Tubelights general celebration of the values of friendship and humanism over those of brute nationalism is appreciable. But the presentation of these ideas is puerile and dumbed down to the extreme
Jul 1, 2017-
Another Eid, and like clockwork, theres another Salman Khan biggie out on screens. This time, the star has reteamed with director Kabir Khanthe man who had helmed two of the actors more recent hits in the form of 2012s Ek Tha Tiger and 2015s Bajrangi Bhaijaanto bring to us the new Tubelight, a reworking of a 2015 Hollywood anti-war drama, Little Boy. Tubelight takes that poorly-received story of a young childs desperate desire to bring his father home from the battlefield in World War II and repurposes it to fit the context of the Indo-Sino War in 1962.
However, while the shift in setting is achieved smoothly enough, and the films overall message about inclusion and tolerance is both timely and well-intentioned, it is in execution that Tubelight, in a manner reminiscent of one of its own much-derided knock-kneed characters, trips, fails wildly and tumbles face-first to the ground.
Rather than the feel-good lesson on the power of belief that it seeks to be, this slow-moving, synthetic and incredibly simplistic excuse for a film will feel, by the time you reach end credits, more like a brutal test of the power of your patience.
Ever since hed been a child, Laxman (Khan) had, by his own admission, been a little slow on the general uptake, earning him the unimaginative moniker of tubelight from his ever-sneering contemporaries. Fortunately, younger brother Bharat (Sohail Khan) has always had his back, fighting off the bullies andmore so owing to the early loss of their parentsbasically hand-holding Laxman through his travails in life.
Until the day the army arrives in their picturesque little town in the Kumaon hills, and calls upon the young men therein to enlist in order to stop the potential Chinese encroachment along the border.
Bharat aces the tests and is almost immediately drafted, and so he heads off, leaving behind a distraught and utterly helpless Laxman.
It should come as no spoiler that the entire point of a story such as this one is to show our hero gradually coming into his own, learning to rely on himself and demonstrating his worth to an otherwise dismissive society.
Playing a major part in that evolution in this case is a friendship Laxman strikes with a little boy (Matin Rey Tangu) and his mother (Zhu Zhu) who have just moved into the neighbourhood, and whose distinctive appearancetheyre Indian, but their ancestors were from Chinaearns them instant ill will. Laxman, then, finds himself caught between defending the pair, and the prospect of losing his only brother to Chinese forcesand struggling not to conflate the two, as his fellow townspeople have so easily done.
The attempt to say something, anything, about distrustful and often downright discriminatory attitudes and behaviour towards people from the North-East in India,
particularly at this point in time, is appreciable, as is Tubelights general celebration of the values of friendship and humanism over those of blind, brute nationalism.
But the presentation of these ideas is puerile to the extreme, more a page out of a sixth grade Moral Science book than a film that isnt targetedat least not to my knowledgespecifically at under-12s. Indeed, that sense of having ones intelligence underestimated lingers throughoutparticularly when the kindly Banne Chacha, played by the late Om Puri, is giving Laxman a crash course on Gandhian ideals, scenes that are so over-earnest, they make you cringe.
Thats the trouble with the constant sermonising in Tubelightits too dumbed down to really evoke any sort of response, essentially just a load of numbing noise.
Another major contributor to the films overall manufactured, inauthentic air isand hardcore Salman fans can opt out from reading here on outthe lead performance, possibly the weakest link, and very possibly Khans worst avatar to date.
For a long time now, the actor has been coasting on roles that involve very little acting per se, mostly big-budget vehicles where it seems he only needs to show up, shake a leg or two, spout a few dramatic put-downs, in between taking on relentless action set-piecesand if it hasnt earned him the love of critics, its been more than enough for his legions of admirers.
One cant really blame him, though, for wanting to try something different, partly to distance his public image from that distinct brand of shirtless machismo hes long been peddlinga desire thats increasingly crept into his most recent outings on screen.
But what he does in Tubelight is a misfire of epic proportions: For one, although its never expressly told how old Laxman is, its still stretching belief a quite bit to have him played by a 50-something actor.
And Khan, seemingly channeling Hrithik Roshans already-questionable portrayal of an adult man witha developmental disability in Koi...Mil Gaya, botches this stint so bad its actually hard to watch, especially when hes trying to come off all childlike and innocent, or even worse, when crumpling his face up to shed some tears.
Never, ever, have the actors limitations been more evident than they are here, and not once do you believe in his ridiculous caricature of a character. In fact, everyone, including real-life brother Sohail Khan, who, lets admit, isnt the heftiest of performers by any other account, and the diminutive Tangu, who is basically given to alternating between cutesy posturing and yelling his linesare still a vast improvement on Khan.
