What is the better way to pay tribute to the incomparable work of legendary
filmmaker and writer
Satyajit Ray! Srijit Mukherji, Abhishek Choubey, Vasan Bala have taken
up the responsibility of bringing four of his short stories -
Spotlight, Bahurupi, Smritibhrom, and Ailment, alive on the
screen. The one thing that binds all these films together is the search for
one's own 'identity.
'Ray' is an anthology woven into male characters who are behind masks.
While striving for perfection, here are the heroes battling ego, jealousy,
betrayal. You can see in these stories what these men are thinking, what
emotions are stirring inside them, and what the world looks like from their
eyes.
Forget Me Not is a paranoid thriller short film directed by
Srijit Mukherji. Ali Fazal plays the role of Ipsit, a corporate shark,
who is called Human-Computer by his buddies. He meets a girl who tells him
about her and Ipsit's romance in the Ajanta caves, but he knows nothing about
it. He gets confused after knowing that if all this happened then why does he
not remember. He gets mad at himself that why he does not remember the things
about Kailasa Hotel and Ajanta cave. Ipsit is a very arrogant person who takes
great pride in his memory, but this incident leaves him shaken as to why he
can't remember anything.
Forget Me Not is very slickly directed by Srijit Mukherji and
is based on Ray's short story Bipin Chowdhury's Smritibhrom and he does full justice to the narrative. He sets the mood of confusion
and curiosity in its viewer's mind from the very first scene and the
representation of the characters and the corporate world are superb and
stylish. Ali Fazal plays the Human-Computer Ipsit with the same
intensity and integrity that was required otherwise this over-the-top
character could have easily become unbearable. He plays the despicable boss
with the perfection that helps to bring alive the unsettling character in
front of you and the impact of Ipsit's character is there. The sequence
where he burst upon that woman who claims to be her friend is simply
mind-blowing and uneasy.
Shweta Basu Prasad also gave a strong performance as Ipsit's
secretary Maggie. It's a perfect thriller that keeps you guessing and
Ali Fazal's performance, be it the dapper boss or the anxious and
crazy Ipsit, is outstanding. He is a scene-stealer.
The second story 'Bahurupiya' revolves around Indrashish
(Kay Kay Menon), a lonely neglected makeup artist struggling to make a living. But since
childhood he has been close to his grandmother, he continues to serve her
till her death. Everyone used to call Indrashish's grandmother mad, even
though she was a successful woman who used to design and send makeup items
and prosthetics for an American production house. On the other hand, the
company's manager Suresh (Sanjay Sharma) is also intent on sacking
him. After the death of her grandmother, the lawyer tells that she has left
all her property and lakhs of rupees for Indrashish. He then decides to
pursue his dreams and follow his passion. An atheist by nature, Indrashish's
remarkable ability to transform a person's physical identity due to his
talent as a make-up artist makes him feel superior and one day he sets out
to prove his supremacy and plays with a fakir/baba
(Dibyendu Bhattacharya)
unnecessarily to prove he's an imposter. And the result is sad.
Also directed by Srijit Mukherji, Bahurupiya is the weakest link
in this Anthology series. The story lacks that quality that will glue the
audience to this story. The pacing is slow and starts with an uninteresting
note but slowly it picks up when Dibyendu Bhattacharya enters
and his constant saying "Isme Kya Likha Hai?" or
"Tumhara Naam Kya Hai?", is so magical that it raises the bar at the moment but sadly for the whole
story, it is too late. Kay Kay Menon as usual is fantastic as the
lonely and ignored Indrashish but the makeup prosthetics which plays a
crucial role in this short falls miserably as the makeup done looks like
it's for a school play and is a big disappointment.
The third episode, Hungama Hai Kyon Barpa, directed by
Abhishek Chaubey, features the greatest actors of Hindi cinema.
Manoj Bajpayee plays Musafir Ali, a heartthrob ghazal singer who
keeps trying to impress people with his shayaris, especially women.
