tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70139084259976840812024-03-06T09:17:38.983+05:30Out of the BlueAshish Ananthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12132464118106127600noreply@blogger.comBlogger166125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7013908425997684081.post-64377570598880268732016-03-19T11:12:00.000+05:302016-03-19T11:12:38.016+05:30Kapoor and Sons (Since 1921) Movie Review: All Very Real and Heartfelt, Sans the Needless Drama<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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What if I tell you that Bollywood has been mostly lying to you all these years? Don’t kill me. But, then I guess we all know about it – at least subconsciously, at the back of our heads. The Hindi film world’s portrayal of quintessential ‘Indian family’ and its ‘values’ has been so typical and utopian that it makes you cringe in your seat a little. I mean there is nothing wrong in portraying a ‘happy family’ with set spaces for parents, grannies, children and a puppy may be, but Bollywood should take the blame for serving us more of the same, so much of so that you may start believing that nothing, absolutely nothing can ever go wrong with your <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">parivaar</em>! Really?<span id="more-47296" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></div>
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<a href="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2016/03/kapoor-and-sons1.jpg" rel="attachment wp-att-47293" style="border: 0px; color: #117bb8; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Kapoor and Sons" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-47293" src="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2016/03/kapoor-and-sons1.jpg?w=700" style="border: 0px; display: inline; float: left; height: auto; margin: 0px 20px 20px 0px; max-width: 100%;" /></a>And someone like Karan Johar has led the pack of storytellers who have insisted that it’s all about loving your family. Johar has mostly caricaturized upper middle-class/urban family settings with his slow-mos, the morning <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">sanskaari</em> prayer session, the hearty laughs on the dining table as the family servant serves mom-made <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Rajma Chawal</em>, the tears followed by an inevitable happy ending, the group hugging, touching of the feet and stuff. But, all of this is a little corny, ain’t it?</div>
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The love, the care, and the bonding apart, families, like any other social institution, do have their fair share of issues, tests and tribulations. So, it is quite refreshing and brave of Karan Johar to produce a film that is almost an antithesis of what his ‘version’ of the family stands for. Shakun Batra, the supremely talented director who was behind Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu – a wonderful rom-com that somehow got lost in the chronicles of Bollywood, turns the table on mainstream Bollywood and dishes out a family drama in that is less of drama and more about family (in real terms).</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Plot:</strong></div>
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The Kapoor family’s 90- year old patriarch (Rishi Kapoor) suffers a heart attack that brings his grandsons, Rahul (Fawad Khan) and Arjun (Sidharth Malhotra) back to their family mansion in Coonoor. The reunion is great in spirit but a little uncomfortable in reality; Rahul and Arjun’s parents (Rajat Kapoor and Ratna Pathak Shah) are a squabbling couple dealing with long marriage and a looming financial crisis, Arjun has his own issues with being the ‘runner-up’, the forever ‘also-ran’ to his successful and seemingly perfect elder brother. Things complicate further when both the brothers seem to develop feelings for the same girl Tia (Alia Bhatt), who has her own backstory to cope with. As the entire Kapoor family spends some weeks together around a recuperating patriarch, skeletons start to tumble out of the closet. Everyone in the family has their secrets to hide, tragedies to deal with and compromises to make if they want to imagine and live a ‘happy family life’. How the Kapoors tolerate each other and deal with their challenges is the crux of Kapoor and Sons.</div>
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<img alt="Kapoor-and-Sons" class="aligncenter wp-image-47312" height="369" src="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2016/03/kapoor-and-sons2.jpg?w=664&h=369" style="clear: both; display: block; height: auto; margin: 20px auto; max-width: 100%;" width="664" /></div>
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The film’s narrative is steady and well-paced throughout but really comes into its own in the second half. The gentle twists and turns in the story (Shakun Batra and Ayesha Devitre Dhillon) keep you hooked and in fact make the film very gripping. There is no unnecessary melodrama in the film with reality and subtlety being the hallmarks of Shakun Batra’s direction. The young director does complete justice to all his characters and lets their stories grow organically. Quite prudently, he steers clear of making heroes and villains in the narrative and states everything quite matter-of-factly. If there’s a slip in the film (at all), it is perhaps towards the climax when there seems to be a compulsion to make it a happy ending, quite ironically something that film take stands against throughout. But, that again is quite subjective, depending on what slice of life you want to binge on.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Cast:</strong></div>
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Kapoor and Sons has perhaps the best ensemble cast to have adorned a Hindi film in recent times. Out of this pack of talented actors, one man who shines like a diamond is the girl eye-candy Fawad Khan. The Pakistani actor steals the show with his brilliant understated portrayal of Rahul Kapoor – a man who is near perfect from the exterior but is simmering with vulnerability within. Fawad’s calmness is well complemented by the quirkiness of Rishi Kapoor who looks almost unrecognizable as a 90-year old. Apart from bringing some comic relief in the film, Rishi Kapoor also succeeds in bringing alive the agony of an old man who helplessly watches his family getting disintegrated in front of his eyes. Ratna Pathak Shah and Rajat Kapoor are effortless as a warring couple with Shah stealing the show in emotional scenes. Her variable equation with her two sons and delicate bond with the husband are perhaps the best written portions of the film.</div>
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Siddarth Malhotra, arguably the weakest link in the ensemble, surprises you with a rather polished performance. As the underdog member of the Kapoor family, he manages to get your sympathies, making you completely stand by his insecurities. The actor also manages to hold his own in emotional scenes with better actors and never really looks miscast or overwhelmed. Alia Bhatt, whose character is actually not central to the Kapoor family plot, brings her familiar effervescence to the narrative. Despite being at the risk of becoming a non-important character in the film, Alia is flawless in the emotional scenes and breezy in light-hearted exchanges.</div>
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<img alt="kapoor-sons-new-stills-0001" class="aligncenter wp-image-47315" height="415" src="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2016/03/kapoor-sons-new-stills-00011.jpg?w=671&h=415" style="clear: both; display: block; height: auto; margin: 20px auto; max-width: 100%;" width="671" /></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Technicalities:</strong></div>
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Talking of the films’ technicalities, Jeffery Bierman’s camera has a distinct homely feel to it. As if someone was recording everything on a handy cam. A special mention should be made of a sequence where the Kapoor are quarreling while a plumber tries to fix a leaking pipeline. The hilarity of this scene lies not just in the writing and acting, but also in how the camera captures the proceedings in an indulgent way – almost like an invisible audience. The film’s music is quite apt with the songs seamlessly fitted in the narrative. Even the popular ‘Chul’ song is not thrown in the typical <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“chalo ab hero-heroine ko nachate hain” </em>way. It’s all very real in the film – you get it, right? The background score suits the film’s ambiance and helps keep the melodrama quotient low. Ditto for editing which is very crisp and devoid of any flab.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Verdict:</strong></div>
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So, I will cut the long story short and simply urge you to go and watch Kapoor and Sons. With your entire <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">parivaar</em>. It’s a wonderful, heartfelt film that redefines the family drama genre in Hindi cinema and gives it a much-needed lifelike fillip by making you cry, smile and think. All so effortlessly and without really breaking a sweat.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10214105240088160108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7013908425997684081.post-53196754541930324402016-03-05T12:51:00.000+05:302016-03-05T12:51:05.675+05:30Jai Gangaajal Movie Review: A Case of Prakash Jha Spoiling Priyanka Chopra’s Party<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Few things are more tragic than a creator becoming the destroyer-in-chief of his own cherished creation. Prakash Jha does exactly that with Jai Gangaajal – the not-so-required and oh-so-underwhelming sequel to his 2003 cop drama Gangaajal, a film that was both gripping and realistic despite its underlying theme of vigilante justice.<br />
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Being the ‘template man’ of Bollywood that he is (along with a certain Madhur Bhandarkar), Prakash Jha goes through the same police-corrupt politicians-pareshan junta rountine in Jai Gangaajal. The only difference here is a female protagonist is kicking some ass (back to Mrityudand days?). While Priyanka Chopra as SP Abha Mathur does her job effortlessly, managing both emotional and action scenes with absolute panache, it is the film’s support cast that bogs her down considerably. There is not a single character who does not come across as a caricature, they all try too hard to play to the galleries. Remember how the troika of Mukesh Tiwari as Bachcha Yadav, Mohan Joshi as Sadhu Yadav and Yashpal Sharma as Sunder Yadav bowled us over in Gangaajal? These characters were not just named realistically (that bit continues even in the sequel) but were also given a huge fillip by some powerhouse acting by the respective actors. Nothing of that sort happens in Jai Gangaajal. The support cast, including the main antagonist Manav Kaul, is extremely thanda. Even Prakash Jha’s own acting debut as a corrupt cop (who eventually has a change of heart) fails to salvage any pride.<br />
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To be fair to Prakash Jha, he does a decent job as an actor, what if he maintains the same stoic & constipated expression on his face throughout the film. But, he is clearly sincere, enthusiastic and in some scenes, he actually does impress you. But, the problem begins to creep in when you realize that Jha cannot resist the temptation of being in front of the camera and eats up a lot of screen time unnecessarily. So, he is everywhere (quite literally) even before our supposed protagonist Abha Mathur can enter the scene. He is fighting the goons or getting beaten by them, planning, plotting, thinking, staring at you, trying to cry. He is everywhere. There are times when you wish to tell him to go back to the behind of the camera. The place where he has done some good job to begin with in his career. Sigh.<br />
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Jai Gangaajal tries hard to be ‘real’ but does not go much beyond its fake-looking sets and extremely predictable premise. What works though is perhaps the film’s dialogues and Jha’s continued hold over Hindi heartland/Bihari diction and accent. So, Jha has his signature address for Priyanka Chopra, ‘Madam Sir’, he also offers ‘Elaichi’ (cardamom) to everyone and says Aap galti se misguide ho gaye hain. All these little snippets show that Jha still has a clasp over the life and times of Hindi heartland but he is simply not willing to move over the clichés.<br />
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Jha’s share of blames does not end here. He is also credited for the film’s story and screenplay which has glaring loopholes and some deeply disturbing elements. In the name of ‘justice’, Jai Gangaajal goes overboard in somewhat patronizing mob lynching and vigilante justice. There’s no serious counter-narrative offered to the dreadful acts of the mob, including that of a young boy, and the film tends to ‘forget’ all of that in the interest of a suitable, whistle-worthy climax. Although, Gangajal itself had a subplot based on the real-life Bhagalpur blinding incidents but there the film’s protagonist (Ajay Devgn) strongly and convincingly stands his ground and denounces those behind it. Nothing of that sort happens in Jai Gangaajal and Priyanka Chopra looks hapless and tired trying to drive home some saner, sober points.<br />
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<img alt="thequint-2016-03-63783861-c421-4d21-b978-0d66a0174fdb-fhpcg4z7p1ayngla.D.0.Prakash-Jha-Jai-Gangaajal-Movie-Photo" class="alignnone wp-image-47123" height="436" src="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2016/03/thequint-2016-03-63783861-c421-4d21-b978-0d66a0174fdb-fhpcg4z7p1ayngla-d-0-prakash-jha-jai-gangaajal-movie-photo.jpg?w=657&h=436" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #404040; display: block; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; height: auto; line-height: 20px; margin: 20px 0px; max-width: 100%;" width="657" /><br />
At the end of its marathon 2 hours 39 minutes runtime, you feel that Jai Gangaajal could have easily been a fun ‘lady-cop-going-after-the-bad-guys’ kind of film with Priyanka Chopra pulling off her act quite convincingly. But, it is undone by a cliché-ridden script, patchy screenplay (the kind which is so stretched and disjointed that you have to literally recall ‘who this character was’) and some problematic social messaging.<br />
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This is a clear case of PJ (Prakash Jha) spoiling PC’s party. You wish the director goes back to the drawing board, throws that ‘template’ out of the window, curbs his zeal to be an actor and looks at his own impressive repository – Damul, Mrityudand, Gangaajal, Apaharan, Rajneeti and the much-forgotten but my favorite Dil Kya Kare. Turn back the clock and get your mojo back, Jha sahib!<br />
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<b>Rating: *1/2 (Poor)</b></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10214105240088160108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7013908425997684081.post-49377177718638649592016-02-28T20:43:00.000+05:302016-02-28T20:43:06.523+05:30Aligarh Movie Review: Manoj Bajpayee’s Poignant Performance Leaves You Thinking for Long<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The world out there is a mad sprint. Everyone is running. Running to prove a point, to get the numbers, to make money, to impress, to get to the goals. And in the process, quite a few fail to keep up the pace. Ironically, those who lose out in this sprint are advised to make peace with it – and that’s another mad sprint in itself.</span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2016/02/aligarh-poster.jpg" rel="attachment wp-att-47056" style="border: 0px; color: #117bb8; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Aligarh Poster" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-47056" height="300" src="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2016/02/aligarh-poster.jpg?w=208&h=300" style="border: 0px; display: inline; float: left; height: auto; margin: 0px 20px 20px 0px; max-width: 100%;" width="208" /></a>Therefore, it is quite brave of Hansal Mehta, the national award-winning director of Shahid, to virtually squeeze pace out of his latest biographical drama, Aligarh. The film stays true to its small town namesake and unravels unhurriedly, almost as if it does not care about the madness and the sprint. And it is not just sleepiness of the place ‘Aligarh’ but also the chronicles of Aligarh University Professor Shrinivas Ramchandra Siras that transports the film into a world that seems rather unreal in today’s times.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Professor Siras is fond of his whisky and the rickety music player. He still relies on good old cassettes – Lata Mangeshkar being her overwhelming favorite. Living alone in a university accommodation that is dimly lit and modestly built, Professor Siras is devoid of any modern day trappings. Unassuming, nonchalant and most importantly non-intrusive in the affairs of his neighbors and colleagues. And, the professor is also a homosexual. But, he does not like the word ‘gay’. He does not like being categorized in a 3-letter word, he doesn’t want any identity, he doesn’t want to assert; he simply wants to be left alone. In his own words, he is the man who likes the pauses and the silences. Both in poetry and in life.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2016/02/aligarh.jpg" rel="attachment wp-att-47055" style="border: 0px; color: #117bb8; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Aligarh" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-47055" height="394" src="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2016/02/aligarh.jpg?w=700&h=394" style="border: 0px; clear: both; display: block; height: auto; margin: 20px auto; max-width: 100%;" width="700" /></a>Manoj Bajpayee comes up with a poignant portrayal of the Aligarh professor. The shabby suit he wears, the gentle demeanor, the chaste Marathi accent, the greying hair – they are all very real and melancholic. In one of the most moving scenes in the film, Bajpayee quietly sheds a tear or two while sipping his drink and listening to an old Lata Mangeshkar favorite. The pathos in his eyes sets the tone for the film’s brilliant portrayal of solitude. It is one of the finest performances by an actor who, I always believed, is terribly underrated. Somehow, in the times of the Irrfans and Nawazuddins, the cine world has not done justice to the talent of Manoj Bajpayee. Hmph.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Bajpayee is ably supported by Rajkummar Rao who plays Deepu Sebastian, a Delhi-based newbie reporter who shares a special bond with the professor. Deepu has his own little issues to deal with in the PG accommodation he lives in. This is the film’s only humorous track where the land ladies give Deepu some tough time for not switching on the ‘motor’. Rajkummar makes the character of Deepu very believable and comes up with a very natural performance.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Apart from the performances, Aligarh is also hugely aided by some nuanced writing. Manoj Bajpayee speaks little, but whenever he does, his words leave behind a deep impact. More than the spoken words, the film is also about the silences and the camera by Satya Rai Nagpaul captures this essence beautifully. The milieu of Aligarh is brought alive, the city becoming a character in the film itself.</span></div>
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<img alt="A-still-from-the-film-Aligarh1" class="aligncenter wp-image-47038" height="458" src="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2016/02/a-still-from-the-film-aligarh1.jpg?w=662&h=458" style="clear: both; display: block; height: auto; margin: 20px auto; max-width: 100%;" width="662" /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I will not say much on how ‘sensitively’ the film portrays the plight of homosexuals in India because the film’s characters and treatment are beyond the labels and stereotyping that Bollywood is so prone to do. Professor Siras happens to be gay and it’s no big deal in the film. The big deal, however, is a person’s right to privacy and right to lead a peaceful, uninterrupted life. It is this layered treatment of the film which makes it a winner. It never asks for your ‘sympathy’ for the homosexual community. It just leaves you thinking and aghast about how the society ostracized a well-meaning, gentle and learned professor.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The fine performances and nuanced writing apart, Aligarh does get a tad too slow at places. The intermission comes abruptly and there are times when the sluggish pace of the film gets overwhelming. But, it is only understandable that a film that is practically about loneliness will have long moments of stillness and discomfort. Moreover, the court proceedings in the film do not come across as very impactful. Clearly, we do not expect a ‘Tareekh Pe Tareekh’ encore here, but the arguments put forward by the lawyers in the court could have perhaps been tighter. There could have been some sense of urgency in how a few people tried to get justice for Professor Siras. It all looks a little tired in the film. But these minor setbacks aside, Aligarh chugs along quietly and, in the end, impressively. Thanks to a superlative lead actor, a fine support cast, deft direction and some fine writing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Watch Aligarh because it is an important film. There is no in-your-face social messaging here, just a subtle nudge to the society, its morals and how it treats those who are lonely, non-combative and non-conforming to the set ‘norms’. Not just for homosexuals, the film also stands for the ‘bachelors’ who are treated as aliens in ‘family only’ colonies and apartments. The film stands for right to live and let live. A very basic and simple ask that our society somehow finds hard to fulfill.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10214105240088160108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7013908425997684081.post-74083849797019284952016-02-20T12:42:00.000+05:302016-02-20T12:48:32.250+05:30Neerja Movie Review: An Outstanding Biopic That Gives us the Lovely Shabana Azmi Back<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #404040; font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">If I would have to bet my life on an actor who could make anyone cry in a matter of two minutes, I will put all my money in Shabana Azmi’s kitty. The veteran actor, who plays Neerja Bhanot’s affable mother in the biopic Neerja, totally steals the show in the last 20 minutes of the film, gently slicing through every emotional chord in your heart, making you root and cry for her brave daughter as if she was one of your own. It is this incredible emotional pull in director Ram Madhvani’s Neerja that makes it an unmissable film in many ways. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #404040; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 20px;">Telling the real-life story of the brave Pan Am Chief Flight Attendant Neerja Bhanot, the film not just provides the harrowing account of that ill-fated flight, it also magically takes you in the life and times of Neerja. So, while Sonam Kapoor enacts Neerja, in what is undoubtedly the most memorable performance of her career, you embrace Neerja lovingly and somewhat forget about the actor enacting the character. Sonam brings out Neerja in flesh and blood, portraying her free spirit, positive personality and even brandishing that unique streak of defiance (tucked behind her otherwise extremely pleasing smile) with aplomb. I have little doubt that Neerja would mark a turning point in Sonam Kapoor’s career with the producers-directors-writers sitting up and taking notice. The pretty fashionista has come of age!</span></div>
