Mann kasturi re, Jag dasturi re...

There are movies that give you a route to escape the monotony of life and take you along on the journey to nothingness and larger-than-life experiences. However, there are others that have a meaningful story to relate, quite often and unfairly dubbed as the serious movies. Piracy and TV screens unfortunately make such movies fall short of ringing the cash registers. There are markets for both these varieties of cinema of course, just that appreciation may center on the moolah in one to the standing ovations in another.

Masaan does tell us a serious story and yet it is a saga of escape. Not escape from reality a la cinema, but what it seems to significantly tell us is that entrenched within reality is escape from it, sort of a catch 22. The movie talks about the ultimate escape though, the "KashiYatra" (final journey to death and salvation) and how even that is not enough to get free of the stranglehold that life and its customs have on you.

Set in the lanes and ghats of perhaps the oldest surviving city in the world, Varanasi, the story stays clear of stereotypes despite the strong allegory across the plot. Varanasi is not just another picture perfect image here of tourists, backpackers, and junkies smoking up their lives but is more of an important character in the movie, a confluence of life and death...of livewire ambitions and silencing destiny.

There are various sub-plots that make up the story and you watch spellbound as they keep coming together, each thread almost touching the other shyly before intermingling completely. Fire and water, the two elements that the Varanasi of Masaan is made of, are up and about throughout the story...the subtle yet simmering father-daughter relationship playing perfect foil to the fiery ambition followed by consuming sadness of the underdog. At the cost of appearing a bit muddled to the average cine-goer, this interplay between the tracks is effortless enough to actually add to the movie's narrative instead of taking anything away from it.

A professor in Sankrit at the local college has come upon bad days, selling trinkets and trivia at the ghats, that confluence of religion and spirituality that only a few cities are blessed with and Varanasi perhaps most well known of them. His daughter embodies the spirit of youth in India's small towns who is confident in her own skin, not ashamed of getting caught in the middle of a sex scandal except for the problems it is causing her father...cornered but defiant. Even the unlikely little hero who assists the Pandit at his shop is unafraid of diving deep and competing to win every gamble placed at his cost.

The other track, even more poignant, relays the story of the emancipation that every small town looks up to. Education is widely identified even in the darkest reaches of the society to carry hope and yet, it also makes a lot of promises, some kept and yet others totally lost in fires of the crematorium. The lower caste boy dreams to fall in love without drowning under the social stigmas and associated drag. Unlike in the small town India of old, he gets support from his friends and partner, the facebook generation having come up the curve. All he needs to do to make his dream come true is within his reach...or so he thinks. Plans to escape the reality go back to the earth from where we all come into being. Destiny strikes and strikes hard enough to break the skull that can’t be destroyed even by the holy fire.

The acting is top class and the sheer personalities that the protagonists bring to the table are outstanding. Richa Chadha's undefeated fight in slinging over her bag to Sanjay Mishra's hunched shoulders, the debutantes Vicky Kaushal and Shweta Tripathi with their joie de vivre and cute idiosyncrasies, the unambiguous and uncaring evil of Bhagwan Tiwari's blackmailing cop, and even the vulnerability shrouded in boastful swagger of the child artist Nikhil Sahni...the screen is brought alive by these artists and more.

Masaan, the local colloquial term used for Shamshaan (crematorium) is wonderfully titled and brilliantly executed. Generating and retaining its own brand of charm, the writer-director duo of Varun Grover and Neeraj Ghaywan give a local flavor to the movie. References to popular culture notwithstanding (even those meshed into the local milieu of a small town with cyber cafe owners glaring away at facebook explorations), the story keeps referring to poets from the Hindi and Urdu heartland. As the background tracks and songs take you on their unique Kashi Yatra, you can only wonder at the play with words.

Added to the story and its intricacies, what also impresses one about Varun Grover is the striking color he gives to the songs, perfectly creating bright and inviting cocktails which get you high once poured into the soulful music that only Indian Ocean is capable of. The director's debut is as mature and sensitive as it could have been and given the challenging non-linearity of narrative, his handling of his characters and the story are remarkable.

Masaan burns in your mind for hours and even days after you have watched it, the pyres dying down to embers, and embers proving to be genesis for life as they power the cooking stove. It is so pretty, the way water, glorious in the afternoon sun enlivening one ghat ends up being just the background for death being consumed by fire on the other.

In Fantasy Land

The six-legged dragon is spewing dark fire black as night, chilling your bones contrary to the heat you would expect to be seared with. As it flies across the hills of mist, light seems to fill the underdog and even his silhouette as he lifts his eyes towards the sky to see the dragon better and say a silent prayer. But is that simply a prayer or did he raise a wand in the air and say something more potent, one wonders as the dragon is shot down from the sky, hit by an invisible arrow. The Black Creature's hound's shrill cries envelop the air as he hits the ground along with the dead dragon. The dragon was vile but even viler was this hell's child for whom the beast was not just means of transport but something he had always used to spread terror, rooting fear deep into the minds of hapless humans.

Haven't we all read something like this at some point in our lives? Haven't we all lost ourselves in vivid imagery of this sort while watching some movie or the other? Haven't we all wondered? It may not have been...well this fantastic all the time. It could have simply been a story of boy meeting girl in a setup that you can only dream of and that of the events that follow, stuff that even nightmares are not made of...finally resulting in a climax that is so far fetched as to make you visibly cringe.  

Be what it may, fantasies often end up giving you that escape route you have always been looking for. The madness in this world notwithstanding, there is enough and more that goes on in our own minds for us to need some mechanism to forget everything. Driven into a different world, we laugh and cry with its inhabitants, barely managing to hold our sides at jokes that would otherwise have been outrageously bad, being free with that lump in the throat at events in their lives that seem equally preposterous. We forget our own worries somehow and even the most insurmountable of odds for us look like child's play for the characters that come alive in this fantasy world.

The characters are all etched so clearly, in black and in white with hardly any scope for the grey in between. There are silent characters and those who are hilariously loud...people too good and those who can't be any more of devil incarnates. Life goes on however, despite the extremes and you are swept along on the journey to fantasy land not wanting to come back...ever. Alice managed to lose herself, didn't she? And wasn't there a platform Nine and Three Quarters for Harry and his friends to escape to Hogwarts? Didn't the kids meet Aslan more than once on their journeys to Narnia? Didn't Peter Pan start living in Neverland?

And then you are back...back to the skulduggery that reality is. All the filth hits you as the unscrupulous ways of life take you away from the sweet and tangy fantasy, as you get mixed in the greys, not being able to decide the good and bad of it. How you wish things were as simple here, being able to call a spade a spade, being able to have no pain that can't be healed, no problem that can't be solved! 

As the mind wanders those lands today trying its best to break free of the monotony, I thank all those books and movies that have taken me to my own Narnia, my own Hogwarts, my own Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, my own Age of Legends where I am the Dragon Reborn, my own Gotham and Metropolis and Star City and Central City where I know all the superheroes on a first name basis.

Motion, driven by emotions

It is but once in a while that a movie like Piku hits the screens and while there may be a lot of talk about the intended audience for Piku being already past its retirement age, the movie does take on the normal definition of a family movie and turns it around...completely.

The story, or its absence if you may so choose to call it, does not have much to offer but still makes you smilingly indulge in the whimsical ways in which Shoojit Sircar handles and portrays the relationship between Bhashkor Banerjee (played to a fault by Amitabh Bachchan) and his firebrand daughter Piku (Deepika Padukone in a career-defining role). Irrfan Khan's Rana Chaudhary adds to the story in a way that only he can. Rana's character is perfect foil to the intimacy in the father-daughter relationship, representing the audience and ensuring that they do not feel like the only outsiders to the family.

Amidst the existential drama that the family of two and their friends, colleagues and associates partake in, the omnipresent whim takes the father, daughter, loyal servant, and the outsider on a trip to Kolkata and down the memory lane. The journey is as much literal as it is metaphorical for all involved, the old man who realizes the meaning of life as against living, the young daughter who despite her fiery and outspoken nature, learns for the first time to come out of the shadows of her responsibilities. As the outsider falls in love with the titular character and yet holds his own logic and reason against the potential absurdness of family ties, he also undergoes a lesson in moderation and love.

From the old man exhibiting all traits of lovable senility comes the movie's theme of "motion se hi emotion". Obsessed with the movement of his bowels and convinced of being perennially sick, Amitabh's Bhashkor is as cute as he is irritating and annoying. Many in the audience would relate to having experienced some part or the other of Bhashkor in their lives, whether in the form of dealing with the old age and associated idiosyncrasies of their parents or with their own self in case of the senior generation who made that switch to appreciating life from just living it.

Piku's story is as much that of the modern, liberated woman as that of the generation caught between freedom of thought and responsibilities in action. Deepika is brilliant in her depiction of the anger, frustration, and ultimate helplessness of a woman who knows her mind when it comes to everything and everyone else except her father and her responsibilities towards him. While she can decide to spend a night with her colleague and her friend in her house, she is devastated to wake up to her father having suffered a minor heart attack during the night.

Rana as the businessman trying to hold his own amidst a dysfunctional family of an ever taunting mother and a complaining sister, is an interesting character in his own right that makes its presence felt despite the story revolving around Bhashkor and Piku. As he decides to drive a difficult yet important client (who he secretly admires) in Piku all the way from Delhi to Kolkata, Irrfan manages an excellent portrayal of disbelief followed by resigned acceptance at a family that seems normal but is as dysfunctional as his own.

