Film Review: Sachin: A Billion Dreams

Director: James Erskine

Cast: Sachin Tendulkar, Anjali Tendulkar, Mikhail Gandhi (as young Sachin)

Release Date: May 26, 2017 (INDIA)

Running Time: 2 hrs 19 mins

CBFC Rating: U

STORY:

Based on the celebrated and immensely revered life of God of Cricket, Sachin Tendulkar, the film is a biographical with the living legend himself narrating his cricketing and personal life in substantial details in most part. If not Sachin, then the film has either his family, match commentary or news bulletins or mates from cricket field, including legends like Sir Vivian Richards, sharing the Sachin story throughout the screenplay. The childhood of the Master Blaster is either through documented pictures and interview but largely through biopic format with actors portraying real life characters, including  that of Sachin.

SCRIPT:

Sachin's life is mostly been an open book, with very few controversies. Living a public life since the age of 14 when he became the youngest to play in a Ranji tournament, Generations of Cricket loving Indians have grown up to reading and watching everything about him. The script therefore is mostly a brilliant ensemble of huge archival footage from the long and illustrious career of the cricketing legend.

The new parts are his childhood, his family, the personal video footages with his kids and a little bit from inside the dressing room. One is likely to enjoy the real life training of Arjun Tendulkar as a bonus. The childhood story is endearing and bound to bring smiles on the naughtiness of Sachin as a kid, and the part about him growing up with cricket practices alongside regular school is sure to at least make #lifegoals like learning time adherence from the cricketer himself.

There is enough laughter moments in the film, especially the talk of Sachin's injuries like that of his always troubling Tennis elbow which used to make everyone in the country become "expert on human anatomy."

The India-Pak rivalry, the loss of his father, the Sachin vs Warne matches and the world cup losses and the subsequent win in 2011, it's all in there. Sachin shares time period of Match Fixing allegations and Greg Chappell coaching but they are a bit sketchy, unlike he how clearly mention about his initial captaincy period in 1993 dividing the dressing room into two groups. 

The Script could have been more insightful in terms of the dressing room talks and relationship between the team-mates, even if as a narration, like Sachin locking himself inside the room for 2 hours after one particular loss. It is clear that the film was written for the love of Sachin Tendulkar and for the audience members to re-live the stadium atmosphere of the SACHIN SACHIN chants. It is too positive, straight and simple.

PERFORMANCES:

Sachin Tendulkar is probably one of the most soft spoken celebrity in the country. So you would not really expect a narration in that voice. But it's the magic of Sachin that his voice works. Even if you are not a Sachin or cricket fan, him narrating one of the most inspirational life story is bound to root for him and join the SACHIN chant.

The film is biographical, so any score of performance comes from the childhood parts of the film. Mikhail Gandhi as the young Sachin is as endearing as the legend's most famous childhood pic with the curly haired him holding a bat half naked. It's a sincere performance that will leave an impression. The teenage Sachin is wonderful with his strong eyes and how he trains, showcasing the legend's technical upbringing.

There is a host of cricketers from around the world, commentators, experts and cinema legends Amitabh Bachchan and Lata Mangeshkar sharing their Sachin story in the screenplay and it's all a real treat. If only wishes were horses, one may wish to have seen alleged rival camp members like Mohammad Azharuddin and Vinod Kambli share their part.

The cricket audience reactions throughout the film, either from inside the stadiums or from news archives are very well researched for final edit. They carry good emotions.

PRODUCTION:

Emmy nominated Director and co-writer James Erskine is loyal to Sachin Tendulkar - the God of Cricket. The script does leaves quite a bit uncovered. The screenplay is sketchy but there are enough moments that make up for the jumps.

The dialogues and narration are a mixture of hindi, english and marathi. So be prepared to cope up with the subtitles when needed.

Music by AR Rahman is good as stand alone but the lyrical part of original compositions don't gel with the screenplay. The Sachin chant is very well utilised, and so is the positioning of Rahman's decade old Vande Mataram composition. Background score by the music maestro is however very effective.

Cinematography is very effective and will evoke déjà vu and emotions, even if you are not much of a cricket buff. It just tugs your Indian heart. Editing by Avdhesh Mohalla is pretty neat and praiseworthy in terms of the archival footage available. In terms of film's length, it will not bore you.

FINAL WORD:

The movie is an experience from the word go. If you have ever seen the God of Cricket at work, you can relive the experience. If not, then this is your opportunity to know what it feels like. The film is about realising your destiny as the only way in life, the very way Sachin always lived for cricket and the country. Sachin: A Billion Dreams is a must watch, despite the shortcomings of the script. Go ahead and chant SACHIN.. SACHIN.