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<img alt="maxresdefault" class="aligncenter wp-image-46909" height="374" src="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2016/02/maxresdefault.jpg?w=664&h=374" style="clear: both; display: block; height: auto; margin: 20px auto; max-width: 100%;" width="664" /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">But, if Neerja manages to register a huge impact on your heart and mind, it is considerably due to the terrific Shabana Azmi who lurks beautifully in the background through most of the film, only to come out all guns blazing in the final reels (so good to see her back in form post the tepid Jazbaa last year). She plays the doting mother to Neerja to perfection and makes you go numb at places with her sheer class as an actor. Special mention should be made of the film’s closing sequence where Shabana comes to the airport to receive her beloved daughter’s coffin and the subsequent scene where she delivers a small speech in front of an audience gathered to mark one year of Neerja’s martyrdom. If you manage to hold your tears in these scenes, you are probably either stoned or a stone.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">While you may accuse me of being entirely swayed by Shabana Azmi and too an extent by Sonam Kapoor in the film, I intend to take nothing away from Ram Madhvani’s near-perfect retelling of an episode that deserves to be heard, seen and absorbed by everyone. Madhvani merits all the praise for never letting the momentum slip in the film’s 2-hour runtime and also never overplaying the patriotic or emotional cards. In fact, he chooses silence over any sort of background score in some of the film’s key moments and allows you as an audience to grapple with the situation on hand. And it works brilliantly on all occasions – be it when the hijackers unleash their brutalities inside the aircraft, leaving you suitably horrified, or when the brave Neerja sacrifices her life to save her passengers, leaving you in a pool of tears.</span></div>
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<img alt="maxresdefault (1)" class="aligncenter wp-image-46912" height="373" src="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2016/02/maxresdefault-1.jpg?w=661&h=373" style="clear: both; display: block; height: auto; margin: 20px auto; max-width: 100%;" width="661" /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Madhvani has also deftly used intercuts throughout the film to recount Neerja’s experiences from a bad marriage, bringing out sharp contrasts in narrative – hope and despair, love and loss, bravery and cowardice. Apart from the brilliant intercuts, Neerja also boasts of some top class cinematography (handheld, shaky shots inside the aircraft) and effective low-key lighting that make the tension palpable.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Overall, Neerja is a riveting biopic and a worthy tribute – a heartwarming and heartfelt account of the short but extraordinary life of Neerja Bhanot. It is as much an uplifting mother-daughter story as it is about the exemplary courage shown by a dutiful flight attendant. Go watch. And keep some tissue papers handy.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10214105240088160108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7013908425997684081.post-91318217914813054992016-02-12T21:00:00.000+05:302016-02-12T21:00:24.118+05:30Fitoor Movie Review: Of Katrina’s Red Hair and Dickensian Red Herring<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Fitoor roughly translates to ‘obsession’ in English. And, it’s a pity that a film called Fitoor suffers from bouts of directorial indifference throughout its runtime. Director Abhishek Kapoor, who had very good last two outings in form of <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Kai Po Che</em> and <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Rock On!!</em>, puts up pretty looking caricatures and canvasses in Fitoor but forgets to infuse soul into them. So, amidst the snow-laden, paradise-like Kashmir and Katrina Kaif’s gorgeousness and red hair, there’s something which is clearly amiss. Throughout. Right from the opening credits till the lights are turned back on in the theater.</div>
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Based on Charles Dickens’ iconic novel Great Expectations, Fitoor is the story of a poor but artistically gifted Kashmiri boy, Noor (Aditya Roy Kapur) who falls in love with the beautiful and rich Firdaus (Katrina Kaif), daughter of a lonely, Kashmiri elite Begum Hazrat (Tabu). Stark mismatch in their societal standings does not stop Noor from pursuing Firdaus relentlessly, from Kashmir to Delhi to London, and his obsession is also initially fueled and somewhat supported by Begum herself. Things become complicated when Begum’s own troubled past comes in the way of Noor’s love for Firdaus and soon heartbreaks, betrayal and dejection follow suit.</div>
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Fitoor’s biggest lacuna is its failure to justify Kashmir as its backdrop. Well, there is nothing wrong in putting Kashmir in a narrative sans all its heavy political baggage but only if you manage to keep your hands off that ‘baggage’. Fitoor does not do so. There are bomb blasts and terror episodes in the film with none other than Ajay Devgn doing a cameo as a militant, but these sequences simply do not add up to the fairy tale treatment that the film otherwise reserves for itself. The fleeting commentary and remarks on terror, Kashmir’s issues, Azaadi et al seem juvenile and non-serious. It would have been much more prudent if Abhishek Kapoor would have exploited Kashmir’s stunning natural beauty and left the geopolitical commentary to the likes of Haider.</div>
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The Kashmir faux pas apart, Fitoor also seems to have missed a few tricks when it comes to adapting a classic while having some meat of your own in the screenplay. The most critical cog in the wheel of Great Expectations is the mystery around the secret sponsor of the boy’s meteoric rise through the social ranks. Fitoor falls flat in this aspect as you are never unaware of who is really behind Noor’s quick claim to fame in the art world. The little twist towards the end, which tries to catch the audiences unaware, seems unbelievable and leaves behind more questions than answers. Abhishek Kapoor, who has also co-written the film with Supratik Sen, will have to take the lion’s share of the blame for presenting an adaption that looks disjointed, undercooked and incomplete at places. In fact, the first half of the film has its moments but it goes completely downhill post intermission when the complexity of the original story starts to takes its toll on the film’s patchy screenplay.</div>
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But, there are a few things that go right for Fitoor. Tabu almost single-handedly carries the burden of acting and comes up with a believable version of Miss Havisham. Adorned with designer dresses and jewelry, Tabu is mostly in top form, especially when the dark circles around her eyes and the grey side of her character make an appearance. She looks suitably dreamy and comes out triumphant in the league of actors who are mostly inadequate in the portrayal of their characters. Giving Tabu company in some top-notch acting is the little boy playing young Noor (Mohammed Abrar). Abrar with his distinct Kashmiri features, perfect accent and effortless acting is a treat to the eyes and you completely root for him as and when he gets besotted by the young and pretty Firdaus (Tunisha Sharma). The young actress also does a good job of being a heady blend of arrogance and innocence.</div>
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But, same kind words cannot be said for the older Noor and Firdaus. Aditya Roy Kapur’s limitations as an actor is on full display here and you wish the director would have allowed him to play a drunkard version of the Dickensian poor boy so that we could have at least witnessed his <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Aashiqui</em> brand of acting. Aditya wastes what was easily his best shot at some serious, nuanced acting and does little except for moving around half-naked and looking perpetually stiff. Katrina Kaif, on the other hand, does a good job of looking gorgeous and playing an occasional seductress, but fails to emote well when the scenes badly demand it. The lady needs to learn the art of crying. Simple.</div>
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Anay Goswamy’s pitch perfect cinematography is another rare high point of Fitoor. The beauty of Srinagar and the Kashmir valley at large is beautifully captured but it’s not just in the outdoors that the camera manages to weave its magic. The interior shots in Begum’s lavish bungalow and the elaborate art galleries are all very tastefully tense and imaginative. Hitesh Sonik’s background score and Amit Trivedi’s tunes (<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Pashmina</em> in particular) are quite uplifting in themselves but are eventually dragged down by lackluster proceedings on the screen.</div>
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Overall, Fitoor falls well short of Great Expectations. Literally and figuratively. It is let down by a below par screenplay, a lead pair that does not really sparkle and the classic ‘curse of the second half’. You might well chicken out of watching an unworthy tribute to a Dickens’ classic.</div>
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<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Rating: ** (Average)</strong></em></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10214105240088160108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7013908425997684081.post-49749580609315863242016-01-23T17:32:00.000+05:302016-01-23T17:32:50.348+05:30Airlift Movie Review: The Film Leaves an Impact Without Much Fuss<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 20px;">There is an innate calmness and simplicity about Airlift. No matter how big the scale or how herculean the task at hand is, Airlift goes about its business with an extraordinary easiness. There is no patriotic chest thumping (may be a little bit towards the end), no heart wrenching portrayal of war and its associated grief, no screeching or shouting. Most of the frames in Airlift are fittingly raw (sometimes eerily ‘still’) and heartwarmingly subtle. And, this is the biggest win for director Raja Krishna Menon and his team. They manage to tell an extraordinary story of courage and survival with an authentic, real-life ordinariness.</span></h1>
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<a href="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/download.jpg" rel="attachment wp-att-46399" style="border: 0px; color: #117bb8; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="download" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-46399" src="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/download.jpg?w=700" style="border: 0px; display: inline; float: left; height: auto; margin: 0px 20px 20px 0px; max-width: 100%;" /></a>Inspired by true events during the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, which left lakhs of Indians stranded in the Gulf nation, Airlift mostly centers on the heroic deeds of an influential Indian businessman in Kuwait, Ranjeet Katyal (Akshay Kumar). Caught in the web of unfortunate circumstances, Katyal, originally a hard-bargaining, shrewd businessman, forgoes the opportunity to flee Kuwait with his wife (Nimrat Kaur) and daughter, and engineers and spearheads the near impossible evacuation of over a lakh Indians from the war-ravaged country. Aiding him in this mammoth task is an unassuming Indian bureaucrat Sanjeev Kohli (Kumud Mishra) who has to fight his own battles with political apathy and departmental non-cooperation.</div>
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Airlift boasts of authenticity right from the word go when we see Akshay Kumar, with distinct salt & pepper beard, undergoing massive change of fortunes within fifteen minutes of the film’s runtime. A slow-motion sequence where Akshay, a high-flying, politically well-connected businessman in Kuwait, cries in his car as he passes by Kuwait city and witnesses the rampage unleashed by the invading Iraqi soldiers, is truly terrifying and depicts the horrors of Gulf War with chilling finesse. The plight of ordinary Kuwaitis and mercilessness of Iraqi forces, who are visibly drunk on the name of Saddam Hussein, have been captured with sincerity and sensitivity – a trait very rare in most mainstream Hindi films.</div>
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<img alt="akshay-airlift-trailer" class="aligncenter wp-image-46410" height="381" src="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/akshay-airlift-trailer.jpg?w=643&h=381" style="clear: both; display: block; height: auto; margin: 20px auto; max-width: 100%;" width="643" />Much of Airlift’s sincerity and authenticity is derived out of its director Raja Krishna Menon’s conviction in retelling a piece of history that most of us have forgotten. Menon is in full control of a possibly myriad subject and does not fall prey to the temptations of infusing unrealistic patriotism and Bollywood-ish heroism in the narrative. Apart from a small fist-fight scene towards the climax and a couple of songs, there’s hardly any scene in the film which you think that ‘couldn’t have really happened in real life’. Aiding Menon hugely in his endeavor is the pitch perfect cinematography by Priya Seth that almost transports you to the war-torn Kuwait of 1990.</div>
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But, any praise for Airlift would be grossly incomplete without giving due credit to its leading man. Akshay Kumar has rarely underplayed himself as beautifully as he does in Airlift and you almost forget that he is one of the biggest superstars of Hindi cinema. He makes the character of a tired-looking but hugely determined businessman his own and owns every frame that he is a part of. There is no bling, no rowdiness, rather this Akshay Kumar cries and does not look pretty, is not conscious of his greying beard and chest hair, he is simply Ranjeet Katyal in flesh and blood.</div>
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Nimrat Kaur plays her part with conviction and excels in a well-crafted monologue where she has to lash out at a suitably annoying Prakash Belawadi for questioning her husband’s efforts to safeguard stranded Indians. Purab Kohli and Inaamulhaq (of Filmistaan fame) do well in their respective roles of a stranded Indian trying to find his lost love in all the chaos and an Iraqi Major who speaks Hindi in an interesting accent. Kumud Mishra as the reluctant bureaucrat, who eventually helps Akshay’s character in his mission, is very believable. In fact, one of the high points of Airlift is how it subtly displays the day-to-day decision-making and functioning of Indian bureaucracy and political class. The way the establishment in Delhi reacts to the continued plea of stranded Indians in Kuwait is so slice-of-life that it hurts.</div>
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But, it is not as if Airlift is entirely flawless. The second half seems to meander a bit as it does not have the novelty and grip of the first half. Moreover, the climax of the film does not bring about the required urgency that you usually associate with war thrillers. Lakhs of people are evacuated way too easily in the end and it makes you wonder if the director should have focused a bit more on the hurdles that must have come up in the process. The possible challenges in the way of the big task are perhaps sidelined because the director invests a little too much in building smaller characters and their stories – many of which do not eventually leave a big impact.</div>
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But despite these minor flaws, Airlift is a very neat and balanced film that achieves the enormous task of being refreshingly simple yet effective. It never lets itself to be overwhelmed by the critical piece of history it deals with and retells a forgotten story with utmost honesty. Add to it a bravura performance by Akshay Kumar and you have a near-perfect and uplifting weekend deal.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Rating: **** (Excellent)</strong></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10214105240088160108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7013908425997684081.post-89853345467095438842016-01-10T16:05:00.001+05:302016-01-10T16:05:23.543+05:30Wazir Movie Review: Quite Watchable Despite a Very Predictable Plot<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<img alt="thequint-2016-01-2ac76806-b41b-47d6-8f77-7d38b8147b36-Wazir" class="alignleft wp-image-46190" height="182" src="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/thequint-2016-01-2ac76806-b41b-47d6-8f77-7d38b8147b36-wazir.png?w=273&h=182" style="display: inline; float: left; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px 20px 20px 0px; max-width: 100%;" width="273" /></h1>
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Wazir gets its atmospherics spot on. The chessboard metaphor for real-life shenanigans of loss, longing and revenge is beaming with promise and purpose, the players in the game are up to the task, and the editor on the editing table respects your time for once. But alas, all of this wonderful premise is bogged down by a curiously unidimensional and predictable plot. More on that later. But to begin with, it’s a relief to see a Hindi film with visible signs of a plot after a considerably long time. No, I am not being sarcastic – just look up the list of major releases that you have had in the last couple of months. So, being an eternal optimist that I am, I straightaway declare Wazir to be a decently good omen to begin the New Year. *Touchwood*.<span id="more-46188" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></div>
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Wazir is the story of coming together of two wounded fathers under peculiar circumstances. Danish Ali (Farhan Akhtar) is a tough ATS officer, happily married to Ruhana (Aditi Rao Hydari) and father of a spunky, cute girl. Danish’s world turns upside down when he loses his daughter in a freak shootout; he eventually finds solace in the company of an unlikely friend – the much older, wheelchair-bound but a chess genius Pandit Omkar Nath Dhar (Amitabh Bachchan). Danish and Omkar’s lives get intertwined and then begins a series of moves, checks and maneuverings that further complicate the lives of all the players involved.</div>
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Director Bejoy Nambiar, the man behind smaller but significant films likes Shaitan and David, gets a much bigger canvas with Wazir. Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s overarching impression is evident both in the film’s production values and storyline. Chopra, who along with Abhijat Joshi is credited for story and screenplay of Wazir, teases you with all the metaphors and parables in the writing, but eventually falls short to build a solid, leak-proof thriller. But, at the same time, it is heartening to see a film that’s heavily backed by its writing, if not entirely carried through. If only Chopra and Joshi would have infused an element of unpredictability, or tried to be a little more convoluted rather than relying on the safe bet of straightforwardness, Wazir would have emerged as a riveting thriller.</div>
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But despite its flaws, if Wazir is very watchable, it is majorly because of the powerhouse performances by its lead cast. Farhan Akhtar is brilliant as Danish Ali, the ATS cop dealing with a major loss in his life. Wazir is the culmination of the tremendous growth of Farhan Akhtar as an actor and you are amazed by the ease with which Akhtar pulls off difficult emotional scenes with a masterly ease. Amitabh Bachchan does what he does best – wowing you without much effort, as the wheelchair-bound chess genius. Big B also executes the difficult task of infusing light humor in an otherwise dead serious kind of proceedings.</div>
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Manav Kaul as the power-hungry Kashmiri politician is sufficiently impressive, so is Aditi Rao Hydari as Farhan Akhtar’s wife. Aditi portrays vulnerability of human emotions with finesse and you wish you could see much more of this truly talented actor. Neil Nitin Mukesh gets all the histrionics right in the title role of Wazir, looking both menacing and intriguing at the same time. John Abraham makes a fleeting appearance, but what really convinced him to play this rather insignificant part (even from a cameo point of view), would be interesting to know.</div>
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Wazir’s dialogues are written with an honest simplicity and there is no visible attempt to load the audiences with metaphors that do not make sense, or worse, take time to grow or manifest themselves. The chess analogy, repeated references to <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">pyada, wazir, hathi</em> and <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">ghoda</em> are all part of the ongoing conversations and more of an outcome of Big B’s character’s obvious fixation with the game of chess. But, this welcome simplicity in writing goes overboard when you know ‘what’s going to happen’ all through the game, and guess what, the writers fail to outwit you at almost all crucial junctures in the film.</div>
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And that’s why you strongly wish that Wazir should have been a little tighter, a bit smarter than it thought it was. Then, all the good atmospherics, suave cinematography (Sanu Varghese), effective background score (Rohit Kulkarni), and taut editing (Chopra and Joshi themselves), would have ensured that you come out of the theater completely wowed and impressed.</div>
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If only. But, still go and watch Wazir. It is, despite all its flaws, an honest and sincere attempt to make a worthy little film. Big B and Farhan are reason enough to like and appreciate Wazir.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Rating – *** (Good)</em></strong></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10214105240088160108noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7013908425997684081.post-61290232747520673502015-12-20T18:05:00.001+05:302015-12-20T18:05:24.385+05:30Dear Huffington Post Reviewer: Slam Dilwale If You Want But Don’t Try and Patronize the Audience<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<img alt="dilwale-movie-release-date-star-cast-poster-wiki-trailer-srk" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-45795" height="195" src="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2015/12/dilwale-movie-release-date-star-cast-poster-wiki-trailer-srk.jpg?w=300&h=195" style="display: inline; float: left; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px 20px 20px 0px; max-width: 100%;" width="300" /></h1>