Apart from the three central characters who are all brought alive amazingly well,equally brilliant is the supporting cast. As audience, it is difficult to decide on a favorite out of them: the loyal and seemingly dumb but astute servant Budhan (Balendra Singh), the silent friend and comfort buddy Syed (Jisshu Sengupta), the loving uncle and suspicious aunt living in old-world Kolkata (Sajal Bhattacharya and Swaroopa Ghosh), and of course the infectiously exuberant maternal aunt (Moushumi Chatterjee) who keeps chiding her brother-in-law Bhashkor and his craziness.

Some fabulous dialogues (often in the form of repartee) by Juhi Chaturvedi add chutzpah to the proceedings and the accomplished actors that Amitabh, Irrfan, and even Deepika are, they leverage this to the hilt. Shoojit Sircar's influence is evident throughout the movie, not just in the sensitive portrayal of the delicate relationships in an otherwise fragmented society but also in the loving depiction of the cities of Delhi and Kolkata. He keeps it simple and recounts a story of people more than that of events in their lives.

So you know that Bhashkor needs to get his motion right or that Piku loves her glass of wine and music. You are aware that Rana likes Piku and while he longs to be in her company, neither of them believe in giving a formal shape to their relationship. What you don't know however, is what happens in their lives before and after the few days of their lives that you get to see and which is just fine for the movie is about people and their nuances, enough to fill the two hours of its running time and more.    

Self-destructing in 5 seconds...

This is your mission...should you choose to accept it.



Mission Impossible it is, what with escaping from a Russian prison, breaking into Kremlin (of all places for an American to break into), jumping about outside the glass walls of the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world and chasing cars in the Dubai sandstorm, and finally driving at break-neck speed supposedly on the roads of Mumbai. A collage of some really fast-paced action sequences with not too much of a plot to speak of, Mission Impossible's latest franchise impresses as an all-out entertainer.

Brad Bird brings a fresh perspective to the MI series and instead of following the established formula of a mixture of intrigue and action, he tilts this edition towards a very tight, action-packed succession of sequences that leave the viewer with hardly any time to breathe or think about the plot or the supposed lack of intrigue in it. Making excellent use of the image created by Tom Cruise over the three editions of the MI franchise, Bird deviates from the one-man-army heroism that Ethan Hunt is known for and in the process, adds some more central characters and subsequently, some more jazz to the proceedings.

The plot is simple enough with a former Russian nuclear strategist turning rogue and managing to get away with Russian nuclear launch device and codes. His objective is to start a nuclear war between Russia and America by ensuring the first strike and the mission of Tom "Ethan Hunt" Cruise and his team is to stop him. A pretty linear plot is embellished with twists and turns, if not to the story, then at least to the sequences with even a simple entry into the safe house (in the form of a rail wagon) being made quite interesting with the treatment it is given. Urgency is palpable and the turn of events fraught with a sense of daredevilry that is bound to appeal to audiences worldwide, cutting across cultures and sensitivities.

The acting department is managed effectively by Tom Cruise who breezes through playing the character of Ethan Hunt that has probably added more to his career than any other franchise (notwithstanding even Top Gun). The support cast is starred by the irrepressible Benji Dunn (played by Simon Pegg) who provides much of the comic relief to the movie. Paula Patton playing Agent Jane Carter and Jeremy Renner playing Analyst William Brandt seem a little awkward in their roles and get overshadowed by Tom Cruise's portrayal of Ethan Hunt. The sheer charisma of Ehtan Hunt, or the chutzpah of Benji Dunn does not appear to be matched by the other two characters.

And oh...Anil Kapoor has a blink-and-you-miss-him role in the movie; criticized by many for the sheer foolishness of the character he plays (Brij Nath, an Indian billionaire and owner of a telecom company in Mumbai that has access to the satellite which is to be used by the Russian villain to launch the nuclear missile). Remember however, that this is Mission Impossible and not Ram Lakhan and the person we normally think of as a hero is but a fringe player in the much larger scheme of things...the huge franchise that Mission Impossible is. His mere presence (and not a completely inconsequential role at that) in such a franchise is indicative of the fact that India is too big a market now for even Hollywood to ignore.

The direction is top notch with the editing although, despite the movie being so fast paced, ever so slightly slipping in the process to try and establish some emotional connect with the audiences. The rest of the sequences are so fast that even a couple of minutes of dialogue (whenever Hunt starts talking to Carter about her loss or to Brandt on the latter's insecurities) seem a waste of time and almost sleep-inducing. Action sequences, on the other hand, are wonderfully shot and form the high point for the movie, something that you wouldn't mind watching twice for the sheer beauty of it all. Executed to the tee by Cruise and company, the movie's action comes across as probably the best for quite some time.

The use of gadgets and gizmos is impressive to a fault. Whether it is the master key computing and figuring out the number pass codes from a huge array of possibilities, or the slightly funny and incredulous hoodwinking of the Kremlin security guard using a screen and a projector, all of them add to the fun and frolic. The background score (with the imitable Mission Impossible signature tune) is extremely effective in highlighting all the action and drama, keeping audiences at the edge of their seats for most of the time.

The Ghost Protocol having been enforced with the American President directing that Cruise and his agency, the IMF is disavowed, the stakes are high. Despite the risk of being branded a terrorist in case of failure (or death), Ethan Hunt and his team break through the plans of the Russian anarchist and save the world yet again. As Hunt hands over the next missions to his team and goes about accessing his own, one can't help but wonder as to what is next for this 50 year old (yes, that is how old he actually is, never mind what he looks like in the movie) and for the MI franchise itself.

Kabhi hum kaminey nikle, kabhi doosre kaminey

Main 'fa' ko 'fa' bolta hoon
Abe 'fa' ko 'fa' nahi to kya 'la' bolega



and it goes...Dhan ta nan. One of the most anticipated talked-about and hyped movies of the year, Kaminey does not disappoint, not in the least. In spite of the overwhelming majority coming out in fully voiced approval of the film, there is always the lurking doubt in one's mind as one watches the scenes unfold. Will it live up to the expectations built by such strong feedback coming in from almost all quarters? Is it another case of might becoming right and people following the herd and talking in a certain manner just because everyone else is? Will all the talk about getting your brains along for the movie and respecting viewers' intelligence be just a carefully orchestrated PR strategy? Is there really path-breaking, cult-forming cinematic excellence at display?

It may not perhaps be said that Vishal Bhardwaj's effort is perfect but it is as close to it in today's times as it can be. Building up the story and all the while challenging the viewer to continually think, interpret situations and get the hang of the story a la Johny Gaddar or DevD, Kaminey seems to have vowed to not let the viewer slip into mental slumber. All events of import post the interval are linked to stuff that is not explained by dumbing it down but more so in passing reference, by just displaying events as they take place with the freedom given to the viewer to form whatever conclusions she wishes to form.

The thread of the story is not lost anywhere what with the careful plot construction that takes place, involving all characters in a blitzkrieg of slides in the lives of the twins, Charlie and Guddu. There are a lot of characters intertwined with these two and the beauty of the movie lies in the finesse with which each one of these supposedly ancillary characters are sketched out. You can not help but wonder at the ingenuity with which the screen comes alive upon each appearance of the Maharasthtrian-speak politician of Amole Gupte, the fiery Marathi mulgi of Priyanka Chopra, the cocaine-addicted whacko gangster of Chandan Roy Sanyal, even the bit characters of corrupt narcotics cops and other gangsters (some of them even imported from Africa).

Vishal Bhardwaj, it will suffice to say, has done it again. Not only has he done an extremely fine job in directing a motley crew of relative newbies to the formulaic Bollywood, he has also worked wonders with the more established cast of Shahid and Priyanka. Shahid delivers on the front foot in his twin role with the two brothers actually coming across as being as different as chalk and cheese. The beefy, catcall-inducing gangster is innocently devilish while the stammering simpleton comes across as the eyes-averted, mentally slow and introverted idealist.

Priyanka Chopra does a fine act as the fiery and gutsy modern-yet-traditional belle who can lie through her teeth, plan much before she gets to act, and even shoot at her brother (in clear deviation from the standard Bollywood lore...even though the gun was out of bullets when she shot it, she did shoot) as long as the end is clear and worthy. Not too much to look at sans her made up and glammed avatar, she still comes across as an actress who is taking leaps and bounds to the grease paint.

As mentioned earlier, each of the other actors in the movie deserve special mention for the way they have, under Vishal's able direction, of course, brought alive the various characters of the movie. Gupte, Sanyal and Co., take a bow!

To top it all, the music of the movie really fits the folds almost seamlessly. Whether it is playing in the background to add to the excitement of chase sequences, or in the foreground in all its psychedelic glory, "Dhan ta nan" rocks...and so does the rest of the musical score re-emphasizing the multi-talented genius of Vishal Bhardwaj. Even the placement of the timeless classic "Duniya me logo ko dhoka kabhi…" is spot on. Consider innocuous songs like phataak, or the one accompanying the celebratory bridal participation in what is supposed to be the groom's baraat, nothing seems to be even an inch adrift.

The story line of Kaminey may admittedly be slightly thin and oft repeated in the Mumbai (or is it Bambai) film industry (identical twins caught up in each other's lives) but it is the treatment that gets this movie up to the tops. It is the small nuances that tease the viewer to apply her mind, to decide for herself if the movie is up to her standard or vice versa. What makes this one special is the pun in showing an auto rickshaw with its clearly displayed meter reading "For Hire" as the corrupt cop is shot down. What works for this movie is the immensely humorous jab in the bad-guy Shahid replying to the plea of the good-guy Shahid of his wife being pregnant by asking him tongue-in-cheek, "to kya meri kokh ("coke") ujaadega?"

