Khoobsurat (19 Sep 2014)

Cast: Sonam Kapoor, Fawad Afzal Khan, Ratna Pathak Shah, Kirron Kher, Aamir Raza Hussain, Aditi Rao Hydari

Director: Shashanka Ghosh   Writer: D.N. Mukherjee (original story), Indira Bisht (screenplay), Juhi Chaturvedi (dialogue)   Music: Sneha Khanwalkar

Producer: Anil Kapoor Film Company, Walt Disney Pictures   Distributor: UTV Motion Pictures

Running Time: 130 minutes

‘Khoobsurat’ is the remake of ‘Khubsoorat’ (1980), a family drama, well directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee and very ably enacted by Rekha.

Both these movies have some superfluous similarities – the name (with ‘u’ and ‘oo’ being swapped), the leading ladies Rekha and Sonam being the real life fashionistas, and hard core disciplinarian role essayed by Dina Pathak in the original and her daughter Ratna Pathak Shah in the remake.

The original ‘Khubsoorat’ was the celebration of emergence of free spirited but downright loyal and homely lass of modern India who attempted to break through the strict and stifling family codes of the old world with her smile and chirp intact. It was a real world scenario and the masses very well identified with both the situation and the solution. Whereas the remake ‘Khoobsurat’ shows a gawky but urban working woman unable to merge in with the codes of the royals, but still managing to achieve success in her task at hand with her enthusiasm intact. It is a kind of dream world scenario and the masses will identify with the bits and pieces of the same.

Dr. Milli Chakravarty (Sonam Kapoor) is a visiting physiotherapist at the mansion of the Rathores, one of the Rajasthan royals. Along with a train of staff, the mansion occupies the wheel chair bound family head aka Milli’s patient (Aamir Raza Hussain), his boisterous, business savvy and disciplinarian wife, Nirmala Devi (Ratna Pathak Shah), his handsome and workaholic son Vikram (Fawad Afzal Khan) and his underage daughter (read seventeen) who nurses secret acting aspirations. Milli is gawky and free spirited, wears unmatched outfits, eats with hand and noise, stumbles every now and then, and video chats for all her big and small problems with her equally eccentric mother Manju (Kirron Kher), whom is refers as ‘Manju’ only! Everyone is courteous and patient with her. But she is trapped in a hostile environment – where her patient shows no wish or effort in getting well, Nirmala Devi’s disdain towards her presence is quite apparent and the handsome son thinks of her as ‘aafat’ (problem). As expected, Milli finds her way around the place, reignites the passion for life in her patient and also manages to flutter Vikram’s heart.

This is the first Disney Bollywood flick and it has total Disney world feel - larger than life setting, beautiful people, gentle comic approach and no real villain. But the movie also lacks well researched characterization and depth. The protagonist’s wardrobe is color fanatic, so much so that, by the time the movie ends, you actually cannot differentiate one color from the other! With father and sister being the co-producers (Anil Kapoor and Rhea Kapoor), Sonam Kapoor is handled with utmost respect by the hero as well as the chanced upon villains!

Sonam Kapoor has given an OTT (over the top) performance. It’s quite in your face. But still its somewhere better than her other flicks. Fawad Afzal Khan is a famous Pakistani singer and TV & movie actor. This is his Bollywood debut. With his chiseled good looks and baritone voice, he very well suits the character and has performed well. One looks forward to see his performance driven flick. Ratna Pathak Shah looks immaculate like ever. You expect her to be the lady with the iron fist. But she comes across as the one with strong head but broken will. And you get confused because you cannot really understand if it’s successful enactment of a complex character or stepping away from the character. Kirron Kher has become a pro in playing a OTT Punjabi mother. Still, she could have adorned a little less of the countless oxide jewelries. Aditi Rao Hyadari plays a cameo (Vikram’s girlfriend) and looks very royal. The director Shashanka Ghosh is known for well directing small budget eccentric flicks. You miss the expected eccentricity here. Music is OK. ‘Engine ki ceeti’ track is good and catchy.

All in all, it’s a simple flick, best to be seen with tinted glasses and not much logic. Last but not the least, when Milli comes to confront her patient in the garden, her earrings magically change.

Finding Fanny (12 Sep 2014)

Cast: Deepika Padukone, Arjun Kapoor, Dimple Kapadia, Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapur, Anjali Gupta, Ranveer Singh (Cameo), Anand Tiwari

Director: Homi Adajania   Writer: Homi Adajania, Kersi Khambatta   Music: Mathias Duplessy

Cinematography: Anil Mehta   Production Design: Manisha Khandelwal   Costume Design: Anaita Shroff

Running Time: 105 minutes

‘Finding Fanny’ is like one of those medium paced Mexican flicks, that invariably contain – rural setting with old and unkempt style housings surrounded with nature, an unassuming village lass oozing with passion and sexuality, liquor influenced scenes, unconventional characterization of leading characters and a simple story, which will neither make your heart loose a beat, nor make your mind wander elsewhere.

