Jodha Akbar – Ashutosh Gowarikar misses the point

So I finally saw this film today.
Where do I start?

The problem I have with filmmakers like Ashutosh Gowarikar, Madhur Bhandark and their films is that they take themselves and their films very seriously! While the likes of David Dhawan, Farah Khan and Priyadarshan (nowadays) very explicitly mention that they make no brainers and you should leave your brains behind, Mr Gowarikar is portrayed as the intellectual who makes a magnum opus every 3-4 years. So I am unable to approach a film like Jodha Akbar the same way I would approach a film like Wanted or De Dhana Dhan.
So when I sat down to watch Jodha Akbar, I was not expecting a children's film, but a sensible, reasonably mature film. What I got was a children's film, a bad one at that.

JA reminded me of all those cartoons and animated series I used to watch as a kid about emperors, warriors etc where everything is spelt out to you like a 5th grader, no room for any moral ambiguity, subjectivity etc. You have to like Akbar and Jodha from the beginning and you just have to hate all the other characters opposing them because they are opposing them, they must be evil.
Its indeed sad that even today filmmakers like Gowarikar cannot go beyond reducing supporting characters to mere caricatures.

The character of Maham Anga is a classic example. Such a powerful character in Mughal history reduced to being a jealous sasu ma taken straight out of Ekta Kapoor's manual "Saas-Bahu serials 101"
The characters of Sujamal, Sharifuddin, Maham Anga were all interesting characters who were reduced to mere caricature to suit Gowarikar's superstar Hrithik Roshan...poor guy was completely miscast as Akbar, and realizing that he probably did not even prepare hard enough for the role. The least he could have done was to work on his diction and urdu a little bit.

As a Muslim, I was also extremely upset to see the same old stereotypical Muslim barbaric rulers we have been fed since time immemorial. Apart from Akbar, every Muslim character is depicted as someone who is driven to blood lust the moment he sees a Hindu and if he is not chopping of his head, he is exploiting them in the name of tax and what not. Well done Mr Gowarikar, but if I was looking for that kind of material, I am better off reading Bal Thackeray and 18th century Orientalists!

The few redeeming points are Rehman's music, Aishwarya's beautiful and mature performance, the cinematography and majestic sets.
Overall, a major disappointment.

Love Aaj Kal - a sincere take on contemporary relationships

Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Deepika Padukone, Rishi Kapoor

Writer/Director: Imtiaz Ali

My favourite films are not necessarily the quintessential examples of technical brilliance and flawlessness. Instead, they are those that are able to strike a chord with my heart and mind, influence my thoughts, ideas, emotions etc. The promos of Love Aaj Kal interested me greatly and despite not being a fan of either Saif or Deepika’s acting, the one man for whom I was willing to build expectations was Imtiaz Ali, whose earlier two films I am greatly fond of.

Jai Vardhan Singh (Saif Ali Khan) meets Meera Pandit (Deepika Padukone) in London. They enjoy good times together, no strings attached. Then it’s time for Meera to go to India to pursue her career as a restoration artist and Jai to work towards his dream in San Franciso. They conclude that a long distance relationship via chats, emails, phones is hard to maintain and decide to party ways amicably. But then, they do exactly what they had thought would not be possible and practical – maintain contact through phone, internet etc. Meanwhile Jai makes friends with a local coffee shop owner Veer Singh (Rishi Kapoor) and in between Jai’s long and warbled monologues, Veer Singh manages to tell his love story – a story of stolen glances, cycle and rickshaw encounters, and rebellion against families – story of a time when professing love meant proposing marriage as it is popularly believed.

With a blockbuster like Jab We Met behind him, Imtiaz Ali was in a very tricky situation. We all expect another Jab We Met, we want Love Aaj Kal to be the next Indian cult romance after Jab We Met, we all want the same experience, not realizing that each film has its own experience and it not possible to recreate it with another film. A different film will have a different experience, maybe in fact a better experience, but we are not convinced, we want the exact same experience. So either way, it was difficult for Imtiaz Ali, there would be some people who would complain “Oh its not Jab We Met”. That’s right, its not Jab We Met , its not Socha Na Tha, nor does it attempt to be. Its about two individuals and that’s where the similarity ends. If you want to watch JWM or SNT, please buy the DVDs, don’t waste your time on LAK.

Having seen 3 films written by Imtiaz Ali, (the third one being Aahista Aahista), I knew exactly what to expect – witty and crispy screenplay, and Imtiaz does not disappoint one bit. The film is full of such breezy, entertaining and fun moments. In fact, one of the areas where the film scores so heavily is not going the typical way that Bollywood love stories usually do in certain moments

SPOILER WARNING

Jai and Meera’s first meeting

Jai and Meera’s breakup

Meera’s wedding (Deepika’s expression in that scene when Saif is talking is absolutely brilliant but more on that later)

Meera’s call to Jai the morning after the wedding, you think you know what will happen next, they realize they are in love, and she ends the marriage and they live happily ever after, and that’s where Imtiaz scores as a writer with a completely different turn. Kudos to him.

The climax scene

SPOILER WARNING OVER

As a director, Imtiaz innovates with a non linear narrative, something that I absolutely adore in films. It is clear that he has not yet perfected the art yet, as in some portions the switch to a different time looks a bit forced, but then the slick editing, pace and engrossing screenplay soon help you get over it.

The music by Pritam is absolutely magnificent and fits in with the narrative seamlessly. I have earlier spoken about my thoughts on the music here

The characters are very well detailed as that is clearly Imtiaz’s forte as a writer. One will easily relate with Jai and Meera and understand their confusion, loneliness, thoughts, experiences.

Saif Ali Khan plays a character tailor made for him and does so effortlessly. However he risks being typecast as this happy go lucky guy who doesn’t believe in love and marriages thanks to Hum Tum, Salaam Namaste and now Love Aaj Kal. He is however in top form as the younger Veer.

