Mithya

Struggling actor trying to hack it in Mumbai. Sneaking into film sets. Getting to hold glasses of congealing chai for directors who have no time for him. Storming out of a recording studio starving. Staring out at the sea, late in the night, swigging from a cheap whisky quarter which comes with a free glass.

There have been a million portraits of an-actor-as-a-struggling-actor, but very few have dived into it with such veracity. Rajat Kapoor builds up VK (Ranvir Shorey)— one of those million faceless aspirants, looking in on the glamorous world of movies, while showing its seamier undersides— with deft, sure strokes. And then leaves him to flounder.

The rich, dark comic potential of a plot which plucks VK from his scrounging-for-bit-parts life into a vortex of death and destruction is realised, but is not mined completely: The film’s swings between ‘satya’ and ‘mithya’ create hilarity and menace in equal parts, something Kapoor excels at, but also propels it into uneasy in-between zones, where you are left waiting for the next smart move.

But there are enough gorgeous moments to keep you going: The flashes of tributes to the gangster classics that come and go, VK’s superb rendition of Hamlet’s famous soliloquy, the casual banter between the goons — one calls himself Inspector Ram, the other is Inspector Shyam— a fat Punjabi matron more bothered about what’s on her table rather than who’s getting shot in her house, a mob boss getting his peds polished. And except for Naseerudin Shah, who’s strangely minus impact (there’s something called being too detached), everyone else is right inside their roles, especially Ranvir, who is turning out to be one of the best actors we have working in Hindi cinema right now. And so are Vinay Pathak and Saurabh Shukla, and Iravati Harshe in a felt cameo.

This is mostly Rajat Kapoor’s gang, good buddies all, and you can see that fun has been had in making the film. But Mithya is content to remain a spoof on the current mix du jour — movies and mobsters— without going to the next level. From this director, one of the most intelligent in the business, you expect more.

Reflected glory

Superstar

More movie-within-a-movie. It may be a coincidence that both Mithya and Superstar release on the same day, back-grounding the film industry and a star aspirant with a doppelganger, but it’s just the kind that Bollywood loves.

Here it’s Kunal Khemmu in a double role: Kunal, the poor middle-class boy who dreams of being a bade parde ka star, and Karan, the rich film producer’s son, who only wants to have fun. One is a competent dancer, a learner-of-lines and doer-of-action scenes; the other just wants to chill. One comes to an untimely end, the other survives.

While you are at it, you are given a close-up of the behind-the-scenes activities on film sets: Fight masters hoisting the star on ropes that will be made to disappear, making it seem as if he is flying gracefully, choreographers putting their charges through their paces, actors forgetting their dialogue and bumbling through. There’s a whole industry being paid to make the star look good, who then goes home with the heftiest pay cheque.

The plot stretches credulity, but hey, it’s okay. Mainly because Kunal Khemmu plays it so sweetly: Terrific as a young boy in one of Mahesh Bhatt’s finest, Zakhm, he has been doing an equally good job as an adult, in Kalyug, and Traffic Signal. Here again, he displays a range of emotions, without borrowing from anyone, the hallmark of a good actor. And Rohit Jugraj, having put the dreadful James behind him, shows that he is capable of more. Pity this film came without any advance publicity.

Belly belles

Fool’s Gold

In Fool’s Gold, Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey, as golden as a pair of rotisserie chickens, squabble and cavort in a tropical paradise. How nice for them, and for those in the audience who want nothing more from a midwinter trip to the movies than to gaze upon the tawny limbs and perfect bellybuttons of the stars.

Not that there isn’t a lot of other stuff going on in Fool’s Gold, a hectic action-romance-comedy directed by Andy Tennant. There is Alexis Dziena’s bellybutton, for instance, in friendly competition with Hudson’s. And if plot is what you want, there is plenty of action, including underwater fights and high-speed shenanigans involving motor scooters, jet skis and prop planes.

Finn (McConaughey) is a feckless treasure hunter whose irresponsible ways have finally driven Tess (Hudson), even though she still loves him, to dump him and return to graduate school. First, however, she finds work on a yacht belonging to Nigel Honeycutt (Donald Sutherland) whose daughter, Gemma (Dziena), drops in for bikini modelling.

For a time, Fool’s Gold holds out a vague promise of romantic farce, since it seems possible that either Gemma or her dad, or perhaps both, might become an obstacle to Tess and Finn’s reconciliation. Instead, the film stages a melodrama of father-daughter estrangement between Nigel and Gemma and abruptly shelves the dumb bimbo jokes, though not the leering camerawork aimed at Dziena.

And so the prospect of fireworks between Finn and Tess is quickly dampened, and the movie turns into a dull, noisy pursuit of old Spanish coins, aided by maps and letters.