La La Land Festival, Goa : A unique multi-disciplinary festival that cares about the Arts and the Environment

Kaanchi, Hindi Bollywood film movie review, Johnson Thomas, Rating: * *

<a href="http://www.mrqe.com/"><a href="http://www.imdb.com/"><a href="http://www.wikipedia.org/"><a href="http://www.aasra.info/"><a href="http://www..com/"><a href="http://www.thepioneer.com efilmcritic.com/"><a href="http://www.talkingpix.co.uk/"><a href="http://www.newyorktimes.com/"><a href="http://www.timesofindia /"><a href="http://www.tirbuneindia.com/"><a href="http://www.hindustantimes.com/"><a href="http://www.dnaindia.com/"></a></a></a></a></a></a></a></a></a></a></a></a><a href="http://www.internationaltribune.com/"><a href="http://www.efilmcritic.com/"></a></a>

<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/"></a>                              \

 Kanchi(Hindi) Rating: *  * Subhash Ghai tries to rekindle his glory days but with nothing new to tell, it’s just another lackluster, unremitting song and dance disaster.

                                 

Hindi Film review

Johnson Thomas     

The magic touch goes missing again!

Film: Kaanchi

Cast: Karthik Aryan, Rishi kapoor, Mithun Chakravarthy, Mishthi, Chandan Roy Sanyal

Director: Subhash Ghai

Rating: *  *

Subhash Ghai was once a prolific hit-filmmaker but after subsequent lackluster efforts, his box-office standing has hit an all-time low. His latest, ‘Kaanchi’ has the epical slant of his best works but it doesn’t measure-up in terms of structure, narrative craft, depth of story or magnetic performances. The story is a little too convoluted to make much sense of. But you can be grateful that it’s in the traditional Ghai mode. The script is choc-o-block with events and the drama is periphrastically heightened by rousingly choreographed and sumptuously mounted flourishes. The music is not as good though. Ismail Darbar tries valiantly to drum-up the mellifluence of yore but the effect is not as ingratiating. Karthik Aryan comes good as the doomed lover and  Ghai’s new find, Indrani Chakraborty rechristened Mishthi, in true-blue Subhash Ghai tradition,  is quite talented and manages to convey a variety of emotions in her very first foray.

The role of course, demands quite a bit from her and she is up to the task. The convoluted saga is of a once innocent, traditional yet contemporary independent woman who gets transplanted from the hill  country into the city in pursuit of vengeance on those who usurped her land and love. Shades of Raj Kapoor’s ‘Ram Teri Ganga Maili’ and Rakeysh Om Prakash Mehra’s ‘Rang De Basanti’ are found rampant in the narrative spiel that is replete with formulaic clichés and traditional Bollywoodian stereotypes. Ghai presents his characters in traditional formats and envelopes them in the superficial glitz and gloss of his flamboyant imagery. Unfortunately, that was a trick that worked in the eighties and nineties- but no longer. The story’s wayward plotting itself defies imagination. Turning an ordinary dehati into a superhero of sorts who gains a countrywide fan following and makes Ministers quiver in their seats, is not much of a great idea in the scheme of things today. A reforms agenda and anti-corruption zeal may hit the nail on the head for contemporariness but otherwise everything is a little too passé to keep you glued to your seats.

Johnsont307@gmail.com