Random Musings

This post is fundamentally about the film, Buddha Hoga Tera Baap, which I happened to see today. But it has brought up a couple of analogies.

While seeing BHTB, I saw the trailer of Gandhi and Hitler. Interesting juxtaposition of two leaders, who lived around the same time. Both extremely ambitious for their own countries, but both having totally different approaches. This week also saw, in Wimbledon, one of the earliest exits for Federer. One who had ruled these courts for long, one for whom grass was like second nature. And yet he crashed out, after being 2 sets to nil, up!

I am a die-hard fan, and I do not like to see this. I wish he’d just retire, before suffering more embarrassment. I mean, he has toyed with these guys in the past. He has won convincingly. He has RULED. Why make the fans see such pain?

And that is the exact thought I have for Amitabh Bacchan too, after seeing Buddha Hoga Tera Baap.

The man who gave us Deewar and Amar Akbar Anthony and Namak Halaal and Silsila and Trishul and scores of fantastic hits, why oh why does he need to try so damn hard, to make stupid stuff like Buddha Hoga Tera Baap.

It is one thing where a film maker wants to serenade an old veteran and give him a lot of space. But let him take a good script at least, to start with. I mean, roles like Black and Paa (I have not seen the latter, only heard about it) are what an admiring director can do, for Amitabh, if he wants to. Why make him (and the audience) go through stuff like BHTB??

So what’s wrong with BHTB??

1. There is no semblance of a story line. In fact, the so-called story line is so wafer thin, that if you blow a little air into it, it cracks!

2. I think the director is not clear till the end, if he wants to do a gangsta flick, a revenge drama, a comedy, or what. In the end, instead of taking a decision, he lets it all be, and makes a bhel puri of it, that is totally messed up.

3. So fine, it is an Amitabh movie. Must that mean, that veterans like Hema Malini and Raveena Tandon, not to speak of the other two babes, must be shown as wall decorations in the film? Raveena’s treated like a joker, and Hema Malini has such a tiny role, with no room to emote. And she does that well. In the very few scenes that she has, she comes out looking lost. Like she’s wondering,”what am I doing here?”!

4. So Amitabh gets tones of footage. He’s probably in 80% of the scenes. It is a role that is kind of similar to his role in Bunty aur Babli. But there was some story there, and the character had a style. Here, the director has tried to give him style by dressing him up gaudily. One can pardon that, but he looks like he’s trying too hard. And that is not good. The effort shows, where he’d normally look effortless in his films. And in spite of the best of efforts to hide his age, there are scenes, where he actually looks old! Yeah, an actual buddha..!

5. There are too many unanswered questions. The director does not bother about these. LIke how did Amitabh know about the underworld threat to the ACP, while being in Paris. Like, what is the Godman connection? Like the I Hate Luv Stories angle of the marriage bureau guy. What’s that for? And things of such kind.

If you have not seen BHTB, I’d recommend that you save your precious time and money, and give it a skip.

I hope Delhi Belly is better fare..

And I repeat, I’d rather remember Federer for his smooth and flawless tennis, than for his early losses in Slams, to many people, at this point.

Likewise, I’d rather remember Amitabh as the Jai of Sholay, as Vijay Dinanath Chavan, as Anthony Gonzalves, etc. rather than remember him for stupidity like Buddha Hoga Tera Baap.. !