Maacher Jhol (18 Aug 2017)

Cast: Ritwick Chakraborty, Paoli Dam, Mamata Shankar, Sauraseni Maitra, Arjun Chakraborty, Kaya Blocksage

Director: Pratim D. Gupta

Music: Anupam Roy

Language: Bengali and French

Duration: 108 minutes

Introduction:

Bengali and French folks share their common love for food, romance, art, culture and an easy paced life style in general, which more or less sums up the plot and background setting of 'Maacher Jhol', which is woven mostly around food and shot aptly in Kolkata and Paris.

The Plot:

Kolkata boy, Devdatto aka Dev D (Ritwick Chakraborty) is an acclaimed Masterchef who owns and runs a 2 Michelin Star restaurant in Paris. He is in a live-in relationship with Simone aka Sim (Kaya Blocksage), a French ballerina who cannot cook to save her life, but loves Dev D enough to propose him with a ring.

A sudden phone call compels Dev D to instantly visit Kolkata, along with the clogged up memories of his past life in the City of Joy, the city which he had abandoned around thirteen years back and never bothered to look back.

The aforesaid phone call was made by his Mashi (mother's sister), so as to inform him the hospitalization of his mother (Mamata Shankar), who had suffered a seizure.

While in Kolkata, Dev D is required to put up in a five star hotel as he has been on no-talking terms with his strict and stubborn father, ever since he had left for Paris, empty handed but full of determination and dreams.

It goes without saying that the Chefs of the afore mentioned hotel are thrilled to have him amongst them. He jolly well reciprocates their feeling by sharing some words of wisdom and organizing a cooking competition between them.

Alongside, he is constantly irked by the presence of Palash (Arjun Chakraborty), a young journalist from a local publishing. Palash is in dire need to get Dev D's interview, so as to save his job. But Dev D is in no mood to give any.

When Dev D visits his mother in the hospital, she expresses her wish to taste Maacher Jhol, a fish and gravy based Bengali delicacy. She expects him to cook it himself, following the same recipe that he had used years back to cook a nice Maacher Jhol for her.

In the hospital's waiting area, Dev D also meets Sreela (Paoli Dam), his separated wife, whom he had simply chosen to abandon for no proper rhyme or reason, when he had departed for Paris. Now she stays alone in her paternal home and practices the profession of teaching, but keeps good relationship with her in-laws.

Dev D's mother is diagnosed with a complex case of brain tumor, which is required to be operated soon enough. The concerned operation is quite risky.

To fulfill his mother's food desire, Dev D gangs up with Maggi (Sauraseni Maitra), the brightest and winning Chef of the afore mentioned hotel. Together they brainstorm, visit local markets and cook sumptuous Maacher Jhol four days in a row, because though Dev D's mother enjoys her daily dose of Maacher Jhol, well presented by her son, she never gives him the green signal of getting that exact old taste that she has been seeking. It's only on the fourth day i.e. on the eve of her life threatening operation, that she confesses to him, that she got the desired taste on the very first day itself, but wanted him to experiment enough to create an altogether new and brilliant recipe of Maacher Jhol!

All through the times, while Dev D was experimenting with his Maacher Jhol recipe and dissuading the romantic advances of impressive Maggi, he was also giving interview to Palash (yes, he finally consented) and reminiscing about his past life, relations and state of suffocation as an engineer who aspired to do something big and different. This reminiscing helps him in gaining some long pending closures in his life.

For the betterment of everyone, the concerned operation is successful and an evolved Dev D returns back to his anxious and waiting French beloved, with a newly established sense of commitment, which was earlier absent.

About the movie:

The movie is easy on the mind and quite well made. Both Bengali and French sensibilities are well captured and casting is done in tandem with the roles. If you notice, then with his lean frame, beard and mild mannerisms, Ritwick Chakraborty actually looks like a walking-talking French Chef!

All the characters have been intelligently kept deglamorized, thereby enabling the impeccably curated food shots to garner the required focus. Be it the pouring of oil in the 'kadha/kadhai' or wok, or dicing of vegetables, or even pouring of ginger paste in the hot oil, each scene is well shot, beautifully capturing the colors, freshness and bounce of each vegetable and other food items. Every time the protagonist serves Maacher Jhol to his mother in the hospital, a different style of plating is used, nothing complex, but elegant and doable. In fact once the movie ends, Ritwick actually teaches his perfected recipe of Maacher Jhol to the movie audience!

The movie also celebrates the cause of women empowerment, specially via Sreela, who has been playing single parent to her son and though her heart misses a beat upon seeing her separated husband after more than a decade, she neither seeks child support or union with him. In fact, she never even informed him about the presence of their child! Upon Dev D's argument over his right to be informed about his son, she aptly answers him back that his mere contribution of sperms do not exactly give him any such right to proclaim! She further asks him to grant her divorce and not bestow Sim with the same fate that he bestowed upon her years ago!

Also, when there is a feud between Dev D and his father, whether or not to operate the lady of the house and Dev D shares this dilemma with Sreela, she simply advises him to ask the lady in question because it is after all her life and she is the rightful person to decide the amount of risk she is willing to take for it!

A drunk monologue by Dev D, in front of his father, wherein he unabashedly pours out all of his suppressed feelings and condemnations towards him, is quite hilarious.

Thankfully, the movie is devoid of the usual song and dance routine. The music of the film comprises of three tracks, which are more of background scores and quite situational. The track 'Je Tore Pagol Bawle' is very well sung by Saheb Chattopadhyay. It's lyrics are by Rabindranath Thakur. The song beautifully ends with the last four lines sung in French. The other two songs are also nice.

Reviewing an exotic dish is not equivalent to cooking up a similar one. Similarly, reviewing a movie is much easier a task than making one. Rarely it happens that, an acclaimed movie critic is able to create magic on celluloid. But with 'Maacher Jhol', his fourth movie, Pratim D. Gupta, the popular movie critic has managed to create the fine balance between both the mainstream and parallel cinema!

