Simmba Smila !

Simmba Smila !

Dabang meets Singham meets Zanzeer . And you get Simmba. And you do smila once in a while. Rohit Shetty probably looked at all the mess around in the industry with the biggies landing with a thud everytime they tried to mimic a Hollywood film so he jogs backwards into Singham territory  with the new boy on the block Ranveer. There is absolutely no need to prattle on about the tale. Same old tried and tested stuff. Jangling Lezim sounds with loud male and Female chorus introduce us to a corrupt inspector who comes into a new Goan town to be more corrupt , at  cross roads with the local mafia landlord - six packed rippling Sonu Sood , befriending a local teacher who does charity by night , obviously gets into trouble with the local goons for trying to prevent children from being used as mules and leaving the rest of the story for the corrupt inspector to find his zameer and close loose ends with help from Rohit's lucky mascots from his past and future films

It is something we grew up with. We knew in our Badla movies , every time a girl got too happy and exchanged mushy affection with her Brother, she gets into trouble in the following scene. It is left to the brother to burst veins and bash up the villains who seem to be defying various laws of physics.  They spin around so much that I estimated they would generate electricity with a few more fights. 

Cars are smashed around less,  though one police jeep does makes its crashing appearance to save the hero, almost killing him in the process.

And yet I was not displeased. I  wondered if it was the extreme anger and frustration at the previous Zero Sum.

Simmba is all about Ranveer  who is a director's man and you cannot help admiring the sheer fun that the man is. However it is disappointing that Rohit had to dilute his equity in the end and bring in his tried and trusted horse from the previous works.Thought it was totally unnecessary and distracted from the tightness that the director had managed to build up.

The humour is almost pedestrian but one that is likely to draw whistles due to the earthy nature of the dialogues and the delivery.Sara Ali Khan is an amazingly confident and has no justice done to her presence. She ends up looking like Sonakshi from Dabang.Rohit should be careful about trying this Singham and Simmba track again as it is getting boring with no innovative twists in the tale.

If you have been frustrated with the recent Mulitplex visits and are already done with the offerings on Netflix then this multiplex outing won’t hurt you but it is not outstanding academic cinema. Just feel good for the good boy that Ranveer genuinely seems to be, marvel at Sonu's fitness, feel happy that a very confident Sara is round the corner, that Rohit provides a lot of occupation to spinning humans and cars, some bold dress designs though not as gaudy as before and finally smile at the super exploited packaging of multiple franchises that the director is promoting and of course directing 

**½

Zero In. Move over Saawariya !

A director does an excellent job recreating the kaliedoscope of colours of a small town with excellent art direction and supplanting the landscape with believable characters. He loves Kanpur Lucknow and other small UP towns where the people are beautiful in their own cute ways. He is a simple man but with a Midas touch. He has managed a couple of small budget movies that have become money spinners. He is picked up by the big boys. Given a story line, big names who will keep their acting acting intact and he needs to apply his magic touch. He is obviously befuddled moving from a Texan town in India to NASA territory in the USA and a dwarf wastrel who befriends a Female Stephen Hawking character gets sufficient attention from a depressed film actress and then to keep it contemporary has to ensure the wastrel lands on a undiscovered territory. Baffled? The poor man to was. Because he seems to have been shoved aside partly into the picture as there are none of his flourishes visible.

Cut to a dusty town where the main protagonist faces unto his opponent who we later find post the dream , is his father. The following scenes are the only ones where the poor small scale director is allowed to indulge in his small town screenplay and then it appears the screen play moved onto areas where no screen writer has dared to go before . To the land of difficult to understand story line. There is a dwarf who is cocky and before you start feeling empathetic about the challenged physique SRK imbues him with all the necessary heroic antics that he is associated with . So don’t cringe if he does everything from being a wastrel to falling in love with a female Stephen Hawking to a depressed actress who kisses strangers on the road with fluid mascara all over her face. Somehow the challenges of being vertically challenged compensates for the beautiful scientist who suffers from cerebral palsy and hence it is ok for her to fall in love with a uneducated wastrel who wears three piece suits on occasions and spouts wise lines.

The dusty town scenario where Anand seemed at ease moves to five star hotels which are converted to Sanjay Leela Bhansali sets with tons of colours flying around. The cinematographer forgets the director and becomes obsessed with capturing snow flake and water drops illusions . Probably worked on Black and Guzaarish.

The only semblance of real life seems to come from Katrina who is a film actress dumped by her beau and depends a lot on 500gms mascara to cover up her facial landscape and convey the depression. This angle is soon forgotten and then in between winks I saw a baby emerge again soon to be forgotten, quick shift to NASA territory and the wastrel is now headed to places where no man has ventured before.

If this written view confuses you spare a thought for us who saw this confused mess that heads nowhere.

Special effects cannot be a story by themselves. The problem with us is that we become so overawed with small achievements in special effects . We can clearly see that the producers and the cast must have been beside themselves at appreciating this than the story that was being conveyed.

A famous movie maker famously told me almost ticking me off, to first learn the art of film direction before commenting on it. Sorry sir/madam I am a paying viewer and this is from that point of view after having paid hard earned money. So there will be an opinion. If it is bad then it has to be taken in the same stride that good appreciation is taken.

It is sad when movies like this destroy the equity of talented actors and make them look silly. The decision makers need to take responsibility and in this case it does not look like the director alone.

To see it or not Is your Christmas holiday choice. For me I found a challenger to the throne of the most baffling boring movie that was till now being held by Saawariya. Move over Saawariya. Someone else has Zero'ed in on your seat !

* ( one star)

Big Pressures on a weekend . What to buy !

This pressure is getting worse than the pressure at office. I mean like I now have to return the Harry Winston set purchased for the Missus and remember to step into Tiffany’s and remember not to buy their silver as they have slipped down the snob ladder.
Sigh!

Buy Tiffany’s gold but not silver .. infradig if I do ! Hmm will try to remember that .

Will keep this ready reckoner in the pocket when I shop!

Have to rush to buy Leview Peony collection before they slip the rankings  and make me feel like a below poverty line buyer !

Would like to meet the guy who made Maslow just roll in his grave !


( pic source the business insider )

Short film Rogan Josh

It misleads you to think that it is about a Chef and his delightful dish . So you stare warily at the screen itching to check out the moment the principal character will start reading out a menu. But with Naseeruddin on the screen you dare not. So you wait as you an intentional build of a mix of ordinary chatter and some confusing hints to back stories are  thrown in . You are almost getting furious with the director’s intention to keep you guessing where it  is heading . Even Shishir’s jolly good doctor seems carefully suspect of leading unto something . Srishwara looking prettier than ever before keeps you further rooted . You realise it is worth it .
You gulp at the ending . You should have seen it coming . These short stories are becoming masterly .
Watch Nasserruddinn traipse through what is another day’s work for him and Shishir  bring new nuances to every character he plays . The respect he gives to his co stars and reaction support he gives is commendable .
Watch it . 3/5


https://youtu.be/r06uBlw0zj4