Shor in the City

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Note 1: I haven't blogged recently. Either because I did not come across something inspiring to write about. OR, because I have been writing for a very (very) small audience lately. Not that anyone missed it, so that's alright.

Note 2: I have wasted atleast 1500-2000 bucks watching a load of crap lately. Dum Maaro Dum, No-one killed Jessica, 7 Khoon Maaf, Yeh Saali Zindagi. ALL bakvaas. Different degrees of bakvaas-ness, I agree, but bakvaas. Kya bakvaas! 'Shor in the City' is surprisingly fresh!
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I had almost decided to NOT blog about this movie, until the end credits of 'Shor in the City' started rolling. And then, what I saw on-screen made me want to blog about it. Why? I am sure I am not letting out a major spoiler by telling you what that is, and I'll tell you what it is in this post. We'll come to that later.

With bollywood on a we'll-dish-out-whatever-nonsense-and-people-will-pay-to-watch-it spree lately, I was about to skip this one, had it not been for my listening to the movie's soundtrack, which is stunning!

...Nainaa nawaabi ji, dekhe hai sab ji;

Phir bhi na samjhe ishaare

Dheere dheere, naino mai dheere dheere;

Apna sa dheere dheere, laage re saibo...

When people ask me how I found a particular hindi movie, I try to think about the movie till the interval, and if the movie is watchable till the interval, I recommend the movie as watchable. Because mostly thats what you get here. At best, a watchable first-half. 'Shor in the city', surprisingly, doesn't lose its charm even in the second half of the movie, and full points to the directors for not letting the movie lose its pace throughout.

The characters are engaging, and the actors have been very balanced in their portrayal of their characters. Sendhil Ramamurthy (of Heroes fame), Nikhil Dwivedi, Sundeep Kishan have all done very good work. I was charmed by Girija Oak after 'Taare Zameen Par'. She does well, but the new find of this movie is definitely the charming Radhika Apte.

All said and done, the show-stealer is Pitobash Tripathi. Wow! That guy! I haven't had my tummy hurting laughing my ass off to some scene in an Indian movie in a very very long time, and this guy doesn't deliver just one scene, he delivers it again, and again, and again. Especially the scene where the trio go out to "try and see" if the bomb they found makes some noise and damage because it won't "sell" in the market. Superb!

I find a major flaw in the way movie-making is done in India. Indians want a story. It has to have a beginning, it has to have an end, and it has to have some events in between. That Indian movies often end up without a story and always in ways the director did not intend is a different story altogether. Where is the slice-of-life film-making in India?

Several minutes into the movie, I got wondering - "There is no clear-cut story, and I am engrossed!" THAT is the power of writing. And although you may find the movie in bits and pieces scattered here and there, with outrageously hilarious writing, the writer does well to knit it all in the end. And let me reveal what I saw on-screen which made me want to stand up and applaud for the directors and the writers of this movie.

"Every incident depicted in this movie has been inspired by a real newspaper story."

Watch it!

Shor in the City...