Nava Manmadhudu (Thanga Magan) Movie Review

I have started following Dhanush’s work ever since Ranjhanaa and I pretty much look forward to watching his impressive performances in film after film. So, Nava Manmadhudu (Thanga Magan in Tamil), unofficially dubbed as ‘VIP 2’, starring Dhanush,  Samantha and Amy Jackson is directed by Velraj with music from Anirudh Ravichander, basically the same team that brought the cult hit Raghuvaran Btech (VIP).

Nava Manmadhudu follows a predictable pattern, similar to that of Raghuvaran with the shorter runtime of about two hours being split equally between comedy, romance, verbal face-offs and couple of fights. It makes for a very entertaining first half with clean, refreshing comedy here and there, while the second half makes for a decent engaging watch.

This movie has a simple storyline backed with very strong performances from Dhanush, Samantha and the support cast. And let’s just say Amy Jackson has a very beautiful smile and she is improving with her acting.

For me, the most endearing parts of the film have been the sequences where Dhanush and Samantha were together on the frame. They had remarkable chemistry going for them. Samantha did extremely well in a role that we haven’t seen her before and she carried away the part of a quintessential new bride of a middle class family with ease. She looked elegant in her sarees and put on display new dimensions in her acting that she would seldom have been able to with Tollywood industry.

The USP of this film though, other than Dhanush, has been its music. I have been hooked onto two songs of this film with them being played out in a repeat mode on my playlist. Expectedly I have been listening only to the Tamil versions of these songs, Enna Solla (Emannavo in Telugu) and Oh Oh (Manasa Manasain Telugu) even though I don’t understand the language because somehow I feel the dub songs are never the same. (Link to the Enna Solla Song- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iR5V9sHEtQ) The background score of Anirudh is pretty kick-ass too whenever the scene demands for it and I have to say that he is impressing me more and more as a complete film composer with each outing.

But the point where I felt the film falter was that while the second half is engaging enough, it just lacks the strength in its central plot that we expect it to have. Most of it just feels a bit too routine and the ending too is felt a bit abrupt. It lacked certain x-factor, like a single strong antagonist. But all of it can be over looked and on the whole the movie makes up to be a good enough time pass flick.

Nava Manmadhudu (Thanga Magan in Tamil) isn’t another ‘Raghuvaran Btech (VIP)’ but still makes for a good, one-time entertaining watch.

My Rating: 110/150

Breakdown: What are we seeking as a Society? Fear or Hope?

In the light of the release of the juvenile convict of the 2012 Delhi rape case, we have seen the rise of a lot of angry voices, and rightly so. An individual, a prime accused who is convicted of brutal rape and murder of a girl, has been set free after only 3 years. It understandably enrages many. But the punishment that was served was only a reflection of the course of existing law on juveniles, i.e., Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2000.  So there’s no point in blaming the courts for doing their jobs (Read no point in criticizing the Delhi High Court for refusing to give a stay order)

However, many people have been rightly criticizing the sorry state of democracy in the country where no bill has seen the light of the day in the past two sessions in Rajya Sabha. Thanks to the strong political ethics (yes, that’s sarcasm) followed by the top two most parties of India, some much needed bills are biting the dust of the shelves of Rajya Sabha. (The story of Congress vs BJP tug of war in Rajya Sabha is a story for another day)

One of those bills stuck in the Upper House happens to be an amendment to Juvenile Justice Act, introduced by the Union Minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi.

According to the bill that was passed in Lok Sabha, “The new proposed Act provides that in case a heinous crime has been committed by a person in the age group of 16-18 years it will be examined by the Juvenile Justice Board to assess if the crime was committed as a ‘child’ or as an ‘adult’. Since this assessment will take place by the Board which will have psychologists and social experts, it will ensure that the rights of the juvenile are duly protected if he has committed the crime as a child. The trial of the case will accordingly take place as a juvenile or as an adult on the basis of this assessment” (source from: PBI)

It is here that the debate rages, from people from all quarters throwing their arguments and counter arguments.

On one hand, I believe that the very idea or the principle behind law, other than giving justice to the victim, is the concerted belief of the society to drive in a sense of deterrence and a fear of conviction into the society at large from committing a similar crime. In that light, to see a prime accused escaping the cusps of stringent laws just because of the convenience of falling under age by a mere couple of months can indeed act as counter deterrent. So, by that logic, do we allow the breeding of 17 year old murderers, rapists? Of course not. But our laws are indirectly implying, or at least have paved a path for that. So yes, I do believe that there is a need to amend it.

But where do we draw the line? Where does a child end and an adult begin? Can there ever be a generalized acceptance worldwide?

