Cast: Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Kristen Wiig, Pedro
Pascal, Robin Wright, Connie Nielsen, Lilly Aspell, Amr Waked
Director: Patty Jenkins
Rating: * * ½
Runtime: 151 min.
(Streaming on HBO Max)
Director Patty Jenkins’ first Wonder Woman outing
was a well-balanced entertainer that was believably put together and offered
the audience some high-tension adrenaline gushing moments. Gal Gadot’s belief
in the role and its place in the superhero hierarchy was evident and she made
the role indelibly hers by living the part of Wonder Woman with equal muscle,
grace and heart.She put on such high-end testosterone
action finesse that the resultant was singularly bedazzling. She was a regal
superhero living much beyond the scale that DC comics envisioned her to be. In this,
Jenkins’ second DC comic’s adaptation effort of Wonder Woman, a cold war set
spectacle, the Superhero is shown to have come into conflict with the Soviet
Union during the 1980s and finds a formidable foe in Cheetah. The arsenal gets
more modern and heavier of course and the makers try to go for bigger and
better but the attempted over-indulgence only makes the lack of a credible
narrative rallying point all the more obvious.
The film opens with a bang. The flashback sequence
featuring Diana (Lilly Aspell) as a young trainee warrior in the magical island
of Themiscyra competing in a contest that tests her strength and skill with
opponents twice her age and size opens our eyes to her valour, tenacity and
unflagging fighting spirit.What she learns from that
experience forms the basis of our empathy towards this warrior princess whose
innate goodness shines brighter than her God-killer-Sword’s blade. That opener
is basically the centrepiece of a narrative that eventually flags under the
weight of its desire to excel with excess. The tonal and elemental balance
displayed in the first outing, gets lost in the battle ground that this outing
weighs in with.
The script co-written by Jenkins, Geoff Johns and
Dave Callaham, based on William Moulton Marston’s original characters, is about
avarice and is set in a time period when people had caught on to consumerism
and materialism with a vengeance. Even though the reference point is the height
of Reagan-era (“WW84”), the inference that self-seeking behaviour to the
exclusion of all else could well be destructive, has relevance even today.
The ageless Diana Prince(Gal Gadot) is currently
living in Washington DC( The Watergate to be precise) and working as an
archaeologist at the Smithsonian, a befitting position for a resourceful
linguist with unchallengeable knowledge about ancient artefacts. An emotional
and period misfit, she bonds with co-worker Dr. Barbara Minerva (Kristen Wiig)
a misfit herself, who eventually transforms into the villain with chameleon
like stealth. But that happens only after Barbara gets her hands on a
mysterious wishing stone, Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) gets resurrected and
Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal), a fake oil Tycoon makes his evil desires felt.
Gadot of course towers over the unwieldy narrative
with a regal power and grace that is magnetic and Wiig manages a transformation
that is brilliantly timed. Unfortunately the action set-pieces feel a little
repetitive and over-the-top. The story doesn’t feel original either because the
linkage to archaeology and ancient wisdom harkens back to ‘The Mummy’ series
while some of the other story elements link it to the ‘Superman’ series.The
longish, ungainly runtime is utilised mainly for ensuring chaos as the script
follows the three main characters and their wish-fulfilment escapades. Despite
Gal Gadot’s charismatic screen presence, this second edition fails to bring
wonder mainly because it takes a little too long to show-off its flash and
super power.
Pixar’s ‘Soul’ is a magical experience – one that
manages to reach the heights that ‘Inside Out’ scaled a few years back. This
animation film about a musician Joe who has an out of body experience and must
find his way back with the help of an infant soul, is a brilliant psycho-social
mapping of a human being’s growth processes.
Joe’s soul is desperate to get back to his Earthly
body but being mistaken for a mentor to 22 (Tina Fey) who has no desire to get
her pass to an Earthly body, is an impediment he will have to overcome. Joe
will have to convince 22 to get away from the abstract Great Before and into
photo realistic New York.
