Bollywood Diaries, the name sounded like another gossip show on some music channel. We did not even know that this movie was about to come until the trailer arrived a couple of months ago. But the trailer did a great job at convincing us to buy a ticket.
About Bollywood Diaries
The movie follows the life of 3 individuals from different cities who have one and only one dream, to make a name in ‘Bollywood’.
- Vishnu (Ashish) from Bhilai is a middle-aged man who spent most of his life with a hope that one day he will complete all his social obligations and follow his dream of becoming an actor.
- Imli (Raima) lives in a brothel in Kolkata and would only interact with men from Mumbai so that she may find a way to Bollywood through them. To her, her dance is more valuable than her body.
- Rohit (Salim) is a young Tele caller in Delhi who uses his office’s infrastructure to cajole people from Bollywood, asking for a break. He’ll go to any limit to ask for a break.
The story follows all of them dealing with their respective hurdles, hopes, and heartbreaks.
Acting
Acting is the strongest point of the movie. All three protagonists have played one of their best performances in the movie. Ashish Vidyarthi’s performance attracts empathy and portrays the pain of a dream buried down under the mud of time. Raima Sen nails her performance like always. She embodies Imli and plays the hopeful sex-worker with elegance. But to us, the star of the movie was Salim Diwan who played the young Rohit who is obsessed with Bollywood. If playing an actor is difficult, playing a bad actor is a nightmare for anyone. But Salim plays it with ease.
Karuna Pandey as Vishnu’s wife is a gem of a performance. However, Vineet’s character looked like it was under-explored. We all know his potential (Gangs of Wasseypur, Ugly) and expected something more from him.
Story
While the plot of the movie was promising, there was nothing new in the story. However, it had few weird elements like the terminally ill Vishnu trying to plan his reincarnation to be born as a Star-Kid in his afterlife. Regardless, the story is interesting.
Direction
The direction by K.D.Satyam looks loose in the first half but paces up in the second half. The movie does look pointless at times.
Music
The music of the movie is really whelming with tracks like ‘Manwa Behrupia’, ‘Mann ka Mirga’ and ‘Titli’ standing out.
Editing
The editing of the movie is generally crisp with a few exception. Especially the song ‘Mann ka Mirga’. We thought it had great potential for a thrilling edit, but we were left unsatisfied.
Conclusion
Bollywood Diaries is carried by power-packed performances but ordinary direction and not so special script pull it down. Can be watched once if you do not have anything important to do in that time.
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What do you think? Do you agree with our review? What movie are you planning to watch this weekend? Head down to the comments section and let us know.
