Movies

panchayat-season-3-a-subtle-commentary-on-power-politics-and-elections

Wed May 29 15:12:20 IST 2024

It is towards the end of the show that the BDO, played by Diwakar Dhyani, smirks, “Jhagda-jhanjhat, maara-peeti…ab jaa ke lag raha hai panchayat election aa gaya hai... (Rising fights, violence are signalling that the Panchayat elections are near)”. One instantly knows that the third season of Panchayat is a subtle commentary on the ongoing election season and the drama that follows. Raw, rustic and real is what comes to mind when you watch the series. The Jitendra Kumar starrer carries on its legacy of a steady yet intriguing storyline from its first season but returns with added plot twists and a sense of resolution.

The Viral Fever’s (TVF) creation that has been streaming on Amazon Prime Video has more drama and substance than its predecessor season. The show revolves around Abhishek Tripathi, who wants to pursue an MBA, stuck in a village posting as he gets appointed as the secretary of the Phulera panchayat. His struggle to remain away from village politics, preparations for his exam, reluctant relationships that form in the process, make the crux of the plot.
This season one hooked one episode after another as sachivji’s (Panchayat secretary) transfer is cancelled and he returns to his position in Phulera. With him back in position and the impending Panchayat elections, power politics take center stage. A miffed vidhayak (legislator) (played by Pankaj Jha) and a scheming contender Bhushan (played by Durgesh Kumar) team up on the other hand as the struggle for power intensifies. The fight for the position of Pradhan (village head) (gets tougher while friendship between Sachivji and Rinki (Sanvikaa) further solidifies. From pointing guns at each other to the season ending with everyone in handcuffs, each episode promises the simplicity of rustic charm yet excites and entertains.

'Panchayat' Season 3 Ending Explained: Here's what to expect from Season 4

The events preceding the panchayat elections in the show mirror the real-life menace triggered before the polls begin. From loopholes in the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana being manipulated to what could be a satirical take on the hypocrisy around eating non-vegetarian (read beef) food – hints seem aplenty to the current socio-political climate.

Jitendra Kumar is his usual self in a role tailor made for him, his au naturale character portrayal, body language and expressions delight the eyes. In recent years, Kumar has gone on to become the unconventional superstar of OTT cinema, portraying each role with ease and leaving behind strong impressions.
Veterans Neena Gupta and Raghubir Yadav never fail to entertain with their performances that match perfection. Gupta puts on a display of her versatility as she yet again dons the saree to transform into pradhaan – a stark contrast to her recent critically acclaimed project Mast Mein Rehne Ka and antagonists Pankaj Jha and Durgesh Kumar add the necessary complications to the plot in their negative roles. Even supporting actors Sunita Rajwar, Chandan Roy, Faisal Malik and Aasif Khan promise a strong screen presence.

Panchayat, in a nutshell, is a series that stands in stark contrast to today’s content that often feeds on gore and violence. In an exclusive conversation with THE WEEK, director of the show Deepak Kumar Mishra talks about what led them to make a show that reminds one of the TV shows of the '90s.

“It was a conscious attempt that we make something similar to what we would watch growing up on TV. But that was not the only thought. The attempt was to capture modern contemporary India’s village system and democracy at the grassroots level. That was also the intention.” He says nobody had comprehended that the show would receive such response and love. “Everyone makes content with the belief that it will work. The audience’s response only comes after the release. We had never thought of such a great response to our content. We were confident of our plot, characters and storyline. The only fear was that will anyone watch our show.”

He reveals that the fourth season of the show is being written while storylines are being discussed for the fifth season. This season becomes a must-watch if one has watched the first two. This becomes the show’s best season so far, leaving enough room for the story to roll over into the next!

malayalam-film-thalavan-movie-review-an-investigative-thriller-that-keeps-viewers-guessing

Fri May 24 17:39:08 IST 2024

With Biju Menon and Asif Ali in cop roles, this investigative thriller is like untangling the tight knots surrounding a murder and the loopholes within. And the duo have managed to pull off the roles of the "men in uniform" pretty convincingly.

Biju Menon was last seen in a police drama when he essayed the role of a constable in the comedy-drama ‘Thundu.’ This time, he is a Circle Inspector who is no pushover, a serious officer with little time for enjoyment. The occasional build-up to his character, Jayashankar, with an acrimonious approach holds central to the plot.

Sub Inspector Karthik Vasudevan (Asif Ali) who is an idealistic cop, throws himself into some bitter rifts with Jayashankar. The character differences established through the narrative, make the audience believe this might be yet another battle for power between the two cops. But the story builds to a different angle as the plot develops.

The thread of the story can get confusing in several instances, with numerous character involvements and past events, but clarity is later established in the plot as the mystery unfolds. The first half of the story is an introduction to the life of the two cops and the occasional rifts that they encounter with each other. Even though a lot of dots are left disjointed in the first half, the plot swiftly travels through the frames of past and present to connect the links of several characters to the missing puzzle in the story.

The role of female characters is also notable with Anusree playing the character of Remya and Miya George as the wife of Jayashankar.

Just like other cop films in the Malayalam cinema, this movie also brings to light the question of power and the limitations of working under the superior police officers. The background of the film slowly attains a grimness towards the second half with an eerie environment, to accelerate the mystery attached to the story. The occasional involvement of dim lights in the background towards the end, makes it quite baffling.

Overall, the story is less predictable making it a decent investigative thriller. The story can also be considered as an example of whodunnit, where the identity of the murderer is revealed not until the story reaches the end.

Movie: Thalavan

Cast: Biju Menon, Asif Ali, Miya George, Anusree, Dileesh Pothan, Jaffar Idukki, Kottayam Nazeer

Director: Jis Joy

Rating: 3/5

watch-bhaiyya-ji-for-manoj-bajpayee-who-single-handedly-elevates-a-forgettable-b-grade-film

Fri May 24 10:01:35 IST 2024

If it weren’t for Manoj Bajpayee, Bhaiyya Ji would have remained a loud, forgettable B-grade revenge saga with Hindi-heartland flavour and fervour.

Directed by Apoorv Singh Karki, the 135-minute action-packed film has the usual characters, plot twists and tropes of the revenge genre. Though set in the times of smartphones and Scorpios, the film has a blast-from-the-past feel to it, specifically of Bollywood films of the 80s when rage was expressed through roars at vicious, vile villains who relished their villainy.

Revenge films are a celebration of righteous retribution and are given to excesses. There is no subversion or reinvention of the revenge genre here. Bhaiyya Ji is simply a high-decibel reiteration of the rampage that all revenge films are about. It is very violent (the film has got UA certification), has a predictable, weak story, some whistle-worthy dialogue, a few inspired flourishes and lots of idiotic, silly things. Yet Bhaiyya Ji is worth a watch because of Manoj Bajpayee’s intense, compelling performance.

As the beedi-smoking, revenge-seeking bade bhaiyya from Bihar, Bajpayee carries the seething rage of a man who has been wronged in every pore of his body, not just in emotional scenes, but also as he lands deadly punches and slices bodies with style and speed.

I just wish that Suvinder Vicky, who plays the villain here and was riveting to watch in the Netflix series ‘Kohrra’, had brought at least his B-game to Bhaiyya Ji, if not his A-game.

Bhaiyya Ji’s setup is simple. In a small town in Bihar, Ram Charan aka Bhaiyya ji (Manoj Bajpayee) is getting married to Mithali (Zoya Hussain), a state-level shooter. His house is full of guests and his Choti Ma (step-mother, played by Bhagirathi Bai Kadam) is busy organising this and that. Bhaiyya ji is happy, but he is also worried about his younger brother, Vedant (Akash Makhija), who is about to set off from Delhi. Bhaiyya Ji keeps calling Vedant, and through their conversations we figure that they have a strong, adorable bond.

Meanwhile, somewhere in Delhi lives a very rich and a very bad man -- Chandrabhan Singh (Suvinder Vicky). He wears fancy Nehru jackets embellished with brooches and chains, an extravagant pompadour and takes pleasure in butchering all those who dare to threaten his delinquent son, Abhimanyu (Jatin Goswami).

Since we are well-versed in the arts and crafts of revenge thrillers, we know that Bhaiyya Ji’s happy family and Chandrabhan’s heinous one are going to clash. We also know that Mithali’s shooting skills will come in handy at some point.

So obviously, something bad happens.

Bhaiyya ji is called to Delhi by a cop, Magan (Vipin Sharma), who has some news about Vedant. He goes to Delhi and returns home with tears in his eyes, clutching an earthen pot and some basic facts about what happened to Vedant.

But we, having witnessed Chandrabhan and Abhimanyu's blood-curdling brutality, know exactly what happened to Vedant. So when Choti Ma, devastated and bereaved, insists on retribution, we are all for it. As is a crow who keeps visiting Bhaiyya ji's house and apparently symbolises Vedant’s bhatakti aatma (a sad soul knocking about aimlessly).

But before Bhaiyya ji can proceed to exact revenge, there needs to be an official waiver of a promise he once made to Choti Ma about being non-violent.

The film tries to explain this backstory to us, but is totally incoherent. It feels as if a dog ate those two pertinent pages from the film’s script and no one noticed it.

So what we get is gibberish that involves a medallion with a lion's face, a statue at a railway station and a big reveal -- all the city’s tailors, mechanics and anda-bread sellers are part of Bhaiyya ji’s secret militia group.

To make up for the missing backstory, the film decides that one Pandit Ji -- who is always hanging around Chandrabhan for some mysterious reason -- must keep muttering how scary, violence-prone and single-minded Bhaiyya ji is.

As Bhaiyya ji sets out for Chandrabhan’s massive bungalow, all the men in his city follow him, brandishing sticks, guns and sharp metal items. This entourage includes a group of geriatric, morning-walk uncles.

Following a confrontation between Bhaiyya ji and Chandrabhan, the rest of the film plays out as a series of killing sprees in various locations — on a bridge, in a old haveli, at a railway station, around a fire pit — and involves a lot of bone-cracking, slashing, shooting and thrashing by Bhaiyya ji’s weapon of choice, a long-handled spade. All the action sequences are accompanied by deafening, rousing music.

One of the great joys of B-grade Bollywood films is that they deliver what they promise. Despite Bhaiyya Ji's scatty script, director Karki, who made the Manoj Bajpayee-starrer courtroom drama ‘Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hai’ last year, delivers on this count. ‘Bhaiyya Ji’ begins with chilling violence and the brutal murder of an innocent man, and ends on a satisfying, cathartic note.

The film’s plot has the expected beats of revenge films, but in between it has some duds and delights. The duds are too many to list, but one special delight is Vipin Sharma’s corrupt but cowardly cop.

When the film begins, Zoya Hussain, cast as the coy bride-to-be, is totally blank and looks out of place. But later in the film, when she gets to shoot and save her prospective hubby, a la ‘Mr & Mrs Smith’, she raises the film’s thrill quotient.

Suvinder Vicky is an excellent actor with a commanding screen presence. Here he gets a dapper look and a meaty role, but remains expressionless and his villainy has no bite.

‘Bhaiyya Ji’ is the sort of action film usually reserved for Sanjay Dutt, Ajay Devgn and Tiger Shroff. Manoj Bajpayee is a refreshing change from them because he doesn’t just kick hard, but can also act. The action sequences in Bhaiyya Ji are not just choreographed and executed with style, but Bajpayee keeps amping up his fury and turns every broken bone and slit throat into gratifying moments of vengeance.

If you have strong ear drums and the stomach for relentless violence, watch ‘Bhaiyya Ji’ for Manoj Bajpayee who does all the heavy lifting here and elevates a B-grade film singlehandedly.

Bhaiyya Ji

Cast: Manoj Bajpayee, Suvinder Vicky, Vipin Sharma, Jatin Goswami, Zoya Hussain, Akash Makhija, Bhagirathi Bai Kadam

Direction: Apoorv Singh Karki

Rating: **1/2

mollywood-turbo-movie-review-vysakh-mammootty-combo-s-action-flick-entertains

Thu May 23 18:06:43 IST 2024

After the 2010 hit 'Pokkiri Raja', the Vysakh-Mammootty combo is back again with another action entertainer, 'Turbo'. Produced by Mammootty Kampany, the movie also marks the Malayalam debut of multi-faceted Kannada star Raj B. Shetty.

Mammootty plays 'Turbo Jose’, a man from Idukki, forced to move to Chennai to help his friend who is in trouble. The movie begins with a murder, and you are introduced to the main characters before the action switches to Chennai, where the main antagonist Vetrivel Shanmugha Sundaram, played by Raj B. Shetty, is introduced.

While the director spends the first half of the movie establishing the characters, the second half is a cat-and-mouse game between Jose and Vetrivel, and you get plenty of action along the way.

Christo Xavier’s background helps elevate the proceedings. Mammootty, as always, delivers an impressive performance as 'Turbo Jose’ while Raj B. Shetty is menacing as the main antagonist. Anjana Jayaprakash, Shabareesh Varma, Sunil, Bindu Panikkar and Kabir Duhan Singh too come up with decent performances.

Of course, if you are a fan of realistic movies, 'Turbo' isn't for you as it is an out-and-out action entertainer. There are also plenty of predictable moments and plotlines that do not go anywhere. But if you are in the mood for a mass masala entertainer, Turbo won't disappoint you.

Movie: Turbo

Cast: Mammootty, Raj B. Shetty, Anjana Jayaprakash, Shabareesh Varma, Sunil, Bindu Panikkar and Kabir Duhan Singh

Director: Vysakh Rating: 3/5

furiosa-a-mad-max-saga-review-a-prequel-that-struggles-to-match-fury-road-s-intensity

Thu May 23 17:49:28 IST 2024

'Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga', the prequel to George Miller’s 'Mad Max: Fury Road' and the fifth addition to the Mad Max franchise, attempts to fill in the backstory of Imperator Furiosa, originally played by Charlize Theron and now portrayed by Anya Taylor Joy.

The film follows Furiosa’s journey from a haughty child to becoming a force to reckon with and thus earning the description of the “darkest of angels, fifth rider of the apocalypse.”

Early in the movie, a young Furiosa is seen plucking an apple before being captured by Dementus’s (Chris Hemsworth) men, evoking the symbolism of the forbidden fruit. “The Green Place of Many Mothers” is shown in the beginning, and the rest of the film takes place in the gritty desert.

The Doof Warrior, or the unforgettably crazy masked guitarist from 'Fury Road', is conspicuously absent, with only a glimpse of him in the second half. The soundtrack of 'Furiosa' also fails to leave a lasting impression, unlike the epic metal score of its predecessor.

The movie has its standout moments, such as the scene depicting how Furiosa loses her hand and an intense chase with her newly introduced mentor. However, the clips from 'Fury Road' shown during the end credits provide more goosebumps than the scenes within the film itself. Additionally, the use of CGI in Furiosa feels more prominent than in Fury Road.

Pacing is another area where Furiosa diverges from its sequel. While 'Fury Road' maintained a tight, riveting pace, 'Furiosa' often feels slower, and may make some viewers restless. This might be attributed to its nature as a prequel, focusing more on character development and backstory.

Chris Hemsworth’s Dementus, who torments Furiosa, falls short of being a truly menacing villain. Instead, his character becomes a source of comic relief, with his dialogues making him more sympathetic by the end. Alyla Browne, playing Young Furiosa, delivers a more compelling performance compared to Anya’s portrayal.

'Fury Road' ended with a quote attributed to The First History Man. A History Man plays a significant role in 'Furiosa', serving as a dictionary and encyclopedia to the Biker Horde. In one scene, he is asked to define human tears, showing the film's attempt at touching the emotional elements.

Despite scoring higher on the emotional scale, 'Furiosa' does not incite the same frenzied excitement as 'Fury Road'. Lower your expectations a bit, and Furiosa is an engaging movie.

Furiosa is currently running and can be “witnessed” in theatres.

Movie: Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

Director: George Miller

Cast: Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Burke

Rating: 3.0

guruvayoor-ambalanadayil-review-this-bromantic-comedy-keeps-you-entertained

Thu May 16 16:46:16 IST 2024

Guruvayoor Ambalanadayil, directed by Vipin Das and penned by Deepu Pradeep, offers a decent dose of wholesome entertainment. Vinu (Basil) finds inspiration in his would-be brother-in-law Anandan (Prithviraj), who encourages him to move past his heartbreak and marry the latter’s sister. Their unconventional relationship since the beginning sparks laughs, as Vinu seems more excited to meet Anandan than his fiancée Anjali (Anaswara Rajan). The meeting scene between the two is particularly hilarious, with a song from an old Malayalam movie as the background score.

The plot takes a humorous turn early on, keeping viewers hooked through the second half. The drama intensifies when Anandan discovers that Vinu's lost love is none other than his wife, Parvathy (played by Nikhila Vimal), whom he had abandoned due to suspicions of infidelity. The drama hits a crescendo in the final scene at the Guruvayoor temple, unfolding quite like an old Priyadarshan movie.

The film may draw comparisons with Prithviraj's debut movie Nandanam due to its title, and the iconic 'Njane Kandullu' dialogue recalled in the movie adds to its charm.

Prithviraj's portrayal of Anandan marks a departure from his recent serious role in Aadujeevitham. While his performance is decent, there are moments where it feels a bit forced. But his chemistry with Basil works well on screen. Basil Joseph delivers a commendable performance, alongside Siju Sunny as his friend. Jagadeesh and Kunjikrishnan Maashu also deliver good performances.

Anaswara Rajan and Nikhila Vimal are forced to contend with underdeveloped characters, as do other female characters in the movie. While the first half keeps audiences entertained, the second half feels somewhat disjointed, with a few performances falling into typecasting, notably by actors like Yogi Babu.

Guruvayoor Ambalanadayil delivers solid laughs, making it a satisfactory comedy outing. Despite not reaching the heights of Das's previous work Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey, the comedic chemistry between Basil and Prithviraj shines through, offering moments of amusement, particularly in their bromantic scenes.

Movie : Guruvayoor Ambalanadayil

Director : Vipin Das

Writer : Deepu Pradeep

Cast : Prithviraj Sukumaran, Basil Joseph, Nikhila Vimal, Anaswara Rajan

Rating : 3/5

sureshinteyum-sumalathayudeyum-hridayahariyaya-pranayakatha-review-a-fun-light-hearted-watch

Thu May 16 16:02:30 IST 2024

Director Ratheesh Balakrishnan Poduval is back with another heartwarming movie, Sureshinteyum Sumalathayudeyum Hridayahariyaya Pranayakatha, which is a spin-off of his 2022 blockbuster Nna Thaan Case Kodu. The story revolves around the characters Suresh and Sumalatha (played by Rajesh Madhavan and Chithra Nair), who are smitten for each other. Kunchacko Boban makes a guest appearance in the film, creating a link between the two movies.

The love story of Sureshan and Sumalatha plays out in three different time lines. A Taj Mahal replica that Sureshan gifts Sumalatha at the beginning of the movie is the motif for their feelings throughout the film. The sculpture—and their love—which gets lost at some point in the film finds itself on the shore when the time is finally right.

Sureshan revives theatre and traditions associated with it in the small town, bringing all the theatre enthusiasts together, even as his ultimate goal is to spend time with Sumalatha. The problems that arise during the practice of the play and the dynamics between the characters form the background for the love story. The revival of theatre united and divided the society, just like love. The play portrayed in the movie is intertwined with the main plot line.

The music by Dawn Vincent, the soundtrack and the songs elevate the scenes. The evergreen song 'Aayiram Kannumayi' plays an important role in the story, showing the fondness of the young lovers for each other. Rajesh Madhavan, Chithra Nair, Sudeesh Kozhikode, Sharanya Ramachandran, Jinu Joseph, Babu Annur and others come up with brilliant performances, making the proceedings immensely enjoyable. The choice of costumes are on par with the characters – different and unique.

While it can be tough to portray evolving love of the lead pair in three different timelines simultaneously, the cast managed to do it convincingly. The tides of times may pass by, but the story of Sureshan and Sumalatha will remain the same, through three worlds or even more.

Sureshinteyum Sumalathayudeyum Hridayahariyaya Pranayakatha is a good choice when you are in the mood for a light-hearted movie.

Movie: Sureshinteyum Sumalathayudeyum Hridayahariyaya Pranayakatha

Cast: Rajesh Madhavan, Chithra Nair, Sudeesh Kozhikode, Sharanya Ramachandran, Jinu Joseph, Babu Annur and others

Director: Ratheesh Balakrishnan Poduval

Rating: 3/5

srikanth-review-rajkummar-rao-saves-a-muddled-dull-melodrama-with-his-powerful-humanising-performance

Fri May 10 11:43:11 IST 2024

Director Tushar Hiranandani’s Srikanth, a biopic of Srikanth Bolla, a blind boy born to a poor farming family in Andhra Pradesh, is a strange creature.

On the whole, it is a pretty mediocre film that has a shallow, dull script and a B-grade quality to its direction, cinematography, and an unbearably loud, instructive background score.

Written by Jagdeep Siddhu and Sumit Purohit, the film presents the life of Bolla, who fights to claim every opportunity that is denied and overcome every restriction imposed on him, as a timeline of speed bumps and victories, going from one episode to another, without really creating any connection between us and its main character.

The result is a tacky melodrama that mostly skims the surface.

Yet Srikanth is difficult to dismiss because of Rajkummar Rao’s excellent performance.

Rao uses a few moments in Bolla’s life to humanise him and gives the film some powerful, inspiring moments that elevate the film and hold it together.

Instead of just playing a blind man, Rao plays a blind man driven by his ambition and focused on his abilities rather than disabilities, thus shifting the focus from those who can't see to those who can but don't.

Rao uses the powerful and inspiring story of Bolla, who went on to become the first international blind student at the Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US, and the CEO of Bollant Industries, reportedly with a net worth of about Rs 296 crore, to present him as a thinking, feeling human being and normalises blindness as a different ability and not a disability.

His performance and Bolla's story deserved a better film with a more inspired script and direction.

