ITV

Category: Reviews

  • Mantostaan….For a select few

    If you go by the title, it is not really designed to draw the audience to the cinema halls. Also, not many in today’s movie-going audience would know about Sadat Hasan Manto. Talking of Staan, Manto had none. He was not quite happy in India before Partition nor when he migrated to the newly formed country, Pakistan. The Staan in the title refers to Manto’s own space he created for himself.

    Mantostaan takes four of Manto’s short stories for this film. The four stories, all set around the Partition are: Khol Do, Aakhri Salute, Thanda Ghosht and Assignment.

    These omnibus short story stuff has been tried earlier in films, the last one in memory being Vinay Shukla’s Mirch, which told four stories written by the Italian writer, Giovanni Boccaccio, who in turn had copied his collection of short stories from the Indian legends of The Panchtantra, among others.
    That said about films with multiple stories, Mantostaan’s four stories run simultaneously with each other. And, that, at times affects the narration. One feels that telling these four short stories independent of each other may have been more effective.

    The stories depict violence that took place during the Partition.

    In Khol Do, a man trying to go to Pakistan along with his wife and daughter survives but remembers his wife being killed. When he comes to a refugee camp, he searches for his daughter. Then, he is promised by some young men who risk going back to Amritsar and bring women and children back, that they will search for his daughter.

    Another story, Assignment, is about a retired Muslim judge stuck in his house in Amritsar with his daughter and son as most other Muslims have moved to safer locations. It is Eid day and a Sikh who owed the judge a favour pays a visit even as a mob waits down the street to finish their task.

    Aaakhri Salute is about a banter between an Indian soldier and a Pakistani, both serving at the border.

    The fourth story is about a man trying to hide a macabre truth about himself, something he did during the riots, from his woman.

    Manto, for those initiated, makes for taut reading, but here, in the film, it does not really grip you. Direction shows lack of experience.

    Performances are mediocre, save for Raghuvir Yadav.

    Producers: Rahat Kazmi, Tariq Khan, Aditya Pratap Singh.

    Director: Rahat Kazmi.

    Cast: Raghuvir Yadav, Sonal Sehgal, Veerendra Saxena and Rahat Kazmi.

  • Baahubali 2: The Conclusion — Spectacular!

    Baahubali 2: The Conclusion is a sort of prequel as well as the sequel to the earlier film, Baahubali: The Beginning, the epic fiction fantasy. In that, this film lets the viewer into some of the unrevealed parts of the earlier saga including the general curiosity about, why did Katappa kill Baahubali!

    The film begins with the character of Ramya Krishnan, playing the guardian of the kingdom till the character of Prabhas, the Baahubali, grows up to inherit the crown of his kingdom. Prabhas is now an accomplished heir to the crown as he is trained in all aspects of protecting his kingdom as well its people. His strength and endurance are of superhuman levels.

    Ramya announces the date of Prabhas’s coronation but asks him to go around his kingdom so as to check on his people and their wellbeing. Prabhas is accompanied by his trusted aide, Katappa played by Sathyaraj. While on his recce of his kingdom, Prabhas comes across, Anushka Shetty, who plays the princess of another smaller kingdom. A group of bandits are attacking her and she single-handedly fights them, excelling in art of combat.

    For Prabhas, it is love at first sight. He and Sathyaraj decide to tag along with Anushka, seeking a job for Prabhas and also asking her help to train him in warfare. She is told that Prabhas is a dimwit and some training may make him worthy for an employment at her palace. Prabhas tries his best to hide his virtues from Anushka.

    It is not long before Anushka realises that Prabhas is not a twit he is pretending to be. On the contrary, he is an accomplished warrior. Prabhas’s love is not one-sided anymore. Anushka too has grown to love him. Prabhas thinks it is time to fulfil Ramya’s desire to get for her a daughter in law matching her expectations though Ramya is not aware of the choice made by Prabhas yet.

    The family politics now sets in. The character of Rana Daggubati, who has always been bypassed in getting Ramya’s attention despite he being her son, and who has also been bypassed as the choice to inherit the crown, sees a chance to upset Prabhas. He has learned through his spies that Prabhas has fallen for this princess and devices a plan to make Ramya commit to him that she will fix his match with Anushka.

    The film, which was all about romance now goes head-on into family politics, the palace intrigues as father and son, Rana and Nassar, plot ways to displace Prabhas. They manage to turn Ramya, who loved Prabhas more than her own son, against Prabhas. His ascendency to the throne is withdrawn and Rana made the king instead.

