Boundary shot that never reaches the rope - Sachin the movie

An elderly couple ambled in and occupied the seats next to me a few minutes after the screen started flashing images of a young Sachin. The gentleman helpfully explained the context of the movie to the lady. The lady looked at the screen and fished out a large Note and decided that this was more interesting than what was happening on the screen.

I sighed, tried hard to ignore the bluish luminescence next to me and looked at the young cute Sachin giggling over a prank. I looked on with hope. I was expecting the unleashing of a dramatic real life gripping re-enactment of the most loved cricketer India has ever known. Once you see James Erskine’s name you know he has been there done that with his bio pic on Pantani the Tour De France hero who ends up a sad mess at 34. 

Unfortunately it is a huge case of a missed chance. The biopic looking severely under- budgeted serves more to be larger screen version of a news channel’s patchy job to put together a life story of the star on his retirement. The grandeur of storytelling usually associated with national heroes and more importantly the poor understanding of the game and its finer moments which can lend itself to some applause worthy cinematic moments, is sorely missing.

All James had to do was do a seamless watching of the 1984 mini-series Bodyline or the more recent Lagaan to understand how one can keep the attention of the audience mercilessly gripped with superior story telling.

If the film was supposed to serve as an inspiration to youngsters on how to achieve glory with humility riding on professional excellence and focused effort, then it ends up as a very insipid documentation that you sit through only for the man you love and for what he has done for the country.

The story of Sachin as a little boy prankster, his rigorous practices at Shivaji Park, his coach, his ideal family of a loving mother, a litterateur father, a brother who sculpts him in his earlier years, his strength his wife and his loving children all are already part of registered history. What was needed was to tease out the superman and embellish his story with realistic touches to make it more human and accessible to the common man to experience and aspire for greatness.

Instead it turns out to be lazy filmmaking with practically no effort to excavate any unknown stories, search for unseen clips,( sorry family clips easily accessible don’t account for that) and slyly move away from bumps in the story line which are uncomfortable like the fixing of matches, or the tension with other colleagues or Sachin’s own weaknesses which could made him look more human. There is no effort to even go closer to the characters surrounding him. The director seems at ease only when Sachin himself is in the studio talking peacefully, reminiscing with an angelic smile.

There are some cute moments from the family clips like the kids frolicking in bed with Sachin which looks very endearing or his wife silently admiring her husband and looking like the solid support she obviously is in real life. But these are borrowed pieces of artistry naturally .

There was a need for some dramatization, need to move away from a documentary feel of narration and make him larger than life and boldly explore his weaknesses rather than drown his failures with an apologetic loud chorus of “ Sachin Sachin” beating to A R Rahmans appropriate but frenzied drums just in case the audience thought he was being criticized.

One does feel a pang of sorrow when he retires and gives a simple speech from his heart but one has already sobbed on that one so nothing new here. But the lady next to me who had now looked up after 2.5 hours of alternating between her cellphone screen and husbands loud narration was sobbing away and I felt sad for her and for the billion Indian fans. Not for the movie or how it depicts Sachin but for realizing that we will never see our icon batting like that again. Maybe we just need to thank James for reminding us about that.

Move over Hollywood...Here we come!

One is always wary of over hyped products. Either the product is genuinely good and the surprise element is annihilated with the over sell or the makers are anxious with an inferior product created and are trying to generate noise to distract. It is with this trepidation that I approached viewing of BB2.

BB ( the first part ) was a decent experience with some rough edges in special effects but the story telling despite it’s over the top loudness was in a different stratosphere aided by some really good looking cast. BB2 in that sense does not disappoint you and actually surprises you with it’s deft & breathless storytelling and not pulling anything short on special effects. There is none of the overt focus and thrill on having cracked some delectable VFX and chest thumping to answer back to the tag of the Indian Film Industry an underdog in comparison with their smarter counterparts in the west. With this, that discussion can be laid to rest. We can make our Gladiators, Star Wars and Spiderman now and impressively. The Vfx is now only incidental to the storyline.

Fairy tales and mythical stories are always outlandish and that is why they lend themselves so well to visual artistry as the boundaries are only what the creators choose to stop at. Collaborated with intense story telling the end result can be startling. I remember Narnia as a classic and impressive example of that.

The story builds from the beginning of the first instalment tracing back the back story of Bahubali ( Prabhas) whose father also Bahubali ( Prabhas again) is one of the two children of a queen ( Ramya) and essentially battles his brother Bhalla ( Rana Dagubatti) with an evil scheming father. Bahubali with his immense strength , sense of fair justice and good looks is seen as a natural heir to the throne by his mother sidelining the natural protocol of choosing her elder son.

Bahubali is a blindly loyal son and on instructions from his queen mother sets on a journey of learning about his subjects with his loyal commander Katappa ( Sathyaraj) and comes across a beautiful princess who he wishes to marry but cannot because he is in disguise as a commoner.

What happens thereafter forms part of a breathtaking spectacle though at places tiresome storytelling relieved only when the special effects steps in and shakes you up. Note especially a thrilling encounter in a corridor with an army stylishly executed. Be it the encounters with the elephants, charging bulls, flaming livestock , the vfx has been executed with incredible hardwork and seeming perfection. At places you do feel the animation a bit out of place as some of the visuals of the palaces and kingdom, where hard structures are panned against a background of superimposed extensions of building graphics. The difference in shades perhaps look a bit awkward and distract from the otherwise massive scale of the art design.

The cast acts and over acts as is emphasized in all mythologies and stories of the evil and the good in the days of yore when all had to scream , grimace and shout to be heard and influence people around. You can barely take your eyes of Prabhas a brilliant mix of compassion, strength and grace bolstered with good looks. He even over shadows the heroine Anushka Shetty who holds her ground and an equally handsome Rana who seems let down by the story making him look like a very strong confused man.

The movie is overly long and at times feels like a never ending Chandamama story. Made me feel like the director was so much in love with what he had shot that he refused to give in to the editor. But this should not take away from a thoroughly entertaining film that is if you like mythologies and historicals with more than decent special effects. The scale is grandiose, the music very average especially in the Hindi version awkwardly retrofitted. The dubbing too tends to distract but guess they did not have much choice and re-shooting could have been too expensive. BB2 does seem tiresomely repetitive for the first 45 minutes before the director takes control and moves out from the loud palace to the more down to earth surrounding of the commoners.

Rajamouli has without doubt set a new benchmark on size and scale and buffeting it with strong special effects sheen like never before. And whether the question that was whatsApp rage joke for the last one year all one can say it is silly but smart marketing. Your jaws won’t drop for sure.

But the jaws will drop for sure with pride and surprise when cows with flaming horns charge or when Prabhas creates a lasting image as he strides lithe and agile over an elephant. Do watch it with the kids who have never read the Amar Chitra Katha or Chandamama and have been fed on a diet of superman and Spiderman movies. They will be enamoured.