KARACHI:
Master filmmaker and critic, Jean-Luc Godard once said, “I pity the French Cinema because it has no money. I pity the American Cinema because it has no ideas.” It holds true for the state of these cinemas during the French New Wave, but both of Godard’s notions apply on the Pakistani ‘new wave’, especially in the context of the film Tamanna. After all, the quality of filmmaking tells you why, sometimes, even the combination of money and matter can’t salvage a movie from turning into a total disaster.
Directed by British filmmaker, Steven Moore, the film is based on Anthony Shaffer’s play titled Sleuth. The play has previously been adapted into two different films; the first was released in 1972 with Michael Caine and Lawrence Olivier in lead roles and the second, in 2007 with Michael Caine and Jude Law. Both films were appreciated for top-class performances and for those who had not read the play, they were mind-boggling suspense thrillers.
But none of this can be seen in Tamanna and this is primarily because of needless additions in the script that serve no purpose and only make an engaging story seem like a juvenile Tom and Jerry episode. In terms of entertainment value, it would be an insult to compare the film to the great cartoon series, but as far as redundancy is concerned, it’s pretty much the same.
The film revolves around Rizwan Ahmed (Omair Rana), a struggling actor who comes to meet a veteran director Mian Tariq Ali (Salman Shahid). Rizwan is in love with Ali’s wife and comes to his house to convince him to divorce her. Instead of negotiating with Rizwan, Ali chooses to play a game, something he likes to do a lot as a storyteller. The ‘game’ starts with Ali convincing Rizwan to attempt a burglary in his house and what follows is a series of prolonged mind games that the two play with each other.
The film’s climax doesn’t strike you the way it should and that is precisely because it mainly relies on, for the sake of not revealing a spoiler, a certain ‘stylistic’ element of the film. Unfortunately, this is not properly executed in Tamanna and makes the plot lose its lustre.
The additions, on the other hand, needlessly extend a basic and compelling story, so much so that you end up questioning yourself, “Wait. What did I just see?” The film offers so many sub plots that it becomes challenging to figure out what the real plot is. The ‘Support Pakistani cinema’ brigade shouldn’t compare the mind games in Tamanna with any of the Christopher Nolan classics because in this film, they are literally purposeless.
Apart from the sub plots, brace yourselves for a series of epilogues, which make you realise the importance of a good resolution and may compel you to shout out, like an audience member did in the movie theatre, “Ab yeh kia aglay part ka trailer chal raha hai?”
The performers pick up pace in the middle of the film, but that lasts till the incoherent editing of the film interjects, which happens quite often. The shift to random beauty shots of a pool table or some other prop take away from some of the decent one-liners in the film. But the one-liners were the silver lining of a thoroughly inconsistent script that made both Rana and Shahid (a true performer) seem like actors who were forced to participate in a high school play. Mehreen Raheel, who plays Ali’s wife Mehreen, offered nothing that she doesn’t do on the small screen.
To sum it up, Tamanna is analogous with a pretentious student project and all the beauty shots and songs by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and Ali Azmat were mere garnish on an otherwise sour curry. Upcoming filmmakers should watch the film only to note down the mistakes they shouldn’t commit on the way to revitalising the Pakistani film industry.
Verdict: Tamanna is an ideal example of how poor writing can make an adaptation lacklustre. None of the stylistic and thematic elements gelled together to offer a wholesome cinematic experience.
Rating: 1.5/5
Published in The Express Tribune, June 27th, 2014.
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COMMENTS (9)
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I think before reviewing this movie you should have studied the history of Film Noir. So you could understand how things work in this genre.
@Faz I think you put it brilliantly! We need to lift the intelligence of our masses to slowly accept films as a media to share, discuss, disagree and intelligently converse with each other, The new genre of film makers has produced films with flair better camera angles, using local scenery compared to the Lollywood zoom in & out with actors in bright pastel colors running up and down which is far from reality. People around the world are payin attention to the films coming out of Pakistan now we need our Government to market through our embassies around the world who are staffed by lazy cronies who do little to market Pakistan in their residing countries,
The movie was released in London too and was commended by many as a great piece of art. Unfortunately the Express Tribune review highlights the fact that Pakistan as a country is still learning to deal with differentiation and diversity in film genres. The films appealant market may not be for the masses but it's definitely a market worth tapping into. With cinema in Pakistan looking at new horizons breaking away from the typical Bollywood and Lollywood we are use to seeing will prove difficult but unfortunately it will be necessary to trial end error to make a success.
We seem to have a culture within us of thrashing anyone and anything that dares to be different...we whine constantly for change.. make fun of our films gandassa culture and when something new finally comes up ..God forbid...we rip it into a million pieces..and then we wonder why as a nation we never move forward!
Couple of my friends went to see the film at the recent London Asian Film festivel. They loved the film. It was a intense and intelligent film. Something our critics probably don't understand.
Unless Express Tribune is pushing the film then for sure the review will be crappy. This review is acting that the folks that produced the film are working in an industry that is fully equipped with all that is needed to produce A+ films on the world stage. The fact that Pakistan is slowly producing films better than the thrash that Lollywood produced in the past. The reviewer is treated his review at the final check on adaptations that need to meed international standards. True this film is not for the masses who have been numbed by the trash from Bollywood but eventually they willl climb up to appreciate art films.
Totally agreed. Had great expectations from it since Salman Shahid and Omair Rana were there. All overshadowed by an extremely weak story. Had it been released as a Telefilm on a big entertainment channel, the producers would have avoided at least one lie that it is a feature film.
I don't know about this thing but an advice for all movie lovers: "Don't decide to watch the movie on the basis of these reviews". I am telling you from experience.