The entire movie is accompanied with English subtitles.

About the crew:

As mentioned above, Ritwick Chakraborty is just perfect in his avatar of a Paris based Kolkatan, who dons the hat of a Masterchef. He is secure and subtle in his dialogue delivery, quite indulgent in the cooking scenes and very impressive in the drunk scene. Paoli Dam has few scenes and that too sans any glitz and glamour. But she beautifully holds her own in simple cotton sarees and silent glances. Her confrontation monologue with Ritwick is quite iconic. Sauraseni Maitra has a glint in her eyes which goes in tandem with her portrayal of a Chef with aspirations. She brings in the much needed vibrance to the screen. Mamata Shankar is wonderful with her different shades of maternal projections, all carried on while lying and sitting on a hospital bed! Arjun Chakraborty and Kaya Blocksage come across as honest and genuinely concerned well wishers of the protagonist. Rest of the cast has also acted well.

Conclusion:

All in all, 'Maacher Jhol' is an honest, clean and beautiful movie, shot with international style of film making, wherein, while recalling and perfecting his Maacher Jhol recipe, the protagonist also recalls his past life and ties it's loose ends. Finally, both the dish and the cook evolve as something/someone altogether new and better.

Last but not the least, when Dev D visits Sreela for consultation, at Narayana School in Rajarhat and requests her to step out with him for a brief moment for some important discussion, in the very next scene the duo are seen sitting in Paris Cafe, which though has four outlets in Kolkata, but none of them are in the Rajarhat area!

Was it an overlook by the production team or simply branding overriding the content?

Mom (7 Jul 2017)

Cast: Sridevi Boney Kapoor, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Akshaye Khanna, Adnan Siddiqui, Sajal Ali, Abhimanyu Singh, Vikas Verma, Pitobash

Director: Ravi Udyawar

Music & Background Score: A R Rahman

Duration: 146 minutes

While going for the movie 'Mom', if you are looking forward to re-experience the trademark effervescence and demureness of Sridevi, like the characters she played in 'Chaalbaaz' (1989) or 'Lamhe' (1991), then you are mistaken! And for this very reason, if you decide to totally skip watching 'Mom', then you cannot be more mistaken!

As she has herself quoted in one of her recent interviews, "Dance, games ... wo sab toh ho gaya na, ab sirf acting (done with dance and play ... now only acting), Sridevi in her second inning is a pure powerhouse of talent sans any makeup, glam wear or dance number. She proved her mettle as a strong, dignified and effective middle aged actress in 'English Vinglish' (2012) and she has further cemented her new avatar with 'Mom', so much so that, if she signs another movie, then speculating her in a 'jhintak' or sensual dance number would seem brash and almost sinful, like the way you would feel by attaching similar thoughts to a reverred 'sadhvi' or lady guru! Now, this is called 'fultu' image makeover!

--- Story Starts ---

Devki Sabarwal (Sridevi) is a hands-on and considerate urban homemaker and a disciplinarian biology teacher, who likes to incorporate elements of fun in her teachings but cannot tolerate her students crossing their lines of decorum.

So, once during her lecture, when Mohit sends a porn video to Arya (Sajal Ali), whom he happens to fancy, Devki simply throws his mobile phone outside the window and asks him to call his parents.

Arya also happens to be Devki's step-daughter who refuses to accept Devki as her Mom and is curt towards all her gestures of love and consideration. However, she is close to her father Anand Sabarwal (Adnan Siddiqui) and loving towards her kid step-sister!

Later, at a happening Valentine's Day party, based at a farmhouse, Mohit tries to have a dance with Arya in vain. Charles Diwan (Vikas Verma), an elder cousin of Mohit tries to offer a narcotics laced drink to Arya, but she refuses that as well. Tired of all these gimmicks, Arya makes way to head for home. While trying to arrange for her transport, she gets abducted and thrown into an SUV by Mohit, Charles, Jagan (Abhimanyu Singh), their drug supplier with criminal record and Baburam (Pitobash), the watchman on duty.

Next what you see is an aerial shot of a black SUV moving on deserted roads. The SUV stops at a crossing wherein the driver and passenger from the back seat get out, hug each other and interchange their seats. After sometime, a battered and unconscious Arya is thrown out of the car and kicked into a nearby drain.

During the time of this mishap, Anand Sabarwal happens to be on a business tour. Thus, by the time he returns, Devki Sabarwal is singularly involved in the following actions - searching and lodging FIR for her missing daughter, reaching the hospital upon receiving her news and gasping, shrieking and breaking down upon realizing that her daughter's modesty has been violated by multiple perpetrators causing her massive internal bleeding. She is further informed that, perhaps an attempt was made to strangle Arya to death, which has made her breathings weak!

CBI officer Mathew Francis (Akshaye Khanna) comes into picture. Once Arya is conscious, her statements are recorded, the four alleged culprits are taken into custody, medical examinations are sought and a court case is brought into action. But due to the absence of concrete evidences, effective alibis and some staged reporting by the forensics department, all the four accused are set free!

The whole experience turns Arya into a fear laden and filled with rage recluse, who henceforth spends every following night recalling the horror of that fateful night. This further distances her with Devki.

Devki is also engulfed by the sheer pain and trauma of the mishap. Alongside, she finds it quite difficult to witness Arya's state of tremble and shock, as well as, the increased distance between both of them.

It is then, that she silently decides to take matters in her own hands. Teaming up with peculiarly 'desi' but effective Dayashankar Kapoor aka DK (Nawazuddin Siddiqui), a private detective, she collects the required information on each of the four perpetrators and bestows on each of them, a well strategized and befitting punishment. You need to see the movie to find out the nature and methodology of each of the punishments, which comprise of - imprisonment, physical incapacitation, castration and even death!

