Film review: Krrish 3

(2 Nov 2013)

Written, produced and directed by Rakesh Roshan, Krrish 3 is quite a technical beauty and most certainly the best special-effects experience a Bollywood film has ever offered.

Vivek Oberoi, who plays the baddy Kaal, has a body whose only functioning units are the brain and the two index fingers. He must find a suitable bone marrow donor, who he strongly believes would cure him and make him the strongest living being, challenging the human race. Kangna Ranaut is Kaya – a human-like creature created by Kaal, whose aim is to spread a deadly virus among people and cause catastrophic deaths. Kaal’s research organization then earns hefty profit by selling the medicinal cure for the virus at sky-high price. One of the better dialogues in the film is when Kaal says, ‘Darr ka business is the best business’.

After battering Namibia, Kaal must confront the other side of the spectrum – the good people – when he turns his attention to the second most populous country, India, to wage a virus war. Rohit Mehra, the prodigal scientist, his son Krishna, both played by Hrithik Roshan, and his daughter-in-law Priya, essayed by Priyanka Chopra live in Mumbai and that’s the city that attracts Kaal’s wrath.

What follows is a series of fights and see-saws between the good and the evil. Rakesh Roshan does a fantastic job with the special effects. The graphics, for a Bollywood film, are too good to look unreal. Krrish’s sky-jumps, maneuvering between tall buildings, the fight sequences, and especially one scene when Krrish helps an airplane land safely are done with niche mastery.

The story isn’t original, nor is it unique, and the director does average justice in his defense. This isn’t the type of movie where you look for actors’ performances. He’s however injected romance, emotion and action in a decent proportion. 

I’m going with 3.5 out of 5 for Rakesh Roshan’s latest offering from the Krrish franchise. While kids will find the movie quite entertaining, I guess it won’t disappoint the adult audience too!

Film Review: The Lunchbox

(27 Sep 2013)

There is something about Ritesh Batra’s directorial venture, ‘The Lunchbox’, that goes beyond all the Oscar-buzz it created. That perhaps is best explained by the film’s simplicity; an artful trait often forgotten by most films.

The film revolves around the two protagonists: a dutiful housewife who feels repeatedly ignored by her husband, and a widower on the verge of his retirement from a government firm. There is a sense of unusual affection that the two gradually develops for each other through a series of letters exchanged in the lunch box that Ila – played by the classy Nimrat Kaur – used to send to her husband. Thanks to the ‘dabba-walas’, the lunch box ended up getting wrongly delivered every day to Saajan, exceptionally screened by Irrfan Khan. This aged character that Irrfan does absolute justice to, is probably one of his best performances till date. Nimrat too pulls out a startling exhibition of her talent.

The story is so honestly written, it does not need to try to be accepted as possible. The upstairs neighbor who Ila calls ‘aunty’ never appears on screen, yet casts a gripping spell with the spontaneity of emotions and well-timed laughter. Between Irrfan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui – who is poised to replace Saajan after his retirement – there are many moments full of human sentiments as well as rich humor.

The narration of Saajan’s observation of the evolution of the affection for Ila is like a journey one would easily sail along. One of the best scenes in the movie is when Siddiqui introduces Saajan to his ladylove. Saajan wants to soak in the youthful fantasy of a female companion, as he says, “My wife is no more; but I have a girlfriend”.

It is for the audience to discover what happens to what some would call an ‘affair’ between perhaps an apple and an orange. What is assured of however is that you will experience a sequence of events unfolding in front of yourself as if reality was on play. Kudos to Ritesh Batra for his consistent mastery through the length of the film. He would have been extremely proud to represent India at the Oscars, but then here is a delicious classic that the director has served us so well, we could do without that trophy!

I am going with 4.5 out of 5 for this prosaic poem. Do watch The Lunchbox if you feel hungry for some truly good cinematic work. 

Film Review: Satyagraha

That Prakash Jha has drawn real-life inspiration from the Anna Hazare-led anti-corruption crusade is pretty obvious from his protagonists in the film Satyagraha. A retired school principal played by the classy Amitabh Bachchan – revered for his ideological high ground – wages a war against the systematic corruption practiced by the political and bureaucratic class of Ambikapur district. The ‘revolution’ has its birth rooted in a slap that the ex-principal awards the District Collector with.

