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Saturday, April 20, 2024
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BOLLYWOOD SECRET SUPERSTAR
EDITOR'S PICK
Secret Superstar': Emotionally engaging, entertaining (Review By Troy
Ribeiro ; Rating: ****)
What one likes about Aamir Khan is that, with every act of his, he transcends as
an actor. He surprises you by eerily getting into the skin of the character.
With his various unconventional get-ups and demeanour, he makes you believe that
he is the character he plays. And that too convincingly.
In "Secret Superstar", with highlighted hair, stylized beard and a flamboyant
getup, he depicts an out-of-luck music director, Shakti Kumaarr who is looking
for a muse to revive his failing career. His performance is surely outstanding
and entertaining.
His character takes a backseat in the narrative, but he is prominent. And the
film is not about him.
Borrowing heavily from the 2015 released indie American film "Rock the Kasbah",
this film is smartly remodelled with cultural relevance into a melodramatic
mother-daughter relationship tale.
Narrated in a simple, old-fashioned, heartfelt manner, you expect the story to
be that of an ambitious young girl pining to be a superstar at a reality
contest. But instead what you get is a trite and cliched, yet sublime story of a
prodigy and the bond she shares with her mother.
Insiya is like any other teenager living in a middle-class locality of Vadodara,
with a supportive mother Najma, loving brother (Kabir Sajid), an old relative
and an abusive father. She dreams of becoming a famous singer, but the
environment in her house is vitiated by the domestic abuse inflicted by her
father. How she struggles to overcome her problems with the help of her school
friend Chintan Parikh and the crass music director (Aamir Khan) to live a life
on her terms, forms the crux of the tale.
Director Advait Chandan's writing is brilliant. The script it taut and focussed.
The screenplay has the right combination of light and poignant moments. The
characters are well-etched and the dialogues are lightly intense, packed with
wit and sentiments which are well portrayed by the ace cast. Naturally then,
this keeps you glued to the screen.
The metaphors in the dialogues too, are fresh and apt, especially when Aamir
compares the effervescence of the soda to the rise of the prodigy. Or when the
mother and daughter are arguing and comparing opportunities with the train on
the platform and planning of the journey.
All the actors are natural and effortless. With a gamut of emotions, Zaira Wasim
as Insiya is earnest and adorable. She is brilliant when she sulks with her
classmate Chintan or reasons with her mother, "What is the use of getting up in
the morning and not try fulfilling the dream that you saw during the night?"
Meher Vij as Najma, the loving mother and an insecure wife, is equally sincere
and arresting. She portrays the silent pain with ease. Balancing her part is Raj
Arjun as the oppressive father and husband. He is overtly potent and effective.
Farrokh Jaffer as the old relative living with the family, Mona Ambegaonkar as a
lawyer, have their moments of onscreen glory.
Technically, the film is well-mounted and the music adds an additional flavour
to the narrative. The lyrics and the pitch of the songs hit the right chords.
"Main kaun hoon" and the other one with the lyrics, "Meri pyari ammi jo hain"
dedicated to mothers, go well with the flow of the narrative and the snazzy last
number which runs through the end credits re-emphasises Aamir's character.
Overall, "Secret Superstar" has an old film charm that is simply remarkable.
'Secret Superstar': Leaves a sense of disappointment, dissatisfaction
(Review By Subhash K. Jha ; Rating: **1/2
)
It is easy and comforting to get swayed by the rags-to-riches fable constructed
with such contemporary diligence and zeal by first-time director Advait Chandan.
But once you get to penetrate the bubble of bonhomie and get into thick of
things, so to speak, you come face-to-face with an ennerving sterility.
"Secret Superstar" is one of those well-meaning films that keeps reminding you
constantly of his well-meaning it is. Many times as I watched Chandan's panoply
of tricks and treats, I felt I was being offered a Christmas deal with Santa
Aamir Khan mentoring the film's 15-year old wanna-shine Zaira Wasim whose
brilliance as an actor is far more dazzling than anything that is written into
this film to support her dreams.
Everyone, we are told in many different ways in this stretched-out ode to
wish-fulfilment, has the right to dream. Insia (Wasim) wants to be a musician, a
fact that is rudely and ruthlessly repudiated by her rough and impatient Daddy
played by a remarkably self-assertive actor named Raj Arjun.
