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Yatra
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Cast:
Nana Patekar, Rekha, Deepti Naval
Direction: Goutam Ghose
Rating: **
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| Willy-nilly,
mujra queen Lajwanti has become Lily the cabaret floozy.
Woozy boozy men chuck money at her while she
swirls-`n’-twirls to a remix of 'Kabhi aar kabhi paar'.
Meanwhile her old flame looks on, spectacles shattered,
from a door ajar. Sad, you long to rush out to drown your
own sorrows in the closest Bhandarkar bar. |
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| Now
if the intention of writer-editor-cinematographer-music
composer (phew!) Goutam Ghose was to go on a Yatra to
discover what happens when a woman is exploited, he
obviously bought the wrong train ticket. Indeed, there’s
so much travelling going on here that you wish you’d
carried a bed roll to spread out in the two-tier,
second-class experience. |
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| Undoubtedly,
Ghose is a wonderful technician. He also has oodles to
say.. and in this case, wants to explore the relationship
between a literary writer and his muse. How? By blowing
his fuse. Nothing is subtle or credible here. For
instance, to attack the shopping mall culture, he rigs up
an elaborate scene about an 80 per cent discount sale
being offered to grandmums. Granny Award anyone?
Next,
writer Dashrath Joglekar (Nana Patekar) looks as much of a
writer as yours sincerely looks like Brad Pitt. More often
than not, he has these manic fits, giggles to himself and
writes the pages of his next novel Bazaar. He drinks,
thinks and blinks while talking about
“leeet-e-rechar.” Could this be literature? Maybe.
Anyway,
his family comprises a Tarla Dalal-like cooking expert
(Deepti Naval, underutilised), a daughter who often climbs
up tables and chairs, a son who plays drums as if he were
on a couple of rums, not to forget a mum who reclines in a
bed to recite poetry. What a bunch. |
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| No
wonder Manic Fit Lit returns to his grand amour tawaif
Lajwanti-Lily (Rekha). They reminisce about the bad old
days when he had given her shelter after a terrible rape
scene. Now, she bedecks herself in fabulous golden weaves
and jazzy jhumkas..but alas jhumka gira re.
Tsk,
Writerji looks more troubled than Sachin Khedekar does
usually. Hmm, reels have elapsed.. and you congratulate
yourself for having lasted through the pseudo-babble about
literature, marriage, media, politicians who gape at
cleavages (now, who could this be?) and even a young
film-maker who wishes to direct the Rekha-Nana story for a
multi-perplex audience.. duh!
Most
horribly, the nasty old Thakur type who makes the
tawaif’s life miserable is a nightmare. How could Rekha
even share the same frame as this eye-rolling,
tummy-patting, lip smacker? Oh well, Ghose even gets lewd,
what with a gang of inebriated madcaps staring up a
dancer’s ghaghra!
Of
the cast, Nana Patekar is likeable when he improvises
quirky asides (note his dig at a TV reporter). As for
Rekha, she demonstrates that no one can quite equal her
when it comes to those mujra jhatkas.. she is excellent in
several scenes.. but what was that big breakdown scene all
about? It goes way over the top.
Going
by Rekha’s flair for striking the right sur when it
comes to the emotionally wrenching (Muqaddar ka Sikandar
and Umrao Jaan, for instance), it does seem as if she
needed a more compatible director.. and a better film.
Alas. |
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