What follows is a sequence of first non-violent and then violent protests, led by a once-corrupt corporate guru, Manav Raghavendra, exceptionally essayed by Ajay Devgn, who proves once again why he is a metal different from the fleet of mere stars and actors of Bollywood.

Arjun Rampal plays a local ‘dada’ who too joins the movement, along with a news reporter, Yasmin, portrayed by Kareena Kapoor. Arjun’s character is like a cursed spirit wandering aimlessly in search of some direction by others, and needless to say he does what he does best – anything but act! The romantic chemistry between Ajay and Kareena evaporates much before it dissolves.

Moments worth remembering in the film are far too less to intrigue your senses. I personally liked two mourning scenes, one when Ajay breaks down in the corner of a terrace remembering his dear friend, and the other when Amitabh tries to ‘feel’ his departed son on the highway in wee hours.

This is a casually written story and an ill-conceptualised script. What is sad is in a film of this serious genre, you are more likely to remember Manoj Bajpai – who plays a corrupt minister – for his semi-comical dialogues.

I am going with two out of five for Prakash Jha’s Satyagraha. The director sure needs to go back to the drawing board, do some genuine soul-searching before he attempts to tell us his next contemporary story, and expects us to believe in that!

(6 Sep 2013)

Film Review: Kahaani (9 March 2012)

The ‘kahaani’ begins with a pregnant Vidya Bagchi – the lead protagonist played by Vidya Balan – landing at the Kolkata International Airport, at a time when the city is gearing up for the Durga Puja celebration. She goes to a police station to report her missing husband, who had come to Kolkata from London – that’s where the couple lives – for some office work. Vidya goes from the pillar to the post; but every potential clue to her husband’s whereabouts eludes her each time. She finds a good pal in Rana, a police sub inspector, played by the sober Parambrata Chatterjee, who realizes that a lady at a mature stage of her pregnancy in an unknown city needs support for her mission.

What follows is quite a spectacular show.

Vidya Balan once again stands out with her out of the world performance. Probably no one else could be even half as good as she is through the length of the film. It is pale predictable ritual then that all her co-stars are reduced to mere supporting actors. It is Vidya’s story and all the other characters revolve around her, and the director’s mastery is in the way he weaves them at the right time at the right place.

The story is genuine, storytelling is magnetic and the script is near flawless with only a few microscopic dots. The audience becomes a prisoner of the director’s scheme of things as he paints the landscape with uncanny surprises. Towards the end, the Durga immersion ceremony is perfectly blended with the film’s climax.

The movie leaves you spellbound when the real ‘kahaani’ unfolds. One of the best synchronized moments is the last scene when a Durga idol slowly sinks into the water, while Amitabh Bachchan renders his voice in the background.

This is exactly the kind of movie we need to rid our Hindi film industry of the curse of shameless remakes and senseless sequels.

I’m going with 4 out of 5 for Sujoy Ghosh’s outstanding thriller drama, Kahaani. Watch it if you love the art of cinema!

Film Review: The Dirty Picture (7 Dec 2011)

Watching The Dirty Picture tempts you to feel you have one of those x-rated films playing out in front of you. But there are some outstanding elements in the film that rescue it from the jaws of that stigma, which is why I’m going with 3 out of 5 for Milan Luthria’s on-screen portrayal of the life and times of Silk Smitha, the south Indian sex-idol from the 1980s.

Rajat Aroraa does not have to toil hard to write the story as it evolves itself into the next chapter. One of the things that however fails the movie is the poor story-telling, which desperately tries to capitalize on the superbly written dialogues. In fact The Dirty Picture can boast of the smartest and the wittiest dialogues that a Bollywood film has offered in a really long time. Vidya Balan, the leading lady and the actual ‘hero’ in the movie, delivers an outstandingly thumping performance. Emraan Hashmi’s character Abraham is no different from his other five films, and his acting style is more than just repetitive, even though he does proper justice to his role as a film director with ‘ethics’. Naseeruddin Shah’s role of a Tamil superstar does not demand any challenging performances, and Tusshar Kapoor’s character is much less important than that of a supporting actor.

