Blinder of a movie

A cat plays a piano accidentally. A rabbit strays into a cabbage field and saves lives. A selfie stick that could be patented by detectives is invented by a young boy. Gratitude is expressed for Chitrahaar and Chayageet which will ensure keen attention from those who grew up in the 70s and 80s. And unmistakably all of these are portentous to the script which in itself is a well-polished gem.

Never tire of saying Script is king. Proven once again in Sridhar Ragahavan (Johnny Gaddar)

Andhadhun. A thriller that never sways from its intent….To surprise.

It is actually a state of art in surprises. You laugh nervously and wait for the next spin in a story that coasts along leafy yards set in cozy Pune, with sting operations conducted by 8 year olds, pleasantly  surprising you with a real life film star of the yesteryears (Anil Dhawan) who spends his useful time admiring the YouTube videos of his movie ( probably the thank you to ChayaGeet emerges from here)..Or at a bar that is the playground for excellent piano pieces and also home ground for a blind pianist.

Top all this up with an exciting ensemble of actors who line the script who uniformly deserve your applause from the natural and beautiful Radhika to a super confident Ayushman who seems to know what he wants in life now and then there is the magnificent Tabu who is simply outstanding and  revels in a role of her lifetime.

Right from the word go featuring in one of the most intelligently written scenes of the movie at the beginning as the blind pianist on an invite from the aging  star visits his home till the end you are never sure that the director has exhausted his bag of surprises. The moment you slack he throws another one at you.

Writing anything about this movie is like spoiling it for those who will and must set out to see it. And see it you must. Knowing well that India loves CID it will not be a surprise that this one may just turn out to be the sleeper hit of the year.

Just go ‘ blindly’ and watch this one even if it momentarily strays into weak patches but that helps build the pitch for what follows and macabre scenes made funny keep you fully engaged.

****

Sad waatla Mala Sad waatla !

Remakes are always treacherous zones. You are either struggling hard to live up to the quality of the original or trying to be so different that you end up making a mess.

Mess no, but a baffling Russian roulette of characters geographies plots etc. striding away from the original screaming …ME not Sairat !

Yet it is an official remake. The director sprinkles the plot with endorsements for starters. Then in defiance moves to Rajasthan away from Sairat’s Maharashtra. Right move in selecting two bright youngsters Ishaan and Jhanvi. Earnest, but they seemed to be given the brief to watch the original a number of times but not to imitate. The rich girl here is yawnnnnn a politician – Ashutosh Rana – fuming so hard that his moustache hair almost catches fire and the boy is surprisingly taken out from Jo Jeeta Who Sikander, a restaurant owner’s son...

The rich girl for reasons not fully explained and without requisite emotion falls in love with the poor boy and they wade through the smorgasbord of insipid scenes in the first half. There is absolutely no attempt to capture the freshness of the lead pair and there is unfailingly a confused workshop before the shoot which seems to have killed any natural flair. The director seems to be working very hard to stray away from the original script almost in defiance of its enrapturing excellence and ends up in not capturing either the captivating romance of the original nor the naked fear of its casteist war.

It is only when the pair in defiance of their discouraging elders moves to Kolkata that the movie picks up steam and the lead pair look a bit more seasoned actually excelling in a couple of showdown scenes. One actually looks forward to the interaction of the Lodge owner a cute Bengali dada – Kharaj Mukherjee who supports the society orphaned pair.

Those who have seen Sairat know what to expect but to give due credit to the director ,performs better in the second half and stuns you with the climax though the reasoning through the end titles is too pretentious to arouse sincerity towards any social messages.

Jhanvi is a bright spot and has it in her DNA but it will be dozen or more movies before she can really excel to the levels that her lineage commands. Ishaan suffers from a bad directorial vision. He looks sadder than a boy in love can or should be.

The First half is really sad and yawn inducing while the second half does salute the original well in many departments.

They should not have tried to experiment with the music as it nearly kills the splendor of the original.

The much appreciated choreography of Zingat is actually very mediocre and below average. I am sure Farah is not proud of that. Not her fault actually as the popular song is totally misplaced, has no place in a Rajasthan milieu and the lyrics jar in a wrong surrounding.

Photography surprisingly is listless and not at all in sync with orchestrated grand symphony sound. 

Sairat in that was a class apart. There is no effort to sync the camera movements to the grandiose of the background music.

If anything one needs to watch Sairat again to infuse the brilliance of the Maharashtrian excellence. Remake bagun " mala sad waatla "

**

Trapped 13

Whoosh ! Finally it is over 

I think people must go and congratulate each and everyone who contributed in any way to the rescue of these unfortunate 13

Each one has put  their life at risk to save these people 

I just hope that people around the world take this as a lesson and go on adventures wisely weighing the risks and not attempting anything that will require sacrifices to save them from a fix .

