I am not really a Kangana fan. In fact, I quite dislike her because of her unnatural and very average acting skills. So, when my wife suggested watching Panga on her Birthday - I was faced with a devil's choice. You know what I mean - either endure Kangana for three hours or watch a kangana like expressionless face for weeks, if not months.
But then, to my surprise, Panga turned out to be a great flick, "potentially". It starts as the nuclear family version of a suraj badjatya flick "ham saath saath hai", then takes a "dangal" turn and finally turns into a "marry kom" with a "Jo jeeta vo sikandar" finish. The movie turned out to be nice one time watch.
Panga is a story of a typical middle class housewife jaya nigam who is steel inside. Someone who sacrifices her passion for her duties and then adjusts her duties to pursue her passion. Its a story of how a Indian female has to manage a balancing act all the time and it inspires them to pursue what they believe in. It also is a tale to inspire those who missed the first chance. Or is it really !?
The movie attacks many stereotypes at the same time. That, a working lady has to manage both the fronts, that a husband is not made to manage the house, that there is a right age for everything, that women needs to marry sooner or later and bear children, that independent, ill-mannered, arrogant woman are bad, that woman are..... - so on and so forth. In that sense the movie could have been a very powerful one; the key phrase is "could have been". It fails to be a powerful statement. The director looks confused about whether she is making a light entertaining movie, a movie that drives a strong message, or a movie that will be a commercial success. It thus turns out to be none.
There are many flaws - for a start its script required a lot of pruning and baking to make it crisp. At times the sequence stretches, is slow and lasts longer than the message and then at times it is curtly finished in a single dialogue. The dialogues are OK but fail to stay with you or to hit you hard. Most characters are underdeveloped. The loving husband seems to be a loser which hopefully was not the message. Ashwini iyer Tiwari assumes that audience would know and understand kabbadi and its rules - she failed to learn from the excellent presentation of "dangal". Also movie in most sequences fails to generate the adrenaline that a fast game like kabbadi should have pumped up. In most parts the movie was quite predictable - fails to surprise. In that sense Ashwini turned a nice sweet movie closer to her "Nil Battey Sannata" rather then the more interesting "Bareilly Ki Barfi". Shankar Ehsaan Loy too fail to weave the usual magic they do - music was good but fails to inspire.
I think, the weakest aspect of the movie is its casting - Richa Chaddha's immense talent is being wasted as the second lead - here is an unpopular original opinion - Richa would have turned out to be fitter in the role that Kangana played in the movie. Someone like Taapsi would also have done a great job in the role. And I don't say this because of my innate dislike for Kangana (I rather think this was one of her better performances) but because the character she played, had immense potential for some great acting. Jassie gill was sweet and underwhelming - he just did his job. His character wasn't really developed well. The kid yagya bhasin is impressive and confident. Richa Chaddha is the reprieve you get from dull acting in the movie. She tries hard - however she has been typecasted in the "fukrey" mould. Someone needs to offer her more challenging roles. Neena Gupta did not even get the screen time to make a mark.
The positive was that the movie was quite real. One feels it is happening around us. Maybe that's why it fails to inspire. It does not look like many middle aged will feel like making a second try after watching the movie. However, full points to the director for keeping the story practical. She avoids the temptation to turn a women in thirties to become a superwomen. She focused on the mental, psychological endurance rather than the physical one - which is good. More often than not the protagonist is faced with hard realities of life rather than winning real battles in a fantasy world of bollywood. The movie kind of pulls you back in the climax and you feel like connecting again and then it ends - just like that. :-)
Panga is a sweet, nice, watchable flick for a movie on the go. Nothing spectacular to remember and for viewers like me - it is a wasted opportunity to actually craft a potentially memorable film. It could have been a big box office hit as well but for the lax treatment of a great story.You can wait for it to appear onn your TV screen or maybe watch it because you don't have a better option.
But then, to my surprise, Panga turned out to be a great flick, "potentially". It starts as the nuclear family version of a suraj badjatya flick "ham saath saath hai", then takes a "dangal" turn and finally turns into a "marry kom" with a "Jo jeeta vo sikandar" finish. The movie turned out to be nice one time watch.
Panga is a story of a typical middle class housewife jaya nigam who is steel inside. Someone who sacrifices her passion for her duties and then adjusts her duties to pursue her passion. Its a story of how a Indian female has to manage a balancing act all the time and it inspires them to pursue what they believe in. It also is a tale to inspire those who missed the first chance. Or is it really !?
The movie attacks many stereotypes at the same time. That, a working lady has to manage both the fronts, that a husband is not made to manage the house, that there is a right age for everything, that women needs to marry sooner or later and bear children, that independent, ill-mannered, arrogant woman are bad, that woman are..... - so on and so forth. In that sense the movie could have been a very powerful one; the key phrase is "could have been". It fails to be a powerful statement. The director looks confused about whether she is making a light entertaining movie, a movie that drives a strong message, or a movie that will be a commercial success. It thus turns out to be none.
There are many flaws - for a start its script required a lot of pruning and baking to make it crisp. At times the sequence stretches, is slow and lasts longer than the message and then at times it is curtly finished in a single dialogue. The dialogues are OK but fail to stay with you or to hit you hard. Most characters are underdeveloped. The loving husband seems to be a loser which hopefully was not the message. Ashwini iyer Tiwari assumes that audience would know and understand kabbadi and its rules - she failed to learn from the excellent presentation of "dangal". Also movie in most sequences fails to generate the adrenaline that a fast game like kabbadi should have pumped up. In most parts the movie was quite predictable - fails to surprise. In that sense Ashwini turned a nice sweet movie closer to her "Nil Battey Sannata" rather then the more interesting "Bareilly Ki Barfi". Shankar Ehsaan Loy too fail to weave the usual magic they do - music was good but fails to inspire.
I think, the weakest aspect of the movie is its casting - Richa Chaddha's immense talent is being wasted as the second lead - here is an unpopular original opinion - Richa would have turned out to be fitter in the role that Kangana played in the movie. Someone like Taapsi would also have done a great job in the role. And I don't say this because of my innate dislike for Kangana (I rather think this was one of her better performances) but because the character she played, had immense potential for some great acting. Jassie gill was sweet and underwhelming - he just did his job. His character wasn't really developed well. The kid yagya bhasin is impressive and confident. Richa Chaddha is the reprieve you get from dull acting in the movie. She tries hard - however she has been typecasted in the "fukrey" mould. Someone needs to offer her more challenging roles. Neena Gupta did not even get the screen time to make a mark.
The positive was that the movie was quite real. One feels it is happening around us. Maybe that's why it fails to inspire. It does not look like many middle aged will feel like making a second try after watching the movie. However, full points to the director for keeping the story practical. She avoids the temptation to turn a women in thirties to become a superwomen. She focused on the mental, psychological endurance rather than the physical one - which is good. More often than not the protagonist is faced with hard realities of life rather than winning real battles in a fantasy world of bollywood. The movie kind of pulls you back in the climax and you feel like connecting again and then it ends - just like that. :-)
Panga is a sweet, nice, watchable flick for a movie on the go. Nothing spectacular to remember and for viewers like me - it is a wasted opportunity to actually craft a potentially memorable film. It could have been a big box office hit as well but for the lax treatment of a great story.You can wait for it to appear onn your TV screen or maybe watch it because you don't have a better option.
No comments:
Post a Comment