Miss Lovely – Honest, Disturbing but Flawed At Places

Hi All,

This week another Independent film directed by award winning documentary film-maker Ashim Ahluwalia hits the theatres. Thanks to some amazing responses at Cannes Film Festival and several others, ‘Miss Lovely’, like last year’s ‘The Lunchbox’ and ‘Ship of Theseus’, is lucky to have a mainstream theatrical release with limited slots across few multiplexes across the country.

Image Courtesy: Official Film Website

‘Miss Lovely’, in spite of the Censors being extremely cruel, is dark, disturbing and probably the most honest film coming from Independent Indian Cinema. While it is surely not for the faint hearted and the aam junta, even the Multiplex viewing audiences – BEWARE. You may like ‘Miss Lovely’ or completely disown it, because the 113 minutes film gives ample room for it. To put it in simpler words, there are places where long static frames of artistic frames, unintentional frames showing the vintage city of Mumbai in its best, grainy frames of the underbelly of Mumbai’s sleaze house and more disturb your attention. The approach certainly isn’t commercial, but very few audiences understand the symbolic (read Festival circuit films style of imagery) interpretation.

Right from the word ‘GO’, ‘Miss Lovely’ starts off with what the promos have promised. A peek into the C-grade film industry, which still is thriving across smaller cities, the film begins with vintage titles and shoddy-make up witch (quintessentially the Ramsay Brothers style of make-up), setting the tone of what to expect ahead. The soft-porn cum horror story is cut short when Sonu Duggal (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) in the middle of the horror flick airs a semi-porn clip titillating the sex-deprived souls ranging from mill workers to old men seeking pleasure.

While Sonu doesn’t want to be a part of the sleaze fest, he is forced to be a part of the business because of his brother Vicky Duggal (Anil George). Vicky and his aides are the kings when it comes to making these clips. From shooting a film at low light in a jungle to a shanty bedroom, the idea is only to entice the audiences (literally) with heavy sexual pleasure showing (blurred) bosoms, heavy doses of moans and grunts.

While Vicky is on the hunt to find new ladies, shamelessly ready to bare it all, we also see a realistic portrayal of cat-fights between Vicky’s own leading ladies Poonam and Nadia (based on the famous ‘Hunterwali Nadia’), quite as seen in Ekta Kapoor’s ‘The Dirty Picture’.

Meanwhile, Sonu meets Pinky (Niharika Singh), a struggling actress and falls for her. But Niharika shuns him when she comes to know that he is Vicky’s brother.

A police raid almost puts a closure to Vicky’s dirty business, when he decides to give the sleaze business a last shot. He shoots a porn film inside a closed factory taking help from Sonu. But as fate has its way, police raid and seize the equipment and arrest Sonu and the actors while Vicky manages to escape. Years after spending time in prison Sonu returns to find his brother continuing his business as usual and blames Vicky for the mess in his life.

‘Miss Lovely’ is brilliant at places where one gets exposed to characters and their tricks, the stunning visuals of the trade and its tricks. But there are many broken links, where Ashim Ahluwalia fails in his endeavour to keep the audience attention. Also with the Censors playing havoc with the film, it becomes a bit difficult to keep track of the events.

Another flaw of the film is its sluggish pace. Even if the running time is 113 minutes, the film is slow at places where long static frames of visuals begin to get disturbing. The film boasts of minimal dialogues and it’s the art design and situation that builds the performances and conveys the story, but it gets too boring at a point of time.

What one can appreciate in Miss Lovely is the effort and sincerity with which it is made. From stunning visuals of realistic locations, splendid art work  in aptly showing the vintage Mumbai of the early 80’s and 90’s and sound design so crisp, Miss Lovely surely is set to be a case for students to learn from.

However when it comes to commercial viewing as an audience, it’s the performances to an extent, which scores brownie points. Anil George as Vicky Duggal is rustic and realistic to core. He plays the character of a C-grade producer with conviction.

Niharika Singh as Pinky is good but is deprived of quality screen time. Yet, she manages to pitch in a decent act.

But it is once again Nawazuddin Siddiqui and his realistic portrayal as Sonu, which dominates Miss Lovely and keeps the interest alive. The actor once again proves his worth and shoulders the film on his acting prowess. Miss Lovely, as a film only comes alive at the climax, to say the least when a sudden character transformation happens in Sonu’s character -From an innocent, honest and ambitious hope of becoming a director to a brutal victim of the dark and harsh realities of life.

P:S Only if the Censors have been a little kind, this would have been much better and a more laudable effort.

Final Verdict: Miss Lovely is a decent and honest effort from Ashim Ahluwalia and certainly an eye-opener in a positive way for Independent films to get its foothold. It is disturbing at places but even boring at times. Watch it for its raw appeal and Nawaz’s performance.

RATING: ***