Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara

So here are three friends, each battling their own issues - one burdened by the past, one obsessed about the present and one unsure about the future. They get together for a trip of their lifetime and along the way learn their lessons when not really seeking the answers.

Learning the simple lessons of life is not an easy job. Sometimes you need a shock to get up and realise what has gone wrong or what can go wrong. Other times, the beauty and the reality of life just slowly creep up on you when you are least expecting it. And these are the lessons that always have a much more lasting effect, especially when they have the power to change your past, present and future.

One of these lessons is about just letting go. Letting go of the past baggages that keep haunting you. Letting go of the hurts, angers and resentments that we carry around like a millstone around our necks - overlooked by us but obvious to all others. Imran lets go of his past and jumps to a free fall and learns this lesson. 

Another of these lessons is 'Seize the Day' or 'Carpe Diem'. This is to those people who are obsessed with packing in so much of obligations and ambitions in the present moment, that they live life as one big burden. When Arjun goes deep-sea diving and sees the beauty of the world, he learns this lesson. 

And the third lesson is about facing your fears to write your own future. Having the courage of your convictions, standing up to what's right and making sure that no one else is running your life for you. When Kabir runs with the bulls and faces his fears, he learns this lesson.

Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara is a beautiful story that gives out such lessons without being preachy or pretentious. Zoya Akhtar proves that Luck by chance wasn't just luck and nor just by chance. She is definitely a film-maker to watch closely. She has brought a lot of feminine sensitivity to the film that has made it so much more subtle considering it is a film about male-bonding. Wonder why she didn't cast Isha Sharvani instead of Kalki though.

The portrayal of Spain is simply brilliant and it was a real brainwave to use that as the destination to tell this story. Not only is it so rich with life (which is the essential theme of the film), it also has landscapes and culture which is relatively much lesser exposed to the Indian audiences. The characters are lovable in their own ways and nobody really disappoints at all.

The only thing in the film that could have been improved was the actual chemistry between the three boys. It was all there in terms of dialogue and acting, but the magic of Dil Chahta Hai was definitely lacking. When I saw DCH, I was almost moved to tears with nostalgia of my own close friends who are not so much in touch anymore. That did not happen.

But it is a film that definitely should not be missed and must be seen on the large screen only. Go out there and live it up, even if it is just vicariously. The lessons you take home will be real nevertheless. 

Shaitan - Brilliantly devious

Shaitan is about the devil in your head that gets in and refuses to get out - ultimately spiraling you to self-destruction. But never once does the film become preachy or supercilious towards either the characters themselves or the audience. In fact you totally empathise with the 'youth-out-of-control' depiction of the protagonists.

I felt the biggest achievement of the film was that it made me experience what the characters are experiencing. And this is especially evident by the use of POV shots as well as the brilliant sound-edit. Even the effortless manner in which the film swings back and forth between stark reality and psychedelic surrealism is almost as if you are on drugs yourself. 

The performances are brilliant all round. The story has evil portrayed deliciously but there's also just retribution to all in the end. It's arty throughout right up to the spiraling end credits. Some sequences especially the gun-fight and chase with a remixed 'Khoya Khoya Chaand' are absolutely gorgeously depicted. So also is the scene where the first mishap happens while running over an innocent passerby and the aftermath of the same. 

Imagine the thrill of a long roller-coaster ride. Now imagine it flying off the rails and hurtling into space. That's what Shaitan is like. You know that you are in for some crazy, wild story-telling when you sign up for it. The promos and the publicity material has already shown you that. But nothing really prepares you for what's to come. And the best part of it is that it gets worse when you least expect it to. 

Delhi Belly - Sh!t happens (like a work of art)

Having hated the pissing-farting-shitting humour in films like Dumb & Dumber, There's something about Mary and even 3 Idiots, I got into seeing this film with not much hope of even liking it. After all, the entire plot of the film is revolving around someone getting diarrhea as the title and the tagline so proudly proclaim.

It does begin pretty disgustingly. Three youngsters living in conditions that can only be described as absolute squalor. They are fast asleep as the camera lingers lovingly on roaches, butt cracks, toilet bowls, unwashed utensils with congealed leftovers, and more of the like in their shithole. I was wondering if I should be looking for humour in these sordid visuals. But soon humour itself found me. With the entry of the girlfriend of one of those, the three are forced to get up. And once the dialogue starts, there's absolutely no looking back.

