After the debacles of Khubsoorat and Kya dil ne kaha, Sanjay Chhel(who shot into fame with RGV’s Rangeela) returns as a writer/director of the intriguingly titled Maan-Gaye-Mughal-E-Azam. The film is touted as a slapstick comedy that was inspired, at least in parts, by the inimitable Jaane bhi do yaaron(Kundan Shah).
In reality, the film’s a jolly good example of Bollywood’s brazen lack of originality and furthermore disability to deliver a reasonably adept adaptation of a twice made classic comedy caper. Having served as the Lyricist/ Screenplay-Dialogue Writer/Story Writer for at least a dozen films before MGMA, Mr. Chhel thinks he has his con-act formula figured out by now. Apparently, not.
Lekin, yeh mua Formula kya hai?
a) Take a classic (but relatively obscure) Hollywood script/screenplay that’s ripe for a scene-by-scene ’adaptation.’ In this case it’s a Mel Brooks/Anne Bancroft film (1983)-‘ To Be or Not To Be.’(which was a faithful remake of a 1942 film by the same name.)
b) In the absence of a Big Studio to back you up, take a B- grade Star cast where your biggest bets are Paresh Rawal and a one-surprise ‘side effects’ hit duo. Care not if they (Rahul ‘bete-noire’ Bose, Mallika Sharbat ) have little sense of comedy and appear thoroughly miscast.
c) Throw them all on a fictitious town on the beaches of Goa (exotic locale) and watch them flinch, jump and gasp to death like fish out of water.
The original movie is a rip-roaring yet incredibly tight comedy about the bumbling adventures of a struggling theater group just before the Nazi invasion of Poland, especially those of the Lead Actor, Josef and his flirtatious wife, Maria. The couple inadvertently get caught up in an effort to save a bunch of local Polish revolutionaries from falling into the hands of the Third Reich and Josef is forced to play the role of a recently deceased Gestapo officer and later, the Fuhrer himself to save himself, his wife, his and his drama company.
Now replace Shakespeare’s Hamlet with Akbar/Anarkali, Poland with Goa, Hitler with Dawood Ibrahim and the impending holocaust with the 1993 Bombay serial bomb blasts scenario to understand the depth and gravity of Sanjay Chhel’s Maan Gaye Mughal-E- Azam.
In trying to indianize the near-perfect To Be Or Not To Be, Chhel goes totally hay-wire with the screenplay. Practically every scene is badly re-written, over stretched, over-acted and unimaginatively shot. Curiously, there are zilch close up shots of the actors on stage ~despite Paresh Rawal and Rahul Bose trying to pull off numerous tight situations solely on the basis of some very unconvincing disguises. Only single mid-range shots. And some double entendre dialogues, of course.
And not to mention an audience that disappers on the count of three. Tee-Hee.
In reality, the film’s a jolly good example of Bollywood’s brazen lack of originality and furthermore disability to deliver a reasonably adept adaptation of a twice made classic comedy caper. Having served as the Lyricist/ Screenplay-Dialogue Writer/Story Writer for at least a dozen films before MGMA, Mr. Chhel thinks he has his con-act formula figured out by now. Apparently, not.
Lekin, yeh mua Formula kya hai?
a) Take a classic (but relatively obscure) Hollywood script/screenplay that’s ripe for a scene-by-scene ’adaptation.’ In this case it’s a Mel Brooks/Anne Bancroft film (1983)-‘ To Be or Not To Be.’(which was a faithful remake of a 1942 film by the same name.)
b) In the absence of a Big Studio to back you up, take a B- grade Star cast where your biggest bets are Paresh Rawal and a one-surprise ‘side effects’ hit duo. Care not if they (Rahul ‘bete-noire’ Bose, Mallika Sharbat ) have little sense of comedy and appear thoroughly miscast.
c) Throw them all on a fictitious town on the beaches of Goa (exotic locale) and watch them flinch, jump and gasp to death like fish out of water.
The original movie is a rip-roaring yet incredibly tight comedy about the bumbling adventures of a struggling theater group just before the Nazi invasion of Poland, especially those of the Lead Actor, Josef and his flirtatious wife, Maria. The couple inadvertently get caught up in an effort to save a bunch of local Polish revolutionaries from falling into the hands of the Third Reich and Josef is forced to play the role of a recently deceased Gestapo officer and later, the Fuhrer himself to save himself, his wife, his and his drama company.
Now replace Shakespeare’s Hamlet with Akbar/Anarkali, Poland with Goa, Hitler with Dawood Ibrahim and the impending holocaust with the 1993 Bombay serial bomb blasts scenario to understand the depth and gravity of Sanjay Chhel’s Maan Gaye Mughal-E- Azam.
In trying to indianize the near-perfect To Be Or Not To Be, Chhel goes totally hay-wire with the screenplay. Practically every scene is badly re-written, over stretched, over-acted and unimaginatively shot. Curiously, there are zilch close up shots of the actors on stage ~despite Paresh Rawal and Rahul Bose trying to pull off numerous tight situations solely on the basis of some very unconvincing disguises. Only single mid-range shots. And some double entendre dialogues, of course.
And not to mention an audience that disappers on the count of three. Tee-Hee.
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