Every now and then there comes a movie with immense promise, with the prospect of a genuinely felt cinematic experiment coming to life, and an audience waiting rapt in attention. That such endeavours come with the potential to both fizzle out as well as overwhelm with awesome, is common knowledge. Sulemani Keeda, however, does something distinctly different.
While the overall texture of the film is quite endearing, with its refreshing use of sound (musical and otherwise!) and visuals, what really marks SK out is how it interacts with the average audience member. It successfully captures several shades of madness without caricaturizing/ exaggerating them (okay, without caricaturizing/ exaggerating most of them). Whether by design or by default, this ends up making the cinema experience tremendously personal for the average young urban viewer. Thus while a typical movie attempts to draw the audience into the parallel universe it builds, SK successfully manages to gain a foothold in your mind. Indeed, for several hours afterwards one feels part of the movie, not playing second fiddle to the cast members, but one's own self in a setting that is much more sensitive than Bollywood's staple (some might see this as having positive spill-overs for self-awareness even!)
Everyone acts wonderfully well in roles carved out of today's urban consciousness. The script is sharp without going overboard, thus adding to the sense of reality/ relate-ability. The music rings with a truthfulness across all the aforementioned shades of madness.
In all, a very interesting watch that deserves all the kudos it's getting, and more. Wonderful work Amit Masurkar, Naveen Kasturia, Mayank Tewari, Aditi Vasudev, and everyone else part of this project!
