Director's Desk

The day has come, Friday turned deeper, and box office drew intellects who has some understanding & respect for cinema. Undisputed perfectionist of Indian Cinema Mr. Aamir Khan is up with his new venture Dangal a journey of a Mahavir Singh Phogat the famous wrestler and a father of international champion wrestler daughters Geeta and Babita.  Just after five months of Sultan, bombardment of almost similar subjects lost the interest from viewers. But it’s only Aamir Khan who has that credibility which sustained deeply into people’s mind. He has again proven his ability as Mahavir Singh Phogat, his dedication is visible in Dangal. He lived with pain, suffering and his own volition to win a gold medal for his country made another masterpiece which stays in heart.

Dangal is based on one time promising wrestler Mahavir Phogat’s daughter Geeta and Babita who won commonwealth game gold medal for India. The story is quite simple and straight but execution wasn’t that simple it has in depth detailing in each scene. We have already watched some mind blowing wrestling stunt in #Sultan but Dangal is altogether different from that whether its emotion or stunt. I have never seen this kind of clean wrestling in cinema. It never seems as stunt to me, I was enjoying full fledge wrestling of Geeta Phogat which looks so original that it almost takes you to the real world of Sports.

Dangal reaches the label on can expect from Mr Aamir Khan but Mr. Director Nitesh Tiwari did fantastic job and give total justice to this. From the first frame it holds a grip of storytelling very comfortably showing the societal dissidence, the heartbreaking jibes and a winning spirit of a father who comes out even more tougher. Although Aamir is in a lead but wrestling is real protagonist. Almost 169 mins long film is actual hero, it’s the film who acted, who sung and won hearts. In Sultan Salman Khan dominates with heroism but Dangal spins its own wheel and all the casts are just the supporting elements.

Fatima Sana Shaikh as Geeta Kumari delivers a strong performance, she is beautiful, elegant and tough. Her fight was sheer treat, it is enjoyable, original and realistic. Amitabh Bhattacharya writes brilliant words I love the background score and lovely camera work.

In one word Dangal is a movie for Indian Women who stood for nation and inspiration of Sakshi Malik. A very bold step taken by Mahavir Phogat and his daughters definitely heat ups our traditional method.

Significantly confined into very small premises is the only problem about PINK. Coaching the most recent issues in an almost direct way which are precisely loud, touches the feminine clusters sharply with the tight storytelling. Pink is dark in making and possibly enhances the characteristic of prevailing views towards females in a subtle form. Here I believe that Mr. Director Anirudha Roy Chowdhury dealt a much wider problem quite narrowly, everything from the dark corner, side by side shot, mostly focuses the monotonous subject line to the similar emotional quotes.

Although these are the area in my opinion goes little far from what has been told till now. This is the story about three independent working girl Minal (Tapsee Pannu), Falak Ali (Kirti Kulhari) and Andria who are circumstantially involve into attempt to murder charge where they are supposed to be the culprit of charging the guy. All the characters smartly placed their sufferings, trauma sometimes makes you very suffocative yes this is the strength of this film this takes you in the helpless world of females where some are distinctive but their voices are limited. The grumblings are visible through out the movie which pushes us into the realm of orthodox mentality but Pink also shows that everyone is not anti-women some are supporting the new era of women liberation, do be so cautious about this liberation because maximum number of women are living in the shadow of somebody like slaves, actually their life is  more fricative than Dalits, in our eyes their interactive accessibility to the world is called freedom for them but it’s again a feudal mentality which dominates our senses in wrong direction. I think first half is very slow only just to create the thrill Mr. Director stretches more than what the story demands. When movie starts with the running titles over black screen without any music I thought some hard events are going to come but eventually it didn’t, even audience holds their breath for long to know that what had happened to the girls? 

I love this film not because it touches some real issues nor for its storyline but due to performances, especially none other than Mr. Amitabh Bachchan, with his strong stony eyes just can’t let you figure out what is running into his mind, I like the performances of all the girls but when Tapsee gets abducted and molested that too in the running van it simply stuns you but film leaves you there after showing some after effect! In court room scenes as well argument is confined basically on the earlier issues.

There are flaws but Ritesh shah’s story has some genuine questions which shakes you yet if he could have managed to establish some more plots this would have been more promising.

