Yeh Ballet

After a long time. A very good movie on Netflix. Loved it. Have already seen it twice. Both the boys were brilliant and refreshing !

The movie is packed with so much content in so little time and in such a nice little story. Some movies are such that you never wish came to an end and this was one such a movie. Although in the beginning it treaded dangerously close to the Mumbai slums and you could almost write it off as another offshoot of Slumdog Millionaire or another Gully Boy parallel but I found 'Yeh Ballet' better than both. Yes, as I loved both SD and GB. Every actor does justice to their characters - none of the dialogues seem misplaced - the story movement is linear and reasonable with minimal loopholes. It shows no undue romanticism when the protagonists fight their poverty and seek a better life. It shows no extra celebration when they try to win the world with their talent. Scenes are meticulously edited and scripted to perfection. In one of them, when the aerial view of nighttime Mumbai is shown from a plane, the screen is tilted just to the degree in which the plane catches its elevation. Two innocent boys look from the airplane as they fly higher to gain the elevation in their life and remember where they came from. Such a surreal moment! Such scenes are spread all throughout the movie. A Mustwatch!! I am in awe of the movie and I am surely going to watch it over and over again.

While it is always inspiring to watch a movie which shows underdogs coming out as champions, what was refreshing was a dance form that we dont often see in India. Although the movie was filled with cliches and there was a lot of things going on simultaneouslywith the central characters, but all was handled well and there was some humor in the way the characters reacted to the situations they found themselves in. All in all it was a refreshing watch.

Ballet in india??? This may seem like an attempt to set new horizons by breaking a stereotype gender based drama .. but as a matter of fact it is a true fairytale that is fictionalized at few places, does have some run of the mill segments but it is thirst-quenching .. directed by Salaam Bombay and The Namesake screen writer Sooni Taraporevela returning to film making after a long hiatus and produced by Siddharth Roy Kapoor.. a must see...

Yeh Ballet has something in common with both the above films. Poor slum boys making big because of their talent. But the film does something new. By now we are used to watching poor boys dancing on screens and making big (in every other reality show), but never have a film ever brought two male dancers performing ballet.

Based on true story, this film tries to follow every cliche available in Bollywood's film making text book for dance movies. Angry father, talented kids, drama, a white face (for drawing in the audience -- as said by one of the characters himself) giving international validation. This film have everything. The only thing which doesn't have is a good screenplay. Perhaps in terms of story this is a good film (maybe because it is based on true story, because nothing beats that) but the screenplay which has been written on top of it is a big let down. I am not sure how Netflix is not bothered by its poor choice of acquisitions recently.

All the films follow one single pattern. Poor script. Poor dialogues. Poor editing (in the case of Yeh Ballet, straight out bad). And poor direction.

Although the casting of this film is quite good. The young New comers are a breath of fresh air. And good dancers.

Overall this film is not bad. But could have been lot better if executed well in the writing or the editing rooms.