Dhobi Ghat (Mumbai Diaries) Movie Review

Is Hindi Cinema evolving, the answer would be Yes, but how far is it comparable to World Cinema, well the answer to this question lies in the coming years, but I feel that Today's Hindi Cinema have the raw energy to stand on it's own grounds and Dhobi Ghat adds more vigor to it.

Every Filmmaker/Film-lover believes in a Cinema which stays in his/her mind, a Cinema as close as a personal affair, but most of the filmmaker get mold to the current trends in filmmaking as they find it hard to convince a financer. This is what I felt after reading many aspiring filmmaker's take on their professional life. Fortunately Kiran Rao has an advantage to convey her story unadulterated, thanks to Amir Khan, husband of Kiran Rao and the producer/actor of Dhobi Ghat.

Well to start with Dhobi Ghat, it's a different movie in Indian Cinema with characters tend to be real and genuine. As this review will have spoilers attached to it, so would request film-lovers, who would not want to know the story before they have watched the film to please excuse this blog for time being. They can visit at their convenience when they have watched the film :)

As earlier mentioned this is a bold take on reality check on four different characters coming from different strata, different mindset/outlook, but common location i.e. Mumbai. These four characters and Mumbai for me is DHOBI GHAT. I would like to present my review on each character to know more from you as well as to how you felt about each one of them.

1) Yasmin (Middle Class Housewife/HandyCam)
This character, a newly wed, seemed to me a character who is new to Mumbai and was absorbing the essence of Mumbai through the handycam provided by her husband. The intercuts used to portray this character was very well done, but the conflict used to present this character was very vague and am still not convinced on the point that, in the world of mobile communication, why the hell I would keep recording on Handycam cassettes to show my brother in some other city/country how is my life shaping in Mumbai. Even if I still agree to it, why Yasmeen did not shipped the first two cassettes to his brother, also on the third cassette there is no point saying to her brother/family 'This is my last recording and I hope you will forgive me', as she is not gonna ship that either, so no point of saying those lines as well. I was able to relate to this character in the climax, the trauma was underlined excellently by the director but the concept of using a Handycam was like an incomplete deal to me.

2) Shai (US Investment Banker/Photography)
This is one of the confused characters of all the four, she is returned from US for a sabbatical. She is interested in Arun, sleeps with him the day she meets and she likes photography. She meets Munna (Dhobi), Munna becomes her guide to show around Mumbai. These all events leads to a viewer like me that what is she really looking out for. She being working in US has got a broad outlook towards life, very open minded, ready to be around with anyone at any given point of time, then why to life so seriously when it comes at a point when she has to decide between Arun and Munna. Was really confusing for me to see a character who happened to be a flamboyant intially looked like a puzzle in the climax.

3) Arun (Artist)
This character has gone wrong completely for the filmmaker as for the first time I felt Amir has not studied the character and has left his character solely in the hands of the filmmaker. Arun is an Artist who is as moody as every other famous artists are tagged for. Also a character who has no control on his life/family life, lives life on his instinct relying on his current state of mind. The weak point of this character to me was the way he smoked throughout his film, giving us a feel that he is in total control of the situation and looked very pretentious which he is not. Also how can a person who does not like to connect socially just gets with a girl over a few minutes of talk and then sleep with her gets a bit heavy for me to digest. The climax part was superbly executed by the filmmaker and also the actor has to be applauded.

4) Munna (Dhobi)
The most believable character in this film. A very well written character having multiple shades, representing the slums of Mumbai, but having dreams of becoming a famous actor. The filmmaker could have avoided few 'Explicit' aspects to this character portraying him as a Gigolo, the conversation with Munna's female customer seemed redundant.

Acting wise it's a top notch performance from all the four characters, but Pateik was special in this film, the rawness in his dialogue delivery, the passive feelings towards Shai and then his relation with his paternal cousin makes the character adorable. Monica Dogra as Shai is sensous and I felt the character was justified well by her. Kriti as Yasmin was also special, loved the way she delivered her lines, left a feeling of a philosopher who happened to embrace the good and ugly facets of the city. Amir was very mediocre for me in this film, expected a lot from him, I find him trying a lot to get into his character, but there were scenes which really stood out, esp the climax scene.

