MUMBAI: The Randeep Hooda, Richa Chadha and Adil Hussain starrer Main Aur Charles will release on 26 June, 2015.
Main Aur Charles is a crime thriller and a biopic of the infamous conman Charles Sobhraj. It tells the story of the 1970’s ‘Bikini Killer’ and also captures the Tihar jail break of 1986.
Directed by Prawaal Raman, it is presented by Wave Cinemas’ Ponty Chadha, produced by Raju Chadha, Amit Kapoor and Vikram Khakhar.
MUMBAI: While the Indians may love a Robin Hood kind (he robbed for charity), vigilante films, which have been made by the dozens in Hollywood, they are not very popular genre in India because, this is a nation supressed by some or the other rulers and have got used to the idea. So what if their own people like Municipal head or RTO boss or traffic cop and others supress you and put a price on just about everything you need to survive, we take it in our stride. Why bother to fight for your right when you can buy it in anything between Rs 100 to a lakh and be done with it?
It is a common scene that in a city like Mumbai, traffic police don’t stop you from doing wrong, they stand round the corner to let you do that and cash in on your crime! It is the same when one is unfortunate enough to need the help of the ‘service’ of one of the government agencies.
Randeep Hooda, Angad Bedi, Neil Bhoopalam and Kangana Ranaut are friends who are let down by the society and people in high places. Their gym instructor and brother of Kangana, Arunoday Singh, is lying in a coma with little chance of recovery; he is in this condition because he was hit brutally by a fixer’s, Mahesh Manjrekar, son who handles bribe collection and distribution of the Mumbai police force. There is only one witness, senior citizen Arunoday who is trying to defend himself from Manjrekar’s son.
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Producers: Hiroo Johar, Karan Johar. |
The senior citizen is threatened not to identify the culprit in the court and, as a result, the culprit is set free. The foursome lose faith in the system and decide to mete out justice on their own. They turn vigilantes. They decide to take on the corrupt and punish them on the spot when and where found guilty of corruption. The electronic media, always at the end of the butt of joke in movies, make these vigilante gang famous from their very first exploit. Also, the way they give names lacking imagination like Coal Gate (inspired by Watergate!), Bollywood (inspired by Hollywood), they name the gang as Ungli Gang because that is the sign they left behind after their first episode of instant justice.
While every department takes its turn at being punished by the Ungli gang, the police is hot on its trail. The people in high places are uncomfortable with this gang fearing their turn someday and want its illegal activities to end and to put them in prison. So the corrupt police force selects the most honest cop, Sanjay Dutt, to capture the gang who in turn enrols the rebellious junior, Emraan Hashmi, to do the job. Emraan is a rebellious cop and generally anti-establishment.
Emraan Hashmi joins the Ungli gang to liquidate it. Instead, he sees the gang’s point of view and becomes a part of it. As it progresses, the film strays.
The script is quite hackneyed and direction patchy. There is no eye for details in things like designations and stars worn are three for all ranks and there are many such glitches. Musically, Dance Basanti… and Pakeezah have appeal for youth. Dialogue is good at places. The film looks dated having taken its time in making.
Ungli has had a poor opening and has little chance of showing much improvement over the weekend.
‘Zed Plus’…Nothing plus about it
Zed Plus is supposed to be a satire on the security system of the Indian police protection branch locally and the National Security Guard nationally. Zed Plus is supposed to be a security cover provided to a VIP. Since the perception of who is a VIP and deserving of such a security is determined on threat perception, it is the cause for this film promoted as a satire. One day, a local puncture mender with his workshop on the highway, Adil Hussain, earns this Zed security. This is all about him.
This is a famous dargah town in Rajasthan which goes back 500 years. The originator of the Dargah had a family of 12 children which has now flourished into 400+ heirs but only one man runs the dargah and pockets all the takings. The others rebel and it is decided that all the heirs will get a chance to perform the rituals at the dargah one by one, each getting a turn every 15 months!
The film is all about this small town with a dargah as its claim to fame. While the film peers in to the lives of the townfolk, it returns to its main theme only much later.
