Naam Shabana : Really ,Who Cares !

Did you watch Kuldeep Yadav plotting the wicket of Peter Handscomb in the last Test against Australia. The wrist spinner fooled the batsman into believing that he is going to bowl a wrong’un whereas he actually bowled a chinaman that went through the gates of Handscomb dislodging the stumps. Writer director duo of Neeraj Pandey and Shivam Nair does the same to the audience. Bowled them through the gate! NaamShabana promoted as the story of the making of a spy can at best be called a predictable revenge drama where an undercooked espionage angle is force fitted. The film, a spin off from 2015 sleeper hit Baby, tracing the life of the female agent Shabana Khan, goes so much into the details that after a point it becomes too predictable and boring.

The film opens with two hard to believe pot bellied intelligent agents cornering their target, a dreaded arms dealer whom intelligence agencies of multiple countries are chasing for a decade, in a busy street. As the film progresses the agency decides to send a green horn to neutralize the target that even the experts couldn’t get hold of. So much for sensible writing.  The first half that traces the back story is extremely slow.  The story lacks conviction and the screen play is incoherent. Even the casting is uninspiring. If taut screen play and well choreographed chases were high point of Baby, Naam Shabana suffers from lazy writing and unimaginative editing. After a point even the background score becomes irritating.

Taapsee Pannu’s laboured acting is too evident in a film where she has almost 120 minutes of screen time. She is solid in scenes where she is kicking ass, but insipid in scenes where she needs to emote. As far as Manoj Bajpayee is concerned it seems the producer had paid him only for his voice or the director probably forgot what a fine actor he is. It is such a pity that his scope in the film is reduced to just delivering few badly written dialogues.  The rest of the cast from Baby including Akshay, Anupam and Danny are used just as  dressing in the salad to lure the audience. In espionage movies a lot depends on editing and pace. Sadly in Naam Shabana the editing is sloppy and at 150 minutes it tests your patience.

It is unfortunate that a film which had so much promise at conceptualization stage just ends up taking the audience for a ride. With some solid effort and intention it could have ended up being such an interesting story. I will go out with 2 out of 5 for this confused and badly written film. Patience is a good virtue to possess. So save some money and wait till it gets a Television premier.

Trapped - Are You ?

#Trapped: There are high-rises around. There are millions of people around. Yet no one can hear your voice or may be no one wants to. Have you ever experienced that loneliness, the feeling of being left out, the helplessness of not being able to reach out? Have you ever spoken to the mirror in front or with the lizard on the wall at some moment of wretched loneliness?  Have you seen life slip by, as you set out on our journey to fulfil those big aspirations, get trapped in a vicious cycle and realized at the end of the day how you have missed celebrating the small things in life. Have the realization of being blessed with the basics to live a comfortable life ever dawned on you?

While Vikramaditya Motwane’s ingenious film Trapped belongs to the survivor genre, his only protagonist Shourya’s struggle is allegorical. It is as much a struggle within as it is to break out of the claustrophobic set up. Motwane and his writers Amit Joshi and Hardik Mehta intelligently use symbolism to drive home their point. The apartment Shourya gets trapped in is metaphorically named “Swarg”. The city where his voice struggles to reach out to a single person is actually the maximum city Mumbai where millions live. And the main protagonist himself, who gets scared of rat, is named as Shourya . But when put against the wall, Shourya’s survival instincts come to the fore and he fights all odds.

Trapped is neither an easy film to make, nor an easy film to digest. Motwane shows enough courage to take up the project and Rajkumar Rao puts his heart and soul into the character. In just about seven years from playing Adarsh in  Love Sex & Dhokha to Shahid Azmi in Shahid to Deepu Sebastian in Aligarh to, Deepak in City lights to  Shourya in Trapped , this man has metamorphosed into one of the most flexible young actors we have today. Watch out for scene where he comes back to the flat after being trapped in it.  The eyes say it all, the feeling of conquering his inner fears . Sidhhartha Dwivedi’s cinematography is top notch. He masterfully uses natural light and shoots from close angles to create the tension.

However unlike other survivor films like Cast Away, Trapped fails to give enough edge of the seat moments. While you understand Shourya’s plight after a point you don’t feel his pain. Shourya’s attempts become repetitive. And that is where Trapped loses some steam. However personally for me it was not just a film about survival, it was a film with a much deeper metaphysical subtext.

Trapped is a gutsy attempt at making good cinema and deserves a watch. Go, acquire the courage to fight and get out of the vicious cycle or remain lonely and trapped. The fight is as much within as it is with outside world. Your choices can liberate you or leave you scared for life!