Technically the film worked for me, multiple video formats used, defining the mood of Mumbai at different levels. Even the cuts were interesting, the different video format worked well with the intercuts used. Musically, am not sure why the filmmaker underplayed the music, there was a scene when all these four characters were on a HIGH, still the music was kept very subtle, just underlining the emotions. Though I felt the use of music as unsatisfactory there were many places where real music were used which worked for me.

Kiran Rao, the director of this film is the most luckiest filmmaker to complete a film of her choice under Amir Khan Production. This film will be in History among those films which try to evolve as a different flavor of Indian Cinema, but when it comes to characterizaton I feel something is left incomplete which would add to the negatives from my end.

Rating : 2.5/5

Raktha Charithra - I

'Revenge is the purest emotion' that is the tag the film carries and so truly the film follows the tag line. As Ram Gopal Varma, from hereon RGV, in his blogs last year gave a verdict that this movie will be the best works of his career, which raised curiosity in me as to how can a filmmaker claim that this is his/her best works, even before it is conceived to a form.

The film Rakhtha Charithra -I, RC -I from hereon, as the name suggest it's history of blood everywhere throughout the duration of the movie, claiming it to be the most violent movie in Indian Cinema.I agree to that. Is it horrifying, I would say NO. As I have seen few recent Tamil movies Parutheeveeran, Subramaniapooram wherein the violence were portrayed in a shocking way which worked very effectively to me than RC -I . Although RC -I dealts with the subject honestly but the effect seems to be simmer when in comparison.

After seeing the movie, I would not claim that RGV has returned with a masterpiece, instead I would put it this way, RGV played safe. He sticked to the basics of story telling, didn't experimented much. Also used his now truning to be 'BANAL' style of visualizing a scene through weird angles, dusky frames and loud background music. To add to that, some of the scenes from RC -I reminded me of the past cult classics movies like Satya, Company and Sarkar. Nevertheless, it seems to be one of the recent film of his where his honesty can be seen throughout the move.

Technically the film didn't worked for me much, the visuals were dull maybe due to the color composition of the frames which are being used since the Sarkar days. Also the background music which is so loud that instead of lifting a scene to the next level, most of the times turned out to be noise. The only savior of the film to me was the editing, wherein I hardly felt the focus getting shifted to other emotions except Revenge. Also the events were so tightly weaved it leaves no room for boredom, as things keep happening every now and then.

Actors steal the entire show from the action packed plot. RGV needs to be saluted for the cast he has ensembled. For me it's Abhimanyu Singh as Bukka Reddy who is a relevation when it comes to portray the anagonist. He lived like Bukka Reddy portraying the emotions of anger, lust and weirdo so easily that there would be tendency for one to hate him throughout the journey of RC- I. For me he is the ideal candidate for a national recognition this year. Vivek Oberoi, Zarina Waahab, Shatrughan Sinha and the rest do justice to their roles.

RGV sticks to the story providing less scope to the audience to divert their attention. There are some scenes where in I felt the RGV still has the stupendous intensity, control over the emotions and supreme sensitivity towards the emotion. Also to mention, his forte in selecting the right cast, as it worked well in RC- I. The film which is a complete action packed where blood oozes out every other minute is ONE Timer for me. As my expectation from a RGV film over this genre was too high, which might be one of the reason. Having said that it's time for RGV to brainstorm his technical team especially the cameraman and the BGM team to match atleast to the level of his own work in Satya, Kaun, Company!

Rating: 3/5
P.S. The rating gets equally divided between the entire team and Abhimanyu Singh.

Udaan - Movie Review

Whenever I see an international film, either in a film festival or if someone recommends, I get mesmerized over the fact how such films are made and I always wished why cannot an Indian film match upto the standards in terms of exploring a given situation/relation. I was answered by many other Indian films, but majority of these Indian films were based on pre-Independence or on social issue or on some political figure. Whereas Udaan stands out solely on the topic which the movie explores i.e. Human relations.

