ITV

Category: Hindi

  • Mukti Bhawan (Hindi) Hotel Salvation (English)…Engrossing watch

    MUMBAI: Mukti Bhawan is a film about that aspect of Hindu philosophy with which few from generation now would be familiar, especially the metro born and bred.

    The city of Varanasi, considered to be the spiritual capital of India, draws millions of Hindus who come for a dip in the holy river Ganga to wash their sins as well as to pay obeisance at some of the legendary temples. Some also will that their last rites be performed on the banks of Ganga.

    Mukti Bhawan traces the story of a hostel in Varanasi where old people check in awaiting death because it is believed that to die in Varanasi is to attain ‘moksha’. Dying in Varanasi is said to end the circle of life and frees one from rebirth. It is a means to attain salvation. Death here is a celebration, not something to brood about or feel sad.

    The character of Adil Hussain’s father, played by Lalit Behl, keeps getting these dreams about his final day being near. He decides to spend rest of his remaining days in Varanasi and die there. Adil has no alternative but to take father to Varanasi. They check into this dingy hostel with 12 rooms. The place is managed by a worldly-wise man, the character of Anil Rastogi. While the rooms are let out for 15 days max, Rastogi extends the stay of some he knows will take longer but die in Varanasi eventually.

    Once there, it is each to his own. Nothing is on the house or served on a platter. Adil cooks, fills water and generally tends to Lalit who, at best times, is grumpy and stubborn. Adil is pulled between his duties to his father and his office targets; his office boss is almost always calling up and reminding him of his targets.

    Lalit then meets a companion in another occupant of the hostel, played by Navnindra Behl. She came to the place with her husband 18 years back, he passed away and she has stayed back awaiting her turn. While Lalit has found a soul mate, there is another chemistry taking place. That is between father and son. They both start feeling a bond between them, they rediscover each other.

    Lalit falls ill while at the hostel and everybody has given up hopes. Adil even asks his wife, played by Geetanjali Kulkarni, and daughter, played by Palomi Ghosh, to come for the last visit.

    What is best about Mukti Bhawan is that it packs subtle humour all the way, even during serious moments. Despite dealing with religious philosophy, it does not preach. In fact, that is only the backbone around which this film about relations and emotions is built. While it tracks the holy city of Varanasi, it does not try to glamourize it. The film is more about relations than Varanasi so much that even the Ganga aarti gets only limited footage.

    The background music is soothing and does not intrude. Cinematography is of high order.

    Cleverly scripted and directed with a purpose, the film keeps you engrossed for all its 102 minutes. The film has excellent performances by Aadil Hussain, Lalit Behl, Navnindra Behl, Palomi Ghosh, Geetanjali Kulkarni and Anil Rastogi; all of them are restrained and natural. The background score and cinematography are of high order.

    Producers: Sanjay Bhutiani, Sajida Sharma.
    Direction: Shubhashish Bhutiani.
    Cast: Adil Hussain, Lalit Behl, Geetanjali Kulkarni, Palomi Ghosh Navnindra Behl, Anil K. Rastogi.

  • ‘Kasaav’ best film, UP most movie-friendly state in National Film Awards

    NEW DELHI: While the Marathi film ‘Kasaav’ by Sumitra Bhave & Sunil Sukthankar has been named the best feature film in the 64th National Film awards, actor Akshay Kumar for ‘the Hindi film ‘Rustom’ and Surabhi C M for the Malayalam film ‘Minnaminungu–the Firefly’ have won the top awards for acting.

    Rajesh Mapuskar for the Marathi film ‘Ventilator’ has been named best director in the Awards for 2016 announced at a press meet today. The state of Uttar Pradesh has been named as the Most Film Friendly state and Jharkhand gets a special mention in this category which was announced for the first time last year.

    ‘Fireflies in the Abyss’ by Chandrashekhar Roy got the best non-feature film award, while G. Dhananjayan was named best film critic and ‘Lata: Sur Gatha’ by Yatindra Mishra was given best book on cinema award.