The film opens on a terribly tacky note in 1992 in Andhra Pradesh with Srikanth’s birth which is treated by his immediate and extended family as a depressing, life-long liability. A hole is dug in the ground but a tragedy is averted and little Srikanth (played by two excellent blind actors, Srikanth Manna and Arnab Abdagire) is sent to a regular, local school. He is sharp, and exceptional in studies, but is also constantly bullied and told to prepare for a life of begging on the streets.

Fate intervenes and he moves to a school for the blind where he finds a mentor in Devika Malvade (Jyothika), whom he calls “Teacher”.

Through a series of incidents, we get glimpses of this strong guru-shishya relationship and of Srikanth's indomitable spirit and straight-talking, charming ways to win people over.

In school, he calls out corruption and is thrown out, and later when he is told, despite getting very high marks in Xth boards, that he can't study science because, well, it has never been done before, he digs his heels in and decides to fight.

Rao uses these scenes to show us Srikanth's helplessness, but every time he faces rejection or a hurdle, and wins people over with his confidence and charm, he makes a case for equal opportunities and not charity, and to judge the differently abled by their ability, and not disability.

When APJ Abdul Kalam asks him what he wants to be, he converts the former President into a life-long fan. When IIT rejects him, he goes to MIT. When the nervous staff of an airline refuse to let him board a plane alone, he shows them what he is capable of.

The film is careful not to take a pitying tone or show him as a victim, and so it remains impressed by him, except in the US where it casts a surprised, almost patronising eye on Srikanth and Swathi (Alaya F) as they begin conducting a sweet, budding romance with long drives and cute moments. In this segment, the film that was until now in awe of Srikanth, goes awwww.

Thankfully, it recovers and returns to admiring him as Srikanth flies back to India to start a business in partnership with Ravi (Sharad Kelkar).

This segment, on the creation and growth of the Bollant Industries, is, again, episodic and dull. It is somewhat saved by an interesting turn when Srikanth, tired of being grateful for all those who are helping him, demands recognition, fame and praise for himself. And when he doesn't get it, he turns into an egoistic, unscrupulous jerk.

This common human frailty could have been used to add interesting dimensions to the film and its main character, but the scriptwriters and director are so uneasy with a blind man's ego, jealousies and desires, and so scared of showing him in a bad light that they take us on a muddled, confused track where Srikanth tries to join politics, but suffers a sudden, severe conscience attack and withdraws.

As he returns to being a good boy, the film serves an annoying melodramatic moral lesson—Thou shalt never, ever use your disadvantage to your advantage— robbing the film of an interesting, nuanced layer.

Jyothika and Alaya F are both sweet and luminous in the good-girl sort of way.

While Jyothika has a meatier role and adds some power to Srikanth and Devika’s guru-shishya relationship, Alaya F mostly just smiles and acts cute. She bored me and the film a lot.

Sharad Kelkar is always a delight to watch because he holds the promise of a thrilling performance. He does that when he plays negative roles, but like many fine actors, he can’t find ways to bring alive good-hearted characters and plays them with either reticence or inertia. That is, sadly, the fate of his character, Ravi, here.

Mostly that is the writers' fault and their weak script which treats all the characters around Srikanth as one-dimensional support pieces who exist only vis-a-vis him. But it is also the inability of Bollywood actors who treat regular roles of decent people as part of a scene's furniture and not as human beings who can be good and interesting.

The film, in fact, is so unsure of its script, scenes and dialogues that it uses an accompanying soundtrack to instruct us how to feel in most scenes as if what's happening on the screen is inadequate and needs help.

Despite all these flaws, the 134-minute-long film is held together by about four powerful, poignant scenes in which Rao showcases many dimensions of Srikanth. We see his helplessness when he is shunned by the blind school, but also, immediately his fighting spirit and refusal to be a victim. These scenes are like set pieces which hold the film together.

Rao is the heart and soul of Srikanth. With his face tilted to one side and his eyes shut, he carries an impression of the world around him that is blind to his presence. He barely changes his expressions but uses his eyebrows to do most of the acting here, conveying emotions with tiny, minute changes.

The film exhibits confidence only when it is around him. But the film’s director and cinematographer Pratham Mehta are so in awe of Rao's performance that they constantly elevate him, framing him like a hero and not a man. This creates an admiring distance between us and Rao, when what we really needed was some intimacy.

Movie: Srikanth

Cast: Rajkummar Rao, Jyothika, Alaya F, Sharad Kelkar, Jameel Khan

Direction: Tushar Hiranandani

Rating: 2.5/5

nadikar-movie-review-tovino-thomas-soubin-shahir-shine-in-this-fun-flick-jean-paul-lal

Fri May 03 16:39:01 IST 2024

After the 'Honey Bee' series and 'Driving Licence', director Jean Paul Lal a.k.a Lal Jr. has come up with yet another venture -- 'Nadikar.' Revolving around the life of superstar David Padikkal (Tovino Thomas), this film gives nothing but pure joy to the viewers. Featuring Tovino and Soubin Shahir in the lead and Balu Varghese, Suresh Krishna, Bhavana, Divya Pillai, Anoop Menon and a long list of other Mollywood stars in supporting roles, this comedy-drama is sure to capture the hearts of the audience.

David Padikkal is an arrogant, egocentric and narcissistic actor. Due to his declining stardom, David is forced to explore his own identity by stepping down from his star persona. The film ventures into the theme of fame and identity crisis and beautifully shows the struggles and emptiness in an actor's life. The film also takes a brief look at the cinematic world and on-set experiences.

While the first half of the movie depicts David’s life as a star and his conceit, making it enjoyable to watch, the second half walks you through the journey of his self-realisation. Tovino and Soubin have showcased their excellent acting skills and Tovino’s skillful portrayal of David has made the character more relatable and easy to connect with.

Shine Tom Chacko’s and Dhyan Sreenivasan’s cameos did not fail to stir laughter.

The movie overall is a worth-watch experience, with timely humour and great music and background. 'Nadikar' presents a compelling narrative with comedy worth enjoying and does not fail to evoke some sense of emotion in the minds of the viewers amidst the funny moments.

Film: Nadikar

Directed by: Lal Jr

Starring: Tovino Thomas, Balu Varghese, Suresh Krishna, Bhavana, Divya Pillai, Anoop Menon

the-fall-guy-review-an-entertaining-homage-to-unsung-heroes-of-action-films

Wed May 01 23:03:00 IST 2024

This movie must win an Oscar for stunts. This is a thought you are likely to have while watching The Fall Guy. But, there is no Oscar for stunts. And the movie calls this out by writing it into the dialogue. Perhaps this can prompt the Academy into addressing the lack of recognition for stunt performers in its awards. One can always hope.

But, for now, the biggest recognition you can give the The Fall Guy, and, indeed, all the real life 'fall guys' who put their bodies on the line, is to go and watch this movie on the big screen. And, it will most certainly be well worth your time. The action scenes are phenomenal and the stunts are mind blowing. To top it all off, the comedy is effortlessly excellent.

The first half breezes past, despite the time dedicated to a complicated romance. In fact, the love story does not take anything away from the narrative of the action comedy. Rather, it makes it even more engaging. Due credit to the leads, Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt, for pulling this off. They have brilliant chemistry and it is also age-appropriate casting—both Gosling and Blunt are in their early 40s. This is particularly encouraging for those who are often discomfited by the lead actress being significantly younger than the male co-star she is paired with.

The lead duo nailed all aspects of their roles—comedy, action and emotions. The supporting cast are all praiseworthy. But, while the acting is a strong point of the movie, the highlight, without doubt, is the stunt work. Of course, this was to be expected from David Leitch—the stunt-performer-turned-director who helmed Atomic Blonde (2017), Deadpool 2 (2018) and Bullet Train (2022) and one of the men behind the John Wick movies. But, all expectations are likely to be exceeded with The Fall Guy.

One of the most noteworthy things about the approach to the stunts is that they are built up by the plot. So, before showing you the stunt, the movie makes it clear how difficult those stunts are. This was a great choice and makes it a more exciting watch. Before one of the most remarkable sequences of the movie, Gosling’s character says that he feels ill-prepared to do cannon rolls. What followed was a breathtaking eight-and-a-half cannon rolls by stunt driver Logan Holladay—it broke the Guinness World Record for most cannon rolls in a car, set by stuntman Adam Kirley (seven in 2006's Casino Royale).

One part of the storytelling that did not work well is one of the early scenes which shows an accident. The incident is not shown properly and is instead conveyed through shocked reactions of onlookers on audio and then cutting to the aftermath. This makes it obvious that there is something more to the 'accident'. And this comes as a revelation late into the move. But, it was always utterly predictable. Perhaps, showing more of the accident could have convinced the audience that it was just an accident and thereby setup the reveal better.

Also, the third act of the movie is not as good as the first two. This is ironic because the film shows Blunt's character being concerned about the third act of a movie she is making. The climax is helped greatly by the action set pieces.

However, despite these flaws, Leitch, who did stunts for the likes of Brad Pitt and Jean-Claude Van Damme, has crafted a fitting homage to the unsung heroes of the movie business. Apart from giving us a glimpse into the nature of the stunt team's work, there is also plenty of riveting meta discussion on movie making and references galore for the cinephiles to delve into.

Film: The Fall Guy

Director: David Leitch

Cast: Ryan Gosling, Emily Blunt, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Hannah Waddingham, Winston Duke

Rating: 4/5

malayalee-from-india-review-a-heartwarming-family-entertainer

Wed May 01 17:58:43 IST 2024

After Varshangalku Shesham, Nivin Pauly and Dhyan Sreenivasan reunite in yet another heartwarming film. Malayalee from India, directed by Dijo Jose Antony, revolves around the life of Aalparambil Gopi, played by Nivin Pauly. This is a coming-of-age movie that is also a political satire.

Gopi and his friend Malghosh (Dhyan Sreenivasan) are two happy-go-lucky youngsters spending their days playing cricket and being part of political activities in their village. Anaswara Rajan plays Gopi's love interest and the age difference between the lead pair is addressed in the song 'Krishna' sung by Vineeth Sreenivasan.

The first half of the movie focuses on a misunderstanding that turns into a major conflict between two political parties and how Gopi and Malghosh get embroiled in it. However, just when you think this is what the movie is all about, in comes a twist.

The second half of the film, centred around the Covid pandemic, focuses on the personal journey and growth of the protagonist. The writer brings in the discord between different political ideologies and the India-Pakistan conflict as the movie progresses.

Malayalee from India is a heartwarming family entertainer with plenty of humour and moments that can move the audience to tears, thanks to the masterful script by Sharis Mohammed. The movie also boasts of some great performances, especially by Salim Kumar apart from the protagonists. Shine Tom Chacko too evokes some laughter during his cameo appearance.

Film: Malayalee from India

Directed by: Dijo Jose Antony

Starring: Nivin Pauly, Anaswara Rajan, Dhyan Sreenivasan, Shine Tom Chacko, Salim Kumar, Manju Pillai

heeramandi-review-bhansali-and-koirala-create-a-spectacular-series-about-love-betrayal-survival-and-triumph

Wed May 01 16:30:49 IST 2024

Sanjay Leela Bhansali is one of India’s finest, most original filmmakers. Though he has made just 10 films in about 26 years, with each one he has created his own unique, signature style of storytelling.

Most SLB films have a grand scale and are set in unbelievably beautiful, perfect worlds. But he doesn’t hark back to an opulent past just to give his films an opulent, period look. He travels back in time to give his characters an appropriate setting to stage their intense, epic sagas of love, desires, sacrifice and tragedy— an otherworldly setting for their otherworldly passions and actions.

But, in the last few years— specifically in his three operatic romances starring Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone — SLB had become a slave to wowing the audience with excessive beauty and synchronised perfection at the expense of human drama.

He had also begun to lean right, creating characters only to reinforce biases and cliches, like his Alauddin Khalji, the meat-chomping poster boy of Love Jihad in the 2018 film, Padmaavat, where Bhansali also fetishised jauhar (mass suicide of women to protect their honour).

Thankfully, he began course correction with 2022’s Gangubai Kathiawad, and now with Heeramandi, he has completely, totally redeemed himself.

Heeramandi, an eight-episode Urdu-speaking series that is set in the 1940s in the walled city of Lahore, recreates a real world to tell a fictional story. It’s a world where the power of nawabs is on the wane and the freedom movement is becoming restless and aggressive.

Against this backdrop is the pleasure district of Heeramandi and at its centre are the series' all-female protagonists — tawaifs (courtesans) — who live in Shahi Mahal, the main brothel.

Bhansali pulls us into Heeramani with the seductive charm of low-hanging chandeliers, diamond and pearl jhoomars, gorgeous women in stunning silk, velvet and muslin ensembles. But we stay mesmerised and invested in this world because of the compelling stories of beautifully written and acted characters who chase their desires with hubris, rage, ego clashes, acts of betrayal and revenge.

Heeramandi has an excellent ensemble of actors, but its throbbing, aching heart is Manisha Koirala whose performance as Mallikajaan, the hard-nosed, haughty matriarch of Shahi Mahal, the main brothel, is powerful and sublime. With roses tucked in her saree blouse, she holds this world together, and elevates the series with her performance.

Her range here is incredible as she goes, often in the same episode, from bedraggled to a bitch, from sexy to scary, dialling the temperature of scenes up and down at will.

Bhansali and Koirala, who have reunited after his 1996 directorial debut Khamoshi: The Musical, together create one of the most spectacular series that ends on an intensely poignant and subversive note.

Heeramandi’s last episode has a sequence where all the courtesans march, singing a slightly altered version of the anti-CAA anthem — from the original 'Hum Dekhenge', it has lyricist AM Turaz's 'Humein Dekhni Hai Azaadi'. This scene invokes the feminine and moral power of Shaheen Bagh and the song, composed by Bhansali, while honouring the original, will reverberate and energise many future protests that are sure to come.

Heeramandi is, at its essence, a story of women's determination to not just survive, but thrive. It is beautifully written, cleverly shot, has sharp dialogue and stunning performances.

It is also Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s most political, significant creation to date.

Heeramandi opens in 1920s with young tawaif, Mallikajaan, who has just given birth to an illegitimate son. Rehana (Sonakshi Sinha), who runs Shahi Mahal, the main brothel, sells him off, setting off a chain of events that involves a murder and a bereaved daughter who is sold off too.

With an eyewitness who is scarred for life, the series moves forward to mid-1940s. Now, Mallikajaan (Manisha Koirala) is in charge of Shahi Mahal and a bevy of young tawaifs -- Bibbojaan (Aditi Rao Hydari), Lajjo (Richa Chaddha), Waheeda (Sanjeeda Shaikh). There's also Mallikajaan's two attendants, Satto and Phatto, maid Saina, tonga-driver Iqbal, Ustadji (Indresh Malik) who carries tales and helps negotiate deals, two wily British officers, and many wimpish nawabs.

Mallikajaan presides over the lives and fortunes of the tawaifs while admiring her jewellery, taking drags from a hookah and doling out random acts of cruelty.

Each tawaif has a patron nawab sahab who provides for her in return for her exclusive attention and time. But insecurity forces each tawaif to seek more power and patrons, and all relations, whether personal or professional, all feelings of love, whether real or feigned, become just an asset to be spent in exchange for something better.

The courtesans wear their egos regally, as an armour to protect their fragile honour and independence, hiding their vulnerability under a display of their fortune and beauty.

Lajjo, who is in love, breaks this power posturing with a show of vulnerability and true passion. But for women of Heeramandi, relationships work only as long as they are pandering to the desires of men. The moment the tawaifs display their real feelings, a desire for another life, they are discarded brutally, humiliated and violated.

In Shahi Mahal there's also Alamzeb (Sharmin Segal), Mallikajaan’s daughter, who wants to be a shayar, but Mallikajaan is planning her nath uttarai (a ceremonious auction to the highest bidder).

Meanwhile, in a more respectable part of town, Tajdar (Taha Shah), the son of nawab Ashfaq Baloch (Ujjwal Chopra), has returned from Oxford. In the midst of rising protests for azaadi and clashes with cops, Alamzeb and Tajzar lock each other in their gaze.

The British sarkar, portrayed here by two officers, Cartwright (Jason Shah) and Henderson (Mark Bennington), sometimes become pawns in the games that tawaifs play, but mostly they remain suspicious of all Indians and loyal to the Crown.

Disruption arrives in Heeramandi the shape of Fareedan (Sonakshi Sinha, in a double role), who carries a secret and a grudge. She takes residence in a mansion across Shahi Mahal and declares war on Mallikajaan.

Ustadji, smelling opportunity, begins going to and fro, irritating egos, teasing insecurities, fanning tempers and setting off battles.

Partly shot in Lucknow, Bhansali's Heeramandi, based on a story by Moin Beg, recreates a world of nawabs, Lahori splendour and nautch girls accessorised with seductive bits and baubles, by using Urdu language and tehzeeb.

That gentle elegance and etiquette intrinsic to Urdu are woven in Heeramandi’s screenplay and dialogue. It's a world where shayars (poets) don’t simply begin reciting their kalam (poem), but seek permission with, “Arz kiya hai…" and begin only when they hear an enthusiastic "Irshaad".

Heeramandi has several strands and tangents. Of these the weakest one is about the scar-carrying Waheeda seeking revenge. The freedom fighters' track too feels stilted in the beginning and takes its time to gather some heft and meaning.

But the series’ weakest link is Sharmin Segal Mehta who plays Alamzeb, the innocent pawn of her mother and a nawab’s love interest. She has the charm of youth, but meagre acting talent.

Daughter of Bhansali's sister, Mehta goes through the series with one expression, and is helped throughout with a soft glow, gentle breeze and music insinuating some feeling and chemistry between her and Tajdar.

The film's music is composed by Bhansali himself, and the dialogue— by Divya Nidhi and Vibhu Puri—are sharp, with several stunning one-liners. The film's production design, by Subrata Chakraborty and Amit Roy, and cinematography, led by Sudeep Chatterjee, are all in sync to create this world.

For all of this, Heeramandi draws a lot of inspiration from Pakeezah, a little bit from Umrao Jaan and Mandi as well. Several scenes, sets, clothes, even camera movement and dances are like a homage to Kamal Amrohi’s 1972 epic starring Meena Kumari.

Heeramandi has a very talented cast of actors, but none of its female actresses is a great dancer. In fact, they can all be listed in ascending order of how stiff and bad they are.

The dances in the series are choreographed keeping that in mind. So every mujra has a mood and tells a story with swirling lehngas and acts of seduction or desperation.

Richa Chaddha has a brief role, but is very good. Sonakshi Sinha and Aditi Rao Hydari have substantial roles and sparkle in several scenes, bringing alive their characters every time they grab hold of an opportunity to get what they want.

Apart from Fardeen Khan, who mostly wore a constipated look and too much kajal, all the men play their part well. Shekhar Suman was good, and Indresh Malik, who plays Ustaadji, is creepy and slimy. Jason Shah and Mark Bennington, who play the two British officers, are excellent.

Manisha Koirala — who reportedly took diction classes for this role — delivers her Urdu dialogue perfectly and with chutzpah. All her lines land as she intends them to— sometimes like sharp whiplashes, sometimes like haunting one-line life lessons. She changes the mood of a scene sometimes without even uttering a word.

Within her she carries the ethos of Heeramandi—a bazaar of pleasure where sex is the least interesting item on sale, and where surface beauty, nazakat (delicate affectations) hide a pragmatic business sense.

Koirala carries many shades of black, white and grey within her. She is a victim and a vicious, heartless assailant. She derives special, sadistic delight in humiliating others, casually jeopardises love, extracts a pound of flesh for every favour, and even acts of basic decency carry a heavy price tag.

Devious, evil and so real, she is the heart and soul of the series. This year, all awards for best performance, female, in series are going to her.

Binge-watch Heeramandi for her and for Bhansali's powerful, operatic, ode to feminine power. It doesn’t get better than this.

Series: Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar

Directed by: Sanjay Leela Bhansali

Cast: Manisha Koirala, Sonakshi Sinha, Aditi Rao Hydari, Sharmin Segal Mehta, Richa Chaddha, Sanjeeda Sheikh, Farida Jalal, Indresh Malik, Shekhar Suman, Fardeen Khan, Taha Shah, Adhyayan Suman, Ujjwal Chopra, Mark Bennington, Jason Shah, Jayati Bhatia, Nivedita Bhargawa

Rating: 4/5

love-sex-aur-dhokha-2-review-dibakar-banerjee-simulates-three-virtual-worlds-but-it-s-not-clear-to-what-end

Fri Apr 19 19:05:41 IST 2024

I have never felt as listless after watching a film as I feel after watching Love Sex Aur Dhokha 2 in a near-empty hall.

Dibakar Banerjee is a very talented director with sharp story-telling skills. He has made fabulously entertaining films, like Khosla Ka Ghosla, Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!, and a sharply political one as well, Shanghai (2012).

In between he has sometimes served bland, insipid fare, like Detective Byomkesh Bakshy!, Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar.

LSD: Love Sex aur Dhokha, the original, still has a cult following because its cinematic language — scenes shot through CCTV cameras, computer screens, and simulating a shaky, pixelated world of online sex and stings — was unlike anything we had seen before. And because one of the three stories it told (the first one, starring Rajkumar Rao), was so shocking, its violence so chilling that it carried the other two.

In LSD2, a sequel in spirit and format to the 2010 film, Banerjee tells three stories that are loosely based on what happens when all that is unreal becomes real. These are stories not just about how our lives are now split between the real and the virtual worlds, but how, increasingly, the real exists only to service our virtual lives, lies and avatars.

In each one Banerjee, with the help of his two co-writers, cinematographers, editor, a great cast of actors and interesting characters, creates an alluring world.

But all of LSD2’s three stories feel incomplete, and as a whole, the film doesn’t come together. LSD2, in fact, ends on a note that is so vague and bizarre that it left me with a feeling best expressed by my favourite Hindi word: Hain?

In LSD2, instead of the catchy Love Sex aur Dhokha, the themes are Like, Share and Download.

First up is a reality show, Truth Ya Naach, with an anchor (played by Mouni Roy), three judges — Anu Malik, Sophie Choudhary, Tusshar Kapoor — and a handful of contestants living in a house.

