Movie Review- Welcome To Sajjanpur

Powered by: Chakpak.com	Welcome To Sajjanpur

I have never been a fan of the so called art/parallel/serious/meaningful cinema and by corollary its promoters. Hence I gave a miss to most of the movies favoured by the jholawallahs & the bidi smoking intellectuals. A few that I did see only reinforced my belief that these film makers were the Johnny come lately residuals from the smoky decadent sixties and wannabe rebels full of pretences bent upon glorifying the poverty and slums of India. Wily nilly I had always included Benegal in the same category because I could appreciate only two of his movies namely Ankur & Junoon. The rest of his repertoire didn’t really appeal to me. Too slow and too boring. But with ‘Welcome to Sajjanpur’ he has forced me to revise my opinion.
The first brownie point is won for the original and unusual story related mostly in spoken Bhojpuri. Set in the rural Hindi heartland it revolves around a young village lad who puts his education to practical use in the art of letter writing. It provides him his daily bread and also enables him to keep his hand on the pulse of the lives, politics and love affairs of the village. Like any engaging story this is also a combination of various sub plots in which each character has been carved with affection. There is this political family which wishes to rule by the gun. Yashpal Sharma is in his element as the resident don. I specially loved the expletives that he used. Baggarlandu, Jhapperkanju, Landeroo are just some of the many endearments he uses to decorate his language. Then we have Munni the eunuch who decides to challenge the hegemony of the don but through democratic means.The village compounder, played by the Big B of Bhojpuri films Ravi Kishan, is besotted by the child widow daughter in law of the local fauji. The widow is not portrayed as long suffering and in fact responds to the amorous advances of her suitor. Add to this the undercurrents of attraction between our letter writer hero and his married childhood classmate and we have the makings of a minor revolution in the rural India. Ila Arun is the hyper superstitious mother of an unmarried daughter bent upon marrying her to a dog to ward off the evil eye. If I was heading the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, this year’s Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in a Female Role would go to her. Shreyas Talpade as the letter writer is endearing and a joy to watch. I only hope that his sweet acts don’t limit him to Amol Palekar type of roles.
The movie is a telling commentary on the country’s divisive politics and how a change is desirable. It’s presented through songs taking a dig at religion based politics and how both the mandir and the majsid groups have utterly failed to address the problem of the common man. So the question is asked if a eunuch should now take charge. This is not supposed to be the Third Front but maybe a radically different choice. At the same time the brutal truth of social rigidity and intolerance, the exploitation of village migrants, the rampant superstition is also brought home. You can’t win them all. So while there are some success stories there will remain some evils which will take time to go away. Benegal has taken a practical viewpoint although his winding up of the story could have been a little less weird. It sort of grinds to a halt but that doesn’t take anything away from an otherwise outstanding movie.

Movie Review- A Wednesday

Powered by: Chakpak.com	A Wednesday !

I had thought of writing about this movie on the weekend and suddenly the bomb blasts of Delhi gave it a whole new significance. Why do we react strongly only when something happens at our doorsteps? And how do we define the proximity of disaster? Is the threshold of danger the border of my country or my city or my locality? The blasts of Bangalore and Ahemdabad were disconcerting but Delhi had us all in a spin. Why? My daughter is studying there and I have a number of friends and relatives there. My apathy was suddenly challenged. So am I a good & an aware citizen? What’s my contribution in stemming the rot that has set in the system? Who created the system anyway? The movie explores these stark facets of our daily lives.
Bollywood is finally waking up to the fact that realistic cinema can be both thought provoking and gripping. We can thank the noveau Multiplex culture for making this ideal commercially possible. The producers even had the guts of not permitting any songs in the movie! And the wonder of all is that the movie gets over and you realize you never missed the songs at all. Brilliant stuff!
The story is contemporary. Mumbai faces a threat of serial bombing if certain terrorists are not released. Anupam Kher & Naseeruddin Shah play the cop & the tormentor. Shah places the bombs at strategic locations and then starts communicating with the police using guile & state of art technology. The police react with alacrity & the game of cat and mouse begins culminating in a surprising climax. The forte of the movie is the slick editing which results in the unfolding of the events which are spaced within a seven hour frame at a breathtaking pace. There are no unnecessary emotional histrionics or loud claims of patriotism or religious fervor. People on both sides of the fence go about their jobs with clinical efficiency. They do it because it needs to be done.
Both Kher & Shah are powerhouses of talent which has been unleashed to devastating effect. Kher’s portrayal of a cerebral police officer is as telling as that of Aamir Khan in “Sarfarosh”. Shah is efficiency personified and then some. His seething anger is brilliantly restrained and the beautifully long justification of his actions threw me back to the era of Sohrab Modi movies where powerful dialogues swathed across a person’s consciousness. Jimmy Shergill hardly speaks thrice in the entire movie but his expressions & actions fully justify his role of an efficient if brutal officer. The only weak link in casting is the press reporter played by Deepal Shaw. She can’t talk and she can’t walk and her dialogue delivery was like raucous staccato. Baby Doll seems only good enough for titillating videos.
The movie forces the viewer to ask a lot of questions of him and any work, movie or otherwise, which succeeds in doing that has justified its existence. However it would be tragic if our concerns get diluted with time and daily routine.

