Newton : We need more of them !

#Newton : Everyone noticed the falling of fruits from tree but it took one Sir Issac Newton to ponder over the reason behind it that led to the discovery of gravitational force. It isn’t a mere coincidence that Amit Masurkar’s Netwon has a scene where the main protagonist Nutan Kumar aka Newton is eating an apple while reading the election manual. Everyone goes through the process of reading a manual and as shown in one of the scenes in the movie ,many in fact know the process by heart, but there are only a few who have the courage to follow the rule , to stand in the line of fire to deliver their duty .

Newton asks many tough fundamental questions, many of whose answer it doesn’t have. But it forces one to ponder. In a powerful scene the main protagonist reads out the names of the candidates to the naxal hit villagers, telling them that they can vote for their choice of politicians who will fulfill their demands and the villagers respond back telling this is the first time they are hearing those names and none of the politicians even know their problem. In the final act we see the forest has been destroyed. Plants got replaced by plants (industrial). No one asks the questions around the people who live in those jungles, no one is bothered about their livelihood, their culture, their practices and their lives. They probably remain just as headcount in the voter’s list. People remember them every five years only during the great Indian circus. Foreign media visits, Photo –ops happen and then they are forgotten like those burnt houses. The film is a terrific satire on the dance of democracy. And the beauty of the film is it doesn’t take sides. It leaves the audience to decide for himself.

Newton boasts of an ensemble cast where everyone out performs everyone. Pankaj Tripathi and Rajkumar Rao are outstanding. Want to learn acting? No need to go to an acting school. Just watch these two pounce upon each other, almost literally! The support cast of Anjali Patil, Raghubir Yadav and Sanjay Mishra are terrific too. The films dialogues are witty and razor sharp. I couldn’t find a single dull moment. At 106 minutes its length was just perfect.

If you are looking for answers then Newton isn’t a film for you. But if you are the kind who gets disturbed by the happenings in his/her surroundings , who comes back home and contemplates over the tough questions asked , the one who loves to do what is right than what is convenient , the one who does his duty without thinking that he is doing a favor , go and watch Newton. They don’t make such satires too often now a days, at least in Bollywood. It isn’t a flawless film, yet who cares , we need many such Newtons , in our lives and in our cinema. I will put it right up there along with Mukti Bhavan and Death in Gunj as one of the finest films of 2017.

Simran - A Kangana Ranaut Show !

#Simran: Two distinctly different films within a film and an irresistible Kangana Ranaut .  Simran opens beautifully, like most of Hansal Mehta films, and we are introduced to Praful Patel (no, not the former civil aviation Minister) our protagonist, the housekeeping staff from “Hotel Industry”. The next 42 odd minutes are extremely breezy as we discover the life of Praful , a 30 year old divorced and a bit whimsical  yet focused  girl who wants to live life on her terms and fulfil her dream of having her own house , just to run away from the constant nagging of her father.  One fine morning, after another round of fight with her father, Praful takes off for an all-expense paid trip to Las Vegas. And her life takes an ugly turn and within minutes the script also starts circling around, not being able to apply its landing gear. It is a pity that a film which courted controversy over writing credits actually suffers because of the script. As they say may be too many cooks spoiled the broth.

Simran is an out and out Kangana Ranaut show with not even a distant second in sight. She acts like a lady possessed. Beneath the quirkiness lies a vast emptiness. Behind the tough “devil may care” attitude lies a vulnerable Simran who wanted to be loved, heard and understood. And Kangana beautifully exposes it.  She is on a roll. Watch out for the scene where she tries to tell her suiter about her character flaws. Some of the dialogues in the film are razor sharp. The cinematography is just par but the music is a big letdown.

It is the third act where the film nose dives and the script becomes contrived.  So you come across repetitive bank robberies with the same modus operandi, banks with only cashiers, without security guards. Instead of focusing on the jauntiness which seemed to work for it in the first half, the second half focuses on myriad emotions with some inconsequential scenes including a car chase.

However in spite of some of its flaws , Simran is a film I enjoyed watching and probably can even re watch just for its irrepressible protagonist . I’m sure Kangana must be tired, because she is constantly running in mind. How I wish I could have said the same about Simran ! I will go out with 3 out of 5 for this Kangana Ranaut blitzkrieg.