Movie Review: Mausam: No smoke, no fire

There is something mournful in a movie that is made sincerely and then falls flat due to its lofty ambitions. Sometime in 1992, Harry (Shahid Kapoor) or Harinder is awaiting a life-changing letter in his remote Punjab village. Apart from idling with his village friends, borrowing cars to race with trains, and having an empty purse, Harry falls for the 'new Kashmiri girl in the village' Aayat (Sonam Kapoor) at first sight. Soon, his bicycle chain starts slipping off near the girl's abode. Hand-written notes are exchanged quietly, dipped in water as evidence disposal, and finally, caught in a downpour, the girl promises to tell him,"Tomorrow." Only, the girl has left the village in haste with her family, as Harry hauntingly looks at a disappearing train. These initial parts of the movie are all charm and simplicity.

Cut to, suddenly, 1999, Scotland. Aayat at the Royal Academy of Dance. Harry is a moustached pilot visiting on a pilot exchange program. Huh? The lovers meet and just can't act like lovers. In one jarring scene, in which, we are subjected to a telepathic conversation, to another where a cigarrate lighter is excuse for a forced retro take on the classic Hum Dono song Abhi na jao... 

In rising exasperation of the story's disregard for time lines and redundancies, Harry misses a marriage-possible meeting because he is summoned for the Kargil war. He doesn't inform Aayat for dramatic effect rather than logic. Thus is the period until INTERMISSION survived.

Part two. Harry calls up Aayat, but the forced turn of circumstances, wouldn't let the lovers communicate. Aayat is a travel freak now, moving from Scotland to Punjab to Ahmedabad to Scotland and back again to Ahmedabad with a sore face. The air force objected bombing scene is a sitting duck, like the hand video games of the nineties. By the time Harry's left arm is paralysed, I have to leave the theatre. I never thought I would walk out of a cinema theatre midway, ever. It is easier if you are at Westend. Of course, you don't get a movie as flawed each time. Only a bad movie made with confidence and a bloated budget, nowadays; a gem, sometimes.

So...
Mausam is slayed by a debutant director's ambition, that the story had to cover so many geographical settings and event references. That every historical event from 1992 to present had to adversely affect the lovers' lives is just too sad to be true. That James Cameron kept it spectacularly simple in Titanic (1997) - A ship, two lovers and an iceberg. Also the absence, of any hint of fire and passion between Shahid and Sonam only adds to the misery.

If all the venom is well-deserved, Pankaj Kapur (An amazing actor, no doubt, Director? Ahhh?) does have the promise of telling a good, simple tale. He shows his stuff, especially in the village scenes. We say, try again. Something simpler please.

Music stays
Pritam's music and Irshad Kamil's lyrics are a saving grace, an odd contrast to the cracked proceedings. Some arresting moments when the Hans Raj Hans rendered Ik tu hi tu hi tu hits the screen.      

Movie Review: Mere Brother Ki Dulhan: Decent Humour

The commercial Hindi film romcom (romantic comedy) in the last two years, by default, has wealthy characters, thus sweeping aside with any monetary hurdles in the screenplay. London-based Luv (Ali Zafar) calls off a five-year relationship with his girlfriend, following an altercation. Fifteen minutes in to ‘singledom’ he calls up his younger sibling Kush (Imran Khan) in India, asking him to look for a suitable bride for an impromptu marriage.

Post the mildly amusing reference-filled title song, and rushing through a predictable unsuitable band of prospective brides (stupid, foolish and crazy in typical Hindi film treatment), the right match is finally found in Delhi. Only, the London-born Dimple (Katrina Kaif) is a former college mate of Kush, and as he remembers - rebellious, a beedi-smoker and alcohol 'binger'. None of this is revealed to the parents, as after a ten minute provocative (the movie’s best, original moments) video chat, Luv and Dimple assent to the wedding.

Even as both parties collect at Delhi for the engagement, Kush accompanies Dimple to fulfill her desire to live life to the fullest before the D-day. Even as the engagement takes place, Kush realizes that he is in love with Dimple. Inevitably, he declares his love to Dimple who, after a thundering slap, assents. The plot that Kush, his friends and Dimple hatch to turn the tables on the marriage forms the rest of the movie.

