Once Upon Ay Time In Mumbai Dobaara (15 Aug 2013)

Cast: Akshay Kumar, Sonakshi Sinha, Imraan Khan, Sarfaraz Khan, Mahesh Manjrekar, Pitobash Tripathy, Sonali Bendre, Abhimanyu Singh, Sophie Choudry, Kurush Deboo

Director: Milan Luthria

As evident by its name, the movie is a sequel to ‘Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai’ that was released in 2010.

The prequel established the onset of  the great upcoming underworld don Shoaib Khan’s (Emraan Hashmi) reign by making him the undisputed leader once he assassinated his mentor and senior Sultan Mirza (Ajay Devgn). It was made pretty clear then and there that unlike his mentor, the new don was in no mood to follow any code of principle or sharing. The sequel starts with Shoaib (Akshay Kumar) being shown as the ruthless, mirthless, powerful don, who is well settled in the middle east and controls his Indian and other overseas operations with his loyal aid Javed (Sarfaraz Khan). Also, he unabashedly indulges in womanizing activities.

Honestly speaking, while watching such Dawood influenced movies (Company, D-Day, Shootout At Wadala, OUATIM, OUATIMD), you don’t find any exclusive difference amongst them. In one or the other manner, they end up showing you the making and toughening of the anti social, his power and action, his softer side with a particular love interest, some hard core cop action and last but not the least, the culture, lingo and lifestyle of the 80’s and early 90’s.

What has actually stood out in this movie is the presence of Akshay Kumar. Actually, there are two heroes in the film – Akshay and his Dialogues. He mouths them unabashedly throughout the movie and almost all of them throw the required punch. He has also very well adopted the lean, mean and suave physicality and attitude of a great don. In fact you can say, it’s very Italian. Also, he has very well played the role of an emotionless womanizer and a love torn angry young man. It is a fresh change to see him do method acting. Otherwise, normally you associate him with punjabi fashion wear and loud movies with long legged lasses.

Sonakhshi’s character demanded someone who is beautiful, innocent, conscious and also forthcoming and robust. Needless to say, that she has suited the role very well. Also, she has looked beautiful and acted well. Imraan has this natural look and body language of someone who is very simple and honest. So, in spite of his cool presence, you do think that an Emraan Hashmi or a Ranveer Singh would have fitted the bill better. Mahesh Manjrekar has derived his own style of acting and his performance can be well speculated in advance. Sonali Bendre is a revelation in her very small but intense role. Sophie Choudry has managed to look glamorous without looking voluptuous or over the top. Sarfaraz Khan and Pitobash Tripathy have also acted well.

Madras Cafe (23 Aug 2013)

Cast: John Abraham, Nargis Fakhri, Rashi Khanna, Siddhartha Basu, Ajay Rathnam, Prakash Belawadi

Director: Shoojit Sircar

Ever since the onset of hindi cinema, the onus of being the movie backdrop exclusively lies with north and west India. Recent times has witnessed diversification to east India (Devdas, Yuva, Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey, Lootera) as well. Now South India seems to have caught the fancy of Bollywood filmmakers. Be it autobiography (The Dirty Picture), comedy (Chennai Express) or issue awareness (Madras Cafe), the backdrop and supporting cast is intermittently South Indian!

Madras Cafe primarily deals with LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) during the mid 1980s, followed by the assassination of our late Prime Minister, Shri Rajiv Gandhi at the onset of 1990s. However, the movie does not claim to be a celluloid presentation of the same. Throughout the movie, the rebel group is referred to as LTF.

The movie is kind of well made. Scenes are beautifully derived out of approximately thirty years old photographs of evacuation and massacre that took place in the Sri Lankan regions that were infested with the rebel groups – both Tamil and Sri Lankan. This able derivation does remind you of the international movie Frida (Salma Hayak, Alfred Molina). Therein too scenes are beautifully derived out of paintings done by Frida Khalo.

Most of the cine goers of today were either not born or were very young during the mid 1980s. And thus, the movie does create the required awareness. The producer-director duo, John Abraham and Shoojit Sircar did a fantastic job with their debut film ‘Vicky Donor’ and they continue to create the same magic with ‘Madras Café’, in spite of the two movies being as contrasting as chalk and cheese. Shoojit has intelligently played upon the strengths of John and the result is good. Also, hats off to the makers for refraining from showing unnecessary gore, death and item numbers. Please note that, the Sri Lankan Civil War killed an estimated 80,000-100,000 people between 1982 and 2009.

