Ram-Leela a.k.a. Goliyon Ki Raasleela (Play of Bullets, Hindi; 2013)
In my book of review and Rotten Tomatoes, this film would fall somewhere between decaying fly-infested flavanoids lost tomato and a maggot-infested putrefying one.
A century ago, when the sub-continent was experimenting with the silver screen, it chose 'Raja Harishchandra' from its vast reservoir of traditional folklore. In time, the story of love took many turns and U-turns to depict love in innumerable possibilities. Occasionally, new formulas would produce many copy cat follow-ups with the same storyline but different settings. Mostly, the films would end depicting poetic justice, satisfying society's beliefs, traditions, and fragile society structures.
Maybe I am a sucker for a good storyline and unexpected twists. Hence, when the credits rolled in to announce that the story was based on 'Romeo and Juliet', I was tad disappointed.
In my book of review and Rotten Tomatoes, this film would fall somewhere between decaying fly-infested flavanoids lost tomato and a maggot-infested putrefying one.
A century ago, when the sub-continent was experimenting with the silver screen, it chose 'Raja Harishchandra' from its vast reservoir of traditional folklore. In time, the story of love took many turns and U-turns to depict love in innumerable possibilities. Occasionally, new formulas would produce many copy cat follow-ups with the same storyline but different settings. Mostly, the films would end depicting poetic justice, satisfying society's beliefs, traditions, and fragile society structures.
Maybe I am a sucker for a good storyline and unexpected twists. Hence, when the credits rolled in to announce that the story was based on 'Romeo and Juliet', I was tad disappointed.
In a flash, the whole story flashed in front of me. We all know the story of Shakespeare's momento of undying love which ended in tragedy. So, it was... the story of two promiscuous teens dancing around the streets in the fashion of a musical in various degrees of dressing and undressing, finding 'love at first sight' type of forbidden love, in tumultuous times, with 'over-my-dead-body' type of opposition from either party ending with untimely death with the love-struck couple leaving the world to live happily on the other side.
| Exposing a sculptured body is Indian Culture. Bodybuilding started here. |
People who decide to tour Rajasthan after viewing this film hoping to find pretty oversexed deep cleavaged abdomen revealing ever dancing lasses with faces like Deepika Padukone in the deserts of Rajasthan may be in for a shock. Maybe not the protective patriarchal guardians who have no reservations about honour killing!
The title tells it all. Maybe this movie is not meant for our age group. Doc,
ReplyDeleteIt is a joke that we watch it in the name of sustaining and preserving Indian culture and language! But of course language evolves and changes with the times.... but then.....
DeleteThe movie is set in Kutch, not Rajasthan. You might have heard of the Little Rann of Kutch. If not, look into the map. There is a place called "Anjar" and the story depicts this small city exactly as it was, some decades back. This is inclusive of the language you heard in the movie, the slander, the lechery of men and violence. I used to be a part of this place once upon a time.
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