I was quite taken aback when Netflix decided to give ‘Q’ a shot at making a movie. I have no inkling on what was going on the minds of the bigwigs but maybe it was the idea that rubbing off some of the noir credentials that the director has managed to secure through his obscure and snobbish clientele by being the poor man’s avant-garde may actually find them a place among the plethora of masala movies that are made every now and then.
However experimental may a director get, sometimes the entire exercise boils down to certain very simple parameters while getting judged. With Q’s earlier ventures failing to make an impact on the critics or cineophiles and I am saying this statement sans the people who would rather accept the implorable rather than question it.
Without digressing let’s come to the particular celluloid adventure. A lot of movies have been made about coming to age or getting a hang of what life throws at us. What we miss however is what to do when you are stuck in between the entire scenario and are quite snug fit in to the place. This movie could have just turned into the belching from a bad hangover of western crude antics like ‘American Pie’ or ‘SuperBad’ or ‘here-is-another-throw-in-your-face-drama’ but the movie actually turned out to be quite a watch and if I may say so in certain places almost bearable.
Set in the 80’s college scene, Brahman Naman is based on the premise of quizzing and 3 or 4 (if I include the lackey into it) friends bantering through all of the trials and tribunals of the socially awkward yet smart ale ck geek that you find loitering about in and around with a geekier-than-thou halo. Shashank Arora plays the protagonist and the role fits him like a glove but somehow I find myself particularly biased towards Tanmay Dhanania who although playing the second fiddle leaves quite an impression. Siddharth Mallya like his father Vijay ‘Kingfisher’ Mallya is almost bankrupt of any acting prowess and is placed in the movie like an ornamental doll which is again, nothing but a cheap chinese knock-off at the first place. Biswa Kalyan Rath also finds his way into the movie in what can be loosely termed as an extended cameo with really unpleasant screen presence. This guy could have seriously been more but then again let’s leave it to that.
I am as good an audience of college dramas as the other guy and I take my ‘Rang de Basanti’ and ‘Yuva’ with a pinch of salt and all love that my sarcastic self can muster. But somehow, I am still stuck with the belief that there hasn’t been much delving into this scene which is practical and can equate with the normal tom on the street. I am not saying at all that Brahman Naman is prefect and is laden with original content but what I am saying is that this movie does have a lot of things going for it. I am going to draw a bad example through by saying that after ‘Rockford’, this is another movie I am going to ask a friend to watch in the same chain of thought.
In the brief overview, I would say that this movie if one could just mentally block out all the fluff would be a good thing to watch. The story here is not about progression into a psyche of the protagonist but what tales he encounters in getting over his hyperactive mind and body. It is quirky and sometimes a tad bit predictable but then again where in the blazes do we get to see original content anyway these days.
