negative elements. If you're going to make candy floss, don't try to be "cool" by spicing it with pepper, just celebrate the sugar, and that's what HAHK does. I don't know if I'll watch it again, but there are several songs that were well worth the watch, and Tuffy was great.
I don't think such a film could be made today, since jaded cynicism is de rigueur for film viewers the world over, and I doubt that many directors would have the courage, or find the backers, to make such an unabashedly retro piece. To compress the "mushkil" into the last 20 or so was genius, it let the film just bubble away, with so many laughing, smiling faces that only the stoniest grinches could be unmoved. Maybe the biggest flaw with HAHK is the fact that so many subsequent films tried to copy its "formula", without realising it didn't really have one, and that calculating mimicry is no substitute for the real thing.
As a film, I'd give it 5/10. For refreshing my BW palate, and reminding me of the magic of masala, I'd give it 8.
Then, today, I finally got to see HAHK. I went in expecting to loathe it. Despite my vigorous efforts, I just couldn't. Cinematically, there's almost nothing right with this film, but it was still great fun to watch. One IMDb review disparaged it by calling it "just a shaadi cassette", and I think that was right on the money. I also don't think that it is such a bad thing. There's an artless naivety and innocence to the film's spirit that makes it easy to overlook the fact that watching it will induce a coma in the saccharine-intolerant. I am normally very intolerant of super-sweet fluiff, but somehow this film sneaked past my outer cynic and found my inner child. It was a better K3G, better for not having all the negative elements. If you're going to make candy floss, don't try to be "cool" by spicing it with pepper, just celebrate the sugar, and that's what HAHK does. I don't know if I'll watch it again, but there are several songs that were well worth the watch, and Tuffy was great.
I don't think such a film could be made today, since jaded cynicism is de rigueur for film viewers the world over, and I doubt that many directors would have the courage, or find the backers, to make such an unabashedly retro piece. To compress the "mushkil" into the last 20 or so was genius, it let the film just bubble away, with so many laughing, smiling faces that only the stoniest grinches could be unmoved. Maybe the biggest flaw with HAHK is the fact that so many subsequent films tried to copy its "formula", without realising it didn't really have one, and that calculating mimicry is no substitute for the real thing.
As a film, I'd give it 5/10. For refreshing my BW palate, and reminding me of the magic of masala, I'd give it 8.