Bunty aur Babli

[tikistitch]

The story of Bonnie and Clyde ... is a leetle different when Bollywood gets ahold of it!!!



I am now convinced that when people go to the cinema in India, they have no freaking idea what they're about to see! I was in the mood for something light this morning, so I stuck in a Hrithik Roshan comedy romance, and ended up stopping it after a half hour of watching Goodfellas rejects screaming and shooting each other (interrupted at frequent intervals by Hrithik leading a bunch of college boys in lighthearted dances). I had heard Bunty Aur Babli described by several parties as the Indian Bonnie and Clyde. Well, if you're a 70s film fanatic, remember what happened to THEM?

But this was unexpected too: this was more Catch Me if You Can than Arthur Penn's bloody vision. Rakesh (Abishek Bachchan) and Vimmi (Rani Mukerji) are basically small town discontents: he specializes in Homer Simpson style get rich quick schemes, and she wants to enter a beauty pageant. They both separately run away from home, meet up sort of randomly on the road, and decide to embark on a Life of Crime. But, they don't use guns, they use disguises and their wits: they're expert con artists, and they soon have all of India literally running after them. All is well, until hard boiled cop DCP Singh (played with grumpy aplomb by Abishek's real life dad, Amitabh) gets on their tail.

So many things to like about this film. The songs are catchy and the dances are inventive, and there's even a special appearance by Aishwarya Rai, who I think is the prettiest human on earth (and Abishek's real life wife - this was a real family affair). The scams they come up with are actually funny (too much of BW just seems to rely on funny sound effects to make you realize, oh, COMEDY). Yet, they remain sympathetic, as they are generally seen to be exploiting the greed of others, as when they rip off an idiotic businessman by "selling" him the Taj Mahal.

Rani Mukerji is a very appealing leading lady - she has a great husky Demi Moore voice. And Amitabh Bachchan is *hilarious* as the hard boiled cop. He even has funny, overdramatic theme music that plays whenever he enters the scene. And you get to see him RAP at the end.

This is one of those you kinda wanna put back in the player and run again.