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When you come out of a movie theater after watching a film, typically there are two possible reactions. You may have either liked the film or disliked it. Of course, the extent of like and dislike may vary – sometimes you love a film so much that you literally beg people to go out and watch it, or a film leaves such a deep, profound impact on you that you start connecting with it at a different level altogether.</div>
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On the other side of spectrum, at times you don’t just dislike a film but rather go on to hate it wholeheartedly. You discourage people from watching the film and feel cheated yourself because your own hard-earned money is seemingly wasted. The various hues of these two reactions – like and dislike – are most natural and in fact the ultimate reward for any filmmaker in the world.</div>
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But, there’s a highly stupid third kind of reaction to movies these days where a section of the ‘evolved’ movie enthusiasts tries to patronize rest of the audiences. So, it’s not uncommon to hear verdicts like these – “I don’t understand why these people continue to watch films like Dilwale. No wonder Bollywood continues to be where it is right now and the audience would never come to know what ‘real cinema’ is.”</div>
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You can laugh off or simply scoff at this patronizing and preachy behavior of the evolved cinephile community, but the stakes go a few notches up when this kind of reactionary and black-and-white verdict is delivered by a film reviewer – who obviously wields at least some influence over people’s movie watching decisions. Therefore, I was both alarmed and outraged by this review of Dilwale on Huffington Post’s India website which went by the title ‘<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.in/2015/12/17/dilwale-review_n_8835362.html" style="border: 0px; color: #117bb8; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">This Movie Sucks, And We are to Blame for its Existence</a>’.</div>
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First up, it does not augur well for a professional reviewer writing for on a global media giant to use an Internet slang like ‘sucks’ to prove his point to the readers. It reminds me of those casual college banters where a guy using the ‘F’ word or its more crude Hindi equivalents several times would think that he has won the argument. Keeping aside my reservations against the use of slang, I really wonder what makes anyone question the sheer ‘existence of a film’. And as if it is not enough, who gives these evolved, elite saviors of cinema the right to blame the audiences for their movie choices!</div>
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You want to know why Dilwale exists. It exists because a bunch of people worked really hard to put it up together. Yes, even these rich and ugly 100-crore grossing people sweat and bleed to make their films. You didn’t like the film? Too bad – be careful about your movie choices next time around. Ask your friends to not watch the film, save your family from the horror, rant about it on social media, troll the filmmakers. BUT, do not question the intellect/decision-making ability of crores of other people who choose to watch the film and have the right to like it if they want to!</div>
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The saviors of cinema need to realize that not everyone walks into a movie theatre to achieve intellectual orgasms. Some go out there just to have fun, or just to soak up the AC, or watch their favorite star, or worse just to sleep – you have a problem? The audiences willingly go out and watch a film, pass a verdict based on the film’s merits, and in all humility we all should accept it. If Dilwale actually ‘sucks’, it will eventually sink at the box office, but, if it does not, you do not have the right to call names to people who make the film work. Because, it is Dilwale today, was PRDP a few weeks back, Happy New Year last year, Ready few years back and would definitely be some other big monstrous release next year.</div>
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Not every mediocre, below par product has to ‘suck’ and stop existing. Yes, I know it is 2015 and the audiences’ cinematic taste is evolving, but there is and will always be mediocrity around the corner. You will have to accept it the same way you accept any and every Superhero or ‘saving-the-word’ kind of garbage that is thrown at you from Hollywood. The Shettys and Khans are recycling ideas from the same old machine that Hollywood does, albeit in a much more Indian and formulaic way. Deal with it.</div>
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And lastly, I would really like to see for how long does your cerebral, evolved Bollywood survive once you take out these ‘mindless’ multi-crore grossers. Do not forget that if there is some hope now for smaller, niche films to get theatrical release, it is because production houses and corporates are ready to back them. And this backing comes from the financial cushion provided to these producers by their alternative big-budget money spinners.</div>
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So, for Heaven’s sake, let’s treat films like films and not a referendum on humanity and existentialism. The beauty of Bollywood lies in how far and diverse its all ends are – for every Tamasha there is a Nasha, for every Dilwale there is a DDLJ. The way forward lies in coexistence and letting the audiences decide for themselves – these are wise people who know how to differentiate between good and bad, mediocre and poor, profound and artificial. Live and let live.</div>
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<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">P.S. – I watched Dilwale yesterday and found it to be a bad film. But, nowhere did I feel that my modesty had been outraged or I should start blaming people sitting in the theater for my misery. </em></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10214105240088160108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7013908425997684081.post-5065624040289810082015-12-05T19:09:00.000+05:302015-12-05T19:09:46.708+05:30Hate Story 3 Movie Review: This One Deserves all the Hatred in Your Heart<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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There are some films which are so bad and unpalatable that you want to find the makers, hold them by their collars and whisper in their ears, “Thank you! That was so disgusting, I actually kind of liked it!” Hate Story 3 falls under this rare, coveted category – nauseating and headache-inducing to such an extent that you want to thank God for all the good things in your life.<span id="more-45612" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></div>
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Directed by Vishal Pandya, Hate Story 3 is the third installment of the Hate Story film series, which in fact should not have been conceptualized at first place. Why Pandya, Vikram Bhatt (writer of the series and director of the first film – Hate Story) and T-Series (producers) named this ‘franchise’ as ‘Hate Story’ is unfathomable. There is neither a semblance of a story here nor does the element of hatred makes its presence felt anywhere in the narrative. Oh wait! Is it called Hate Story basis how much the audiences can end up hating the film? Well, if that’s the criteria, then be warned that you may end up hating Hate Story 3 three times more than usual. I am not kidding.</div>
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Hate Story 3 is about 4 principal characters with their names so fake that they make botox look real. Aditya Diwan (Sharman Joshi) and Sia Diwan (Zarine Khan) are an industrialist power couple who roam around semi-naked in their house smooching, feeling up each other and singing a parody of a 90s classic. They have a cola company, hotels, telecommunications business, you bloody name it! The surname ‘Diwan’ is just to ensure that you do not ever doubt their clout, which goes up to central ministers and MPs (Aditya tries to buy them off by dispatching a mere 50 Crores rupees in a truck!)</div>
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Enter Saurabh Singhania (Karan Singh Grover) who is another insanely rich businessman (Singhanias have been Bollywood’s favorite rich men since ages) with his clout also very much Everest-like. The similarity between Mr. Singhania and Mr. Diwan does not really end here – we also come to know, in crude, explicit Hindi, that Singhania has hots for Sia! Yay!</div>
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<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Wo tumhare saath ek raat sona chahta hai</em>, a visibly disturbed Sharman Joshi later informs Zarine Khan and Miss Khan looks more excited than offended! Also in the fray is Kaya, a fake sexy Daisy Shah with a fake wannabe kind of name, who works for Mr. Diwan but eventually sleeps with Mr. Singhania. That lucky dog Singhania!</div>
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This is the crux of Hate Story 3. It is an unintentionally hilarious and disturbingly naïve cocktail of mediocre sleaze, top-class bad acting and outrageous screenplay and direction. It is a shame to watch a rather good actor like Sharman Joshi exposing his not-so-fit body and let Zarine Khan eat it up. On several occasions in the film, Sharman screams out loud and throws things around and you wish you could help the poor guy. On contrary, the other male lead, Karan Singh Grover, is visibly at ease because he knows he is in his territory. In a film like this, he can afford to look pretty, act dumb and yet manage to sleep around with maximum number of girls. Zarine Khan looks like a wax mannequin when she is not kissing or posing like one of those statutes of Khajuraho. Daisy Shah seems hell bent on looking ‘hot and sexy’ and ends up looking extremely out-of-place and pitiable.</div>
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Mr. Pandya, the director, makes a mockery of basic tenets of film-making by dishing out a half-baked film that is so nonsensical and superficial that it makes all the Murders, Jisms and Julies look like work of pure art. Pandya does not know his brief at all when he tries to orchestrate a corporate-rivalry kind of drama on the pretext of a thriller. And it seems that whenever he is reminded that the film is supposed to be ‘sleazy’, he simply puts in a song with ample kissing, panting and gyrating.</div>
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The only saving grace in the film, if at all, is its soundtrack which has a couple of good tunes. But, most of these songs are undone by on-screen theatrics of the film’s leads who seem to be busy realizing their sexual fantasies. Within the permissible limits of an ‘Adult’ mainstream Hindi film, of course.</div>
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Okay, I will not waste much of my precious words on trying to review a film that is a complete waste of time, money and talent (okay, some traces of talent). In a nutshell, Hate Story 3 is a repulsive film that makes fun of its audiences’ intelligence and even ends up hoodwinking their hormones. If I tell you to not watch it at any cost, perhaps even that would be quite charitable and generous.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Rating: ½* (Poor)</strong></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10214105240088160108noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7013908425997684081.post-9851946835225104492015-11-28T02:32:00.000+05:302015-11-28T02:32:48.006+05:30Tamasha Movie Review: Imtiaz Ali’s Mera Naam Joker Moment<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja-9L7bZnvhfTENv16T6IWedlTtN5SyLhKoca8GTUY-QvT8Hn90-o44r4E01E_93mz32uK4mjde0jIIkGl5Xhk5bC-vXTs_RCyrvFFJEVe-sahvbCIY5DANh6AybOcvi99L2rC48Gh3x0/s1600/Tamasha_%2528film_poster%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja-9L7bZnvhfTENv16T6IWedlTtN5SyLhKoca8GTUY-QvT8Hn90-o44r4E01E_93mz32uK4mjde0jIIkGl5Xhk5bC-vXTs_RCyrvFFJEVe-sahvbCIY5DANh6AybOcvi99L2rC48Gh3x0/s320/Tamasha_%2528film_poster%2529.jpg" width="219" /></a></div>
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If you flip through filmography of accomplished directors, you will find at least one film that goes on to become a symbol of their pedigree. ‘That one film’ may not necessarily be the directors’ most accomplished work or a roaring commercial success, yet it beams with the faith, idea and conviction of its creator.</div>
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Imtiaz Ali seems to have invested that kind of energy into Tamasha. The film is Ali’s most complex, ambitious and audacious take on emotions – be it his pet theme of love (Jab We Met and Love Aaj Kal) or his relatively recent fascination with identities and personality traits (Rockstar and Highway). Tamasha is resplendent with sumptuous and powerful designs, but sadly it is dragged down by its inconsistent and indulgent treatment.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Story:</strong></div>
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Destiny conspires to make Ved (Ranbir Kapoor) meet Tara (Deepika Padukone) in the picturesque island of Corsica where the two decide not to divulge their real identities in order to make the most of the moment. They hit it off instantly doing crazy gigs and crisscrossing mighty mountains, leafy forests and clear, blue waters. The fairy tale ends within a week when Tara comes back to India leaving behind much more than her heart at Ved’s disposal. 4 years later, she meets the ‘real’ Ved in Delhi – a regular corporate retard in his impeccable tie and suit. Their attempts to reunite fail as Ved battles to overcome his inner demons and struggles to script his own story.</div>
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The film’s first hour is surprisingly wasted and annoyingly drifty where two of the most talented actors of our times are stationed in the picturesque island of Corsica and left to do sweet nothings. While you relish the stunning landscape and marvel at the lead pair’s sparkling chemistry, the stretched ‘Tamasha’ and the callous screenplay put you off. Things change for good from the second hour, when we get to know the real Ved, his inner conflicts and Tara’s late realization of what she just let go off.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Themes and Motifs:</strong></div>
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Tamasha makes a fierce attempt to deal with the notions of chasing your dreams, scripting your own story, and how true love can help you achieve all of this. It tries hard to be that vehicle of inspiration, that ray of hope for millions of young and restless people who take up regular, conventional jobs and compromise with their inner calling. But, the means to drive home this message is thoroughly sketchy and even absolutely random at times. There are occasions when the film seems to be going in circles and the director needlessly convolutes simpler messages.</div>
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Imtiaz Ali chooses the interesting backdrop of a drama (Tamasha) and tries to examine emotions through the prism of a stage play. Like a typical play, the film is divided into ‘acts’ and things actually go on pretty smooth till here. The complexity level of the narrative goes quite a few notches up as Imtiaz invests a tad too much into flashbacks and tries a bit too hard to connect us to Ved’s childhood. Yes, we get that the <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">bachpan</em> connection is critical to our hero’s overall evolution in the film, but this connection seems too larger than life at times. So does the occasional self-indulgent sojourn of the film where pointed emphasis is laid at a parallel play, stories of famous lovers (including mythological Ram and Sita), clowns and stage-like camera and lighting.</div>
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The film also comfortably leaves behind some loose ends , which if tightened, would have given more meat to the screenplay. What were Ved and Tara doing in Corsica? How come ‘role play’ bit of Ved’s personality never manifested itself after he met Tara in India? Also, enough light is not thrown on Ved’s and Tara’s unusual behavior, specially Ved’s, whose antics go beyond the realm of role play and infringe in the territory of psychology.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Performances:</strong></div>
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Despite its inconsistent screenplay, Tamasha manages to sail through because of the riveting performances by its lead actors. It is such a relief and an absolute joy to see Ranbir Kapoor return to form. Wait, he just does not come back to form, he is in fact at the top of his game by literally owning every single frame that he is a part of. The actor comes up with a beautifully restrained and a deliciously nuanced performance that will easily go down as one of his best.</div>
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Ranbir’s Ved is tragic, funny, romantic, goofy, vulnerable, exciting – all at the same time. I also believe that actors whose faces ‘talk’ are perhaps heads and shoulders above others. Ranbir’s face can talk, shout, scream, cry, without uttering a single word. Equally impressive is Deepika Padukone as she never really lets Ranbir completely steal the show. Her expressions, body language and emotions look as real as 24-carat gold. Together, Ranbir and Deepika display a cracking chemistry and it’s a pity that they have not been paired together more often.</div>
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AR Rahman’s music gels very well with the film’s theme and atmosphere. While <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Matargashti</em> is quirky and peppy, <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Agar Tum Saath Ho</em> beautifully depicts melancholy and sadness. The film’s cinematography (Ravi Varman) is too much ‘stage-like’ at places but the camera does roam at the right places in Corsica and even Delhi. The editing of the film (Aarti Bajaj) is impressive given the unusual weaving of the story.</div>
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Overall, Tamasha is Imtiaz Ali’s most complex film till date that houses both mediocre and spectacular moments. Add to that an element of complexity in narrative that cripples its overall acceptability and makes it possible for many to actually not like/understand several sequences in the film.</div>
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Not easy to like. Not easy to reject. Leaves you thinking for long. Tamasha could well be for Imtiaz Ali what Mera Naam Joker was for Raj Kapoor – his most honest but perhaps the weakest film.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Rating: *** (Good)</strong></div>
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<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">P.S. – Half a star extra just for the Kapoor lad.</em></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10214105240088160108noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7013908425997684081.post-7535491628218305232015-11-12T23:52:00.000+05:302015-11-12T23:52:06.949+05:30Prem Ratan Dhan Payo Review: Old School Sanskaar Meets New Age Salman Khan<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Not everyone can like Sooraj Barjatya. It’s not easy. But, not everyone can really dispute the fact that he is good at what he does. Yes, he takes familial values to astronomical heights, he is too <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">sanskaari</em> and painfully old school in matters of romance, he is too engrossed into the lessons from Ramayana, and he is obsessed and surprisingly comfortable with lengthy soundtracks and lengthier run time. But, he is also extremely successful in retelling stories with same moral messages again and again, he is very aware of his strengths and has never really yet bored us to death with any of his films (given the template in question, death by boredom is a distinct possibility).</div>
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Maine Pyar Kiya, Hum Aapke Hain Koun and Hum Saath Saath Hain are films weaved by the same thread, but I bet you can distinguish between them even while you are asleep. And I also bet that you watch all these films on TV every now and then. On lazy Sundays. From interval point, 20 minutes before the credits roll or half an hour after the film has started – does not really matter. It’s lazy fun.</div>
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No, this article is not an ode to Sooraj Barjatya. But, I thought it was pertinent to quash the prejudice that surrounds him and his body of work. With Prem Ratan Dhan Payo, Barjatya achieves nothing spectacular but still manages to hold your attention for good 3 hours. That’s not a mean feat.</div>
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Of course, he is hugely aided by a certain Salman Khan who seems to be finally enjoying himself as an actor. Salman is affable as the quintessential Prem even after all these years. Barjatya does a smart job of squeezing out a dual act from him wherein Salman blends the histrionics of Prem with the goofiness of a simpleton with utmost ease. He is charming, restrained, emotive and effective. First Bajrangi Bhaijaan and now this. Salman, it seems, is suddenly a good actor.</div>
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<a href="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/prem-salman-story_647_092915020347.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #117bb8; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="prem-salman-story_647_092915020347" class="aligncenter wp-image-45235 size-full" src="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/prem-salman-story_647_092915020347.jpg?w=700" style="border: 0px; clear: both; display: block; height: auto; margin: 20px auto; max-width: 100%;" /></a></div>
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To begin with, the backdrop of Prem Ratan Dhan Payo is extremely opulent and lavish. From his typical happy Indian family, that eats, prays and sleeps together (err, did that sound wrong?), Barjatya moves to a big, fat royal family that houses a lonely prince Vijay Singh (Salman Khan) who shares uneasy relationship with his siblings. Enter princess Maithali (Sonam Kapoor) and a large-hearted simpleton from Ayodhya (yes, this is a new high in Rajshri’s obsession with Ramayana) Prem (again Salman Khan). Expectedly, there is a lot of song and dance, much of it meaningless, and the sinister plans of the palace insiders begin to fail and the broken bonds start to heal.</div>