The contestant LSD2 is most interested in is Noor (Paritosh Tiwari), a transgender woman who is trying to game the game to make enough money so that she can pay for the surgeries that, she feels, will make her a complete woman.

This story dips and rises as Banerjee takes us behind the scenes to show us the show-runners' obsession with followers, online trends and how marketing deals are negotiated and cancelled. Contestants are coerced subtly to pick a fight, make out, kiss in front of the camera, or call family members, friends and ex-colleagues to revive their wilting popularity and the show’s TRPs.

In Noor’s case it’s an estranged mother, and a love affair. In the midst of this tacky reality with scripted and rehearsed flare-ups, Banerjee throws in Annu Kapoor’s epic 2008 meltdown on the sets of a singing competition when he said that the choice of patriotic songs, and not singing talent, deserves more marks.

But Banerjee, who has been facing censor troubles, replaces Bharat Mata with Maa ki Izzat (Mummy Ji’s Respect), and the scene ends up being a low-key dog whistle that doesn’t amount to much.

The second story is about Kullu (Bonita Rajpurohit), a transgender woman employed by an NGO to work as a cleaner at a Metro station. Kullu has a boyfriend and a side hustle that is too embarrassing for the NGO, and its point person, Lovina (Swastika Mukherjee), to acknowledge and accept.

As Kullu’s life unravels after a sexual assault, the focus is on Lovina and how she puts out familial and professional fires.

This story is not so much about the virtual world, but more about how we all now love, fight, get hired, fired, romance and pick up clues to a dying relationship through our smartphone screens.

The third story is about Game Paapi (Abhinav Singh), a school-going boy who is a mega YouTuber and gamer. Here too, through Abhinav Singh’s frantic, fabulous acting, Banerjee simulates an interesting world. But the story goes so off-tangent that I can’t quite figure out what he was trying to say through his Meta Verse satsang (congregation). Maybe Banerjee was pointing to the strange happenings in the VR world where, four months ago, a gang rape was reported and is being investigated. Perhaps. But I am not sure, because Banerjee himself didn’t seem to be sure.

While watching LSD2, I was engrossed in its stories and somewhat invested in the main characters, but that was mostly because of its talented actors, Anand Bansal and Riju Das’ exciting cinematography, and Naman Arora’s editing that split regular scenes into small, off-key, out-of-focus pieces with disjointed body parts. At office meetings, staff stare at the top of their boss’ head or his tie, and when a lover is locked up or being beaten, helpless yelling from the other end of the phone can be silenced in a second, by pressing the end-call button.

There’s power in not showing the whole. And Banerjee uses the visually mutilated viewpoint of how we see the world and how the world sees us intelligently, creating mystery and urgency.

We watch reality shows create and sell fiction, listen to influencers collaborate on a fight to create buzz, and shudder at our own inhumanity when a crime, viewed through a phone camera, is just a 90-second video that may go viral.

But curiosity can’t make up for the lack of compelling storytelling. And that’s where LSD2 falters. It has visual bits and bubbles, but it lacks purpose. It doesn’t seem to know why it is telling us these stories.

Movie: Love Sex Aur Dhokha 2

Director: Dibakar Banerjee

Cast: Mouni Roy, Tusshar Kapur, Swastika Mukherjee, Urfi Javed, Nimrit Ahluwalia, Anu Malik, Sophie Choudhary, Tusshar Kapoor, Bonita Rajpurohit, Abhinav Singh

Rating: 2/5

do-aur-do-pyaar-review-marriages-are-not-made-in-heaven

Fri Apr 19 17:01:05 IST 2024

What happens when you take a mildly raunchy, slightly funny but otherwise middling American film about a middle-aged couple's extramarital affairs, wash off the few strains of carnal fun it had, and then marinate it in Bharatiya sanskar and parivaar ka pyaar?

You get Do Aur Do Pyaar, a film which, much like the marriage it is about, gets made and unmade in the bedroom.

Director Shirsha Guha Thakurta's film is a legit copy of the 2017 film, The Lovers, which is not a great film. But it had sex on its mind, and that gave it some interesting crumpled-sheet moments and the promise of more fun than it eventually delivered.

In Do Aur Do Pyaar, it’s difficult to tell the difference between the dying marriage and the cloying, domesticated extramarital affairs.

Which is sad because Do Aur Do Pyaar has both star power and acting talent.

Pratik Gandhi is an excellent actor with a massive range, and Vidya Balan’s screen presence is warm and exciting. She is lovely and can switch from being flirty to feisty in a matter of seconds, while keeping both real.

The two could have let sparks fly if the film's writers and director had not treated them as sulky, asexual beings.

Gandhi and Balan try their best, but even the most talented actors can’t save a film whose script first sucks out all the joy from the original material and then fills it up with scenes from The Encyclopaedia of Filmy Cliches About Failed Marriages.

Anirudh (Pratik Gandhi) and Kavya (Vidya Balan) have been married to each other for about a decade and their relationship has soured. When we meet them, they talk only on a need-to basis and sit watching TV on two ends of a three-seater sofa, as if they were its armrests. Even then it feels like their energy leaks out of their feet in each other's presence.

Unbeknownst to the other, each has found a source to replenish their energy.

Anirudh is having an affair with the petulant, struggling actress Nora (Ileana D'Cruz), and Kavya is dating New York-returned dishy photographer, Vikram (Sendhil Ramamurthy).

There is some spark and romance between Kavya and Vikram. Hints of sex are also thrown in by putting Kavya in a mere boyfriend's white shirt as she lolls on his bed, toying with him and his camera.

But between Nora and Anirudh, there's pestering domesticity where he is mostly managing her tantrums and trying to find new excuses to explain why he has not told Kavya that he is leaving her for Nora.

Anirudh, by the way, sells cork and that is supposed to make us giggle because cork, you know, sounds like.... But even the film can't laugh at this idiotic joke.

Once the basic situation is established, a death in the family is announced and there’s a funeral to go to. So off they go to where it all began - to Kavya's house in Ooty where her sweet Amma, stern Appa and lingering disappointment live.

Memories about who they once were are rekindled and there are some rushed frisky moments in the dark.

When Anirudh and Kavya return home, buttons come undone, Chinese food is ordered, and suddenly they are cheating on their respective lovers with their spouse.

The lovers wait, wail a little and create some plot twists so that we can all go home.

Do Aur Do Pyaar is just 137 minutes, but it feels long.

Though the film picks up briefly towards the end, when Anirudh and Kavya are trying to live the marriage that they wanted while simultaneously acting in ways that are bound to destroy it, the film ends on a dreary note, thinking it’s delivering a live lesson.

Terrible relationships are terrible for the people in them. But, for cinema, it is pure gold.

Some of the best films in Bollywood are about cheating spouses and dysfunctional marriages - Sahib Biwi Aur Ghulam, Yash Chopra's Silsila, Karan Johar's Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna, Lunch Box, Arth, Life In A Metro. Even B.R. Chopra's 1978 film, Pati Patni Aur Woh, about a happily married man who cheats simply because he is bored, much like we often are of ghar ka khana (home-cooked food), is still watchable.

Do Aur Do Pyaar credits three writers - Suprotim Sengupta, Amrita Bagchi and Eisha Chopra - yet it's difficult to come across more uninspired, cliched writing.

The film's plot is made up of one predictable scene after another, and each one is made worse by the dialogue. In fact, some of the worst parts of the film are when people are talking.

Do Aur Do Pyaar, in fact, opens with such a boring conversation between Kavya and Anirudh about love, relationships and toothpaste, that it would put anyone off love and brushing their teeth for life.

Another stunningly boring conversation is between Anirudh, Kavya and a driver en route in Ooty. It's the sort of stuff that ChatGPT would type out were you to politely ask, “Dear JiPeTe, give me a sample Bollywood conversation between a loveless couple and a driver when they return to the town where their forbidden romance began. Use all the cliches you can find.”

These predictable outcomes make Do Aur Do Pyaar spiritless, much like the marriages and affairs it is about.

The film’s plotting and dialogue are so lackadaisical that despite a very able cast, no one has any chemistry with anyone.

But because they are all good actors - Vidya Balan, Pratik Gandhi, Ileana D'Cruz and Sendhil Ramamurthy - each one is able to create a personality with some needs and emotions.

Amongst them Gandhi shines. He is like the central load-bearing pillar of Do Aur Do Pyaar. He carries the film and it often seems like he is playing a character who has drifted onto Do Aur Do Pyaar's sets from another, better film.

I was happily surprised by Ileana D’Cruz. Despite being cast as an all grown up woman who wants to play baby girl, she breathes life into her character with her acting.

Sendhil Ramamurthy is just plain gorgeous.

I rented director Azazel Jacobs's The Lovers on Amazon Prime and watched it to see what we have been cheated of.

The film starts off on a funny note, casting its two main characters - the married couple - as congenital thrill seekers. And then it does something quite interesting. While the affairs are shown as escapes from the boredom of an old marriage, they are also shown as a source of joy for the marriage. The husband and wife carry excitement and weariness from one relationship to the other, often living the same life in two different bedrooms with two different people.

But in the homely setting of Do Aur Do Pyaar, there is angst at home and angst at the lovers’ den. There's a disconnect here and there. There’s baingan posto (aubergine with poppy seeds) here and it's there as well.

Even this could have been turned into something interesting, but that’s a tall order for writers who can make extramarital affairs asexual and tiresome.

Film: Do Aur Do Pyaar

Director: Shirsha Guha Thakurta

Cast: Vidya Balan, Pratik Gandhi, Ileana D'Cruz, Sendhil Ramamurthy and others

3-body-problem-review-this-sci-fi-series-is-a-visual-treat

Tue Apr 16 17:02:09 IST 2024

With 3 Body Problem, The Game of Thrones duo’ David Beinoff and D.B Weiss have yet again created their magic along with Alexander Woo. Dating back to 1967 in the wake of the Chinese cultural revolution the opening scene projects imagery of bloodshed, a mad crowd and a man, who is being brutally tortured. With the opening two minutes to the scene, emotions escalate; the viewers will be taken by surprise with the scenarios that are about to unfold.

The series falls under the sci-fi genre. Usage of certain terms and complicated equations, scientific in nature, make viewers more interested in the plot. The strategic building of the story and the long dialogues with scientific references keep you hooked. The superficial effect of advanced technology and its role as a threat to humanity is portrayed successfully. The series follows a non-linear narration style. The shifting of scenes reflects the transcending changes that time has brought in on the environment. Apart from depicting the complicated themes throughout the series, the director's brilliance is seen through scenes that have clever Easter eggs hidden.

While stories of different characters are shown, the thread of the main plot is never lost. The thread is connected via different narratives. Establishing a timeline and connecting the stories of different people to a common link makes the series distinguishable.

Four brilliant scientists graduating from prestigious universities Auggie (Eiza Gonzalez), Jin Cheng (Jess Hong), Will Downing (Alex Sharp), Saul Durand (Jovan Adepo) sets the story in motion. They have each other’s back through thick and thin. With the arrival of san-ti (aliens), chaos ensues as they start manipulating humans. The efforts to destroy the species through high-performance technology fail. After realising that the flaw of humanity is ‘lying’ the aliens proclaim war.

The show brings in graphical elements engaging viewers to the limits of disbelief and plot lines that evoke curiosity. The series is closely interconnecting the futile and uncanny nature of humans and their existence, which is slowly nearing an end.

The series also draws a parallel to the movie, ‘Arrival’ which portrays the story of linguistic expert Louise Bank appointed at the US Navy, who tries to decode communication with foreign species. The movie brings to light the flaws of human communication that are referred to as ‘time-consuming’ by aliens. This series also hints at the interface between them, who claim, that the technological advancements and inventions of the human race are limited in possibilities and time consumption.

Series: 3 Body Problem
Cast: Eiza Gonzalez, Jess Hong, Alex Sharp
Director: Minkie Spiro, Jeremy Podeswa
Rating: 3/5

review-chamkila-may-be-the-best-music-biopic-made-in-india

Fri Apr 12 16:13:34 IST 2024

Writer-director Imtiaz Ali's Chamkila (one who glitters), starring Diljit Dosanjh as the real-life Punjabi folk singer Amar Singh Chamkila, is inspired and fabulous in all sorts of ways. At the centre of this biopic is one of India's finest actors and singers, Diljit Dosanjh.

As Chamkila, who rose to fame on titillating, ribald lyrics and exceptional singing talent in the late 70s and early 80s and was gunned down at the age of 27 during the peak of militancy, Dosanjh doesn't inhabit or play a character here. He submerges himself so beautifully and completely in Chamkila that there are moments in the film when you wonder if it really is Dosanjh on screen. Watching Dosanjh get lost in Chamkila's character to bring him alive is like being treated to a master class in acting.

All the songs in the film, it informs us, have been performed live by Diljit Dosanjh, Parineeti Chopra and others.

Dosanjh is a hugely popular singer and stage performer. So that part of the role would have come naturally to him. But it's the way in which he engages his whole body to express Chamkila's high-pitched singing style -- tensing, pulling, making a physical effort to draw notes from inside -- that makes the stage performances in the film stand out.

Imtiaz Ali is a very good director, but he has been limited in the stories he picks up -- mostly adorable, young romances that sour, leaving scars and tortured souls who seek happiness but also throttle it when they find it. His obsession with pretty college-going girls in salwar suits had begun to bore me.

After Jab We Met and Tamasha, Chamkila may be Imtiaz Ali's best and cinematically most audacious film.

Ali, who has written the film's script with his brother, frames Chamkila's story in a social and political context to show the cost that many have had to pay simply for exercising their right to freedom of expression.

At a time when we seem to have forgotten men and women who were shot for having views that irritated religious and political groups -- Narendra Dabholkar, MM Kalburgi, Govind Pansare, Gauri Lankesh -- Chamkila reminds us of the fragility of freedoms and lives without waving the flag of human rights or scoffing at groups that profess to uphold honourable values but don't flinch at using guns and carrying out murders.

Chamkila is Imtiaz Ali's most political film to date. It may well also be the best music biopic made in India.

Chamkila opens with Amar Singh, a chit of a school-going boy from a Dalit family. Curious and gifted, he watches and soaks in all that is happening around him. Mostly it's sex.

There is talk of sex, the forbidden and incestuous kind. There are men and women obsessed with sex in his family and neighbourhood. He encounters them in bathrooms, in the kitchen, and even spots them on the terrace.

He puts down what he hears and sees in verse from, using the words, accusations and expressions he has heard from adults around him. This dirty stuff gets him canned at school, but he doesn't stop writing, and draws emotional sustenance from it as he grows up and has to work at a soulless job in a garment factory when he'd rather be singing.

His dreams keep him restless, and after some attempts he becomes an apprentice and lyricist to a famous folk singer, Jitender Jinda (after real-life singer Surinder Shinda).

A fortuitous stage performance one day, where he strums the tumbi -- a single-string plucking instrument -- because Jinda is running late, changes the course of his life.

Chamkila collaborates with female singers, first Sonia and then Amarjot (Parineeti Chopra), whom he later marries. Together they sing about lust, affairs, booze and drugs. Their songs are massive hits, bookings for performances at weddings and festivals pour in, bringing money and fame. They are also invited to the Gulf and to Canada to perform.

Running parallel to the story of fans who can't stop listening to Chamkila's naughty songs and of rising record sales is the story of jealous singers who can't stand his success and plot to bring him down. There are also trigger-happy militants and daunting religious heads who begin to view his songs as a corrupting influence that must be stopped.

Somewhere in the middle, the film dips for a bit. It meanders here and there, spending too much time on Amarjot and Chamkila's marriage, and families and to introduce new characters.

One particular scene, where a journalist interviews him, feels especially artificial. It strikes a jarring note in the film which otherwise feels so real and authentic. There are better ways of showing a clash between the woke, urbane, feminist world and a folk singer it accuses of objectifying women.

The film recovers from this and proceeds on a different note.

As Chamkila becomes more famous, he also becomes an easy target.

Though his popularity amongst young girls and boys, men in rural Punjab continues to rise, he is shunned by respectable people and radio stations.

But in the privacy of their hostel rooms, women put cassettes in tape recorders and dance to his songs because they express their desires as well. In Chamkila's lyrical imagination, women are equal participants in the game of tease and sex.

There are warnings and death threats. At packed events, where Chamkila tries to avoid singing these songs, he is repeatedly heckled and told to sing the songs he is famous for.

A victim of his own success, he submits to his fate with the exhaustion of someone caught between fans who demand lewd, salacious songs, but the only target of rage against these songs is him.

Diljit Dosanjh's eyes are lively pools of expression and the range of things he can convey just with his eyes is exceptional. As a singer, he is of course in his element here -- confident and engrossed. But he carries Chamkila's fame with the confused smile of someone who can't quite believe what is happening.

And later, when threats to his music, livelihood and life become routine, Dosanjh doesn't react with foot-stomping rage. He lets a shadowy gloominess engulf him. And as it slowly darkens every pore of his body and soul, he acquires a wistful expression and demeanour.

His face forgets to smile, his body begins to wilt and his gaze grows distant, as if what's happening around him is temporal and pointless because he can see the big thing that's coming.

Chopra, who plays Amarjot, Chamkila's second wife and singing partner, is assured, credible and a calming, grounding foil to his crackling personality.

Imtiaz Ali is a master at creating affecting, tender moments of blushing, budding romance. He does that very well here. More than Dosanjh, Chopra carries that first tingling of love which makes her cheeks flush and body twirl.

Chamkila is strongest when it is in lyrical mode and is telling the story of the folk singer through his songs and performances.

Imtiaz Ali celebrates Chamkila's music and life by adding an extra zing to it. Words and phrases dance on the screen when Chamkila sings. Graphic novel-style animation interjects to break the monotony, and makes scenes throb with psychedelic energy.

The film has a very talented ensemble of cast and crew, including Irshad Kamil who has written the lyrics, and AR Rahman, who has composed the music. It is melodious when it needs to be, and energising when required. Long after the film is over, Rahman's beats will continue to play in your head.

Imtiaz Ali creates several authentic, overlapping worlds in Chamkila with a sharp but light touch.

Shot on location in Punjab, there isn't a single false note in the film's setting, mood, except for that one interview scene. In the film's early morning scenes, you can feel the chill amidst the fog, and the segregation of men and women at functions and events is very nicely shown.

In the beginning, when Chamkila is a young boy, incestuous encounters are quite normal and make their way to folk songs that women sing in the safety of each other's company.

When Chamkila grows up, we are in the world of Punjabi folk singers who go from one singing gig to another, hoping to eventually migrate to Canada. This lucrative but unpredictable and competitive world, where grown men get insecure quickly, where slights are imagined and avenged, feels so Punjabi and real.

All of this is set against the backdrop of rising militancy in Punjab. Its continuous presence and threat are often conveyed in the film simply through the nozzle of an AK-47 that sticks out from behind the shoulders of men covered in heavy shawls. It's menacing and it's great filmmaking.

I watched Chamkila in Punjabi and though I understand the language, I found it difficult to follow.

The film is available in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi.

Movie: Chamkila

Cast: Diljit Dosanjh, Parineeti Chopra

Direction: Imtiaz Ali

Rating: 3.5/5

Streaming on Netflix

varshangalkku-shesham-review-a-film-that-builds-a-balance-in-humour-and-satire-pranav-mohanlal-vineeth-sreenivasan

Sat Apr 13 10:33:06 IST 2024

Vineeth Sreenivasan, who wears many hats in Mollywood, has come out with another interesting movie that blends humour and a good storyline in Varshangalkku Shesham.

In his latest, Vineeth takes the viewers fifty years behind and then back to narrate the story of camaraderie between Venu (Dhyan Sreenivasan), Murali (Pranav Mohanlal). The two friends travel to erstwhile Madras in the hope of fulfilling their dream of becoming a scriptwriter and a composer respectively. In the hope of discovering talents and new people, they find a place to reside at ‘Swami Lodge’ before securing small gigs and gradually building connections.

In time, with a little help from Murali, Venu gets a chance to exhibit his film which later garners attention, boosting his name as a filmmaker. A successful Venu gradually builds a fortress and slowly drifts away from Murali.

Misunderstanding creates a scintillating plot twist as the story grapples through twists and turns while maintaining the balance of momentous and humoral elements. The sheer grip of engagement is seen through the narrative when the story starts building with Venus’s expedition to find Murali. With a pinch of humour, the story takes on a serious note as the scene reaches its crescendo as Pranav's Murali grabs the attention of spectators with his emotional engagement.

What makes the film exceptional is the character association. The role of Murali draws parallelism to the gravitating bonds of friendship.

In the second half, the thread of the story slowly starts shifting to achieving goals despite a bracketed age group. Venu, after years of stardom as a director, took a long break from cinema. As he reaches old age, he slowly feels rustic as his carrier attains a full stop. In the hope of gaining momentum, Murali encourages him to take the project. With engaging drama between characters Pradeep enacted by Basil Joseph an assistant director and Nivin Pauly as Nithin Moly the narrative never falls out of humour. Falling through pivotal and disproportions in their friendship, Venu and Murali reconcile by making a box office hit with his friend Murali contributing as a composer. The film presumes as a movie within a movie as the shooting of the scene and the undying element of the theatrical setting are interwoven in the plot.

The performance of Nivin Pauly in this film can be described as a ‘comeback’ which alludes to remark on the physical backlash that he has faced after changing his physique over the past years. With his witty comeback, he never fails to set the bar high as a dynamic actor. He brings in an element of satire with his pun-intended name and his colourful garments that never fail to get noticed.

Movie: Varshangalkku Shesham

Rating: 3/5

Cast: Pranav Mohanlal, Dhyan Sreenivasan, Basil Joseph, Aju Varghese, Kalyani Priyadarshan, Neeta Pillai, Neeraj Madhav, Arjun Lal

Director: Vineeth Sreenivasan.

a-high-budget-low-iq-film-where-the-only-joy-to-be-found-is-in-tigers-dimples

Thu Apr 11 22:42:29 IST 2024

Writer-director Ali Abbas Zafar’s Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, starring Tiger the-cutie-pie Shroff, and Akshay Kumar Overshadowed, is a high-budget, low-IQ film that begins on a note of such extreme imbecility that it never once recovers for the entirety of its 164 agonising minutes.