Deepika Padukone looks absolutely breathtakingly beautiful and hot at the same time. Everyone who knows me knows how I am fascinated by her beauty. However I have never been a fan of her acting. I thought she was terrible in Om Shanti Om, a little less terrible in Bachna Ae Haseeno. Meera by far is her best role and working with a far superior director this time, she impresses heavily with her facial expressions, body language and overall demeanour. Where she falters severely is her diction/dialogue deliver. It is perhaps due to inexperience that she hasn’t been able to quite control her voice to suit her performance. Imtiaz cleverly does not require many dialogues from her in important moments such as the wedding scene where Saif speaks and she just listens. Her silence helped that scene immensely.

Rishi Kapoor, after a long time has not managed to annoy me, and is a delight this time as Veer Singh.

Giselle Monteiro looks beautiful, a bit like Monica Bellucci in some portions and doer her role well.

Love Aaj Kal is a contemporary, realistic take on love today, and while it follows many Bollywood films in its genre, it is also different in its own way and manages to make an impact. We all know that Jai and Meera would end up together, yet the film manages to shock and surprise us and the director deserves tremendous praise for being able to do that.

The message is clear as Vasan Bala of Passion For Cinema writes, “whatever the era, whether it’s the shy glances of the bygone era or of the pick up guru’s of the dude era, when cupid strikes, time stands still”.

I hope a real and closer to life love story like this manages to influence other makers in Bollywood and the days of OTT, melodramatic and poorly executed love stories come to an end.

99 - Review

99 - the experience

I met a very close friend after a long time. I stayed over at his place..and we decided to watch Angels and Demons..15 minutes into the film, we looked at each other and said "we cannot waste our reunion after 1 year with this poor excuse for a film"
Luckily we had another DVD - 99.

15 minutes into the film, again we looked at each other, this time the look was – read the review and find out

99 is about two crooks – Kunal Khemu and Cyrus Broacha who make their buck duplicating mobile phone SIM cards. Soon they are on the run from the police and in the process manage to damage a Mercedes belonging to a local don (Mahesh Manjrekar).

Indebted to this don, they are forced to work for him, and are sent to Delhi to collect money from one of Manjrekar’s debtors. Unfortunately, this man happens to be Boman Irani who has such an awful habit of losing money while gambling that his wife has left him for that reason. Soon, Boman Irani, Kunal Khemu and Cyrus Broacha are on the run from all sorts of people who owe them money.

Sounds like a typical Guy Rithchie film eh? You’re spot on. Two stupid wannabe crooks, a few dangerous criminals/gangsters, lot of money involved, and you have a wild ride.

99, with its tongue in cheek humour, interesting and hilarious situations is an entertaining experience indeed. But what sets it apart, and takes it above ordinary comedies with similar themes is its various subplots, its connection with the Hansie Cronje cricket match fixing scandal, and the fact that it is so beautifully able to take you back to the year 1999-2000. T

Having grown up in the subcontinent, I loved each and every bit that 99 captures about Delhi in 1999.

The coming of those new Nokia phones without antennas, mobile phones with bad signals, having to go outside the house to talk properly, those snake games on those Nokia phones. To their credit, the directors are also able to take Delhi back to 99 when it came to outdoor locations.

99 is a true homage to Guy Ritchie’s capers classics of the 90s, because it is an original film. It is able to take little things from Delhi and Mumbai and incorporate that with Guy Ritchie’s style and the result is one refreshing film.

Performances from Kunal Khemu, Mahesh Manjrekar and Boman Irani were first rate. Cyrus Broacha was horribly under used. Soha looked stiff and uncomfortable. Simone Singh on the other hand was a surprise. Amit Mistry was a revelation.

Its been a while since I felt this good watching an Indian film. The last time was a few months back – Dev D. 99 is the kind of film that gives me a feeling of satisfaction and fulfilment.

Getting back to that look we shared 15 minutes into the film, the look was “ wow we just got lucky, this film is bloody brilliant”.

A Wednesday movie review

A Wednesday - Review

When rest of Bollywood has been busy with glamour and money, UTV motion pictures have been backing small, independent, first time directors with their new, different ideas. While the big banners are too happy to just sit on their laurels and never bother to delve into different territories and explore, UTV has made it clear that they are here to change cinema..not for money...but for its own sake.
A Wednesday, an unknown Neeraj Pandey's directorial debut belongs to those small films with which UTV is daring to explore.
After Aamir and Mumbai Meri Jaan, A Wednesday is another film to come out of Bollywood that deals with terrorism..
The film starts of brilliantly, completely drawing the viewer into its world with its intriguing characters.
A Wednesday is about a common man with no name (Naseeruddin Shah) who has planted various bombs at various parts in the city to use as bargaining power for certain demands. He is up against Police Commissioner Prakash Rathod (Anupam Kher) who will do anything to save the city and not bow down to his demands.
The film is absolutely gripping thanks to its fast pace, top notch editing and lack of any bollywood songs and melodrama.
If I had to sum up A Wednesday's highs, they would be a brilliant concept and two towering performances from two veterans.
In order to maintain the excitement and fast pace, the execution by Neeraj Pandey slightly falters at certain parts...but he can be forgiven as a first timer.
The supporting characters (Jimmy Shergill and Aamir Bashir) are not well developed as the script provides no scope. The climax itself, although shocking makes the main character's culmination slightly inconsistent.
The film is not without its flaws and weaknesses however, the concept itself, the gripping and enthralling proceedings and two compelling performances from Anupam Kher and Naseeruddin Shah makes it one of the better films to come out this year. A great effort from Neeraj Pandey and a kudos to UTV for backing these films.
Rating: 7/10