'Don 2 ki sabse badi galti yeh hai , ki don ke koi real dushman hi nahi hai.' . Since cool , slick, suave, sophistication and everything in this world is relative. And since Mission Impossible 4 has a plot involving an Indian satellite media tycoon, the world is the playing field for Don 2 as a movie if I count the Malays and Chinese who were in the theater with me in Singapore. Hence Farhan Akhthar has to deliver the cool of Ocean's Eleven, the sophistication of MI and the kickass quality of James Bond and the action of Bourne identity with the megalomania of a man in his 40s who wants to be king at all costs better known to us as SRK. Bahut Naainsaafi hai.
Don 2 is a very worthy sequel , since it builds well on the first one. So Don now controls drugs in Asia ( the Thais are easy meat always for Bollywood since most of our real dons hang out there) and he wants to get to Europe. But some tapes are still with Vardhan so he needs to get him out of jail to outwit Interpol and implicate the European cartel. And to fund his new European ambitions, Don 2 needs access to the printing plates of the Euro in Germany ( wish the Greeks had contacted Don instead of Angela Merkel and Sarkozy, tch tch) . So Don has some video tape from Singhania that shows the VP of the bank murdering a potential CEO and this VP an Indian (Alyy Khan) will provide the security keys to the plates. ( There is a clever line by Don that says Indians are everywhere but I sincerely hope this has no reference to Anshu Jain the co-CEO of Deustsche Bank a guy whom every IIMite and banker holds in the highest of esteem)
So far so good. When you see the first few scenes of Don 2 , you cant help enjoy the kick that SRK getting from this movie, its adrenalin, endorphine, testosterone and stardom's ultimate cocktail and SRK wants it badly . Don is his alterego. This is why the movie works in first place since you almost root for the bad guy , and this is why SRK become a star in first place , the original Baazigar. So if you dont love this part of SRK, you will never like Don 2. And Farhan Akhtar pays the directorial ransom for this especially when he induces lines like Don saying I love love stories with tongue in cheek humour at a critical juncture and allowing SRK to spoof himself in the Roma romantic angle. But pardoning that, SRK delivers some of the coolest lines like Sir bahut shareef lagta hai call me Don with such chutzpah, that you cannot help applauding.
Despite setting a good stage , having SRK on steroids and an ultra sleek cinematographer ( I daresay i found some parts better shot than MI4) , Farhan Akhtar loses steam and sputters hunting for twists and turns that boobytrap his efforts. The main flaws are
1. If Don is the coolest guy in the world, he needs competitors of substance. Its ok if he can finish off the Thai drug mafia in a jiffy in the opening scene but as the movie progresses, the lack of real competition really irritates. So you have the Interpol Chief Malik who should have retired long ago, painfully lacking in intent and vigour with Om Puri reciting dialogues like the JKLakshmi Cement commercial. Roma as the young upstart officer is so lost not only in characterization and also in the way Priyanka plays it. Her best moment is when she wears a back less gown in the fundraiser rather than a bulletproof vest. Boman Irani never cracked Vardhan even in Don 1 and here he appears as a bored passenger of the SRK entourage. He almost provides comic relief in the climax showing how miscast he is .
But the worst part is the plot involving the deputy German bank who is being blackmailed by Don so that he can get access to the security systems of the bank and get the printing plates for the Euro. I can forgive the financial naivete of Akhtar but how can I accept that such an influential banker will go and hand supari to someone who looks like a 3rd grade goonda last seen in the days of Mohra and Tridev or on the streets of Bandra as a mechanic turned henchman in Germany. ( dont know the actors name but lets call him JavedChikna) . So Javed Chikna will outwit Don the coolest, the most sophisticated and intelligent of all mafiosi put together. There is a scene where Javed Chikna says to his henchmen (yes even he has some international ones) ' get me Don's head' and he sounds as if he is ordering ' do cutting chai leke aana' . And the European drug cartel also is spineless as the Greeks on strike. It would have been so cool if the European cartel called on ISI or Al-Qaeda henchmen to finish Don and there is a large Indian moral dilemma for everyone just like the cheap dilemma that Kunal Kapoor has since he has promised his pregnant wife he wont hack for the wrong reasons. My word is that Kunal Kapoor should never play a hacker , he looks like a guy who has used a Rediff Chat room and not C++. Even Arjun Ramphal would have done a better job or maybe AK Hangal.
2. When you have a mafia movie or a Don movie, the interplay between various drug dealers or how you outwit them is the real meat (Stealing their maal from the docks in layman terms). By devoting so much screen time to the bank robbery especially when the police is so spineless, the movie falls into cinematic no man's land(or khichdi) and also slows it down by making the side show the real plot. If only they had shown more negotiations rather than Malikisms that abound. Malik and Om Puri kill any negotiation almost like a Deal or no Deal host.
3. Although from a writing point, there is no harm in showing Don manipulating Roma romantically to get his job done, you dont want a scene where Vardhan asks Roma to do a job that he could have done himself and wants to play on the romantic muddle in Roma's head. This is where the second half deteriorates and infuriates the audience despite the super slickness of the action , the sophistication of the attempt and the twists/doublecrossing. There was enough ammunition to avoid this angle, but again Farhan gets trapped into his own web.
