Cinema Paradiso- All about Cinema: October 2014

Friday, October 31, 2014

#Fireflies #IndianEnglishHindiBollywoodFilmMovieReview #JohnsonThomas Rating: * * 1/2

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#Picks&Piques/SnippetFilmReviews/JohnsonThomas31stOct2014

#SuperNani(Hindi) Rating: * * Oh No! Not #KhoonBhariMaang again? The twist is that she’s a Nani now who gets into the same get-up,Kyun Ki..I won’t go there. Needless to say she is all right and her family are all wrong. Old fashioned, antiquated plotting, strong on melodrama , banshee theatrics, hyperventilating hysterics and low on artistry. Rekha looks gorgeous and Sharman sounds strange. Moral Sermonising has little connect. #Rekha #IndraKumar #ParagDesai #UniversalPR #MarutiInternational #SharmanJoshi

#RoarTigersOfTheSundarbans(Hindi) Rating: * * Faking it! What a b(o)ore! Seeking vengeance but not getting close. No ‘real’ tigers to see just a lot of shadow dancing around in the wilds of the Sunderbans (which is stunning no doubt). The digital anime though competent,doesn’t feel alright! #KamalSadanah #AbisRizvi #ABFilms #AbhinavShukla #NoraFatehi #HimarshaV #AliQuli #AchintKaur #PranayDixit #SubratDutta #VarinderSinghGhuman

#Fireflies(English/Hindi) Rating: * * ½ Presumptive E-stranged entanglement. Strong on Performances but low on impact. Plot not exploited or purposeful. Skirting through relationship twists without achieving any depth. Premeditatedly Pretentious and too low on fuel to create a fire #RahulKhanna #ArjunMathur #SabalSinghShekhawat #MonicaDogra #WildGeesepictures

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Indian Film review

Johnson Thomas

Pretentious and Superflous

Film: Fireflies

Cast: Rahul Khanna, Arjun Mathur, Monica Dogra, Shivani Ghai, Aadya Bedi

Director: Sabal Singh Shekhawat

Rating: * * ½

Fireflies come out in the night, just to light up the darkness. But the connection to this film’s story is at best tenuous. FIREFLIES is the story of two estranged brothers, orphans Shiv(Rahul Khanna) and Rana(Arjun Mathur), who along with their little sister Manda, were brought up in the soothing environment of Ooty. The churning begins with an accident and leads right up to the point when they come back full-circle, back to the ruins of their home for some much needed sense of belonging. But before that can happen, romantic tragedies hightail their lives. Shiv strays from his wife Maya(Aadya Bedi) into the arms of ex-flame Sharmila(Shivani Ghai)while Rana ends up getting involved with (Monica Dogra) who hides her marital commitments for some brief moments of bliss in his ever willing arms. Each Living disparate lives, the brothers still remain shackled to the darkness of their past. Haunting memories of a tragic incident involving Manda, must be resolved before they can be brothers again.

Well, the attempt was sincere even though it doesn’t in effect, amount to much. The story telling is a little too flimsy, there’s not much depth in the evocation of strife between siblings and there’s even little attachment to be had. What saves the experience though are some ensemble underplaying. Rahul Khanna, Arjun Mathur, Monica Dogra, Aadya Bedi, Shivani Ghai and the rest make a sincere attempt to make it realistic and partially stinging. Scattered plotting and the lack of a cohesive enticement allows for a lot of ambiguity in the telling. Shot in Mumbai, Bangkok and Sri Lanka, the cinematography lends color and flavor to the spaces on display. The soundtrack put together by Monica Dogra, Karsh Kale, Nikhil D'Souza and Indus Creed with some haunting songs plying in the background, suggests much more than the film can live up to. And the film has it’s all-too-brief sublime moments because of it. Unfortunately it doesn’t touch your heart and that is a failing that cannot be ignored. Since the milieu and characters appear modern, the largely English dialogues don’t sound too alien. The cinematography is quite effective too. It’s unfortunate that the slim treatment and pretentiously predicative plotting makes the engagement less than fulfilling!

Johnsont307@gmail.com

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#RoarTigersOfTheSundarbans #HindiBollywoodFilmMovieReview #JohnsonThomas Rating: * *

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Hindi film review

Johnson Thomas

Fake Mechanics

Film: Roar: Tigers of the Sundarbans

Cast: Abhinav Shukla, Nora Fatehi, Himarsha V, Ali Quli, Achint Kaur, Pranay Dixit, Subrat Dutta, Varinder Singh Ghuman

Director: Kamal Sadanah

Rating: * *

A revenge story set in the Sunderbans, the story is about a slain photojournalist’s brother going back to the scene of the killing to avenge his death at the hands of a white tigress.

Really? It’s an incredulous story idea- one that wouldn’t warrant a film on a normal night. But Bollywood producers are by no means stricken by that bug. They are much more adventurous and far-reaching- as exposed by the greenlighting of such a hapless script.

Man-eating tiger hunts have been traversed in middling mainstream efforts like ‘Kaal’ and ‘The Forrest,’ this one though has very little purchase and more so because the ‘real tiger sightings’ are limited to fractiously digitized efforts that conforms to requirement but doesn’t arouse as much awe as required.

