Intelligent star on the horizon - Sara

Blown away by this intelligent young lady who is also a confident actress. Well mannered, respectful, articulate and one of the most intelligent young persons i have heard in recent times.

She does not speak rocket science . Just simple stuff about
her education and her upbringing. A lesson for all kids from this board topper who is now an achiever.

Well grounded one can see her racing to the top not just as an actress who makes hit movies but bringing respect to an industry of which she is a representative

I think one should show this recording at GIIS, SMART Campus - Punggol, Singapore to all kids. Accolades are due to the management of that school for thinking of her to address the children and inspire them.

Well Done Sara !

https://youtu.be/cLpMmEzX9UI

Thackeray- Truthful but staid

To be honest biographies are exciting. The person in question is usually a larger than life personality with a fair share of noble and murky tales strewn across the timeline. This week saw the release of the biographies of two Maratha leaders who were incident in Indian History at different times. Found some critics taking the moral high ground of not appreciating the movie “Thackeray” because it happened to represent a man whose values they did not fully agree with or with his actions which they believed were incendiary in nature. Had it not been so serious one would have found their attitude amusing because this is cinema. As an outsider to their world professional courtesy demanded a more holistic look at the effort than just moral reconciliation.

Thackeray is a cinematic biography of Balasaheb Thackeray the charismatic leader of Shiv Sena whose enigmatic presence over the politics In Maharashtra primarily and had a radiating influence on national politics. Like him or hate him you could not ignore him. One has heard angry and tremulous opinions about how the tale was lionizing the man and idolizing him while covering up the less savory details of his political track.

But surprising and in total contrast to the repressed murmurs and whispers of opposition, the film is as straightforward and as honest it can be, with its script not attempting to alter or disguise actions of a young egoistic lad who dumps a job at the Free Press to mobilize the Marathi ‘Maanus’ to fight for what was rightfully theirs. Consequent event and time see the natural evolution of an angry young brilliant acerbic artiste who switches from a pen to more serious processes of dealing with strife in society. The humble common populace and less aggressive is lured to this light at the end of the daily struggle tunnel promising back a dignity that was buried in the commercially repressed life. A young Thackeray with his vitriolic humor strides the wave of popular movement against the outsiders from different states symbolized by the business they dominate.

Contrary to expectations Sanjay Raut does no sugar coating and tells the tale like it is be it the open defiance of the courts, and admitting participation in violent acts in Indian religious sites or asking rank outsiders to the city to respect the local language more prominently and visually. To be fair to him such movements exists albeit subtly in every state and for that matter every country in the world where commercial competitiveness arouses locals to despise people who they believe to be responsible for them not being at the top of the order in priority. It is more prominent in the commercial capital simply because of the press it gets.

Nawazuddin Siddique has been appreciated for a few months now for so fluidly slipping into the character. But in contrast one does not lack of consistency in his performance. He blooms in the last 40 minutes when you bang head on surprisingly sequel wall. One is just warming up to the consistently bold film when it rudely ends in a dramatic fashion to bugles and a promise to come back with the more crispy near past. Nawazuddin seems to start a bit circumspect sticking to the director’s brief not daring to budge from it, but totally owning the role towards the latter day Thackeray. He is rocking form when towards the later stages of the film he admonishes the governance around him and does not dither from a brave meeting with the PM herself in the height of emergency. But he does not come across as apologetic or caving in but actually an admirer of the hard style of governance he believed in and saw coming on the horizon. Actually convinces you that it may perhaps be the solution to todays near lawlessness in certain states. But then that is digressing into the land of opinionating.

Amrita Rao is efficient and one suspects will have a larger and commanding role to play in the sequel which is announced at the end. One is almost sure that the sequel will tread into the arena of domestic disagreement as the pivotal characters are seen towards the climax very strategically positioned on each side of the protagonist.

There is really nothing to complain about lack of anecdotal compilation. But unfortunately that also becomes the undoing of the movie as it stridently progresses documentary style not budging from its chronological journey neither derailing nor pausing to review and debate the fairness of the actions. It simply states and moves on making brilliant use of black and white vignettes to overlap time zones and then suggestively changing shades to exhibit silent complicity without ever making a judgement.