Although the songs could have been better, the pulse of the background music is racy enough when it matters. As Don comes out triumphs in the last scenes and discusses his plan for the future which in other words sets up Don 3, I hope Farhan Akhtar does a major cleanup job discarding miscast actors and the inspirational DVDs he watched. The fact that you needed a Hrithik Roshan in a cameo as a Don disguise when the heights dont match nor the voice, you have taken the audience too much for granted for your indulgences . Dont forget , audience ko entertain karna mushkil hai , par naamumkin nahi.
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Analyzing Bollywood in 2011: the down South saga
2011 was commercially a major success for Bollywood since lower number of productions ensured sufficiently movie starved audiences watched anything that played at their friendly neighbourhood theatre. It shows the strength of distribution when five releases of 2011 have made it into the List of highest-grossing Bollywood films.
But creatively it was a year that saw Bollywood look Southwards for inspiration both in content and subjects. Out of the top 5 grossers of 2011, 4 of them had Southern inspiration, 3 remakes BodyGuard, Ready, Singham and one failed attempt at glory called Ra-One. Even the 6th largest hit The Dirty Picture was based on the item girl of the south, Silk Smitha. The fifth Zindagi Milegi Na Dobara was the only maninstream movie that stuck to the Bollywood yuppiedom traditions and escapist NRI fare.
Lets look at the second highest grosser of all times and Bollywood's biggest hit of 2011- Bodyguard. Even for a guy who has seen its Malayalam and Tamil versions, this script would be South India's weakest export. But Salman Khan's performance in Bodyguard combined the best of what endears Salman to the masses in first place. The guy who pays gratitude to his benefactors (emotion like HAHK and MPK), the romantic guy with a heart of gold (Chori Chori Chupke chupke) , the comedy sequences and the action that can showcase his muscles. To me Bodyguard ranks as Salman's top 3 complete performances and reminded me of a movie that many would have forgotten (another South Indian remake called Bandhan where Salman keeps saying 'Jo Jijaji bolenge woh main karoonga' which ran to packed houses in the B and C cateory towns). This coupled with the haunting song Teri meri and competent performances by the rest of the crew made this firecracker the best Id release ever (imagine 3 years back before Wanted , Id was not considered a good release date in Bollywood). This movie proved that superstardom is here to stay with the post 'Dabanngization' of Bollywood in 2010. The joy of making pure mass market movies that deify the hero was rediscovered with a vengeance and with anything Bollywood nothing succeeds like excess. Even the title Dabanng was so 'dehaathi' (country style) and it unleashed the superhero Salman ( who was always uber popular with the masses from Judwaa days in my opinion but never got the right movies) who was now retitled as North India's Rajnikant (thats still sacrilege mind it)
And 'Looking South' makes sense because the South set the gold standard in contemporary entertainment in 2010(although 3 idiots held it in 2009) with Shankar's creative tour de force Endhiran starring the messianic superstar in 3 roles(loved the villainous zeal in Rajni), amazing writing by Sujatha that brough sci-fi to the masses and AR Rahman (who incidentally resurrected the Bollywood musical with Rockstar in 2011, but more on Rockstar later).
Compared to Endhiran that maintained the marvellous balance of story telling integrity of sci-fi (Except in one mosquito sequence where Shankar's creativity overflowed) and the entertainment chutzpah associated with a Rajni movie (they even stuck to SPB singing the intro song with a robotic voice) , 2011 had Bollywood's most expensive movie Ra-One sinking into a cinematic quagmire that can be best described as the Punjabi Dhaba making Zucchini Parathas. SRK struggled throughout the movie as Indians on Australian soil and the story had as much as consistency of effort as the LokPal bill. Ra -One is a perfect example of the malaise that has impacted Bollywood. Next time SRK when Shankar contacts you for a movie just say yes(SRK was first preference for Robot) , dont refuse it and try to make a hotchpotch of your own since Ra-one despite all its big budget and hoohah struggled to beat the second biggest grosser ' Ready' another Salman Khan vehicle whose script was borrowed from a Telugu hit.
Now Ready was in all aspects an average movie that become a hit since it had virtually no competition in the summer holidays and it had great music that set the audience imagination on fire (Character Dheela and Dhinkachika) . Salman brought back his comic timing in this movie with gags and dialogues that mocked old Hindi' arya putra, priye) etc and that was not surprising since the director Anees Bazmee did make commercial successful comedy like No Entry and Welcome. In fact the success of Ready is an indication that the mass market of Rest of India is no different from the South and formula movies with loud over the top comedy still works and what better than a superstar doing his own comedy , a trend that goes back to Big B's pure mania days.
Singham was the surprise package. The original tamil hit starred Surya the hero of the original Ghajini which according to some analysts started the Go South trend. And IMHO Surya did better than Aamir Khan on all counts in the original. So Ajay Devgun had tough shoes to fill into, but Ajay breezed through the movie even mouthing Marathi lines and showing off milk white banians. But the scene stealer was Prakash Raj who displayed his unique brand of villainy that has become a staple in a Kollywood potboiler.
But this time, Bollywood is badly in need of commercially viable masala potboilers than can star its aging superstars, and the South seemed to provide the answers. Some people have wrongly compared this to the 1980 Jeetendra-Sridevi routines which is largely missing the point because those movies didnt fill a cinematic vaccum but expanded a market. Hope Bollywood can get back its mass market mojo , if not there are always choices like K.S.Ravikumar's remake of Saamy with Sanjay Dutt to entertain us.
