A conversation spanning a few minutes, between an auto driver and a bewildered Ranbir Kapoor, sums up the movie, Tamasha. “Andar se kuch aur hai hum, aur baahar se majboor”.
What we want to be, what we are, and what we could have been. This is what the whole Tamasha is about. The constant conflict to be our desired selfish self or to fall in line with our expected self to fit in with society.
As a story, Tamasha tries hard to capture the imagination and makes you live through most of it too but fails as an ensemble of a movie. It skids on its way and doesn’t pack a punch with that perfect climax, it deserved. It tries to be preachy when it could have been hauntingly soothing. This adds to the list of those movies which could have been way better, but just couldn’t.
Plot is based on how a kid in Shimla, addicted with stories essayed by an old man (Played by Piyush Mishra), evolves himself in a fantasy world of epic love stories. But ends up being part of the rat race like everybody else.
[Picture courtesy: Pinkvilla]
A sincere attempt to portray , through a combination of art and commercialized cinema, by Imtiyaz Ali, works in parts. Writer and Director, Imtiyaz is known for the best breakups in his movies. Take any of his movies and you’ll find the best of his scenes around breaking up. The emotional maturity, or the lack of it, is pivotal for making these scenes work, which he brings out perfectly.
The songs are meaningful and the lyrics by Ehsaan Kamil with AR Rahman’s music makes it even better. My favorite being the Alka-Yagnic-Arijit Singh song, “Agar tum saath ho”. However, the dialogues doesn’t do justice.
Tamasha is no different. A scene where Deepika tries to apologize to Ranbir, is the best of the lot. She begs to forgive her, he fights to not let her compromise. On the whole, Deepika and Ranbir, do make a good on-screen couple with great chemistry.
[Also Read about the couple’s other movie: Ye Jawani hai Deewani]
Where Tamasha fails is, it tries really hard to explain itself. Tamasha asks you questions and answers them immediately. A film of this genre should let the viewer get sunk in, figure out the answer of these questions and let them explore. What Tamasha does is, it does the job of exploring these thoughts for you. If you can relate, you’ll like it, if not, you’d be bored. It tries to be preachy about too many things. From children being forced to toe parents, to people being stuck in monotonous robotic jobs, while working on cliched characters of an authoritative father to a non-english speaking boss in Vivek Mushran.
The near-to-the-end scene involving Ranbir’s onscreen father, played by Pakistani actor Javed Sheikh, is like adding sugar to a curry!! Tamasha is not a 3 Idiots, and that is something which Imtiyaz could have very well avoided.
There are a lot of positives in the Tamasha. The Song picturizations are perfect, the intense camera angles have been utilized perfectly. Deepika does everything to perfection. The way she has carried herself in almost all her movies, which includes, Raamleela, Ye Jawani hai Deewani, Finding Fanny and Piku, and the versatility she has achieved is amazing. She deserved a far bigger role than Ranbir in this movie.
[Also Read: Her amazing performance in Piku, and why I gave it a 5 Star]
Although, the onus of Tamasha is visibly on Ranbir, where he does try his best but falters in parts. But a role like this is pretty complex, but full marks to him for being honest to the character. Ranbir’s Dev Anand bit is not over-the-top and is more like a celebration rather than mimicry.
While watching, one can enjoy the movie, albeit in parts, but at the end of it, there remains a sense of being fragmentary incomplete. Tamasha was initially titled as, “The Window Seat”. It definitely feels like one, where you sit, enjoy the view, and get down at your station, while the train goes on.
Tamasha could have been a better tamasha, had Imtiyaz Ali tried to be less preachy.
I’m going with a generous 2.5/5 for the Mediocre Tamasha.