Tribhanga is almost Terrific

 

You know something special is happening when you see excellence in continuity in outdoor shots. A daughter waits for her mother in a security queue and the camera seamlessly moves to another angle beyond the gate without skipping a beat or a detail, a nurse asking Kajol to be silent or to come and help with sponging her mom, two nurse exchange medical statistics in the background without sounding nonsensical. The point being there appears to be a director herself the writer as well who has been so sensitive to what happens around and recreates with exceptional sensitivity and accuracy.

Powerful women obviously populate the landscape of the story of three generations of liberal women who chase their dream, nurse grudges against each other and yet cannot stop debating over the degree of their love for each other.

What is satisfying is that people are real and there are no attempts to whitewash their guilt lines to make it palatable and since it is an OTT channel someone must have advised the director to go the Mirzapur way and feel free with the MCs and BCs of the world.  While it was innovative to hear Kajol’s character go free with the abuses, it becomes jarring when subsequently she uses the characterisation more to impress than to imply natural behaviour. It is something that should not have been in your face and could have worked brilliantly. Not mouth a dialogue and wait for the applause on usage.

No parent is perfect and more importantly creative mothers   who neglect their children at the altar of their own pursuits. It does become difficult to believe though that the mother did not realise the younger one going through sexual abuses at home. Makes for one careless mother and one who does not warrant being forgiven.

Tanvi is the mother. a great writer with a weak husband, a disagreeable but caring mother-in-law with who she falls out with and leads to further disenchantment in the family leading to multiple divorces and children becoming a victim of that. Will they too turn out like their parents is what fills up the rest of the storyline replete with lot of vignettes to justify the characters behaviour.

Kajol is in her space as an actress dancer and has been obviously given a free hand to re imagine K3G heroine now the mother of a married daughter (Mithila a natural actress thought with limited scope in the screenplay). Interesting characters like Kajol’s brother, or the biographer (Kunal Roy) dot the landscape hoping to help move the plot forward. But it plods at times.

What keeps it moving though are the definite impressive performances by the lead cast and Kajol stamps back why she is the most spontaneous actress in the country today.

Some jarring elements perhaps obfuscating the realistic grittiness of the relationships like the daughter suddenly nursing some grouse with her mom to trigger the plot device for the mother to go soft on her own grudge. It is confusing because the daughter has been effusive in her praise for her mother’s sense of purpose in being possessive about her and at the same time accusing her of being non-chalant about her daughter’s security needs. The daughter indicates she follows a more modern all-embracing religion and in contradiction makes sure to be completely immersed in her traditional orthodox patriarchal family where the head goes “we want your daughter. that’s all” (heave a sigh of relief. No dowry story here. This angle is not explored enough with the frisbee of a story line flying back to the central character).  There is also the case of the missing internet signal on the computer – just could not take my eyes of the cross on the internet signal – thought not sure if it were required for the upload at that point 😊. A fly flies into the ICU of a posh hospital almost like meant to justify the line that followed.

 But then you forgive everything when you notice how the actors are invested in the film. Watch Kajol as she pushes away her daughter for not being able to unlock her necklace or when she meets her brother or handles her coma-stricken mother for the first time or when she wonders why her friend is such a nice person.

While we do not expect anything less than stupendous from Kajol and expert delivery from stalwarts Tanvi and Mithila, it is the deft handling with eye for detail from Renuka Shahane that gets our applause.

It is heart-warming that actor directors are coming up with sensitive projects and none better than actors as they know what it takes from inside to be a Tribhanga.

 

Kabir Singh - The violent debate

The trailer had left me squirming and irritated. There is a seemingly out of control alcoholic with anger management issues who seems to maintain his Six packs despite all that guzzling and who consequently falls in love with a demure girl. It did not around any curiosity in me other than to cringe every time the hand smashing into someone’s face was regulated by equally strong base sound of a cargo smashing to the ground.

So I desisted. Then began the self-indignant interviews by the NDTV Anchor, a lot of twitter noise over belittling of the women, a strong bitter interview by the hurt director to one review writer abusing another review writer calling him names for his physicality.

Also noted writer friends on Facebook squabbling over their opposing views. It got me anxious not because I was missing out on possibly an artistic movie whose intentions I probably misunderstood but about the most debated movies in recent times that seems to be overflowing at the box office. Surely some chord struck with the masses and the self-appointed moral cops were worried. Then a friend from the aggrieved section who should have been annoyed was agog over the movie and felt it was to be watched. That got me completely curious. I needed to change my stance of not wanting to watch it.

