LAAPATA LADIES MOVIE REVIEW

Laapata Ladies is a triumphant concoction of humor, social satire and inherent sincerity that is packaged to fill your heart with warmth and leave a big smile on your face. 

It also marks Kiran Rao’s entry into mainstream cinema after her indie debut Dhobi Ghat. Her complete submission to the light-hearted yet consistently engaging script by Sneha Desai took me by surprise. It’s hard to tell to what extent Aamir Khan (Producer) contributed to the filmmaking process, but given his impeccable track record as Producer of successful comedies like Peepli Live and Delhi Belly to name a few, it goes to show that his creative sensibilities continue to remain solid.

Barring a few familiar faces like Ravi Kishan, a majority of the cast is populated with newcomers who display a supreme level of screen command which many seasoned actors still try to find. 

The story charts relatively tested territory in terms of misplaced identities and regressive marital traditions in rural India, yet Kiran Rao consciously abstains from going into preachy mode and instead lets the inherent farcical nature of the premise deliver the message.

I’m going with 4/5 for Laapata Ladies. The film serves as a reminder that what’s actually Laapata is such innocence associated with Hindi films nowadays.

ROCKY AUR RANI KI PREM KAHANI MOVIE REVIEW

Karan Johar’s directorial debut Kuch Kuch Hota Hain released in 1998. 25 years and 7 feature films later, not much has changed in his stories or style of filmmaking. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, though. While watching the latest film of his ‘Dharma’tic universe Rocky aur Rani (the actual name is too long), what struck me was the dichotomy of the constant feeling of ‘been there seen that’ and the ability of Johar to milk the most of this situation to craft a consistently engaging film. In that sense, familiarity is both the film’s biggest enemy as well as biggest strength. 

Welcome to the world of Karan, ‘Jo-har’ film mein bahut paise kharch karta hain. One of Bollywood’s biggest ambassadors of extravagant filmmaking, he pays no heed to his detractors’ questioning and bashing of this splurging on costumes & songs, but instead revels in filling every frame of his films with affluence. Be it students showing off their Louis Vitton products in a college that looks nothing short of a palace, or a rich spoilt brat pursuing ‘Mere Baap ki Aarzoo (MBA) in London, or inserting an elaborate wedding sequence just for a short film, Johar spends more money on one song than Anurag Kashyap or Dibakar Banerjee spend on their entire film. It’s a crime to be poor in his world. In fact, Jaya Bachchan’s name in the film is ‘Dhan’lakshmi. No kidding! Now, if all of this financial freedom was used in vain, it would be unacceptable, but I have to give credit to Johar that his films are genuinely delightful to savor. He usually has a strong grip on his screenplay, which although is just recycling a similar story each time, is fun to watch for most part. 

Rocky aur Rani falls in the same category. The first half is light, breezy that sails through mainly because of the electrifying chemistry between its leads. The makers do go occasionally overboard by relying so heavily on the nostalgia of old hit songs (like abhi na jaao chhod kar) that the novelty of the whole idea dries up quickly. There are, of course, the catchy songs and the grandeur at display which is captivating, but what lends the film the emotional heft in the second half is the way he sets up conflict between the main characters and sustains that tension between families and relationships. 

At almost 3 hours of running time, Rocky aur Rani seldom feels boring, thanks to the perfect casting. Alia Bhatt in a saree and bindi can win hearts without even acting by just appearing on screen. It’s hard to think of anyone playing Rocky other than Ranveer Singh. Their solid performances help overlook many of the film’s inconsistencies. Except Jaya Bachchan, all the other actors complement each other and the story very well. 

I am going with 3/5 for Rocky aur Rani. Amidst all the shine and glamour lies an emotional core that is unabashedly tapped into for good measure by Karan Johar. The film rarely soars like it should have, but I still recommend giving it a shot for a dose of good humor and wholesome entertainment.

LAAL SINGH CHADDHA MOVIE REVIEW

Our homegrown Gump knocked on the doors of the cinemas last week in India but released in theatres in the Netherlands only the day before yesterday. After listening to incessant backlash from critics and audience alike for a week, my hopes on the film should ideally have slumped. However, given Aamir Khan's previous track record as a Producer, I remained sanguine. After all, Aamir the Actor may have made some questionable decisions in the past, but Aamir the Producer has never faulted (Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na may have been the worst of the lot, but as a standalone film that was not too bad either). Thankfully, this hypothesis was further strengthened after watching Laal Singh Chaddha; a lovingly crafted film that takes quite some getting used to its tone and atmospherics, but halfway into the film I was consumed entirely by it, struggling to hold back tears on many occassions. It's not a perfect film, but it's so extemely likeable that you are willing to forgive its shortcomings in return for giving you a good time.

