“Dil to Bachcha hai Ji” is Madhur Bhandarkar’s first foray in commercial cinema. Madhur who before has handled only serious “real” subjects (best known for films like Fashion, Corporate, Page 3) tries his hand in something different and attempts a light comedy for the first time.
The movie has its soul ...in fact it has all the ingredients required to make a movie work be it comedy, emotions, love, sex, music, beautiful locations, good looking actors but somehow it still fails to grip the audience.
Its a story of 3 guys in different phases of life and their brush with love. Each story has an independent track and individually each one is good. Ajay is going through marriage turmoil and finds solace in the vivacious Shahzahn. Omi is the ideal Marathi mulga unlikely to impress any girl yet falls for modern Shraddha Das playing a Radio VJ. Emran, the ever flirt playboy (As he calls himself ATM – “Any Time Mohabbat”) has a different girl every night and then falls for Shruti, the social cause girl. While the first two have a decent storyline, Emran’s story has many loopholes but we can pardon the makers for that (for which Hindi movies doesn’t has gaps?)
In terms of acting, it’s once again Ajay Devgn who steals the show with his somewhat matured professional shy in love look. This actor is on a roll with so many hits last year. Omi Vaidya (last seen as the delicious Chatur Ramalingam and his hall of fame “balatkar” speech in 3 Idiots) also does his job struggling with his Hindi as well as his love. Well for Emran Hashmi (how many times have we seen him in something similar ...seems like he has got typecast as the evergreen playboy..at least he doesn’t get to smooch anyone in this movie).
The 4 girls (Shahzahn Padamsee, Shraddha Das, Shruti Hasan and Tisca Chopra) are very beautiful and natural in their roles especially Shahzahn playing a teenage girl just starting her internship. Its a pity the beautiful and talented Shruti gets the least screen space with just a song to her credit.
Talking of songs, the movie has a lovely soundtrack with the 2 top songs hummable especially “Abhi kuchh Dinon se” which also continues as the background score.
Seems like everything is good so far...where does the movie fails? Well you will be surprised if I say direction considering its Madhur Bhandarkar’s department and he is quite good in it. But may be this being a different domain, he struggles. The direction and editing doesn’t have that sharpness required to ensure the jokes keep coming at the right moments. There are times when the movie is dragging. The duration seems really long. The movie could have been shorter, may be better edited and some more wits puffed in.
So as I started, the movie is a light comedy and has many moments that will tickle you. Its far better than some of the boisterous and loud movies served to us as comedies these days (no prizes for guessing which ones I am referring to ... you had many in 2010 including the one released late last year).
Friday, January 28, 2011
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Justice for Jessica?
We Indians have a very short memory. I am too tempted to say short term memory loss. We are in the habit of forgetting most of the news that don’t concern us howsoever traumatic or disgusting it might be whether its the numerous scams knocking the top headlines of our newspapers and media channels every day or the hideous rapes and murders that now have become part and parlance of Delhi power politics. And precisely for this reason, we need more movies like “No one killed Jessica”.
‘No one killed Jessica’ is a story on the (in)famous Jessica Lal murder case that stormed our news channels for several years. She was shot dead just because she refused to serve a glass of drink after the pub closed. The murderer 'Manu' was acquitted and only after tremendous media and people pressure, the case was reopened and he was given a life-term sentence. (By the way, the story is still not fully over as the accused was out on bail some months back only to be put behind bars again when he was seeing enjoying himself in a pub and the media created a storm)
The movie per se is not very well directed with the first half excruciatingly slow and a bit confused as well. We are not sure what the director is more concerned about: Is it the status of hi-class societies, the rise of India post Pokhran, Kargil war or just the over-pitched performance of Rani. But the second half picks up and to some extent compensates for the first half. The direction is modestly above average and at some places the movie actually fails to arouse the sentiments of people. This is one movie that should have boiled our bloods but many places people are left laughing at the fillers (like the accused's mother repeating the same dialogue... mere monu ko kuchh nahin hona chahiye). The acting was also not that great with Vidya under acting and Rani over acting. The music is good with the track "dilli" matching the sentiments of the movie.
The place where movie scores is its underlying premise. Its a story worth telling less we forget the injustices meted out to people affected by this case. The long unbearable court proceedings. Imagine a court case that lasts 7 years and still “justice is denied” inspite of 300 witnesses including politicians, police people and social activists. Her own boyfriend who turns hostile midway into the case.
Its a story that should remind us that there are many more such “Jessicas”, “Mattoos”, “Ruchikas”, “Nainas” who have all gone through the same fate where power, politics, law and corruption are all above common man’s plight and his (in most cases 'her') fight for justice. It should once again question the insane and now obsolete laws written during 1800s at the time when "India" didn’t even exist.
As I said, the movie itself might not be very well made but still every Indian should watch the same.
‘No one killed Jessica’ is a story on the (in)famous Jessica Lal murder case that stormed our news channels for several years. She was shot dead just because she refused to serve a glass of drink after the pub closed. The murderer 'Manu' was acquitted and only after tremendous media and people pressure, the case was reopened and he was given a life-term sentence. (By the way, the story is still not fully over as the accused was out on bail some months back only to be put behind bars again when he was seeing enjoying himself in a pub and the media created a storm)
The movie per se is not very well directed with the first half excruciatingly slow and a bit confused as well. We are not sure what the director is more concerned about: Is it the status of hi-class societies, the rise of India post Pokhran, Kargil war or just the over-pitched performance of Rani. But the second half picks up and to some extent compensates for the first half. The direction is modestly above average and at some places the movie actually fails to arouse the sentiments of people. This is one movie that should have boiled our bloods but many places people are left laughing at the fillers (like the accused's mother repeating the same dialogue... mere monu ko kuchh nahin hona chahiye). The acting was also not that great with Vidya under acting and Rani over acting. The music is good with the track "dilli" matching the sentiments of the movie.
The place where movie scores is its underlying premise. Its a story worth telling less we forget the injustices meted out to people affected by this case. The long unbearable court proceedings. Imagine a court case that lasts 7 years and still “justice is denied” inspite of 300 witnesses including politicians, police people and social activists. Her own boyfriend who turns hostile midway into the case.
Its a story that should remind us that there are many more such “Jessicas”, “Mattoos”, “Ruchikas”, “Nainas” who have all gone through the same fate where power, politics, law and corruption are all above common man’s plight and his (in most cases 'her') fight for justice. It should once again question the insane and now obsolete laws written during 1800s at the time when "India" didn’t even exist.
As I said, the movie itself might not be very well made but still every Indian should watch the same.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
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.
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.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
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.
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.
Monday, September 6, 2010
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)
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.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
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.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
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.
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