War (2 Oct 2019)

Genre: Action Thriller
Language: Hindi
Duration: 154 minutes

Story: Aditya Chopra, Siddharth Anand
Screenplay: Siddharth Anand, Shridhar Raghavan
Dialogue: Abbas Tyrewala

Producer: Aditya Chopra
Director: Siddharth Anand

Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Tiger Shroff, Vaani Kapoor, Ashtosh Rana, Keith Dallison, Anil George, Soni Razdan, Dipannita Sharma, Anupriya Goenka, Arif Zakaria, Mohit Chauhan

Music: Vishal & Shekhar, Ankit & Sanchit Balhara
Background Score: Daniel B George

Action: Paul Jennings, SeaYoung Oh, Franz Spilhaus, Parvez Shaikh
Editing: Aarif Sheikh
Cinematography: Ben Jasper

Introduction:

"War is set to be a visual spectacle for quintessential action cinema lovers as they would witness Hrithik and Tiger pull off jaw-dropping sequences as they try to beat each other."

Made with a budget of ₹ 200 Crores, the movie is a full bloom commercial fiction comprising of chiselled good looks with star swag, death defying high octane stunts and picturesque locales from 7 countries.

The Plot:

Khalid Khan (Tiger Shroff), an Indian special agent is asked to search and terminate Kabir Luthra (Hrithik Roshan), who happens to be his senior, mentor and idol. Apparently, Kabir went abroad on a mission and thereupon turned incommunicado. Noone has any idea of his whereabouts, including any proof of his return to India! But still he managed to kill a high profile government official in India. So, the usual verdict is that, Kabir has gone rogue and he needs to be terminated.

What follows is a series of flashbacks and present day scenes, wherein Khalid recalls the two missions at Morocco and Iraq, that he had participated under Kabir's leadership, wherein he proved himself to be a loyal, effective and worthy soldier in Kabir's eyes, who was earlier dubious in letting Khalid join his team, as he had personally executed Khalid's father in the past in self-defense and also because he was a traitor to the nation.

Post his second high rank killing, Kabir shares with Khalid, the name of his third target, who happens to be in Portugal. Kabir ends up killing him as well, inspite of the big fight put forward by Khalid.

In the meantime, he is also trying to nab Ilyasi, an international money launderer who lives a highly protected life in the garb of a big businessman. It is imperative to catch Ilyasi to protect India from an upcoming terrorist attack of mammoth proportions. Earlier, to get to him in Italy, he had used the services of Naina (Vaani Kapoor), a dancer and single mother, who was shot dead and the onus of taking care of her hostel residing daughter fell upon Kabir.

To get to Ilyasi, Kabir needs to find and eliminate one more traitor amongst his countrymen.

Alongside, Khalid is determined to stop Kabir from doing any more assassination and bring him back in a coffin, if required.

What follows is a series of high power chase and fight sequences, as good as a war, encompassing land, air, water, ice, bikes, ruins and the likes, between the two protagonists, followed by climax and anticlimax, till the needful is done.

Movie Analysis:

There is good acting, then there is good acting with star power, finally there is good acting with star power and full swag that doesn't look crass but absolutely pleasing to the eyes. Hrithik has achieved this totality of the celluloid screen with this movie. He has surpassed himself and brought forward all his talents and charisma, all together in a seamless harmony.

When before has a hero with tattered shirt, blood soaked and wound infested face, dirt and grime covered body, sitting on a chair with hands tied and surrounded with menacing terrorists looked adorable? Well, ladies and gentlemen our very own Duggu has managed to look the same in this movie! And lesser said about his entry scene, the disembark walk from the helicopter, the better. You need to see it to believe it.

At times, he appears like a potent mix of Brad Pitt and George Clooney! He has very well enacted the role of a highly experienced, calculative but slightly arrogant special agent.

Tiger looks equally good and dances and combats with amazing grace. As compared to Hrithik, he looks vulnerable and doe-eyed. He has also acted well.