Forrest Gump was a classic....at least that's what they say...I, particularly, was not very impressed by that movie for the prime reason that I could not connect with the characters and the story. That is where Laal Singh Chaddha emerges real strong: it establishes a genuine affection for the tiny little world it creates around itself. Still, it takes quite some guts and belief to recreate a movie which has been seen and talked about so many times in the past. Returning as a director after his very endearing debut Secret Superstar, Advait Chandan handsomely rises to the occasion and sticks faithfully to the original (original screenplay by Eric Roth and adapted screenplay by the talented Atul Kulkarni) by keeping things simple and light hearted. Despite having the groundwork being laid by Eric Roth, the makers of Laal Singh have done a commendable job at translating that vision to suit Indian cinema without ever diluting it. The script had an inherent sincerity which has been retained in essence, which I consider a big win for the film. 

Having said that, Laal Singh also retains the flaws (or at least what I consider flaws) of the original. My patience was seriously tested in the first one hour of the film where the direction in which the film was moving appeared hazy. I agree that it is not a plot based film, but without a convincing enough story, my attention began to wear thin. Aamir Khan, too, is not instantly likeable at first. There's always that thought constantly running in your head if a younger actor should have been playing his part. But, all these concerns were put to rest in the second half where his mettle as an actor overshadowed everything else. Coupled with the soft directorial touches by Advait Chandan, Aamir outdoes himself in some crucial scenes, especially towards the end, portraying the gradual growth and maturity of his character with unmatched ease. The film may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I would recommend watching it just for him. In fact, almost every actor has been perfectly cast in their roles, including Kareena Kapoor Khan, Mona Singh, Manav Vij among others. A loud shout out also to Pritam's terrific score and Amitabh Bhattacharya's profound yet entertaining lyrics. They play a big role in sustaining the mood of the film throughout. 

I am going with 3.5/5 for Laal Singh Chaddha. The extra half star is for Aamir. Although the film is long and does not have a dense plot to boast of, I was so settled in eventually that I did not want the film to end. Your mind knows that the movie should end given that all loose ends have been tied, but your heart doesn't want it to end. This exact thought is echoed in the theme of the film "zindagi golgappe ki tarah hoti hain, pet bhale hi bhar jaave hain par mann nahi bharta". 

GEHRAIYAAN MOVIE REVIEW

Soaked in themes of infidelity, morality and the harsh realities of modern urbanism, Gehraiyaan, directed by Shakun Batra, is a wildly engrossing and occasionally disturbing (okay, maybe more than occasional) film that is as much a victory of the writing as it is of the internalized lived-in performances. 

Shakun Batra's directorial curve has grown more exponentially than the surge in COVID cases in Europe in the last few months. Debuting with Ek Main Aur Ek Tu, which frankly was a passable romantic comedy, he upgraded to the terrific Kapoor & Sons, a film which dented the image of the typical cutesy Indian middle class family which Hindi films have portrayed for years before. The characters were flawed, they made seriously questionable decisions and they all kept secrets of their own, all of which were strategically and elegantly let out in an extremely engaging fashion. Despite all its merits, I still felt the film could have been crisper and more focused, especially in the first half. At a running time of two and a half hours, however, Gehraiyaan rarely feels long because Batra and his co-writers painstakingly build up the plot and imbue each frame with moody atmospherics, throwing in twist after twist to sustain the tension. The film is darker and more unsettling, even by Batra's own standards.

While his direction certainly cannot be faulted, the real hero of the film remains the script. Just when we begin to think that the film is essentially one character's story, the writers turn the spotlight onto another character, making this person now the "interim protagonist". Bolstered by a radiant ensemble, each and every actor gets a chance to shine. Rajat Kapoor is suitably sly; Ananya Pandey, although still raw, is nicely cast in a role which seems like her natural self for the most part. Deepika Padukone and Siddhant Chaturvedi do most of the emotional heavy lifting and they come off as utterly convincing. They bring the required depth to every scene, something which the film aimed to explore even through its title. 

