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Review: Bow Barracks... amateurishly directed
Published on Fri, Jul 27, 2007 at 22:44, Updated on Sat, Jul 28, 2007 at 02:10 in Entertainment section
Tags: Masand Verdict, Bollywood , Direction
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Direction: Anjan Dutt
Cast: Lilette Dubey, Victor Banerjee, Moon Moon Sen, Rupa Ganguly, Clayton Rodgers
Tucked away in a corner of North Kolkata, the anglo-Indian community residing in Bow Barracks, a now-dilapidated building that had originally been built for World War II soldiers, is struggling to survive.
The fear of losing their homes looms large over their heads as real-estate agents threaten to pull down this crumbling building which the residents can neither afford to repair, nor are willing to give up and relocate.
It is the story of these residents, their individual successes and failures, and their collective spirit of resilience in their helplessness that forms the real plot of this week's new release Bow Barracks Forever.
This motley group of lower-middle class dwellers includes all flesh-and-blood characters whose stories are instantly relatable. Like the widow who lives in the hope that her older son will one day call and invite her to live with him in London. Or the young wife who's tired of being beaten by her husband everyday, clinging on to the hope that she'll run away with her lover soon. Or the middle-aged woman who's sick of life with her boring husband in her one-bedroom apartment who yearns for a better life.
This film peeps into their homes and their lives watching them go about their day, grappling with challenges, but eventually coming together for one another. And that's really the core element of this film - the sense of community, the feeling that we're-all-in-this-together.
Based on what is undeniably an interesting premise, Bow Barracks Forever loses much of its appeal because of its amateurish direction. Cliches are strewn around the film generously where there was need for none.
Look at how every character speaks with a fake accent, look at how every single line of dialogue ends with the word 'man', reinforcing a stereotype that is so old and so tired.
I'm aware that a lot of people do speak that way, but in reality it's out of habit, whereas in the film it just seems forced and fake since it's so repetitive and since every single character speaks the same way. "How are you, man? Do you have some money, man? I'm not feeling well, man. I have to call my son, man. You leave him alone, man…" See what I mean? Too often and doesn't sound natural.
Also director Anjan Dutt attempts to force a sense of drama into his edit, where once again there is need for none. Cutting alternately between a song and a dramatic scene - and using this device three times in the film - he delivers no sense of climax at the end of each song, thus defeating the entire purpose of this editing pattern.
There's an unwritten rule in filmmaking - that the director must be committed to presenting his actors respectably on screen. But it's evident Anjan Dutt, the director of Bow Barracks Forever feels no such obligation towards his actors. In fact he shoots his actors so unflatteringly, you feel sorry for the poor guys who've probably taken a pay cut to star in this low-budget film.
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