Both of them share excellent mantor-follower chemistry on screen and perfectly complement each other. Their combined dancing prowess is quite visible in 'Jai Jai Shiv Shankar', an absolutely unnecessary but endearing song.

Vaani has a dance number 'Ghungroo' and very few scenes. Along with Hrithik, she burns ablaze the screen in the former and is passable in the latter.

Other actors including the villains, as such don't have much scenes or any scope to leave an impact. But cumulatively, they have supported the movie quite well.

The movie has been shot in 7 different countries and 15 world cities. Good cinematography of military grade carriers, aerial shots and vast expanses of lands at - Morocco, Iraq, Portugal, Italy, India, Arctic Region and Australia, keeps the movie interesting.

A total of 4 action directors, 3 foreign and 1 Indian have ensured world class chase and combat scenes throughout the movie. The action scenes of 'War' are an all encompassing cocktail of almost all the brilliant action scenes that we have come across in the recent years.

The only problem with the movie is the corny storyline and dual layers of suspenses. The first layer is predictable soon enough and by the time the second layer is unravelled, the audience has lost it's interest in the plot.

The first half of the movie is superb, but the second half feels a little lost and unnecessary elongated.

The movie has full potential to become the next franchise of the Yash Raj Films banner.

Conclusion:

Do watch the movie for the larger than life presence of forty plus Hrithik Roshan, well foiled by the youthful presence of Tiger Shroff, amidst jaw dropping action sequences and picturesque locales.

Netflix Series: Sacred Games 2 (15 Aug 2018)

Genre: Crime Thriller, Mystery

Language: Hindi

No. Of Episodes: 8

Based On Novel:  Sacred Games by Vikram Chandra

Novel Adaptation By:  Varun Grover, Dhruv Narang, Pooja Varma, Nihit Bhave

Director: Anurag Kashyap, Neeraj Ghaywan

Cast: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Saif Ali Khan, Pankaj Tripathi, Surveen Chawla, Kalki Koechlin, Ranvir Shorey, Amruta Subhash, Neeraj Kabi, Jatin Sarna, Luke Kenny, Elnaaz Norouzi, Aamir Bashir, Anupriya Goenka, Samir Kochhar, Chittaranjan Tripathy, Saurabh Sachdeva

Theme Music & Background Score: Alokananda Dasgupta

Introduction:

Sacred Games is the first Netflix original series in India based on Vikram Chandra's 2006 novel of the same name. It's first season was released on 6 Jul 2018. Sacred Games 2 is the name of it's second season, which got released approximately a year later, on 15 Aug 2019. Both the seasons comprise of 8 episodes each.

Two forces primarily work on people in blinding them from all forms of logic and self check and turn them into zombies, who perform heinous crimes, in the garb of being righteous, on do-as-directed basis by their taskmaster(s).

These forces are greed and faith. While the first season of Sacred Games was woven around the sentiment of greed - for money and power, it's second season unravels the plottings of an apocalypse, called upon by faith!

The Plot:

"A link in their pasts leads an honest cop to a fugitive gang boss, whose cryptic warning spurs the officer on a quest to save Mumbai from cataclysm."

The first season started with the reveal of annihilation of Mumbai in the following 25 days. This reveal was made by the local, powerful and fugitive gangster, Ganesh Gaitonde (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) to police officer, Sartaj Singh (Saif Ali Khan), followed by the suicide of the former, in front of the latter, leaving him all alone and clueless and sending him and other government officials on a spree of unraveling layers upon layers of organized and intertwined crimes.

The second season starts with Sartaj Singh's continued search for the tool and venue of the aforesaid annihilation. It also continues with the parallel autobiography of Ganesh Gaitonde in the past mode, accompanied with his narrations in both past and present modes!

The abducted Ganesh Gaitonde eventually finds himself usurping the throne of the most powerful drug lord of Mombasa in Kenya and working under and in conjunction with Kusum Devi Yadav (Amruta Subhash), a RAW agent, who eventually gets shot in the head and becomes bed ridden and kind of brain dead for life.

