TASHAN has guts

Let me tell you whether you like or hate Tashan, the fact is that this is a movie unlike you have ever seen in India or anywhere else. Whether this is a good or bad thing depends on what you went into the theatre expecting.

Also the point of this post is not as much as to review the movie but more to explain what Tashan was supposed to be. After that it’s your call to decide if it’s a good, average or pathetic movie.
This was a movie which I watched for free on very first day of its release courtesy the firm I am having my summer internship with. So in absence of all the reviews that were supposed to come out the very next day, my experience and feelings while watching this were quite unbiased .Since then a lot has been said about the movie. It has been called amongst the ‘worst movies ever”,”idiotic and silly”,”formulaic” and even been given nicknames like “aditya chopra ki aag”.

Ok I understand the movie is no classic but it certainly is not as bad as being said. I am a sort of person who hated movies like Dhoom 2 and Dus. The reason being that these pretended be cool and stylish but actually were just plain annoying and dumb ,and the hate is so strong that even this post will be reeking of the same.

Tashan is a movie which actually shouts out loud that look how silly I am. It is very honest in what it wants to be and what it’s supposed to be .Take it or leave it. It is not at all meant to be serious, believable or intellectual cinema. It is meant to be a sort of a spoof and homage to the masala potboiler Hindi cinema of 70s and 80s. If you have seen Quentin Tarantino and Roberto Rodriguez directed Grindhouse then you will understand what I am talking about. This is the reason why everything in the movie is deliberately over the top –situations, characters, dialogues, action, dance sequences (e.g. dil dance mare) and everything else. The whole mood of the film can be summed up in one song -Dil dance mare which has been outrageously choreographed and actually in a good way with lyrics which are really very innovative.

The reason why this movie is attracting so much hate is because it tries to mock the same audience and critics who think Dhoom 2, Dus, Krrish, Race etc are good movies. Todays multiplex going audience who think of themselves as ‘intellectuals’ feel almost insulted
of the fact that they have been presented with a movie which has supposedly been phased out of their theatres ( i.e. rickshawallahs type b grade cinema of 80s). These audience can bear a song like ‘zara zara touch me’ but cringe at ‘dil dance mare’. But that is what I like about Tashan- a no holds barred, unpretentious and unapologetic bollywood ishtyle masala fare. It’s the same old tale of revenge and love that has been told umpteen numbers of times but jazzed up for the 21st century.

While action sequences in Dhoom 2 kept annoying me and dialogues put me to sleep, the dialogues and conversations in Tashan are actually quite interesting with that completely gone crazy mix of Hindi and English. Tashan is no more or less silly compared to Dhoom 2 and Dus but actually has much better performances. Akshay Kumar is brilliant as Bachhan Pandey and Anil Kapoor is good in first half.

That being said it’s not a very good homage and the film falters badly in second half with unnecessary subplots and stretched out action sequences which reach a level of craziness that is almost surreal. Also the storyline fails to hold your interest after a while.

If you are ready to suspend your sense of belief for a couple of hours, sick of current crop of ‘multiplex’ movies and actually understand that its all meant to be hyper realistic you may will find some redeeming qualities. I will rate it 2.5/5. Not good but still better than other pseudo cool and insult to intelligence movies like Dhoom 2 and Dus. Don’t waste your precious bucks in a theatre for this, rent a DVD and let me know what you thought of it.