RGV’s most underrated movies
Bollywood, Movies, People — By Salil Shankar on March 13, 2012 8:25 pmRGV’s most underrated movies
1. Not a Love story
Audiences hated it, critics, even more, but when I watched it, I wasn’t bored; I wasn’t irked by the so called tastelessness, I wasn’t disappointed by the overall film either. Thinking of it, “Not a love story”, may have not explored what people were expecting. It wasn’t that brutal as well, but it wasn’t half as bad as Hindi cinema could possibly be, like the sheer absurdity that is thrown at us day after day, it was far more entertaining, realistic, stylish, thrilling and even slightly funny at times.
Of course this film was not without a couple of short-comings, to see Deepak Dobriyal dwelling in histrionics, Mahie Gill going over the top when she weeps is really awkward, background score literally attacks your eardrums and is almost every time out of the place (if you notice the background score instead of feeling it, then you know it is incorrectly overdone). Moreover, when you see a psychological film, the angst should seep deep inside somewhere and evil does take over, the way it is shot and cut hopping from one condition to another does distract some times.
Ultimately, a film trying to capture mistakes done, one after the other because of the passion or to become a star or out of sheer anguish or confusion or covering the previous mistakes committed, this doesn’t really succeed, but as far as a standalone film is concerned, saying that it isn’t entertaining or absurd is killing quite an interesting and brave film.
My Rating: ???
2. Naach
When I watched it, I didn’t read a lot of reviews; I wasn’t that a movie lover and I watched in a cinema hall, it released with 2 other (one passable and another awful) films, Aitraaz and Veer-Zaara (in that order), and I watched all of them one day after the other, as it was Diwali time. A couple of years ago, I watched it again, and I can’t tell you how gloriously, carefully and affectionately I feel this movie is crafted. Between one scene to another, as this film floats with (not that good as it deserved) music and (not as strange as it initially looks) choreography, the way Abhi (Abhishek Bachchan) sees Reva (Antara Mali) create sequences and falling for her, the way her ego avoids genuineness and chooses loneliness considering Abhi’s success, his ignorance. Rarely, I repeat, rarely emotions are captured with such finesse. Ram Gopal Varma has usually shown that he loves his characters, he loves the way they think and he loves the way they ignore to attract and he loves the way they fail to compromise and then compromise, and then art is true, when it can be felt. The complicated feelings, reflected by simple reactions, where they ignore the ones they think, are the only ones they can confide to and they want them but find someone else and that someone else is left confounded, and all this, shot so beautifully and acted so naturally that this film literally breezes through its, not-so-important, story. And then people say, all Ram Gopal Varma is concerned with is Antara Mali’s body, sigh.
My Rating: ???½
3. Nishabd
This film, in my opinion and terms, is an achievement for Hindi cinema, not because people think that the subject is brave, but it is an achievement for what it tries to capture, and those are, sentiments, pure, negligent and meticulous. When energy strikes something cold, liveliness is felt. For an old man whose feelings are long lost, all that remains are memories, which could be looked back, again and again.
As I said, Ram Gopal Varma has usually shown that he loves his characters, perhaps Nishabd is a shining example of that. Perhaps he loves those ones more who do smile but aren’t really happy deep inside. Inside they are lonely, they are afraid and they just hope that things will be fine, and they don’t. Nothing really will happen until there is a diametric change and that does happen, and to let it happen they don’t stop or run away but keep on going, until they realize that stupidity has happened and it is too late.
For an old man, retired to tea gardens, all that are pleasing is natural beauty and scenes that he captures on camera, passionately. One day, a visitor comes, a young, energetic, peppy, arrogant girl kid, nothing really happens then. But one day her playfulness gives him an idea to capture on camera, in those stationary, dull moments of life an old man finds life to be captured in its full form, so he does it and from there begins an emotional turmoil, leaving the old man confused and passionate at the same time.
