Movie Review: Bol : Heart-rending despite hiccups

Even as a woman is condemned to be hanged in Pakistan, her last wish is to be allowed to tell her story to the world from the gallows. Even as newspaper reporters and the TV media collect below her, she begins her tale.

Somewhere in bustling Lahore, a Hakim (Manzar Sehbai) in want of a son forces his wife to give birth to seven daughters. After the eighth-born boy is discovered to be a hermaphrodite, the eldest daughter Zainub (Humaima Malik) decides that enough is enough, and has a vasectomy done on the mother. The tyrannical father, feeding the family on a dwindling income, is enraged at the turn of events. The fiery venom from the father’s mouth finds its answers in only Zainub, even as the Hakim interprets religion to suit his interests. The women are not allowed to leave the house, nor are they allowed to study. The neighbours try to secretly help, with the son allowed to venture out to earn from his passion for drawing, and tragedy follows. Repression has never done anyone any good.

Pakistani Director Shoaib Mansoor’s last release, the sincere Khuda Ke Liye (2007) had a genuine issue, and more so, does Bol. The proceedings could have had a tighter screenplay at instances, and there a few over-the-top moments, the effect in totality is devastating to a degree. The consequences of suppressing human freedom, the caged lives of woman, and the dreariness of a compromise-filled life is all brought to the surface. A must watch.

Clean Slate
Note has to be made of the performances, all up to the mark, with the famous singer Atif Aslam making it to the supporting cast. Again, as in Khuda Ke Liye, the soundtrack is clean and heart-felt, Indian Hindi film composers can certainly learn the importance of not mashing in western elements for the sake of sounding cool. The standouts and these are not the only ones – two Atif-Hadiqa duets Hona tha pyar and Kaho aaj bol do.

Movie Review: Not a Love Story: Real to Reel Turmoil

Ram Gopal Varma’s most engaging and path breaking films, notably Satya (1998) and Company (2002) were inspired from real-life incidents. We didn’t mind gangsters adding up the body count then. The main protagonists, played up as anti-heroes, got little sympathy that when they got the bullet, it was as if they deserved it. Then there was always a good wrap of fiction and tight story-telling in these stories. We could easily distance ourselves from comparison to a Dawood Ibrahim or a Chota Rajan. Disassociated, yet engaged in the myth of the characters.

“What did happen?” is a tantalizing question. RGV’s latest, though said to be only ‘inspired’ by the 2008 Grover murder case, can’t distance itself from what really happened. Robin (Deepak Dobriyal) and Anushka (Mahie Gill) are lovers in a nameless city. The girl aspires to be a Hindi film heroine, and a possessive Robin finally relents, and Anushka leaves for Mumbai. She lives alone in her fifth storey flat, constantly been at auditions, meeting similarly zealous friends and talking to Robin on the cell phone. Her hopes for a lead part are dashed again and again, until Ashish (Ajay Gehl); a film producer finalizes her for an upcoming movie. Elated, Anushka informs Robin and parties all night with Ashish and her friends. A turn of events leads to a one-night stand between Ashish and Anushka at her flat. Meanwhile Robin, getting no response of his calls, arrives the next morning to surprise Anushka. Even as a tense, disturbed Anushka fumbles at the door, in a burst of realization and fury, Robin ending up killing a naked Ashish with a knife. The story then traces the disposal of the body, the discovery and the court trail of the doomed lovers.

Voyeuristic camera works  

The main shutter is the script which imitates real incidents faithfully, and displays what most of the audience mostly knows through TV news channels and newspapers. So it boils down to the treatment and intensity. The hand held camera is effective in parts, especially in scenes to convey Anushka’s shock. It is also overtly voyeuristic in Anushka’s close ups. Cleavage and thighs on your face to convey a woman’s allure? The Sandeep Chowta background score has its moments early in the movie - Ominous grating bits of the local train, fluttering pigeons, the extended door bell ring and the fish bowl gurgle. The court trail part is cliched and the end goes awry, making odd martyrs out of the doomed lovers, bordering on disgust.

