"Goliyon ki Rasleela - Ram-Leela" (Hindi Film Review)

I thought I came for the wrong movie when I saw the long title preceding the words Ram Leela. Then the portent came in the censor certificate about the duration of the film - 154 minutes. Then came a warning that this film is an adaptation from Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet". That means the film must end in a tragedy, I thought. It did end in a tragedy with Ranvir Singh and Deepika Padukone, the Rajasthani equivalents of Romeo and Juliet, shooting each other down in a climax at point blank range. The climax itself justifies the title - Goliyon ki Rasleela Ram-Leela. Because in that epic shot which already wears out the audience after a dozen songs and 153 minutes, Ram (Ranvir) and Leela (Deepika) kiss for one last time before releasing the trigger on their magazine. First time, Sanjay Leela Bhansali takes the credit for allowing two lovers, darlings of the masses, take each others' lives instead of shooting at their own temples. In short, Sanjay Leela Bhansali has attempted a lavish re-interpretation of Romeo and Juliet with extravagant paraphernalia and bizarre theatrics but lost the plot that could connect with the mood of the times. The film is great in performances, visual effects, scale and grandeur but fails in characterisation, emotions, depth and consistency.

The story is faithful to the bard's original story. Instead of the feud between the Montagues and the Capulets, this is the story of a couple caught between Raanjadas and Sannades, in one village of Rajasthan where the police turn a nelson's eye to the biggest arms bazaar. It is more anarchic than Obama's country where everyone, even toddlers, carry guns and shoot at will. Ram goes to the other side for a holi party and gets smitten by Leela in one helluva dance. They connect instantly and the love develops between the two even as Leela's mother, the gang-leader of Sannades, played by Supriya Pathak Kapur, rushes her marriage with an archaeologist.  Leela returns to Ram's place, her love grows stronger and the enemity grows stronger between the Raanjada's and the Sannade's. Unlike in Romeo and Juliet, where Juliet's cousin Tybalt is mistakenly killed by Romeo, in "GKRR", Ram's brother is mistakenly shot dead by Leela's brother and the exchange leads to another death, Leela's brother. That shot, a high-octane sequence builds up into the best action sequence of the film with intensity and suspense. After that, the elopement of Ram with Leela, the subsequent return and then the fateful ending after much macabre killings. A few cinematic changes by Sanjay Leela Bhansali to nativise the story here - a signed written order by Leela to annihilate every single Raanjada and instead of drinking poison, they consummate their love again with kisses and bullets before taking their own lives, at a time when remorse and regret returns to the warring people on both sides. In the end, Ramleela is celebrated with the burning of Ravan's effigy by both the sides, but alas, the lead pair is gone.

To be fair, the film has some electrifying moments  - the passion between Deepika and Ranvir sets the screen ablaze, the dialogues by the warring factions on both sides, especially by Supriya Pathak and Abhimanyu Singh as well as by Ranvir Singh are outstanding. Characterisation of the three of them is exceptional. Supriya Pathak had the best lines in the film and this is one of her best performances. Ranvir Singh, looks a maginificent hulk in his chivalrous avatar as the energetic Rajput; he strikes great balance as a hate-disperser and a love-monger. Whether he removes his shirt or turban, he oozes out machismo and animal magnetism. Would he be the talent that can maneuvre competition from Kapurs and Khans? Likely. Deepika is lissome and beautiful as ever, looking better in traditional costumes and royal frills. Her dancing skills looked prim and proper but curtailed by the energy of Ranvir. Of all the starcast, her accent looked more out-of-place, however. She is clearly not marwari-conversant unlike the rest of the cast. 

Sanjay Leela Bhansali has got good support from screenplay writer Siddharth-Garima who also wrote crisp dialogues in local dialect. Another experiment: Sanjay Leela Bhansali scored music himself. Almost all the songs sound alike except one modern tempo beat, with rhytms and soundscapes resonating the Rajasthani hills and villages - too much of folk music from titles to end-titles. I wonder if this is all straight-lifted out of Sanjay's repertoire of folk tunes tucked away in rural hinterlands because except for Monty who scored for "Saawariya", it has been Ismail Durbaar mostly. Surely, Sanjay's background score is richer than his songs scored, which are too many and farcical. Despite the talent and its harvest, the film doesn't have enough substance or emotions to sustain a modern audience. I wonder why Sanjay had to pick Shakespeare to make a point or two about a love story between a cracker of a lead pair. He didn't start films with an intent to revive Shakespeare like Vishal Bharadwaj. On the contrary, Sanjay had a touch of an artist who can take cinematic experience to new highs with his ensemble of opulent story-telling and grandiose backdrops. But by picking a tragedy once again, after "Devdas", he had wasted Eros's money and audience's time. It was not worth 154 minutes of macabre hate and love. In the original story of Romeo and Juliet, the two families agreed that Romeo and Juliet should be buried together. On the grave were these words as per the play: "There was a story of more woe than this of Juliet and Romeo." The message of the bard that one can be unreasonable in both love and hate was driven to death by countless film-makers around the world and in India. The audience knows it but doesn't want the tragedy to repeat in the movies - at least subsequent debacles at the box office of film-makers who attempted a studious reprise of the sad ending of the lovers show that this doesn't work anymore. Poor Sanjay! Wish someone told you at Eros. Cannot rate this above-average for all the effort. 2.5 out of 5. 

"Ramayya Vastavayya" (Telugu) Movie Review

"Ramayya Vastavayya" is a hummable line from one of Raj Kapoor's most famous films. It became a title for a Hindi film also earlier this year starring Shruti Hassan and a new Bollywood hero which was a remake of "Nuvvosthaanante Vaddantaana". Now, Dil Raju produces it in his banner-SVCC with NTR Jr. in a title role and Samantha and Shruti Hassan. It has been a major disappointment for those who go to Dil Raju's brand of family entertainment with a healthy touch and also for NTR fans. Harish Shankar who made "Gabbar Singh" got caught in his own elusions of grandeur and consequently made a film full of mind-numbing violence and pathetic story. "RV" will go down for Dil Raju as an aberration in his catalogue of films as he must have gone missing on the sets.

Once again, a wafer-thin line becomes fodder for 167 minutes of head-banging violence and entertainment that heckles your sensibilities. Ranjeet (NTR) falls in love with Aakarsha (Samantha) and stalks her at college. Samantha gives in to Ranjeet's overtures and invites him over to her village for attending her sister's wedding. Mukesh Rushi, her father, faces threats from two brothers who honk him with life threats often. On receiving one such call, Mukesh Rushi gets trapped into confiding into NTR about an impending life threat. This time, NTR takes them to a safer enclave but actually becomes the dreaded assasin himself killing Mukesh on the spot. Flashback: NTR and his two brothers are actually victims of Mukesh Rushi's atrocitiies; the latter eliminates most of NTR's relatives and even  his first-love called Ammulu (Shruti Hassan). The second half is all about NTR's attempts to explain the flashback to Samantha and justify the killing of Samantha's father and how he finishes them off. Such twists are not uncommon in Tollywood scripts; it appears that most of such films appear to be dug out of a dark tunnel sitting underneath the main road of entertainment. No matter how many stories come out of such dark tunnels, its a null void full of sand and mud coming out of the director's minds and we have to watch such drivel in the name of entertainment. 

