MF Husain has been in the news for reasons other than his paintings in the recent past. After his public admiration of Madhuri Dixit came Gaja Gamini. Despite its failure, he turns to movies again to attempt a different form of expression.
Husain’s fascination for women continues in this one too. The stories, if one may call them so, flow through the pen of a fairly popular Hyderabadi author suffering from ’’writer’s block’’. The woman who puts back inspiration in him becomes the heroine of his stories set in Jaisalmer and Prague. An unlikely candidate takes up the mantle of her love interest.
If you are keen on watching an interesting story for two hours, this is not the movie for you certainly. This is just Husain’s imagination running wild and captured on celluloid. The colour combinations are marvellous; that by itself makes it worth watching...well almost. Each of the stories either end abruptly or ambiguously. Add to that many unexplained situations and highly complex dialogues, and you might scale the heights of frustration effortlessly.
Tabu is shown at her glamorous best. She wonderfully differentiates between the three characters that she plays, documenting her range in just one movie. Her lazy voice and discomfort in dancing are dampeners though. Yadav portrays the troubled writer well. Kapoor makes a confident debut.
Technically, this movie is a delight. Santosh Sivan experiments freely and provides us some interesting sights. Sreekar Prasad’s editing enables Husain’s thoughts to flow smoothly. This is one of Rahman’s best scores possibly. The background score especially is a big surprise. Need one comment on art direction?
If you thought you couldn’t afford one of Husain’s paintings, you could atleast buy a VCD / DVD of this movie (if any distributor releases it in the first place). You could treasure it and then if you come to understand it, you could call me for a second viewing and explain to me what’s happening on screen.
Bottom-line: If you appreciate modern art, this movie could be for you.
Category: Art(?), Romance
Starring: Tabu, Raghubir Yadav, Kunnal Kapoor
Music: AR Rahman
Direction: MF Husain