In 2010 came “Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai” and it was a pretty good film. In 2013 it comes again, or rather a sequel comes again; hence the expressive title, I assume :-). Akshay Kumar, Imraan Khan and Sonakshi Sinha star, Sonakshi suddenly in a spurt of roles which actually require acting (her most recent one being Lootera).
This comes to a theatre near you (hopefully) on the 15th of August.
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[/amazon_link]– Muriel’s Wedding (1994) : Toni Collette can certainly pick her movies. From the lovely “Little Miss Sunshine” to “About A Boy” to “Emma”, she brings grace and charm to every character she portrays. Here she plays Muriel Heslop, a very put-upon small-town girl with low self-esteem. She lives a fairly, dull uneventful life in Porpoise Spit, Australia and spends much of her time dreaming about her wedding day. Then she gets a chance to leave Porpoise Spit and move to the big city . . .
– Antardwand (Hindi, 2008) : A fantastic little Hindi film, Antardwand very deservedly won the National Award for Best Film. I’ve reviewed it here.
– Sleepwalk With Me (Australia, 2012) : This is a very off-beat film about a comedian who has sleep-walking issues. Mike Birbiglia is Matt, a struggling comedian, who’s taking low-paying comedy gigs across the country, trying to keep alive his relationship with his girlfriend and deal with his sleep-walking issues at the same time.
– A Very Long Engagement (“Un long dimanche de fiançailles”, France, 2004, subtitled) : Audrey Tatou is Mathilde, a determined young woman in France, and fiancee to a man who disappeared in battle during World War 1. In the film, Mathilde tries to find out what happened to her fiance. Mathilde is lame from polio, but her quick mind and resourcefulness help in her investigation.
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[/amazon_link]- Butter (2011) : There are apparently butter-sculpting contests (I did not know this). This film is about one such contest.
Jennifer Garner stars as Laura, wife of butter-carving state champ Bob (Ty Burrell). When Bob decides to not compete anymore to give others a chance at winning, ambitious Laura, who’s hoped to ride her husband’s coattails to the State Governor’s mansion as First Lady of Iowa, is crestfallen and angered so much so that she decides to enter the county competition herself. Her only serious competition is Destiny, an African-American child who’s still getting to know her foster parents.
Rating : 4/5
Genre : Bio-pic
Year : 2013
Running time : 3 hours 7 minutes
Director : Rakesh Om Prakash Mehra
Cast : Farhan Akhtar, Pawan Malhotra, Divya Dutta, Sonam Kapoor, Yograj Singh, Art Malik
Kid rating : PG-13
I might be overstating this, but I was initially aghast at the poor ratings Bhaag Milkha Bhaag was garnering. The director of BMB Rakesh Mehra can do no wrong in my eyes. After all, he has given us films like Rang De Basanti and Delhi 6, and the sinister Bajpai starrer Aks. How could BMB be anything less than stellar? Yeah, well I was right and the others wrong 🙂 . BMB is a great film!
Bhaag Milkha Bhaag is based on The Flying Sikh Milkha Singh. The film traces Milkha’s life right from the days of partition to Milkha’s forays into small-time crime, and then to his Army days where he is recognized as the natural athlete he is. A simple man from the villages, Milkha grows into a dedicated sportsman and director Mehra presents this momentous journey very well.
Biopics tend to become documentary-like, but Mehra maintains a fine balance in this film; BMB is a good mix of arty and commercial cinema. It is Milkha’s Singh’s story alright, but with enough personal anecdotes (some fact and some fiction) to keep it interesting. It is an ode to the man himself, who went through considerable personal struggle and tragedy, and displayed exemplary courage and will-power to become one of the foremost athletes of India.
BMB is also a slice of history. There is major tragedy and upheaval in Milkha’s life, as there was for millions of others – the upheaval of having to leave your home, friends and the life you had known and relocate to a new and different country, penniless and friendless. After the partition Milka, then a child, finds himself alone and distraught in one of the many refugee camps in the newly formed India. Milkha’s adult life is built from scratch in India, away from the village of his hometown in current Pakistan.
Despite the commercial aspect – the songs and the requisite gaana-bajana – the film remains true to its spirit. The characters in the film are strung together with emotion. There is Milkha’s large family in Pakistan, a gaggle of parents, aunts, uncles and siblings headed by the patriarch – Milkha’s father (Art Malik). There are Milkha’s childhood friends and then there are his friends in the Army, especially his two coaches who believe in him and urge him to greater heights, despite his initial failures.