    The Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration has gone to the Assamese ‘Dikchow Banat Palaax’ by Sanjib Sabha Panditm while the Indira Gandhi Award for Best Debut Film of a Director goes to the Bengali ‘Alifa’ by Deep Choudhury.

    ‘Dhanak; in Hindi by the renowned Nagesh Kukunoor gets the best Children’s film award while the Hindi ‘Mahayodha Rama’ by Rohit Vaid has been named the best Animation film.

    ‘Loktak Lairembee; in Manipuri by Haoban Paban Kumar is the best Environment Conservation / Preservation film; and the Hindi film ‘Pink’ starring megastar Amitabh Bachchan and directed by Anniruddha Roy Chowdhury is the best film on social issues.

    Before the announcement of the awards, the Feature Film Central panel Chairperson and eminent filmmaker Priyadarshan, Non–Feature Film Jury Chairperson Raju Mishra and best Writing on cinema jury head Bhawana Somaaya along with Most Film Friendly State award chairman and Telugu director Radha Krishna Jagarlamudi presented their awards to Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore. They had presented the awards to Minister M Venkaiah Naidu yesterday.

    The National Film Awards would be presented by President Pranab Mukherjee on 3 May which is the day on which the first-ever indigenous feature ‘Raja Harishchandra’ by D G Phalke was released in 1913.

    In feature films, the highest number of awards went to Hindi (11) followed by Marathi (9); Malayalam (7); Tamil (5); Telugu, Bengali and Kannada (4 each); Assamese (3), and one each to Gujarati, Konkani and Manipuri. One award each also went to two languages not in Schedule VIII of the Constitution: Moran and Tulu.

    The Best Female Playback Singer award went to Iman Chakraborty for the Bengali film ‘Praktan’ for the song ‘Tumi Jaake Bhalo Basho; and Sundharayyar was named best Male Playback Singer in the Tamil film ‘Joker’ for the song ‘Jasmine E’.

    The best music direction award went to Bapu Padmanabha for the Kannada film ‘Allamma’. The best lyrics awards went to Vairamuthu and Anupama Roy for the song Entha Pakkam in ‘Dharma Durai’ (Tamil) and ‘Tumi Jaake Bhalo Basho’ in ‘Praktan’ (Bengali) respectively.

    The best supporting female and male actor awards went to Zaira Wasim for the Hindi film ‘Dangal’ and Manoj Joshi for the Marathi film ‘Dashakriya’.

    The special mentions went to Sonam Kapoor for her hijack drama film ‘Neerja’ (Hindi), ‘Kadvi Hawa’ (Hindi) to producer Eleeanora Images Private Ltd and director Nila Madhab Panda, ‘Mukti Bhawan’ (Hindi) for producer Red Carper Moving Pictures and director Shubhashish Bhutiani; and actor Adil Hussain for two films: ‘Mukti Bhawan’ and ‘Maj Rati Keteki’.

    The best child artist award was shared by Adish Praveen, Nur Islam and Samiul Alam; and K Manohara for the films ‘Kunju Daivam’ (Malayalam); ‘Sahaj Pather Gappo; (Bengali); and ‘Railway Children’ (Kannada) respectively.

  • Sequels sans conviction, ploys abound

    MUMBAI: Somehow, the makers of sequels, prequels kind of films seem be doing so without conviction and, mainly paying no heed to content. Unlike most others, Naam Shabana did all except naming the film Baby 2 or some such to promote and market the film. All possible connections were made to identify it with the earlier film, Baby, otherwise.

    It is supposed to be a prequel telling the story of how Tapsee Pannu happened to become a spy!

    Akshay Kumar, the force behind the production house of Naam Shabana, even made an unnecessary and forced appearance in the film. His presence in the film was poorly scripted and no efforts made to justify it. In fact, he ended up trivializing the character created for the film’s protagonist, Tapsee Pannu.

    Akshay Kumar’s presence was probably fitted in to carry forward the brand equity of Baby and to also make viewers think they were not short changed.