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Kulbhushan Kharbanda is the prime minister of India surviving on day to day basis with his blackmailing coalition partners. Just about every coalition partner is blackmailing him with threats of withdrawal of support everyday unless their demands are met.
When the PM, Kharbanda, is all at sea, some unidentified caller advises him to visit this famous Peepali Pir dargah in Rajasthan which would solve his problems. Of among the 400+ guys to take their turn to be the Khadim of the dargah, it happens to be the turn of Adil to conduct the rituals of the dargah on the day the PM is slated to visit.
The PM arrives, the town is cleared of all ugly sights including Adil’s puncture shop and the front platform of his wife’s (Mona Singh) footwear shop. Many are left jobless. The PM’s dargah visit works for as soon as he enters the premises, the PM’s problems are getting solved one after the other. He has only Adil to thank for all the favours of the dargah. He is happy with Adil and asks Adil to spell his problems if any and the PM would solve them for him. Adil says he is threatened by his neighbour, Mukesh Tiwari, only for the PM to understand as the national troublesome neighbour, neighbouring country (Pakistan).
The PM instantly orders a Zed Plus security for Adil, a victim of Pakistani threats! The rest is left to the media who make him into a national hero like it did a simple village man, Omkar Das, in Pipli Live.
Adil becomes a celebrity overnight. A local hero, he is chosen by the Rajasthan CM to contest for his party. His degeneration has started, he is taught to accept bribe. He is manipulated by his PM and his Rajasthan CM, both being anti each other.
Our hero, Adil, is right out of Raj Kapoor’s Shri 420. He decides to return to his normal life. He realizes his follies and greed and confesses to them at an election meeting.
Zed Plus may be a satire but hardly worth any mirth. The only problem Adil faces due to the security is that he can’t visit his paramour without the security guards following him. The PM’s PA knows a gaff has been made by the PM but he has to stick to the story of threat from the neighbouring country so that the PM is not made to look like a fool. Hence, despite Adil’s requests to withdraw his cover, it stays.
While the idea was worth exploring, it is stretched too much trying to pack in parallel stories. Direction is fair. Songs have purely thematic appeal. Editing is slack. Adil Hussain performs very well equally supported by Mukesh Tiwari. Mona Singh is adequate. Sanjay Mishra is good as usual. K K Raina impresses.
Zed Plus has weak face value leading to its poor opening. It faces bleak prospects.
MUMBAI: Everyone was in for a shock yesterday when the Supreme Court ruled that there was no constitutional room for change in Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code that holds same gender sexual relationship an offence. The Bollywood fraternity, which in the age of social media has become really vocal, especially when it comes to supporting the social causes, even this time came out to criticise the SC’s ruling. Many people from the industry started tweeting as soon as the news broke.
Section 377 of IPC makes gay sex an offence punishable with up to life imprisonment, said a bench of justices GS Singhvi and SJ Mukhopadhaya while overruling an earlier verdict by the High Court that had decriminalised same sex relationship.
Filmmaker Karan Johar tweeted: “#Sec377 is not just a violation of human rights but also makes democracy seem like a mirage in our country….”. This was even retweeted by fashion designer Manish Malhotra.
Actor Adil Hussain wrote: “Ramdev and Judiciary have forgotten the Role of Shikhandi and Brihannala in Mahabharata.Wonder what Values they are talking about!! #Sec377.”
Filmmaker Farhan Akhtar, who has been initiating many movements of late online, was upset with the ruling as well, but expressed himself in just one-liner, “The Supreme Court got it wrong today.”
Actor Richa Chadda, who has been known for her fiery and strong characters, tweeted, “The Supreme Court criminalises love, again. Sad day.”
Kabir Bedi wrote: “It’s a sad day when the Supreme Court of India does not uphold the democratic rights of sexual minorities. #Sec377 #LGBT”. He continued, “The State should stay out of the bedrooms of consenting adults. SC upholding regressive law seems bigoted. #Sec377 #LGBT.”