The film opens in what looks like a large Taj banquet hall but is some serious office type of place where Army guys, seniors and juniors, are looking worried as they stare at a screen on which a convoy of Army jeeps and vans is winding its way through hills. The seniors and juniors talk about how important it is that the yantra (machine) doesn’t get into the hands of the enemy, because if it does, India will be khatam, khallas (finished, the end).

The scintillating words we hear next from the convoy — “incoming missile”, “secure the package,” S***! Tank is coming”, “call for backup” — pretty much summarises the story, plot, soul and spirit of this Rs 350 crore enterprise whose mission seems to be to bore us to death.

Cut to Shanghai where Lady in Leather Jacket (Manushi Chhillar) rushes to a restaurant to meet a guy in a hoodie who is the bearer of bad news and is, thus, having what looked like Mulligatawny soup.

Meanwhile, back home, bad news is upon the convoy and the yantra is being carted away by one mean man who has long, wavy hair, a leather fetish and is hiding behind a black mask with golden curlicues.

Hoodie guy is killed before he can finish his Mulligatawny soup, so Jacket Lady gives chase to a man who is also wearing a mask, though his is definitely not couture. After some kicking, slashing, pushing, stabbing, it turns out that the man in the lesser mask is indestructible.

Meanwhile, man in designer mask has hacked into the servers of the Indian Armed Forces and is telecasting himself on to their screens. “The war has begun,” he says, and for unexplained reasons, gives the seniors and juniors three days to try and save India.

Only two guys can save India, says one senior, and dispatches Jacket Lady to get them. These two guys were court martialled though they did destroy some Al Zayeda VIP.

Bade Miyan Chote Miyan's first half is an unrelenting, breathless chain of gun fights and chase sequences in which Freddy (Akshay Kumar) and Rocky (Tiger Shroff), men on a mission to save India, keep jumping in and out, on and off cars, buildings and horses to kill people and blow up stuff in Afghanistan, UK and other foreign parts.

The second half has a long, dry patch where the bad guy, Kabir (Prithviraj Sukumaran), whines so much that you wish they’d all take their guns out and just shoot each other.

He talks a lot, tries to explain why he is doing what he is doing, but none of it makes sense nor is it even mildly interesting. The only thing to note is that what was earlier being called the 'yantra' is now referred to as The Package.

He holds a grudge, he says, so he took something that was not his. And now that he has it, he keeps muttering “pralay, pralay (destruction, destruction)” in a please-be-threatened kind of way.

No one seems threatened, especially not Rocky who keeps saying funny, silly things to his compadre, drawing our attention again and again to his charming dimples and high sexy quotient. In fact, so nonchalant is he that the bullet-proof jacket he wears on this deadly mission is a bikini version of protective armour. It has a deep V-neck, and a flirty Brazilian cut.

But since India is everyone’s Bharat Mata, and her first son is Akshay Kumar, Jacket Lady and Bade Miya Chote Miyan set out to retrieve The Package which, in case you are wondering, is linked to something called Karan Kavach (Karan’s Armour). Without this protection, it seems, China and Pakistan will spray missiles into India with the hijinks and enthusiasm of colony boys shooting pichkaris (water guns) on Holi.

Holding the key to saving and destroying India is a lady with long nails who first sits squirming with her mouth taped, then gets a nosebleed and is later seen reclining on a high lounge chair while a robotic hand tries to retrieve some very important information from her.

A lot of tech stuff is involved in saving and destroying, so Jacket Lady brings in a motor-mouth millennial (Alaya F) who hits on Rocky on our behalf, and then keeps doing stuff on her tablet that is of some help.

But Bad Guy Kabir is also doing stuff on his very fancy computer and seems to be better at it because, at one point, just before a twist in the plot, Rocky and Freddy are en route to becoming crisp shish kebabs.

Every once in a while there is a chest-thumping bombast about Hindustan, India’s armed forces praised and threats are issued to anyone even thinking of messing with it.

Bad Guy Kabir, now with only half the designer mask, is determined to mess with it, but is so boring that he has to keep talking in hyperbole and repeat his threats again and again.

When Bad Guy Kabir was hidden behind a mask, there was some mystery to him. When the mask comes off and he starts whining and complaining with blood-shot eyes, you feel like giving him a glass of water and saying, “Beta, relax. Do anulom-vilom”.

The jokes dry up, India is about to be destroyed, Rocky and Freddy are beating each other up and the techie millennial is saying, "Put the chip in him, Gawd! Put the CHIIIPPP in him".

Bade Miyan Chote Miyan is so bad in places that it is funny.

Everyone who is fighting is dressed like those plastic action figures, and is stiff like them. The fakery and idiocy of the film's plot is staggering. The fact that so many Bollywood worthies put so much money into it is a very worrying sign. It’s also depressing that this Eid we have to suffer this nonsense.

I am not a Salman Khan fan, but I get the craziness and joy around his Eid releases. All of them have one Eid Mubarak song that is special.

BMCM has no joy except for Tiger Shroff. He tries to bring some cheer to the film’s dreary proceedings and some of his lines are quite funny. It often feels like he's giving CPR to the comatose film. BMCM gets a pulse for a few seconds, only to sink again in a deluge of bullets, balls of fire or crybaby Kabir’s complaining.

In War, where Shroff was paired with Hrithik Roshan, you barely noticed him. But in BMCM, it’s impossible to take your eyes off him.

His stunts are super cool, he carries the dead weight of the film with a spring in his step and though his dancing lacks rhythm, his dimples make you want to dance.

Movie: Bade Miyan Chote Miyan

Cast: Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Prithviraj Sukumaran, Manushi Chhillar, Alaya F, Sonakshi Sinha, Ronit Roy, Manish Chaudhari

Direction: Ali Abbas Zafar

Rating: 1/5

aavesham-review-this-fahadh-faasil-movie-wont-disappoint

Thu Apr 11 16:41:18 IST 2024

Filmmaker Jithu Madhavan operates much like a skilled chemist; he meticulously adheres to the tried-and-tested "formulas" required for his subject to cook up success. His debut film, Romancham, was the perfect blend for theatrical success by combining elements of traditional horror with wit. Now, with Aavesham (Excitement), he ventures into another genre-blender—a mobster comedy—adhering closely to established genre conventions, tropes, and plot devices.

The cornerstone of any mobster comedy lies in its eccentric central character. On-screen, Fahadh Faasil as Rangan, a Bengaluru-based don, embodies this eccentricity flawlessly. The film boldly opens with a title card declaring its intent to "re-introduce" Fahadh Faasil. This reviewer found that the filmmaker lives up to that claim, reintroducing FaFa (Faasil, as his fans call him) in a role where he skillfully blends narcissism, absurdity, and the quirks of a don with continuous wit and light-heartedness. While FaFa previously portrayed the psychopathic character Shammi in Kumbalangi Nights, Aavesham's Rangan exudes a different kind of frenetic energy, showcasing a new facet of his acting prowess.

The central plot of Aavesham revolves around a classic 'fish-out-of-water scenario,' wherein three college students find themselves entangled in unexpected circumstances. Debutants Hipzter, Mithun Jai Sankar, and Roshan Shanavas portray these students who inadvertently become entwined with the mobster Rangan. Ego with college seniors leads them to Rangan, but from there, they become ensnared in a series of absurd situations that even jeopardize their lives. Madhavan skilfully ensures that his seemingly hollow plot is elevated by entertaining absurd humour and outlandish scenarios that defy logic and reason. Throughout, the film maintains a light-hearted tone while exploring themes of power struggles and the complexities of everyday existence.

Friendship between a mob boss and his henchmen, or a ragtag group of misfits thrown together by circumstance, are common tropes in successful mobster comedies. In Aavesham, audiences will encounter both of these scenarios. Sajin Gopu delivers a stellar performance as Rangan’s henchman, Amban, whose costume evokes memories of Vikraman from Balarama’s Maayavi comics.

The film's first half is tightly edited, but there is a noticeable dip in pace during the initial portions of the second half. Additionally, there are moments where this reviewer felt somewhat detached from the tensions experienced by the trio. But towards the climax, the film once again gets charged up and takes the audience on a rollercoaster ride into the world of madness exhibited by Rangan. FaFa, as a performer, brings out his complete form only in those climax portions.

The script contains multiple clichéd moments. However, Madhavan cleverly covers these cliches with witty one-liners and banter, and FaFa’s “Eda Mone” catchphrase is likely to earn an iconic place in Malayalam pop culture. Even when the film takes several freakish turns, the filmmaker abstains from any kind of forced or slapstick comedy elements. Instead, it is in the dialogues crackling with energy and wit that Madhavan puts his trust to engage the audience. On multiple occasions, the film builds up an emotional scene and then eases the audience with light comedy.

Mashar Hamsa’s costume designs and Chethan Dsouza’s action choreography deserve praise, showcasing excellence on the technical side. Sushin Shyam delivers energy-pumping soundtracks, while Samir Thahir vividly captures the transition from thug life to the Insta reel life of Rangan.

The film maintains a celebratory mood from beginning to end, catering primarily to a youthful audience. Female characters and elements of romance or love are almost non-existent, with the plot heavily invested in male ego and adrenaline rushes. Aavesham is adorned with references from a variety of films, ranging from the iconic Hollywood film The Shining to Madhavan’s debut film, Romancham.

Final Thoughts: If you're in search of a drama adhering to the confines of realism, Aavesham may not be the right pick for you. However, if your intention is to just chill and celebrate in this festival season, the movie won’t disappoint.

Movie: Aavesham

Director: Jithu Madhavan

Cast: Fahadh Faasil, Mithun Jai Sankar, Roshan Shanavas

Rating: 3.5/5

maidaan-review-the-film-honours-rahim-saab-his-legacy-indias-golden-not-so-distant-past

Tue Apr 09 17:34:55 IST 2024

Director Amit Sharma's Maidaan, starring Ajay Devgn as Syed Abdul Rahim, the Indian football team's coach from 1950 to 1963, is not a perfect film by many measures.

At 3.02 hours, it is way too long. Its story arc and plot are what they usually are in films about an underdog team’s impossible journey from ashes to glory, a la Lagaan and Chak De! India. The film generously uses sports film tropes we are all too familiar with— morally hideous and jealous men, smarmy officials, an apathetic minister, sports federations that are run like personal fiefdoms, and racist opponents abroad—and frames every match as a matter of honour.

Yet Maidaan, which traces the journey of Indian football from a debilitating defeat at the Olympics to its rise as a formidable team that took on France and Australia under Rahim saab, has a pulsating heart that gently gathers pace and power to end on a thrilling, moving note.

Maidaan tells an important story of a forgotten legend and a glorious chapter in Indian football. And its brilliance lies in how it tells that story.

In the film, Ajay Devgn doesn't play a Muslim coach. He plays a master tactician and a motivating disciplinarian who changed how Indian footballers were selected, how they trained and played. Draped in ethics and warm shawls, he is the emotional core of the film around whose dedication and sharp focus a team rises.

In Maidaan’ P.K. Banerjee, Chuni Goswami and Tulsidas Balaram are not the holy trinity of Indian football, nor is Neville D’Souza the man who netted a hattrick at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. All of them, along with Fortunato Franco, Peter Thangaraj, D Ethiraj, Tulsidas Balaram, Yousuf Khan, SS Hakim, Jarnail Singh and Ram Bahadur Chetri, are beads in a string that the film puts together to recreate a past where the golden era of football was possible only because it was also the golden era of a nation that saw beauty and strength in its diversity.

‘Maidaan’ doesn't shout out its secular credentials, nor does it beat us with lectures on national integration. It simply shows the power of inclusivity in subtle but significant ways, in ways that conjure the spirit of that soul-stirring 1980s song, 'Mile Sur Mera Tumhara'.

The film begins in 1952, at the Helsinki Olympics, where the Indian football team suffers a humiliating defeat: Yugoslavia 10, India 1.

“Shame” screams the headline of a newspaper in Kolkata whose balding, conceited, cigar-puffing owner, Prabhu Ghosh (Gajraj Rao), considers himself a football expert. He believes and writes that the Indian team is not worthy of competing internationally, especially not the ragtag team that Rahim has put together.

Many members of the football federation are also seething. Led by Shubhankar (Rudranil Ghosh), they accuse Rahim of favouring non-entities from his hometown, Hyderabad, and ignoring Kolkata's famous football club heroes.

“I will take full responsibility for the next defeat, if you give me full authority," Rahim counters and is, willy-nilly, given another chance.

He returns home briefly, where we are introduced to his kids and wife (played by Priyamani). She is learning to speak in English, hates that he chain-smokes, but likes the gifts he gets her. Rahim sets out again, to look for talent in small gullies and towns.

Every time he visits a state or a city, its name appears on the screen in its script: Secunderabad in Telugu, Kerala in Malayalam. It's clever and delightful.

After some light moments with the players at the training camp, and practice sessions where Rahim shares tips and tricks on how to tackle opponents, how to dribble less and pass the ball faster, the team is off to the 1956 Melbourne Olympics where India beats Australia on the field and in swag. And then they are off again, to the next Olympics in Rome where India is placed in the “Group of death” — with Hungary, Peru and France. India loses two matches, but draws with France — 1-1.

Finally, after many indignities, tragedies, terrible lows and one needless song, Rahim saab and his boys are off to Jakarta Asian Games in 1962, where hostilities are high, but stakes are even higher.

Sports films are tough to direct and shoot. Either the sporting action is too little, or it's too dull and drags the film down. Sporting biopics, especially the ones with stars at their centre, often just showcases of how hard the stars worked to gain or lose this much weight and how they puffed up this and that muscle.

Director Amit Sharma, who made the adorable 2017 film, Badhaai Ho!, setting off a trend of films set in bickering, middle-class families in small flats, has hit the big league with Maidaan.

His direction is assured and his storytelling is compelling. Though Maidaan is not Lagaan or Chak De, it is one of Bollywood’s best sports films.

What lets him down is the writing.

Maidaan’s story and screenplay — credited to eight writers — uses filmy cliches and stock characters, and I couldn’t understand why the writers could not come up with something more than humiliation as the only motivator for the footballers.

A few incidents that are shown in the film — like anti-India protests during the Jakarta games, after an Indian official criticised the hosts for not allowing Israel and Taiwan to participate — are true. But in Maidaan, every match is framed in some sort of flagrant, public humiliation, either of the footballers by foreigners, or of Rahim by Shubhankar and Prabhu, and the film's message basically seems to be that Indian sportsmen strive for excellence only when they, their country or their coach's honour is at stake. If it is not, then they are, you know, a bit meh.

Thankfully, Maidaan steers clear of jingoism, but in moments of the team’s victory, it is in salute mode to something higher than the game they just played.

Sharma has used the services of two teams of cinematographers and editors in Maidaan. Fyodor Lyass shot the football bits and Shahnawaz Mosani edited those. The rest of the film, which creates a nostalgic past in sepia mood, was shot by Tushar Kanti Ray and edited by Dev Rao Jadhav.

The film is strongest when it is with Devgn or on the field. Shot intelligently and edited sharply, Sharma keeps the film's focus on its strengths and treats the rest as sideshows and surround sound.

When the film begins, the football matches are frantic. We see dismembered legs running, feet kicking, torsos falling, as if the camera were embedded in the football. It's over-edited by design, has a dizzying effect and leaves you exhausted, with no sense of what you have watched.

But as the film progresses, the editing and pacing calm down to let the drama, on- and off-field, build up. We watch Rahim's tactics in play, and are treated to soaring moments of individual brilliance and exciting teamplay.

This is where, in its second half, Maidaan hits a nerve and then tugs at it gently, drawing us into its world, making the team’s win our personal win, and upholding Rahim saab’s legacy a moral imperative. The last few matches in Jakarta are especially riveting and turn up the film's emotional quotient.

Ajay Devgn as a coach whose life's worth depends on how his team performs is very good throughout the film. Contained and quiet, he acts and speaks with his eyes and body. Especially towards the end, in Jakarta, when the film begins to lean into melodrama and nationalism, Devgn’s character stands apart as a gifted, dogged sentinel who believes in his own and his team's worth.

Gajraj Rao and Rudranil Ghosh are both excellent as the evil plotters. My problem with Rao's character was again the predictable arc of a hater who must, eventually, become the beholder and worshiper of genius. Despite this joyless characterisation, Rao brings some joy to his character and gives it some heft.

Priyamani is a very fine actress, but here she begins in a cutesy way. The script infantilises her character with sweet, silly English of which only one line was funny. But later, in two scenes, when the script lets her step out of the cute-girl act, she makes the screen sizzle.

Maidaan doesn’t delve much into the backgrounds and family lives of the footballers. But it gives many of them a distinct personality and all of them play their part in ways that are memorable. Amongst them, Davinder Gill as Jarnail, and Chaitanya Sharma as PK Banerjee stand out.

Few Bollywood biopics do justice to the men and women whose stories they tell.

Syed Abdul Rahim was a teacher in Hyderabad who began his football coaching career with the Hyderabad City Police, turning it into one of the best clubs in the country, and then changed the course of Indian football.

On Rahim saab’s passing, Goan footballer Fortunato Franco said, “With him, he took Indian football to the grave.”

Maidaan honours Rahim saab, his legacy and India’s glorious, golden not-so-distant past.

patna-shuklla-review-raveena-tandon-carries-a-heavy-role-and-a-middling-film-with-graceful-lightness

Fri Mar 29 17:08:24 IST 2024

Patna Shuklla is a courtroom drama that traces its ancestry to, among others, director Hansal Mehta’s 2010 film, Shahid, Arshad Warsi and Akshay Kumar’s Jolly LLBs, Richa Chaddha-starrer Section 375, and to last year’s Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hai (in which Manoj Bajpayee played real-life lawyer P.C. Solanki who represented Asaram Bapu’s underage victim and fought for justice despite immense pressure and threats).

All these films are about small-time lawyers getting the case of their life, and how they rise to the occasion and shine. But at their core, these films are about one woman's, or a man’s, moral courage to stand up against all odds and the many powers that be. Director Vivek Budakoti’s Patna Shuklla is just that — a film about one woman’s gentle determination to get justice for her client.

The film credits three writers — Vivek Budakoti, Sammeer Arora and Farid Khan —yet its screenplay is klutzy, the plot is predictable and its lead character is beset with so much goody-goody, cliched stuff about the ideal mummy, the ideal wife and an adarsh woman that it suffocates the lawyer, not letting her breathe.

Thankfully, the film has a talented ensemble of actors and it's to their credit — especially Raveena Tandon, (late) Satish Kaushik and Chandan Roy Sanyal — that they add warmth, sparkle and some joy to an otherwise dull film.

Patna Shuklla begins on a homely note. We are at the house of Tanvi Shuklla (Raveena Tandon), in Patna, Bihar, and go from her kitchen to the dining room to the bedroom as she rushes about serving breakfast to her son, handing her husband his shirt, and instructing the cook. Dressed in a court-appropriate white-and-black saree, she gets on her scooty to race behind her son's school bus, carrying the lunch box he’s forgotten, before heading to court.

There too she plays the role of a nurturer. After setting her table, she takes out boxes of ladoos and hands them around, including to Judge Arun (Satish Kaushik), who comments that he considers her a better cook than a lawyer.

Tanvi wilts a bit, but soldiers on, fighting a laughable case in his court that involves an undergarment and an unscrupulous tailor. She wins, and in the evening excitedly tells her husband (played by Manav Vij) that they should go out to celebrate. His response, like Judge Arun’s, makes her wilt a bit more, but again she soldiers on, this time in the kitchen.

Since we are familiar with the craft of courtroom dramas, we know that from all this ash of humiliation and disappointment, Tanvi will rise, phoenix-like. That moment comes when Rinki Kumari (Anushka Kaushik), a college student, approaches her, saying she has been cheated of her future and wants to sue her college.

The case is simple enough. A BSc student, Rinki is the daughter of a rickshaw puller who claims that she should have got 60 per cent marks in her finals, but has failed. She suspects negligence or foul play that her apathetic college is uninterested in rectifying despite her repeated requests.

Tanvi takes up Rinki’s case and finds herself facing off with a big-time lawyer, Neelkanth Mishra (Chandan Roy Sanyal). His instructions are to get the case quashed. This is the beginning of the David Vs Goliath story, and we sense that something is amiss.

Pressure on Tanvi mounts, a creepy politician (played by Jatin Goswami) tries to intimidate her, and we finally begin to understand the scam and what’s at stake.

Threats are carried out, dark secrets and fragility of the men around Tanvi are revealed, but Tanvi, gently dogged and determined, continues to fight for Rinki.

Patna Shuklla’s screenplay weaves in a lot of contemporary, familiar politics about Beti Padhao, gifting cycles to school-going girls, bulldozers and demolitions. It creates a real, believable world in which Tanvi and Rinki's fight for justice feels daunting, even a self-harming, reckless move. Yet that is where the film’s power lies — in the empowering courage of one against the disempowering might of many rich, well-connected VVIPs.

Director Vivek Budakoti doesn’t go for much melodrama, but he doesn’t go for human drama either, often wasting scenes that could have added heft to the film and made it stand out.

Chandan Roy Sanyal is an excellent actor who can make the screen sparkle. Though the screenplay doesn’t give him much to play with, he brings panache to Justice Arun’s humble court, and is a worthy opponent for Tanvi to beat. Her victory in the end is sweet because Sanyal is so sharp and good.

Vidhi Gupta, the star of Crash Course series, has a small, meagre role here, yet she makes it memorable.

Patna Shuklla is reportedly the last film that Satish Kaushik, who passed away in March last year, shot. The film's last scene, in which the camera captures him walking away, is very poignant and brought tears to my eyes.

Patna Shuklla’s star is Raveena Tandon. The film sees and treats her character, Tanvi Shuklla, as a super mom, a super caring wife, annapurna to the world at large and a scooty-riding advocate in a lower court on whose moral strength rests the relevance of the criminal judicial system.