    Ploys don’t draw the audience which also happened with Naam Shabana as the opening response remained tepid. The film took its patron for granted with its content as well which limited its growth over the weekend.

    *Having opened at about four crore on Friday, Naam Shabana collected approx. Rs 14 crore for its opening weekend. The going will be tough during rest of the week for the film.

    *Phillauri remained below average with its best figures coming from North compared to other circuits but not good enough on the whole. The film collected Rs 20.6 crore in its first week as it went on dropping each day of the week.

    *Anaarkali Of Aarah could not convert the appreciation it received from certain pockets into box office gains. The film fell short of one crore mark in its first week.

    *Badrinath Ki Dulhania continued to make the most of poor oppositions as well as its status as the only entertainer available. The film added an impressive Rs 10.65 crore in its third week to take its three week tally to Rs 109.85 crore.

  • Naam Shabana……Halfhearted!

    MUMBAI: You realise that whatever Naam Shabana had to show has already been shown in the film’s promos. The strategy may draw the initial audience to an extent but, since they are not going back being a very happy lot that is about all.

    Akashy Kumar did Baby with Tapsee Pannu (2015) playing a brief role. Akshay, being a star of over 25 years of standing, is accepted readily playing an action hero. But, when you are letting loose a female protagonist who you expect to carry a film through in place of Akshay, you need a build-up for her. So Tapsee who featured in Baby is given a backstory here. Her past, which makes up for the first part of the film and, when she is assigned a mission, that makes for the latter part of the film.

    If you look at the film that way, it is what is referred in the West as a double bill: two films at the price of one.

    Tapsee, playing Shabana Khan, is one stern person drained of all emotions. Brought up in predominantly Muslim locality of Mumbai in a small flat, she and her mother have suffered heavily from her drunkard father. Both women, Tapsee and her mother, have been at the receiving end of nonstop violence. Not to be a victim of any kind of violence again, Tapsee is training for martial art.

    Relentlessly wooed by her college mate, played by Taher Mithaiwala, Tapsee is not ready for any sort of commitment. Her idea about men is not positive thanks to her father’s behaviour. The only person Tapsee trusts and confides into is her mother.

    Taher finally manages to win Tapsee’s love and, after spending a cosy evening with him but before she could say she also loves him, Tahir becomes the victim of a group of spoilt boys from Delhi making merry in Mumbai. While that saves Tapsee from being molested, the experience also leaves her devastated as well full of rage.

    Tapsee now wants revenge, nothing sort of kill the perpetrators. The police is no help. That is when she starts getting help from anonymous source. Tapsee is trained to be a lethal weapon by her benevolent caller. Her offenders are located for her and all the arrangements are made for her to get to her enemies and kill them. Also shadowing her is her guardian angel played by Akshay Kumar.

    Having sought her revenge, Tapsee is now ready for the purpose her helpers had in mind for her. It seems, a national agency was tracking her moves and aggression all along and intended to enrol her as a spy to work for the country. Her handler so far keeping tabs on her is the character of Manoj Bajpayee.

    Having agreed to join the agency, Tapsee’s assignment is to liquidate an international arms supplier played by Prithviraj Sukumaran. Many agents have earlier lost their lives trying to tackle Prithviraj and, he also keeps getting his looks changed through plastic surgery.

    Finally, Prithviraj is tracked to Malaysia and it is time to move the narration out of congested Mumbai streets and to a more picturesque locations in Kuala Lumpur. Here, after some more trackers losing their lives to Prithviraj, it is left to Tapsee to tackle him singlehandedly.

    Naam Shabana, in an effort to give a back story to Tapsee, fails to connect the two parts. The way other characters are etched out make Indian spies look like fools and their parts look like they are playing a game of spies. Then, to send a novice agent to a villain who has been painted huge is not convincing. And, making Akshay her shadow and a guardian angel seems more an attempt to keep Akshay on the screen so the viewer does not feel cheated.