But creatively it was a year that saw Bollywood look Southwards for inspiration both in content and subjects. Out of the top 5 grossers of 2011, 4 of them had Southern inspiration, 3 remakes BodyGuard, Ready, Singham and one failed attempt at glory called Ra-One. Even the 6th largest hit The Dirty Picture was based on the item girl of the south, Silk Smitha. The fifth Zindagi Milegi Na Dobara was the only maninstream movie that stuck to the Bollywood yuppiedom traditions and escapist NRI fare.
Lets look at the second highest grosser of all times and Bollywood's biggest hit of 2011- Bodyguard. Even for a guy who has seen its Malayalam and Tamil versions, this script would be South India's weakest export. But Salman Khan's performance in Bodyguard combined the best of what endears Salman to the masses in first place. The guy who pays gratitude to his benefactors (emotion like HAHK and MPK), the romantic guy with a heart of gold (Chori Chori Chupke chupke) , the comedy sequences and the action that can showcase his muscles. To me Bodyguard ranks as Salman's top 3 complete performances and reminded me of a movie that many would have forgotten (another South Indian remake called Bandhan where Salman keeps saying 'Jo Jijaji bolenge woh main karoonga' which ran to packed houses in the B and C cateory towns). This coupled with the haunting song Teri meri and competent performances by the rest of the crew made this firecracker the best Id release ever (imagine 3 years back before Wanted , Id was not considered a good release date in Bollywood). This movie proved that superstardom is here to stay with the post 'Dabanngization' of Bollywood in 2010. The joy of making pure mass market movies that deify the hero was rediscovered with a vengeance and with anything Bollywood nothing succeeds like excess. Even the title Dabanng was so 'dehaathi' (country style) and it unleashed the superhero Salman ( who was always uber popular with the masses from Judwaa days in my opinion but never got the right movies) who was now retitled as North India's Rajnikant (thats still sacrilege mind it)
And 'Looking South' makes sense because the South set the gold standard in contemporary entertainment in 2010(although 3 idiots held it in 2009) with Shankar's creative tour de force Endhiran starring the messianic superstar in 3 roles(loved the villainous zeal in Rajni), amazing writing by Sujatha that brough sci-fi to the masses and AR Rahman (who incidentally resurrected the Bollywood musical with Rockstar in 2011, but more on Rockstar later).
Compared to Endhiran that maintained the marvellous balance of story telling integrity of sci-fi (Except in one mosquito sequence where Shankar's creativity overflowed) and the entertainment chutzpah associated with a Rajni movie (they even stuck to SPB singing the intro song with a robotic voice) , 2011 had Bollywood's most expensive movie Ra-One sinking into a cinematic quagmire that can be best described as the Punjabi Dhaba making Zucchini Parathas. SRK struggled throughout the movie as Indians on Australian soil and the story had as much as consistency of effort as the LokPal bill. Ra -One is a perfect example of the malaise that has impacted Bollywood. Next time SRK when Shankar contacts you for a movie just say yes(SRK was first preference for Robot) , dont refuse it and try to make a hotchpotch of your own since Ra-one despite all its big budget and hoohah struggled to beat the second biggest grosser ' Ready' another Salman Khan vehicle whose script was borrowed from a Telugu hit.
Now Ready was in all aspects an average movie that become a hit since it had virtually no competition in the summer holidays and it had great music that set the audience imagination on fire (Character Dheela and Dhinkachika) . Salman brought back his comic timing in this movie with gags and dialogues that mocked old Hindi' arya putra, priye) etc and that was not surprising since the director Anees Bazmee did make commercial successful comedy like No Entry and Welcome. In fact the success of Ready is an indication that the mass market of Rest of India is no different from the South and formula movies with loud over the top comedy still works and what better than a superstar doing his own comedy , a trend that goes back to Big B's pure mania days.
Singham was the surprise package. The original tamil hit starred Surya the hero of the original Ghajini which according to some analysts started the Go South trend. And IMHO Surya did better than Aamir Khan on all counts in the original. So Ajay Devgun had tough shoes to fill into, but Ajay breezed through the movie even mouthing Marathi lines and showing off milk white banians. But the scene stealer was Prakash Raj who displayed his unique brand of villainy that has become a staple in a Kollywood potboiler.
But this time, Bollywood is badly in need of commercially viable masala potboilers than can star its aging superstars, and the South seemed to provide the answers. Some people have wrongly compared this to the 1980 Jeetendra-Sridevi routines which is largely missing the point because those movies didnt fill a cinematic vaccum but expanded a market. Hope Bollywood can get back its mass market mojo , if not there are always choices like K.S.Ravikumar's remake of Saamy with Sanjay Dutt to entertain us.
Monday, June 06, 2011
Dabangg vs Ready : Essential differences
1. Genre : D is Rustic feudal action drama vs R is urban family romcomish drama. Now in Ready the romcom tapers off very quickly(thank God since Asin is unwatchable as eye candy unlike a Sonakshi) and the family is a caricature thanks to Yakoo Akhilendra Mishra and a hamming Manjrekar.
2. Treatment of Salman: Dabangg had better treatment and presentation of the hero. Pehla nahlooanga ab sabko dhooanga. The key was to capture an action image for Salman after Wanted and then give him a larger than life character in a town setting. Different styling in terms of costumes , everything. Twisted guy for the goons, heart of gold for his apne. Ready is basically the Prem of HAHK who has developed his badmaashi out of home as well. It plays on Salman's innocent face hiding the badmaashi. So Dabangg was a creation whereas Ready is an extension.
