The Hindu : New Delhi News : It’s a bouncy trip to Hollywood while Bollywood awaits Diwali feast

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Sunday, Oct 11, 2009
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It’s a bouncy trip to Hollywood while Bollywood awaits Diwali feast

Anuj Kumar

Of man and machine: Suparn Verma’s ‘Acid Factory’ starring Irrfan Khan (left) is an average show of men-in-black, gadgets and intrigue, ‘Away We Go’ (right top) is a heart-warmingly refreshing offering by Hollywood and ‘Surrogates’ (right bottom) is about too much of technology messing up human life.

ACID FACTORY

(Delite and other theatres in Delhi and elsewhere)

The promos of his films usually are better than the films themselves. Film-maker Sanjay Gupta lives up to the image as he passes the directorial baton now to Suparn Verma who seems to share Gupta’s taste for edgy action thrillers.

He retains the colour scheme of Gupta’s much talked about Kaante and Zinda. His protagonists are suitably cocky in their designer outfits. Babes appear on the dance floor the moment you get a hang of things. There is plenty of action as a business issue is decided through a bike race and a plot is hatched on a luxury cruise liner. Many of the sleek scenes could pass off as an advertisement for an apparel or automobile brand. But does all this indulgence translate into bringing us to the edge of our seat?

Not quite! It turns out to be a diluted acid at work. We were not expecting the meat to be substantial, but Suparn could not even imbue the form with the desired frills.

A man (Fardeen Khan) wakes up and finds himself marooned in an acid factory. He has no clue who he is, why he is there, and figures out there is no way out of the factory. Soon others (Aftab Shivdasani, Dino Morea, Manoj Bajpayee, Danny Denzongpa and Dia Mirza) also come out of unconsciousness but all of them suffer from amnesia. One of them is tied to a chair; another is handcuffed to a railing. They eventually discover that the memory loss is caused by a gas leak and that they are in the midst of a hostage situation, but none of them remembers who are the hostages and who are the kidnappers.

We get intrigued by the premise and expect the characters to unravel the mystery, but Suparn uses his memory and decides to make things easier for us and his protagonists by going for frequent flashbacks. It looks promising in the beginning but soon it becomes an irritant as it turns out to be the same old tale of a police officer going undercover to crack a kidnapping gang.

Meanwhile, outside the factory, the gang’s leader (Irrfan Khan) is out to gather ransom money and the officer’s superior (Gulshan Grover) is after him. The former has to return to the factory for his girlfriend.

Despite all the modern gadgetry and the South African setting, the police officer behaves like the typical Bollywood policeman, always clueless, always one step behind the criminal without any valid reason. Instances like these take the shine off the sleek product. In between, a smart turn of phrase by dialogue writer Saurabh Shukla brings an ephemeral smile.

Then the narrative takes convenient turns. The gang leader disappears from a tunnel and surfaces in a limousine! When things get stuck, Suparn returns the characters their memory. Fine, we wish to discover how the equations change, but instead of delving into details, Suparn opts for a quick climax without a bang. Perhaps he knows the limitations of some of his actors.

Gupta’s productions rely on cool dudes who prefer to wear black. Fardeen is a master at it. Along with Aftab and Dino (in a Johnny Depp avatar), he puts his best look forward, but when it comes to displaying emotions, they short-change the audience. Manoj Bajpayee has got an opportunity to showcase his histrionics after some time and he is lovingly sinister. Irrfan and Danny have nothing much to do, but they look the part. Dia gets to shout, hold a gun, nothing else.

If cinematic hunger is giving you acidity, visit this factory; else wait for the upcoming Diwali feast!

AWAY WE GO

(BIG Cinemas Noida and other theatres)

Out of the robotic world, this one is a heart-warmingly refreshing comedy. Burt (John Krasinski) and Verona (Maya Rudolph) are not your usual screen couple anxious to make a cosmetic impact. Unaware of the camera angles they seem to be living their life as any 30-somethings would do.

Veronica is pregnant and Burt wants it is time to grow up from their collegiate ways. So the two set out on a journey to find the best place to give birth and raise their child. The screenplay takes an episodic form as they visit relatives and friends. It is a journey where they learn what it means to be parents.

Director Sam Mendes strikes a chord genially but as the engagement takes a definitive shape we slip into the depths of human relationships. Burt’s self-obsessed parents are more keyed up about moving to Belgium than seeing their grandchild. They move to Verona friend, who shrieks at every opportunity. Next is Burt’s quirky cousin, a college professor, who turns out to be an earth mother. She believes in breastfeeding and has an aversion to strollers: “Why should I push my baby away!”

As the screenplay lacks a formal structure, the film drifts but competent performances by John and Maya with their unhurried chemistry keep you engrossed. Watch out for the scenes where John tries to raise the heartbeat of the unborn. The two rely on facial lines and Mendes has given them enough sharpness in dialogues that the proceedings do not take diabetic proportions.

The only hitch is the couple don’t come across any happy or say normal parents. We know the tone is light-hearted but it comes across as a scripted ploy for self-discovering that timeless truth: home is where the heart is.

The discerning might find it a bit annoying as it eventually gives the couple an undesirable self-righteousness which Mendes could have done without.

Go for this bouncy trip this week!

SURROGATES

(PVR Saket and other theatres)

Director Jonathon Mostow gives the predictable robots-run-amok premise a new life. For once the focus is on humans and the implications of the excessive use of technology.

A scientist creates robotic versions of human beings called surrogates so that the handicapped and the aged could lead a normal life. But the invention becomes so popular that everybody decides to have a copy and the original rests at home.

Social interaction becomes a thing of the past and the side-effect is the crime rate takes a dip.

Things take a turn when two persons are shot dead. The artificiality of their bodies reveals that they are surrogates. The plot becomes sinister as the operators – including the son of the inventor of surrogacy – are also liquidated, something that was not expected.

The turn of events force FBI officer Tony Greer (Bruce Willis) to investigate the case with his colleague Peters (Radha Mitchell). During the course of the investigation Tony’s surrogate (a digitally spruced Bruce) gets killed and now the original officer has to come out to take charge and get to the truth. The script hardly tests Bruce, but to his credit he instils the character with the isolation a man faces among machines.

Tony is yearning for real emotions but his ailing wife is adamant on putting the glossy façade of the robot. These all are possibilities in future but somehow Mostow sticks to the surface.

After touching the social consequence of the theme, Mostow brings in almost every sci-fi cliché presumably to keep the “target” audience hooked making the screenplay robotic in the process. However, he recovers in time and settles the issue surely and succinctly.

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