the first of many "What in blazes?!?"es from Drona

Never mind how the getaway car goes from sideswiping a fire hydrant to the bottom part of the hydrant puncturing up through the bottom of the car (not cutting through it from the side) and protruding into the passenger area.






What I want to know is whether the filmmakers are saying that our emerging hero, who's still in step 2 (refusal of the call to adventure) of his his Campbellian 16ish-step monomyth even though this scene is a third of the way through the film (clearly Campbell forgot to count songs as steps in the sequence) - and I just realized that means there are still 14ish more stages to go in this mess! Nahiiiin! Or "Neeee!" since we're in Prague - also has latent virility yet to be tested and spring forth. I'm just not sure. It's all so remarkably nuanced.

Riz Raizada's bloody sword-wielding puppets, though? Creepy.

Comments

Anonymous said…
This movie (the beginning of it anyway) bored me so much I turned it off after an hour. I don't know how I managed to make it that far!
Temple said…
Hey Beth - Red42 is out of town for a few weeks as she is working in India on a charity health project. She will be doing hundreds of eye tests a day, dispensing glasses and trying to help people as much as she can to fix any vision/eye health problems. Which is all a prelude to the bit where I steal her very succint review of Drona - "All that enigmatic walking...and it still goes nowhere!"
I could see what they were trying to do, sort of, but it just didn't work at all. It was a huge yawn. The scary puppets were a highlight, although I did think the lair could have benefited from a designer who understood the principles of Lair Design. Clearly, they had not read your thread on that :)
I was also disturbed to find that the secret of life and the universe was hidden in what looked like a bedazzled toy box.
Enjoy! (PS - I got Dharam-Veer today so will watch in the next week or so)
Banno said…
I made it up to intermission, and then walked out. Walking out on a movie is HUGE for me, I do it once in 6 years. So, I'm reckoning that your first what the blazes is going to be a million what the blazes before you are through the film!
Anarchivist said…
Puppets! I'm going to have to watch this movie, no matter how bad everyone says it is. Apparently my masochism knows no bounds.

But...puppets!
Anonymous said…
You know why this is my favorite Bollywood blog? Because you have AB2.0 and Joseph Campbell in the same post? How often does that happen?
eliza bennet said…
I have unfortunately watched this one till the end! Only because I have a semi crush on Abhishek (I actually have finished Dus too)

Really it was too much badness, all because of an incompetent director. I wonder if Goldie Behl ever heard of the word 'composition'? Seriously.

This film is as bad as everyone says it is. It is not even so bad it is good. Really. Puppet or no puppet, stay away.
Filmi Girl said…
I enjoyed Drona but I realize that it was by no means a good movie. It wasn't even in the flawed but genius category that I stick Tashan in.

Drona is more akin to Love Story 2050 - poorly executed but with a good gem of a story buried underneath everything. The scenes of Abhishek in the beginning were so appealing, as was the demon, Priyanka's bodyguard character, and poor put-upon Jaya. Where the film really failed was the follow through on the set-up. Abhishek is NOT a graceful actor. He couldn't pull off any of the fight scenes convincingly. If only the plot had kept him Harry Potterish, an average man sent to fulfill a big prophecy, it would have flowed better. I could have also done without the hodge-podge of fantasy tropes shoved in randomly towards the end.

Still, it was a very pretty movie - a re-edited and tightened version could be quite good...
Bollywood said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said…
i liked drona movie very much...don't know why i got flopped
Amey said…
Ahem, scene has a leather clad Priyanka driving a car in high speed chase, right? And it ends in this picture series? Me and my dirty mind...
desipolitan said…
hmmmm. ok so this Drona had nothing to do with the Mahabharata then? i was so confused by the high tech costumes but sort of guessed that maybe it was a futuristic retelling of an ancient story. craziness.

Popular Posts