Saw Naseerudin Shah’s directorial attempt this week, and read Dan Brown’s Da Vinci code.
Now, before I get to my opinions, let me digress and explain why I rifled through the code now, rather than earlier. After reading Angels and Demons last year, had told myself that I’d expended enough time to Mr. Brown’s thoughts for one lifetime. So why did I read it after all? Well, there simply are occasions when boredom gets the better of resolutions…
Anyway, I was expecting a lot from the movie (YHTKH), and very little from the book… and honestly, was in for a surprise on both fronts. To Mr. Brown’s credit, the book sets a tenacious pace, and the narrative is quite gripping – a fact which compelled me to read the entire book in a single sitting. To Mr. Shah’s credit, he is an extremely seasoned and accomplished actor, and has attempted to make a movie that steps away from the ordinary. However, beyond a point, both the story tellers fail miserably.
Brown’s addiction for labyrinthine sub-plots is so over-stretched, that the plot gets too convoluted, and is not believable. But, that’s not where the story teller fails – he fails due to the fact that the story disappointingly leads nowhere in particular, and at the end of the book, the reader is left feeling like a donkey looking at a radish pinned to its own nose.
Shah’s story on the other hand is simple, even predictable – the trouble is, the narration is too convoluted. The viewer is almost left with the feeling that he knows where the story is going, but wonders if the characters are actually going there too, or have got lost somewhere in personal labyrinths of their own.
Well, at the end of the two experiences, knowing the fact that I’ve expended 2 hours of my life on one, and 6 hours on the other, there’s just one thing I have to say – Yun Na Hota To Kya Hota!!
