Miss Lovely

Miss Lovely is not an easy movie. It's not a movie that will ever play at a hundred mutiplexes and draw large popcorn eating crowds. But it's a fantastic movie, a sweaty, fever-dream of a movie, and it's wonderful that people are engaging with it. There is simply nothing like it in Hindi cinema - and like it or not, that is one thing I'm sure no one can argue with.

Miss Lovely doesn't offer anything like a straight plot, and it has no real stars - save for the "discovery" of Nawaz Siddiqui (this film was his first lead role). He's great in it, as is another "discovery" Anil George (who plays the demanding elder brother with an intensity unseen before in Hindi cinema). For me however, the film belongs to Niharika Singh, who plays the mysterious 'Pinky'. On one level, she is a femme fatale of yore (like in a 1950's Noir film), on another she's a complete cipher, a blank slate. You can project anything you want on her and she absorbs it. This could be seen as insignificant characterization, but I saw it simply as a struggling character who exists in the shadows of the film industry, someone you know almost nothing about but around which most of the plot revolves - like an empty center. Her mix of coyness, intensity, disinterest, coldness & warmth is terrific and incredible subtle.

That said, this is one of my favorite films of the year so far, and I'm glad to see this kind of edgy, fearless filmmaking coming from India.

Before talking about the film in details, I would like to draw a clear picture of that era when these 'C' grade films used to make a good amount of money in a hidden manner. In comparative terms, where today you can easily access loads of porn stuff on your computers, phones and tabs due to the limitless internet. There was a time when entertainment was just confined to a few hours of Black & White Doordarshan (from 6pm to 11pm) and the porn stuff was only available through some cheap road- side publications, for instance MASTRAM series (on which another Hindi film is being made to be released soon). Now in those times the moment Ramsay brothers found a new formula of bringing in the audience through their horror movies (in the late 70s), many producers began making films on the similar format including lot of sexy scenes & cheap sequences thrown in deliberately. Soon a separate but substantial market of these 'C' grade films was established and then after it started becoming monotonous or stagnant post a few years, a new illegal way was found to give it a new life.

Honestly, I cannot remember any other film revealing this illegal twist in the trend, so clearly before MISS LOVELY. But director Ashim Ahluwalia boldly takes the lead and tells you all about the trick which was widely known as a 'BIT' in the inner circuit of film-makers and theater owners. Now this BIT used to be an illegal insertion of 5 to 10 minutes footage (or even more), randomly added into the running show as per the will of the projectionist, which had nothing to do with the main film at all. The BIT could be of a separate sexual shoot, a part of another bold film or even few scenes of a foreign X rated film acquired illegally. And since the viewers were not sure when the Bit would be coming, so they used to wait till the end and that actually made the show successful in terms of the tickets sold. The 'inside trend' became known to the authorities too after a while and then the Police used to raid such theaters in between the screening to catch them red handed, as rightly shown in the film.

So in reality, MISS LOVELY shamelessly takes you on to an exposing tour of that era when 'uncensored porn' used to be an important part of this 'C' grade cinema, mostly shown in the smaller centers. The makers take a good care of its detailing; depicting a particular time period and the narration does work most of the times as per its chosen subject. Interestingly, one can easily spot many nostalgic props in the backdrop such as Black & White televisions, old cameras, radio advertisements (like Natraj Pencil), various models of VCRs and more. Background music makes an intelligent use of few famous songs of those years and dialogues are specifically written with many smaller lines keeping in mind the exact characters of its storyline.

Unfortunately, despite all the above mentioned merits, I found the film not hugely engaging and entertaining, offering quite less than what was being expected in real terms. Because as per its novel, interesting and revealing subject, it ideally should have been an enlightening as well as an exciting fun ride, along with being a hard hitting take on that hidden trend in totality. But in the present version, it has a slow pace, which surely affects the viewer's set mindset, formed by all the articles he might have read about the film in the last few months. Yet the director does strongly expose the way young girls get exploited in the darkness behind the flashlights remarkably and the truth remains applicable even in the current decade of the new millennium, quite openly.

Hence due to an extremely dark feel, tense settings and a slow paced narration, MISS LOVELY would appeal to only a limited section of audience, appreciating such thoughtful cinema. Plus many might not find what they were looking for in the film due to one basic reason, which in turn should be considered as a compliment for its director, undoubtedly. And the reason lies in the fact that despite being a film made on the subject of all 'C' grade sexual movies of that gone era, the director has never shot his sequences in the same cheap manner and shows a certain kind of elegance even in his scenes dealing with sex, porn or vulgarity.

In the performances, Nawazuddin Siddiqui excels in his role of a man with mixed emotions and Anil George is a complete natural as his elder brother. Reportedly Nawazuddin did this movie long before he became the known actor of the present times and that indeed says a lot about his passion for the art and dedication. Niharika Singh plays her part well and so do Zeena Bhatia & Menaka Lalwani in their few scenes. The supporting cast provides good support to the film and I was pleasantly surprised to see the old age 'Indian Idol' contestant too, doing a small role in the film saying a few dialogues.

In all, at one end the film is sure going to delight the lovers of meaningful, artistic cinema. Yet on the other it might highly disappoint the ones looking for the same 'C' grade kind of content, the film is focused upon. Nevertheless its basic message comes up pretty clear and straight that exploitation of fairer sex was, is and will remain an ugly part of the show business…………sadly…….forever.

But on second thoughts, it is also a two way process based on the concept of 'give & take'……… so you rarely see anyone complaining?

Bollywood movies are generally based on fantasy and imagination. Where the audience is made familiar with the characters which he 'wishes' to be.

Miss Lovely Adopts a different Approach.It makes the Audience identify with reality and makes familiar with the characters that 'are' around him.

The movie has penetrating dialogues, harsh naked truth characters and language. Nawaz with the character 'Sonu' was awesome.

The movie was brilliant in first half. One needs to watch the movie carefully.

Bollywood very proudly flaunts badges like mindless entertainment, leave your brains behind comedy, potboiler, masala entertainer etc. The award winning success of these films proves that there exists a larger population of people who step into the theater to consume these films and most of them find it real too.

This is a master piece. I call this new age cinema. Those who are getting bored of Yashraj and KJ movies, will definitely like Miss Lovely.

It would suffice to say that Miss Lovely is a film which is in a class of its own by such a far distance from its peers from the same house, that, by the sheer fact of its existence, it manages to add a chapter to the history of that very house.

The character building is magnificent, which lets one flow with the story without any jarring effects.The distinct flavour of each new element and the twists introduced thereby make it worth the trouble of tracking the complex plot.

a throwback to the days when love in the movies involved the mind as well as the heart. this film is such a truly unique mix of something that feels really old-fashioned (noir, classical love triangle, brotherly domestic drama) and yet extremely visionary and modern, almost postmodern. unique filmmaking from a director to watch.. i saw it at the Sitges festival in Spain. this forms an interesting double bill with a film i also recently saw - Peter Strikland's Berberian Sound Studio, set in the heyday of 1970s Italian horror cinema - although miss lovely makes berberian look like lite family entertainment in comparison!

In terms of comparisons - almost everyone has been invoked to try and describe miss lovely - PT Anderson (no, it's not boogie nights), twitchfilm even mentions that miss lovely is reminiscent of The Day of the Locust (perhaps - more the novel than the film), and mentions Brian de Palma. not quite. I've seen comparisons with Dario Argento, Von Stroheim.. What's interesting is that it's almost impossible to compare this movie with anything else in cinema - that's what makes it so unique and electrifying for me personally. It's just wholly individual and special. recommended!