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EDITOR'S PICK
`Rangrezz`
questions overrated emotion love (IANS Movie Review)
Rating: ***1/2
Way back, Tina Turner sang "What`s love got to do with it?"
Now in "Rangrezz", the question is spun into a spunky dizzying drama
of brutal love and betrayal. When love comes to shove, all hell breaks loose.
It`s been a while since Priyadarshan made us sit up and watch in rapt attention.
Visually and in terms of the content, "Rangrezz" is his best work in
years.
In what must rank as one of the most gripping elopement sequences written in the
history of celluloid courtship, three friends, who look like they`ve walked out
of "Kai Po Che" when Chetan Bhagat was not looking, get together to
abduct a powerful minister`s daughter from a crowded temple to unite her with
their lovelorn friend.
The entire sequence lasts for a good 10 minutes. It is shot with the razor-sharp
alacrity of a cleverly-staged game-show entitled "How To Whisk The Chick
Away Under Her Father`s Nose". And yet there is an air of unrehearsed
casualness in the way the three friends, played with throw-away conviction by
Jackky Bhagnani, Vijay Verma and Amitosh Nagpal, flee, fall and scamper away
from danger, bruised, battered, bleeding and bellowing like wounded animals,
with the eloping couple in the backseat of a screeching car.
Full marks to the action director for cutting to the chase without negotiating a
single faltering step in the way the drama unfolds.
Indeed,the real hero of this surprisingly watchable film on the violent end of
that much-abused emotion called love, is cinematographer Santosh Sivan.
Santosh`s unerring eye for a detailed lush and vivid emotional and physical
landscape makes this Priyadarshan`s most visually rich film since "Gardish"
in 1993.
Even in the smallest scene in a small-town dhaba, the spiced-up fumes emanating
from the kitchen hit your nostrils.
This is an elemental film, not the least apologetic about serving up a spicy
dish .The Bihar-Uttar Pradesh dialectic dialogues come across self-consciously
the way they are mouthed by the two actors - Pankaj Tripathi and Lushin Dubey,
playing warring politican-parents of lovers-on-the-run. Ms Dubey is specially
hammy. But then this is no place for the soft-spoken.
This is a film with very strong sensory perceptions. The landscape is ruthless,
rugged and riveting. The emotions are primeval. Caveman tactics, with characters
caught out of their cushy hideouts kicking dragging and screaming, are the
prevalent mode of vindication. It`s a tough world. And obviously a very tough
film to make.
Full marks to the film`s makers and the able cast of male actors who lend a
compelling authenticity to the edge-of-the-seat goings on.
This is no state for the squeamish. Though "Rangrezz" is partly a
coarse bromance and partly a mocking romance, its brutal landscape scoffs at
softer emotions. The tyranny of the troubled territory is testimony to a history
of family violence. The three guys, who form the core of the compelling content
seem to convey more sincerity in their feelings for one another than the two
man-woman relationships in the plot.
Jackky , giving a subdued silently effective performance, roughs up the girl
next door(Priya Anand, Sridevi`s pert niece in "English Vinglish") and
shies away from any physical contact. This is "Ishaqzaade" without the
sex. As for the other couple, whose elopement forms the central plot, their love
evaporates faster than the film`s pacy editing can cope with.
But not before one of the protagonists loses a leg and the other his hearing
ability.
All this for love that never was! The peppery racy proceedings could have been
damned funny were it not so sad. The plot packs in plenty of punch. Priyadarshan
wastes no time in building up a tempo in the spiralling storytelling. The
characters evolve effortlessly from the core of plot. These are people who
plunge into a crisis before thinking of the repercussions.
The rage and passion of betrayal are astutely captured in the narration.
Priyadarshan takes the original Tamil film "Naadodigal" and twists it
into a coiled engrossing saga of how lust can often be a convenient pretext for
love.
Yes ,when love comes to shove, emotions melt into sex and then... poof! Goodbye,
Romeo and Juliet. Ciao, Cupid.
The film poses some disturbing questions on the lack of genuine commitment in
today`s relationships. What if love is just hormones and chemical at work? In an
urgent rush of energy and adrenaline, "Rangrezz" poses this question.
Priyadarshan spins a mean story told with a flair for violent flare-ups that are
shot with gumption and gusto. It`s a film with a number of advantages, the
performances topping the list.
While Amitosh Nagpal, Vijay Verma and the redoubtable Rajpal Yadav as the
protagonist`s buddies in arms are first-rate, Jackky Bhagnani as the boy next
door, who doesn`t think twice before plunging viciously into a friend`s love
problem, gives a quietly self-assured performance. His character Rishi hardly
sings and dances. But you know he can. You can sense the rhythm simmering under
the surface of discontent.
This has to be the most gripping elopement drama in the history of Indian cinema
with a very strong message on that overrated emotion called love. Cupid`s arrow
has never struck a more deadly blow.
Go for it. The rebellious boys` club of "Rangrezz" is every bit as
meritorious as its counterpart in "Kai Po Che".