Film Review: Half Girlfriend

Director: Mohit Suri

Cast: Arjun Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, Vikrant Massey, Seema Biswas, Rhea Chakraborty

Release Date: May 19, 2017 (INDIA)

Running Time: 2 hrs 15 mins

CBFC Rating: UA

STORY:

Based on Chetan Bhagat’s bestseller with the same name, HALF GIRLFRIEND is about Bihar Boy Madhav Jha who meets Delhi Girl Riya Somani after both get enroll in Delhi’s St Stephen’s College. Madhav is from a royal background in his hometown but is short in English language, a complete different lifestyle as compared to the very elite Riya. But both bond over their sports background in Basketball.

A series of interactions in their first year lead to both falling for each other but when Madhav finally dares to ask Riya about the name of the relationship the two share, she tells him that she can be his Half Girlfriend. However, Riya has to leave the college after first year, almost the same time the two have their first but very big fight.

The two come face to face after few years in Patna where both have come for their own reasons. This leads to another short but ill-fated love story because while Madhav is the quintessential simple guy from small town, Riya is the big city rich girl with troubled home who runs away from everything when it gets complex.

Told from Madhav’s perspective, the film may be having few supporting characters but it’s the lead around whom the story revolves, as they share an innocent and true love but in a complex world.

SCRIPT:

Chetan Bhagat is the bestselling Indian author ever. His books may be widely criticized by literature elite but no one can take away the connect he makes with his young audiences. Even the film adaptations of his books, be it 3 Idiots and 2 States have been major hits. This time, Bhagat collaborates with Mohit Suri, who like Bhagat, seems to have understood the romantic genre unlike anyone in the present crop of directors. Suri’s film may have clichéd moments but the way he mixes them with the best musical score is almost an unparalleled feat.

HALF GIRLFRIEND belongs to the good old romantic genre scripts which will fill your heart with love and even make your eyes moist by the depiction of love. The best part of the script is that, despite being slow in pace, both first half and second half are equally engrossing. If one credits the same to the placement of songs, then it won’t be probably entirely wrong too.

PERFORMANCES:

HALF GIRLFRIEND is all about it’s leads, especially Arjun Kapoor, and the film works because of them only. Shraddha Kapoor seems to have found her comfort zone of the simple girl, no matter the richness, with whom you would love to fall in love and even take to a romantic bed. Nevertheless, there is no saturation to her portrayal and she continues to bring a rare sweetness and freshness with her performance, making one feel for her character’s shortcomings. A good singer herself, never does she look forced while performing as her character is also a singer.

This maybe Arjun Kapoor’s second time as a Chetan Bhagat hero but the actor is at his best in HALF GIRFRIEND. His body language, those trembling fingers, the powerful eyes, the dialogue delivery as a royal boy from a small town in Bihar is seen to be experienced. Arjun is Madhav Jha in every sense of the world. You will feel for him, for his love, his innocence and his life. Never does his Bihar dialect in his language seems forced.

There are few supporting characters, most notably Vikrant Massey as Madhav’s college room-mate Shailesh and Seema Biswas as Madhav’s mother. The two leave an impression on viewer despite their limited screen time. Certain characters, as is essential in a Chetan Bhagat story, are pure clichés - such as college interviewers and Madhav’s two other college friends, but serve their purpose fine. Rhea Chakraborty seems to be in a special appearance but is still endearing.

PRODUCTION:

Mohit Suri remains unbeatable in the romantic genre. This seems to be his forté and with Chetan Bhagat’s HALF GIRLFRIEND was meant for his sensibilities only. Not only does Mohit seems to understand the pulse of romance, he also seems to mix it with the best music compositions. The film has an eccentric ensemble of music directors, from Mithoon, Tanishk Bagchi and Rishi Rich to Farhan Saeed, Ami Mishra and Rahul Mishra. The songs have that rare quality that make you want to sing along with the simple yet beautiful lyrics.

Dialogues by Ishita Moitra Udhwani and Screenplay by Tushar Hiranandani are very effective, though one never really gets to know how and why does Riya SOmani coin the term HALF GIRLFRIEND. I as an audience member, who has not read this book by Chetan Bhagat, really wished to know but did not get it.

Cinematography by Vishnu Rao is splendid. From the Delhi college life, to the city’s archaeological heritage, to Bihar countryside and the New York City, every city is captured amazingly, making it a supporting character in Madhav Jha’s life. Editing by Devendra Murdeshwar is not very fast, but the film did not deserve a very pacy editing also.

FINAL WORD:

Simple boy loves simple girl but still life is not easy. Mohit Suri’s HALF GIRLFRIEND is your quintessential romantic movie and not a tired rom-com. It has a wonderful lead pair that is fresh as daisy and share sparkling chemistry together. Watch it for Arjun Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor and for its absolutely gorgeous musical score. Perfect Date Movie in a long time.

Film Review: Hindi Medium

Director: Saket Chaudhary

Cast: Irrfan Khan, Saba Qamar, Deepak Dobriyal, Swati Das

Release Date: May 19, 2017 (INDIA)

Running Time: 2 hrs 13 mins

CBFC Rating: U

STORY:

A wealthy couple (played by Irffan Khan and Saba Qamar) from Chandni Chowk aspire to give their daughter the best English medium school education, unlike their own Hindi Medium schooling. This leads to a series of incidents, funny and social, as the couple struggle to be a part of and accepted by the Delhi elite. The film is a light hearted take on the nursery admission system in the national capital.