A series of mish-mash involving other anti socials and ISI, intelligence agency of Pakistan, finally lead to Khanna Guruji (Pankaj Tripathi), the main planner and puppeteer of Mumbai annihilation and his right hand Batya Abelman (Kalki Koechlin).

Guruji plans to bring back Satyug i.e. the era of honesty and truth, by terminating the ongoing era of Kalyug i.e. the era of animosity and crime, in a planned step-by-step method, which involves annihilation of most of the world's population and recall of the Satyug era with a protected and selected set of Guruji's followers who will be following the lifestyle teachings of Guruji, which also advocates free sex and and eating of bland food and a customized narcotic!

To bring about the aforementioned annihilation, Guruji's modus operandi is to act as catalyst between two warring nations. To start with, it would be India and Pakistan. The idea herein is to motivate and assist Pakistan based terrorist, Shahid Khan (Ranvir Shorey) to plant and activate a nuclear bomb in Mumbai, which would kill lakhs of Kalyug infected Mumbaikars at one go.

Also, it would incite India to meat out a similar attack in Pakistan, which would result in similar casualties on the latter's soil. This action-reaction chain would continue and aggravate with each passing day.

Eventually, other warring nations like North Korea-South Korea and Israel-Palestine will be brought into this apocalyptic fold, and so on and so forth, till the whole world would turn against each other and self destruct itself!

Sartaj Singh in his obsession to solve the case ends up into the bad books of his superiors, joins Guruji's ashram and even gets addicted to Guruji's customized narcotic capsules. Feeling all alone, beaten and tired, he wishes and requests his ex-wife Megha Singh (Snupriya Goenka) to return back to him in vain, but still carries on his solitary pursue. He also finds out the link between Ganesh Gaitonde and himself.

Government officials, like Inspector Majid Ali Khan (Aamir Bashir), ACIO Markand (Samir Kochhar) and others carry on the aforementioned same pursue, using the relatively conservative methods.

Finally, Sartaj Singh and his peers are able to find out and locate the tool of annihilation, which happens to be a nuclear bomb with the capacity of eradicating around eight lakhs people at one go!

See the series to know what follows next.

Series Analysis:

As mentioned above, the entire series is depicted in both past and present modes, via Ganesh Gaitonde and Sartaj Singh and life around him respectively. Alongside, the series comprises of dreams, nightmares and illusions, brought upon by fear, guilt and effect of narcotics.

As compared to the first season, the intensity of crass language and vividness of copulation scenes, whatever few are there, is much less. Also, unlike the first season, there is no nudity.

However expletives like m*#$@c*# and g*#*u are used extensively in all kinds of situations, more like catchphrases than abusives. These words are mouthed by characters - out of camaraderie, as customary greeting, as rebuke, as reference and even when they are thinking alone.

The storyline is relatively new and the display of the series of sequences is quite interesting.

Cast Analysis:

Without an iota of doubt, Nawazuddin Siddiqui comes out as an extremely seasoned actor and if we combine both the series and if it is permitted, then he is surely the 'baap of copulation scenes' of Indian screen. As per the demand of such scenes, he effortlessly instills within them, the facial expressions emitting - hate, habit, love, indifference, punishment, addiction and appreciation!

Saif Ali Khan looks fitter and more in control than he looked in the first season. Also, the states of mental desperation and  pain of withdrawal symptoms of narcotics are well enacted by him.

Though not present in the first season, Pankaj Tripathi emerges as a complete surprise package in this season. Already well appreciated for his perfect portrayals of roles of pimp, politician, gang lord etc. and immaculate dialogue deliveries in assorted dialects in Bollywood movies, Pankj Tripathi herein, for the first time is seen sans any beard or moustache. He has well played the character of a cool, calm and soft spoken Guru, who speaks chaste Hindi and in the name of Pankaj Aasan, copulates in a pond, with one or other of his favorite disciples, irrespective of his/her gender!

Rest of the cast has also performed quite well, specially Amruta Subhash, who looks quite effective in her brain dead scenes.

Conclusion:

Sacred Games 2 is a well made series with - relatively new screenplay, amazing acting and sleek editing. It's an all encompassing display of lives of assorted people whose lives happen to be interlinked within the premises of the storyline.

