Cinema Paradiso- All about Cinema: Kangana Ranaut

Friday, April 25, 2014

Revolver Rani, hindi Bollywood Film Movie review, Johnson Thomas, Rating: * * 1/2

Revolver Rani(Hindi) Rating: * * ½ insipid, intangible, oft-kilter dacoit dramedy with Kangana struggling to make sense of her role..and it shows!The attempt to put up a Tarantinoesque ‘Kill Bill’ appears futile with the lack of sustaining energy within.

Hindi Film review

Johnson Thomas

‘Kill Bill meets Khoon Bhari Maang’

Film: Revolver Rani

Cast: Kangana Ranaut, Vir Das, Zakir Hussain

Director: Sai Kabir

Rating: * * ½

Sai Kabir’s maiden directorial effort goes astray with the intangibles he structures within a ‘Kill Bill’ meets ‘Khoon Bhari Maang’ scenario. In a weirdest opening scenario for a film ever, this Rani/Alka Singh/Coco(Kangana Ranaut) is a dacoit turned elected representative turned thugee from Chambal, who gets called to judge a MTV style competition a la ‘luv ke liye kuch bhi karega’ types, from where she takes up with her toy boy lover Rohan/Chamcham(Vir Das) a wannabe Bollywood actor who is looking for a financier for his next project and sees opportunity in faking a relationship.

The opening credits follows the ‘Kill Bill’ blood and gore comic book patterned animation drenched in crimson and black. Thereafter we are made privy to Alka’s fetish for high-fashion straight from Italy. Rohan, her paramour, already has a girlfriend whom he supposedly loves and given Alka’s wild and ferocious nature , he obviously cannot risk estrangement- at least not until he gains free reign of her coffers. Alka’s mama/Uncle(Piyush Mishra) is her back seat driver, stage-managing her career in politics where she appears least likely to fit in. Udayban Singh Tomar(Zakir Hussain) and his two nephews are her bête-noirs. He has just managed to make her lick the dust in the recent elections and she is spitting mad, shooting bullets and hurling accusations of his truck with Sidhanta( an obvious reference to Vedanta) and gifting away of prime adivasi land to the conglomerate.

The political vendetta play interspersed with the love triangle mechanics, causes developments to intensify with Alka finally aiming the gun at her lover and finding herself at the edge of a precipice, double-crossed and defeated. Well, not quite, because the end-play leaves room for a sequel suggesting Alka’s return to a vendetta spiel.

There’s room for tremendous drama and emotion but the treatment is such that the convoluted plotting leaves you completely unaffected. The tone is not consistent enough and the tenor lacks energy and bite. There are of course a few howlarious moments but they come very late in the film- by then you are wondering when it will all be over. The sluggish opening section detailing the political squabbles and romantic quibbles of Alka Singh appear like protracted plot extensions that find little justification in the scheme of things. Alka, the lead character is a little too wishy-washy to be the hardened, sexually insatiable criminal-lover she is projected as. The script is not sharp enough to draw out the inherent humor in the wild ideation either. Wildly illogical , could well have been reason enough for an energized passion play with both guns and mayhem on the agenda. But that was not to be. Sai’s script is basically a reverse of the ‘Bullet Raja’ plot with the similar political machinations. The only surprise comes from the manner in which the lead female character is represented here. She is a kick-ass badass who cares a damn for male supremacy and keeps taking frequent pot-shots at the male ego. Kangana , fresh from her ‘Queen’ success tries hard to emulate Uma Thurman’s ruthless vendetta play but finds herself short on both agility and ability. Her moves are way too sluggish to pass muster, her handling of firearms is awkward and her energy levels appear far too low. The scenes she scores in are the ones where she has to emote. Her frustration and anger come through quite well. The overall persona though doesn’t come across as consistently tenable. The cross-pop-culture references, smattering of English in the dehati dialogues, the badly done dark make-up are hindrances to enjoyment. The pulpy-kistch ingredients are also not justified-so there’s little to draw you in other than hopes of another great performance from Kangana- which is not what you get in the end, anyway!

Johnsont307@gmail.com

Friday, March 7, 2014

Queen.Hindi Bollywood film Movie Review, Johnson Thomas, Rating: * * 1/2

Queen(Hindi) Rating: * * ½ Elevating but not meaty enough. Kangana is heart-touchingly sincere and earnest in her performance!

Hindi Film Review

Johnson Thomas

Film Review: Queen:

Cast: Kangana Ranaut, Rajkumar Rao, Lisa Hayden

Director: Vikas Bahl

Rating: * * ½

Kangana Ranaut is the main lead of this film, one, beside a better known but less saleable actor Rajkumar Rao, so not much may be expected from this small budget enterprise which appears to have Godfathers in Anuraag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane. But Director Vikas Bahl’s film about a small-town girl who gets stood-up on the eve of her wedding day and decides to go it alone on her honeymoon, is surprisingly lucid and certainly likeable.

The film is neither feisty, flaming or radically feminist in it’s engagement. It’s merely a cleverly defined unraveling of a timid, docile yes woman who in the course of the film manages to get in touch with her much more assertive self.

The wedding cards, the marriage mandap, the mithais, the guests, the families and the bride, Rani(Kangana Ranaut) were all ready but the groom,

Vijay(Rajkumar Rao) decides to call it off-citing valid differences. Forget that he is the one who pursued her over the years. He is now an NRI who has seen the world while she is a timid dehati from Rajori, without a worldview. After a few days of anguish, the bride decides to take the honeymoon trip herself. It’s obviously a fanciful rendering because the one who paid for the honeymoon is left a mystery. “ I want to go on my honeymoon” she tells her parents who are not the least bit shocked. After all she always wanted to go to Paris- the most romantic city in the world(she dutifully mouths). And most incredible, her small-town parents don’t raise an objection. The Nani even encourages her to get out of the Paris hotel and find a life on her own. Luckily for Rani, she finds a guardian angel in Vijaylakshmi(Lisa Hayden), a hotel maid who seems to have all the time in the world to cart the desi damsel to all the hotspots around the city. After a few typical fish-out-of-water incidents Rani starts to become confident and more assured. The true test comes when she has to share a small dorm with three other men from different continents. She even receives an accolade and a hint of romance from an ‘English Vinglish’ sort of challenge. And finally returns back to Rajori, a far more assured and confident in her own skin, Queen.

In terms of character definition, the narrative goes through all the regular motions to make the cut viable but set0up and exposition do appear doubtful. The dialogues go from silly to ridiculous to some really deep character defining moments. The music by Amit Trivedi, especially the retro-remix version of ‘Hungama’ is an elevating factor in the story-telling. Kangana’s sincere and earnest performance does the rest. This film has it’s defnitive moments but there’s not enough depth or meat in the script to warrant even a three star rating!

Johnsont307@gmail.com