The couple, owner of a big ‘branded’ store in Chandni Chowk, realize that they need to move out of the locality into Delhi’s posh Vasant Vihar if they want the best English medium school for their child as all Top Schools are in that area and they don’t take children from other areas that are more than 3 km in distance.

However moving home doesn’t get them the acceptance in elite class, who may be equally wealthy if not more but speak English fluently even as the Chandni Chowk born and educated couple struggle to even understand the basic language. They realize that social groups are formed among the rich as per the school of their children and if they did not get theirs into one, their daughter will apparently be outcast, made fun off and lose the best opportunities in life.

After a series of funny, weird and emotional events, their daughter does get into the Best English Medium School in Delhi but it makes them socially conscious of how their money power to arm twist the admission process depriving a worthy poor man’s child of his right to education. But even after the realization, the social system in the hands of few challenges them to make amends in society.

SCRIPT:

The first half half is full of comic satirical moments on the rich and elite class of Delhi and how the Chandni Chowk based Business tycoon husband and his wife try to fit in. School education, a serious matter, is shown in very light hearted funny takes and the audience can relate to them easily, either in person or in family or at least from news on admission process. However, the second half changes track from less of comedy to more of social message, making it a bit stretched yet watchable.

Certain characters are introduced for playing a good part but almost vanish as the story progresses towards the end. The script is more of like different plots thought separately and then brought together to make a full fledged movie, though one with a very good idea. You may tend to wonder how a Business tycoon, born, brought up and running his fashion store in Chandni Chowk, is not at all street smart as is expected from people from the area. How is a couple with very humble childhood in same Chandni Chowk acting so weird to small homes and locals and the lifestyle of a certain Bharat Nagar where they move for one month to act Poor. Characters like a Hindi Teacher and School  Principal are one moment shown strong but the very next moment shown passé.

PERFORMANCES:

There may be many loopholes in the script but it’s the performances that are extremely effective. Not just the leads, but even the supporting cast who face sketchy characterization end from the script was extremely good. Irffan Khan is extremely good, the hero of the movie. His natural ability to carry a straight face even as he makes fun of his character is hilarious and gives the best moments of the film, even in the serious bits - a very Woody Allen-esque type of performance. Saba is a fresh as lily, both in light moments and as the elite-class-obsessed wife. Makes you wonder her backstory, as to what made her hate her Chandni Chowk upbringing.

Among the supporting cast, Deepak Dobriyal is brilliant but sadly poorly utilized. He owns the screen whenever he comes, from making you laugh at his Dengue mosquito antiques to tugging the emotional strings in the scene after the lead couple’s daughter hugs him in school.

Cast members like the Swati Das (playing Deepak Dobriyal’s wife), Pia (the adorable daughter of the lead couple) and Rohan (playing son to Deepak and Swati’s character) have small part but still leave good mark.

Shockingly, actors like Amrita Singh, Sanjay Suri and Neha Dhupia enter the story like they might be imperative to the film but end up with extremely vapid parts.

PRODUCTION:

Director Saket Chaudhary, who share writing and screenplay credits with Zeenat Lakhani, is back in his good zone that he was in with PYAR KE SIDE EFFECTS which is a good thing. He really needs a stronger writing team. Dialogues are funny and quirky and among the strongest point even in the stretched ending. Editing couldn’t have been more effective, considering the script loopholes. Music is situational to the story but extremely hummable, especially the Ek Jindari song picturised on a talented group of children. Background score is effective. The cinematography does now really gives different take on Delhi but is fresh and wonderfully supports the narrative.

FINAL WORD:

Satires tend to be easy to start with but difficult to close and HINDI MEDIUM suffers with same. Nevertheless, it is good one time watch, especially for some light fun on Delhi society and Education system. Watch it especially for the tremendous acting ability of Irffan Khan and the fun he brings with his fresh pairing with Saba Qamar, a really good actress by herself.

Bulleya.. Ve Ki Karaan..

Ever lived that moment when the clouds burst into a nearly perfect moment of enjoyment of light breeze? Arms stretched, eagerly waiting to take a flight with the very first drop that is hurriedly making way  from the heavens above? But the very drops hit you in a way that you just want to mix your soul into them and the only way you unknowingly do so by the burst in your eyes?

Ae Dil Hai Mushkil's Bulleya came as smack on my face and it's smile in not less than the same moments above. No one expect that feeling can exists or wants it to exit but it just hits you..

Why me.. is the only thing my soul could scream.. Muhajir.. But reality knows that no answers to past in the present..

Nevertheless, the song is not about me.. It is a movie and the characters living a situation a writer imagined with an ending that will soon come out on screen for the audience to judge and critique..