Ghate do to bache kya?

Jaise door des ke tower me ghus jaaye re aeroplane
Jaise sare aam Iraq me jaake jam gaye Uncle Sam
Jaise Bisleri ki bottle pike ban gaye English Man
Jaise har ek baat pe Democracy me lagne laga hai ban
Jaise bina baat Afghanistan ka baj gayo bhaiyya band
Jaise door desh ke tower me ghus jaaye re aeroplane

Anurag Kashyap does it again. In fact, he did it again when he did it in DevD. This was what he did before DevD was completed and even if you may say that he did it better the second time, he still did it damn better than most others even the first time around. Coming after Black Friday and No Smoking, with Gulaal, Kashyap has gone really deep into the web of ambition, greed, and angst as he weaves his characters around it.

Set against the backdrop of the Rajputana movement and its overlap with student politics in the local university, Gulaal's storyline seems to be incidental to the real tale that is attempted at being told. This, perhaps, is the weakest link in the movie and it is difficult to say if this was intentional or otherwise...once human feelings and emotions take center stage in such strong fashion as in Gulaal, it is anyway difficult to do justice to anything else.

As you see Dilip Singh (Raja Chaudhary) move in with Rananjay Singh aka Ransa (Abhimanyu Singh) and are just settling into the movie just as Dilip is trying to settle in a new city and university, you are caught unawares as Dilip gets entangled in one of the strongest and most hard hitting ragging sessions seen on celluloid. You follow Dilip getting beaten and thrown butt naked in a room which has for company, another naked individual who, you realize with a gasp a little later, is Anuja (Jesse Randhawa), a new professor at the college. If ever a movie had set the tone for what was to come next, this was it.

Dilip's humiliation sees Ransa getting involved in the petty college rivalry and the subsequent entry into the scene of Dukey Bana (Kay Kay Menon) who is the covert marshal for Rajputana independence. In no time, Ransa is projected as the candidate for General Secretary Elections in the university, with full support from Dukey Bana and hidden support from his father, the ex-King, whom Ransa is not really proud of.

At this stage, we also see the introduction of probably the two strongest characters in this movie, the brother-sister duo of Karan (Aditya Srivastava) and Kiran (Ayesha Mohan). Burning with angst against their father for not having given them his name and against the society for never failing to make them realize and remember their illegitimate status, Karan and Kiran want to achieve their rightful place in the Rajput society, come what may.

As pawns start getting moved, the color of blood gets mixed with the heat of bodies pressing against each other and everything, right from bullets to free sex, is used to further the political ambitions of the involved players. Ransa gets killed, Dilip becomes the dummy candidate, wins the election. Kiran sleeps with Dilip, makes him lose his sleep and resign only to take his place. The two camps bump off people before seamlessly merging and Kiran using her charms on Dukey Bana to go for the final kill.

Things happen at such a frantic pace that getting a hold on the story and tying together the strings of each of the many characters becomes next to impossible. This may have been the falling of any other movie but the treatment that the characters get from the director stands out in this case. You keep marveling at Kiran's unabashed sexuality, at Karan's lack of any scruples in getting his sister on others' beds, at Dukey Bana's insane fervor, at Dilip's bumble act translating into that of a madman, at Jadhwal's (Pankaj Jha) arrogance and cruelty, at Anuja's pride and her frustration at having lost it, at Madhuri's (Mahie Gill in a special appearance) simplicity going to the extent of idiocy, at Bhati's (Deepak Dobriyal) cool composure and single minded devotion, and above all at Prithvi Bana's (Piyush Mishra) John-Lennon-amulet-wearing, harmonium-playing folk songs interspersed with some really topical English lyrics.

The score, especially the lyrics for Gulaal is one of the most exceptional to have hit the screens in recent times. With Piyush Mishra being given full freedom to flex his creative muscles, the result is striking. Whether it is the topical commentary sung and picturised as a mujra or the closing re-interpretation of Sahir Ludhianvi's Ye duniya agar mil bhi jaaye to kya hai, Piyush Mishra is simply brilliant. With his music (mostly in the background), lyrics and his smooth act in the movie, he stands out as the single largest thing going for this movie. And to say that for a movie which has excellent acting displays from nearly half dozen artists is really a lot.

The ever potent Kay Kay Menon, though standing by his own in an explosive performance, is still overshadowed at times by the sheer natural talent of others, the notables amongst them being Abhimanyu Singh, Deepak Dobriyal, Ayesha Mohan, and Aditya Srivastava. All these actors and most of others get into the skin of their roles and get colored by the red Gulaal at different points in the movie, red Gulaal that depicts the emotions associated with rebellion, revolution, anger, ambition, pride, lust, fear, greed, exploitation...

Anurag Kashyap has managed the technicals well and they are good enough to not distract attention from the pure play of emotions that is the high point of Gulaal. In trying to be true to the plotline, however, Kashyap does actually lose the plot at times. There are too many things going on and the typical movie audience keeps trying to tie all loose ends together, focus on how each character is developed, concentrate on the idea left behind with them at some point of the movie, expecting it to be brought to its logical conclusion before things end. It does not happen, however, and it can be attributed to the new genre of film-making that Kashyap brings to the fore.

All threads are not meant to be tied up, all ideas are not important, it is not as much about the revolution than about the characters' situations around it and their way of handling these situations. It is not important if you did not know what happened to Anuja, to Dilip, or to Kiran later...what matters is the strong realization that a change in guard is not enough to change the reality ala Ye Duniya agar mil bhi jaaye to kya hai...what matters is the look on Kiran's face in the last frame of the movie and she stares on with tears of pride at her brother as he takes over pride of place at the helm of Rajputana, a society of those very people who had rejected them, humiliated them, and laughed at them for their illegitimacy.

While you watch the movie and digest all this, you may keep your eyes open for the Kashyap touch. There are many ways in which he differentiates this movie, changing it from yet another couple of hours of entertainment to an arrogant medium of expression. The difference is depicted and illustrated both directly and through references...via the use of profanity in sharp dialogues, use of some twisted humor and unconventional music, attention to details, some jazzy light and camera angles, raising a toast to rock culture, whether it is direct references to John Lennon, or the indirect usage of symbols like the song Kiran keeps playing on her guitar (Goodbye Blue Sky from Pink Floyd's album 'The Wall'), and above all, cryptic symbolism depicted in so many different ways, in the antics of the painted Ardha Narishwar and Prithvi Bana, in the names of drinks that Ransa orders (Republic and Democracy, anyone?), through symbols like the word Nihilism (the philosophical position that values do not exist but rather are falsely invented) written on the black board of the class Anuja goes in to teach.

Ye Duniya agar mil bhi jaaye to kya hai

Movie: Gulaal
Lyrics: Piyush Mishra
Verdict: Simply awesome

O Ri Duniya

Surmayi Aankhon Ke Pyaalon Ki Duniya
Satrangi Rangon Gulaalon Ki Duniya..O Duniya
Alsaayi Sezon Ke Phoolon Ki Duniya
Angdaai Tode Kabootar Ki Duniya
Karwat Le Soyi Haqueeqat Ki Duniya
Deewaani Hoti Tabeeyat Ki Duniya
Khwahish Mein Lipti Zaroorat Ki Duniya
Insaan Ke Sapno Ki Neeyat Ki Duniya..O Duniya

O Ri Duniya

Ye Duniya Agar Mil Bhi Jaaye To Kya Hai…

Mamta Ki Bikhri Kahaani Ki Duniya
Behno Ki Siski Jawaani Ki Duniya
Aadam Ke Hawwaa Se Rishte Ki Duniya
Shaayar Ke Pheeke Lafzon Ki Duniya

Ghalib Ke Momin Ke Khwaabon Ki Duniya
Majaazon Ke Un Inqualaabon Ki Duniya
Faiz Firaaq Aur Saahir O Makhdoom
Mir Ki Zauk Ki Daagh Ki Duniya

Ye Duniya Agar Mil Bhi Jaaye To Kya Hai...

Pal Chhin Mein Baatein Chali Jaati Hain Hain
Pal Chhin Mein Raatein Chali Jaati Hain Hain
Reh Jaata Hai Jo Savera Wo Dhoondhey
Jalte Makaan Mein Basera Wo Dhoondhey
Jaisi Bachi Hai Waisi Ki Waisi Bachaa Lo Ye Duniya
Apna Samajhke Apno Ke Jaisi Uthaalo Ye Duniya

Chhut Put Si Baaton Mein Jalne Lagegi Sambhaalo Ye Duniya…
Kat Pit Ke Raaton Mein Palne Lagegi Sambhaalo Ye Duniya..

