Ae Dil Hai Mushkil: A walk of the heart, to remember

Karan Johar’s latest directorial venture featuring Aishwarya Roy Bachchan (as Saba), Ranbir Kapoor (as Ayan), Anushka Sharma (as Alizeh Khan) and the controversial actor from Pakistan, Fawad Khan (as Ali) in the lead roles has everything one could look for in Bollywood romantic movie and much more. The celebrity count increases with Alia Bhatt and Shahrukh Khan making short appearances. Also featuring Lisa Haydon in a not so important role, KJo’s Ae Dil Hai Mushkil scores incredibly high in this department.

Shot in exotic foreign locations with all the glitz and the glamor, ADHM leaves no stones unturned when it comes to impressing the audience with the canvas. What is most likely to not resonate with the audience, however, is the depth of the storyline and the treacherous themes that lie beneath the surface of this highly anticipated Diwali release.

ADHM dwells the avenues of a RomCom in the first half and scores well in this department. It’s all fun and glossy with people enjoying themselves. Ayan is a ‘private jet’ rich young man who is tempted with sex by his girlfriend played by Lisa Haydon. The relationship doesn’t last long for a much improved Lisa to impress the audience. Fragile in matters of the heart and dangerously vulnerable Ayan falls in love with Alizeh as their friendship develops with the script. Alizeh, with a broken heart herself (we all have issues), comes to the aid of Ayan which makes the latter fall for her even more. As fate would have it, she meets her former lover Ali and gets back with him, shattering our poor Ayan to pieces.

Ayan meets this gorgeous ‘shayariya’, Saba and they turn their acquaintance into a no strings attached kind of relationship. While many might miss it, this gives a hindsight into the nature of these two people: gullible, afraid and vulnerable. In a later scene where Shahrukh makes his appearance, he makes a comment stating that frightened people are often seen looking for shelter behind wonderful words. Given that Ayan is an aspiring singer and Saba a poet, the well-targeted throw of words underlines the above-stated inference.

Moving ahead, the story continues with the leads exploring what they want in life as far as the matters of the heart are concerned. More moments, heartbreaks and upheavals follow rounding off a well-structured script. So far so good.

ADHM, however, loses it, and pretty much so, like an unlucky but hardworking striker on the football pitch missing the finish. An unnecessary twist is introduced at the end which only serves to increase the length of the film.    

The acting has been satisfactory throughout, with Anushka stealing the show. There was, however, an element of cheesiness in the dialog delivery, especially with Aishwarya Bachchan. Music remains an important element in this KJo venture as well and every song (with the exception of ‘Break up song’) perfectly placed.

Sticking true to its name, ADHM talks about the complicacies of the heart and how difficult it is to judge things when the lines of division are not as vivid. Scoring high on dialog and sentiment arousal, ADHM misses on the much needed focus required on the execution front, thereby letting go of some of the most brilliant underlying themes which are most likely to be missed by the uninitiated, thereby bringing down the overall worth (and I am strictly not speaking about the revenue generation) of the experience this Diwali release.   

Acting: 3/5

Script: 3.5/5

Direction: 4/5
Overall: 3.5/5
Verdict: Recommended for everyone

Kadambari: A Romance in Poetry

What is whiter than snow, clearer than crystals and purer than water? What exceeds all the limits of enforced boundaries? Well, I could go on and believe me, I just erased four more lines of such rhetoric. Depending on your current mood you could have come up with various answers and there is no prize money here, but the correct one for now is ‘love’. Yes, it is that clichéd.

That is what Rabindra nath does to you. He creates moods and he swings them. And all that he does with the brisk movement of his pen.

The story, built around the family life of Indian poet, dramatist, novelist and Nobel prize winner Rabindra nath Tagore, talks about his pretty scandalized love affair with this sister in law, Kadambari.

Besides the simple angle of a scandalous love affair, the film also talks about human relationships at the grass-root level. In engrossing spectacle that the movie is, what is most fascinating is the ease with which the director, Suman Ghosh came out with whatever he had to say. The placement of the songs has been very carefully made. The music of the film, as a whole, is very noteworthy and commendable. Kudos, Bickram Ghosh!

