Dostana

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A combination of exams at school and fasting during the month of Ramadan has meant that I've fallen quite behind on my schedule of movies to watch and review. Therefore, I decided to go for something comfortable: something easy that would allow me to relax. And my comfort as far as films go is Bollywood.

DOSTANA [2008]

Starring: Abishek Bachchan, John Abraham, Priyanka Chopra, Kirron Kher 

Directed by Tarun Mansukhani, Produced by Karan Johar 

Language: Hindi


Growing up, I was told that this movie was inappropriate, but I'll just blame that on my conservative parents. I watched it, and found exactly what I expected: a frothy, melodramatic love story that can be watched only once before you start banging your head against the wall. If anything, this movie is representative of Karan Johar's deterioration as a legitimate, serious film producer. From movies that are considered to be classic in the early 2000s: Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, Kal Ho Naa Ho, Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna to this is an embarrassment. I won't lie though: the trashy nature of this movie put aside, it was just what I needed: a politically incorrect ray of sunshine shining on my world, which is right now very small. 

Let's start with how inappropriately this movie tackled the representation of gay people: this was a movie that relied almost completely on oversensationalised stereotypes, I guess to appeal to a very conservative audience. However, watching from a viewpoint of somebody that isn't very conservative, I thought that it was an abomination. Several of the first scenes focus solely on the physical vitality of one of the main characters, and all sorts of other sleazy innuendos such as the consumption of hot dogs which made me want to scream. Harmful stereotypes and the unrealistic plotlines was not great to watch. 

Since the 1990s, Bollywood has gone through a revolution in terms of the progression of romance through a plotline. Whilst in the past, romance was an issue that would affect not only the people in the relationship, but entire communities and families would be dragged into the conflict, turning the romance very melodramatic. However, in the case of this movie, it was interesting to see the relationship between two types of love: romantic love and platonic love. In that case, this movie didn't really follow the stereotypical 'love triangle'. In terms of familial involvement in romance, there was only interference from one conservative, crazed mother (Kher), but she acted purely as a comedic character. 

Whilst the humour coupled with the harmful stereotypes of homosexual people was not a great move by the writers, which did lead so some awkward moments, the pure stupidity of some scenes was a source of slapstick humour, which was welcome in some slower areas of the movie. 

What saves substandard Bollywood movies is the music, and this movie was no exception. Whilst most of the songs were catchy, one song in particular continues to be played at every big event hosted by any family hailing from the Indian subcontinent: Desi Girl. 

Lehron si chaal ke jaal bicha ke, Dil ko yun behaal bana de, Sare deewane maane, Na dekhi koi aisi girl (aisi girl)! Dekh laakh laakh pardesi girl, Ain't nobody like my desi girl!

Walking like the waves, she'll lay a trap, She'll make the heart helpless, All lovers agree, They have not seen a girl like this (a girl like this)! We've seen millions of foreign girls, Ain't nobody like my Indian girl!

I'm a fanatic for some good, danceable music, and that is saving this movie from getting a 1/10.

4/10

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