Even actor Anushka Sharma, didn’t hesitate to present her disappointment. She tweeted, “So disappointed with the SC (supreme court) verdict. Freedom is such a deceptive term. Rights are an ambiguous mystery.”
Singer-actor Shruti Haasan wrote, “11.12.13 a day that reminds us how blatant regressing and oppressing someone has become – plan b move bedroom to another planet and time… (It is) frightening how someone else decides how when and who you should love – basically freedom of choice isn’t legal anymore.”
MUMBAI: The 44th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) to be held in Panaji, Goa will for the first time highlight cinema from the north eastern states of India. The opening ceremony for this section will include actors Seema Biswas and Adil Hussain.
The festival has created a special north-east package named ‘Focus: North East’. The section will be inaugurated on 22 November and close on 27 November. A total of 23 films from the north east will be screened between these dates. This will include Ek Pal, as a special homage to its producer Hemendra Prasad Barooah.
The opening movie of the section will be Khawnlung Run, the first-ever Mizo film to be screened in any international festival. Among the other films to be screened is Rupkonwar Jyotiprasad Aru Joymoti, which was directed by the late Bhupen Hazarika.
MUMBAI: Ang Lee‘s Life Of Pi will have a wide a release as any other Hollywood film in India encompassing more than 300 3D screens across the country.
According to Fox Star Studios CEO Vijay Singh, the film will also be dubbed in various Indian languages including Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu.
Though he did not specify the total number of screens and locations, it is indicated that the film might be released in more than 800 screens making it the widest ever release of a Hollywood film with a debutant Indian actor in the lead.
Life Of Pi is based on an adapted screenplay of a best-selling novel by Yann Martel of the same name, is being promoted as an adventure film and a 3D visual extravaganza that tells the story of a 16-year-old Piscine Molitor Patel (Pi) of Pondicherry who survives a shipwreck along with animals like an orangutan, a zebra, a hyena and a Royal Bengal Tiger.
The film metaphorically explores the issues of spirituality, religion and life and has been hailed as one of the most important films of the year by well-known international critics. It is expected to be in the race for the Oscars in 2013.
The film, the worldwide theatrical release of which is slated for 23 November, stars Irrfan Khan, Tabu, Suraj Sharma, Adil Hussain and Gerard Depardieu.
It had its world premiere at the New York Film Festival some time back and is also the opening film at the International Film Festival of India, Goa (IFFI, Goa) this year where Ang Lee presented a curtain raiser of his film to the media and a select gathering of Bollywood celebrities.
MUMBAI: English Vinglish raises expectations on a couple of counts. First, the film marks the comeback of Sridevi, the sizzling superstar of 1980s and ‘90s. It is not only her return to Hindi cinema after 14 years, but it also marks her return to Tamil movies as the film has also been made in Tamil. Secondly, it is the directorial debut of Gauri Shinde, an ad film maker and the wife of R Balki, the director of acclaimed films, Cheeni Kum and Paa.
Sridevi, away from the glamorous self of her heydays, is a middle class Marathi housewife in Pune and a mother of two. Hers is a happy, compact family of husband, Adil Hussain, two kids, Navika Kotia and Shivansh Kotia, and a supportive mother-in-law, Sulbha Deshpande. Sridevi herself runs a small business of preparing and supplying homemade snacks to her regular clients. Bundi laddoos are her speciality. However, she still finds herself incomplete as her lack of knowledge of English makes her feel excluded from a lot of her family activities such as attending a PTA meeting for her daughter or discussions with kids. To add to her misery, she is often reminded of her handicap and chided as being ‘born only to make laddoos‘.
Then Sridevi is faced with a real challenge. She has to travel to the US for her niece‘s wedding; to help prepare. She is needed to travel alone, before her husband and kids can join her. With no experience or exposure of international travel and limited by language, Sridevi manages to clear the formalities and boards the flight. On board, she is lucky enough to have a helpful gentleman next to her to get her acquainted with international travel; he trains her on how to call a hostess in case of need as well as the use of in-flight entertainment and even convinces her to try a glass of wine. The gentleman is Amitabh Bachchan but not featured as the star Bachchan but as just a co-traveller.