BATHROOM VERDICT: PRE INTERVAL

#Pink fails to hold the audience… it is very slow and repetitive. But Yes this is not a full fledge Salman Type Paisa V asool film.               

When every aspects closing their doors someone has to punch feistily. This concept primarily builds the plot around Akira of Jodhpur Rajasthan. Akira is nothing but a fight against four corrupt police officer who mistakenly abducts a college girl Akira and tried to encounter her with two others but luckily she manages to run, further going through with all topsy-turvy situation it reaches the old method type climax. So it’s just a simple revenge film, as simple as that and The End.

But you can’t expect just this much from Director A.R.Murugadoss, it’s more riveting thriller where some emotional quotes and grisly truth about the police system comes out nicely. The character of Akira is strong, they build it very firmly. When she is small she witnessed throwing of an acid on a girl just in front of her eyes which prompted her to take Karate classes and eventually one day fighting against one punk, accidently she pours acid on him. It takes 3 years to prove her innocence. Afterward she lives quietly with her mother but thrill is still awaiting for her in Mumbai where four police officer did the crime and somehow their attempts goes entirely wrong. This looks a perfect conspiracy till when Akira wittingly impinges with them.

Akira is not impeccable action thriller, it lacks surprises, strong elements and more powerful punches from Akira (Sonakshi Sinha), her behavior is volatile, and repetitively putting this kind of strong character into the Asylum was disheartening. The major surprise element is #AnuragKashyap, his screen presence is literally powerful, as a cruel, cunning drug addict officer he actually catches the attention, hopefully if he played the role of (Kaizad Khambatta) Karan Johar in Bombay Velvet he would have definitely made the difference. Other surprise is Konkona sen sharma, she was awesome in her characterization, I really enjoyed her watching as a pregnant police officer, her everything was just perfect, her walk, her talk, her belly. Sonakshi Sinha as a protagonist is just ok, her performance was average, I think Director was more interested in showing conspiracy and in the end he was left with unwilling climax.

As a film Mera Naam Akira is another women centric collage but like heroic entry it lacks the powerful climax. Strongly, I wanted more punches from Akira.      

   

               

POST INTERVAL – BATHROOM VERDICT

The fulcrum of #HappyBhagJayegi was totally choppy. It has many things which would have made this a terrific film but sadly it didn’t happen. When lots of expectation hovering inside the brain it is obvious that there is some somber feeling hiding around. I am out of Mumbai for very long and it is too difficult for me to watch cinema but my passion never let me down, it keeps my aficionado awake, that fights with some of my jaunty feeling, So here I am and that’s how I went to Happy Bhag Jayegi but Mr. Director Mudassar Aziz was basically confused about everything and he also let audience into perplexed mode, where they laugh, why they laugh and what is this journey all about? Is only Pakistan Subject matters? Not very similar to #BajrangiBhaijaan but narrative has blended with mix characteristics.

A girl from #Amritsar (Punjab) run away from her own wedding ceremony but by mistake she jumps on the wrong truck which was carrying delegation of Pakistan so very obviously Ms. Happy #DianaPenty opens her eyes literally in Lahore and BOOM! Right? But it simultaneously lost the plot very miserably. #AanandLRai was one man who produced good and sensitive film like #NilBatteySannata but this time he fails to understand the strength of script. This entire film was suffering with wrong comic timing, under constructed plots and fused emotions.

Even after having an interesting story, few funny trickles and precisely a good performance by #JimmyShergill who looks attractive as well, other than him all other artist fails to convince their characters, Diana Penty has very similar role like Anushka Sharma of Band Baja Baraat but she intermittently pulls-out freshness and the most upsetting part was to see #AbhayDeol, I just couldn’t believe how depressing he was? He looks unbearable, non-refreshing and very much frightened. And look what Piyush Mishra is doing which reminds you of #PankajKapur as Technicolor in “Ram-Jane” was worst in it.

Music was not memorable, very poor editing especially when Piyush and Abhay landed for the 1^st time in India, Cinematography is ordinary.