Director Harish Shankar's flawed handling of the megaphone extends our pains. He succeeds in getting Dil Raju his first "A" certificate in his catalogue of family films by sprinkling "double-meaning" jokes, sadistic and atavistic violence and characterisation of a voyeuristic villain Ravi Shankar who is maniacally obsessed with sex all the time. Harish also misses out on casting mainstream comedians - and instead gets quite irritating humor from Rohini Hattangadi and others. Only Kota Srinivasa Rao gives a flash of humour in a four minute sequence.He misses milking entertainment which got him name in "Gabbar Singh" and "Mirapakay" and also diluted the emotional quotient in the film that could have got highlighted at few places. An example is, the best song of the film -"Jabilli Neetho Cheppamma..." which comes after interval. Even though the song is great and picturisation good, because Samantha yet doesn't know that NTR is the guy who knocked her dad off, the nuances of the song didn't allow NTR to get highlighted. There are many instances like that which were missed opportunities for Harish to raise the bar of emotionality. Even the dialogues penned by him didn't enhance the impact because of an over-dosage of violence and under-recovery of humour. 

NTR Jr. shines well in the film, his gait is ever confident, his dancing skills show greater variety and finesse (his body above torso is moving better than before) and his timing of comedy has got some impact and improvisation, fans will love his imitation of a few stars in Tollywood. After "Adurs", Chota K Naidu must get credit for showcasing NTR Jr. so well in the many shades that NTR shows up in the film. Stunts could have been shorter and less graphic in portrayal. Amongst the many stunts, one thing noticeable is that NTR comes up with a new weapon everytime - he starts with a mace ("gadha"), a hockey stick, an iron chain, a pick-axe and then guns galore...probably, this is Harish Shankar's idea to show him as the new heir to the 36th Chamber of Shaolin. Between Samantha and Shruti Hassan, Shruti steals the show in the flashback. Both Chota K Naidu and Harish Shankar seem to have got smitten by the cute girl who is getting bolder on scene. Since this is Harish Shankar's second film with Shruti Hassan, her character got etched out better than many other characters. Rao Ramesh gives another cool performance but his characterisation loses conviction in the second half. Music by Thaman SS is fine but only two songs stand out. There is lot of strain that can make us feel worn out on his music.

NTR Jr. should realise that the days of relying on family tree and thigh-clapping as a sign of machismo are over, not many heroes except those who benefit from such references are resorting to gimmicks. Veering away from violence and making entertainment as a form of team effort is the real recipe for success, not aiming to ambitiously carry the film on the hero's shoulders. Those heroes who rallied forth to undertake projects of benign entertainment are climbing up higher than reliance on hackneyed scripts and party symbols such as bicycles. My last two cents to heroes is: don't bank on directors who don't bank on solid stories. Tollywood today has a dozen heroes of bankable box office potential and has more severe competition amongst themselves than any other film industry - more competition than even entrepreneurs in the Silicon Valley, if you have to build embankments to keep yourself afloat for atleast 30 films in a career, bank on variety, invest in different stories and support family entertainment. 

"Ramayya Vastavayya" reminds at times the story of "Athanokkade" without any dramatic appeal or intensity. But for a less violent and better half before interval, it gets a rating of no more than 2.5/5.

"The Lunch Box" (Hindi Film Review)

Some films are born great, some films have greatness thrust on them and some films attain greatness, to borrow a bard's phrase. "The Lunch Box" is a film that is earmarked for greatness because of a mesmerising story, bewitching script, almost flawless execution and a starcast that comes tailor-made. It has already been premierred on most film festivals from Toronto to Cannes and has won rave reviews before being showcased in India.  Director Ritesh Batra has given one of India's finest film in years with a story that is as improbable as a six sigma error in the delivery system of the famed "Dabbawallahs". 

The six sigma error is  what changes life for a middle-aged wife Ila (Nimrat Kaur) when the lunch box that she packs with utmost affection and consummate culinary skills gets swapped by the Dabbawallahs with a box that reaches one Mr Fernandez (Irrfan Khan) who is on the verge of retiring as a Senior Accountant in an Insurance Company. He has a new under-study Nawazudding Siddiqui who is deputed by the owner to learn the ropes quickly. A subtle romantic track develops between the exchange of the "Dabba" between Irrfan Khan and Nimrat Kaur every day, appendixed with handwritten letters inserted in the box. "The food was tasty but salty" and other inane messages soon develop into gut-level communication between two adults caught in their own worlds of loneliness and desperation; Nimrat has a happy home with a school-going girl and a workaholic husband who is insensitive to her, her sole refuge is an elderly neighbour Aunty who stays one floor above her flat but helps her with all the recipes and the sage counsel she needs. Irrfan, on the other hand, is a loner (lost his wife) who is good at work but unfriendly coach to over-enthusiastic Nawaz. His zest for life and empathy for others including kids who ball around in his home environs were inscrutable, until  both Nimrat through her tasty cooking and Nawaz through his simplicity and cheerleading enthusiasm  mend Irrfan's mental makeup for better. 

The film builds up in 110 minutes of pacy narrative with sharp characterisations. Ritesh Batra has earlier made a documentary on "Daabwallahs"; now he creates a story of a lunch box mistakenly delivered by them. That could be a reason to fuss and file defamation charges from the gangs of dedicated workers who were invited for Prince Charles's wedding and etched into a Harvard case study. But the film stands out for transmitting the DNA of the times, for telling a story with a freshly different pair of Director's eyes, without pretensions, different values and uninhibited by the compulsions of cinema. Entirely shot in Mumbai's local trains and the nerve-center of Mumbai's concrete jungles of Malad and Dongri, there must be around 350 picture shots that make you live in the office and residential spaces of a society that thrives on chaos, packed with people like swarms of bees yet friendly and humane. Soundtrack of the film is by some foreigner, makes a point with regular musical instruments at just three to four instances in the film but by and large relies on the natural sounds of the deafening dins of moving locals, orchestral nature of an office canteen bustle. Occasionally, the kids on the moving locals break into a hit Kumar Sanu song and that becomes a lead sound track for the next few scenes. 

Personally, I felt a cute connect between visual and verbal literacy in this film. At a time when the biases of the film-makers are mostly towards song-and-dance and surrealistic and loud entertainment, Ritesh Batra re-creates a story that gives out as much from the imagery as from the words spoken by the three main characters - Irrfan Khan gives his best messages to Ila only in English and he gives almost a Thoreau-like commentary on issues of happiness and misery, Nimrat Kaur (that Cadbury girl caught in traffic jam with a mouthful of Five Star) is innocent, adventurous and vulnerable at the same time. Nawazuddin Siddiqui is at his entertaining best rubbing shoulders with an elegant Irrfan but has occasionally stolen the thunder; all three characters speak as much with words spoken as with their body language. In that sense, the verbal literacy is probably taken to newer highs than the visual literacy of the film. References to the 80s TV classic, "Yeh Jo Hai Jindagi" and old victorian values of diligence and restraint are messages the director wants the audience to take home despite an ending that is not so poetic. There are references to Bhutan's Gross National Happiness as opposed to our own GDP fixation.