The performances of Dobriyal, Gill and Zakir Hussain as the grim cop do salvage some scenes. Not A Love Story may be rebellious stuff; but its purpose is nowhere to be seen. On introspection; RGV could have used elements like the possessive lover and the film world to make probably, a less-gruesome, more insightful fictionized story. To sum up; we, the cinema goer, forgive RGV this one in memory of all the delicious cuts he has given before. Hey, we didn’t mind the two-part Rakht Charitra (2010) as much.

Fitting in

As a veiled Anushka is led to a police jeep, hounded by media persons, the soundtrack finally finds its apt moment.

Movie Review: Singham: Promoting Violence as Populist Culture (Yet Again)

Thankfully, this remake of the Tamil original Singam (2010) is loud and playful in its violence, that the grimness and coarseness of the act doesn't come through, as it did in, Anil Sharma's Gadar: Ek Prem Katha (2001) and similar 'body count' movies. Neither does it have the little spark (beneath the redundancy) that Anubhav Kashyap's Dabangg (2010) had.

You have seen it all before, the good cop, bad man act. In true Hindi film and South Indian 'hero is god' mode, Bajirao Singham (Ajay Devgn, good act) is a no-nonsense, ferocious police inspector of a village in the outskirts of the director's favourite setting - Goa. His nemesis is the corrupt, aspiring politician, Jaikanth Shikre (Prakash Raj, superb in the exaggerated tone of the film), with whom our hero has a series of face-offs that forms the bulk of the movie. The heroine (Kajal Agarwal) is more about filling the mandatory formula, than to do anything with the story.

So fantastic and comic-book style are the film's elements that Rohit Shetty could have well made a good cop spoof movie out of it. All it needed was little tweaks in the screenplay. Alas, such is not the case, and we are full of laughs - both intentional and otherwise.

Much of the film's flair comes from the Singham-Shikre confrontations, mostly devoid of action, instead packed with engaging, over-the-top dialogue. Raj gets some quaint, crazy lines, which he pulls off superbly well, a mercurial performance. The action has Shetty's four-wheeler fetish coming up again, more of them are crashed and banged in style. The bare-handed punches are tried, tired territory, Devgn's newly acquired six-pack body only adds to the fantasy of sending scoundrels flying, twisting and sliding all over and across the screen.

The soundtrack and background score (Umpteen Lion roars) add nothing to the movie, and finally, in totality, Singham is familiar Hindi violent-film zone that is enjoyable in the hero-villain interplay, its performances and its light comic scenes. Bearable, we say. If you are the mass audience, this is for you. Cinema lovers - Your call.    

Light Moment  
Shikre does a Rajnikanth imitation before a group of policemen.                           

The 9th Pune International Film Festival (PIFF) Pick: Bardsongs (Netherlands)

9/1/2011
Screened at Esquare, 1215 hours  

Directed by Sander Francken, of Netherlands, the three stories that feature in Bardsongs (2010) are set in Jodhpur, Ladakh (both in India) and Mali, Africa. Traditional songs mingle with the narrative with effective simplicity, as we are first treated to Rajasthani folk music, and a charming tale of a plastic waste collector, his camel and his son. In a twist of fortunes, we are told how life can spring surprises, and we can't ever conclude that whether we are lucky or unfortunate.

A teasing riddle in the second story is its core, as a teacher asks his young pupils, "What is the largest part of all knowledge?" A clever, curious boy goes through the books and finds no answer. He then requests his teacher to give him a time-limit of seven days, so that he can scour the city for the solution. The boy meets a fisherman, a hunter, a builder and finds that each one of them consider the work details of their profession, the largest part of all knowledge. The teacher asks the boy to keep trying, and in his travels, the boy meets two tourists and offers to guide them. They come upon a ruin and the boy informs them, "This is a thousand years old." One of the tourists looks up his guide book and grimaces,"It says hundred here."As the tourist looks at him suspiciously, the boy decides to leave the couple. He runs to his master and blurts,"The largest part of all knowledge is in the head, rather than the book." The teacher smiles kindly, and says,
"That's nice, but not the right answer." The answer that the teacher finally gives is both profound and arguable, most importantly - though-provoking.

