The art of arranging love marriages

I know there is a big class of Junta in my friends who will give me a verbal hiding if I say Chetan Bhagat writing’s are quite mediocre. But you cannot deny that his books go on to make interesting scripts and well-crafted movies. In case of the autobiographical 2 states it may be a case of a not less meaty storyline nestling in the hallowed shelves of Dharma productions. So production values elevate and provide visual pleasure of rich colors in art and costumes.

Decades back EK Duje Ke Liye tackled the tryst of cross-over matrimony between a South Indian boy and a North Indian girl. This time around the plot is flipped as the hero is a full blooded Punjabi in love with a Tamilian (Mind you not Madrasan as the script aggressively implores time and again and rightfully so). All is well between the modern couple who meet up like any other ordinary youngsters, get attracted, cohabit without the least bit of shocked drama about it. But unusually they do find the fizzle missing without getting their parents blessings and decide to unite the families instead of eloping, giving the script a long rope to create comical and serious situations around the North Indian mother in an unhappy marriage struggling to harmoniously adjust with the stiff about their culture and pedigree Tamilian family of the girl.

While it looks to be moving forward as hoped by the modern yet obedient children, their happiness derails and there is the struggle to convince both sides of the fact that there can be happiness in diversity.

The film begins quite lazily and for the first twenty minutes the characters seem to be struggling to get set into the plot. The direction is also lack luster in places with shocking editing. In one scene the characters start talking on cue as the film rolls. This seemed distracting. But then Arjun Kapoor as the good natured sweet and coy Punjabi boy and Alia Bhatt as the South Indian girl studying at IIM-A get into the groove and grip the movie and their characters tightly. Their efforts at staying at each other’s homes to win over the family members is nice and real. But do they eventually succeed?

The music is intrusive to the plot in places. There are some memorable scenes between the father , mother and son and they will get those tear glands working.

The script is weak at places but never leads to any overacting from the main protagonists. Amrita Singh as the boy’s Punjabi mother who is leading a battered life and lives only for her son but just cannot seem to escape the  bias that exists naturally but you willingly forgive her as her love is unbounded for her son. Amrita Singh is superbly natural in this role and elevates the role beyond the expectations of the character written. Ronit Roy as her sulking depressed husband makes a menacing quiet presence and shows why he is so famous on the small screen. Revathi and Shiv Kumar Subramanian play their roles with comical maturity.The only sad part is an underused Achint Kaur who is a superb actress waiting to be found and used properly.

It is however Arjun Kapoor with his extremely well characterized and low key Krish Malhotra and Alia Bhatt who you cannot take your eyes off and who raise the movie leagues above the strength of its script. Alia was outstanding in Highway and completely deglamorized. In this you cannot but help admire her twinkling smile ,mischievous eyes and a bold act. She is etching her name fast on the landscape of great actresses of the future.

The rest of the plots are forced including the setting of IIM, a single shot of the class, a few walks in the corridor and people in the movie are underused like the faceless classmates and many small characters who are not fleshed out fully.

Yet the movie does leave you satisfied and raises a few chuckles at the North/ South - Non veg / veg divide that still exists today. The director does not shirk from casually walking the path of the sexual liberation era today and does not make a song and dance about it .

There was great scope to induce more comedy into the situations and make it more light and fluffy than morose but it is nice to see producers promoting scripted movies than unbridled tomfoolery which release these days. Are love marriages between North and South still as tough as depicted? I think it will remain as long as regional and caste value system remains guarded as a means of preserving cultural identity and children seek to respect and get an approval of that system despite an open approach to marriages. It is the era of arranged love marriages.

***

review of 2 states

Queen - Go Go Go Watch this Movie!

*****

If Zindagi Na Milegi Dobaara got a smile on your face with its three young men on a road journey through Spain, Queen captures the mind-blowing journey of Kangana Ranaut as a simple humble Queen traipsing through France and Amsterdam in an unpretentious journey of self-discovery related in such a comical fashion that you just do not want it to stop. It is not to deride when one says the script is almost predictable but more of a salute to good writing that it is taken to new heights simply by creating comical vignettes bolstered by some of the finest acting seen in decades by not only the lead actress but all of the characters so laboriously etched out to make them more than believable.

