November 07, 2019
What worked in their favour nearly 25 years
There is an unmistakable humour that runs through Machine; it begins right from
the opening scene. A still from the movie Machine Rating: Cast: Kiara Advani,
Ronit Roy, Mustafa Burmawala, Carla Dennis, Eshan ShankerDirector:
Abbas-MustanVeteran filmmakers are most revered and looked up to, more so, if
they have given us suspense-filled edge-of-the-seat thrillers in the past.
The
duo Abbas-Mustan made us sit up and take note of their ability to spring
surprises like Khiladi, Daraar, Humraaz and Soldier to name a few. But their
grandest contribution has to be Baazigar — a film that catapulted Shah Rukh Khan
to the unparalleled big lead. SRK’s character in the film turned the notion of
protagonist on its head. Instead, it was the turn of the "anti-heroâ€, which then
became a mainstream reality.There is an unmistakable humour that runs through
Machine; it begins right from the opening scene. Imagine an opening frame that
shows a camera aiming at an eardrum all along taking us through the maze of its
insides.Soon a swanky college Woodstock in North India, seemingly near Shimla,
exposes some of the brats (students).
If any of us has ever received a modicum
of education in any institution, one may infer that schooling — as is it
actually shown here — appears to be a travesty of education.From the automatic liquid
soft packaging machines Factory way the students dress up to the way their
classrooms are adorned with upscale furniture in the classrooms to the
activities they all indulge in, it all looks fake and artificial. Not that we
haven’t seen such false and distorted representation of facts earlier in Karan
Johar’s or other Mumbai filmmakers’ cinema. Thereafter, many scenes from the
director duos past films are reused to a pathetic finale.And that’s not all.
Abbas-Mustan haven’t grown with time. They seem to be stuck in a time warp.And
there are many areas where the director-producer duo seems to be trying to
relive the earlier grand success of Baazigar and rehash it into Abbas’ son
Mustafa Burmawala’s debut film.
What worked in their favour nearly 25 years ago
was the freshness that Indian audiences lapped it up because of its hero getting
depicted as a villain.At its core, Machine is the story of racing enthusiasts,
who meet each other under mysterious circumstances. As their bond becomes
stronger, love blossoms and soon they tie the knot.After falling in love Ransh’s
(Mustafa) first job at hand seems to get two of his rivals out of the way. Soon,
as the two (Ransh) and Sarah (Kiara Advani) get married, they don’t take long to
allow their passion to overpower them.He also must win over Sarah’s father
(Ronit Roy) and prove that he is the best son-in-law that the family could have
ever had. In the midst of love and betrayal, many unpredicted twists are thrown
in, that neither take you by surprise nor help sustain your interest.Before
long, cracks begin to be seen in Ransh’s character. After a frolicsome outing on
their honeymoon, Ransh throws Sarah off the cliff and thus begins a sordid tale
of suspicion, distrust, obsession, greed and treachery.What unfolds before you
are many scenes from Baazigar that give you a sense of déjà vu, and from then on
the film is on its downhill. Johnny Lever acts as a policeman here, and other
characters also appear and disappear as the writing hinges on the so-called star
charisma of Mustafa. And that is the major drawback that makes Abbas-Mustan’s
Machine a trite overwritten drama.
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