    Direction fails to detect or solve these and other glitches. While the first half story has been seen in few films earlier, it is still watchable due to Tapsee’s efforts. The second half sags. Music though out of place comes in three songs. Dialogue is good in parts. Editing needed to be sharper.

    Tapsee Pannu performs very well carrying her angry young girl image through with conviction. Akshay Kumar has really nothing to do and he does nothing to alleviate the situation. Prithviraj Sukumaran makes a mark. Manoj Bajpayee is okay.

    Danny and Anupam Kher make fleeting appearances to no avail. Taher Mithaiwal is fair. Naam Shabana is a halfhearted effort, the only comfort being in its seemingly low making costs.

    Producers: Neeraj Pandey, Shital Bhatia.

    Director: Shivam Nair.

    Cast: Taapsee Pannu, Akshay Kumar,. Manoj Bajpayee, Anupam Kher, Danny Denzongpa, Prithviraj Sukumaran.

  • New films fail to attract viewers

    *The poor run of films at the box office continues unabated save for an odd Dangal or a reasonable entertainer in Badrinath Ki Dulhania. Not that any of these films can sustain a multiscreen cinema complex for more than a few weeks

    The week saw two new releases, Phillauri and Anaarkali of Aarah, both female-oriented and also off the beaten track. Phillauri saw actor Anushka Sharma turn producer launching her production banner, Clean Slate Films. The sustainability of such a films is grossly limited and they draw footfalls, albeit in limited numbers, barely for a weekend.

    A lot of actors are turning to production activities. But, Anushka, rather than take cue from her peers such as Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan, and make a commercially viable film, chose an abstract theme, that of superstition and supernatural. The intent seems to be awards rather than rewards; probably for the protagonist, Anushka herself, as well as for some technical aspects like special effects. What good is an award if the people have not taken to your film?

    What raises a question, besides the choice of subject, is that what was the logic of making a film almost entirely in Punjabi?

    *Phillauri, counting on only Anushka Sharma to draw the crowds could not quite manage that. The film’s opening was not encouraging, with Punjab where the film’s lead actor, Diljit Dusanjh is a big star, faring little better. The film colledted Rs 13.9 crore for its opening weekend

    *Anaarkali Of Aarah, though a local story of Bihar, and with rural background, found some appreciation as the film offered some great performances by its main actors, Swara Bhaskar, Sanjai Mishra and Pankaj Tripathi. However, these factors did not reflect on the film’s box office collections as the film remained in the range of a few lakh.

    *Director duo Abbas Mustan, who gave many successful films with various actors in their career as directors, failed badly when it came to launching their family scion, Mustafa. A totally outdated story idea and patchy script were not the right recipe to launch an actor. The film managed to collect Rs 3.25 crore in its first week.

    *Trapped collected Rs 2.1 crore in its first week.

    *Aa Gaya Hero proves to be the swan song for Govinda’s career. Must hurt more because this also happened to be his home production. The film struggled to cross the one crore mark to end its first and last week with the figures of a little over one crore.

    *Badrinath Ki Dulhania, made the most of poor crop of new releases. The film collected Rs 26.6 crore in its second week and is still holding steady in its third week. The film has taken its two week total to Rs 99.2 crore.

    *Commando 2 added Rs 35 lakh in its third week to take its three week total to Rs 23.95 crore.

    *The Ghazi Attack has added Rs 40 lakh in its fifth week taking its five week tally to Rs 19.3 crore.

  • Rs 125 million incurred on Film Heritage Mission this year

    NEW DELHI: A total of about 1,32,000 film reels have been acquired and the work of assessment, preventive conservation and restoration started under a mission mode project under the National Film Heritage Mission (NFHM).

    The scheme is to be implemented between 2014-15 and 2020-21 with total outlay of Rs 5.9741 billion to restore, digitize and archive films and filmic material through the National Film Archives of India.

    Of the outlay, Rs 126.6 million has been incurred till date during 2016-17. The expenditure incurred in 2015-16 was Rs 108 million and Rs 162 million in 2014-15.

    The minister of state for information and broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore said the NFAI has temperature and humidity controlled vaults for storage and preservation of film reels.

