But it wasn't.
Not even close. Beth's post warned about the poor subtitles in the film, but nothing could have prepared me for this. In fact, I think there were more lines with grammatical errors than those that actually made sense. I found it so distracting that it was hard to stay focused on the film, which was rapidly losing its credibility with me, for other reasons...
I've been tempted in the past to make a comment about this but since I'm not a medical professional (just yet) I didn't think I was qualified to criticize. But I've now been pushed to the point where I just don't care... What is up with the improbable deaths in Bollywood? We have Pooja in
Hum Aaapke Hain Koun (slides down the stairs face up with no apparent neck injury, then appears to be conscious in the hospital, says a few lines and dies), Tiger's mother in Hum (dies almost instantly for no apparent reason after her husband is crushed to death), and now Ramesh who drowns with one simple push into a pool by Don. I realize its possible he just couldn't swim, but there was no follow-up, simply a cut to a teary Kareena Kapoor. No kicking, gasping for air, or screaming for help. If they can come up with a fighting scene in midair, they can take a little more time to kill off Ramesh properly.
Unfortunately, Ramesh's death was just the beginning. I found myself constantly having to piece together where we were going, what was happening, who this new character was, etc. (i.e. Arjun Rampal's entrance, what Kamini was doing in the club after her hubby had just died, why later Kamini was lying on the floor and letting the elevator door hit her repeatedly, and the list goes on and on). Like I said, I'm no professional, but I'm willing to bet this is what one would call a choppy screenplay.
Thanks to this movie, I actually found myself repulsed by one of my favorite actors, Shahrukh Khan. Take the hotel scene with Kareena Kapoor (who I have yet to find it in my heart to like anyways). The music, the jerky movements between the actors, and the poor photography gave that entire scene a really sleazy vibe, in my opinion.
Luckily, as the movie progressed, and Shahrukh portrayed Vijay's transformation from a gullible scaredy cat to a confident action "hero", amidst vivacious dancing and trademark SRK faces, I grew more comfortable with him as "the Don". By the end of the movie, I decided Shahrukh was not the problem here...I actually thought he did a pretty good job in his fighting sequences. I would give him another shot in an action role if he chose to make one.
The second half of Don was better than the first, but by the time we got there I just really wanted the movie to end. So here's where editing would have been nice.
The music was passable, but just barely. I didn't know most of the songs were from the original Don, and I don't know if that would have made a difference to me or not. The sets and costumes were nice enough, but for some reason, the dance sequences lacked all the fanfare that I love about Bollywood songs. The audio was blah, the colors were all muted (except for Priyanka's stunning coral dress) and the presentation was shoddy. Another thing that could have been done better, especially when you have competent performers like Shahrukh Khan and Priyanka Chopra.
Shahrukh and the gang gave it their best shot, but probably had no idea the end result would turn out like this. Makes me wonder what that must be like for actors. I mean, you work on a film that seems like it will turn out great, put your all into it, then get to the premiere and realize with a sinking heart that your movie didn't turn out the way you expected it to. But by then its too late. I could imagine that happening here. Like I said, the plot outline is actually pretty interesting, the sets for some of the songs had potential, and the actors did a great job in the fighting scenes. If I were an actress, I would have signed on to do it. It's what should have happened behind the scenes and didn't that turned this into a bad movie. And that must have been frustrating for the cast.
I just want to make it clear that I don't mean to sound snobby about this stuff, and I realize my Hollywood-grown attitude needs to adjust to certain things if I'm going to kick back and have a good time in Bollywood. But since I am recording my journey through Indian cinema, its necessary for me to write my honest reactions and issues as they arise. I know I'm going to run into many more misspelled words and unexplained deaths. And although that may be frustrating at times, more often than not it will be worth overlooking because the film is so good.
But then there will be times like these.
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