O Ri Duniya…

Wo Kahein Hain Ki Duniya Ye Itni Nahi Hai
Sitaaron Se Aage Jahaan Aur Bhi Hain
Ye Hum Hi Nahi Hain Wahaan Aur Bhi Hain
Hamaari Har Ek Baat Hoti Wahin Hai

Hamein Aitraaz Nahi Hai Kahin Bhi
Wo Aalim Hain Faazil Hain Honge Sahi Hi
Magar Falsafaa Ye Bigad Jaata Hai
Jo Wo Kehte Hain

Aalim Ye Kehta Wahaan Eeshwar Hai
Faazil Ye Kehta Wahaan Allah Hai

Tumhari Hai Tum Hi Sambhalon Ye Duniya
Ye Bujhte Huye Chand Baasi Charaaghon Ki
Tumhaare Ye Kaale Iraadon Ki Duniya…

Nayan Tarse

Tauba tera jalwa tauba tera pyaar
Tera emosional atyachaar

The movie is anything but emosional atyachaar and thanks to a certain Mr. Kashyap for this. This is one movie that more than lives up to the expectations that surrounded its release. Not boasting of a stellar cast, the movie seems to be running purely on the eclectic reputation of its lead actor and more than that, its director. Abhay Deol and probably more so, Anurag Kashyap (especially after his recent work in No Smoking) have increasingly set themselves up for scrutiny whenever they try to do something that is even close to different. They have done so many things that are supposedly different and that too, in such a short span of time that any more different from their stables does raise the curious and often cynical eyebrows.

This one, however beats all cynics hollow in an almost surreal psychedelic fashion, a fashion, which to the average viewer, would come out as the underlying theme of the entire movie. Starting quite in similar vein to other recent small budget Abhay Deol starrers, DevD traces the stories of Dev, a spoilt brat who goes to London to study and his childhood sweetheart, Paro who doesn't think twice before sending her nude pics over the internet to her lover and carry a mattress to the fields on her bicycle in the hope of getting an opportunity to make out. As if this was not explosive enough for a start, soon enough, we are transposed from the single room sets and the fields of Punjab to the techno music playing bars of Delhi.

This transformation is not without incidents, though...incidents which are central to the story and the setting of context. A casual fling at a marriage ceremony (the definition of casual gets a new meaning here) and some banter about Paro result in the arrogantly rebellious scoundrel humiliating and disowning his equally strong-headed, reveling-in-sexuality girlfriend insatiate, almost as in an incomplete sexual release.

That is how it comes across, the first half of the movie, resplendent in the colors of the human body and the desires that it has over and above anything else. There are no feelings and no emotions as things move from one frame to another with an incoherently insensitive Dev trying to recover from the emosional atyachaar of his pyaar who decides to get hitched to an older man, if only to teach her jilted lover a lesson.

This recovery is guided by the ever-smiling, cunning Chunni, the pimp operating in the environs of Paharganj, that eternal cove of Delhi which hides beneath itself much more than probably the entire city of Delhi can dare to reveal. And this is where we meet Chanda, the girl prostitute, the linguist who can provide phone sex facilities in so many languages, the girl-woman who could never make it as the regular girl-next-door because she was filmed doing the unthinkable for a school going girl.

This, of course, refers to the DPS (my alma mater, coincidentally) MMS scandal. Here, I must admire the way Kashyap brings out the fact that everyone who ever found it fit to condemn the protagonist in the little MMS movie did so only after having a good time exploiting the victim, first by enjoying the episode to his heart's content and then, of course, by writing and talking reams on how the moral fabric of the victim and the society at large has gone to the dogs.

So Chanda, it is, who goes ahead and gives some sort of support to Dev, even if it means Dev vacillating between pining for a forbidden fruit in the form of an unclaimed and now non claimable love and coming to terms with the fact that the only one who loves him probably does not have the right to do so for she, her body and her love, are all on sale in the marketplace.

Sounds familiar, does it? Close to what Sarat Babu wrote in the classic Devdas, is it? Well, the answer is both yes and no for the director and all three lead actors (four, if you also count the effervescent Chunni) hold fast to a modern adaptation of the classic but at the same time make it abundantly clear that it is but an adaptation.

There is no way the classic would have ever thought of the three characters who come out at the most random moments in the movie to break into a jig or just watch silently, leaning against the wall. There is no way the classic would have such an amazing soundtrack and make the most optimum use of sound, lights, and camera to reflect the inner conundrum that Dev goes through while getting split between the two loves of his life...destruction of self and humiliation of others.

All the same, Anurag Kashyap does not fail to dig deep into the psyche of his characters and bring out what they stand for in the story that the classic novel tells. The nonchalant rebel in Dev, the vibrant pride in Paro, and the calm devotion in Chanda are all there, perhaps brought out in Technicolor through brilliant audio-visual treatment. The cine-goer comes out with endless things (good or bad depends on the diet of movies that he has been brought up amongst) to say about the technicians of this movie, whether it is the director Anurag Kashyap, or the cinematographer Rajeev Ravi, or the brilliant people associated with the songs and music of the movie (Music Director Amit Trivedi and the playback singers, specially Bony Chakravarthy and Shruthi Pathak).

Amongst the actors, it is not very surprising to see the underplaying of Abhay Deol fail for once. He could have grabbed a little more of the camera and been the better for it. However, he continues in the tradition of an Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye or a Manorama, Six Feet Under and plays the exact contrast to the most recent portrayal of the character of Devdas by Shahrukh Khan. While Shahrukh was completely over the top, Abhay is too subdued to make any meaningful impact.

The half-Indian half-French Kalki Koechlin is not an actor and that is very clear. However, Anurag Kashyap has worked wonders with what he has been able to get out of his real life girlfriend for this particular movie. It is difficult to put your finger on whether it is the disinterest of a prostitute that is essential to the character or it is the lack of capacity to act and portray emotions that leads to the empty face of Koechlin. Whatever it is, it works!

The one actor who comes out very strongly in the entire movie, of course, is Mahi Gill. Playing the super-confident woman of the world of today, Mahi is superbly brash but yet dignified, strangely even in her humiliation and more appropriately in her revenge. She comes out as someone who would be likely to be the sort of woman that the character of Anurag Kashyap's Paro is...and that is saying a lot because even if this character is real, it is certainly more real than what any of the movie audiences are going to be willing to accept.

The broad pulse of this movie is rocking, to use the euphemism that the supposed target audience of this movie would typically employ. The endless scenes of intoxication preceded by the ones that cause the said intoxication have been shot with perfection. The camera angles, the colors, the background score and the actors' emotions or the lack of them need to be seen to be believed.

Most important of all, the transition of the much filmed character of Devdas is there for all to see and admire. From a man who loved too much of KL Saigal and Dilip Kumar to the self-flagellating, self-indulgent man of Sharukh Khan, Devdas is now the sulky, unsure, and insecure individual who goes on a journey of self-realization, a journey that is replete with his own obsessions and addictions.

Gurubhai Gurubhai aavya che...

tha nahi hai...mera naam Gurukant Desai tha...hai...aur aage bhi rahega

 

 

As Mani Ratnam's Guru carries his swagger to the microphone and smirks at hearing of competition's efforts at undermining him, the audience does not know whether to empathize with him for the background that he has risen from, or to protest the absolute lack of respect the rich industrialist has shown for the law of the land.

 

Despite the dropped (once-too-often) hints of the movie's story being based on the life of Dhirubhai Ambani and of course, the several sequences of the movie mirroring memorable instances of the life of Reliance's founder, there is still quite a lot of originality of idea. Mani Ratnam makes sure that he does not fall prey to the biographical conundrum, but at the same time, he makes optimum use of the sheer magnetism of Dhirubhai's story.

 

From the protagonist venturing out to Turkey, learning new ideas and getting his self-confidence going, to his coming back and setting up his own business and earning for himself, the story of Guru is a journey across people who ditched him, people he ditched in return, and of course, the several innovative ideas that are used in both the processes. But to limit the scope of this movie to just that would be injustice to the little nuances that the director and the actor are able to bring to the story, refining it beyond just another dramatic rendition of an interesting sequence of events.

 

Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, Madhavan, Vidya Balan, the indomitable Mithunda and of course, the talented support cast have made the life and times of Gurukant Desai stand out, almost to perfection. Most of the actors, Abhishek clearly towering above the others, have given a unique twist to the characters they play, infusing life into them and making sure that the viewer is clearly able to see the mental makeup of each of them.

 

Aishwarya is not just looking drop dead gorgeous (perhaps more than any of her previous performances, if that is humanly possible) but also manages to bring the right expressions on her face at the right time, and that, I am sure would be a welcome change for fanatics like me. Madhavan manages to portray a sincere and intelligent image, just right for the character he portrays, never trying to overshadow the chief protagonists of the movie and yet managing to make his presence felt.

 

And then there is Abhishek, the dynamite of this package. If Amitabh is to be believed, his performance has actually brought him to tears. Even if you can not be so superlative, you will nevertheless realize that this one has been one of Abhishek's (or any other actor's, for that matter) lifetime performances. Before moving on to the technical aspects of the movie, one must mention the one and only Mithunda, who keeps showing now and again why he is rated as one of the better actors  of the Indian movie industry and why he has all these acting awards in his kitty. From the mentor that he is to the young Guru, to the person who encourages his muse to take on the successful Gurubhai, to the aged guardian of an unwell Guru, he manages the transitions with characteristic ease and elan.

 

What does one say about the director of such a movie, except perhaps salute his genius and marvel at his knack of identifying the audience's nerve and hitting on it like no one has ever done before? Mani Ratnam, with this movie, has moved on from a mere story teller to someone who is much wiser to the needs of the industry. And industry it is that he is working in, which is apparent from the various interviews Mani gave to the media as a part of the movie's publicity. Clearly mentioning that the movie is not a biography and yet discussing the story's stark similarities to Dhirubhai's life (right to the episode of bribing a highly placed minister), Mani has proved his intellect beyond doubt.

