ChhiChhore : Live the Moment !

What an endearing sight it was to wake up and see the Prime Minister of the country consoling and giving courage to the ISRO chairman after the chairman broke down following the failure to communicate with Chandrayan -2’s Vikram Lander. But in a country paranoid with success , where winner takes it all and no one remembers the runners up , this unfortunately is an aberration and not the norm.  And hence student suicide is an epidemic that claims one life, every hour , in this country. Personally , I grew up in a set up where failure was simply unacceptable and was treated as the end of the road . Yet ,in life , I have failed more often than any of my contemporaries . While I had the tenacity and resilience to fight back after every single failure with more vigour to prove myself and to not give up , often these struggles end up being long and lonely. And in vulnerable moments like these the  parents or  the partner or the friends or the family play a crucial role in explaining the inevitability of failure in life and the importance of effort . Failure is an integral part of life and every failure should be treated not as the end of the road but as the beginning of yet another exciting journey to explore one’s potential. In our quest to win we must never forget the joy of living.

Nitesh Tiwari’s Chhichhore is a film about friendship, failure, fun and nostalgia all rolled into one. Tiwari beautifully fits the story into the frame of its genre , straightaway transporting you into a nostalgic world full of unbridled optimism .  If you have ever lived in a campus , you will readily identify with Tiwari’s characters . In fact you may end up being reminded of the Anni, Derek, Acid , Sexa or Maya from your batch. Chhichhore depicts the unhinged, carefree campus life when life was a tad more than just chasing daily targets or making those ugly spread sheets .

Tiwari keeps the story simple and packs it with lots of punchlines using the campus lingo. The film opens with a water war in a premier engineering campus in Mumbai and time travels twenty years ahead when Ani and Maya’s adolescent son Raghav attempts suicide and lands up in an ICU. From there on it cuts between past and present , imparting some life lessons ,packed with some fine punchlines and whacky humour . The enduring friendship that one makes during college life is portrayed beautifully . The actors are brilliant while playing their youthful characters.

However what pulls down Chhichhore is some really sloppy make up and Shraddha Kapoor. Even the constant shift between a glorious past and a gloomy present looks a bit contrived . However these misfires seems forgivable thanks to Tiwari’s earnest attempt at story telling.

Chhichhore is not about winning . It is about the attempt to win and in the process  living those moments and making lasting memories . Life is never about winning and losing , its all about living . So once in a while step aside , put that feet away from the accelerator , give expectations a break and take a moment to live and yes don’t burden others with your expectation . Let them live too. They will figure a way out ! And yes there is no shame in losing as long as one has given his best and had enjoyed the process.

I will go out with 3 out of 5 for this bunch of losers , who may have lost a match but ended up winning million hearts !

Article 15 : We the People Of India ...

#Article15 : Article15 starts with Bob Dylan’s music from “ Blowing In the Wind” playing in the background - “ How many times can a man turn his head And pretend that he doesn’t see” and explodes in your face asking questions that are uncomfortable , that exposes a deep rooted caste system in this country that you & I have been mute witness to or shall I say have been party to and brings forth the disturbing consequences of a system that promotes “ US vs Them” and muffles every voice that asks a question . Will there be an end to this divisive, parochial system ? Will there be an end to the killings? The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind. Things will probably change when You & I will stop waiting for a Hero and act like one.

Bansky had once said “ Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable” and in that sense Article 15 is a terrific film ,right  in the league of Govind Nihalin’s classic Aakrosh . Guara’s eye reflect the same anguish , anger and helplessness that Lahanya Bhiku’s eyes expressed . And in almost four decades nothing much has changed . Based on the Badaun Gang Rape and murder case , where two teenage girls had been raped and hanged on a tree  to teach a lesson to lower caste , to show them their “Aukat” . Named after the provision in the Indian Constitution that prohibits "discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth" Article15 is a disturbing film about the realities of India , about the procedural mockery, about how caste divides have been created in the name of maintaining imaginary balance  and the way constitutional rights have been subverted . It brings out the helplessness the angst of the underprivileged . It reflects how those who are supposed to protect have become the perpetrators . It shows how people are killed because they asked a Rs 3 hike in their wages.

Shot in monochromatic frames Article 15 is atmospheric spans out like a thriller. There is a conscious effort to disturb the audience with the close up shots of the corpses and the cleaning of the sewage . The actors are terrific . Ayushman Khurana gets to play the role of a lifetime and he excels in bringing out the vulnerability as well as the steely resolve of a young IPS who had been exposed to a world so far away from the India he knew and took pride in. Kumud Mishra, Sayani Gupta,Manoj Pahwa and Mohd Zeeshan Ayyub have been phenomenal.