    Prabhas turns a commoner from being the king in waiting. He joins the common people in their settlements and help their better their lives. This makes Rana and Nassar uncomfortable for they can see that for people, Prabhas was still their king. They feel that only if Prabhas is eliminated can they have a full control over the kingdom.

    The film drops pace as it moves from romance and verbal duels between Prabhas and Rana on one side and Anushka and Ramya on the other, to treachery and manipulations and, finally, to backdoor plotting. The action and romance are replaced by some gore; claptrap dialogue goes missing. The parts about Rana and Nassar’s ploys are not interesting enough. The finale, the fights in the climax are stretched.

    Excelling in direction, SS Rajamouli, has also mastered the use of special effects with which he makes parts of the film into fantasy which has been a part of every growing child. Cinematography is top-rated. As for the songs, they are not to the taste of the Hindi audience, the background score goes with the need of the narration.

    The performances are generally good. However, Prabhas, Anushka, Ramya and Sathyaraj excel on their author backed roles. Rana and Nassar are apt.

    Baahubali2: The Conclusion has the advantage of the ground created by its predecessor, Baahubali: The Beginning, a trailblazer for a regional film dubbed in Hindi. While the predecessor had the advantage of being a surprise packet for the audience, Baahubali2 has the burden of high expectations. This has afforded the film an outlandish opening response on its extensive release (reportedly 4000 screens). It come as a great relief to the cinema halls starving of a film with staying power, at least for next couple of weeks.

    Producers: Shobu Yarlagadda, Prasad Devineni.

    Direction: SS Rajamouli.

    Cast: Prabhas, Rana Daggubati, Anushka Shetty, Ramya Krishnan, Tamannah, Sathyaraj, Nassar.

  • Noor…Insipid…

    Noor is based on a book by the Pakistani journalist- writer Saba Imtiaz, ‘Karachi, You Are Killing Me!’ The book in itself does not really tell a story, it is more like a diary of a journalist of day-to-day experiences and adventures along with a bit of her personal life. 

    Karachi is a volatile and a violent place to be in, especially for a woman whose job is to venture into unlikely places in the cause of her job.

    In Karachi (as per her book) one can be mugged at a traffic signal in broad daylight even within the safety of one’s car. Moreover, the only way to get a can of beer is through a bootlegger. How such an account fit into an Indian metropolis like Mumbai is a question?  Also, our readers are not into the habit of reading by-lines in news reports or articles and recognize only a few TV anchors. So a film on one such greenhorn journalist’s life would hardly be of interest to a viewer. 

    The character of Sonakshi Sinha is a Page 3 journalist working for a content providing agency. She nurses a desire to become a real, hard core reporter covering more serious matters. She even keeps applying to the news channel CNN only to be rejected each time. The people in her life are her father played by MK Raina, maid Smita Tambe, friends Kanan Gill and Shibani Dandekar, her boss Manish Chaudhary, and a cat.

    Moving around the by lanes of Mumbai in search for stories in attempts to capture the unusual happenings in Mumbai, she is bored of her mundane assignments. Then, she finally thinks she has a story breaking which will bring her into the limelight. 

    Sonakshi’s story is about a huge human-organ racket. 

    Meanwhile, during one of her social circuit outings, Sonakshi meets an ex-CNN photographer, Purab Kohli. She finds him hot and takes the relationship further. That is when her exclusive story, her break to big time journalism, goes out of her control.

    After a good start, one expects the film to pack something interesting. But, as it moves further, it only goes downhill. The narration meanders as Sonakshi oscillates between self-pity and ambition.

    To add to the tedium, the film takes to sermonising on ethics in journalism. Things become boring and one comes out with mental fatigue.

    The book, ‘Karachi, You Are Killing Me!’ did show promise the potential to make into a film and, there is nothing the makers have been able to make work. The scripting is dull. The director shows finesse but that hardly helps salvage the film. The film required much more severe editing. Music is fair. The best thing about the film is its cinematography. As for performances, Sonakshi is okay in parts; in the absence of substance in her character, little else she could have done. Kanan Gill and Purab Kohli do well. Rest are okay. 

    Noor is an insipid fare.

    Producers: Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar, Vikram Malhotra.

    Director: Sunhil Sippy.

    Cast: Sonakshi Sinha, Purab Kohli, Kanan Gill, Shibani Dandekar.

    Maatr…Routine revenge saga

    Maatr is yet another topical film. The subject is gang rape and, as an obvious choice, the locale is Delhi. To complete the setup, the culprit is influential, the spoiled son of a politician, the chief minister no less. Sounds cliché isn’t it? So what else is new?