Kadambari is not just another movie. It is a sensation. Beautifully played out by Kankana Sen Sharma, the lead spoke eloquently with her trifluous sentences after long gaps of unhindered silence. This could have easily been the best performance of Kankana, had she not raised the bar in Suman Mukhopadhay’s ‘The Last Poem’. Her small role in ‘Wake Up Sid’ also gave an idea to the world of her worth. And who can forget her in ‘Goynar Baksho’?

Prambrata as Rabindradra nath Tagore was quite suitable given the options in the industry. 

However, the intensity in his acting wasn’t up to the mark. This is one of those rare occasions when the 35 year old lacked in acting. The film could have reached another level of magic had he been able to manage competing with his co-lead. Adhiraj Ganguly as a young Rabindra nath was a poor choice. Riddhi Sen (the guy from Open Tee Bioscope) could have fit in much better.

Koushik Sen was brilliant in his role as Jatindranath, Tagore’s elder brother and Kadambari’s husband. The highest disappointment, however, has to be Titas Bhowmik as Gyanodanandini, Rabindra nath’s eder sister in law. The actress looked promising in the beginning but somehow, towards the end, it seemed like she had lost all interest.

Kadambari, as a movie soars. It takes you to the highs of romanticism and then brings you down with a thud, striking with the sense reality. It is a very much recommended watch.

Acting: 3/5

Script: 4.5/5

Direction: 4.5/5

Overall: 4/5

Verdict: Recommended for everyone

Katti Batti: A Lost Opportunity

Katti Batti, as the name itself suggests is a movie playful in appearance and a pretty funky one at that. It is also pretty sweet and sassy, you know, the kind as the first gift from your first love affair. Each of the earlier scenes in this movie were very well thought of to build the story line and each element, was extremely well looked out for. Emotions gleamed out in the storytelling. But then, all is well that ends well, remember?

Fair game, I say.  I am pretty convinced that the motive of the script was to create art. Like the times we used to write essays in School English tests. And keeping in line with the newly made analogy, suddenly time would slap us and we would put our faculties on an alarmed mode, tediously trying to finish within the time allotted to us. Much like that, the second half of the story reeks of the writer’s sudden remembrance of time. He suddenly realized that he actually had to end the story and he just couldn’t go on and on for eternity.

The movie certainly had a magnetic charm to it in the beginning and the first half breezed through. It was funny, interesting and the plot was running smoothly. Suddenly the reality of time comes in and spoils the play. I would say that the entire blame couldn’t go to the writer. There was one too many flaws in editing as well. The movie had been creatively divided between cross-roads of the present and the past (the past comprising of the protagonist’s memories, of course). However, as we entered the second half, slowly all the fun had started fading away and a cheerful, sweet and lean storyline was starting to gain weight. This is the problem with most storylines these days. It all starts as fun and interesting but towards the end it just keeps getting dragged until it eventually ends, relieving the audience and their patience, which would have by then mostly run out.

Kangana Ranaut’s Payal could be used as a meter of the storyline. She was all glowing, full of promise at first but slowly, as the story progressed, she would die a dull, natural death (oops, spoilers!!!). Kangana Ranaut has set a benchmark with her acting in Queen and Tanu Weds Manu Returns and she couldn’t stick to that level here anymore. Of course she was a better actor here than Imran. Perhaps he is out of practice these days.

I write movie reviews but I still couldn’t decide which genre this movie should belong to. The makers say that it’s a RomCom but I am stuck with sitcom, drama, a mainstream Bollywood movie without a genre and even, in fact, a saucy music video like those of Yo Yo Honey Singh (whenever I write Honey Singh I feel this compulsion to write Yo Yo in front of it).