Article 15 isnt just a film .It is a bold statement reflecting the murky realities of India  , that gets frequently pushed to page 7 while you & I relish the glitz and glamour of Page 3. It is about our constitution , about the dignity of life . Will you & I wait for a Hero and let things happen or try to be one and lead the transformation is a choice we have to make . And as Zeeshan Ayyub’s Nishad puts it the price of trying to change the balance is going to be high . But then You & I wont be the last one fighting the battle !

I will go out with 4.5 out of 5 for a film that brings out the grim, inconvenient realities of our society . Not sure “How Many years Can some people Exist, before they are allowed to be free ?”

Kalank : The film stands by its Name !

#Kalank :  Kalank has got everything right , actors coming back from retirement - actors who should retire after this - a set that will make even Sanjay Leela Bhansali strive harder – a mindless song every ten minutes – a marketing maverick as a producer -a hamming Aditya Roy Kapoor continuing from where he left in Fitoor -Sonakshi Sinha back with her Lootera looks -Varun Dhawan oscillating between his characters from Tu Mera Hero and Badlapur – it even has got the three K’s -Kunal “ Who” Khemu, Kiara and  Kriti , except the two important things – a story that is believable and a director who knows how to tell a story and the one who believes in basic human intelligence .  It’s a surprise that none of the balm manufactures used this film to promote their product through surrogate advertising . Because the first thing you will reach out to after the 170 minute onslaught is a tube of pain relieving balm.

Kalank is a film about revenge , love , partition , betrayal , life of courtesans and may be even gondola ride ! The film covers the distance from rivers to snow capped mountains in seconds . It takes reference from many films from Pakeezah to DDLJ to Devdas to  Trishul to Bahubali to Gadar . Somewhere in between the director forgets which story he wanted to tell. The lady who introduced Roop ( Alia) to the courtesan Bahaar Begum ( Madhuri) in act I forgets Bahaar Begum by Act II when she had come to meet Roop . Zafar ( Varun) whose only motif was to take revenge against Balraj Chaudhury ( Sanjay Dutt) for being abandoned as a child , doesn’t even recognize Balraj’s legitimate son Dev ( Aditya Roy Kapoor) , in spite of staying in the same city and wooing Dev’s wife Roop ( Alia) . Take that for consistency or shall I say marijuana induced film making .

It takes some special skills to make Alia Bhat act this bad in a film or to take your eyes off when Madhuri Dixit is dancing . But director Abhishek Varman even manages to do that . That brings us to the moot point that how some one invests 80 crores in a film like this , how some of the talented actors even sign such a  film . May be Kalank is a story of hope , the hope that one day some of us will have a producer to fund our stories . The hope the one fine day Aditya Roy Kapoor too will learn to act . The hope that some day Hindi Cinema will break the shackles and if not world cinema at least will compete with regional cinema in terms of quality . The hope that some day we will have audience who will call out the bluff .

Yes Kalank , no doubt is a visually stunning film . But as one of the character asks in the film “ kya baas accha hona kafi hota hai kisike sath puri zindegi bitane keliye “ I will also ask “ is only a beautiful set and designer costume enough to invest three god damn hours” and if beautiful costume is what matters to the audience then they should rather watch a fashion show . I will go out with a very generous 0.5 out of 5 for this film , that shouldn’t have been made in the first place . In terms of the art of film making , Kalank , the film, stands by its name !

Uri : The Surgical Strike

Uri : The Surgical Strike  : A surgical strike demands  tactical  planning , absolute, no non sense coordination between  the govt , IB ,RAW & armed forces leadership , surgical precision in identifying assets , a contingency plan and most importantly the element of surprise ,the unflinching valour and tactical acumen of the leader , his assault team and their flawless execution. A surgical strike across LOC, if not executed to perfection ,can have huge human casualty and lots of international ramification.  And hence it provides a thrilling premise for a film , especially when it is based on a recent , real incident , a retaliatory counter attack, often hailed as one of India’s finest counter attacking responses across LOC , to avenge the attack on the Uri brigade HQ where we lost nineteen  soldiers . However, for debutant writer, director Aditya Dhar this scintillating premise was not enough. Hence the film has been garnished with generous doses of factual errors, emotional premises and amateur handling of war room preparation.