As the above 2, this one is not a perfect film. It would be perfect, if it had ended as meticulously and gradually as it was previously. Barring the last 20-25 minutes of the film the whole film is sheer poetry. And as far as this film is concerned, it is so finely crafted that it tells me, a film-maker wannabe, what a good film really is, what cinema is capable of and slaps me hard in my face, when I think of making a film and then I think of this film, that shouts literally on my face, how shallow we are, in terms of taste in cinema and life over all.
My Rating: ????
Though i have not yet seen NALS, Nishabd remains a film which people are ashamed to admit as a good film just because of the hypocrital behaviour as a nation we are. An astoundingly beautiful take on love which can happen at any age or a deep sense of infatuation too, there have been lots of cases where girls half their age fall for elder men like young men fall for elder women too.
The critics had a good time ripping it apart, as they always do with RGV & Big B’s films off late and our audience needs such topic to be sugar coated, like seen in Cheeni Kum.
Naach remains one of the few films i slept because of some heavy booze and the Diwali festivities when released, along with the other releases back to back, but I will admit a fact that the strong emotions in those scenes you have mentioned here are an absolute delight. Infact came across a lot of people who loved Naach, so RGV proved a point well here….
Perhaps, a couple of my other friends too did sleep in that movie, but I strongly feel Naach was so meticulously crafted that it had to be slow and took its own time to unravel. Those movies don’t really have a story to tell, they just capture emotions and vision side by side, it does, sometimes epxects a lot of patience on the audience side, that is asking a bit too much from the Indian audiences, but for me, it continues to be a visionary product and rather a world class one and that is rare in Hindi cinema.
out of these i have only seen not a love story fully and properly. very much watchable. very good ending. and pretty creepy feel to it, in tune with the theme
I have a similar feeling about that film!!
NALS was soft porn, it deserved all the panning it did.In fact i feel a episode of the same incident on Crime Patrol on Sony TV was much more sensitive and realistic than this movie.
Naach again a movie which had some great scenes in starting like the meeting of Abhi and Antara, but then weird poses of Antara and half hear ted attempt taking Inspiration from fountainhead,this was snoozefest.
Nishabd this was another movie which i would not term as RGV film, whatever the merit the movie had was because of BIG B acting skills.
None of this films i feel were underrated,and most of them got it’s due.I guess Daud and Kaun should have been in the list.
To each his own my dear friend
And @Cinemausher, as far as Kaun and Daud are concerned, I don’t really think Kaun was underrated, whoever has watched that film, he/she has liked it and Daud, yes it was hilarious and entertaining but I didn’t mention it because neither it was inventive or brave or anything that tried to do something really different that would prove RGVs prowess in film direction and that of being a visionary, it was just another entertaining movie
. Apart from that, feelings you have about the movies I have mentioned, you share it with most of the others, it is just when I see many movies, English and in other languages, similar films have been marked visionary, for example, Tree of life, I am not saying Naach could be as great as Tree of life is (this is debatable as I find both the films to be equally good), but when I consider this, I feel Naach has been underrated….. similarly with other movies and these movies 
And I am not going to say that you are wrong about those movies, it’s just my opinion and I am just saying 
You missed Rakhtha Charitra part 1.I think I havent seen such gore and Violence in any Hindi Film.And for guys like me who never knew about the bloodbath that happened in those regions this things sure were eye opener.
NALS was soft porn.
@Kushal, Rakht Charitra Part-1 wasn’t under rated, I think, most of the top critics did feel RGV was pretty confident with that movie, for NALS, your opinion is the same as most of us, it’s just that feel slightly differently about it.
Not so much a supporter of NALS & Naach ( though it does have its moments ) but Nishabd is a film that I thoroughly enjoyed watching. Of course without Big B I’m sure the film wouldn’t have been half as arresting. BTW Salil what’s your take on Darling?
Ahem, Sethu Ahem, Darling for me is an unintentionally hilarious movie!!!