Nature has changed around us in the last few decades and what may have seemed less risky years back may not be so now. We have to look out for those warning signs 

The boys will be changed people and perhaps turn out be great human beings filled with gratitude and solid in their character 

Their coach who may be wallowing in guilt should also be helped through this difficult period as he has undoubtedly contributed immensely to keeping the kids alive healthy and full of life . He will no doubt have a great book in his mind

I can already see this become a case study for management schools on team work and convergence of efforts leading to greater success 

Let us not forget Elon musk who came up with a single human submarine contraption that can be used in future 

Great work Divers and rescue team members from around the world. 

Just left with the wringing thought of that unfortunate diver who lost his life in this misadventure . His efforts did not go in vain .

Sacred games - city version of gangs of wasseypur

Inside edge on Amazon
Sacred games on Netflix

Relieved . Not because they are watchable but because they Spell the doom for badly written Hindi saas bahus that abound

Subscription channels are giving the freedom to those in the Creative field who want to unleash without burden of box office expectation

Sacred games does not offer something startlingly new . The premise is standard stuff . Politicians their connection to the underworld mafia an underdog policeman etc
It is perhaps the the quality treatment that makes it addictive

We need to see Nawaz  do something new while radhika is effective .

But if the gloss and watchability helps audience fare improve who are we to complain

Watch it 🙂

Farzand - Great history Insipid narration

After Shivaji Maharaj, Tanaji was my favourite character from our history and I remember having sobbed each time I read about his sacrifice. I remembered the Kondaji chapter vaguely and happy to therefore get a cinematic version to watch. Sanjeev Langarkande and Raja Payagude need to be commended for always making that extra effort to make quality Marathi Cinema available and to top it get the cast here in the country.

The movie is about a slice of Maratha history where Shivaji Maharaj played aptly by Chinmay Mandlekar requisitions the service of  Konkaji Farzand ( Ankit Mohan)  despatches his best generals to recapture the fort of Panhala in a difficult terrain. Farzand insists on taking just 60 of his best people and works towards recapturing the fort from the Mughal commander Beshak Khan. A pulsating thrilling piece of history which could have been recreated with tremendous drama. So how does Farzand fare ?

Farzand excels in its casting. People picked up aptly for their roles especially the role of Shivaji played by Chinmay. The excellent representation  lies in the fact that the role is played with sophistication and stateliness that we associate with Shivaji Maharaj rather than screaming populist patriotic monologues that the director could have easily resorted to.  There is a challenge of the budget and it is visible in the fact that the art director tries to fill the art deco in minimum tight closeups but fails to give the scale of enormity that the powerful background music seems to suggest. I wonder why the use of Special effects was not resorted to . It ends up looking like a very high budget play than a well budgeted film.

The film has glass undoubtedly but suffers from an insipid script that is unable to the pulsating theme and make it thrilling. A sense of drama is missing as the director tries to make a Bahubali out of Kondaji with rippling six pacs and focusing more on espousing on his good muscular heroic looks than his historical work. Slowly the lack of finesse in the fights and lack of conviction on how they capture the fort seeps in and which is sad as it lessens the real life grandeur of Kondaji’s actions.

The film has its heart in the right place, the costumes seem apt, the art direction not distracting and helping the director to the extent the budget allows but is let down by a script that does not do justice to fantastic actors like Mrinal Kulkarni who mouths very predictable dialogues and looks honestly disinterested or to a very enthusiastic Prasad Oak who plays Bahirji the master of disguises or Ankit Mohan who executes his part as expected . Think we should see more of Chinmay as Shivaji in a large budget movie devoted to Shivaji Maharaj wholly. 

It is still a movie with its heart in the right place and a good learning for children who are still not fully aware of Indian history and Maratha history in particular

**

Sanju The Forbidden Hero

In line with the present trend to wear patriotism on your sleeves and exhibit it at the drop of a hat , the social media is abuzz with whats app messages asking people whether it is right to watch Sanju because it was a PR exercise to clean up Sanjay Dutt’s image as had admitted to cavorting with people from the mafia, one who had been guilty for waging war against the country. There is no doubt about his incrimination. He has been judged and sent to jail for those very reasons. But to tell people not watch a movie made on his story is baffling. By that logic we must steer clear of movies made on all sorts of criminals in history. We have lapped up dictators’ stories of Hitler and Mussolini intrigued by their emotional bend of mind. The same curiosity applies here. What made this actor coming from a family with strong credentials behave the way he did?

Frankly I found the average movie actually more of a lesson for today’s youth than an entertaining peek into someone’s sordid life. I say a lesson because the aftereffects of drug addition comes through strongly and should have a lasting impact on youth who could be influenced.  I say average because it comes from the stable of our favorite Raju Hirani who is a magician with social message stories and his Jhadoo ke Jhappi, revisiting Gandhiji’s ideals, whose Munnabhaisms are legendary and reflective of how cinema can really influence society with a lasting effect. Surprisingly the people who object to Sanju the biography I am sure were hooting and cheering for Munnabhai.

Sanju traces the story of Sanjay Dutt the actor from his younger days to the time he got jailed and his travesty with drugs and his faltering relationship with his father and his most recent tryst with people across the line with criminal backgrounds.