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Prem Ratan Dhan Payo is different from a typical Rajshri film in some superficial ways. There are some well-shot action sequences, perhaps keeping in mind the current image of Salman, and a lazy attempt to infuse an ingredient of thrill and suspense. That Barjatya is no Abbas Mustan is clear but you got to credit the man for slightly tweaking his otherwise stubborn template. And yes, talking of how PRDP is not-so-typical, there is no official wedding in the film, there is no Samdhi-Samdhan bonding, women are not always in the kitchen (guess what, they are playing football!) and Mohnish Behl and Alok Nath are missing. Okay, I actually kind of missed Alok Nath.</div>
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In the acting department, Sonam Kapoor takes time to settle into the shoes of a Barjatya heroine. She looks a little odd while trying her hand at all the ‘shy stuff’ to begin with but eventually Rajshri<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> parampara</em> gets better of her. The actress does well in a couple of emotional scenes and her chemistry with Salman Khan is quite natural. Neil Nitin Mukesh as the half-brother and bete noir of Salman looks as odd as how litti chokha would look in a Gujarati Thali. Armaan Kohli as the cunning palace insider does a good job. So does Anupam Kher in the role of a loyal confidante of the royal family. Swara Bhaskar, as Salman’s step-sister, looks uncomfortable in unfamiliar territory but same can’t be said for Deepak Dobriyal, who does a neat job as Salman’s friend.</div>
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Prem Ratan Dhan Payo is pulled down by a crazy runtime that bothers you at places if not bores you completely. The film also has a lot of unnecessary songs with weird lyrics – there is a song talking about <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Gujiya</em> and <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Mathri</em>. I would be keen to find out if the lyricist Irshad Kamil got a certain brief from Barjatya to write these tacky songs or was he himself undergoing some sort of poetic menopause. To Kamil’s and music director Himesh Reshammiya’s credit, there are a couple of hummable songs in an otherwise lackluster soundtrack. The title song, with its signature step being the latest fad for Dubsmash-ers, is very well shot, so has been the romantic track <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Jalte Diye</em>. But, apart from these two songs, there’s nothing much in the soundtrack that features 10 songs!</div>
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In addition to the above mentioned loopholes, Prem Ratan Dhan Payo is also riddled by a lackluster screenplay that seems to have suffered at the cost of all the grandiose and bling. Somehow the ‘simplicity’ of Rajshri films seems to have been a bit compromised, what if there are some added toppings on offer.</div>
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Overall, Prem Ratan Dhan Payo is far from flawless and not close to being Sooraj Barjatya’s best work. Yet, the film stays afloat due to an in-form Salman Khan and some old school <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">sanskaar</em>. Watch it on a lazy and jobless Sunday afternoon. You might just like it.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Rating: *** (3 out of 5 – Good)</strong></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10214105240088160108noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7013908425997684081.post-25857545425666950532015-11-02T21:09:00.000+05:302015-11-02T21:09:30.558+05:30Happy Birthday Shah Rukh, Thank You for Being a Great Friend<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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This is not an open letter, Shah Rukh. I do not know what to call it – or wait, I can perhaps label it as a thank you note. One tiny bit of the many millions that you must be receiving every day.</div>
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Before I begin to thank you, let me admit that I can’t thank you enough. Did that sound like a hyperbole? This is what happens to me when I try and thank you, or when I try and explain it to myself and to others that why I need to thank you. But, today on your birthday, I think it is imperative that you know how you have touched, influenced and molded not just my life but also the lives of your millions of fans. I also write on their behalf.</div>
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Neither am I going to praise you for your films, your acting prowess, your box office clout nor am I going to stake claim to the title of being your <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Sabse Bada Fan</em> (I know Gaurav is already out there). I am just grateful for how you and your films have stood by my side, almost like an imperceptible friend, through joys and sorrows. I am grateful because you epitomize happiness, dream, love, hope and miracle. For me. For all of us.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Happiness:</strong> I was merely 7-year old when I watched Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge in a theater – perhaps the first time I went out to watch a film with my family. That little mischievous twinkle in your eye, spring in your feet and sincerity in your words, made me genuinely happy as a child. It was perhaps the first time cinema made a lasting impression on my young mind as I found myself seamlessly fitting in the world of Raj.</div>
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<a href="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/ddlj-remake.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #117bb8; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="DDLJ-remake" class="aligncenter wp-image-45070 size-large" src="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/ddlj-remake.jpg?w=700&h=394" style="border: 0px; clear: both; display: block; height: auto; margin: 20px auto; max-width: 100%;" /></a></div>
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But, DDLJ was not just about happiness. I remember stealing a glance at my family members and others in the audience as you innocently pulled out a bra from Simran’s rucksack. Those were my first lessons in knowing the opposite sex and their ways. No one ever really tells you what a bra is and how it functions. In your own playful way, you educated quite a few young, curious Indian minds who are otherwise devoid of any sort of formal gender sensitization. Thank you.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Dream:</strong> I also remember repeatedly watching Yes Boss and Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman on Doordarshan. Those were the days when DD aired movies every Friday and Saturday in the late night slot, so I battled familial displeasure to watch your films on TV. Yes Boss and Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman were my first lessons in dreaming, daydreaming and dreaming it big.</div>
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As an ordinary teenager from a small town, with deeply imbibed middle-class values, your films taught me to dream and be shamelessly open and assertive about it. Success, money, love, family, we all want a slice of these but those who finally get there are perhaps the ones who are not shy of dreaming. You were the voice of my middle class dreams – that is if dreams could ever speak – you were my easiest and most reliable source of motivation, long before motivational speakers and their quotes started to invade our lives. Thank you.</div>
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<a href="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/yes-boss.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #117bb8; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Yes-Boss" class="aligncenter wp-image-45073 size-full" src="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/yes-boss.jpg?w=700" style="border: 0px; clear: both; display: block; height: auto; margin: 20px auto; max-width: 100%;" /></a></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Love:</strong> Meanwhile, you rose the ranks of Bollywood and firmly established yourself as the industry’s biggest star and most importantly, as the greatest icon of love and romance. Roughly around the same time, my hormones started to go on a rampage with teenage paving way into adolescence and eventually adulthood. Call me hopelessly filmy, but I sought inspiration from your films and life as I tried to understand love and its different shades.</div>
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Your body of work was my Bible, Gita and Quran when I first fell in love. From serenading my girl to never losing hope even when the going got tough to eventually managing to win over her heart (a la Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa), you were always there like an invisible friend. Raj and Rahul are cheesy names to be frank, but these characters were an open repository of dos and don’ts of romance. For almost every relationship scenario, you had a film and hence, I knew I will have you every time I faltered or needed advice or simply needed some inspiration. Not to mention, your own fairy tale romance with your wife and how it continues to be a landmark for anyone and everyone who has ever fallen in love and never given up on each other. No matter what. Thank you.</div>
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<a href="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/kabhi-haan-kabhi-naa-shahrukh-khan.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #117bb8; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Kabhi-Haan-Kabhi-Naa-Shahrukh-Khan" class="aligncenter wp-image-45077 size-full" src="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/kabhi-haan-kabhi-naa-shahrukh-khan.jpg?w=700" style="border: 0px; clear: both; display: block; height: auto; margin: 20px auto; max-width: 100%;" /></a></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Hope:</strong> As they say, life is not a bed of roses and we all have our share of setbacks, heartbreaks and failures. Life is a little more challenging than how it appears in the movies and there isn’t always a happy ending. For every DDLJ, there is a Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. For every Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, there is a Kal Ho Na Ho.</div>
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And, there is also Darr and Baazigar lurking around the corner all the time. I have had my trysts with obsessive, compulsive and revengeful behavior when things did not go how I had wished or planned for. It is tough to let go, accept defeat or face rejection. It is even worse when you completely immerse in your failures and become a modern day manifestation of Devdas.</div>
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But, you have also been a light of hope at the end of an abysmal tunnel. If I still in believe in love, it is because of you told us to. If I now believe that life is all about second chances, rising to the challenges and finding completeness by joining the dots and putting together the pieces, it is because of you. A bit like how you did it in Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna and My Name is Khan.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Miracle:</strong> <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Picture Abhi Baaki Hai Mere Dost, </em>I tell this to myself sometimes. I believe in miracles because I know what almighty has in store for us is the probably the best. Rab Ne Bana De Jodi explored this divine angle so profusely and I believed in you so diligently. I still do. Your own life, your journey has been nothing less than a miracle – it is not every day that an ordinary Delhi boy with funny hair goes on to conquer big, bad Bollywood. And he does not stop there. Not even at 50. He continues to inspire, enthuse and entertain a billion people.</div>
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And, he continues to be friends with them without ever really asking for anything in return.</div>
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Thank you, Shah Rukh. <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Dil Se</em>.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10214105240088160108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7013908425997684081.post-56182900486521157532015-10-31T16:01:00.000+05:302015-10-31T16:01:27.966+05:30Main Aur Charles Movie Review: Suave and Stylish, but Where is the Substance?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Director Prawaal Raman’s Main Aur Charles is riddled by an inherent dual conflict. As a viewer, if you are familiar with chronicles of the (in)famous ‘bikini killer’ or ‘the serpent’ Charles Shobhraj, you will find Raman’s film to be devoid of sufficient thrill and excitement. On the other hand, if you are ignorant about Charles Shobhraj, you will find Main Aur Charles to be confused, incoherent and incapable of providing any deep insight into the life and times of perhaps one of the most dreaded serial killers in recent times. It is this ambivalent nature of Main Aur Charles that eventually pulls it down, even if it does have its share of merits and a great degree of style and charm.</div>
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Prawaal Raman is a product of the now-defunct but once powerful RGV factory with films like Darna Mana Hai, Gayab and Darna Zaroori Hai to his credit. Expectedly, Raman brings in a definite technical finesse to his latest venture, Main Aur Charles. The film is very well-shot, with a lot of shadow play and close ups, the background score gives you adrenaline rush at times, the production values are neat, and the authenticity of the bygone decades is very much there. But, Raman seems to be struggling to put together different pieces of the remarkably notorious (you may want to call it adventurous) life of a hardened criminal who fooled people across India and Southeast Asia with his charming ways and a sharp mind.</div>
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Raman does the smart thing by choosing to focus only on the Tihar jailbreak episode of Charles Shobhraj’s long list of exploits that spelled fear throughout the mid and late 70s. But, the film’s screenplay meanders to a great extent in trying to balance its bid to be both an engaging investigative thriller and some sort of a biopic on a man who can perhaps be best described as a psychopathic genius.</div>
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The film narrates the story of Charles (Randeep Hooda), an enigmatic con man and a vicious serial killer, who escapes to India after committing murders in Thailand. After being apprehended and lodged in Delhi’s jail, Charles befriends almost everyone who crosses his path, including fellow inmates, a gullible law student (Richa Chadda) and the prison jailer (Vipin Sharma) himself. A few months before completion of his jail sentence, Charles escapes from the Delhi prison by masterminding an audacious jailbreak that triggers a massive hunt for him by the Indian authorities. Leading the charge is an upright Delhi Police Officer Amod Kanth (Adil Hussain) whose job is not just to bring Charles to justice but also to battle the media fixation and a near-glorification of Charles in general public opinion.</div>
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If Main Aur Charles succeeds in painting a charming and mystical picture of Charles, it is largely because of the man playing Charles Shobhraj on the screen. Randeep Hooda gets the body language right and his mannerisms evoke both charisma and fright. His thick French accent gets time to grow on you but it eventually gels well with the character in question. While Hooda does a good job of character sketching, with his bell bottoms and signature glasses and cap, one wishes there was more in the screenplay that focused on his modus operandi and the inner mechanisms of a dreaded serial killer. All the insight that we get inside the mind of Charles is through a repeated reference by the characters of him being an enigmatic, intelligent man with a troubled childhood.</div>
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In fact, the film’s first half spends a fair amount of time in tracing Charles’ journey from Delhi to Bombay to eventually Goa, but it fails to bring anything substantial on the platter. Through this journey, there are too many conduits in the frame and tracking all of them becomes a little tedious. The narrative seems disjointed at several places and there seems to be a constant conflict between glorifying Charles as a ‘hero’ in the film and examining an incident of crime from a neutral eye.</div>
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Main Aur Charles gathers some steam in the second half when the focus shifts on the motive of crime and the drama surrounding recapture and trial of Charles. Adil Hussain, who wowed us with his portrayal of Sridevi’s loving but indifferent husband in English Vinglish, does a brilliant job as an honest police officer heading the investigations. His restrained anxiety and frustration that threatens to boil over the brim several times, is a treat to watch. So is the sweet, little track with his wife, played by an ever beautiful Tisca Chopra. Richa Chadda is surprisingly sidelined for a good part of the film and her portrayal of an ‘innocent’, young girl, swayed by a charismatic criminal is definitely not the best that we have seen of her. Rest of the support cast seems to be going through the motions and do not really leave a long lasting impression.</div>
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To be fair to Prawaal Raman, making some sort of a biopic on Charles Shobhraj would have been a tough nut to crack for even the best in the business. And I say so because Charles’ is not your typical gun totting, knife wielding<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Underworld ka gunda</em> by any stretch of imagination. While Bollywood does have some pedigree when it comes to making films on the criminals from the Underworld, I cannot remember watching a good Hindi film that dealt with a criminal whose mind is his most treasured weapon. While Raman tries to buck the trend, he eventually falls short of expectations.</div>
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Overall, Main Aur Charles gets the style and seduction in right measures but fails to bring in the substance. It leaves you wondering if it would have been wiser to mold the film in the investigative thriller genre – on the lines of the recently released and absolutely riveting Talvar – rather than trying to be and to do too many things at the same time.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Rating: **1/2 (Average)</strong></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10214105240088160108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7013908425997684081.post-16103130194061988962015-10-22T17:18:00.002+05:302015-10-22T17:18:57.109+05:30Shaandaar Movie Review: Shahid and Alia Shine, the Film Doesn’t<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Shaandaar has many things going right for it. Right from the word go. It is touted to be India’s first destination wedding film, the sets and the canvas look splendid, the songs are quirky and peppy, and most importantly, the film has a refreshing pairing of Shahid Kapoor and Alia Bhatt.<span id="more-44854" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></div>
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But, sadly despite the aforementioned strengths and pluses, the film’s director, Vikas Bahl, flounders and fumbles several times before the extravagant destination wedding reaches its final destination. Vikas, an able director when it comes to simpler stories and smaller budgets, seems to be binging a bit too much on the producers’ generosity this time around. The covert messaging of the film remains fairly simple and straightforward, like how it was in Vikas’ last directorial venture – the much-appreciated Queen, but the means to the ‘final destination’ seems too convoluted and pointlessly blingy. The director seems to have developed an unexplainable fascination with comic books, fairy tales and animations, and he literally puts all of that in a single film. And the end result is not exactly what he hoped it to be when he chose the title of the film.</div>
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Shaandaar tells the story of a once-superrich-now-bankrupt, but forever dysfunctional Indian business family and the lavish wedding it plans for its slightly obese daughter Isha (debutante Sanah Kapoor) in London. Isha’s father (Played by Pankaj Kapur) hires a wedding planner with a curious name – Joginder Jagjinder (Shahid Kapoor) who falls for Isha’s sister Alia (Alia Bhatt). The two hit it off instantly and bond over late night escapades as both of them, we are told, suffer from insomnia. Also in the fray is the groom’s family which has a weird obsession with anything gold – this wolf pack is led by the groom’s elder brother (Sanjay Kapoor). What follows next is a muddled mix of rom-com between Alia and Shahid with Pankaj Kapur playing a protective father with perfection, and a Queen-style sermon via Sanah Kapoor on how it is not a girl’s fault if she is fat.</div>
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To be fair, Shaandaar’s first half is fairly enjoyable when you just begin to somewhat like the peculiar characters that the film has to offer. But the director’s grip over the film drops a fair bit in the second half as soon as the screenplay (Anvita Dutt Guptan) starts to meander in a dreamland. A dreamland where there are too many VFXs, cloudy flashbacks and Disney-style animated storytelling.</div>
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But, all is not unwell with Shaandaar. Alia Bhatt and Shahid Kapoor share a sparkling chemistry and it will not be an exaggeration to call it the most refreshing pairing to have hit the Hindi films in the last few years. Shahid Kapoor looks dapper and seems to have gotten back his boyish, exuberant charm. Apart from being an eye candy (all females in the film, Alia’s grandmother (Sushma Seth) included, drool over our Kapoor boy), Shahid is also amply funny and suitably restrained throughout the film. Alia Bhatt is her usual sweetened self with a sprinkle of genuineness and beauty. Pankaj Kapur too is on fire, displaying his unique brand of dry, subtle humor. In fact, Kapur/Kapoor father and son share a terrific vibe on-screen and along with Alia, remain the brightest spots of Shaandaar. The trio gives us some genuinely heartwarming and funny moments and you wish they never ceded space to other actors in the film.</div>
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Every time a protective Pankaj Kapur and a charming Shahid Kapoor squabble over Alia, you will see a smiley curve emerging on your face. Special mention should be made of a small sequence featuring a little banter over the number ‘36’ – it is a fine display of the trio’s effortless sense of humor and the comfort they share with one another.</div>
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Sanah Kapoor also makes a confident debut and shows no nerves in her portrayal of a fatter sibling of the film’s leading lady. Her fine acting talent is letdown by a poorly developed character that struggles to remain relevant throughout the film. Other members of the support cast are almost all too loud and unreal with Sanjay Kapoor easily taking the top prize and ending up looking like Anil Kapoor’s poor comical caricature.</div>