The movie is based in Pocolim, an obscure Goan village with no presence on the map. It’s a quaint and non happening village, with such dull routine that, when their old postman, Ferdie (Naseeruddin Shah) decides to embark on a road trip to find his long lost love Stefanie Fernandes (Anjali Gupta) aka Fanny, he is invariably joined in by four other villagers on one pretext or the other!

The movie opens with Ferdie receiving a return mail, which was actually his love declaration to the woman of his dreams, Fanny. This declaration was mailed forty six years before, and in the event of receiving no reply, Ferdie had been since living the life of rejection and solitude! The mere realization that such a life was lead in vain makes him utterly miserable and depressed. His good friend Angie (Deepika Padukone), the youthful virgin widow advises him to at least find his lost love and know her sentiments, so as to bring a closure to his questioning state of mind. She decides to accompany and arrange for his trip. And thus, another young but bitter villager Savio Da Gama (Arjun Kapoor), a recent Mumbai returned, is roped in because he knows driving and car repair. Don Pedro Cleto Colaco (Pankaj Kapur), a visiting painter with a roving eye and artistic musings for extra curvaceous women is also roped in, so as to use his car as the vehicle in the road trip. Angie’s mother-in-law and mother to the deceased Joffrey (Ranveer Singh), Rosie Eucharistica (Dimple Kapadia), the self proclaimed first lady of the village, accompanies the foursome to simply ensure the safety of her daughter-in-law! On the front, it is an expedition to bring peace to the soul of a fellow villager, but in actuality all the co-passengers see the journey as an escape from their respective dull routines and silently hope to find some answers and solution to their own quests of life! Savio has the hots for Angie, while Don Pedro has the hots for Rosie. The ladies in question are also not really happy with their ‘single’ status. And so, the lost and pining five some along with Rosie’s pet cat embark on their journey and in the process, get lost, find both expected and unexpected answers to their respective quests, and ultimately attain their destined closure.

Neither it’s a perfect story, nor does it serve any cause. In fact, instead of harping on the occurrence of true love or ‘united till death’ syndrome, it emphasizes on the ‘idea of love’ and the need and pursue of the same, even in the event of loss of the original partner! Without promoting infidelity, it signifies that the basic need of life is to feel and share love and it is not dependent on the existence or fidelity of the one with whom you have united your heart and promised to share the rest of your life! The shoes of the deceased or betraying partner need to be filled by someone appropriate enough as per the present timeline of life, because the need to have a breathing and devoted partner is perennial.

This movie has a bilingual release i.e. in both Hindi and English. It also has a good measure of sub titled Goan lines. The genre is amalgamation of comedy, satire and drama. It’s well made in its own way. The content and presentation is new for the Indian screen. It is meant for the ‘thinking audience’ and thankfully is devoid of unnecessary songs and/or titillation. More than the masses, the film seems to be targeted for the international audience (Fox Star Studios being the distributor). No wonder, it is slated to be released at both Busan (South Korea) and Toronto (Canada) International Film Festivals.

The movie is based on five main characters and all of them are well casted and have delivered flawless performances. But still you feel that Pankaj Kapur has stolen the show and Arjun Kapur is the weakest link of the lot. Deepika Padukone looks confidant, wise and very beautiful and that too in a non glamorous role. The lady is pretty regular with flesh bare clothing. But never before has she looked so illuminous and desirable. Dimple Kapadia seems to be becoming a pro with character driven roles, caring a damn about her looks. This is a far cry from her younger and much more successful diva days. To give the lady her due, one must mention that, nearing sixty, she still looks very glamorous. Naseeruddin Shah is an acting school in himself. The opening scene requires an ocean of emotions, followed by outburst and silent retreat. It is impossible to think of anyone else, who can even analyze the scene like him. Pankaj Kapur plays the most complex character of all. He is supposed to be a flamboyant artist (painter), find his muse in extra curvaceous women and appear disinterested in everything else to the point of appearing selfish. And he has successfully depicted all this in good dignity! Arjun Kapoor has acted average. Acting with such polished actors, he was expected to display much more depth in his character. Ranveer Singh and Anjali Gupta (remember the feisty naxalite from ‘Chakravyuh’) and Anand Tiwari (the priest) are effective in their small roles. The director Homi Adajania has well attempted a relatively new concept in movie making. Without caring to give in to the superfluous  needs of the commercial cinema, he has neither diluted his philosophy, nor hastened the pulse of the movie. To do this, and that too after the roaring success of his commercial hit ‘Cocktail’, he must be a very confidant man. ‘O Fanny Re’ track touches your soul. Given the limited scope provided by the storyline, cinematography and costume design are exceptionally good. They are in-line and noteworthy.

