Desi Train

Thanks to Vivek’s tip-off - I landed around midnight to read Mr. Taran Adarsh’s review of Corporate. I was tired and my brain was in the snore zone.

The one day “sick leave” has been extended to three days, cause I haven’t been able to pull myself away from my puter putting in 16 to 20 hours each day for the last 3 days, feverishly writing the next fiction, building the new exciting sites for my dear readers and shuttling between reading the techie boards for problems I’ve been facing in designing those sites (I’m such a non-programmer you know), and crawling the net to catch the latest news.

And some of you have noticed my lack of participation in the discussions of posts. I humbly apologize. My customary daily comments should be up in gear very shortly. With respect to Akhil’s question, The Desi Train Discussion board will be up on Sunday morning. For the moment I’ll be keeping the forums to a bare minimum, and then expanding them wider based on the discussions that are exchanged on the board.

Back to Corporate reviews…

This is quite surprising. But then it’s kind of becoming quite common I say. Sukanya Verma and Taran Adarsh feel the same about the movie. There was a time when they never agreed on any point, but these days things seem to be changing… umm… is there a merger on cards? Rediff and Indiafm? RediffFm? or Indiaiff?

While Adarsh feels “… the real strength of the film lies in narrating a dynamic story,… Madhur narrates CORPORATE in the most simplistic fashion so that the common man can decipher the games corporate entities play to stay at the top… “, Verma has this to say “Over the years, with theme-oriented films like Chandni Bar, Satta and Page 3, Bhandarkar has developed a characteristic style. He picks a section of society, then hunts down everything that is directly or indirectly responsible for its supposed deterioration… “.

Every successful storyteller has strength in saying something in a very distinctive way. Bhandarkar is no different. I’m not sure he would have stuck to society based reality stories, had Chandni Bar not been successful. But then Chandni Bar was the only movie I thought Bhandarkar had a tight grip over unfolding the story. It was dark, I agree. But Satta and Page 3, weren’t anywhere close to the tight grip of Chandni Bar.

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And may I dare say that both Satta and Page 3, reveal in portions a very amateurish style of executing a story on screen. It’s as if Bhandarkar has the meat, but binding it up for a gripping screenplay is where he falters in my books. Page 3, to me, could as well have been shot for a documentary and there would be no telling the difference.

While Corporate is a complex subject, the real challenge lies in lucidly conveying to the audience the terms and terminology which may (hoping) be used by the characters in here.

On this Adarsh mentions “… The initial portions of CORPORATE and also the power games that the high and mighty indulge in may seem like Greek and Latin for the Hindustani junta. Madhur tries to be as real as possible while laying the cards on the table. Yet, there are several characters in the narrative that you identify with instantly.”, while Verma’s take is “Corporate does not involve you immediately. It is alien territory, for some, and you have to pay keen attention to what its protagonists are talking about. Not only do they mean business, they talk business too. Unless you are the kind who religiously reads financial news, follows the stock markets or studies economics, it will take some time before you grasp the lingo.”.

The basic premise is the struggle between two business houses (Kalyug?).

On the performances, both reviewers agree that Bipasha Basu, who plays the central character, has exceeded all expectation.

According to Verma, “Bipasha is consistently impressive, conveying an array of emotions ranging from tough and confident, to feminine, vulnerable and tender. She fits well into her suit and the skin of her character.”, while Adarsh writes, “The film has a plethora of characters, but the one who breathes life into her role and emerges trumps is Bipasha. She is competent in the first hour, but watch her take rapid strides as an actor in the second half, more so towards the finale. After Tabu [CHANDNI BAR], Raveena [SATTA] and Konkona [PAGE 3], Madhur taps the hitherto untapped potential of Bipasha this time around, making you realize that there’s more to Bipasha than just being a glam-doll.”

It looks like we may have here a top notch movie taking a hard look at the Business world. Though I wasn’t expecting a “Wall Street”, it sure does look like this could be it. But then knowing Bhandarkar’s knack of losing it all while reciting the story, I’ll wait to say anything, until I watch the movie this evening.

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This entry was posted on Friday, July 7th, 2006 at 7:41 am
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