I am not going to recommend this film to any one…

POST INTERVAL – BATHROOM VERDICT

This movie began with some media reports about kidnapping of home minister’s son then suddenly turns to other disaster report, flashing about some corruption new and all that. Then we see the fantastic entry of Irffan Khan in his long curly hair, heavy bearded, wearing cap sitting at the side berth in Train, that was indeed an exciting throw but just like the bouncing ball it lacks consistency. It looks slightly habitant affair for Mr. Director Nishikant Kamat to show this whole narrative with the balance between political functionaries and thrill. Nishikant Kamat just did the feeble film “Rocky Handsome” and comes up with #Madaari which has some strong abbreviations but here once again his script fails to deliver to expectations. Very similar touch of a cult movie Rang De Basanti, here we all saw the reasoning behind this corruption theory and just like ‘A Wednesday’ he puts the ‘Aam Adami’ to take  charge to fight against the system.

Nirmal Kumar is a simple networking technician, a single parent who devoted everything for his 7 year old child who was killed in an accident, this is where he decides to take revenge just to show the apathy of political class. For very long time this bingo attracts many directors and even the general public experiences it once in a lifetime at least. This may was the risk for both director and maker but I was somehow convinced with entire concept, every small person wants to see politicians being punished, their own catharsis explodes after watching this kind of cinema. The storytelling is only the way to stage yourself differently amongst others. Here we see the little different storytelling with many small punches, major twists and of course the emotional quotient. There are many things which dramatize your mind but certain portions are too slow.

I always wonder about Nishikant Kamat that how he crafts the characters behavior which is usually new to the audience, the whole characterization of Irffan Khan is very impressive, even Irffan crossed all his limits, his terrific performance has many blends whether he is crying or talking with self. His outstanding presence is enough for any film, he knows how to adopt the story in his way. Child artist Vishesh Bansal looks cute but unable to touch my heart. On the other hand Jimmy Shergill was powerful, sleek and smart. But the problem starts with the chase, on this front Director fails to grapple the anxiety, he may want to show the face of every simpleton who is all unknown to the world and it’s very intricate to find out who is whom. Logics may transform the thought but for general people thrill means when you are dragged for what extent you don’t know!

But in a more simplified way.  Here Manoj Bajpai urf Raghavan turns to Raman and Mr. Bachachan turns to Raghav, when I saw Aks, truly I didn’t understand it then but with the passing time I fomented my desire to explore the 4^th world and I bought the DVD of “Aks”, thoroughly traversed to the other perspective which changed me a lot but When it comes to Mr. Director #Anuragkashyap, he binds the lace of soul mates in just 8 chapters. In prima facie it looks like a perfect blend of psycho-thriller but if you already gone by the posters of #Ramanraghav2.0 then you realizes that the “AKS” is transferred.

#AnuragKashyap is known as a difficult filmmaker, his grainy approach towards characters, successfully following the dark shadows, his extreme obsession about fret mentality which some how automatically falls under his own shadow, where all his grimy abstract ideas exists in the form of ‘Scorsese’, if you remember Max Cady of ‘Cape fear’ or Jake of ‘Raging bull’ then only you will be able to cross the viaduct otherwise would meander into the lawful and lawlessness only to bring black & white rectangles of a chessboard where at the end Raman is brandishing his bent iron rod. Actually these darker shades were already told many times by #Anuragkashyap, so overall atmosphere, drugs; self-destructive pustule characterizations are all similar.

Here his definition is clearer to me, the one who killed naturally and the other who killed in hiding. One is free from any fear and the other is disturbed by the fear and at the end both become a necessity. In the world of #Anuragkashyap both the identities doesn't want any redemption or feeling any remorse, they are just indecent.

If I saw this film in holistic way then it started well with some catchy dialogues, exploration of a mindset with small disturbing thrills but slowly it was fading-out with some predictable moments. But the strongest things are performances that maul your imaginations very badly. Nawazuddin Siddqui was terrific, tragic and horrifying, he carries this film solely, his walk, his run, his dialogue delivery, his glaring eyes were just mesmerizing, although I have always been a great admirer of Irrfan Khan but now Nawaz stole that seed from me, Vicky Kaushal as Raghav is also brilliant in every form whether his addiction to drugs or his unknown guilt or even strange relationships, he excels. Other characters are also good. I love Ram Sampath’s music that lances my instincts.

So overall this film doesn’t have hardcore substance but it has height of performances. I am not going to write story of this film because that may haze your thrills. 

