Mirch – an assorted mix of 4 erotic tales

In the last few years, there is a growing trend within Bollywood to try out something different. These so-called experiments while were critically acclaimed have been usually a disappointment at the box office. There has been Road,movie, The great Indian Butterfly, Pankh, No Smoking etc. Though there have been notable exceptions of the likes of Peepli Live, LSD, Dev.D. What has worked with these exceptions is the heady cocktail of art and commercial cinema. The scripts have been brilliant supported by very sharp editing and direction. Needless to say the actors performed very well. Not sure of the box office success, but Mirch can be safely put in this second category.

Its an eclectic mix of 4 stories, totally unrelated but with a common theme of sex or if I must enhance the underlying theme is the empowerment of female sexuality. All the stories have the female lead committing adultery and very successfully and wittily coming out of it without the husband even realizing what hit him. The first two are set in the medieval period and the last two post interval set in modern times.

There is no connection between the stories though at some point, the director tries to bring in the narration in the form of 5th story to connect pieces together which according to me doesn’t work.
What makes “Mirch” work is obviously the “mirch” in the stories... They are exotic, they are spicy, they are raw and they are sensuous. But at no point they are obscene. There is nothing cheap or vulgar in it. In fact the way each story ends makes the movie an erotic comedy. I don’t recollect any other Bollywood movie attempting comedy in such a way (may be Dil Kabaddi but that failed to connect). There have been unrelated stories earlier like Darna Mana Hai, Dus Kahaniyan or more recently and comparable LSD but this is certainly above them. It actually tickles you.

To keep pace with this “mirch”, the lead female characters had to be equally spicy and who better than Konkona and Raima Sen to play the characters. They both are so exotic and moulded in their characters that they overshadow all others. Only Ila Arun, Boman Irani and Rajpal Yadav could compete with them in some way. Boman anyways can play all Indian nationalities with equal ease whether it was a Sardar in Munna Bhai or a typical Gujarati in this.

The other characters like Arunodoy Singh (common factor in first 3 stories and the narration), Sushant Singh, Shahana Goswamy and Shreyas Talpade are not much of a match for Konkona and Raima.

At the end, this is a typical urban multiplex or a home video movie. The box office figures should not be considered while judging the performance of such a movie. It’s an experiment and must be appreciated for the different genre it is creating in Indian cinema.

Band Baaja Baraat – Low on Budget; High on Entertainment

To make the title short B3 is a typical “Dilli” film be it its locales, dialogues, styling, roughness or should I say crudeness sometimes. The debutant director Maneesh Sharma has captured the inherent flavour of Delhi really well and that’s what keeps the movie going from the very first scene.

Its the story of Bittu Sharma and Shruti Kakkar – contrast personalities who come together to start their own business – the business of wedding planning which if I may quote the lead actor in the movie is “inflation” and “reception” proof (Recession but said in Haryanvi). The movie revolves around their growth in business as well as in their closeness. To develop a story, obviously they develop cracks in their relationships but all is well in the end.

The strong point of the movie is its spontaneity. The dialogues are sharp and the actors even sharper. Anushka matures with this movie as she is supposed to be the known face but the new comer Rannveer has also acted quite well. Rannveer is not going to be the typical hero material but might be able to carve a niche for himself considering the confidence he displays in his very first movie (not sure if he is the son / nephew / friend etc of anyone in the industry to have deserved such a good break).

The direction and the editing is slick. The movie seems to be made on a very small budget as there are no known actors not even side-kicks, no foreign locations to shoot for and no jazzy sets unless you discount some of the wedding arrangements which are quite “sho-sha” keeping pace with “Dilliness”.

The first half is better than the second half as it builds up the story. The second half does get a bit emotional and typical Bollywoodish but the overall package still works out fine. The music might not be great if you go with Yashraj expectations but couple of songs like Tarqueebein and Ainvayee Ainvayee will be on the charts for some weeks to go.

Overall its a lively movie and after a very long time, a decent movie from the Yash Raj studios.

