Review of Haider

Vishal Bhardwaj completes his Shakespearen trilogy with the adaptation of Hamlet into Haider.It is  his familiar style of presenting Shakespear's plays in a different milieu.This time he finds his Hamlet in heaven-turned-hell Kashmir.It is  Chutzpah on Vishal's part to choose such a difficult play and its  more fierce presentation in a  Bollywood flick.

We are taken back to the Kashmir of 1995 when the militancy was on  on its peak. Haider comes home from  Aligarh where he studies poetry  and finds everything in  ruins.His father  Dr. Meer is picked up by the Indian Army  for supporting militants and his house is blown  in front of his parents.He also witnesses his half-widow mother Ghazala being courted by his uncle Khurram.Haider sets in  to search for his missing father in different Army camps.He is helped in this quest by his love Arshia.One day Haider  comes across with Roohdaar and  learns  that his father  is dead and his uncle is responsible for his father's death.This treachery by his own uncle turns the poet in Haider into an avenger.

At the beginning of the film one finds the banality in Shahid Kapoor's acting but as the film moves ahead,Shahid's performance becomes remarkable.He speaks less in the film but leaves his eyes and facial expressions to do the talking.He successfully  showcases the moist at one point of time and at another the angst in his eyes.

Tabu is another good performer in the film.Her character passes through different shades of life:the sexual conflict,the passionate relationship of a mother and a son and the greedy  eyes of a brother-in-law.She has  beautifully played all her parts:the enigmatic smile,the  flat face and the act of emotional  blackmailing.Kay Kay Menon  shows he too can perform.Shradhha Kapoor is ok in her depiction of Ophelia through  Arshia.

Pankaj Kumar has framed Kashmir from a different angle.Instead of bringing  out the  beauty  of snow,he uses it to capture the  coldness of snow bathed  in blood and  human  corpses.This time the Dal lake doesn't remind us of flower laden shikaras but deserted homes.Songs are  the  poetic work of Gulzar combined with Vishal's  music.One  would find quantum of local flavor in the songs.The song "Bismil"  is a play  in itself in the  film.Vishal has co-written the  film's screenplay with Basharat  Peer ,a Kashmiri journalist who painstakingly jots down the stark reality of Kashmiri people.Vishal has taken the liberty to deviate from the Hamlet's plot at the end of the film by not killing Khurram because Vishal propogates a belief "Intkaam sirf intkaam  paida   karti hai."He has boldly portrayed an issue of  Kashmir in this film.But this  film tells the story from one point of view,it scarcely finds a mention of the plight of Kashmiri pandits who are still aliens to  their  homeland.Similarly the film paints the Indian Army into a villain,exception is the one-line phrase  that the Indian Army has saved people in Kashmir in recent floods.The film doesn't say  about the  various humanitarian campaigns of the Indian Army in Kashmir.Though,it subtly advocates that "Azadi to Dandewale  ne dilayi thi bandookwale ne nahi."This seems to be the  reason why this film was released on 2nd October.

Haider is a  piece of art which would not be appreciated by all  and would not be missed by few!! 

Review of Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani

This is Ayan Mukherjee’s second directorial flick after “Wake Up Sid” which portrayed a youth undauntedly living,rather cashing in, on his parents money.This time too he has  not come up with an uncommon story of showcasing youths’ dilemma in life.

Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani unfurls a story of four youths whose interest is not common in life.Bunny is a backbencher having a clear vision of what he wants out of his life-he wants to fathom the world and its beauties,be it edible or enjoyable, by exploring,soaring,falling and discovering.Abhi enjoys betting in cricket and ‘Spirit’.Having not yet decided goal in life,he dreams of running a bar.Aditi is a tom boy who loves to chill out with friends.Naina is a typical high grader confined to the limits set by her mother.She is depicted as a glassy-geek immersed in her medical books.The film starts with a verve-filled song of Ghaghra where Madhuri Dixit plays a cameo role.Soon after,Bunny,Abhi and Aditi plan a trekking trip to Manali and incidently Naina too joins them.Albeit, Naina is odd one out among this group of four as she was not on good terms with the rest of three during her school days, she tries to enjoy the shades of this trip which proves a self realizing trip to Naina since she discovers that she was missing the charm of life and eventually falls for Bunny.But on the other hand, Bunny  never gives a damn to this four letter word which gets one to have the same dal chawal for rest of the life and advocates the pros of flirting.Naina tries to convince Bunny with dialogues like 'Jo maza Mumbai me Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge  dekhne me hai wo maza Opera me nahi,jo feeling India me family ke sath rahne ka hai wo akele New York me rahne me nahi'.But neither could this prophecy nor the spark of Naina’s love turn into fire and Bunny leaves for the USA to chase his dream.Eight years pass by and Aditi decides to marry,despite loving Abhi, a boor-like engineer.Bunny is busy in shooting,as a cameraman, in different parts of the world and is going to get a big assignment of hosting for a channel in France.Meanwhile he gets an invitation to attend Aditi’s marriage at Udaipur where he reunites with Naina,the doctor;Abhi,the loser……Naina’s love gets re-ignited and this time Bunny could not save himself from its heat!

