Ganesh (2009) Review

So it's settled then - the lavenders, magentas, teals and turquoises are indeed safe to drape our leading men in, and do not make them look like sissies or make them explode haplessly. Or even interrupt their demos of intricate martial arts and eye-popping aerial hobbies. Among Ganesh's pluses, is the delicious styling of its hero and its heroine.

Another desperate-for-attention asset is the presence of several Krrish-type stunts (Peter Heins' work) based on high-rise apartments and hot-air balloons. While they're all very novel and innovative, it's something that ought to have been handled a little more responsibly.

With more children than in your average kids' movie (thus hinting that Gen-Small is one of its target audiences), and with implausible aerobatics placed in campy situations (targeting Gen-Small, again), Ganesh should have been courteous enough to do at least one of 2 things: a) make the hero an actual superhero, with the trappings - flying cape, masked face, visible underwear, et al, or b) explain the stunts and make them look less do-able.

Thums Up visuals aside, Ganesh does have some energy of its own. What's sad is that it keeps fizzling out. Ganesh (Ram) is friends with a couple whose love affair is being squelched by the pigheadedness of the boy's family. The boy is afraid to tell his folks because sometime in the pre-Independence era, they had planned to marry him off to his cousin, and now things stand very delicately as the family is currently coiled up with strained relations within itself.

Ganesh suggests that our couple's love would come unplugged if only the cousin were to carry on with someone else. He rolls up his sleeves and decides to get to work and make the cousin fall in love with him until the clouds have cleared, after which he plans to apologize to the jilted lover.

Somewhere, there's a little whimper of a suggestion that the plan completely sucks even on paper, but Ganesh turns out to be exceptionally tedious and well-planned in his execution. He woos Divya (Kajal) by moving into her apartment complex and taking the help of 2 dozen bratty kids. He wins them over by not shattering their illusion that he's Superman, and this forms an entire parallel plot in the movie. It's tiresome when you're offered no explanation for how on earth he got on top of that hot air balloon.

The pair then go through your regular cinematically dictated motions - she indeed falling for the trap, he then indeed falling in love with her, the original un-updated couple-girl slashing the scene with an ill-placed joke about Ganesh's intentions, and Divya getting all miffed. How the mess is cleaned up forms the rest of the story. The whole second half. And there's also a goon Mahadev (Ashish Vidyarthi) and his wimpy opponent Yadagiri (Brahmanandam) thrown in.

The movie begins with a good deal of energy and colour, but towards the interval, things begin to drag. What works for the film are some well-written gags, and lots of expressive performances. The story suffers the moment it becomes predictable. The romance is all cold during the second half, then, and this makes the ending seem contrived. Also, it feels confusing - it's hard to judge whether this is a romance stuck in a children's movie, or a whole lot of children stuck in a romantic comedy.

There's a wee bit of violence sprinkled with the stupefying action as well, with the hero wearing quite a few shades of toughness - all unconvincing, since Ram doesn't exactly seem like a ravenous canine.

The kids have some decently endearing scenes, but the film steps into meaningless territory a couple of times - like the one in which the they have to see a man's hand getting cut off, or the anti-climax, in which the villains have to beat the kids up. A case of tackily over-saturating the melodrama.

Ram and Kajal are smart and well-heeled, and spontaneous in the acting department. Theyir work is the kind around which you can use the word 'nuances' without biting your tongue. Ashish Vidyarthi is his usual caricaturish self, and Brahmanandam's comedy is a breather in the second half.

What's also impressive is the set of sparkling performances (the homework for which has been credited to Aruna Bhikshu) by the army of kids. It's common to insert one or two embarrassingly precocious kids to catalyze a reluctant-to-bloom romance, but Ganesh has an entire swarm of the little people having full-blown characters, and who successfully keep from being annoying. That the fun leaked onto the rest of the set, is clear - both Ram and Kajal seem to have had a ball.

The film's got its aesthetics right, with appealing colours and well-done camera work. Some of the songs remind you of Micky J Meyer's earlier work, but they aren't unforgettable. The real pain is that they are terribly timed.

Worth a harmless watch if you'll promise not to bark at people for telling you a story you've already heard.