Film: “My Friend Pinto”
Cast: Prateik, Kalki Koechlin, Arjun Mathur, Shruti Seth, Makrand Deshpande, Divya Dutta
Director: Raghav Dar
Rating:
BollywoodWorld.com, “Zindagi khwab hai khwab mein sach hai kya aur bhala jhooth hai kya?” Remember Motilal’s staggering existentialism in 1956′s “Jagte Raho”? Some such philosophy underlines the key goings-on in “My Friend Pinto” — a wispy, nostalgic comedy about a Goan simpleton’s one night of zany adventures in the mad mad bustle of Mumbai during New Year’s eve.
This isn’t the first film that explores Mumbai by night. From Khwaja Ahmed Abbas’s “Bambai Raat Ki Bahon Mein” to Sudhir Mishra’s “Iss Raat Ki Subah Nahin”, the dark comic side of the city’s underbelly has ceaselessly fascinated Bollywood since long before the term ‘Bollywood’ was invented.
Debutant director Raghav Dar switches on the innovative mode full-blast. The first and most conspicuous component in his comic romp is the director’s sense of fun.
He is fearless about the fun quotient that he has while going with one sumptuous swoop into lives as different from one another as any two homes, families that live in Mumbai can be.
A semi-retired gangster (Makarand Deshpande) and his never-been star-actress mistress(Divya Dutta), his twin assassin-goons Ajay and Vijay (played by real life Amin and Karim Hajee who were last seen together on screen dancing in a Sufi trance to A.R. Rahman’s devotional number in Jodhaa-Akbar), an old taxidriver and his gambler-son(theatre actor Shakeel Khan making a stellar screen appearance), a lost girl Maggie(Kalki Koechlin) abandoned by her small-time crook boyfriend on the railway station, the competitive couple (Arjun Mathur and Shruti Seth) coping with the sudden appearance of an unwanted guest from Goa, even as they try to cope with the fissures in their own marriage… These, then, are some of the characters who show up one night in Dar’s ‘Mumbai raat ki bahon mein’ (Mumbai at night).
There are many others. Oh yes, characters pop out of every nook and cranny like rabbits from a hat. Bringing them all together is the Goan Mama’s boy, the simpleton Michael Pinto who we’re informed, with tongue firmly in the scriprwriter’s cheek, is the nephew of Albert ‘jissko bahut gussa aata tha’ (who gets very angry).
The reference to Saeed Mirza’s 1980 cult classic “Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyon Aata Hai” is not lost in the film’s melee of bustling adventures. The film is knowledgeably laden with references to cinema and cinematic devices from the past including a very pointed allusion to a corpse’s journey across Mumbai from Kundan Shah’s “Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron”.
“My Friend Pinto” is a very complex script to write and an even more complex act to pull off on screen. Dar manages the chaos created by Michael Pinto’s misadventures across the celebratory streets of Mumbai with fluency and grace.
The awkwardness that we encounter in the storytelling is purely by design. Pinto is put into all kinds of bizarre and embarrassing situations. Like Charlie Chaplin in the silent films, he walks out of the chaos unscathed.
He is a Goan angel in disguise. He’s Chaplin, Raj Kapoor and Guru Dutt from “City Lights”, “Jagte Raho” and “Pyasa”. He is all of those and none of them.
Prateik with his waif-like quality truly finds himself as an actor when he plays a lost character. “My Friend Pinto” needed his vulnerability and uncertainties.
The supporting cast is impressive, with Divya Dutta and Makrand Deshpande having a ball with their guns and games. They are like two bulls in a sex shop. Arjun Mathur as Pinto’s desensitised Mumbai friend creates quite a graph for his character within the limited space provided by the restless script.
Quirky, capricious, whimsical and at times magical (watch those Broadway-styled musical performances), “My Friend Pinto” conveys the key comic patterns of Kundan Shah’s “Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron”.
Prateik echoes the innocent adventures of Raj Kapoor in “Jagte Raho”. Dar’s directorial debut is endearing in its eccentricity.
When you leave the crazy comic cosmos of Pinto’s world behind, you take away with you a film that is fiercely original in concept and designed to deliver tongue-in-cheek swipes at all those scared cows of Bollywood that we grew up watching and loving without knowing why we loved them in the first place.
There is something about “My Friend Pinto”. But you don’t really know what.
Amitabh Bachchan an ultimate role model – Prateik
Young Bollywood actor Prateik, who has impressed critics with his performance in “Jaane Tu…Ya Jaane Na”, “Dhobi Ghat” and “Aarakshan”, says megastar Amitabh Bachchan is his role model.
“There are many (actors), a lot of seniors… I respect everyone a lot. They have worked hard all their life, so I respect them all. But if you ask me about one role model, it has to be Amitji because even at this age, he works so much,” said Prateik.
Talking further about what he admires in Big B, Prateik said: “Young actors like me get tired if we work as much as Amitji. He even sings his songs, he gives his voice to songs for films, and takes the burden of films on his shoulders… and he has been doing that for years, and it is a great thing. He is an ultimate role model for most of us young actors.”