One of the few positives in Tubelight is the incredible scenery that it captures, shot in various locations around north India, including Manali. However, when we zoom into the little settlement where Laxman lives, with its overly-colourful houses and characters, theres an artificial quality to the wholesome small-town camaraderie on display,a little too perfect, a little too practiced to truly feel real.
If I were you, Id skip this one. Then again, given that Khans films are, by his ownestimation, critic-proof, if youre a fan, you probably wont take my advice.
Published: 01-07-2017 09:28
See original here:
Barely a flicker - The Kathmandu Post
- "NBC Nightly News" - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Writer Rhiannon - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Katherine Hayles, How We Became Posthuman, prologue - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Posthumanism, Transhumanism, Antihumanism, Metahumanism ... - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Thoughts on Posthumanism | Larval Subjects . - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Transhumanism | Posthumanism | Future For All - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Posthuman - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Posthumanism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Posthumanism - February 15th, 2015 [February 15th, 2015]
- Predictions: Who should, will win at 87th Academy Awards - February 21st, 2015 [February 21st, 2015]
- Waking up and smelling the roasted coffee - February 26th, 2015 [February 26th, 2015]
- US-Bangladeshi blogger Avijit Roy killed - February 27th, 2015 [February 27th, 2015]
- Atheist blogger killed in Bangladesh - February 27th, 2015 [February 27th, 2015]
- Leonard Nimoy Showed Us What It Truly Means To Be Human - February 27th, 2015 [February 27th, 2015]
- U.S. blogger hacked to death - February 27th, 2015 [February 27th, 2015]
- The Joy of the Gospel Fills the Heart and Life - February 27th, 2015 [February 27th, 2015]
- WorldViews: Why an American blogger was hacked to death in Bangladesh - February 27th, 2015 [February 27th, 2015]
- Opinion: Roy died for speaking his mind - February 27th, 2015 [February 27th, 2015]
- Terrorists murder American blogger - February 28th, 2015 [February 28th, 2015]
- 'Nobody came to save him,' witness says - February 28th, 2015 [February 28th, 2015]
- American religion critic killed, wife wounded in Bangladesh - February 28th, 2015 [February 28th, 2015]
- U.S. writer hacked to death in Bangladesh - February 28th, 2015 [February 28th, 2015]
- 53 & Grateful - February 28th, 2015 [February 28th, 2015]
- 'Apocalyptic ideology' to blame? - February 28th, 2015 [February 28th, 2015]
- Killed blogger defied Bangladesh threats - March 2nd, 2015 [March 2nd, 2015]
- Avijit Roy received death threats prior to visit - March 2nd, 2015 [March 2nd, 2015]
- American writer hacked to death in Bangladesh - March 2nd, 2015 [March 2nd, 2015]
- Time to face facts over extremism - March 2nd, 2015 [March 2nd, 2015]
- feed - Video - March 5th, 2015 [March 5th, 2015]
- As it happened: Chat with Kalpana Sharma, Subhalakshmi Nandi - March 8th, 2015 [March 8th, 2015]
- In the Memory Ward - March 9th, 2015 [March 9th, 2015]
- U.S. blogger critical of Muslim extremists fatally stabbed in Bangladesh - March 9th, 2015 [March 9th, 2015]
- U.S. atheist blogger killed in stabbing attack in Bangladesh - March 9th, 2015 [March 9th, 2015]
- Tabling of hudud bill threatening to tear PR apart - March 16th, 2015 [March 16th, 2015]
- "The Winter Boy" by Sally Wiener Grotta Nominated for the Prestigious Locus Award - March 18th, 2015 [March 18th, 2015]
- REVIEW: The scars of war - Magazine - DAWN.COM - March 22nd, 2015 [March 22nd, 2015]
- Indonesians treated to Sufi, Punjabi folk music - March 25th, 2015 [March 25th, 2015]
- Blogger hacked to death in Bangladesh - Newspaper - DAWN.COM - March 31st, 2015 [March 31st, 2015]
- Louise Palanker: Why Are Boys Ignorant About Feminism, the Need to Text, Sister Fights - April 5th, 2015 [April 5th, 2015]
- Text of Narendra Modis address to UNESCO - April 11th, 2015 [April 11th, 2015]
- PM@UNESCO: Our world is a better place because of UN - April 11th, 2015 [April 11th, 2015]