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Shaandaar’s production values are quite rich but the intermittent animation seems more distracting and self-indulging than essential. There are also some poor attempts made at invoking dark humor but it simply doesn’t fit well in the lavish backdrop of the film. The film’s soundtrack is pretty solid, courtesy Amit Trivedi, and the songs have also been creatively picturized, especially ‘Gulabo’, which is a visual treat.</div>
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<a href="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/shahid-alia-gulaabo-7592.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #117bb8; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="shahid-alia-gulaabo-7592" class="aligncenter wp-image-44856 size-large" height="389" src="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/shahid-alia-gulaabo-7592.jpg?w=700&h=389" style="border: 0px; clear: both; display: block; height: auto; margin: 20px auto; max-width: 100%;" width="700" /></a></div>
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Overall, Shaandar is a film full of all the right ingredients but somehow the final serving is not tempting enough. The second half of the film is simply boring at places with the screenplay offering no big challenges to its principle characters. Even that Karan Johar guest appearance fails to register itself as a key moment in the film. It is another matter that after Karan’s cameo is long done and gone, you end up wondering if he would have done a better job in directing this film. After all, big budget and big cast is not everyone’s saddle to handle.</div>
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At best, Shaandaar is a lost opportunity. It finds itself suspended between the director’s dream world and the producers’ love for opulent, ‘big and fat’ Indian weddings. Alia Bhatt and Shahid Kapoor almost carry the film through on the strength of their chemistry but they are regularly pulled down by a motley of directorial distractions.</div>
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Watch it if you can digest a soup of Karan Johar and Phantom (Anurag Kashyap) styles of filmmaking!</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Rating: **1/2 (2.5 out of 5 – Average)</strong></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10214105240088160108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7013908425997684081.post-87083914512770740642015-10-16T21:51:00.000+05:302015-10-16T21:51:05.116+05:30Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2 Movie Review: Old Template That Still Works Fine<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The biggest irony of Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2 and its 2011 hit prequel is that it is directed by a man called ‘Luv’ Ranjan. Irony because this man called Luv hits love and its affiliated emotions exactly where it hurts and unabashedly blames the fairer sex for most of the modern day relationship issues. While you may disagree with the notions propagated by him, or even worse, you may call him blatantly misogynistic, utterly frustrated and dismiss him completely if you suffer from bouts of feminism, but you cannot take away the director’s legitimate right to make his point. A point that he so strongly believes in and goes about emphasizing it in a very eloquent, humorous and mostly harmless manner that in most cases, it should not (and does not) offend anyone (from either sexes).<span id="more-44764" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></div>
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I will not mince words in warning you beforehand that Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2 is not for you if you are a devout feminist, a bit too sensitive kinds or devoid of even a gentle dollop of humor. You might consider dropping reading this review right here right now or even if you want to continue to read (in case you are massively impressed by my writing), you should definitely not think of watching the film. Pyar Ka Punchnama 2 is shameless and remorseless in its female condemnation. Be warned!</div>
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Using the same old template of its much-appreciated prequel, Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2 is about three carefree boys (Kartik Aaryan as Anshul/Gogo, Sunny Singh as Sidharth/Chauka and Omkar Kapoor as Thakur) who share a stunningly luxurious flat, party most of the times and yet never get broke. Enter three petite young women (Nushrat Bharucha as Ruchika/Chiku, Sonalli Sehgall as Supriya and Ishita Raj as Kusum) to turn our boys’ blessed lives upside down. The three couples hit it off initially but problems peep in as soon as the girls’ start to ‘take control’ and ‘domesticate’ our boys. Lusty and romantic background music quickly makes way for Mika Singh’s <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Ban Gaya Kutta</em> and puppy noises, and you know the real fun has just begun. What follows is a series of comical relationship situations that many of urban, metro-dwelling couples would identify with.</div>
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If Pyaar Ka Punchnama was about boys whining over how girls frustrate them with their silly tantrums, unreal expectations and virtual exploitation, Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2 goes a step further and seems to be indulging in genuine finger pointing. It pits all the blame of relationship misery on females and in fact smartly picks up three most common issues – money, marriage and mistrust, to drive home its highly opinionated and somewhat prejudiced points.</div>
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Like its predecessor, this film also features an 8-minute long ‘monologue of frustration’ by Kartik Aaryan – an improvement of at least 5 minutes from the previous film. Kartik begins his monologue with ‘<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">problem yeh hai ki wo ladki hai</em>’ and you know where it will go. The relentless rant is both a rabble rouser as well as an absolute uproar at places. You find yourself giggling, nodding in agreement (at times) and letting out a haww in disbelief as well. The monologue, which has been fittingly picturized at a signage in the backdrop that reads ‘dead end’, concludes with Kartik arriving at the conclusion that perhaps it’s better for man to marry his hand rather than a woman. Ouch. Get it?</div>
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<a href="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/pyaar-ka-punchnaama-2-newsx.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #117bb8; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></a>Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2 also ups the ante in the oomph department with generous dosage of kissing, bikini and unbuttoning scenes. The film also gets the lingo spot on with <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">ch**iya</em> becoming a synonym for a man in love and<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">ch***yapa</em> becoming an expression for every suffering that a man has to undergo because of his bae. Courtesy our<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">sanskaari</em> censor board, there are several beeps in the film but it is no rocket science to figure out what the actors are mouthing. The good part about the film’s dialogues and its overall lingo is that it never seems made up or pretentious and comes across as what it aspires to be – youth-centric and day-to-day. But, overall if you compare Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2 with its prequel, the former clearly seems to have an edge – largely because its novelty and originality.</div>
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The three male actors in the film are in top form with each of them both living every man’s dream and also venting out every man’s grumbles. Kartik Aaryan, the undisputed veteran of the three when it comes to doing a post-mortem of love, is hilarious in some of the scenes with the frustrated monologue easily topping the charts. Sunny Singh as the affable Sardar is the surprise pack with its innocent looks, charming personality and cheeky sense of humor. His plight seems to be most genuine of the three lads and you feel for the guy most of the times – a true victim of <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">‘aurat ka atyachaar’</em> in every sense. Omkar Kapoor as Thakur carries the intense look well and manages to hold his own amongst the three boys. He acts confidently and brings a certain calmness to the madness of Kartik and Sunny.</div>
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The leading ladies too pull of their jobs admirably with Nushrat Bharucha coming out with flying colors in her bimbette act. Nushrat steals the show in a sequence where three boys and herself are watching a India Vs Pakistan cricket match. Her dumbness in this sequences, where she innocently confirms with her boyfriend that whether Sachin Tendulkar has actually retired, is so spectacular that you want to roll on the floor laughing. Sonalli Sehgall and Ishita Raj also fit in their roles perfectly, balancing glamour with meanness/dumbness with relative ease.</div>
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But, everything is not hunky dory with Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2. Its jokes do look repetitive at times, especially in the second half and the music fails to inspire. The film is also brazen at times while making fun of women and although it never becomes insulting, it definitely goes on to become heavily lopsided on occasions. The screenplay is also dodgy at places with the situations becoming way too predictable and the rants becoming way too obvious.</div>
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But, overall Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2 is mostly entertaining and consistently enjoyable. It is blatant, bold and buoyant with the sentiments of male victimhood and female bashing. It’s light, comical look and feel makes matters tolerable or else we would have had women protesting on the streets demanding a ban (pun intended).</div>
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Watch it if you subscribe to the ideals of ‘Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus’!</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Rating: *** (3 out of 5 – Good)</strong></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10214105240088160108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7013908425997684081.post-11451974524716651132015-10-10T20:17:00.000+05:302015-10-10T20:17:36.107+05:30Jazbaa Movie Review: More Filtered than Instagram, Photoshop and Your Cup of Coffee Combined<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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First things first. I don’t know why they have called the film ‘Jazbaa’. ‘Jazbaa’ roughly translates to ‘passion’ in English and I am not sure how the theme of passion fits the bill to be this film’s title. Are the makers hinting at the passion of a mother to save her child or is it about the passion to fight against a social evil like sexual harassment? Whatever be might the intent, it does not come out well at the end of the film. The only aspect of the film that showcases true passion is Sanjay Gupta’s weird obsession with green filters that makes at least half of the film look like a series of poorly-edited Instagram posts. More on that later.<span id="more-44689" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></div>
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<a href="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/jazbaa-poster-2.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #117bb8; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Jazbaa Poster 2" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-44694" height="300" originalh="300" originalw="254" scale="2" src-orig="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/jazbaa-poster-2.jpg?w=254&h=300" src="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/jazbaa-poster-2.jpg?w=492&h=584" style="border: 0px; display: inline; float: left; height: auto; margin: 0px 20px 20px 0px; max-width: 100%;" width="254" /></a>Let’s start with the positives. First, it’s a relief when we are told that Jazbaa is an official remake of a Korean hit film called Seven Days. This acknowledgment and ‘generosity’ is huge coming from a director who has been in the past guilty of blatant plagiarism, even for a handful of accomplished films that he has directed (Kaante, Musafir and Zinda). Second, Jazbaa is, in all fairness, a neatly executed and a well-crafted thriller for most of its 2-hour long runtime. The film is set on a riveting premise with ample scope of thrill and all the frills attached with it.</div>
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Aishwarya Rai Bachchan plays Anuradha Verma, a legal eagle and a single mother to her daughter Sanaya. The top lawyer, who has never lost a single case and is seemingly not averse to even defend the guilty as long as she is winning, is forced into defending a rapist-murderer after her daughter Sanaya is abducted. Helping her out in getting to the root of the case and finding her abducted daughter is Inspector Yohaan (Irrfan Khan), a decorated but now suspended cop who also has feelings for Anuradha. Also in the fray is the murder/rape victim’s mother (Shabana Azmi) who is aghast at the idea of a woman lawyer defending a rape accused in the court.</div>
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Jazbaa is clearly designed to be a grand comeback vehicle for Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and there’s nothing wrong in it. There are ample slow motion shots, lots of solo scenes, close-ups and the mandatory screeching and wailing that has become the hallmark of ‘heroine-oriented’ films in Bollywood. In fact, the film starts with a visibly fit and undoubtedly gorgeous Aishwarya jogging and exercising on Mumbai seaside with a non-descript song playing in the background. Yes, we get it Sanjay Gupta <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">sahib</em>, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is back, back both in shape and reckoning.</div>
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Aishwarya is mostly convincing and powerful as a tough lawyer and a doting mother. She does try a bit too hard in some of the scenes, especially in those where it seems the director asked her to screech and forgot to say cut, but overall it’s a fine performance that the former Miss World delivers with appreciable poise and tenacity.</div>
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<a href="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/jazbaa-still-2.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #117bb8; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Jazbaa Still 2" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-44695" height="438" originalh="438" originalw="700" scale="2" src="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/jazbaa-still-2.jpg?w=700&h=438" style="border: 0px; clear: both; display: block; height: auto; margin: 20px auto; max-width: 100%;" width="700" /></a>Jazbaa’s biggest letdown is the poor Irrfan Khan (yes, you read it right) who wowed us in the role of CBI officer in Talvar just a week back. Irrfan is let down by a poorly conceptualized and heavily caricaturized character that relegates him to be an insignificant sidekick to Aishwarya. He gets to deliver some corny dialogues, wear some tacky jackets and misfit sunglasses, in what seems to be Sanjay Gupta’s tribute to the stereotypical cop of Bollywood. His romantic interest in Aishwarya is never fully justified and his attempt to act like a ‘cool’ cop who does ‘cool’ things does not cut an ice with the audience. Perhaps, we are just used to see the real Irrfan Khan all the time. This one is too fake and wannabe to be true.</div>
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Similarly, it pains to see Shabana Azmi trying to be all melodramatic and ‘act’ like a mother who is aggrieved by the demise of her daughter. Her conversations with Aishwarya are frivolous and non-serious at times, making you wonder what was the idea of putting those sequences in the film.</div>
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Jazbaa has a couple of unexpected and well-disguised twists in the narrative which will make you sit up in your seat and take notice. The film is also well-paced and sharply edited at 2 hours and 2 minutes. However, the director seems to be divulging into too many territories at several points in time. As a result, Jazbaa is neither a compelling courtroom drama, nor a candid commentary on the issue of sexual harassment or even a flawless thriller for that matter. Repeated enactments of the rape scene seems more titillating than heart-wrenching and you can’t help but question the director’s honesty as he delves into a matter as serious as rape. Equally questionable is the eventual finale that seems to have been enacted keeping in mind the current fad for feminism.</div>
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<a href="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/jazbaa-still-3.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #117bb8; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Jazbaa Still 3" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-44696" height="296" originalh="296" originalw="700" scale="2" src="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/jazbaa-still-3.jpg?w=700&h=296" style="border: 0px; clear: both; display: block; height: auto; margin: 20px auto; max-width: 100%;" width="700" /></a>Similarly, the courtroom sequences are not compelling and fiery enough with the talented Atul Kulkarni, who plays public prosecutor arguing his case against Aishwarya, hardly getting any substantial arguments to put forward. All the supposedly ‘good dialogues’, most of which is nothing but 90s style cringe fest, are saved for Irrfan who looks woefully out of place.</div>
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But all of the above flaws do not put down Jazbaa as much as those ridiculous filters that Sanjay Gupta is obsessed with. Mumbai skyline has a strange hue of green all the time, the roads are always damp and the sky always overcast with clouds that look as fake as a wig would on Anupam Kher’s head. Complementing this Instagram-style filtering is a video game-like background music which is so loud and buoyant at places that it hurts your ears.</div>
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Overall, Jazbaa could have easily passed off as an average thriller with some interesting twists in between, but it is letdown by the director’s penchant for melodrama and obsession with green filters. It also seems non-serious on serious issues and does the cardinal mistake of miscasting Irrfan Khan in a role that simply does not suit him.</div>
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Watch it only if you have waited for Aishwarya to come back all these years!</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Rating: <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">** (2 out of 5 – Average)</em></strong></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10214105240088160108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7013908425997684081.post-83969055577897671402015-09-25T22:09:00.000+05:302015-09-25T22:09:11.814+05:30Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon Review: Kapil Sharma Makes a Safe and Somewhat Impressive Debut<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHHTQ3ou2ORwEyY77kKHGTS57q9UNp_wfmg5UXTBU1ZzaH3qBX32LBXOBgTR9BImuBAjOvCDc8ErfbcObb2UXzMv7RmM5OHBZucU7HVq1VGff8k2d2HWjiDF-hHB1CGbE_AmxNemQYt4Q/s1600/1280x720-JDw.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHHTQ3ou2ORwEyY77kKHGTS57q9UNp_wfmg5UXTBU1ZzaH3qBX32LBXOBgTR9BImuBAjOvCDc8ErfbcObb2UXzMv7RmM5OHBZucU7HVq1VGff8k2d2HWjiDF-hHB1CGbE_AmxNemQYt4Q/s320/1280x720-JDw.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Whether you laugh at his jokes or not, or whether you acknowledge his meteoric rise through the ranks or not, the fact is that TV’s funnyman Kapil Sharma has gone on to become one of the most followed/admired entertainers in the last 2 years or so. Therefore, when the man who gave us the iconic “<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Babaji Ka Thullu</em>” goes on to make his Bollywood debut, you are both skeptical and excited. Is it prudent of Kapil to keep his kingship of TV aside and try to make it big in the big, bad Bollywood? Does Bollywood of today have space for a comedian-hero or did that craft die as soon as Govinda started to age?</div>
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May be it’s difficult to straightaway find answers to the questions raised above, but it is quite safe and sound to declare a fact right at the beginning – Kapil Sharma has chosen a very smart and safe vehicle of launch in Bollywood and believe it or not, he does a pretty neat job of the challenge thrown at him. The 34-year old comedian with conventional, common man looks carries Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon well on his shoulders and displays some obvious signs of possessing real acting chops. The fact that the film is helmed by the seasoned duo of Abbas Mustan is a big plus as the directors manage to build a decent product using an old, dated formula; something which might have proven detrimental if not handled with precision.</div>
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Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon’s plot is a throwback to the 90s when Govinda kind of made polygamy cool with the 1996 David Dhawan Super-Hit Saajan Chale Sasural. Kapil Sharma plays Shiv Ram Kishan who ends up marrying thrice (with three different women – Manjari Phadnis, Amrita Puri and Simran Kaur Mundi) due to a series of outlandish and bizarre ‘accidents’. Not just that, he also has a smoldering girlfriend in form a beautiful Elli Avaram who obviously does not know that her boyfriend is already married to three women. Helping him deal with this tetra trouble in life is his friend cum lawyer Varun Sharma. Did you spot the similarities and differences between Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon and Saajan Chale Sasural yet? The ultimate alpha male Govinda romanced two women (Tabu and Karisma Kapoor) while our Kapil goes two steps further and has 4 ladies by his sides, front and back. <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Wah!</em></div>
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<a href="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/kapilsharma-kiskopyarkaroon.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #117bb8; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="kapilsharma-kiskopyarkaroon" class="aligncenter wp-image-44404 " height="387" src="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/kapilsharma-kiskopyarkaroon.jpg?w=687&h=387" style="border: 0px; clear: both; display: block; height: auto; margin: 20px auto; max-width: 100%;" width="687" /></a></div>
