Cinema Paradiso- All about Cinema: SaurabhShukla

Saturday, August 30, 2014

Identity Card Ek Lifeline, Hindi Bollywood Film Movie review, Johnson Thomas, Rating: * * 1/2

#Picks&Piques/SnippetFilmReviews/22ndAug2014/JohnsonThomas

#IdentityCardEkLifeline(Hindi) Rating: * * ½ A rare focus on extra-judicial killings by the STF in Kashmir, this film is earnest in it’s telling but just a little too neat and tidy in it’s assay of the situation there. It seems like the director is trying a little too hard to spread the blame around. Some superb moments are created but the lack of tension and the amateurish dramatics spoil the engagement. #SaurabhShukla #RaghubirYadav #BrijendraKala #VipinSharma #HelpingHands #RahatKazmi #TiaBajpai #PrashanttKumar #ShoibKazmi #FurqanMerchant #DwaparPR #Himanshu

Hindi Film review

Johnson Thomas

Strong on Positivity but lacks tension!

Film: Identity Card-Ek Lifeline

Cast: Tia Bajpai, Furqan Merchant, Manini Mishra, Shoib Kazmi, Prashantt Guptha, RaghuveerYadav,BrijendraKala,SourabhShukla

Director: Rahat Kazmi

Rating: * * ½

This may not be a powerful film but it certainly has it’s fair share of engaging moments. The main story is centred around Kashmir and the extra-judicial killings by the Special Task Force entrusted with the task of ending militancy in the valley in order to foster peace once again. Human Rights reports indicate that as many as 1500 plus extrajudicial or unlawful killings are committed in India every year and it’s not indicative of the situation in strife torn Kashmir alone. In the Kashmir context, it is said that when a person goes vanishes following an STF raid, it’s indicative that he has been tortured and killed by the government forces entrusted with the task of protecting the innocent in Kashmir.

Predicated on that theory is this story about three youngsters in their mid twenties, who set out to recce for probable sights to shoot a documentary and end up as suspected militants, captured for interrogation by the STF. Since, Identity cards are essential while travelling within Kashmir, this story has one of the characters, a sloppy journalist hoping to prove a point, Naazia Siddiqui(Tia Bajpai) losing it in a road-block scuffle and thereny becoming party to the interrogation by the STF SP Samuel(Vipin Sharma) and his three sub-ordinates Dogra(Prashantt Kumar), Ghulam Nabi(Saurab Shukla) and Hakim Din(Brijendra Kala) . The other two captives are Naazia’s facebook acquaintance-turned-friend Ajay( Furqan Merchant) and her guide, Raju(Shoib Kazmi).

The drama is basically played out in a independent home-jail where the STF are stationed. While the captivity sequences are integral to the plotting and quite realistic in nature, the personal gripes of the officers and their innumerable quirks end up being given a major chunk of the run time making room for unnecessary, ribald humor that is bad taste. The tension is frittered away in this puerile attempt to fashion a quasi-comedy out of a serious issue. This uneven tone and petty meanderings into subjective areas dissolves the resonance that the story could have picked up given the Human rights angle that it hoped to highlight.

As a matter of fact, the screenplay is not cinematic enough and appears to have been written for theatre and then transformed in slap-dash fashion for the cinemas. And it shows in the narrative- especially in the manner in which the characters evolve. There is a distinct artificiality to the drama even though a majority of the performances are true to form, and the structure of the narrative non-linear enough for add-on complexity.

In their attempt to make the film non-controversial and emblematic rather than realistic, the film makers adopt a token approach in the character selection and this dilutes the effect of the story. That inability to face facts and tell it as it is, makes the experience just a little suspect and disallows complete involvement. There are of course moments in the film designed to appeal to your sentiments, including some unnecessary passages of sermonizing meant to highlight the way forward to an administration that has so far shown itself as clueless and ham-handed in their efforts to secure peace. Noble intentions no doubt but it does nothing to make the filmed experience more endearing or interesting. Saurabh Shukla, Brijendra Kala, Vipin Sharma are excellent as always. Prashantt Kumar does a studied turn as one of the STF cops while Shoib Kazmi is bang-on as the guy who ends up as a potential militant undergoing torture at the hands of the STF. Tia Bajpai and Furqan are mere passable.

The end credits though are the highlight of the film- providing a mini-history lesson on the Valley and it’s many conflicts that date way back to centuries before India received her Independence from the British. That in fact was the most interesting part of a film that preferred to engage in artifice instead of pungent unassailable realism!