This is the patriarchal imagination of an ideal woman with eight arms, carrying a tiffin box, an ironed shirt, a serving spoon, a broom, boxes of ladoos and a copy of the Code of Criminal Procedure, while her other two hands are on the handle of a scooty made me cringe.

Why must female characters, who are supposed to be real, be framed as impossible fantasies? Why can’t a lead female character be complete and perfect without all this burden?

What’s worse is that the film can’t stay and applaud Tanvi in her big moment of victory. It doesn’t let her or us savour that moment, preferring to acknowledge it with a half smile and then quickly returning her to domesticity.

This discomfort of allowing women to enjoy their moment of triumph, of watching them enjoy it, undermines Patna Shuklla's main character, drags the film down, and does injustice to Raveena and to us.

Despite that, a luminous Raveena Tandon carries the burden of a heavy role and a clumsy film with graceful lightness.

Movie: Patna Shuklla

Cast: Raveena Tandon, Chandan Roy Sanyal, Satish Kaushik, Anushka Kaushik, Manav Vij, Jatin Goswami

Direction: Vivek Budakoti

Streaming on: Disney+Hotstar

Rating: 2.5/5

godzilla-x-kong-a-treat-for-monster-movie-lovers

Sat Apr 06 10:24:52 IST 2024

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire really knows its fan base. It has amazing visuals, and non-stop action, but not much story buildup. The movie keeps you entertained with one thrilling moment after another. Watching it in 3D has its perks, it feels like you are just with them for almost the whole movie. I wasn't fevered the whole time, the plot was more or less predictable, but managed to keep me hooked. While the plot fell flat, each scene made up for it, like the visuals and the cast everyone held it together.

The movie has two iconic monsters which are Kong and Godzilla (Titans) with rich history, and their fans know almost everything about them. It's disappointing that the characters act surprised by things like electrical anomalies, which have been part of Godzilla's world. The movie sticks too closely to old ideas instead of building on them.

In The New Empire, Godzilla and Kong are like allies in a way and anyone who stands between them is the common enemy. Kong was more humane and slightly less powerful but from Godzilla vs Kong, we understood that Godzilla is above Kong. It does not rule out the fact that he is weaker. Godzilla, in the beginning of The New Empire, once feared, is now seen as a hero despite causing destruction while fighting other monsters. People remember past threats like King Ghidorah and Rodan, so they accept Godzilla's role in keeping other monsters away while Kong stays in the Hollow Earth.

The casting could have been a bit better, even then they all pulled it off. There are not many scenes for the cast, ergo it's a monster movie. Main character circumstances do exist, but are predictable. There was no credit scene, but one cannot rule out that there would be another movie. It is mainly a one-time watch movie.

Godzilla vs. Kong: The New Empire is an action-packed spectacle that delivers thrilling visuals and relentless monster battles. While lacking in substantial story development and character depth, it offers an entertaining experience for fans of the genre.

Rating: 3/5

Director: Adam Wingard

Cast: Rebecca Hall, Dan Stevens

crew-watch-it-to-bask-in-the-glory-of-the-leading-ladies

Fri Mar 29 14:34:11 IST 2024

Badhaai ho! Congratulations!

Bollywood has finally begun to reimagine its heroines in ways that are morally spicy, a bit naughty and entertaining as hell.

Director Rajesh Krishnan’s Crew, starring Tabu, Kareena Khan Kapoor and Kriti Sanon in the lead, is a spunky, funny caper powered by their sharp comic timing, sexy swag and the audacity to play badass characters with a lusty pout and zany playfulness.

Written by by Nidhi Mehra and Mehul Suri, the film uses the unravelling of Vijay Mallya's Kingfisher Airlines as its backdrop, and its plot is somewhat inspired by Steven Soderbergh's Ocean's 11, 12 etc. Yet the crackling chemistry of Crew’s leading ladies, their bitchy comments and heart-warming friendship makes Crew feel like it’s the beginning of Bollywood’s first female, feminist franchise. I am looking forward to and expecting the announcement of a sequel soon.

Crew is set in an airline, Kohinoor, that is run by its chairman, Vijay Walia (Saswata Chatterjee). Geeta Sethi (Tabu), Divya Rana (Kriti Sanon), and Jasmine (Kareena Kapoor Khan) are air hostesses and friends. We meet them as they are being dragged off a flight by customs officials to look for the gold they were allegedly smuggling.

As they are being frisked and interrogated, the film goes into flashback to introduce us to these women's lives, their dreams and varying degrees of desperation for money.

Geeta is married to Arun (Kapil Sharma), a chef who tries to earn some money through his cloud kitchen. But their house really runs on Geeta's salary. Jasmine, brought up by her loving Nanu (maternal grandfather), decided early on not to nurse any qualms. Instead, she developed a taste for luxury and learnt how to make money on the side and not be a bechari (helpless).

Divya, a trained pilot, has been living a lie. Every morning she dresses up as a pilot, says ta-ta, bye-bye to her proud parents, but, at the airport changes into her air hostess uniform —a short red skirt, a red jacket and a blue fascinator.

There’s been no salary for the airline staff for over six months. Their per diem has been shrinking, and Geeta keeps asking about her PF. The film’s screenplay uses the very familiar story of a fancy-shmancy airline that is slowly going bankrupt to show how it is impacting the staff and their lives.

We also watch the terribly sexist and frustrating side of life of air hostesses as they rush about in narrow aisles responding to requests, serving tea and meals while dealing with men who think a casual pat, or crude behaviour is their right. And then, suddenly, on a flight one day, a senior crew member collapses. As Geeta begins to administer CPR, a solution to their life’s problems appears, strapped to the dead man's chest.

The first part of Crew has a lot of energy and bounce as we watch these three women who, instead of surrendering their dreams and desires to their fate and the chairman’s chicanery, decide to take charge.

And when they succeed, these women, fed up with asking, “Veg or Non-Veg, sir?” don't just exhale and fulfil their familial responsibilities. Instead, they dress-up, and say cheers to their youthful ambition. The film dips a bit after the interval, and takes some time to recover. The heist they plan and execute feels rushed and runs more on their bluster than logic, Tabu, Kareena and Kriti pull it off with their acting prowess, chutzpah and high glamour quotient.

For decades, women’s desire in Bollywood has only been sexual. And it has been choreographed, captured and served mostly for male gratification, the camera acting as a lecherous man’s gaze, and instructing it.

Crew’s women have a pecking order of responsibilities and desires in which all things male and sexual sit right at the bottom. In fact, there's a tongue-in-cheek knowingness in Crew of how to titillate, and it throws in lots of cleavage, shapely midriffs and casual sex rather casually. It treats all these as a part of the package of the new, empowered, enterprising woman who wears what she likes and knows the effect it has on men but doesn’t really care.

Rajesh Krishnan, who made the 2020 film, Lootcase, starring Kunal Khemu and Rasika Dugal, is good at pulling off greedy, shady, secret enterprises. Crew's plot could have been tighter, and slicker. But that’s a writing flaw and he tries to make up for it by using the film’s strength — its lead actresses and the supporting cast — to carry the film's second half. The problems show, but they don’t really matter because we are emotionally invested in the lives of these men and women.

Kapil Sharma is good, and Diljit Dosanjh, who plays Kriti Sanon's love interest, is fabulous. He lights up the screen with his joyous mix of earthy sincerity and unpredictability. Both he and Kapil Sharma remain on the sidelines, where they add a touch of reality.

Kriti Sanon is efficient and delivers, but she feels like a lightweight next to Tabu and Kareena. There is, perhaps, no other actress in India today who incites the sort of excitement that Tabu does. She is gorgeous, and her performances are often memorable. But what makes the screen sizzle is her intellectual oomph and a tight embrace of her character’s desires. The darker they get, the better she is.

In Crew, her calmpose-popping senior air hostess is the centre of gravity. Her Geeta grounds the film and is the glue that keeps the gang of three together. Kareena Khan Kapoor’s Jasmine is the real badass here, and she plays the part with so much chutzpah and lust for life that she keeps grabbing the film and making it her own.

We may well be in the golden era of Bollywood as far as its actresses are concerned. A very talented, confident bunch, many of them are no longer interested in playing the 3-songs-5-dress-changes game. Instead, they are taking risks and playing characters who can talk dirty, act naughty and wear shades of grey, like accessories.

Watch Crew to bask in their glory.

Cast: Tabu, Kareena Khan Kapoor, Kriti Sanon, Diljit Dosanjh, Kapil Sharma, Saswata Chatterjee, Rajesh Sharma

Directior: Rajesh Krishnan

Rating: 3.5

aadujeevitham-review-behold-a-classic

Thu Mar 28 16:59:13 IST 2024

When do we classify a film as a 'classic'? Is it a label reserved for works that transcend the constraints of time and space, leaving an indelible mark on the collective consciousness of cinema enthusiasts? Is it a film that reflects social, political, and cultural zeitgeist with remarkable authenticity while simultaneously exploring universal truths that resonate across cultures? Does it reshape the very trajectory of filmmaking, leaving an enduring imprint on the art form itself? Is it a film that captivates audiences with its artistic brilliance, cultural significance, and enduring resonance? Is it a film that captivates audiences with its artistic brilliance, cultural significance, and lasting resonance, while also delivering an impeccable technical experience? Blessy’s Aadujeevitham (The Goatlife) undoubtedly earns its place as a classic in Indian cinema, embodying near-perfect filmmaking that meets all the criteria for this esteemed label.

The mass migration of skilled and unskilled labourers from Kerala to Gulf states began in the early 1970s. Many of these migrants relied on bank loans, assistance from friends and family, and the liquidation of assets to finance their journey to various Gulf countries. Aadujeevitham follows the journey of two such unskilled migrant laborers—Najeeb Mohammed (Prithviraj Sukumaran) and Hakeem (K.R. Gokul)—who wish to secure promising jobs and a better life for their families in the early 1990s. Little did they anticipate the harsh reality awaiting them: working under a cruel Arab man, tending goats and camels across the desert.

The Kafala system, a legal framework established in the 1950s, governs the employment of foreign migrant labourers in Saudi Arabia and numerous other Gulf states. However, evidence suggests that this system has perpetuated exploitation, slavery, dismal living conditions, and meager wages for migrant workers. The crux of the issue lies in the migrant labourers’ legal dependence on a single sponsor or employer for their right to live and work in the Gulf countries. Historically, the Kafala system has bound labourers to abusive sponsors, denying them the ability to transfer employment when faced with exploitation. Aadujeevitham emerges as arguably the most poignant indictment of this oppressive system ever depicted in world cinema. Incidentally, this sensitive film faces censorship hurdles in most GCC countries, with the exception of the UAE.

Despite its bold stance against labour abuses, exploitation, and racial discrimination, the film subtly weaves these themes into its narrative backdrop. Blessy masterfully immerses the audience in the physical and psychological traumas endured by Najeeb, as well as his long journey to survival.

Prior to the film's release, Blessy remarked that without Prithviraj, the project would not have been feasible. Prithviraj Sukumaran, who is among the most stylish actors in Malayalam cinema, wholeheartedly surrendered his body to Blessy's vision to bring Najeeb to life. The result is remarkable, as except for a few instances in flashback scenes, Prithviraj virtually disappears, allowing Najeeb and his arduous trail to command the screen entirely.

National award-winning editor A. Sreekar Prasad, along with cinematographer Sunil K.S., deserves commendation on par with Prithviraj for their contributions in realising Blessy’s vision to a world-class standard. The filmmaker skilfully draws parallels between the two worlds in which Najeeb has lived throughout his life. Prasad’s editing seamlessly blends these contrasting realms, prompting the audience to question things often taken for granted in our own land, within the confines of our homes. In the hands of Blessy, the desert becomes not just a backdrop but a character in its own right. The vast and unforgiving beauty as well as the terrors of the desert landscape is skilfully captured in Aadujeevitham. Sunil K.S. 's lens transforms the seemingly barren expanse into a breathtaking canvas of shifting sands and endless horizons, where every grain tells a story of resilience and survival. Through meticulous framing and evocative lighting, the desert scenes pulsate with a palpable sense of isolation and longing, echoing Najeeb's internal struggles and external challenges.

Jointly produced by Visual Romance Image Makers, Jet Media Production and Alta Global Media, Amala Paul, Haitian actor and producer Jimmy Jean-Louis and Omani actor Talib Al Balushi form the important supporting cast in the film. Talib Al Balushi delivers an incredible performance as the cruel ‘Khafeel’ of Najeeb.

A.R. Rahman did the music for the film. The tracks 'Periyone Rahmane' and the Palestinian folk song 'Badaweih' are intelligently placed in the film. While the background score generally meets expectations, this reviewer notes that certain segments, particularly those portraying moments of hope by the end of the film, lack the emotional resonance one would expect. Nevertheless, these minor shortcomings are easily forgiven in light of the overall scale and craftsmanship with which Blessy delivers this film.

Hardcore fans of Benyamin’s novel may notice that certain episodes with significant shock value have been omitted from the film. Some may argue that this detracts from the depth of the narrative compared to the source material. However, this reviewer believes that the novel and the film should be regarded as distinct works, diverging at times in its narrative but ultimately converging at crucial points in the story. Undoubtedly, much like the novel, which sheds light on the lives crushed under the exploitative Kafala system, this film also serves justice to its portrayal.

Blessy devoted 16 years to sculpting this visual masterpiece, meticulously tailored for the theatrical experience. Aadujeevitham demands to be watched in all its grandeur on the big screen.

Movie: Aadujeevitham

Directed by: Blessy

Starring: Prithviraj Sukumaran, Amala Paul, Jimmy Jean-Louis, Talib Al Balushi

Rating: 4.5/5

swatantra-veer-savarkar-review-randeep-hooda-is-the-only-saving-grace

Fri Mar 22 18:52:22 IST 2024

Swatantrya Veer Savarkar, directed by and starring Randeep Hooda, is not really a film. It's strident agitprop in the guise of a film.

The film is only interested in deifying Savarkar, pushing his thoughts and staring at Hooda as he does so.

Luckily, Hooda is a fine actor.

Though, as a writer and director, he reduces all others around him to vapid stock characters - loving brother, crying wife, mean Muslim jailor, evil British officers and, well, morally compromised Congress leaders - as an actor, he is powerful and somewhat saves the film.

The problem is that he manages to do that only in the second half.

The first half of the film is a dreary history lesson with dates and text on the screen, and Hooda struggles to find his bearings, as do we, trying to play catch-up to what’s happening on the screen.

But, soon after the interval, in a long sequence where Savarkar is in solitary confinement at the Cellular Jail, Hooda fills up the screen, enlarges it with his bravura performance that both grounds the film and elevates it.

This scene, in which no words are spoken, is pure cinema and is absolutely riveting.

Swatantrya Veer Savarkar, written by Hooda and Utkarsh Naithani, begins with the 1897 plague outbreak in Pune. In tacky, stock scenes, we watch atrocities being committed by the British. There are beatings, rape, families split and tortured, and mass cremations.

In the midst of all this, is the Savarkar family whose two brothers—Ganesh (Amit Sial) and younger brother Vinayak (Randeep Hooda)—are traumatised and enraged. So, they create a secret, underground organisation, Abhinav Bharat Society, where oath to free the motherland from imperialists is taken with the Nazi salute.

This segment - which feels like a slideshow in fast-mode about British officers, assassinations, hangings - is like a pall of gloom that engulfs the film and us. We are unable to get into it because the story telling is so scattered and staccato, and the annoying, loud background score keeps trying to instruct us how to feel.

The film follows Savarkar as he gets married to Yamuna Bai (Ankita Lokhande), joins Fergusson College and then heads to London to study law.

The story that runs parallel to this is of India’s freedom movement which is split into two, with two separate cast of characters: The main part of the story is about Savarkar, of leaders like Lokmanya Tilak and his Swadeshi Movement, of men, women devoted to overthrowing the British through armed revolution. These include residents of India House in London.

Run by Shyamji Krishna Varma as a hostel and safe haven for Indians, at India House we meet Bhikaji Cama who supports the cause and stages protests, as well as a dashing Madan Lal Dhingra (played charmingly by Mrinal Dutt) who grabs a gun and shoots a British officer on British soil.

These revolutionaries are later joined by Bhagat Singh and Subhash Chandra Bose, both of whom, the film claims, were inspired by Savarkar.

On the other side of the aisle are the British, the Congress and Jinnah.

Through archival footage and dramatised scenes we meet morally corrupt officers of the Crown who kick, abuse, punish common Indians, plot India’s division on religious lines, and keep Congress leaders engaged in endless meetings and discussions while throwing crumbs at them. The clueless Congress leaders seem too lost in their own egos to see what is happening, but Savarkar sees it all and keeps warning that ahimsa won’t get India anywhere. Bomb blasts, assassinations are the only way to attain swaraj, he says again and again.

The film, now enroute to Independence, makes us listen to Savarkar’s dreary lectures about sanskriti and sabhyata, about Hindus and Hindutva, and at the Cellular Jail meet several Bollywood stereotypes, including a cruel Muslim warden who is either beating up prisoners or trying to convert them.

The jail segment is where Hooda lifts the film with his stunning performance. And it is here that the film, quite cleverly, and through dialogue between Gandhi (played by Rajesh Khera) and Savarkar, manages to merge all the voices of those who believed in armed rebellion into one single voice, that of Savarkar. And then he begins to slowly introduce many of Hindu Mahasabha's pet peeves and projects, from framing 1847 as the first war of Independence to the concept of Akhand Bharat, from ahimsa being an affliction of the feeble and not a moral force, to all those who live in Hind are Hindus.

While the film illuminates parts of history that are not well-known—like a temple Savarkar had build in Ratnagiri, Maharashtra, that is open to Hindus of all castes, many inconvenient facts, including Savarkar’s support of the two-nation theory, or that he called Muslims and Christians “misfits" in India—are either twisted or completely ignored. And, at the end, the film declares that India got Independence because of the Naval uprising in what was then Bombay.

Swatantrya Veer Savarkar is in colour, but its soul is in black and white.

It is a cleverly scripted film that brings Savarkar out of the margins and places him alongside Patel, Gandhi, Ambedkar, Bose, Bhagat Singh as not just an equal, but as a man who was greater than all of them put together.

It weaves in propaganda and paints Savarkar as not just as a revolutionary in pursuit of freedom, but also as a man who was not given his due in India’s history.

But the film's impact is lost because of its weak story-telling, uninteresting characters and its length. The film is 178-minutes long, and by the end of it, I could feel that the hair on my arms had grown at least an inch.

What keeps us going is Hooda the actor.

While the first half of the film feels like we have been sentenced to an endless kaala paani, after interval we sit admising Hooda's performance.

Initially, Hooda’s Savarkar feels like we are being made to stare at a dusty, old, one-dimensional portrait of a serious man hung on a wall.

But with one scene in a dark cell, Hooda adds humanity to Savarkar and brings him to life as a man who was single minded and, towards the end of his life, became frustrated, even unhinged. It's a national award-winning performance.

Film: Swatantrya Veer Savarkar

Director: Randeep Hooda

Cast: Randeep Hooda, Ankita Lokhande, Rajesh Khera, Apinderdeep Singh, Amit Sial, Mark Bennington and others

Rating: 1.5/5

ae-watan-mere-watan-review-sara-ali-khan-shines-as-usha-mehta

Thu Mar 21 13:52:42 IST 2024

In 1942, after Mahatma Gandhi announced the Quit India movement, the entire nation tuned in to the radio. They were eagerly awaiting the radio programme led by Usha Mehta, who started the Congress radio. Ae Watan Mere Watan is inspired by the life of this 22-year-old woman, who is one of the unsung heroes in India's fight for freedom.

This film, which also stars Emraan Hashmi, Sparsh Shrivastava and Abhay Verma. The pace of the film is slow, as with most period films. It begins with a young Usha, who wants to fly like the migratory Siberian cranes she sees.

The radio station is born post the arrest of all major Congress leaders after Gandhi, at August Kranti Maidaan, announces the 'Do or Die' slogan. The young freedom fighters start the radio station, as they realise that bridging the communication gap would further the fight for India's independence.

The move comes at a time when media has been censored by the British and the government has banned private radio stations. It is interesting to watch the British officers led by John Lyre (Alexx O'Nell) chase the signals to locate the radio station.

There are certain lapses in the film—in the first half—where the editing could have been tighter, but, overall, the plot keeps you hooked. Sara Ali Khan is convincing as Usha, who stands true to her commitment to the freedom fight. While her dialogue delivery could be better, her emotions come through, especially, when her relationship with her father (Sachin Khedekar) is conflicted. For, he works for the British Raj. Sparsh Shrivastava as Fahad, too, puts up a great performance.

The film is definitely a shift for director Kannan Iyer, who has previously written Victory starring Harman Baweja and directed Ek Thi Daayan starring Konkona Sen Sharma and Hashmi.

But, the film doesn't stir feelings of patriotism like Raazi or Rang de Basanti or any of the Bhagat Singh movies did. Better narration, for one, could have done wonders to it.

The film, however, might be Sara Ali Khan's breakthrough moment.

Film: Ae Watan Mere Watan

OTT platform: Amazon Prime

Director: Kannan Iyer

Cast: Sara Ali Khan, Alexx O Nell, Emraan Hashmi

Rating: 2.5/5

murder-mubarak-review-pankaj-tripathi-shines-as-acp-bhavani-singh-in-this-ott-whodunit

Sat Mar 16 09:35:50 IST 2024

Sara Ali Khan’s Bambi Todi, in the movie Murder Mubarak says that the RDC club is her home as well as her prison. And she calls it a wonderful prison. A prison where Delhi’s rich socialites come to escape from the ‘real world’ they find terrifying.

The plot is the king in this film based on the novel, ‘Club You to Death’ by Anuja Chauhan. Adapted by the author herself along with Gazal Dhaliwal and Suprotim Sengupta, the murder mystery will surely keep you hooked. Certain twists were predictable and there were a few tropes—the gym trainer who knows everything and a disgruntled ex.

The movie boasts a stellar star cast— Karisma Kapoor, Sara Ali Khan, Pankaj Tripathi, Dimple Kapadia and Tisca Chopra among others. Nearly all the characters have been utilised well in this slow burner.