So far so good but Sridevi‘s lack of English communication is to be tested soon. Rather than cool her feet at home alone, her niece suggests she accompany her and have a look at the great city, hanging around while she went and finished her thing. Feeling hungry, she steps into a deli where she does not know how to go about ordering food. The big black woman manning the counter has no patience for her, adding to her nervousness and making her stumble and causing a customer‘s tray to spill all over. Humiliated and distressed, Sridevi runs out to cry but there she finds a sympathiser, Mehdi Nebbou, a French chef. Nebbou has taken great fancy to this sari clad Indian beauty instantly when he saw her in the Deli.
All is not lost and Sridevi spies an advertisement: Learn English in Four Weeks. Just what the doctor ordered to get her life on level with a world that was leaving her out because she could not communicate in English. Nothing can stop her now and, on the sly, without informing anybody, she enrols. And so does Nebbou, as he says, look at Sridevi everyday! That is a silent romantic angle in the film, albeit one-sided! The class of learners consists of a variety of immigrants: one from Pakistan, one from South India and one from China and another from Spain. This part is mildly funny and on the lines of popular British TV series of 1970s, Mind Your Language. While she learns English, Sridevi also learns that as a domestic snack maker, she is an entrepreneur, which is how she is described in the English language. This gives her confidence a great boost.
Happy endings cannot be all that happy if some hurdles were not faced and anxieties not caused in the plot. A few days to go before Sridevi ends her four week course with a test and earn a certificate, her husband and kids surprise her by landing up earlier than she was told. Also, the date of her niece‘s wedding coincides with day of the test. These are the parts which lead to a pleasantly satisfactory ending to the story.
This is one of those films where, though the film revolves heavily around one character, the casting and performances of other characters have to be convincing and that has been achieved by the first time director, Shinde. She has done a competent job as the writer as well as the director of English Vinglish. Songs are situational and have been used very well with one Marathi wedding song included for good measure because the farther one goes away from native land, the more the urge to retain what one grew up with.
An absence of 14 years from films has not rusted Sridevi‘s acting abilities and she carries the film on her shoulders with no glamour, song and dance or romance coming to her aid. However, she has an able supporting cast in Hussain Mehdi Nebbou, Sujata Kumar, Priya Anand as well as Shivansh and Kotia besides a nice cameo by Bachchan.
English Vinglish, as was expected, has not opened to encouraging houses and may only end up with acclaim sans rewards. Making it in a vernacular would have made better business sense.
KLPD Kismet Love Paisa Dilli: Crass and un-watchable
The title of the film, KLPD Kismet Love Paisa Dilli, aptly serves as a forewarning about the merits of the film as well as what is in store for the viewer. The maker of KLPD, Sanjay Khanduri, who earlier made Ek Chalis Ki Last Local, claims that the film‘s title has been inspired by Manoj Kumar‘s 1974 film Roti Kapada Aur Makaan which is an insult to the great filmmaker Manoj Kumar to say the least. Even Mohan Choti‘s production, Dhoti Lota Chowpaty, can be termed a classic compared to KLPD.
The basic plot in KLPD remains the same as the director‘s earlier film, Ek Chalis Ki Last Local in that Vivek Oberoi, a Delhi lad, boards the last Metro and tries to project himself as a true blue Delhi boy by trying to flirt with the women in his compartment. What follows after that is a banal chain of events lacking imagination about anything but vulgarity. The film is replete with double meaning dialogue in which finding the clean meaning would be difficult; the idea is to be unabashedly filthy.
The writer knows no subtlety or, may be, they did not plan to be subtle as everything in the film revolves around sex of all kind till it becomes repulsive.
No self-respecting artistes would have done this film nor could the best available talent have saved it and, hence, no miracle expected from Vivek Oberoi.
There is nothing to say about the box office potential of KLPD since the film does not have any.