Farhan Akhtar plays the lead role here – a fine, fine portrayal of the athlete. He is ably supported by the fabulous Divya Dutta who plays his elder sister Isri, and by Pavan Malhotra who plays his first coach Gurudev Singh. There is also Punjabi actor and cricketer Yuvraj Singh’s father Yograj Singh as Indian coach Ranveer Singh. Prakash Raj (the villain from Singham) appears in a small role.
This is a fine film, and another feather in the cap for director Mehra.
Kidwise : A decent watch for the kids, but this does have scenes of partition-era violence – i.e.; men brandishing swords, and numerous bodies in pools of blood. There is also a love-making scene.
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Rating : 3.5/5
Genre : Romance
Year : 2013
Running time : 2 hours 15 minutes
Director : Vikramaditya Motwane
Cast : Sonakshi Sinha, Ranveer Singh, Barun Chanda, Divya Dutta, Adil Hussain, Vikrant Massey, Arif Zakaria
Kid rating : PG-13
Pakhi Roychowdhury (Sonakshi Sinha) is the only daughter of a the rich widowed zamindar of Manikpur (Barun Chanda). Varun Srivastav (Ranveer Singh) is an archeologist who comes to their village hoping to dig for a lost civilization below the ancestral mandir. Permission is granted for the excavation and Varun and his good friend (Vikrant Massey) begin work. They also, on invitation, move into the zamindar’s haveli. Pakhi and Varun fall in love, but Varun seems distraught, as though torn about his commitment to Pakhi.
This movie comes to us via the director of Udaan, so I had high expectations of it. The trailer promised an intricately wrought, thoughtful film on life and love. Well that much is true; the film is indeed intricately detailed and thoughtfully developed. The cinematography is beautiful with each frame composed keeping emotion and hue in mind. The film is based in the 1950s, a time just post-independence (there is a mention of how the new Indian government is considering abolishing the zamindari system), and the sets, clothes, music and the settings do justice to the time-period.
The actors seem to have had adequate direction from Motwane. Sonakshi as feisty Pakhi, delivers an outstanding performance as the poor little rich girl, with a hankering for the not-so-suitable. Ranveer is very good also, although I felt his performance a little watered down towards the end. Barun Chanda who plays Sonakshi’s doting father is impeccable, oozing class and charisma befitting his age, with a sonorous voice to match. Divya Dutta, Vikrant Massey, Arif Zakaria and Adil Hussain (of English Vinglish fame) manage to impress in their small roles.
In spite of all that good karma, this film still comes in at just about average. The pace is slow and plodding, and the romantic chemistry is missing. The second half of the film is based on O. Henry’s “The Last Leaf” which is kind of jaded; if only I had a penny for every time I’ve seen an interpretation of The Last Leaf – it seems to be a favorite of desi directors everywhere! The actors portrayed their characters well, but I was not too entranced by the characters themselves. Pakhi seems a spoilt little rich girl, used to her creature comforts, and her servants – to pick up after her and take the fall for her mistakes. Varun fared only a little bit better, and I felt for him because of his desperate circumstances and his large debt; inspite of his large transgressions he at least had some redeeming qualities. It wasn’t enough though, to make me like them or to hope for their living happily ever after – I really didn’t care.
I hear the film being lauded as a masterpiece. So be it. Only it is a masterpiece which failed to move me.
Kidwise : Some adult situations – probably OK for 13+. Film is dialogue heavy and might be boring for a younger audience.
Rating : 4/5
Genre : Drama
Year : 2011
Running time : 1 hour 43 minutes
Director : Dibakar Banerjee
Cast : Nusrat Bharucha, Neha Chauhan, Raj Kumar Yadav, Anshuman Jha, Herry Tangri, Arya Banerjee, Amit Sial
Kid rating : A
I’ve been trying to watch this film for a very long time. It wasn’t avaibale in the local desi stores; in fact most of the shopkeepers hadn’t even heard of the name. Finally I’ve found the film at spuul.com.
This has three stories, each displaying a different emotion. The stories are interconnected in that the characters in the story know the ones in the other stories. The first is about film actress Shruti Dahiya (Nusrat Bharucha) and film director Rahul Kumar (Anshuman Jha). This is Rahul’s first film, a low-budget one in which Shruti stars. Shruti and Rahul both have big ambitions and want to be together but Shruti’s father, a boorish, greedy sort of a man has other plans for her.
