Karma Aur Holi: A Real Dud review
Sushmita Sen, Randeep Hooda and Suchitra Krishna got into a minor catfight just on the eve of the release of Karma Aur Holi (originally called Karma Confessions Aur Holi). The issue was - Sushmita refused to promote the film, saying it is a badly-made film, and the other two sort of said that was an unethical thing to do after having acted in it. This, even as gossip writers claimed the real reason was some extended kissing the former Miss Universe had done on screen with her now ex-boyfriend Hooda. Well, what a waste, all this catfight was. Yes, the kisses are there, but the film is so devoid of any artistic soul, that nobody is likely to even notice them, because nobody is likely to even watch this amateurish effort.
Come to think of it, just a few weeks ago, one Manish Gupta had given us The Stoneman Murders, a thinking man's thriller. And his namesake NRI director offers us a real dud in the name of a relationship study. Co-produced by Drena DeNiro, Robert DeNiro's daughter; supermodel Naomi Campbell in the cast that also comprises an assortment as diverse as Suchitra Krishnamurthy, Suresh Oberoi, Rati Agnihotri, Deepal Shaw and Drena DeNiro - all this sounds good on paper. But to make a film work, actually one has to do some paperwork beyond putting a cast together. If anyone has done anything of that sort for this film, it does not show on the screen.
It is the story of Meera (Sushmita) and Dev (Hooda), a young couple in suburban New York, living in style in a mansion. To which they invite a bunch of relatives and friends to celebrate the Holi festival. It is a gathering of people of myriad problems and issues, a la Mira Nair's Monsoon Wedding. But that is where the comparison with MW ends. In fact, why am I even comparing the two here? None of the characters in KAH develop beyond their cardboard images and expressions, and the screenplay (if there was one) is so simplistic that crucial issues like racism, male chauvinism, clash of cultures, growing up pangs, et al, are introduced and resolved as if they were decisions to be made over a glass of wine.
And that is what the film actually does, when the characters get drunk and play a confession game, revealing their dark secrets. And next morning, in just as much jiffy, they vanish too, as the Holi party gets underway with some DJ-supervised music making the characters dance away their blues. It was supposed to be a serious study of human relationships, but almost ends up as an unintended comedy. There is one mystery to be solved though - what made Saregama India pick this one up for distribution? Even if the "Confession" of the original title had been retained, it would have made no difference for this film - nobody would have noticed it either way.
Comments( 1 )
Still the halo hovers around the names.
Still the halo hovers around the names. Even among the cine technicians themselves -- at least among the assistants. If it is a foreign name the film is worth dying for. If it is a Hollywood name, dive from a 13th floor for it. Reality is audience does not care much. Audience is the same on an average -- the kind of audience (or spectator for the silver screen -- but is spectatorship anymore possible in today's conscious discharge of daily fatigue at the cinema hall? In this popcorn culture?) that used to hop in a pandemonium filled globe theatre in Shakespeare's days. It was the challenge to draw their attention to the centre stage (or to the margin) with a Hamlet. The challenge has not changed. The audience has not changed.