--- Story Ends ---

The movie 'Mom' is quite well scripted. Each act or outburst has a relevance with the then psychology of the concerned character. In fact all the characterizations are well penned keeping the pivotal story in mind.

See for yourself -

- Would a demure Devki ever know about making cyanide if she was not a science teacher?

- Would Arya link her mishap with Devki, if earlier Devki did not throw away Mohit's phone? And would Devki still walk the dangerous path of revenge if there was no further increase in distance between her and her step-daughter?

- Would DK assist Devki in her dangerous mission, if he himself was not a parent of a teenage daughter?

'No' would be the answer to all the aforesaid questions, thereby proving the fact that the movie's storyline is laced with a the strong sense of logic.

Thankfully, there is no direct picturization of the horrible mishap. But the gruesome nature of the act is conveyed with effect. Also, the police attitude while lodging of FIR is shown in a respectable light.

Ravi Udyawar is quite impressive as the first time director. He has well handled, both the subject and the stalwart star cast. He has refrained from making any attempt to showcase the stars and their popular attributes above and beyond the movie, which is quite commendable. The background music and seven songs are directed by A R Rahman. Songs are average and the background score merges seamlessly with the movie. At times, it also well accentuates the prevelant mood.

Sridevi as the shocked and grieving mother is terrific. With this role play, she has introduced an altogether different style of acting in Bollywood. One wonders, what kind of emotional depth and turmoil she must have reached to derive such powerful acting!

'Mom' marks the 50th year and 300th film of Sridevi's career and what a celebration it is to watch the perennial diva back at the top of her game.

Adnan Siddiqui, the Pakistani actor looks quite handsome and befits the role of a middle aged family man and entrepreneur. In fact he is so handsome that you wish that our home grown Sridevi should have shown a tiny slice of her yesteryear 'jalwa', just to counteract Adnan's good looking presence! Sajal Ali, who is also a young Pakistani actress has acted well. Akshaye Khanna has followed his old school of intense and little broodish acting. He looks quite fit and handsome and brings that tad bit of eye candy on screen, whenever he appears. Nawazuddin Siddiqui as DK is a revelation with semi bald head and buck teeth. How does he even creates such different caricatures in his mind one after the other! As usual, it's a treat to watch him act and bring those small bits of much required silly comedies to an otherwise serious film. Rest of the star cast has also acted well.

Last but not the least, a few words on the impact of movie 'Mom' and how it differs from other similar movies -

The subject of 'Mom' is not new. Any well made movie that revolves around such subject invokes the emotion of sympathy for the victim, but the emotion invoked for what she has undergone is still that of shame. This is sad yet true! But when you watch 'Mom', the emotions that you attach with the victim's ordeal and suffering are not your own, but the ones felt by her sensitive and loving mother!

Resultantly, you feel a strong sense of compassion and guardianship towards the victim and feel like providing calm to her nerves in any manner you can. Her mishap does not alter her identity in your eyes. You actually feel like a Mom and that gives you the will power to accept it all without an iota of shame or care in the world! 

Pink (16 Sep 2016)

Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Taapsee Pannu, Kirti Kulhari, Andrea Tariang, Angad Bedi, Raashul Tandon, Tushar Pandey, Vijay Verma, Dhritiman Chatterjee, Piyush Mishra, Vinod Nagpal, Mamta Malik, Mamata Shankar

Director: Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury

Producer: Rashmi Sharma, Shoojit Sircar

Story & Screenplay: Ritesh Shah

Cinematography: Abhik Mukhopadhyay

Music: Shantanu Moitra, Faiza Mujahid, Anupam Roy

Editor: Bohaditya Banerjee

Duration: 136 minutes

Say, an individual enters into a contract with an international tattoo artist, so as to enable the tattoo artist to create a world record, by creating some intricate tattoo on the individual's arm, which would require considerably long hours of painful tattoo creation. Out of some sudden jitter, this individual refuses to participate at the last minute. Can the concerned tattoo be drawn on his body part against his will?

Say, an individual is travelling for the first time, in an international aircraft, carrying five hundred plus passengers, during prime business hours. Just few minutes before the ignition of the aircraft's engine, the concerned individual displays an extreme phobia of flying, and becomes hysterical and uncontrollable. Will the aircraft still take off, with him on the board?

The answer to both the aforesaid questions, is simply NO, irrespective of the fact that, they involve great loss of time, money and aspirations of other people. The protagonists in the aforesaid cases, may end up paying the required penalties. But they cannot be forced upon, by any entity, to bodily participate into anything, that they wish to stay away from, for the simple fact that, the right of an individual's body privacy, simply belongs to him/her and no one else.

So, if under any given circumstance, in spite of any previous understanding and stake at hand, an individual cannot be forced to bodily participate in any activity, then how come on the mere basis of short dresses, late hours, exchange of smile or drink, and sexual history, some men find it rightful to force themselves upon women and violate them?

Aren't they WRONG in doing so? Of course, they are.

Way back, it took a Bal Gangadhar Tilak to declare the essence of our existence via the line "Swaraj is my birthright and I shall have it", and now, it took an Amitabh Bachchan to declare the essence of our right over our body privacy via the line "No is not just a word, but a sentence on it's own, which doesn't require any argument, clarification, explanation or briefing", meaning to say that when a woman says No, she means No!

The movie 'Pink' is a tight and intelligent story weave, spun around all the extreme scenarios, that are considered as signals and invitations by women, to have random good time with men folk. The movie further displays the general notion that, any kind of refrain exercised by such ‘inviting women’, is simply meant to be ignored, going in flow with the misogynistic concept - "they asked for it, so they got it"!

However, by the end, the movie and it's impressive cast and crew, successfully manage to nullify this pathetic concept, and further establish the fact that, not just violation, but even molestation is a grave and heinous crime.

Three working ladies cum room partners - Minal Arora (Taapsee Pannu), Falak Ali (Kirti Kulhari) and Andrea (Andrea Tariang) share a great bond, along with a rented flat, in a residential area of Faridabad (NCR).