However, the problem lies in the style of movie narration. Most of the hindi speaking audience is not well informed about the ongoings of the southern region, nor do they understand an iota of any of the southern languages, or the local culture that prevails there. Madras Cafe deals with a complex subject as it entails – the Indian PM and his Cabinet, Indian Military and Intelligence, Rebel Forces in Sri Lanka – both the Tamil and the Sri Lankan, Sri Lankan Army, Media and Armament Suppliers from abroad. And then, there are possibilities of leaks in all the organizations. Each leading character is prone to have a personal motive along with the political motive. Now, such a complex tale requires a lot of precision and clarity in its method of story telling. In the absence of which, you are very likely to get confused, unless you are an avid reader and movie enthusiast of international political thrillers. The aforementioned confusion very much prevails in the first half of ‘Madras Cafe’.

During the climax of the movie, you make an interesting observation. The climax deals with the assassination of the ex Indian PM by a human bomb (South Indian lady). Normally, during such scenes, you pray till the last second, to call off the fast approaching calamity as you simply don’t want it to happen. Till the last second, you pray for the hero to come and save the day for everyone. But, here, you actually want to see it all happen! You want the black day in the history of Indian politics to be re-created right in front of your eyes, as you were very young and confused when this event actually took place!

Actingwise, all are OK. Within his range, John is wisely experimenting with his roles, and he is doing a good job out of it. It is a pleasant surprise to see the popular Indian television producer-director and quiz show host, Siddhartha Basu perform well. Ajay Rathnam as ‘Prabhakaran’ looks effective. Special accolades for Prakash Belawadi for playing the drunken and shrewd south Indian official in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. His facial structure resembles that of the legendary musician A.R. Rahman. Nargis Fakhri plays the role of a hard core British journalist. Her naturally accentuated English has suited the role perfectly. Also, she has well adopted the cold demeanor required for such a role.

Chennai Express (9 Aug 2013)

Cast: Shah Rukh khan, Deepika Padukone, Sathyaraj, Nikitin Dheer

Director: Rohit Shetty
 

How can you enjoy a movie - which has most of its dialogues narrated in a south Indian language and that too without any subtitles? How can you enjoy a movie where the hero’s dialogue delivery is pure hamming? How can you enjoy a movie which has hordes of extra artists without serving any purpose? How can you enjoy a movie where there is no romantic chemistry between the leading pair, but only pure camaraderie? Last but not the least, how can you enjoy a movie where Shah Rukh is not the super uber charming metro guy but a very unconvincing common man?
 

The director-actor duo – Rohit Shetty and Ajay Devgn created box office wonders when they worked together (Golmaal, Golmaal Returns, Golmaal 3, Singham). But without each other, they seem to be falling flat. Ajay delivered a dud with ‘Himmatwala’ and Rohit Shetty has done the same with ‘Chennai Express’. You don’t expect all movies to be logical and perfect, but each kind of movie is supposed to have its pure flavour which at least makes it entertaining and spellbinding enough to make you sit through it. This one neither fits into the Rohit Shetty’s ‘wham bam’ mould, nor does it manages to showcase the superstardom and intensity of Shah Rukh Khan!
 

Deepika, however is a revelation in the movie. Watching her dress and adapt the south Indian traditional attire and body language is a pleasant surprise. Otherwise, you normally watch her doing bold roles in ultra modern dressing (Race 2, Love Aaj Kal, Cocktail). She looks and acts good throughout the movie. In fact, there is a consistency in her character which is otherwise absent with other characters in the movie. She deserves special accolade for a scene wherein she speaks out in a very weird manner in her dream and ends up kicking Shah Rukh out of the bed. Therein her acting is very natural, fresh and funny, without any iota of inhibition. Nikitin Dheer has a mountain like body presence.

All said and done, ‘Chennai Express’ actually manages to have the biggest opening of all times i.e. Rs. 33.12 Crore collection on the very first day itself and goes on to enter the 100 Crore Club within 3 days of its theatrical release! This is due to ferocious promotion activities taken up by Shah Rukh and team prior to the movie release or a clean field during Eid season when the movie has no other rival movie  to compete against for an entire week, is pretty hard to guess. Sometimes, the box office results can be really shocking. And of late, this is happening very often!

Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (12 Jul 2013)

Cast: Farhan Akhtar, Sonam Kapoor, Pawan Malhotra, Divya Dutta, Rebecca Breeds, Meesha Shafi, Yograj Singh, K.K. Raina, Prakash Raj, Art Malik

Director: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra

A very well made movie by an ace director and a wonderful actor featuring the life of an ace Indian runner and Olympian Milkha Singh, ‘The Flying Sikh’. Rakeysh has managed to show the athlete’s childhood, upbringing, stints with love, struggle, training, losses and victories (both in sports and conquering the dark corner in the heart) beautifully without making it cumbersome and boring. The movie constantly shuffles between past, further past and present, but due to smart editing and direction, the final impact is not confusing but good. In fact, ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’ is one of the best edited Indian film in spite of its duration of 3 hours and 9 minutes!

Any movie that covers the partition era is bound to have scenes entailing – mass massacre, bloodshed, loss of loved ones, children turning orphan, fear and trauma amongst civilians, violation of women etc. And for this very reason, many of us like to distance ourselves from such movies as it is very disturbing to watch such depictions again and again. All brownie points should be awarded to the makers of the movie to show it all, but in bits and pieces and with such adaptations that as an audience you tend to get the right message without cringing in your seat!

Dark corners created in our hearts during childhood are the most difficult ones to bear and cure and they haunt us throughout our lives effecting our participation and success in one or the other way. Curing such a devious dark corner is the focal point of this movie and it has been executed very effectively.

Hats off to Farhan Akhtar for pulling off such a difficult role i.e. a role that demanded the physicality of an ace athlete and expressions of a rustic north westerner who is not well educated, has seen the trauma and pain of partition of India and Pakistan and still has managed to transform himself into a gold medalist in spite of various barriers thrown in his way. It is difficult to imagine that Farhan is the same man who started his film career by directing the quintessential metro guy flick ‘Dil Chahta Hai’. It goes without saying that this lad has grown miles and bounds as an actor as well as a person.

Actingwise, apart from Farhan, Divya Dutta and Pawan Malhotra have done very good job. Divya has simply stood out as the selfless motherly sister who simply adores her kid brother ‘Milkha’ and silently bears the struggles and exploitations of life suffered by the women of that era who had to bear the losses of partition as well as boisterous (read domestic violence) nature of their husbands. Pawan has also stood out as the loving and inspiring army officer who had a great hand in the making of ‘Milkha’. He is very natural in emoting the expressions of judgement, pain, pride, kindness, victory etc.

Ghanchakkar (28 Jun 2013)

Cast: Vidya Balan, Emraan Hashmi, Rajesh Sharma, Namit Das

Director: Rajkumar Gupta

It is a common practice amongst the filmmakers to add an unnecessary but high impact item song in an upcoming dud movie and market that entire movie around that song, so that at least the movie receives a decent opening and considerably recovers the making cost within the first week of its release. But, to do this whole marketing drama around a ‘character in the movie’ is unheard of. ‘Ghanchakkar’ breaks all conventional norms by doing so, and sadly only therein lies the innovative effort of this movie! The entire movie hype is created around Vidya’s character i.e. of that of a boisterous and voluptuous Punjabi woman who is highly into so called (read weird) fashion wear and who cannot cook well. But this character is of no pivotal consequence to the movie. It neither defines the pace nor serves the climax of the movie! In fact the movie’s climax and ending make no sense at all.

In recent history, both Vidya and Emraan are known to give sure shot hits and their last venture together ‘The Dirty Picture’ received both commercial and critical acclaim. Announcement of their next venture with an experimental and hit director like Rajkumar Gupta (‘Aamir’ and ‘No One Killed Jessica’) created a lot of expectation as both the actors are known to do wonders with a little offbeat commercial movies. But it seems that even during their golden phase, actors cannot create a hit out of a half hearted script and direction. In spite of Vidya’s trademark acting, you do feel that a Huma Qureshi or a Parineeti Chopra would have done a better justice to the role. Reasons – a) because Vidya’s Punjabi accent doesn’t appear effortless or consistent, and b) her recent marriage to the movie’s producer (Siddharth Roy Kapur of UTV Motion Pictures) and over exposure due to her impeccable Sabyasachi clad presence in award shows and Cannes Film Festival, kind of weighs heavily over her make believe character in the movie. Rajesh Sharma’s acting and characterization are both consistent throughout the movie. Namit has acted well but characterization is not so clear.