To sum it up, in an art gallery where patrons mostly find and appreciate well defined forms and subjects (like human, God, nature), this movie is like a well made abstract painting, which many will fail to enjoy because of their routine preferences, and the remaining will derive their own meaning of a particular - brush stroke, shape or even corner!

Mary Kom (5 Sep 2014)

Cast: Priyanka Chopra, Darshan Kumaar, Sunil Thapa, Zachary Coffin

Director: Omung Kumar   Music: Rohit Kulkarni (Background), Shashi, Shivam

Writer: Saiwyn Qadras (Story & Screenplay), Ramendra Vashishth & Karan Singh Rathore (Dialogue)

Running Time: 122 minutes

The movie ‘Mary Kom’ is the biopic of Mangte Chungneijang Mary Kom, aka Mary Kom, the five time World Amateur Boxing champion from Manipur, India. Barring this, she is also the proud winner of various Asian and other championships, as well as civilian accolades. The prestigious ‘Padma Bhushan’ (2013) award by Govt. of India is the latest feather in her cap.

The aforesaid gender, sport, as well as the state, sadly don’t enjoy enough prominence in our country. So, its obvious that during her struggling years, Mary Kom must have highly lacked the required infrastructure and support (both moral and financial). Her success story must have been a far cry from those sports personalities whose career were either carefully carved since their early age, or whose normal passion of a particular support, which they were never barred from playing, eventually turned into a career. It is for these reasons, that this amazing sports woman deserves double round of applause. Also, hats off to Omung Kumar for making his directorial debut with such a different and deserving subject.

In the movie, as a child, Mary Kom (Priyanka Chopra) lives with her parents and two kid siblings. She belongs to a very simple Manipur style rural household, sans any luxury, but is blissfully unaware of that. Rather, she chance finds a pair of boxing gloves in a destruction site and keeps it as her prized possession, much to the disdain of her father, who thinks that such a sport will spoil her face, thereby making her unfit for marriage. Even during her adolescence, she is unaware of the emotion ‘fear’ and sans any combat training, doesn’t think twice before entering into a combat with a boy her age. Upon chance meeting with the Manipur state boxing coach (Sunil Thapa), she persuades him to teach her boxing. Initially, the coach ignores her. But finally he discovers one of his best pupils in her and sends in her name for the inter state championship. Thereby, one victory leads to the other, and Mary Kom embarks on her victorious journey, conquering Asian championships as well as World championships in the process!

But this is easier said than done. In an almost non existing infrastructure, she is required to work ridiculously hard on a body that can throw as well as bear international quality punches. And she is required to train for boxing, alongside being a regular daughter and/or wife which includes the regular plethora of cooking, cleaning, laundry etc. She faces opposition and irk of her father, for practicing a non woman type sport. At times, just because the opposing contestant belongs to a much more prominent state, she faces injustice in tournaments. And upon voicing protest, she is subjected to boycott, bad will and humiliation! The three facts that keep her going are – guidance and sheer expectation of her coach, unconditional love and support of her friend turned husband Onler Kom (Darshan Kumaar), and her personal grit and determination to simply win for India. When most career women, especially sports women willingly/unwillingly put an end to their career after marriage and motherhood, Mary Kom goes ahead and does the unthinkable. She gets married, gives birth to twin baby boys, faces emotional turmoil, re-trains herself and wins more championships! The biopic ends here. But the real Mary Kom, has since given birth to another baby boy and harbors the dream of bringing more medals for India!

Priyanka Chopra proved her acting excellence with ‘Barfi’. But with ‘Mary Com’, she has entered a different league altogether. In fact her passionate and unassuming style of acting will remind you of Leonardo DiCaprio! For this movie, the actress has simply given in her body, mind and soul. She plays the age range of a school girl to a mother with elan. She also lives through the profiles of being a boxing student to a boxing champion with flying colors. The actress recently suffered the demise of her dear father. It seems that life without him, in itself was a strugglefor her, and that sense of struggle and anguish was portrayed in her training and boxing scenes. You feel like, she trains to contest, and she contests to win, and that is the only way she can proceed with living! Very few actresses will go through such difficult role that requires no make-up and athletic level of physical labor. Rest of the cast is good as well.

The movie is well paced and it well depicts the tale of a simple Manipur girl, who loves boxing, dreams of consistently winning for India and finally gives shape to her dream. What is noteworthy here is that, apart from simply winning, she doesn’t attach any other gain, clout or mammoth change of lifestyle with her victories. She is well tuned in her family life, family chores and surroundings. It is an inspirational movie with deserving subject, world class acting by the protagonist, good screenplay and direction. Silent trusting bond enjoyed between the protagonist and her coach is something to watch out for. The movie also slightly touches the subject of poor nutrition, improper infrastructure and above all not enough respect meated out to sports women/men during their sports tours. With every sports based movie, hinting at this scenario, may be the sports federation will soon do the needful, and thereby enable winning of more medals by Indian sports personnels.