    Having set up the basic premise of rape and police apathy, the next plot point is an effort to muzzle the victim. This is routine and can’t be very different. Then one would expect the media sensationalising the case and sitting in judgement, social media taking up the cause and so on. The location being Delhi, a candle march would be mandatory, too.  

    Maatr begins on the set formula but decides to go its own way thereafter. 

    The character of Raveen Tandon is a school teacher in a well-known Delhi school where her daughter, Alisha Khan, is a pupil. The school celebrates its annual day every Dussehra with the students presenting a programme. The chief minister is the chief guest with his son, played by Madhur Mittal, an ex-student of the school, also attending. 

    Alisha stands first in the evening performance and having won the first prize, she and her teacher mother, Raveena, proceed towards home. Stuck in the typical Delhi traffic, Raveena seeks guidance from her friend, played by Divya Jagdale, on phone. Asked to use GPS, Raveena, however, is on wrong path. Unknown to her, Mittal and his six goons, which all politicians’ sons seem to need, are following them.

    The gang of the seven pushes Raveena’s car into a ditch. Mother and daughter are carried to a farmhouse and the inevitable happens. Raveena barely survives the assault while Alisha does not.
    So far, the film is one of hundreds having been made over the years. Yet, there is no TV channels blaring out the incident, no social media and no candle marches as is the norm in such films. 

    That is because the makers wish to take this film off the beaten track hereafter. Raveena wants to settle the score herself. The first time I saw such a film was François Truffaut’s “The Bride Wore Black”, a 1968 French movie, where as a newly wedded couple is walking out of a church, the groom is killed by a random bullet fired by five gallivanting drunk men in a building opposite the church. The bride, actress Jeanne Moreau, decides to trace each of those five and kill them. This about sums up the second part of Maatr.

    After a routine first half, Maatr starts getting interesting as Raveena decides to chart her own course with the police not being cooperative. This too has been seen in various films earlier but still remains interesting and makes the film watchable because of how it is devised. 

    There is also a track about Raveena and her husband, played by Rushad Rana. This is totally irrelevant to the film and could very well have been avoided. She could just as well have been a single mother, which would have made no difference to the story. Maybe some more footage could have been devoted to mother-daughter equation. 

    The film has a usual which is saved in part by seasoned Raveena and in part by its second half about the woman getting her own. It has a couple of musical tracks which don’t matter. Dialogue is okay in places and the expletives are within limits. Editing, as usual, is the weak link. Cinematography is good and so are the locales. Background music gets too loud at times. 

    As for performances, while Raveena Tandon carries herself wellbeing the veteran that she is, Alisha excels in a fleeting role. Divya Jagdale is most natural. The villains as well as the cops are painted in their usual clichéd roles seen in many films earlier. Madhur Mittal is passable. 

    All in all, Maatr is a tolerable film but lacking face value, box office prospects don’t promise much.  

    Producers: Michael Pellico, Anjum Rizvi, Manoj Adhikari.

    Director: Michael Pellico. 

    Cast: Raveena Tandon, Divya Jagdale, Madhur Mittal, Shailender Goyal, Anurag Arora, Jayant Shroff, Alisha Khan, Rushad Rana. 

  • Begum Jaan…..A rebel without a cause!

    MUMBAI: The last memorable film on a brothel and prostitutes was Shyam Benegal’s Mandi. The theme was that wherever there are people, a brothel is bound to spring up and, otherwise, wherever a brothel comes up, a town is bound to come up.

    Begum Jaan is the remake of the Bengali language film, Rajkahini (2015). The closeness one can find between the two is about the women in the oldest profession fighting for survival.

    Actually, if one were to make a comparison as the women in the brothel, led by its
    founder, the character of Vidya Balan, resolve to stand their ground and fight out the battle of survival, it is with Ketan Mehta’s all-time classic, Mirch Masala, though it was not about prostitution. It was about saving a woman’s honour and, hence, the cause was justified.

    Begum Jaan is based around time when India was partitioned — India and Pakistan.

    Vidya Balan, a child widow, is disowned by her in-laws. Going through exploitation and hurdles, she ends up in prostitution. Being a strong-willed woman, she would do even that on her own terms. Her clientele includes big shots, influential people, even a king and some white men and officers who seek favours gratis. Ergo, Vidya wields great influence.

