The start of the film where a displeased Sanjay Mishra is expressing in yet another "Yellow journalistic" piece, is so biting it chews out what's wrong with the Indian society today when it comes to treating and recognizing artists. These journos are good at "buttering" up senior artists by requesting their "punch lines/dialogues" yet salivate the moment the current crop of "next gen" enters into the fray. The old phrase, "Hair today, gone tomorrow" can easily be retro-fittted as "Here today, gone perhaps tomorrow" because that's what Kaamyaab is all about and it's scathing to see Director Hardhik Mehta go all out with the story and screenplay writing.
A lot of the film reminds of a scene in Kamal Haasan's "UTTAMA VILLAIN (2015) (The Optimal villain) (TAMIL). Haasan played an aging superstar who has a brain tumor in the film, but the scene where he attends a Talk show, the emcee asks him, why he continues to pursue cinema? Haasan in a cheeky way, remarks, "It's for the applause." Sanjay Mishra's Sudheer and his 499 film legacy, while insisting on going for the 500-record, is near-reminiscent of Haasan's goals. For applause.
The film also doesn't shy away from taking potshots at the nepotism (yes the debate has been beaten to death), and at the short-minded audience, who seek fame given the current trends no matter how kitchen-sink and dismembered (read: Remixes of your evergreen Hindi songs..*cough cough T-Series*) your memories are.
But the icing on the cake was the climax. I think next to SADMA's climax (where Reshmi (Late Sridevi) fails to recongize Somu (Haasan) ), this one is another gut-wrenching one. Here, the annual day function organizers are in pinch when the rising Rahul Chopra is running late to make a "appearance" so they reconigize Sudheer and request him to entertain the audience for 10 minutes. Sudheer obliges and in doing-so the audience is indulged by finishing the punch dialogues. The punch-in-the-gut moment was when Rahul Chopra finally appeared, the spotlight suddenly shone on him, as Sudheer ended his act, on the stage ground, while the curtains close on him. To the Indian mentality, character (senior) artists not given their dues are just here today, gone tomorrow when another (star) shows up. Sad realities.
In the age of Kapoors/Khans and their share of fans bombarding them, why not pay the same to the character artists. After all, they are what they are, characters.
A lot of the film reminds of a scene in Kamal Haasan's "UTTAMA VILLAIN (2015) (The Optimal villain) (TAMIL). Haasan played an aging superstar who has a brain tumor in the film, but the scene where he attends a Talk show, the emcee asks him, why he continues to pursue cinema? Haasan in a cheeky way, remarks, "It's for the applause." Sanjay Mishra's Sudheer and his 499 film legacy, while insisting on going for the 500-record, is near-reminiscent of Haasan's goals. For applause.
The film also doesn't shy away from taking potshots at the nepotism (yes the debate has been beaten to death), and at the short-minded audience, who seek fame given the current trends no matter how kitchen-sink and dismembered (read: Remixes of your evergreen Hindi songs..*cough cough T-Series*) your memories are.
But the icing on the cake was the climax. I think next to SADMA's climax (where Reshmi (Late Sridevi) fails to recongize Somu (Haasan) ), this one is another gut-wrenching one. Here, the annual day function organizers are in pinch when the rising Rahul Chopra is running late to make a "appearance" so they reconigize Sudheer and request him to entertain the audience for 10 minutes. Sudheer obliges and in doing-so the audience is indulged by finishing the punch dialogues. The punch-in-the-gut moment was when Rahul Chopra finally appeared, the spotlight suddenly shone on him, as Sudheer ended his act, on the stage ground, while the curtains close on him. To the Indian mentality, character (senior) artists not given their dues are just here today, gone tomorrow when another (star) shows up. Sad realities.
In the age of Kapoors/Khans and their share of fans bombarding them, why not pay the same to the character artists. After all, they are what they are, characters.