Yet the heart aches more when it reads everyone only saying positives about the song and all I am thinking.. Ve Ki Karaan..

A Ranjha is born for doom.. But why I am alone in feeling doomed when all any and everyone is writing about the song is the beauty of the song and the chemistry of the lead characters and the gorgeousness of the life they are living and the seduction of the talent in the visuals.. It kills me in every breadth for having the thoughts like this. I am speechless amidst all these thoughts and my feelings are dying to scream and cry till I can get that one hug that make me.. hmm.. no idea.. just that one hug..

Sufism has never been my kind.. maybe because, as I feel now, it's my language and therefore my mirror. The mirror never dusty, for all the good, the bad and the ugly..

The words by Amitabh Bhattacharya with the musical arrangement, replete with a band, by Pritam hit me hard unlike I was expecting or could have imagined. The visuals are stunning but I do wish the connoisseurs of music can get above Ayan and Saba, to experience what heartbroken souls go through when they find each other for a doomed hug of life.

Hafiz tera.. murshid mera..

Kyun aaj main muhabbat phir ek baar karna chahu..

Milney tujhse bagawat phir aaj karna chahu..

Ve Ranjhana..

Ve Ki Karaan..

Bulleya..

Don't Worry, Be Barfi!

कभी न रुकता रे..
कभी न थमता रे..
ग़म जो दिखा उसे खुशिओं की ठोकर मरे..

These lines from the title song of the film probably best describes the feeling that I think I will be having in heart forever for Anurag Basu's Barfi. From watching it first time on the release day among a packed audience in a single screen theatre in one of Delhi's oldest market to watching it 3rd time on screen and still feeling an affection rare to exhibit for a cinema lover like me does spells wonders about a film, I truly believe.

When I first watched the film, it was 'The Notebook' (I strongly believe that you ain't romantic if you have not watched it) and few Chaplin inspired scenes which I had instantly jumped upon. However even less than a minute from the scenes, I had moved on to be again immersed in the beautiful film. As the scenario stands today, because of modern mass media everyone is exposed to the numerous scenes in the film that are unoriginal and a little search on youtube is enough for more truth. Plethora of debates have been conducted on the worth of the heaps of praises that the film received on its release, especially after its selection as the official entry from India for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 85th Academy Awards next year. The angst voices are stronger by those whose films lost out in the selection race. Sour-grapes or genuine objections, it is a matter of another debate - one that must be strictly done by those who have watched the entire 19 films sent to selection committee for consideration.

There is also an INR 100,000 fee for submission to the selection panel set up by Film Federation of India, a topic of another debate by many news mongers. Some say it badly restricts small and independent film-makers which is really true as India with its bevy of film cultures in almost all major languages produces some great gems that goes unseen because of the dictats of promotion and marketing budgets. However, the monetary standing of such films can not be ignored as the real challenge begins after the selection. The huge costs in the promotion, distribution and exhibition for audiences, critics and academy's selection panel in the required multi-global pockets can be just estimated by the fact that while at present crossing a INR 100 crores earning is being considered a stamp of Blockbuster Status in India, this amount is way less than the stand-alone production costs of major International films and many bigs stars and even directors charge a fee more than this amount, which is equal to a little above $19 million. So its completely futile to talk about selection of small films, unless the Government of India lets loose its purse strings of the taxed money for an Academy nod.

The hugely multi-billion dollar modern-day capitalised entertainment industry is still considered as a thing of 'time-pass' by government machineries at various levels to get them to promote it as a medium of global exim trade. The various film related association still as "Chai, Biscuit aur Gupshup and some family photo-ops and free movie passes for premiere whenever big names come knocking.". The government machinery is not be solely blamed, also. We never see any influence building exercise by the movie-moguls using their big political contacts, the way the top industrialists across the country lobby the opposition to agree to passage of a favoured-bill by the ruling government at both centre and state levels. Even the hungry crow had to put in efforts to drink openly available water in the clay pot by putting stone pebbles to raise the water level.

With the sweet concoction of BARFI being enjoyed by some and turning too sweet success for others to digest, the film has nevertheless crossed all expectations. It released in a meagre 800 screens worldwide when big productions in the country are crossing 3000 screens mark on release date; has netted more than INR 100 crores it is worldwide business and is running almost housefull even in its fourth week of release. In spite of all the inspired scenes in the film, what can just not be ignored is that the film has a story which is original and heartwarmingly rendered with bravura performance by all its actors in rarely seen dedication in the presentation of the characters in depth. Even the inspired/copied/lifted (whatever one might prefer to call them) scenes are so amazingly gelled in the screenplay and essayed wonderfully that they never seem to irritate, even for a staunch critic like me who watched the film this time after having seen the all original scenes in the month passed since its release.