3. Story Telling/Narrative: Frankly Dabangg remixed the South style hero presentation with sufficient UP tadka with a decidedly kitsch style. Ready actually has an amalgamtive style that took off from where Welcome had left off . Nothing new here in Ready.
4. Director: Debutante Kashyap in D and Seasoned hand Bazmee in R. Hence there is a lot of
Bad(B)Hazmee everywhere especially the forgetful Hamraker and overhammy Mishra. Even Paresh Rawal seems asylum bound.
5. D released on Eid a Salman special, R is a holiday release.
6. Songs wise D as an album is a complete one, whereas R isnt.
7. Quality of item numbers: Zarine Khan vs Malaika Arora. No debate here.
8. Action choreography - weaker in R , I thought they would do wonders with the rickshaw scene in Thailand but it was a damp squib.
9. Punch Dialogues - weaker in R, I me and myself doesnt compare well with Aisa marenge ki bhool jaoge .....
10. Realism: Unnecessary Bangkok Backdrop in R that is completely irrelevant and just a waste of producers money. shooting in Bhairavpur would have made no difference. Somehow the old world style of Dabangg made Chulbul Pandey plausible compared to a Prem. If Salman was 10 years younger, and did Ready after Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, things would have been very different. Little did he know that unknown directors in the South took the HAHK template of soggy family dramas and created a platform for Vijay who then went on to be the action hero that ultimately was remade by Salman in Wanted. Another 10 yr cycle in the Bollywood vs Tollywood idea vs treatment factory.
But who cares about the analysis if we have got enough entertainment!!
2. Treatment of Salman: Dabangg had better treatment and presentation of the hero. Pehla nahlooanga ab sabko dhooanga. The key was to capture an action image for Salman after Wanted and then give him a larger than life character in a town setting. Different styling in terms of costumes , everything. Twisted guy for the goons, heart of gold for his apne. Ready is basically the Prem of HAHK who has developed his badmaashi out of home as well. It plays on Salman's innocent face hiding the badmaashi. So Dabangg was a creation whereas Ready is an extension.
3. Story Telling/Narrative: Frankly Dabangg remixed the South style hero presentation with sufficient UP tadka with a decidedly kitsch style. Ready actually has an amalgamtive style that took off from where Welcome had left off . Nothing new here in Ready.
4. Director: Debutante Kashyap in D and Seasoned hand Bazmee in R. Hence there is a lot of
Bad(B)Hazmee everywhere especially the forgetful Hamraker and overhammy Mishra. Even Paresh Rawal seems asylum bound.
5. D released on Eid a Salman special, R is a holiday release.
6. Songs wise D as an album is a complete one, whereas R isnt.
7. Quality of item numbers: Zarine Khan vs Malaika Arora. No debate here.
8. Action choreography - weaker in R , I thought they would do wonders with the rickshaw scene in Thailand but it was a damp squib.
9. Punch Dialogues - weaker in R, I me and myself doesnt compare well with Aisa marenge ki bhool jaoge .....
10. Realism: Unnecessary Bangkok Backdrop in R that is completely irrelevant and just a waste of producers money. shooting in Bhairavpur would have made no difference. Somehow the old world style of Dabangg made Chulbul Pandey plausible compared to a Prem. If Salman was 10 years younger, and did Ready after Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, things would have been very different. Little did he know that unknown directors in the South took the HAHK template of soggy family dramas and created a platform for Vijay who then went on to be the action hero that ultimately was remade by Salman in Wanted. Another 10 yr cycle in the Bollywood vs Tollywood idea vs treatment factory.
But who cares about the analysis if we have got enough entertainment!!
Friday, April 22, 2011
Dum Maro Dum... mein dum hai
Rohan Sippy delivered a lot with Bluffmaster, his second outing at Bollywood : the new yuppie cool Abhishek Bachchan, a delicious Piggy Chops with her Say na Say na routine, the fast developing Mumbai forming a good backdrop, one of the best soundtracks by Vishal-Shekhar , slickness, sharp witty dialogues and a good array of actors(Boman,Nana) lending solid support.
(Some self-indulgence my review of Bluffmaster http://booletpoint.blogspot.com/2005/12/bluffmaster-mumbai-udipi.html)
Now Dum Maro Dum doesnt break new ground. It delivers since there has been a drought of good movies thanks to cricket mania. So Rohan Sippy does a few good things. He chooses a very bankable Goa as the backdrop, Jr.Bachchan as a no-nonsense cop , a good writer Sridhar Raghavan and a whodunit theme that can seldom go wrong. The first half is slick with a presentation style that Rohan Sippy seems to have mastered, fast cuts, tight situations, unconventional sequences and smartass short dialogues with a good background score.
He adds a few new faces, Prateik Babbar , Rana Dugabati and an accomplice Mercy ( dont know the actors name) who deliver and some old ones Govind Namdeo who also deliver . Bipasha sticks out as a sore thumb, I dont know if its her acting or complete lack of oomph.
Story is simple , Goa needs to be cleaned of the drugs which means to break the political-business-cop nexus. Enter AB and his mean men. Some twists and turns, a few informants, some close encounters and a climax with a Deepika Padukone ditty thrown in. Packaged entertainment , efficient but butt butttt........
