Zubaan Hindi Movie

Feature Film | 2016 | UA | Drama
Critics:
You come away with mixed feelings even though you really loved the idea of 'tumhari zubaan kuch keh rahi hai...'.
Mar 3, 2016 By Manisha Lakhe


Music at the Gurudwara has a haunting quality. And the young voice that joins his dad in the singing has that special quality. So far so amazing. The young lad, Dilsher, bullied by his peers for being a stammerer grows up hating himself but determined to make something of his life reaches Delhi.


He uses his Gurdaspur connections without remorse and slowly makes a place in the heart and home of 'Lion of Gurdaspur' - Manish Chaudhari - a crabby, real estate tycoon. Dreamlike encounters with a free-spirit Amira keep the lad (played by Masaan's Vicky Kaushal) grounded.


Maybe grounded is a wrong word, because Amira (Sara Jane Dias) is more rich and drugged than spiritual. Here is where the whole movie becomes weird and wonderful. It becomes very urban, very esoteric, and you can hear movie-goers say, 'Whaaaaa?' You've seen homily spouting hippies before. And you like that too. You also understand why a village lad is attracted to her, in spite of his original motives to befriend her. Encounters with Tara are beautifully shot, but those 'Peace, yo!' drug scenes are so cliched, you groan. You even know why those encounters have been put there.


You'd rather see more of how Dilsher really makes his place in the world of business and his relationship with the tycoon and the resentful family. What we see is a superficial trading of insults, a son who has felt ignored, a mother who is a caricature society wife, and Dilsher doing no more than delivering bribe money. The story needed more meat.


But the music that intrudes in the story is so amazing, that you tend to coast with the tunes, forgetting your beef with the story. Some shots are breathtaking, others make you wonder if it was the same team that made you sigh in pleasure not moments before. I like films made about urban unease, and that sense of loss and disconnect, but here it just seems shallow. And that's why the film seems to be pretty but unbelievable. Also the subtitles disappear after the first few minutes, so all that Punjabi (even though Bollywood songs have taught the common folk much) may escape comprehension.


You come away with mixed feelings even though you really loved the idea of 'tumhari zubaan kuch keh rahi hai...'.

Manisha Lakhe

   

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