Raju makes no effort to sweeten the deal for the actor in return for sharing his story. The story is as gory and true as can be. There are no apologies for him. He is shown as a person always given to treading the thin line of morality and violating it at every turn starting off on drugs thanks to evil intentioned friends. He is unable to live up to the morally high ground that his parents have set their life on.  But that is a slim excuse. He goes bad with his eyes wide open. The movie does not shy away from depicting him as an immoral person in relationships or not living up to friendships. And to be fair it does not glorify him either.

The problem however, with the movie is its anecdotal style trying to find a solid footing to establish his weak excuse on why he was found in the possession of an AK 56 gun. The reasoning sounds logical enough to believe considering the threat to his family and him was real and established and the fact that he foolishly thought he could protect himself with a gun. Obviously these guns will be available from nefarious elements with who he obviously has no excuse to be in the company of. He had a proclivity to rub shoulders with criminals and it is explained in passing by inferring to the pressure that all film actors succumb to. But none of the others turned into law breaking citizens by that logic.

The director walks the thin line of appearing  to white wash his crimes and at the same time be frank about what led to his imprisonment trying to appear brutally honest in making a biopic.

The reason the film does not hold your rapt attention is because the director dilutes his magical touch by being clearly so awestruck with his subject that he allows all the other characters to fade into ordinary and flat existences. Even Paresh Rawal looks unsure about his role and the surprise realistic elements he usually brings to his character is missing. Everyone is raving about Vicky Kaushal but I found him quite commercial and more focused on mimicking the character than blending into it. He was just trying too hard to fit into a commercial movie and that shows and he has a considerable role in the movie. He looked and sounded more credible in the other movies he has been seen in recently. One would have liked to see more of Manisha Koirala playing the mother and Diya Myrza the wife. And veterans like Sayaji Shinde, who can make even real dons quake with their portrayals, steals the show in just two scenes that he has. The sisters at least one of who has a very prominent role in real life is shown with plastic emotions in the background without a single dialogue and one wonders why? Anushka has a completely forgettable role but  executes it sincerely

So what keeps you glued till the end is the restless creativity that Ranbir invests his role with never generating laughs because he is imitating someone. I kept flitting between remembering he is Ranbir and not the real Sunjay many times during the movie. He is fabulous and the prime reason one may want to watch this film. The music is completely forgettable except for the retro ‘Main Badiya tub bhi Badiya”.

So does the movie make us feel sympathetic to Sunjay Dutt? Absolutely not I think and therein lies the honest approach of Raju to his subject and not manipulating our emotions to support the man who no doubt went the wrong way and paid for it. But whether he is a terrorist? If you follow the man and his actions you really doubt he has the necessary gumption and thought process to execute evil on mankind.  It is not an outstanding movie but keeps you rooted for its length. You leave the theatre wishing it could have been better fiction.

Dastak - Entertaining string of plays in Singapore

Applause first for the gargantuan efforts required to bring together this event.

Appreciate the explosive mix of professionals and amateur actors drawn from society making an explosive mix

The light and sound design was impressive. Really thoughtful there to put in the subtitles making it a bigger challenge to the actors and the person controlling it to ensure synchronized play

The concept is as helpful to the audiences as laudable it is for being a creative concept. A burst of 10+1 plays played out one after the other to a live audience is a challenging concept and a treat for the paying audiences.

It will be unfair to even start with anything but praise realising the enormous task of getting this mix of incredible talent drawn from people not essentially from the entertainment industry

Rayana and Veena were simply outstanding with their dialogues and emotion. Veena (who I have seen as an excellent dancer) , was fully into her character while Rayana recited reams of dialogue with the absolute ease of a professional. Any disturbing growls you may have heard during the performance were the sounds from the GI system desperately wanting the desserts being referred to.

KPSandhu and Namita lal were very impressive with their absolute intensity.

Jhamela did tickle with some fun moments aided by the irrepressible Aditya .

Kamli with its subject was naturally intense and overall with their actors above par

Expectedly the most pleasant one was the simple neat play by Gopal Dutt and Neelu Dogra. The acting is so effortless. It almost seemed like they did not need any rehearsals. Nothing less expected from them but there was a certain simplicity reminding you of Basu Chatterjee movies.

Blue diamond will remind you of Farooque Shaikh and Deepti Naval
Guru ka Brahman was intriguing and had the toughest expectation of impressing the audience with the opening act

Subin with his genial smiling face from Dhund catches your attention.

Icing on the cake - the 30 min dance drama Nukkad performed on the lawns like a street play and so beautifully designed with minimum props and yet making an entertaining impact. One could see scores of children who have perhaps forgotten the Panchatantra, glued . Masks with some really electrifying designs and creative classical music used by Ponamma to direct this unique act of animals left a great impression and audience left asking for more. Just wondering if performed under controlled focus lights, some jungle audio and audible dialogues could have helped scale this into a full fledged theatrical on the epic tales. This can actually be a mass booked play performed for kids in schools here.

The festival director Shalaka deserves to take a bow for stringing together years in a row, a festival of this scale and keeping the cultural and drama theatre going great guns by promoting new talent.
If you have not made your stop at the Goodman's Art centre yet, try out today unless of course they are sold out!

The next time stop is at Star Theatre I guess