Reviewed by: Dare Devil Kid (DDK)
Rating: 3/5 stars
In Mumbai, affable Bollywood buff and wanna-be-actor Sunny, who works as an assistant director, fantasizes about becoming a heartthrob star. However, at every audition he is summarily thrown out. Undeterred, he goes with an American crew to remote areas in Rajasthan to work on a documentary. One day an Islamic terrorist group kidnaps him for the American crew-member. Sunny finds himself on enemy border amidst guns and pathani-clad guards, who decide to keep him hostage until they locate their original target. The house in which he is confined belongs to a Pakistani, whose trade stems from pirated Hindi films, which he brings back every time he crosses the border. Soon, the two factions realize that they share a human and cultural bond. The film shows how cinema can be the universal medium for co-existence.
Director Nitin Kakkar's "Filmistaan" is an interesting little oddity in today's movie times. It is one of the more self-effacing tributes to Indian cinema, not unlike its memorable lead character Sunny Arora (Sharib Hashmi). Sunny is a fantastic mimicry artist— the kind that can reproduce every famous voice but his own. His love for movies is further apparent in a dire situation when he is mistaken for an American film crewmember and kidnapped by an Islamic terrorist group to a village across the border. But his enthusiasm is infectious; how can you not love a guy that offers to aesthetically direct his own ransom video?
"Filmistaan" is offbeat in the purest sense, which for most part, works in its favor. Silence punctuates a majority of Sunny's early captivity, and a shaky hand-held camera adds to the uncertainty of his situation. Unfortunately, this fiercely leftfield treatment also exposes the few compromises made to attain theatrical release two years after its making. An interval and playback songs appear involuntary in the unhurried scheme of things.
Sunny's predicament is a setup for a larger cross-border message, one that moviegoers are (over) familiar with. In this context, "Filmistaan" fizzles out as soon as it runs out of things to do with Sunny's affable ways. A string of charming moments don't add up to form a whole, especially in a dramatic second half that fails to capitalize on solid characterization. Memorable sequences – one that involves a malfunctioning Maine Pyar Kiya DVD, a Talkies tribute, and a debate between Sunny and the chief terrorist about Tendulkar being a better batsman than Afridi – stand out for their sheer originality, but make the desperate last minutes seem like an aberration. Sunny's equation with his unpretentious CD-pirate host, Aftaab (Inaamulhaq), is fun to watch but inconsistent, particularly when they have their Jai-Veeru moments towards the end.
Hashmi typifies the longing that drives majority of this industry; he stops short of the naive Bharat Bhushan from Bheja Fry (Vinay Pathak's crowning moment of glory), and combines well with the conflicted presence of the tolerant terrorists (Mishra, Dutt; intense). Inaamulhaq is uninhibited, and even when his character is saddled with sentiment, he makes you believe that he is a delusional filmmaker scripting his own climax. "Filmistaan" could have worked as an untiring situational comedy without the heavy-handedness of borders and antagonists.
"Filmistaan" is still worth a watch, at least for a genuinely unique protagonist that almost overshadows the final botched-up third act of the film.
Rating: 3/5 stars
In Mumbai, affable Bollywood buff and wanna-be-actor Sunny, who works as an assistant director, fantasizes about becoming a heartthrob star. However, at every audition he is summarily thrown out. Undeterred, he goes with an American crew to remote areas in Rajasthan to work on a documentary. One day an Islamic terrorist group kidnaps him for the American crew-member. Sunny finds himself on enemy border amidst guns and pathani-clad guards, who decide to keep him hostage until they locate their original target. The house in which he is confined belongs to a Pakistani, whose trade stems from pirated Hindi films, which he brings back every time he crosses the border. Soon, the two factions realize that they share a human and cultural bond. The film shows how cinema can be the universal medium for co-existence.
Director Nitin Kakkar's "Filmistaan" is an interesting little oddity in today's movie times. It is one of the more self-effacing tributes to Indian cinema, not unlike its memorable lead character Sunny Arora (Sharib Hashmi). Sunny is a fantastic mimicry artist— the kind that can reproduce every famous voice but his own. His love for movies is further apparent in a dire situation when he is mistaken for an American film crewmember and kidnapped by an Islamic terrorist group to a village across the border. But his enthusiasm is infectious; how can you not love a guy that offers to aesthetically direct his own ransom video?
"Filmistaan" is offbeat in the purest sense, which for most part, works in its favor. Silence punctuates a majority of Sunny's early captivity, and a shaky hand-held camera adds to the uncertainty of his situation. Unfortunately, this fiercely leftfield treatment also exposes the few compromises made to attain theatrical release two years after its making. An interval and playback songs appear involuntary in the unhurried scheme of things.
Sunny's predicament is a setup for a larger cross-border message, one that moviegoers are (over) familiar with. In this context, "Filmistaan" fizzles out as soon as it runs out of things to do with Sunny's affable ways. A string of charming moments don't add up to form a whole, especially in a dramatic second half that fails to capitalize on solid characterization. Memorable sequences – one that involves a malfunctioning Maine Pyar Kiya DVD, a Talkies tribute, and a debate between Sunny and the chief terrorist about Tendulkar being a better batsman than Afridi – stand out for their sheer originality, but make the desperate last minutes seem like an aberration. Sunny's equation with his unpretentious CD-pirate host, Aftaab (Inaamulhaq), is fun to watch but inconsistent, particularly when they have their Jai-Veeru moments towards the end.
Hashmi typifies the longing that drives majority of this industry; he stops short of the naive Bharat Bhushan from Bheja Fry (Vinay Pathak's crowning moment of glory), and combines well with the conflicted presence of the tolerant terrorists (Mishra, Dutt; intense). Inaamulhaq is uninhibited, and even when his character is saddled with sentiment, he makes you believe that he is a delusional filmmaker scripting his own climax. "Filmistaan" could have worked as an untiring situational comedy without the heavy-handedness of borders and antagonists.
"Filmistaan" is still worth a watch, at least for a genuinely unique protagonist that almost overshadows the final botched-up third act of the film.