Rangoon

#Rangoon: Do you remember Sachin Tendulkar’s 241 not out at SCG against Australia ? As Jason Gillespie and Brett Lee steamed in to bowl full length deliveries outside off stump and Sachin, instead of creaming them through the cover, would put his head down and play straight or simply let it go. As an audience, when the innings was in progress, we all sighed at the sight of a missed opportunity to hit a boundary. Something similar happens while watching Rangoon. Every scene of Rangoon is visually breathtaking and pregnant with possibilities and yet it stays short of touching the soul.

 It is not easy to live up to the standards of Haider , arguably Bharadwaj’s finest . And this time he didn’t have either Shakespeare or any of his tragic characters to fall back on. A magnificently picturesque canvas, heavy slice of history, a love triangle in the backdrop of war for independence, some superlative performances, Rangoon had all the ingredients of being another Vishal Bhardwaj epic. But then probably he had so much to say that the film misses out on what exactly it set out to portray. Bhardwaj tries to do what Tarantino did in “Inglourious Basterds” to present historical fiction using a large paint brush. But then while the later stayed true to the theme, the former strays around too much. The shoddy editing and an overstretched and convenient climax don’t help the matter much.  Every time the film comes close to exploring the emotions, the screen play veers around.  

However even a struggling Vishal Bhardwaj can give one a cinematic experience which only a handful of directors can claim to give. And Rangoon on that account is a film that must be seen to understand what scale, canvas and aesthetics mean. Even simple scenes are made to look magnificent. The performances have been even and Kangana Ranaut once again shows who the real queen is.  While the backdrop can be anything, Kangana makes sure you will remember Rangoon as the story of a fierce yet vulnerable Julia .The cinematography won’t let you take your eyes off the screen.

Remember the Sachin innings. Only after it got over we realised it was history in making. It was not fluent, it was not flawless. Yet it was an innings that you will watch every time you want to understand what mental strength and concentration means.  Rangoon too has its share of issues especially in editing and screen play, but then it’s a film that helps you understand the medium. It’s a film that is visually enriching and who knows how history will look at Rangoon. Bloody hell, after all it’s a “Vishal Bhardwaj creation”.

I will go out with 3 out of 5 for this Kangana Ranaut starrer. The show must go on!

In pursuit of ....

He woke up to the screeching sound, as the nose wheel of the aircraft touched the ground. From the tiny windows of the plane he looked outside. The airport stared at him. The same old forlorn look. Ah airports, he thought, the melting point of so many emotions, emotions of meeting, emotions of parting and yet it never matters to the airport.  It never reciprocates, may be it doesn’t even understand the feelings. Have you ever been deeply in love with someone for whom you are just one of those many suitors? Have you seen the irreverence in her eyes when you pour your heart out to her? It doesn’t matter to her, it doesn’t matter to the airport either.   Both are indifferent, the world doesn’t affect them, emotions don’t touch them. Sometimes he wonders, why he can’t be like an airport. Stoic and equanimous. 

As he got out of the aircraft and moved towards the shuttle, it seemed someone whispered in his ear. He looked back. Nah, no one was there. It was only a gust of fresh breeze that touched his cheeks and went past.  Faceless yet familiar. Playing hide and seek. The whispering was almost hushed.  He looked towards the sky. The sun was making one last sincere attempt to shine before bidding a goodbye kiss to the night. And the sky was splashed with divine colors as day and night marched towards each other. He had seen this before, ages back, standing on his terrace, in his corner where dreams everyday clashed with reality at the stroke of twilight. And in those days dreams won every day, every single day. Reality was a naïve, distant competitor. As he got down the shuttle he watched the gardener watering the airport garden. The fragrance of the water drenched soil was so invigorating. He tried remembering when the last time he had this feeling. But then, why are these feelings coming back today. As he looked around he saw the airport signboard. Ah then, it was the familiarity of home town, a place where he had left a piece of his heart. He had gone out in pursuit of success, he had come back in search of happiness.

The sudden turbulence in the plane and the subsequent announcement of the air hostess to tighten the seat belt woke him up. The screen in front showed the aircraft flying at 600 miles per hour and his destination New York , four hours away . He sat up and drank a bit of water. Ah a dream it was. Today the table has turned a full circle and reality became the winner. Dream has become a naïve, distant competitor. Home then is far away, far far away.   