There is a genuine honesty that seems to have gone in the making of the film by one and all involved with it. The music soundtrack of the film is one of the best in long long time with lyrics that really spells poetry and great imagination. Even the  background score (and not the soundtrack) for the movie, composed by Pritam, which is borrowed heavily from the highly acclaimed soundtrack of the French film Amélie, carries the movie forward so fluidly that not once does the audience feel the lack of dialogues for many long durations. In fact, had the film not told in a narrative format by its characters, the film would have been almost dialogue-less with its deaf-and-dumb title character and an autistic female-lead character.

Regardless of assessing the chances of the film's selection for a a nod in academy nomination which is more dependant on the promotion and marketing of the film than its merits of a 100 percent original film (as seen in the shrewd business acumen of Harvey Weinstein in recent years over better films by his apparent nemesis Scott Rudin), at least we can learn to enjoy the little things that we work for and no brood over the big benefits we are too lazy to act towards. And accept that UTV's national clout along with its partner Disney's international clout is probably the best for the academy market.

This season and every season of life and movie awards... Don't worry, Be Barfi! :)

A Marathon Affair to Remember

There are times in one's life when no matter the time passed of a life memory, it's not easy to forget it. A beautiful and important day of life, a chance encounter and an exploration of a sweet crazy childish personality trait that was never known or thought to exist. All being presented in a silver platter during a dream work. I feel blessed to have a cherry on top time of my life. :)

Working at the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon was something I have been wanting to since quite a few years. Not that its something out of the world but just that I always wanted to be part of big event's PR and Event Management team, especially after being introduced to the scenario at Commonwealth Games's Media Centre while I was also super enjoying and loving my work at International Broadcast Centre as Archive Logger.

ADHM has been a regular annual event, so I took the chance to dream of working here as a Volunteer at the Media Centre. Last year, during the time when applications were being seeked for the runners at the event, I browsed through ADHM's facebook page and official website and got to know of the openings for Volunteers. Having build up my résumé on a pretty good note I applied for the PR work post, which apparently required maximum days of work and thus maximum experience. I was confident about my application and I got called for the interview.

It was a November last week event last year and so the interview date was scheduled for 6th of the same month, which apparently was the date I was flying with my friend Karan to Mumbai for a leisure trip at Gullu's place. I replied back instantly and requested for a date reschedule one daye prior and good thing it got accepted. The interview went really good and it made me really happy when the interviewer, Mr Priyesh Sanghvi, told me that with a résumé like mine I can chose any of the available post for work. I obviously chose 'Public Relations' and he told me that I will be called again for another interview session for work briefing with a Media representative and I will also be paid for the work. The pay thing was something unexpected because, honestly, I was there for experience and work for free. I was proud of the my interview and even let go for a paid 15-day internship opportunity at a media house I had come across. But...the call back did not come.

I replied back on multiple e-mails without success. My angry post about the 'unprofessional attitude' on the event's facebook page was even deleted by page administrators. My mumbai trip went fabulous but the time following the return in delhi till the end of the event was indeed depressing, apart from the personal challenges in my professional and personal lives.

However, somewhere at the back of my mind I had promised me that I will try the next year again and make sure I take some contact number from the office. The subsequent interview day this year had lots in my mind therefore and I even mentioned to Priyesh about the turn of events last year. He specially noted on my key information form to specially give me a call but politely refused to give any contact number. However I did not want to go home this way. I spoke to his assistant outside and ask her for her number. On seeing her bit hesitant even in refusing me and also her holding a blackberry, I quickly jumped at the chance and asked for her BBM pin. I had turned Blackberry Boy just a few days back.

Staying connected with Swati through BBM paid and she called me for the media briefing. And the rest is now history; a beautiful chapter of my life that taught me a lot of the professional work ethics and also brought a lot of fun memories with new wonderful contacts I made there in the PR and Event Management team.

I still have to work a lot on my patience level on lazy co-workers as I did snap twice during the entire week, once on a guy (who openly confessed that there are 2 people at any work - one who works honestly and the other who dont work but know how to show/act in front of seniors that they do work) and the second time on a girl (the most irritating co-worker ever for patience-less person like me who used to do very little but make it a hue-and-cry about that like the event was running on her shoulder). Mixing work with fun in the appropriate ratio is an art I am inculcating every moment in me but when I was there chiefly for WORK, it was really tough for me to put on back-burner and have fun on its pretext.

Nevertheless, they both are good and nice people and everyone has their own way of working. So I am no one to judge. If at all anything, it is I who should be more flexible to any type of person in my workplace. A lesson to remember all my life.

The event went great and the best part being the compliments on my work by my immediate incharge Deepak and by Zzebra PR's Bhavisha for being really efficient in my work. The latter's compliment on her liking to see my sweet face in the morning was ultra sweet.

On another note, the Final Day or the Race Day brought a major surprise for me in the form of a Bollywood Superstar. I won't get into my definition of a 'Superstar', and just talk about the experience of coming face-to-face with the very beautiful and sexy and athletic yet feminine Bipasha Basu.