When a film's reputation darts faster than the buying interest in India, you have to expect the Goliaths of the industry to rally behind it. No wonder, "The Lunch Box" is now a collaboration of Indo-German-French productions and the two Goliaths here are Karan Johar and Ronnie Screwala. That must give all the push needed to qualify this as India's sole entry to the Oscars. Because of the screenplay and the pacy narrative, you wouldn't feel bored even for a second. But there are flaws in this notable experiment, mostly loose ends the director forgot to tie in his stickiness to the main storyline. When Ila's husband tells her why she is making Aloo Gob every day for lunch, we don't get that. When the Dabbawallah refuses to accept the mistake of  swapping of boxes, he doesn't give a credible answer but a Harvard student might know what the director concealed. Again, not once does it occur to the two characters corresponding over lunch box to connect with the new modes of mobiles and emails. One more, Ila discovers she is trapped in a sex-less marriage because her husband is having an affair, but that is left unconfronted till the end. Obviously, there are quite a few gaffes in a film that seeks to break new ground in story-telling. But as the line in the film goes, sometimes, " A wrong train also can take you to the right destination." Ritesh Batra and team deserve a thumping watch for "The Lunch Box". My rating is 4.75 out of 5. 

"Madras Cafe" Hindi Film Review

Rajiv Gandhi's assassination in 1991 is one of the most dramatic events in world history and deserves a film for the multi-layered twists and plotting that went into the act by the perpetrators  - the LTTE. For some reason, the Gandhi dynasty was more than forgiving of the whole episode and didn't want to de-classify the details of the assassination or probe further even after incriminating evidence reported by the SIT Chief D.R.Karthikeyan in the book "Conspiracy to kill Rajiv Gandhi: From CBI Files". There was also an exhaustive video film on the filming of the investigations into the plot to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi which was available for sale until a few years but now seems to be off-limits for some uncanny reason.  Even though the wounds have cleared up, "Madras Cafe" is a brilliant re-interpretation of the plot by the Tigers of Sri Lanka to eliminate Rajiv Gandhi at the height of a fiercely fought election.

Shoojit Sircar, who made "Vicky Donor" earlier, is the director who has picked up an intelligent array of artistes  - John Abraham as the RAW officer, Siddhartha Basu (remember India's original QuizTime Star) as the IB Chief, Piyush Pandey (O&M Country Head, India)  as an important Cabinet Secretary, Prakash B as a double-crossing Intelligence Director camping in Lanka and Nargis Fakri as a foreign correspondent. In 130 minutes of footage, Shoojit Sircar takes us on a gripping tour of those tumultous years of Indian Foreign Policy misadventures on creating the cauldron of IPKF Army to quell the LTTE uprising in a civil-strife Sri Lanka. While it starts off as a re-run of the strategic moves by the think-tank team of Rajiv Gandhi who were working behind the scenes, the film's screenplay moves at incredible speed to give edge-of-the-seat excitement about the buildup of the efforts by the rival teams, the LTTE, to finish off Rajiv Gandhi. Most of the narration moves forward but reminds us of the milestones at various times before the d-day of Assassination - three years before, two years before, six months before and so on. Besides, "Madras Cafe" is the actual place where the members of LTTE alongwith the arms dealers etc. have met for the conspiracy. "Madras Cafe" ends with the Ex-PM's assassination and the team's frustration in  preventing  the fateful end despite nailing the linkages to the LTTE. What makes the film worth watching is the racy and crisp narrative of Shoojit Sircar; he  modified the story to suit the documentary style with promising story-telling and little deviations into the realms of controversy - no reference to history of the conflict in detail between the Sinhalese and the Tamils, no sighting of the Sri Lankan Army, no insinuations about dark-goggled politicians, or the involvement of the local people. Whatever be the failings of the film, Shoojit Sircar stuck to basics of crafty direction with an equivocal stance on the contentious issues facing Lankan Tamils. 

Performances by the starcast are just apt and measured for the emoticons they display: Nargis Fakri is strictly professional with John Abraham, Siddhartha Basu is the trusting boss of John Abraham with a precise brief and then the important trio of LTTE including Prabhakaran, played by well by a veteran Tamil actor. The actor who steals the thunder is a veteran Kannada theatre artist  Prakash B who plays the role of a boot-legger, corrupt Intelligence officer who calls the shots until his cover is blown by John Abraham. John Abraham looks appropriate but his acting never got the better of his cool body. Dialogues are pithy and journalistic in appeal, more like soundbytes that appeal to the intellectual senses. BGM score by George Joseph and T Tambi is a backbone of the film that helps build the tempo and the crescendo. Shantanu Moitra is a folksy music composer who gets the credits as music director but only one song is shown in the end as the credits roll. 

"Madras Cafe" is going to be a classic in the way an assassination plot can be made to look engrossing with almost zero emotional and entertainment value. Director Sircar gives a good spin to the story of the plot by bringing in inferences to the Military-Industrial Complex, Arms-dealings, Economic Hit Men without fully explaining them. He  doesn't show the people of Sri Lanka, how they are affected, how their government and the army was thinking, what is the context in the conflict between the Sinhalese and the Lankan Tamils ( I covered this earlier in my blog)  and how the IPKF operated in Sri Lanka which caused so much consternation amongst the Tamils. It could have been an emotional high if some sympathy could have been created either for the Lankan Tamils or the Eelam Tigers fighting for their causes. By concentrating on the Intelligence Taskforce efforts to fix LTTE and later unravel the plot to assassinate Gandhi (in vain), Sircar misses a golden chance to resonate with the audience. 

Even if there's nothing offensive in the film, "Madras Cafe" is banned in Tamil. In the end, the authenticity of the original events does  not hold up  to the real  events that transpired post-assassination. There is no mention made of the Justice Verma commission in passing or about the people who were eventually exonerated - Cabinet Secretary Vinod Pande, Intelligence Bureau Chief M K Narayanan (Siddhartha Basu), Secretary Ministry of Home Affairs Shromani Sharma and Secretary Security GS Baj Pai. All the four officers excluded themselves saying they were immune from any actions as they had already retired. But in the film, they show that Siddhartha Basu himself resigns. Eventually, as history proved, Congress leaders themselves allowed Justice Verma commission report to die a natural death. But "Madras Cafe" lives on, its a moving feast of slick adventures and misadventures of intelligent cops who couldn't finally prevent the assassination of their ex-Prime Minister. "Madras Cafe" may not be the last word on the subject but its a welcome experiment by Bollywood to make more relevant cinema that throws light on issues burnt into our national consciousness. Rating: 4 out of 5 for a gripping watch.

"Bombay Talkies" Hindi Film Review

"Bombay Talkies" is the name of the latest film co-produced by India's youthful new-age directors: Dibakar Banerjee, Anurag Kashyap, Karan Johar and Zoya Akhtar. As the name suggests, it is meant to be an eulogy on Bollywood's century-old idioms. With the exception of Karan Johar, and to some extent, Zoya Akhtar, the other two are one of the two brilliant filmmakers who have sought new ground in bringing in realistic and hard-hitting story-telling with a rare irreverence to old norms while trying to achieve youthful yet compelling emotional connect with the audiences. The producers have selected the most apt title for a film which has four different tales rendered by these four directors - Karan, Dibanker, Zoya and Anurag with half-hour slots each in a total running time of 127 minutes (which includes the four-minute tobacco ad pre-and post interval and a gaudy "Om Shanti Om" style medley of Bollywood boys and girls - from Aamir to SRK to Ranbir and Kareena and Vidya Balan). Originally, Bombay Talkies was founded in 1934 by the First Lady of Indian Cinema - Devika Rani and her first husband Himanshu Rai. They went on to make many films which had an impact on the development of early Indian Cinema. Bombay Talkies became an icon for the arrival of Indian Cinema and subsequently, we all know how Mani Ratnam started his own Madras Talkies as a motif for South Indian Cinema.