    Vidya has 11 women in her brothel, one old lady, Ila Arun, and a pre-teen girl, Gracy Goswami, a love child of one of her ‘girls’, Gauhar Khan. Vidya’s vast brothel, spread across a few acres, serves as a sort of shelter for women in distress who, eventually, join her trade. Socially ostracised, the brothels made their place away from towns.

    The girls live in bonhomie, they come from across India: Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab et al (how women from all over reached there in those days of great distances and limited transportation facilities is not answered). Maybe the idea is to make the brothel a representative of India: Unity in diversity!

    The place also has a Pathan sentry, played by Sumit Nijhawan, accompanied by his two ferocious looking dogs, all three totally loyal to Vidya.

    The going is good for Vidya and her girls till the powers that be decide to divide India into two countries, India and Pakistan. Here the film takes inspiration from various Partition stories written by the legendary writers, the likes of Saadat Hasan Manto. These are stories of unsuspecting bystanders, the kinds who unwittingly fell prey to the partition lines drawn by — Sir Cyril Radcliffe, the man in charge of The Border Commission, to divide the country.

    This is when the trouble starts for Vidya and her brothel. Her brothel falls right on the dividing line and to create the border and to separate two nations, it has to make way. Its very existence is in danger.

    The two men deputed to oversee the implementing of the division and build a barbed wire fence are the characters of Ashish Vidyarthi, a Hindu, representing India, and Rajit Kapoor, a Muslim, on behalf of the newly-formed Pakistan. That both are childhood friends but on different sides, is meant to add to the anxiety. Sadly, after creating a sort of ‘partition’ between both of them, their equation has been put on the back burner, except to show at the end that, both remain humane with their feelings intact to a wrongdoing.

    Both, Ashish and Rajit are at their wits’ end trying to make Vidya vacate her brothel when they approach a goon, played by Chunky Pandey and, as it is known in today’s world, give Vidya’s supari (a contract to get her out by any means).

    The film, which had started deteriorating gradually before interval, drops to its lowest hereafter. The very idea of introducing Chunky, his getup, his manners, take the film down. Towards the end, it swings between morbid and macabre.

    The scripting tries to incorporate too many angles. The main ones being a brothel at peril, two friends, now belonging to opposite sides, trying to fulfil a task entrusted to them, and the disaster they create when they involve a third party. But, the writers cram in many other side stories; that of a young girl child born at the brothel, a lusty teacher and his treachery, a love story between a pimp and a prostitute and so on.

    The idea may be to show the human side of those concerned, good or bad. The narration strays too often with the extra tracks and the pace drops.

    The direction is not really up to the mark. The idea of creating little India in the brothel is bad; as the women in the brothel converse in their native languages, be is Punjabi or Gujarati, none gets the language right, they make a mess of it. That after the film propagates all through that prostitution has no religion or regional identity! The women shooting randomly at the enemies! What are they shooting at, the brothel courtyard walls? Music is not as it should be for a kotha/brothel setup. Most such film in the past have set high standards. Cinematography is of standard. Dialogue is good though oft heard before. Editing, as in all such films where the director loves all that he has shot, is weak. A lot could be trimmed.

    Performances by all concerned are excellent starting with Vidya Balan leading the band. Other women are good but those who stand out are — Gauhar Khan, Pallavi Sharda, Indrani Chakraborty and Gracy Goswami. Ashish Vidyarthi and Rajit Kapoor are okay.

    Pitobash Tripathy impresses. Naseeruddin Shah has no scope. Chunky Pandey is pathetic. Rajesh Sharma is good as usual. Sumit Nijhawan makes a mark but Vivek Mushran is passable.

    Begum Jaan is a purposeless film. Having opened poorly despite a national holiday today, its prospects for improvement are suspect.

    Producers: Mahesh Bhatt, Mukesh Bhatt.

    Director: Srijit Mukherji.

    Cast: Vidya Balan, Ila Arun, Gauahar Khan, Pallavi Sharda, Priyanka Setia, Ridheema Tiwary, Flora Saini, Raviza Chauhan, Poonam Rajput,Indrani Chakraborty, Gracy Goswami, Pitobash Tripathy, Sumit Nijhawan, Ashish Vidyarthi, Chunky Pandey, Rajit Kapoor, Vivek Mushran, Rajesh Sharma, Naseeruddin Shah.

  • Mirza Juuliet….Poor rehash

    MUMBAI: Mirza Juuliet is one more spin-off on the legendary Punjabi folk tale of Mirza Sahiban, the love story of Mirza and Sahiban. A film was made on the same story in 2016 in a modern context as Mirzya. Mirza Juuliet is just another feebler attempt.

