johnny walker, walking walking, old monk is talking talking...

Damn you, Raja Sen. Damn you. You beat me to it.

Though I was disappointed to have not seen your take on as yet on rediff, I have to admit I was glad as well - I finally had a chance to write my piece before reading yours and send you a link to my blog.

Then, this morning at my breakfast table, your review changed everything! At the end of a tired day at work, it has compelled me to finish through the review that I started writing a coupla days back, but one that keeps brewing inside my head, every time I watch even a single scene from this movie. Or hear a song. Which is like, everyday!!

But this isn't about you or me. It is about a masterfully executed piece of cinema, I cannot seem to get enough of.

Ladies and gentlemen, without an iota or shred of doubt, Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye is my movie of the year 2008.

OLLO released at possibly the worst time it could have ever chosen for itself, but then that's just the way it is. After spending about 48 non-stop hours in front of IBN Live's webcast of the Bombay carnage, I headed out for some midnight Thanksgiving shopping. But not before I had started downloading OLLO from a torrent site.

Yeah, yeah, call me names, but I don't care. If you don't release Hindi movies in Portland (in spite of such a large Indian population), don't expect me to drive 200 miles to Seattle in the cold and rain to catch a movie. Or to wait till the official DVD is available. If OLLO had released in my vicinity, I would have watched it on the big screen at least half a dozen times by now. Trust me - I have watched Johnny Gaddar in San Francisco with only FOUR other people present in the theater during an afternoon show and then again a week later :P

Anyways, by the time I was back after shopping through the entire night, the download was complete and I was licking my lips in anticipation. After all, this was Dibakar Banerjee's second offing after the magnificent Khosla ka Ghosla. But more importantly, this time without Jaideep Sahani, who is busy raking in the moolah with Yashraj. To each their own, I guess.

So as I started the movie, rejuvenated by an espresso, I didn't really know whether my humongous expectations would be fulfilled. Second acts are always tricky. Always. The expectations were tremendous, but then how many people have delivered after a super-promising rocking debut movie. But thankfully, Dibakar has made his place in that elite list.

What a fine movie OLLO has turned out to be. Amazing amount of detailing, brilliant characterizations, sexily layered and understated, an effortlessly simple cinematic translation of man's deepest, darkest and most basic desires - acceptance. I mean, what more does one want from life, really?

The technique is innocuous to the point of being a stroke of good luck (pun unintended) - just see the way the camera falls on Lucky's air fighting sardar kid brother - it almost looks like it was a mistake. But no, certainly not. Every frame has been carefully created to create a unique grammar for the movie, something that's rarely seen these days in Hindi cinema - the last such effort I remember was Omkara.

Unknown actors, perhaps performing the best roles of their lives. Be it the phenomenal Manu Rishi, playing Bangali - lucky's faithful sidekick (koni mein lagi hai yaar, mummy promise!!), the coy greeting card girl (free fund mein paise kharch ho gaye tumhaare), Lucky's aunty mom (maine to mother ki feeling full full di hai), Dolly - the best of the lot (teri valuation kya hai??), inspector Devendar Singh (khabar tere paas hai, to de de, na hai, to laa de) or even Sonal & Dolly's mother - one karaare, karaare sequence and she steals the whole Goddamn show. Ensemble casting at its very very best. Today's JBDY, eh? :)

Abhay Deol shines brilliantly too. He totally sinks his teeth into the role and imparts such relatable flesh and blood into Lucky's character - its hard to imagine anyone else do this one. Abhay drips coolth and charm throughout the movie - its almost as if he mocking the entire star Bollywood brigade with his "kyon, main nahin kar sakta? ;) Kar sakta hai bhai, bilkul kar sakta hai !!!

Neetu Chandra nicely holds her own too, in every sequence that she is in. And then there's Paresh Rawal. Three of them, actually. As Lucky's angry Sardar dad, Gogi Bhai and Mr. Haanda - he excels in all three of them. It is interesting to see the shots edit back to back from Haanda, to Gogi to Lucky's Dad - all three played by Paresh himself. For once, a movie has an actor playing multiple roles and the identical looking characters not sharing screen space in a single frame. Goes to show that it wasn't a triple-role gimmick for gimmick's sake after all. I wouldn't expect anything otherwise.

The dialogues are massively special too -

"lucky yaar, syllabus mat change kar",
"ye log peete angrezi hain, karte desi hain",
"tata bano, taate ka beta nahin bano",
"sansanikhez!",
"usne maar diya, humne kha liya, aise hi to relation bante hain bhai",
"ek kaam kar, pehle calendar leke aaja"

...I will perhaps end up writing down the entire movie.

After shortlisting about 5 different titles for this blog post, I just couldn't help but use the line I eventually have. There's just something about this line and the rest of the entire OLLO soundtrack that brings a smile on my face everytime I hear it. Sneha Khanwalkar, where the hell have you been all this while !! Each and every track is dripping with a super effort and a fantastic understanding of the overall script and grammar of the movie. After quite a while, I have seen such tandem between the director and the music director.

Be it the vocals of tu raja ki raaj dulaari, the woof-woof opening lines & brilliance of the punjabi rap in superchor, the foot-tapping beats of the title track - each song is immensely special. But perhaps my song of the album is the magnificently rendered and orchestrated jugni. And what lyrics man, what lyrics -

na jeen tu mainu dendi hai,
na maran tu mainu dendi hai,
jugni, tap, tap, tap, tap khoon bahondi hai...

How the hell does one come up with such lines? This OST & the background soundtrack too, are full of sheer manical brilliance.

Do yourselves a favor & listen to the songs - here

Super-duper choice of the metaphorical chahiye thoda pyaar, thoda pyaar chahiye - isn't that what Lucky is looking for through the entire movie? And a few haunting strains from Surinder Kaur's beautiful & soulful akhniyan wich tu vasda - check out the entire song here on YouTube. Worth a hear. And more.

More than anything else, OLLO is a milestone in Dibakar Banerjee's career. This is his labor of love, all the freaking way. I can only imagine the fun he would have had making this movie. Every single step of the way. Pretty much like how Robal, Handa Saab's son, runs around like mad through the room with a helmet and a videogame joystick in Lucky's new full-full marble floored house. Unabashed joy.

Am eagerly awaiting the DVD release, hopefully with a directors commentary track - please, Dibakar, PLEASE. Make the DVD a collector's delight, like it rightfully deserves to be. Such cinema, rarely comes by.

And now, I have an addition to make to the list directors, whose crew I would love to be part of in any capacity - Vishal Bhardwaj, Farhan Akhtar, Sriram Raghavan & now, Dibakar Banerjee - oye brilliant, brilliant oye!!

Are you guys listening?? When will I get lucky? :)