- Walking for a cause - April 11th, 2015 [April 11th, 2015]
- Thomas Jeffersons torturous afterlife: How Ronald Reagan and the Tea Party try to steal his legacy - April 13th, 2015 [April 13th, 2015]
- Heidegger, Martin - May 16th, 2015 [May 16th, 2015]
- Lhyperhumanisme contre le posthumanisme : article - Revue ... - December 8th, 2016 [December 8th, 2016]
- Posthumanismus Wikipedia - December 8th, 2016 [December 8th, 2016]
- Home : Rice University Department of English - January 20th, 2017 [January 20th, 2017]
- Trump's Wall Will Fail in the Era of Post-Humanism - Inverse - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- The Fairly Traded Coffee Party - Patheos (blog) - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- James Ibori inspired David Cameron's comment of Nigeria being 'fantastically corrupt' CACOL - Daily Post Nigeria - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- Oscar-Nominated Shorts: Unsung but Worth Your Time - New York Times - February 8th, 2017 [February 8th, 2017]
- Thinging the Real: On Bill Brown's Other Things - lareviewofbooks - February 8th, 2017 [February 8th, 2017]
- The Sanders-Cruz Debate Humane Health Care Or Free Market Fundamentalism? - Huffington Post - February 9th, 2017 [February 9th, 2017]
- The Tate dives into the art of David Hockney - The Economist (blog) - February 14th, 2017 [February 14th, 2017]
- Japanese manga artist Jiro passes away - The Kathmandu Post - February 15th, 2017 [February 15th, 2017]
- Announcing My New Book - Patheos (blog) - February 16th, 2017 [February 16th, 2017]
- Calls for contributions to books and special issues of ... - February 20th, 2017 [February 20th, 2017]
- Open letter to Shehla Rashid, from former AMU Students Union leader - DailyO - February 20th, 2017 [February 20th, 2017]
- Interview with Scott Blair - Conatus News - February 22nd, 2017 [February 22nd, 2017]
- Freedom & Islam 'not compatible,' says far-right Dutch politician Geert Wilders - RT - February 23rd, 2017 [February 23rd, 2017]
- Humans in Dark Times - New York Times - February 23rd, 2017 [February 23rd, 2017]
- American society headed toward a breaking point - Jerusalem Post Israel News - February 23rd, 2017 [February 23rd, 2017]
- Talk utilizes postmodern approaches to explore images of the medieval body - NIU Today - February 24th, 2017 [February 24th, 2017]
- Sophia Al Maria: EVERYTHING MUST GO at The Third Line - Arte Fuse - February 28th, 2017 [February 28th, 2017]
- 'Moonlight,' 'La La Land' and What an Epic Oscars Fail Really Says - New York Times - February 28th, 2017 [February 28th, 2017]
- Manifestly Haraway - Brooklyn Rail - March 2nd, 2017 [March 2nd, 2017]
- Can Universities Save the Enlightenment from Populism? - Huffington Post - March 2nd, 2017 [March 2nd, 2017]
- Lecturer for Cindy Wool seminar supports 'slow medicine' - Jewish Post - March 3rd, 2017 [March 3rd, 2017]
- Post-Truth Trump And Why Humanism Is The Answer To Anti-Facts - Huffington Post - March 3rd, 2017 [March 3rd, 2017]
- Acknowledgment is Not Enough: Coming to Terms With Lovecraft's Horrors - lareviewofbooks - March 4th, 2017 [March 4th, 2017]
- Making Humanism Happen in Nigeria: A labour of Love - Conatus News - March 6th, 2017 [March 6th, 2017]
- The Newfound Lionization Of George W. Bush Shows How Far We've Fallen - Huffington Post - March 7th, 2017 [March 7th, 2017]
- Grapevine: Shimon Peres Day in the Big Apple - Jerusalem Post Israel News - March 8th, 2017 [March 8th, 2017]
- The Victim Of Populism Is Democracy - Huffington Post - March 8th, 2017 [March 8th, 2017]
- In a robot showdown, humanity may happily surrender - Washington Post - March 10th, 2017 [March 10th, 2017]
- Noted secularist Zuckerman to speak here Monday - Ashland Daily Tidings - March 11th, 2017 [March 11th, 2017]
- 'Can we all get along?' Apparently not - Miami Herald (blog) - March 11th, 2017 [March 11th, 2017]
- Book World: In a robot showdown, humanity may happily surrender - Prince George Citizen - March 11th, 2017 [March 11th, 2017]
- What if the problem is simply liberals and conservatives just don't like each other? - Fort Worth Star Telegram - March 12th, 2017 [March 12th, 2017]
- Godless flocks grow, attract like-minded - NWAOnline - April 8th, 2017 [April 8th, 2017]