View from the top

Page 3

Director: Madhur Bhandarkar Cast: Konkona Sensharma, Sandhya Mridul, Atul Kulkarni, Tara Sharma, Bikram Saluja, Rehaan Engineer, Upyendra Limaye, Boman Irani

6/10

Page 3 works on a number of levels.The subject is engrossing. Madhur Bhandarkar has chosen a subject which holds as much interest as Page 3 itself and even manages an edge in that there is a ?view from the top? perspective which allows the audience to appreciate all the contradictions that are churned out through this phenomenon.

The film, for much of its length, is a collage of images.The vision of the director does not leave out a single prototype or situation that the Page 3 syndrome has thrown up.The aspiring actress, the aspiring model, the socialites, the social worker, the NGOs, the young party hoppers, the industrialist, the makeup artiste, the gay lot, the drivers, the juggler-bartender, the over-the hill-out-for-sex socialites, the corrupt filmmaker, the casting couch, the air-kissing, the career-motivated seductions, the drug addicts and the Page 3 aspirant are all part of Bhandarkar?s collage.

What makes for interesting viewing is the journey of the protagonist, neatly potrayed by Konkona Sensharma. That Madhavi is young, inexperienced, vulnerable and idealistic, makes the perspective of Page 3 harsh and cutting. We, as the audience are somehow knowing; experienced;and hence scared for Madhavi. Konkona is cast well in a film which needed a convincing protagonist who would represent normalcy in a hyperbolic world. The scene where she cannot control her tears in the auto is potent in the sense of betrayal that her face captures.

Sandhya Mridul as Pearl is effortless. Tara Sharma is also well cast and convincing in her role of a slightly neurotic star aspirant. Atul Kulkarni as usual has a strong presence and Boman Irani puts in yet another seamless performance as the editor of the paper. His eyes have empathy when required and he avoids eye contact with Madhavi at relevant junctures when moral questions bother him. He uses this tool well.

The entire cast of the film puts in good performances. If there is a problem, it only exists in the characters which, more often than not, are caricatures. Maybe, Bhandarkar meant them to be so. But they go over the top now and then. Like the NRI who buys his way to Page 3. Like the drivers who amuse like a Greek Chorus, but go a bit too far in a Munna Bhai take-off.

Page 3 is a relevant symbol of the times we live in. Of the faces we keep, of those we discard. It is a reminder that unless we are careful, our faces may well be made up of paper.

BIKRAM GHOSH

Rambha damp squib

Cheeta

Director: T.L.V. Prasad Cast: Mithun Chakraborty, Rambha, Ushasi, Bharat Kaul, Biplab Chatterjee, Santwana Bose, Subhasish Mukherjee, Kaushik Banerjee

3/10

Launching Rambha, the former Bollywood sex siren, for the first time in a Bengali movie is T.L.V. Prasad?s way of wishing Id Mubarak to cinegoers. Pity is that the wish alone, however warm, doesn?t have the power to make the buxom bimbette turn on the heat. She is the proverbial damsel-in-distress, who gets little to act and looks more ?distressed? in lacklustre choreography than with the goons. Flaunting plump thighs and throwing blank kisses are a couple of routine tricks that she tries in her Tollywood debut ? sadly, with little success.

In case you do bother about a storyline in T.L.V. Prasad fare, rest assured that it?s something your dad grew up watching in his teens. Mithun, don (Elaan) turned Cheeta within a week, goes about prowling and growling whistle-worthily, given that you don?t mind (going by the film?s logic) accepting him as a kid in his early 20s. Ushasi, his sibling for a change, exhibits her black belt expertise of martial arts as a P.I. She is Prasad?s model of ?the empowered Indian woman? ? an inspiration for the Sanias while they take on the Serenas.

Arnab Bhattacharya