For every Bhoomi or Golmaal there is a Secret Superstar — a movie that forces one to call it a film. If the difference between ‘movie’ and ‘film’ doesn’t make sense here, allow me to elaborate.

In elite, intellectual circles of filmmaking (the kind of place neither David Dhawan or Yasir Nawaz linger), the difference between movies and films is clear as day. Some would incorrectly label movies as silly popcorn fodder and films as works of high art (the latter obviously sounds prestigious). The issue is much deeper than that.

Context, ambience and the after taste of the experience dictate their predisposition. The graver the feeling (be it any genre), the more it qualifies as a film. In contrast, movies are fluffier, dismissable and contrived. And yet, the words can trade aspects of their characteristics.

This week’s two Bollywood releases, Secret Superstar and Golmaal Again, highlight the difference between a movie and a film

Secret Superstar, a story about overcoming grim odds, by default, could be labelled a film, even though at face value it has the ambience of a movie. Insia (Zaira Wasim of Dangal) is a 14-year-old middle schooler from Baroda who sings with the voice of an angel. Her father Farookh (Raj Arjun), however, has the anger of an unjust god. His beard, tone of voice and the way he beats his wife are a dead giveaway of his antiquated mindset. Being a Muslim is irrelevant; he could come from any religion and any social class. For him, the women in his family are meant to serve and obey. If he was born a hundred years earlier, Insia would be an illiterate mother of two at her age.

Farookh works hard, has no vices, and diligently hates his daughter’s music talents. He has no problem with television though, or taking his family out for a movie, leaving the girl alone at home. She has to study otherwise she won’t get married, he says at one point.

Insia’s mother (Meher Vij, excellent) has accepted her fate; there is no other option, she tells her daughter. Like most mothers she lives for her children (Insia has a younger brother) buying her a guitar and later a laptop. Both presents lead to eventual tragedy.

The three make do with brief pockets of bliss, whenever and however they find them. Insia wants to be a playback singer in Bollywood. Fat chance of that happening, you’d say by now.

Irrespective of such inherent grimness, the overall tone is not of despair. Director Advait Chandan masterfully (or by an insane fluke of luck) shifts our attention to the realities of life without making them artsy, hyper-real or overly dramatic. The camera is never shaky, handheld or unsure of its framing. Technically, every aspect of the production is casual — from the production design to the way locations are lit, to the edit. The seamless flow helps mask the depth in Adair Chandan’s screenplay.

Zaira and Meher are spectacular, as is everyone else, including Tirth Sharma whose character is lovesick over Insia. Aamir Khan plays a sleazy, ignoble, ego-driven, bad-tempered music director past his prime. Aamir knows his limits. Sporting glittery t-shirts and a fancy beard and haircut, we know this is as far as he can push himself as an actor. He is smarter as Secret Superstar’s producer, pulling back his role to let his lead actress overtake the story.

Secret Superstar radiates with the feeling of its title. It is a small slice of life story that mostly hinges on a girl’s fantasy. Yet, it also has a strong voice against chauvinism and domestic violence. On the surface, it feels like Bollywood fluff, especially in its latter half with its big, predictable climax and this is where it fools you into mistaking its identity. You think it is movie, when it is something quite a bit more.

Golmaal Again

“Logic nahin, sirf magic” (No logic, only magic) promises the posters of Golmaal Again, the fourth Golmaal movie by director Rohit Shetty that stars everyone from every Golmaal, and yet has nothing to do with any of the previous entries.

The plot of this standalone movie (if one still has the nerve to inquire) is about five orphan kids who grow up to be Ajay Devgan, Arshad Warsi, Shreyas Talpade, Kunaal Khemu and Tushar Kapoor. For comedy’s sake, the actors are split into two groups (Devgan and Talpade on one side, the rest on the other). Both groups run away from their orphanage only to return 13 years later where a Scooby Doo-like supernatural murder mystery and an assemblage of supporting cast await.

Of the more prominent actors, Tabu (quite good looking, despite her age) plays a librarian who can see ghosts, while Parineeti Chopra plays a heavily mascara-ed, doe-eyed ghoul. Suffice to say, winning the affections of the younger girl is out of the question, and no one even tries to romance the older one.

Shetty’s filmography is adamant about its identity. To him, commercial movies (the only kind he makes) can do without a sense of rationale or cinematic finesse. They can be hare-brained, pun-filled escapades. Sense of depth, complex storylines, emotional weight and aesthetic craftiness are another director’s domain.

To give the devil his due, Shetty’s movies make a ton of money which cements one indisputable fact: the world desperately craves his brand of escapist entertainment. His constant foray into half-baked excesses has also made him the master of the medium. Even if the humour doesn’t work (and mostly it doesn’t) his sprawling production design and tendency of over-stuffing the entire cast in every shot at least distracts one’s disinterest.

On the other hand, rarely have so many actors been used so frivolously. The screenplay by Sajid-Farhad (Judwaa 2, Houseful 3, Dilwale, Chennai Express) is clueless about characters and their gags, most of which come straight out of a ’60s Hanna-Barbera cartoon.

The inspiration has one upside: the movie caters strictly to families. However, as with the Sunday morning cartoons of my youth, the tendency to laugh at Looney Tunes-type tomfooleries last only until you grow up. A snicker or two aside, if you’re not laughing hard, chances are you’re already out of Shetty’s league.

Published in Dawn, ICON, October 29th, 2017