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Let’s get it clear that Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon is a low-brow comedy but is not exactly ‘mindless’. The film knows what it is and never really tries to be something that it cannot be. There are no sermons or judgements passed on merits/demerits of polygamy, there are no outright insulting jokes, either on wives/women or on the audiences for that matter. Abbas Mustan do a good job of working within themselves and Kapil Sharma manages to underplay himself beautifully at times.</div>
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In fact, apart from his trademark quirky humor, Kapil Sharma surprises us in typical Bollywood emotional scenes and comes out triumphant when the camera goes up, close and personal with his face. Special mention should be made of a ‘drinking scene’ right before the interval, where the two Sharmas, Kapil and Varun, are bonding over a few drinks and former is sharing the woes of his ultra-blessed marital life. Kapil makes full use of the drunken opportunity and shows some definite acting sparks.</div>
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Ably supporting and sometimes outclassing Kapil, is Varun ‘Choocha’ Sharma. The Fukrey lad displays impeccable comic timing and you will find yourself laughing out loud on several occasions when the talented actor is in the frame, especially when he dishes out his ‘scientific’ explanations to save his friend’s day. Also in the fray is the dependable Arbaaz Khan as a <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">bhai</em> of one of the Kapil’s wives. He plays a deaf don with utmost ease and looks very comfortable in the comic space, something which we have seen him doing of late. Adding further meat to an impressive support cast are Manoj Joshi, Supriya Pathak and Sharat Saxena, who ensure that the film never really goes down on the overall comic quotient. Some of the scenes in the film are uproarious, especially one in a mall and another one featuring a detailed analysis of Kapil’s underwear!</div>
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<a href="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/kapil-sharma-movie-759.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #117bb8; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="kapil-sharma-movie-759" class="aligncenter wp-image-44403 " height="381" src="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/kapil-sharma-movie-759.jpg?w=677&h=381" style="border: 0px; clear: both; display: block; height: auto; margin: 20px auto; max-width: 100%;" width="677" /></a></div>
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The four ladies – Manjari Phadnis, Simran Kaur Mundi, Elle Avaram and Amrita Puri put up decent performances and do not ever let the script acquire misogynistic proportions. The film’s script, although predictable, dated and formulaic, does have some novel situational comic scenes and plenty of typical Kapil-style dry, sarcastic humor. The first half is quite breezy and enjoyable, unlike the second half which gets a little stretched towards the end. The film’s climax is somewhat clichéd and unbelievable at the same time, but one cannot really complain much on its merit given the fact that the plot itself is nothing revolutionary.</div>
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Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon’s soundtrack is strictly average with a couple of songs too many to deal with. Two songs that register some space in your mind are ‘Bam’, which has the film’s leading man crooning rather impressively, and a romantic track titled ‘Samandar.</div>
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Overall, Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon is a better bet than those ‘mindless comedies’ featuring big stars or those lavish launch vehicles that star kids manage to get for themselves in a platter. It is a clean, entertaining film whose plot may be dated but the humor on offering is genuine and harmless.</div>
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Go, watch Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon, you might find yourself celebrating the success of a self-made man.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Rating: *** (3 out of 5 – Good)</strong></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10214105240088160108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7013908425997684081.post-70508768405041684392015-09-19T12:59:00.001+05:302015-09-19T13:03:00.831+05:30Katti Batti Movie Review: The Tragic Death of Romantic Comedy<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i>You can also read this review at <a href="http://madaboutmoviez.com/2015/09/19/katti-batti-movie-review-the-tragic-death-of-romantic-comedy/" target="_blank">Mad About Moviez</a>.</i></div>
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I didn’t have much expectations from Katti Batti. The trailers looked somewhat drab, the music – a vital ingredient of any worthwhile Hindi rom-com – was uninspiring, and most annoyingly Kangana Ranaut looked like stretching her ‘Tanu spirit’ beyond the thresholds of predictability and well into the zone of annoyance.</div>
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15 minutes into watching the film, almost all of my aforementioned fears came true. One by one. Even though director Nikhil Advani, who seemed to be meandering for over 2 hours, suddenly jumped on to a tragic track towards the end trying to salvage some pride, but alas, it was well and truly late by then. I had already proclaimed ‘<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Katti’</em> with Katti Batti.</div>
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Nikhil Advani, a man who started his career with the remarkable Kal Ho Na Ho (and continues to live in the shadow of that iconic film), but has gone on to direct duds like Salaam-e-Ishq, Patiala House and most recently Hero, further prolongs his bad run through Katti Batti. The film neither manages to garner the goodwill of a typical rom-com nor does it make you pull out tissue papers through its belated tragic twist. Not just that, Katti Batti also lacks conviction, originality and a proper execution of ideas and ends up being an outright boring film.</div>
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Madhav Kabra aka Maddy (Imran Khan) is an architect who is in love with Payal (Kangana Ranaut) from the moment he saw her for the first time in college. The two do not hit it off instantly, largely thanks to Madhav’s creepy, <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">‘chipku’</em>behavior, but eventually end up being in a live-in relationship for good 5 years. Things change when Payal walks out of relationship one fine day, leaving behind a whining, sobbing Maddy. The entire film revolves around Maddy’s desperate bid to get Payal back into his life while she shrugs off his advances rather heartlessly. A tiny Kal Ho Na Ho meets The Fault in Our Stars kind of twist in the end tells us that Payal does all of this knowingly; deliberately trying to push Maddy out of her life. Why? Because, she has, wait for it, cancer! Sob. Yawn. Sob. Yawn.</div>
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<a href="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/413365-katti-batti-2.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #117bb8; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="413365-katti-batti-2" class="aligncenter wp-image-44310 " height="379" src="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/413365-katti-batti-2.jpg?w=655&h=379" style="border: 0px; clear: both; display: block; height: auto; margin: 20px auto; max-width: 100%;" width="655" /></a></div>
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Katti Batti suffers from severe identity crisis. It does not know whether it is trying to be a treatise on break-ups and relationship issues, or it is trying to be a cute, little tear-jerker. Needless to say that while trying to be too many things at a time, it ends up being almost nothing. Consider these – the tongue-in-cheek humor and LOLworthy moments, of which we got a glimpse in the trailers, are as scarce in the film as rains are in Rajasthan. Call it smart trailer cutting or a bluff on the part of the makers, Katti Batti does not have humor, light-heartedness that it shamelessly promised. Also, rhe film never really builds up the romance between its lead pair – there is no breezy college dating like 2 States or a cool live-in relationship drama like Salaam Namaste. We are repeatedly told that Maddy and Payal were ‘living together for 5 years’, but we are shown no glimpses of their love, chemistry and camaraderie. As a result, it hardly bothers you when Payal leaves Maddy, or you are further disinterested when you see the later chasing the former to get things back on the track! Phew!</div>
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Similarly, the film is also not a definitive take on relationships and strings attached to it. In fact, it ends up projecting its male lead as a sheer loser who runs after the car of his ex-girlfriend like a dog and its female lead as a cruel, <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">chaalu</em> girl who treats men like doormats. Through the film, you feel sorry for the characters as they are poorly written and are projected in an even worse light. By the time the director tries to turn the tables by coming up with the big revelation, you are both fed up and tired by the entire sham of a rom-com that’s dished out in front of you. Maddy and Payal are simply poorly sketched out characters that fail to find any resonance with its audience.</div>
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<a href="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/kanganaranaut-imrankhan-kattibatti.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #117bb8; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="kanganaranaut-imrankhan-kattibatti" class="aligncenter wp-image-44311 " height="375" src="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/kanganaranaut-imrankhan-kattibatti.jpg?w=666&h=375" style="border: 0px; clear: both; display: block; height: auto; margin: 20px auto; max-width: 100%;" width="666" /></a></div>
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But there are a few bright spots in Katti Batti. And surprisingly, it’s Imran Khan who is shiniest of them all. The actor, who is coming back to the silver screen after a hiatus, is affable and somewhat convincing as Madhav. He does well in the ‘crying scenes’ and you do feel for the poor guy at times, especially that dog-chasing-the-car kind of sequence. Puns and taunts aside, this character lay within the strengths of an actor like Imran Khan, and he does try hard, but is undone by a shoddy script and an even shoddier direction.</div>
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On the other hand, Kangana Ranaut replicates her Tanu act (just replace mostly Indian dresses of TWM and TWMR with some weird western outfits) through most of the film. She is predictably ‘free-spirited’, believes in ‘time-pass’ and flashes a packet of condom to a complete stranger. And not to forget, there are some trademark not-so-funny one-liners that ‘establish’ her as a ‘free woman’. But sadly, these repeated theatrics seem as fake as those feminist posts shared by thousands on Facebook every day.</div>
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Katti Batti is also let down by a below par support cast that does not have even one actor of caliber. Similarly, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy’s music is also very average with only ‘Sau Aasoon’ getting registered in your memory. The film’s cinematography is effective while the makers could have definitely chosen a better costume designer for its lead pair.</div>
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By the time Katti Batti nears its conclusion, there are some touching scenes of Imran taking care of a cancer-afflicted Kangana, but it comes too late in the day. You feel bored, cheated and tired by then and you simply want to curse Nikhil Advani for making a mess of a film. Yet again. Stay away.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Rating: *1/2 (Poor)</strong></div>
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<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">P.S. – Want to know what could be your expression if you still choose to watch this film? Check out Imran Khan’s expressions in the last image of this post.</em></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10214105240088160108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7013908425997684081.post-69020494857941119742015-09-05T15:22:00.001+05:302015-09-05T15:31:18.232+05:30Welcome Back Review: More Painful Than a Headache, Toothache and Heartbreak Put Together<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a data-mce-href="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/welcome-back1.jpg" href="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/welcome-back1.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #117bb8; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Welcome Back" class="size-medium wp-image-44085 alignleft" data-mce-src="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/welcome-back1.jpg?w=300" height="300" src="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/welcome-back1.jpg?w=300" style="border: 0px; display: inline; float: left; height: auto; margin: 0px 20px 20px 0px; max-width: 100%;" width="300" /></a><i>You can also read this review on</i> <a href="http://madaboutmoviez.com/2015/09/05/welcome-back-movie-review-more-painful-than-a-headache-toothache-and-heartbreak-put-together/" target="_blank">Mad About Moviez</a>.<br />
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Let me start this review by making a candid confession. I liked Anees Bazmee’s 2007 Blockbuster 'Welcome' to a great extent. The gangster duo Uday Shetty and Majnu bhai, played by a remarkable Nana Patekar and an ever-dramatic Anil Kapoor respectively, were etched in my mind for long. Add to it Akshay Kumar’s gifted sense of humor, Paresh Rawal’s impeccable comic timing and the iconic “Aloo Lelo, Kanda Lelo” sequence – Welcome had some genuinely uproarious moments. No wonder, the film was not just a huge box office success but also went on to become one of the most loved films on television that continues to garner great TRPs till date.</div>
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Eight years later, Bazmee comes with an absolute charade in the name of a sequel. There seems to be no genuine creative impetus or even an honest motive behind making Welcome Back, apart from the obvious urge for financial windfalls. Welcome Back has a plot that is so hackneyed, loop-ridden and even ridiculous at places that it makes a motley bunch of talented actors look like buffoons. Imagine yourself silently cursing Naseeruddin Shah towards the end because he and his uninspiring portrayal of ‘Wanted Bhai’ does nothing apart from stretching an already dreadfully boring film. Ditto for someone like Dimple Kapadia who does not know what she is supposed to do or the poor comeback man Shiney Ahuja who is put into a predictable and pointless role.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Poor Story, Screenplay and Direction:</strong></div>
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The film’s story itself is a spin-off from its prequel’s plot with a couple of inexplicable son and daughter discoveries being used to repackage the old, worn-out drama. This time around Uday and Majnu bhai (Nana Patekar and Anil reprising their roles) take up the task of marrying off their yet another sister (Shruti Hassan) to a seedha and shareef man as the gangsters themselves have become good guys and settled down in Dubai. In their quest for a perfect groom, they yet again cross paths with Dr Ghungroo (Paresh Rawal) who has his own ‘son discovery’ to deal with. Ajju Bhai or Ajay (John Abraham) is Dr. Ghungroo’s step-son and a dreaded Mumbai gangster. Uday and Majnu themselves are in awe of a petite young thug (debutante Ankita Shrivastava) who along with her mother (Dimple Kapadia) pose as princess and queen of Najafgarh.</div>
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Welcome Back’s screenplay is over-complicated and overcrowded to a point that it annoys you. There are too many worthless sub-plots in the film and actors come into and go out of the frame on their will (you can’t imagine what they do with Rajpal Yadav’s character). Anees Bazmee is not an auteur in the genre of comedy but Welcome Back definitely pitches him at par with someone like Sajid Khan and his brand of intelligence-insulting humor. I am all game for lowbrow and leave-your-mind-at-home kind of comedy but a film like Welcome Back takes the audiences for granted and only tries to cash in (and eventually destroys) the existing goodwill for its prequel.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Wasted Ensemble Cast:</strong></div>
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The biggest disservice by Anees Bazmee is probably how he assembles such fine actors and lets that advantage fritter away. Not just that, he replaces the very likeable lead pair of Akshay-Katrina from the prequel with an odd and insipid Jodi of John Abraham and Shruti Hassan. John Abraham tries to bulldoze his Shootout at Wadala act here but fails miserably. His contributions to the film end with his 10 packs, a good-looking face and a new found, weird baritone during dialogue delivery. Shruti Hassan, on the other hand, delivers such an amateurish performance that you wonder why is she in the film, or worse why is she into acting.</div>
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<a data-mce-href="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/welcome_back_movie_still_hd_wallpaper_806316808.jpg" href="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/welcome_back_movie_still_hd_wallpaper_806316808.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #117bb8; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Welcome_back_movie_still_hd_wallpaper_806316808" class="aligncenter wp-image-44093 " data-mce-src="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/welcome_back_movie_still_hd_wallpaper_806316808.jpg" height="337" src="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/welcome_back_movie_still_hd_wallpaper_806316808.jpg" style="border: 0px; clear: both; display: block; height: auto; margin: 20px auto; max-width: 100%;" width="599" /></a></div>
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Ankita Shrivastava, the debutante who is there in the film to wear skimpy clothes and deliver dialogues like a 10-year old, is a bizarre choice for the role of a temptress. She tries too hard but does not achieve an iota of what Mallika Sherawat did effortlessly in Welcome. And also, the girl is way too young to be singing tacky songs with Nana and Anil who look like her granddads. Dimple Kapadia is cast in a role that gives her no scope whatsoever. Shiney Ahuja makes an entrance post interval and does a few predictable screechy scenes before falling in line with the film’s overall tediousness. Naseeruddin Shah fails to be a worthy replacement for the Late Firoz Khan and I will not mince words in saying that he is plain bad in the film. He might be a great actor otherwise but there is no harm in calling a spade a spade when there is a need.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Nana and Anil Salvage Some Pride:</strong></div>
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Welcome Back’s only saving grace is the delectable duo of Nana Patekar and Anil Kapoor. The two veterans are in the same old form and try hard to salvage the pride despite being handicapped by poorly-written dialogues (Raj Shandaliya). Despite all the lacuna, there’s a memorable sequence in a graveyard where Nana and Anil play Antakshari with the ghosts. This one scene underscores the incredible chemistry that the two share as affable goons and makes you wonder how a good script would have allowed these two to come into their elements. It’s a shame that Anees Bazemee wastes the potential of two fine characters and two great actors by making what is easily a lesser of sequel. Similarly, Paresh Rawal, who sparkled as Dr. Ghungroo in the previous installment, is undone by sheer lack of witty one-liners that were a trademark of his character.</div>
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<a data-mce-href="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/nana-patekar-759.jpg" href="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/nana-patekar-759.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #117bb8; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="nana-patekar-759" class="aligncenter wp-image-44086 " data-mce-src="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/nana-patekar-759.jpg" height="349" src="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/nana-patekar-759.jpg" style="border: 0px; clear: both; display: block; height: auto; margin: 20px auto; max-width: 100%;" width="628" /></a></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Outrageous Music and Tacky VFX:</strong></div>
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Welcome Back perhaps features the most outrageous songs that I have had the misfortune of hearing to in recent times. Songs pop out of nowhere through the film and they are resplendent with horrible lyrics (Band kamre mein 20-20 hua!), suggestive dance moves and horrendous choreography. You would want to close your eyes and ears in disgust while these songs are bombarded on you without any prior warning. Do I need to say more?</div>
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As if the entire, almost 3-hour long film was not torturous enough, Welcome Back also has an inexplicable climax featuring hordes of camels, choppers, dessert gypsies, aircraft bombs and a sandstorm. The CGI of the sandstorm is a throwback to the 80s and it makes the special effects of a film like Hisss look good.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Final Verdict:</strong></div>
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Welcome Back is an unbearable film that mocks your intelligence, breaches all the thresholds of stupidity and redefines the contempt with which many mainstream filmmakers treat their audiences these days. Nana Patekar and Anil Kapoor try hard but fail to save this sinking ship and you dearly miss the good old Akhsay Kumar who was the rock-solid anchor of Welcome.</div>
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Do yourself a favor and do not watch Welcome Back. You, I and all of us deserve much better.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Rating: * (1/5) - Poor</em></strong></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10214105240088160108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7013908425997684081.post-87745605312302538192015-08-21T15:19:00.000+05:302015-08-21T15:19:17.869+05:30Manjhi–The Mountain Man Movie Review: Not Perfect but a Significant Film<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i>You can also read this article on <a href="http://madaboutmoviez.com/2015/08/21/manjhi-the-mountain-man-movie-review-not-a-perfect-but-a-significant-film/" target="_blank">Mad About Moviez</a>.</i></div>
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After watching Manjhi – The Mountain Man, I came out of the theater with a buzzing mind. My eyes had turned a bit moist towards the end of the film but I also had a slight ache quietly making its way into my head. I had a lot of questions running through my mind, several visuals were stuck in my head but, also, a strange sense of incompleteness had infiltrated my heart.<span id="more-43833" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></div>