Dressed in a Black sporty dress, apt for the event, I was stunned the very first time she passed by. Her height and hairs made her truly desirable for the straight guy in me. :D And every subsequent meeting with her, be it at the Escalators outside the Procam Marquee while escorting Pantaloon Femina Miss India Hasneet Kaur or while entering the ultra-restricted Grand Stand area for VVIPs (I had infinity access, something even many celebs at the event did not have) or at her Press Conference with 2012 London Olympic Gold Medalist David Rudisha at the very end of the event day... It was a marathon affair that I will remember all my life. :) :)

This post will be absolutely incomplete if I leave the mention of the very work-ethic principled me taking my phone finally out to click Bipasha's pics for memory, something I never thought I will be doing in my life in clichéd fan-type manner. But such was the effect of Bipasha on me that even after many days since the event, I created a content post on her on the Bollywood gossip website Pinkvilla.com and also got myself to blog this one too. Restraining myself from mentioning the same things as on the other website, I have finally opened myself for a life event - a memory so amazing that it meant to be documented before time runs away in just thoughts.

Now RUN for other DREAMS. Dreamum Wakeupum. :) :)

Post Script:- My Post on Pinkvilla.com -

Bipasha Basu at ADHM - My Experience and Views

'Shanghai': Movie Review

Think about it - A film that is so meticulously crafted by a fine filmmaker that you feel disgust while you praise the film; disgust at actually having known what type of country you living in without doing anything for good and just being part of the herd. This is exactly the feeling I had running in my veins as I came out of Dibakar Banerjee's masterstroke 'SHANGHAI'.

The film's story idea is nothing that we have never known; in fact it is almost like our every day life acceptance of the murky political and greedy life scenario we living in and happily being a part of it so as to not be left behind in being the smarter one among the crowd. However, it is the execution of the script that gives it scores to be completely free of the clichés known with every Hindi film. There are no overbearing and long dialogues, the awesome soundtrack score by Vishal-Shekhar was mostly chopped off the final edit as its inclusion would have definitely made the film's impact week, there is no acting but only characterization, the characters don't imitate any real person but only real India and the politics in the film has no mention of religion - something which we expect as must in every scenario.

Adapted from the novel 'Z' by Vassilis Vassilikos, the film is set in a bustling Indian city of Bharat Nagar which has a ruling party backed huge infrastructure project. A premeditated shocking road accident of a socialist professor opens up a can of political worms engulfing the main characters essayed skillfully by Emran Hashmi, Kalki Koechin and Abhay Deol. As days go by, those involved discover a hidden secret in the government's sector: a vision of a new metropolis, a pie dream, a dream called 'Shangahi'.

Just like its carefully sketched story, Dibakar has amazingly picked actors whom he knew he can make his characters and every actor justifies their presence in every frame their director has put them in. So it will be unfair of me to pick up any single actor.The screenplay moves as the pace is required - slow when it needed the people to think incident's as 'it's so common, tell us something new' and fast when it wants to create a tension about the situation of the nation we praise as our mother and how to smartly be a part of the system to change the system. The camera work lingers to your mind with every scene and the soundtrack and background score are to the point effectively utilized. However its the script and film maker's control on his vision and craft that are the real winners for this political thriller.

Regardless of the reception that this film receives in terms of box office collection, it is important that it be seen by every Indian. The film actually comes out as an exposé that is not meant to shock the audience but just be a slice of shameful life we are merrily living in. It's full of staggering irony that makes you smile yet cringe with shame.

A definite 4 out of 5 rating and a two thumbs up for film-maker Dibakar Banerjee. It's a fine, nuanced film that serves its purpose with a kind of fluidity we don't see enough on screen. Please watch it!

'Rockstar': Movie Review

How would you describe a movie watching experience when during the course of the film your mind starts to think about comparing it with probably the worst movie you have ever watched in your lifetime? Imtiaz Ali's latest endeavor 'Rockstar' had the very same effect on my thought processing, though to give the film its due - at least it does have some good merits to not top my worst film list.

Rockstar apparently presents the story of Delhi's St. Stephan college boy, played by Ranbir Kapoor, who loves music and would do anything to have the soul in his writing that talent scouting people and the regular college crowd could relate to. He is advised by the college's cafeteria owner, someone who is apparently the only one who understands his dreams, that he can't write good unless he falls in true love, something that gives pain and problem like nothing else in this world. He then goes for this girl Heer, played by Nargis Fakhri, in his own college as his friends call his Tota aka Hot. From initial rejections, the two embark on doing crazy stuffs which leads to the supposed crux of the film.

The basic problem with 'Rockstar' lies with its incoherent script. There is just about nothing in it, making it like a regressive episodic thought-processing without any explanation. The characters are shallow, and have change of emotions and heart after every few minutes. Janardhan a.k.a. Jordan leaving his passionate chase for Platinum records to bring his music album to chase Love that will bring pain in his music, even when the records label itself is after him. Also Heer who first is irritated by Jordan's idiotic loves proposal has a sudden change of heart and is hanging out with him doing crazy stuffs. Characters are brought in at one moment and bumped off like piece of cardboards in another and again brought into later from almost nowhere. Case in point Heer's husband, her family, Jordan's family. Even the ridiculously absurd sequence in Prague where a super Rockstar like Jordan is being mugged on streets by goons who don't know him and the next moment he escapes them to his own concert in the city's Colloseum like place to millions of city people and that too in Hindi.