If I were to look for benchmark cop movies, I would say Sarfarosh had a better plot , Dhoom 1 had better sophistication/ action and Ab Tak Chhapan had better intrigue/drama ..Apart from a few terms like susegaad , Goa is just a backdrop beautiful no doubt, but its not integrated as say a Delhi in Rang de Basanti or 99 , it just seeps out when it gets a chance, not even a reference to feni. The songs are a big disappointment even the Dum Maro Dum remix doesnt evoke any buzz in the climax. Abhishek is dependable and manages to engage you, but he still doesnt have the stature to carry off dialogues like 'sirf iska pata batao, baaki sab ke liye google hai'. Thoda aur time lagega Salman banne. Bipasha sleepwalks, Rana Dugbati as her lover is like a Rahul Dravid innings , showing value only when others underpeform and Aditya Panscholi looks stoned rather than steely.
At the end even with a short playing time of 2 hrs , the movie ends abruptly and damply. Like an off season Goa, yes there is the rain and sufficient discounts to lure you in but no carnival in dum maro dum. Huffs puffs ....chalega when there is nothing better!
(Some self-indulgence my review of Bluffmaster http://booletpoint.blogspot.com/2005/12/bluffmaster-mumbai-udipi.html)
Now Dum Maro Dum doesnt break new ground. It delivers since there has been a drought of good movies thanks to cricket mania. So Rohan Sippy does a few good things. He chooses a very bankable Goa as the backdrop, Jr.Bachchan as a no-nonsense cop , a good writer Sridhar Raghavan and a whodunit theme that can seldom go wrong. The first half is slick with a presentation style that Rohan Sippy seems to have mastered, fast cuts, tight situations, unconventional sequences and smartass short dialogues with a good background score.
He adds a few new faces, Prateik Babbar , Rana Dugabati and an accomplice Mercy ( dont know the actors name) who deliver and some old ones Govind Namdeo who also deliver . Bipasha sticks out as a sore thumb, I dont know if its her acting or complete lack of oomph.
Story is simple , Goa needs to be cleaned of the drugs which means to break the political-business-cop nexus. Enter AB and his mean men. Some twists and turns, a few informants, some close encounters and a climax with a Deepika Padukone ditty thrown in. Packaged entertainment , efficient but butt butttt........
If I were to look for benchmark cop movies, I would say Sarfarosh had a better plot , Dhoom 1 had better sophistication/ action and Ab Tak Chhapan had better intrigue/drama ..Apart from a few terms like susegaad , Goa is just a backdrop beautiful no doubt, but its not integrated as say a Delhi in Rang de Basanti or 99 , it just seeps out when it gets a chance, not even a reference to feni. The songs are a big disappointment even the Dum Maro Dum remix doesnt evoke any buzz in the climax. Abhishek is dependable and manages to engage you, but he still doesnt have the stature to carry off dialogues like 'sirf iska pata batao, baaki sab ke liye google hai'. Thoda aur time lagega Salman banne. Bipasha sleepwalks, Rana Dugbati as her lover is like a Rahul Dravid innings , showing value only when others underpeform and Aditya Panscholi looks stoned rather than steely.
At the end even with a short playing time of 2 hrs , the movie ends abruptly and damply. Like an off season Goa, yes there is the rain and sufficient discounts to lure you in but no carnival in dum maro dum. Huffs puffs ....chalega when there is nothing better!
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Raavan Review: Kumbhkaranish impact
What are Mani Ratnam movies all about?
The ultimate combination of sensitive story telling, commercial chutzpah ( Mani invented the item song) , star quotient and amazing technical finesse due to a stellar team of cameramen, editors, music directors and art direction.
The scenes that remain with you much after the movie ( Arvind Swamy dousing the afire national flag with his knees with Rahman's background music) , the tender straight out of life romantic moments ( Alaipayuthey train sequences) , the scene where Mohanlal waves to the crowd in Iruvar and also songs ... ( Simran's outstretched aanchal on a desolate beach as she plays with her daughter in Kannathil Muthamital, the sheer despair in Tu Hi Re in Bombay)
The intensity of the characters - Kamal Hasan in Nayakan, Rajnikant in Dalapathy, Abhishek in Yuva.
Raavan fails because Mani Ratnam has become formulaic in his approach. Cookie cutter in consulting speak ... He makes 3 fundmental mistakes.
1. Not being subtle and dumbing it down
He decided that he wants to adapt the Ramayan. And he marketed the movie blatantly as Raavan. First big mistake. Did anyone realize Dalapathy was an adaptation of Mahabharata before watching the movie. He let us know that through subtlety , the name Surya, the orange hued camera work and so on. Why does he have to make Govinda hop trees to tell us he is Hanuman right in his opening scene? Just the first shot where he is lying on the entry barrier is good enough. Did someone tell him the Hindi audience was not smart enough ?
2. Craft overpowering storytelling
Mani Ratnam, you were the story teller par excellence. You made us feel for the characters. Their pain was our pain. We wanted Roja to succeed in Kashmir. We empathized with Mohan in Mouna Ragam. We were worried about Shalini and Karthik in Alaipayuthey. Here we care a damn for the characters except for some scenes where a bruised Ash shows her emotions. You yearn for moments like this scene when Dev rescues Ragini and then she asks Dev when he finally finds her " Did you come searching for me or for Beera". Beera's characterization is chaotic and Abhishek despite his best intentions is neither menacing nor larger than life. You fail to show the Robinhood in him properly and there is a certain laziness in you nowadays that prevents you from hitting juicy screenplay full tosses to the boundary. The same golden chance was squandered in Guru where you missed an opportunity to show how Dhirubhai prevent a bear cartel on his stocks. This laziness perplexes me .
