Dissolve Dharm

a film that looks good on paper isnt always translated into a great visual work.
The example is right here. Dharm - with Pankaj Kapoor in lead and the kind of script - the director had - am sure anyone would have been fascinated to put their money into it, but alas i dont understand the several number of dissolves put inside this 90 minute film - the dissolves almost seem like they are done to save the film from heading towards a disaster in narrative. So what if the singular shots look really beautiful, but they dont make sense half the time - agreed Benares is the most photgraphed city in the whole world yet - the frames should speak something rather than - "o wow- thats a nice frame!"

as far as i am concerned i dont give a damn to a nice frame untill it is adding something to the narrative. Rajkumar Hirani says - the gift of a cinematographer is that if he is able to tell the story along with the director without letting us know the presence of camera - is true cinema technique. Never should the audience be able to tell - "o, look at that..."

When ViDhu Vinod Chopra was having a battle with Bhavna Talwar - the director of Dharm - i subconsciously took Dharm's side as it was not being allowed to go for Oscars - but thank god it dint go - ya it has India in its captive beauty and a script that talks about religion in contemporary India but they have not been brought to sync. The film almost looks episoidic in nature. And Sonu Nigam's voice is just overused till the point u say "o please now... i know u are better than Mohd. Rafi (which i guess he isn't)

For me Dharm only works in parts - esp. Pankaj Kapoor's style of walking - fantastic, just uber cool. U know here is an actor in command but he isnt been given good lines. The hoarseness in his voice in the climax hwen he calls for the kid - that sound is enough to conclude that wow.. this is what i call - great acting...

else Dharmn is all about dissolves/fade ins/fade outs and Benares.

But ya i am happy for the fact that here is a woman filmmaker in Hindi Cinema trying to make a point and is diverting our attention to something very essential in our society. More such women required immediately in Indian cinema scene.!