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Movie Review- Rock On

Powered by: Chakpak.com	Rock On

“Ajeeb dastan hai yeh. Kahan shuru kahan khatam. Yeh manzilan hain kaun si. Na woh samajh sake na hum.” The Lata Mangeshkar classic from Dil Apna Aur Preet Parai effectively captures the spirit and the innocence of this engrossing work. It’s the story of almost all of us who at their early twenties feel the world is just waiting for us to take it over and ten years later find ourselves where we never belonged in the first place. This is about dreams, about love & heart break, about lasting friendship and above all about music. This one is straight from my heart.
The mainstay of the movie is music and Shankar, Ehsaan & Loy have excelled once again. They have composed rock music before but Rock On’s melodies are special. All the numbers with the exception of “Zehreeley” can be listened to time and again. My car stereo has been blasting the movie’s music & my pony tail bobbing up and down for the past two days and people are beginning to give me weird looks every time I stop at a traffic light. Why can’t it be understood that no self respecting rock fan can hear the music at low volume and with a little bit of head banging? Farhan Akhtar’s talent in the craft of movie making is a proven fact but he has been a revelation as a singer and an actor, in that order. An awesome stage presence and his primal screams were reminiscent of Jim Morrison’s stage acts. The live performances have been flawlessly executed and the enthusiastic participation of the audience beautifully captured.
So far as others performances go everyone has done well but I found Luke Kenny to be a wee bit wooden which was surprising considering his long career as a VJ with MTV. Arjun Rampal has put in a restrained and an intense portrayal of a passionate guitarist torn between his longing for his passion and the daily domestic struggle to earn bread. I also loved his long hair. Sigh, mine are never going to be as long as his. Purab Kohli has walked effortlessly through his role with a smile on his lips and a twinkle in his eyes. His jiving to the song “I Will Survive” was a masterpiece. We ought to see more of him soon.
The pace of the movie is electric and does not slacken even when going through the mushy part. The story is of four friends who pick up the threads of their broken past and strive to realize their unfulfilled dream. Each one is an adept musician and seems made for each other until fate & reality steps in to destroy their dreamlike existence. But since the good guys should always win they are given a second chance by the Man up there. The progression of their quest is peppered with flashbacks of the past which torments their souls but also contains the elements of their salvation. For those who seek happiness with passion, the paths are not always lined with roses. The trick is to keep the passion alive and happiness will follow. Our dudes do just that. Like I said, this one is straight from the heart. We have all been there.

My Changed Life

All my wonderful days of eating & drinking & making merry are taking a well deserved break if not totally over (I hope not). Mother nature decided to tell me that there is no such thing as always being the King of good times. Besides my fanatsy world it happens only on TV. So when my wiser half, my beautiful muse Chhamak Challo observed that I had lost seven kilograms while paying obesiance to Bacchus followed by the curries that Supriya grudges me, she marched me off to a pathology lab. I turned out to be Medical Resident's dream. All the counts would have done Late Sir Edmund Hilary proud. They had all climbed unheard of peaks. Mr Pancreas had decided that I shall be sweeter to the fair wenches than ever before and to help me in doing that instead of considerable shots of Glenmorangie I now freak out on Insulin twice a day. Mr Liver had decided to gain weight and girth but is getting back to shape now. Mr Heart was also fnding it hectic to keep pace with my speed of indulgence. Both these guys are behaving themselves now as I have put them in their proper place. But I have had enough of being betrayed by my own flesh & blood. The loss of the next 7 kgs was entirely my own doing. I found this reallly pretty & passionate (about her work, silly) dietician in Fortis Hospital who made me this fantastic diet plan. I am now on very intimate terms with various vegetables. The curries of yore are beginning to become a bit of a dream. Before you burst into tears let me assure you that I am still me. Every twenty days or so I eat whatever I like (nothing sweet though) but that evening its an extra ten minutes of exercise.
Pegbaazi I don't do now but fear not, the bar is still stocked and open and no one is turned away from my door thirsty. Thou shall imbibe and the pleasure shall be all mine.And I still cook for others and I am loving it.