The narrative gives weight to an interpretation that
could in logical terms be only imaginary. Yet, as an audience, we connect so
entirely to this proposition that it becomes altogether enigmatic and
philosophical in ideology. What we see and believe in here is a depiction of
the soul with thought-provoking poignancy and heft. The animation craft is
cutting edge and the story just draws you in. All the technical aspects are
admirably high-end.
The opening sequences are a little difficult to
follow given the heaviness of the subject matter but eventually it eases into a
beautifully sublime emotional rollercoaster that makes you realise the value of
life itself. Soul is beautifully put-together in that, it sends out a strong message
without being overly obvious about its intent. Every facet here is well-thought
out and presented in a visually colourful and amiable way - making it
meaningful for both, the young and the old alike.
A romance cum
revenge drama this one is a wannabe ‘Ghajini’ but without the vibe, smarts or
savagery that catapulted the ‘Momento’ into a monumental hit.
The narrative
here is typically slip-shod, loosely connected and doesn’t bother to allow for
any empathy towards its lead characters.
Recently crowned
and crowing National shooting champion, Rajdeep Randhawa(Tanmay Ssingh) is
waylaid by a generically chirpy, bold orphan girl Mahi( Musskan Sethi) who
apparently is studying herbology but appears to have all the time to steal
Rajdeep’s gold medal and deliver it to an ailing kid who dreams of owning one.
And before you can say ‘what the heck?’ the twosome become inseparable, the boy’s
parents ( Yograj Singh & Upasana Singh) give their consent and Mahi sets
off to Russia for her higher studies.
Gory stories
about the Russian mafia and drug lords have obviously percolated down to
Bollywood’s simple minded scriptwriters – so the narrative thrusts forward deep
into the Russian underbelly with Rajdeep embarking on a journey to save his
love. What happens in Russia thereafter, is beyond unbelievable. Needless to
say there’s not much hope of raking in the moolah in such devastating times
with such a substandard, unaccomplished product. The songs are hummable but the
days of hit songs propelling a movie to super-hit status are long since dead.
The story-telling is jumpy and feels like the two helmers literally had to do a
tug of war to decide on which sequence to fit into the final cut. Even though
the characters here are half-baked and unjustifiably volatile, the two lead
actors do make their presence felt. Tanmay has the look of flop actor/singer
Vikas Bhalla and Musskan mines Manisha Koirala. Both fail the originality test
but their screen presence cannot be doubted. It’s pretty clear (from this
abysmal engagement) that Bollywood's talent pool is devoid of ideas worth
churning into movies for the big screen!
Cast: John David
Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Kenneth Branagh, Michael
Caine, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Dimple Kapadia, Himesh Patel, Clémence Poésy Denzel
Smith
Director:
Christopher Nolan
Rating: * * *
Runtime: 150
mins
Mind bending has
become Christopher Nolan’s hallmark and with Tenet he not only plays parallel
and surround with thoughts but he also goes loopy with Time. Tenet is probably
Nolan’s most ambitious (in terms of complexity) with a degree of difficulty
that even auteur filmmakers might find too challenging to take on. Nolan has
scripted this time-twisting sci-fi fantasy (am calling it fantasy because we
don’t really know that this can happen in real time) by using tech tricks and
scientific throws like loops, bridges, parallel universes and time inversion to
ensnare our minds in a tale that has the protagonist ally with the past and the
future while existing and saving the world in the present.
It’s a high-concept
enterprise and Nolan sets the stage beautifully in the opening gambit itself. While
a classical orchestra is on, a team of assassins lay siege to the auditorium
and its audience. Then comes in the cavalry… the play is on whether this was
staged, a test or real. But we don’t really care because it’s an impressive set-piece
opener that gets the ball rolling for what is to be an outrageous world saving (from
Armageddon caused by the future) endeavor that involves a CIA operative who
calls himself ‘The Protagonist’ (John David Washington), a Russian Oligarch Andrei
Sator (Kenneth Branagh) who is the antagonist here, his abused wife Kat
(Elizabeth Debicki) whose main motivation is to be reunited with her young son,
a jack-of-all-skills Neil(Robert Pattinson) and an arms dealer from Mumbai
Priya Singh (Dimple Kapadia). The funny thing here is that everyone appears to
know what’s going to happen, there’s a sense that fate overrides free will and
counter programming and yet there’s this protagonist who is striving to avert something
that is already destined to happen. It’s confusing and confounding to say the
least… yet it’s all so intricately laid out in an elongated exposition that you
are totally spellbound by the visual entreaty of it.
