Cinemaah

Touched By A Star


It’s an idea laden with delicious possibility.  Shah Rukh Khan tells a streetside flowergirl that she is beautiful—for him a casual throwaway remark, for her a life-changing experience. 

But Makarand Deshpande’s film Shahrukh Bola Khoobsurat Hai Tu is not a Rainmaker kind of fantasy; in fact, after the first scene shocker when Laali (Preetika Chawla) is stabbed by an angry suitor John (Sanjay Dadheech), because of the impact of the star’s comment on her, the film goes  down several other alleys.

Deshpande, an actor, is also a well-known and very prolific playwright and stage director. His plays are marked with startlingly original ideas and innovative design. This is his first released film—and it looks as if he will have some difficulty getting his offbeat script and  grungy style to appeal to the film audience, now used to spit-and-polish cinema.

The backdrop of the film is a Mumbai slum, and he has shot on location, with all the dirt and grime on show. The characters are street people, without the patina of glamour that Bhandarkar’s Traffic Signal gave them.  These people, in their shabby clothes, and ordinary dreams look like they belong to their surroundings.  That’s why Laali’s  obsession with the SRK and her entry into a fantasy world in which the star is her god who will save her from all trouble, seems even more tawdry.

Playing out alongside is a romantic tangle in which John loves Laali, is loved by a hooker (Choiti Ghosh), who in turn has a gangster (Deshpande) hanging on to her every word. Add to it neighbours, petty hoods, a drunkard, ragged bars, bouncers, a lechy cop (Nagesh Bhonsle) and it’s a world that exists beyond the purview of today’s cinema. Yet, it is these people for whom films and film stars are worship-worthy.

Deshpande’s narration is meandering and perhaps deliberately random, without any discernible beginning, middle or end—a life-goes-on cycle… just touched by stardust.

Shah Rukh Khan himself makes a sporting cameo, in cast full of theatre actors. Preetika Chawla and Sanjay Dadheech are effortless and likeable.  But this is not a film for the kind of audience that goes for the Golmaal kind of entertainer. This one needs curiosity, patience and the acceptance of a structure without any embellishment.