Back to "Bombay Talkies" the movie. The four films are directed individually by the four talents above, with their respective name splashed on the screen when their film starts with a 15 second blackout separating one from another to indicate the end of one film and the beginning of the other. That way, the format is a little different from "Darna Mana Hai" where the stories lead upto the climactic story ending. That makes this a winning collaboration with a must-watch tag. What makes the four stories watchable is the bench-strength use of promising technicians like Amit Trivedi who scored thrilling music for all the four stories, inter-mixing the need to elevate the many moods essayed in each director's short story with impressive repertoire of folk music, playback, instrumentation from everyday rhythms and purcussions. Anyone who has long spotted Amit Trivedi from the time he debuted on MTV Unplugged till "DevD" OST got released will vouch that Amit Trivedi is the most-dazzling find amongst the current crop of Bollywood music composers. His music is rich, varied and culturally resonating with the heartbeats of Hindi heartland music, no wonder he still hasn't got the call from masala-oriented South film producers. 

How are the four stories? Are they real? Yes. Credible? Yes. Evocative? Yes, again. 

First story is an explicit take on Indian Male homosexuality directed by Karan Johar (what else where you expecting?). Randeep Hooda and Rani Mukherjee live their own lives in different cubicle nations within the media industry. They are almost sex-less and live a boring civil life until their frustrations surface with the entry of an intern at Rani's office. This young lad is a self-confessed Gay and he gets cosy with Rani in a platonic way only to get cosier with her husband in a plutonic way. Karan seems deft in handling the emerging theme of homosexuality and its repurcussions in conservative Indian families. The gay abandon with which Karan revels in re-creating the sexual preferences of an emerging male order makes it a subtle watch with some hummable music remixed of the old sixties by Amit Trivedi. That room, that music room of old LP records and audios owned by Randeep Hooda in the film must be any music lover's delight - it must belong to one of them - Anurag Kashyap, Producer Viacom's Raghav Behl or Farhan Akhtar, Zoya's sibling.

The second story is the most brilliant of the short films, directed by Dibaker Banerjee. It shows an in-form Nawazuddin Siddiqui as a go-nowhere dweller of a certain chawl in Mumbai, with a bed-ridden daughter who is tired of dad's old stories and a wife who juggles many jobs in three shifts. As if to make a statement on Ponzi schemes, Dibaker introduces EMU farming which has caught on with India's aspiring middle-class. One day, our Mumbai householder goes for the job of a Security Guard, misses it by a whisker and lands himself in a crowd watching Ranbir Kapoor's latest shoot. He gets a rare call from the film's Assistant Directors to enact a two-second scene - to bump into Ranbir from the other end, engrossed holding a newspaper. He exults at the opportunity and gets ten minutes to rehearse in a solitary set away from the din where he works himself up to do the role. In that interlude, he imagines having  an intense conversation with his theatre-obsessed father - brilliantly played by Sadashiv Amrapurkar - who was always pushing him to get to the basics of life. Then the shot readied, improvisations done, Nawaz goes home in a trance forgetting the small change, and the bottle of water earned as a perk for the brief role. He goes home, re-enacts the day's exciting proceedings to his daughter and wife, in a majestic  narrative without words and only flute music in background. This is the best story and my research tells that this is based on one of Satyajit Ray's famous short stories. 

The last two stories are more effusive of the magic spell of Bollywood on India's youth and children. Zoya's story is about a young boy whose father drives him to football but the boy loves the dances of Bollywood. He eulogies Katrina Kaif and becomes her in dreams and in daylight as he pursues dancing to the point of raising money for his sister. The end is filmy with sibling love and dream coming true but this is the only story which has an item song, if you can call that of Katrina's onscreen and off-screen presence in the film. The last story by the nonchalant Anurag Kashyapa is about a father (Sudheer Pandey) and son (Vineet Singh). The father's wish is to send the son with an heirloom bottle of "Murabba" (a kind of a ladoo made of sweet pumpkin) to Bollywood's Badshah's house - Prateeksha - the home of Amitabh Bachchan for a bite by the legendary actor so he can die in peace, something his father did with Yousuf Khan a.k.a Dilip Kumar. The saga is all about the days of wait and exasperation by the youth from Allahabad as he encounters many others who live on a pail of water in order to shake hands with Bollywood's glitterati. It is a pithy take by Anurag to capture the timeless appeal of Bollywood's icons. There's a sweet ending with a twist in the tale but Anurag handles it well with  raunchy wit.

On the whole, all the four stories have their signature styles of their creators who are in between their swinging and cutting-edge form. Undoubtedly, my take is that the honors go the four in this pecking order: Dibaker, Anurag, Zoya and Karan. What spoils the party in the end as we are about to applaud a rare ensemble of a talented foursome is a loud reprise to the ruling Divas of Bollywood in their audacious dream costumes - as I said from Kapoors to Khans. This must have been some producer's silly idea to endear an otherwise charming junction of upmarket, mofussil and fairy tales to the front-benchers who whistle at sighting each of the two generations of glitterati including Sridevi, Juhi and Madhuri. A great, watchable experiment and hopefully, Viacom should make it viable for more coming in this direction of sterotype-smashing cinema. 4 out of 5 for "Bombay Talkies". But I wonder why, U/A for a film that starts off the first story with hair-raising homosexuality. Maybe India will be the 15th nation in the world to endorse same-sex marriage now that the Censors have no objection to it.

"Barfi" Hindi Movie Review

"Barfi" is one more experimental film directed by Anurag Basu which is in a different format than what we have seen in films like "Life in Metro" or "Gangster". Ranbir Kapoor once again proves that he is ready to take on any role in his march to superstardom - he plays the role of a dumb do-gooder in Darjeeling who splits his affections between an autist girl Priyanka Chopra and a conventionally good-looking, Bengali girl (Ileana D'Cruz). Movie's finest performances are by Ranbir, Ileana (she can act, finally!) and Priyanka. Some of the most exciting camera work on Indian Celluloid comes alive in this musical extravaganza with period-film touch. The touch extends to a differently sounding BGM and music by Pritham. What lets the movie down is entertainment, entertainment and entertainment as Silk would say.

The narrative is confusing - and the director is unable to strike a balance between what he wants to convey and what will appeal cinematically. Flashbacks, which are the last refuge of the skilful director, are used liberally without a method or purpose. After about 150 minutes and several times in the movie, you realise Anurag Basu wont let you go without showing the creative stuff - intermixing art film scenes, Chaplinesque comedy, extravagant landscape shots of Greens in Bengal and a touch of Hollywood musicals. All the efforts dont add up to a convincing film, it looks indulgent and irritatingly artful, sometimes. Ranbir Kapoor has done more experimentation than any Kapoor or Khan in their entire career - "Saawariya", "Rocket Singh",, "RockStar", etc. In his own career interest, he should now act in a script that enhances mass appeal than thinning his luck at the boxx office. Honestly, despite the artful touch, gaps in story-telling make "barfi" over-indulgent. For the effort, I would give it 2.5 out of 5 or else, the movie sucks but for the Emerging Star.

