Dreamgirl in Cochin

Saturday nights are stressful. Whether one should plan for the upcoming Sunday or enjoy the moment is a big ask. It is important not to succumb to ennui and end doing nothing. This often leads to a weeklong regret. Hence, we decided the last Saturday night to watch a Hindi blockbuster. The most recent is one titled, Dreamgirl. It features my better half’s favourite the redoubtable Ayushman Khurana. And then Surprise! Our favourite jaunt of Hindi movies, the PVR Lulu Mall was almost housefull for the Hindi movie. And so was the multiplex at Oberon Mall. We were well past the time for the single screen, Sridar. It is not every day that you find Hindi movies running to Housefull in Cochin! But all was not lost. Q Cinemas at Gold Souk Mall had some plum seats for a very cheap price. There was a warning in italics, Normal Sofa – no recliner. It should have alerted me to the later turn of events but it did not. We trudged at 9.30 pm on the deserted Central Avenue of Panampilly Nagar. And then the amazingly cratered Sahodaran Ayyappan Road. The Cochin Metro moved exquisitely overhead towards the newly inaugurated segment of Maharaja’s College to Thykoodam. It looked elegant, while we bumped along the potholes below. The powers that be of Kerala certainly have some important tasks up to their sleeves. Unfortunately, upkeep of arterial roads fares rather low down on priority. The usually chaotic Vytilla junction was remarkably quiet. I took us two wrong turns to get into a path that allegedly calls itself a service road. In reality, it is a cesspool of interconnected massive craters filled with water. I had been to the Gold Souk Mall some seven years earlier when it was the talk of the town, in the pre-Lulu Mall era. Then, it was a swanky exotic mall, not fully functional yet but promising. Today it is easy to miss it as the signboards on top are not lit. Sure, there is a KFC on the ground floor and thank god for that! The parking attendant waved us forward into a dark stretch. Suddenly we found ourselves climbing a spiral path of multilevel parking. It was pitch dark and spooky. It was heartening to find some cars parked at the first level. A lone Nepali looking Hindi speaking person, standing below a dim yellow bulb, marshalled us into an easy parking space. Inside the mall, it was deserted. Nearly half the lights were switched off. A cluster of people were making their way to the multiplex we followed them. Much to our relief, the hall was nearly full. After the spooky drive and the parking, we were expecting something shadier. It was mostly Hindi speaking crowd with the occasional sprinkling of Malayalam. The initial set of ads were being screened. The first one sported Sachin Baby, the captain of Kerala Cricket team,. He was guiding his young unemployed fans to a government-run employment web portal. The second ad was again from a Kerala government department. It was providing help with employment to the returned Malayali emigrants. Both were indicative of the rather sorry state of affairs. This, coupled with the potholed spooky ride had dampened our spirits. We were now praying that the movie better turn out well. It did not disappoint us at all.

Dreamgirl has been made with passion and humour. The punchlines are delivered effortlessly and leave you in splits. The unique storyline is masterly executed. The acting of Ayushman is worth applauding. Yet, the same cannot be said for his romantic partner in the movie, Nusrat. Promising she might be, but has been effectively sidelined in the script, as if only awaiting the obligatory dance sequence. The associate cast makes their well-rehearsed moves and usually do not disappoint. Like all Bollywood blockbusters, the second half does gets weary and a bit stolid. Swinging rapidly from humour to social commentary is a bit jarring. Thankfully, it is curtailed and soon we move to the finale of Ayushman and Nusrat dancing away to the glory. Final verdict: Not really a cult classic but enough to make one forget the potholes and the seedy multilevel parking. Lesson learnt: Stick with PVR Lulu Mall in future!

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