To me, it came no surprise to know the film's official entry to prestigious international film festival because the film based on contemporary setup, real characters and exciting scenarios makes Udaan a film a must watch for all genuine film lovers. The film is based on a teenager's relation with his father, step brother and his aspiration which become the major conflicts. But the detailing of characters, scenes, the performances and the raw visual feel makes it a treat to watch the movie on a big screen.

The scenes are well written with supreme senstivity, providing a scope for thought process after the movie gets over. It also justifies the maturity level of the filmmaker Vikramaditya Motwane to create a father-son-step brother relationship with such sincerity. There are many scenes which one would take back, ponder and might relate with his/her relations. The visuals are nothing to excite about as the location chosen doesn't provide much scope to elevate the frame to a level where one would atleast think to appreciate the visual art. Having said that, handheld camera are used very effectively. The music by Amit trivedi is good and it never adds obstacle to the flow of the narrative, on the contrary it enhances the mood of the scene.

Actor Ronit Roy steals the entire show for me from this movie. He has given a performance of his lifetime. Debutant Rajat Barmecha also excels with his subtle expression, Ram kapoor comes with a decent act. The other supporting cast doesn't disappoint either. The second plus point of this film is the varied and unusual cast which adds more vigor and freshness to the plot as the cast is not yet typecasted to any other mould of film acting.

The drawbacks might be the length which again is debatable for some including me. As I didn't find the length was an issue, but some scenes were stretched above certain visual norms, but still the core feel was maintained throughout the narrative. The second negative would be the heaviness of the topic when it gets into the second half making the film a one time watch. But if you love films shown in international film festival, if you respect the depth of human relations and if you are looking for different Indian cinema then Udaan is for you as it worked for me. For others give it a try atleast, you won't be that disappointed.

Rating: 4/5
P.S. On a lighter footnote, after watching Udaan I am sure one will search another great movie 'KantiShah ke Angoor' :)

Raavan - Movie Review

Raavan, the most awaited Hindi film of this year for just a single trivial reason, it's a Mani Ratnam film. It's now almost more than a decade for Mani Sir being associated with Hindi films which started off with Dil Se. Though Dil Se did not fair well with most of others, for me it was one of the few passionate films made by equally passionate people. Be it the visuals, the music, the actors, the raw premise and the narration. The key technical crew members who were behind the making of Dil Se re-unite yet again to make Raavan.

To expect a lot from Mani Sir movie is not a crime, but I had to pay for it after watching Guru and from then I had slowed down my anxiety when Raavan teasers were running. At the same time, was very sure that I will definitely watch it on big screen for two big reasons one being A R Rahman's music (ARR from hereon) and other the camera maverick Santosh Sivan's visual treat (Sivan Sir from hereon). After watching the movie I was pretty happy to know that keeping less expectation may create or retain respect for any artist and I still hold great respect to Mani Sir. Not because Raavan is an exceptional film but at the same time it's not a dud either.

The first half kills the charm of the entire movie, it has nothing to stimulate Mani Sir's admirer's intelligence and that's where many of them have come up with sad and bad reviews. There's nothing wrong in that, but this happened with almost every other Mani Sir's attempt with Hindi movies. In Dil Se, the first half was going nowhere between the two estranged lovers, in Yuva it was running round a conflict without opening a resolution and in Guru I seriously cannot recollect what happened in first half. The same thing happened in Raavan, but I was skeptical about the second half and as expected Mani Sir bounced back, cementing his faith in me.

The story unfolds in second half and it held my attention till the very end. According to me, the climax was special because it did not take the mythological way rather Mani Sir added his own interpretation which made Raavan believable for me in totality. As I mentioned the first half was torturous for many reasons, the actors acting loud especially Abhishek, stale dialogues, story in hung state and shabbily executed scenes wherein the characters fall from hilltop. There was a point during first half wherein I started thinking that the first half might be directed by one of his assistants as Mani Sir was not keeping well. Phewww It was just a running thought though.

Technically Raavan fairs very average be it the camera work which is nothing exceptional, Sivan Sir had visioned his eyes more beautifully in Dil Se or be it the music from ARR which was very mediocre when it was synced with the visuals. The songs are beautiful but the placement of songs looks an insert in and the song picturization is nothing to cheer about, it gets cliche. To me 'Khili Re' and 'Jaa Udd jaa' were picturized along with the narrative rest were really out of place. The background score was mediocre but far better than Guru.