There’s no scene
chewing performance here. The acting ranges from enigmatic, playful to one-dimensional
serious and villainous. There’s a method in this kind of streamlining. The
script and direction don’t ask for anything more as any overplaying would have
rendered the entire set-up thankless. The narrative depth comes entirely from
Nolan’s consummate sleek and slick direction, Jennifer Lame’s tricky editing, thought-revoking
momentum, heart-thumping background score, beautifully envisioned set-piece
action sequences, pulse-pounding sound design and dazzlingly entreating
widescreen cinematography by Hoyte van Hoytema.
Nolan’s films
are complex enough to demand a second viewing and this film, designed to be
watched on big screen cinemas is more so. Unfortunately it has released at a time
when most pockets are running on empty amidst an ensuing pandemic that has life
and death in its thrall. So it remains to be seen whether the cinema going
public will make a second run to the theatres in their effort to decode Tenet’s
complex algorithm.
Celebrity Stylist, Sapna Moti Bhavnani’s internationally acclaimed and award-winning directorial debut film, Sindhustan released worldwide today, May 12, 2020
~The feature doc to have its North American premiere on OTT platform Amazon Prime and the audience from India and rest of the world can watch it online on MovieSaints~
Check out the new trailer - https://youtu.be/agOpfGRiZAg
~Sindhustan is a fascinating exploration of the Sindhi migration narrated through madhubani and ajrak tattoos on her legs~
~Sindhustan which had its World Premiere at New York Indian Film Festival 2019 and Asian Premiere at 21st Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival, travelled to 21 international and Indian film festivals and won 8 awards including the ‘Best Feature Documentary in National Competition’ at MIFF 2020 ~
Mumbai, May 12, 2020: After winning the hearts of audiences across the world, renowned celebrity stylist, Sapna Moti Bhavnani’s internationally acclaimed and award-winning directorial debut film, Sindhustan, is slated for a worldwide release with English subtitles on May 12, 2020
The feature doc, which, Bhavnani also produced under her film production banner, Akbar Pains to have its Online Premiere on Amazon Prime in North America and on MovieSaints across India and rest of the world on May 12. The DVDs of the will also be launched on the same day.
Aspect Ratio is the Sales Agent of the film and Indiepix Films is the North American distributor.
Check out the new trailer: https://youtu.be/agOpfGRiZAg
To watch the film online please click here:
India & Worldwide (except North America) moviesaints.com/movie/sindhustan
North America https://www.amazon.com/Sindhustan-Leila-Advani/dp/B0845R4QC1
Sindhustan is a fascinating exploration of the Sindhi community’s migration to India narrated through a series of extensively designed body tattoos, all of which are illustrated on Sapna Moti Bhavnani body. Through the documentary, Bhavnani attempts to also dwell into her roots and the history of the Sindhi community, which migrated in large numbers to India from Sindh during the India-Pakistan partition. The title Sindhustan also refers to the River Sindh, which is Asia’s largest river flowing through India and forms an important part of India’s history.
Sindhustan won the Griffith Film School Award at DocEdge Kolkata 2019 and had its World Premiere at New York Indian Film Festival 2019 and Asian Premiere at Jio MAMI 21st Mumbai Film Festival with Star in India Story, travelled to 21 international and Indian film festivals and won 8 awards including winning the award of ‘Best Feature Documentary in National Competition’ at Mumbai International Film Festival, MIFF 2020.
Sindhustan was inspired by an interesting conversation that occurred between Bhavnani and her maternal grandmother many years ago. Bhavnani was visiting India after staying in the U.S for 14 years. During this time, she was considerably inked; she was desperately trying to hide her inked body. Her grandmother who herself spotted tattoos remarked, “Sapna, you are so old fashioned”.
