Review - Pankh: Pankh: abstract nosedive

The tagline of the film says "The unbearable lightness of being", a lovely book by Milan Kundera. But, I couldn't figure how that relates to the film. All I can do is the make this superficial observation - it is anything but light.

The film starts with the a child-star's mom being devil-incarnate. And there is one more. Now, these moms are absorbed in their need to live vicariously and imposing their aspirations on their children. So absorbed that they are not only willing to sacrifice their child's sexuality, but also their sexual orientation. The focus here though is the mental trauma that the child goes through. Ominous stuff this. Enough for me to say aloud, "can we please stop this? NOW…"

The hallucinations the lead character is going through are surreal but so is what is supposedly reality. There are certainly deeper layers but the way the subject was approached and exhibited didn't leave me interested enough to think about it. This had a lot to do with the theatrical performances. The actions-reactions looked too staged. Ironically this works in Bipasha Basu's favor. She looks gorgeous and plays the enigmatic dream-girl really well.

The grainy look and feel - maybe intentional, maybe budget-induced, maybe both - also works towards unnerving the audience.