    The non-filmic ancillary material, such as photographs, song booklets, posters, films magazines, etc. are stored under temperature controlled environment.

    Some of the objectives of the NFHM include:

    i. To undertake film conservation assessment.
    ii. Preventive conservation of film reels.
    iii. Picture and sound restoration of landmark feature films and short films.
    iv. Digitization of feature films and short films.
    v. Construction of archival and preservation facilities for material restored under NFHM.
    vi. Conducting training workshops and courses in field of conservation, preservation and archiving.

  • Anaarkali Of Aarah: Worth a look

    MUMBAI: Just when one was expecting a week of lack-lustre films especially as some small filmmaker is releasing his or her work, comes a surprise that reinforces faith in good cinema.
     
    Usually, region-centric films are all about violence and local Bahubalis. The gang wars, corrupt politician/police and so on. Anaarkali of Aarah puts a Bahubali in the second place and the limelight is totally on a local dancer woman who earns her living by entertaining townsfolk and those highly placed with her traditional lewd dances and suggestive lyric typical to the area.

    Swara Bhaskar has taken to dancing from her mother. The film has background of gun-totting, trigger happy, lawless Bihar and so when alcohol combines with eroticism of any kind, a gun goes off. Swara has seen her mother being shot dead for no reason by an influential man at one such dancing session. It was considered to be a manly thing to do for creating fear among townsfolk.

    Having learnt the ropes while watching her mother, Swara knows nothing else but to follow her mother’s profession, dance to entertain and titillate. Endowed with a powerful voice and all the dance moves that can drive her viewers crazy, she has become a super star of her locality. When she passes on the road, the traffic stops, so to say. As Aarah has only human traffic, the crowds drop what they are doing and gape at her.

    This time, Swara has been asked to perform at a function organised by the police. The function is open to public and the chief guest is a man close the state Chief Minister and the Vice Chancellor of the local university, Sanjai Mishra, a much respected man in the area. He drinks on the sly to keep his clean image, and is a closet debauch.

    While Swara is dancing at the function, the devil in Mishra comes out of the closet. Drunk till the gills, he climbs the stage, joins the dancing and almost rapes her in public view. Swara ends the scene with a tight slap on Mishra’s face.

    The film now runs short of ideas and gets into a rut as Mishra and the local cop try with all their might against her including an attempt on her life till, finally, she is forced to flee to Delhi. Considering Swara has been projected as a strong willed woman, the parts while she is in Delhi are a bit against her character while also being tame for the viewer.

    The climax, though not new, is made effective by the actors involved and one leaves the cinema with a positive word for the film.

    Anaarkali of Aarah, though a regional theme, is a well thought of script and can be identifiable with a woman’s situation all over. It is a well-conceived and executed film by writer-director Avinash Das. The film is well endowed with Bihari situational longs with double-meaning lyrics which keep the story going. The film needs some editing in its second half of scenes of Swara indulging in self-pity. Dialogue are in tune with the theme, bold but not vulgar.

    What, finally really lifts the film are the performances by the artistes. While the protagonist Swara Bhaskar and the antagonist Sanjai Sharma are outstanding, with Swara excelling, and every other actor on the screen lives his/her role.

    Worth a watch but lack of face value will keep Anaarkali of Aarah down.

    Producers: Priya Kapur, Sandip Kapur.

    Director: Avinash Das.

    Cast: Swara Bhaskar, Sanjay Mishra, Pankaj Tripathi.
     
    Phillauri: Soulless!

    Phillauri bases its story around various superstitions rampantly followed by people and their solutions, as defined by the pundits, which neutralise ill effects borne out of superstitions. There are stories about a girl marrying a sword, a tree, a dog and so on. The idea being, if one’s first marriage has to fail, let it be with a dog or a tree. (Marriage with a sword represented its owner in his absence.)