Murder Mubarak is a whodunit that steers away from Homi Adajania’s usual style (read Finding Fanny and Being Cyrus). Or rather it speaks volumes of the director’s versatility (Cocktail, Angrezi Medium). While the whole setting is rather macabre, Tripathi’s quirkiness interspersed with those of the characters like Dimple Kapadia's Cooks or Karisma Kapoor's Shehnaz add to the fun quotient—not ‘haha’ funny though.

The movie could also be called a satire on Delhi’s high society. With men, who want to reiterate their masculinity, aunties, who gossip a plenty—the film holds up a mirror to the world of the rich and privileged. A world ensconced in exclusive parties, flashy cars, flashier jewellery and some more. Adajania, successfully showcases them as they might be creatures in a zoo.

Camera work by Linesh Desai helps set the tone, and so do Tripathi’s funny quips as ACP Bhavani Singh. The movie's attention-to-detail element is what brings home the point.

The characters might not have had much acting to do, rather, just be themselves. Adajania has tried to give Pankaj Tripathi a Benoit Blanc from Knives Out-like demeanour. And Tripathi, with a slight UP twang, more or less manages to pull it off and easily outshines all others.

It is probably the second Hindi thriller to come on an OTT platform after Killer Soup, a mini-series starring Konkona Sen Sharma and Manoj Bajpayee, that could go on a watchable list. The club from the ‘Raj’ era is a character in itself- a gateway to upper-class life. A life, where everyone has something to hide, from a secret love child to struggles from drug abuse. Rules, however, are rules and must be adhered to at all costs, as the club’s manager, played by Deven Bhojani says. “Murder is not permitted here,” he quips.

Film: Murder Mubarak

Cast: Sanjay Kapoor, Karisma Kapoor, Pankaj Tripathi, Vijay Varma, Sara Ali Khan

Director: Homi Adajania

Rating: 3/5

yodha-review-a-sidharth-malhotra-film-all-the-way

Fri Mar 15 14:42:04 IST 2024

Towards the fag end of Yodha, just in case the audience has not noticed it till then, Sidharth Malhotra’s character says, ‘Iss picture ka hero main hoon’ (I am the hero of this movie).

Yodha, a messy-massy entertainer, is built around Malhotra who plays Arun Katyal, the member of a tiny but elite squad that can fight on land, in sea and in the air. Once that fact is established, you can justify the myriad forms of his physical prowess. After an operation goes wrong, an inquiry is set up to consider whether or not the squad should continue. Some years later, Katyal finds himself in an eerily similar situation. This time, the stakes are much higher. And he has to fight off both the enemy and the aspersions cast on his patriotism.

Patriotism never goes out of flavour, and Yodha has its share of dialogues that stir that pot. However, it gains over recent hypernationalistic releases that paint the neighbour as the enemy into a slightly more nuanced version—that terrorism is a business and having peace between the two nations would mean the end of it. For just that, Yodha deserves an extra star.

The action in Yodha is slick and stylish. Fists and feet fly around dizzyingly and Malhotra makes it all believable and likeable. The hand-to-hand and knife combat are thrilling. However, Malhotra is capable of much more than the perpetual frown on his forehead and the lump in his throat—the only allowances made for him in terms of performance. There is a fleetingly tender moment between him and his father—the ever-dependable Ronit Roy—but it is gone all too soon. In his nods to other Dharma productions, Malhotra is endearing. The love story with a subtle Raashii Khanna is not just that but criss crosses with the film’s interplay between politics and the armed forces.

Disha Patani is, well, just her. But, to her merit, she is probably one of the very few actresses who can make a convincing case for landing kicks while draped in a saree. Watch her closely for a sudden flip in demeanour and body language. And it is a total paisa vasool moment when she grapples with Malhotra.

The movie’s writing is clever though not necessarily logical, as layers are peeled off till well past the intermission. It successfully draws the audience into a game of 'spot the bad guys'. If you have watched a few hijack movies, you will notice some templates thrown in, but the pacing of the movie does not permit one to linger over those ‘inspirations’.

The dialogues are trite but mercifully act as just fillers between the fights. The support cast holds up well. The music, however, is nothing memorable.

In the slight spaces that it is allowed, the camera lovingly gazes at some breathtaking landscapes.

Yodha is a Malhotra film. He is its brawn and its draw, well on his way to becoming the most dependable action hero among his contemporaries. But it is in the moments that he is not being the muscle man that he gives tantalizing glimpses into what more he is capable of.

Film: Yodha

Director: Pushkar Ojha, Sagar Ambre

Cast: Sidharth Malhotra, Disha Patani, Raashii Khanna and others

Rating: 2.5/5

bastar-review-thoughtful-but-half-baked

Fri Mar 15 15:14:52 IST 2024

We've all known and read about the presence of Naxalites in Bastar, Chhattisgarh, but this film forces us to think deeper and gets the audience to empathise with those affected. And for this reason, it is a good watch. The same team, which delivered the blockbuster albeit controversial The Kerala Story - Adah Sharma, director Sudipto Sen and producer Vipul Amrutlal Sharma - has come together again for Bastar: The Naxal Story.

Said to be based on true events, the film begins with a scene where a villager hoists the Indian flag and sings the national anthem. After a while, a Maoist leader kills him brutally for hoisting the Indian flag, establishing the dominance and depravity of Maoist rule in Bastar. Fear looms large; neither the government nor the public and not even the army dares to take action for they fear being killed. At the heart of the film is the Naxalite insurgency and the ensuing conflict with security forces, both of which bring into sharp focus the socio-political realities prevalent. Neerja Madhavan, a police officer played by Adah Sharma, unwaveringly patriotic, embarks on a mission to eliminate the scourge of naxal insurgency from the Hindi heartland and in the process gets accused of engaging in fake encounters. But, she remains undeterred.

The emotionally charged narratives revolving around a mother and son make a strong presence. To avenge the murder of her husband, the mother joins the police force, while the son joins the naxalites out of a lack of interest in education. It would have been great if the makers could explore the psychological motivations in depth, but the film barely manages to delve deeper. What is their motivation for doing what they are doing? How has the government tackled the naxalism situation so far? These and many other questions remain unanswered. Adah Sharma shows grit and determination but fails to impress because her character seems half-baked.

Overall, this film is watchable, because it talks about an issue that merits attention.

Film: Bastar: The Naxal Story

Director: Sudipto Sen

Cast: Adah Sharma, Indira Tiwari, Vijay Krishna, Shilpa Shukla, Yashpal Sharma

Rating: 2.5/5

shaitaan-review-this-hyperviolent-supernatural-thriller-is-a-boring-affair

Thu Mar 14 13:37:14 IST 2024

Shaitaan is a hostage thriller—slightly scary, slightly mysterious, and only slightly interesting. You take back memories of R. Madhavan who is at his raucous best with loud, tantrik make-up, and Ajay Devgn, once again playing the self-obsessed and unfaltering liberator who nobody wants to see beyond a point.

At the centre of the plot is Ajay Devgn as Kabir Rishi, a father fighting for the life and honour of his daughter. Vanraj (Madhavan), the sadist antagonist with supernatural powers, captures Rishi's daughter Janhvi, played by Janki Bodiwala. There is so much violence in this film that you just want to shut your eyes and close your ears—yes, like how you did while watching Ranbir Kapoor's Animal; the only difference is the violence is louder in Shaitaan—after a while.

Shaitaan has loads and loads of scenes that make you wonder at the lack of originality on the part of the scriptwriters—they promote black magic, and backward, superstitious beliefs. The only person who is convincing enough is Jyotika who plays Janhvi's mother. Devgn, as the doting father will remind you of his role as Vijay Salgaonkar in Drishyam; in fact, there is hardly any difference between his character in this daddy-saving-daughter film and that in Drishyam. He is exactly the same. For that matter, Shaitaan is the third such film after Drishyam and Bholaa, where Ajay Devgn plays the role of a protective father who will go to any length to save his daughter.

A remake of the Gujarati film Vash, director Vikas Bahl tries to pull off a supernatural occurrence by offering a frantic sensory experience with Shaitaan, but sadly, fails at it due to a poor script and a lackluster execution. The entire premise itself seems too flimsy to be real—a happy family of four finds itself up against a modern-day sorcerer and his black magic spells.

After the debacle of his last, Ganapath, Bahl has now tried his hand at a genre he has never had a shot at before, that is, supernatural horror. The psychological twists in the script are too juvenile for us to be interested in. This 132-minute-long film is better missed.

Film: Shaitaan

Director: Vikas Bahl

Cast: Ajay Devgn, Madhavan, Janki Bodiwala, Jyothika

Rating: 1/5

thankamani-review-this-dileep-starrer-suffers-from-predictability

Thu Mar 07 17:52:33 IST 2024

Films based on real-life incidents have more often than not appealed to the Malayali audience, be it 2018, Pada, Virus or Take Off, in recent times. Keeping with the trend, director Ratheesh Raghunandan revisits a tragic and infamous incident from 1986, which left a black mark in Kerala's political history.

ALSO READ: The real story behind Dileep-starrer 'Thankamani'

Thankamani begins with the brutal murder of a top politician, Varadarajan (Kottayam Ramesh) – in fact, the brutality might remind one of the American thriller series Saw. The identity of the murderer is revealed soon, as Arpitha Nath IPS (Pranitha Subhash) investigates the case, and so is the motive.

A flashback shows Abel Joshua Mathan (Dileep) returning to his village Thankamany in Idukki district on the 'Highlight' bus (originally, Elite), after three years in Abu Dhabi. An altercation between the bus operators and the college students sets the stage for the conflicts to follow.

Dileep and Manoj K. Jayan as the antagonist Mani Peter do justice to their roles. The supporting cast of Pranitha Subhash, Neeta Pillai and others, too, complement the lead characters well.

Music, too, plays an important role. The background score by William Francis and cinematography by Manoj Pillai deserve a special mention. While the music highlights the tension in each scene, the production design unit does a great job at reproducing the late 1980s.

Thankamani focuses on the tragic incident, sometimes at the cost of ignoring the fringe incidents that are related to it. It paints a distressing picture of a village that did not get justice. But it suffers from predictability and cliches, which spoil the experience.

P.G. Viswambharan's 1987 Malayalam film Itha Samayamayi, too, was based on this incident. Both the films have done a commendable job to keep it as close to the truth as possible.

Film: Thankamani

Director: Ratheesh Raghunandan

Cast: Dileep, Neeta Pillai, Pranitha Subhash and others

Rating: 2.5/5

dune-part-two-review-behold-the-lawrence-of-arrakis

Fri Mar 01 23:24:28 IST 2024

In 1962, British filmmaker David Lean directed an epic biography of a white man going to Arabia, joining desert tribesmen, going native to a great extent, and using his special knowledge and skills to help them win an epic war against the Ottomans—one that ended up fundamentally reshaping the world. The film, Lawrence of Arabia, was a big commercial success and won several Oscars. More importantly, in the years after its release, its technical and artistic achievements redefined the very notions about the scope and possibilities of cinema as an art form.

With his second entry in the Dune saga, French-Canadian filmmaker Denis Villeneuve could well achieve something of the sort. A primer for those who are not clued-in about the buzz: Dune is also about a white man going to the desert (albeit in a hostile planet in a distant sci-fi future), joining hands with tribesmen there, going native to a great extent, and using his special skills to win a planetary war that reshapes, well, the universe. (There is a thesis to be written on why deserts become fertile fields for cinematic artistry.)

In every conceivable way, Dune’s scale is bigger than Lawrence of Arabia. If Lean’s film was essentially a proudly old-fashioned cultural adventure story set in one part of a vast, exotic continent, Villeneuve’s is a dark and dense political allegory with a violent political conflict of galactic proportions at its centre.

The book it is based on, Frank Herbert’s Dune, is considered a foundational classic of modern science fiction. Through the book, Herbert introduced readers to a world in the distant future, where the governing system is both futuristic and feudal. A clutch of noble houses hold entire planets as their fiefs, and they in turn are governed by a brutally calculating interstellar emperor. It is a civilisation that greatly values technical and military superiority, and the most coveted commodity is melange, or spice, a psychotropic drug that extends life and enhances cognitive abilities required for space travel.

The first entry in Villeneuve’s Dune saga, released in 2021, served as an introduction to the meaty part of Herbert’s epic. It introduced the young Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet), whose noble family is sent by the emperor to rule Arrakis—the only planet with melange deposits and, therefore, highly coveted among the noble houses. In Arrakis, the Atreides family and its standing army fall victim to interplanetary palace intrigue and are killed off. Only Atreides and his mother, Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), survive. They flee deep into the desert, where the indigenous Fremen tribesmen are preparing for a war. They want to take back the planet from the foreign intruders.

The first film ended with Paul and Jessica meeting the Fremen and coming to know them better. The second entry wastes no time in picking up from where the first one left. Paul and Jessica join the Fremen, adopting the Fremen way of life as far as they could, adjusting themselves in the new order of things. The Fremen lead a drugged-out existence because the spice helps live and fight in an arid and hostile planet populated by strange creatures. They also consume another drug—hope in the form of religion. They believe that a messiah will come, give them redemption and make the planet green as it once was.

A section of the Fremen fashions Paul as a messiah candidate. Initially hesitant, Paul begins consuming the spice in life-changing proportions. The decisions he make alters not just his psyche and the nature of the war, but the Fremen way of life as well. He becomes, in many ways, the Lawrence of Arrakis.

To be sure, this one is not really designed as a second film in a traditional movie series—the film cannot stand on its own, as The Dark Knight does in Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy or, to a point, The Matrix Reloaded does in the Watchowski sibling’s quartet. Dune: Part Two works more like your favourite Breaking Bad episode—part of a larger whole but a work of art in its own right, meant to be watched and re-watched, appreciated and re-appreciated, long after you are done with the first binge.

This is a significant creative decision because films in general have been losing significance as a medium of art. “That’s not cinema,” Martin Scorsese complained of special effects-driven Marvel superhero films a few years ago. “The closest I can think of them, as well-made as they are, with actors doing the best they can under the circumstances, is theme parks.” Cinema, Scorsese insisted, was about revelation—“aesthetic, emotional and spiritual revelation”.

Happily, for him and us, the past few months have seen bold re-assertions of what cinema as a medium can do. There was Scorsese’s own Killers of The Flower Moon, a thematically ambitious, 3.5-hour study of sociopathy in America; Nolan’s Oppenheimer, a visually and narratively engaging biography of the America’s most mystifying scientist; and Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, which flips the Marvel formula to convey a smart and subversive commentary on feminism and patriarchy.

But none of these films, perhaps, comes close to Dune: Part Two in giving new meanings to Scorsese’s definition of cinema as an aesthetic, emotional and spiritual revelation. Villeneuve refrains from fully exploiting the plot’s sci-fi sensibilities—he could well have given it a commercially viable, theme park-like feel—and instead infuses it with a subtle mix of adventure, mystery, dread and even humour. Also, within the film, Paul’s journey is shown as a revelation to himself. From being a “young pup”, as one teacher describes him, Paul goes on to become competent in the ways of the desert, and capable and cruel in ways he could not have imagined. Jessica’s own life takes turns that compel her to face up to who she really is, and accept the truth and act accordingly. Even the one principal character who has shortest character arc in the film—Chani, the Fremen warrior who becomes the love of Paul’s life (Zendaya, in the film’s standout performance)—ends up in an identity crisis.

Villeneuve stuffs the tale with religious, spiritual and political underpinnings—Paul becomes not just the leader of the Fremen, but their messiah as well; he eats the spice, but the spice also eats him; and he comes to learn a secret about his family that shakes not just his convictions, but also the foundations of the empire. It is a film about revelations in more ways than one.

Villeneuve’s narrative achievements are rivalled by the craft of his crew. The cinematography, by Greig Fraser (Zero Dark Thirty, The Batman), is a testament to why big screens are not luxury, but a necessity. His use of colour and light is masterly—if Arrakis is shown in hues that are bright and pallid as occasions demand, the world of the Harkonnens (the house that massacred the Atreides family) are shot in nearly monochrome. Fraser also gives politically loaded visuals—a huge sporting event in the Harkonnen world invites associations to the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

Hans Zimmer, whose work in the previous film won him the Oscar for best original score, is in his elements. Happily, his propensity for loudness has somewhat been tamed, and his striking use of electronica with natural and more traditional sounds gives an audible authenticity to the on-screen clash between the materialistic empire and the spiritual Fremen. This is arguably his best work since Interstellar, and it is complemented by the fluid work of Joe Walker (Sicario, Arrival) at the editing table.

There are niggles, though. Chalamet, excellent as he is in the central role, comes a bit short in bringing the gravitas that the film’s final act calls for. And Villeneuve has not been entirely successful in avoiding, or papering over, the kooky parts of Herbert’s novel.

But these are trivial things. With Dune: Part Two, the project of condensing the sprawling Dune mythology (spread across 26 books and several stories) into a wieldy and coherent series of films continues in spectacular fashion. It is a project that many legendary directors—from Alejandro Jodorowsky to David Lynch—were unsuccessful in completing. That Villeneuve has reached it thus far, and in such fashion, makes this a cinematic breakthrough.

Movie: Dune: Part Two

Directed by: Denis Villeneuve

Starring: Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, Dave Bautista, Christopher Walken

Rating: 5/5

laapataa-ladies-review-kiran-rao-marks-return-with-beautifully-crafted-social-commentary

Fri Mar 01 22:18:11 IST 2024

Kiran Rao told THE WEEK in February that she rejected Aamir Khan for a role in Laapataa Ladies. Having seen Ravi Kishan play the corrupt cop in the movie, it is now difficult to imagine anyone else in his shoes, even Aamir Khan.

The humour relies on the dialect and the Bhojpuri touch is right up Kishan's alley. This contributed to the supporting character becoming a memorable part of the movie, he was in absolute sync with the flavours of Laapataa Ladies.

The rest of the cast has also done a stellar job. The two lead ladies, Nitanshi Goel and Pratibha Ranta, justified their roles. It was a wise choice to cast newcomers to these roles as familiarity could have killed the freshness of the portrayals. Sparsh Shrivastava, as the man who lost his wife, is subtly convincing and emotive when needed. In fact, every actor leaves a mark.

The music, cinematography and editing make sure that the movie remains engaging throughout. But the MVP in the category, unarguably, is the dialogues. There are several moments in the film that make you laugh out loud. More importantly, the dialogues enable Laapataa Ladies to say its piece without being preachy and cleverly conceal jibes behind humour.

The only minor issue with the movie was that some of the characters felt slightly formulaic. However, the director has managed to balance the predictability of these familiar sorts of characters by allotting a fresh kind of interaction to each of them. There is beautifully layered social commentary in their conversations.

Kiran Rao's comeback movie, which ended a 13-year break, is a delight to watch. And we can't forget the writers Biplab Goswami, Divyanidhi Sharma and Sneha Desai, who deserve as much credit as their director.

Film: Laapataa Ladies

Director: Kiran Rao

Cast: Nitanshi Goel, Pratibha Ranta, Sparsh Shrivastava, Bhaskar Jha, Geeta Agarwal, Chhaya Kadam, Ravi Kishan

Rating: 4/5

article-370-review-a-well-made-paean-to-the-ruling-party

Sat Feb 24 09:47:21 IST 2024

As far as disclaimers go, the makers of Article 370 have done a thorough job. So thorough that anyone wishing to call the movie partisan or equivalent to a puff piece would have to think twice.

However, the opening sequence is not so thorough. The voice of Ajay Devgn spits out the most nauseatingly oversimplified version of history that the makers could think of.

But, at the end of the day, it is a movie. So, let us talk about that.

The most notable feature of Article 370 is an additional layer of hate that has been written into Yami Gautam Dhar's leading character, intelligence operative Zooni Haksar. This helps to ensure that Haksar's flaws and emotional approach do not reflect badly on actual Indian operatives.

For her part, Yami, who has proven herself to be a competent actor in the limited opportunities that she has got so far in her career, does a convincing job. But, there is one scene in particular in which she was perhaps too emotive.

The supporting cast was good. Priyamani does justice to her role as a PMO employee. Arun Govil and Kiran Karmakar, who played the prime minister and home minister respectively, deserve credit. The two roles that could have served the minimal purpose of resembling real-life Indian leaders got elevated due to the duo's good acting.

The rest of the cast is a mix of slightly engaging personas and caricatures of overused cliches.

The movie scores on technical aspects like sound and cinematography. And the narrative is nuanced enough to invoke the defence of artistic licence against anyone who is inclined to criticise it for propaganda.

If it was not inspired by true events but a work of fiction, director Aditya Suhas Jambhale would have deserved credit for making a decent movie.

But, the story being what it was, more effort was needed to ensure that it became palatable to a broader spectrum of Indians. This includes patriots who maintain that they do not have to fall in line with the beliefs of the majority, no matter how strong they are.

For example, the characters who create problems for the Indian government in the movie could have been given more depth to balance out the narrative. This could have shown that innate humanness is the only thing that truly unites us. But they do not require any depth if the intention is only to use them as pawns to lionise the protagonists.

The second half was surprisingly engaging. But, that may just be the most dangerous thing about Article 370. Then again, it is just a movie. And one that was made fairly smartly.

Film: Article 370

Director: Aditya Jambhale

Cast: Yami Gautam, Priyamani, Kiran Karmarkar

Rating: 3/5

madame-web-review-dakota-fannings-marvel-entry-gets-tangled-in-own-web

Sat Feb 17 12:12:30 IST 2024

Sometimes, it's best for some storylines to be left alone. Madame Web's is one like that. Sony studios, it seems, is trying hard to get more from the fringe characters around Spiderman. They are trying to catapult a hero from the margins of the Marvel universe à la Venom and Morbius.

The movie, which stars Dakota Johnson in the lead role, and Sydney Sweeney, Isabela Merced and Celeste O'Connor, is slower than most origin stories. Even as the first half ends, Johnson hasn't manifested any powers or moves that could wow the audience. Johnson's lack of emoting doesn't help much either. The other three actors seem more promising when it comes to emoting. The villain, portrayed by Tahar Rahim, too, lacked the pizzazz Marvel fans are used to.