When the lead actress, Rani, within the first five minutes establishes her connect with the audience, you know you are ready to settle down for a ride that does not only have you holding your sides but also marvel at some of the finest comical dialogues delivered so casually with a dead pan middle class humble face.

Queen as a title is not terribly encouraging for those who corroborate a mix of the title and a teaser to decide whether it’s worth the outing. It is simply the English synonym of Rani the person straight out of a Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Basu Chatterjee movie of the 70s living in Lajpat Nagar of Delhi with her even more stereotypical Delhi Mithai (Sweetmeat) shop owner parents going through the routine of life, getting ready for the big day of her life and in a nod to the modern women not shy of looking forward to her honeymoon and married life. In one of the finest enacted scenes in recent times you watch Rani with who you have already fallen in love with meet up, clandestinely, at her to be groom’s behest only to have her forbidden fun turn into a tragedy as he deserts her two days before marriage. Kangana displays histrionics that onlookers will not only want to embrace and comfort her but also whack the groom (Raj kumar Rao) for doing it to her.

This then, the turning point in her life, leads her to a strange quest of completing the circle of her planned life of having a honeymoon albeit without her husband. Then begins a roller coaster of a discovery as a total simpleton she meanders around Paris and Amsterdam and the journey and her trysts with various characters who dot the landscape of these two countries. The interactions do remind you of Sridevi and her journey across the US in English Vinglish without taking away the freshness of the story. Enjoy the rollicking fun as she meets extremely well etched out, even if stereotypical, foreigners, her travails at a lodging, discovery of a less conservative western world, befriending pole dancers and moonlighting hotel staffers. It will absolutely kill the fun to describe anything more and the dream team of Queen just does not deserve that.

The mantra of the success of a film is simply well fleshed out and believable characters including those on the street (though you do catch foreigners staring at the shoot and that does get distracting). The people around the main protagonist seem so real that you will find it hard to believe, the marvel of a director Vikas Bahl actually had real actors doing those. Wish TV soaps took some lessons from this movie on how to recreate simple watchable family dramas with believable sets.

Rajkumar Rao is emerging as a force to reckon with like we saw Irfan Khan emerging a few years back. He makes us hate his character and root for Rani and that speaks volumes of the man’s abilities moving from a simple cannot hurt a fly type of person in Kai Po Che to a male chauvinist who believes that women are better off at home as the male provides and is sure that his fiancée should feel liberated if he dumps her and be open to embracing him when he changes his mind. He makes himself so annoying that you stand behind Rani and will her to kick him out of her life. Does she? 

Like in Sholay, Lagaan, Swades , 3 Idiots, Munnabhai all movies where the script works hard to populate the story with real people who stay with you long after the movie is over, you are unlikely to forget any single character even with a two minute role in the movie. Be it the loving father who is not averse to saying Namaste to cleavage revealing girls, teenage kids looking forward to Skype sessions with his sister, the protective mother, the modern nanny, an Italian cook, a cab driver who endures a not so sober Rani and her hungama and even those brief roles enacted by serious actors in the marriage sequences. These people stay with you long after the movie is over. If at all you rush out it is to make a quick beeline for the midnight cab queue and people can catch you smiling away as you reminisce some of the sparkling humor. You  are unlikely to forget the finest piece of drunken acting since Amitabh Bachchan did it in AAA.

Dialogues are the king here and to know that Kangana Ranaut is credited to the dialogues as well pleasantly surprises you. Kangana will have a new fan base and she has probably jumped from no 10 to No 1 joining the leagues of Alia Bhatt with her Pataka Guddi act and Deepika with Thangaballi. Marvelous actresses who are redefining Hindi cinema with brilliant directors like Vikas Bahl and Imtiaz Ali.  Kangana Ranaut will in probability sweep away all awards but if she does not she can be rest assured she has a place in our hearts. Hungama ho Gaya!

Go Go Go watch this movie, just to commend the women power and the fine humor it can create!

The subtle art of Voice Message Nirvana

Tring!  Tring !