Gajraj Rao plays the role of Aslam Baig, a former wrestler. Baig
describes himself as a 'Dhobi pachad' wrestler and was very popular from
Delhi to Agra. Aslam Baig is such a person who has nothing to do with
anything other than wrestling. He has nothing to do with music and he
doesn't even watch movies. Aslam and Musafir meet on a train. This meeting
takes Musafir back to the old days when he stole a gold watch, that brings
good luck, from Aslam Baig during a train journey.
Based on Barin Bhowmick's Ailment, Hungama Hai Kyon Barpa
is easily one of the best in the four stories. Abhishek Chaubey
is known to handle dark comedies even there is so much rush and here is the
grudge and atonement and Abhishek Chaubey brings a comedic touch
elegantly to the story and when two actors like Manoj Bajpayee
and Gajraj Rao shares screen and that too in a single frame,
that's where the magic happens. Hungama Hai Kyon Barpa is like a
character study, it dives deep into its characters, especially Musafir Ali
who had recovered from Kleptomania, which creates an urge to steal even when
you try not to and Musafir now feels guilty for what he has done.
The scenes of Manoj Bajpayee and Gajraj Rao are cracking
and so perfect. In a scene, where Musafir says a Shayari, something about
Naukri and registaan and Aslam Baig in reply says,
" Are bhai naukri dhundni hai toh registan kyu jaana, yehi dhundo na!". They are provided with dialogues that have a weight to hit you hard and
even to blow your mind. Even a shop is named Rooh Safa, run by a shopkeeper
played by amazing Manoj Pahwa tells Musafir that people come here to
give what they have stolen and to cleanse their soul. All the actors are in
their amazing form and Raghubir Yadav as Hakim also leaves his
mark.
The fourth story is "Spot Light". The story revolves around a famous
actor Vikram Arora (Harshvardhan Kapoor), who boasts that the whole
world is a slave to his face. He goes to another city to shoot a film. The
hotel where he stays in Madonna's room, is occupied by Didi, who is being
worshiped like a god, everyone is worshiping Didi, but Vikram doesn't give
importance to Didi, due to which Vikram is removed from the film, the
mosquito net's ad gets out of hand. The condition gets worse. Vikram
realizes that now his face has changed, which people do not want to see.
Even we see Rajeev Masand giving a review of Vikram's film Ruk Ruk
Ruk and says that he could root for an actor that has half expressions, but
who doesn't hold a single expression like Vikram, what he's gonna do with
that? He gives the film half stars. Vikram then thinks of meeting Didi. But
by then the police have raided Didi's place and now her reality is about to
come in front of the people. But Vikram somehow meets Didi alone. Didi
narrates her past on her own. So is Didi really the villain here?
After seeing actors like Kay Kay Menon, Manoj Bajpayee, Gajraj Rao or
Ali Fazal giving out their best, here we see
Harshvardhan Kapoor as the protagonist. A brave choice to chose him
to lead the story but I've to say that Harshvardhan who ironically
plays a superstar in the story, doesn't bring that spark or energy that
these characters demand. See Shahid Kapoor in
Udta Punjab, that madness and craziness were required, but
Harshvardhan Kapoor is plain and boring but he definitely has
potential.
In one scene, Vik’s girlfriend (Akansha Ranjan) tells him that
she is working in a silly Game of Thrones-like film which she is also quite
sure about that the film won't work at the box office. This shows how actors
sometimes have to unwillingly work in a bad movie.
Niren Bhatt's screenplay is nothing extraordinary and is a little
repetitive and stays in the same place until Radhika Madan enters.
Her performance is quite hard to digest, from what it seems at first, the
accent was stinging in my ears but I got used to it after a couple of
minutes. Through the character of Didi, Spot Light underlines how
this fame comes at a cost. She doesn't give a damn about these bhakti songs,
in fact, she is very young and listens to Vikram's songs and Madonna's too.
It's not the worst of all.
Overall, there are characters in every story of 'Ray', with whom a
film can also be created, which will allow knowing and understanding the
character and their complexities more deeply. However,
Hungama Kyon Hai Barpa and Forget Me Not pop out more
strongly. Here tightly woven screenplay and powerful characters give you a
sneak peek into the influential thinking of Satyajit Ray. You can
watch one episode per day, you will enjoy it.
Rating:- 3/5
Now streaming on Netflix.
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