    There are some who grew up with the popular comic character, Casper The Friendly Ghost. As films go, with a ghost as a character one recalls Mani Kaul’s Duvidha (1973) as one such film based in Rajasthan. The film though a sleep inducer, was later adapted by Amol Palekar as Paheli with Shah Rukh Khan in lead as well as the producer.

    There were other films like Chamatkar and Bhootnath franchise based on ghost stories.
    Phillauri is meant to be a comedy blended with romance using superstition as the prop. Suraj Sharma (Life Of Pi) is on way to India from Canada to marry his childhood love, Mehreen Pirzada.
    But, Suraj is a Manglik, one whose married life is affected due to ill effects of the planet Mars. To ward off this problem, the astrologers have a suggestion. Accordingly, Suraj is married off to a tree which is later chopped off.

    Unknown to Suraj, the tree was home to the soul of Anushka Sharma for many decades. Now she hovers around Suraj as a ghost. He is scared of her but eventually comes to terms with her presence.

    The soul of Anushka came to the tree and has a back story about her unrequited love with Diljit Dosanjh. Anushka was drawn to poetry writing and music and Diljit being a singer, love happens.
    The film traverses between past and present as it narrates both stories. What happens is, while the present is fun to an extent, the past hinders the pace.

    Balancing past and present stories has been tried earlier but has not accounted for smooth narration. The idea, similar to the English movie Corpse Bride, an animated film of 2005, manages a few light moments and drags as it fails to make audiences sit for a long duration as it stretches to 137 minutes. The film’s music sounds soulful in the film. Cinematography and special effects are good, especially the way Anushka’s ghost is presented. The film uses Punjabi language extensively while also going for a Punjabi ambience similar to Vicky Donor (2012).
    Anushka Sharma lives up to her role. Diljit Dosanjh is good in a brief role. Suraj Sharma is very good. Mehreen Pirzada is okay.

    Phillauri is too slow, and universal appeal and the weak opening are its setbacks.

    Producers: Anushka Sharma, Karmesh Sharma, Fox Star Studios.

    Director: Anshai Lal.

    Cast: Anushka Sharma, Diljit Dosanjh, Suraj Sharma.

  • Dismal releases help last week’s film to turn lucky at the Box Office

    MUMBAI: With dismal releases, the week proved lucky for last week’s ‘Badrinath ki Dulhaniya’ as none of the three films fresh releases this week managed to create any impact on the viewers.

    Govinda attempted a make comeback with a stale home production, Aa Gaya Hero, which had been gathering dust for a few years now. Having somehow managing to bring an end to this patchy enterprise, the film was finally released with multiplexes offering it scattered screen times at odd hours. The film will not only loose whatever was spent on producing it but also the monies that went towards releasing it.

    The other enterprise Machine had some family interest at stake, though not financial. Director duo Abbas Mustan used the film as a launch vehicle for Mustafa Burmawala, son of Abbas. As it turned out, neither did Mustafa have potential nor were Abbas Mustan tuned in with what the audience seeks now. The script seemed to be a recall of their past films. It lacked the chemistry between the romantic pair and music that such a love story needs.

    The third release Trapped was an utter torture. Following foreign trends is fine but knowing which audience one is catering to matters more. Expectations were too high for a non-face value negative film of 113 minute duration to work.

    In such a situation, Badrinath Ki Dulhania stands a chance to better its figures in the second week, since the film does offer some entertainment.

    Aa Gaya Hero, earlier titled Abhinay Chakra, may not even be able to cross the one crore figure as its lifetime business. With an opening day figures of Rs 25 lakh, the film has managed to collect just about Rs 70 lakh for its opening weekend.

    Machine opened with Rs 60 lakh on Friday, which spells disaster for its investors. For its opening weekend, the film collected Rs 1.6 crore.

    Trapped, the most unbearable film of the week, suffered the worst fate despite some positive words from a few critics.With just about Rs 30 lakh on its opening day, the film managed to collect Rs 1.4 crore for its first weekend.

    Badrinath Ki Dulhania emerged a winner. After an opening weekend of Rs 54.7 crore after facing Holi and North India election results, it added another Rs 17.9 crore through the week to take its first week total to Rs 72.6 crore.