CommonWealth Games ... Let it be a failure

CommonWealth Games – One of the most dreaded words in India these days… There is hardly a day when the front page of the newspapers are not screaming some new corruption sprouting up. By the way the scam figures has more number of zeros than an average Indian can count (What was it last… 36000 Crores.. phew can we even imagine this much wealth)

Don’t worry… My intention is not to write one more article comparing the cost of tissue papers, LCD TVs or treadmills. I think by this time, everyone knows how costly these things can be… I am more concerned by some of the recent statements / appeals in our national dailies by the likes of Sheila Dixit, Manmohan Singh or even Subroto Roy of Sahara Group. In this emotional appeal, all these esteemed individuals first acknowledge that there has been some amount of misappropriation of funds (“Some … should we replace some’s definition in dictionaries now”) and then appeals to our national sentiments not to wash dirty linen in public. Their point is that this continuous negative publicity of the games is embarrassing the nation and projects a wrong image of the nation. Wow…so finally we realize this… but where was this realization or embarrassment when crores and crores of money was carefully siphoned off.

They further add: We should carefully keep our mouth shut till the games get over and then all these scams will be probed and guilty parties will be brought to books. Till then all these guilty individuals can continue to do their tasks of ensuring a successful games (well we all know what further they can do in the meantime?).

Doesn’t this happen always? This national sentiment card works everytime… doesn’t it? So let me tell you what will happen? The games will get over (Hopefully by some God’s miracle they might even be a success). After that the same politicians and the Kalmadi parties will boast of the success and toast to the nation. We Indians will bask at the glory and these same individuals will become a national hero. Some might even get some national awards (Khel Ratna, Rajiv ratna, Bharat ratna which would be on top of the enough 'ratnas' they anyways accumulated on the run upto it). No questions asked…. No answers expected… the media will move onto the next corruption / scam… game over… Didn’t Peepli Live projected this in the best satire possible?

I strongly feel for once… let the Games be a flop… a Huge FLOP let it be a big embarrassment for the nation… may be then the real justice might happen… may be then some heads will be chopped off… may be next time when such a thing is attempted, people will question the initial budgets forecasted and the process of expensing them… may be then a proper committee will be formed with people who understand what it means…

Let it be a failure once and only then we might learn from it.

Once upon a time in Mumbai

Let me first appreciate the marketing efforts gone behind this movie. Absolutely spot – on ...Full marks to Balaji banner for that. The trailer, the hoardings, the continuous advertorials in BT penned by Shobha de. The best thing about the movie marketing was it not just created a buzz but a kind of curiosity that pulls the audience to theaters.

Having said that, once the hype is generated, its important the content of the movie is strong enough to live upto the expectation and create a ripple effect else it just becomes an opening weekend wonder (which in today’s times is quite common). And I believe this movie has been fairly successful in surpassing that.

The movie is definitely worth watching. While the pace of the movie is slow and could have been made slicker, what makes the movie click is the cinematography, style of the old eras, dialogues and most importantly Ajay Devgn’s acting. While all characters have performed well, this movie keeps going primarily because of Ajay. After a long gap where he built his expertise in comedy, Ajay is back with some intense performance. Its interesting to see him repeating his Company role with much more variety. Kangana looks the diva which she is supposed to play (Good to see her in a role where she is not a psycho or a suicidal maniac). She and Prachi Desai are beautiful and easily slip into their small roles. Emran and Randeep are average. As per the roles, Emraan and Ajay should have been equals but he is left totally overshadowed and just cant match his counterpart.

The dialogues are the soul of the movie which have been carefully written to the flavor of the era of mafias and smugglers (70-80s). Some of the one-liners are just too good. Ajay anyways has been expert in such “shayrana” dialogue delivery.

All the songs are hummable. I especially loved the song “Tum jo aaye Zindagi mein” on Kangana. Beautifully choreographed… (She resembles Mumtaz in the song). The background score is superp and apt in the context of the movie. Even when the movie ends, you are bound to come out with the background score on your mind… The item song (Remix of Monica… my Darling) on Gauhar will also be a Repeat Hit.

Though the movie is based on the days of smuggling and dons, somehow it focuses more on emotions hence loses out on the pace and jazziness especially in the first half. Overall… Milan Luthria has come up with a nice movie.

LSD - An experimental movie with 3 short stories with the 3 title ingredients...

Firstly, before I start, let me make this clear this is NOT a sleazy movie. Please don’t go by the name or the trailers or even the posters (though you would hardly find any). It’s a bit strange that the director has chosen such kind of promotion.