A K Hangal @95. RIP. Bollywood's Angelic Old Man.

AK Hangal. RIP @95. I had the fortune to meet this towering stage/film personality when he gave me an interview at CPI congress. It was a heady feeling to push my way as a sophomore journo/freelancer for "Deccan Chronicle". We met at Railway Guest House at SCR. He was charming and gentlemanly. But the caption my editor gave for this story in DC forever estranged him - it hurt him for he was a communist at heart. I pray for his peaceful soul journey wherever he is. He gave me one of my earliest press stories while I was still in journalism school - and a scoop to boast of. Even if he has essayed fewer roles, he will be remembered forever - his multiple hats as theatre personality, as Rahim Chacha in "Sholay", as a CPI activist - all gave him a halo. He is the most-loved old man of Hindi Cinema.

Rajesh Khanna R.I.P. The Original Superstar

Rajesh Khanna. Usually Anand. Kabhi Kabhi Gum. Made blockbusters out of living life for others. Became the First Superstar and encouraged the Next Superstar big time. Shows his large-heartedness at the time. Gave Musical mileage to Kishore Kumar, RD Burman and lyricists. His taste for music was so great that his solo songs with melancholic touch are still playing at cocktail parties and get-togeth...ers with karoake mikes. His band of music goes magically well with nostalgia and single-malt whiskey parties. Without an iota of remix temptations - so much for his blend of music. Rajesh Khanna. Anybody with such a rich timber-sounding filmy name ought to have a whole generation of fresh graduates, housewives and self-employed abide by his name. And so it was with many in my family - my parents and closer elders included. He has taken the pre-liberalisation era of limited opportunities to new cinematic highs by taking a dagger to the hearts of men - and endeared himself to the ladies as a forlorn lover. Of course, this may have encouraged alcoholism and primitive brands of Teacher's whiskey - jocularly called "preacher's whiskey". Rajesh Khanna - also pushed the door open for South-Indian producers and directors and artists (other than heroines) who are not usually mobile. He was also protective of his persona till the very last - similar to Shobanbabu in Tollywood - not acting much in roles below that of the main protagonist. He has his lows in personal life but the highs make it a life worth being celebrated and remembered for. RIP.

 

 

"Cocktail" (Hindi) Movie Review

"Cocktail" is another experiment that brings back the genre of metrosexual romance with the chemistry of a much publicised starcast - Saif Ali Khan, Deepika Padukone and debutante Diana Penty. Homi Adajania is the director and he ropes in the writer-director Imtiaz Ali and another writer to pen the story. Imtiaz Ali is quite unpredictable in his scripts; most of his movies in the past from "Jab We Met" or "Love Aaj Kal" or "Rock Star" have been fluent opuses on love that remains unrequitted till the very end. In this movie, "Cocktail", Imtiaz Ali harnesses his talent at tweaking emotions of love a bit further, he creates a rapport between two girls - Deepika and Diana - then creates a rift between them later through Saif because both the girls want all of him. All this with some common and some bizarre family extensions for all the three.

The treatment is different and title-apt. Homi Adajania uses the laisse~z fare settings of London to weave the characterisations of the three principal actors the way he moulds the story - Deepika as bold and tempestuous, Diana as cautious and conservative and Saif as the quintessential Don Juan - till they all decide to do a flip-flop, in the interest of a happy ending that comes after 146 minutes of a cocktail of emotions. Pun intended. In between, the roles of Bomman Irani and Dimple Kapadia which could have infused variety and connectivity with elderly audiences had they stayed on course a few more minutes. There is also a constant tussle between the BGM score of the impressive duo Saliem-Sulemaan and the intermixed loud jingles of Pritham - despite one or two sonorous songs by Pritham towards the climax, BGM by SS is defining the key moods and moments of the film.

All the three Deepika, Saif and Diana get their share of hogging the limelight but Diana's character is weakest and inconsistent - it is because she is a looker and not an actor. Deepika shines brightest in the second half and tries to carry the film as if it is hers - with audacious dressing, bikini, uninhibitive acting. But at crucial competitive camera movements, our ageing hero Saif Ali Khan shoots from the hip every line that lingers. What he delivers with his eyes and face make it one of his best - he dominates even the hyperactive Bomman Irani sometimes. On the whole, the movie is a multiplex biopic with fast music, good visuals from London and Cape Town and easy fun that is a little more complicated. Could have been shorter - wonder what the Telugu Editor Sreekar Prasad was doing.

"Eega" (Housefly) Movie Review (Telugu)/"Makkhi" Movie Review

"Eega" means housefly in Telugu. Thats the name of SS Rajamouli's latest and most-ambitious film till date. Its the most common and harmless insect heavily spotted even in concrete jungles and unlike mosquitoes and other blood-sucking pests, it is not carnivorous and usually doesn't harm humans - it is a very fidgety creature and moves at lightning speed, hardly stays anchored at a place beyond few seconds. To make a movie on a housefly is itself audacious and insane, nobody has done it ever in Indian Films. In the west, there have been many superhero films and maybe movies on rats, monkeys, sharks, bears and deadly snakes, but not on an insect so insignificant as a housefly - its amongst the lowliest of the lot but has a picturesque body - an amber red head, two hairline whiskers, two mini hands used to navigate direction, two wings that seem to generate sound an equivalent of a helicopter taking off when in motoring mode, and an identifiable body and legs. It has the most athletic body in insect world and director Rajamouli has studied the world of houseflies to the core, except a few lapses which I will come to later. "Eega" is definitely worth a watch once for the fabulous effort to make a superhero out of an urban pest - the director has spared no effort to finetune the movie - in Special Effects, technical departments of art and cinematography, in performances by the lead starcast in which Kannada actor Sudeep excels himself, and in overall pace of the film.

Rajamouli generally lets the story line out in the pre-release buzz. So the story is well-known before: Boy (Naani) meets girl (Samantha). Both fall in love. Enter Villain (Sudeep) who lusts after the girl, kills the boy. Boy gets reborn as "Eega" and takes revenge. Quite a simple and ordinary story, isn't it? But the execution is grander and the classic three-act structure, which Rajamouli always followed, is present here too. The movie is actually a special effects movie and the effects have a running time of more than 100 minutes - that can sometimes tire the viewer. Most of the action sequences are between the "Eega" and the villain; the director applies good logicality to how a harmless housefly can wreak havoc and throw your world upside down if you mess with its lover - it will attack you at the most unexpected places when you are least prepared, like in a steam bath tub when your face protrudes out of the heat tub and all your limbs are dissembled to atttack the insect crawling on your face. Rajamouli creates more scenes like this - when the villain is driving at high-speed, making a board presentation, trying to woo Samantha, or just sleeping. "Eega" just buzzes around, pricks the sense organs and drives out the peace out of Sudeep's mind. Quite wonderfully captured these stunts with amazing detail and Hollywood-style craft. The director uses the well-known laws of physics and some aspects of biology and chemistry in the friction shown between the two characters - Eega and Sudeep.

