Movie Review: Shor in the City: Humour, characters work wonders

SHOR IN THE CITY is a juxtaposition of random sound and visuals of Mumbai during the sonorous Ganesh Festival,enlivened with frothy humourous dialogues, lively city-bred characters and some drama.The film mostly works in its humour bits. The drama is a little steely, with people getting away with murder umpteen times, without any police intervention.Thankfully, the director duo (US based, of Indian origin), do not take things too seriously and spin a fun yarn of three bumbling goons,a NRI, a budding cricketer, a newly-wed couple and a girl flooded with marriage proposals.

Tilak (Tushar Kapoor, adequate), Mandook (Pitobash Tripathy, standout) and Ramesh (Nikhil Dwivedi, good) steal a bestselling author's manuscript, Tilak plans to publish the same to boost his pirated book business. Abhay (Sendhil Ramamurthy, cast suitably), back in India to start a new business, is hounded by local goons for 'protection' money. Sawan (Sudeep Krishnan, fits the part), is a struggling cricketer hoping to make it to the Mumbai under-22 team.

The central idea, how the city's arrested, shunted spaces, the booming human population, the resultant noise, affects the way people act, is reflected vibrantly on the characters. A Lord Ganesh idol strapped to a car seat, couples kissing at Marine Drive in broad daylight, are couple of eye-catching vignettes.

The familiar Mumbai lingo finds its crazy outlet in Mandook's loafing character, and this is where we find the most engaging scenes. The female strands are as unconventional as they come, though it is never clear how Tilak's wife (Radhika Apte, arresting) ends up in wedlock. Yet, there is a bitter-sweet humour in how a young girl (Girija Oak) complains about her dry lips and later of a forcefully extracted ring.

There are not many complaints, as the directors seem to have achieved what they set out to achieve - an entertaining, irreverent tale of Mumbai, with both real and comic book style interpretations gelling in to the narration. Go for it, best watched on 70mm. 

Final spark
A 'professional' protester douses himself in kerosene and rants a mock-sacrifice monologue, then goes stiff in horror when a lighter flame is held before him.  

Movie Review: I AM: Relevant, Lacking Punch

Although the four stories are all relevant and contemporary, I AM lacks the punch to take its audience on an edgy journey that the film could have been.The torch of promise is all there - in Afia's isolation and consequent decision to have a baby from a sperm donor, Megha's unwilling return to her former home in Kashmir, Abhimanyu's trauma of a nightmarish childhood and finally Omar's teasing homosexuality that has disastrous consequences for whoever crosses his path.

The performances are all inspiring, the stand outs been Anurag Kashyap's underplayed child abuser and Purab Kohli's nervous sperm donor. It is probably in the brief formats of the stories that the depth is missed. We never get to see Afia's life go full circle, only the abrupt end of her decision to stem a budding relation. Megha's agony is effectively understated in the use of an effective background score,the flashback is never shown, only heard, to subtle effect. Abhimanyu's story gets through, if not searingly, but with deft touches. Yet,the script here conveys the pain of abuse,and not the salvaging moment, as to, a solution. Omar's story is a more about the twist in the tale, rather than about targeting gays.Yet, even if the film succeeds in social awareness of the issues rather than cinematic, I AM is still worth a watch for its sincerity.

Movie Review:RAKTA CHARITRA II: Lost in Kill! Kill! Kill!

Stretched, a relentless bloodbath, a loud merciless background score (Dharam-Sandeep, the culprits), the overused slow motion technique, irritating upside down camera angles, and Ram Gopal Varma make up for a messed up second part of this movie - based as it on a true story. The politics of it is kept to the background, all we get to see is how revenge comes full circle for Pratap Ravi (Vivek Oberoi), as Surya (Tamil actor Suriya) has only one thing is mind - Ravi's death. Apparently, Ravi's men had killed off Surya's entire family in a murderous rampage of killing all potential enemies of Ravi.

Instead of effectively depicting how violence transmits - from a person's anger to a mass culture, what we get is an escapist orchestra of killings - bullet-holed bodies, vehicles in flames, and again the sickle. Some scenes work, like the tense slow-motion sequence of Surya's arrival at the court. Finally, at the end of it all Rakta Charitra makes a mild impact in its intended message. It certainly makes for gory, gritty drama but nothing more. The director's signature clad epilogue at the end says it all - it ends up making violence look more attractive and justified than deplorable.              

Watch it strictly for the performances and RGV's technical expertise and experimentation, and the engaging cameos.