The three main characters are simply superb. Each having enough to do and each doing it brilliantly. Even the supporting cast in whatever they have to do have delivered par excellence. If everyone just does a brilliant job, then credit has to be given to the direction. The music score is effective enough to work as almost another character in the plot.

Delhi Belly is definitely not for the prudes and I can imagine certain generations turning up their noses at the language and the visuals depicted. But this is what it is in the real world out there and the actors portray their characters in exactly the same manner.

What works for the film is the plot and the pace. The plot simply breezes along at a pace that makes sure you're kept wanting for more. The length and no-interval format work perfectly for it. The writing is one of the best that I have come across since a long time. That is the real hero of the film.

Don't expect meaningful cinema here. Expect an all-out comedy. But for enthusiasts of what works and what doesn't work in a film - this one would be a brilliant case to study. There's a song in the film that is titled: 'I hate you and within brackets: like I love you'. Likewise, this film is simply 'Mindless Crap and within brackets: that has been mindfully crafted'.

7 khoon maaf

The title of the movie suggests that even murder can be justified and forgivable. But what is definitely not forgivable is killing the immense faith and hopes of film lovers like me have in every new offering from Vishal Bharadwaj.

I saw the film yesterday and am still depressed about it. Why? How? What went wrong? These are some of the questions that are constantly plaguing one's mind.

Consider the story. A woman marries and kills a series of husbands. That's it. The rest is just the elaboration of the motivations and circumstances that led to all those killings. The premise is brilliant. It had huge scope to deliver on human insights and the fine line between good and evil.

What comes across though are characters that seem to have fallen between stools. Susanna is neither a psychopathic serial killer, nor a clear victim of circumstances. In fact she's a bit of both and ends up being totally unconvincing.

Every husband of hers personifies a kind of atrocity that women face. Jealous possessiveness, substance abuse, marital rape, infidelity, blackmailing, and gold-digging. Each could be reasons enough for murder seen from a certain perspective. And that probably was the intended theme of the film.

The portrayal, however, makes them seem shallow. In my opinion, the screenplay deserves the blame which made the pace drag considerably. In its defense, it does convey a lot in a highly subtle manner. Do I want to see it again to understand the subtleties better? Not so, because of the pace.

Naseeruddin Shah is picture perfect. Irrfan Khan is brilliant in portraying the duality of his character. Annu Kapoor is his usual competent self - perfect for the character. Neil Nitin Mukesh has lived up to his role without disappointing too much. The Russian is forgettable. John Abraham is pathetic.

Priyanka Chopra swings between brilliant and hammy. What could have been a performance to die for turns into just about above-average.

I can't put my finger on what I didn't like in the film. It was probably just too ambitious a venture to deliver. Maqbool's lyrical story-telling, Omkara's passion, The Blue Umbrella's pathos, Kaminey's energy, Makdee's intrigue and even Ishqiya's raw earthy appeal were all missing.

Comparisons with other great directors who have failed are inevitable and sad. A plea to anyone who watches this film: Please don't write off Mr Bharadwaj just yet. After delivering six brilliant pieces of creative outputs, I guess I can justify and forgive him this.

Isn't that what the film is all about anyway?

No one killed Jessica

Sometimes, though really rarely, it does happen that reality unfolds in a manner that is as dramatic as the best fiction. If one is making a film on such real events, it becomes that much more critical and difficult to bring out the drama in real life without either making it boring or veering away from the facts. And No one killed Jessica succeeds in delivering by doing just that.

I was quite intrigued by the promos. Slickly made with a fantastic sound track, they made a promise of a film that will deliver a hard-hitting message. Also, everyone is aware of the story of Jessica Lall's murder in Delhi. So Rani Mukherji notwithstanding, I saw the film yesterday as soon as it released.

I wasn't fully aware of the exact details of the Jessica Lall murder story. but I was delighted to check later on Wikipedia that the film was exactly true to the facts. Of course, the names of all the celebrity players in the drama have been changed and I have a feeling that some characters like the cop and the journalist were created as representatives of the police and the media respectively.

