The Sulfated Ishq

Different plot, not an entirely different cinematography, and a Quentin Tarantino remix with an Indian masala mix. The result is refreshing but falls somewhat short of a man who gave us movies like Maqbool and Blue Umbrella. When it comes to Vishal Bharadwaj, you begin to expect a difference. His heroines ooze sensual democracy, with the audacity to look back at the man who looks beneath the fabric swathing the body. His plots thicken with the native lingo of the brazen Indian Backside replete with the permutations and combinations of inferences that leave most mouths slackened. With that in place, Vidya Balan ( Krishna) is just the heroine in the backless cholis who delivers the obscenity with such 'in your face' grace that she wins your acclaim hands down. Arshad is brilliant, Naseeruddin, is more than everything else he has always had, nimble and very fit. Performances lend all the credibility to the script.

And several times make up for what the script lacks...

A good plot to take the movie to where it should have been. The script is ordinary, the woman using one or more men to avenge her husband has been seen before ( Hollywood if not Bollywood ). And wearing those sarees with hands as supple as Vidya's make you a bit more uncomfortable when you see her holding the Automatic. She is either not comfortable in her sarees or not comfortable with the pistols. ( But she is beautiful in every single scene of the movie, even when she cries with white scleras)....The plot becomes predictable and somewhat boring. Nowhere do you sit forwards in the chair and await what is coming next. The climax is dull but mercifully ends before it becomes a burden. The Missionary of charity 'Tai' somehow uses her senile intelligence to set fire to the woodhouse LPG-mined by the wronged wife. And the 'Cuckoo' is perhaps the next evolutionary advantage to husbands who wrong their wives.

Whats in...Naseeruddin Shah's audible gasps ( neednot eulogise him...), Arshad's chutzpah ( He is one fantastic actor who knows his job), and Vishal's Music which this time has become rivetting ...with the oldies as ringtones, and 6 year old kids running around with guns ( If you want to see more of Badland UP, watch a scarcely mentioned movie called Shakti....apart from the chart thumping Ishq Kameena number of Shah Rukh and Aishwarya, it had some really stark reality bytes.) The back ground score is decently raucous, with some ploys and camera positions that will immediately remind you of Tarantino as you watch the scenes unfold. I wish I understood the profanity to have been better able to get under the scene. I also missed the initial few minutes. But it was tad sad at the end I was not longing to see those minutes.

Watch it for performances, watch it for the audacity to kiss on screen and not offer biological non primate explanations for hormonal candour. And watch it for the snippets of directional brilliance that comes in bits and pieces. And also watch it for the hope that Bharadwaj will bring much more brilliantly made movies in the times to come.

Vidya Balan does not need to ooze oomph. Rightly led, she is a remarkable actress and will give superlative performances if she is properly honed.