" Hello ? "

4 rings !

" Hello I am Babita. Thank you for your call. Please leave your message and I will return your call"

That is usually the message Ravin my friend got on his wife's phone. Today he seemed to hang on to the phone for sometime murmuring. I thought he had finally connected and was speaking to her. Lucky guy. He seemed to have finally reached her on the phone ! His usual whine of her not ever picking up the phone and every call going into the voice mail seemed to have died down.

He hung up 9 minutes later and looked at me with a satisfied look on his face! 

I looked back quizzically? Uh ?

"What is that stupid grin for ? What did your wife say that seemed to make you so happy "

" Oh ! She said ' Hello I am Babita. Thank you for your call. Please leave your message and I will return your call'

I went blank for a minute ' uh ?'

" So you had her on the line right ? "

" Can you keep a secret Navin? I am in love with that recorded voice message"

" What, Look Ravin you seem to be suffering hard work trauma . Go home and get some sleep"

" No no you do not understand. What was earlier my regular whine of not being ever able to get my wife on the line is actually a blessing in disguise because the recorded voice message is now my second wife "

I knew he would slip one day. But this was too early 

' Ravin look that is a recorded voice message and you were having a conversation with her. Can you explain"

' Navin you have no idea of what it has done to my life in the last few weeks. I am having the most wonderful time of my married life. No grouses. For the first time my voice mail wife actually listens non stop to whatever I have got to say. I pour all my office woes on to her and she listens without ever interrupting. Everytime i call up I never end up having to shell out thousand rupees worth of some expenses for some fancy requirement.  I give her a big menu of what I would like to eat that night and she never cribs. I am so happy that for the first time in my life she actually never chides or answers me back in an abrupt manner. All she does is say ' I will get back to you'"

I was beginning to get the drift but was not sure. Ravin's wife never lifted the phone and now he seemed to be enjoying it. Had he flipped?

" Look Ravin Do not worry I will have a chat with Babby and get her to be more serious about owning the phone"

" Are you crazy Navin', he screamed, ' Just let me be. Have you not watched "HER" ? Joaquin Phoenix falls in love with his operating system ! So why cannot I fall in love with my wife's voice mail. She sounds so loving there. Just like when we were newly married. She makes endless promises to call back and in the same smiling tone call after call. And she never fails to introduce herself instead of the curt 'BOLO' that I could have otherwise heard . Please do not interrupt in my married electronic life and short circuit it"

This man seemed to be making sense after all. Yes Yes Yes. Peace, non rebuttals , maybe even make offers to buy expensive necklaces and not worry about how to fund it . After all it will be met with a ' I will get back to you' which will never be 'gotten back to '. I looked at him with envy. This man seemed to have found peace. Found Nirvana.

I knew what I had to do. I had to find my own. And I had found the solution to all the stress at office.

I picked up the phone and called a number. The phone rang.

"Hello I am Sarita. Please leave me your message and I will call you back"

I grinned and slumped down on the desk for my soliloquy counselling !

Of smart quips, demanding wives and battered husbands

A bustling crowd greets Farhan and Vidya with whistles and cheers in a scenario more reminiscent of the single screen audience reactions than a pretentiously sophisticated crowd that usually muffles its giggles in multiplexes. It makes me wonder if it is the remnant magic of  Bhaag Milka Bhaag and Ooh Lala playing up here or simply the effect of the clever acting of Farhan in ZNMD and Vidya in Kahaani.  Whatever the answer that will never be known the phenomenon speaks of the popularity of the actors reflecting reactions that once were reserved for Mr.Bachchan. And the reaction even before a single dialogue has been spoken. The crowd was clear in its cheers. It was here to enjoy and have a blast.

Saket Chaudhary does not disappoint them as he put together an extremely witty funny roller coaster of a ride of a young couple that executes personal sexual fantasies more found commonly in the advisory columns of tabloids on “ How to spice up your sex life”. In hilarious opening scenes the director sets the context on what to expect going forward and the lead couple stamps their authoritative execution of their well-designed roles.