So I did on the last show of the movie in my town too late to write a review that could matter to anyone.I came out of the theatre with completely mixed feelings. It was a roller coaster of quality. With some great highs and some really pathetic unwanted parts in the storyline. There was a fresh touch to the bohemian love story propped by some superlative acting and yet the story suddenly lapsed into some disgusting overtones of immoral standards of behavior in society.

The argument is that it is a story as told by the director whose vision it is. There are gangster movies, bank robbery movies or even violent love stories that have been prevalent over time. So why does this stand out for persecution.

The answer lies in the recent headlines in our country and I think the movie makers cannot ignore the situation around us and move on ignoring the undeniable fact that the movies can have a copycat impact on impressionable minds in society.

Shahid Kapoor is an alcoholic surgeon (not sure which comes first) who has in his final year at the medical school fallen in love with a demure first year student while all the time sleeping around sometimes even attempting sex at knife point. These are points where the story seems to derail. Not because they show the character as bad but because they show the characters infringement on women safety as comical and turn serious sexual harassment / near rape scenes for raising laughs. When the almost psychotic and sex crazy doctor chases his house maid for breaking a glass it is diminished to a ridiculous comic moment with even a dialogue about maid unions thrown in. It was to me absolutely irrelevant as it did not help to establish the character in anyway.

The hero walking into a class and marking his territory with his new found affection is as unbelievable as it is repulsive. Had there been a reaction of either protest or acceptance by the girl it could have perhaps neutralized the impact and worry of copycat mimics in real life but the movie seems to admire its male protagonist and follows him admiringly as he goes around in a maniacal manner forcing the girl out of class and she follows him inexplicably like a little lamb. IT is never made clear that she admires him secretly but seems to submit to his aggression to buy peace.

It is perhaps the director’s intentional silence at this stage that triggers rage and fear in the watchmen of social morality.

The reason why it cannot be simply ignored as a story and enjoyed thus is because of the dangerous society we live in today. A society where girls big and small are no longer safe in villages or cities. 

Where the abuse is no more restricted to just rape but violence and fatal injuries of the most heinous kinds. Exposure to high speed internet, uncontrolled content on the net has got people ignore the law and not fear it. They seek the pleasures they see on their little screens as a right to be attained with violence if necessary. A mental disease seems viral.

Movies which celebrate such psychotic behavior may help to encourage and reassert the criminal behavior in such elements as movie is seen as a socially acceptable and admired value benchmark for fashion and attitude.

But then why does the movie make a mark with the masses. Because post the first half of psychotic hormone propelled behavior of the hero, the second half actually moves into saner phase and chronicles the pangs of a distressed hero very well and also attempts to put the women in a stronger position as the hero desperately tries to win her back. It is here that the director is in the right bracket and where he makes the movie work for the most part.

Kiara does not make any artistic attempts to act besides sticking to the requirements of the role strictly

But it is Shahid Kapoor who is simply outstanding delivering the dictates of the director with unerring ease and sliding into the role as if born for it. Despite his less than bulky physique he can make you believe that he can bash up people and be really violent. He is very good and probably delivers the best role of his career.

The director Sandeep Reddy knows his art and has a flair for invoking freshness into love scenes or creating possibility of intense drama with a pulse on human interaction and obviously allowing space to his main protagonist to evolve. He does a superior job here than in the Telugu version.

He should perhaps desist from getting annoyed with review writers who he goes after abusing them for their physicality. I do not think Rajeev had any ill intentions other than to artistically review the movie professionally. Anupama made an effort to reach out to him to get his views despite also not really going gung ho over the movie.

There is a middle of the road path that movie makers should tread with Review writers.

Super 30 – Lagaan of Education .

Stories of achieving success against all odds make great stories. Usually there is a noble and brilliant protagonist fallen on bad ways who in a triggering moment decides to pick up a challenge and turn his students/followers/disciples around. There are Hollywood stories galore and closer home there has been Chak De India, Bhag Milkha Bhag, and Mary Kom…all stories of people achieving greatness in the face of harrowing odds.

But Super 30 moves out from the sports field where such stories usually abound to education where a live story continues to create waves in real life in a curious mix of evoking sense of awe and dangerously treading the line of negative feedback due to attacks by alleged vested interest.

A brilliant mathematician born in Bihar yearns to earn fame but is harnessed back by the cruel pull of poverty. The efforts fail in the face of touching efforts by his father who works in a postal department and his admission letter to the University of Cambridge.