My only complaint with the film is a revelation about one of the 'interim protagonist's" relation with the parents in the last bits of the film. It felt force-fed into the story for the supposed purpose of tying up loose threads but it comes off as a tad tacky. This, however, is offset by the makers' decision to keep an open ending and let us mull over the consequences of that final encounter. It's probably a manifestation of Batra's inherent cynicism where he cannot let his characters and their lives stay happy for too long.    

I am going with 4/5 stars for Gehraiyaan. While this may not be everyone's cup of tea, I highly recommend you to give it a shot, especially because films of this supreme quality and texture rarely knock on the doors of Hindi cinema. 

SARDAR UDHAM REVIEW

The reason for my 5-month long hiatus from reviewing films is a concoction of 5% adjusting to new life changes, 10% laziness and 85% declining quality of hindi films. I thought this period would get extended by many more months after I watched Shiddat last week - an atrocious, mind numbing film whose story was probably picked up straight out of the trash can of a writer in the 80’s. Nevertheless, I was still sanguine about Sardar Udham because of the rich portfolio of the makers associated with it. The good news is that not only did the film surpass my expectations, it also can claim to be one of the best biopics ever made in the country. While one Kaushal brother tried to save the dignity of one film (Sunny Kaushal’s performance was the only redeeming quality of Shiddat), the other (Vicky Kaushal) has saved the dignity of the entire industry. Well done boys!

 

Just a few minutes into Sardar Udham, it becomes quite evident that the filmmaking on display is first rate. Director Shoojit Sircar, who helmed some of the best films of the previous decade (except Gulabo Sitabo, every film of his is a gem), wastes no time in feeding us with backstories, gratuitous caricatures and/or unsolicited joingoism, all of which have at some point or the other plagued so many other films of this genre in the past. Here, he chooses to tell a rather complex story in an honest, unadulterated fashion which keeps us invested in the plot and the characters throughout even during some unconvincing bits, especially in the middle portions of this justifiably long film. Sircar strikes real gold not when he is following the dense plotting to assassinate the perpetrator of the globally infamous Jallianwala Bagh massacre, but instead when he taps into the emotional energy of the characters by giving us a tour into their heads to see what drives them and what leads them to do what they do. As a result, the film is more of a stripped down character study with a deliberately meditative pace that allows us to meet Udham Singh in person. In fact, without giving away too much, I must say that the last one hour or so of the film is so masterfully directed and exquisitely shot that I wish you good luck in holding back your tears. A huge shout out also co-writers Ritesh Shah and Shubhendu Bhattacharya who weave together plenty of tense moments in a well researched but shrewd screenplay despite minimum available information on this part of our history.

It is a well known fact that the central role was originally meant to be essayed by Irrfan Khan. While there is no doubt about the additional depth he would have brought to the character, Vicky Kaushal handsomely rises to the occassion and delivers a performance that would be remembered for years to come. He oozes a natural charm and inherent believability that helps establish an instant connection with his character.

I am going with a solid 4/5 and two big thumb up for for Sardar Udham. The British government has yet to offer an official apology for all the deaths in the 1919 tragedy. Meanwhile, the Indian filmmakers who resort to repetitive stories and lazy remakes also ought to apologize for their actions and take lessons from this film. Despite his varied filmography and story landscapes, the only repetition which Shoojit Sircar can be accused of is melting our hearts each time with his keenly observed and sure-footed direction. And I forgive him for that :D. Do yourself a favour and watch the film right away!

MEEL PATTHAR MOVIE REVIEW

Blurring the lines between cinema and reality, Meel Patthar offers an unflinching portrayal of a marginalized section of the society 

Every scene of Meel Patthar is lovingly crafted. Typically, a conversation in a scene is designed to convey a great deal of information about the world that is being studied but at the same time to hold back enough so as to sustain a sense of equivocacy that looms large over the film. It is this distinctive style of unobtrusive filmmaking adopted by director Ivan Ayr which is particularly engrossing.

Ivan Ayr, who helmed one of my favorite films of 2018 Soni, tries to capture the essence of the daily life of a truck driver by populating it with flesh and blood actors who walk and talk as if they are unaware of the presence of a camera around them, conversations that are instantly relatable and long single takes which allow you to soak yourself in the scene.  

(Read my review of Soni here: https://filmistaanreviews.blogspot.com/2019/01/soni-movie-review.html)

Meel Patthar is a well-researched film. It is quite evident in the casual exchanges between truck drivers, the pertinent problem of agitation of workers used for loading and unloading of material from trucks against the minimum wage, and most importantly in the honest attempt to give the audience a tour inside the head of an individual caught up in the hassles of the profession. Ayr explores themes like the thankless nature of such a job, the inadvertence towards personal health, and the risk of training a newbie only to realize that the goal of this mentorship is to guide them enough to eventually take over from their master. There is a running track around the sudden death of the protagonist’s wife, but Ayr is in no mood for spoon-feeding us with a backstory and instead imbues the script with a mysterious aura around characters whom we don’t see but are still immensely curious about.