Most of the movie, MM Keeravani (MM Kreem as known in Bollywood) has given an outstanding BGM score that heightens the impact of the SFX and the moods. Quite rarely, Keeravani stops himself, seldom seen in our movies, to let the foreground become background - meaning, the score becomes silent when the heroine Samantha tries to communicate with the hero-housefly or when the housefly is plotting the next move against Sudeep. Those moments of silence, and the early part of the movie which builds up the romance between Naani and Samantha are the cutest reels of the film. Very few lapses on the part of Rajamouli - his clarity of thought and execution, screenplay (with extended help), characterisation and pacing of the film are terrific. Where he fails is in the entertainment this time - he cuts the romantic part of the film, which he could have shown more with the "Eega" or Naani in relapse which could have endeared the masses. He cuts the most beautiful, melodious song of the movie (probably, the decade) - "Nene Naanine..." to less than two minutes, and allows just two other songs to flourish. He hasn't inputed any comedy track in the film, that can prove costly to its success. A Telugu film without comedy struggles to get repeat audiences. When you spend Rs.43 crores on eye-popping graphics, you should have atleast 15 minutes of comedy. Another drawback in the basic plot: the villain kills the hero first, but the re-incarnated hero with all his killer antics creates fear in the villain's mind but fails to kindle any sense of remorse or regret. Besides, the heroine, after knowing her lover has come back as the housefly, enjoys the company of the housefly. How does a woman co-habit with a housefly? To pun, how does a housewife co-habit with a housefly? Thats absurd.

Well, enough of hyperventilative analysis of a movie that is breathtaking in effects but falls short on practicality and comedy, excels in performances by Sudeep and Samantha. It is most definitely watchable once, and by all kids. Its a proud addition to the creative power of Tollywood. An experiment that earned its spurs for Rajamouli.

"Shanghai" Movie Review (Hindi)

“Shanghai” is the title of the latest movie directed by Dibakar Banerjee who made films like “Khosla ka Ghosla” and “Oye Lucky”. One of the true tests of finding new benefactors in film financing is to be able to continue to make films irrespective of box office success. If I remember well, DPB has found a PE firm focused on films – CinemaCapital for “Oye Lucky” and of late, it is PVR Pictures. The advantages are too many for a title like this, it will attract multiplex audiences in Mumbai as well as Shanghai, should the movie be released at all. But enough flossing, I think the title “Shanghai” is itself audacious at best. “Don’t imitate Shanghai’s success in India”, that’s the subtle message the director is trying to say.


Is he telling something original? No. As most would have covered, this movie is inspired by “Z”, made in 1969 which got the Best Picture nomination that year. Just to clarify, Costa Gavras directed the film and was made into many films before and after that.

Dibakar Banerjee ropes in the most unlikely cast who are different from each other like Idly and Pav Bhaji. Emraan Hashmi as a petty pornographer (might have been perfect except that the fellow hardly gets to kiss anybody in the film including the subjects of his video), Abhay Deol as a Tam-Brahm Investigating Officer, Farook Sheikh as his gluttony boss, Prosenjit Chatterjee as Prof.Ahmedi, a left-wing activist who is the crux character of the film and Kalki K as his lady-love and student. Then there are other characters - the lady minister who douses in gold ornaments, the two accomplices who abet arson and mindless run-overs on innocent men with a matador van and the cunning wife and widow of Prof.Ahmedi. The whole plot of the film moves on after Prof. Ahmedi gets killed by a group of right-wingers allegedly with the support of the police. And the plot thickens to reveal “fifty shades of darker grey” (pun intended) often seen in Indian corridors of power where politicians and their crony capitalists contrive to grab land masses of poor people as if they are improving their plight but actually, it’s the SEZ scam again and all that.

I can’t believe the story of “Z” fits so well into the current socio-econo-politcal scenario in India as brought out by Dibakar Banerjee. He has attempted a stunning canvass which shows things as they are without an iota of preachiness, letting the characters infuse fire into their actions and words. Each character is true to its core without creating any screen biases for the viewer to take sides thereby creating an unparalleled non-judgementality seldom achieved in our films – a pornographer wants to help the student who wants to uncover the truth, a police officer investigating the murder is upright but he gets influenced by wrong people at times and misreads the clues, a minister who clears all interfering influences on the officer becomes guilty of the crime and the wife of the activist who is killed doesn’t make efforts to nab the murderers but shamelessly stands for election on a sympathy wave. This kind of treatment and characterization is not obtained by close-up shots with latest cameras but by exuberant and skilful screenwriting – Dibakar seems to have a mastery of the medium. He gets superb performances from most people and the message at the end is both stirring and credible. There is almost a feeling that the audience knows who is right and who is wrong based on the camera evidence and the scripted lines each character speaks. I was reminded of the play of Ayn Rand – “The Night of 16th of January” where the audience becomes the jury to decide.



Dibakar Banerjee also gets extravagant and classy output from the technical departments of editing, cinematography and music by Vishal Shekar. A special mention, I feel, must be made of Michael Mcarthy ( I waited for end titles to note this name) who scored background music. It’s a great experiment I thought must be closer to what a Rasoolkutty and AR Rahman achieve together. The music is vibrant and apt and evocative like in Satyajit Ray films but the background sounds around the scene are also mercilessly captured – so you find the tindrum vibrations of the staircase leading to the living room where action is, or you find the near and far drumbeats of the next byelanes away from the scene or you find a literal pin-drop sound which doesn’t distract but adds a rare natural feel.


114 minutes of this film must be breezy viewing but there are occasional lags. Treat them like the occasional indulgences of a brilliant Bengali film-maker. This is good, realistic and entertaining too without any cinematic liberties. I can’t remember when NFDC last co-produced a film made for mainstream audiences. Performances-wise, Abhay Deol and Emraan Hashmi come out quite good. Farook Sheikh shows his shinier side of acting so well- why isn’t he seen as often as Naseeruddin Shah, I wonder? Prosenjit Chatterjee, the leading Bengali actor is the most memorable face in the film, not Kalki (she is forgettable). His intensity on the screen while he is going is hard to beat. On the whole, if you are in the mood for a good arty-realistic commercial cinema from a dapper film-maker DPB, its worth a while.

Single-Screen Theatres Vs. Multiplexes, again!

Deepak, Odeon join the growing list of theatres in Hyderabad losing out to the incessant march of Realtors tearing down buildings for flats. Deepak theatre in Narayanguda used to be a flop movie theatre - it was always getting renovated and remodelled and we used to occasionally watch movies but never got the limelight of stand-alone theatres like Shanti 70mm and Sudarshan 35mm etc.

Odeon complex sprung up relatively new in the RTC X roads but even three theatres in a portly campus hasn't helped them to make profits. Whats happeening to the single-screen theatres? As 80 per cent of all movies I ever watched were in these kind of theatres - the whistles, the papers splintered, the Rangoli on the floor adjoining the screen, the curtain-raiser and the curtain-closer, the non-discreet tring tring sound of the can opener pinching the cool drinks at interval time, the vent-out of feelings and emotions which is hardly visible in multiplex screens (where everybody is "dignified" and watch movies with a stiff upper lip).