There are several jhols in the storyline:Naina’s mother is shown saying ”Agar ladkiyan jyada masti karti hai to pregnant ho jati hai” but Naina takes the same path sans hesitation,first half shows Naina wearing specs but there is no explanation of her not doing so in the second half,the two female characters are shown as the girls of the next generation but they don’t have courage to express their feelings to the two boys,what a contradiction…etc. 

Ranbir Kapoor has done justice to the parts where he had to shake legs,Deepika Padukone looks very attractive as usual,Kalki is also good.Songs are the few good things of this movie like its locations.Rekha Bhardwaj has done her part to save the Ghaghra and Vishal Dadlani is good in Balam Pichkari alike is Benny Dayal in Batmeez dil.This is David Dhawan-Govinda-type movie which can be vouched for its songs and where you should leave your mind at your home!

Review of Kai Po Che

Abhishek Kapoor has added one more film in the kitty of Male-Friendship-Triology started with Dil Chahta Hai and followed by Rock On and Zindgi Na Milegi Dubara.The film is a simple translation of Chetan Bhagat’s novel into reels.Like his novel,Kai Po Che is all about Cricket,Business and religion based Politics.Chetan Bhagat gets his due credit this time with a mention of Screenplay writer.

The film is set in a middle class milieu of Ahmedabad where three bosom pals cherish their distinctly different dreams.While Govind portrays a typical Gujju baniya,the petulant Ishaan plays a role of local cricketer and  Omi shows us his camaraderie.Omi is the fund raiser of the group and Govind is the manager who takes utmost care of the money by assuring where and when to invest it but he also shows some generosity by providing few tharra parties for his group.They start up a sports store cum cricket coaching centre in one room of a temple managed by Omi’s mama Bittu.Being good at numbers,Govind is entrusted a task of tutoring math to Ishaan’s chirping sister Vidya who later teaches Govind that One and One can also be three! With his business acumen Govind manages well the store and takes some loan from Bittu to purchase a shop in a mall to open a big store.But the Gujrat’s devastating earthquake of 2000 crushes his dream.He breaks down but Vidya helps him restart.In the later part of the film,Ishaan takes on the job of shining Ali,a local boy bestowed with cricketing brilliance and Omi gives in to the wishes of his mama to join his right wing Hindu party.The film reaches the climax with Ishaan coming to know about the relationship of Govind and Vidya and Omi’s bullet piercing Ishaan…..!

This film briefly shows how the balmy air of Navratra helps ripen the couples’ love in Gujrat.The difference between cricket and  religion in India is vividly illustrated in the film .While the former goes beyond sect to unite humans,the latter creates schism between them.Similarly,the film leaves a message for young entrepreneurs that business is all about passion,dedication and perseverance….you must know how to stand again and keep walking after every stumble.

Chetan Bhagat is a writer of Middle-Class-Young-India who knows the nerves of this generation and its complexity. With the help of Abhisek Kapoor’s directorial abilities, he has created three characters who have made the film a brilliant one without the presence of any Amir Khan!They would certainly bag more films in future without being stars.

This is a good movie……even better if you have not read the Three Mistakes Of My Life!

Talashh-review

Review of Talaash

                                               

Talaash is a mélange of whodunit,action,noir psychological and supernatural story where Reema Kagti,the director, has come up with an idea of  a quest for  inner feelings.If you love watching  suspense movie,then watch it and read my views later…..it is best watched when untold!

The film begins with the rendition of “Muskaanein jhoothi hai” depicting a Mumbai which you generally don’t see;a Mumbai of underworld dons and their molls,star-studded parties and extravagant fashion shows of drugs-fed-n-starved models; in a Bollywood movie.However the film makes its notion of “a city that never sleeps” literally true with its male protagonaist,Surjan Shekhwat,a police inspector,wandering all night on the streets in his police vehicle .The story begins with the accident of a film star whose car jumps off to the Arabian Sea.Surjan tries to unfold the mystery behind the accident and learns about more of such previous accidents.Rosie,a night-charmer,helps him tie the loose ends of  these accidents and consequently seduces him to her charms.But Surjan is chased by the guiltiness of tragic death of his teenage son which in turns leads to a dormant relationships with her wife Roshni who takes refuge in the secret sessions of  Frenny who summons dead spirits and enables Roshni to see the thoughts of her son through written words.At the end,Rosie unveils the big suspense of Simran….the supernatural concept and the Talaash ceases!!