Sapna was taken further aback when her grandmother said, “You know, when we first came as a human race, we didn’t have countries or governments, we lived in extended families and we all had our markings. We all looked like you. I’m happy to see to you are going back to our roots, your roots.”
Bhavnani was surprised by this statement made by her grandmother as till then she believed the tattoos was her way of rebelling against the Indian culture.
She then set out to chronicle the Sindh community’s history and thus Sindhustan was born. The documentary includes several stories from India and Sindh. It also includes Bhavnani illustrating the Sindh community’s journey through the tattoos inked on her legs, which traces the history of the Sindh community. The tattoos on her legs are designed using the art forms Ajrak and Madhubani which originate from Sindh and India respectively.
Sindhustan derives its title from the Sindhu river. Also, when the Persians came to India, they had difficulty pronouncing ‘se’ and used the alphabet ‘h’ instead. So Sindhu became Hindu and the Hindustan was used instead of what could have been Sindhustan according to Bhavnani.
The celebrity stylist has worked on the documentary for a period of 7 years. During the process, she spoke to people from India as well as Pakistan hailing from the Sindh region, as she wanted to cover all the perspectives of its fascinating history. She also took the help of her friends from Pakistan for shooting footage of Sindh. And thus, the documentary Sindhustan was finally made.
Thrilled about Sindhustan’s worldwide release on two prestigious online platforms after a great run at the festival circuit, Sapna says, “I am so excited to have the WorldWide Digital and DVD release of Sindhustan on May 12th, the same day we won the award for Best Feature Documentary at our World Premiere at NYIFF. Sindhustan is not just a film, it is a movement. It is home for many Sindhi's like me who are clueless of our roots. It is home for many refugees that are trying to find their bearings. It is home for millions who lost their homes during partition. More than anything, to me Sindhustan is hope that one day I will be able to cross the border and touch the soil of my ancestors. I wait with love. Namaste aur Haq Maujood.”
Anupama Bose the India Head of MovieSaints says, “The much talked about MAMI 2019 documentary Sindhustan by Sapna Moti Bhavnani finds a place in our catalogue because of its unique form - where the narratives of partition, displacement, immigration and irreversible loss are told through beautiful Tattoo & Body Art- giving it a unique and extremely contemporary spin. It releases Worldwide with English Subtitles on May12, 2020”
Directors Statement
My ancestors come from a land called Sindh, which was a part of India till 1947. Post which India became independent and split into Pakistan. Sindh remained in Pakistan and the "Hindu" Sindhis were forced either to convert to Islam or leave their homeland. The Sindhis were peace loving people who spent their time singing sufi songs and did not want violence. They left willingly in hordes leaving everything behind. This migration is the largest migration of a culture in history but very few, including Sindhis, are aware of it.
In India and worldwide, they had to learn a new language, adapt to new cultures, learn new trades, just to sustain. The lack of a physical "land" has led to the slow death of their culture and language and the new generation has no idea or access to their heritage.
It was important for me to document their journey so that the youth had some information. It took me 2 years to figure out how I wanted to tell this story. It took me 2 years to figure out how I want to tell my story. This moment with my grandma came to mind. I had just started getting inked And remember covering myself to meet my grandmother for lunch one day. She looked at me and called me old fashioned. I couldn’t believe a 90 year old woman was calling me old fashioned. She told me when we first came on this planet we lived in tribes we didn’t have borders and governments and countries. We had extended families and all had their own markings. “When I see you I see you are going back to your roots and that makes me very happy.” It was evident that ink was going to be the ink I would write their stories with.
The best way to tell a story is to become the story.
My father was born in shikarpur Sindh in an area called hajampara (barbers street). The fact that I am a barber in my adult like does not surprise me at all.
After partition he travelled with his family by ship from Karachi to Bombay where they lived in refugee camps.
My father did not carry the burden of the past with him. He didn’t raise me Hindu or Muslim. Indian or Pakistani or Sindhi. He didn’t raise me boy or girl. I was free to be whatever I wanted. Free of all burdens. He ran a cabaret joint called blue Nile and I grew up with the sounds of jazz and jiggling thighs instead of Sufi singers.
