And since most of the output coming from Mumbai is simply rubbish, it mattered to me when I invested my time on them.
There was a historical and observational connect.
Historical because I like three movies of Sunny Deol to the point that I can watch them again - and in a serious composure - Arjun, Ghayal and Ghatak.
Observational because I had left the other movie watching midway after someone, somehow, had taken me to the theatre playing the movie 'Pyaar Ka Punchnama'.
The movies in point yesterday were 'Ghayal Once Again' and 'Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2'.
There was natural inclination to catch 'Ghayal Once Again' as 'Ghayal' was really a good cinematic production incorporating ingredients of a revenge drama in an optimum blend of socio-politico-cultural milieu of India of the time, and not just its metro India. And above all, the movie was loaded with a balanced dose of emotional exploits.
There was this urge to see if Sunny Deol could redo his that feet in this movie - or had built more on it - or had just somehow managed it - or had messed up with the brand equity of a good movie franchise.
And after watching the movie, even if in bits - my first and last reaction is - it is not at all 'Ghayal' once again.
Though it is much better than the crap being dished out by the Mumbai film industry and even by Sunny Deol, we can say Sunny Deol has just somehow managed with it.
And that is a big letdown.
The movie looked more like a polished version of new age social media lingo and technology and a botched up PR attempt of its main climactic location and the underlying theme behind the movie. The premise that the movie is based on is a 'very real' possibility in our society but it has been 'very poorly' handled here. The characters, the characterization, and the elements associated with them don't impress. Sunny Deol doesn't impress. The emotional mix here sounds more like a diatribe or misplaced element. The rage expressed by the characters is simply outrageous - their pragmatism impractical. And the movie does a 'very very poor' job in getting inspired from Jason Bourne's iconic trilogy and its cyber-snooping warfare.
And Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2 - well, I was not able to complete watching the movie even the last time - even if I had a free ticket - and associated goodies. But the movie achieved some cult status afterwards - as it is reported. And that now it has come with a part 2 tells it also did some good business back then and sent out feelers that there was a market for such products.
Sometime later, at some point in my past, I came across its 'monologue-esque scene' - a long duration frame with one of its characters speaking his mind out finally on 'a girl in a boy-girl' relationship - emptying his heart out - ejaculating all the frustration, irritation and anger of years. Though I don't have much experience in all this boy-girl affairs, of spending time together and staying together, I do have some observational learning experiences and I loved the flow in that particular scene. A sort of punch was here in this scene.
And that scene was the reason that I went to watch the movie yesterday - the qualifier being restricting my engagement to some selected scenes.
And the movie, in fact, was even more boring this time - with no innovation - similar plotline - and in fact even similar circumstances around characters. It was like an old script being enacted by different characters. Okay, the premise is evergreen - social media age love story - and many would find its 'betrayal theme' pulling - but the narrative here is really poorly developed. And above all, the long duration monologue-esque dialogue looks jumbled this time. The flow last time looked natural. This time it looked so flawed, so made up. In fact, the whole movie seems like a gibberish that you don't care to attend to. Simply, no punch here!