Nowadays, the 24-year-old is busy promoting his film “My Friend Pinto”, releasing Oct 14. The film also features Kalki Koechlin.
Kalki Koechlin On The Cover of FHM India
Kalki Koechlin On The Cover of FHM India.
Difficult to cast two leading actresses together – Zoya Akhtar
Actresses consumed by their internal politics make it very difficult for a director to sign more than one for a particular film, says director Zoya Akhtar, but she is happy to have Kalki Koechlin with Katrina Kaif in her forthcoming film “Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara”.
“You have to understand that in the Hindi film industry it’s very difficult to star two actresses in a particular film. Like Katrina is in the movie and she is a superstar, then a lot of superstars you want to approach won’t agree to do the kind of role Kalki did in the film. There is too much politics,” Zoya told IANS.
However, she has high regard for Kalki’s acting capabilities and feels the Indian actress of French descent fitted the bill for the character she conceived.
“Kalki is a very interesting actress. She is very edgy. Kalki had no such notion. She doesn’t come from that school. She’s a wonderful actress. I met her through Anurag (Kashyap). I saw her in ‘Dev D’ and also the yet unreleased ‘The Girl in Yellow Boots’ and she is superb in it.”
Kalki is married to Kashyap.
“She has got a very different role. She is not the heroine of the film. She has that sense of comedy and not over the top. I needed that balance in an actress who could pull that off. I needed someone with that sensibility and Kalki was perfect,” said Zoya.
“Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara” is a film on a road trip, which shows how the life of three men, Abhay Deol, Farhan Akhtar and Hrithik Roshan, changes when they go for a holiday. It is set to hit the theatres July 15.
Casting this unusual mix of lead actors was intentional as the audience has an absolutely independent image of each of them, and the curiosity on how they gel in the film would make it more interesting, believes the director.
“When you cast actors who usually don’t come together or have a different image in audience’s mind, there is a new dynamic, there is a new energy. The inquisitiveness of the audience makes a film more interesting,” she added.
Fans on cloud nine as Hrithik, Farhan, Abhay take stage
BollywoodWorld.com, Fans screamed with joy as Bollywood stars Hrithik Roshan , Farhan Akhtar and Abhay Deol belted out their hit song ‘Senorita’ on stage during a promotional event for their upcoming film here Sunday night.
The three performed amidst large number of fans as part of their promotional tour for their upcoming film “Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara”.
Hrithik, Abhay and Farhan created magic on stage as they broke into singing and dancing on their popular song “Senorita”, originally sung by the three of them in the film. They were accompanied by Katrina Kaif and Kalki Koechlin.
The entire cast of the film was on a six-city road trip in a black Range Rover and went through cities like Surat, Baroda, Ahmedabad, Udaipur, Jaipur and with final destination being Delhi.
The anxious fans waited for hours in Ambience mall, Gurgaon, to get a glimpse of their favourite stars whose arrival made the entire mall broke into loud cheers and hooting in their welcome.
Fans’ excitement and joy rose as the three started singing the song “Senorita” followed by “Khabon Ke Parindey” from their film that releases Friday. Farhan started the song and later Hrithik and Abhay joined in. As the trio sung their respective parts, they were joined in by Katrina and Kalki, making the fans go loud, pepping them up with cheers.
The crowd’s enthusiasm made Hrithik do his trade mark dancing steps. He bent down on his knees while dancing alongside Katrina and Kalki. He laid down on the floor while Kalki and Farhan jumped across him to land on other side. Abhay seemed a bit shy as he preferred to stay at the back, though he remained on stage throughout the show.
“I just can’t get my eyes off Hrithik he is so hot and so handsome. He’s an incredible dancer. He is just too good. Hrithik made my day today,” said Neha, a student, an ardent Hrithik fan.
“Abhay is so cute,” said another girl while watching them on stage with others.
On the other end, boys were cheering all the way for Katrina dressed in a short orange dress. The live performance made the audience demand for once more. The enthusiasm and craze risen so much that many of the fans were even seen following starcasts’ cars as they left the venue at show’s conclusion.
Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara – Review
Film: “Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara”
Starring: Hrithik Roshan, Katrina Kaif, Farhan Akhtar, Abhay Deol, Kalki Koechlin
Rating:
Director: Zoya Akhtar
Some movie experiences can be summed up in a few lines. Others can take longer. This one would be hard to define. And to try to slot it or give it shape in any other form but the visual would take some doing.
The witticism, of course, flows. With Farhan Akhtar around, what else can we expect? But the spoken lines (a brilliant fusion of the colloquial and existential) are so doggedly wedded to the visuals that we come away with a complete and satisfying cinematic experience, so replete with life’s most luscious home-truths that we want to carry the plot’s bumper-sticker wisdom in our hearts forever.
