Ray | Movie Insert's Review | MOVIE INSERT

 

 The first thing to admire in Ray, is the gorgeous animated title sequence, created by Improper Design and Animation Studios. The anthology series features four filmsinspired by the short stories of Satyajit Ray. These stories, filled with twists, whimsyand humor, showcase the frailties of men. Women might prod or even propel the plot,but the focus of these stories are male protagonists grappling with neuroses, breakdowns,arrogance and insecurities. The titles, which begin with a man falling through space,echoing the iconic poster of Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo, give us intriguing hints of the nightmares to come. Like most anthologies, Ray is amix of dazzling and mediocre – the standout is Abhishek Chaubey’sHungama Hai Kyon Barpa. With films like Udta Punjab and Sonchiriya, Abhishek has established himself asthe teller of gritty tales that scar. But here he abandons his trademark realismfor artifice, elegance and poetry. The title comes from the celebrated Ghulam Ali ghazal,in which the poet Akbar Allahabadi asks why there is such chaos, when allhe's done is had a little to drink. The lines of the couplet are:'Daka toh nahi dala, chori toh nahi ki hai'. But chori is precisely what this story hinges on. The film is about a ghazal singer named Musafir Ali, who embarks on an overnight trainjourney from Bhopal to Delhi. His co-passenger in the compartment,Aslam Baig, seems instantly familiar. As it turns out, the two have an earlier connection. Musafir of course means traveler and fittingly, the pivotal moments of his lifetake place on a train. I haven’t read the original storycalled Barin Bhowmik’s Ailment, but in the hands of Abhishek and writer Niren Bhatt, it becomes a witty meditation on the eccentricitiesof human nature, destiny and time. At one point Aslam says: 'Yeh jo waqt hai na miya, badi kutti cheez hai'. The vicissitudes of life can’t be controlledor, the story asks, can they? One of the pleasures here is the language.  It’s so soothing to hear Musafir’s mellifluous expressions. When Aslam asks, 'karte kya ho', Musafir replies, 'koshish'. The language is enhanced by the visuals – in a lovely, fluid dream sequence, Abhishekestablishes Musafir’s ascent to fame and glory. Production designer Aditya Kanwar, DOP Anuj RakeshDhawan and editor Manas Mittal do top-notch work. And I suspect that Abhishek andcasting director Honey Trehan decided to cram in as many stellaractors as they could into the frame. Apart from Manoj Bajpayee andGajraj Rao as Musafir and Aslam, Raghubir Yadav and Manoj Pahwa also pop in. There is a certain romance about stories set on trains, because the journey is at once,literal and metaphorical. The idea of chance encounters with strangersis in itself, thrilling and mysterious. Abhishek taps into this, without letting go of the humor – note the meta reference to Ray’s short stories. Now the films in this anthology clockin at about an hour each. If you’re only watching one,make it Hungama Hai Kyon Barpa. Vasan Bala creates occasionalsparks with his entry Spotlight, about a self-absorbed movie startrying to find his mojo and struggling with insecurity afterhe encounters an even bigger star - Didi. Didi is a self-styled godwoman –imagine Radhe Maa meets Osho. In India, movies and especiallyfilm stars serve as opium for the masses, but ultimately, religion trumps everything else. The highlight is Harshvardhan Kapoor playing Vikram Arora, a popular Bollywood actor, whose stardom is based on one look – sort of like Derek Zoolander in Zoolander,whose trademark look is called Blue Steel. Vikram is called One look Vik. Harsh gamely set himself up for laughsin Vikramaditya Motwane’s AK vs AK. Here he goes further. Vikram is joyless, demanding and not very talented. Harsh plays him with a nice touchof petulance and childishness. Chandan Roy Sanyal as his beleaguered managerand confidant Roby, adds to the laughs. When Vikram calls himself an artist, Roby helpfully reminds him that he did a shoead with the hashtag #HowFarCanYouGo. And then follows that up with the killer line thatVikram, who has invested in a tech start-up, can never achieve the Ryan-Gosling-meets-Elon-Musk look. The writing, again by Niren Bhatt, distills theabsurdity and comedy of showbiz and spirituality.  After all, Didi, like Vikram, is a performer. She is also a prisoner of her stardom. But Spotlight doesn’t offer any new insight. And there isn’t enough meat orwit here to sustain the duration – at a little over an hour,this is the longest film in the anthology. The entry of Radhika Madan as Didirevives the sagging film a little. She’s fierce and funny and like in Vasan’s earlier filmMard ko Dard Nahi Hota, an absolute scene stealer. The weakest links in the anthology are the first two films – Forget Me Not and Behrupiya – directed bySrijit Mukherji and written by Siraj Ahmed. Both are about men who slowly becomeunhinged and lose their connection to reality. The first features Ali Fazal as Ipsit,a ruthless corporate man, who author Tom Wolfe would have classifiedas a master of the universe. The second features Kay Kay Menon as Indrashish, a timid man who uses his skill at the art of prostheticsand make-up to avenge himself against the cruel world. The actors are both solid, but Srijit’s telling is overripe. There's no room for nuance here.Everything is underlined. So Indrashish’s grandmother, a prostheticsexpert who passed on her knowledge to him, says that they are god-like because they also create. And of course, Indrashish develops aGanesh Gaitonde-like God complex and starts to believe that ‘apun hi bhagwan hai.’ The colors are lurid.The lensing reflects a world going off-kilter. And the dialogue is clumsy – in Forget Me Not, the word 'fuck'is used 13 times in the first sequence. I counted because I got so tired of hearing it. Forget Me Not is mostly set inswanky offices and apartments. The film opens at a rooftop bar,with a glittering city in the backdrop. Srijit and DOP Swapnil S. Sonawanecreate some striking visuals, including a climactic sequence in which the mystery is explained. But it isn’t enough to shore up these lengthy stories. The idea of contemporary directors interpretingRay’s writing is instantly magical, but this anthology is just too uneven to do it justice. The master deserved better filmmaking. You can watch Ray on Netflix India.