Matrixston Wow! Such a good movie.

Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece

Moustroll Good movie but grossly overrated

XoWizIama Excellent adaptation.

Kaustubh Rajnish I have so often come across unknown films which have a unique superlative buzz going for them. For example people from the film festival circuit rave about it and that odd critic would announce that it is a never before made film. You would have never heard about these movies in the mainstream but its content, cast and style would definitely attract you. You go on IMDb and those odd 15 user reviews would be calling it a landmark film. Unfortunately when you actually catch the film you are going to be disappointed and you will wonder did I miss something here or did my movie get hype killed. Miss Lovely completely belongs to that category. It's a sweaty, fuzzy look at the C-grade porn / horror industry of the mid-eighties in India. Apparently there were a set of people who made these kinds of movies, wore Hawaiian shirts like Miami gangsters and smoked quite a bit of cigarette and drank cheap liquor. The story is about two brothers who are into making C-grade horror/porn movies. They deal with some real Mafioso type guys who are constantly abusing and beating up the elder brother for no apparent reason. Soon the younger one gets smitten by a random dimple cheeked girl and decides to make a movie with her. This leads to further complications and a devastating end.Unfortunately in spite of having a very interesting premise and an absolutely incredible cast Miss Lovely suffers from the art for the sake of art syndrome. It is slow, plodding, its camera shots though exquisite linger on for no end, its script is really not explained properly and its core message lost in a mess of multi-layered narrative which can't seem to decide whether it is a documentary or a movie. So if the so called New York educated director Ashim Ahluwalia wants to show that these C-grade movies are shot at the dead of the night, he will first show a 15 second still shot of an empty Mumbai road and only then cut to a bunch of sweaty people shooting the film in a dingy room. Some people will smoke cigarettes. Some will spew curse words. Some would simply stand in chaotic arrangements looking sleazy. A woman with too much make up would wither on bed.Soon the movie will cut to the next scene leaving you to wonder what the point of the previous scene was. This scene will have the camera linger for 15 seconds on a man waiting to be let in a dingy room and then eventually the man will be let in and have an unimportant conversation with a random sweaty character. For some reason the director expects film watchers to get excited with this kind of drivel. Why? Simply because no one has done it before On the upside, the camera angles are up close and personal which gives the film a chaotic in your face look. I was breathing hard to simply catch a wide angle shot half way in the film which is a significant achievement for the makers as I guess as the style mirrors the suffocating, dirty and chaotic world the characters inhabit. The production design is plain brilliant and kept me occupied when I would completely lose interest in the film's story (which was at least 10 times during the movie). Ultimately though, Miss lovely is a sad piece of cinema and by sad I don't mean as in story but it being a poor piece of filmmaking. There is so much wastage of time that the film's pace never really picks up. The action of the actors makes no sense because the director does not really even attempt to explain what is happening in the film. Key incidents are sprayed sporadically across the film. Somebody dies; the police catch our protagonists and beat them up for no reason. A bunch of people shoot a C-grade movie and a woman takes her clothes off and then the scene cuts to another shot. You are basically watching a random set of very well shot scenes which really never come together as a whole. I have often seen films from Asia getting undue attention just because they showcase things the west has not seen before. Whether these films actually merit appreciation is another matter. Miss Lovely is similar. Oh wow, a film on the C-grade Indian film industry which is not Bollywood and it looks authentic ….oooh how exotic. Of course the complete lack of a coherent storyline, poor pace and a screwed up narrative completely kills Miss Lovely and the reviewers seem to overlook that.I guess I would have enjoyed it more as a documentary but then the film never really explores even that in detail either. There is a long haired sleazy director or for that matter a midget producer who comes and goes, it would have been exciting to hear their back stories or their characters to play a role in the film. Unfortunately instead of utilizing these well played out characters the film is busy trying to be a thriller. Of course, since it is made for a western audience Ahluwalia can't just help and slip in a song and dance sequence and there is an old Biddu / Nazia Hassan song rehashed in a beautifully shot but unrealistic sequence towards the end of the film.Ahluwalia might have tremendous talent and am sure if he chooses to make another film I might try to catch it just for the way he frames a scene but I hope he realizes with Miss Lovely that a script, narrative and pace are equally important.Till then, I would recommend to give a miss to Miss Lovely especially for anyone who values time and good cinema.