One fateful night, while enjoying a late night rock show, this gang of three, bump into the trio of Rajveer Singh (Angad Bedi), Dumpy aka Raunak Anand (Raashul Tandon) and Vishwa aka Vishwajyoti Ghosh (Tushar Pandey). Minal and Rajveer happen to be old school mates. All six of them retreat to a resort for food, and then retire to Rajveer's booked room therein, for further partying. Eventually, upon finding her alone, Rajveer tries to enforce himself on Minal. After a spate of repeated Nos and physical restrains, finding herself helpless to control Rajveer's passionate advances, and in order to free herself from his grip, Minal hits him with a bottle lying nearby. Unfortunately, this hit creates an ugly blood oozing gash, very near to his left eye. This jitters everyone. The girls rush to their flat, and the the boys speed to the nearby hospital, to avail Rajveer, the required medical aid.

Upon return, the girls undergo immense fear and tension, speculating the upcoming revengeful moves of the boys. Even a mere door bell puts them on high alert! Whereas, the brash Rajveer, further fuelled by another friend Ankit Malhotra (Vijay Verma), seeks to humiliate Minal. A couple of folks from both the sides, try to play truce, but things worsen, and end up in the abduction and further molestation of Minal in a moving four wheeler, on her way back from an early jog!

The girls try to file an FIR of this mishap, only to get snubbed at different police stations. When they actually succeed to file one, a back dated FIR is filed by the Rajveer team, which terms the girls as prostitutes, who baited the boys at late night hours, demanded money to impart their services, and when the decent boys refrained from giving in to their demands, Minal ended up in wounding Rajveer, who may have lost his left eye, if a shard of glass did not miss the concerned eye by an extremely small measure!

Resultantly, Minal gets arrested and is put under police custody. Shocked and humiliated by the sudden course of unfair actions, the rude comments of the neighbors, the nonchalance of the appointed lawyer, and the state of no support from the concerned police station, the baffled and broken girls find a supporter and crusader in Deepak Sehgal (Amitabh Bachchan), an efficient but old lawyer who is out of practise since long. Wearing the hat of the girls' new lawyer, and pitted against the cunning and condemning Prashant Mehta (Piyush Mishra), who is Rajveer's lawyer, Deepak Sehgal fights a patient, heartfelt, painful and logical battle, to ensure the appearance of the right picture in front of the judiciary, as well as, the public.

'Pink' is an extremely well made movie with a strong social message, and the film imparts this message with immense conviction and clarity. The film excels in story idea, screenplay, direction, acting and editing. The film's music comprise of a total of four songs, sans any item number or dance routine. 'Kaari Kaari', a background number gels well with the displayed turmoil of the victim protagonists.

A special mention needs to be made of the beautiful and respectful reference of Meghalaya, an Indian State, by Deepak Sehgal. It is heartwarming, the way he refers to the state's scenic beauty, music etc., so as to dignify the hailing of Andrea from this very state, who did confess that, girls like her, have to undergo more trouble than the normal Indian girls, just because they hail from the north-east!

Deepak Sehgal is often shown, taking care of a terminally ill lady, Sara (Mamata Shankar), who also dies midway. The purpose of this character, and her actual relationship with Deepak Sehgal remains unclear.

Amitabh Bachchan is simply excellent in his new avatar of a crusader of women's rights. His dialogue 'No means No' carries more impact and weight than multitude of slogans fired by various women's rights organizations. Looking old, frail and forgetful, he displays a lot of pain and pent up emotions, to put forth his points in the courtroom scenes. The seventy plus megastar, still holds the court strong, is ready to take up unconventional meaty roles, and manages to surprise us with his acting skills and ever emerging new acting techniques! Taapsee Pannu, Kirti Kulhari and Andrea Tariang are very convincing as victims of social abuse and injustice. They appear natural in their bonding, and submissive but defiant in the courtroom scenes. Angad Bedi has well played the role of strong silent brat, who is used to his family's political clout, and feels not an iota of remorse over his misogynistic actions. Dhritiman Chatterjee, the judge is also quite effective as the courtroom patriarch, who gets shamed by the unfolding drama, is unable to display any prompt human empathy, but tries his best to maintain the courtroom decorum, and also safeguard the girls' dignity. Piyush Mishra has displayed his usual brand of fine acting, with expected eye twitchings. Rest of the cast is also good. Background score and cinematography are also nice.

All in all, 'Pink' is a fantastic movie, made upon a long pending women's rights issue, which suggests a giant leap in the sensibility of the Indian cinema, along with a massive evolution in the social behavior of the human kind.

Akira (2 Sep 2016)

Cast: Sonakshi Sinha, Anurag Kashyap, Amit Sadh, Atul Kulkarni, Smita Jaykar, Mukesh Hariawala, Konkana Sen Sharma, Mishiekka Arora

Director: A.R. Murugadoss

Story: Santha Kunar     Screenplay: Santha Kumar and A.R. Murugadoss     Dialogues (Hindi): Karan Singh Rathore

Music: Vishal-Shekhar     Background Score: John Stewart Eduri

Duration: 139 minutes

Imagine yourself as a village kid, who is intently looking forward to attend the upcoming ‘mela’ (fair), as he has heard about the new joy ride, which is expected to be the crowd puller of the season. In his mind, all he can spell is, the usual ‘masti’ (fun) plus a brand new ride!

Now, imagine his dismay, when he actually goes to the ‘mela’ and finds out that, apart from the new joy ride, all the other rides are absent, including the free-for-all swings and see-saws! Also, the new ride comes with a catch. The ride duration is considerably less than the usual ones!

This is exactly how I felt upon watching ‘Akira’.

