Runway 34 #BollywoodFilmMovieDocumentaryReview #JohnsonThomas #PicksAndPiques

 Bollywood Film Movie Documentary Review

Johnson Thomas

Far from gritty or engaging

Film : Runway 34

Cast: Ajay Devgn, Amitabh Bachchan, Boman Irani, Rakul Preet Singh, Angira Dhar, Aakanksha Singh

Director: Ajay Devgn

Rating: * *

Runtime: 148 mins

 

Ajay Devgn’s third attempt at direction ( after U, Me Aur Hum and Shivaay) is a motley collection of verbose sequences and very little crusty action. Designed to be an action cum investigative thriller, this film which is loosely based on a real life near disaster, fails to recreate either the tensions or the thrills associated with high-flying-into-danger scenario.

Inspired by a Jet Airways Doha to Kochi flight 9W 555’s (Boeing 737-800) near disaster experience while flying in turbulent, inclement, stormy weather under zero visibility conditions, neither the script nor the narrative can keep pace with the true-life near death experience. The fictional flight here is from Dubai to Kochi viz. Trivandrum in a much smaller skyline aircraft. While events leading up to the catastrophic circumstances are pinpointed with a great deal of embellishments, there’s very little in the experience to thrill or savour.

Right from the first frame it’s clear that the movie’s main aim is to promote Devgn as a bad boy hero Captain Vikrant Khanna, who has a photographic memory (a fact that is drummed down our throat several times) and a passion for keeping his word. And throughout the runtime we are expected to believe that they are virtues above all else. We know of his oh-so-understanding, loving wife Samaira and daughter already because we are shown him bidding them goodbye and promising his daughter he will be back in time for her birthday. So when the much married Capt. Khanna decides to wear a hoodie to have a night on the tiles pissed drunk with an unknown woman in tow at the Dubai Club, we are expected to be curious but not judgemental. The next thing we know is he is captaining the Skyline flight from Dubai to Kochi in the company of second officer Tanya Albuquerque ( Rakul Preet Singh) whose only instructions ( from the director is my guess) are to look all goggle eyed with admiration at the hero Captain and later on while flying into turbulence – have a meltdown of sorts.    

Though inspired by true events, the film also has similarities to Hollywood films ‘Sully’ and ‘Flight.’ Runway 34 is basically made up of two distinct halves. The pre-interval period is taken up with the near disaster experience while the post interval (120 min) part concentrates on the investigations, the hearing and the media hoopla that surrounds the incident. Amitabh and Boman come into the post-interval part as Chief investigator and Skyline CEO respectively. The script is riddled with many loopholes and the narrative drives itself basically on lofty suppositions and flighty inferences. Several questions are left unanswered and those that find answers don’t have the weight of logic behind them. The director hopes to present the narrative like a sleight of hand but it feels too premeditated and contrived. All the characters are ill defined, they look showy rather than have any substance and the plotting is reduced to showmanship. There’s nothing meaty or rational in this representation and the acting is all about going through the motions without much heft. The VFX of the flight attempting to land while being buffeted by contrary wind and rain turbulence is downright silly and looks extremely tacky. The editing is concerned with setting up stereotypes and the camerawork also glides in the same direction. Certainly not a thrill ride this!

Johnsont307@gmail.com

 

Operation Romeo #HindifilmMovieReview #JohnsonThomas #PicksAndPiques #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews

 Bollywood Hindi Film Movie Review

Johnson Thomas

Too long drawn to be effective

Film: Operation Romeo

Cast: Bhumika Chawla, Siddhant Gupta, Sharad Kelkar, Vedika Pinto, Kishore Kadam, Navni Parihar

Director: Shashant Shah

Producer: Shital Bhatia, Neeraj Pandey

Writer: Ratheesh Ravi, Arshad Syed

Rating: * * ½

Runtime: 135 mins

 

The official remake of Anuraj Manohar’s Malayalam film, 'Ishq Not A Love Story, '  and inspired by a true event, Shashant Shah’s ‘Operation Romeo’ has an interesting enough plot that turns on its head post interval but the manner in which it is narrated and presented leaves a lot to be desired. The setting is totally off. Using Mumbai as a backdrop for a story that highlights toxic masculinity while pitting it against evolving feminism, the director and writers fail to make it compelling or meaningful. The issue or theme is not the problem here. The fact that in a city like Mumbai where nightlife is a given, chances of being caught in the high beams of an immoral trafficking police for merely being in a back seat of a stationary car and indulging in a mere peck on the cheek comes across as far-fetched and improbable. Or for that matter having the hero and heroine behave so scared out of their wits that they literally melt at their extortionists’ feet is also quite unlikely.

 

The narrative construct is interesting enough. What happens when two young timid lovers play hookey from hostel strictures and family responsibility for a celebratory night out drive through the city streets in order to usher in the young heroine’s 19^th year? Aditya Sharma aka Adi (Siddhant Gupta) to his friends, is an IT professional in love with a college girl Neha (Vedika Pinto) living in a hostel far away from home state Rajasthan. It’s her birthday and after celebrating with co-eds in college she agrees to an all-night drive with Adi. It’s a sweet set-up so far but the tentative romantic byplay between the two isn’t what the modern urban romantic is expecting. So it comes as an anti-climax when the two are caught pecking by two aggressive men Mangesh Jadhav (Sharad Kelkar) and Kiran Mama (Kishore Kadam) donning the moral police garb, overplaying the good-cop-bad-cop routine and scaring the bejesus out of the two young wannabe lovers. The fact that the two men posing as cops extort quite a large sum of money on the pretext of allowing the young lovers a reprieve is not the issue. The event that turns the screenplay around and pushes the victim to become the aggressor, is the presumption that Mangesh has made good an opportunity to be alone with Neha and force some liberties on her while Adi goes with Kiran to the ATM to withdraw money. It reveals Adi’s regressive mind-set and allows for the hitherto timid heroine’s feminist outing.

While the latter part of the second half plays out like a punch line there really isn’t enough teeth in the prelude to that event justifying this kind of a turnaround? Adi, an educated city bred male is not interested in avenging injustice of being held captive in what appears to be an extra-judicial siege by aggressive posers. Adi is far more affected/obsessed with the fact that his naïve, puritan girlfriend might have been sullied by the vile Mangesh’s touch and sets out to make fair game of Mangesh’s wife (Bhumika Chawla) and daughter after a chance revelation about the extortionists’ true colours.

Creative license might be forgiven but loopholes and lethargic scenarios in the script are unforgivable. What might have been a taut, nail-biting revenge thriller ends up being an unnecessarily long-drawn psychological exposure of toxic masculinity. This sort of a story idea with a handful of characters works better in the short feature format. An hour and a few minutes plus would have been ideal to make this film a relentless thrill on the senses. But Shashant allows the story to drag, deliberating recklessly on the minor moments and losing out on the bigger payoff. The treatment is rather unbecoming for a suspenseful revenge thriller. Too much time is wasted establishing motives when everything is pretty much obvious and in-your-face from the moment the two lovers are accosted. The slow-turning events fail to up the suspense quotient so the intended surprises fail to come good. What makes this effort bearable are the actors. Sharad Kelkar is in his element essaying a rare full-length villainous role, Kishore Kadam is effective as his partner in crime while Siddhant and Vedika are earnest and amiable as the young couple in the middle of it all. This film is a well-intentioned attempt at thrills but listless segmenting of intentions doesn’t allow for much purchase or enjoyment!

Johnsot307@gmail.com