The director is in control of his content but seems to be held back by a script that demands each tale to be told even if it hampers the entertainment quotient. This dampens the possible dramatic effect a biography could have had.

RGV may be silently smiling in the wings as he had effectively used a story in the mirror to dramatic success. One wonders if he could have done justice to the content but that could have perhaps taken away the honesty with which Abhijit approaches the subject and Sanjay lends his disciplined pen to.

Perhaps they could have allowed the key actor to let go a bit and dwell into the fine element of humor which was the mainstay of the principal character but not touched upon except for a few quick to be missed glimpses.

One cannot fault the art. It is all in place. Perhaps a light entertaining brush could have made it a gripping watch which the sequel promises to be.

 ***

Manikarnika - honest effort trampled by sincere monopoly

The first thing I did on returning from a late night show of Manikarnika was to check if she and her horse did indeed make a jump from 30 feet high wall and land safely and gallop away into the sunset.  And that is not only of the cinematic liberty being referred to in the disclaimer. I had to reach back to my Amar Chitra Katha story book with wife and son giving me suspicious and worried glances as I pored through the story line wondering if Rani of Jhansi was an orphan found like Bahubali floating on the river bed and turning out to be as good a fighter as Tamanna oops …sorry wrong movie.

If you ignore these casual strays from possible history your heart will actually beat sympathetically for the sincerity of the lady who is the Bete Noire of a section of the Indian Film industry. Kangana looks worried about her own sincerity. There is a raw anger that she tries to fill the character of the bold queen with but none of that surprise creativity in her act comes through, possible as she seems to play safe here, widening her eyes in Quintessential fury that is representative of most of the folk heroes male of female that we have grown up admiring.

Kangana is unwaveringly focused on representing with fervor the patriotic leader of the mid-19^th century who was probably one of the first to stand up to the British. The problem is she does not seem to vary her pitch and appears to be monotonous displaying angry expressions and aggressive postures all the time. That somehow seems important to make up for lack of anecdotal content to reflect the pushback to the colonial rulers who as our history will have it are villains.

Even our own compatriot kings and small time provincial royalty are only too eager to given into the English traders. I wonder what the fascination with Bahubali is but every introduction scene these days seems to want to portray a princely human showing off sword fighting prowess and (even Padmavat fell into that trap recently) yes of course have a watery past growing up to be super human in their skill set aided by years of trawling the Jungles accompanied by loud orchestrated music that usually was used in the past to express grandeur.

The budget here is limited but the photographer and director (two of them including Kangana herself) use the props they have to best advantage and in most cases end up at least rescuing the movie from falling into a cardboard effects trap. The war scenes if you exclude the queens over dramatic pauses after every kill are actually good especially when the camera (and nowadays happily mounted on a drone) races with the horses at high speed and it is here you appreciate Kangana’s dedication as you make out her heroic efforts that seem to be partly genuine. Convincing in her gait and sword wielding skills Kangana sadly seems to compensate embarrassing blanks in the storyline with overtly angry expressions and flashily swishing around with her royal skirt. I think the pressures of having to complete the movie weighs down on her as she forgets her exemplary art and turns in a standard performance like any of her peers.

Cannot complain enough of the lack of any effort to create and flesh out stories of competent co actors around who lounge around glad that they get to say a mighty word or two and yes flash those furious looks and anger to make up for lack of ammunition.

The movie fails to impress on the younger generation which must be mostly oblivious to this history of the role played by our grand rulers of the past who first sounded the bugle of remonstration to the unfair colonial occupiers. Can barely remember the lackluster performance by the expert Kulbushan or a powerful Danny wasted on an inconsequential role.

Escaping out of various traps laid by the British till it is finally over to self-immolation a fact again contested by history.