The script had a huge potential to be somewhat different from the hundreds of its contemporaries. It could certainly have made a huge impact and been a cult in film making like a Yeh Jawaani Hai Diwani if not a Sholay but somehow somewhere it gets lost in its purpose and ends up being a traditional Bollywood movie.

Acting: 2.5/5

Script: 2.5/5

Direction: 3/5

Overall: 2.75/5

Verdict: Watchable.

P.S: There are some twists in the story that even add to degrade the quality of the script and hints largely at several places, in bold black letters at its flaws. I feel sorry not being able to hold them up here since that would require me to give out all the spoilers, but I really want to. You see, it takes some effort to sit and find flaws. May be that could be done sometime later, when the movie would have reached its saturation point (I just coined this term, with a different meaning, one with respect to film-making, yeaah!!).

Until then, keep watching movies and reading reviews!  

Manjhi, the Man With a Mountain Heart

What do you do when you face a hurdle? 

Just wait for the government to fix it, duh!

And what if you are in a place so remote that the Government cannot reach to you? 

Well then, you know..

Dasharath Manjhi of Gehlaur village, in the district Gaya of Bihar was also faced with the same disposition. Except, his hurdle was a huge block of rock mountain, one that surrounds his village so nicely that it took an average commutator days to enter his village if he chose to avoid the hill path. And, as you can very well guess after my introduction, he chose to do something about this problem himself.

Aah! Guess again! You are wrong. Okay, fine. I’m telling you what he chose to do about it. He chose to break the hill. Himself.

The film starts with a monologue between Dasharath and the hill where he challenges it saying, “So you think you are too big? I’m not sopping till I reduce you to rubbles.” Well, that takes enormous determination and if I may add, some real light headedness. But if everyone on the face of this planet were sane, who would change it for the better?

Dasharath Manjhi, or the Mountain Man, played by Nawazzuddin Siddiqui had been laughed at, scorned, humiliated for being from a lower caste, stoned for a mad man, cheated for being illiterate and the list doesn’t stop there.  He was a courageous man, determined and self-willed.  And who could have been better for the role than Mr. Siddiqui himself? Nawazuddin was actually a little above his normal self in acting (given that his normal self is so flawless that there is only a little scope for improvement) and his dialogue delivery was particularly commendable here.

As for Radhika Apte, playing Falguniya, Dasharath’s wife and the love of life, she has grown as an actor. I mean I was shocked to see her fit the role so well and act so sublime. I mean, it’s difficult for someone to believe that she could act, having seen her in several meaningless roles in movies like Badlapur where her only job was to strip.

This film beautifully captures and does its best to present to the audience the adversity of those times and the atrocities that used to take place when the poor were ruled by the rich, even in independent India. The poverty in the villages (killing rats and having them was apparently a delicacy) and the ridiculous judgements that were not so ridiculous for the convicts (a man had nails hammered in his feet because he failed to pay his debt).

Photography deserves a commendation in this movie. The beautiful capturing of scenes by Rajeeb Jain points out once again why I place him among the best cinematographers in the country. The songs are neither too catchy nor do they have any prospect of catching on. But they have been suitably coalesced with the story. However, I would say that there was one too many songs than required for a story of this magnitude to get popular with the masses. No harm done, though.

Manjhi, the Mountain Man is the kind of Cinema that suits being called a piece of art. This is the kind of movie that comes to B-town in a long while. It’s a story of a legend played out by another. This is a must watch for everyone, and it is my personal request that you go to a movie theatre and watch the movie with some popcorn. Don’t disrespect Manjhi with the blessing of Torrent. 

Bajrangi Bhaaijan: How could it have been made

You have a life that is the dream of most and envy of the others. You are close to fifty, single and supposedly virgin.  You are treated like a cult by your fans and people all over the country chant your name as one of the living legends (even though you didn’t do anything remotely as such to reach that stature). You are th

e king of kings, you are Sallu Miya!

And what happens when you star Sallu Miya in a film and release it on Eid? It not only breaks all records of the box office but also establishes new ones. And when the movie has a story and a message, oh my god, this is a sure shot formula of success. Adhering to the formula, Bajrangi Bhaaijan is making ridiculous amounts of money.