The couple leading a carefree life is thrust into the midst of serious parenthood accidentally. However the plot there also gives free rein to the writers to let loose all their stowed away jokes on happiness and boredom in marriages, the clichéd developments of parenthood and subsequent misunderstandings. There is a hilarious ride till the intermission reminding one of a fast paced Hrishikesh or Basu Chatterjee film. People actually howl with laughter at some of the jokes and it makes one happy to see people so happy and gurgling with naughty laughter.

The young and middle aged audience identifies well with the travails of the young couple and that to a certain extent explains the thigh slapping and cheers at every punch line which is plenty in the first half.

And then the famous curse of Indian Films strikes the film. There is no story left to propel the film forward and the director and his writer are left with no plot machinations to drive the story or to keep interest from flagging down. Watching this movie late night post intermission can then be actually challenging and if you keep your interest wide awake it is thanks to the outstanding efforts by Vidya and a simple seamless in role definition and cool characterization by Farhan. They seem cut out for the part.

Vidya does not seem to have any qualms about the need to look like a zero size actress or anywhere close to that. While that is brave and refreshing it almost borders on the ‘do not care’ attitude. Farhan is effortless in the first half and then strain shows in his depiction post interval as he picks up the burden of keeping the movie going despite lack of a dramatic plot or twist. You start wondering about the purpose of the movie at this stage.

The music is practically nonexistent and where it does exist seems to represent a musical sutradhar. Totally forgettable.

So the script and screen play reign supreme in the initial stages and you feel like giving a four star for the first half and a 2 for the second half finally ending up with a weak average overall. Do not wish to reveal any of the punch lines as it just kills the film. Watch it and laugh out loud!

Vidya does seem to exhibit a streak of overconfidence in her acting in this movie and one hopes it was more of an aberration and or a demand of the script not fully utilized. No complaints with tongue-in-cheek master Farhan. Clearly the actor is already sitting in the top bracket of great actors without making a noise.

So do accidental babies create strife in marriage or do they help renew and strengthen the sinews of bond in the couple.
Do watch and laugh. However keep snacks handy for the second half to keep you occupied.

One of those rare movies you recommend despite wanting to give it only 2 ½ stars

**1/2

You are now on the highway. Please Applaud !

I have a  soft corner for Imtiaz Ali. Dating back to an interaction two decades back. I almost stood up when I first saw Jab We Met. The surprises at every corner of the road travelled by Shahid and Kareena were absolute delights. He evoked a classy sense of humor in Love Aaj Kal and then I watched with disconcert not sure if I had liked RockStar. Having been drunk on the heavenly music of the movie by Maestro A R Rahman and after practically selling Pataka Guddi to everyone who wanted to hear, the wait for the movie was finally worth it.

The verdict straight away. I wanted to stand up again. Just microscopically short of being a marvelous and a great movie. The opening kidnapping scene takes you back to Roja, when another master Mani had led you to the hills and captured them with the camera caressing nature careful not to pollute it with attention too much. I bit my lips praying that the wonderful songs by ARR were not tucked into the screenplay to pop up jarringly to justify themselves.


The film is not about a story. It is about treatment. It is about loving your country well enough to make it appear more alluring than a dozen other over rated countries. It is the ability to see beauty as much in a  whole row of dilapidated trucks lost in time as in a snow laden country racing by, or taking the road less traveled alongside a river with virgin gurgling waters.


The protagonist Alia lands up, in a sequence of events, on a road journey with her apparently malicious perpetrator. Being on the run is not used as an excuse to showcase scenery but knowingly used as a tool to allow the individuals who are hurting from deep within to  unravel themselves. If you do not allow yourself to be sucked into their lives you may find the plot-line dreary because you cannot connect with the alternating misery and happiness of the main leads.


The girl is from a wealthy and powerful family and appears gung-ho about life. Till the road journey scratches her surface provoking her to abandon efforts to get back to her cozy life and instead tease out the wound which appeared to have healed externally but is hurting deep within. The experience mirrors in the male lead Randeep's evolution in the journey. Brilliantly interweaving personal stories within the main matrix of a kidnapping used as a tool to lay out the emotional wares, Imtiaz is simply outstanding out doing himself in the process and marching into uncharted territory without sacrificing the entertainment index.