Performance wise Abhishek is inconsistent, he hams a lot in the first half and in the second half gives a decent controlled performance. Aishwarya Rai disappoints. Vikram nothing spectacular. Govinda why he was casted? Ravi Kishan and Priyamani played their part well. No actor was spectacular which was surprising, as in Mani Sir movie I had seen actors outplaying each other.

Narrative wise, Raavan is a single dimension movie and hides many small aspects of every other character and focuses only on the larger part which is good in a way but leaves many questions unanswered when the movie gets over.

In all Raavan is a film which is way ahead from Mani Sir's last attempt Guru and is way behind the passionate Dil Se. Some theist believe that Mani Sir's film should not be reviewed because the reviewers think they better know than Mani Sir, but the fact is that if and only if there are audience there will be a Mani Ratnam or in short there will be CINEMA.

My Rating: 2.5 out of 5

VinnaiThaandi Varuvaaya - Movie Review (Aaromale Stay Away)

‘Boy falls for a girl’

‘Boy follows her’

‘Girl showing attitude’

‘Boy proposes’

‘Girl refuses (force of repulsion)’

‘She encounters a problem in her life to get married to some one’

‘Later Girl accepts the boy’s proposal’

‘Love blossoms (force of attraction)’

‘Same problem creeps in her life (not again)’

‘the same force of repulsion applied from the girl’s end’

‘Boy gets frustrated’ and the cycle or rather this movie goes on and on …….

If you get really involved by this type of story telling wherein the characters are itself confused more than the audience then vinnai thandi varuvaya (VTV) would be your cup of tea/coffee whatever.

This is the first Tamil film I am watching on a big screen for the sole reason ‘A R Rahman’s music’. Being a malayalee I was taken by surprise over the malayalam number ‘Aromale’ which really triggered me to get prudent checking the daily newspaper to get some news of VTV getting released here. The news appeared, I booked the tickets and watched it for almost 3 hours.

Yes, the movie is almost 3 hours which could have been easily curtailed by one hour. The first half was tolerable as it gained some pace but it’s the second half which really made adjust my seats, check my watch, also yawn, also made me realize what all tasks are pending for tomorrow’s office work. Phewwwww.

Secondly, for a love story to click the songs plays a major key. Here the song picturization, the timing of the song, the choreography, the song location are below par. Was thinking how Gautam convinced Rahman to do this film. Rahman’s music in VTV is very good but it’s not intelligently used by Gautam. It doesn’t gel with the scene and creates a disconnect, making the audience take a break and ponder things which are not linked with the movie or the characters.(Spoiler) It was terrible to see Aromale song in United States, it’s neither innovative nor was helping the situation/mood of the scene(/Spoiler)

The performances from the cast was also not extra-ordinary, it was expected from these actors. As the role was very contemporary, it didn’t seem challenging. Expected Trisha to come with good lip sync for malayalam dialogues, as the strain was clearly visible. Rest of the cast were decent nothing over the top nor extra-ordinary.

Gautam Menon lost the plot completely. For any love story there has to be an emotional connect between the characters and the audience. I didn’t find any connect. Was yawning when the characters were trying to hard to build a connect, in the second half. Also I was not able to figure why Rahman hooked to this project, as musically this film didn’t do much wonder while watching. It didn’t had the Rahman’s stamp for the background scores either.

Except the first half and the last five minutes of the movie I really was not able to find this movie entertaining at all. The positive I took from this movie (Spoiler) Being an aspiring filmmaker, I need to find a Malayalee Christian girl to become a successful filmmaker(/Spoiler)

My Rating:2/5

P.S. I watched this movie with English Subtitles in one of the multiplexes at Pune

PAA - Auro se Alag

The rushes of ‘Paa’ reminded me of the early days when there was a cutout of a new brand look of Amitabh Bachchan aka AURO in one of the leading national newspaper’s city edition. It was a thrilling moment for me particularly. It made me realize that Amitabh Bachchan’s golden era still continues, wherein he is getting very different roles every now and then, that too challenging ones in his late sixties. I wonder whether anyone other than Bachchan in Hindi film industry will ever get a chance to do full fledged roles when they will reach their seniority as Mr. Bachchan is today.