 Bajrangi Bhaaijan is nothing different from one of his earlier movies like Ready or Kick. Even here, he does get to play himself on screen (keep reading, all of you who thought he was acting. Allow me to convince you). The only slight difference here, however, is that with director Kabir Khan taking the lead behind the camera, our Sallu Bhai shows his human side rather than the dashing muscular protector of family and friends (look at Dabaang, Ready and pretty much anything else). The other similarity of Bajrangi Bhaaijan with his other films is that even here he dances to songs with minimum limb movements. And one has to admit that he has mastered that art really well.

When you are almost worshipped by people and your word becomes the law (okay, this was a bit exaggerated but you get the point), you have some social responsibility, a man with a sane mind would point out. And that social responsibility yells to be taken care of when you are convicted of some crime and a section of society frowns upon you. Whether to punish you or let you go becomes a matter of political intellect and could severely affect your country’s economy.

So here you stood. On one side you had a set of devoted fans who would do anything for you (this was evident on social media when the trial was on) and on the other you had pseudo intellectuals who having googled a little bit about what was going on had taken upon themselves the charge to arrange protest marches seeking justice. You knew that your fandom was at stake but you couldn’t afford to leave it that way. You had to devise something to control the situation. So what could you do, given the fact that you could only play yourself in movies, having lost the practice of pretending to be someone else on the screen?

‘Eureka!’ Kabir Khan might have said.

‘You are a person with a huge heart and let’s show that side of you,’ he might have went on, enthusiastically about his new found golden idea. He must have went on to convince Salman how the portrayal of his ‘Being Human’ side could resolve the situation in this time of crisis. He could add a brilliant moving message at the end and fulfill his social responsibility as well as a few subtle ones to convince the people how innocent he is (he doesn’t speak lies in the movie and is too respectful of everything and everyone around him, even monkeys) which would stick to the audience’s mind and would come of his aid when they sat down to analyze his criminal side. 

And it was done. Bajrangi Bhaaijan sells out to be one of the biggest hits ever and washes box office records like they didn’t matter. Our Sallu Miya gets back all his fans he was on the verge of losing and like every Bollywood movie (and incidentally this one), the story has a happy ending.

The rest remains history, to be spoken about another day.

Ebar Shobor: An epitome of nonsensical naming

It was a bright sunny day, perhaps, when the makers of the film Ebar Shobor got together and decided that they should definitely make another film.

“I have a brilliant concept,” said one.

“Let’s hear your story, bro,” anther shined with exuberance as he uttered the words.

And then the first speaker, whoever he was, convinced the others of the brilliance of his plot. Platform 9 (the production company) and Arindam Sil, the director got profusely excited and they started shooting.

It all could have definitely worked that way.

Ebar shobor promises a gripping watch and a better than many narration of events. However, when the world is full with detectives like Sherlock Homes and our very own Feluda and Bomkesh, a witty and imaginative Shabor doesn’t leave a reason for the audience to be impressed.

This is more like a CID episode, sans the pain of stupid comments. Shobor Dasgupta (played by Saswata Chatterjee) is an interesting man, personnel of the Detective Department of the Lalbazar Police Station of Kolkata Police, who takes very much pleasure introducing himself with his rank and identity.

He is to solve the murder mystery of one Mitali Ghosh (Swastika Mukherjee) who was found dead after having drunk a lot at a party in her house. She was the ex-wife of Mithu Mitra (Abir Chatterjee) and had a fling with Panthu Halder (Ritwick Chakrabarty) before she and Mithu tied the knot.  The other important characters include Barun Ghosh (Deepankar De), Mitali’s father, Doel Ghosh (June Maliyah), Samiran Bagchi (Ranhul Banerjee) and Haren (Nitya Ganguly).