Haraamkhor

Haramkhor : This is a strange film! Throughout the 94 minutes, I was completely engaged in the film, watching the story unfold, yet when I came back home, I found multiple layers to the story. The title of the film is “HaramKhor” yet director Shlok Sharma rightly treats his characters as they are, with all their frailties, without being judgemental about them ( I m presuming the declaimers were put just to please censor) . The disclaimer talks about exploitation, yet I was not too sure if the film was meant to be on exploitation or the story of the loneliness of adolescence, the desire to have a companion, be cared, be physically close and the complexity of it all. If Sandhya would have been 18 years 15 days instead of 15 years then the entire arc would have been different. So, then it is a story about age.   That period of life when impishness of childhood is on its way out and maturity is just about setting in.  That period in your life when you feel the urge but don’t understand it.  And what happens when you meet someone who fulfills those desires, but you are not too sure of his intentions. But then was Shyam and Sandhya’s relationship exploitative? May be morally or legally, but I didn’t find Sandhya thinking it to be, till Nilu tells her that probably both of them have chosen the wrong man . Let’s go back to the “Age” discussion then. And if it is indeed about age then watch out for that ghastly last scene where this innocence of age is lost, where Kamal having lost his love and his friend mercilessly attacks Shyam.  

The characters have been etched out beautifully in Haramkhor and with the two child actors Irfan and Samad in full flow the film keeps you invested for most part of it.  Their chemistry and loyalty to each other is a treat to watch. Sweta Tripathi , who played an endearing character in Masaan , picks up the complex character of Sandhya going through myriad emotions . Nawaz as the village teacher Shyam is absolutely natural with his mannerisms. The cinematography captures the heartland of Madhya Pradesh. And I loved the scenes where the camera pans on to the empty fields and windmills, probably reflecting the emptiness inside and continuous churn.  

However my problem with Haramkhor is its inability to delve deeper. It could have explored the complexities has it decided to scratch beneath the surface. Yet it is a bold attempt that deserves a watch.  So go and find the Haramkhor, is it Shyam or Mintu or Kamal or the judgemental society that jumps to a conclusion. To each his own!

With Love, Calcutta !

Between Calcutta & Kolkata falls the shadow! The choice between preserving 300 years rich history & heritage or accepting modernity and consumerism with all its pompous glory, between choosing to remain cut off from the pace of other cities or embracing globalization, between the desire to make time irrelevant or changing with time, between being comfortable in remaining “City of Joy” or aspiring to “Become City of Hope” can be an unnerving one for any city with traces of humanity and shades of past, let alone Calcutta. There is a constant conflict between the old & the new. They say “Change is the only constant”, but “Poriborton” demands its share of sacrifices.    And these contrasts and conflicts are the essence of all the short stories in “With Love, Calcutta”. There is nothing common in them except the city.

The play brings out plethora of emotions, questions convention, harps back on bygone era, hypes over a colourful future, reflects on contrasting thoughts that moves continuously to arrive at a compromise, talks about existentialism  , makes you nostalgic and forces you to fall in love once again with the city , its absurdities , its idiosyncrasies . Most of the performances are Top notch.  They move you. The live music adds depth to the narration.  Video projection has been used very intelligently to make the play impactful. And in case you have missed the play right now log on to you tube and listen to “ Byartho Sahoro” & December’er Sohoro”

“With Love, Calcutta “leaves you with a lump in your throat. It is an ode to the city, its people and the immense possibilities.

“After all when it comes to the could have been Calcutta can be such a bitch”

Take a bow my MAD bunch of prodigies.

With Love -

My top 10 movies of 2016

That time of the year when you sit back and reflect on the films that made a mark during the year, the films that touched hearts and performances that left a lasting impression.  While 2016 can’t be termed as a watershed year in terms of the quality of films that we had this year, it for sure was a year when our leading ladies continued their march towards playing strong women centric characters. They ruled the roost. 2016 can be termed as a year of liberation for Hindi cinema as the films explored myriad themes starting from drug addiction to mental illness to female sexuality to homosexuality. The response to films like Aligarh, Phobia, Dear Zindegi , Udta Punjab and  Neerja  are a sign of maturing audience . And boy, that’s a fascinating and promising sign. The year that started with Airlift and ended with a bang with Dangal had couple of rom-coms, sports drama and Biopics as well. And somewhere else, Nagraj Manjule gave us two endearing characters Archi & Parshya and a gem of a film “Sairat”.