The second is about Shruti’s friend Rashmi (Neha Chauhan). A fatherless girl Rashmi works as a shopgirl in a big department store. Typically middle-class, she keeps to herself and won’t hobnob with Adarsh (Raj Kumar Yadav of Kai Po Che fame) who also works in the store, although he tries very hard to strike up a friendship with her. Adarsh is in some financial trouble and is being threatened by goons. His friend suggests a way out, a way that involves Rashmi.
The third story is about Prabhat, who gets shot in Rashmi’s department store. He is a journalist wishing to do real investigative work, but his editor is only interested in the scandals that will make news. One day Prabhat saves a girl Mrignaina (Arya Banerjee) from commiting suicide, and she tells him about singer Loki Local (Herry Tangri) and promises to get him a scoop.
This is an offbeat sort of a film. A lot of the film is viewed via cameras being held by the characters in the film. In the first, the protagonist is a director so we see many of the shots via his camera. In the second, the store in which Rashmi works has recently been fitted with surveillance cameras so we see much of the action via those. In the third the protagonist is a cameramen who takes his camera everywhere.
The film’s characters are etched with care and in great detail – quite commendable since each story is short and the film itself runs under 2 hours. The actors are fantastic. The stories showcase the grimy side of contemporary life – it is a commentary on the hypocrisy, greed and double-standards of society. Money rules. Characters, especially the women are straight-jacketed in society’s diktats of morality – so-called honor is highly valued but perceived to be easily lost.
A very good watch – highly recommended.
Rating : 3/5
Genre : Romance
Year : 2013
Running time : 2 hours 10 minutes
Director : Mohit Suri
Cast : Aditya Roy Kapur, Shraddha Kapoor, Shaad Randhawa
Kid rating : PG-13
Rahul is a singer. We meet him when he is past his career’s prime, because of his alcoholism. One day, wandering about in a drunken haze in Goa, he comes across a singer in a beer bar. Entranced with the quality of her singing, he promises her singing stardom and does his best to promote her. Arohi Keshav Shirke (Shraddha) in due course becomes a big singer and also Rahul’s girlfriend. He loves her and she him, so what can possibly go wrong?
This is Aashiqui #2 from the Bhatt stable – you might remember the first one with floppy haired heartthrob Rahul Roy and Anu Agarwal. Aditya and Shraddha Kapoor star here. Neither of them display mature acting, so the film’s kind of a washout from that side of things. Their freshness and innocence, especially Shraddha’s, does partially redeem the effort, but doesn’t make this sub-par film watchable. She is the daughter of yesteryear villain Shakti Kapoor and Himangi Kolhapure (sister of film actress Padmini Kolhapure) and first appeared in the regrettable Luv ka the End, as the lead. That film, I believe, sank like a stone, as it should have. Aditya has recently appeared in Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani as Bunny’s friend Avi, and did seem to do well. So the dismal performance here is either first-film jitters or the fact that director Mohit Suri couldn’t eke it out of him like Ayan Mukherjee could.
Both actors show promise for future films if they can get a grip. Shraddha Kapoor is pretty enough (she goes on her mother, thankfully) and given a good director and some acting classes could do well in the industry. Aditya is good-looking in a gaunt, nerdy sort of a way – I can’t see him as leading man, but he’ll probably do well in multi-starrer films where the weight of the film isn’t on his broad shoulders alone.
Besides the (lack of) acting, the film suffers on scripting. The screenplay is jittery, given to fits and starts and awkward transitions. The story is as dull as ditch-water, and the characters not much better. Rahul seems to be a thoughtless cad given to extremes, smashing household items to smithereens and getting into brawls and fights, and Aarohi for all her love never can quite take a stand – she is the (problematic) epitome of the suffering Indian woman. I wasn’t invested in either’s well-being, so the film never quite takes off. The film’s characters are drawn with broad brush-strokes and colored in black and white – very little room for nuance or finesse here.
True to the Bhatt standards however, the film does have some nice melodies. There is “Tum hi ho” and “Chahoon Main Aana” which he sings to her and then she resings. Other than that, this film is a tepid watch. Instead of that, see this.
Genre : Comedy/Suspense
Year : 2013
Running time : 2 hours 17 minutes
Director : Rajkumar Gupta
Cast : Emraan Hashmi, Vidya Balan, Rajesh Sharma, Namit Das, Parvin Dabbas
Kid rating : PG-15
Now, Ghanchakkar is directed by Raj Kumar Gupta, the director of “No one killed Jessica”, which was OK, and “Aamir” which was fabulous. Given his more than decent track record I had high hopes from Ghanchakkar. Friday dawns and with it come the negative reviews. I was determined to watch this film though, because I didn’t think that Gupta could have stooped so low. And was I right! Despite all the poor reviews it is getting, I have to say that this film comes through – it is a pretty good comedy/thriller.
