This started as a Facebook status update, but then I realised that I had so much to write about it that it might as well be a post on my much ignored blog.
So here goes - The promising trailers followed by some strong recommendations from friends, meant that 'Shor in the city' had to be watched.
The movie has 3 parallel story-lines whose characters briefly interact across story-lines. There is Tushar, Nikhil Dwivedi and Pitobash Tripathy who are generally engaged in activities that just lie on the other side of the law. The newly married Tushar has a printing press that makes illegal copies of books and sells them on traffic signals.
Then, there is Senthil Ram Moorthy who has just come back from the US and is in the process of setting up a small business in India until he starts getting harassed by the local mafia. Preeti Desai plays his love interest.
Finally there is Sandeep Kishan, a budding cricketer, who has 2 problems - trying to get selected into the Mumbai team, but needing money to grease the palms of some unsavoury selectors to do so and to win the hand of his girlfriend (played by Girija Oak) whose parents are pressurizing her into an arranged marriage.
The movie promises a lot and delivers some. Firstly, the movie fails due to some horrible casting - Tushaar 'Wooden' Kapoor cannot express, Senthil 'Oily' Ram moorthy is an idiot and Preeti 'Plastic' Desai needs only 3 scenes to let us know that she sucks.
Secondly, the editing is bad. Directors Raj-Krishna better look up some Chris Nolan movies to learn how to tell 3 parallel stories and knit them together.
The pacing is slow, despite having a decent plot, the movie seems to take ages to move forward and I for one never got the underlying philosophy of the movie (if there was one).
However, the movie does have its plus points -
Some characters are brilliant: Radhika Apte (playing Tushar's newly wed wife), Pitobash Tripathy (plays Tushar's friend) and the menacing local mafia who harass Senthil ram moorthy. The music is great (especially 'Saibo').
Dialogues are well written and most importantly the movie makes a decent attempt to follow in the footsteps of some brilliant new age Hindi cinema (Ishqiya, Peepli live, LSD, Dev D, Manorama six feet under, Ek chalis ki last local).
So the movie is definitely watchable, but don't go in expecting a lot.
So here goes - The promising trailers followed by some strong recommendations from friends, meant that 'Shor in the city' had to be watched.
The movie has 3 parallel story-lines whose characters briefly interact across story-lines. There is Tushar, Nikhil Dwivedi and Pitobash Tripathy who are generally engaged in activities that just lie on the other side of the law. The newly married Tushar has a printing press that makes illegal copies of books and sells them on traffic signals.
Then, there is Senthil Ram Moorthy who has just come back from the US and is in the process of setting up a small business in India until he starts getting harassed by the local mafia. Preeti Desai plays his love interest.
Finally there is Sandeep Kishan, a budding cricketer, who has 2 problems - trying to get selected into the Mumbai team, but needing money to grease the palms of some unsavoury selectors to do so and to win the hand of his girlfriend (played by Girija Oak) whose parents are pressurizing her into an arranged marriage.
The movie promises a lot and delivers some. Firstly, the movie fails due to some horrible casting - Tushaar 'Wooden' Kapoor cannot express, Senthil 'Oily' Ram moorthy is an idiot and Preeti 'Plastic' Desai needs only 3 scenes to let us know that she sucks.
Secondly, the editing is bad. Directors Raj-Krishna better look up some Chris Nolan movies to learn how to tell 3 parallel stories and knit them together.
The pacing is slow, despite having a decent plot, the movie seems to take ages to move forward and I for one never got the underlying philosophy of the movie (if there was one).
However, the movie does have its plus points -
Some characters are brilliant: Radhika Apte (playing Tushar's newly wed wife), Pitobash Tripathy (plays Tushar's friend) and the menacing local mafia who harass Senthil ram moorthy. The music is great (especially 'Saibo').
Dialogues are well written and most importantly the movie makes a decent attempt to follow in the footsteps of some brilliant new age Hindi cinema (Ishqiya, Peepli live, LSD, Dev D, Manorama six feet under, Ek chalis ki last local).
So the movie is definitely watchable, but don't go in expecting a lot.