Being a product of A.R. Murugadoss, the maverick director of action thrillers (Ghajini, Holiday: A Soldier Is Never Off Duty), and being enacted by Sonakshi Sinha, the A-lister, tall, stoic and healthy Bollywood heroine, who looks natural enough to punch a pack or two when required, ‘Akira’ was expected to be a high energy action thriller, with enough adrenaline pumping fight sequences, and an intelligent story weave. Instead, it turned out to be a low budget action film, with the storyline, mostly leading towards the action, and not actually displaying the action!

‘Akira’ is an official remake of the Tamil film ‘Mouna Guru’ by Santha Kumar, wherein, the protagonist was a male actor.

Akira Sharma (Mishiekka Arora), a fearless, self reliant and strong opposer of anything wrong, is well assessed by her deaf, dumb but wise father (Atul Kulkarni), who chooses to enroll her to a martial arts class, rather than a dance class in Jodhpur. Her mother (Smita Jaykar) is the usual run-of-the-mill town lady.

In her bid to teach some hoodlums a lesson, Akira enters into a fight with them, and in her self defence, she  accidentally spills some acid on one of their faces. In spite of the fact that, the acid bottle belonged to the victim lad, and even the acid attack was initiated by him, Akira ends up spending three years in a Child Remand Home!

Upon reaching the college going age, Akira (Sonakshi Sinha) and her mother (father is now deceased) are made to shift base to Mumbai, by her brother, who is already settled there with his spouse and a newly born baby. His brother-in-law Sidharth (Amit Sadh) is also putting up with them, on a temporary basis.

Upon sensing a non-friendly environment, Akira chooses to stay in the college hostel, and this is where she faces trouble from a rowdy student gang, and eventually a group of four corrupt cops. The cops brigade is headed by ACP Rane (Anurag Kashyap), the evil cop who doesn’t think twice before doing anything unlawful or sinful.

In their sheer greed for big money, these cops commit a crime, and mistake Akira for someone else. Things boil down to such a point that, serious attempts are made, to encounter her! Finally, she is disposed in a government run mental asylum, and given inhuman electric shocks, so as to turn her into a vegetable, and brand her as delusional!

Alongside, a heavily pregnant SP Rabia (Konkona Sen Sharma), a woman of small physical stature but steely resolve is assigned to solve a young lady’s (mistress of ACP Rane) suicide case. Slowly but sure footedly, she manages to join the dots and draws the big picture, which entails the aforesaid suicide, the cops and their big crime, the college principal (Mukesh Hariawala), and finally Akira.

In the meantime, Akira, whose name translates in Sanskrit as ‘graceful strength’, turns from being a resilient, aloof and confused girl, to an angry, hard hitting and self-defending warrior.

Rest of the story entails, consequent captures and running aways of Akira, till all the evils are put to rest, and she ends up sacrificing some more period of her life, staying in captivity, for the general good!

A movie sans the usual songs, dance, romance, and elaborate sets, needs to have an ultra crisp storyline, and enough thought provoking executions. Sadly, though ‘Akira’ has some juicy female action, it still lacks the entertainment factor.

Even the action scenes are far paced and of considerably short duration. You end up waiting the full first half, and more than half of the second half, expecting Sonakshi to turn 360° like an Uma Thurman or an Angelina Jolie, and evolve as a lady full of wit, shrewdness and confidence, and go bang-bang on the baddies and every other evil soul that falls in her way. But instead, you come across a physically strong, but mentally naive and unsuspecting girl, who keeps on going to the wrong people and places!

The movie tries to establish a slight romantic angle between Sonakshi and Amit Sadh, which falls flat on the face. Music as such, in the typical ‘hindi gaana’ style is absent, not that the storyline required any.

Though the film’s main portrayal are the consequent attempts of mental and physical breaking of Akira, thankfully, there are no gruesome depictions of exploitation, violation or brutality. The director has conducted his scenes wonderfully in a restrained environment, wherein you do get the gist of the matter, but are not left feeling repulsive.

Actingwise - Sonakshi Sinha, Anurag Kashyap and Konkona Sen Sharma are excellent. Sonakshi looks quite natural as an angry fighter. She has well trained for this role, and played it sans any botheration of camera angles. It’s difficult to imagine that this is Anurag’s first attempt as a mainstream villain. The otherwise director, is quite natural in his inning as an actor, and has displayed the required cold blooded evil, without any exaggerated effort or costume drama. Konkona is extremely believable in her stance as a heavily pregnant woman. Mishiekka Arora, the child actor has also acted well. Also, she is a great find by the casting team, as her body-type and caricature, quite well matches that of Sonakshi’s own. Other actors have also worked well.

But, why on earth is Konkana shown such pot-bellied pregnant? Was it to underline the fact that ‘naari shakti’ or woman power, can be brought to play by a fit bodied, tall, stoic, agile and martial art trained girl, as well as a, short, petite, heavily pregnant, and sharp brained woman?

Last but not the least, this movie deserved a little more of Anurag’s and Konkona’s drama scenes, and much more of Sonakshi’s actions scenes.

Prem Ratan Dhan Payo (12 Nov 2015)

Cast: Salman Khan, Sonam Kapoor, Anupam Kher, Swara Bhaskar, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Samaira Rao, Armaan Kohli, Deepak Dobriyal, Prem Khan, Sameer Dharmadhikari, Sucheta Khanna

Director: Suraj R. Barjatya   Story & Screenplay: Suraj R. Barjatya   Dialogue: Aash Karan Atal

Music: Sanjoy Chowdhury, Himesh Reshammiya  Casting: Vicky Sidana

Production Design: Nitin Chandrakant Desai   Costume Design: Alvira Khan, Ashley Rebello

Duration: 164 minutes

Ever since its announcement, ‘Prem Ratan Dhan Payo’ has been a much awaited Diwali release of Rajshri Productions, featuring the unique director-actor duo, Suraj Barjatya and Salman Khan, the partnership responsible for three back to back blockbuster family entertainers – Maine Pyar Kiya (1989), Hum Aapke Hain Kaun (1994) and Hum Saath Saath Hain (1999)!

