Reality bites

After watching the movie “Loins of Punjab (LOP)”, I was going down the elevator of Inox multiplex and I saw this huge Levi’s hoarding, which proclaimed Original since whatever year. I was about to shout at that very moment, “Move on Levi’s, LOP is the most original thing right now." This movie is “This is Spinal Tap” meets “Little Miss Sunshine.

LOP is about how ten individuals end up participating in a Desi idol-yes, it takes lots of digs at those "reality" shows- contest being held in New York for very much genuine reasons. Manish Acharya has been able to raise quite a few chuckles, thanks to the wacky humour, which would have been termed scatological and ribald in the hands of any other director. It’s a Sisyphean task to single out stand out moments in a perennially good movie. I will try to:

The medley act by Manish Acharya was a good spoof on the reality singing shows.
A reporter asks the contest organizer, “You want the contestants to sing Bollywood tracks because it upholds Indian ethos, but we all know that Bollywood itself is culturally bankrupt.”
The ass swiper scene was well etched out.
“We might be brown, but we are still fair.”
And of course, the National Anthem scene for which the entire audience stood up and I had to do something which I did not do exactly six years back for “Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham”.

The actors are lesser known apart from Shabana Azmi,however, honest performances are there to be seen; and please do not perceive this movie as one of those ABCD movies. For once, I loved the concept of multiplexes. Even though they charge vulgar prices and apart from the butt friendly seats they have nothing to offer, if they bring such movies I wont crib.

Bhardwaj Rangan (for the uninitiated, he won the National Award this year in the category of Best Critic) said that this movie left him on a helium high. I was left on a fucking high (it is a mere coincidence that this phrase is used by James Blunt in his hit single, Beautiful).
P.S: I never intended to write back-to-back movie reviews but I had to write for this particular movie.
P.P.S: This is the first write up of mine which is being written on Microsoft Word. My journalism college asks us to. I had to forego that one thing which Howard Roark reveres: ego.

Recommendations:

Ice Storm: A serious take on dysfunctional families unlike Little Miss Sunshine and for once, Tobey McGuire looked good on terra firma rather than on buildings and horses.

The cook, the thief, his wife and her lover: Its gross- an aging Helen Mirren is nude in msot parts of the movie, Micheal Gambon is made to eat a human body “cooked” for him and what not- but once in a while such perverse pleasures are to be derived.

24 hour party people: This is Spinal Tap gets an able successor after almost two decades. Its worth a wait considering the fact that mockumentaries are hardly made these days.

Hot Fuzz: If you thought Queen and This is England epitomised the emotional part of British cinema, then I am sure you will appreciate this movie for breaking the glass ceiling of action genre without any gravity defying stunts.