In a country known for its maddening passion for cinema, we repeatedly get to know about several reel-life inspired amazing instances happening in various parts of India, that even include temples being made of stars with their idols worshipped like Gods as a religious ritual. Almost every second person here has a hidden ambition of becoming a Bollywood icon moving to Mumbai and this has been the core subject or sub-plot of many films made in the past like CHALA MURARI HERO BANNE, GUDDI & more to the latest CALENDER GIRLS and the upcoming FAN. Interestingly, the same becomes the basic theme of BOLLYWOOD DIARIES too revolving around a middle aged person, a prostitute and a call center employee, all bitten by the acting bug having a strong wish to prove themselves and their art in front of the entire world.
No doubt the film has its heart in the right place and intentions pretty good to portray the hardships and struggle involved in the path, before even reaching the city of dreams called Mumbai. But it’s the presentation with an uneven mix of fine, mediocre and low grade kind of sequences put together that doesn’t let the film rise above the average despite a promising realistic start raising the expectations. Moreover it’s the extremely slow pace with many prolonged sequences in its first hour (heading towards nowhere) that doesn’t let you feel for the main protagonists, which actually has to be the main feature of such films talking about the common man making him feel that it’s his or her story unfolding on screen, putting it honestly.
So the first half gets over with long introductions, establishing the passion felt by the characters wherein the veteran Ashish Vidyarthi simply excels in his individual sequences followed by Raima Sen performing well as the prostitute. But sadly Salim Diwan isn’t able to make any impact until the final sequence that is indeed hard-hitting in terms of execution as well as heart-wrenching emotions expressed quite intensely. In short, when the second half moves into all overused and predictable story progression with an inclusion of a terminal illness, obvious betrayal by a director and a weird candidate used by the reality show judges just to bring in the TRPs, the film fails to deliver any surprise and doesn’t turn out to be as impressive as it could have been with such a relatable theme. Also clearing the doubts, the three stories here are not interrelated with each other following the fixed format adapted in films since the last decade.
In the technical department, the production values don’t give you much to complain, plus cinematography and background score try to capture the mood of the three characters and their surroundings in a pretty decent manner. However it’s the lyrics by Dr. Sagar and music by Vipin Patwa that surely remain the best part of the film along with Ashish Vidyarthi. As a matter of fact, though one might miss catching and enjoying the actual essence of its soundtrack while watching the film, but when you listen to the songs again giving full attention to its soulful lyrics & arrangement, the soundtrack does turn out to be much bigger than the film itself by all means. Particularly "Mann Ka Mirga” and “Titli” conceived brilliantly have a catchy melody too asking for a repeat play. And to further prove the point, just sample these words, “Mann Ka Mirga Dhoondh Raha, Kasturi Kahan Hai” and “Khwabon Ko Sach Karne Ke Liye, Titli Ne Saare Rang Bech Diye”.
In all, BOLLYWOOD DIARIES is unarguably a brave and sincere film directed by K. D. Satyam having noble intentions of guiding the people lost in the glitters that is not gold. It has a fine start and an eye-opening culmination too revealing the crude reality behind various TV talent shows fooling the participants, who simply don’t have anywhere to go even after winning such events giving you the actual picture.
However I wish the film was a much stronger visual expression reaching out to a wider audience providing the right insight. It is indeed a tribute to all strugglers still waiting for their deserving turn since long but the irony is that we are showing such film in the multiplexes with the ticket priced between 300 to 400 rupees which is not in any way affordable for any struggling artist. So it’s high time, the makers begin to think that it’s no use making a film when it cannot even reach its target audience due to the exhibition and price issue in particular.
Rating : 2.5 / 5 (Including the special brownie points for its soundtrack.)
Tags :
Bollywood Diaries Review by Bobby Sing, Bollywood Diaries Film Review by Bobby Sing, Realistic Hindi films, Hindi social films on real life happenings, New Bollywood Movies Released, New Hindi Films Reviews, New Hindi Movies Reviews, New Hindi Movies Released, New Bollywood Reviews, Bobby Talks Cinema Review, Reviews By Bobby Sing, New Hindi Films Reviews at bobbytalkscinema.com