Alright then, my favorite Hindi films of 2016 that made me happy, made me uncomfortable, made my eyes moist and gave me hope

1.Dangal: The story of Phogat sisters and their father is sure to inspire many in days to come. The film will always be remembered for its ensemble cast, brilliant uniform acting and an inspiring story. More on Dangal here

http://souryadash.blogspot.in/2016/12/dangal-man-cant-be-defeated.html

2.Kapoor & Sons: Some terrific life lessons, some phenomenal acting, some meaningful music and beautiful storytelling makes Kapoor and Sons an endearing film that tells you even a so called “Dysfunctional Family” somewhere deep within nurtures a desire to be framed in one single frame. Behind the subterfuge lies an overwhelming desire to be loved, to be noticed. Living on a borrowed life do we have the luxury of keeping our real feelings under the wrap for far too long? It makes you laugh, makes you cry and literally makes you understand the nuances and nuisance of Family. The family can be yours, mine or Kapoor’s!

3. Aligarh: While the premise of the film is based on Prof. Srinivas Ramachandra Siras’s sexual orientation, deep down Aligarh doesn’t just talk about homosexuality; it in fact asks much deeper questions about Individual dignity, about the right to privacy and equality. It bares open a deep rooted moral myopia that we as a society suffer from, it talks about love that needs to be felt and understood, it exposes the loneliness of advancing age. Watch out for that scene where sitting on a chair, in one corner of the room, Prof Siras is slowly sipping his drink and humming “Aapki Nazron ne Samjha”. His eyes are shut, he is completely hypnotized by Lata Mangeshkar’s mellifluous voice, his hands move automatically in tune with the music.

More on Aligarh here

http://souryadash.blogspot.in/2016/02/aligarh.html

4. Pink: It is just not a film; it is a tight slap on our feudal mindset, a Kick on our hypocritical male entitlement approach. A powerful script, crisp screen play, appropriate casting, seamless performance and scathing background score makes it a must watch film of 2016.

5. Neerja: Courage has nothing to do with age, call of duty is beyond religion or heightened nationalism, she was just 22 yrs 363 days old , What mattered to her was the safety of her passengers, Neerja Bhanot's life was an extraordinary tale of courage ,commitment & compassion and Ram Madhavani made a brilliant attempt of depicting it on screen. Watch out for Sonam Kapoor’s fabulous performance.

More on Neerja here

http://souryadash.blogspot.in/2016/02/a-tale-of-courage-commitment-compassion.html

6. Udta Punjab: There are many telling scenes in UdtaPunjab , starting from the opening one. But it is the last one which is the most poignant. The nameless hockey player from Bihar who had come to the land of five rivers with a hope to earn her livelihood as a migrant worker and accidentally gets entangled in a world of drug and inhuman torture finds her redemption and rechristens herself as Mary Jane ! All through that excruciating journey she had never abandoned hope or her zest for a life beyond. In spite of the allegation of plagiarism Udta Punjab is a very fine film that takes on the issue of drug menace in a land that has been romanticized for its mustard fields. Alia ,Shahid and Daljit Dosanjh are terrific and that song “ Ek kuddi” still elicits nostalgia.

More on Udta Punjab

http://souryadash.blogspot.in/2016/06/udtapunjab-it-soars-high-very-high.html

7. Ae Dil Hai Muskil: Finally we had a bollywood mainstream cinema that explores the complexity of love and the heartache that follows unrequited love. It shows feelings that are bare, unapologetic and real and passion which is uninhibited. Ranbir and Anushka are in fine form and the music is top notch. And if you have ever been in ‘State of love’ go discover the Ayan, Alizeh, Saba and Tahir in you.

8.Budhia Singh Born to Run: This heat wrenching film on India’s youngest Marathon runner delves deep to explore the multiple emotional strands while exposing the babudom that has engulfed Indian bureaucracy in general and sports administration in particular. Saumendra Padhi’s direction is astute and Manoj Bajpayee yet again gives a stellar performance as coach Biranchi.

9.Dhanak: Nagesh Kukunoor’s Dhanak is a film that takes you back to world of Santiago in” The Alchemist” , it almost cajoles you to believe in miracles.  It makes you part of Pari & chotu’s journey. The fairytale like treatment and effortless acting of the child artists make Dhanak a delightful watch.

10. Dear Zindegi: Dear Zindegi explores the Journey of Kaira . Alia is awesome and Shahrukh as Dr. Khan charms his way through Kaira’s psyche and Audience’s heart .Gauri Shinde’s narration is interesting.

More on Dear Zindegi Here

http://souryadash.blogspot.in/2016/11/dear-zindagimay-be-slice-of-your-life.html

Few more films that could not make it to my top 10  list but definitely deserve a watch are Parched,Kaahani2,Nil Batey Sannata,Airlift ,M S Dhoni –the Untold story ,Phobia , FAN and Sarbjit.