Hritik Roshan stripped of all his glamour, completely and sadly devoid of all his exquisite dance moves or action scenes approaches with utter sincerity, the role of the poor mathematician Anand Kumar, who is wallowing in tragic circumstances till he hits jackpot with a local business of training children for IIT. But somewhere his value system catches up with him and he is seized with the need to create a platform for poor but brilliant children who can attempt the IIT entrance and get into the premier institute. A tall task if one looks around at the diligent approach adopted by special classes that train students from a very early age to crack the entrance exams. But then Kumar is no lame duck and evolves ingenious ways to keep the special free classes that he starts for the economically poor class. There is almost a vengeful streak in Kumar to ensure his class succeeds

But before that happens he has to go through a lot of trials and tribulations that includes strong threats from politicians who run educational business establishments and find his free education a serious impediment for their money making.

How Kumar goes about it and continues to this date forms the crux of the movie. You feel a sense of appreciation for Hritik one of our most handsome action heroes who boldly takes on meaningful roles and takes a crack at making honest contribution to cinema.

He is supremely sincere in his efforts here and the story which is exaggerated as are most of these “winning against all odds” stories still holds your attention. True to their journey they also make attempts to expose the “Dhanda” of education.

You cannot but remember Lagaan as the leader of the pack Aamir puts together a bunch with varied skills to counter a skilled rich team. Anand Kumar does it here for education and his knowledge and efforts are truly laudable. The story is apparently known to skim over details which are not palatable and proceeds to silly eye rolling scenes where students fight back Hooligans with scientific tricks. Yet Kumar’s teaching approach using day to day awareness of activities around us is commendable.

What is sad is like Lagaan we hardly remember a single student and that is because the camera is busy following Anand Kumar all around and it reduces the impact the tragic stories of the children could have had.

It is certainly detoxifying to watch this after the controversial Kabir Singh which aroused a nationwide debate.

Watching the movie also raises the question of whether the true worth of a future india is in glamorizing a handful of outstanding institutes or in creating bountiful of good educational institutes all over the country so that only a handful are not made privileged to learn and earn.

Watch it as the Lagaan of Education and for Hritik’s earnestness

The ✅DONE GROUP - physical well-being contribution

Important to contribute at least 30 min daily ( min) to your own physical well-being

I started this as a small exercise in micro what’s app groups with family / cousins / friends and office colleagues  called  “ Done” groups

You do a physical exercise Everyday be it walking or Swimming or yoga daily and then put a “DONE” on the group.  (It is not really about doing 21 km marathons every six months  which is good of course, but more about a more sustained health commitment.)

That way others who read and their families will get charged up and the talk and act of wellness spreads and contribute to better health and positive thinking. Nowadays people focus more on ‘Dones’ than useless forwards 🙂

Do what the doctor advises as per your personal health condition of course . Everyone need not do heavy duty exercising in competition but custom designed to one’s own capabilities and health conditions.

But do something everyday .😊👍

The magic of the slums ...lured Hollywood again

Just exited from a show of the extraordinary ‘story’ of the legendary fakir...

I was like “ duh” . The story  is anything but extraordinary. Wonder what a sincere Dhanush saw in this pathetic excuse of a story that continues in true Hollywood style pandering to that worn out lazy slum dog millionaire environ to stage a story that seems to have been written on half a full scape paper

The white actors none of who seem recognisable appear overawed to appear in the magical orient eastern movie sensing a possible Oscar purely for the poverty oozing sets that the academies so lusts for.

The directions story telling is so patchy and jerky that you never get to know the characters or feel for them. A French Father, am hard working Indian Mother ( incidentally the more sincere effort of the actor) some nonsense of going to the TOP of the Eiffel Tower and then sending a paper plane down , magic which seems to be used randomly to establish the main characters background, something about illegal immigrants , some dry English humour , a sudden musical launches by a British immigration officer ( the second character who tries to make something out of nothing ), unknown poor white actors spread across the landscape lazily mouthing dialogues without any feeling, Loy or poor people thrown in for good measure so that the west can savor. Absolutely No coherent script
A wasted opportunity really. I liked that small boy though who plays dhanush’s younger version .
One positive is that Indians don’t speak English in some whacked out way and are not mocked at and it is interesting to watch propah English in the slums of Mumbai.

When the slums do disappear from Mumbai as they will in the next three years , Hollywood will have an empty feeling.