Unlike season one, it is global in it's approach.

Padmaavat (25 Jan 2018)

Cast: Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor, Aditi Rao Hydari, Raza Murad, Jim Sarbh, Anupriya Goenka

Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali   

Music: Sanchit Balhara, Sanjay Leela Bhansali

Screenplay: Prakash Kapadia, Sanjay Leela Bhansali   

Dialogue: Prakash Kapadia

Costume Design: Ajay, Maxima Basu, Harpreet Rimple, Chandrakant Sonawane

Duration: 164 minutes

Introduction:

‘Padmavat’ is an epic poem by Sufi poet Malik Muhammad Jayasi which surfaced around mid 16th century and centred around early 14th century tale of Sultan Alauddin Khilji, Maharawal Ratan Singh and his second wife Padmavati.

‘Padmaavat’ is the current age cinematic adaptation of the aforesaid poem by Bollywood director Sanjay Leela Bhansali, made with a lot of opulence and clear disclaimer that its scenes may or may not depict the actual history.

The Plot:

In the movie, the quest for beads to please his first wife Nagmati (Anupriya Goenka) leads the ruler of Mewar, Maharawal Ratan Singh (Shahid Kapoor), to the kingdom of Singhal, wherein in the forest, he gets struck by their pricess Padmavati’s (Deepika Padukone) arrow and both of them get struck by the cupid’s arrow, which results into Padmavati’s arrival into Chittor’s fort as the second wife of Ratan Singh.

Padmavati happens to be a lady of great beauty, intellect and courage. She is also well versed with warfare tactics. Allured by her charisma, the king’s Guru and advisor commits the grave mistake of peeping into one of her private moments with the king, gets caught and is exiled from the kingdom.

Alauddin Khilji (Ranveer Singh) is the all powerful, vile, greedy, oversexed, ruthless and nasty Sultan of Delhi, who has acquired his throne by murdering Jalaluddin Khilji (Raza Murad), who was his predecessor, uncle and father-in-law! He is married to Jalaluddin’s alluring and naive daughter Mehrunissa (Aditi Rao Hydari). He is constantly shadowed by equally mean and ruthless Malik Kafur, who is his slave cum confidant cum toy boy. Alauddin Khilji lives with the belief that anything exquisite and/or precious simply belongs to him.

Playing on this characteristic of Alauddin, the revengeful and exiled Guru manages to get his attention by murmuring verses of Padmavati’s exquisite beauty in his ears. Eventually, the Sultan plans to seize the Chittor fort and obtain Padmavati. Thus, he marches with a big army to the fringes of the aforesaid fort.

But the fort is extremely well built with strong and high walls and long passages. It is impossible to break into it.

Over a period of many months, one thing leads to another. Seasons change and festivals come and go. Cases of betrayal, bravery and loss of human lives happen on both the sides. Finally, with both of their armies facing each other, a dual match happens between Ratan Singh and Alauddin Khilji. Both happen to be a strong opponent to each other. Only when Ratan Singh is about to win the fight, Malik Kafur breaks the protocol of honour and assassinates him by striking him with multiple arrows, which gives way to a mega fight between both the armies.

The fatal news reaches the Chittor fort and like a the then true Rajput woman, Rani Padmavati decides to burn herself in the holy pyre, rather than falling into the hands of her husband’s murderer. Led by Padmavati, a big Jauhar (self-immolation) is performed by a big group of ladies, even the pregnant ones!

Inches away from his actual victory, the Sultan is left shocked, jaded and dumbfounded at this mega display of Rajput loyalty and sacrifice.

About The Movie:

The movie is a typical display of director Sanjay Leela Bhansali styled showmanship. Enough r&d and adaptations have been done to design the sets and costumes pertaining to the late 13th and early 14th century’s royal courts, apparels and lifestyles of - Khiljis in modern day Afghanistan and Delhi (India), Rajputs in Mewar (Rajasthan,India) and Singhal in modern day Sri Lanka. Both opulence and minute detailing in the afore mentioned efforts are quite impressive.