I liked the film for several reasons. Excellent screenplay and editing is probably the first of them. Secondly, attention to detail - right down to the make of the mobile phones used - makes it real without being in your face. Thirdly, Vidya Balan is supremely understated as Sabrina, Jessica's sister fighting for justice and doing whatever it takes to hold up against all odds. Fourthly, the storytelling is at just the right pace. It doesn't dawdle except when necessary to bring out the anguish of the characters adequately.

The only thing that rankled a bit was that Rani's character was a little too stereotypical. Playing a fiery journalist who is a modern, liberated, young Indian woman is apparently incomplete if she doesn't smoke at home, spout hindi swearwords with panache and say Fuck and Bitch with very little provocation. I wish her outspokenness was only left for the critical events in the film rather than making them character traits. But her freckles seen through the almost zero makeup in extreme closeups compensate to some extent.

The new year has begun well. Let's hope it brings us a lot more such quality, unpretentious films.

Obscured Brilliance

Saw a fairly recently released and immediately forgotten movie called Striker. I thought the movie was brilliant and generally after seeing a good piece of cinema, one would feel good. But seeing this movie saddened me, only because it did nothing to gain anything from the critics or the box-office while it ran, predictably, for a very short while.

I was surfing channels yesterday and came across this movie on Sahara One. It was about twenty minutes done. But just the sight and sound of the movie was so arresting that I was sucked into it. Soon, I was intrigued enough to stop watching it with the irritating commercial breaks and hired a DVD.

The movie is about a champion carrom player from the slums of Mumbai. Carrom itself is an obscure game in the larger scheme of things. It requires considerable skill and mental fortitude to master. But there definitely is no glamour in the game and serious passion for it is probably only seen in the lower strata of the urban society. And the movie is just the same - no glamour, all passion.

I loved the way the movie has been shot. Realism without pretension. The narrative is beautifully lucid and extremely well told. And so are the performances.

There's no point in going into the details of the storyline because that would only raise expectations or give away some of it. This is less of a review of the film and more a request to go watch Striker. I'm sure it will be time well-spent.

Aisha

Someone asks Melvin in the brilliant movie, 'As good as it gets', "How do you write women so well?" His ever insightful answer: "I think of a man and take away reason and accountability."

I read a tweet somewhere that 'Aisha' was a 'Dil Chahta Hai' of girls. The setting and the characters might be similar, and probably so were the ambitions of the makers. But sadly lacking in reason and accountability.

This is true for the writing, the characters, the story and the direction. The film is set in the super-rich society of Delhi where young socialites seem to be doing nothing better than fill their days with mundane things like polo matches and river-rafting. But unlike Dil Chahta Hai where the characters were aspirational, these just turn out to be jokes.

Speaking of jokes, Dil Chahta Hai was a laugh riot. It brought on nostalgia and even moved you to tears in places. The chemistry between the three guys was nothing short of amazing and they came alive on screen as people you would adore to be with. Aisha's jokes are so wannabe funny that you only end up wincing at them.

There are a lot of things that you've seen before and rendered much better than they have been in this film. Clever repartees, a punch to defend a woman's honour, pranks, public confessions of love, childhood friends not knowing they are in love, fights among close friends, self-realizations, among other things are all mixed together in a story supposedly inspired by Jane Austen's Emma. You've seen it all before in Dil Chahta Hai, Jaane tu ya jaane na, Kal ho na ho, and even I hate luv storys. So the story is a sequence of such happenings strung together with neither originality nor effectiveness.

Coming to individual characters, the smaller characters and actors impress a lot more than the leading pair. One due to too much screen time and the other due to too little. Sonam Kapoor in the title role is practically present in every frame of the film and I used to like her before I watched it. She knows what makes her look cute and she keeps batting the eyelids and flashing the pearlies in the same way over and over again. Tiresome. On the other hand, Abhay Deol could have had a lot more substance in the role and would have been able to do justice to it too. Sadly, he is sidelined with too many others around and comes across as half-heartedly there.

Ira Dubey and Cyrus Sahukar as Pinky and Randhir are superb in their roles. But the saving grace of the film is Amrita Puri as Shefali. She is simply outstanding in the way she has delivered her character of a small-town middle-class girl trying to live up to the high society of Delhi.

All in all, Aisha turns out to be a huge disappointment. Would have been better off seeing Dil Chahta Hai for the ninety-seventh time on the DVD.