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<a href="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/manjhi-the-mountain-man-poster-2.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #117bb8; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Manjhi the Mountain Man Poster 2" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-43835" height="300" src="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/manjhi-the-mountain-man-poster-2.jpg?w=225&h=300" style="border: 0px; display: inline; float: left; height: auto; margin: 0px 20px 20px 0px; max-width: 100%;" width="225" /></a>After a lot of deliberation between my head and heart, I realized that Manjhi is not a great but a very significant film. Significant because you should watch it to believe how a lot of love and a bit of madness can make a man take on the mountain, and how horrifying are the twin social evils of casteism and poverty. Why does it fall short of being a great film? Well, we will dig into that a little later.</div>
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If you realize, there is a flip side to Dashrath Manjhi’s otherwise fascinating story. The long and arduous journey of the Mountain Man, as he his fondly and rightly called, can actually be summed up in a couple of sentences- “Dashrath Manjhi, a poor landless laborer from Bihar, worked meticulously for 22 years to carve a road out of a mountain using only a chisel and hammer. Aggrieved by the untimely demise of his wife, who died due to lack of medical attention, Manjhi took it upon himself to wage a lonely war against the mighty mountain that blocked basic amenities from reaching his village.” That’s it.</div>
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Yes, Dashrath Manjhi’s story is of ultimate triumph of human spirit and determination against all odds but it’s elements of drama and struggle are watered down because of the huge time period that it covers. How exactly can you bring in the moments of struggle, happiness, dejection, joy and drama in the story of a man who does the same thing for good 22 years? To put it in a few words, Manjhi’s story does not have the typical contours of adventures that we usually associate with biographies and heroic stories. Keeping this aspect of the story in mind, you cannot help but appreciate director Ketan Mehta’s tenacity and honesty in putting together different beads of Dashrath Manjhi’s remarkable life into a singular and mostly cohesive strand.</div>
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<a href="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/manjhi-the-mountain-man-still-1.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #117bb8; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Manjhi the Mountain Man Still 1" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-43836" height="466" src="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/manjhi-the-mountain-man-still-1.jpg?w=700&h=466" style="border: 0px; clear: both; display: block; height: auto; margin: 20px auto; max-width: 100%;" width="700" /></a>At times, Ketan Mehta, who has films like Mangal Pandey and Rang Rasiya to his credit, does go overboard with flashbacks of romance and also meanders a little in a bid to deliver a fitting finale. But, more or less, the soul of Manjhi – The Moutain Man is always blemish free. In fact, the film does a good job of tracing significant events of Indian history through the prism of Manjhi’s life. The sequence where Manjhi actually comes face to face with none other than Indira Gandhi took me by complete surprise and so did his march to Delhi during the times of Emergency. It is these small and rather unknown snippets of Manjhi’s life that the film brings out brilliantly.</div>
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The film is crisp at 2 hours and 5 minutes but comes across as a little dragged because of the incoherent screenplay. Taking a non-linear approach of narration, the director shuffles between different time zones in 22 years, and it somehow breaks the rhythm of storytelling. These hiccups in storytelling aside, the film makes an honest bid to showcase the evils of untouchability and caste prejudice that existed in newly independent India.</div>
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Manjhi – The Mountain Man has some terrific moments that bring out the horrors of caste oppression and depressing poverty. There are chilling scenes of poor and landless villagers being brutally beaten up, left to live in extreme poverty or worst, left to die in a burning brick furnace. The film is equally efficient at highlighting the systemic issue of corruption and administrative apathy that plagues India and most of its underdeveloped states.</div>
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In the acting department, the film is an out and out Nawazuddin Siddiqui show with the talented actor putting up a very restrained and nuanced performance that is very different from what he has been doing so far. When Nawazuddin plays the younger Manjhi, there are elements of his trademark humor and earthy acting, but he actually comes into his own while portraying the much older, aggrieved and almost maniacal version of Manjhi. The pain, the anguish, the tears, the toil – Nawazuddin embodies all of these emotions to bring out a character that is carved with flesh and blood. The actor must have pushed his limits while shooting this film and it is clearly visible in scenes of great human struggle and survival.</div>
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<a href="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/manjhi-the-mountain-man-still-2.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #117bb8; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Manjhi the Mountain Man Still 2" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-43837" src="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/manjhi-the-mountain-man-still-2.jpg?w=700" style="border: 0px; clear: both; display: block; height: auto; margin: 20px auto; max-width: 100%;" /></a>Radhika Apte looks beautiful and gets into the character of Manjhi’s wife, Phagunia, with utmost ease and spontaneity. She is a complete natural and leaves a big impact in a role that is completely deglamorized and required dialogues to be delivered in unadulterated local dialect and Bihari accent. Pankaj Tripathi is fantastic as a cunning son of the village Zamindar and gets his accent and mannerisms spot on. Ditto for Tigmanshu Dhulia who somewhat reprises his Ramadhir Singh act of Gangs of Wasseypur.</div>
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The overall impact of the film suffers due to some tacky VFX and excessive use of Chroma in some of the scenes. Similarly, a couple of dream sequences look very unreal and add to the overall randomness of the middle portion of the film. The film’s music (Sandesh Sandilya and Hitesh Sonik) and background score is average while the dialogue are effective, crisp and as per the local flavor of Bihar.</div>
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Overall, Manjhi – The Mountain Man is sprinkled with some fine renditions of human struggle, madness and love. The sparkling chemistry of Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Radhika Apte lifts the film to a great extent and it is precisely because of this reason that you feel triumphant and joyous when Manjhi finally accomplishes his task. The film could have been much more than what it is, but it is definitely worth a watch for the sheer significance of the story and some honest portrayal of our society’s stark realities.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Rating: *** (Good)</strong></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10214105240088160108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7013908425997684081.post-54781322364207909102015-08-15T12:20:00.003+05:302015-08-15T12:36:28.587+05:30Brothers Movie Review: Mother of Yawns and False Dawns<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The review is also published on <a href="http://madaboutmoviez.com/2015/08/15/brothers-movie-review-mother-of-yawns-and-false-dawns/" target="_blank">Mad About Moviez</a>.</div>
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I haven’t yawned this much while watching a film in a long long time. Yes, Brothers is a rare gem of a film in that sense. But, I have had this feeling of ‘when will this film end’ for so many other Hindi films that have released this year. Brothers is truly run-of-mill in that sense.</div>
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Karan Malhotra, the director who gave us the commercially successful but perennially boring remake of the 90s cult classic Agneepath, comes back with another remake in form of Brothers (official remake of 2011 Hollywood film Warrior) and does exactly what he has done before – he bores us to death. Okay, near death (conceding the fact that I am still alive to write this review). At times, I struggle to respond to those ever-inquisitive souls who come up to you after you have watched a film and ask you – how was it? A film like Brothers makes your job easier – you can simply say ‘boring’ and the answer shall perfectly suffice.<span id="more-43770" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></div>
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Brothers is the story of two brothers (yes, you are a genius because you guessed it right), David Fernandes (Akshay Kumar) and Monty Fernandes (Sidharth Malhotra), who are victims of familial conflict courtesy their drunkard father Gary Fernandes (Jackie Shroff), who we are told is an ex-street fighter. Separated by cruel fate of destiny, the two brothers come face to face in a mixed martial arts competition called Right to Fight (R2F). Punches and kicks fly thick and fast as the two face off in a dramatic final leaving behind a trail of broken bones and smoothened emotions.</div>
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To be honest, Brothers has a riveting premise and it clearly reflects in the short description of the film that is given above. A drunkard father, a doting mother, two brothers who love each other but eventually fall apart, a tragic accident, street fighting, anger, repentance, forgiveness, redemption, underdog story, family melodrama – Brothers has all the ingredients of a typical Bollywood potboiler. But, sadly all these ingredients boil well over the brim and leave you with a bad taste in the mouth.</div>
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So what goes wrong with Brothers?</div>
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<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">An unpardonable penchant for theatrics and melodrama:</strong> The background score in the film is so loud and boisterous that it almost becomes an overarching character. The director tries to force feed emotions to the audiences and it clearly does not work. There are times when the background score becomes so buoyant that you start searching for validation through visuals on the screen. But sadly, the proceedings on the screen remain dull and never really evoke strong emotions.</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Lack of real emotions:</strong> Your eyes are never wet either when the brothers separate or predictably reunite towards the end. Much of the film’s first half is dedicated to pump up our emotions around the Fernandes family but you never really root for or hate any of the principal characters. Emotions fall flat on face perhaps because there is no room of subtlety in Brothers. Crucifixes, tattoos, cut marks on the same spot for every fighter, slow motion flashbacks, church shots – all of these stereotypical elements are thrown on your face and you are supposed to sob. Sorry, it does not work.</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Marathon Runtime:</strong> With a runtime of nearly 2 hours and 40 minutes, Brothers is a remarkable snooze fest. The first half goes on and on to establish the characters and plot, while the second half just never stops with its montages of fight sequences and tacky commentary scenes. There are simply too many loo breaks and yawn distractions – a tighter editing would have helped Brothers salvage some of its pride.</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">An obnoxious ‘item song’:</strong> I have never come across a more pointless and lecherous ‘item song’ than ‘Mera Naam Mary Hai’. Principally, I am not opposed to the idea of an item song in a Bollywood potboiler as long as it serves some purpose in the narrative. Karan Malhotra’s Agneepath had an enjoyable item song in Chikni Chameli, but Mary arrives on the scene with no prior warnings and goes out without doing much. An item songs leading up to a film’s intermission? Really? Also, I wonder what made Kareena Kapoor Khan say yes to such a poorly written song with distasteful dance moves.<a href="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/kareena-kapoor-khan-looks-hot-mera-naam-mary-item-song-teaser-released-brothers-movie.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #117bb8; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="kareena-kapoor-khan-looks-hot-mera-naam-mary-item-song-teaser-released-brothers-movie" class="aligncenter wp-image-43775 size-full" src="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/kareena-kapoor-khan-looks-hot-mera-naam-mary-item-song-teaser-released-brothers-movie.jpg?w=700" style="border: 0px; clear: both; display: block; height: auto; margin: 20px auto; max-width: 100%;" /></a></li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Uninspiring Support Cast:</strong> You have Ashutosh Rana in your support cast and you make him carry bottles in and out of the fighting ring. This is just one of the instances of talented actors being cast in rather insignificant roles in Brothers. Jackie Shroff is impressive in some scenes but accepting him as Akshay Kumar’s father seems a little difficult. True to his age, Shroff looks like Akshay’s elder brother and especially because the director decides not to shave off Akshay’s white beard and chest hair! Shefali Shah makes an impact in some of the emotional scenes and reminds us about her immense acting potential. Sidharth Malhotra looks a complete misfit and does little except for glaring and growling. It’s sad to see him struggle to get his emotions and body language right in a role that required immense intensity and dedication.</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Lukewarm Fight Sequences:</strong> Let’s not forget that despite its brutal display of contrived emotions and melodrama, Brothers is essentially a sports film. It is perhaps the first time that a film on mixed martial arts (MMA) and street fighting has been attempted in Bollywood. But sadly, despite all the build-up and staged pre-launch media madness, the fight sequences fail to make an impact. The fighters look more comical than menacing, our two heroes look more tired and aggrieved than motivated and driven. Both the opening and final fight scenes are big letdowns with the audience (in the theater) wondering what to do and whom to cheer for!</li>
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There are a very few likeable aspects of Brothers. And Akshay Kumar is one of them. The actor comes up with a nuanced and restrained performance that is very different from the mostly comical or out-and-out action-oriented roles that he has been doing off late. Jacqueline Fernandez (the only real Fernandez in a film of Fernandes’) looks believable in a brief role. The film’s cinematography is above average but other technical departments leave you asking for more – especially the editing department, which seems to have gone on a vacation. The film’s music (Ajay Atul) is a letdown with none of the songs registering in your memory.</div>
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Overall, Brothers buys an age-old Bollywood formula from a Hollywood film and makes a mega mess of it. The film is a sleep-inducing cocktail of sibling rivalry, familial discord and sports extravaganza that tries to be too many things at the same time. And most worryingly, it tries to pass off exaggerated melodrama via some in-your-face theatrics but ends up with mud on its own face.</div>
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This Independence Day, you deserve freedom for this Karan Malhotra sham of a film.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Rating: *1/2 (Poor)</strong></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10214105240088160108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7013908425997684081.post-43581172464627713512015-08-08T13:00:00.000+05:302015-08-08T13:00:04.272+05:30Bangistan Movie Review: Only if There Were More Laughs<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">A film critic turning into a film director is a
mouthwatering prospect. Karan Anshuman does the courageous act with Bangistan
and you expect the nitty gritties of the film to be tightened. After all, those
who throw stones at others should know how to save themselves if those stones
are tossed back at them!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Interestingly, Karan Anshuman’s directorial debut Bangistan
manages to convince us about its well-intentioned core message but fails to
keep all its eggs in one basket. The film, although quirky and innovative at
places, is bogged down by a wayward screenplay that clearly lacks one essential
element that makes satires work – humor. More on this later.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The film is set in the fictional nation of ‘Bangistan’,
where Muslims hold sway in the North while the Hindus have South as their
stronghold. A small little animation in the beginning shows us the exact
location of Bangistan on the world map and the irony of Bangistan’s location
being akin to that of India and Pakistan is not lost on us. There are also a few
delightful pun-ny references to Star*ucks, FcDonald’s, extremist Mullahs
proclaiming their love for diet coke and Hindu and Muslim religious leaders informally
referring to the Pope as ‘Popchi’. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpplv_vHwlsqi0xlx2vpbc29OMa5PyVm8HsDOQcsPna_vS1ANMcL2fRVZER-Dr4WMoZ_WGi_V7kWNfZ_XlPVg-C30L35elQ_cGvJ8Qc7lgwaG44fkYonch5Z4nuaseU5nBjDbHmc7KAZ4/s1600/Bangistan-Movie-Review.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="396" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpplv_vHwlsqi0xlx2vpbc29OMa5PyVm8HsDOQcsPna_vS1ANMcL2fRVZER-Dr4WMoZ_WGi_V7kWNfZ_XlPVg-C30L35elQ_cGvJ8Qc7lgwaG44fkYonch5Z4nuaseU5nBjDbHmc7KAZ4/s400/Bangistan-Movie-Review.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Praveen Chaturvedi (Pulkit Samrat), obviously a Hindu from
‘South Bangistan’ (yes, some of the interpretations and references in the film
are way too simplistic) is an aspiring actor who is duped by a local Hindu
extremist outfit ‘Maa Ka Dal’ and its head Guru ji (Kumud Mishra) into a
suicide mission. On the other side of the spectrum is Hafiz Bin Ali (Riteish
Deshmukh) aka Harold of the BPO world, who opts for a similar mission after
being coerced by the chief of a wannabe Jihadi outfit ‘Al-Kaam Tamaam’. Interestingly,
the chief of Al-Kaam Tamaam is again played by Kumud Mishra and you can’t help
but appreciate the subtle messaging behind it. Yes, all the extremists, whether
Hindu or Muslim, are basically two sides of the same coin! Good job on that
part, Mr. Anshuman. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The action then shifts to Poland where the two bombers
arrive to bomb (well, obviously!) a religions’ conference where leaders of
their faith are about to give message of peace and harmony. In a film that has
a liner and simplistic style of storytelling, you are impressed by the context
setting and how the director drives home some sarcastic and satirical points. But
while the first half is breezy and crisp, true to the film’s satirical core, the
second half meanders a little into the preachy mode. Some sequences on
religious tolerance and Hindu-Muslim bonhomie are so preachy and predictable
that you feel like yawning. The reason behind why the two suicide bombers
decide to ‘become each other’ is also never clear and it comes across more as a
ploy to push through the discourse on religious harmony. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3_PFlAx2BX8YxRD-6H6cggzyPpqP8dupuyShyohZfPZKQn_3_uzHrZghcIpL-5oQQ30AZHWReA-AbJeOJLUoljxRWT1bVF-sF6wjQ_KOX1at81f4Jm89K9I114s9NyvYCS-r812I3_GE/s1600/Bangistan-.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3_PFlAx2BX8YxRD-6H6cggzyPpqP8dupuyShyohZfPZKQn_3_uzHrZghcIpL-5oQQ30AZHWReA-AbJeOJLUoljxRWT1bVF-sF6wjQ_KOX1at81f4Jm89K9I114s9NyvYCS-r812I3_GE/s400/Bangistan-.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Bangistan scores well in the departments of satire and
sarcasm. Sample this, a night club in Poland where the two wannabe terrorists
hang out is called ‘Bull and Boar’ – a subtle reference to the widely held
religious beliefs about these two animals in Hinduism and Islam respectively.
Also, the director pays some smart odes to great films and filmmakers of the past
through its support cast. For instance, Tamim Hussain (Chandan Roy Sanyal), a
Bangladeshi taxi driver in Poland, addresses himself in the third person as ‘Citizen
Hussain’. All of this satire and subtle humor is present throughout the film
but strangely the laughs are missing!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">If Tere Bin Laden and Filmistaan are still remembered and
widely regarded as two of the finest satirical films on terror, it is because
these two films made us laugh effortlessly. Bangistan does not do that. Most of
the jokes or one-liners fall flat, you smile and giggle at times, but never
really laugh out loud. Reasons? One, the dialogues could have definitely been
funnier. It seems the writers </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">invested way too much in setting up satirical
situations and references but fell short just a bit when it came to infusing
humor in the dialogues. Interestingly, some of the film’s songs are very
well-written (lyricist Puneet Krishna is also credited as one of the screenplay
writers). Special mention for the well-meaning and brilliant lyrics of ‘Hogi
Kraanti Chaaro Or’ and ‘Is Duniya Se Ladna Hai’. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdV_zwGQmfOr0-ztE5C-83sPUwTwhmkLnhj-FpnZo2bMk19HrqoDGxQhsSNpVCeppKeUKMpBxCSAe_BL8Q4MbeP-jwDI07qyhh0ngX8_L9aPme7uhMsJlwtBrlSAPibVcP55_VkKSw35M/s1600/bangistaan-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdV_zwGQmfOr0-ztE5C-83sPUwTwhmkLnhj-FpnZo2bMk19HrqoDGxQhsSNpVCeppKeUKMpBxCSAe_BL8Q4MbeP-jwDI07qyhh0ngX8_L9aPme7uhMsJlwtBrlSAPibVcP55_VkKSw35M/s400/bangistaan-2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Another reason why Bangistan fails to evoke laughter could
be its mediocre casting. Pulkit Samrat overacts sometimes and tries to imitate
Salman Khan on occasions. One should definitely not write him off as an actor
yet but he certainly can work on improving his comic timing. Kumud Mishra who
has the tempting job of playing both the Hindu and Muslim extremist is strictly
average and is more stereotypical than natural. Ditto for Chandan Roy Sanyal, who
looks slightly disinterested, perhaps put off by the tiny size of his role.