Farhan Akhtar did it ten years ago, in “Dil Chahta Hai”. He got three friends on the threshold of a career on a road-trip and let them come to terms with their own weaknesses and insecurities, even as Farhan, that wily filmmaker, discovered his own strengths as a storyteller.
Now it’s Farhan’s sister Zoya Akhtar’s turn to take that road trip. Some day we need to figure out the Akhtar siblings’ affinity to films about three male friends on a journey to self-discovery. Suffice it to say that “Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara” (ZNMD) takes the theme of male bonding to a more illuminating plane than “Dil Chahta Hai”.
As the workaholic money-obsessed stockbroker (Hrithik Roshan), the happy-go-looking-for-his-dad prankster (Farhan Akhtar) and the about-to-be-married-nice-guy (Abhay Deol) set out on trip through locationally lush Spain (ummm, full marks for seductive eyecandy visuals) we follow right behind.
Without trying to set up dramatic road-blocks and U-turns in the road journey, Zoya Akhtar gets us so involved in the drama and adventure of the threesome we gradually forget the actors and see only the characters that they so fluently and robustly play.
Oh yes, the ladies take the backseat. Nonetheless Katrina Kaif’s Laila, a gorgeous diving instructor who teaches Hrithik to dive into soul, makes such graceful space for herself among the boys that we wonder how she managed to make herself heard in a film that celebrates the spirit of male bonding in all its robust colour splendour and noise.
Oh yes, we forgot! This guys’ film is directed by a woman! The feminine touch is nowhere evident in Zoya Akhtar’s direction. She leaves you wondering if delicacy femininity and the opposite of a snobbish misogyny that our desi female directors have been seen to follow, vanished while we were not looking.
ZNMD is a coming-of- age film on many levels. It celebrates the sheer beauty and physicality of location and their deep connection to the characters’ state of mind, without apology or explanation. Trust me. I looked. I couldn’t spot even one unpleasant face or topogrphy in the entire length and breath of this beautiful film.
Yes, the surface is lovely. But so is the soul. Zoya, God bless her aesthetics, sucks us into the beauty of the moment, not giving us any reason to believe that life’s most precious truths are swathed in squalor. ZNMD celebrates splendour. Underwater or up in the air thousands of feet above sea level, the moments of tenderness are not stapled into the climate of camaraderie. They just happen.
The moment when Hrithik discovers love under the stars with Katrina, or when Farhan Akhtar finally meets his biological father (Naseeruddin Shah, in a naturally compelling cameo) or that breathtakingly blistered moment of reckoning when after a bout of male backslapping in the initial episodes, we suddenly realize the cause for friction in the Hrithik-Farhan friendship… These are masterstrokes of muted drama not written in to impress, but simply as an integral part of that journey which we undertake so enthusiastically and willingly with the threesome.
Technically the film wears its art on its sleeve. Carlos Catalan’s cinematography captures the pain and the fun in Spain without letting the touristic urge take over. Yeah, the film looks fetching. But not at the cost of the characters’ search for bearings in a world that mocks at the beauty of Nature. Editor Anand Subaya doesn’t cut the film. He carves the material in shapes that a jeweller would probably like to imitate if he only knew how.
Every actor seems to the character born. Hrithik’s stuffed-shirt act would have been almost self-parodic were it not so sincere. Abhay Deol is a natural-born reactor. But it’s Farhan Akhtar who steals the best role, lines and moments. He is in his element and the character that evolves in the course of the journey. Oh yes, he gets to mouth his father Javed Akhtar’s evocative poetry.
Katrina Kaif’s Laila is a kind of synthesis of mystique and sincerity that we had seen long ago in Leela Naidu. This film marks the coming-of-age of the Kaif. Kalki in a relatively brief role brings a kind of snide cuteness to the proceedings. Her character is sometimes the brunt of ridicule. She takes it in her stride.
Every major character at some point, appears ridiculous. That’s the beauty of the askew world that Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti’s script tries to make sense with doses of humour and warmth.
Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara Takes 13 Hours A Day Of Hrithik Roshan
The fall of Kites at the box office has made Hrithik more hard working these days. The actor is now busy shooting for his next movie ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’ and he is making sure that he gives best of his performance.
Hrithik is reportedly working 13 hours a day for this movie directed by Zoya Akhtar. The shooting of the film is going on in Spain now. One of the Bollywood’s leading ladies now, Katrina Kaif has been paired opposite Hrithik in the movie.
Sharing his experience of working in Zoya’s film Hrithik posted on a micro-blogging site that he has been working since three months continuously for 13 hours a day. But he feels like the schedule has just begun because of the amazing people around, added Hrithik.
‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’ also stars Abhay Deol, Kalki Koechlin and Zoya’s multi-talented brother Farhan Akhtar in the lead roles. Farhan is also producing the movie, which has music by the composer trio Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy.
Hrithik has probably taken the meaning of the title very seriously! He does not want to miss this chance to recreate his magic on the big screen. Well, he is absolutely doing right as Kites could not fetch the much expected applause even after having international cast like Barbara Mori.
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