Dhamaal vs. Dhokha

Saw two movies in the past few days that deserve some reflecting upon.


First is the so called funny flick Dhamaal. The movie turned out to be nothing but a mix of scenes from Road Trip/Johnny English/Mr.Bean The Movie/Mad Mad World/Rat Race. Sure, some of the toilet humor can definitely receive a chuckle or two, but overall, it's a blatant, blatant, blatant copy of some of the English Comedy movieS that I've seen a pathetic number of times. Most of the while, you're just comparing the desi scenes to the original ones. But hey, I was always a fan of slapstick comedy, so I didn't mind the silly and crude jokes. But the frame by frame duplicating of scenes from the originals were kind of annoying.

But the movie Dhokha on the other hand... (I think Dhokha means betrayal.) Anyway, GOOD movie. It is at the opposite end of the spectrum of genre in comparison to Dhamaal. Basic plot is about a Muslim police officer who is a resident of Mumbai. He's basically looked down upon and is segregated in the department after the Mumbai bomb blasts happen. And later, he gets notice that his wife (who is also Muslim) was a suicide bomber and was behind the blasts. The movie pretty much flows into her husband desperately trying to prove her innocence, and trying to break racial barriers. There are some scenes that definitely are powerful and not meant for all sorts of audiences. I had to fast forward through some of those scenes, since my heart just could not handle what was shown.

So in an industry that has put forth great creative movies this year such as Chak De, Ek Chalis ki Last Local, Awarapan, Life in a Metro, and now Dhokha..., I think that we should slowly move away from making silly duplicates of English/International movies.

That's all folks!