Talking too much particulars and specifics of the movie will actually destroy the experience of watching it and the hard work put in creating the various moments an accumulation of which actually completes the experience, will be lost. Softly nudging the story along is AR Rahman with his soulful numbers never ever appearing out of place and taking care never to intrude into the narrative and when it does with Pataka Guddi,  Alia simply traces out the music with her fingers in the air. She even sings a lullaby with not a note lost.

There are many winners in this movie. Randeep Hooda, a wonderful actor who has been floundering for some time now trying to make a niche for himself has found his cut with this role. He performs it with the right amount of restraint never once going overboard or hamming to overwhelm his own character.

Director Imtiaz Ali brings a lot of serenity with his very clear presence behind the camera. The editing is seamless aided by great photography except when camera shots on top of a truck giving the front and the back views are totally disconnected, the rear camera showing a well tarred road and the front one showing  a narrow rough road. Obviously very bad editing at that point. Perhaps they thought no one would notice it but it jars!

There are wonderful real people all along the screen play and they live up to their individual roles with natural vigour creating memorable characters. Imtiaz merits each character in the story with a unique ness that allows them to stand out on their own and make a mark in the few moments that they are on screen. Last seen only in Lagaan or Swades.

And as for the main female lead. Dare I say that this is the performance of the year? Perhaps in the last few years only Vidya Balan has come this close with her natural flair in Kahaani. Here we see a full throated performance from Alia who gives herself up to the director and his vision. This is one of the most spirited natural performances in recent times. Be ready to get choked in a final long gut wrenching climax carried on shoulders fully by the young girl. The signs of a star certainly.

Want to be surprised?  Want to flush the bad experiences of some bad movies recently? Enter this Zen like audio visual experience. And you will not regret. So why not a full five star rating. Because the film is allowed to intentionally flag at some places making the narrative appear to be taking a pause. But this is highly debatable in terms of the impact they could have on the final output.It is the total sum of all the effects that complete the experience for the audience. It is difficult to believe that the movie has not been shot chronologically. So perfect is the transition from scene to scene. This is a craft difficult to create and easy to comment on. For today I will just applaud! Well done Imtiaz!

Pataka on the Highway !

Ok so how am I accomplished to be reviewing music from the upcoming movie Highway or from any movie for that matter. Do I know my Sa  from my Ga from my Pa. But then the movies and its songs are for consumers like me so I guess I can dare to make a comment on what appealed to the ears and what did not, maybe without any grandiose references to ragas to exhibit literary knowledge of music.

I am an unabashed fan of A R Rahman, the man who introduced new sounds to the movies. After RDB if there is anyone close to that eternal creativity it is ARR. As a common man the unique specificity that I notice in ARR ‘s style is his attention to allowing all instruments take a life of their own without getting lost in orchestration and then the new voices springing forth like fresh flowers blooming in a nursery.

The first song that I heard of Highway was Maahi Ve and my spirits dropped. Not because it is a bad song but it looked like an old road travelled on. ARR goes into his “Maa tujhe salaam” pitch. Like ARR songs it grows on you but the sound is certainly not new. There is a rhythmic beat obviously reflecting a linear movement across a road with clear skies. Reminiscent of Yunhi Chala chal. My heart started to sink too prematurely and then I heard “ Phataka Guddi”

Phataka Guddi just blows you away with the first hearing. ARR picks up the wonderful Nooran Sisters outstanding exponents of Sufi music and obviously got noticed by the master at the MTV Coke studio and for their Allah HU rendition. 

The song starts with keyboard modern sounds  suddenly overwhelmed by the boisterous Sufi sounds of the young girls. There is so much energy and enthusiasm that makes you want to rewind and hear them repeatedly. The use of flute is absolutely heavenly. The lyrics are something. Phrases like “ Sajje Khabbe Dhabbe killi ho”  complementing the wonderful claps that rhythmically accompany . The ending Kukuku is a bit jarring though.

Having sensed the potential of this song ARR decides to use it in a male voice – his own though he tries sincerely to avoid his high pitch Ma tujhe salaam style.  

