B-8 | Friday, June 19, 2020 BOLLYWOOD www.WeeklyVoice.com ‘Gulabo Sitabo’: Satire Served With Real Lakhnavi Wit “Gulabo Sitabo” (stream- tle. Gulabo-Sitabo are traditional would draw your sympathy at the ing on Amazon Prime); Cast: glove puppets of Uttar Pradesh. irst glance, only to incite aver- Amitabh Bachchan, Ayushmann Sitabo is the overworked spouse sion the moment you fathom his Khurrana, Vijay Raaz, Brijendra while and Gulabo the smart par- unabashed greed.. Kala, Srishti Shrivastava, Far- amour who mostly knows how to It must have been a mammoth rukh Jafar; Direction: Shoojit get her way for nothing. task for Ayushmann Khurrana to Sircar; Rating: * * * (three stars) In the ilm, Amitabh Bachchan stand up to such a formidable act is cast as the haggard old Mirza, but the new-generation star sim- By Vinayak Chakravorty obsessed about shielding his ply brings out his best. mansion from a series of people He lives out the atta chakki- First thing, “Gulabo Sitabo” is who have a shark’s gaze on the waala Bankey only too authenti- positioned as a comedy but the sprawling but crumbling proper- cally, down to a heartland accent ilm would not fulil deinition of ty. Ayushmann Khurrana is Ban- highlighted by a lisp, and supple- the genre in the traditional Bolly- key, one of Mirza’s tenants who mented by the right physical at- wood sense. This is not irst day- has not paid rent (a princely sum tributes. irst show LOL stuff, and it would of Rs 30) for months. Mirza and Bankey’s show- seem a prudent move to launch Without giving away spoilers, Scene from ‘Gulabo Sitabo’ down sequences are the ilm’s this reined whiff on OTT. things come to a pass between the high points. Bachchan and Khur- This ilm is not solely about ever-bickering Mirza and Bankey padhyay’s camera). Also, while summate satire – at an individual rana clearly relish executing Amitabh Bachchan and Ayush- that both end up trying to make Chaturvedi struggles to maintain as well as a societal level. those moments. mann Khurrana, either. To savour some fast fortune off the ‘haveli’. pace of narrative, she excels with To relish that ine comedy, Yet, “Gulabo Sitabo” is not just “Gulabi Sitabo” you need to un- Juhi Chaturvedi’s script is the dialogues, impressively sus- you also need to understand the about its two lead actors. Vijay derstand that the ilm is as much pitched as a modernday morality taining the screenplay with lines oddities of Lakhnavi lingo. You Raaz as the arrogant archaeologi- about the quirks of Lakhnavi life. play of sorts. It is about avarice, that revel in the witty ‘mizaaz’ of would, of course, go for it drawn cal oficer is comically evil. Bri- Importantly, a third signiicant and it oscillates between hope Lucknow. by the ilm’s lead cast more than jendra Kala adds exceptionally to character here is the decrepit and despair, laughter and misery, Clearly Sircar, a proven sto- its layered humour or language the plot with his wily lawyer act. ‘haveli’ (mansion), Fatima Ma- to drive home the message that ryteller, was trying to narrate a speciics. Amitabh Bachchan and Srishti Shrivastava as Bankey’s hal, which the tale is centred on good, in the end, will triumph. storyline that works in layers, as Ayushmann Khurrana are the ob- sister Guddo has to be the ind of and which becomes a silent pro- Despite a fascinating core “Piku” did. As a very basic en- vious draws, setting up an engag- the ilm. tagonist for the bittersweet dram- concept, writing is not the best tertainer that is where “Gulabo ing equation of conlict. Finally, you have Farrukh Ja- edy to unfold. aspect of the ilm. Somehow, -di Sitabo” fumbles, when compared Bachchan’s heavy prosthetics far as Fatima Begum, Mirza’s To appreciate the satire element rector Shoojit Sircar needs to fall to “Piku”. may not be something that would wife and the cleverly under- the ilm tries putting across, one back on his performers, as well Sircar’s latest sets up its hu- loor you in any away, but the played ‘hero’ of the ilm. Few- ac needs to understand the co-rela- as the milieu in which the story mour quotient using understated veteran makes up for the bizarre tors in recent times have exuded tion between its three protago- unfolds (Fatima Mahal as well humour that would not cater to makeover with lawless body lan- such complete screen presence nists -- the two heroes and Fatima as Lucknow city are admirably all. Dig deeper, though, and you guage to deine Mirza -- an old through sheer silence as the 80- Mahal -- in the context of the ti- brought alive by Avik Mukho- might just relish the ilm as a con- man