3. Casting?
Remember how Rajnikant gave the performance of his lifetime in Dalapathy. Or how a Raghuvaran who always played the villain played an anguished dad in Anjali. Simran acting out of her skin in Kannathil Mutham Ital. Even a corpulent Arvind Swamy passed muster in Bombay. And Mithun da added flavour to Ramnath Goenka. Here Abhishek despite his best intentions cannot do justice to Raavan. He evokes as much menace as a ticket collector in trains and appears schizophrenic to comical to elfish. Its intriguing that in the same movie certain unknowns like Priyamani as Beera's sister register an impact but Beera struggles. It was a casting coup to get Govinda as Hanuman, but you waste him rather than endearing him to the viewers. Vikram a national award winner reduced to being a Scissors cigaratte ad model in the whole movie. Again inexplicable. Aishwarya is so professional that she copies Shobhana frame by frame when she dances Bharatnatyam ( btw Shobhana is the choreographer of the song). The best actor in the movie is Ravi Kishen who saves the movie in several ways. Wish you had also given justice to Laxman who seems to be on a hardship allowance in the forests( Nikhil Dwivedi).
But the movie is still watchable due to the following
1. Santosh Sivan's camerawork brings out the harness of the terrain and provides the ideal locations for Ashokavanam. The rain and the terrain shots in the jungle are amazing.
2. The last 20 minuetes, The climax on the bridge is awesomely shot and the last 10 minutes where Vikram asks Ash to take a lie detector test gives the movie a respectable ending. In a way the end salvages the movie being an also-ran.
3. I would still give Mani Ratnam staying true to his vision and film-making style. Well you can still forgive your mom for making a bad curry once in a while right?
The ultimate combination of sensitive story telling, commercial chutzpah ( Mani invented the item song) , star quotient and amazing technical finesse due to a stellar team of cameramen, editors, music directors and art direction.
The scenes that remain with you much after the movie ( Arvind Swamy dousing the afire national flag with his knees with Rahman's background music) , the tender straight out of life romantic moments ( Alaipayuthey train sequences) , the scene where Mohanlal waves to the crowd in Iruvar and also songs ... ( Simran's outstretched aanchal on a desolate beach as she plays with her daughter in Kannathil Muthamital, the sheer despair in Tu Hi Re in Bombay)
The intensity of the characters - Kamal Hasan in Nayakan, Rajnikant in Dalapathy, Abhishek in Yuva.
Raavan fails because Mani Ratnam has become formulaic in his approach. Cookie cutter in consulting speak ... He makes 3 fundmental mistakes.
1. Not being subtle and dumbing it down
He decided that he wants to adapt the Ramayan. And he marketed the movie blatantly as Raavan. First big mistake. Did anyone realize Dalapathy was an adaptation of Mahabharata before watching the movie. He let us know that through subtlety , the name Surya, the orange hued camera work and so on. Why does he have to make Govinda hop trees to tell us he is Hanuman right in his opening scene? Just the first shot where he is lying on the entry barrier is good enough. Did someone tell him the Hindi audience was not smart enough ?
2. Craft overpowering storytelling
Mani Ratnam, you were the story teller par excellence. You made us feel for the characters. Their pain was our pain. We wanted Roja to succeed in Kashmir. We empathized with Mohan in Mouna Ragam. We were worried about Shalini and Karthik in Alaipayuthey. Here we care a damn for the characters except for some scenes where a bruised Ash shows her emotions. You yearn for moments like this scene when Dev rescues Ragini and then she asks Dev when he finally finds her " Did you come searching for me or for Beera". Beera's characterization is chaotic and Abhishek despite his best intentions is neither menacing nor larger than life. You fail to show the Robinhood in him properly and there is a certain laziness in you nowadays that prevents you from hitting juicy screenplay full tosses to the boundary. The same golden chance was squandered in Guru where you missed an opportunity to show how Dhirubhai prevent a bear cartel on his stocks. This laziness perplexes me .
3. Casting?
Remember how Rajnikant gave the performance of his lifetime in Dalapathy. Or how a Raghuvaran who always played the villain played an anguished dad in Anjali. Simran acting out of her skin in Kannathil Mutham Ital. Even a corpulent Arvind Swamy passed muster in Bombay. And Mithun da added flavour to Ramnath Goenka. Here Abhishek despite his best intentions cannot do justice to Raavan. He evokes as much menace as a ticket collector in trains and appears schizophrenic to comical to elfish. Its intriguing that in the same movie certain unknowns like Priyamani as Beera's sister register an impact but Beera struggles. It was a casting coup to get Govinda as Hanuman, but you waste him rather than endearing him to the viewers. Vikram a national award winner reduced to being a Scissors cigaratte ad model in the whole movie. Again inexplicable. Aishwarya is so professional that she copies Shobhana frame by frame when she dances Bharatnatyam ( btw Shobhana is the choreographer of the song). The best actor in the movie is Ravi Kishen who saves the movie in several ways. Wish you had also given justice to Laxman who seems to be on a hardship allowance in the forests( Nikhil Dwivedi).
But the movie is still watchable due to the following
1. Santosh Sivan's camerawork brings out the harness of the terrain and provides the ideal locations for Ashokavanam. The rain and the terrain shots in the jungle are amazing.
2. The last 20 minuetes, The climax on the bridge is awesomely shot and the last 10 minutes where Vikram asks Ash to take a lie detector test gives the movie a respectable ending. In a way the end salvages the movie being an also-ran.
3. I would still give Mani Ratnam staying true to his vision and film-making style. Well you can still forgive your mom for making a bad curry once in a while right?
