Be honest now — wouldn’t you be hysterical hearing the news that the ‘Baadshaah of Bollywood’ is paired with a Hollywood legend on a Bollywood movie, and to watch these stalwarts together on the silver screen, wouldn’t that be amazing? A freaking, Hindi language movie. The moment I read “Denzil Washington” in the cast of a review of Badla by a prominent national newspaper and a renowned film critic, my eyes almost popped out on the keyboard and nearly got squeezed between my dancing fingers. I brought myself back to my sense, and read the names once again. Both, Amitabh Bachchan and Denzel Washington are defining legends of our time’s all credit to their innate competencies, it’s needless to judge that both have garnered a cult following of their own in their respective realms and both have tons of awards to their name — an Oscar, nonetheless, for Washington. Crime & suspense thrillers are my personal favourites, and Badla seemed like one such taut suspense thriller if the Internet was supposed to be believed. This latest offering from Sujoy Ghosh has gained some rave reviews from critics as well, and I am particularly fond of his other creative craftiness such as Jhankaar Beats (2003) and Kahaani (2003), and the Radhika Apte starring short film Ahalya which was truly mesmerising. That Ghosh managed a casting coup of sorts by effecting a collaboration between two gigantic doyens in a Hindi cinematic experience was mind-boggling to read. In fact, it was so mind-boggling, that I didn’t trust the news in the first place, although, Ben Kingsley has acted opposite Amitabh Bachchan in Teen Patti (2010).
So then I checked IMDB, skillfully perused the Wikipedia page of the movie, and it wasn’t long before the shiny tiny bulb in my brain finally glimmered brightly. The actor in question was Denzil Smith, a distinguished Indian stage actor and a producer, not the renowned American legend I had truthfully imagined. No regrets, except, what seemed like a dream-come-true cinematic experience was, in fact, one hell of a typographical error, and faux pas that not only sent me on a wild goose chase, besides smashing my ambition of ever feeling the pride of enjoying Denzel Washington in a Hindi movie on a big screen. But who’s to know the future? Eventually, it did bring me back to my filmy
After brooding over my choice to watch the Baahubali films (BB) for years I finally garnered the motivation to catch up on the series yesterday, both flicks back-to-back. Frankly, I have become sceptical to watch mythological/historical period films with the current spate of drab historical Bollywood offerings not providing any entertainment value per se. And then BB fell into the category of ‘dubbed’ Hindi cinema, the ones made in the South but rarely given its due production importance for its Northern masses. It does remind me of the LOTR series but being made in India on such a grand scale (the CGI, et al) made this series that much more compelling to watch. Here’s the funny part – back then I couldn’t wrap my head around the whimsical Internet memes on “Katappa Ne Baahubali Ko Kyun Maara?” (Why did Katappa kill Baahubali?), but after watching ‘The Beginning’ that question came to haunt me too as it did millions of fans in 2015. Luckily, I didn’t have to wait for a year for the sequel (‘The Conclusion’) to get my answer.