First half of the movie is good and makes you glued to the screen to search for the answer to ‘whodunit’.However you are disappointed to see the fragile explanation of it at the end of the film.Amir is robust in his police uniform and specially his more robust moustaches and portrays his intensity on his face,another female protagonist,Kareena Kapoor has delivered her seduction well.Rani Mukherjee is in without make-up which helps her in successfully  portraying a better-half of a troubled family.The film seems sympathizing   towards the plight of the night-charmers of Mumbai.Songs are agerage.’Muskaanein jhoothi hai’ is better.Sona Mahaptra is not as impressive in ‘Jiya lage na’ as she was in Amir’s Satyamev Jayate’s song-Hume kya bechega rupaiyya.

It’s a suspense movie where you can’t expect a realistic explication of the spirits,…so don’t feel cheated at this front…….!

Review of Burfi

Anurag Basu has come up with a brave idea of presenting a love triangle where his principal characters can only use non-verbal communication.This film is not like  Basu’s

any other flick with bustling chart numbers,it is a more serious movie with songs comprehensible only to your soul than to your ears.

The plot is set in the 70s in the misty hills of  Darjeeling where a boy Murphy  is born and   his mother succumbs to labour pain.Murphy,porter of contraries, grows to be a mute and deaf man,unlike the barnd name of  radio.Somehow he pronounces his name as Burfi and later becomes a jolly man who is not impaired of happiness despite being physically impaired.Burfi,Ranvir Kapoor, reminds us of Raj Kapoor and Chaplin’s comedy traits.Romantic drama takes over when Shruti,Ileana,comes to Darjeeling on winter vacation with her mother,Rupa Ganguly.Barfi charms Shruti with his witty and childish acts.Love sparks in them but the problem is that Shruti is already engaged to a rich Sengupta of Calcutta.Barfi convinces Shruti to shed the engagement ring and offers her his natural grass-ring.Depth of Shruti’s mother’s personal experience gauzes the situation and she makes her daughter realize the zameeni hakikat and manges to put her on reason-track than straying to emotional-path.Barfi is hurt…his expressive eyes reveal his helplessness….The movie spins when Barfi needs money for his father’s operation.He tries robbing a bank but to no good.Meanwhile,Jhilmil,Priyanka Chopra, an autistic daughter from a rich local family,is brought home.Jhilmil is a childhood friend of Barfi.Barfi sees an opportunity in Jhilmil to beget money and kidnaps her.But he could not save his father.Now Jhilmil is not ready to leave Barfi but Barfi has to plan something to get rid of her as he is constantly chased by a sub inspector,Saurabh Shukla,for kidnapping Jhilmil.Incidently,love flames in them and they set their course to Calcutta and find a shelter to live.Here comes the case of co-incidence,,,,Mrs. Shruti Sengupta accidently finds Barfi before her and once again her love for Barfi reignites…..but this time Barfi is not alone.He has his better half,Jhilmil,with him.Shruti Sengupta now listens to her heart and abandons her husband in search of her lost love which is not only lost now but is found by a person who can not weigh it on reasoning but can feel it …..Barfi goes to the Halwai who knows how to keep its sweetness!!!!!

Barfi has shown that even Ranvir Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra can act with such a seriousness.Ranvir has much to do in the film so he is more visible but that does not mean Priyanka is less important,rather the contrary is true.She seems to have put more efforts for wiggling her fingers and twitching her lips.Ileana also impresses with her perfect Bengali Bodi role.Save the whodunit story of Jhilmil's kidnapping, if you like good movies,this is the one for you….!!!

Review of film Heroine

Heroine-Madhur Bhandarkar takes his movement of projecting female protagonist to a little more distance from gullible Mumtaz of Chandani Bar to self-made Heroine Mahi Arora,Kareena Kapoor….Mahi is a case of bipolar disorder due to disturbed parenting.Initially,she is drawn to her married-co-star Aryan Khanna,Arjun Rampal, and is keen to marry him as she loved him but in a later scene dumps her cricketer boyfriend Randeep Hooda who loves her.It justifies the saying that when you keep longing for something,you don’t get it,but when you get it,you want it no more…..Mahi’s ephemeral stardom fades away and she had to beg for a sex worker’s role in a B-grade Hindi movie of a Bengali director.During the shooting of the film,Mahi is seduced by her co-actress.But this film fails to take off before it’s release.Mahi had nothing to buy public attention so she calls her media girl to leak her intimate video.This pays off.She gets attention but alienating herself from self……Heroine is a mere reproduction of Bhandarker’s  Page 3,this time on a different background.You will again find people attending a funeral,clad in white.What does it signifie?Even on music front there is nothing except a little from the jhatka song Halkat Jawani….The only good thing about this film is Kareena’s role.She does justice to her role and sometimes impresses you with her dialogue like-Heroine agar Dubai gayi to uska rate card ban jata hai!!!