Perhaps, my only problem with the film is that it lacked an uber goal. I understand the fact that it’s not plot-driven, but given that the film dealt with multiple relevant societal issues, it could have further benefitted from anchoring the script in one of these themes which ultimately could take the shape of its true identity. Take the example of Soni. That film was an evocative commentary on the state of the police ecosystem in Delhi but gender bias served as the primary medium for Ayr to express his views on other components of the system. However, to give the director his due, I guess in this film, his agenda was to reinforce the irony of constantly travelling but not getting anywhere in this process.

I am going with 3.5/5 for Meel Patthar. You can watch it on Netflix. Just two films old, Ivan Ayr has silently made his way into the list of directors whose work I eagerly look forward to. I am not sure if this is everyone’s cup of tea but I still recommend you give it a chance. How often can we boast of making a film that stays true to its art form and yet remain gripping in its own charming way? 

AK vs AK movie review

 

AK vs AK, director Vikramaditya Motwane’s fifth feature film, belongs to the genre of meta cinema wherein a film within a film is being shot. It is touted as an experimental film, but anyone even remotely familiar with Motwane’s filmography will attest to the fact that every single film of his has been experimental in many ways. After debuting with Udaan (a film which shaped my cinematic sensibilities; some of you reading this are already aware of my obsession with it :P) he was labelled as an Indie filmmaker. Not a wrong assumption given that the film was bankrolled by the pioneer of independent cinema in India (Hint: He’s one of the AK’s in the title :P). But then he came up with the poetic beauty Lootera, which revealed his predisposition to the captivating use of color, sound and imagery to create a film brimming with purity. His third film, Trapped, was a survival drama about a man locked up in own house and left without the basic needs of food and water. Unlike its title, the film was a liberating experience that left many of his fans struggling to give a name to his style of filmmaking. Post Trapped, Motwane was like “I wanna make a superhero film” and Boom! Bhavesh Joshi swoops in to give us our own Avenger. Although the film did not do well at the box office (sadly not unlike his other films) and wasn’t as critically acclaimed either since it was a victim of bad timing of release, it wasn’t his direction at fault because the story itself could have been so much better. Oftentimes we hear people saying “the film had his/her stamp all over it”….that just doesn’t apply to Motwane. The guy changes his ink pad with every film!!!

Anyway, my apologies for the long eulogy :P. Let’s talk about AK vs AK, his latest tryst with experimental filmmaking. If you’ve seen the trailer, you already know the basic plot: In an attempt to set a new standard of filmmaking, a critically acclaimed director (Anurag Kashyap) kidnaps the daughter of a superstar (Anil Kapoor) and films his search in real time. This makes for a fascinating plot and Motwane & team (what an audacious premise by Avinash Sampath!!) handle the proceedings deftly by positioning it as a cat and mouse chase thriller; the only difference being that the cat and mouse both are running alongside each other. In this intense battle between an actor and a director both Anil and Anurag dive into this dark world no holds barred, sportingly playing exaggerated version of their real selves.

There’s a lot of pleasure to be derived through all the inside jokes targeted at their careers and family members and the inventiveness of filmmaking is made clear by fact that the makers use this humor to actually build the tension and sustain the pressure cooker urgency throughout. In the hands of a less competent director, the film would have crushed under needless desire to assign more importance to technicalities of camerawork and gratuitous cameos at the cost of entertainment. Another reason why the film works is because Mumbai is weaved into the script as an indispensable character. In one of the film’s best scenes, Anil, wounded and helpless, has to nevertheless perform for a crowd gathered at a procession at their request. After all, he is a fan-made superstar and catering to his fans is his only responsibility as an actor. Pure Genius!

I am going with 3.5/5 for AK vs AK. The minor inconsistencies in the pacing & climax aside and the fact that it does have a limited scope to engage, the film offers an experience you’ve never had before and will surely not in a long time to come. Don’t miss it!

(Warning: The other release this week is Coolie No. 1. If AK vs AK is a battle of an actor and director, Coolie No.1 is the battle of David Dhawan and Logic. The choice is yours! :P)