Taking a leaf from “ Zero Dark Thirty” and Tarantino school of film making , director Dhar splits his film into four chapters . The first chapter sets the context focusing  on Indian Army’s success in conducting surgical strike across Myanmar in 2015 to avenge the ambush in Manipur where 18 soldiers from Dogra regiment were killed by terrorists . However from chapter two onwards Dhar lets his figments of imagination take charge rather than actual facts . The inconsistencies are glaring and its a pity since as a film Uri needed none of these . The preparation and the war room moments themselves for a strike of such magnitude , if depicted well ,can be exhilarating and gritty . Dhar, in his attempt to make a  main stream masala money spinner  loses out on objective film making and ends up making a film that manipulates emotions and facts . There was no focus what so ever on the armed forces groundwork for the strike. The discussions and the war room preparation in PMO and South Block looked down right stupid . Paresh Rawal who portrays the role of NSA Ajit Doval looks lost and inconsistent throughout the film . His drooping body language doesn’t inspire any confidence. May be he just was an accidental choice for the film.  And take this for a fact check – the NSA walks to the DRDO head office and finds an intern who has made a drone prototype that looks like a bird. He immediately summons the intern and asks him to join the core team that’s monitoring the operation.  The extended  hand combats during the strike also defy logic and probably shot to give a sense of macho-ism . In any strike of such type and magnitude, the de induction process (return) becomes most critical as by the that time enemy is alerted and the Ghatak teams have to think on their feet to survive the onslaught and return through treacherous paths .  And while filming this Dhar has completely played to gallery at the cost of showing the real trouble that the strike team would have undertaken.

Inspite  of several glitches, Uri : The surgical Strike  will keep you engaged , especially if you watch it as a fictional account . Vicky Kaushal gives a solid bulked up performance and the cinematography is good. The action sequences have been shot well . And yes you also get to see a character looking exactly like Manohar Pariker playing the role of the defense minister . May be that’s the closest that Aditya Dhar came while depicting a story based on “True Incidents” .

I will go out with 2.5 out of 5 for this half baked strike . All they lacked was surgical precision while telling us the story of a surgical strike . May be someone, few years down the line will make a more factual film on one of the most glorious chapters of Armed forces history . A chapter where they haven’t got as much credit as their political masters . May be that wont be an election year. May be by then Bollywood will realise “Naya Hindustan” has “ Zero” tolerance for “Farzi” film making . Till then let’s enjoy the pot boiler and salute the bravery of those Para SF commandos .

Thugs Of Hindostan : Thug Life !

#ThugsofHindostan : Generally as a film maker the first thing that you need is an idea . Then you develop the idea into a screen play , build characters , provide an arc around key characters etc. But for Thugs of Hindostan director Vijay Krishna Acharya and Producer Aditya Chopra / YRF probably first decided the budget , star cast , release date and substandard VFX. Hence the script is non existent, the characters are irritating and at 170 odd minutes the film is intolerable . How often you get to see Bachchan and Aamir Khan share the screen and yet instead of soaking in the moment you are forced to go on a yawn fest.

Yet to its credit, the amateur screenplay of Thugs of Hindostan has almost nine twists , seven of them atrociously predictable and two utterly nonsensical ! There is no effort what so ever to build the characters or motive or to bring some sense of semblance into the screen play . Amitabh Bachchan as Khudabaksha, borrows his expression from his earlier film “Ekalavya” and his costume from “ Shehenshah” . He struts and frets his hours in front the camera before realising the pointlessness of it . Aamir Khan as Firangi borrows his looks from Mangal Pandey and  tries his best to take his character of Munna from Rangeela a step ahead. But without any meat in the character or any witty dialogue to support fails miserably.  Faitma Sana Sheikh , who was brilliant in Dangal gets to speak her first line after seventy minutes into the movie and you immediately realize she was just a touch better as a cardboard without the lines . Katrina has two songs , one joke and three slapping scenes in the film. And she is the only one who doesn’t disappoint in the film. Because after fifteen long years since her debut in Boom you really don’t expect anything from her except pelvic thrust or do you ? Trust me ,they could have replaced any of those characters with the ships or the eagle and it would not have made an iota of difference. Even the much hyped  VFX work is sloppy .

So that brings us to the most important question – Why did Bachchan and Khan ( who waited eternally for a right script to come together on screen ) sign the film . Were they also “thugged” or are willing accomplice to this thugging  spree . I walked into Thugs of Hindostan with least expectation assuming it to be a poor remake of “ Pirates of Caribbean” , when I walked out I wished it were . At least that would have spared me of the boredom . It is a disaster of epic magnitude. Even Mahenjo Daro looks epic in comparison. I will go out with 0.5 out of 5 for this sloppy slog fest . Beware of Thugs , stay cautious with your hard earned money and stay away , far far away .