Who could ever present any hero as the, quintessential son, brother and lover, like Suraj has always presented Salman? Not to forget, the director’s projection of the hero’s all encompassing love for children, pets and staff as well. May what the storyline, a Suraj-Salman movie is expected to be a clean family entertainer laden with coy romance, joint family setting, family values, designer clothing and set design, heartwarming array of songs, and basically anything that makes you feel rich, complete and righteous.

PRDP has it all, but the storyline is too predictable and at times illogical, characterizations are half hearted and the expected chemistry between the protagonists is simply not there!

Vijay Singh (Salman Khan) is a modern day billionaire prince, who is strict, short tempered and stickler of traditions. He has an emotionally disturbed step brother, Ajay Singh (Neil Nitin Mukesh) and two perennially angry step sisters, Chandrika (Swara Bhaskar) and Radhika. Four days before his public coronation, his step brother and estate manager (Armaan Kohli) make a fatal assassination attempt on his life. But his stern loyalists ‘Diwan’ or advisor (Anupam Kher) and security head, hide him in a secret chamber, and arrange all possible medicines, machines and doctors to get him treated there itself. Secrecy is maintained for security reasons.

Absence and no news of Vijay Singh, will result in coronation of Ajay Singh on the supposedly sacred date. This dilemma of Vijay Singh’s loyalists is answered in the form of Prem Dilwale (Salman Khan, double role), who is a look alike of Vijay Singh and performs contemporary ‘Ram Leela’ on stage. He is jovial, generous, kind and loving. He is also smitten by Vijay Singh’s fiancée Maithili (Sonam Kapoor), whom he once saw in a relief camp. Since then, he unfailingly donates a big share of his earning to ‘Upahar Foundation’, a charity foundation of Maithili.

Maithili is scheduled to arrive at Pritampura, the coronation site of Vijay Singh. Just to meet her, Prem travels there, along with his friend Kanhaiyya (Deepak Dobriyal). Instead, he is spotted and picked by Vijay Singh’s security head. As expected, he is taught the ‘walk and talk’ of Vijay Singh. The idea is to use Prem in place of prince Vijay in the coronation ceremony. But alongside, he is also required to deal with Maithili’s complaints and advances.

Gradually Maithili is also smitten by the ‘changed’ prince, without any awareness of him being Prem! Prem not only handles Maithili with dignity and care, but also solves the age old discord between the prince and his step sisters. The story gradually unfolds and Vijay Singh and Maithili are made aware of the Prem angle. The movie goes on to display, how the prince confronts and combats his rivals, and how the princess acts upon the realization of her new found love.

This movie has – sensibility of Suraj Barjatya, personification of ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ (Salman’s latest 2015 blockbuster) and opulence of Sanjay Bhansali’s (Salman’s another blockbuster director) movies. But all the best elements fail to make a smashing compound.

Costumes, music, background score are very good. Storyline is too predictable and illogical in places. Characters are not well developed. Haldiram’s on-the-face promotion looks ridiculous. Lead protagonists emit an easy camaraderie, but fail to establish any chemistry. Besides, Salman Khan and Anil Kapoor (Sonam’s father) have worked together as friends before, and have also appeared considerable times on stage and TV shows. Resultantly, an average Indian mind will always consider Salman, as an uncle of Sonam.

Audiences would like to know the answer to the following queries –

- Why Vijay Singh’s hair is black, but moustache is brownish?

- Who makes an opulent ‘sheesh mahal’ (mirror palace) atop a raging waterfall, that too for four kids? Please note that these kids belong to three different mothers, two queens and one mistress!

- When Chandrika performs Vijay Singh’s ‘raj tilak’ or coronation, why on earth does princess Maithili run berserk full of beloved’s emotion before breaking into a song?

- Vijay Singh is a billionaire. So, why his most trusted personnel, Diwan, the second-in-command’s attire has a shoulder sling, where a long and ugly velcro is visible in the front?

Salman Khan is the soul of the movie. He is energetic and endearing, albeit his hulk like figure looks quite out of place, as per the current trend, wherein everyone looks reed thin. He looks natural as Prem, but quite enforced as Vijay Singh. Sonam looks beautiful and wears all kind of designer attires possible in the given role – sari, lehenga, short dress, night wear, high waist pants, safari attire etc. Deepak Dobriyal looks seasoned as ‘Sita’ in ‘Ram Leela’ scenes. Swara Bhaskar has less screen time. But she has managed to portray continuity in her character. Neil Nitin Mukesh has well captured the expressions of an eccentric and emotionally disturbed person. Still, his performance needs the element of continuity. Rest of the cast is fine as well.

This movie has been released in twelve countries, including India. In France and Russia, it has been released as ‘Un trésor appelé Amour’ and ‘Неуловимый Прем’ respectively.

Any Body Can Dance 2 (19 Jun 2015)

Cast: Varun Dhawan, Shraddha Kapoor, Prabhu Deva, Lauren Gottlieb, Punit Pathak, Dharmesh Yelande, Raghav Juyal, Sushant, Allu Arjun, Karthik, Prachi Shah, Pooja Batra, Will Roberts, Manmeet Singh, Tisca Chopra

Cameo Appearance: Navjot Singh Siddhu, Kapil Sharma, Remo D’Souza, Terrance Lewis, Ganesh Acharya

Director: Remo D’Souza   Story: Remo D’Souza   Screenplay: Tusha Hiranandani   Music: Sachin-Jigar

Casting: Mukesh Chhabra (lead casting)   Cinematography: Vijay Arora   Choreography: Remo D’Souza

Duration: 154 minutes

‘Any Body Can Dance 2’ is the sequel of ‘ABCD - Any Body Can Dance’ (2011), woven around the same concept, i.e. the dancing underdogs getting the much deserved recognition at the end. While it is claimed to be based upon the real life story of Suresh Mukund and Vernon Montero of ‘Fictious Group’, a suburban Mumbai dance group, which, to everyone's astonishment, carved a niche for itself in the ‘2012 World Hip Hop Championship Finals’, it is actually a sumptuous platter of world class dancing, presented by Remo D’Souza, dance guru turned director, on a much bigger and better stroked canvas, than his earlier two films (F.A.L.T.U, ABCD).