The movie attempts to expose the hypocrisy in the so-called gentlemen’s society where men secretly soak in the fantasy of the female body, yet wear the mask of ignorance in the open. In the run up to this, Milan Luthria himself tries to cash in on Vidya Balan’s overly exposing stances!

By the time Silk – after repeatedly being physically exploited which she eventually uses to her professional advantage – discovers true love in Abraham, she has been reduced to a lost glory. She stares at the naked reality of her lust for fame and sky-high vanity in her popularity. In the end, she realizes overdose of nothing lasts forever.

Though Vidya Balan is not in her best shape, she would not disappoint you if all you wanted to see is her. Watch the film for two things: Vidya’s performance and the film’s powerful dialogues.

Film Review: ‘IN TIME’ (12 Oct 2011)

(12 Oct 2011)

What starts with a lot of unique promise falls apart as the story in the Justin Timberlake starrer ‘In Time’ unfolds. I’m going with 3.5 out of 5 for Andrew Niccol’s attempt at telling a story about a world where ‘time’ replaces ‘money’ as the currency. Here’s why.

The film is based on a time and place that sees people not ageing beyond their twenty fifth year, provided they buy themselves time. This is the part of the world where you’re known by how many years you’ve earned yourself after attaining the magical age of 25. The story reveals the inherent human desire to become immortal. Yet the truth is: not everybody can be immortal as you need to ‘earn’ immortality, which means few people would live for thousands of years at the cost of others’ lives. This is where Justin Timberlake, the main protagonist in the film, has a serious objection; more so after he helplessly witnesses his mother’s time out (death).

This is the kind of movie that does not put the actors to the performance-litmus-test. The story-telling is more or less smooth, but is flawed in certain areas. The not-so-well-written script does not do justice to the wonderful concept of the story. As you try to get engrossed, you know for sure that the project could have been handled in a more proficient manner.

While I give a big thumbs up for the story written by Andrew Niccol himself, and for some really intense sequences of events in the movie, I also wish the director was a little more creatively careful.

Go watch the movie in case what turns you on is an exciting story and not necessarily the on-screen translation of the same!

Bengali Movie Review: Baishe Srabon

 (29 Oct 2011)

Srijit Mukherji delivers a stunning masterpiece in the form of Baishe Srabon. What begins with a mysterious murder ends with the final one at the final moment of the film. I’m giving 4.5 out of 5 to this poetic thriller film.

Baise Srabon – which in Bengali means the twenty second day of the month of Srabon – lives through the promise that the story mounts early on. A series of street-killing of innocent people rocks Kolkata, with a seemingly clueless police force chewing their own thumbs. The commonness in the murders is chits of old Bengali poems that the killer leaves by the side of the dead bodies, apparently offering hard-nut clues to the motive and mode of the murders. But as is evident, the police department simply fails to read between the lines.

The overall fertile acting department in this film – even Raima Sen pulls off an above mediocre performance, something not known of her – gets an uppish boost with the entry of a sacked cop, Probir, played by the talented Prosenjit, who is brought in to the case after a string of persuading campaigns.

Gautam Ghosh brilliantly plays an eccentric poet who believes he has some divine connection with Rabindranath Tagore, and also laments the lack of recognition of his poetic talent by publishing houses. The obvious fallout of which is an ever-increasing vengeance in him to go on a killing spree.

The film is smartly studded with adult vocabulary; the timing and cleverness of the dialogue delivery shall make you laugh it out and still feel engrossed and engaged. The songs are not shot around the garden or the trees and only complement the flow of story-telling. All the protagonists in the film stand out with their performances; my favorites are Prosenjit and Gautam Ghosh.

The director stupendously succeeds in taking control of your mind and attention as the story unfolds in its unique fashion, offering you an almost unthinkable twist right after you thought the film was over.

This certainly is one of the films that Bengali cinema can ride on, in redeeming some of its lost pride. Watch it before someone reveals to you who the serial killer was!