 

Audiences across the country have enjoyed watching this movie and once they are done with drawing the parallels between Dhirubhai, Reliance, and the movie's story, they have praised the director/actors no end. The movie's credits notwithstanding, the important thing that has come to the forefront from this movie is the very idea that people have been talking about it. In addition to being a good omen for the fortunes of this movie and its stakeholders, it also augurs well for the Indian movie industry which can now consider another door open as far as finding ideas for making movies are concerned.

Family's family!

99 out of 100 people you meet will advise you against watching this movie, as they did to me. I still went for that one time and perhaps, you ought to, as well.

Like me, you may have been intrigued with the characters of the movie and the director coming on forums like NDTV's We, the people and discussing things other than what you would expect people who have been parts of a Karan Johar production to discuss. I mean, how many times have you seen a Shobha De discussing a Karan Johar movie other than to rubbish it and the ideal family values that it portrays? How many times have you seen a Shahrukh Khan straying from the "I am dream walking into my romantic roles" statements of his to something like "I did not know and did not believe in the character that I was playing"?

Even if you haven't seen all Karan movies, take it from me since I have that you will not find anything like Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna if you take your mind in the past. In fact, the movie is as much away from tradition as it could have been. Amidst protests that accuse the movie of showing things in an irresponsible light that may encourage people to take the easy way out of problems and some others that claim that the movie does not show what is real in the Indian context and is too far fetched to be of any interest to the audience, I will like to put forth that the very fact that the movie has been able to raise such aspects and critique means that there is something more to it than being claimed by some.

At no point do I want to say that I liked the movie. I did not and the movie had a lot of glitches and unnecessary package for me to enjoy it totally but that it did provoke some thought process inside me, I can not deny. Unlike its predecessors who have raised the bad marriage question many times in the past, KANK tries to find solutions in the coves that have been unexplored by Bollywood so far. As Karan Johar says in the chat show, his friends and contemporaries (which would mean people like me and others of my age group) are facing more marriage woes than ever before and more importantly, they have no compunctions in looking at the easy way out, get out of a bad marriage.

At the cost of giving away some part of the movie's story (which is not too much of a suspense, anyway), let me point the crux of the matter here. There are two couples not hitting it off with each other and one part each of these couples gets disjointed from the traditional view of marriage and tries and finds love outside marriage. The transition from saying "Family is family" with some conviction to mocking at the same words is what Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna is all about. It does take more than three and a half hours to say that and despite this being the worst aspect of the movie, I believe that the job has been done and the message conveyed in as explicit a manner as there could have been.

Right from the Sexy Sam character of Amitabh Bachchan to the anti-tradition, pseudo-modern undertones of the story, the movie is set in the context of the urban young and there, too, the concentration is more on those who have already broken away from the mould, if not in reality then at least in the head. Somewhere along the line, the intended audience of this movie is prepared to let go of the threads that bind them to the Indian way of treating relationships. A stark contrast to earlier movies of Karan Johar that have always shown the weakest of Van der Waal's forces enough to not only sustain, but even mend the most embittered of relationships, KANK shows that there comes a time when even the Indian says "enough is enough".

The best part about such giving up of relationships in the movie is that it is not driven by something very concrete like the man beating the wife or the wife being a promiscuous cheat, but the more subtle feelings of being left out, being forced to make a "samjhauta" are at the back of the redical steps...small things that we all know, make all the difference in real life, as well.

Cut to what everyone has been talking about...yes, the movie is horribly long, Amitabh Bachchan is wasted in a story that did not need him, but for giving it the conviction and stage that only he can provide, there are too many tears and wasteful, repetitive moments, Rani Mukherjee's acting is limited to the use of glycerine and Shahrukh Khan's to being the foul mouthed jerk whose sense of humour is not only foul but without even the last tinge of creativity. The screenplay is non-existent and the dialogues could have been so much more sharper. Karan Johar fails when it comes to details, but I will still say that he gets the bigger picture right.

In terms of the actors, not commenting on Amitabh's blink and I am gone role, rest of the cast has been mediocre, to say the least. The fault would once again lie on the screenplay and the director who seem to fail miserably in infusing any breath of fresh air at any stage in the movie. Agreed that the content and the context did not allow for too many deviations from the stark settings, but the only deviations that are there are too crass and awkward for the actors to do any justice to the same. The careerist bitch played by Preity is so easily converted into the lovelorn wife that it becomes difficult to digest the contrast between one situation showing her leave a job for her husband and the other where she ends the relationship with her husband in a jiffy. Some consistency would not only have done wonders for the movie, but also allowed the actors to give a sane performance. I won't, as I said, comment on what Amitabh Bachchan was doing in this movie so that also leaves Kiron Kher out of the ambit. Honestly speaking, the two were wasted beyond redemption.

Music of the movie works and is quite in line with the story and events as they unfold. All said and done, I feel that though the movie has fallen to the neglect of details, the idea behind it has been pretty brave and unique and as such, it does deserve that one time in the theatres (watching it at home might not be able to sustain your interest for enough time to let the movie impress you in any way). I, for one, will not advise anyone against watching this movie!

Dham dham dhadam dhadaiyya re

Bewakoof aur chutiye me dhaage bhar ka farak hota hai, dhaage ke ek taraf bewakoof to dooji taraf chutiya.

Pardon my language but Omkara could possibly not have been complete without the use of such and more foul language. Shakespeare would never have approved of the same, what with his medieval English ruling the roost as far as the original went, but in the Indian context, if Vishal Bhardwaj had to show the baser instincts of men, he could not have relied on the Gentlemen's language, could he?

And so the scene changes to Uttar Pradesh, the hinterland where an abuse is just another word, a kind of filler that keeps coming in the middle of a long sentence without the speaker realizing the imperfection. However, even though the foul language has been one of the most talked about points whenever Omkara is discussed (mostly in male gatherings), there is much more to the movie than just that.

Othello, as avid readers (unlike me) would know, is the tragedy of the same named character whose jealousy and mistrust gets the better of him, aided, of course, by the wily and innovative Iago who leaves no stone unturned to get his due, at whatever cost it may take. Vishal Bhardwaj stays mostly true to the story despite the fact that his straying from the story on earlier ocassions (refer Maqbool and Macbeth) did not really remove anything from the creative piece itself. However, he got it bang on here, too for Othello, unlike Macbeth does not need any embellishments to be converted into true, Bollywood ishtyle drama.

All that was required for achieving the above was a bit of creativity from the director in terms of imagining an Indian context for age old and eminently replicable feelings of love, jealousy, spite, and the inevitable tragedy. Not only does Vishal perform beyond expectations on this front, he goes a step ahead and makes sure that all his actors are cued in to the change in context that he has imagined for his version of Othello.

Kareena Kapoor as the innocently seductive Desdemona avatar is probably the weakest link along with Vivek Oberoi's Kesu Firangi. Ajay Devgan's Othello-Omkaara seems routine for the actor who can easily open a school for the brooding, less-talking-more-staring scheme of acting. In fact, even though Vivek and Kareena were not anything spectacular, they melted into their roles. However, Ajay seemed the only case where the casting could have been more experimented with. There is hardly any difference between Gangajal and Omkara as far as Ajay Devgan goes. He performs exceedingly well in both the movies, but where is the variety, the different touch that a movie like Omkara demands?

I know that by now, this would have been drilled into all those who have heard anything about the movie at all, but even at the cost of being repetitive, I would like to emphasize, yet again, the amazing effect that Saif Ali Khan has on this movie. The Chote Nawab of Pataudi has done all that he could have and more. As Langda Tyagi, it has been his movie right from the first scene when he discusses the two sides of the thread to the last when his handiwork is all over the climax. Abusing with conviction, making lewd gestures with elan, smirking away to glory on seeing his wily plans work, Saif has made a pretty complicated character out of just another political activist. In fact, replicating the complexity of character of Iago would have been the toughest act for Vishal, given his choice of context for the movie.

It is easy to imagine a complex character like Iago in the Shakespearean context, a person who does wrong and yet does not see the folly is what Iago has always been whenever Shakespeare's original has been adopted. However, to make sure that you get such a complex character in the no-nonsense heartland of politics and brazen violence that leaves no scope for hidden and  implicit feelings or emotions, it was required that the director and the actor are in complete sync. And that is what is seen in the case of Omkara. Vishal Bhardwaj, who has also taken on quite a few other responsibilities in the movie (including screenplay and dialogues) has been absolutely spot on, in terms of a lot of things, and getting the story, the actors, the music and lyrics, even the item songs and the item girl Bipasha, are just few of the many things that he does right in this movie.

Music in the movie is very apt and tailored to meet the situation. Not a great hear, perhaps except the item numbers, the songs gel into the story very well, and that to my mind, is the best a song can do in such a movie. Gulzar has surprised his fans (including me) by coming up with the folksy lyrics in songs like Namak and Beedi, and with the choreography pretty much on line, the songs have been enjoyable, to say the least. Videography throughout the movie has been exceptional and very well aided by the background score. The scene where the new Bahubali (sort of a gang leader) is chosen and annointed is a case in point.

I can go on and on about the finer aspects of Omkara because that is what the director and actors in the movie have stressed upon. However, let it suffice to say that if you are on the right side of the thread, you should not give this movie a miss!

Le Coupe de Feu...Perils lay ahead of you, Harry Potter

As the huge stadium comes into focus, and the magical creatures, witches and wizards cheer the seekers, beaters, and players of the teams of Ireland and Bulgaria, we dive headlong into The Goblet of Fire.