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
What type of movie is Slumdog Millionaire?
a. Hollywood blockbuster
b. Hollywood indie movie
c. Crossover cinema
d. A western attempt to make a Bollywood movie
Who would you rate the king of lost and found movies where incidents just happen so that you can discover your loved ones coincidentally?
a. James Cameron
b. Danny Boyle
c. Prakash Jha
d. Manmohan Desai
Who would you rate the king of cop interrogation scenes that can be straight of the Gamdevi police chowki ?
a.Martin Scorcsese
b.Danny Boyle
c.Rajkumar Santoshi
d.Ramgopal Verma
Which movie would you describe as the most realistic description of slum life in Mumbai that tugs your emotions and reminds you of Dharavi instantaneously?
a.Harold and Kumar
b.Slumdog Millionaire
c.Dharavi
d.Salaam Mumbai
Which train scene best epitomizes the ability of a person to separate with a loved one as the train gather momentum?
a.Trainspotting
b. Slumdog Millionaire when Jamal loses Latika
c. Hum when Amitabh loses Kimi Katkar
d. Yaadon ki Baraat when Dharam paaji loses his brothers because he jumped early
Which is AR Rehman’s best background score in a movie?
a. Moulin Rouge
b. Slumdog Millionaire
c. Rangeela
d, Bombay
Which is the best dialogue that appeals to people who rely on fate and things beyond their control to justify what happens in their lives?
a. ‘I believe in America’ from Godfather
b. ‘It is written’ from Slumdog Millionaire
c. ‘Mere paas maa hai’ from Deewar.
d. ‘Arrey oh baabu mushoy hum to rangmanch ki kathputliyan hain jiski dor us upar wale ke haathon main hai kab, kaun kahan uthega ye koi nahin janta from Anand.
So you get the drift if most of your answers are a then you have never been to movies more than once a year, Hindi or English. If your answer is b then you have not seen enough Hindi movies since you lived in South Mumbai or somewhere far away from India. If your answer is c you have never seen Hindi movies twice. If your answer is d you will come out of Slumdog thinking why there is so much hype over this movie.There are some improbable scenes just because this movie had to be in English. Jamal Malik speaks accented English at a Gamdevi police station where Saurabh Shukla is on his best MC/BCs behaviour. The most popular bhikari song in Mumbai is not a Soordas bhajan Mr.Boyle, but Shirde wale Sai baba aaya hai tera dar pe qawwali. And a Latika cannot turn into a Pinto, anyone can recognize her Goanness from a distance.
Like the last error, Mr.Boyle never had time for such nuances. He was on a ride to show the worst scenes from Mumbai, lampoon India and its call center culture all in the guise of making a feel good movie.The movie definitely is feel good but its not Oscar material, its pure kitsch its the same as the British discovering balti chicken and now calling it their own. As a sign of protest, I nominate Amar Akbar Anthony for the Oscars. It had feel good , lost and found, scenes from the slums of that time and everything that makes fate the winner. In a way the success of this movie seems well written but I am sure of buffet of the scenes from several Indian movies would taste better than this khichdi with pesto sauce.And maybe Bollywood directors should resort to reading books ( beyond Chetan Bhagat) and watching Korean DVDs, we could have made our own Jhopadpati Crorepati (why didn’t they think of that name for the Hindi version?).
a. Hollywood blockbuster
b. Hollywood indie movie
c. Crossover cinema
d. A western attempt to make a Bollywood movie
Who would you rate the king of lost and found movies where incidents just happen so that you can discover your loved ones coincidentally?
a. James Cameron
b. Danny Boyle
c. Prakash Jha
d. Manmohan Desai
Who would you rate the king of cop interrogation scenes that can be straight of the Gamdevi police chowki ?
a.Martin Scorcsese
b.Danny Boyle
c.Rajkumar Santoshi
d.Ramgopal Verma
Which movie would you describe as the most realistic description of slum life in Mumbai that tugs your emotions and reminds you of Dharavi instantaneously?
a.Harold and Kumar
b.Slumdog Millionaire
c.Dharavi
d.Salaam Mumbai
Which train scene best epitomizes the ability of a person to separate with a loved one as the train gather momentum?
a.Trainspotting
b. Slumdog Millionaire when Jamal loses Latika
c. Hum when Amitabh loses Kimi Katkar
d. Yaadon ki Baraat when Dharam paaji loses his brothers because he jumped early
Which is AR Rehman’s best background score in a movie?
a. Moulin Rouge
b. Slumdog Millionaire
c. Rangeela
d, Bombay
Which is the best dialogue that appeals to people who rely on fate and things beyond their control to justify what happens in their lives?
a. ‘I believe in America’ from Godfather
b. ‘It is written’ from Slumdog Millionaire
c. ‘Mere paas maa hai’ from Deewar.
d. ‘Arrey oh baabu mushoy hum to rangmanch ki kathputliyan hain jiski dor us upar wale ke haathon main hai kab, kaun kahan uthega ye koi nahin janta from Anand.
So you get the drift if most of your answers are a then you have never been to movies more than once a year, Hindi or English. If your answer is b then you have not seen enough Hindi movies since you lived in South Mumbai or somewhere far away from India. If your answer is c you have never seen Hindi movies twice. If your answer is d you will come out of Slumdog thinking why there is so much hype over this movie.There are some improbable scenes just because this movie had to be in English. Jamal Malik speaks accented English at a Gamdevi police station where Saurabh Shukla is on his best MC/BCs behaviour. The most popular bhikari song in Mumbai is not a Soordas bhajan Mr.Boyle, but Shirde wale Sai baba aaya hai tera dar pe qawwali. And a Latika cannot turn into a Pinto, anyone can recognize her Goanness from a distance.
