Bollywood movies these days are something which I rarely look forward to, but this particular film piqued my interest largely for two things, one was the gorgeous Vicky Kaushal, who I have a soft corner for(I mean, who can resist that beautiful face), and the second and the main reason, the premise of Indore. What I had hoped for was a film like Kahaani, which showcased my city of Indore as a hero, much like Kolkata. But, what I got was an underwhelming film and an even more underwhelming portrayal of my city which honestly deserved much better.
As a resident Indori, I had hopes to see my city showcased in all it’s glory. The scrumptious cuisine for which we are well known for. The landmarks like Chappan Dukkan and Sarafa, where you can find delicious food even in the wee hours of the night. The clean and safe streets. The sweet people with an easy going and laid back nature. The nightlife and much more. But I was left disappointed.
The film makers have hardly done any research about Indore while making this film. It seems they had a set notion of a “small town” which they wanted to showcase in the film and they randomly decided upon a city, which unfortunately was Indore. None of the major landmarks of Indore were showcased in the film. The city was portrayed as a quintessential small town, while in reality it is a booming city steadily edging towards becoming a metropolis. And don’t get me started on the atrocious accents that everybody had in the film.
Bollywood still has a very vague idea about anything outside of Mumbai and Delhi. I hope the industry realises that two tier cities like Indore are not in the 90s anymore. We are arrived in the 21st century and have embraced modernity, much like the so called metro cities.
As an avid watcher of Bollywood films since childhood, it pains me to see most of our movies failing these days. I hope this era of mediocre films passes soon and the sun of Hindi films rises again.