Angelique Parkar "Outrageous" might be the best word to describe this film, characters and all. If you are looking for an outrageous two hours and you aren't easily shocked or offended, this would be a film to watch.Miss Lovely is one rough roller coaster ride and a cocktail of violence, sex and of course movie-making. Although it's more transparent and linear on a surface level, I'm still not sure I've figured out the multilayered, subtexts and film references that lie deep beneath the surface--even though I've seen it a few times now. I definitely can feel the ghosts of lots of cheap thriller and film noir directors, and maybe even some sasta Tamil sex films lurking under the surface. It also reminds me of some Kanti Shah films I saw as a kid. The greatest aspects in the screenplay are in fact the delicious side-chapters that go off from the main story and follow the characters of struggling actress/ escort girl Nadia and fading B-heroine Poonam. I loved these side stories, but I know a few viewers who had a problem with how the film goes following different strands and doesn't just stick to the linear narrative. Miss Lovely sometimes feels a little long and drags in a few places toward the end, but this barely hinders the film in its entirety. I didn't really care - overall and simply put: this movie is COOL! The costumes, the music, the world is amazing!! For someone who is obsessed with the 1980s – specially the crazy hairdos and bras and premier padminis and Nazia Hassan - it's a total joy to watch and you really love to hate some of the offensive characters. Miss Lovely is not a movie that's easy to forget. Ashim Ahluwalia may or may not be a hot commercial property but in my book he's one of the most original directors working in India today.

Eugenia R. Miss Lovely is clearly not for everybody. Plot logic in this film is choppy, sometimes disjointed, sometimes told only in parts. Sensation and twisted psychology matter more than linear storytelling. Mood, atmosphere and sound design fill in he remaining details that the story doesn't tell you. Now, if you are still interested, read on… For me, personally, Miss Lovely is a meticulously crafted aesthetic and political vision, employing a variety of forms/tropes (of artifice) to critique the mode of commercial Indian cinema. If you think about it – it has all the aspects of a classical Bollywood movie (2 brothers, a girl in between them, a love triangle, murder, conspiracy, betrayal, paranoia and a Nazia Hassan song!) – AND YET, it as far from a Bollywood film as you can be. Because, I believe it is a deconstruction of Bollywood, it takes all the elements and rebuilds them from the ground up. It offers another way to make an Indian film – and I'm all the more excited for it. It says (to me) – Indian film doesn't need to be "parallel" (read: village exploitation stories), it can still take all that is familiar and make something totally new and original with it. Much has been written on how great Nawaz is in this film – but that is boring. Let's talk about the other actors. Anil George, for me, was far far better than Nawaz. Playing the heavy, brooding older brother Vicky Duggal, George has screen presence like few actors on Indian screens. He's phenomenally real. Often he doesn't even seem aware of the camera. Next level performance, in my humble opinion. Niharika Singh as Pinky is just terrific as well. A beautifully understated almost non-performance (which, as anyone knows, is still a PERFORMANCE). A distinctive quality of this beautiful, doll-like actress is that no matter how expressive she is, there always seems to be something else going on which we sense but can't know about. The soundtrack and sound design is just terrific – I'm not sure who has scored the film but it creates a dread and tension which has you scouring the corners of the frame for the source of the menace. All in all, not for everyone – but for those who want something new, this is deeply satisfying.

Zelma Williams The story is about Sonu (Nawaz) and his constant conflict against his bossy elder brother Vicky (Anil George) who has trapped himself in the gutter of sleaze films in spite of being aware about its consequences and the endless darkness that lies beyond. A fraternity which juggles with aspects such as humanity and emotions purely to rake in more and more profit at the cost of sexually violating endless women on screen and offering an eye candy to millions on a weekly basis, Miss Lovely provides a detailed look on how a whole different society is developing in the underbelly of Mumbai and establishing its roots in various other territories in the country. This film is an eye opener especially in an era where inhumanities against women are spoken about loudly and protested against. I got totally absorbed in the atmosphere and the world and it left me with a lot to think about. It has sensuality and eroticism but never appears exploitative – and this is communicated in a way never before seen in an Indian film. Of course there is also violence and gore, and a general uneasiness throughout. Miss Lovely is a darkly disturbing and spellbinding film.