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DVD Review |
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By Joginder Tuteja, February 5, 2008 - 12:40 IST
THE FILM
For all the talks around multiplex culture being booming, corporate houses investing money, small films (finally) managing to make their mark and innovative concepts being accepted in a big way by niche audience, it comes across as a highly unpleasant surprise to see a film like Manorama Six Feet Under finding it's audience only in the DVD circuits. Reason being that the film was a disaster at the box office, hence turning out to be an antithesis to the intrinsic qualities it boasted of.
A film that had everything going in it's favor, whether it is an original storytelling, setting in (true) noir genre, career best performance by Abhay Deol, imaginative background score, class cinematography which could match international standards and a shocking ending, this suspense thriller lost out due to the same reasons because of which many films have lost out in recent times - poor promotional strategy, market placement and lack of thought in identifying the target audience!
Otherwise, how else could one define the reason behind promotion of a thriller like this to be mainly centered on songs ('Wo Bheege Pal', 'Tere Sawalon Ke') - good in their own right but hardly contributing to anticipation quotient), half hearted publicity and worst of all, poor show timing selection at the multiplexes? Result was that the film came, impressed the critics, got high ratings and by the time news reached the audience, it was time for Manorama Six Feet Under to announce adieu in one week flat!
Set in a small town Lakhot (somewhere in Rajasthan), the film is a jigsaw puzzle with pieces like corruption, voyeurism, extra marital temptations and lies fitting together to create an image which is totally unpredictable. Anything that doesn't quite work for the film? The pace of the film becomes slow at a couple of instances in the first half with the beginning of second half being a complete letdown. Agree that the small town laziness and built up of characters had to be brought to fore but from an audience point of view, it is expected that they would want the drama to unfold quicker.
Still, like any other good thriller, the beauty of Manorama Six Feet Under also lies in the fact that the solution/evidence is right in front of you from the very beginning of the film with enough hints being dropped which are hardly caught by an audience. And when the secret unfolds, one tends to get into a collective gasp - 'Ok, so this was it'! Here too, Abhay explores the 'hows', 'whens' and the 'whys' at the risk of his life and the ugly truth does leave a bad taste in his month - literally!
PACKAGING
Manorama Six Feet Under comes in a thick paper case with a proud mention of the film being 'Most Critically Acclaimed Film of the Year' and 'Winner of Best Film Award at MIAAC Film Festival - New York'. The backside of the cover also reflects some glowing reviews that the film got from print as well as web media.
DURATION
The film comes in a single DVD with the film's duration being 137 minutes and approximately 50 minutes of added features.
MOVIE DETAILS
Cast: Abhay Deol, Gul Panag, Raima Sen, Vinay Pathak, Kulbhushan Kharbhanda, Sarika
Director: Navdeep Singh
Producer: Ketan Maru (Shemaroo)
Music: Raiomond Mirza, Jayesh Gandhi
SPECIAL FEATURES
- Making of the film (23 minutes)
- Deleted scenes (17 minutes)
- Three songs (7 minutes)
'Making of the film' is an engaging watch. Ok, so there are clichéd talks about 'how so and so actor is quote good' or 'how we bonded on the sets' or 'how Rajasthan was one of the characters' etc. etc. but still there are certain comments and behind the scenes happenings which make you give this 23 minutes segment a 'dekko.'
What is interesting though, are honest confessions from producer Ketan Maroo and Abhay Deol. While Maroo admits that he didn't quite understand what the film was all about when narrated the first time around, Abhay gives a candid account of how he was approached by Navdeep Singh when the original actor in the director's mind couldn't be taken on board. Later Abhay also replies in a rather tongue in cheek style when asked about what he felt about the film's producers. He actually goes ahead and asks - 'Should I be good or should I be bad'?
It is surprising though to see Navdeep picking up his favorite scene as the post-love making scene between Abhay and Gul. In spite of the film's essence being a thriller, Gul's line of 'Agar mard ko pallu se bandhna ho to usse bistar pe baandhe rakho' is what Navdeep fondly remembers. However, when producer Ketan Maroo states that "We would give the film full backup; no one would feel that it has been less promoted,†one wonders if the cast and the director of the film share the same sentiments!
In most of the DVDs, one watches 'Deleted Scenes' with utmost attention as more often than not they do turn out to be engaging. But in case of Manorama Six Feet Under, one is indeed content with the fact that none of these scenes eventually made to the final cut.
Though there are 8-9 deleted scenes spanning 17 minutes, each of them seems to be good enough to have been eventually left out. Whether it is a scene in a beauty parlor where Gul's clients are teasing Abhay or the one in library where a mysterious woman with her face out of focus is showing picking the novel written by Abhay or Raima's flirting with Abhay or Vinay Pathak's analogy around curiosity killing the cat - each of them hardly contribute to the story!
Video version (and not the film edit version) of three songs 'Dhokha Hai', 'Tere Sawalon Ke' and 'Dhundhla Jo Sama' have later been added to the Special Features section as well.
TECHNICAL DETAILS
- 16:9 Anamorphic Widescreen format, Presented in 2:35:1 aspect ratio
- Subtitles In English, Arabic, French, Dutch and German
- 5.1 Dolby Digital & Stereo
- Digitally Mastered from the Original Film.
CONCLUSION
Thankfully, even after a poor fate at the box office, this film directed by debutant director Navdeep Singh (an established ad film maker) continued to make news even after it's exit from the theaters. Blogs, various forums, pirated DVDs, international awards, recent nominations in various award functions and the biggest of all - continued word of mouth by patrons have all contributed to giving a kick start to Manorama Six Feet Under at the stores as the DVD hits the stands. Got for it to witness a unique storytelling.
  
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