Tamasha

If you look at films like Rockstar and Highway, there is this longing for freedom beyond the conventional right and wrong. Those movies had protagonists who wanted to feel the positive side of not being strangled by orthodox mindsets. The good side of Tamasha is that Imtiaz Ali takes away the tragic angle of those concepts and presents a refreshingly real love story that becomes the motivation for a guy who was forced to “act” throughout his life.

It is apparently the story of Ved, a techy who aspired to be a story teller. He has this great passion to listen to stories and present them as well. A trip he took to Corsica ended up in a temporary friendship with an unknown girl. At the end of their raw and real one week at Corsica, the girl falls in love with him. The movie basically talks about the change the girl brings in to Ved’s life when she meets him again.

The subject as a one liner is simply “follow your heart” and that might make it look too predictable and simple. But it is the way Imtiaz has constructed the characters that made me love the film. The way Ved gets hurt when Tara’s statement disturbed his inner complex and the sort of faith she shows on him looks so real. Deepika’s honest cry, Ranbir’s way of portraying the mental conflict and the less dramatic writing and visualization of that key part of the film is really the winner for me. With Corsica sequences, Imtiaz does succeed in giving us the impression of how liberating both of them were when they had that freedom of being themselves. The movie needed a good approach road to reach the climax which we all can guess and that was also constructed smartly by Imtiaz through that story telling scene which was gracefully performed by Ranbir.

Ranbir Kapoor is in exquisite form in the film. There is this cool and flawless Don avatar which offers great fun on screen with the kind of charm he has. He also depicts the disturbed mental state of Ved in a very convincing manner. Well you just have to watch all the song teasers of the movie to judge Deepika’s performance. It was a great transformation of the actress and it’s been a long while since I have seen an actress cry so honestly on screen and none among the full house wanted to howl. Among the other performers, a special mention should be given to Piyush Mishra.

As I said, Imtiaz Ali this time has decided to take away the tragedy which was there in his last two films. There is a scene where Ved questions one man’s dishonest “how are you?” which I really loved. The auto rickshaw driver scene was also quite catchy. The lack of typical drama definitely puts the movie in a real zone. Dialogues are really good and the screenplay impressively builds the emotions with depth. Tara’s concerns about Ved were so atypical that you will find it refreshing. Impressive cinematography and Aarti Bajaj’s cuts once again widens the impact. Only a few of the tracks worked for me while listening to the album, but I kind of feel that all the tracks were perfect for the situations in the movie.

In a way I felt Tamasha is an interpretation of the Rockstar track “Meeting place”. Tamasha is about following your heart with the help of someone who knows the real you and wants to have you like that. It is a film for those free minds or wannabe free minds who feels encaged.