Gippi

A POETRY: Certainly it was embarrassing, when I first realized that I had been changing automatically & no longer be classified under 'Child' category...Some restrictions from my elders expectedly came into my way, in the form of 'to do' & 'not to do' lists, making my mind echo that poem by Cilla Henriette: "I was awakened...To a light of liberation/ It was bright but shy...I wonder why/ I was a child yesterday...But today is different/ I'm just like a clay...To be shaped or bent"..

Today, while watching 'Gippi', I was reliving a slice of my adolescence & school days...In fact, everyone (especially womenfolks) can relate to this film, since almost everybody experiences that freakish combination of discomfort-pleasure, arrogance-humiliation & jealousy- sympathy during their transition from childhood to adulthood, which kind of reflects that idea of Carol Burnett, "Adolescence is just one big walking pimple.." !! Here, let me draw a picture whether 'Gippi'-the latest presentation from Dharma Productions & UTV Motion Pictures effectively cures such pimple of juvenility or not...

A MOVIE: Based in Simla, the movie tells the story of a 14-year-old girl Gippi (Riya Vij), who is quite ordinary in terms of studies, sports & looks..At home, she faces trouble for her parents are divorced, whereas in school, she is constantly teased by an attractive & intelligent girl (hence, popular in the school campus) Shamira (Jayati Modi)...Meanwhile, she feels awkward with the hormonal changes affecting her physically & mentally, followed by a failure in her first love-story with Arjun (Taaha Shah)..What happens next forms the crux of the drama..

'HIGH's : The movie scored really high in Cinematography (Anshuman Mahaley) + Editing (Yashashwini Y.P) + Music (Vishal-Shekhar) & Acting (full marks to Riya Vij & Divya Dutta..The supporting casts also shined in their respective roles)...The kids looked as fresh as morning dew, thereby adding the required sweetness to the show !!

'LOW's : The movie scored equally low in Screenplay (so, deccelerating the flow & increasing the predictability of the story) + Climax (lacked right intensity) + Showing Gippi dancing to Shammi Kapoor numbers looked out of place, because teenagers of today's era would normally connect to contemporary songs/heroes...Also, Shamira's meanness toward Gippi (for no reason) gets diluted in audience's mind, when Gippi does the same towards Ashish(Aditya Deshpande) & Kabir(Mrinal Chawla), without any strong provocation = All written by debutant Director Sonam Nair showed the mediocrity of her effort...

A MESSAGE (Perfection vs Imperfection): The moment Gippi learnt that 'A beautiful thing is never perfect' (Tagline of 'Gippi'), the movie silently delivered a subtle message regarding the pursuit of perfection & imperfection…Interestingly, this pursuit is nothing new…Let's see chronologically, 1)In Egypt (around 2500 BC) Pharaohs were considered as perfect human beings, thus worshipped in the temples as GOD.. 2) Aristotle (around 323 BC) defined 'perfection' as "something which is complete + has attained its purpose"… 3) During renaissance (around 16th Century), sculptors made masterpieces of perfect human body…In addition, Leonardo Da Vinci used geometry to make flawless human figure… 4) In today's world when women pamper themselves with 'Dior' in their lips or 'Gucci' in their eyes and men indulge themselves in 'TAG Heuer' in their wrists or 'Giorgio Armani' in their wardrobes, the same conflict between perfection & imperfection whispers..

And this conflict has no end, unless one decides what is more important: Attainable happiness or unattainable satisfaction !! Since perfection has no fixed terminology, so the same thing can be viewed as perfect & imperfect by different observers...But, if you can give your best at whatever you do,without thinking of 'being perfect', then irrespective of the material outcome, achievement will surely greet you since you are the best judge to yourself...Constantly aiming for perfection gives birth to despair since it has no limit, symbolizing the thought of Vladimir Horowitz: "Perfection itself is imperfection" !! Won't you agree that luscious smiles are mostly asymmetrical/ 18 Karat gold ornament always glitters more than 22 Karat gold ornament or, a husky voice is often more alluring than a smooth voice ?

As the movie ended, an imperfect girl (Gippi) truly brightened those lines of a perfect beauty (Marilyn Monroe), "Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring..." !!

An OPINION: Although having a deep message, the movie somehow failed in impactful execution...Overall, 'Gippi' is good for a one time watch only, complemented by a feel-good factor...Go & watch this Coming-of-Age flick where a small girl proves that 'Being happy doesn't mean that everything is perfect...It means that you have decided to look beyond the imperfections' (Tagline of 'Gippi')... Recommended !!

If u are parent and watching this movie with ur kid doesn't make u kool if ur kid start doing same things.

And if u are kid stop watching such movie focus on ur study, aim for higer goals, watch good documentary movie don't all those make u kool not this gippi watching.

Pyar mohabbat dhokha hai Carrier bana le mauka hai.

The plot of the movie was good but the making and execution was pathetic.

Boring at times. Average acting and below average direction.

Before moving on to the review, I would like to share my views on the three stages of a child's growth i.e., before the age of 12, in the teen years and later in the college post 16-17, as shown in our Hindi Cinema since the early era. Now a quite surprising yet interesting observation in this context is that where we can easily find many movies made around the first and third stages of this growth process, there we don't find enough attempted on the second one in Hindi cinema, which happens to be the most crucial stage depicting the adolescence years of a growing kid.