Prateek Babbar, who plays one of the jihadis, looks and acts like a buffoon,
and makes you laugh unintentionally. Yes, Bangistan should have opted for a
better support cast.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">But, one actor who holds his ground and in fact comes up
with a matured and layered performance is Riteish Deshmukh. You can’t help but
get impressed by his natural flair for comedy and the newfound penchant for
versatility. He is gawky, sweet, enraged and funny as per the demand of the
situations and carries the burden of Bangistan like Hercules. Jacqueline
Fernandez appears in a cameo and has nothing much to do apart from gyrating on
a wannabe club song.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">All said and done, Bangistan is a well-intentioned film with
a noble message that is dragged down by lack of humor, a below par support cast
and a climax so Bollywood-ish that you cringe in your seat. Watch it if you can
digest satire when humor is not served as a side dish or if you are ready to
avail discount on entertainment for the sake of the ultimate message.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Rating: *** (Good)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10214105240088160108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7013908425997684081.post-55306511132678645312015-07-31T17:52:00.003+05:302015-07-31T17:52:59.026+05:30Drishyam (Hindi) Movie Review: Much Ado, Little Impact<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Drishyam is like a steam engine that runs out of steam right
before it is about to reach the destination. Enough tension is built, a few
thrills are thrown in between but the finale is rather underwhelming and
somewhat predictable. The fact that I could pre-empt Nishikant Kamat’s ‘ace in
the pack’ well 15-20 minutes before the climax, left me with a bad taste in the
mouth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Drishyam arrives in theaters this weekend with a huge
baggage on its back. The film is a remake of a much-acclaimed and commercially successful
Malayalam film with the same name that starred Mohanlal. It was subsequently remade
in other three Dravidian languages – Tamil (with the legendary Kamal Hassan in
lead), Telugu and Kannada. Also, I am told that the original story of the film
(credited to Jeethu Joseph, who also directed the original Malayalam version)
is actually inspired from a Japanese thriller, The Devotion of Suspect X. So,
if you closely look at it, Drishyam is actually an ‘Inception’ of remakes –
remakes of remakes and that too featuring some actors of great caliber. So, the
makers did show some guts when they decided to remake the film in Hindi.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQmJdkClXJ2rXbXXCXhqbJpyf9KQAF-Vmm-VGfc_H-lvhljUn3Mwj6ZqIaNj3iaancnw4OXTZS6kXUv9Sizkl6O5c_zUxy10awKvt2EGRPUQGj_ofKpWuUkjvYAnTH5Uda5J4T_Qx4A7A/s1600/drishyam-review.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQmJdkClXJ2rXbXXCXhqbJpyf9KQAF-Vmm-VGfc_H-lvhljUn3Mwj6ZqIaNj3iaancnw4OXTZS6kXUv9Sizkl6O5c_zUxy10awKvt2EGRPUQGj_ofKpWuUkjvYAnTH5Uda5J4T_Qx4A7A/s400/drishyam-review.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The film traces the life of Vijay Salgaonkar (Ajay Devgn),
an ordinary cable TV network owner in a Goa village, and his family comprising
of his wife Nandini (Shriya Saran) and two daughters. We are repeatedly told
Vijay is a 4th grade dropout and an orphan. We are also frequently reminded
that Vijay is a movie buff and watches films in his office almost every other
night. Also, whenever he watches a Sunny Leone film, he quickly heads back home
to be with his wife. Hmm!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">In fact, the first half of the film tries a bit too hard to
‘establish’ the character of Vijay for us. You are almost forced to memorize
that Vijay is a miserly man but he also loves his family. He is fond of hanging
out at a local café and does not have a great equation with a local corrupt
policeman. In between all this groundwork for the supposed master cover-up that
surfaces later in the film, we are also exposed to a freak accident cum crime
that Vijay and his family must cover up. Frankly, the circumstances that lead
to the crime seem too juvenile to be true and the family’s way of dealing with
it is outlandish to say the least.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Despite its conveniences and ordinariness, Drishyam’s first
half does have some tense moments that ignite the hope for a riveting second
half. The entire sequence where Vijay disposes off a crucial evidence of crime
is fascinating and the overall mood is nicely pepped up by an excellent
background score (Sameer Phatarpekar). Right before the interval, IG Meera
Deshmukh (Tabu) makes an entrance and the stage is set for a promising cat and
mouse game.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The second half does have some thrills and a few well-executed
sequences. The sequence where IG Meera and officer Gaitonde (Kamlesh Sawant)
threaten and beat up Vijay and his family is impactful and chilling. But the
eventual finale is a big letdown in terms of impact and compactness. After a
long drawn chessboard game between the police and Vijay’s family, the
‘revelation’ at the end does not excite. I obviously cannot divulge much
details about the climax but there are ample loose ends which leave you
unsatisfied.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvWo3R8TFwP2oJz6acmu16KxbmZal2MfsvlTmRGilvEUV3u9f4IlofpCyBH708iyzrLMkqUYObdi2mnQGPa24jiOLqKx2USBKbQott9O9dnNEEM4uzyibQGul3hEFVRUe35ncjGcSGezs/s1600/drishyam-review1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvWo3R8TFwP2oJz6acmu16KxbmZal2MfsvlTmRGilvEUV3u9f4IlofpCyBH708iyzrLMkqUYObdi2mnQGPa24jiOLqKx2USBKbQott9O9dnNEEM4uzyibQGul3hEFVRUe35ncjGcSGezs/s400/drishyam-review1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Also, Drishyam is undone by a unidimensional style of
storytelling and treatment. You know the answer to that coveted question –
whodunit, all along. The twists and turns in between the narrative do not match
up to the hype or tension that film promises through its premise and background
score. IG Meera’s and the entire police department’s virtual surrender in front
of the ‘visuals’ shown by Vijay is unfathomable. They know it all along, move
in the right direction, dig up all the right evidences and suddenly give up on
the suspected culprits. Strange!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">In the acting department, Ajay Devgn is his usual brooding
and glaring self. There are occasions where he looks uninterested, especially
in the stretched and length second half. Tabu is caught in the cauldron of
playing a tough cop and a sobbing mother. She does a better job of the later
and her endeavor to project herself as a super cop does not create much impact.
Shriya Saran as Ajay Devgn’s wife emotes pretty well and there are some scenes
where you can almost feel the fear in her eyes. Rajat Kapoor, who plays Tabu’s
husband, makes an impact with his restrained and calculated performance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Drishyam is simply not the film that thrills, excites or
surprises you. It is lethargic, lengthy and unidimensional. I have not seen any
of its other remakes or the alleged Japanese inspiration, but I do have certain
reservations even with the otherwise ‘acclaimed’ and supposedly ‘mind blowing’
story of the film. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Nishikant Kamat’s Mumbai Meri Jaan and Force were way more
enjoyable and thrilling. Drishyam is simply disappointing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Rating: ** (Average)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10214105240088160108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7013908425997684081.post-4951809903086228322015-07-31T17:47:00.001+05:302015-07-31T17:47:14.862+05:30Ghosts of Ganga and the Dazzling Display of Death in Masaan<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #404040; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
When I try to paint a picture of the Ganga in my mind, I mostly imagine a pristine river with the rising Sun at the horizon. That’s how we all have been conditioned to imagine the holy river. Ganga stands for purity, tranquility and piousness; a river that may have been abundantly polluted over the centuries but, as per the millions’ belief and reverence, still holds the magical power to purify the polluted. Neeraj Ghaywan’s Masaan paints such a contrasting picture of the holy river and its mythical home –Varanasi that it shakes your conscience and unravels the ghosts that lie quietly somewhere deep inside the river bed.<span id="more-43551" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></div>
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Our films mostly shoot on the Varanasi’ Ganga Ghats in the morning. The serenity of the morning light, the splendid sight of the boats sailing on the waters, the believers paying their obedience to the Almighty, and the sound of hymns and bells of devotion; all of these make for a stunning visual. In stark contrast, Masaan (the word means crematorium in English) has a protagonist, Deepak (played by the brilliant Vicky Kaushal), who dives into the Ganga river at night, burns dead bodies at its bank early in the morning, hits the dead body’s skull and limbs back into burning pyre so that the last rites are seamless, and he also cries and howls in seething pain at its bank.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #404040; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Masaan’s Ganga is dark, its waters black and its banks are abodes of implicit human agony and anguish. And most importantly, Masaan’s Ganga is a means to achieve the greatest closure any living being can wish for – death.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #404040; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<img alt="masaan-story_647_072115010130" class="alignleft wp-image-43561 size-medium" height="187" src="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/masaan-story_647_072115010130.jpg?w=300&h=187" style="display: inline; float: left; height: auto; margin: 0px 20px 20px 0px; max-width: 100%;" width="300" />Masaan’s portrayal of the Ganga and its Ghats in Varanasi is innately disturbing but hauntingly beautiful. You are constantly at unease when visuals of burning death pyres hit you at an alarming regularity but never ever you are able to take your eyes off the screen. And that’s the biggest achievement of Masaan and its makers. They throw the greatest reality of life (how ironic that it is nothing but death) on your face but juxtapose it with subtle messaging and a heartwarming story that grips you like a hawk’s claws. Masaan haunts you long after you have left the theater. The visuals stick to your brain.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #404040; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
I have always been intrigued and rather fascinated with themes of death in popular literature and art. JK Rowling brilliantly introduced the beauty of mortality to her young and impressionable readers. Mitch Albom is one of my favorite authors these days as his books throw a different light on death, loss and longing (in no particular order). Neeraj Ghaywan joins the elite list with Masaan. His film takes away the perceived fear and brutality of death and celebrates its inevitability.</div>
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That death is often succeeded by a numbing feeling of loss is a universal fact. And loss, either by death or by separation, is succeeded by a strong sense of longing. Masaan’s principal characters epitomize the trinity of death, loss and longing. Here are some excellently conceptualized and seamlessly executed sequences from Masaan that give us ample indication that Neeraj Ghaywan is a man who likes to keep the reality naked:</div>
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<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">In a heart wrenching sequence in the second half, Vidyadhar Pathak (played by the ever-reliable Sanjay Mishra) puts his head in his daughter Devi’s (played by a restrained Richa Chaddha) lap, a beautiful role reversal of the man-child relationship, and says sheepishly, “Hum tumhari Maa ko nahin maare hain” in a typically innocent Bihari/Eastern UP accent. Flood gates of his eyes open and the inner guilt of perhaps not having done enough to save his ailing wife shows on his face in form of helplessness and inscrutable pain. This moment of catharsis cements Pathak’s and his daughter’s weakening bond, highlights the everlasting impact of an important death and showcases how loss and longing always go hand in hand.</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Death forms an ever-lasting and sometimes chilling backdrop of Masaan. In another sequence, a reassured and madly-in-love Deepak, whose confidence is boosted by his beloved Shalu’s (played by the beautiful Shweta Tripathi) acceptance of his supposedly lowly caste and social background, is woken up by his irritable elder brother in the morning. He wants Deepak to help him in burning some of the dead bodies as the volume of work is unexpectedly large. Deepak gets on with the task with an air of nonchalance as burning dead bodies was his family’s daily job and his everyday sight. The sequence goes on and on for good 3-4 minutes with Deepak picking up dry woods, shoving limbs back in the pyre, burning dead bodies and you wonder what could be the significance of this longish sequence. The sequence finally ends when Deepak is helping his brother in lifting a dead body and putting it over the pyre. The right hand of the dead body suddenly comes out of the white shroud and Deepak notices a familiar red ring in one of the fingers. Shalu had died in a bus accident last night.</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Deepak, shocked and numbed by the cruel twist of fate and irony of circumstances, somehow manages to pull out the ring from Shalu’s finger – the only memento of their brief but breezy romance. But, that ring becomes an albatross around his neck as it keeps reminding him of his ill-fated love. He cries manically in seething pain while drinking on one of the secluded Ghats along with his bunch of caring and understanding friends. As he lets out bursts of extreme despair and frustration in loud mourning, your eyes become wet and the body shivers by the mere thought of having to face such tragic loss in life.</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Deepak eventually throws the ring into the river one fine night. The very next moment, he wants to retrieve it back as he jumps into the dark waters and swims vehemently but fails to locate the tiny ring. Towards the climax, the ring is finally retrieved by Jhonta (played by the little bombshell Nikhil Sahni) who is Vidyadhar Pathak’s tiny partner in his religious business on the Ghats. Jhonta gets his hand on the ring while having dived into the river as a part of a bizarre diving competition on the Ghats where children collect coins from the river bed while elders bet on them. Pathak bets as much as ten thousand rupees on Jhonta as he desperately needs money to pay the policeman’s ransom, but Jhonta drowns mid-way through the competition and is later hospitalized in order to be saved. Pathak loses all his money but Jhonta rekindles his hope by handing him over Shalu’s ring which would fetch some money once it is sold to a jeweler.</li>
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One man’s loss is another man’s saving grace in Masaan. Neeraj Ghaywan portrays death both as a tragedy and a symbol of hope. Deepak’s family earns money by burning dead bodies, Deepak has to see his beloved’s dead body burning before his eyes and Pathak’s life is saved by a token of someone’s lost love and tragic death. All of this unfolds in and around Ganga, the river that mostly symbolizes life but also quietly carries the dead in her womb. Masaan is a celebration of death, loss and longing. The kind of celebration that resonates in our heads for long – irrespective of how much we have loved, lost or longed ourselves.</div>
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<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">P.S. – I watched Masaan on 27<span style="border: 0px; bottom: 1ex; font-family: inherit; font-size: 9.75px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: 0px; line-height: 0; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;">th</span> July at a Delhi multiplex. The 08.35 PM show. Coincidentally, within half an hour or so, a NDTV news flash on my phone informed me about the sudden demise of former President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. Death and its contours – you can never figure it out completely.</em></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10214105240088160108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7013908425997684081.post-24381250952950904272015-07-18T11:58:00.000+05:302015-07-18T11:59:56.228+05:30Bajrangi Bhaijaan Review: Salman Doesn't Play Himself and It Works<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Salman Khan is Rambo meets Rajinikanth with a sprinkle of Robin Hood for Bollywood loving populace. The damned shirt that he wears, rips itself off his chiseled body, Munnis swoon over his dance moves, leading ladies blush every time he cracks a not-so-funny joke and most importantly the bad men remember their grannies by a mere mention of our great Indian messiah of the masses. So, it is almost unthinkable to imagine the same irrepressible Salman Khan as a simpleton who is so earnest, sweet and well-behaved that you may consider pinching yourself. Kabir Khan’s Bajrangi Bhaijaan takes a great gamble by projecting Salman as not himself but as somebody that he can perhaps never be (in real life) – and boy, the gamble pays, and pays well!<span id="more-43283" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></div>
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Let me remind you that Salman Khan as a simple and sweet guy is not a discovery of Kabir Khan. Salman of 90s was a shy but charming hero, most notably as portrayed in Sooraj Barjatya films, but it is the Salman of the post Wanted era that the audiences have lapped up with both their hands. The macho image of Bhai who is ‘Dabangg’ enough to ‘Kick’ his enemies but his also ‘Ready’ to have a bit of fun has done wonders to Salman’s career which was going through a rough patch in the mid 2000s. It is in this regard that Bajrangi Bhaijaan is both a clever and risky film for Salman Khan.</div>
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Khan plays Pavan Kumar Chaturvedi aka Bajrangi in Bajrangi Bhaijaan, a sweet buffoon who is a great devotee of Lord Hanuman but is actually good for nothing in life. But his life changes when he bumps into a 6-year old Pakistani girl Munni/Shahida (played by the cutest girl child ever – Harshaali Malhotra) who has lost her way in India. Overcoming his initial reluctance and apprehension, Pavan finally decides to take the little girl all the way to Pakistan all alone and that too without any Visa or passport! Did you just imagine Bhaijaan punching the soldiers in green in their face, driving through the roads of Karachi in his sports bike, shooting and mowing bad souls who come in the way? Well, nothing of that sort happens. And, yes I just devoted a paragraph to describe the story of a Salman Khan film! Bajrangi Bhaijaan DOES have a good story!</div>
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<img alt="bajrangi-story_647_062715064026" class="aligncenter wp-image-43289 " height="382" src="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/bajrangi-story_647_062715064026.jpg?w=605&h=382" style="clear: both; display: block; height: auto; margin: 20px auto; max-width: 100%;" width="605" /></div>
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Bajrangi Bhaijaan’s greatest strength is its simplified, or say oversimplified approach and treatment. Our hero, Bajrangi, is a devout Hanuman bhakt so he never lies, not even to the Pakistani officers who are questioning his presence in their country. Bajrangi is a noble soul, a sweetheart, so he never unnecessarily runs into Pakistani police or army, unlike Sunny Deol of Gadar. In fact, most of the times, Bajrangi is avoiding confrontation, folding hands, greeting people, sharing happiness! Ah! Say hello to new Salman Khan!</div>
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Kabir Khan tries to juxtapose formula with social messaging and mostly succeeds. In fact, his simplistic resolutions to Indo-Pak bitterness, religious orthodoxy reminds you of the unbelievable but enjoyable social problem solutions provided by Rajkumar Hirani and his team in PK and 3 Idiots. Kabir Khan does not have the finesse of a Hirani but he is good with the limited scope of story and screenplay which is at disposal. Most interestingly, he manages to extract ‘acting’ of some sorts out of Salman Khan who easily delivers one of the most important performances of his ‘acting’ career. Salman may not be a revelation in the film, he has never been one throughout his career, but he is clearly earnest, sweet and more ‘human’.</div>
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Bajrangi Bhaijaan is also catapulted by a strong support cast led by Nawazuddin Siddiqui who plays Chand Nawab, a small time reporter in Pakistan. Nawazuddin brings in his unique brand of humor and a certain earthiness to the entire proceedings. Kareena Kapoor Khan is relegated to a bit role and it is sad to see her play an almost third fiddle in the film. Sharat Saxena and Rajesh Sharma are effective in their support roles but the star of the show is the little girl, Harshaali Malhotra. The girl is brilliant given her tender age and the fact that she has no dialogues to deliver. Her pretty face, lovely smile and occasional tears smoothen the film’s blurred edges and evaporate the audiences’ fatigue, if any. The bonding of Pavan and Munni/Shahida is another high point of Bajrangi Bhaijaan. It is one of the finest rendition of ‘child and his/her protector’ relationship that we have seen in Hindi films of late.</div>
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<a href="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/nawazuddinbajrangibhaijaan.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #117bb8; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="nawazuddinbajrangibhaijaan" class="aligncenter wp-image-43290 " height="369" src="https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/nawazuddinbajrangibhaijaan.jpg?w=655&h=369" style="border: 0px; clear: both; display: block; height: auto; margin: 20px auto; max-width: 100%;" width="655" /></a></div>
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The film’s music (Pritam) is average and some of the songs add little value to the narrative. The film could have easily been trimmed by at least 15-20 minutes to make it more sleek and edgy. Nonetheless, the overall length of the film (154 minutes) never really catches on to your nerves because the narrative is nicely woven into different sequences and sub-plots. The cinematography (Aseem Mishra) captures the essence of Kashmir, Delhi and Rajasthan perfectly and the recreation of the Pakistani hinterland seems to be believable.</div>
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Bajrangi Bhaijaan may not be perfect and you may wonder at times that how can somebody be ‘so good’ or ‘so foolish’. But, Salman’s films have always been about the make-believe world. For a change, this is a Salman Khan film that does not ‘force’ you to believe, it simply makes its point in an uncomplicated manner, and you are almost swooned into the utopian world of a simpleton. It has its heart at the right place, emotions tucked in large quantities (keep tissue papers handy), and intentions mostly gentle and nice.</div>
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Watch Bajrangi Bhaijaan because it is one of the better Salman Khan films in a long long time. Yes, this one is not just about the affable Bhai but also has a lot of ‘jaan’ or life of its own. Recommended!</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Rating: ***1/2 (Very Good)</strong></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10214105240088160108noreply@blogger.com1