Moving on to the movie, these days, apart from the likes of Johars, Barjatyas, Chopras, Ghais, there is an emergence of a new breed of directors. The breeds who have created products like No Smoking, and Dev.D. Such directors are not scared of the outcomes or the Friday openings or the weekend figures. They just want to test their creativity and indirectly the maturity of the audiences. Love, Sex aur Dhokha (or LSD to be short) is one such movie which is taking this breed to a new extreme. Its very clear such experimental movies will be difficult to be digested by a wider audience. These are not just for urban multiplex audiences but within that also for a truly niche segment.

What makes it even more interesting is LSD comes from a director who has earlier given “Full-on” entertainers like “Khosla ka Ghosla” and “Oye lucky lucky oye”.

To come to the point, LSD is different (in fact really different). Whether its good or bad, interesting or boring, likable or dull depends on the audience and also the mood with which you watch the movie. The product might be a bit ahead of its times offering a glimpse of tomorrow’s cinema but considering the onslaught of mms scandals, sting operations these days, you might just say it’s on time.
The direction / treatment also explains why no established faces were taken. The director wanted the audiences to get a feel as if they are watching some scandalous video at Youtube within the close confinements of their homes. (In fact, this is one movie whose DVD version might work better)

Overall, you can give it a try (purely at your own risk). This movie will be remembered for the way it has been shot and the way its subject / characters have been handled. At the end, whether you like or dislike this movie, you certainly will carry home an opinion on it.

Though in the beginning, I mentioned its not sleazy but respect the "A" certificate of the movie and would suggest not to watch with your full family not because it has any obscenity or vulgarity but purely because of the treatment of the movie.

By the way, the movie also passes on a relevant message. In today’s times of omnipresent cameras (be it CCTV, spy pen, mobile or digitial), you are always being watched. SO be cautious next time.

Atithi...tum kab Jaoge?... Its different

This time, I got a chance to read other reviews before I wrote this blog… Interestingly, not many critics have liked the movie…
I believe in today’s times, its difficult to digest a movie which doesn’t have any crude language, no abusive words, no remix nos, no foreign locales or jazzy colorful sets, where the script doesn’t demand any item numbers or kissing scenes, where the actress doesn’t walk in exposing clothes or a bikini line just for the heck of it, where the humor is not forced into the dialogues by including some bad PJs or sick jokes or getting some third party "so-called" comedians into the movie.

Yes, "Atithi tum kab jaoge" is a movie which doesn’t have any of these. The movie is therefore, a bit dull, a bit boring, and also feels a bit lengthy. But still, in my opinion, the makers deserve credit for creating a cinema which was last attempted in 80s (or was it even earlier) when the likes of Farooq Sheikh, Amol Palekar, Deepti Naval, Utpal Dutt and so on existed.

Ok, to once again correct myself, the movie is no where compared to those masterpieces, be it the subtleties, the acting or the humor but still this movie is a worthy attempt that should not go unnoticed.

The movie is as simple as it can be… A couple (Ajay Devgn and Konkona) is living a fast difficult life in the ever congested (and I am not just talking of roads and traffic) Mumbai. An unsolicited guest (Paresh Rawal) arrives and disrupts their normal routine. He leaves behind a tale of chaos, confusion, and disruption, but also a bit of love, emotions, long-forgotten family values and traditions.

This simple story has somehow been extended into a 2+ hrs drama (with no twists and turns unless of course you consider the end which is definitely worth staying till then) and thats where the film fails to capture the attention of today's multiplex audiences.

The acting is good with 3 established actors. There is never a doubt on any of them. One special point to mention here is Ajay Devgn who has started keeping himself underexposed. He has learnt the art of restraining his act by giving more space to other characters in the movie. I noticed this first in his home production “All the best” where he allows Sanjay Dutt to steal the show. In this movie, he lets Paresh Rawal run the movie and aptly so.

There is not much to write about the music as there are hardly any songs.
Overall, the movie can be watched with your extended family for one of the lazy Sunday outings.

Karthik calling Karthik - A decent watch

I am not sure if this is also a copy of some English movie. But if its not, then it’s a decent attempt by a debutant director Vijay Lalwani. The movie has a good pace and doesn’t waste too much time on unnecessary romantic angles, personal stories, or for that matter any teary emotional dramas.