Raanjhanaa (Jun 2013)

Cast: Sonam Kapoor, Dhanush, Abhay Deol, Swara Bhaskar, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Kumud Mishra, Shilpi Marwaha

Director: Anand L. Rai

You are all set to watch a ramp walk. The model walks in well dressed in ethnic, colorful  and vibrant finery well laced with gota, embroidery, sequins and the likes. Upon reaching the front of the stage she turns around to commence her exit. But the back of the apparel is a combination of leather black and whites in different geometrical shapes, very Gen-X like, simply strewn together within the outline of the apparel. You are left in an utter confused state because how much ever you try, you cannot derive to any logical or creative or even any experimental link between the front and the back of the apparel. Neither can you find clear logical link between the elements of the back of the apparel themselves! You really enjoy the model’s entry on the stage, make up a mindset which makes her exit somewhat predictable and somewhat mysterious, and you are all set to enjoy her exit. But the whole experience simply leaves you fumbling to understand what the designer actually intended. This is Raanjhanaa. Rustic, well scripted and soothingly paced first half, but absolutely differently scripted and cumbersome second half.

It seems that the director intended to recreate the magic of the classic 1942 – A Love Story in modern day setting i.e. pure, innocent love amidst the backdrop of political turmoil. Instead he created pure innocent love and political turmoil. Reasons – a) because he could not handle both the sensibilities together, and b) Sonam is not Manisha, who when well directed, can throw in myriad expressions together to depict the internal turmoil of the character.

First half of the movie is fresh in its approach and keeps you entertained. Sonam looks beautiful in every frame. But she direly needs to get out of her ‘Saawariya’ mindset. Yesteryears’ actresses mould does not work for the modern day complex characters. Her acting ranges from being good to confused to ordinary. Abhay has a magnetic screen presence. You expect him to do a lot more than he is given the chance to do in the movie. But the surprise package is Dhanush. You would never expect this lanky man from south to act and emote so well in every scene that he has been given to act. Best thing about him is that he neither tries to steal away other actor’s scenes nor he tries to display the star in him over the character that he is playing. Swara Bhaskar and Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, his two friends in the movie have also acted very well. Except for the voice, you simply cannot realize that Swara is the same lady who played Kangana’s robust elder sister in ‘Tanu Weds Manu’. Kumud and Shilpi have also done justice to their roles. Some of the dialogues mouthed by Dhanush and his friends do make the required impact. They have their own vernacular charm. Music is composed by the legendary A. R. Rahman, so it is undoubtedly good.

Fukrey (Jun 2013)

Cast: Pulkit Samrat, Navjot Singh, Ali Fazal, Varun Sharma, Richa Chadda, Priya Anand, Vishakha Singh, Pankaj Tripathy

Director: Mrigdeep Singh Lamba

‘Fukrey’ is Delhi slang for people with boastful mouth but falling short in action when required. It can also mean idle and/or street smart people who waste time doing nothing. ‘Vella’ and ‘Lukha’ are another nearby slangs used for such people (courtesy: Mumbaikars).

The movie is a well made comedy with apt name and casting and is pleasant to watch. Direction and acting are also good. It deals with the money requirement of idle duds (read ultra weak students) to gain shortcut into college by buying question paper(s). Their sole motivation for college admission is proximity to girl(s)). To facilitate this, they go to the extreme length of borrowing money from a local mistress of vices and in the process suffer heavily.

In the movie, the kind of euphoria the protagonists attach to the simple act of getting admission or entry into college is something new and worth watching. As mentioned earlier, all characters fit the bill and have performed well. But the icing on the cake is the debutant  Varun Sharma who has played the role of gawky, child like and puberty-excited ‘Chucha’ to the T. His acting is fresh, original and consistent. With him on the screen, you are well assured of some laughter. This is a great achievement for a debutant. Pulkit seems to be acting ‘the hero’ of the movie, wherein in reality no such character exists. Only if that misconception was erased from his performance, the bar of the movie would have raised a few notches higher. Nevertheless his performance is very controlled as compared to his first and preceding movie ‘Bittoo Boss’. Ali has done justice to his melancholic and introvert character and has refrained from using unnecessary nuances in his acting. Richa’s ease of use of expletives is something new on Indian screen. Hats off to her to mumble such dialogues with such natural ease. But unlike other characters, somewhere her character is not well defined. It ranges from being a local (read street) mistress to that of an anti social boss! Navjot is good in poker faced comedy.

It is surprising to witness such well woven comedy from Mrigdeep whose last directorial venture was ‘Teen Thay Bhai’ which was a depressing comedy in spite of the presence of good actors (Om Puri, Shreyas Talpade) in the movie!