There is a strong Punjabi  stress to the lines though some mouthing of words like sharf khuda ka and jarf khuda ka do not seem to come out effortlessly. But Ali Ali is just beautiful. The song keeps shifting tracks into various velocities of arrangements as if ARR did not want you to remember the Nooran Sisters rendition. He succeeds. The song grows on you after 4 to 5 hearings.  The sudden rock at the end surprises but I guess it is driven by the script that demands it. One still thinks that there was scope for a full-fledged rendition by a couple of male singers of the original Phataka Guddi without altering the rhythm.

Then the album treads into a “been there heard that “ with Kahaan Hoon Main By Jonita Gandhi. It is sadly forgettable.

Wanna Mash up seems to have strayed wrongly into this album because it is actually likeable and seems like an odd song out. It has some great beats and some enthusiastic rock singing by Kash and Krissy from Singapore. Again one marvels at ARR’s ability to dig out talent and springboard them into  popular space.        

Sooha Sooha for some reason reminded me of Ahista Ahista from Swades. Alia Bhatt makes a nice attempt in  a child’s voice. Apparently it should be a lullaby.

I honestly struggled my way through the other songs like Tu Keja and Heera. But some songs take a life of their own when you watch it on the screen aided by skillful direction. And when it’s an Imtiaz and ARR combination it is something to look forward to.

Conclusion “Just for Phataka guddi versions I would give it a full 4 star” Great music ARR and Imtiaz!

Self Parody by the Drama Queen - Suchitra

This book true to its name evokes bizarre emotions! The build up to the book release, the high profile author, buzz in the media and the possible scope for sensational revelations is enough to arouse curiosity even in lazy readers like me. Suchitra Krishnamurthy is a film actor who had a sensational release with Shahrukh Khan many years back in Khabhi Haa Khabhi Naa. People sat up and took notice of a pretty petite youngster who breezed through her role with confidence coming in from her successful brush with TV in Chunaoti.  

Suchitra has also dabbled successfully in various forms of creative art like painting, singing and of course writing. It is evident that people tend to now recognize her more for once being married to director Shekhar Kapoor who made the brilliant Bandit Queen and Mr.India and then went international. It is not for us to conjecture on what went wrong between them, but her latest book Drama Queen does on many occasions touch upon a residual bitterness evoked in a comical fashion with references to her inadequate alimony.

Humour. That then is the intended mood of the whole book as Suchitra goes on a wild trip down recent memory lane with herself, relating in fascinating detail her various trysts in life, her ‘Bindaas’ attitude drawing shocked reactions from her mother who incidentally becomes almost the main protagonist when she starts bouncing off all her travails using her like a mirror to review her own behavior. 

She does deride herself quite a bit and she does sound pretty serious when she writes about a proposal to Ram Gopal Verma and his reaction to it. I thought it was more an effort to get it ( the incident) out of her system and end the sense of humiliation which she must have felt after what she must have later realized it as a not so desirable act. Writing and mocking herself, relating the various anecdotes is probably a sort of cathartic process for her.

The book begins very promisingly. It does hit you like having strayed into a long  catty Facebook conversation of friends. You do break into grins frequently at descriptions of some situations where she wants to get rid of some ‘nose in the air’ society’s clownish friends or marvel at her detailed description of the tryst in the director’s office, her frank confessions of her actual relationships with her friends and family though you start squirming when she enters into pet fornication territory which I thought was out of place.

The books keeps you on a attention leash till half way as you already have a clear picture image etched out of the protagonist and her parents but one starts drifting when the narration tends to get repetitive with nothing new happening. 

The book tends to lose you when you start asking yourself “ Yeah got this , what next “ and then there is no answer.

The book will appeal to all gossip hungry readers whose avarice extends to seeking bliss in voyeurism through words that describes the author’s otherwise private space.

It is brave writing exhibiting the talent of a woman uninhibited by her circumstances and may appeal to readers having  a curiosity about the afterlife of a wonderful petite actress who disappeared from the scene and has reappeared on the creative canvas once again to make a mark.