Movie Review- The Dark Knight

Two superhero movies in two weeks is not my usual choice but the near simultaneous releases turned out to be a happy coincidence. Batman has always been my favourite comic book character, right after Phantom & Mandrake and since I have followed all the movies of the caped crusader right from my childhood, The Dark Knight was a must see. In my review of Hancock I had dwelled upon the change in the characters of the super heroes keeping up with the changing social mores & perceptions. It’s a more humane face of the super league that we are presented with. Even the dark & blue hues of Gotham city have been substituted with the metropolitan ethos replete with crowded streets and towering skyscrapers. Of course, the tall buildings are a great incentive to our hero for those un-nerving dives and the elegant flights. My vertigo prone Chammak Challo watched all those scenes with her eyes closed.
Val Kilmer had been my choice for Batman’s role till Christian Bale took over in the Batman Begins and what a powerhouse performance that was! Incidentally, for the movie buffs, Bale’s first major performance was the key role as a 14 year old in Spielberg’s Empire of the Sun. In The Dark Knight we find him much more restrained. In fact he’s more appreciable when out of the costume and the contrived voice of Batman didn’t quite impress me. Apart from that he has acquitted himself well. The freshness of the character of Batman is in the realization of the fact that he is human after all and despite all the super mega talents not entirely invulnerable. He bleeds, is getting aware of the passing age and feeling a wee bit tired in the persistent role of the singular vigilante of Gotham City. As a logical progression of this thought, in steps the District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) who takes on the city’s scum with single minded fortitude. Batman is almost relieved that perhaps he can pass on his mantle to the zealous D.A. Both crime fighters team up the police chief Gordon (Gary Oldman) and devise a plan to clean up the city.
However they are up against Batman’s arch foe, Joker. Even when he is drawn out in the open by the crusading trio he turns the tables on them by some ingenious maneuvering. Amongst all the action the Joker also seeks to test the limits of incorruptibility of men and their social conscience. He partially succeeds only to discover that the good guys do get to win in the end. I thought Jack Nicholson was the ultimate in the Joker’s role and never thought that Heath Ledger had it in him to match the earlier version but the man has made it his swan song, may his soul rest in peace. While Nicholson’s portrayal hinged on comic, the late Mr. Ledger has given a stunning performance as the menacing psychopathic Joker. The timing and the content of his dialogue and the delivery thereof is flawless.
Morgan Freeman plays the CEO of Wayne Enterprise and Michael Caine as Alfred Pennyworth, Bruce Wayne’s man Friday. Caine is becoming as much a permanent fixture of Batman movies as was Desmond Liewelyn as “Q” in the James Bond series. The heroine is forgettable.
Although the special effects are awesome as would be expected from an A list movie, the real thrill is in the high powered hand to hand combat. The sound and sight of a Batman hit does great credit to his prowess. Both the principal gizmos viz the Batmobile, a souped up Lamborghini and the monstrous bike were great fun to watch.
For a comic book movie the dialogues are thoughtful, almost philosophical. The climax is surprising and nerve wrecking. And the debate between honour & corruptibility continues.

Moview review- Hancock

All ye DC Comics and Marvel aficionados need to reorient your conception of superheroes. In the constantly meandering labyrinths of social transactions where the nature of man is redefined everyday our good old superhero hasn’t remained unaffected. Gone is the emotionless face wearing which he would clinically execute the fall of his super foes. Now they feel the love, get affected by loss & rejection and also get drunk & roundly abused. Are these the super guys we have grown up with? I am not complaining but merely marveling at the imaginative twist that the movie makers have come up with.

Will Smith has come a long way since his hip hop days. Back in the mid eighties to early nineties he was better known as The Fresh Prince, the lead vocalist of the group DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince. His rendition of “Summertime” still remains one of my favorite songs. The movie’s Big Willie, Mr. Hancock is thousands of years old fellow whose flying skills can put Superman to shame. And while he is not busting the villains, destroying property worth several million dollars in the process he is busy emptying bottles of whiskey and taking a nap where he wills (pun intended). Besides defying gravity he is also bullet proof, knife proof and hit proof. In short nothing affects him physically. And here is the twist! The superhero goes ballistic whenever he is abused. How human! Due to his flawed crime fighting abilities and a foul mouth the media, the police and finally the public turns against him.

This is the age of celebrities who conjure up a hyped image of themselves aided and abetted by media manipulators euphemistically called image consultants. In walks Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman) who becomes eternally grateful to Hancock for saving him from being run over by a train. Sensing an opportunity to put his PR skills to test he proposes an image makeover to Hancock which involves surrendering to the police, spending some time in the jail and waiting for the police to call him back because crime is bound to rise in his absence from the streets even as the public property is safe from him. There are some interesting shots of the jail. One of them is of the self purging meetings on the lines of those of Alcoholics Anonymous. After consistent refusals to open up, a single line comment “I am Hancock and I drink and stuff” is enough to be reciprocated by loud and encouraging applause. Soon Embrey’s plan begins to bear fruit and Hancock is back in mainstream circulation and this time without the previous opprobrium. At this time everyone can happily live ever after but what about twist number 2?

Mrs Embrey (Charlize Theron), as it turns out, is a super heroine as well and to top that she is “technically” Hancock’s wife since the like of them were made in pairs. The cynical Hancock suddenly finds that his love quotient has taken a northward swing. Only the object of his affection is torn between the loyalty to her husband and the love of three thousand years. The raison d'etre is twist number 3. The invulnerability of the super couple goes down when they come closer emotionally. In some ways it is a Greek tragedy where love is doomed despite best intentions. The resolution of this mess is what rest of the movie is all about. Its entertaining, its different and its fun. Go watch!