Much before the current ‘Salman-Akshay & now everyone else’ dominating
world of non-sense action thrillers, existed the times of Bollywood’s guilty
pleasures confidently called as ‘C-Grade’ films. The period when soft-porn sleazy
horror flicks were considered the most profitable idea of mass entertainment.
The period when ‘Ramsays’ were more a rage in show-business than ‘Benegals’
& ‘Nihalanis’. Ashim Ahluwalia’s MISS LOVELY takes you back to the very
same fascinating era but in a very dark, disturbing, unsettling and highly
absorbing tone.
Set in Bombay Film Industry of late 80’s, MISS LOVELY is an atmospheric
tale of two brothers [on the suggestive lines of ‘Ramsay Bros.’] trying to make
it large in a parallel running darker side of mainstream cinema that is
destined to find its end in an illegal commercialization of sex & porn.
Vicky Duggal [Anil George] alongwith his younger brother Sonu Duggal [Nawazuddin
Siddiqui] makes movies with plump-chubby women of desire in ill-fitted blouses
and blood-red lipsticks for clients who only bother about filthy exhibition of
female body. These movies are in general those ‘extra reels’ that get added in
between shows at single screen cinemas to give viewers maximum pleasure and their
value for money.
Where Vicky is unabashedly passionate about making money through these
movies, Sonu seeks a way out of all these filth and wants to make ‘ceretainly not
with Kumar Gaurav’ but a romantic film. Soon he finds his leading and love-lady
too in Pinky [Niharika Singh]- a small town girl with twinkled eyes. Rest is
the series of betrayal, hope, dream and passion…all in a dim-lit dark shade.
Ashim Ahluwalia masters in soaking you in the not-so-lovely shocking
world behind the curtains where C-grade films rule. The nuances and the
settings are perfectly captured through lenses. The lighting sets the swing in
moods from cheap flashy parties to excessively melodramatic & multi-colored
shooting sequences and the shady-murky times of harsh rejection from reality.
The soundtracks are varied, apt and interestingly engross. You can easily find
the transition stage from subsequential in quality music pieces in movies to
jazzy Biddu-Nazia Hasan eon of Music videos in 90s. Production-design succeeds
well in recreating the atmos and the textured look of 80s.
Performances here are subtle, realistic and innate. Nawazuddin is known
for the kind of acting his role demanded. He impresses with his honesty mixed
with brilliance that never allows you to doubt on the standing of his
character. Anil George though looks methodical & disciplined in most of his
portrayal. Niharika Singh brings a breezy break with her innocence in playing a
small towner.
This all can never be completed without making it loud & clear that
MISS LOVELY takes on a world popular in mass but is not everyone’s cup of tea
when it comes to an overall movie experience. It does have an arthouse movie
feel with less dialogues, engaging but slow pace, lack of hardcore non-sense
entertainment & anything that is regular and in routine these days. It is a
film for cinema adults. [3.5/5]
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