Hulchul

Through Hulchul, Priyadarsan - the visiting director(much akin to a visitin prof. giving a guest lecture) has presented Bollywood with a revamped version of the Malayalam hit of the mid-90s, Godfather. The film stars Akshaye Khanna and Kareena Kapoor in the leading roles and they deliver commendable performances. The role of the Godfather is played by the veteran actor, Amrish Puri, in one of his last major roles, before he passed away last month.

For me, it is Arshad Warsi who stole the show. The man is a natural comedian. Amrish Puri stands the ground with his stern and majestic presence as the patriarch, another actor worth mentioning is comedian and character actor,Paresh Rawal. It was good to see actresses Lakshmi and Farah, after a long absence from the silver screen.

Priyadarshan's direction calls for a lot of primary colors in the frame, bold reds, greens and blues and the shot usually has a very shallow depth of field, maybe to hide the fact most of his films are shot in studio settings. Starting from his first ventures in Bollywood like Muskurahat and Gardish, this latest one too has the indelible Priyadarshan stamp. It does evoke genuine laughter at places and has used a different kind of masala than what is served on the usual Bollywood thali.