Wisdom shines through a tale set in the rural remoteness of Ladakh, as in a journey to sell their beloved dzo (hybrid of yak, domestic cattle), a father and a daughter find the road to happiness. The soundtrack uses words from everyday life of each region and the local language and still gets the message across in each tale, the ubiquitous English subtitles do the rest. Unmissable.   

Movie Review: RAKTA CHARITRA I: Drowned in violence

Rakta Charitra chronicles the blood-soaked rise of Partala Ravi during the 1980's caste tensions in Andhra Pradesh. The names are suitably, understandably altered. The opening credits declare - All characters of this film are fictional...followed by the declaration in red - Based on a true story. So much for deliberate irony.

R for Revenge
The battleground is Anantpur, where a powerful local politician Narasimha Reddy is instigated by his discontent party worker Nagamani (Kota Srinivasa Rao) to kill Veerbhadra (Rajendra Gupta), his (lower caste - bleeped in the movie) trusted aide. The aide is also the leader of his community and is promised tickets for the upcoming election for his people by Reddy. This is not to be.
Accompanied by loud, unforgivable background music, the aide's elder son Shankar (Sushant Singh) goes on a murder-spree against Nagamani and his gang, and thus, vengeance is born. The younger son, Pratap (Vivek Oberoi), is forced back from his city education to the battleground. Pratap is soon sucked in to the vortex of violence, as Shankar is brutally killed. Pushed to a corner with death looming, Ravi,  late father's followers in tow slays Reddy, Nagamani and his demonic, psychotic son Bhukka (Abimanyu Singh).

Grim as the setting is, Ram Gopal Varma marks a return to decent (if not subtle) form, with disturbing yet essential scenes of blood and violence. There are sickles slashing out fountain blood, bullet holes gorging out, drills boring skulls, and an axe brandished with savagery. A grayish tint fills all scenes, there is hardly any sunshine, very apt.

Rakta Charitra I is not a movie I would like to watch again, though Varma has crafted it sincerely, technical edge adding punch and without many commercial compromises. The director's raspy voice over hinges between arresting and mockery. If only he had not overlooked the criminally insane background score and most importantly, added textures to the violence.

Sturdy performances
Vivek Oberoi is efficient, but it is Abimanyu Singh's crazy lunatic act that haunts. Shatrughan Sinha's minister take makes for an entertaining cameo, his dialogues are slightly over the top ( "Topic over," he thunders, and all turn submissive) from a otherwise well-sketched array of characters. The woman characters are expectantly given less screen space. The intensity slackens towards the end, with Pratap depicted as a kind of Godfather character, and shades of Varma's own Sarkar. That we do not get some powerful final scenes is ensured, as the film is wrapped up with glimpses of the second part (releasing on November 19, 2010) which will mark Tamil star Suriya's Hindi film debut.

Chilling / Overdone?
A pillion-riding woman is carried off by Bhukka's men, like prey in a bird's talons.

Movie Review: Dabangg: More comic book fun please!

Abhinav Kashyap's Dabangg is a Salman Khan show, a wannabe crowd-puller. There is no pretence made that it is a comic book masala entertainer that will please the mass audience. No morals or cinematic risk here. All tried and tested. Even exhibitionist vulgar at times. So it all boils down to the treatment. There are rare moments of comic inventiveness, the old Hindi film revenge, the invincible hero and the docile heroine. So does it work? Only just about.

Chulbul Pandey (Salman) is a corrupt yet fearless cop in small town India. He loves his mother Naini (Dimple Kapadia) but is unable to stand his stepfather Prajapati Pandey (Vinod Khanna) and stepbrother Makhanchan (Arbaaz Khan). His dubious deeds attract the local goon Cheddi Singh (Sonu Sood) who tries to rope him in. On failing to do so, he plots Chulbul's fall by creating a rift between the brothers. The abrupt death of the mother acts as a catalyst to the bitterness. 

