Wednesday, May 08, 2013
FABLE
Today's movie was the second half of
the long awaited Bollywood production (DVD) about a small village, a British occupation and a tax dodge that rests on the outcome of a cricket tournament between the villagers and the Brits. It is a musical!
The story is rather predictable in an unpredictable way but very enjoyable. The production numbers are big and, well, Indian.
But Indian with a western spin. No sitars to speak of.
I didn't realize so much of the story and film relied on some understanding of cricket but, as it turns out, one can be dumb about the sport and still get a lot out of the process. The ups and downs, the thrills and spills. Like baseball, it is an essentially boring sport and needs the color of the personalities, the grudges, the outside influences.
Once was enough for this film. I like watching the star Amir Kahn, a great star in his country.
I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5. Which is pretty good. I never recovered from watching the great Indian director Satyajit Ray in the Fifties. Great expanses of boring celluloid.
They have come a long way.
Here is a musical number from the film.
Labels: films
