CLIPPED WINGS
Thanks to films and some fiction, people outside the film industry have a picture of what the 'inside' world is like. A character in Sudipto Chattopadhyay's Pankh describes it as hell. The rundown, debauched men, and desperate women who appear in the film seem to confirm these ideas. Unfortunately it is people in the industry who invariably denigrate it.
This is not to say that the film industry does not have its share of pimps and exploiters, but the collection of cliches in Pankh is a bit much--- the mother pushing her unwilling daughter, crudely described “as fresh, juicy mango,” the casting director who demands his pound of flesh, the effeminate and depraved-looking writer. And above all the two main characters in the film, Jerry (Maradona Rebello) and his ambitious mother Mary (Lillete Dubey)-- she had forced the boy to dress as a girl and do movies in the past, and when he grows up, he is confused about his sexuality. To compound the problem, a young stuntman (Amit Purohit) was in love with the little girl and still fantasizes about her. Jerry, meanwhile, has imaginary conversations with an actress Nandini (Bipasha Basu).
Most of the film takes places in a dilapidated studio, where Jerry has to appear for an audition with a terrified girl (Sanjeeda Sheikh), who is being pushed by her mother (Asha Sachdev) into the arms of the sleazy casting man.
The film aims at a dream-trance-nightmare heavily Gothic atmosphere, but does nothing to create compassion for the boy around whose plight the film revolves.
While the idea is dated (today there is no shortage of girls aspiring to join the industry), it is still interesting, but the film remains on one hysterical note, and covers up for its lack of content with stylised visuals and loud performance styles, that make the film very difficult to sit through and even tougher to like or sympathise with the characters-- least of all Jerry. The film also ends on a very predictable note.
Lillete Dubey, who is usually a wonderful actress is made to shriek and ham and the new actor Maradona Rebello does not have the screen presence or acting range to pull off the complex role. No performance stands out really, in this noisy, excessively melodramatic mess, that gives the world “experimental” or “art house” a bad name.
Directed by: Sudipto Chattopadhyay
Cast: Maradona Rebello, Lillete Dubey, Amit Purohit
Rating: Two stars
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