Like I said, there is nothing about Music in this film. The writers apparently wanted to write a doomed love story with music aspirations of the lead as a sub-story, but clearly did not know how to start or to end. What comes across on screen in a confusing and irritating half-hazard sequencing of a thought for story, which apparently was never bound and had additions and subtractions to it on the sets during the film shoot. The events in the films comes across as episodes and just when you think the film is over, there is another episode up on play without any reason of common sense.

Imtiaz Ali has been known for his writing skills with his previous films, but clearly he is overwhelmingly overconfident from his adulation. The writing is pretentious and carried out with the only thought of making it something that will make the audience cry like they have never did. Ranbir displays a great character graph in his body language, but his dialogue delivery is either straight lift of his work in Wake Up Sid or irritatingly bad version of Koi Mil Gaya's Rohit Mehra's mentally challenged person. Nargis is as manly as an actress can ever be, with a dialogue delivery of a dreamy but dull spoilt daughter of a rich dad. No emotional connect is there for a character which Imtiaz Ali seemingly wanted to be just like the lovable Geet from his own 'Jab We Met', but fails badly with his own writing and his choice of Nargis.

For a movie which was promoted as a film based on Music, it's all noise for the songs as well as the background score. A.R.Rahman comes up with his weakest compositions ever, which are nothing new in instrumentation and relies heavily on screeching and repetitive tunes. He does indeed comes with Kun Fayakun which brought tears in my eyes during it play in the film, not for the visuals along but for the beautiful words from Holy Quran. But then again, a Quawali by Rahman has always been great, so nothing new to write. Maybe to an extent the song Naadan Parindey is good, but by the time it is played in end, one is so exhausted with the headache from the film that one just wants to leave. Once again, Rahman fails from being burdened with carrying the film on his shoulder when there is no script in first place, forget about a musical story that was promoted in his name.

The editor(s) of the film must be celebrated for at least trying to make sense from the crap the director handed them to work on. I am sure the screenplay of the film, which is not experimental but screenplay of convenience, was come up with on the editing table itself. At least the film moves at fast pace, except for the last 20 something minutes, where the film drag like hell and mostly substituted with scenes played before also. As for the costumes for Jordan, they are worse than my used Night clothes and no Rockstar wears such clothes which will have even the poor slum dwellers to cheer.

If the meaning of becoming a Rockstar is to must have a doomed true-love story, then sorry to say the writers know nothing about the music world. Music by itself is true love for the one who practice it. Music aspirations, just like Love, can never be forced. And if Luck or Destiny is what the makers wanted to reason with, then they should have gone for an animated story of cartoon characters where they could do anything with Luck and Destiny.

The movie is a complete failure for the art of cinema and I can not think of giving it more than 1/2 stars out of 5, that too being generous for not giving me migraine attack.

'Ra.One': Movie Review

                   

There is a moment during the first chase sequence in the film Ra.One where Kareena's character asks her son Prateek as to how can Ra.One and G.One come out of the virtual world and continue the virtual enmity in real life. To this Prateek tells her to continue driving through this mess, he will tell her later. My biggest grouse with the film stands exactly at this point. Everything is, "watch now, explanation will be done later."; which coincidentally never happens at all. For a film which is full of scientific advancements in present day like never even thought before one would at least expect the logic on which everything science is based on, no matter it being a Hindi film.

Superhero films are meant with logical reason to the super-power, even if it is extra-terrestrial nature. Case in point Koi Mil Gaya and Krish. Present that in even a single minute and everything is acceptable. But Ra.One conveniently leaves that all. There is no explanation as to how a game so advanced that its 'villain' with 0.01% of losing ratio comes out of in real world from virtual world but can be programmed in a jiffy by a 10 year old, not once but twice. And that too when the kid is not at all close to his genius father to learn the tricks of trade from him. The only apparent logic that the film gives is during the opening sequence where an apparently lost Shahana Goswami addresses London press in Hindi that, "its all possible because their company has made it."

Ra.One is ambitious without doubt, has some terrific VFX for an Indian film and is apparently the best 2D to 3D converted film I have watched, Hollywood included. But having a super-star like Shahrukh Khan who has access to best creative talent around the world making the audience accept the advancement of home-grown technology for a shamelessly paper thin story and almost no-direction by Anubhav Sinha is a monstrosity of illogical proportion.