Meanwhile, our crooked cop falls for the hot pottery lady Rajo (Sonakshi Sinha) and tries to make amends to bring the family back together. Not before some delightful over the top action, that includes Salman's flexing vengeful muscles that flings his shirt off, and how a villainous stab doesn't affect him.

Dabangg has to its advantage Salman Khan's competent performance, his undeniable gift of screen presence. Sinha makes a confident debut. The show-stealer is certainly Sonu Sood with his enjoyable wicked take on the small-town goon. The razor sharp editing ensures that there are no slack moments. A couple of song picturizations add popcorn fluff of the movie. The same can't be said of the exploitative revenge track, the honest politician track and the lack of groove on the side stories, all sacrificed for Salman's larger than life act. You could also be put off by some of the ribaldry that emanates from the film. Watch it if you want a repeated, light, half-baked Hindi film masala with a slight ting of inventiveness.

Hero-Villain Moment 

Sonu Sood aptly exaggerated to Malaika Khan's Munni badnam huvi before Salman arrives on the scene much to the villain's disgust.

Movie Review: Shutter Island: Nervy, surprising and potential classic

Set in the 1950's, we first see Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio - effectively edgy, nervous), a U.S. federal marshal, sea sick on a boat that is taking him with his new investigative partner Chuck (Mark Ruffalo - complementing well) to an island that houses the criminally insane. A female inmate has disappeared from her locked room, "As if she evaporated through the walls," as the institution head Dr. Cawley (a superb Ben Kingsley) puts it.

Teddy has his own share of trauma, memories of his dead wife and nightmares of concentration camps. Things seem to get worse as a storm sets in and the investigators are unable to leave the island. As Teddy suspects, things are not as they look and there is something horrible that is going on in Shutter Island. Then there are hallucinations and nightmares, as the line between reality and illusion is dissolved, Teddy seems to be falling in to a deep dark well...

Director Martin Scorsese's first attempt in the psychological thriller genre holds our attention all through, even as he turns the tables on us in a shattering climax. There are, in retrospect, some convenient plot elements put in, but they pale in comparison to a movie that is surely worth revisiting.

The punch
The eerie, yet delicately positioned background music; the last mesmerising line of dialogue.

Movie Review: Love, Sex Aur Dhoka: Straight out of (anybody's) Life...

Take life's unexpected twists and turns for the three interlinked stories, have a supermarket CC TV camera, a shaky handheld film camera and a hidden camera as the 'eyes', excellent first time actors for the realism and a daring director in Dibakar Banerjee. All together make up for a shockingly real slice of life, you would well mistake it for the amateur home videos that one sees online so often.

How Love Sex Aur Dhoka will probably influence filmmakers is another matter; for the audience it is a  ride they will never forget. Now how many films can do that to you? Sorry, no story hints - any such revelations is sure to spoil your experience. Don't miss this one on the big screen!

Movie Review:Karthik Calling Karthik: Thriller let down by repeated premise

Karthik Calling Karthik works as a witty one-liner romantic comedy within its psychological thriller body in the first half. It just lets the cat a little too soon out of the bag as things turn eerie in the post-intermission part. 

The mental disorder that is the base of the movie, is both the film's strength and its give-away. Even if you manage to figure out the puzzle yourself before the film's characters, there is enough strength in the film's story, visuals, performances and music to make up for an entertaining (if not nail-biting) evening.

I probably expected a classic, but Karthik Calling Karthik does hold its ground as a decent thriller. Worth the ticket.

Credits

Vijay Lalwani is certainly a director to watch out for and Farhan Akhtar plays his most difficult role (yet) of his acting career competently. Deepika is adequate. Composers Shankar-Ehsan-Loy have a couple of winners- Hey ya and Uff teri ada that gel with the scenes, so does Kaise yeh udasi - Kailash Kher's vocals elevate the song.