Personally I feel, Raj Kapoor's MERA NAAM JOKER (1970) touched this particular subject, in the most sensitive & meaningful way ever till date (in its first part) because we still find the issue highly conservative, even in this present age of information quite ironically. Therefore when a first time woman director Sonam Nair, makes a film about these crucial years in the life of a chubby, honest & innocent girl Gurpreet Kaur, then for me, its unarguably a bold & innovative venture coming from our Hindi Cinema after a long time. Plus when further Sonam goes on to showcase many first-time scenes in her film (both visually and verbally) along with a well chosen cast & team, then the project certainly becomes even more important from that angel without any doubts.

For instance, in the past when have you seen young girls talking about their physical developments on the screen in clear words or when there has been a screen mother assisting her daughter in buying her new undergarments, which she now needs for the first time in her young years. On top of all when have we seen an adorable divorced mother, attending her ex-husband's second (love) marriage ceremony along with her grown up daughter & son? Frankly that surely needs to be considered as a healthy sign of meaningful growth in our Hindi cinema undoubtedly and for this both Karan Johar (Producer) and Sonam Nair deserve their own individual praises, for sure.

Incidentally, I did witness some weird restlessness in a certain section of viewers about this verbal & visual depiction of the realistic facts of adolescence on a personal level. So as an answer to that particular section of viewers who still consider it to be on the 'vulgar side', I wish to say that VULGAR is when you enjoy or dance on a song like "Laila Teri Le Legi, Tu Likh Ke Le Le", but it is not VULGAR when a mother is teaching her daughter how to dress differently dealing with her new body changes in the teenage years.

Hence, from that viewpoint, GIPPY is an important film which at least draws your attention towards this extremely important phase in our child's growth, to be dealt with utmost care, patience and love. But at the same time, GIPPY is not a big classic film too, since it tackles (or just touches) all those issues on a very lighter note and remains entertaining throughout, well supported by some good performances and catchy music. In its 97 minutes of short duration, the proceedings never get sloppy and its script keeps providing you the enjoyable, exciting moments right till the climax.

Honestly it's a Girls movie all the way, which is "by the Girls, about the Girls & for the Girls". So, all the women & girls out there are sure going to have a great time watching it together. Further it also takes you on to an emotional tour exploring the mother-daughter relationship in a splendid way, which indeed has been portrayed with great guts, conviction and respect, all together. The loving relationship gets a new meaning through a worth praising performance by Divya Dutta, playing the single mother taking good care of her growing kids and the film becomes a must watch just for her.

The merits of GIPPI also include its catchy soundtrack (by Vishal- Shekhar) which has some youthful dance numbers such as "Baby Doll", "Pehn Di Takki" & "We are Like This Only" along with a melodious, well written track "Mann Baavra". Background Music keeps the tempo going and so does its cinematography capturing the hilly locations & school sequences competently.

In the performance section, Riya as Gurpreet Kaur or Gippy plays her part quite impressively & effortlessly. Though at times she seems to be too casual in her approach but that in turn becomes a part of her on screen character as the film progresses. Arbaz and Doorva Tripathi as her best friends are truly natural and a delight to watch. Jayati Modi delivers what was required from her as the teasing girl. Mrinal Chawla and Aditya Deshpande are just fine but Taaha Shah acts well. In the grown-ups, as said earlier Divya Dutt gives one of her career best performances and Pankaj Dheer is good but Raqesh Vashisht hasn't got much to do in it.

As a film, GIPPI made me feel good and it made me feel hopeful too about the future of Hindi Cinema, since we do have thoughtful minds here who can think out of the box with the changing times. The film has been made straight from the heart, has got a sweet warmth in it and a vision too pointing towards the way kids need to be treated equally. However it also made me think that probably Bollywood is really finding it hard to make anything without the reference of Punjab or Punjabi characters in it from the last few years.

In all GIPPI is a like a fresh breeze in the mess of all stereo-typed films. It breaks the traditional shell of our society convincingly and after a long long time, Hindi Cinema gives us a worth watching film on school life, girls and adolescence.

Gippi is what Student Of The Year was in 2012. And they are quite related - school life (instead of college life), competition & relationships.

Riya Vij is sweet & plump, perfect for the lead character. She acts well, too, but in various attempts in trying to be cool, she stumbles midway. Divya Dutta is mature & good. Arbaz Kadwani is great and is the perfect brother. I could relate to him.

The story isn't new to us. The plot has been MADE inventive with the inclusion of puberty, sexual organs & blah blah blah. While, Sonam Nair touches these "blah blah blah" (sensitive) topics deftly, she loses vision & the story-line crumbles to something else, which is why I mentioned SOTY before. Here, they vie for the post of Head-Girl. First half is genuine. Second half is acutely predictable & stands as the integral part in spoiling the whole movie-watching fun. With hugely ridiculous slapstick plot turns, it also has its side-stories which makes it either "indecent" or "mature" (depending on the viewer). Otherwise, Gippi has nice music, mediocre dialogs, good performances & average screenplay.

Bring back the school memories with Gippi, but if you are a serious cinema buff, then you might wanna reconsider. Cute little 14-year olds having a strict diet plans & NOT gorging on ice-creams is a thing the filmmakers should have reconsidered.

BOTTOM LINE: 4.1/10 for the fatso Gippi(who isn't as fat as she seems to be) who makes it watchable. Every growing kid CAN/SHOULD/MAY/MAY-WANT-TO/MUST/OUGHT-TO watch it!

MESSAGE: It's all about having a BIG heart & being yourself.

Can be watched with a typical Indian family? YES

Profanity: No | Sex, Nudity or Mouth-Kiss: No | Vulgarity: Very Mild (with a kiddo perspective) | Violence, Gore: No | Alcohol: Mediocre | Smoking: Strong | Drugs: No