An absolute waste of a perfect Sunday evening

A terrorist movie with a Slumdog feel ( Hotel Mumbai) + Political storytelling Winner ( The Tashkent Files )

Back from travel I watched The Tashkent Files and Hotel Mumbai in quick succession before they vanished. 

(***1/2)

Was pleasantly surprised to find Tashkent files into possibly its 4th week still well populated for a late-night show. Notsurprised if TTF (The Tashkent Files) draws as much animated discussion as the ongoing Indian elections. It is probably one of the few introspective, raring and daring to scratch history to explore for hidden narratives and ostensibly backed by theories and some close to the subject, people opinions, manages to do that. There were shocked exclamations of “how blatant” at the end of the cinema but that is natural for a cinema that points clever fingers without any holds barred at conspiracy at the highest echelons of the Indian Polity in the process possibly destroying long held idolization of certain leaders of the 70s and 80s. 

Vivek Agnihotri is not new to controversy and his affability for the current governance may be construed as the driver for this cinema which risks and opens itself for clear accusation of propaganda. Yet the maker cleverly introduces debate to counter the various opinions maybe to the delight of social media political debaters even questioning his own climax itself. It does however make us think of our lack of clear visibility and appreciation for our second prime minister Mr Lal Bahadur Shastri who has clearly documented appreciation for his various reforms. But his death while abroad during an agreement post a brief war raised concerns about foul play. Vivek seizes that opportunity hidden in history, sharpens his writing knives and backed by some research attempts to create a strong debate and willfully introducing counter arguments to ensure it is not ‘blatant’. 

That politics is murky and is not limited to practitioners from one political party is something he drives home while cleverly rationalizing and justifying that it may be necessary for a party to practice it to win power to do good.

His powerful writing is taken a few notches higher by some superlative acting with only a surprising Nasiruddin appearing too unsure of himself for the first time while a young Shweta seizes the opportunity with both hands and bites and chews her role well. The board room type discussion reminded me of the Talvar setting and the debate within the agencies. Whether the movie can make votes swing is unsure but it manages to credibly install strong doubts in the minds of the viewers confirming what we know as murky politics in India today. Worth a watch if you have the patience and curiosity for serious political discussions.

( *)

Hotel Mumbai was a serious let down. Not that we wanted a popcorn entertainment out of a tragedy but Hollywood usually excels in investing finesse and narrative credibility into disaster movies. Here their preoccupation with recreating a Slumdog millionaire feel because the movie is set in India, eats into the possible potential exacerbation of tragedy and horror that could have been otherwise felt. 

It is extremely irksome that a movie on south Asia should necessarily come with a creamish yellow tinge usually associated with movies on the colonial era or trying to ride on the back of slum tourism. ( hutments , gawking people, pools of water on potholed roads, worn out homes)

The movie attempts to very poorly create a backdrop for the terrorist attack on the Hotel Taj in Mumbai and barely manages to create any credible backstory for the 200 odd guests who were present on the dark night. So deep is their obsession that the camera drools as it follows a hotel staff member into his poverty laden slum home where clusters of wide-eyed population stare at community TV sets watching English news and women looking equally sad and tragic for no rhyme or reason. The staff member is the pivot for this story as he with the chief Chef actually helped to save many lives. But the makers lack of research is very evident as they do not even get the basic Luxurious hotel right. The utter lack of realism is evident as the pivotal character returns from a tragic night to his wife who seems to be besotted with bathing her child in a water tub in their poor home. Really that is what a wife does when her husband is fighting for his life with terrorists ?

The photography is of such a poor order that the hotel with its worn-out walls looks like a 2-star property. The back offices look even worse possibly like their version of government offices in the colonial era movies. The screen is blurred most of the time and with dim lighting in an attempt to heighten the horror. The role of the local policemen is completely glossed over making them look like inept personnel who have no clue of how to handle the situation which is not entirely true if one watches videos available even today on YouTube. And since it is not a Hollywood movie where the key agencies save earth the role of the special anti terrorists squad is reduced to a few uniformed personnel rushing into the building!

Honestly thought it was a pathetic film making, poor direction, even worse photography, a popcorn version of a terror disaster that could have been done differently had it happened in different geography. Anupam Kher and Dev Patel simply hang around varying their expressions of calm posturing in a panicky situation and it is surprising consider how good as actors they actually are.

I would really like to ask the makers if they even visited the hotel to understand its outstanding century old interiors and the poor acting, lack of character building except for one family, add unto a below average movie.