The next instant, however, you almost feel sorry for having pardoned the director for taking liberty with the book's actual beginning and bringing Harry directly into the Weasley's house and completely missing out on the excitement of the World Cup (they didn't even seem to know where they were being led to). This happens because even before you come close to realizing and appreciating the grandeur of the Quidditch World Cup and the stature of the competing teams, you are led as far away from the entire thing as anybody could have thought possible.

The match is over in a jiffy and before you can say Snitch, the dark mark appears in the sky but even before you get to say Death-Eaters, the scene changes to one inside Hogwarts with Dumbledore welcoming the teams from two other schools of magic to participate in the Tri-Wizard tournament. If not anything else, the tournament lives up to its promise, but for the rather step-motherly treatment of the character of Victor Krum who deserved much more in terms of covergae (negative or positive) if one goes by the book.

Going by the book, however applicable the quote might have been in this case, was not easy at all for Mike Newell. Not only is this edition of the Potter saga the longest ever to have been filmed, it was also fraught with many firsts. This book, in a way, has been the turning point of the entire Harry Potter story. This is where the friends, Ron, Harry, and Hermione enter into their adolescence. This is where they have their first crushes and ball. This is also where the Quidditch World Cup and the Tri-Wizard Tournament happen. Most importantly, this is where the story becomes dark with the rise of Voldemort, leading up to the next book, probably the darkest in the series so far (even more than "Half Blood Prince", the latest, in my humble opinion).

For Potter fans, the story has its own relevance and more than anything, they would love to see justice being done to the entirety of the story. For such viewers, the movie's screenplay and rather awkward editing would have been a let-down. However, unlike other movies-taken-from-books, this one has a screenplay that scores in the sense that it does not leave behind those viewers who have never even read the Harry Potter books. This, probably, is the biggest strength of this edition, scoring even higher than the previous Harry Potter movies, which, though successful in depicting the story correctly, did not put proper emphasis on understanding and bringing out the finer points.

The director here, however, succeeds in doing just that. The kind of treatment given to the character formation is just adequate. All that he missed out on (probably intentionally) was to reflect the dark mood of the climax. The rise of Voldemort was treated very properly by Rowling and it actually built a lot of anticipation about the next edition (which lived up to it, by the way) and this anticipation was as full of foreboding of something dark and evil as it was exciting about the kiddy saga itself.

In terms of acting, the actors seem to have fitted into their characters almost perfectly. It is impossible to imagine Danielle Radcliffe doing anything else and even Emma Watson seems in it for long. With new characters and actors portraying the competitors of Tri-Wizard Tournament, the beautiful and bewitching French witch Fleur and the sturdy stud Bulgarian, Victor, not to mention Mad eye Moody and of course, Voldemort, the scope has been widened for the movie industry to treat the rest of Potter movies with more respect and probably more high-flying a cast than the ones so far have been.

The fantasy of Harry Potter, despite what the latest movie is or is not able to achieve, shall live on because of the books and the legend that Potter has become (right from the merchandise to the rumour-mills to the web sites). The Goblet of Fire, however, is Newell's attempt to pay a tribute to the legend and contribute to its making, at the same time. It may not be time yet to say whether he succeeded in it or not, but one thing is for sure...you better have your seatbelt on and mouth gagged if you are a fan like me and are on the verge of seeing, after having visulaized the scene umpteen times, Harry defeat the dragon or plunge into the sea or fall from his broom, and you can say that again and again...and again.

The nation is rocking to it, are you?

I have been meaning to write this post for a long long time but unfortunately, I had not been able to obtain a proper image to give this topic the feel that it deserves. Now that I undoubtedly have a deserving image, I must say what I have been wanting to, ever since I watched Bunty aur Babli. Apart from the movie itself which was, at least to me, value for money (in the manager's lingo) and fulltoo timepass (in the tapori's lingo), the sizzling appearance of Aishwarya Rai and a one over another performance by the Bachchans was something completely else.

"Kajraare Kajraare mere kaare kaare naina" goes Aishwarya Rai in a costume that suits the character and the song to the tee. Unusual in a modern movie and yet, all the more enjoyable for the reason, the song pictures a bar dancer in the garb of a courtesan singing an old timers' qawwali. Although I admit that Aishwarya Rai would not have been on my mind when I imagined the set up for the first time but then again, she has done a fantastic job of looking suitably bar dancer-ish and raising her eyebrows and biting her lips ever so theatrically to give an original (though not very natural) feel to the song.

The point at which the song begins is a classic case of perfect placement in itself. As the cop and the thief sit gulping one drink after the other (with some of the drinks equivalent to tickets to the moon), the belle starts off with a couplet and follows it up with a tantalizing display of skin, all for the eyes of the senior (with a capital S, perhaps) member of the cop-thief gang. As she sways in her back-less choli and lehenga to the winsome tune, the junior B is shown making an absolute ass of himself while the senior seems to be unaffected.

Till this instant, the song is like just another song, but for Aishwarya's antics that have just started to make themselves felt. As soon as the Big B makes an entry, however, things change dramatically. Abhishek's dumb act becomes all the more effective and Aishwarya's lip biting even more pronounced as Amitabh Bachchan jumps on to the dance floor with his own brand of hip shaking and hands stretching. Combine that with the UP and Bihar feel of the lyrics and the singing style and you get Bachchan Sr. on his home turf and on his home turf, the legend does not disappoint at all.

As the song picks up steam and the two Bachchans come into their element, even the skin show of Aishwarya seems to move to the background and all that the viewer is focused at is the fast pace of the song, the expressions of the three actors and of course, the relaxed at times and yet pacy at others rendition that has more modulations than I have seen in any other recent song. In fact, by the time the end comes and the song reaches its crescendo, the feeling is almost surreal and any hopes of catching the meaning behind the song (if at all there were any) are utterly and completely lost.

It has been a long time now since the song hit the TV screens but its popularity does not seem to subside any more than it did in the initial few days. Of course, those who did not like the song did not like it right from the word go and the day one but those who did, still swear by it as one of the best songs to have hit Hindi Cinema in recent times (whether it be in terms of music or picturisation). I know of at least one place where the song has almost become an anthem and that is Room no. 8 of G Hostel of an institute called IIM, at a place called Kozhikode.

As the still continuing promos on some channels say, the nation is truly rocking to it.

To master fear, you have to become fear

Anybody who has had a healthy diet of DC Comics in childhood, adolescence, youth, or even later, would have often wondered about the character called Batman. Unlike the other super heroes, Batman does not have super powers...he can not punch planets like Superman, or throw web lines like Spiderman but despite all these shortcomings (??), his is a name that the underworld of Gotham City trembles at.

How does Batman hold a grip so compelling?

How has Batman been able to innovate enough to compensate for the lack of super powers?

How did the Bat-suit, the Bat-mobile, the Bat-line, and so many other things come up in the first place?

What, in the history of Batman, has made an otherwise luxury-loving millionaire like Bruce Wayne into one of the most dynamic characters that fiction has ever known, the Dark Knight who knows how to use fear to remove fear?

As the bearded and unkempt Bruce Wayne is seen getting up from a nightmare in his prison bed, Batman Begins grabs the viewer's attention right away...what is a millionaire like Bruce Wayne doing in a prison located in some God forsaken corner of the world? As events unfold, we view the journey of Bruce Wayne, the adolescent who wants to avenge his parents' deaths but in the process, gets lost amongst crime and criminals. We are shown how Bruce Wayne becomes a petty thief while roaming around the world in his quest for the unknown and ends up in a prison from where he goes out in search of his life's purpose.

The League of Shadows makes its appearance and Christopher Nolan skillfully uses his action director to give the Batman addicted viewer some non-gadgetry and slick action sequences as Bruce Wayne trains with the mysterious Ducard at Ra's Al Ghul's headquarters to conquer his fear, to find the purpose of his life, to become what the world shall know as Batman.

As Bruce Wayne returns to Gotham City, he knows what he wants to do and starts about it with the ease that only a legacy like the Waynes' can offer. Right from ordering 10,000 masks to avoid suspicion to using shelved defense projects (due to lack of money, primarily) as his comrades-in-arms, the journey from Bruce Wayne to Batman is something that all Batman fans would have loved to watch. The credit should go to the director who, despite trying hard (a little too hard, perhaps) to maintain or even increase the darkness that Batman is known for, has managed to show this transition in a pretty lucid manner.

Christian Bale, of course is no match for the earlier Batmen...he doesn't even come close to Kilmer or Keaton but then again, he seems to just fit in the tale, such is the power of the legend that Batman is, especially for the die-hard fans. It must be said, however, that for people not really into Batman but who went to the movie for its own merits, Bale's shortcomings would have been pretty highlighted. Katie Holmes, popular for all different reasons even before the movie came, looks good but that is all Batman ladies have to do, unless they do something spectacularly villainous or attention grabbing like the Catwoman Michelle or the Poison Ivy Uma.

Particularly impressive, however, turn out to be the two villains with a rather constrained (in terms of Batman villains) performance from Liam Neeson who plays Ducard and an equally mature but more sinister Scarecrow depiction by Cillian Murphy. The villains have always been important parts of Batman movies and right from Jack Nicholson to Jim Carrey to even the beefy Arnold, there have been attempts (if not real executions) at some good performances. Fortunately, the villains of Batman Begins do not fail but unfortunately, they are given too less a scope to show their evil properly.

