Dostana

[August1991]

I am not at all in the demographic of this movie. Purely by chance, several years ago, I wandered into the wrong room at a Montreal cineplex. (Salle 18 or Salle 19, uniculturalism, multiculturalism, what's the difference?) So let me be critical from the start. IMHO Indian and Egyptian movies, like Brazilian commercial TV, are sadly lacking in any reflective quality. In modern commercial art of India, Egypt, Brazil - there is absolutely no connection to reality in any way. Brazilian soap operas? The characters are solely and utterly concerned with themselves - just as in most Arabic families. The outside world doesn't exist. Like Flaubert, this is the world of the home, of a family. Yet, this Indian movie Dostana was filmed and placed in Miami! Why didn't they use Bombay as a backdrop?

This movie is a bizarre combination of Chuck/Larry, La Cage aux folles and Elvis Presley's Blue Hawaii. (A friend once described Indian movies as the same as Elvis Presley movies. There's dialogue involving a silly melodramatic conflict and then everyone goes to the beach to dance and sing. Repeat five times in 96 minutes.) BTW, there's a scene where the principals supposedly go to Venice, Italy. It was filmed in a wonderful place in Sarasota, Florida.

Florida or Venice, I reckon that we in the West must bring our fellow human beings quickly through the Renaissance, the Enlightenment. This movie does this. How? Rather than using the logic of Galileo, the virtuosity of Mozart, the delicate nature of Michelangelo or the ingenuity of Newton or Einstein - it uses humour, and guys who pretend to be gay.

Gay? Well, some like it that way. Homosexuality is the great divide between the modern West and the backward heathens who surround us. This Indian movie uses the trustworthy Shakespearean method of confronting a difficult issue through humour in a foreign setting. With foreigners, it is likely the best way to do it. Imagine an Arabic-language movie with a similar script. Heck, will the Egyptian movie industry exist in a few years?

Above all, I enjoyed this hokey movie and I recommend it to anyone with a sense of humour. On several occasions, I laughed out loud. The pop music is catchy. The script was and was not/not mindless. I liked the visual tangents following a character's thoughts - a technique Western scripts rarely exploit now. I also appreciated how the script introduced ambiguity: Watch how the male leads deal with the gay relationship. In short, I recommend this simple movie. You'll laugh.

Edited January 6, 2012 by August1991

[RB]

In short, I recommend this simple movie. You'll laugh.

I think I caught this movie on TVO over the holidays - it had subtitles I got caught up and actually watch it over an hour - it was definitely different - ridiculous but that was the point of watching it - however I gave it up to watch "Margin Call" - was good I thought - choose between making a business decision or have a moral compass.

Edited January 6, 2012 by RB

[sharkman]

Sorry I cut Netflix. Lousy selection, lousy picture.

[August1991]

Sorry I cut Netflix. Lousy selection, lousy picture.

Your loss, IMHO.

You'll have to find this movie otherwise.