Banjo: A melodious Headache.

After a gap of two weeks of not watching a film, with all due excitement and expectation I went for Banjo yesterday! First hindi film of Ravi Jadhav who has directed some great award winning Marathi films. 

Movie begins with Chris, a rock babe portrayed by Nargis Fakhri from NewYork to make an album for some International Music Competition with the Banjo band whose recording is sent by her friend from Mumbai. But the question is how will she find them?? Set up in the backdrop of Mumbai’s so called reality Slum life, four residents of the slums are a part of a hit banjo band who play during the local Indian festivals. Characters are named such as Taraat (Ritesh Deshmukh), Grease, and Paper, which don't sound witty at all.  Chris’s only two hopes to find them is her hippie friend Mikey played by Luke Kenny, and her some shady uncle.

The Chris.

Taraat

The Gang

So clichéd, her Uncle is of no help but uses her to click pictures of the slums for his work. And our heroine in the skimpiest clothes, a DSLR and a bag pack makes her way and guess who is her tour guide in slums?? Yes our very own Taraat. With all kind of hide and seeks and struggles she comes face to face with the Band and convinces them to dream big. After all the pleading they get a chance to play in club and are an immediate hit. Obviously someone rises and here comes our jealous villains. Taraat gets stuck in Murder controversy and same old Conflict between the bands, they split forcing Chris to head back to NY sobbing. Circumstances are created and they give a finale performance at some music fest, which didn’t leave an electrifying effect at all. 

Taraat: the rockstar

It seemed like a slum version of Rock on with awful music given by Vishal- Shekhar! This film drives you insane with poor script and obvious dialogues which fail to amuse. I am so sick of seeing these accent heroines in films. Nargis’s lips looked bee-stung, covering half the cinema screen. Even the visuals of the film are not delightful to watch. Costumes for the film are done by Divya and Nidhi Gambhir.

Chris has travelled to India with just two bags but she is wearing a different outfit everyday! Oh I forgot our Bollywood is capable of appearing clothes magically for our heroines. She is traveling to India, solo which is very unsafe according to all the NRI parents but our Chris staying in a Shady Lodge on the very first day is seen in a sleeveless white crop top, denim shorts, a tartan shirt tied around her waist and those headphones Why????? What on earth was she thinking before wearing that outfit?? 

The gadget girl.

Why couldn’t she just wear jeans? One day she was a grunge babe in a t-shirt with messy hair and the other day she was a boho girl in Pallazos and a tank top with fringed sling. I guess she tried all the looks in one film itself. 

Nargis's famous patent dress in Azhar.

Identical dress in Banjo.

How to forget her sequins dress she wears to perform in the club looks identical to the one she wore in Azhar. She was so hectic with the shoots, she juggled between the sets in the same dress.

Bombay times ad.

The copy.

Her first look of the song “Udan Choo” definitely takes me back to Bombay times ad. The costumes were over styled and they looked like as if were meant to sweep the floors of slums and catch some fishes in the water! 

Lets catch some fishes together.

And also sweep the floor.

Taraat residing in slums wore the hippest clothes ever. He had his wardrobe from Jack and Jones and Zara literally! Cool textured ganjis, Ombre tees, Checked and denim shirts with the coolest pair of ripped jeans and how to miss out those leather boots! Liked his long hair but I wish it was tied up more than let down leaving his face covered. The leather accessories and chains he was wearing didn’t seem like roadside at all. It looked as if they were bought from AL’S (the famous tattoo and accessory shop in Mumbai).

Long Hair...... 

The denim swag.

Denim again.

Other character’s like Grease’s look almost merged with Taraat with long hair, leather accessories and Mikey was seen in typical hippie pajamas, khadi shirts and jhola. 

Identical i guess.

Even the costumes bit let the film down badly. They miserably failed to build a character sketch for any of the leads.Guys if you’ll really want to test your patience and want some major headaches then go for it! September was a serious let down for bollywood films.The only hope left is M.S Dhoni now, hope that lights up September before it ends.
Happy Sunday.

Love,

Cine Closet.