Johnsont307@gmail.com

Friday, July 25, 2014

Kick , Hindi Bollywood Film Movie Review, Johnson Thomas, Rating: * *

#Kick(Hindi) Rating: * * Sajid Nadiadwala’s much publicized directorial debut starring his favorite- the inimitable Khan, is basically a patchy ,ill-defined, masala-fried show-reel propounding Salman’s richness of heart(much like ‘Jai Ho’ in that respect), while riding rough-shod over technique, script, narrative, action, dialogues and all else. Sajid appears to be paying homage to his bestie here and Salman is allowed free-rein to do whatsoever he wants. And mind you, it’s not a pretty sight! While the production values and international locations add luster, the ridiculous choppy action and bloated over-the-top performances make you want to kick yourself for watching what amounts to a ego centered cinematic selfie! #SalmanKhan #JacquelineFernandez #NawazuddinSiddiqui #SajidNadiadwala #RandeepHooda #SpicePR

Hindi Film review

Johnson Thomas

Running on Empty

Film: Kick

Cast: Salman Khan, Jacqueline Fernandez, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Randeep Hooda, Saurabh Shukla

Director: Sajid Nadiadwala

Rating: * *

This one is for the brotherhood of inter-dependence. Sajid Nadiadwala has since long depended on Salman Khan’s star strength to do the trick for his productions and it’s been a ‘kick’ all along. So this film, ‘Kick’ , a remake of a south film, with Sajid donning the roles of Producer and debuting as Director, gives his hero a no-holds-barred license to ad-lib his way through the weirdest of antics ever seen in cinema. Salman acts as he pleases, utters his silly dialogues with trademark simpering impudence, dances with raw unpolished fervor, does the item grind in crude fashion, and action in a style that comes across as ridiculously fake. It’s basically Salman in full flow, riding on a sky-high ego and brandishing ‘hearty’ elements from his own life

The script attributed to Story writer Sajid Nadiadwala, Chetan Bhagat and Rajat Arora is a no-show here. There really isn’t much of it other than blotchy strands of threadbare plot intertwined with song and dance routines and rudimentary action. Much of the opening segment of the film takes on the ubiquitous job of explaining what ‘kick’ means. After some ridiculous exposition exposure you come to the conclusion that “kick’ is all about adrenaline rushes that the hero needs to keep him going. Incredibly inane sequences foloow just to establish that outlandish concept.

Devi Lal Singh(Salman Khan) is the everyman hero who not only helps young lovers elope but does it with canny control, much like a ring master does with his performing animals in a circus. That analogy is unfortunately quite appropriate for what transpires on screen here in the name of commercial cinema. The opening sequence has Devi piloting a weird looking hatchback attached motor-cycle with three passengers -a runaway couple and the bride’s beautiful Psychiatrist friend, Shaina(Jacqueline) through the bustling by-lanes of old Delhi. While he performs this showy escape act, he is also making time to call the bride’s Mother, a foul mouthed politician, informing her of his latest position en-route to the mandir. He also waits for her to reach the anointed place before he ferrets out the mangalsutra for the auspicious event. The bride is grateful for his intervention and explains his two-timing act away by claiming she wanted her mother to attend the sacred nuptials. Thus our hero is anointed the do-gooder. But ‘ Being human’ is not nearly enough to make his brand shine. He has to wear a ‘Zorro’ outfit replete with mask, black outfit, leather accessories and perform even more freakish dare-devilry in the name of charity before he can proclaim his own super-importance to the stumped and stupefied audience. Yeah. You guessed it. This film is merely a monumentally expensive show reel for a star who appears to have waylaid his shine. There’s no other explanation for such monstrously immature antics’ passed off as ‘performance’ on screen.

Sajid Nadiadwala , in his all out efforts to please his ‘muse’ even includes an animated segment explaining away the incredible precociousness of this wonder child born to incorrigible parents(Mithun Chakraborty & Archana Puran Singh). The wonder boy also assumes the role of ‘Devil’ a masked bandit who loots the rich to save the poor. And before he becomes ‘Devil’ he falls for the beautiful Psychiatrist, gets her Dad(Saurabh Shukla) to agree to the match and then for the flimsiest of reasons abandons her for murkier pursuits. So smitten childhood friend and good cop Himanshu (Randeep Hooda) who is hot-in-pursuit of the ‘Devil’ is allowed brief moments of stilted romance with Shaina before the inevitable happens…

The oft repeated explanation for Salman’s trademark illogic is that his fans love him irrespective. But that’s no longer the truth. .. “Jai Ho’ did not really do as well as the trade pundits proclaimed and previous to that, his endorsement of Modi, alienated a large chunk of his traditional fan base. The ‘Id’ effect is also not likely to help much because it falls on a Tuesday, two days beyond the weekend when most films take a huge dip. So ‘Kick’ will have to brave not only it’s own lack of credibility as an all-out entertainer but also the waning popularity of the ageing star. But of course that will not stop the marketing machinery from going all out to brandish the film as a huge hit. So beware..!

Salman no longer looks as fresh faced nor is he as agile as he was two films ago. In ‘Kick’ he is chunkier and also seems pretty much afraid to expose his once, much vaunted muscled abs. In this film his freestyle dancing, absurd facial twitches and clunky moments make him look less of an all-conquering hero. The incoherence, the sloppily picturised masala elements, the implausible narrative jumps, the sheer waste of talent (Saurabh Shukla. Randeep Hooda, Nawazuddin Siddiqui all going over-the-top) makes the experience even more ugly. The only ‘Kick’ you are likely to experience here, is the severe pain in your backside after two hours and 29 minutes of such utterly irresponsible and corrupted cine exposure!

Johnsont307@gmail.com