If nonsensical-sexiest films bores you then go for this hardcore greenish film. Which is not RED.

Poorly crafted, seems deliberately enacted with marketing strategies. It is too lighter than the gruesome truth that Punjab is facing. In this documentary cum episodic plot I kept my mobile on and scrolled it just to avoid being repetitive.  I am thinking if Mr. Nihlani has given this film a smooth go then what would have been the fate?  This movie is not worth of all the hype which was rigorously circulated by the media. Why Mr. Nihlani gave-away the much practisized tools to the makers, who already knew that #Udtapunjab will squat just after its release, but controversies draws attentions yet it’s still unable to create buzz in people’s mind. I was sitting in the vacant theatre, rolling my thoughts up and down, frequently pulling the bathroom door, spraying the commode, styled my moustache, refraining myself to enter the screening room but when I managed to set-in, the similar plots were showering…. What the “F” ?

The problem is not only to understand situation of Punjab but in a more vigorous way it lies being an aficionado of International Cinema, when it comes to characterization it becomes so unrealistic where you couldn’t possibly attach a bit with it… unwanted madness, lame graffiti of society, still fearful to reach in-depth. This is certainly not a Chaubey’s style of filmmaking he was surely under the influence of those cinemas like Requiem for a dream. This must have thrived his mind so badly that the result was pathetic, far away from the core facts.

For that matter just take a character of Tommy (Shahid) a singer, he is extremely volatile, boorish, turbulent, drawn by cocaine, suddenly gets enlightened in police cell and throw lectures during his show. When u keenly observes this entire episode, you got amazed that there is no SEX exists in the so-called drug ghettos. The minute your thought goes minus sex, you lost the way then and there. The wildness of drugs are very much proportionate to sex and women.

I have no intention to write its storyline, because it’s again a torture. Different-2 characters placed into circumstantial conditions, moving along with director’s demand not by their own merits. Exercising with ongoing situations and finally they all gathered like Priyadarshan’s climax. The End.

But there are some “Aha’ moments like Shahid’s performance was remarkable, I love the way Alia spoke in Bihari slangs, her efforts were visible. Kareena Kapoor looks old and pitty, Diljit was very natural and I must say he left his presence.

It’s a very melodramatic film, relying totally on editing but sometimes those cuts were so sharp that left you empty handed. After all very edgy cuts it’s a very lengthy film and if you want to know the Punjab’s problem in a superficial way then go and watch.          

When I saw Mr. Bachchan’s entry, I must tell you his still wary eyes, entangled wrinkles, jaw-dropping expression takes me away from theater to his own world. He was so high in his performance that stomps us into his long wait for justice. Almost eight years back his grand daughter was kidnapped and killed by a stranger, no leads were found by the police and it was shut case, but Mr. John Biswas still a seeker of truth and his firm belief pushes Father Martine played by solid Nawazuddin Siddique to look for truth, a one-time police officer who investigated the matter and to come out from the grieves of not performing, Nawazuddin’s performance as a strict denial character is rock solid and praiseworthy.

It looks like a very simple story and believe me it is, but the way it is executed is engrossing. A quiet milieu is very supportive to craft the thrill, just like Kahaani, it grabbles with local elements old fashioned houses, tortuous shabby aisles and very importantly slow moving life of Kolkata “ Yahaan Jaldi Kuch Nahi Hota”. Te3n is a remake of a Korean film ‘Montage’ but it gives almost justice to that. The first half was little slow, showing Mr. Bachchan’s daily struggle with decrepit scooter, continuously listening his granddaughter’s voice, fulfilling his daily needs, caring his crippled wife went unexpectedly slightly far which was not mending with the situations, Te3n even suffers with its lame climax. After finding the culprit, it goes unnecessarily into tying up the loose ends. A short of predictability surely weaken its intent but presentation was interesting.

The cinematography is very much close to life’s of Kolkata and even divulges the entire ambience the way it is. Vidya Balan (Sarita) is another character in the film which balances the proximity of lose but she is little heavy for the film, I am totally disappointed with her out of the sink performance. This work of art has mix flavor, at some instance it may give you a jerk or it slides away without catching the emotional transcendence.

I wish it could hold the mystery for some more time.