Like the last error, Mr.Boyle never had time for such nuances. He was on a ride to show the worst scenes from Mumbai, lampoon India and its call center culture all in the guise of making a feel good movie.The movie definitely is feel good but its not Oscar material, its pure kitsch its the same as the British discovering balti chicken and now calling it their own. As a sign of protest, I nominate Amar Akbar Anthony for the Oscars. It had feel good , lost and found, scenes from the slums of that time and everything that makes fate the winner. In a way the success of this movie seems well written but I am sure of buffet of the scenes from several Indian movies would taste better than this khichdi with pesto sauce.And maybe Bollywood directors should resort to reading books ( beyond Chetan Bhagat) and watching Korean DVDs, we could have made our own Jhopadpati Crorepati (why didn’t they think of that name for the Hindi version?).
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Jaane Tu ya Jaane Na : Movie Review
I watched Jaane Tu again on Youtube... And thats when I really wanted to write a review.
Abbas Tyrewala you lovable Parsi...the guy who imbibes everything of Mumbai in a undefeatable package...the man who wrote Munnabhai ...and the delectable Om Shanti Om makes an impressive debut as a director...
The movie starts on a self-deprecatory note with a classic plot device ...a set of friends narrating an old story that culminates in an airport while going to pick up from an airport to a girl who seems quite bored with the group... Yawn...another love story....in this way Abbas teases the audience but also underdogs himself...
The group of friends is perfect and anyone who has studied in colleges can identify with it. Bombs ( Alishka Varde) is the classic Marathi gal who would develop a soft corner for. Rotlu and Jignesh as the loser stereotypes are excellent and the other gal with super spunk...In fact casting is so perfect throughout the movie....Naseer, Ratna Pathak Shah, Jayant Kripalani, Anuradha Patel , Kitu Gidwani, Rajat Kapur, Paresh Rawal really add charm to the scenes and the crazy duo of Arbaaz and Sohail play the best cameos of their lie...
The movie has a spoofy touch to it all over as well. Almost as if Abbas had an Om Shanti Om hangover...But here all the references are subtle and you would not pick them up sometimes. It was almost as if Abbas took all the standard set of classic Bollywood cliches and shuffled them in a different goofy way. Some of them like the the dream sequence with the horse is something like Zanjeer, the whole Ranjhore Rajput flashback is actually a version of the QSQT first part where Dalip Tahil kills someone but here Naseer dies,leaving Jai to be raised by Ratna Pathak Shah, a Dil type college fight and the jailing of the hero, a scene where Imran jumps over a hedge like Aamir Khan in JJWS, Rotlu giving Tu hi re the really rotu touch, the Hum Paanch type talking to the dead husband...and lots of others...
The lead cast is not likeable immediately but they grow on you mainly because they dont try too hard. Imran has a lot of his uncle especially when he smiles and when he explains something. Genelia although blessed with an irritating voice and diction, d0es manage to sprinkle a simple girl next door type feel to her role. This kind of a love story cast that was missing in Bollywood for a long time.Simple, effervescent, casual and completely natural ...
There are some absolutely superb dialogues in the movie ..when Aditi says ' College ke 5 saal kaise beet gaye pata hi nahi chala' and Ratna Pathak interjects ' Phone pe beta, phone pe'. Jignesh talking about ' Aditi ko visa bhi mil gaya, sab ko nahi milta hai' an intelligent quip and also 'mera surprise birthday party hai,zaroor aana'...All of Ratna Pathaks dialogues are cool just because the way she says it...there is a scene where she talks to Naseer ' tum sarphire, hinsak.....pause...mard' ... her interludes with the cop Waghmare ( although a restrained Paresh Rawal but lacking enough Marathiness to pull off a Waghmare) are wonderful..What delight she is ...oh how I miss Sarabhai vs Sarabhai...
Songs are truly cool...Pappu cant dance works due to the interesting lyrics where as Kabhi Kabhi Aditi due to the strumming tune...Kahi pe Nigahen is also nice...Although I have to say the choreography could have been much better for Pappu cant dance and kahi pe nigahen.
The movie though thoroughly enjoyable raises some tough questions for the love story genre.. Now could Abbas have pulled this off as a pure love story, if you remove all the set pieces like the Rajput Rathore angle, the portrait talk, the police inspector angle, etc. I dont think so at all. Since the story drags the most when there is focus on the love story. In fact the purposefully negative characterization of Sushant , and the disturbed family life of Meghana are easy writing gimmicks. At the end of the day, I never felt the love...which is where Jab We Met scored a bit. And if I compare it with the love stories it tries to spoof, then I really thought Aamir and Madhuri or Juhi loved each other a lot more in Dil and QSQT. In fact it doesnt even come close to the Aamir's silly fling with Pooja Bedi and Ayesha Jhulkas pain in JJWS.
Hence Abbas Tyrewala is a smart writer who acknowledges the limitation of his own film-making in some way just like Pappu cant dance saala actally refers to Imran's debut without a dance number. Since Yash Chopra's karva chauth and chiffons style refashioned by his cronies like Kunal Kohli is not working, I am seriously wondering if the Bollywood love story ki death hi ho gayi kya.
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