Tubelight
Tubelight is about a man with the strange nickname who loves his brother dearly and when his brother joins the army during the conflict between the Indians and the Chinese during the 1960s, he looks to the teachings of Gundi to create a miracle to get his brother to come home, that miracle comes in the form of two Indians of Chinese decent who move into the village.
Salman Khan plays Tubelight in this one. When I think of Salman Khan, I’m always thinking Bollywood’s answer to Sylvester Stallone, I don’t know why Stallone particularly, but that’s what I’m thinking. In a lot of ways it makes sense because Stallone has done some strange dramas in his career, and this is Khan’s. I went in expecting a lot more action and adventure, but as it turns out this is more of a drama. It’s a good one however, I’m not disappointed, but I will say that Tubelight has nothing on the last Kahn movie I saw, Sultan, which was a pretty great drama.
It’s a very neutral film, allowing it to appeal to the massive audience, with a simple story on tolerance. How very interesting to see a movie on tolerance from a different culture. India was at war with China during the 60s, and at the rate that China was taking out the Indian army (according to the movie) it’s understandable why Tubelight’s small village was unkind to anyone with a Chinese face. Despite being a movie set in a different time in a different land the message it hits upon is very current for an American Audience (or anyone who judges a book by it’s cover)
Not that big a fan of musicals. Some of the Bollywood songs in this film are pretty good, but a lot of them feel like they were written by Disney composers, which I guess really sticks with the massive appeal of the film.
So overall, I’m was hoping for an action film but still Salman Kahn delivered a movie that was actually a good watch.
Oh, and rest in peace Om Puri who the movie was dedicated to. Whenever I watch these Bollywood films he was a face that I recognized more than Khan’s, so it’s sad that I will not see that face again.