The movie might not be at its best, would also seem unrealistic, sometimes even bore you but I still consider this as a one-time watch. Why is that?

At the top is the acting department. Farhan is one of those versatile personalities who has already proved himself in every department so far be it direction, anchoring and acting. His performance in this movie will actually establish him as an actor to reckon with. He depicts his multiple facets in his character really well. He makes you sympathize with him in his initial version of shy introvert and almost a loser personaility. At the same time, you admire and enjoy his transformed character of a suave, confident and “ready to conquer the world” image. Though I must add the transformation is too quick and almost unbelievable.

Deepika doesn’t have a big role and almost disappears in the second half. But she looks absolutely gorgeous in every frame of her presence (reminds you of her Love Aajkal role). All her power scenes are in the first half which she has acted quite well. You certainly miss her in the second half. The dialogue sequences between Farhan and Deepika in the 1st half are the best part of the movie. Their romantic one-liners are enjoyable and first-rate. The trailers have already given some samples and believe me unlike most of other movies, they are actually just a sample of many to come in the movie. The two hit off quite well in the movie. Ram Kapoor has also played his part well. Shefali doesn’t have a role and as the credits say is slightly more than a guest appearance.

The direction is good considering that this is Vijay Lalwani’s first movie. The first half is light and the 2nd half thriller is very well directed keeping the audiences on the edge. Apart from acting, it’s the music that forms the soul be it the song tracks or the background score. Each song is good and hummable.

Some of the things that could have been better is both the facets of Farhan have been shown to the extreme. As I wrote earlier the transformation is too sudden and is hardly believable. Though there is a suspense element, but sometime into the 2nd half, it becomes a bit predictable. Will not detail this section as I risk divulging too much and spoiling the experience.

Nevertheless the movie is a good watch and should do more than average business.

If “Tiger Woods” happened in India

Just some thoughts if something like “Tiger Woods” or “John Terry” or “Silvio Berlusconi” happened in India. Some of the probable reactions are as below not necessarily in the same order:

1. Effigies will be burnt in almost every major city.
2. BEST buses will be broken and Trains will be stopped.
3. Opposition parties will call for a Nation wide Bandh
4. Protest marches will be held which will culminate at the residence
5. News channel like IBN7, Aaj Tak, Samay, Star News etc will run 24*7 live coverage of the movements of the “concerned person” and “victims”. People on the roads will be stopped and asked for their opinions. The wife will be asked questions like “How are you feeling?” “Do you feel cheated?” “Were you aware” blah blah. If there is a 1-min footage, it will be shown non-stop for next 3-4 days.
6. Debates will be held on every national news channel on the increasing Western influence on our sacred traditions, culture, heritage. Some of the prominent debators will be Mahesh Bhatt and Shobha De on one side and “Spiritual Gurus” , political leaders on other side
7. Parties like Bajrang Dal, Shiv Sena, MNS will target all western stores / pubs / discs etc and forcibly close them. Some new parties will be formed to tackle such issues in public life.
8. Vidhan Sabha and Lok Sabha Speakers will be asked questions during Question Hours. Sessions in both houses will be adjourned.
9. If he is a political personality, Opposition parties will be blamed.
10. If he is from minority, ISI and Pakistan will be blamed for disrupting our national heritage and peace.
11. After 2 weeks, there will be denial from all sources. This will include the person, his wife and even the satellite people. Some of the girls will disappear and will no longer be seen or available for any comments. If at all they come back, they will mention that they were misquoted and they were just “good friends”. The wife will stand by his husband and offer full support for the mental and may be “physical” trauma he went through.
12. All news channels will find another story to run and that will be the end of the controversy.
13. Ram Gopal Verma and Mahesh Bhatt will announce a movie on the real life incident and most likely Emran Hashmi might be the hero.

Ishqiya - Review

Ishqiya has all the trademarks of a “Vishal Bhardwaj” movie, yet it’s a big disappointment. Vishal Bhardwaj has built his own genre. Just like his last few movies Kaminey and Omkara, this one too is very raw. Shot in the rural backdrops of Gorakhpur, a Eastern UP town famous for gang wars and mafia, the movie captures the lingo and feel accurately. Like all his previous movies, this one too starts with a bang, moves at a swift pace and builds the tempo and expectations quite high. But where it fails is the end. It ends with a whimper. The entire pace fizzles out in the ending. It appears as if after shooting the movie for 1.5 hrs, the director suddenly forgets the core plot and decides to end it abruptly. It loses the sheen to such an extent that you really feel sorry for a good product turn bad.