    Commando 2 has collected Rs 1.8 crore in its second week. This takes its two week tally to Rs 23.6 crore which is far off the mark.

    The Ghazi Attack collected Rs 95 lakh in its fourth week to take its four week total to Rs 18.9 crore. Jolly LLB 2, at the end of its run, has added Rs 35 lakh in its fifth week taking its total to Rs 106.55 crore.

  • ‘Freedom of speech’ vital in progressive society, says Nandita Das

    NEW DELHI: Three short films made by renowned filmmakers Sudhir Mishra, Nandita Das and Ram Madhvani on meaningful subjects marked the India Today conclave on its closing day in Mumbai. India Today Group editorial director Kalli Purie said the films had been commissioned by the group to mark four decades of its existence.

    Nandita Das said: “Freedom of expression is needed for any society to be progressive else we will go back in time if there are no diverse views or analysis, if a child cannot ask questions.”

    The three films addressed poignant and almost dark issues as compared to the power play in politics to the bloodshed of the Partition.

    The 30-minute-long screening began with Mishra’s “Life Support” that revolves around the play of power in politics with three protagonists. “It doesn’t show anyone in particular; it’s about power and its sad stories,” said Mishra. Explaining his film in which a young politician and “heir apparent” of a political party condones his father’s killing ordered by a powerful politician, he added, “There are people who have compromised. We don’t have an answer to everything and that’s the power of a story, it’s all about many things.”

    Das’s film was on celebrated Pakistani writer Saadat Hasan Manto played by Nawazuddin Siddiqui, “In Defense of Freedom”. The film explores the need and importance of freedom of expression, as Manto questions why he should not write about the not-so-pleasant things in society. Through Manto’s life and preachings, Das emphasizes the need for freedom of expression in our society as well. “Manto is still so relevant even after all these years,” she said. “In any democratic or progressive society, freedom of speech, although ambiguous to define, should be cherished,” she added.

    Even as Nandita’s film drew attention to the freedom to express, the last film screened brought back to public memory the pain of the Partition. In his film “This Bloody Line”, filmmaker Ram Madhvani tells the story of Mohamed Ali Jinnah and the Partition and the fact that the Radcliffe Line led to the biggest mass migration in the history of mankind. He used poignant videos and pictures from the Partition of filled trains carrying people to their new country, of assaulted and injured women and children. “Till today, this line makes us bleed” said the concluding message. “This film is a reaction to the sadness and anger we feel,” he said.

  • Machine…. Poor show

    MUMBAI: Machine is a rather unlikely story with an unlikely title. Coming from Abbas Mustan duo, the Burmawalla brothers, who made a reputation for giving thrillers and action films with good musical score, one expected more of the same stuff. Having worked with some of the top artistes of Hindi film industry, their inspiration has almost always come from English movies besides an odd Indian language film.

    Though Abbas and Mustan started their career with Gujarati films, which were usually crudely made, in Hindi films, they made a reputation for their finesse. Their brother, Hussain helped them keep their content crisp as an editor.

    This time, the Burmawalla brothers were expected to give their all; they were launching a family scion, Mustafa, the son of Abbas as the hero. Mustafa earlier assisted the duo in direction department.

    Mustafa’s character drops out of the blue in the life of the character played by Kiara Advani, a student at Woodstock school/college somewhere in North India as the legend on the screen informs you. Having met on a picturesque highway, he turns out to be a fresher at the same institution as her. Kiara is a car-racing enthusiast and so is he. She is in to dramatics in her institution, and so is Mustafa.

    These sequences are pure copy-paste from any given 1980s campus film, though oft used later too. Kaira has fallen in love with Mustafa instantly, and that is how Mustafa wanted it to be. But, there are two more candidates on the campus vying for her attention and love in Rishabh Arora and Eshan Shankar.