Bombay was my Sindh and Sindhi Curry my culture. History books explained Partition just like a doctor explains 4th stage cancer. Clinical and cold.
When the government denied me a visa to visit Sindh the land of my ancestors, I became the land. My legs carry the stories of their journey and my feet the lack of our roots.
no one leaves home
unless home is the mouth of a shark
You only run to the border when you see the whole city running as well
They say revolutions start from home
Home is where the legs are
I carry the stories as witness on my legs in a hope that they will never die.
About The Director
Sapna has naturally assumed poster-child status as a powerful female figure. She traverses mainstream success with just as much ease as she skirts the underground youth art & culture movement. Ageless, fearless and forever metamorphosing in her endeavours, Sapna has recently begun giving her celebrity-hood the voice of an activist.
Currently Sapna is working on a book for Harper Collins tentatively titled “Chapter One,” Touring the world festival circuit with her directorial debut award winning documentary “Sindhustan,” putting the final touches on her new short “My Dog Is Sick,” and working on the screenplay of her feature “Hara Kiri.”
Sindhustan her first feature length documentary has won the Best Feature Documentary at NYIFF, AIFF, IFF Stuttgart, MISAFF, Caleidoscope Boston, Los Angeles Motion Picture Awards, MIFF and An Official Selection at LAHFF, MAMI, VISAFF, CHALTA PHIRTA DOC FESTIVAL, 50th International Short & Independent Film Festival Dhaka, Asia Peace Film Festival, RETH, Vikalp, UKAFF and IMFF and is getting ready for the World Digital / DVD release on May 12 th 2020.
Actor, spoken word artist, hair stylist, writer, director, producer- Sapna embodies it all as a visionary and change-maker.
The res, like they say, is her story.
About The Producers
AKBAR PAINS
AKBAR PAINS is an INDIAN Independent Entertainment Company founded in 2018 by Sapna Moti Bhavnani and is based in Mumbai and Kamshet.. At AKBAR PAINS we make indie films of complex cut, capable of capturing the attention through the originality of the idea. We respect the director and his/her vision and like taking risks with authors with an unusual vision rather than working with the orthodox.
About MovieSaints
MovieSaints is a 360 degrees Distribution Solutions Provider to Independent films with its own p-VOD (Premium Video-on-Demand) service. It designs customised strategies for filmmakers - combining online & offline screens to help them maximise their reach & monetisation potential. Developed and designed from scratch by founder Priyadarshi Rishiraj, the platform boasts some impressive features like piracy tracking, flexible pricing, customised pages for films, and much more. Anupama Bose (ex NFDC, CNBC, and Phantom) heads content, positioning & strategy. MovieSaints believes that each film is a work of art, a unique expression of the Artist - Filmmaker. Both the Art & the Artist need to be nurtured. Some of the finest voices of our times - Bhaskar Hazarika, Devashish Makhija, Sanal Kumar Sasidharan, Abhiroop Basu, Rishi Chandna, Anupam Kaushik Borah ... can be discovered here. In these times of Quarantine it is the ideal destination to discover and support unique and fresh voices in cinema ... easy, with #NoQueues, piracy safe.
About IndiePix Films
IndiePix Films, Inc is an independent film distribution and online streaming service based in New York City.
IndiePix Films offers a collection that includes thousands of award-winning titles from the festival circuit, popular indie classics, foreign, documentaries and short films. Films can be ordered on DVD as well as downloaded and watched online.[1] The company distributes the movies directly to consumers as well as via national retail channels and select theatrical exhibition. IndiePix also owns Festival Genius, a platform for connecting film festivals to audiences. IndiePix Unlimited, the company's subscription-streaming service, uses Streamhoster to deliver the desktop version for the service, and Ireland-based DMD Max for its mobile content
Cast: Irrfan Khan, Radhika Madan, Kareena Kapoor, Dimple Kapadia, Manu Rishi Chaddha, Deepak Dobriyal, Pankaj Tripathi, Ranvir Shorey, Kiku Sharda
Director: Homi Adajania
Rating: * * ½
Runtime: 150 mins
Dinesh Vijan and team Maddock Films attempt to reclaim the success of ‘Hindi Medium’ by presenting this sequel ‘Angrezi Medium’ directed by Homi Adajania instead of Saket Gokhale. The film has some wonderful performances and a riveting father-daughter-bonding track but the unwieldy length and the sloppily sub-plotted shenanigans drag it down to tedium.