Indian cinema refuses to come out of the trap of melodrama and overt exaggeration when creating a biography for the screen actually doing some damage to the equity of the historical figure

If I sat through the long and at times arduous movie it was simply because of my appreciation for the fortitude of this actress who does monopolise the screen and for admiration of the powerful queen who was the first symbol of our country’s resistance to invaders.

**1/2

Accidental Movie Badly made

It is probably a first on Indian screen. A movie that declares that it is true to a book and does not shy away from referring to real life living personalities in national politics and also being bold to judge people from their own cadre. It is not very difficult to figure out whose side the script is on leading to suspicion of it being a propaganda movie. I hope not, since it is a badly made propaganda movie that will not do the ruling governance any good to be connected to.

The Accidental prime minister boldly treads the path that creatives in India seldom have. It picks up as its central characters the former Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh and his media advisor Sanjay Baru from whose book by the same name the makers faithfully adapted.

The author thanks to his close proximity to the PM and also being an astute former journalist tries throw benevolent light on his former boss who he describes as an intelligent but weak on decision man thrown into the ring by the “family” probably to be used as a face to their decisions. It is content that could have rocked the film industry and the country had it not stayed true to the book and looked like a visual one on screen.

Net impact is that the film comes across as a garland of Vignettes shot with hazy blurred lenses on poorly designed sets with most of the characters coming across as a coterie of bureaucratic vagabonds whiling away their time in the digitally created set ( as the ‘ making ‘ seemed to suggest).

After one has amused oneself with the lead character’s weak shuffle, the authors spiffy suits and lopsided smiles spouting the “Sutradhar” remarks talking to the audience reminding one of Netflix’s infamous Kevin in HOC and other character actors content to be caricatures mimicking some or the other living political personality giving the audience a chance to play “who’s who” with big help from the actual names being taken.

To be fair the “ Family “ is hardly there except for a couple of scenes already famous in the trailers and appear static on large billboards.

It could have been better if in fact the makers had dramatized the content to suit a proper storyline with highs and lows of the principal characters involved or gone whole hog as a biography of the former PM rather than trying to string News documentary style vignettes which don’t seem to connect together as the editor seems completely missing or having a messed up equipment.

The chance to have sharp dialogues, amuse the audience with witty repartees, being bold in pointing out controversies instead of hiding behind tacky scenes taken from real news clips which distract than appear realistic, is lost.

It is sad that this movie could have made a dent in the records for good intelligent cinema even if it is disguised propaganda. Every party is free to make their own interpretation of the political scenario. To that effect one must admit Hollywood excels in this kind of film making. Aaron Sorkin and his “The West Wing” are examples from decades back which serve as outstanding political entertainment.

Undoubtedly Anupam puts his heart into getting the look perfect and then remains content with that than taking the profile to the next level focusing on the shuffle than bringing out the intelligence of the weak willed man, Akshay cannot be faulted for playing Baru the way he does. In fact I looked forward to his presence. The rest of the cast is really wasted including Arjun who plays Rahul and a German Actress who plays Sonia. Perhaps the makers did not want to drive the knife in to the hilt.

A disappointing product with tacky sets/poor direction and editing/sorry photography/lack of serious intent in going for the kill and all the excellent performances by the leads just cannot save the movie from being a tedious affair. If at all people sit through it is because of the curiosity of watching something play out on the screen that is already past reality. I doubt this will make a dent in popularity of any personality as this will be if at all understood only by urban audiences and that too those with a long attention span. The couple next to me fiddled around with their mobiles and walked out 3/4^th of the way while the giggling row of people in the front googled Dr.Singh to find out more about his life. How do I know?  Well I had no choice but to read the bright screen shining in the hands of the ill-mannered people in the dark hall.

The movie deserves ½ a star extra if only for pioneering the making of movies that do not fear being realistic and relate to existing profiles in the political arena and that makes it very interesting to watch out what comes next.

If it is the ruling party’s propaganda really, would advise them to pick up dramatic scripts, good editors and make sure they don’t cut back on good quality of sets/camera and script writers.

A movie finally that cannot be ignored but is too flawed to appreciate.

**1/2