Having said that, it’s a lifetime dream for any upcoming filmmaker(s) to exploit the creative talent’s of Bachchan to the extremes and R Balki is one of the few successful ones. His first venture, a light romantic ‘Cheeni Kum’ with Amitabh Bachchan and Tabu in the lead pair was received well which later eventually is followed by his next with again Mr. Amitabh Bachchan as AURO in the movie ‘PAA’.

The starting credits have been kept simple with soulful melody by the maestro IlaiyaRaaja Sir. But it was very odd rather strange to see Jaya Bachchan narrating the credits which I felt was not creatively done. I doubted whether the movie is about blindness or progeria or maybe the producer (Abhishek Bachchan) wanted her mother’s blessing before the actual start.

One of the best part of this movie, apart from AURO, are the dialogues. It has been kept concise, witty, thoughtful and not preachy. This aspect is easily noticeable in the first half which has brought the lost clean humor back and it was the first time for me to experience that the entire crowd in the cinema hall sharing the same opinion, as for most of the witty lines the hall was getting very louder.

The technical aspects of PAA are above par. Be it the frames of PC Sriram or the cuts of Anil Naidu. The good thing the director has done with PAA is that he didn’t focused the grim side of this disease progeria, as many films show the grim side if the plot is about a prime character who is diseased. Also the film does not show the optimistic side as to how to fight an incurable disease. Rather it selects the realistic way to show the feelings of the diseased character’s ‘AURO’ lookout towards his friends, mother, grandmother and his PAA.

There are many scenes in PAA which I will carry for some time after watching this film. Like the only scene between Amitabh and Paresh Rawal. I rate this scene as the best. Then there is a telephonic conversation scene between Amitabh and his classmate, wherein his classmate friend Vishnu brings out the sheer frustration of having a father who tries to nag him every now and then is simple fabulous and superbly executed. Also the climax scene between Amitabh and Abhishek is very touching when Amitabh realizes Abhishek about one of the prime mistakes in his life and many more scenes.

The music by IlaiyaRaaja Sir is very commendable, the background score adds more flavors to the scenes. But I would go for Cheeni Kum as his best music, as it had some great compositions and some great renditions by Shreya Ghoshal.

Acting wise Paresh Rawaal has done it again, actually Paresh has joined in good safe hands after Priyadarshan’s faltering experiments on Paresh since Hera Pheri. Vidya Balan has shown respectful potential to portray the maturity of her role. Even Arundhati Nag has delivered a stunner. Watch her especially when she answers the phone call of her to be son-in-law. Abhishek looks very rigid in this role, he’s been the disappointing factor for me from the ensemble cast. For emotional scenes he seem to very stiff rather he should have let loose. The school kids have been a surprise package, they were just too good especially Vishnu!

Then comes AURO, the movie belongs to one and only Amitabh Bachchan, he has completely transformed himself to AURO a 12 year kid. He tampered his voice, changed his looks, changed the way he walks, the way he talks, the way he expresses when he gets his hands on the Playstation. SPEECHLESS! Simply sensational and different.

I am not going to rate this movie, as I am not entitled to rate a movie of this caliber based on an artist like Amitabh Bachchan. On the contrary, am blessed that I belong to a generation wherein I can see a old man in the late sixties fighting his heart out with the today’s young guns in a very ethical way.

A must watch for film enthusiasts and buddying actors (including the current top film stars). It’s like a golden opportunity to learn/unlearn the art of acting from the institution itself near your cinema theatres.

Puthiya Mugham (A new Face)

Originally Posted at PFC - http://passionforcinema.com/puthiya-mugham-movie-review/

PUTHIYA MUGHAM (Malayalam Movie)

Malayalam cinema is going through a phase of exploring a complete change over in the story telling, searching a new experience to attain the lost era of golden cinema which carried the legacy in late 80's and early 90's. Going by the records of recent malayalam cinema, it was clear of the fact that today's malayalam cinema is running on two 'M' shoulder(s) i.e. Mohanlal and Mammooty. They have proved it most of the times, which kept me puzzling who will be the next genuine actor after Mohanlal, the response was NONE.

