Kahani Karmayogi Doube Bill: AKA How to ruin a perfect weekend.
There are a number of things I love about a Saturday. When you wake up late on a Saturday morning, you can’t help getting overwhelmed by the thought that the next day also, you can get up late. All through the day you feel relaxed and at peace with yourself, because the next day is Sunday. Up till now I was comforted by the idea that no matter how you screw up a Saturday, there is always a Sunday. But this Saturday, I pushed the envelope a little too hard............and I screwed the Saturday not only for me but for my kith and kin too.
Saturday 6 pm:
Kahani........Yeah! It’s a “story”
After I finished watching the movie, I immediately called my mom and checked whether my passport was with her. She told me it was safe with her, and I felt so much better. The cause of this bizarre enquire right after the movie was because; if the Intelligence Beaureu of India works like the way it is shown in the movie, then it is better to get your papers ready, pack your bags and get out of this country ASAP.
I went for this movie, after hearing a couple of good reviews about it. Most of it came from people who, I thought, were viewers of good and sensible cinema.
I am an Instrumentation Engineer by qualification, and I did my masters in business administration (Sounds like my covering letter!). The most complex operation that I can do with my computer is summation in an Excel sheet. In short, I am an amateur in computer skills; and so is the director of this movie.
A NDC with world class encrypting techniques and high security clearance uses a manual entry log book to keep track of employee attendance; fantastic! I completely lost it when Vidya Balan decodes a spy’s computer, to find a encrypted mobile number; and one of the IB men calls this number from his phone and finds out that the number belongs to the IB chief, thus exposing him. The spy, a top level employee in the NDC, encodes and stores the number of IB chief; why! Why can’t the guy just memorize the number instead! What kept the spy from storing the number “normally” in his phone (how can anyone be booked for storing the IB chiefs number in their phone). If I list all the abnormalities in this movie, I could go on forever. But then again some diamonds stand out; like all of the computer data of a particular person being erased, but the physical data being left in an old building, ready to be broken into using a “highly sophisticated” hair pin. The constable at my local prescient is more dignified and approachable than “second in command” of the IB.
The movie reminded me of the English flick “A mighty heart” and the villain reminded me of Javier Bardem in “No country for old men”.
In the climax scene the intelligence and police officers come to the conclusion that Vidya Balan’s character was able to go undetected since she faked her pregnancy, and they felt sorry for her. Yeah! This could happen, given the fact that a “pregnant” lady was able to blow one of our PM to bits in the past.
The IB men portrayed in this film are dumb and the terrorist dumber, so we might still have a chance!
Saturday 11pm:
Karmayogi........Karmam Bhalam
To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?
Question for me is whether to give a bad review for this movie or to keep silent. It pains me to write something bad about VK Prakash, but if I don’t do that then what is the difference between me and a ‘Superstar’ fan.
How can things go wrong for Karmayogi, when there is an excellent piece of classic literature to support it? Hamlet is my favourite among Shakespearean plays. Half the job was already done for the director centuries ago. VKP failed Shakespeare in all possible ways.
The film depicts the story of Hamlet in the backdrop of Yogi Community of North Kerala. The change of backdrop seemed very original and it elevated my expectations for the movie. My hopes were crushed in the opening scenes itself, when Manikuttan gave a very “local” Kalary performance and expression. The introductory “Kalaripayatu” scenes looked as if it were right out of a B grade Malayalam movie, starring Vani Vishwanath.
The following scenes were mostly pointless and vague. The dialogues were neither classy nor realistic.
One of the scenes that I was looking forward to in this movie was the encounter of his father’s ghost by Hamlet. In the Shakespearean version it was so beautiful and mysterious, but in the VKP version it is a huge let down. The movie as a whole fails to inspire the audience.
Most of the characters in the movie were not needed at all (Eg: Sahayan, Komapanicker, Sanku, Mankamma, Rudran, I mean all of them for god’s sake; why did they make this movie) . One thing that requires special attention is the costume design. The attires worn by Nithya Menon, make her character seem like someone from the Lord of the Rings, mistakenly teleported to Kerala. I can swear that the costume worn by the lady Kalaripayatu Master was for sale at Fab-India last week.
Indrajith as always does justice to the character. He was able to bring out the contradictory nature of Hamlet beautifully. The internal torments, which the character goes through, are effortlessly conveyed to the audience by Indran.
The photography and direction are mediocre. The script is garbage.
One thing common to both of these movies are that after a couple of month or years, both will be considered classics, by people who have never even seen the movies. Just like what’s been happening with ‘Melvilasam’. And if by mistake we try to counter them, then we will be ridiculed and alienated.
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