The film has a dream cast and Adajania has corralled their craft with superb control - every performer gives off their best, yet the scripting is so lazy, largely devoid of humor that the narrative is unable to make much of that benefit. The writing and situations are hackneyed – even though most of the characters in the film have clearly defined roles to play.
Champak Bansal (Irrfan) a typical, simple, small-town owner of a Ghasitaram sweet shop in Udaipur, who has a running war of words with his cousin Gopi (Deepak Dobriyal) who claims his own shop as the original one, is a widower with a teenage daughter Tarika(Radhika Madan) who aims to go to England for her undergraduate studies. A reluctant Champak eventually gives in to his darling daughter’s dream even though he has to put his very livelihood and heritage up for sale.
The build-up to the point where Champak agrees to let Tarika go to London in case she scores 90% in her finals, is wonderfully woven and riveting. Thereafter the narrative goes into hallucinatory mode attempting slapstick and whatnot to shore-up the laughs. But the tiresome, ridiculous situations that the bumbling Twosome Champak and Gopi get into, are not exactly funny. The manner in which they mess up their immigration question at the airport first time round is downright foolish. The second time round they make it through as Pakistanis, bump into an undercover cop (Kareena) and under bizarre coincidental circumstances become friends with her Mom (Dimple). Kiku Sharda as the go-to person for everything from ticketing, visas, hawala to illegal immigration and Pankaj Tripathi as his ‘wannabe-Arab’ counterpoint fail to rake up the laughs within their poorly conceived subplots. Even Ranvir Shorey as the Indian friend in London, a conman, is sorely wasted here.
The film wants to highlight the father’s love for his daughter and goes to extraordinary lengths to show us he can do anything to make his daughter’s dream come true. But there’s no reasoning with the script as it gets the duo to play dice, bet on cricket and eventually sell-off their brand-name to the ready-to-appropriate-it-at-whatever-cost Chandiram(Manu Rishi Chaddha). It felt as if the writer did not believe in his own storyline and concocted something way beyond what anyone could do in this situation. This fantastic exaggeration only belittles what came before it and makes the second half a rather unexciting watch. Nevertheless, this is Irrfan and Radhika Madan’s film. They mesh well as father-daughter and give off their best even while the script goes haywire. The supporting performers are also memorably distinctive here. Adajania fails to lighten up the narrative temper and his signature quirkiness doesn’t quite pay-off in the manner it did in his earlier films. If Adajania had the luxury of cutting down the length to a bearable limit this film would have been a richer and much more satisfying experience. The use of in-film branding (Ghasitaram) may have made this film much more economically viable but the unexpected Carona Virus pandemic is more than likely to take a chunk out of its expected profits
The title may imply sequel but this third edition merely takes a ‘stunted’ franchise to further depths. Remake of Tamil Film Vettai (2012), the makers call it a spiritual sequel( Don’t know what that means?) to Baaghi and Baaghi2. A one-man army against fierce terrorists in a foreign land, this Tiger Shroff stunts showcase displays a whole lot of brawn…but, hey! Where’s the brain?
Vikram(Riteish Deshmukh), a cop, older brother and much beloved to Ronnie(Tiger Shroff), gets abducted by a dreaded terrorist group, Jaish-e-Lashkar in Syria and Ronnie who has been fiercely protective all along( we see him rescue his brother from umpteen dicey situations before this happens), goes all out to rescue his brother. The mystery here is that Vikram has a handicap and no one (not even the director or scriptwriter) knows what it is…(sic).
Of course, one can’t figure out why Ronnie needs to rescue Vikram when the Indian Police force and various diplomatic missions exist for that purpose. But the film’s tagline ‘…Bhai pe aati hai, toh main phod deta hoon’ makes it clear that its his job alone.