The biggest plus going for the movie is the performance of its 3 central characters (Naseer, Arshad and Vidya Balan). There has never been a doubt of Naseer’s performance. He looks apt in both the con part as well as the aged person falling in love with the tantalizing Vidya. Vidya too carries out her role with ease. Though the storyline for her character definitely needed improvement. Through out the movie, she has been shown as some mysterious woman with dark secrets which in the end just doesn’t match up. The best one-liners and witty remarks have been kept in Arshad’s accounts. They are clever, sharp and keep the audience hoping for more. Even some of the other characters like Naseer’s Brother-in-law and the kiddo Nandu engages you.

The dialogues are raw and crude and sometimes border on the edge but that’s something that you now expect out of Vishal’s movie.

The music has been good and has been on the charts for quite some time especially “Ibn e batuta” and “dil to bachcha hai ji”. Apart from the movie songs, the old songs have also been woven very well with the chemistry between the characters.

While the movie has the darkness of Omkara and wittiness of Kaminey, it lacks the punch and edginees that most of Vishal’s movies are famous of. The movie can still be a one-time watch with low expectations.

By the way, I believe this movie might have broken the “longest kissing scene” in Bollywood. It definitely seems longer than the one in ‘Raja Hindustani’ between Aamir and Karishma.

3 idiots and the FPS controversy

When you watch a movie late, you face two problems. There is so much already written about the movie that you end up watching the movie with a certain bias and expectations. Secondly there are already so many reviews that it doesn’t make sense to add another one.

So instead of cluttering your minds / web areana with one more review, I thought its better I blog on the peripheral item surrounding this movie - The so called controversy on due credits not being given to Chetan Bhagat.

Since last 1 year, we have been hearing that Five Point Someone is getting adapted into the movie “3 idiots”. So does it really make any difference, if the credit line is at the end or the beginning? Doesn’t everyone already know about it? Still there is a big argument going on with both sides giving media the much needed fodder. The tussle now is down to mathematics (to be precise “%”). The “3 idiots” team says its 3-5% based on the story while the author says its 50-70% based. I really never understood how such %ages work in a qualitative angle. But if it really pleases the statisticians, let me also put a figure. The movie is 33.23456% adapted from the novel (now don’t ask me how I got his number… just pressed some random keys at the top of my laptop). For the rest, let me put the facts straight. The plot is definitely adapted from the novel. It has almost all the characters which were there in FPS. The 3 central characters, dean, his daughter, etc are all there. The movie also has most of the incidents whether its Kareena’s brother committing suicide or Aamir stealing the exam papers. But the movie adds some of its own details which except for the characters of “cm-mm” and “Chatur” (played very well by a newcomer “Omni”) doesn’t appeal.

One good thing about the book was it doesn’t make fun of the professors and projects the characters like any other average students in an institute. In fact the book focuses on the education system and its flaws - how the students today are evaluated and ranked (the relative grading system). All this was written on a lighter note and hence the book becomes a fast and entertaining read. This is where I feel the movie fails. Unfortunately, the movie like a typical bollywood flick converts the hero into a super-hero (who is capable of achieving almost anything), adds dramatic unnecessary events like having a baby delivered on a TT table… well to be honest, I neither found that scene humorous nor emotional. It turns the dean into a comical character and the core issue of “education” system gets lost somewhere post interval.

Nevertheless, 3 idiots is a good movie … one of the better ones we saw in 2009 but certainly not the best. Also it’s the not the best from Raju Hirani-Vinod Chopra duo. Give me the Munnabhai series any day.

Enjoy the movie. Don’t take my “critical” blog very seriously as I watched the movie after hearing some really rave reviews. The movie has been running houseful for 2 consecutive weeks (not a small feat to achieve these days). So it’s certainly worth a watch.

As far as the scripting issue goes, I won’t be surprised if this is another of those “scripted” controversies to keep the sales registers ticking. It works perfectly for both sides. As Chetan hints in his blog “Go watch the movie and then read the novel. Then decide”.