Cut to the story, with 8-year-old boy Vicky (Naman Jain) forced by his father (Ranveer Shorey) to play soccer. An older actor (Sadashiv Amrapurkar) living in a dumpster reminds Purandar of his earlier hopes as a performer in a hallucinatory scene that functions as a salutary lesson on the pitfalls of vocation.Ī charming opening for Akhtar’s “Sheila ki jawaani” features a montage of children telling the camera what they want to be when they grow up.
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After failing to get to an interview, Purandar (Siddiqui) stumbles upon a film set in urgent need of an extra. “Star,” based on a Satyajit Ray short story, is a slim tale that Banerjee (“Shanghai”) delicately draws out thanks in part to good visuals and Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s appealing turn as an impoverished father unable to find work. Considering the dearth of gay characters in Indian cinema, it’s unfortunate that Johar turns the initially likable Avinash into a selfish sexual predator whose pursuit of Dev opens a chink in his boss’ husband’s closet. Gayatri is amused by Avinash’s sexual frankness and the two become fast friends, giving Gayatri the laughs she’s not getting at home with cold-fish hubby Dev (Randeep Hooda). Johar’s “Ajeeb dastan hai yeh” (taken from the homonymous song, roughly translated as “What a strange journey this is”) sees openly gay Avinash (Saqib Saleem) hired as an intern for high-profile magazine editor Gayatri (Rani Mukerji). Of the bunch, Kashyap (“Ugly”) and Johar (“ My Name is Khan”) are the better-known helmers, the former rather too quickly crowned king of the indies (though his work here is among his better efforts). Local reviews have been strong, but the public has been unsurprisingly less enthusiastic fests may call.Īudiences anticipating stereotypical Bollywood fare should look elsewhere, as only one of the foursome has any kind of musical number and two of the entries ambiguously address gay and transgender themes in ways not generally expected from traditional subcontinental cinema. Less a nod to the past than a wave to a quartet of young helmers - Karan Johar, Dibakar Banerjee, Zoya Akhtar, Anurag Kashyap - these diverse shorts would work better as stand-alones, since grouping them together detracts from their individual merits and makes them feel even slighter than warranted. Fast-rising shingle Viacom 18 offers a tribute to 100 years of Indian cinema with “ Bombay Talkies,” an underwhelming omnibus pic in which three of the four entries tangentially connect to a movie theme.