weighed down by age who plus veteran does in this ilm. No One Doing Justice To Riddhima Introduces ‘Doodle Kapoor’ MUMBA: The late Rishi Kapoor’s daughter Rid- dhima Kapoor Sahni on Monday shared the arrival Horror Genre: Vishal Furia of a new dog into her family. They have named the MUMBAI: Director Vishal it and felt I could contribute, that pet “Doodle Kapoor”. Furia says horror is a powerful is why I started writing ‘Lapach- Riddhima introduced the furry new family mem- genre but he feels that no one is hapi’,” said Furia. ber with an Instagram video, captioning it: “New doing justice to it in India. Back in 2017, he speciically addition to the family - Doodle Kapoor,” Riddhima His upcoming project is Nush- felt the need to make the movie in captioned the video. rat Bharucha’s horror ilm “Chh- Marathi because he believes that Apart from Doodle, the Kapoors also own an ori”, which is a remake of the the Marathi audience is evolved English mastiff. A few days ago, actress Alia Bhatt Marathi hit “Lapachhapi”. and appreciates good storylines. posted a few pictures that showed her cuddling and For Furia, horror is a space that “The movie did well. A year kissing Ranbir’s pet dog. is left wide open by ilmmakers before it was released, it got se- Riddhima is currently spending time with her in India. He believes while there lected to 20 international ilm mother Neetu Kapoor in Mumbai. She reached here have been some good attempts, festivals where it mostly won. We a few days after her father, Rishi Kapoor, passed there hasn’t been a concrete released the movie in July 2017 away on April 30. movement towards serious In- and it stayed on in the theatre for dian horror movies. 11 weeks,” he said. “Horror is such a strong genre The director is looking forward Rashi Excited About Her First Song because the impact remains with to its Hindi remake now.“When MUMBAI: Actress Rashi Mal, through. Rashi, who is trained in sical jazz elements with Indian the audience for life and yet when it came to ‘Lapachhapi’, I had who had shared screen space with western classical based singing, sounds and RnB beats - a I left the broadcasting industry to to strategically scale down my Kajol in “Helicopter Ela”, has has written, composed and sung perfect representation of the join the ilm industry, I found a production. But with the Hindi come up with her irst originalboth the versions. different inluences in my life. gaping hole in this category. I re- remake, we can scale-up the song, “Misaal/Paradigm”. “’Misaal/Paradigm’ is a song The lockdown gave me the much alised no one is doing justice to scares,” he said. The song was released in Hindi that I think everyone will connect needed time to bring this to life, as “Misaal”, a more upbeat rendi- with, especially given the current as shoots have all been paused. Impractical Jokers Want India Episode tion, in June 11. circumstances. We are all in a I wish for my music to stay with New Delhi: Impractical Jok- here or there,” Murray said. While the English version, place where we are taking a step people and I hope they love it as ers, the well-known US comedy To this, Brian Q Quinn added: “Paradigm”, comes out on June back to reexamine our lives and much as we loved making it,” she group, want to come to India to “It’s always a discussion, we 25. It will be a more soothing, how we operate. I have grown up added. shoot an episode of their popular always want to go.” The New unplugged take on it. speaking luently in Hindi and She has previously written and show with the same name, says York-based comedy troupe also Interestingly the song, which English so I wanted the song to sung for ilms like “Dear Maya”, group member James Murray. comprises Joe Gatto and Sal Vul- uses classical jazz guitar and be accessible to both sets of au- for ads and as part of a musical “We would love to (come to In- cano. The troupe, also known ghungroos to create a unique diences. Hence, the decision to parody band Sachhi Savitris with dia). We’ve talked about touring as The Tenderloins, caught the sound, is a commentary on the make music in both the languag- singer Vasuda Sharma. As for there, we’ve talked about doing spiral of fame with the hidden- current human condition and es,” she said. movies, Rashi is currently work- a back-to-back Australia - India camera comedy reality TV series the pointlessness of all the daily “We have also attempted some- ing on two ilm projects, includ- tour or maybe shoot an episode “Impractical Jokers”. struggles that we put ourselves thing very different fusing clas- ing “Brahmastra”.