dangermousie | Babul and Marigold: Salmaned out

missusk and myself watched Babul last night.

I had a better time than I would have otherwise by myself, because when it got too dull we could whisper-talk and ogle Salman and/or John in unison.

The movie? Uneven. Some lovely bits but the message didn’t work for me.

THE GOOD:

The first half was largely delightful. Sweet, funny romantic comedy. Rani and Salman had great chemistry, Salman looked hot, and I really bought them as a couple, especially after some cute married moments.

The songs: I really liked the picturizations for almost all of them, and ditto on the music. My favorite was the Salman/Rani wedding night song (H-O-T. I will probably buy the DVD largely for that. Mmmmm….seriously) and the song John sang at that concert to Rani (blanking on the name).

John looked good in his wedding outfit at the end.

The movie really got me in places. I was wiping my tears away after the intermission. And actually wanted Salman not to die.

The death scene? Loved that there was some moaning and groaning and writhing in pain but no long speeches.

The little boy was adorable.

Did I mention Salman looking FINE and my wholehearted approval of all his clothes including the bedsheet as wrapped around him and Rani?

THE NOT SO GOOD

The second half DRAGGED something fierce.

missusk can testify to me miming a ff button repeatedly: long long slow shots of people staring while their hair blows or talking in platitudes does not a pleasant hour and a half makes.

John. Now, I am a John fangirl. The man is HOT. Heck, I’d go as far as to say he is HAWT. But this is so not his kind of role and his kind of movie. Mind you, he had the most thankless role in the movie (a sweet personalitiless doormat) but it’s also not really his range at all (he is good at guys with an edge, not sugar spun stuff) so it was outside his ability to bring anything extra when the role itself had nothing. So basically for most of the movie he was a gorgeous, sexy block of wood. It’s the first movie I didn’t care for him in.

I was amused at the fact that Amitabh’s first glimpse of John is in some bar, performing a sexy dance with some scantily dressed ladies and half-unzipping his shirt in manner of guy expecting dollar bills for his trouble, and his thought was? Yay, this is a neat husband for my widowed daughter in law. Hum.

The speechifying end. Unless Amitabh is Jesus (anything is possible) or similarly divinely powered figure from any other religion, his ability to convince his elder brother was as farfetched as…well, at least half of Baghban.

My biggest problem? None of these. This movie set out (I assume) to have a message that widow remarriage=good. Burying woman alive in house=bad. Fine and praiseworthy objectives. But movies like Hum Tum (where Rani explicitly tells Saif that she doesn’t need to be complete with a man) and even Andaaz (which is no masterpiece, God knows) handled this issue much better. The movie shouldn’t have had the first half at all, much as I loved it. It should have been about a widow who learns to love again, slowly, even as she is conflicted because of love for her dead husband and because of traditions. And Amitabh would be conflicted too. But then, hey, it would be Andaaz.

Here. Rani is not in love with John. She never has been, she isn’t now, and if the fact that she’s known him for so long without showing even a glimmer of interest or a twinge of awareness of him as a man, is indicative of anything, she never will be in love with him either.

She is still in love with Salman’s character and she married John basically to oblige her father in law. What Amitabh does to Rani is just as high-handed as what Om Puri does to his widowed sister in law. Om Puri makes Pushpa sit inside, wear white, and not get married, regardless of what she wants. But Amitabh treats Rani just as much as a thing. What Rani wants (to remain a widow for now) is immaterial to him. Heck, at the wedding itself, she is not upset it’s stopped, she is upset Om is insulting Amitabh.

The woman is not ready to get married. Her husband only died recently, and it’s not as if they are making her wear no colors and sit inside the house. She can do anything she like and go out. She just doesn’t want to get married yet. I see no problem with it. Maybe, in five years, if she is still like this, it’s another matter. But to foist a husband on her regardless of her wishes is making a chattel out of her every bit as much as Om Puri made a chattel out of Pushpa. She loves her husband, let her grieve. Let her be ready on her own terms. She isn’t going to die being without a man for a year. Grrrr. I would give the movie some slack for it because of the idea that this is how Amitabh is grieving because he thinks this is what his son wanted, but I don’t think the movie really wanted to go there.

I still think that my original idea, about Salman coming back as a zombie and eating the tastee brains of guests would have made a better ending. But alas, it was not to be.

We also watched Marigold. I can’t really say too much because it was supposed to be a preview, so all I will say is I thought it was cute and funny and Salman looked incredibly hot in it (especially while wearing white). The director had a lot of interesting stories to tell, my favorite being the fact that he scheduled a half-an-hour appointment with Salman at his house in order to try to sell him on the idea of the movie (starring in it) and, he says, he showed up for that half-an-hour appointment and left Salman’s house four days later. Heh.

The movie is supposed to release sometime in March, Stateside.