Pandit (Abhinav Shukla) assembles a team of commandos to enter the prohibited core of the forest with help from local guide Madhu (Pranay Dixit) and tracker Jhumpa (Himarsha V).But their plan is certainly not fool proof and neither is the build-up to the danger sightings orchestrated amidst the thickset mangrove forests that fortunately lends creepy and shadowy thrills quite naturally.

The struggle for survival in a fish-out-of-water-situation doesn’t appear all that appealing either. Mainly because the plotting is quite uninteresting, the screenplay lacks bite and the characters just plod around shaking in their boots or looking fearless and antagonistic whenever required. Not much directorial skill on display and neither is there anything exemplary to hail here. Cinematographer Michael Watson goes over-the-top with angled shots and slo-mos but the overall visual effect is one of awe-inspiring regality- much like a NatGeo film. Unfortunately those well-meaning shots can’t really make up for a c(l)ub-footed story and clueless acting!

Johnsont307@gmail.com

#SuperNani #HindiBollywoodFilmMovieReview #JohnsonThomas Rating: * *

#SuperNani #HindiBollywoodFilmMovieReview #JohnsonThomas Rating: * *

#SuperNani #HindiBollywoodFilmMovieReview #JohnsonThomas Rating: * *

#Picks&Piques/SnippetFilmReviews/JohnsonThomas31stOct2014

#Picks&Piques/SnippetFilmReviews/JohnsonThomas31stOct2014

Hindi Film Review

Johnson Thomas

Well-meaning Old-fashioned Trick

Film: Super Nani

Cast: Rekha, Sharman Joshi, randhir kapoor, Anupam Kher, Shweta Kumar

Director: Indra Kumar

Rating: * *

Plagued by a rowdy husband(Randhir Kapoor) and a bunch of obnoxiously shrill kids, this Super Nani(Rekha) a.k.a Bharati…new-age mother India has plenty of old fashioned and highly predictable tricks up her designer sleeves. Mommy Dearest is the most unappreciated person on the earth and Indra Kumar plies it on quite early on, trying to squeeze as much sympathy as possible from the ill-treatment meted out to our oh-so-loving and dear heroine. ‘Baghbaan’ meets ‘Kyun Ki..’ meets ‘Khoon bhari Maang’ and it’s all fashioned out in a way that is entirely predictable. The tone is completely shrill. The film is populated with hyperventilating women using sound bytes to score high decibel points(there’s really no attempt to act by the supporting cast) in a war of words that could well burst your ear-drums.

The story is standard Bollywood issue best suited to the 70’s era of filmmaking. Bharti(Rekha) Bhatia, is the unsung sacrificing mother stereotype who lives and works for the betterment of her children and grandchildren. But none from her family are appreciative except for a grandson Manorath(Sharman Joshi) who decides to teach them a lesson they won’t ever forget. Bharti of course needs some convincing and makes it clear she won’t tolerate any open mudslinging. So it’s love that will do the trick.Some songs and a lot of sermonizing later the family are united in love and ever smiling appreciation. Phew!

Even if you are prepared to forgive that, there’s more in line to torture you silly. The sheer predictability of the moralizing monotone meant to arouse the younger generation, makes the sincere though obsolete looking enterprise as antiquated and extinct as a Mastodan.

Gory newspaper headlines highlighting crimes by women and their neglect of family in the past few decades should have by now put paid to the perception that a mother can do no wrong. But Indra kumar and his bollywood ilk appear to have been wearing blinkers all along. There’s no harm in celebrating womanhood or appreciating their worth but to do so in so kitschy and unappreciable fashion is an insult to their very humaneness. Indra Kumar’s attempt to make his titular character, a Maaa.. long suffering ideal of womanhood, is as misconstrued as it is out of date.

We know that the film is based on an adapted screenplay( from the hit Gujrati play ‘Baa Ae Maari boundary’) by Vipul Mehta who takes credit for story and dialogues too. That play was emotive enough and came at a time when the onset of globalization saw a rising graph in the numbers of old and ageing parents feeling abandoned by their yuppie cultured children. Society has not improved in any measure but the idea that a silly makeover can in fact transform a self-centered lot into a dutiful, loving and respectful groupie set is more than just merely ridiculous.

The half-baked attempt to make Bharti look new age following the corny ‘Tujhe Mother Mary se Maa Durga banni padegi’ dialogue with a transmogrifying makeover that turns the gracefully ageing mother to a super-model type – a ‘khoon Bhari maang’ appropriation that looks ridiculous and plays out stupidly.

Rekha, ageless and looking absolutely gorgeous at 60 plus gets back her groove in both the comic and dramatic movements but a weird sounding Sharman Joshi and a boisterously loud lot of co-actors makes the excitement of her return to the screen( after a long self-imposed hiatus) dim and disappointing. As far as Indra kumar’s creativity is concerned it’s not much of a stretch from ‘Grand Masti’ to ‘Super Nani’ both are retrograde and baser in nature. Super Nani, is much cleaner though and some fun too. This is certainly not womens’ Empowerment- it’s more like womens’ powder-puff moment!

Johnsont307@gmail.com