The title song has
a dead Anupam Kher getting up occasionally and
saying "You will die laughing."
Guess what? It’s actually true. When the
interval lights came on, it’s very, very
difficult to not burst out laughing uncontrollably,
hysterically. You cannot stop! The film until
the halfway mark is so bad, SO BAD that denial
takes over and you can only laugh to justify the
half-witted act on your part of actually taking
the effort to sit though the movie so far. Of
course, with the second half, it only gets worse.
Rakhi Sawant was actually overheard saying that
she couldn’t believe how Rahulji
made this film. Let’s help her dissect shall
we?
 Buddha
Mar Gaya is undoubtedly the crudest film
in a long time. In every sense of the word. The
subject, the story, the characters, the acting,
the filmmaking in all its aspects are of the lowest
standard. There is absolutely nothing good in
the film. Maybe… Let me think… No,
nothing. Not even a moment.
After the titles are over, a super announces
that this film is 'A Black Comedy' – talk
about shoving pre-conceptions down your throat.
It’s black alright, the literal title should
tell you that much, but the rest of it is not
comedy, it’s pure agony. The premise has
promise – an iconic businessman’s
family tries to cover up his death to ensure a
mega IPO is sold out before the revelation makes
stocks crash – but it all goes horribly,
horribly wrong at the screenplay level. The gags
are shockingly perverse and range from the imbecilic
to gross. The characters seem to have been given
3 characteristics each and which are exuded in
continual repetition, without any cohesive furthering
of story or plot. What story? What plot? What
audience is this film for? Did someone say multiplexes?
You think people who’re paying Rs. 200 a
ticket are interested in several old, fat people
continually staring at Sawant’s cleavage?
It’s not funny at all.
But the most shocking aspect is the way this
film is made. If you recall, Ramesh Sippy tried
commercializing his cinema after his not-so-bad
follow-ups (Shaan, Shakti, Saagar)
to Sholay didn’t
work. In trying to reinvent himself to cater to
a 'hit formula', he went on to make the weakest
films of his career with Bhrashtachaar,
Akayla, and Zamaana Deewaana.
Needless to say, all three films flopped. Rahul
Rawail unfortunately seems to be going the same
way. The man responsible for launching the likes
of Kumar Gaurav (Love Story), Sunny Deol
(Betaab), and Kajol (Bekhudi)
and making some fine films such as Arjun
and Dacait – has decided to join
the Let’s-Make-A-Multiplex-Sex-Comedy Club
in trying to cash in with the times. The result?
Oh my God: death by tackiness. Why don’t
filmmakers realize that a small budget is not
an excuse to be tacky? You just can’t afford
to get ambitious at the screenplay level. Why
have a massive launch party as your opening scene
with hundreds of extras when you don’t have
a budget? Why dub half the film and shoot the
other half in sync? (The audio quality is simply
unpalatable.) Why insist on hideous production
design that only adds to the budget and contributes
nothing to story? There is no attention to detail,
the early-80’s-style camerawork only seems
to highlight the unpleasant, and the whole shebang
is just plain amateur. If you’re making
a small film, at least keep it neat and clean!
 As
far as the actors go, a single question comes
to mind: What, what in God's name were they thinking?
Actors in the industry have to learn to say 'NO'
to bad scripts. No matter if the director is your
girlfriend or grandfather, you simply cannot agree
to do films based on relationships and directors’
reputation. How this film helps Mahabanoo Modi
Kotwal, Paresh Rawal, and Mukesh Tiwary is beyond
comprehension. And none of them has even tried
to act. It’s like they’re helping
out in a kids' play. These are not performances,
these are mindless shenanigans. Om Puri, in my
opinion, has permanently damaged his reputation
with this film. Here’s a man with some of
the finest films and performances to his credit,
and here he is destroying everything with one
clean swipe almost making an effort to look fat
and unbearable. He can’t even dismiss this
as a one-off fun thing he did for the heck of
it. He certainly doesn’t look like he’s
having any fun while Mukesh Tiwary is slobbering
all over him in bed. Yuck! I suppose some credit
is due to Anupam Kher for playing a dead body
to perfection.
Buddha Mar Gaya is disastrous for the
industry. All the good work done by Bheja
Fry – which itself was a middling film,
but its success has led to an explosion of small
budget indies with new actors and makers –
is now undone by this similar, pathetic attempt.
Will producers now rethink strategies and play
it safe with big budgets and keep casting the
three-and-a-half-stars this industry has? We certainly
hope not.
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