Suresh aka Suru (Varun Dhawan), a Nala Sopara (Mumbai suburb) lad, along with Vinny (Shraddha Kapoor) and other dancing enthusiasts, keeps together, ‘Mumbai Stunners’, a dancing group, which performs amazingly, but garners lot of shame in the TV reality show, ‘Hum Kisise Kum Nahin’. All the three judges rebuke them for copying their entire piece from an acclaimed Philippino dancing group. This results in – personal shame of mammoth proportions, voluntary exit of more than half of the group members, and non-ending comments and condemnations from members of their respective families, as well as, people that they come across during their day jobs.

Suru is broken by such an experience, and is in dire need to gain back his lost pride. Only question is, he neither knows the way to go about it, nor knows anyone who will support them in the given circumstances. Vishnu (Prabhu Deva) is a yesteryear dancing diva, who currently leads a dormant and drunkard life. Both of them collide in the lounge bar, wherein Suru works as a waiter and Vishnu visits as a client. An impromptu and super sleek dancing jig by Vishnu, gives Suru the idea of convincing him to prepare their group for the international hip-hop dance competition in Las Vegas, as winning this mother of all competitions will be instantly instrumental in giving them back their lost pride. And so, starts the long series of efforts to - convince the comically reluctant Vishnu, add the required number of able members to the group, and practice and practice. Throughout the entire melodrama, Vinny is Suru’s constant support, who believes in him unconditionally.

One thing (read problems, like – Vinny meeting injury and being unable to perform for semi-finals, Vishnu eloping with group’s money in Las Vegas etc.) leads to another, and ultimately Suru and group’s sacrifice, determination and extreme hard work, enables them to enter the aforesaid Las Vegas competition, wherein they enter as ‘India Stunners’, and also manage to reach the finals! Thereafter, the movie is about high tension energy, grand showmanship and the ultimate climax.

No doubt, this is the best Bollywood dance flick till date. Professional dance styles and performances, which are a big time craze amongst the current youth (like – hip-hop, locking & popping, pyramid formations etc.), keep on bombarding the screen one after another. In fact this dance parade starts with the starting rolling credits. In spite of being many in number, neither quality nor innovation is lost in any of the performances. Story line is kind of expected and its implementation is average. As an audience, you do wonder - why Suru and group did the foolhardy of copying, in spite of being so efficient? Or, why Vishnu Sir needed a TV broadcast to come back with the dance competition fees money? And, why the objective of winning the international dance competition turned from being a personal need to get back the lost pride, to the need, to shine India in the international arena? But these glitches appear passable in front of mammoth dance performances by Vishnu, Suru, Vinny, Dharmesh, Vinod, Raghu, Raju, Olive and others. It goes without saying, that all the performers also display a super fit and agile body.

The movie has ten songs. ‘Bezubaan phir se’ and ‘Sun saathiya’ are pretty soulful. As per requirement, background music successfully generates the required tension and energy. Casting is apt and cinematography is good. It is wise of the makers to use the harbor area for dance practicing scenes (which are galore), instead of any cramped and unkempt hall. With the right camera angles, scenic sea and ship background, a nice grunge look has been created, which appears soothing to the eyes. It’s a 3D movie and it’s 3D effects are best till date, in any Indian movie. In fact it’s even better than many Hollywood flicks! At times it resembles the finesse of ‘X-Men: Days Of Future Past’!

Varun Dhawan and Shraddha Kapoor have acted well and danced in tandem with the professional dancers. This is no mean feat. While Varun displays a fine balance of passion and pain, Shraddha has an expressive face, and emotes very well, even in the dance sequences. With this movie, they will definitely garner a firmer spot in the hearts of the youth. Prabhu Deva is the undisputed dance diva of India and his opening number in the movie is simply amazing. The way he moves his noodle legs needs to be seen to be believed. Lauren Gottlieb appears midway, but while performing, she simply eats up the dancing space. In the semi-final performance, she performs a lift with stretched legs which needs special mention. Even in such a difficult lift, her grace, posture and confidence are intact. Punit Pathak, Dharmesh Yelande, Raghav Juyal, Sushant, Allu Arjun, Karthik are reality TV’s dancing sensations who have danced as per expectation. The former two were also present in ‘ABCD’, and they appear considerably senior in their dance and ease in front of the camera. In fact Punit has well played his deaf and dumb character. Dharmesh makes amazing eye contact with camera (like a la Govinda) while dancing. Rest of the cast has also performed well.

Last but not the least, the movie establishes two facts – the power of reality TV and the power of social media. It is the golden era of talent display and it’s no more necessary to be a celebrity to get both good and bad coverage. If you have a single dancing bone in your body, or, if you even enjoy a single dancing bone in another’s body, do watch the movie.

Dil Dhadakne Do (5 Jun 2015)

Cast: Anil Kapoor, Shefali Shah, Ranveer Singh, Priyanka Chopra, Anushka Sharma, Farhan Akhtar, Parmeet Sethi, Rahul Bose, Zarina Wahab, Ridhima Sud, Vikrant Massey

Director: Zoya Akhtar   Story & Screenplay: Zoya Akhtar, Reema Kagti   Dialogue: Farhan Akhtar

Music: Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy   Cinematography: Carlos Catalan   Casting: Nandini Shrikent

Duration: 170 minutes

For unperturbed existence, a society requires steadiness, which requires discipline, which gives birth to a list of dos and don’ts, which become unnecessary rigid and complex with time, as people start misusing them to suit their personal objectives and/or hide their personal shortcomings. Resultantly, these so called social rules and diktats give way to a perturbed society, which functions like a robot i.e. without any heart. Life becomes all about never ending materialistic gains, small time personal goals and jazzy & fake public appearances, whereas, it should be about strong and giving relationships, unconditional personal freedom and eternal true love. This is what the movie urges via both it’s screenplay and title ‘Dil Dhadakne Do’, meaning to say that the society needs to switch from the dead beat robot mode to the heart beating human mode.

