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.

Watched this at Cannes and early reviews were initially confused, almost dissuading me from checking it out and sometimes positioning it as a Boogie Nights style American film, other times describing it as Wong Kar Wai-like. IT IS NOT ANY OF THE ABOVE! It's expressionistic, strange, captivating, surreal, eccentric and one of the more beautifully designed movies in recent memory, specially if 1980s Asian pulp & auteur cinema appeals to you as it does me. Its fragmentary plot is uncompromising, yet deeply rewarding as a complex genre movie makes way for a much more poetic take on what it means to be trapped in a claustrophobic economic/ social world with no way out. Feels like a marriage between von sternberg and andrei zulawski (kind of)..def art house, though. The narrative is just straight enough to follow whilst being daring enough to baffle - many feel that the character of Pinky, the dream-girl that drives much of the film is too opaque, but for me she felt just right - a kind of mona lisa of the bombay underground. highly worth checking out.

Miss Lovely will generally upset many people - for the simple reason that it sets up lots of genres/ premises - and unsuspectingly dumps them to move onto something entirely unexpected. As others have written, this is NOT the Indian boogie nights or whatever was imagined of it - it is, in essence, an experimental pulp film (if such a thing exists). This film is a deconstruction of genre (as i saw it anyway), and this becomes apparent when you see how it switches from noir/ thriller to romance film (part of the theme of the film itself) and takes documentary, porn, horror and musical in it's wide cinematic stride exploding/merging all of the above.

Clearly more than tell a straight story, director Ashim Ahluwalia is devoted to questioning, analyzing, critiquing and (at times) upsetting social & filmic conventions here.

Working outside of the 'Bollywood' industry, Ahluwalia explores a number of ideas rarely seen in Indian cinema: social outcasts as (tragically heroic) protagonists, uninhibited sexuality, changing roles of women in society and the critique of (or deconstruction of) social structures and assumptions. Sonu & Vicky Duggal clearly represent a new form of rebellion (they are clearly anti-state, anti-film industry, "criminal filmmakers" if you will), and therefore give domestic and international audiences a glimpse into lives that would otherwise likely escape cinematic exploration.

Having seen a fair amount of contemporary Indian cinema, Ahluwalia appears like one of the few true innovators within this nascent movement, and is - for this reason - one of its primary players, explaining interest from Cannes & Toronto.

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.

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?