The candid critic
Rachna Singh

Bombay Talkies
Mayank Shekhar.
Frog Books.
Pages 268. Rs 295.

Mahatma Gandhi has suddenly become popular with the "cool" and "hip" generation of today. And it is certainly not because of any advertising "blitzkrieg" by the government aimed at the awareness-building of national icons. For this we have to thank none other than our very own Bollywood blockbuster Lage raho Munna Bhai, which has made waves with "gandhigiri". This has proved once again that the Indian psyche has lost none of its fascination for Bollywood cinema, Indian cricket, notwithstanding. Film reviews are probably read with a morning cup of tea in most Indian households today. But, unfortunately, most reviews cater to the "cine-goer in a hurry" and are therefore restricted to puerile comments on the storyline or music or theatrics of the actors.

Mayank Shekhar’s Bombay Talkies, an anthology of film reviews of 2004 and 2005, thankfully refrains from handing out inanities clothed as film reviews. He, in fact, offers a veritable banquet of sharp, witty and at times brutally honest comments on the current crop of films. Shekhar uses the sharp edge of his scalpel to cut through the brouhaha of blockbusters with utter disregard for the feelings of the Bollywood fraternity. He makes no bones about announcing that Punit Isarr’s Garv was nothing but "a salute to Bollywood B-grade, apparently aimed at frontbenchers that determine fuzzy film fortunes". He captions the review of Ishaan Trivedi’s 7 Phere as "Sar phir gaya boss" and without much ado announces it to be "brainless, balderdash rehash of Ron Howard’s Edtv". Mayank’s review of Omkarnath Mishra’s Dil Bechara Pyaar ka Maara states the unvarnished truth—"This ain’t a review. This is just to inform you that I survived the film". The review of Indra Kumar’s Masti states tongue-in-cheek "leave your grey cells at home, keep your cellphones for song breaks and step cautiously into this often no-holds barred Carry On series".

The book, however, is more than just a sarcastic lambasting of the nadirs of Bollywood cinema, even though it comes with "belly-laughs". His reviews are in fact candid comments on the social context and social impact of cinema. We share his bafflement when a "beautifully structured piece of cinema" like Vishal Bhardwaj’s Maqbool fails to attract enough "paying public" while a mundane "boy meets girl" film like Hum Tum sets the cash registers ringing. His sensitive comments on the "Kafkaesque" travails of the Kapoors in Dhoop or the metaphor of death in Maine Gandhi ko Nahin Mara or even Swades as an "honest example of crossover cinema" hint at the makings of a perceptive film critic. It is also obvious that this film critic at least enjoys his "sinfully elating job" despite "off-beam gibes" from the intellectual coterie and Bollywood bigwigs. So here are the beginnings of the birth of our very own Roger Ebert and Pauline Kael, but there is still way to go. Be that as it may, we can only say ‘Mayank bhai lage raho’.

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