Movie Review: Tamasha

Image Courtesy:www.tamashathemovie.com

The Story Frame:

Tamasha is the latest movie from the stable of Imtiaz Ali who gave us several hits in the past. The movie features Deepika Padukone and Ranbir Kapoor as lead actors. The story is about Ved Vardhan Sahni played by Ranbir Kapoor who goes through the dilemma of finding his true self and at the same time being constrained to perform according to the expectations of the authority figures in his life. Ved's life is tremendously influenced by the stories he use to hear from a mystic story teller and he decides finally to weave his own when he comes in contact with Tara Maheshwari played by Deepika Padukone. The film has a beautiful message that connects easily with everybody's life in one way or the other.

Cast: Ranbir Kapoor (Ved Vardhan Sahni), Deepika Padukone (Tara Maheshweri), Javed Sheikh (Ved's Father), Vivek Mushran (Ved's Boss), Nikil Bhagat (Tara's Father), Piyush Mishra (Storyteller)

Genre: Drama, Romance

Direction: Imtiaz Ali

Produced by: Sajid Nadiadwala

Production Company: Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment

Story by: Imtiaz Ali

Cinematographer: Ravi Varman

Music: A. R. Rahman

Film Editing by: Aarti Bajaj

Distributors : UTV Motion Pictures

Theatre Release: 27th JNovember, 2015

Language: Hindi

Duration: 152 minutes

Image Courtesy: www.facebook.com/TamashaOfficial/photos

Reviewer's Thumb Mark

Life is a Tamasha (Spectacle) and we are the creators. Imtiaz Ali in this new cinematic venture makes the viewers reflect upon their life's Tamasha and asks us to stay true to our core self that makes us perform better in life and not just succumb to the external and internal stress/pressures and become robotic. 

The film begins with a Tamasha on stage. The clown and the robot enthrals the audience and amidst cheers/applause, a beautiful story is unveiled. The story of Ved (Ranbir Kapoor) the mast maula, free-spirited youngster who lives life to its hilt  and Ved Vardhan Sahni the obedient, stressed out son, youngster who lives a monotonous life engaged in the mundane task of his career. The internal and the external dimensions of Ved fails to complement each other, and therefore, all conflicts with self and others.  

The filmmaker takes us to the beautiful locales of Corsica (a French Island) and undoubtedly the scenic beauty and the successful jodi of Ranbir and Deepika captivates you. Two sojournes- a boy and a girl- meets, the boy helps the girl, they decide to have fun but stay detached so that life doesn't get complicated as any other love stories, and therefore, decides not to reveal their real identities. The girl is there because of her fondness for her childhood comic character Asterix and the boy is there for reasons known to him only. They become Mona darling and Teja for each other and communicate the lingo of the characters they play then and there. In this whole Tamasha that is staged by our dear Imtiaz Ali the audience reach a no man's land sitting in a rudderless ship of a movie made by an ace story teller who has Jab We Met, Rockstar, HighWay, and a few more in his kitty.  The first half is a sheer waste of time except for the scenic beauty and the playfulness of the lead actors. We miss the craft of Imtiaz Ali's previous films.

Piyush Mishra as the mystic story teller who draws the little Ved again and again to listen to his stories is a major part and crux of the whole movie. All of us are attracted and drawn to stories and the characters of these stories we have heard and read, forms life within us. This is what happens with Ved too. But then Ved repeatedly tells the old storyteller that it is the same story he had told him every time by just changing the name of the characters and locales. The story teller admits that it is true because it is not the story that changes but the way we look at it changes it. Imtiaz's Tamasha becomes a soul searching and self reflective movie through these two characters  i.e. the little Ved and the Old Storyteller.

The achievements of life becomes actually the fulfillment of expectations of our near and dear ones of our life, Our life takes the shape based on the blueprint designed by the authority figures of our life because somewhere we fear them, respect them, owe them or may be because we never took a call in our life.

Tara Maheshwari (Deepika Padukone) and Ved meet both the real and the unreal and goes through the grind of life sometimes failing and sometimes successful in dealing with it. What happens to Tara and Ved when the mask they wear fall apart? How do they deal with each other? Do they stand hand-in-hand together to deal with new reality or succumb to the pressures and expectations of others in their lives and their relationship crumble like a cookie.

Tamasha has a very strong and meaningful message. The idea of this movie is brilliant but the execution and the story telling falls flat in many areas. In the first half of the movie the filmmaker splurge on time and the scenic beauty of Corsica and in the second half he gobbles up four years of Ved and Tara in a single song and thus deprives the audience to see how they actually deal with their separation and other happenings of life. This takes away the beauty of the movie and its story Imtiaz attempts to tell us. Nevertheless,  one must still go and watch Tamasha for its philosophy "Grow beyond your own expectations and perform and be a benchmark for self and others in your life", life then becomes more fulfilling!

Ranbir Kapoor as Ved is awesome but I doubt whether this movie shall give him any relief from the impact of his flop 'Besharam'. Deepika is on a high from one to the next and she looks more beautiful with Ranbir Kapoor. She is good in her act as Tara.

The real star of Tamasha is the versatile actor Piyush Mishra - the man who weaves the Tamasha for the audience. There is a powerful scene and would like to say the only scene that brings each one of us come face to face with our self and that is when the old storyteller screams at Ved and tells him " Why do you want me to tell your story, create your own story you escapist".

A.R. Rahman's music and Irshad Kamil's lyrics add soul to the whole movie. "Agar Tum Sath Ho..." song wins your heart and makes you reminisce your relationship with a dear one you hold close to your heart.

Life Connoisseur Movie Rating: 2.75/5