Musing Kalakaandi

Yesterday, late evening we were trying to find a good film to see. Missus found Kalakaandi on Hotstar. Let me warn all right away that the film is very weird. It's written and directed by the same guy who wrote Delhi Belly. Akshat Verma. And so I know what to expect. The Mumbai doing drugs, the small other world of Mumbai gangsters and the exclusive world of Punjabi marriages is slapped together in a cocktail that's well, Karela juice. But in these films I tend to find Gold. I want to find Gold. And so I do. There's a scene where the characters of Shobita Dhulipala and her boyfriend are running away from a crime scene. The police are chasing them. So, they momentarily forget to guard the other couple on the scene, Shenaz Treasury's character and her boyfriend. Obviously. Its Mumbai Police. They just totter out of the hotel they are supposed to run away from. And get into the getaway car that Shobita is driving. Because she's completely alcohol free. Obviously. Then, the best scene of the film happens. Shobita's boyfriend starts accusing her of kissing a barman. She is defiant that she didn't kiss the barman. Then she says she did but it did not mean anything as she was just wanting his jacket. His jacket because she could wear that, pose to be a hotel staff and take the group out of the place away from a raid that was on, for drugs at the party. He retorts but a full kiss wasn't required. Like Emraan Hashmi. The guy at the back, Shenaz's boyfriend comes alive. Emraan Hashmi, he repeats. Then starts naming all the films. Like Emraan Hashmi in Murder, he asks. Shobita's boyfriend says yes. Then Shenaz's boyfriend is on a spree. He mentions every film that Emraan has kissed in, right till The Train along with some tagline that speaks about some impending danger. In the meanwhile, Shobita gets into a melee because she's taken her eye of the road to challenge her boyfriend who's going Emraan Emraan. She narrowly averts an incoming car at a square. Two motorcyclists jump the red signal on an adjacent road and in a jiffy, the bang against her car and fly over the are, land in the road and die. Rider and pillion, both. This is one straight scene. I admire the way it's written.The throughput in such writing. Though, the setting is a comic interlude ending in drama, a very western writing concept, the feel of complete Masala Bollywood is very alive. The tragicomedy of our daily lives. There's another scene where Saif throws some cash at a tired and stationery constable. Then, he thinks of something as he is fleeing the spot, stops, comes back and collects the thrown cash. And he says, are you mad, you thought I will actually give you my money. A thought crosses my mind. Can we take back our votes like that?