THAT GIRL IN YELLOW BOOTS (2011)
I have a lot of expectations with Anurag Kashyap. After consistent impressive efforts and not a single bad movie to his credit (at least as a director), I was excited to say the least. Nobody can deny that as a filmmaker he is fearless and never settles for the mediocre. No Smoking (2007) and Black Friday (2004) are some of the best films of the past decade. Till now, Mr. Kashyap made two kinds of movies. One - the anti-commercial, No Smoking and Dev D kind of films wherein it has the superficial ingredients of a commercial film but turn out to be the polar opposite and enormously rewarding. Second - the equally rewarding, politically charged, Black Friday and Gulaal kind of films. Here comes a third kind - No cool shot-taking, no political statements, Kashyap totally strips himself of all style and all the identities as a filmmaker he has acquired all along. Naturally I expected a great film experience. Why would I not want a third brand of Anurag Kashyap films? Sadly, this one disappoints. In the same week we see Bodyguard exhibiting the downside of commercial cinema, we also see That Girl In Yellow Boots exhibiting the downside of art-house cinema (You may stop reading if you don't like categorizing films like this, I don't like to either but it makes things easier, no?).
Anurag Kashyap has finally made something close to a bad movie. The fan in me refuses to call it one while the film-goer in me, is urging me to. Yes, it is better than a lot more films that come out of the Hindi Film Industry but that is not how I would like to assess the movies I watch. I would judge them relatively, not comparatively. For example, out of this year's films I would rate films like Ready, Bodyguard, Yamla Pagla Deewana relatively. Not in comparison with each other but the scale I use for them would be similar, if not the same. However, I would use a different scale for films like this one and Dhobi Ghaat, Stanley Ka Dabba, Saat Khoon Maaf, Shor in the City etc. It is when films like Delhi Belly, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara and Shor in the City, come out and surprise me. When it doesn't matter what scale I use, even if there is a definite type of scale. The feeling that remains is that I had the pleasure of watching a damn good movie. That's when either the fan takes birth/ grows, or the film-goer is satisfied. Kashyap's movies usually fell in the third category, this time it didn't.
The film is never boring. There was plenty to keep me hooked. This is primarily because of Anurag Kashyap and Kalki Koelchin. He knows his movie-making, he is in control, his skills as a story-teller are in tact. But it is the screenplay where this film falters for which I will also blame Kashyap and Koelchin (since they wrote it). The characters were either too sketchy or red-herrings. The plot was magnificently incoherent. I read somewhere that Kashyap stated "I hope you feel the film, because you will not enjoy it". Paradoxically, I did enjoy it in parts (because of the humor) but did not feel it at all. I could not find a connect with Ruth's character. Even though Koelchin played Ruth so convincingly, I most certainly should have. But when a character verbally illustrates the layers of her character which we are supposed to unravel ourselves, that's when the film is in deep trouble. If in some universe this is a good character, Kalki Koelchin aces it.
I did not find the climax shocking and/ or disturbing, and I don't mean this in a "I predicted the Sixth Sense twist" kind of way, I mean it in terms of what I'm supposed to feel as I experience the culmination of the character's journey (at least in the film). Maybe it was the actor (who played an pivotal character) that I couldn't take seriously or it was the sloppy writing. There simply wasn't enough fodder for me to chew on. Most of the sexual audacity did not hit me either. Instead of it being bold and daring (two words that I often associate with this filmmaker here), it was mostly too obviously sensational and rarely powerful. Sensational in a bad way, of course. At some points, I even felt Kashyap was going for the Inarritu miserablism. Especially during the final scenes of the movie with the guitar on the soundtrack. But it comes across as schlocky, misplaced and ultimately ineffective.
The film was supposed to make me feel uncomfortable, unnerve me, but it didn't. This is despite the deliberate production design and the handheld cinematography. Ruth's annoying boyfriend (Prashant) was probably the only character that aggravated me and not in the way it was intended. On the upside, the humor made it enjoyable (mostly due to the receptionist played by Puja Sarup who is effortless) and Kalki's performance made it thoroughly gripping. Gulshan Devaiah is an actor to watch out for. Not to mention, Naseeruddin Shah whose presence itself elevates the scene he is in. The fan in me will hope for a better film next time. The film-goer in me will not be satisfied with just an engaging film.
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