The film turns out to be a spoof movie collage marketed as a superhero movie with scenes inspired from films like Spiderman, Superman, Tron Legacy, Iron Man, Matrix trilogy, X-Men series, Robot and even Mr Bean, 2012 and popular video games all rolled into a 70's style loud background scored film where the Hero and Villain will say their dialogues in slow motion and then the camera do a 10 sec slow pan of the person. SRK overdoes the tamil Shekhar with the racist Aiyo, the vulgar crotch touching acts and the horrendous hairstyle. As G.One he apparently mistakes his My Name is Khan's mentally challenged character as a virtual Robotic Character. At times when I was connecting with G.One's emotions, I used to shake myself from the sudden feeling that this is not MNIK. G.one touching the crotch of Ra.One was the height of vulgarity. Kareena is luminous like never before but her character is too shallow to feel her emotional bond with any event in her love or family life. The son's character is where one connects somewhat but his sudden maturity in a genius wizkid is hard to digest. Arjun Rampal apparently gets role of lifetime to act as mechanic as he is as an actor. His Ra.One is pointless and not once menacing as the game's non-destructive villain is described. The very talented Shahana Goswami is sidelined with sloppy dialogues and poorly written role.

At the end, Ra.One for me succeeds in making me understand the true value of originality and creativity in writing. The film will definitely be a benchmark in technical advancement in India but will sadly remain a flawed film as it has got no foundation of story which is a shame considering what smart writing and effective direction could have done with the no-holds barred losing of purse-strings by Shahrukh Khan.

I will rate it 2.5 on a scale of 5. It is neither here, nor there.

'Dunno Y Na Jaane Kyun': Movie Review

There are films which you watch for pure entertainment and time-pass and there are films you watch for the team behind it. But once in a while comes a film that may have the skeptic in you telling that the film may not work with the sensibility of the paying audience or may just end being an amateur work from untrained new-professionals. But we forget that art is not about training and experience, but more about the passion that drives you to attempt it – no matter the end result. Sanjay Sharma’s ‘Dunno Y Na Jaane Kyun..’ falls in the this last category.

The story is simple. It is about a guy named Ashley D’souza (Yuvraaj Parashar), from an upper-middle class family, married with little daughter. But all is not happy in his family. Everyone is living with some sad past that they can not leave, but still are cheerful in living life king size. The unsatisfied wife (Rituparna Sengupta) is having a closet affair with her brother-in-law, Ashley’s father (Kabir Bedi) left them years ago for spiritualism leaving his mother (Zeenat Aman) working hard and also being involved with her boss to run her home, and Granny (Helen) is a sometimes grumpy, sometime lively lady who still wishes to have her son back. And Ashley himself is living with a closetted truth about his real feelings – of being gay. He meets Aryan (Kapil Sharma) through internet for a Blind-Date fixed on internet chat. Aryan is an aspiring model-actor, part time gigolo and gay. Their first date becomes a starting point of a closet relationship between the two. What happens thereafter in everyone’s life is what forms the entire film. There are few subplots also, the most prominent being the father returning back home. The first half of the film mainly concentrates on establishing the characters, the family, the problems, the dilemmas while the second half focuses on the two affairs (Ash-Aryan and wife-brother-in-law) and the father’s return.

The film, being touted as India’s answer to Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain, is definitely a first in India to talk and show about closet gay orientation without making fun of the community but should not be compared to Ang’s film. It is totally based in Mumbai city and its urban lifestyle where families throw happy parties for friends, but behind closed doors there is lack of satisfaction from almost every family member. The gay-relationship and the skeletons it hides in our society is treated with respect and without any mockery of sleaze. There is earnestness in the film, one feels that the film is not made to gain media publicity but because someone had penned a fair story to share. The production budget is small and it does limits the cinematography and post-production (especially), though the rawness do work good in bringing a real feel to the film.

Kapil and Yuvvraj do have to polish their acting skills but they performed very well for a first time effort. Both does justice to give a graph to their characters and have expressive eyes. Acting is also Reacting, and this is important for every actor to know. Zeenat and Helen perform well according to the script and Kabir Bedi shows he still has enough charisma to make you sit and take notice of him. Rituparna is good at times, while lost at others. Rest all are adequate to strictly okay in their limited screen timing.

Kapil, who has also written the story, screenplay and dialogues for the film does good with his credit but one does feel that it probably was sailing in multiple boats at the same time. The dialogues did tend to go burdening on my senses at times, and I wished it had ‘conversation’ between characters instead. Cinematography by Basheer Ali is okay, nothing much to talk about. The soundtrack by Nikhil, especially Saiyan, Dabi Dabi Khwahishien and the Title song by Lata Mangeshkar, is both impressive and haunting. The background score probably needed to be toned down. Sanjay Sharma has directed a good film that impresses mainly by not making the audience question the right and wrong, and also by a sensitive treatment to a sensitive story. However there is a need for him to polish his editing skills. A tighter editing might have made the film more attractive to the audience of experimental and independent cinema.

Every new experiment requires patience from its audience. The film is a brave and honest attempt by the entire team, one that should be watched without being judgmental as relationship of any kind can never be judged. I came out of the screening impressed with the sincerity in the way it is made, and also with goosebumps giving songs. Do give it a try..