I have mentioned in an older post about the long list of theatres pulled down for property development. One major issue facing these single-screen owners is the low rentals. Last week, I watched "Gabbar Singh" at Devi 70mm and was amazed at the high-quality of sound, visual grandeur and the elevation not to mention the ecstasy and the madness of 1750 people. Between the three segments of ticket prices, the theatre collects Rs.49000/- per show at an average of Rs.28/-. And for this, the management gets an approximate rental of Rs.3 lacs per week, sometimes lower at Rs.2.30 lacs. This is the theatre rental in a prime area of RTC X Roads which is the heart of Nizam area. In the plush single-screen theatres of Kukatpally, the rentals are close to Rs.1.50-1.80 lacs per week. So, in a year of 52 weeks, the rentals come to Rs.1.56 crs. Thats the income of these theatres. You will be aghast to know that these rentals are not even close to what Marriage Halls earn in a day. Even if the marriage halls are vacant for 150 days in a year, they give better rentals than Cinema Halls.

No wonder, cinema hall owners with vast acres are merrily converting their properties for development. Sudarshan 70mm, near RTC X Roads, already converted into Housing complex is charging Rs.1.00 crore for each flat. What ails the single-screen theatres is a combination of many factors - 1.Apathy of film Producers 2.Slab System of Rentals (which encourages big-star movies) 3.Fear of falling occupancies - which makes them hang on to poor rentals 4. Falling patronage of A-class crowds 5. Low Financial Reserves to recreate Multiplex Screens. For e.g the owners of Sangeet 70mm had a gala time for so many years, but eventually they lost out to multiplexes and had to seek huge loans and capital to begin the ongoing work on multiplex in Secunderabad. On the other hand, Tivoli/Lamba complex was created as a fine multiplex lookalike with better planning and fiscal management.

Single-screen theatres wont fully die down but unless they have better vision and planning and help from Film Producers Council, the writing is on the wall. I can't resist ending this piece without rendering an old joke about Deepak cinema. One day, former Chief Minister late T Anjaiah was passing by Deepak theatre and saw the board "Under Renovation". He remarked to his Secretary who read the board - "Oh I see, its an English movie."

"Ek Mein Aur Ek Tu" Hindi Movie Review

"Ek Mein Aur Ek Tu" stars a metrosexual emerging star Imran Khan and a gregarious-and-gorgeous-looking Diva Kareena Kapoor in an improbable love story set in Vegas. (I don't know if its Las Vegas). Both of them, out of job-loss blues and depressive from breakups, meet at a Psychiatrist who charges per hour and queerly end up in a home for Christmas. Then they "marry" and quickly try to "annul" t...heir marriage. The bizarre twist turns to India where Kareena beckons Imran to Mumbai to spend a few days before the annulment takes effect. Nothing taxing here except that Rahul Kapoor (Imran Khan) bumps into his super-rich and stiff-upper-lip parents who pummel him into leading a mechanical almost soul-less life of existence. Director Shakun Batra encouraged by Karan Johar tries to weave a flimsy romantic plot into a lively, breezy and mostly funny tale that touches you without giving an overdose of everything. Though the story and the treatment often reminds you of several Hollywood movies and Hindi movies like ("Love Aajkal" and "Jab We Met") and Telugu movies (like "Bommarillu" and "Yeh Maaya Chesaave") there's a certain freshness in the movie and an energy from the main cast - a 32 year old Kareena still looking a freshman 27 and a well-groomed 25 year old Imran Khan. Cinematography is terrific - captures the beat of night life in the US as well as the varying beats of Mumbai with the same verve. Music by Amish Trivedi is average but not memorable to haunt you. Screenplay and storytelling deserve a pat - there is enormous effort to make it adlibbingly slick and good. Two hours of good fun!

"Don-2" Movie Review

"Don-2" is Shah Rukh Khan's second film for 2011 and could do better than "Ra.One" despite low-key publicity. Farhan Akhtar's films and scripting caliber are always something to look forward to - he rarely loses his mojo. After the success of Don, he and chum Ridesh Sadhwani seem well-determined to enhance the franchisee value of "Don" - and they do reasonably well in capturing the original mo...od of Don in this sequel. Shah Rukh Khan looks comfortable in his skin - and swagger and swashbuckle come naturally to him in the movie as he mouths many pithy one-liners - he packs a punch in many of the garbs he puts on in the film - first as a Thai prisoner (in an adorable hermit-like Samurai) and later as the metrosexual and suave Don. Treatment of the film is the same as that of the first - slow-moving but steady and slick action sequences and the song numbers that burst out lately. Bomman Irani doesn't get a role he deserves but others like Kunal Kapoor and Nawab Shah do better. Priyanka Chopra gets as meaty role as possible as a cop out to nab Don while for Lara Dutta - she doesn't get anywhere even if she shows more skin than Priyanka Chopra. The plot of the film is a little less multi-layered than "Don" as the scene shifts from Asia to Europe where Don wants to rule now. I wonder if thats what all Dons are thinking right now - Don's job is to get the plates to print the Euro in Berlin from a German Bank DCB. I wonder if thats true again - I thought Brussels office of the ECB prints the Euro - but lets leave that. The scene then shifts mostly between Zurich and Berlin for the rest of the movie and shows how the heist is performed with perfect execution by Don and team. No twist in the tail here unlike the original - and thats what leaves the fans with a uni-dimensional flavor - an uber cool James Bond project disguised as Don-2 with car chases and fights that get the gut minus romance. 146 minutes of boyhood adventures minus "real" girl stuff is what Farhan Akhtar dexterously weaves with superb help from Editing, Cinematography (someone called James West who is truly outstanding) and music. Shankar-Ehsan-Loy score magnificently on BGM but their songs are not that hummable as "Aaj Keee Raaaaat..." (Don). The surprise thats worth the movie's weight in gold is Hrithik Roshan's brief cameo before the interval. Watchable once for the effort and the scale of execution but repeated viewing I doubt. Shah Rukh fans can atleast rejoice he is ending 2011 better than what he struck you in the middle with.

The Dirty Picture

"The Dirty Picture" is not such a dirty picture to watch except for the adult content. I haven't seen Milan Luthria's "Once Upon a Time..." before so I went to the movie expecting to see a raunchy take of the movies of the 80s because the subject of the film played by Vidya Balan is "Silk". We recognised soon after the titles that it had astonishing prettiness, fluidity and a musical line. It sho...ws all the trappings of a nubile young thing becoming a starlet only to get into the lowlife that accompanies celluloid magic - the baggage of success that gets unwanted people, ego-clashes, financial woes and finally, souring of good luck. In the 160 minutes of the movie, you get a peek into the surreptious world of heroines who get drawn like moths to fires of stardom and adulation that utlimately deserts them. Vidya Balan portrays the character of "Silk" with utmost honesty and boldness rarely seen in the "Parineeta" girl and had she not played this character as a woman aware of her sensuality with guts and emotional chutzpah, the movie could have dangerously slipped into a C-grade film. Vidya gives this film its greatest reason to watch and its redemption and its dignity - you quickly move into a gear of emotional journey with the character in all the highs and the lows. Of all the men in her life -Naseerudin Shah stands out with Emran and Tussar not so effective. Writer Rajat Arora must be complimented for penning some outstanding lines seldom seen in Bollywood except in Art Films. He gives Vidya Balan the lines that even angry young men and stammering superstars don't get whistled for. Milan gets extra-ordinary support from Vishal Shekar in BGM and the song "Oo Lala Oo Lala". His shot selection, stylish picturisation and non-judgemental characterisation makes him watchable in commercial films. He has explained well why the 80s films of vamps and sirens have given away to the heroines themselves becoming and dressing like vamps. Vidya could well sweep all the awards this year. Watchable once but beware of some bold content.