Even though the film isn’t technically snazzy ( the CGI is patchy, camerawork is headache inducing and background noise is deafening) Tiger Shroff makes it battle worthy. His impressively sleek musculature is definitely a work of art. His moves are athletic, the stunt choreography (Ram Laxman & Khecha Khampadkee) is Hollywood worthy and the sheer speed, power and almost balletic smoothness of execution allow for quite an adrenaline gush. And there’s enough arsenal around, to fight a war. But an over two-hour runtime cannot sustain on adrenaline alone. Tiger’s expressiveness remains one note, while Riteish fails to register his emotive capabilities because he is hampered by a badly written role. The villain Abu Jamal, played by Jameel Khoury looks impressively menacing but even that seems too simulated a performance. Shraddha, Ankita and Disha add up to a fair bit of window dressing. The rest of the cast (and that includes able performers like Jackie Shroff, Jaideep Ahlawat & Vijay Verma) have little to do other than provide the maddening masala for this mayhem. The film has some obvious bromantic overtures which could well have been misconstrued and the sometimes double edged dialogues are mostly dead-weight in a narrative that is pumped-up with senseless action.
An ode to the Hindi film extra from the 70’s and 80’s, Kaamyaab, supported by Shah Rukh & Gauri Khan (who apparently came on board because the film was finding no takers) tries hard to make the life of a side actor Sudheer(Sanjay Mishra) look interesting. But the bitter-sweet irony of having played nearly 499 bit parts in a career hall-marked by a sex-video misrepresentation, is totally lost in a segue of events that lacks interest and fails to intrigue.
The film opens with a TV crew from Garhwal trying to get Sudheer to speak about his 499 bit roles, some of which had catchy memorable two-bit dialogues. The episode on him is titled ‘Garhwal Ki Prerna’ and the crew are expecting him to come up with some juicy anecdotes that could boost the channels ratings. Unfortunately, Sudheer, unused to being the centre of attention, can’t put-together two sentences for the interview…and that’s probably as poignant as this film can get.
The screenplay has little to say and is imminently forgettable. The characters lined-up(especially the daughter played by Sarika Singh, the bit-player turned casting agent played by Deepak Dobriyal and the competitive in-demand extra played by Avtar Gill), may have some intense moments but the overall lack of tempo, listless narration and unbecoming spread fail to enthuse. The highlight of the film- a scene where all the Bollywood bit players (Viju Khote, Manmauji, Birbal, Lilliput and others) congregate at a Bar, may be instrumental in nostalgia recall but has little meaning in a film that prods along purposelessly, trying for bitter-sweet affect but feeling limp, listless and underdeveloped. Sanjay Mishra literally fades into the tapestry with an unmetered performance that does little to augment his stature as a bankable actor. This isn’t ‘Kaamyaab’ by any yardstick!
The set-up here is distinctly theatrical. Sunny(Shardul Rana) is in his ‘Mastram’ phase making gooey eyes at his landlord’s ( Rajesh Sharma) pretty daughter while his hapless father Sunil(Manu Rishi Chadha) is grappling with having to handle two teenage kids, a comatose mother Darshan Kaur( Dolly Ahluwalia) and a recalcitrant wife Priya( Mahie Gill) who is separated and angling for a divorce.
The narrative was expected to come alive after Darshan wakes up from her three-decade old coma and the family in their eagerness to prevent a relapse decide to allow time to stand still 30 years in the past. The milestone highlighting that aspect is the Doordarshan news signature tune. Other than the basic set-up elaborating a dysfunctional north Indian family and its many antics, there’s little here of interest. The writing is so unimaginative that situations ripe for humour fail to bring a smile to your face. The entire cast appears to be going through the motions in the hope that their mere presence might just tease a laugh or two from the audience but even that is not forthcoming here. Dolly Ahluwalia is unbearably melodramatic as she wakes up from the cold and tries to get on the job of completing unfinished business. It’s even more ridiculous to see the two ageing leads garbed in school uniform trying to convince the old reprobate that time has indeed stood still. Maybe the writer/director thought that old people are devoid of brains or why else would he construct such an improbable, implausible scenario? This sort of imagining is better suited for theatre or a sitcom …and that too with a large dose of humour thrown in. This film is neither cinematic nor humorous. It’s just tedious and boring!