Earrings,Beige, furniture and More ..Kalank !

Polygamy disclaimer. 1946 Husnabad (that I almost read as Husband due to the disclaimer hangover). Serious characters dressed to kill but wearing morose expressions, glare into the camera to establish riches and class. You have a cute girl ( Alia) leading the cameraman running behind her, holding up her designer dress in the now established introduction sequence of a free soul who traipses with gay abandon She even lies down on the ground at the end with soil in her hair leaving me wondering how she is going to wash it off. That is answered later in the movie when she refers to LUX. But not for long, the character for some inexplicable reason agrees to be the second wife to the son of a wealthy man whose current wife is on a death roll. Such an understanding wife who arranges for her husband to have a seamless married life.

At this point apparently the producers Fox Studios jumped in, shocked , in contrast to their brief, a family emotional drama unravelling. What about the 1947 period drama. The makers shift gear and establish a weak plot about a journalistic enterprise during the partition at cross roads with the majority community locally.

Fashionista Manish Malhotra sensing opportunity decides to hold a festival of his haute couture. And man does he do it in style. The attires on display are to be seen to be believed with their overwhelming but beautiful beige /golden /pink for the ladies and stately cream and black for the gentleman. So the soap loving second wife was just fooling the audience and her husband as she has all intentions of falling in love with a six pack bare chested iron smith who keeps banging away at metal so that the muscles pop out just right.

Emotional build up for this man. Oh yes he is the illegitimate son of the courtesan who lives in a mansion that can put any palace to shame on the other side of the town. He wears his illegitimacy like a badge.

Fox studios again comes in politely at this juncture and politely reminds that they had put in money for a period drama on the partition. So the characters all rush into office buildings and snort at each other suitably to ensure sufficient animosity and build up for a possible showdown during the partition. They look over the shoulder. Fox is back to their other ventures in Hollywood and therefore they get back to their dance and drama.

Ah yes since there is a free hand to fashion designers, the furniture and art designers decide not to be left behind and actually color coordinate the dresses of the artistes and create MDF sets matching color for color. Brilliant piece of art direction undoubtedly. But partition?

Oh yes so the six pack locksmith decides to pursue the sneaky second wife and in between colorful songs manages to lure her in. Not sure if she did that by design as well considering that her husband was still holding the hand of his sick first wife. (Was he pretending knowing well she was to pop off soon)?

Frustrated that you are not understanding the story well. Ok let me start again

Assume that you have a director who is super impressed with SLBHansali and has watched 52 re runs of Blue Saawariya. Next he watches Lootera or maybe even Parineeta. Now he changes blue to Golden. He decides that has had enough with Switzerland and tries to merge Rajasthan with Kerala and adds in a snow capped mountain for good measure. He creates a town where everyone’s prime occupation seems to be to loiter on the streets and break into a flash mob dance. There is absolutely no effort at character building or basic attempts to create a back story for the characters.

Yes the Art director/costume director/cinematographer have a free hand. Look out for that introductory scene where the two main protagonists meet. It was like one was high on … well just goodness. The Six pack guy actually battles a digital bull gone bonkers on digital steroids. Bahubali meets Saawariya too.

And then those opulent sets of the courtesan where the art directors failed to move a large chandelier to the roof and decided to leave it at ground level. Large MdF doors open magically every time a lead character wants to stomp out. Those large earrings. Counted 222 of them. Kept me occupied when the dialogues got insipid.

Finally Fox gets them to the dramatic violent ending. But not before Madhuri who has been belting out soulful monologues says “ enough is enough’ and insists on doing a full strong number in Kathak.

Rickety wooden trains puffs in. People are running from the town to escape. The strange part is the husband and wife are running from a mob and the husband jumps on the train first leaving the wife to fend for herself.

They spent INR800Mn on what I believe must be costumes/art/earrings. My heart goes out to that brilliantly evolving Aalia who pirouttes her way into our appreciation portals. Varun is sincere. Madhuri and Sanjay look lost. Aditya looks like he desperately wants to break into his Ashiqui 2 role and almost does that when he lays his hands on a bottle. Average acting all around.

At one point one of the character says “ feke hue cheez sad jaate hain”. I thought they were going to do a plug on plastic pollution. But no luck. They just come out with another pair of earring and a beige embroidered dress.

Feel for Fox as they figure out this investment from a production house that usually gives reasonably reliable stuff. A Kalank to good cinema.

1 ½ star