The movie begins with Cassie (Johnson), a paramedic discovering that she has the ability to see the future. It then moves on to how her fate might be connected to the three teens, Julia, Anya and Mattie—played by Sweeney, Merced and O'Connor respectively. Despite a mystery 'ceiling guy', the plot doesn't thicken, nor does it keep you hooked.

The movie certainly won't meet the expectations of Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) fans, who are used to exemplary fight scenes and stunning reveals. Perhaps, a non-linear narration could have worked better for the movie; it could have kept the audience guessing. The direction by S.J. Clarkson doesn't live up to the expectations, considering she's directed series like Jessica Jones, Marvel's The Defenders and the Emmy-winning Succession.

The camera work by Mauro Fiore wasn't shoddy, but there seemed to be no need for the upside down and titled shots, especially not since Johnson wasn't swinging tower-to-tower like Peter Parker. And even while the narration seemed slow, it seemed as if the makers tried to squeeze in a lot of events in the film introducing Madame Web—Johnson's trip to Peru, for instance.

With a mix of folklore (Las Aranas or mythical spider people) and urban heroes, and a villain that fits at least one trope, the movie could have been amazing. However, with pre-dated Spiderman outfits and a 30-something chaperoning three teens across town, it became a version of 'what if Disney made a Marvel movie'.

There's not much humour in the film either.

The costume department, however, deserves a pat on its back, for exacting early 2000s fashion like racer backs, cropped sweatshirts and ripped jeans.

The film can be avoided though; it was heavily disappointing for the MCU fan in me.

Film: Madame Web

Director: S.J. Clarkson

Cast: Dakota Johnson, Sydney Sweeney, Isabela Merced, Celeste O'Connor and others

Rating: 2/5

mammootty-starrer-bramayugam-is-one-hell-of-a-movie

Fri Feb 16 11:15:45 IST 2024

In Jean-Paul Sartre’s 1944 play 'No Exit' (original French title, Huis Clos), one would see three demanded souls reaching hell. They expect fire and torture devices, however, instead, they would find themselves locked in a plain room from which they cannot just leave. In Rahul Sadasivan’s Mammootty-starrer Bramayugam also, one would find three damned souls stuck up in an old mana (house of aristocratic Namboodiri Brahmins). Sartre in "No Exit" delves into the philosophical point of view that "Hell is other people,". Presented as a period horror drama, this black and white film also presents a comparable viewpoint, where each character arrives at a juncture where they realize that hell is other people exerting power over them.

The film begins with a scene depicting two men who have lost their way in the forest, seeking shelter for the night. However, one of them inadvertently falls into the enchanting snare of a yakshi, who lures him to his death. The second one, Thevan (Arjun Ashokan), realises that it is a yakshi and runs, and he enters the mana. At this very moment, this writer too, sensed getting lured into the “world of madness” created by Rahul Sadasivan, which fortunately gave “one hell of an experience”, literally!

Inside the old mana, which is in a dilapidated state, Thevan encounters Koduman Potti (Mammotty)—an old man—and his helper (Siddharth Bharatan). From there the film follows the perspective of Thevan, who would soon find the dark secrets about Potti and his helper. Mammootty delivers an outstanding performance, embodying an exceptionally cunning and eerie evil character. Bramayugam stands as yet another testament to the veteran actor's meticulousness and discernment in choosing scripts. The film serves as a testament to the extent of parakaya pravesha that the method actor can achieve when presented with a challenging character. Mammootty portrays Potti with a diverse array of mannerisms and distinctive body language that exudes both authority and charm.

Bharatan’s character is a stone-faced one, which hides secrets from both Thevan and Potti. And, the actor-director does justice to his character. Meanwhile, Ashokan gets a chance to deliver a full range of expressions from hope to ultimate horror. Amalda Liz portrays the Yakshi character; despite having no dialogue and minimal screen time, Sadasivan ensures that Liz's portrayal leaves a significant impact on the audience.

When viewing Bramayugam, it's clear that Sadasivan's decision to present the film in black and white goes beyond its genre as a period drama. It is within the interplay of light and shadows, accompanied by the haunting music, that the filmmaker conceals the horrors. There is a clever use of graphical storytelling while the narrative takes a dip into a flashback. Sadasivan, a filmmaker who has already demonstrated his proficiency in the horror genre with his 2022 film Bhoothakalam, finds himself bolstered by an even more robust script in Bramayugam.

Renowned writer T.D. Ramakrishnan, celebrated for his novels such as 'Alpha', 'Francis Itty Kora', and 'Sugandhi Enna Andal Devanayaki'—where he deftly intertwines history, anthropology, science, and myths—serves as the co-writer of Bramayugam. Ramakrishnan's talent for seamlessly blending fantastical realms with the mundane is evident in Bramayugam as well. Moreover, the dialogues he crafted for this film serve as an exemplary model for aspiring writers of period dramas.

Shehnad Jalal—who was the cinematographer for Bhootakalam—did the role of Director of Photography (DOP) for Bramayugam. Jalal's visuals are mesmerizing and seamlessly complement the narrative and world crafted by Sadasivan. Christo Xavier's scoring and music perfectly complement the film's tone and treatment. There's a sense of minimalism evident in the arrangement of the six songs within the narrative. The art team of Bramayugam also deserves praise for their creation of a haunting and decrepit mansion, which serves as a significant character in the story.

Bramayugam has a major reliance on visual storytelling, but its memorability isn't derived from visual gimmicks or jump scares. Instead, it's the intricate world-building orchestrated by Sadasivan, with significant support from Ramakrishnan, within a confined yet evocative setting, that truly captivated this reviewer. Once more, the film underscores the timeless adage that content is king!

Film: Bramayugam

Director: Rahul Sadasivan

Cast: Mammootty, Arjun Ashokan, Siddharth Bharatan

Rating: 4/5

bhakshak-review-this-bhumi-pednekar-starrer-has-its-heart-in-right-place-but-fails-in-execution

Fri Feb 09 23:03:30 IST 2024

Against the backdrop of a seedy small town, Bhakshak sets out to explore two questions: how long can one remain silent in the face of injustice, and what does it mean to be a journalist?

Profound as they may be, these are not new questions. And despite the many ways in which they have been explored—the most marked perhaps being the 1983 film Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron—a satisfactory answer is yet to be found.

Bhakshak, directed by Pulkit and starring Bhumi Pednekar, is not the answer.

Pednekar plays a struggling television journalist who gets her big story one night from a source. She is skeptical at first, but her trusted camera person, Bhaskar Sinha (a delightful Kumud Mishra), snoops around to pry out enough flesh from what is just another government audit report. The stakes in this one are higher, for it takes a look a shelter home for underage girls—the ones who have no one looking out for them, as the viewer is told repeatedly. From there to getting some semblance of justice is the journey of Pednekar’s character, Vaishali Singh.

Despite the promising premise, Pednekar is predictable in Bhakshak. There is a mellowness to her performance at most places till she rouses a key witness into action. It is a mellowness that does little to distract you from her repeated and inconsistent mispronunciation of one key word in the narrative. Once you have heard it, you cannot unhear it. In a language where the livelier nuances have been picked up, this is jarring.

The movie catches many strains—wry jokes centred around the Internet, an overbearing patriarchy and a conditioned matriarchy, and individual appetite for the misery of others—but most of it is just tokenism. After a while, the labour begins to show. The film feels heavy, and not just as a metaphor.

The camera holds the dust of a small-town environment well, and a few shots take you to the figurative asking of that repeated question of how much we should care, if at all. At the end of this three-hour-plus movie, when a final tease to the fourth wall has been made, we are honestly beyond caring.

Bhakshak is a film in need of better storytelling. Just having a heart in the right place does not matter.

lal-salaam-review-aishwarya-attempts-to-sell-old-wine-in-old-bottle-cast-rajinikanth-vishnu-vishal-vikranth

Fri Feb 09 20:17:05 IST 2024

Cricket has been the most celebrated sport in India. The game resonates with the sentiments of a majority crowd in the country. Thus, it is no wonder that films which combines cricket with emotions always strike a chord with the audience.

In Lal Salaam, communal unrest is coasting in a village for many years. A cricket match played by two teams - two communities rather- takes a violent turn due to a set of events fuelled by hate and hunger for pride.

The violent clash affects the life of the two team captains Thirunavukkarasu aka Thiru (played by Vishnu Vishal) and Samsudheen (played by Vikranth). While Thiru runs for his life, Samsu, son of Moidheen Bhai (played by Rajinikanth) gets engulfed by hatred. How the clash is incited between the two communities and what happens to the two cricketers is the story of Lal Salaam.

The film suddenly moves from the village in Tamil Nadu to Bombay, comes back to the village only to again to Bombay, saying there is a communal clash. No wonder communal clash happens just in Bombay in Tamil films.

Lal Salaam may be Aishwarya’s comeback film. But she still seems to be a novice. Even her father Rajinikanth’s cameo as Moideen Bhai can't add strength to the long, boring plot.

Threads on communal disharmony and religious sentiments have been handled well by directors like Mani Ratnam in the past. While Aishwarya, with a cricket match and shallow characters, makes the audience sit for 152 minutes bored. As you walk out after watching Lal Salaam, there is no strong emotive message that you can carry but only relief that the long film has come to an end.

The plot is too long with too many flashbacks and a convoluted screenplay. The film has too many characters portrayed badly and made to cry. There are a few women of course, but no heroine. The riot after the match is central to the story, but it takes too long to know what actually happened. By then, you really get tired like the hero, who goes back thinking how everything unfolded.

Though the director tries to tell the importance of communal harmony, the screenplay is too obvious thanks to the countless films we got over the years lecturing communal harmony and secularism. Rajinikanth himself had spoken in length about communal harmony and unity in many of his films.

The director leaves off many plots and the characters fail to emote. It doesn’t say what happens to Thiru’s love.

While Aishwarya has tried her best to combine cricket and religion, honour and dignity makes the film more complicated. Probably if Aishwarya wants to make yet another film based on cricket, she could go back to watch Aamir Khan’s Lagaan which weaves cricket with various themes like determination, unity and triumph.

Film: Lal Salaam

Stars: 2/5

Cast: Rajinikanth, Vishnu Vishal, Vikranth and others

Director: Aishwarya Rajinikanth

Music: AR Rahman

teri-baaton-mein-aisa-uljha-jiya-review-watch-it-for-kriti-sanon

Fri Feb 09 15:38:31 IST 2024

"When it comes to choosing your partner, who would you prefer - an imperfect human or a programmed robot?"

When Shahid Kapoor asks Janhvi Kapoor in Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya, she chooses the former. This encapsulates the premise of the Amit Joshi-Aradhana Sah film, which explores love and artificial intelligence. I was instantly reminded of a similar Hollywood flick, Her (2013)—the Oscar nominated and Scarlett Johansson-voiced film, where a man develops a close relationship with an advanced software.

Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya, though based on a similar theme, is a typical Bollywood affair, which also happens to be the reason why it fails to hold our attention for long. Despite a fresh pairing, with loads of blockbuster potential, the film does not really pass, although it does make the cut for at least an hour of mindless entertainment in the 2.21-hour long film.

A love story, with a robot at the heart of it, seemed exciting when the promos came out (a welcome change, given the blood and gore that has taken the centre-stage in Bollywood off late). And that the immensely gifted Kriti Sanon was to be that robot. Sanon, it must be said, does complete justice to her part—she plays it with unparalleled alacrity and fervour. In the role of a humanoid Sifra, she comes so unbelievably close to what an actual sexy robot may look like, that, after a point, one begins to see her in and as Sifra, and not as Sanon, the charmingly hot actress wielding some serious acting chops.

So, the story of this human-machine coexistence and conflict goes like this: Kapoor is Aryan Agnihotri, an accomplished robotics engineer who works in his aunt's (Dimple Kapadia) company ERobotics. There he meets the suave and sexy Sifra, whom he takes for a human, of course, and both develop feelings for each other, and end up having sex! The next morning, Aryan wakes up to find that Sifra is actually a robot, programmed to serve and please him. His initial shock, displeasure and despair later turn into "real soulful love" for the robot, and so he leaves his own wedding, to spend a lifetime with Sifra. He requests his aunt to send Sifra over to Mumbai from the US where she is being built and readied to communicate with the humans, and is still in the testing stage. Eventually, love happens, and Aryan takes Sifra home to meet his family, and proposes marriage. Flawless, beautiful, quick, smart and a pro in the kitchen, Sifra soon bowls over Aryan's family. What follows is Bollywood-ishtyle drama.

The first half is a complete snoozefest; the dialogues are bland and boring. The only thing that can keep the viewer even a bit engaged is the foot-tapping dance number and Sanon's sizzling screen presence. Shahid Kapoor sleepwalks through the role. Even the moments with Dharmendra hardly make an impact.

This one can be best watched for Sanon, and that too, preferably, on OTT.

Film: Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya

Director: Amit Joshi and Aradhana Sah

Cast: Kriti Sanon, Shahid Kapoor and others

Rating: 2/5

yatra-2-review-a-hurried-but-engaging-revision-of-ys-jagan-political-journey

Thu Feb 08 17:43:42 IST 2024

The politics that unfolded in the Telugu lands in the last decade and a half have been very eventful and dramatic, resulting in the rise or downfall of leaders and parties. It is a Herculean task to pack in the important political milestones and associated emotions that occurred between 2009 and 2019 in a two-hour movie. Yatra 2, directed by Mahi V. Raghav, attempts to capture the journey of the current Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, from the time he was thrust onto the political stage immediately after the sudden death of his father Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy (YSR).

The movie is a sequel to Yatra, which showed how former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy stormed to power in 2004 with his signature padayatra (walkathon). In both installments, senior Malayalam actor Mammootty plays YSR convincingly. To a great extent, Yatra 2 is a biopic of Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, played by Jiiva. The basic plot of Yatra 2 is public knowledge, and probably that is also the USP of the film, as politics is a keenly followed subject in the southern states.

The movie opens with the final days of YSR when he gets re-elected as the chief minister of a united AP in 2009. In the simultaneous elections held for Parliament, his son Y.S. Jagan gets elected as an MP of Progress Party (a fictionalised name for the Congress). It is here that Jagan gets a bitter taste of dealing with the high-handedness of the Delhi central leadership. The audience is introduced to the bond that the son and the father share.

Post the tragic helicopter accident of YSR, a young Jagan is seen absorbing the shock of losing his father while those around him indulge in scheming and planning. It is here that some controversial revelations are made, which makes the movie interesting. For a long period, Y.S. Jagan’s opponents had alleged that it was Jagan who wished to be the CM after the demise of his father.

According to the movie, it was the leaders in the Congress party who hastily wrote a letter to Sonia Gandhi to make him the CM without his knowledge. And it was senior leaders close to Sonia Gandhi who provoked and misled her into antagonizing Jagan.

The film is full of real-life politicians like K.V.P. Ramchandar Rao (Subhalekha Sudhakar) who add intensity and depth to the narrative that Jagan was the victim of a witch-hunt by both Sonia Gandhi and Chandrababu Naidu (Mahesh Manjrekar). The movie also lays bare the alleged backdoor dealings between Congress and Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party (TDP) to sideline Jagan. Mirroring reality, Jagan defies the Progress Party high command and starts his own party, and then lands up in jail on corruption charges.

Yatra 2 also has interesting details about how Jagan was asked to support a bill of the Central government in return for bail, and how he turned down the offer. The second half of the movie follows Jagan reviving himself while following his father’s strict ideals, values, and a padayatra to clinch power. The filmmakers used original footage of Jagan and YSR family in bits and pieces, which is a good value addition to the movie.

Jiiva as Jagan gives his best shot emulating his expressions and body language. The movie’s background music is average and on many occasions fails to elevate the scenes. The screenplay is good. Whether it is showcasing his 2017 padayatra or the aftermath of the release of Jagan on bail or when he started a party, the movie looks to be in a hurry to capture all the elements of Y.S. Jagan’s political life, and in the process fails to mete out special treatment to some of his high moments.

Though the director does try his best to keep the movie as realistic as possible, Yatra 2 makes for an interesting watch even for those who are not political enthusiasts.

Movie: Yatra 2

Cast: Mammootty , Jiiva, Mahesh Manjrekar, Subhalekha Sudhakar

Director: Mahi V. Raghav

Rating: 3.5/5

malaikottai-valibaan-review-the-film-fails-to-make-an-impact

Thu Jan 25 14:41:52 IST 2024

I feel exhausted. The two hours and 37 minutes I spent watching Malaikottai Vaaliban has left me drained; as if I have fought (and lost) a wrestling bout myself. But, in reality, the thought I am still wrestling with is: what happened to Lijo Jose Pellissery?

There is no doubt that Pellissery is one of the most technically sound and daring filmmakers in Indian cinema. In his Mohanlal-starrer Malaikottai Vaaliban too, one would find ample mind-blowing frames. But, at the end of the day, these cannot make up for a woeful script, soulless characters and excruciatingly boring narrative.

It is said that a film is born on the editing table. With Malaikottai Vaaliban, Pellissery decided to create a film that is purposefully made slow with criminally excessive use of slow-mos. Slow-motion shots are generally used to emphasise specific moments or actions, allowing the audience to appreciate the details that might be overlooked in real time. If properly used, a slow-motion shot can intensify emotions, create a sense of drama, and heighten the impact of a scene. Pellissery himself has exemplified how to effectively use slow-motion in many of his previous films. But, in Malaikottai Vaaliban, one would feel everything and everybody is in slow motion. The result is that even some of the beautifully choreographed stunt scenes in the film fail to make an impact on the audience.

Malaikottai Vaaliban is basically the story of a touring wrestler. The initial phase of the film gave the impression that Pellissery might be trying for an Indianised version of the western genre. However, as the story concludes, it morphs into an LJP version of an Indian TV soap opera.

A fit and physically transformed Mohanlal is believable on screen in his role as the wrestler. However, Pellissery fails to tap the swag and charm Mohanlal can bring in, in such a larger-than-life character. And, there is a total disconnect with the audience. A weak supporting cast and terribly unimaginative characters add to the mess that Malaikottai Vaaliban is. Danish Sait, as a local chieftain Chamathakan, whose ego is bruised by Valibaan, is arguably the most irritating character in the film. It seems Sait aimed for a portrayal reminiscent of the American supervillain Joker, but his exaggerated acting ends up as a comedic misstep on screen.

Italian actor Andrea Ravera, who plays the role of a Portuguese slave trader, comes in a close second to Sait in terms of delivering an irritating performance. Fortunately, Ravera has limited screen time. Harish Perady, as aashan (master of Vaaliban), initially delivers a decent performance, but, as the film unfolds, his character arc takes a nosedive. Marathi actress Sonalee Kulkarni makes her Malayalam debut with the film. But, her lip syncing, especially in the song sequences, goes for a toss.

P. S. Rafeeque, the writer of Pellissery's iconic film Amen, penned the script for Malaikottai Vaaliban too. The writer and the filmmaker fail to offer a proper background to any of the characters, including the protagonist. This results in a weak world-building, which, in turn, results in a total disconnect with the characters. Madhu Neelakandan does a great job with the visuals and angles that a film like this demands. However, the impact of his work is nullified by some uninspired editing.

The background score is outstanding in places, but none of the songs are particularly memorable, and some are irrelevant in the overall narrative.

Malaikottai Vaaliban had generated much excitement and anticipation as it was the first collaboration between Mohanlal and Pellissery, who have a cult following of their own. But it is unlikely that this film will satisfy either of the fans.

Pellissery has announced a second part to Malaikottai Vaaliban. An oft-repeated line in the film goes like this: “Whatever you have witnessed till now is a lie... what you are about to see is the truth”. One cannot but hope that this line holds true for Malaikottai Vaaliban too. That the Pellissery-Mohanlal film I endured today is all a lie, and the 'real' one is yet to come!

Film: Malaikottai Vaaliban
Director: Lijo Jose Pellissery
Cast: Mohanlal, Sonalee Kulkarni and others
Rating: 1.5/5

main-atal-hoon-review-the-late-pms-poetry-and-inspiring-tale-linger-on

Fri Jan 19 18:49:59 IST 2024

One of the most significant takeaways from Main Atal hoon is the lingering memory of Pankaj Tripathi as Atal Bihari Vajpayee. A few days before the film's release, Tripathi had said that his aim as an actor was not to look Atal, but rather, more importantly, to feel Atal. In a little over two hours of runtime, he enthrals us by stepping skilfully and seamlessly into the shoes of the late prime minister, poet and statesman, that for those from Gen Z who may never have seen the late PM will know exactly what the man looked, walked and talked like.

Main Atal Hoon is a tribute to Vajpayee - right from his early years as a budding poet to an assertive young leader at Victoria College in Gwalior where he contested the general secretary elections to studying law at Kanpur and going on to join the RSS for a life of selfless service to the nation, the film beautifully captures each milestone in the journey of the late prime minister that played a critical role in the making of the man and in-turn shaping of the nation's destiny. This is not an impersonal, frame-by-frame account of the PM's life, rather it's a thoughtfully written script and an aesthetically crafted screenplay that takes the audience along on the protagonist's journey which in turn makes the film an endearing watch.

Yet, from the second half onwards to be specific, the tribute soon turns into idol worship. It becomes nauseating to see the portrayal of the late PM as a man incapable of doing any wrong, and the only such messiah who graced the Earth to free the oppressed masses of India from the Congress, which, by the way, has been shown in very poor light and unsurprisingly, so. The film is a handbook of how the Hindu right carved a space for itself to enter the echelons of power and how under Vajpayee's leadership it was able to keep the flame burning despite falling face down again and again.

This is a deep dive into the life and times of Vajpayee, the leader whose politics and poetry we've known, but we now got to know more about — there's a nuanced mention of Mrs Ekta Kaul, his love interest from college who later became known to almost everyone at seven race courses; his yearning for a family of his own, his self-assured bearing and moments that rendered him most vulnerable.

