Bollywood Diaries movie review: Brilliant tribute to Bollywood struggling actors

Director: K. D. Satyam

Cast: Raima Sen, Ashish Vidyarthi, Salim Diwan, Vineet Kumar

How far can one go to achieve their Bollywood dreams? Daily around 1000 people come to the city of dreams-Mumbai to fulfil their dreams of dazzling on celluloid. Some run from their house, some fight with family and friends, while others fight their inner battles in the hope of becoming a superstar one day. Director K. D. Satyam beautifully narrates this struggle in his two hours and two minutes feature film.

Vishnu Srivastava (Ashish Vidyarthi), a middle class man from Bhilai, who is also an ex-theatre artist, leaves the stage, to get married and have a family. Vishnu works in a government office against his personal wish of becoming an actor. Soon after, his daughter gets married, and he moves Mumbai to make his way to Bollywood. But destiny has it’s own plans. Vishnu gets diagnosed with third stage of pancreatic cancer and is on the verge of dying. Will he let his sickness overpower his dream?

Imli (Raima Sen), a sex worker based in Kolkata, aspires to become an actress in Bollywood. She tries to please her clients from Mumbai, with the hopes of geting into films. Vineet Kumar, a filmmaker incidentally comes to the red light area to research for his debut film and meets Imli. He notices talent in her and encourages her to perform. Vineet promises her a full-fledged role in his film that is inspired by her struggles. But will Vineet live up to his promises or just fall in line with the many Bollywood directors, who break more stars that make any.

Rohit (Salim Diwan), a young BPO worker from Delhi, who is trapped in the boredom of his daily routine, tries his luck to win a big ticket to Bollywood. He comes across an audition that is going on in Delhi. With his intense acting, Rohit manages to impress the judges, but is met harsh reality when he qualifies for the final round.  

Director K. D. Satyam surely touches the heart with his realistic portrayal of characters and situations. I felt bad when I saw just three people (including me) in the entire theatre on the first day of the first show. How many people even know about ‘Bollywood Diaries’? How many screens did the film get by the distributors? With films like ‘Aligarh’ and ‘Tere Bin Laden: Dead Or Alive’ releasing on the same date, ‘Bollywood Diaries’ will surely slip out of the theatres unnoticed. I feel pity on such filmmakers, who make film with such conviction and everything goes for a toss just because the film doesn’t have any big face and better distribution.

Ashish Vidyarthi and Raima Sen are flawless in their roles. Salim Diwan could have done much better with his emotional act. The pain of unfulfilled wishes and broken dreams is heart wrenching. Vineet Kumar did justice to his small role. One can’t imagine how beautiful the music of such a low budget movie can be. Vipin Patwa’s emotional music and Dr. Sagar’s lyrics is surely ear soothing and melodic. ‘Mann Ka Mirga’ by the Noora sisters, ‘Manwa Behrupiya ‘ by Arijit Singh and ‘Titli’ by Papon will surely leave you in tears especially when these songs take the story forward.

The disclaimer in the end, which reads ‘Bollywood Diaries’ is a tribute to all those, who are still struggling to get their dreams fulfilled is impressive. I am glad that director K. D. Satyam showed an ending, which one can connect with.