In fact, by the time the villains become active and as the second half takes over, much of the charm that Batman Begins promises in its first half has already been exhausted and it is back to what Batman movies do best...one action sequence after another, with villains being ambushed in dark corners and the dark knight's gadgets flashing around with gusto. At this point, it will only be fair to mention the support cast in Morgan Freeman (who plays the Q to Batman's Bond), Michael Caine as Alfred, and of course, Gary Oldman (the to-be Commissioner Gordon) who jointly make the second half more interesting than it actually is. And oh! Did I say it yet, Bat Mobile rocks :-)

As the Bat Signal is finally mounted upon the roof of the Police Headquarters, Detective Gordon is shown asking Batman for help on a particular villain who has been troubling Gotham for long and who has, as Gordon says, a flavor for the theatrical, just like Batman himself. Batman flips over the card that Gordon hands to him and the pack of cards' legendary Joker is seen smiling from the criminal's identity card. What a way to join the threads, what a way to complete the story, what a way to build expectations for the next Batman movie...

Gathering the shreds of life

As Vidyadhar Patwardhan gets back from his morning walk with his friends and starts bellowing "Sumi" as soon as he opens the door, it seems to transmit the viewer to the quintessential middle class home with Dada, Dadi, Papa, Mummy, and the kids.

As Vidya and Aman enter the home and try to work around Sumi to make her accept a Brit as her daughter-in-law and the ease with which she does accept it all...which child or which parent can fail to get a little misty eyed with it?

As Aman, Vidya, Sumi, and Jenny sit in the living room...joking, laughing, Sumi putting oil into Jenny's hair, Vidya and Aman convincing Sumi to let Jenny and Aman go to the party, Jenny trying her broken Hindi and saying "main sabke liye coffee banata hoon"...it is just not possible to stop that smile from coming to the lips.

As the neighborhood mechanic, Ali makes his boisterous appearances in the frame and as Ali gets straightened by Sumi and the way Vidya takes all the credit with Sumi smiling behind his shoulder...could you have asked for more?

But more is what Viruddh delivers and delivers, with panache. Mahesh Manjrekar comes into his element after a long time and after some unforgettable escapades into trash commercial cinema. He delivers the goods this time and no, he does not promise another Saaraansh, nor another Dhoop. Viruddh, as the name indicates, is not just about coming to terms with something bad that happened, but revolting against it, and doing something about it. The protagonists do not lose hope, but keep fighting till the end, and that is the beauty of the movie. Of course, who better for this fight than the pair of Amitabh Bachchan and Sharmila Tagore...seasoned actors who out perform the rest of the cast by miles.

Roughly speaking, Viruddh is the story of how an aged couple's happy family is shaken upside down by events that threaten to tear the very fabric of their home and lives and how the emotional strength of the couple, brings them out of this lurch. Nothing that has not been tried before but this time, they have done it, with a twist. More than the twist or the story in its entirety, it is the subtle moments that pack the kick.

Vidyadhar Patwardhan (Amitabh Bachchan in another of his memorable roles) tries to laugh while sitting on the park bench and is not even able to open his mouth, forget guffaw like those from the laughter club he was a regular member of.

Vidya and Sumi (Sharmila Tagore in an amazingly powerful comeback role) lie on the bed and imagine sounds when there have been none.

They don't embrace each other to share their pain but follow the more natural process of handling their individual sorrows alone...but they know, both of them know what the other is feeling.

Sumi knows that Vidya did not really want the tea he asked for as an excuse to cry alone and Vidya knows Sumi did not run out to prepare tea...touching, most touching.

The helplessness with which Amitabh, as Vidya, performs even the bravest of acts is to be seen to be believed. Doing all this, of course, is the actor we have all seen as the angry young man, an all powerful variation of the human species who does not think twice about his ability to deliver the world of all evil. Watching the same man with sagged shoulders, permanent lines on his face, and a tired gait makes you cry out at the unfair nature of it all. Believe me, Manjrekar could not have got such reaction by the medium of many other actors.

And then, there is Sumi, the mother who is traditional and yet speaks fluent English, one who cries on hearing her son's pining for her hand made sweater and yet is strong enough to support her husband who has started to lose the battle. Sharmila Tagore is as believable as she is graceful and has proved yet again why she is considered to be one of the legends...the difference that she can bring to a character's treatment is what makes Sumi so real.

John Abraham, as the ideal son Aman, does not have much to do but does well in whatever little he is made to put in. He looks serious and well meaning for the most part which is what an ideal son of Vidya and Sumi should have been. Anusha, as the Brit live-in-turned-wife of Aman, could have been much better. Though she does manage the accent pretty well and her attempts at broken Hindi are a treat to hear, they are not as much to watch. A better screen presence would have helped.

Sanjay Dutt, in a dynamic appearance (as the movie credits claim) as Ali, is good and does what he has been kept in the movie for...draw whistles. Last but not the least, Sachin Khedkar, that much under rated actor, is at it again although the role does not offer much scope to him to display his talents. He does manage, pretty well, to show his own frustration and inability.

Viruddh is not as much a take on the system as Saaraansh and Dhoop might have been but it has more to do with the struggle, a very subtle difference in the take on the topic that makes Manjrekar's effort all the more laudable. The movie might not succeed at the box office (Sanjay Dutt's whistle inducing charms notwithstanding) but this has to go down in history as one of the better movies that Bollywood has come up with and one of the better performances of that man, that legend that goes by the name of Amitabh Bachchan.

Is it wrong to be right?

He who comes from Hell
is not afraid of the ashes

Shankar, One of the costliest directors in Indian cinema, brings another of his opulent movies to the screens and like previous occasions, seems to have succeeded this time, too. Right from re-creating the famous Thiyagaraja Festival to shooting the songs in Amsterdam and getting the best of visual effects for the action sequences, there has been no stone left unturned in Anniyan. A progressive idea but deep rooted in the Indian psyche is the formula that Shankar has been using for a long time. Be it Boyz, Gentleman or Anniyan, the director has kept at what he does best, and has come on the tops time and again.

Anniyan, literally translated as "The Unknown" is the story of Ramanujam aka Nambi (Vikram, in a terrific performance) who is a straight laced Brahmin lawyer who believes in principles and doing things the right way...always. As expected, he does not get his way too often and even his close friends rubbish his good ideas. Nandini (Sada, in a rather plain appearance and without much scope of a performance), the neighborhood girl he loves, does not find him attractive and is fed up of him being a stickler of rules. Having seen his sister die in childhood due to negligence of the electricity department and having grown seeing his father's helplessness in not being able to change the world all alone, Ambi's frustration with the system has been building up for quite some time.

The widespread corruption, small things that each one of us do to avoid unpleasantness, get the work done, etc are all observed by Ambi whose silent anger with it all makes him turn into Anniyan, the avenger who does not differentiate between wrongs on the basis of their intensity. Whatever is wrong is punished by Anniyan, whether it is the person who refused his taxi to be used for getting an injured person to the hospital or the contractor who supplies sub-standard food to the railways. Anniyan follows the Vishnu Puraanas to find ways and means to punish the wrong-doers as he puts himself into Yama's shoes and brings hell's fury on to the earth.

Once bitten by the Multiple personality Disorder bug, Ambi does not waste time in changing to the fashionable Remo, who is a ramp model and has no problems in wooing Nandini off her feet. Also, the expensive song and dance routines are facilitated by the arrival of this character and some of the songs (especially "Remo Remo" and "Nokia") do deserve the focus for their shear brilliance of execution, if not anything else.

In the midst of all the executionary powers that Anniyan has taken over, there is minor resistance, as well. The police officer (played by Prakash Raj rather effectively) who is handling the case is as puzzled by the entire episode as the common folk but that is only till he starts using the latest techniques like DNA tests to find the identity of the cruel judge that Anniyan is to him. By the time he gets to Anniyan, however, the movie is almost over but for the climax which has to be seen to be appreciated properly. Kill Bill and Matrix combined, the action sequences can give any movie a run for its money and even the logical conclusion to the movie's central theme which is a relief, in a way, after seeing so many good ideas getting undone due to a weak climax.

The movie can truly be said to be Vikram's best performance till date. Right from the Undertaker style get-up Anniyan to the dashing Remo, Vikram is in his dream performance. The ever flexible changes of character that he performs towards the climax are really full of good stuff. Sada looks amazingly good in the songs but minus that, her role is rather wasted not just due to the story's demands but also due to a weak performance. Rest of the actors do not have much to do in terms of the stage presence but of the support cast, Prakash Raj as the police officer impresses with his expressions, both when he investigates the case as disguised prankster as well as when personal angle comes into the case after Anniyan murders his brother.

Shankar is in his element as usual and performs an all round job. With all ingredients of a masala film, the treatment is appropriate, too. Although the social message is all there and the climax has Vikram waxing eloquent about why we should all stop doing even small things wrongly, but in the process, the director has not lost sight of his focus, an out-and-out commercial venture. Cinematography, aided by the brilliant action, stunt, and dance choreography is a treat to the senses. The visual effects, one of the best in the contemporary industry, add to the overall impact of the movie.

Anniyan is not about something novel. Multiple personality disorder has been broached upon by Indian film industry earlier but the way Shankar does it in this movie is what has finally mattered. The voice inflexions, the songs and dances, the costume design, the sets, and of course the brilliance of Vikram help him achieve the effect that few others have been able to touch upon.

