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