“Perhaps
it is the first time I have started writing a review and ended up delivering an
article instead; I tried keeping my regular tone away that I usually hold on to
when I pen down a review. It is milka who made me do this finally. After
reading an article from a famous author in one of the leading websites, it
terribly instigated me to watch the story of milka which had stalwarts on its
making end.”
Post watching bhag milka bhag I was drifted
back to my past where I had my first encounter with Gujarathi thali in the
summer of 2009. I still remember the scene when I excitingly dipped my roti
into a bowl of yellow gram which I supposed it to be dal (by appearance) but
unfortunately turned out to be a sweet. The struggle I had for a moment with my
expectations toppled is never forgettable.
Though the sweet which was mistaken for dal was delicious, the pain in
misinterpreting things haunts you for a suitable time. The same thoughts haunted
me when the 1st half of BMB was done and as I pushed myself out for
a coffee to refresh. The problem with BMB is “misinterpretation”. Though the misinterpretation works quite
often, it terribly backfires with over the top expectations. BMB which was
directed by ROMP (short for Rakesh om prakash mehra) serves you a nice meal in
an entirely different dish in which you never expect it to be delivered. It’s
never a mistake of anyone when a film like BMB happens and fails to reach the “janata” to the fullest. Getting back to
the genesis during the pre-release, when the movie got its promos out, people
simply expected it to be an adrenaline rush bonanza where the hero would have
terrible past and rises up with inspiration from a boasting coach with his
emotional speeches and finally wins the medal. It’s as simple as that. This
would be the story line framed in the brains of every person who settles
himself into his seat ready to watch the so called inspirational biopic BMB.
But if the movie concentrates on drama, milkha’s personal tragedies, his love,
his failures and again a few failures of his for more than an hour and a half,
audience would definitely get frowned as if I did when I have tasted the “sweetened”
dal from the thali I mentioned above. My argument in the above line might
discomfort some sect of people. People argue “what else do you expect from a
biopic?” It’s just milkha’s travel through his life and it has to be
like that. Yes I agree with the respectable citizens who have these questions
pondering in their minds while they read this piece of wannabe review but
accidently crafted article.
BMB when
seen from a perspective has all the ingredients to be a perfect and even a heart
throbbing biopic but it fails with the imperfect narration choice opted by its
team. When a movie has to be inspirational & emotionally taut it has to be portrayed
in an ascending order with a plain narration that would make people empathize
with the emotions of the characters where everything builds up eventually with
time. Or at least it has to be the format chosen with a film like BMB which has
rugged attire on a whole with lots of personal tragedies embodied and finally
ending with the anticipated triumph of Milkha. But when a non linear narration
breaks into a film like BMB, script gets broken into pieces where each part has
its own drama, emotions and music artificially pushed into it. It looks like an
anthology of stories bound together with Milka singh tag and some inspirational
music playing behind. It fails to create an impact in the brains of people. In
the end people would accept it with half nodding heads but very soon the
flavour of the film vanishes as the end credits are done. But if the makers of
the film have shown some other promos with lots of drama incorporated then
people might have been prepared for the 3 hour long languid biopic. But such a
promo could never be the USP of a film coming from the most talented cast and
crew. The best part of the movie is the director never tries to leave the track
he has chosen; a typical honest attempt is an understatement. This commitment
amuses a few and irritates the others.
Keeping the
problems apart the movie really shines at parts with a couple of inspirational songs,
emotionally binding scenes and modestly written humorous snippets. Sonam kapoor
who played a stronger part in the recent film ranjhaana, surprisingly gets her
role restricted to a very limited episode, just more than a cameo which has very
little to do with the life story of the “flying Sikh”. Keeping the misfit
narration apart BMB is periodically inspirational, effective at parts and
certainly worth a onetime watch.
Giving it the bottom line
I would not apprehend to say “The story unfolds rather slowly that gradually
loses the grip on the people’s brain and wanders around in a non linear fashion
that makes it an average fare on a whole.”
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