Anubhav Sinha’s cause happy film is not about Domestic violence or abuse, it’s merely about taking a stand on issues in a marriage that allow one party to be dominant over the other. It’s also about a woman’s right to prevent any form of violence on her person – even if it be inadvertent. Probably, this one is going to be a hard nut to crack for the predominantly patriarchally inclined men and women from the Indian audience.
Presented as a caution against physical violence in marriage along with some choice pyrrhic dialogues to support that leitmotif, the film takes a clear-cut stand but the viewers might not be as enamoured of the flag wagging tale as the strident feminists and gender equality arm-chair activists and critics who want to showcase themselves as being politically correct.
In Sinha’s film, the protagonist Amrita ( Tapsee Pannu) who hitherto had been a home and hearth persona suddenly goes stridently feminist in her approach to a marital infarction. The script fails to justify that implausible transformation and even with the punch-wielding dialogues forcefully championing that cause, it fails to make sense.
Since the act comes after a convincing pattern of domestic bliss with Amrita willingly embroiling herself in home affairs while her fiercely ambitious husband Vikram (Pavail Gulati) pursues his breadwinning endeavour – the entire construct of an abused wife deciding against continuing her marriage despite the overwhelming social pressure to forgive and forget seem totally contrived and illogical. It not only trivialises marriage as an institution but also paints the protagonist as a wilful, unforgiving partner whose sense of outrage at being publicly demeaned, stems from her own lack of conviction about her own needs and her insecurities than any serious psychological damage from the act itself. Domestic violence is a behaviour pattern executed over time and this Anubhav Sinha film tries to make a stress-fuelled, out-of-control ‘thappad’ into a marriage shattering edict. Tapsee is sincere but to believe in her latter half transition is to wear blinkers on the very reasoning, gender equation and personalities involved in a marriage. The film has quite a few women doing the dutiful, assuaging, platitudinal diplomacy bit and some being contrary too - but Amrita is not convinced …but then neither are we!
A movie that is brave enough to call out homophobia in its creatives fails to follow through when it comes to marketing and PR. Why else would the film producers decide not to showcase the film to the press, before its release?
Hitesh Kewalya’s DDLJ for the gay community is a comedy romance that exposes societal malfunctions when it comes to treating the gay community – even though it comes much after the repeal of the 377 law. Kewalya’s treatment of the (still) sensitive subject is neither hackneyed, patronising nor ridiculing. He plays out the main theme with a sincerity that rattles established Bollywood conventions w.r.t the portrayal of the gay community in Hindi cinema. While questioning the heterosexual majority on their biased treatment of the long harassed community, he makes a song and dance of same sex love without the stereotypes and clichés ( pink pants and effete mannerisms) that have plagued mainstream cinema for decades.
By locating the story in a small town in UP, Kewalya is making a statement of intent – of breaking down barriers fortified by years of repressed and regressive thinking. So when Aman Tripathi(Jitendra Kumar) and his lover Karthik (Ayushmann Khurrana) are caught snogging enroute to a family wedding by Aman’s father (Gajraj Rao), it causes quite some pandemonium( as expected). But Kartik is resolute in winning the family over so that he and his lover can live happily ever after…( familiar beats right?). It’s a popular heterosexual romance trope recycled for a same sex subject ?
The same-sex lovers are never laughed at, instead most of the comedy is mined from the extremist reactions generated from family and friends. Kewalya targets Homophobia with reverberating retorts and that’s where this film is a winner. Khurrana and Kumar pull off their romance with conviction and pizzazz. The writing here is not always sharp and witty but the situations put forward are realistic enough to be plausible. Despite the predictable beats in the script, Kewalya and team pulls off a heart-felt, against-insurmountable-odds romance, with great elan…and it’s fairly entertaining too!
