Review: Ranbir and Deepika’s Tamasha is refreshingly beautiful and sends a strong message

Rating: ***1/2

How many times have you heard/ read a review which says there is nothing new in the movie? Hundreds or may be thousands of times? Here’s one movie which made me reverse this statement. Yes, this is new. Just like the tag line promises- why the same story?  In fact, it’s refreshingly new and coming from one of the best Bollywood film makers of this generation, it is a spectacular experience.

Imtiaz Ali and Ranbir Kapoor’s second collaborative effort, Tamasha, is romantic drama film written and directed by Imtiaz Ali and produced by Sajid Nadiadwala.

The film begins with a theatrical sequence followed by many others where a kid, who is an ardent story lover, listens to conventional stories and weaves imaginations through them. Piyush Mehra as the forgetful storyteller inspires the little kid and often mixes multiple stories. The kid grows up and we are introduced to a grown up man’s expedition in Corsica, France. He meets Deepika Padukone. Both start role playing and vow to never reveal their true identities to each other. Both have the time of their life in Corsica. Four years after the abrupt end to their stint, Tara Maheshwari (Deepika Padukone) and Ved Vardhan Sahni meet each other and instantly start dating. Is Ved the same individual Tara is trying to chase all these years? What has happened to him? This forms the rest of the film.

Ved’s life is in an enigma. While following social conventions, he’s puzzled about who he truly is. He tries to be good to everyone, tries to please his boss (Vivek Mushtan) to climb the corporate ladder and in the process sacrifices his own self.  He is ideal and yet boring and the complete anti-thesis of the fun guy Tara and the audience met in Corsica. After Tara confronts about this to Ved, you see him transforming, with neurotic outbreaks. While his outbreaks are funny, you are made to feel sorry for him.

The performances by Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika are brilliant.  After two of his films Roy and Bombay Velvet doomed on box office this year, Tamasha is sure to bring Ranbir back in limelight. With multiple layers to his character, this is definitely one of Ranbir’s best performances. Deepika doesn’t play second fiddle either. She shows how a woman and in general friends can bring back your original self-back from wherever you have lost it. Javed Shaikh as the strict Lahori father of Ved does a good job. Vivek Mushtan as Ved’s boss is pleasing.  

Cinematography by Ravi Verman makes the film spectacular. The soundtrack album and the film score by A. R. Rahman are soothing. The best part about the sound tracks written by Irshad Kamil is that they been used as a narrative to enhance the inherent drama of the situation. This makes the film to appear as a lyrical theatrical drama. Some people may feel there should have been more wordy dialogues and descriptions about the characters-Ved and Tara. But that’s where Imtiaz Ali’s theatrical brilliance lies-less verbose with more being left to imagination.

There are some beautiful moments in the film. Some that have stayed with me are the picturesque locations of Corsica, the break-up scene where Ranbir uses different tones to express the break down in his head, the whole heartbreak song ‘Agar tum sath ho’ in Alka Yagnik’s soulful voice, the paintings on the walls which have been used to move the story forward and the best one was the conversation which Ranbir has with his family about mediocrity and social pressures.   

At 139 minutes, the film is lengthy and appears stretched at places. Having seen beautiful shots and 

performances in most of the film, the stretched part makes the film a little inconsistent. However, for all the pluses that the film has, this can be ignored.   

While reading Imtiaz’s interviews pre-release of this film, I came across a beautiful piece about his thought behind the film which I feel I ought to share. The film was earlier named ‘The Window Seat’, inspired from Imtiaz’s own urges to get down at stations to explore the unexplored life in certain unknown places and do the unconventional. The film was later renamed ‘Tamasha’ but the essence hasn’t changed. Tamasha’s Ved represents the mediocre individuals most of us have been at least once in our lives. Many of us are still living the ideal conventional lives under societal pressures. Arguably, the film is an extension of 3 Idiots with a romantic twist. But, who cares? It’s a journey, if you wish to, you will identify with.  

I would recommend it to be at least watched once. For me, it’s a film which can be watched more than once because of the many elements Imtiaz has used. I want to make sure I don’t miss any of them.  

-Reviewed by Dolly Bolly