Saswata as a police officer had played a very important role in Proloy and his attitude there had the craze for achieving something. Here, Saswata seems a little too disinterested, perhaps because Ebar Shobor doesn’t have even one scene of Saswata drinking on screen. Swastika is a perfect fit for the role. Her real life OCD helps. Abir too was in form. Payel Sarkar as Joyeeta Ghosh, Mitali’s cousin, seems too tantalized to work with people like the other members of the cast. Her innocent eyes and body language makes it too unreal to believe that even she believes that she is actually in the film.

The background score and the couple of songs sufficed the musical part adequately.

Ebar Shobor is more like the repetition of how a life has an enormous potential to be screwed away because of flings. If you want to be thrilled about watching a detective movie, Ebar Shobor is not for you. However, if your definition of detective literature is CID, Ebar Shobor is your game.

Acting: 2/5

Script: 2.5/5

Direction: 2/5

Overall: 2.3/5

Verdict: Doesn't live up to expectations.

P.S: If you think that you have some skills at being a detective, you really do if you have been able to guess who the killer is after reading this review. If you haven’t, take a try and read it once more.

Aamra: The story of Us

What comes to your mind when you, as a Bengali, hear the word, ‘Aamra’? “We”, as it is called in English, this beautiful word stands to mean “us”, the accumulation of life as a whole or a certain set of communities where I, most necessarily, must belong to. It is a word for unification and generalization and holds a plethora of other meanings which could, if you really wanted it to, depending upon your perspective, express the patriotic version of yourself as well.

But in this innovatively directed and scripted movie by director Mainak Bhowmick, Aamra holds a new meaning in the name whatsoever. This is a movie shown and shot in the way of a documentary and is primarily directed at questions regarding what we mean by love and sex and all the other hyper rated things we want to involve ourselves in. It is based upon the lives of six unrelated characters. Well, to say ‘lives’ would be a bit too much. The perspective is huge tough. It was released back in 2006, and when I was scrolling down my movie directories, I never thought that this would be a movie so baffling. Indeed, this is an experimental cinema and probably the first sex-comedy in Bengali. It is also one of the first digital cinemas in Bengali. And the way it is shot, I would still maintain, most other filmmakers will not even dare to walk that road even to this day, almost nine years later.

Shots of Music World in Park Street and Calcutta when it wasn’t shrouded with blue and white remind the good old days when rape and murder wasn’t so common. The shots also hold potential to bring back many other long lost memories.  The script is very well thought of and implemented. The story brings out the necessity for us (Aamra), normal people to explore ourselves and push the boundaries of taboo established by the society. Back in 2006, it was a pretty tough job to do, I must mention. The beeps in dialogues clearly show how afraid filmmakers were of the Censor Board back then. Being a sex-comedy, the movie doesn’t have one sexually implicit scene. This was the level of strictness that the Cesor Board maintained. Times have changed so much!

The cast is well picked. Parambrata as a jobless rock star, Kaushik as a sexually enthused professor, Jishu as a filmmaker, Ananya as a school teacher and Arpita as a house wife bring out the depravity and frustration slowly building up in their lives due to the established taboos in the society. Rajatava, Rudranil and a special appearance by Pallavi also add to the catchy script and storytelling. However, Jishu, to me, wasn’t the most suitable for his role. A Jeet would have been fine, but that’s just me.

Just like a chemical reaction, a movie script also has a mechanism and dynamics that everyone knows of but doesn’t mind speaking out. Establish an order, create disturbances in the prevailing order so anarchy prevails and then eliminate the anarchic elements to bring the system to order once again. Well, that’s just a movie script served in a scientific way.  Just like the rate of a reaction varies with the way the steps are completed, a movie is judged by the way these steps are implemented in its script. And in Aamra, things are just as fine.

I would not speak anything here regarding the story of the movie because that might hamper your interest in watching it. I would really like you to watch it. It’s a blast from the past, it speaks about things you would rather not and to look back to those days of tightened taboos, you’d be really happy the way society has shaped up now.

Acting: 3/5

Script: 3.2/5

Direction: 3.5/5

Overall: 3.2/5

Verdict: A must watch for everyone.