(First published in DailyO)
VIP 2 Lalkaar, the Hindi dubbed version
of Tamil film, ‘Velai Illa Pattadhari’, is
a cakewalk for Kajol. Literally.
Every time there is significant scene of
victory for her, we see a Mercedes rolling in, along with a fleet of other swanky
cars. The car door opens. A pair of high-heeled feet touch the ground. But of
course. Our films have always built up that anticipation with the hero’s boots
and their sound effects or a child’s feet running and transforming into grown
up legs to encompass the time frame. Then, there is the hero sprawling his
booted legs atop a table, the feet crossing and uncrossing to provide more drama
or rather, heroism. For some reason, cinema has its own idea of power. In VIP 2,
it’s in Kajol’s swagger in those stilettoes.
We see those sexy high heels
step out of the Mercedes, a toss of the red tinted hair and a slow motion walk.
That alone inspires a few appreciative hoots and whistles.
Kajol has clearly mastered
the swagger.
And that’s quite an achievement because the
music that accompanies most of her scenes, might make anyone else freeze on the
spot. The best unintentional comic part comes with a hilarious music track when Dhanush sits across her in her office and
is about to say something. First, a soundtrack starts playing, something that
sounds more like a clap echo replay. Then Dhanush gets up, clearly aping the
master—Rajnikanth (the father-in-law), stands leaning on the chair and delivers
the lamest of lines: “ Madam, main sher ki
dum se zyaada billi kar sar banna pasand karoonga.” Full marks to Kajol for
not bursting out giggling .
Instead, she always has a fit
when confronted with Dhanush, where she helplessly ends up screeching..”WHAT
THE F###?” without even completing the word. The two play rivals in business,
where she is the killer shark in designer pants and he is a small Bombil fry in
lungi. She is Vasundhara, the chairman of a big construction company and he is an
engineer who refuses her job offer. They are well cast in this face-off story.
She looks the part of someone dynamic with arrogance that runs in the blood. He
looks like any harmless engineer happy enough, driving a moped slower than a
bullock cart. Both Kajol and Dhanush perform with full self-awareness of their
star appeal and fan following. They are, indeed, the biggest draw in this VIP
sequel, which, otherwise does not go beyond dialogues that play to the gallery
and song and dance.
Thankfully, there is no love
angle in their story. And that’s the real USP here. He is the hero and she is
the villain who have the best moment when one rainy night, there is a nice
twist in the tale. It comes too easy and too pat. Yet, Kajol makes the most of
those 5-10 minutes and makes it as good as her haughty swagger.
The director, Soundarya
Rajnikanth, has made the smartest move by tapping the villain in Kajol. Though
it does seem like a wasted opportunity when compared to Meryl Streep’s Miranda
Priestly in “The Devil Wears Prada”. Meryl was brilliantly terrifying in her icy
cool stares, drop dead softly delivered lines and equally authoritative tilt of
her famous white- gray haired head.
Kajol’s Vasundhara is reduced
to a caricature, which apparently reflects the way women of power, are
perceived, as opposed to men of equal status. A male boss usually has the
prerogative to be rude and is shrugged of as—‘He’s the boss’. On the other
hand, a female boss is invariably the bitch. Hence Vasundhara here, is
unscrupulous in her ways, wins every award in the business besides mega bucks
and will not think twice before squashing her rivals under her lovely stilettoes.
Even if Vasundhara is
stereotyped here, all it needed was to take a leaf from Ekta Kapoor’s famous
temper tantrums. One particular incident comes to mind, involving her chasing
someone out of her office AND building with her shoe in her hand. Kajol, with
her squarish jawline like Ekta’s would have been a perfect carbon copy, in an
off shoulder top and straight hair, mouthing words that went beyond the
alphabet F.
Unfortunately and inevitably,
this shrew in VIP2, needs to be tamed by the holier than thou hero who worships
his mother and her ghost too. And there lies, the ultimate folly of perception
of man and woman, thanks to Shakespeare.
Well, this Kajol is more
delightful as the shrew than as the virginal Simran too scared to defy her
father. It is another matter that she does not get to go beyond the swagger.
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