WantedOctober 30, 2009
Posted by skanekar in Review.
Tags: Cognitive, Kanekar, Kismur, Shantesh
2 comments
Sep 02, 2018 Sachin Khedekar (Marathi: सचिन खेडेकर; born 14 May 1965) is an Indian actor and director from Maharashtra, best known for his roles in the film Aap Kaa Surroor, Astitva, TV series Imtihaan, and as (Marathi: सचिन खेडेकर; born 14 May 1965) is an Indian actor and director from Maharashtra, best known for.
This piece comes from the unabashed bollywood lover that resides within me. So, if you have an elitist approach towards Indian cinema, then please skip this piece.
I watched ‘Wanted’ a couple of weeks back and to my surprise, I loved the movie. Before I started watching, I had a feeling that this movie would lie in the “its-so-bad-that-its-good” category. And I have sat through some classics like “Gunda”, “Love in Times Square” and “Yeh Lamhe hai Judaii ke”, which certainly fall in that category. In fact, a lot of my friends thank me for recommending those and swear by those movies now. Coming back to ‘Wanted’, it wasn’t that bad after all. And although it cannot be called “good cinema”, it did a good job at entertaining me.
‘Wanted’ is what one would call ‘movie for the masses’. And it lives up to that. It does not pretend to be intelligent cinema. Somehow, I could not help comparing this one to ‘Ghajini’ which was also made in the South originally and which I absolutely hated. However, unlike ‘Ghajini’, ‘Wanted’ did not claim to be path breaking cinema. Salman cannot claim to be half the actor as Aamir is. But, he does the job well. All he has to do in the movie is to look cool and bash the day lights out of villains, who are a throwback to the 80s. In fact, the only thing was different from an 80s movie was a “maa” and “hero’s sister rape scene”. Frankly, I don’t remember the story and I doubt there was any. All that the actress, Ayesha Takia, had to do was to look good and she has more than one (two, to be precise!) ways of keeping the viewers’ attention glued. And she does that well. No acting chops needed there. The songs weren’t worth remembering and were an excuse for the smokers to light one. The entire movie was about a superhuman Salman who fights the baddies, while never losing out on the cool factor. This is the kind of movie which made Rajnikant a god in Tamil cinema.
So, in spite of all these flaws how did I like it? I guess because such movies have become extinct in Indian cinema. There was a time in the 80s when every second movie was like this. Now, I don’t say I was a big fan of the 80s cinema. But, in between the healthy home cooked meals, I do get a craving for greasy burger and french fries. Somewhere between the Karan Johars and Sooraj Barjatiyas, the dishum-dishum movies like this have got lost. Even a complete entertainer like Subhash Ghai, who made ‘Ram Lakhan’, ‘Karma’ and ‘Khalnayak’, started making ‘Pardes’ and ‘Yaadein’ to cater to the so called “family” audiences. Unfortunately, he isn’t any good at it and somebody should tell him that. He is better off sticking to his forte, which is making masala movies. Of course, there is a “Khuda ke liye” or “Dev D”, which gets made once in a while. But more often than not, we are served the sugary sweet candy floss romances of ultra-rich families which are money spinners at the box office.
I know many of you might cringe at the thought of watching something like ‘Wanted’. But for others, who don’t mind being entertained by mindless cinema, give it a try. You won’t be disappointed.