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Miss Lovely... Ah the film about the sleazy world of C-grade cinema that has been creating a buzz ever since it was premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2012. Sure it has taken a while before the film gets to open in theatres in India but the delay has neither taken away the beauty of the film, widely acclaimed at international circuits, nor the enthusiasm of its lead actors. Niharika Singh, who was crowned Femina Miss India Earth in 2005, makes her debut with Miss Lovely. And the other, of course, is the gifted actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui. Of course, he wasn’t the Nawazuddin when he signed the film which happens to be his first film as a lead actor. No wonder Niharika wasn’t awestruck by his acting prowess, for he hadn’t become the phenomenon then. She says, "Rather my respect for him grew during the making of the film as I came to know him as a person not somebody whose image preceded him". Nawazuddin, too, thinks that he was more honest and earnest when he acted in the film for, "You do give your first film as a lead your best." Both also swear by the film which they think is something that Indian cinema witnesses only once in a while. Nawazuddin shares how the film has been hailed as a milestone, on a par with the best in European cinema. Niharika elaborates further how the debutant director Ashim Ahluwalia chose a multi-trajectory narrative rather than a linear one to tell the gritty story of men and women who made C-grade films in the 1970s. Nawazuddin pipes in, "It’s for the first time that a movie will look behind the scenes and tell tales of people, who made these films and show them as they are; grey and human." Interestingly,
Nawazuddin had a close brush with such films as he has himself worked
in one-odd film of the same genre at the beginning of his career. You
bet by virtue of subject alone, it’s a bold film which the censor
board intended to cut left right and centre. While news about the
number of cuts still continues to make headlines, the director managed
to prevail over the scissor-happy censor authorities. The film, both
actors insist, is almost the same as the one shown at various film
festivals. Nawazuddin, whose films invariably wind up at prestigious
film festivals, does confess, "It’s great honour and privilege
for at festivals it’s not the Indian diaspora but mainstream
audiences well-versed in the language of cinema and films of the world
who watch your films." Niharika nods and credits the exposure she
gained at film festivals to the attitudinal shift in the way she looks
at cinema today.
However, whether Indian viewers have evolved enough to soak in new subjects, they have divergent points of view. Nawazuddin feels Indian viewers have come of age while Niharika observes, "Were it so, censor cuts wouldn’t be making headlines." She adds, Indian viewers are becoming more curious." Will their curiosity antenna go up for the subject being explored in Miss Lovely is not quite staid to put it mildly? On the bare and bold quotient of the film, Nawazuddin is at his candid best. He reasons, "I don’t think C-grade films of 1970s were any more or any less sleazier than commercial mainstream films. The only defining difference has been the budget." Hard to stomach the argument? Well, so is the film about doomed love. Niharika reminds us that this is no feel-good film and won’t send you back home happy but with a question weighing on and nagging your mind. But, whatever might be the tone and tenor of the film, Nawazuddin is confident about its success and is certain it would reach out to the niche thinking Indian viewers who love intelligent cinema. He anyway would be seen in more meaningful films this year. Besides the much-talked about Mountain Man, there is Buddhadeb Dasgupta’s Anwar Ka Ajab Kissa that is going places and made a mark at London Film Festival. And guess what in Anwar Ka... too, Niharika is keeping him company as his romantic interest. She is keeping her fingers crossed, so hoping that their onscreen chemistry shows. Of course, these films are not sugar syrupy "happily ever after" love tales. Does she believe in fairytale romance? Not quite but she does swear by love. Right now, however what is driving these two actors is love for cinema, not just any kind, but one that makes viewers sit up and take notice. What viewers would carry home when the movie releases remains to be seen, these two have internalised within an experience that will last a lifetime. Miss Lovely, they vouch, is a kind of film that would last long after people stop counting which movies made it to the 100-cr clubs.
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