Movie Review: Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani: Silly, unpolished comedy

You laugh, yes, it is all silly, lovely, stupid, childish and filmy and stays that way till the end credits roll. Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani sticks to the Hindi film masala and derives most of its jokes from silliness and bizarre situations, sometimes just for the sake of mirth, intelligence be damned.

The lead performances saves this titanic from sinking. Ranbir Kapoor dazzles as Prem, you can only enjoy the effortlessness with which he holds your attention; Katrina Kaif is competent as the innocent stereotypical girl Jenny; Darshan Jariwala and Smita Jaykar are splendid as Prem's parents.

The gags never abate so you seldom have the time to think "What the hell is going on?" After all the popcorn-crunching and samosa-gulping, Ajab Prem Ki... is a failed attempt to recreate the magic of   Director Rajkumar Santoshi's 1994 madcap cult classic Andaz Apna Apna. It just doesn't work that way though. A bearable one-time watch. 

Movie Review: KURBAAN: Stuck between thrills and topicality

With a storyline that is so similar to this year's Kabir Khan drama New York that it couldn't be a coincidence, Kurbaan is a wannabe thriller. The banging at the front door, the eerie silence slicing a gun battle, the paper hidden under the coffee cup, director Rensil D'Silva does have the flair for edgy moments. Religious banter just about drags our attention, for they merely form a background for the drama. Never are we let deep into the minds of the terrorists, some clever abrupt lines does give us a glimpse of why the characters behave in a particular manner, but it is never satisfactory.

The running time could be a little drag and there are some illogical filmy moments. The attempt to mix topicality with what could have been a breezy thriller makes the film heavy at times, but Kurbaan is still a bearable watch for what it could have been as a taut thriller.

Movie Review: 2012: Special Effects 'Save the Day'

Leading the dull loser lives that we are, I wouldn't mind dying in epic style with millions of earthlings for company - watching open-mouthed as a 1500-foot giant tsunami rolls magnificently over, watch a whole island turn into a mammoth volcano all around me or fall into those deep cracks caused due to a mega earthquake, screaming like hell as I disappear.

Nobody dies the usual way in the latest Hollywood disaster movie 2012. Predictably, the lead characters survive to save the day. So it is left to the special effects team (hail the VFX people!) to make it all fun and convincing, even as cities fall apart and world-famous monuments are reduced to rubble. The loud soundtrack does the rest.

Don't look for a story, expect emotional pep talk on universal brotherhood and have fun. 2012 is a movie to be enjoyed and forgotten, on the 70mm screen.

Movie Review: LONDON DREAMS: Killing with the formula

An ambitious Indian musician making his mark in the London music scene brings along his childhood friend from India to be a part of his band only to discover the friend overshadows him with his gifted talent. Driven by jealousy and madness, the musician must achieve his dreams at any cost, and so unfolds the story.

The premise inspired from the 1984 Hollywood film Amadeus has its moments, but Hindi film escapism and musical song sequences ensure that the effect is fleeting. Salman is a surprise, he does manage to convey the freedom of his character, while Ajay Devgn - playing a man in a maddening pursuit of his dream, though good, is ineffective because his character is too glum, too hidden (despite been a musician).

Watch it for Salman's carefree portrayal, the rest is all old stale wine, in an old bottle.

Movie Review:Transporter 3 : For the speed crazy and popcorn crunchers

The best five minutes of the movie, (a rare touch by the scriptwriters) is when the hero is trapped underwater in a car, with a metal band around his wrist courtesy the villans. He goes 100 feet away from the car and - KABOOM! So what does the guy do? This is the only time you are gripped by the feeling, "What will happen next?"

Otherwise, this Jason Statham starrer has the usual - fast cars, loud blasts, stunts, macho hero, girl with seduction written all over, Transporter 3 takes the trodden path, you have seen it before, but you are not bored yet. Some action scenes may remind you of the Hndi films of the nineties - hero breaking through a wall in one piece, hero crashing through glass, again intact.Expect the usual, let your brain sleep and enjoy!