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‘Tamasha’ Is Flawed, Yes, But It’s A Film That Has Its Heart In The Right Place

Imtiaz Ali has yet again made a film that will make you sit up and rethink your everyday existence. A film that will tug at your heart strings, inspire you to hold life by its horns, and find love within. Ranbir and Deepika have given powerful performances, and they’ll make you fall in love with them. Again.

 

The movie is flawed, yes. It is dull, fragmented, and hasty. But, like all other Imtiaz Ali movies, it gives you something to take away. ‘Tamasha’ is a film with a soul.tamasha 1

 

Imitaz Ali is a perceptive director, and has always been able to highlight the complexities of human character and its inner struggles well. Be it the dejected Shahid Kapoor of ‘Jab We Met’, or the artist struggling to find love and self in ‘Rockstar’, his characters have always been products of the modern world struggling to find their real selves.

 

In ‘Tamasha’, he made another attempt at highlighting the invisible curse of modern-day existence which we often fail to notice. While his effort is applaud-worthy, the film has turned out to be one poorly assembled and carelessly patched toy. Let’s look at why ‘Tamasha’ is not a great film, but one that definitely deserves a watch.

 

Corsica Is Stunning And So Are The Protagonists. And That’s That

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In ‘Tamasha’, too, Imtiaz Ali has tried to bring in the same element of the struggle of the self, but, alas, hasn’t been able to weave it into a touching story. Ranbir and Deepika’s rendezevous in Corsica is an attempt at a modern-day fairytale fling, but it falls below expectations with its bland dialogues and lack of character building. This part of the film looks more like a compilation of picture-perfect posters—Corsica is stunning and so are our protagonists—rather than an exciting love affair between two strangers who bump into each other in a foreign land. As a result, the audience fails to connect with the lovers, and the development of their romance seems rather abrupt and incomplete.

 

‘Tamasha’ Deserves Credit For Pinpointing The Problem In Modern-Day Romance

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How many times have we felt bored to death on a date? How could something as exciting as being in love turn into a burdensome everyday routine we feel obliged to enact? Life cannot be an adrenaline-inducing roller coaster ride all the time, but it doesn’t have to be so stagnant either. What Imtiaz has tried to highlight in ‘Tamasha’ is something that has been stressed by many a filmmaker, but not quite like this. One cannot hope to love fully if one is not at peace within. That perpetual sense of lack and dissatisfaction in our modern world has crept in and affected our ability to maintain relationships too. And Imtiaz Ali explains that well in the film.

 

You Never Knew How The Corporate Jungle Screws You In More Ways Than One

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Cut to the city, and our protagonists are leading lackluster dull lives minus love. As with most of Imitaz Ali heroines, Deepika possesses that joi de vivre that brings in much needed hope in the otherwise melancholy mood of the movie. The two meet and become lovers. It seems like the perfect ending but  all is not perfect in a life dictated by years of convention. There is a definitely a thematic resemblance to Rajkumar Hirani’s ‘Three Idiots’ in Ranbir’s struggle here.

Like in ‘Jab We Met’, the heroine plays catalyst for the hero’s transformation and rediscovery of the self. Imtiaz deserves all the credit for recognizing the melancholy of everyday modern life and its dehumanizing effect on us, aptly portrayed by Ranbir’s robot disguise. Some of the scenes, like the one where Deepika attempts a reunion with Ranbir in Social, are brilliantly shot.

 

Lazy Plot, Dull Climax, No Depth Of Character. But It Will Still Make You Cry

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The plot is highly lacking in depth and variety. There are no solid episodes to build either the melancholy or the dissolution of it. The romance between Ranbir and Deepika fails to create an impact. It has been limited to cheesy flirting in Corsica, and no real development of a love affair has been shown to the audience which is why we fail to empathise with the characters.

And let us not even talk about the cringe-worthy climax. There is no punch or peak in the plot, and even the final ‘epiphany’ that strikes Ranbir seems forced and abrupt. We wish Imtiaz had added a few more interesting episodes in the script. There is no journey that the character goes through to evolve, unlike in his other films, say ‘Rockstar, or ‘Highway’. It’s only the two actors, Ranbir and Deepika, who manage to keep the interest going on with their captivating performances.

 

Deepika Will Make You Fall In Love With Her

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Deepika is fabulous in the movie. There is something very earnest about her personality that endears her to us. From a brilliant start as the theatre clown to frolicking in Corsica to shedding tears of empathy with Ranbir Kapoor, Deepika makes us cry and laugh with her. Ranbir too proves yet again that he is an actor par excellence and can mould himself into any character with ease.

 

A Movie Not Just For The Tortured Artist But For Anyone Who Has Had A Dream Crushed


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The movie is also a brilliant exposition of the psychology of a storyteller, or of any artist. Every mind works differently, more so of an artist, and when forced into assembly line thinking, the result will obviously be disturbing.

 

Similar themes have previously been explored in Bollywood.  Like in ‘Taare Zameen Par’ where Ishan, the boy-artist who suffers from dyslexia, finds it suffocating to blend in with the ‘normal’ world that functions according to what is the set normal. In ‘Tamasha’, Ranbir’s struggle with his two identities – one that is imposed by the world, and the other that is his real self – has been depicted through traces of a borderline split personality disorder, which is not necessarily clinical.

 

Watch the movie for Deepika, for Ranbir, for Imtiaz’s beautiful portrayal of the imaginary world of storytelling. Watch it if you have ever wanted to tell a gripping story to a room-full of people sitting in rapt attention listening to your story. Watch it if you have ever had a dream crushed, however small it might have been.

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