For a change Salman Khan and Race 3 have a tough competition this year !

Badhaai Ho - Why should only the Young have all the Fun !

#BadhaiHo : I grew up watching and falling in love with  Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Basu Chatterjee films . Most of their films were simple situational stories built around middle-class Indian families and their predicaments. Both told their stories with lots of heart and humour. They made you laugh and brought a lump to your throat. And I have always been a sucker of such kind of cinema. Amit Sharma  follows the same template in “Badhai Ho” while dealing with a larger social stigma . An elderly couple , with two grown up kids, expecting a third one can be an enticing premise . However handling it deftly with right amount of humour , sensitivity and candour to reach out to the larger audience needs lots of maturity and that is where Amit excels .  He of course had the support of some outstanding actors all of whom provide their deft touch to make Badhai Ho a delightful watch that drives a strong message.

Gajraj Rao  as the husband/father and Surekha Sikri as the cantankerous mother in law / dadi  have given their career best performances.  Their body language, mannerism and expressions are immaculate.  Its difficult to take your eyes off them. Watch out for the scene where Gajraj is being introduced to Sanya Malhotra  for the first time. This has to be the funniest scene in Hindi cinema in last few years. Both Gajraj and Surekha have been ably supported by Neena Gupta. Aayusman Khurana, after that terrific performance in Andhadhun, is once again back in his familiar territory of a young Delhi lad  thrust into an unfamiliar situation. And he continues to maintain his top form.  The relationship between the parents, the warmth and intimacy has been explored beautifully. I also liked the way the film has been shot, especially the scenes inside the house and in the kitchen. It gives a sense of familiarity.

Badhai Ho has lots of moments of genuine laughter even while it keeps exposing the hypocrisy of our society. And that is where the film triumphs. It drives home the point without hammering it on the audiences’ head. It is refreshing to see the relationship of between an elderly couple over shadowing the relationship between young Ayushman and Sanya because that often doesn’t happen in hindi cinema . The writing has been detailed and the dialogues razor sharp. It captures the quirkiness of being in an unfamiliar situation .

Badhai Ho is not only warm and humorous it is also socially conscious and intelligent.  It has some terrific performances that will keep you engaged through out. This festive season spread some goodness and laughter and stay away from judging people and situations. Hypocrisy is such a passé , isn’t it ! I will go out with four out of five for a film that beautifully explores intimacy of elderly people and dares bare the hypocrisy of a so-called progressive society. Go watch it with everyone . Afterall why should only the young have all the fun!

Tumbbad : The Demon Within

#Tumbbad  :  We live in times when the line between greed and aspiration has been conveniently blurred . In fact, greed is being peddled in the guise of aspiration. The ability to grow infinitely in a finite world is what defines the modern man living in a moribund society. Generations have succumbed to it . Yet Man refuses to learn from it and continues to die or turn just into a survivor trying to fulfil his American dream. His quest to quench his materialistic desire continues to dominate most part of his existence.  I remember in Nolan’s “The Prestige” Robert Angier, a magician played by Hugh Jackman visits the home of Nikola Tesla , played by David Bowie in the hope that Tesla would build him a cloning device. Tesla asked Angier if he had considered the cost of such a machine. Angier nonchalantly responded that Price is not an issue to which Tesla retorted back that may be price is not but has he considered the COST. May be mankind need to ask that question. May be mankind is afraid of asking it, may be they are tuned into herds and have lost the ability to think radical  or may be in a world where greed is not only good but celebrated as glorious its not even a pertinent question to ask .  And the premise of Tumbbad is based on greed and the consequences of it.

 

Visually stunning and mysterious ,Tumbbad starts with Gandhi’s famous quote about the world having enough for everyone’s need but not enough for everyone’s greed and sets the ball rolling. The story spans for around thirty years between 1918 to 1947 covering three generations of a family and their increasing greed. Director Anil Barve has beautifully merged his narrative with the mythological story of Hastar to drive home his point. The screenplay is divided into three chapters that tells the story of Vinayak and his family. Tumbbad is poignant and philosophical.  The imagery is breath-taking.  The contrasting visuals throughout the film make the narrative rich and the tension palpable. The back ground score add on to the atmosphere . The performances are uniform. It is a film that will force you to contemplate .  

Tumbbad is mysteriously magical and shows a mirror to each one of us . May be that is why it is promoted as an horror film as truth is always scary . It is one of the finest films that I have seen this year . Watch it on the big screen . Discover the inner demon . Kill the Haster inside you . Afterall there is no end to greed and the consequences are for all to see . May be a small, slow simple life isn’t  a passé , at least not yet .