Then I came to know of a movie called 'Puthiya Mugham' via Television. The rushes were cool, very good music and moreoever it had PrithviRaj in it. The media claimed PrithviRaj as the next superstar in Malayalam cinema. I wasn't happy for this, as I wanted PrithviRaj to be the next best actor representing Malayalam cinema like Mohanlal is doing now. But the media created an undying anxiety in me to watch this movie only on theatres. As I reside out of Kerala, I had to wait for a long time to see the small poster in our national newspaper about the scheduling of this movie. I jumped on it, rescheduled my office priorites to make sure that I watch this one. The songs were constantly running on the Music channels which was just adding the vigour to the undying anxiety in me.

The day arrived, I was at the cinema hall, the cinema was delayed by half an hour, after half an hour we got seated in the halls, advertisements was shown like a goods trains passing by. I thought they have lost the reel of this movie and were just fooling around with the ads. Then after a while, the movie started. Bang on! the movie started with the theme song sung by PrithviRaj 'Puthiya Mugham', the start credits were cool and the song geled well with the credits. Expectations raised a level above, hoping that the golden era of malayalam cinema is right here.

Unfortunately it is not, the start was very fast as if the director was in no mood to treat a scene as a scene. He was running from one visual to another leaving zero connect to the drama, not assuring any emotion to get registered in viewers mind. He has used many unnecessary dissolve(s) (dissolves mean to transit from one scene to other) in the first half which was disturbing. I was shattered by the way the filmmaker has handled the first half, it would have been a great opportunity for the filmmaker to use the talents like Nedumudi Venu to the extreme in these segments.

The second half delves with only action. Action for what? There was no logical plot, as I was really not into it why these guys are fighting for? There were many questions running behind my mind like
1) Why Bala behaves politely with Priya Mani in the first half, as he is a womaniser, he could have done his deed to Priya Mani in no time.
2) PrithviRaj bashing the police officer like anything in the police station, surprisingly Kerala Police were getting beated left right and no officer dared to carry gun/revolver. Why?
3) Why NeduMudi Venu hides the fact to PrithviRaj that he has lost his mental balance. Whereas it felt to me that PrithviRaj was behaving normal when he comes to know about this.
4) The ending was disgusting, Bala choses not to live and throws his life when PrithviRaj tries to save him by lending his hand, then in the next frame PrithviRaj is shown in the college with his new girlfriend Priya Mani, so what about his mental imbalance. No police case, no medication, WOW that's a good treatment. Isn't it?
And many more...........

To be honest, the action scenes were also cliche, we have seen it many a times in southern cinema. The sad thing about these stunt sequences were, one can see the carpet lied on the ground when anyone falls down on the ground. The camera work is nothing exceptional. The editing is disturbing and the background score is irritating. The technical aspects of this movie is really below par. The direction is very pathetic, one wonders how this movie gained such respect to the filmmaker.

The only saviour for this film is PrithviRaj, he is certainly the next big thing in Malayalam cinema and the director Diphan understands this and is exploiting Prithvi for his next disaster errr ... I mean film. Hope this time Diphan works on the characters and comes with a sensible plot.

Acting wise PrithviRaj has very limited scope. In the second half he just beats up everyone and stares while he moves. As far as I feel, PrithviRaj is wasted, he can do a better job if he is provided some meaty roles rather just hitting people left right. Priya Mani is decent with her role. Bala does justice to his character. NeduMudi Venu, Sai Kumar (he was just destined to get thrashed by PrithviRaj) are wasted. Shammi Thilakan impresses with his very small role. Meera Nandan looks overweight, she looks below moderate on screen.

In all, because of PrithviRaj; director Diphan will stay in Malayalam Cinema for years to come. Let's pray Almighty that he works on the script rather stunts, camera movements and pathetic editing pattern. Am not sure about the future of this filmmaker, but one thing is for sure, Puthiya Mugham fails to provide a new face in Malayalam Cinema. The search for good cinema is still ON. Are you hearing Diphan?

Rating : 1.5/5 (0.5 - Starting credits, 0.5 - NeduMudi Venu/PrithviRaj, 0.5 - End credits)