Sanjay Athray (Hashmi) is a top-notch safe-cracker/thief. Having decided to leave all his bad ways behind and walk the straight and narrow he is tempted into one last bank job by Pandit (Rajesh Sharma) and Idris (Namit Das). The robbery is a success and Sanjay and his partners decide to let things cool off and meet up again in three months to divvy up the loot. The money meanwhile, remains with Sanjay.
After three months, Pandit and Idris contact Sanjay but he refuses to recognize them. He’s apparently suffering from amnesia, because of an accident – i.e.; he’s forgotten certain things while remembering others. The money is one of the things he has forgotten about, along with his association with Pandit and Idris. Or at least, that’s what he says . . .
Ghanchakkar has a set of marvelous characters. There is Sanjay Atre himself – goofy and given to vacant stares, and his wife Neetu (Vidya Balan) a stout Punjaban who fancies herself well-dressed and “modern”. Then there are the bad guys – Pandit, an oily, avuncular goon, all stained teeth and cheap safari suit, and Idris, a rash, trigger-happy, youngblood. All four roles are essayed beautifully. Everyone is spot-on, except for one minor irritation – Vidya’s on-again-off-again Punjabi accent. She tries really hard too. She swallows the vowels like any self-respecting small-town Punjaban would – she says “Bhrosa” instead of “Bharosa” (meaning trust), and does a “hain?” like she means it, but on the whole it doesn’t sound very authentic. A flaw, but a very, very minor one.
Here a word about Vidya Balan and what a superb actress she is. As Neetu she appears in the most outlandish clothing – large crocheted hairbands with humongous bows, frilly capris, deconstructed blouses, misshapen mini-skirts and cleavage-revealing negligees with built-in-guitars (too weird to explain – hopefully you’ve seen the trailer). In short she has ghastly taste, but is sure she has a great flair for dressing and no one, least of all her husband, can appreciate it. Balan is not the thinnest of actresses and looks especially fattened up for this role. And despite all this, the woman looks beautiful, and acts the heck out of this role. She IS Neetu, so seeped in the character is she.
The film’s plot is punctuated by vignettes of humor. There is the recurring joke about Neetu’s clothes, and another about her terrible cooking. The dialogues are apt and so, so fabulous. While the film’s plot hinges around the missing money, the body of the film deals with the angst arising from it – the tension between Sanjay and Neetu, and the sliminess that pervades the atmosphere whenever Pandit and Idris come around sniffing for their money.
The film is decently paced. It doesn’t get to solving the money issue very quickly obviously, and spends it’s time developing the characters – time enough for us to get into their heads, and wonder who the liar is in these four goofballs. I’m really pleased with this film. I think it could have been tighter and avoided the few cliched pitfalls it did have, which is why it comes in at a rating of 3.8, instead of a full 4.
Regardless, this is a great watch – go see it.
Kidwise : Ghanchakkar has many adult situations and dialogues, which might be OK for 15+ and older. Also the movie is dialogue-heavy and will probably bore younger kids.
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[/amazon_link]– Warrior (USA, 2011) : This stars Nick Nolte, Tom Hardy and Joel Edgarton as a family of MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) fighters. The estranged brothers, played by Hardy and Edgarton vie to win the high-prize-money Sparta title, and their ex-alcoholic father is caught in the middle. Fairly violent – lots of MMA bouts, but a great watch.
– October Sky (USA, 1999) : A young school kid (Jake Gyllenall) has science on the brain, but his inquisitive spirit and dreams of building a rocket are derided by his coal-miner father (Chris Cooper). Based on the true story of Homer Hickam, this is a family-friendly watch.
– Meet Joe Black (USA, 1998) : Brad Pitt is Death. When he comes to pluck media mogul Bill Parrish from the living, Parrish makes a deal with him. Now Death takes up residence in his palatial home, but soon starts developing an interest in Parrish’s lovely daughter Susan. I hadn’t watched this classic when it first came out, and had expected a morbid film; it surprised me.
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[/amazon_link]- Jane Eyre (USA, 1996) : Based on Charlotte Bronte’s novel, this stars William Hurt and French actress Charlotte Gainsbourg. If you like movie adaptations of favorite classics, this one’s for you.