Main Atal Hoon, should be watched for its highly engrossing storytelling and execution, more than the politics it espouses. And if you're prepared to watch the film for what it is a film, then you might even want to watch it a second time. But then be prepared to also consume the depiction of a highly idolised version of the late PM, along with a biased portrayal of the politics of the era, reckless and frequent Congress-bashing and so on.

Either way, you will come out emotionally charged - given Tripathi's charismatic presence, his exceptional command over the Hindi language, and his soulful renditions and recitations of Vajpayee's poetry all of which linger in the mind long after you've watched the film. In a short period, the screenplay beautifully captures the journey from the times of the early Jan Sangh to the formation of the short-lived Janata Party and the eventual birth of the BJP, without coming across as a history textbook and for that one must recognise the able direction at the hands of Ravi Jadhav. Main Atal Hoon must be watched if you want to be regaled by Tripathi and by the moving story of a coy tongue-tied young boy who went on to become India's tenth prime minister.

Movie: Main Atal Hoon

Cast: Pankaj Tripathi, Piyush Mishra, Raja Sevak, Ekta Kaul, Daya Shankar Pandey,

Director: Ravi Jadhav

Rating: 3.5/5

captain-miller-review-this-story-about-fight-for-dignity-is-a-visual-treat

Fri Jan 12 21:34:32 IST 2024

If cinema is all about heroism, muscle flexing, masculinity, and glamour, then Captain Miller does not fit the bill. The men and women in Arun Matheswaran’s Captain Miller fight oppression, not in the Gandhian way, but with guns and fire. Captain Miller is filled with action from the start to the end.

Set in the pre-Independence era, Dhanush plays Analeesan, a man who wants to fight oppression by the landed gentry in his village. Analeesan, his mother, and the others in his village are victims of oppression. The local king bars them from entering into a temple they built. His brother Sengolan (played by Shiva Rajkumar) arrives for a village festival and his mother gets killed in an attack by the upper caste. He then decides to join the army led by the British and believes that they will give him more respect than the local king. He gets rechristened as Miller and wants to be called Captain Miller.

When Miller is asked to shoot the non-violent protesters fighting for freedom, he shivers and shakes, realises his mistakes, and returns to the village. But the villagers shoo him away saying his brother Sengolan was also part of the non-violent protesters. What happens next forms the rest of the story.

If you are a fan of Dhanush’s Asuran and Karnan, then Captain Miller is truly a treat. Dhanush truly stands out, in every frame - when he walks in the military attire as a soldier, when he sports a long beard, when he fires at the British, or when he holds the hands of Priyanka Arul Mohan's Velmathi showing her the way to exit from the temple as a young man. You just cannot take your eyes off him. Dhanush makes the audience feel his anger and anguish.

At one point in the film, Analeesan believes that the British gave the people respect, dignity and food. Director Arun Matheswaran comes up with some pertinent questions when Analeesan confronts Sengolan: “Who are you fighting against? After we get Independence from the British, do you think they will allow us to enter the temple's sanctum sanctorum? You are fighting for the freedom of the landed gentry?” Matheswaran’s thoughts on women too stand out. His women characters are not feeble or subservient to men. The two women characters—played by Priyanka Mohan as a freedom fighter-doctor and Niveditha Sathish as a dacoit and a rebel—are well written.

While Matheswaran had recently said the film was based on the real-life story of the first-ever black tiger of the LTTE, the film revolves around the story of a man in Tamil Nadu, set in a different time period. Vallipuram Vasanthan aka Captain Miller was the first black tiger of the LTTE and there is a statue of him at Nelliyadi in Jaffna. The Tamils in Sri Lanka still celebrate him.

The film is split into six chapters. The interval block chase, action sequences, and the terrific climax are visual treats. In the end, Captain Miller promises a sequel, leaving the audience to keep guessing.

G.V. Prakash rocks with his background score and 'The Killer Killer' song is a musical treat.

On the flip side, the film is a tad long, running more than two hours, and filled with guns, gunpowder, fire and bloodshed from the beginning till the end. Sometimes, it gets a little boring to watch the long chasing scenes.

Film: Captain Miller

Directer by: Arun Matheswaran

Starring: Dhanush, Shiva Rajkumar, Priyanka Arul Mohan, Aditi Balan

Rating: 3/5

merry-christmas-experimental-not-overwhelming

Fri Jan 12 15:50:47 IST 2024

Who would've ever thought that Katrina Kaif and Vijay Sethupathi would make for a charming pair and sizzle the screen with their absolutely riveting performance? Merry Christmas enthrals us by deftly exploiting the potential of the two actors and giving us a gripping noirish tale in which the journey is more exciting than the climax.

Kaif deftly uses her eyes and expressions to convey the most intrinsic emotions and her body language is beautifully captured to portray a beautiful woman who knows exactly what she's doing and where she's heading. The way her character develops steadily, almost rhythmically, from that of a gorgeous and vulnerable single mom to an intensely hurt and revengeful wife, is noteworthy.

Sethupathi's character offers well-measured restraint as he goes about emoting pain, grief and betrayal with a seamless ease that is just so him. There's something compelling about the chemistry between the two that keeps you hooked, you just want to see more and more of the two — stealing glances, exchanging witty one-liners, and more, but sadly, the spark between the two just seems to be fading away as we near the end of the film. As individuals, neither of the two come across as flamboyant or sensuous; they depict simplicity and a relatability that makes their act come so close to reality as if they're both simply being themselves.

This is a delectable tale of a charming woman (Katrina Kaif as Maria) and a stranger (Vijay Setupathi as Albert) on Christmas Eve, based on the popular French writer Frederic Dard’s novel Bird In A Cage. The backdrop of Bombay of the 90s evokes nostalgia, with its ticket vending machines, cinema tickets that came with a photo of Rajesh Khanna, red and black postboxes dotting the neighbourhood and more; but the mood and tone of the film depicts deception, death and darkness. There is plenty of food for thought on offer with some cleverly written dialogues and meaningful lyrics accompanied with soul-soothing music, that is contextual and helps take the story forward.

The first half handholds one into the second and builds up the anticipation for something really solid coming up. But, the bubble bursts soon after. This film neither shocks you nor provides you with the thrill factor that Sriram Raghavan was known for, especially with movies like 'Ek Hasina Thi' and 'Andhadhun.' The end is cerebral but abrupt, one remains hopeful for something that challenges the mind and tickles one's intelligence. Sadly, that does not happen.

Actors Radhika Apte, Sanjay Kapoor, Tinnu Anand, Vinay Pathak, Ashwini Kalsekar and Pratima Kazmi lend great support to this dark, murder mystery universe. Given that I went for this Raghavan film expecting an overtly mind-boggling climax, which could make me jump out of my seat, I was a bit disappointed. It's out-of-the-box and experimental, but not overwhelming.

Movie: Merry Christmas
Cast: Katrina Kaif, Vijay Sethupathi, Radhika Apte
Director: Sriram Raghavan
Rating: 3/5

abraham-ozler-review-jayaram-delivers-an-engaging-crime-thriller

Thu Jan 11 17:28:28 IST 2024

Midhun Manuel Thomas's Abraham Ozler, written by Randheer Krishnan, digs into the labyrinth of personal and professional hurdles that surround a probe in a serial killings case. Actor Jayaram plays an experienced police officer struggling to deal with a tragic past.

The intrigue intensifies as ACP Abraham Ozler (Jayaram) investigates the murder case, revealing a cryptic chase that has everyone on edge. The film depicts various characters, all of whom are intertwined in a web of fate. Abraham has his own personal dilemmas but is trying to find his way around them.

Soon after Ozler is assigned to the murder case in which the victim has been fatally wounded, two other killings with the same modus operandi follow. As Ozler puts together evidence to prevent a fourth killing, he finds many more suspects—putting him in a state of doubt about the truth behind the crime. The film delves deeply into the professional and personal lives of its characters, too, which adds to the suspense of the plot.

Thomas's directorial skills are on display as the picture flawlessly integrates tension, drama, and mystery while maintaining a crisp storyline throughout. The first half of the film is fast-paced, producing a box packed with questions, while the second half provides a combination of emotions with suspense and intense scenes.

The composers deserve special praise for the background score that elevates the scenes to another level. The frames captured by cinematographer Theni Eswar, known for Lijo Jose Pellissery’s Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam, and Shameer Muhammed's editing have also made the visuals top class.

However, if you look closely at the production and thread, you will notice a recurrence of the classic police-killer film cliches that we have seen in numerous Malayalam police-killer pairings. Factors like the sad past of the investigating officer, communication of the criminal through letters or poems, views of forensic experts and a dark past that justifies the criminal’s actions add to the predictability.

When it comes to the portrayal of characters, actors Arjun Ashokan, Jagadish, Dileesh Pothan, Anaswara Rajan, Darshana Nair, Senthil Krishna, Arjun Nandakumar, Aseem Jamal and Arya Salim have delivered great performances. Watch out for Mammootty's mass entry and cameo in the film.

Abraham Ozler is worth a watch on the big screen for those interested in an investigation drama with medical thriller elements.

Movie: Abraham Ozler

Director: Midhun Manuel Thomas

Rating: 3/5

curry-and-cyanide-the-jolly-joseph-case-review-engaging-in-parts

Sat Dec 23 13:18:01 IST 2023

The name Jolly would be familiar to almost every Keralite now. The 51-year-old woman allegedly killed six of her family members, including a two-year-old. Netflix's Curry and Cyanide - The Jolly Joseph Case documentary looks at these serial killings that shook the conscience of a state, and beyond.

The woman allegedly used cyanide for the killings in Koodathayi, which took place between 2002 and 2016. But the probe started only in 2019 when the siblings of her first husband Roy filed a case. The documentary takes an elaborate look at the timeline and events that took place, through the testimonies of people associated with the case.

Curry and Cyanide - The Jolly Joseph Case is set in a narrative format. It spells out the possible reasons for the murders through the testimonies of C.S. Chandrika, a gender expert, Dr V.V. Pillai, a toxicologist at Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, and Dr Meghna Srivastav, who is a criminal and legal psychology expert.

The true-crime documentary is unbiased as it shows the testimonials of not just those against Jolly but also of her lawyer B.A. Aloor. While the story is mainly narrated by Ranji, Jolly’s sister-in-law, and the case officer in-charge K.G. Simon, it also portrays Jolly’s side of the story through her advocate.

While it has been widely reported that it was Jolly’s brother-in-law Rojo who suspected Jolly and filed the case, this documentary portrays Ranji as the brain behind it and that she asked her brother Rojo to file the case.

The documentary, directed by the National Award winner Christo Tomy, deserves a special mention for direction and editing as it seamlessly blends the original clippings with actual photographs and the documentary shots to create a crime thriller. The music, too, complements the narrative well.

At one hour and 35 minutes, the duration is on the shorter side. The ending seems abrupt, and certain portions or events feel rushed, leaving the viewer dissatisfied.

For true-crime documentary lovers, it's an interesting one-time watch.

salaar-review-where-logic-and-sanity-drown-in-blood

Fri Dec 22 15:34:44 IST 2023

By now, the not-so-secret ingredients of Prashanth Neel’s products are known—a suffering mother, visuals dominated by black and grey shades, some locations of gold or coal mine thrown in, lots of menacing and bulky baddies with beard and unkempt hair, state-of-the-art weapons and of course, lots of blood that can put slaughterhouses to shame.

In a nutshell, Salaar: Part 1 - Ceasefire looks like a jarring extension of KGF, or rather reeling under its hangover. Prabhas of Baahubali fame and Prashant Neel coming together under KGF and Kanthara’s production house, Hombale, got the movie buffs excited who were awaiting an explosive entertainer. The first part of the movie opened to packed audiences across the country and beyond. Right from the word go, it is the logic that suffers a bloody nose in the violent scheme-of-things.

Prashanth created a ghoulish world where there is literally a king and a set of governors administering different territories. All this in a modern setup where characters drive around in fanciest cars and handling fanciest weaponry. With no police or democracy in sight in the lawless lands, we also get to see the mercenary armies from Ukraine, Afghanistan, Siberia and other countries in action. Of course, it is unfair to expect filmmakers to be realistic but Prashanth’s creative freedom seems to have fallen short of being convincing or fascinating for the audience.

The movie introduces two young friends—Vardha and Deva—in the fictional region of Khansaara. Deva, a commoner, fights off a bully for Vardha who is the son of the ruler. Later, Vardha protects Deva’s family from his father’s henchmen by bribing them with a share in their territories by going against his father. The strong bond of friendship breaks after Deva is forcibly migrated from Khansar along with his mother due to the unfavourable situations. The two friends part ways with the promise that they will unite whenever there is a serious crisis.

Two and half decades later, Aadhya (Shruti Haasan) travels to India from the US to immerse her deceased mother’s ashes. A set of people attempt to kidnap her whereas her father, who is unaware of his daughter’s plans, tries to shield her by approaching Deva (Prabhas) who now lives with his mother in Assam. In the process of protecting Aadhya, Deva takes on the people who are connected to Khansar and Vardha’s (Prithviraj) family. The second half of the movie dwells into the violence-laden flashback in which Vardha and Deva reunite to neutralise his opposing factions within his territories who want to lay siege the throne of Khansar, and later part ways.

The first part of the movie ends keeping alive the suspense on how the two friends have turned into foes and are on the path of collision. The sequel is expected to answer the question along with giving clarity on the relations and tensions between a web of characters and events.

As two friends who can sacrifice lives for each other, Prabhas and Prithviraj hardly looked their parts when sharing screen space. There is not much to talk about in terms of acting as the hero of the film is violence which comes in different forms. Prashanth tried to present different characterisations and mannerisms which leave a print but it feels like there is a loud and desperate attempt to introduce conflict at every juncture. What clearly differentiates KGF franchise from Salaar are the ‘high’ moments of heroism which are clearly missing in this flick.

The music integrates with the plot but does not register much. The movie is strictly for those who appreciate blood and gore and do not believe in going beyond these elements.

Movie: Salaar

Director: Prashanth Neel

Cast: Prabhas, Prithviraj, Shruthi Haasan, Jagapathi Babu, Sriya Reddy

Rating: 2/5

neru-review-an-engaging-courtroom-drama

Thu Dec 21 17:27:58 IST 2023

Post the smashing success of Drishyam (2013), there has been much anticipation whenever actor Mohanlal and director Jeethu Joseph have come together for a film. Though the sequel Drishyam 2 (2021) and 12^th Man (2022) did not match up to the standards set by Drishyam, the duo had once again raised hopes of the fans when Neru was announced.

The film revolves around a tragedy that befalls a young, blind sculptor Sara (Anaswara Rajan) and her journey to seek justice. Vijaymohan (Mohanlal), a lawyer who has not been practising for several years, takes up her case.

While courtroom dramas are not a unique concept in recent years, the film keeps the audience engaged for most part. The first half might feel slow but as the film progresses, you will understand why it was necessary. The process of convincing Vijaymohan to take up the case felt repetitive and stretched out. The second half is the saving grace, as it keeps the audience guessing as the two sides engage in an interesting game of one-upmanship.

The climax, however, is predictable, as it plays to the galleries. The film ensures that there's a sense of dread and anticipation throughout, and the viewer will feel a strong sense of anger and hatred towards the perpetrator and the lawyers defending him.

As exciting as the courtroom scenes are, a lot of the evidence produced feels dramatised. One questions the credibility of the claims and how practical would it be in a real case hearing, a feeling so similar to my reaction to Drishyam and its sequel. “It’s cinema after all”, as its protagonist Georgekutty says!

Mohanlal and Siddique, being veterans, pull off their roles with ease. But it's Anaswara Rajan who steals the show.

Vishnu Shyam's music elevates the scenes, and captures the emotions beautifully.

Jeethu Joseph’s touch is evident throughout the film, reminding me of Drishyam and its sequel.

Neru is a story of courage, resilience, and justice, and an engaging watch.

Film: Neru

Language: Malayalam

Director: Jeethu Joseph

Cast: Mohanlal, Anaswara Rajan, Siddique, Priyamani, Santhi Mayadevi, Jagadish and more

Rating: 3/5

dunki-review-this-shah-rukh-khan-starrer-fails-to-leave-a-lasting-impression

Thu Dec 21 16:52:45 IST 2023

This 161-minute film, helmed by Shah Rukh Khan, makes one laugh and cry, but fails to leave a lasting impression. After hardcore action masala films Pathaan and Jawan, there was this strong desire to see Khan in a softer role, where his lovey-dovey eyes and the dimpled smile transport the viewer to another universe and some witty and wacky one-liners leave you wanting for more. But unfortunately, none of this happens in Dunki. The film simply comes across as one that is trying too hard to please.

For a storyline as strong and interesting as the one Dunki presents, the delivery lacks the punch and fails to connect with the audience. Khan, in the role of a lover boy badly fails the litmus test—there is a severe lack of chemistry between him and his crush, Taapsee Pannu. It is nothing like the chocolate boy lover kind of characters Bollywood movie lovers have grown up seeing (recall Veer Zaara, DDLJ, Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, and many more.) In the role of a soldier in Dunki, it is the same soft dialogues oozing out patriotism and nationalism, which we heard Khan parrot earlier in Pathaan and Jawan. And in the role of a good Samaritan, he is just about any average Joe. Dunki does not give us the Khan we want to see, or what the trailers promised. It only gives us a strong plotline that keeps us hooked throughout the film, but does not carry us along with the characters, who just seem as though they are all drifting irectionless and lacking any enthusiasm to give their best.

The story goes like this - Khan plays Hardyal Singh Dhillon, aka Hardy, a soldier who falls in love Manu (Pannu) who yearns to go to London to make enough money that can get her family's mortgaged house back. So the solution that the soldier suggests is, ‘Dunki maarna’ which means illegal migration to England, because otherwise she and her friends Buggu (Vikram Kochhar) and Balli (Anil Grover), all of who are chasing a 'better life,' will never be given visas to enter the UK. And so begins their illegal journey over land and underwater via Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey, onwards to their dream destination, London.

The film is set in Laltu, Punjab where everyone harbours the dream of earning in pounds. Those whose sons and daughters have made it, build a cement aeroplane on their rooftops to flaunt their UK connection. The story is fresh; it touches the crucial aspects of small-time agents exploiting vulnerable youth by fixing illegal applications for a few thousand rupees, the thriving business of Hinglish and Ingliss classes that sell the dream of a life abroad, the visa racket and more. But the execution is far from gripping. That one crucial aspect which differentiates Dunki from Raju Hirani's past films (3 Idiots, Munnabhai...) is the lack of wit and humour. One can literally count the number of times the film makes one laugh on one's fingertips.

Dunki does take us into a deep dive of emotions via scenes that pull our heartstrings, but it does little to do the same throughout. Except for Vicky Kaushal's very strong special performance that lasts no more than a few minutes—he leaves a lasting impression on our minds of a man who is unable to get himself a visa to London and burns himself to death after his ladylove commits suicide there, after waiting in vain for him to bring her back to India. There are only a few such memorable scenes in the film that come straight for your heart.

Movie: Dunki

Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Taapsee Pannu, Vicky Kaushal, and Boman Irani

Director: Rajkumar Hirani

Rating: 2/5

maestro-review-bradley-cooper-nails-this-leonard-bernstein-biopic

Thu Dec 21 16:25:20 IST 2023

“If the summer doesn’t sing in you, then nothing sings in you. And if nothing sings in you, then you can’t make music.’’

Bradley Cooper and his portrayal of musicians are out of the league. In his directorial debut - the 2018 film A Star is Born - he embodied the established singer-songwriter and alcoholic, Jack Maine. His performance alongside Lady Gaga was critically acclaimed and got multiple Golden Globe and Oscar nominations.

In Maestro, Cooper is the real thespian. His rendering as the legendary American conductor Leonard Bernstein is majestic. The movie, which uses flashbacks mostly, portrays Bernstein's love life with his wife Felicia Montealegre Cohn, even as he had relationships with men. Cooper, thus, makes a bold move to embrace the different identities Bernstein had.

The film launches into a scene where Bernstein, playing the piano and giving an interview, stops and says how much he loved his wife. It then cuts into black and white, showing his first public performance as the conductor of the New York Philharmonic Symphony, when the guest conductor Bruno Walter was down with flu.

The performers

The talkie then focuses on the first meeting between Bernstein and Felicia and their subsequent life. Carey Mulligan’s characterisation as Felicia is the film’s anchor. She expresses the love through her eyes. The fondness and the turbulence are rendered beautifully, and she wins over the audience with the performance of her career.

Cooper and Mulligan redefine their acting and filmmaking skills with this film.

But, the movie is painfully inert and has a pretentious nature when it goes into the past.

Their complicated marriage, their fights, their separation and their reunion are, however, all beautifully employed in the movie. In a particular scene, Felicia hisses and silences the maestro by mirroring his true colours.

Another actor worthy of mention is Matt Bomer, who plays David Oppenheim. He is Bernstein’s boyfriend. When Felicia is introduced to him and he comes to know about Bernstein's decision to make her his life partner, he expresses his pain subtly through his eyes. In a later scene, when David and family come, Bernstein reveals to their baby that he’s slept with both the parents.

Symbols

Cooper, the filmmaker, uses several symbols and elements to show the life story within a limited running time. Although Bernstein’s sexuality, his triumphs, and his voyage in the musical field are perfectly blended within the silver screen, some shots and transitions feel truncated. The life depiction in the movie is poignant and is elevated when it comes to the end note.

A noteworthy element in the movie is cigarettes. This foreshadows Felicia’s death and other turmoil in the couple's life.

Though the film is a roller-coaster ride, the love between Felicia and Bernstein is always prominent. It is never broken, even after her death. He's with her without hesitation when she is in her hard phases. When the film gradually reaches its crescendo, the transition between the past and the present is still in action. It ends with the same interview in the beginning and flashes back to the time when he and Felicia are walking in the orchard.

Cooper uses several musical pieces by Bernstein himself. For example, the piece ‘The Age of Anxiety’ is used when Felicia is diagnosed with lung cancer. 'Maestro' is the testimony to the importance of music in Bernstein’s life.

Film: Maestro

OTT platform: Netflix

Director: Bradley Cooper

Cast: Bradley Cooper, Carey Mulligan, Matt Bomer and others

Rating: 4/5