Directed by : Nitin Kakkar
Imdb link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2417560/
A wanna-be actor Sunny (Sharib Hashmi), works as an A.D and dreams of becoming the next big star. He goes to Rajasthan with an american crew to work on a documentary. One day an Islamic terrorist group mistakenly kidnaps Sunny instead of the american crew, and brings him to Pakistan. They keep him as hostage until they could locate the american crew. Sunny is put at a house which belongs to a Pakistani Aftaab (Inaamul Haq), who is in business of hindi films piracy and always brings plenty of cds while returning back from border, that he shows his villagers to watch. Sunny and Aftaab instantly share a bond with the common interest of cinema, but will this bond be strong enough to cope with the terrorist who is always guarding Sunny from escaping.
In the 1st half, we see Sunny speaking plenty of bollywood dialogues, mimicry, he’s like a chalta phirta cinema radio who can use a filmi dialogue in even a serious situation, like the ‘mard ko kabhi dard nahi hota’ or he trying to teach kids how actors would shoot a gun differently using the gun of terrorist. Sunny is very over the top, so you could easily understand why he fails to make any of the auditions, and in one very good scene he himself tells Aftaab about how he thinks about his acting skills. But, its his friendly and always trying to be happy avatar that impresses you.
One of the most funniest scene of movie comes when Sunny directs the recording of his kidnapping himself and goes for plenty of re-takes as he believes no matter what you are filming, the quality should never be compromised, hilarious sequence it is.
Then there’s Aftaab, who the moment he comes to know that Sunny is into cinema, he tries to interact with him and they share a long conversation about films, how cinema connects two people irrespective of the countries they belong to.
Love the scene where Sunny badly wants to see Maine Pyar Kiya requesting the terrorist leader Mahmood (Kumud Mishra) to let him come outside and watch along with villages, who ignores him as a result Sunny starts mouthing all the dialogues inside his room. And then the problem in sound of pirated cd resulting in Sunny giving voice over the Salman’s dialogues.
The final 20-25 mins was the weak link of movie, as the film heads towards a similar cliched political climax, there was a scope of innovative writing there. Also, except for Udaari (only to some extent), the songs are not worth remembering when you leave the theatre.
Performances wise, Sharib Hashmi is exceptional in his comic timing, its a role tailor-made for him. After doing good work as supporting role in Jab Tak Hai Jaan, its a good follow up for him to play a lead and get noticed much more. There are few emotional scenes in movie where he doesn’t falter either, which makes me interested to see how he would do in future films where he doesn’t play a comic character.
Inaamul Haq also was fantastic in playing the Pakistani character who loves Indian movies. He played more of a cinema lover who isn’t over the top or way too filmi in his interactions. Loved the bonding he had with Sharib in the movie. No wonder the final clippings we see is a recap of that.
Its hard to identify Kumud Mishra in the get up (Khatana of Rockstar), not a likable character by any imagination, and what I liked was the ‘no change of heart’ at all as the story develops which usually happens in our movies.
Overall, Filmistaan is worth a watch for the two great performances, excellent humor in 1st half and the bonding of two cinema lovers from India and Pakistan. If it didn’t falter in the climax, it would had been a terrific movie.
Verdict : 3.5/5
Imdb link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2417560/
A wanna-be actor Sunny (Sharib Hashmi), works as an A.D and dreams of becoming the next big star. He goes to Rajasthan with an american crew to work on a documentary. One day an Islamic terrorist group mistakenly kidnaps Sunny instead of the american crew, and brings him to Pakistan. They keep him as hostage until they could locate the american crew. Sunny is put at a house which belongs to a Pakistani Aftaab (Inaamul Haq), who is in business of hindi films piracy and always brings plenty of cds while returning back from border, that he shows his villagers to watch. Sunny and Aftaab instantly share a bond with the common interest of cinema, but will this bond be strong enough to cope with the terrorist who is always guarding Sunny from escaping.
In the 1st half, we see Sunny speaking plenty of bollywood dialogues, mimicry, he’s like a chalta phirta cinema radio who can use a filmi dialogue in even a serious situation, like the ‘mard ko kabhi dard nahi hota’ or he trying to teach kids how actors would shoot a gun differently using the gun of terrorist. Sunny is very over the top, so you could easily understand why he fails to make any of the auditions, and in one very good scene he himself tells Aftaab about how he thinks about his acting skills. But, its his friendly and always trying to be happy avatar that impresses you.
One of the most funniest scene of movie comes when Sunny directs the recording of his kidnapping himself and goes for plenty of re-takes as he believes no matter what you are filming, the quality should never be compromised, hilarious sequence it is.
Then there’s Aftaab, who the moment he comes to know that Sunny is into cinema, he tries to interact with him and they share a long conversation about films, how cinema connects two people irrespective of the countries they belong to.
Love the scene where Sunny badly wants to see Maine Pyar Kiya requesting the terrorist leader Mahmood (Kumud Mishra) to let him come outside and watch along with villages, who ignores him as a result Sunny starts mouthing all the dialogues inside his room. And then the problem in sound of pirated cd resulting in Sunny giving voice over the Salman’s dialogues.
The final 20-25 mins was the weak link of movie, as the film heads towards a similar cliched political climax, there was a scope of innovative writing there. Also, except for Udaari (only to some extent), the songs are not worth remembering when you leave the theatre.
Performances wise, Sharib Hashmi is exceptional in his comic timing, its a role tailor-made for him. After doing good work as supporting role in Jab Tak Hai Jaan, its a good follow up for him to play a lead and get noticed much more. There are few emotional scenes in movie where he doesn’t falter either, which makes me interested to see how he would do in future films where he doesn’t play a comic character.
Inaamul Haq also was fantastic in playing the Pakistani character who loves Indian movies. He played more of a cinema lover who isn’t over the top or way too filmi in his interactions. Loved the bonding he had with Sharib in the movie. No wonder the final clippings we see is a recap of that.
Its hard to identify Kumud Mishra in the get up (Khatana of Rockstar), not a likable character by any imagination, and what I liked was the ‘no change of heart’ at all as the story develops which usually happens in our movies.
Overall, Filmistaan is worth a watch for the two great performances, excellent humor in 1st half and the bonding of two cinema lovers from India and Pakistan. If it didn’t falter in the climax, it would had been a terrific movie.
Verdict : 3.5/5
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