    Kaira keeps getting romantic messages on the balcony (no, they are not into text messages or WhatsApp) of her hostel room which looks more like a graded hotel suit! One of the three aspirants is sending her messages but, since she has fallen in love with Mustafa, she can only imagine him sending those messages. She is about to find out as the messenger has sought a rendezvous on a bridge where lovers meet and commit themselves.

    Here, two of the claimants for her love lose the race. Mustafa and Kiara tie the knot.

    As the couple’s honeymoon begins, it is also the end of the viewers’ hopes. The film goes haywire, hereafter. Not that it had much to promise in the first half.

    The writer-director team seems to have no control over the content as well as on what they want to be the mainstay of the film. They try to cram in a few things from their own previous films which worked like the antihero from Baazigar, devious guardian from Khiladi and so on. What emerges finally is a royal mess.

    Known for their positive sense for popular music, the director duo fails this time as the film falls short of the kind of songs such a love story needs. Editing is a let-down. The film does have a couple of catchy dialogues. The film is shot on scenic location overseas in the name of North India which is some relief.
    Mustafa Burmawalla can be rated fair as an actor but he is no star material nor a draw. He lacks that charm or magnetism.

    Kiara Advani is cute, reminds you of Hema Malini in expressions. Rishabh Arora and Eshan Shankar lack presence and their roles are poorly etched out. Ronit Roy goes overboard. Kishori Shahane, Sharat Saxena, Dalip Tahil, Supriya karnik and Johnny Lever have little to do.
    Machine is poor on all counts and has no prospects at the box office.

    Producers: Abbas, Mustan, Pranay Chokshi, Haresh Patel.

    Directors: Abbas Mustan.

    Cast: Mustafa Burmawalla, Kaira Advani, Rishabh Shukla, Shabbir Burmawalla, Eshan Shankar, Supriya Karnik, Ronit Roy, Sharat Saxena, Kishori Shahane, Johhny Lever. 

    Trapped…Feels like self-torture?

    The urge to experiment and make a different kind of a film is strong among newer and younger filmmakers. The stars being hard to get and the budgets restraints that prevail, there is this quest is for something thought provoking.

    Trapped is one such attempt. The story puts the protagonist in impossible situations, makes him go through all kinds of testing times and, eventually, lets him get out of the tight spot the same way he could have done within an hour of being trapped if he had thought carefully and planned logically. Instead, he throws tantrums and goes on destroying things around him, things that could have saved his life as well as the situation.

    The character of Rajkumar Rao is some sort of a bespectacled white collar worker. You can’t say what kind because you don’t see him doing any work since he is busy trying to date a girl, played by Geetanjali Thapa. After some quirky talk on phone, the two decide to meet over a meal. No matter that the girl is due to marry in next two months.

    They date, they make out and they decide to marry notwithstanding the girl’s earlier commitment. But Rao shares a small apartment with many others and can’t bring Thapa here. He goes out in search of a one-BHK accommodation and gets what he needed in an under construction building, almost ready but unoccupied.

    Usually, a guy does not choose a place to live without his woman by his side; it is always her choice. But, here, Rao rents a flat, even occupies it and Thapa is not even aware or around. But this is a script that suits the makers for a very low budget film.

    Having occupied the new flat, Rao learns to his dismay that he has been had. The flat has no running water or the electricity that he was promised. Next, as he decides to go to work, he discovers he has left his cell phone behind. In hurry to retrieve it, he gets locked into the flat with the keys hanging outside.
    He is Trapped!

    Thereafter, what he does is everything that is illogical and for the convenience of stretching the film to an intolerable 103 minutes! Seeing is believing but I would not advise it!

    Shot in one flat with nothing for distraction, the film has a deficient script, patchy direction and lack of editing sense. The film counts on Rajkumar Rao to bear the burden of this non-entertainer. He does very well but not enough to salvage this misadventure. Geetanjali Thapa and others in the cast are incidental.

    Trapped is a tedious watch.

    Producers: Madhu Mantena, Vikas Bahl, Anurag Kashyap.
    Director: Vikramaditya Motwane.
    Cast: Rajkumar Rao, Geetanjali Thapa.