Here now...here now

Uski aankhon me baatein, baaton me jaadu
Jaadu me kho gaye hum, ho gaye bekaabu

Dus has star power, no doubt and with the kind of treatment given by the director to the characterisation of these stars, the star power has been used, for a change, effectively. An effective treatment does not mean that Anubhav Sinha has been successful in making a quality movie because apart from the slick sets and fast-paced action, the movie can not really be said to belong to class. However, the effectiveness is brought out in the way the actors are made to carry the aura of the movie around their characters. It is this aura that adds to the glamour and attitude of the movie and ensures that if nothing else, Dus will be a commercial success.

Siddhant (played by Sanjay Dutt with his trademark swagger defining the character's I-don't-care-as-long-as-I-believe-in-it attitude) heads the Anti Terrorist Cell which has received information about something big planned by terrorists on the 10th of May (thus Dus :-)). His officers and comrades-in-arms include Shashank, his brother (played with unmatched confidence by Abhishek Bachchan), Aditya (Zayed Khan in a role that he has been almost type casted in), and Aditi (played by the ravishing Shilpa Shetty with a bat tattoo just above the tail bone and a figure to die for). Danish (Suniel Shetty looking good as he does not have too many lines exposing his poor dialogue delivery) is an officer of the Canadian police who is forced by circumstances to help the ATC (anti terrorist cell) officers in their mission.

On hearing about the imminent danger from the terrorists, Siddhant sends Shashank and Aditya to Canada where their agent, Neha (Esha Deol who does nothing more than walk around in designer tights) will help them find and neutralize Jamvaal (the unknown and face-less terrorist who has planned the 10th May attack). In Canada, the two officers (each of them carrying dollops of attitude and style) meet Danish who is separated from his wife (Raima Sen who does not get any chance to display her talents) and is willing to take on crime and criminals for the principle of it.

While Shashank, Aditya, Neha, and Danish are hot on the tracks of the terrorists and their cronies (including Pankaj Kapur in an amazing display of acting that overshadows even the biggest of the rest of the so-called stars, and Gulshan Grover in an act that does more staring than talking), there is something else being hatched in Delhi at the ATC headquarters. Siddhant's sister (Dia Mirza who hardly appears in more than a few frames) is kidnapped with her to-be-hubby and the terrorists, in association with a mole at the ATC office, want their arrested colleague back in exchange for the sister and sister-in-law.

One action sequence follows the other till the climax shot in a football stadium in Canada where all the players of the drama make their last appearance. Obviously, good finally wins over evil but the way it does is what is going to make Dus a hit with the masses. The movie may not be able to do sustained business but the kind of opening it is already receiving is going to be enough to make its fortune. Apart from the huge star cast, the other plus that Dus carries is, of course, the style and the slick nature of the flick that is made clear to the audience right at the beginning when the credits roll in along with the immensely popular Dus bahaane song.

Audience starts expecting a certain kind of treatment from the movie once the trailors show four immaculately dressed people in black suits toting guns and coming out of stylized cars. Dus succeeds in meeting those expectations...almost. The first sequence where the squad diffuses a car bomb (and where Shilpa Shetty gets to execute her much discussed kick) really seems to fit the image and expectation right to the tee. In fact, the entire first half is racy and even the initial moments of the second half are watchable for, if not anything else, the masterful performance of Pankaj Kapur.

The movie, however, starts going downhill as the climax starts getting uncovered. Lots of loose ends, a screenplay gone awry, sequences out of context including spoiling the racy and action packed effect by mixing it with some typical Bollywood sentimental-ism, unncessarily subduing the evil to make sure that all of it ends happily and yet, providing an out-of-context jerk to the happily-ever-after proceedings, all give an impression that the director is done with showing what he wanted to, and is now in a hurry to finish things and go home.

The music is already topping the charts and even the placement of songs is just right. The cinematography adds to the style and glamour that the movie is counting on to cover its weak points. Ditto for the actors, with Abhishek Bachchan stealing the show through another confident display of what success can do to a talented but unlucky actor. The direction is adequate and Anubhav Sinha, in an attempt to try something he has not done before, manages the routine quite well. However, he is not able to come out with something fresh owing to the screenplay that is rather unfitting and cripples the director and the movie.

There was a movie called 16th December that came a couple of year back. It was the story of how an anti-terrorist special force led by Danny and comprising of Millind Soman and Sushant, among others, prevented a terrorist attack at a crowded place scheduled for a particular date, which was 16th of December. Dus has almost the same story line but with a difference (stars, style, attitude and a little more) and the difference is what made 16th December forgettable and what will make Dus a force to reckon with for at least some time...time enough for the producers to go happily to the bank.

There are no rights or wrongs...only power

"Like all other directors across the world, I have also been inspired by The Godfather. This is my tribute to it"
Ram Gopal Verma

No, this movie is not Godfather. No, this is not the first time that Amitabh Bachchan is playing such a role. No, this is not an Amitabh movie.

Yes, there are similarities in some sequences that make you remember Godfather (especially part of the opening sequence where the father of a wronged girl comes asking for revenge and perhaps even the dining table scenes or the last scene where the new don takes charge). Yes, Abhishek Bachchan comes up with yet another stellar performance. Yes, the movie does carry the trademark Ramu style.

Sarkar is anything but Godfather copied frame to frame. There is no way it could have been. The Italian mafia is too different in its style and fabric, when compared to the Mumbai underworld. While politics was only a minor irritant in the Italian mafia scene, it is a major factor when one comes down to Mumbai and its dons. Amitabh Bachchan plays Sarkar, the undisputed (so far) king of Mumbai who rules over the masses with an iron rod, working for the poor and not caring about the rich, law, order, system, etc.

Sarkar is a law unto himself and Amitabh Bachchan does look the part with a panache. He plays the quintessential ageing man with a deep voice, one who may not be in the prime of his health but one who still demands respect by his glance, stare and voice. It is not so much the dialogues and/or the histrionics that matter in this movie (for there are hardly any, at least from the father-son duo of Amitabh and Abhishek) but it is the silent stare, the expressions in the eyes and the slow, steady and deep baritone that does the acting. Kay Kay (supposed to be playing a combination of Sonny and Fredo Corleone) does raise his voice a lot and like Sonny Corleone, is shown to be the hot-tempered one in the family and like Fredo Corleone, does things that are against the family.

In fact, perhaps the the only central theme in which  the movie can be be said to be similar to Godfather is the family concept and the patriarch passing on his duties, though he does not want to, to the younger son, the one who has always been kept away from the dirt and scum. The family, however, is not as much that of an underworld don as it is of an influential politician who has taken it upon himself to become the messiah of the poor and the helpless.

Although the intent behind the movie was good, but it has been an overdose of underworld movies from the Ramu stable now and yet another, despite the Amitabh-Abhishek magic, does not really work from the point of view of the average movie goer who might never have heard of The Godfather. For the multiplex audience who have been expecting a hard-hitting (and for a change, decently "inspired") movie, the disappointment is written clearly as they realize that it is not the story of Don Vito and Michael and Sonny that they have grown up on. Rather, it is just an attempt to take the basic idea and build upon it as per Indian conditions, a concept that may be foreign to many of them who are used to direct frame to frame lifts.

The characterisation, unexpectedly is a trifle weak in this movie. Apart from the Bachchan duo, as Ramgopal Verma admits himself, rest of the actors are not stars, taken mostly from the stage and cast in what has been a clear attempt at making a commercial movie. Although the addition of more stars would have helped in the commerical aspects, even the characters and their placement in the current scheme of things does not seem to be good enough. While the villains are all caricatures (as has been seen in many Mumbai underworld movies) going by names like Silvermani and laughing hysterically, the sidekicks have nothing to do than grind teeth, either. The female leads are wasted and have nothing to display (literally or otherwise) at all in a short movie (just over 2 hours) which is dominated entirely by the brooding looks and toned-down but effective dialogue deliveries of Amitabh and Abhishek.

Amitabh Bachchan holds the movie together, no doubt, with his voice booming across the screen in every other frame but this movie belongs to the junior B. With Yuva and Bunty aur Babli, he has already proved that he can act outside his father's shadow and in this movie, he really out does himself. In fact, in some of the scenes, the intensity of his expressions surpasses those of Amitabh himself, truly something any actor would die for. Kay Kay is wasted in a role where he does not know what to do, a mix between Sonny and Fredo, he is neither strong nor completely weak, a waste of a character and an actor. Katrina Kaif looks amazingly beautiful and more than that, carries oodles of sex appeal but since she does not have much to do in the movie, no impression of her acting even starts getting formed. Rest of the support cast is just that, support cast and none of them manages to make his/her presence felt in the middle of the Amitabh-Abhishek performances.

The background score, though it sounds good initially, starts getting on the nerves when it is repeated every now and then without scope or necessity. Cinematography is apt and the dialogues crisp and as per the situation. There are no typical hard hitting whistle inducing typical-Amitabh-movie dialogues but Amitabh manages to overcome this minor issue with the extra-ordinary way in which he delivers even the most ordinary dialogues. Ram Gopal Verma comes back to direction after a long gap and actually realizes his dream of over 25 years by making this movie. However, he does not manage to do something extra-ordinarily novel this time. Unlike his different-from-the-league movies like Kaun, Bhoot, or even Satya, this one has a lot of aspects that Ramu has already shown us and has already got our respect for.

Looking at the promos, and expecting a Godfather made by Ram Gopal Verma and enacted by Amitabh Bachchan, is not going to help when you go to watch this movie. Expect another Amitabh and/or Ramu master piece and you will get it but if you expect a different underworld movie after Satya, Company and D...or if you want to relate Amitabh Bachchan with Marlon Brando or Abhishek with Al Pacino, there is disappointment written right ahead.