Predictably and conveniently Daddy is a despot, much in the same way as Ishaan's
daddy in "Taare Zameen Par"... Oh, didn't I tell you? "Secret Superstar" is a
not-so-secret carryover from the other far more moving and rousing drama where a
dyslexic kid was pulled out of his crushing plight by his art teacher. Aamir
Khan's saviour streak has triumphed again.
A lot of people thought the climax of "Taare Zameen Par" was way too Utopian to
be a convincing antidote to the dystopian condition of the little protagonist's
life.
In "Secret Superstar" the theme of wish-fulfilment is played out at a much
louder octave, almost like a flag being waved at us from the pulpit of
righteousness that screams at us with messages of the empowerment of the girl
child.
This is the world where Charles Dickens' "Oliver Twist" has been transposed into
a state of magnified melodrama where the orphan will ask for more porridge even
if the man providing the food is a tyrant.
Yes, we get it. But do we have to keep getting it for 150 minutes?
"Secret Superstar" favours a pulpit propagandist tone of narration that kills
most of the tenderness that the theme secretes in its initial stages. We know
the girl is a hero. We know she will conquer her father's bullying tactics
because she has a strong-willed mother (played by Meher Vij), a supportive
friend (Tirth Sharma, giving the film's most endearing performance) and most of
all, "Insia ke paas Shakti hai" ...No, not just nari-Shakti but Shakti Kumar, a
loud obnoxious embarrassment of a music composer who mentors Insia to stardom.
From the time Aamir Khan swaggers into the plot as Shakti Kumar, the film begins
to fall apart.
The narrative crumbles under the burden of the character's inflated flamboyance.
Unable to bear the weight of its egoistic character, Aamir's performance is more
a homage to Shakti Kapoor and his brand of "Aaa-ooo" self-assertion than Anu
Malik or Nadeem Saifi (the two composers he seems to have copied).
Shakti Kumar is a product of a superstar's vainglorious yearning to stutter his
skills.
"Secret Superstar" is suffused in spasms of nobility, piloted by its idealism
and finally transported to a self-congratulatory finishing line by a central
character who is everything that a brand ambassador for female empowerment
should be. Cleverly the film steers away from religious references and
restrictions, although the burqa plays a big hand in the protagonist's journey
from oppression to creative liberation.
It was easier for Aamir Khan to take religious digs at holy cows in "PK" where
the target was a pacifist majority. Now of course the rules have changed. If you
want to be satirical and censorious at the cost of religious oppression, then
you must be prepared for a backlash.
The gau rakshaks are watching the holy cows. "Secret Superstar" simply opts to
be cute about its veiled references and succeeds in conveying an engaging though
self-limiting saga of smothering the smothered protagonist's radicalised state
of being.
No wonder this film was originally titled "Aaj Phir Jeene Ki Tamannah Hai". This
is Waheeda Rehman's clarion call for emancipation from Vijay Anand's "Guide"
given a patriarchal payoff by a loud and boorish mentor and guide who wants to
be labeled a liberal feminist.
"Secret Superstar" is a heartwarming portrayal of girl power. A bit of restrain
and some muted melodrama would have taken this film much further. It has long
sturdy legs. But chooses not to go far enough.
Singer Meghna Mishra says she is thankful to superstar Aamir Khan for believing in her and for investing his time on her.The 16-year-old singer, who lent her voice for songs in the film "Secret Superstar", lost out on a reality TV show at an age of 11. She didn't give up and worked hard on her skill, ultimately winning praise for her work in the film, which was backed by Aamir. Read More
Movies are great to get people's attention on a topic: KatrinaActress Katrina Kaif believes movies can be effective in putting out a message that can bring about a change in society.Katrina interacted with the media when she joined the international award-winning non-profit organisation 'Educate Girls' as their ambassador here on Monday.Asked what she thinks about having a movie based on 'educating girls' in Bollywood, she said: "I don't believe you need to have a movie to take this cause further or spread the awareness about this cause. Read More
Secret Superstar traces the journey of Insia, a 14 year old girl from Vadodara, whose dream of becoming a singer changes her life and of everyone around her.