Kamal Mehra (Anil Kapoor), a Delhi based business magnate, decides to celebrate his 30^th wedding anniversary with full grandeur, on a cruise ship to Greece and Turkey, along with his family, friends and business associates. And thus, the luxury ship is boarded by him, his wife Neelam (Shefali Shah), son Kabir (Ranveer Singh), daughter Ayesha (Priyanka Chopra), her husband (Rahul Bose) and mother-in-law (Zarina Wahab). They are accompanied by - Kamal’s younger brother’s family, Kamal’s company manager, Neelam’s full-of-gossip girlfriends and others.

As expected, all host appearances are fake and they gradually unravel. Beneath the champagne glasses, lavish buffets and content Mehras, lie – a bankrupt Kamal, who pops pills even to digest the cruise’s lavish bills, a lonely and on-the-edge Neelam, a trapped in unhappy marriage Ayesha and a confused Kabir, who is highly expected to, but has zero interest and ability to take up his father’s business!

Sood (Parmeet Sethi) and family were earlier uninvited, as they happen to be family foes with one of Mehra’s existing guests on the cruise. But if Sood’s left-at-the-altar daughter (Ridhima Sud) gets engaged with Kabir, then Sood will not think twice before investing in Mehra’s sinking company, thereby making it profitable. What better way than a cruise to let the two kids meet and gel? Keeping this in mind, the last minute invitations were sent to the Soods.

However, Sood’s daughter ends up falling in love with the aforesaid family foes’s son (Vikrant Massey)! Kabir, the supposedly trump-card son ends up falling in love with Farah Ali (Anushka Shetty), the lead dancer of a dance group on the cruise! Kamal’s company manager’s son, Sunny Gill (Farhan Akhtar) joins them midway, and he turns out to be Ayesha’s ex-flame (re-kindled)!

In short, gradually things get topsy turvey for conservative and upper class Kamal and Neelam Mehra, whose prime objective in life is to appear prosperous and well settled in the eyes of the society. The movie gradually unfolds myriad confusions, confrontations and eventually right actions.

‘Dil Dhadakne Do’ is a wisely made movie, depicting the problems and dilemmas of the Indian upper class, with the backdrop of a cruise liner and a comical approach. This saves the film from being corny and boring. Ugly lines of frustration are well hidden by well toned bodies, designer wear and smart dialogues.

It’s an effective satire on – gender bias, social ridicules in the name of culture, and, use of children as business deal bait. Like – post marriage, Ayesha sold her jewels to start an online portal ‘Musafir’, and turned it into a successful mega operation. But still she is discouraged from doing business talks at the food table by her mother-in-law. Her husband feels elated that he has ‘allowed’ her to do her own business. Her father is dismissive about her achievement. Rather, he waits for the day when she will make him a grandfather; the Mehra couple blast their children for seeking/supporting divorce. They term them uncultured, while Kamal Mehra’s infidelity trips in the garb of business trips are quite an open secret, and his wife still chooses to stay with him, simply because she has nowhere else to go; and, Kabir is pressurized to get a scene going with Sood’s daughter, so as to revive the family business.

By now it’s well established that, the Zoya-Reema duo’s cinematic offering is sure to be heartfelt, original and well crafted, very much like a la Aamir Khan, who also happens to have lent his voice to the narrator of the movie, Pluto Mehra, the pet dog. They duo were pretty good with their last and second film (Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara), but they are brilliant with their current and third endeavor. While the former could only touch base with the upper class metro youth, the latter touches the Indian pulse. Zoya Akhtar, the director  captures the settings and emotion of upper class urban India, like Anurag Kashyap does the same with rustic rural India (Gangs Of Wasseypur). Also, she well handles the presence of multi star and supporting cast.

This is one of the best roles essayed by Anil Kapoor till date. He lives and breathes the role of a super rich business class Punjabi family patriarch. His appearance, dialogue delivery, pauses, and reactions are just perfect. The scene in which he stands up for his daughter and catches Rahul Bose by the neck, requires years of acting and passion for acting. Shefali Shah has matched him very well. Be it anger, frustration, or curt wife-type responses, she is bang-on in all the scenes. A steely scene between Priyanka and herself, enacted at a ‘hamam’ (Turkish bathhouse), is again a difficult one to crack. In the movie, Priyanka has the best defined character. In most of the scenes, she is required to play the submissive one, and she has played that well. It’s a welcome change from the usual robust and hero like Priyanka. Ranveer Singh is very natural and brings most of the comic relief. His pun filled soliloquy after a vomit scene is a treat to watch. Priyanka and Ranveer look very natural as brother and sister. Anushka Sharma has an extended cameo. Out of the three songs, she performs cabaret-cum-ballet dance on one, an impromptu jig on another, and shines in both. In fact in the former number, her body language, kind of reminds you of Catherine Zeta-Jones in ‘Chicago’ (2002). It’s a difficult dance that requires lot of speed and abundant grace, and she has managed to strike the right balance. Rahul Bose has a small role. For a change, he has also attempted quite opposite of what he has played till date i.e. the middle class submissive metro guy. Here, his character is rich, rigid and conservative. Almost everyone has looked well and acted well. Costume Designing is quite in tune with the characterizations. Casting is also apt. There is striking feature resemblance between Shefali & Priyanka and Anil & Ranveer. Cinematography is also good. There are lot of aerial angles, which well capture the Mediterranean sea region and charming Turkish locales.

Last but not the least, it’s an almost three hour long movie, and you don’t feel bored for a single minute. This really calls for a round of champagne.