Bombay Talkies (EOTWS)

End Of The Week Shorts #49 extract: Bombay Talkies (2013)

Put shortly, a disheartening celebration of Indian cinema. 

Bombay talkies is made up of four episodes, each helmed by a leading director of contemporary Bollywood cinema. (There is also a rather grating musical ending - a bad note to end on). I've never seen much worth in episodic movies with multiple directors. Whilst the shorts may be thematically linked, you're inevitably going to compare directorial styles and wish the entire film was based on one of its parts. Such is true of Bombay Talkies. The second episode, Star, is an excellent look at what it means to have a talent or passion which stands alone beautifully. The other episodes are underdeveloped social dramas. 1 and 3, the most lacking episodes, are clearly trying to welcome a new era of Bollywood film with controversial subject matter, but fail to produce anything at all substantial. All in all, this is a blundering mess and, frankly, a weird way to celebrate 100 years of Indian cinema.