All sugar candy in the location, attire and scenery, the film picks up after a tepid laugh-miserly half-hour, but only just. The promised jokes come in a trickle; all the tribute paid to various Hindi films is sadly devoid of any wickedness. Thankfully, the story follows a linear path that keeps us interested. Imran Khan puts in a sincere performance. Katrina shows that if she is given a breezy, cheerful role minus complications, with an excuse to use her accented Hindi, she can act too. The screenplay overshadows Ali Zafar’s is a fresh performance, decent, we like it whenever he makes it to the screen. The supporting cast are all good, especially Kush’s friend. Dimple’s mentally challenged brother is a stereotype best avoided. A bearable one-time watch.

Musik-Shuzik
Sohail Sen’s soundtrack is standard Yashraj fare, all seen and done, from Sufi-wannabe songs like Dhunki (Neha Bhasin rocks, Katrina doesn’t emote as well) and Isq risk ( featuring the indefatigable Rahat Fateh Ali Khan again) , to the passables – Do dhaari talwar, Choomantar and Madhubala. We expected more after Sen’s sincere stuff for last year’s Khelien hum jee jaan se.

Movie Review: Delhi Belly: Romping ribaldry works!

[**** stars/*****]

Do words flow more spontaneously when write about a movie one really enjoyed? Probably - YES, for all ‘good movies’ appeal to our certain senses, likes and perceptions that we have developed over the years.

I find that happening on writing about relish about absolutely terrible movies too!

Delhi Belly story

Delhi Belly’s mistaken-identity, comedy-of-errors (misplaced shit, literally) story has been attempted in many unimaginative, repetitive ways before in Hindi and regional cinema.

A portly man from Russia alights at Delhi Airport and hands over a package meant to be smuggled through an air-hostess Sonia (Shenaz Tresurywala), who is unaware of its contents. She passes on the delivery responsibilities to her fiancee Tashi (Imran Khan), a bored newspaper reporter, who passes it on to his obese photographer room mate (Kunaal Roy Kapur).

The photographer, devastated with painful bowel movement, passes the package to his caricature making room mate (Vir Das), who gets the destinations mixed up.

Then come the goons, missing diamonds, retrieval and chase, the police, a ‘lesbian’ sequence, ultimately sending an old scooter crashing down.

It is the stench-funny contents within this framework that the film is disgustingly endearing.

Execution

This brilliantly held-together trashy tale (Writer credit - Akshay Verma) of swear words, ribaldry and mistaken identities, fires all cylinders in its 96-minute telling of a story that is the most daring in its dirt content.

There are orgasmic moments - fake and real, cracked ceilings, bosom-honks, human excrement (with exclusive booming sound design) and a lovelorn, gun-wielding lover.

The swear words are just not there as props, nor are the toilet jokes, all wrapped deep in the story-characters cobweb, enough reason for them to be shouted out loud and clear.

With hardly a plot thread out of place in this deftly built ribald jigsaw puzzle, it is the open yet controlled black, black humour that rock-n-rolls the proceedings.

Aamir Khan Productions took a risk and it pays off. Director Abhinay Deo’s second release, post the Game debacle, proves he has it in him, given inspiring content to work with.  

Ram Sampath’s impressive evolutionary music (Hindi Soundtrack of the Year, so far) - the very skin of the movie, is effectively used as part of the background score snatches, rather than the common-place whole end-to-end spool, as we see in mainstream Hindi films.

Amitabh Bhattacharya’s lyrics deserve more than a mention. The wicked genius of DK Bose, which no censor board could touch, and how a lady’s footwear (Sandal, sandal, sandal…) makes comic verse, genius stuff. 

Hinglish or Hindi? 

The original Hinglish version is where the cosmopolitan Delhi city characters fit in to place, instead of the alternate Hindi version.

Yes, the film is tagged ADULTS ONLY, a very wise tag.

It also means you need parents with a sense of humour from outer space to tag them along to this one. Do so at your own peril. The same goes for sensitive females too, it is a very male-world movie, no kidding, no chauvinism here.

  

Classic Touch

A veiled man picks up a glass of water from a tray and pours the contents to the drawn veil, places the emptied glass on the table, even as a policeman seated beside him glances, bewildered.