    The character of Sudarshan Kumar comes back to his maternal uncle’s home where he was brought after he was orphaned. But, he runs away. His father and mother were killed by the gun wielding goons in UP. He was restless to seek revenge. Having run away from his uncle’s care, Kumar seeks a job at a dhaba where, one day, he spots the killers responsible for his parents’ death. He kills them with their own gun.

    Sent to a juvenile home, one wonders how Kumar did emerges a grown up man when he is released! The film then goes on to chart a script of will.

    Kumar ran away even while his uncle was bringing him home to care for him as he was an orphan and he has been in some sort of custody ever since. But, after being released, he already has a backstory about his childhood love with the character of Piaa Bajpai, his uncle’s neighbour! It seems she was his companion in school as well as life around the mohalla.

    This Mirzya Sahibaan story is based in UP and, as if mandatory, involves political background. Piaa’s three brothers are gun totting bahubalis, her fiancé is the son of a politician with plans to become the next chief minister. There are family intrigues and killings.

    What irks Piaa is her fiancé’s sexual advances even before marriage. In one such attempts by him, she realises that what her fiancé wants to do with her, she would rather she did it with Kumar. She realises she loves him.
    Having finished with its UP style friendships, relationships, enmities and intrigues, the film now resorts to the legend of Mirza Saahiban. If you watched Mirzya, you are watching a rehash, albeit more convoluted, in this film.

    The film looks dated, has a poor script, poorer execution and nothing working for it. Viewer does not care for regional politics or bahubali stories, especially the UP, Bihar kind.

    Producers: Neeraj Kumar Burman, Ketan Maru, Amit Singh.

    Director: Rajesh Ram Singh.

    Cast: Piaa Bajpai, Darshan Kummar, Priyanshu Chatterjee and Chandan Roy Sanyal.

  • Blue Mountain….Lost cause

    MUMBAI: Blue Mountain is a film about the ambitions and aspirations of the young, the teenagers. The youth at that age have a new aim and ambition about what they wants to do with life and with each passing day. While, often, parents’ unfulfilled desires are forced on children, like wanting the child to accomplish what a parent could not, at other times a child is expected to follow a family tradition.

    Blue Mountain is about a young lad accidentally discovering his hidden talent which, it turns out, is in his genes.

    A group of four school friends, played by Yatharth Ratnum, Simran Sharma, Vaibhav Hanshu and Rishabh Sharma (the mandatory fat character fond of food and always munching in this kind of groups), spend their spare time riding their cycles around the picturesque hills of Shimla. They aim high and race to the tallest peak, the blue mountain.

    All four have different ambitions but one, Vaibhav, aims to become a musician/ singer and, to this end, he has entered his name for the auditions of a famous reality show on TV, Ragarocks. When the auditions are on and his turn comes, Vaibhav develops cold feet. He asks Yatharth to take his place.

    At the auditions, Yatharth decides to croon a classical number he always heard his mother, played by Gracy Singh, hum around house. He qualifies. As it turns out, the number he sang has many fans. It was originally sung by his mother, Gracy, who was a renowned singer but gave up her career after marrying the character of Ranvir Shorey.

    As Yatharth proceeds to Mumbai to participate in the reality show with Gracy, a wedge opens in the family since Ranvir is against Gracy forcing her ambitions on their son. He has bigger ideas for their son.

    The film then proceeds to take a cursory look at the behind-the-scene happenings of a reality show while Yatharth goes on winning round after round till, for no apparent reason, he croaks while singing in concluding the round and is disqualified.

    The outcome is that Yatharth is broken, suicidal, snaps at everybody and sulks to the world. While he sulks endlessly, which consists of almost the entire second part, the film sinks to its lowest, never to recover. The makers then decide to force in a happy ending but the cause is lost by this time.

    Blue Mountain is an amateurish enterprise which comes across as neither a children’s film nor for mature viewer. The reality show set up is patchy. Music is little help though the intentions are to promote Indian classical music.

    Except for the snow-clad Shimla, there is little else to watch here.

    Producers: Rajesh Kumar Jain.

    Director: Suman Ganguli.

    Cast: Gracy Singh, Ranvir Shorey, Rajpal Yadav, Arif Zakaria, Mahesh Thakur, Amit Behl, Vinod Nagpal, Yatharth Ratnum, Simran Sharma, Vaibhav Hanshu, Rishabh Sharma, Mehul Kapadia, Madhvi Shrivastava, Lisa-Marie Rettenbacher, Lamira Faro.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.