Tollywood Vs. Bollywood

I would have consumed about 3500 Tollywood movies since childhood. That speaks why I get so imbecile sometimes. Here's a snapshot on what I feel is right comparison with Bollywood - the o- nly other film industry which we should look shoulder-to-shoulder. I am a big,fat,overgrown kid embracing Tollywood cinema and have no hesitation in extolling Tollywood till the cows come home. Here's my version of why Tollywood scores over Bollywood. 1.Tollywood makes more films than Bollywood.




2.Tollywood is a confluence of best practices of South from Kollywood, Malayalam and Kannada industries.



3. The percentage of non-Telugus watching Telugu movies has increased dramatically.



4.There was a time Tollywood used to copy Bollywood plots - the trend has reversed in last decade.



5. Tollywood has exported more Directors (K Raghavendra Rao, K Vishwanath, Bapu, Puri Jagannadh, K Murli Mohan Rao, Tatineni Rama Rao, Ramgopla Varma, EVV Satyanarayana etc.), more producers (DRamanaidu, Allu Arvind,RGV, etc.), more heroines, few heroes, singers, many character actors than any. Now it has exported musical talent which should tell how Telugu tunes are such a hit – MM Kreem, Devi Sri Prasad besides Kollywood legends like Ilaya Raja and AR Rehman whose global appeal grew because of the germination of Tollywood plots. The best technicians in the country could be working for Tollywood at some time.



6. More comedy fares that have come in the last twenty years are all re-hashed versions of some Tollywood Plot.



7. The turnaround times of Tollywood films beat anybody in the world- because of tighter controls imposed by Studios, production values, daily shooting costs, remuneration (which sometimes is getting out-of-hand because of Star tantrums), scripting and storyboard details – you have movies made in 3 days and in 30 days also. The work culture amongst Tollywood is amongst the best – only one Technicians’s strike in the last 25 years should speak volumes about that. Efficiency and vitality is a hallmark of Tollywood. It still encourages and attracts new talent –in production, technical and acting departments



8. The interplay amongst best talent’s induction in Tollywood is a known facet – Hariprasad Chaurasia scoring music solo, Sivamani’s introduction first in Telugu film, Rehman’s initial learnings crystallized by Tollywood’s music directors, Best graphics done in Tollywood films right from “Maaya bazaar” films.



9. Today’s top twitterati – Big B, Sallu, Aamir, Shahrukh, RGV, Hrithik, etc. all follow Tollywood plots and releases – there is top vying for marking lien on successful Telugu films.



10. Despite the extraordinary harvest of talent in Tollywood which comes from gritty producers, honest actors and passionate technicians from directors to script-writers to fight-masters and music directors and singers who push themselves – the volume is only now growing. This still can’t beat Bollywood because of the hype but if some aspects are taken care of - you have a winning formula for PE Investors as well.



11. Afterall, unlike Bollywood, Tollywood has never seen any unholy nexus between the mafia and film fraternity. There are only recent rumours about drug-trafficking but still is a far cry from other industries. Unlike Kollywood where few producers call the shots, Tollywood is still relatively better than other film industries – though one can say it is also oligopolistic.



12. Funds like Cinema capital, Banks like IDBI, ING Vysya, UCO Bank, IndusInd Bank, and players like Walt Disney, UTV Software have entered distribution and production in Tollywood indicating the growing size



13. In content from mythological enactments to realistic portrayals, Tollywood is where people turn for inspiration – the idea is originated here although full potential is not encashed here.



14. The number of studios, media houses, animation companies, recording studios, and the stream of technicians who work grueling schedules here alongwith a continuous re-tooling of inter-generational talent bank amongst the top families of Tollywood augurs well for the industry.



15. More non-Telugus in India and Diaspora outside India now watch Telugu films despite their limited-class appeal and non-serious content – and circulate the itunes and pirate the content because of the sheer quality.

"Rajneeti" Movie Review

"Rajneeti" is barely watchable with an intriguing plot of political rivalry between two families represented by lot of actors who saw better days. Before you realise that there's a lot of overdone plot, and needless deaths and over-simplified political undertones and utter lack of innovation in script and storytelling, you can find better pastime in trying to correlated all the characters in the cast with the who's who of Mahabharata. I could count nine characters. Prakash Jha delivers a below-par performance as there's nothing novel about the movie. Arjun Rampal is thoroughly convincing while Ranbir Kapoor comes up with another fine performance. Katrina Kaif  - much ado is more about her resemblance to madamji. But its not all that groundbreaking. There's neither "Neeti" nor "Rajneeti" about the movie but mindless violence at a numbingly slow pace.

"Badmash Company" Movie Review

To say Shahid Kapoor is the next big thing is not unreal if you watch "Badmash & Co." Yash Raj Films finally allows a director P Shetty to pursue script with conviction  - financial chicanery, family values and friendship with a rags-to-riches redux allows many variations and range of emotions to portray for Shahid aided by glamour from Anushka Sharma. Locations enhance the story rather than distract and absence of violence make it breezy and largely cheerful fare. Movie is just a bit long because there's no twist in the tail but the charm is a straight-forward screenplay that entertains.

Who are the 3 Idiots? Not Chetan Bhagat!

After the infamous run-in with the producers of the movie 3 Idiots, many would have written off Chetan Bhagat - the writer of the story that inspired the movie ("Five Point Someone")... Not only is Chetan Bhagat bracing himself for the next novel after "The 2 States of My Marriage" but he is laughing all the way to the bank. Sources from his publishers tell that after the successful release of 3 Idiots, Chetan Bhagat's books are in terrific demand, more than they can cope with. Already, he is the undisputed paperback king of India, but after this movie's release, even in Hyderabad, there's demand for 22000 copies  of Five Point Someone against 5000 copies available in various bookshops. The shortfall continues across pan-India. Whatever happened to the short-selling    by the author, Chetan (www.chetanbhagat.com) also made  neat capital out of the movie.  

Good website for Bollywood? What about Tollywood?

Is there a website you can zero in on all the block-busters right from Sholay to Maine Pyar Kiya, from Ghajini to Guide, from 3 Idiots to DDLJ? Go to http://www.boxofficeindia.com/ for a low-down on all block-busters. They may not be inflation-adjusted, but they give a way out of the maze of figures thrown in by media reports - whether MNIK (My Name is Khan) is Rs.150 crs. or 64 crs. Its a good site to compare apples vs. oranges and oranges vs. mangoes. But dismally, there's no credible website which tracks down the prolific Tollywood and its numerous releases - speculation and hearsay dominate Tollywood more than reality check. Its grown appreciably in the last many years but now comes an inflection point for more transparency so that we grow bigger and brighter. Any suggestions? One guy who I admire is Allu Sirish (brother of Allu Arjun). His take on Tollywood is different and enjoins the important thread between creativity and commercial viability. Check his views at : http://www.allusirish.in/