– I do (“Prête-moi ta main”, France, 2006, subtitled) : This was a lovely romantic film, full of the little quirks and nuances that characterize French films. 41 year old bachelor Luis (Alain Chabat) is happy with his life but is being pressured by his strong-willed mother and sisters to get married. To fool them and still maintain his bachelorhood, Luis contracts with Emma (Charlotte Gainsbourg) to pose as his fiancé and then ditch him at the altar.
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Rating : 3/5
Genre : Romance
Year : 2013
Running time : 2 hours 20 minutes
Director : Anand L. Rai
Cast : Dhanush, Sonam Kapoor, Abhay Deol, Kumud Mishra, Swara Bhaskara, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayub, Shilpi Marwaha , Vipin Sharma
Kid rating : PG
I went in to see Raanjhanaa with moderate expectations. Director Anand Rai did give us “Tanu vs. Manu”, but there is also Dhanush to contend for here. I came away with my moderate expectations satisfied – the film was breezy and beautiful in the first half, but the post-interval phase was a disappointment.
The son of a Benarasi priest, Hindu Kundan Shankar (Dhanush) has been in love with wealthy Muslim Zoya Haider (Sonam Kapoor) for as long as he can remember. She blows hot and cold, wily and innocent by turns, when it suits her. He, undaunted, pursues her in a most stalker-ish fashion (read eve-teasing/sexual molestation in it’ s small-town avatar), threatening to slit his wrists if she doesn’t succumb to his (non-existent) charms. Zoya’s parents affronted by her audacity at continuing a mild flirtation with a Hindu boy ship her off to her phuphi’s (aunt : father’s sister) in Aligarh. From there Zoya moves on to studying at JNU, Delhi. Here she meets student leader Akram (Abhay Deol) and falls for him.
Dhanush, complacent in his love, waits for Zoya to return to Benares. He feels jilted when he finds out that she loves another, but there is nothing he can do about it, is there?
The first half of the film flows easy and smooth. Characters are well-drawn and director Rai displays the same knack for bringing small-town UP (Uttar Pradesh) to the screen as he did in ”Tanu vs. Manu”. There is humor and romance; momentous events pile up right before the interval, and I’m waiting to dig into the second half. Post-interval however, the film loses steam. The narrative plot gets jumbled. Large swathes of the film are spent on the JNU campus and in Delhi, with not much happening. The end is fickle and patchy.
Dhanush plays the role of a small-town, indigent, not-very-educated, not-good-looking man in the film. His love, Zoya, by contrast, is wealthy, beautiful, well-educated and has seen the world outside their little town. There is no match here. He, blind to these disparities, still pines for her, and expects her to return the fervor. Dhanush and Sonam, both good actors, do very well here. It is a pity that their characters have so many negative shades to them. She is wily and capricious, mindful only of her wants. He, besotted, is callous towards everyone but her. I didn’t feel very much for either one of them.
The supporting cast, though, brings the film big brownie points. Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub plays Kundan’s good friend Murari and Swara Bhaskar plays Bindiya, who is very much in love with Kundan and not afraid to show it – Kundan pays her no heed and uses her abominably. Both Ayub and Bhaskar are fabulous and I liked them much more than the leads – I wish the film had been about them instead. Kumud Misra, who you might recognize as “Khatana-bhai” from Rockstar, is fantastic here as Zoya’s father. Vipin Sharma, in a smaller role is just as good as Kundan’s Tamilian father.
A good romance should make you feel like the lead pair must end up together. Here, I didn’t feel that way, and because the film purports to be a romance, in my view it fails. Hence the low rating. Dhanush, for all his acting, has neither the looks, the physique nor the charisma of a leading man – I am rather under-whelmed by this hero. But, it’s not all his fault. The real problem here is unsympathetic characters – if I can’t feel for my hero/heroine, how am I even going to care how they end up?
Raanjhanaa is an average watch – you’re sure to be entertained in the first half; just bear through the second.
Kidwise : There is some surprisingly colorful language here – in true UP-ite flavor. The dialogs get pretty crude at times, so watch out for that. Other than that, the film is clean, although younger kids are bound to get rather bored in the less-action-only-dialog second half.
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A Divisive Watch: My Take on Dhurandar
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Aspirants Series Review : A Must-Watch!
Abir Gulaal Movie Review: No Rom, Only Com
Meiyazhagan : Poetry in motion
Raat Jawaan Hai: A Heartwarming Slice of Life
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Movie Review : Queen (2014)
Movie Review : Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani (2013)
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