His
job is to make others sound great, but he specializes in making himself look
bad. He dubs musical numbers for
Bollywood actors who cannot carry a tune in a bucket. He does it well. He is also a father, but not such a hot
one. Nonetheless, he will be staying for
a while with his daughter in Suju Vijayan’s The
Playback Singer (trailer
here), which
screens as a selection of the 2013 Cinequest Film Festival in San Jose.
Ashok
Rao has been married several times, but he only has one daughter: Priya. Of course, he was never around much. Still, she readily agrees to put up her
prodigal father when he comes to California for a concert. She is a bit apprehensive about seeing the
old man, while her freelance designer husband Ray Tomassi is a bit resentful,
knowing full well their limited history together. At first things are tense, especially when an
unscrupulous promoter leaves Rao high and dry.
Yet, Rao and Tomassi eventually warm towards each other. Wine helps.
Before long, she is fast losing patience with both of them.
Bollywood
fans might be disappointed to find Playback
adheres more closely to an American indie template. Still, Vijayan has the taste and discipline
to resist overplaying the fish-out-of-water culture clash card. Instead, it is much more preoccupied with
early midlife crises, the fear of failure, and the nasty realization you might
have married someone more like your father than you would like to admit.
Tomassi
is a dreamer and procrastinator, pathologically incapable of finishing his one commission,
a hipster jungle gym. Somehow though,
Ross Partridge lets us emphasize with his fears and self-indulgences. His unlikely buddy chemistry with Piyush
Mishra’s Rao evolves subtly and naturally.
A prominent actor in Bollywood/alternate cinema (including Gangs of Wasseypur), Mishra invests the
titular character with the right mix of dignity and regret. Despite her efforts, Navi Rawat’s responsible
daughter gets the shaft from the film, coming across rather uptight and
judgmental, even though she’s the only one working a steady job.
