Beautiful. Offbeat. Male centric.
The storyline is quite familiar. An acclaimed creative writer finds his muse in a mujra dancer and dies in her house, much to the irritation of his wife.
Art X commercial market, Home X Kotha, Wife X The Other Woman.
The treatment is very refreshingly intriguing. The story of the writer’s (Nana Patekar) award winning novel is narrated as how the young fan of the writer is planning to film it. There are a few fictitious moments like the suicide of the rustic writer when they move on to the metropolis. The double role of the writer –protagonist – all of them give multiple layers to the narrative. Some of the frames in the movie are really picturesque and beautiful.
The stark condemnation of city, market and modernity, shown as opposition between the market and art, city and village etc., appear to me cliched and outdated. It didn’t look honest.
The biggest hitch comes at the final realistic portrayal of the writer seeking out his character (Rekha) in the Mehndi Galli of Hyderabad. This is the moment when the character in the writer’s novel and the writer, finally become one. This is also the moment when all the multiple layers and their complexities of narration flatten out to become a stereotypical plot of the husband, wife and the other.
I wouldnt say I wasted time watching the movie. There are a few interesting moments. But I didnt gain anything as well.