As a text book chapter in school or via folklores by mouth, most of us have come across the tale of Padmavati’s Jauhar. Resultantly, without judging the act of Jauhar as right or wrong, there is this curiosity of viewing the cinematic adaptation of the same.

Hued in multi shades and designs of red traditional ghagra-choli, coupled with a strong display of the firm resolve of Rajput women along with the showcase of their united attempt to stop Alauddin from reaching Padmavati, their beloved queen, the build up of the Jauhar scene is quite powerful, but a tad bit too long. Also, the actual burning of the Jauhar performing women is left to the audience’s imagination. Perhaps the makers of the movie did not want to glorify an act which will not be considered righteous in present India.

Some scenes in the movie seem unnecessary, while some bear a strong resemblance to the famous scenes of earlier Bollywood hits. Like - Shahid and Deepika holding the big chandelier or jhoomar with its sturdy rope, like Salman and Aishwarya in ‘Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam’, or, the angry women of Chittor fort holding in twosomes a big piece of cloth from both sides, filled with hot chunks of coal and throwing them off on the villainous Sultan, one after the other, like the oppressed women of the spice factory in ‘Mirch Masala’, wherein, they threw red chilli powder.

However, some scenes in the movie are quite impactful. Like – Alauddin coming out with the Mongolian war head’s head on a staff, from the sandstorm caused by the quick gallop of Mongolian army’s fighting horses, or, comical display of his insecurity while dining for the first time with Ratan Singh at Chittor fort, wherein he switches their food plates thrice!

The movie has a total of six songs, out of which ‘Ghoomar’ is most effective, both audibly and visually. Background score and cinematography are good. Some of the dialogues mouthed by
Ranveer and Shahid are clap worthy.

I saw the 3D version of the movie, which seemed a mistake. The human characters looked too lean and at places they resembled like cardboard cut outs. Also, the 3D glasses resulted in a thin black veil in front of the eyes and everything on the celluloid appeared a shade darker.

It’s better to watch the 2D version of the movie, to fully enjoy the Rajasthan centric riot of colours and workmanship, that is on display in most of the scenes.

About The Crew:

Ranveer Singh has played Alauddin with a lot of homework and impact. He has successfully looked and acted the part. His penetrating and ruthless eye gaze from kohl lined eyes will stay in your memory for a considerable period. Still, he did not appear as villainous as Mogambo (Mr. India) or Shakal (Shaan), the other two iconic villains of the Indian screen. His voice modulation is not same throughout the movie. The imposed semi baritone that he has worked upon is effective, but is missing in few scenes.

Deepika Padukone sways through the movie like a dream. Clad in assorted Rajasthani ghagra-cholis, mouthing the wise dialogues where necessary, or simply expressing through teary and fiery eyes, she mostly looks like an extension of her Mastani character from Bajirao Mastani, but lights up the screen all the same.

Shahid Kapoor is well chiselled and displays good baritone in a couple of scenes. But in the same frame as Deepika or Ranveer, he looks kind of short and small. Though he is a good actor, but he has not well suited the role of Ratan Singh. Also, there is no chemistry between him and Deepika. Perhaps, Ranbir Kapoor would have better suited this role.

Aditi Rao Hydari looks luminous and plays a submissive wife. However, her star quotient is considerably less than the aforementioned three actors.

Jim Sarbh is the surprise package of the movie. Not much was ever heard about Malik Kafur in folklores, nor publicised before the movie release. But, Jim has quite well played the complex character of a ruthless and cunning slave cum toy boy who also loved his Sultan.

Rest of the cast is also good.

Conclusion:

The movie is a celebration of Rajput valour, honour and loyalty. You can surely watch it for once. But, it’s not a cult movie.

To end on a lighter note, a message to all the married women i.e. if your husband ever looses or gifts away his precious ‘motiyon ki mala’ or necklace of beads, you dare not ask him to cross the seven seas to obtain another set of similar beads! God only knows what it will ultimately lead to! (Chuckle)

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.