On these lines, the counter argument has been that, amending law for a one off incident is nothing but a knee jerk, highly emotional, reaction. Especially considering that the law pertains to children, and that greater care need to be given to detail in case of any change. They say that a child, anyone less than 18, needs reform and not prison, and deserves a best chance at life by undergoing rehabilitation to ease back into the society.

But my question is that can we categorize a rapist and a murderer as a child anymore? It is tough. It is extremely tough. Sure, large sections of the civil society too gulp down here but are ready to take the bullet for larger interests.

The entire argument is very precarious to say the least, it’s deterrence vs reform, in its essence. What do we choose?

There has been an internal battle within me that is struggling to take sides. But when I sit back and do look at the amendment, there is a semblance of balance in it. It aims to strike a balance between these arguments by leaving it to a team of psychologists and social experts to determine if any accused, in the age group of 16-18, be treated as a child or an adult, based on the crime.

So that way neither all who are between 16-18 would be treated as adults nor all accused rapists would be treated as children.

I think this arrangement is an ideal set up where it should pacify people from both sides of the argument. While the ones from deterrence side are already championing this, the ones from reform are skeptic of the practicality of it.

Will the JJB (Juvenile Justice Board) be fair and free while determining whether an individual should be treated as a child or adult? What if there is case where a 16 year old from lower caste elopes with a girl from higher caste and later is framed for rape? Can the JJB, examining those circumstances, be able to carry a free and fair trial even if it obtains high pressure from the opposite party involved in the case? These are the contentious issues for many. It is here that many compromise for the larger interests by criticizing the amendment.

But this drags the argument into the ifs and buts too. There would be too many ifs and buts behind any law. I think that this amendment is the best bet to curb the rising juvenile crimes as validated factually by the data of National Bureau of Crimes records which indicated at a sharp increase in the number of heinous crimes committed by juvenilles in the last three years. So it becomes that much more important to iron out finer details for smoother implementation of this law and to nullify any contentious clauses.

But any which way I see, I don’t think there is even a remotest of remote possibilities of this law being passed in Rajya Sabha in the next few days to be able to be applied to the Nirbhaya (or Jyothi Singh! As her mother asks us to refer to) case as long as the accused is still in period of appeal. With only last three days to the winter session of parliament, there is no way this could be passed.

And even if it does get passed in the next session, in my own amateur understanding of law, I don’t see this law prosecuting the accused here, as it might directly fly under two clauses of article 20- article 20 (1) which states that a person cannot be persecuted retrospectively (i.e a law cannot be applied in reverse) and article 20 (2) the principle of double jeopardy stating that a person shall not be prosecuted or punished for the same offence more than once. While I do know that, as long as it is within the period of appeal (as it is now), there is a scope of hope for the deterrence arguers and the Supreme court’s stand in this regard would be momentous once again tomorrow. I’m not a student of law, nor have a superior understanding of it otherwise either, but if any of you reading this article have clarity on this last aspect, do drop a comment and let me know! And also do share your opinion of where you stand on this argument. Are you on the deterrence wagon? Or do you believe in hope, change, reform, giving that one greater chance?

May the Justice be within us all! Peace out!

Bajirao Mastani Movie Review

I always had tremendous respect towards Sanjay Leela Bhansali as a film maker since Black and Guzaarish. Guzaarish for me remains a beautiful film which I believe is a highly under-rated film in Bollywood. Anyway in Bajirao Mastani, Sanjay Leela Bhansali sets out to tell the love tale of Bajirao and Mastani, with pomp and splendor attached to film-making of yesteryears where huge sets and impressive costumes were norms of the day.

The film’s cinematography has that amazing dark-golden texture that glitters many frames. The lighting and the minimalistic use of CGI by setting up smart camera angles is so brilliant that the movie is simply a visual treat all through. There were many sequences which caught my attention for the way they were shot but the one that impressed me the most was the song “Deewani Mastani”. This was amazing! The set, the costume of Mastani and the grace with which Deepika sways to the tune! She took my breath away for a second there, again (Deepika <3 )

Sanjay Leela Bhansali does a tremendous job bringing the historical characters back to life through Ranveer Singh, Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone, all of whom own their respective roles. If Ranveer Singh had the body language of a rising powerful Peshwa in the beginning, he was equally good to transform into the troubled soul waging a losing emotional war against his own kin.

Priyanka Chopra excels in her portrayal of the role of Kashibai. But Deepika Padukone steals the show anyway. She was stunning in her costumes and I believe Sanjay Leela Bhansali might have showed Deepika in her most charming way. His use of Slow Motion here and there added the edge to the story telling process. He composes the music himself for this film and he does a fairly decent job. Three of the songs are very good and the background score of the film was pretty pumping too, especially for the small battle scenes.

But for me, the most surprising aspect of the film has been the dialogues of this film. They are the kind of dialogues that would make you whistle in an auditorium but with a certain kind of class attached to that whistle. Well, how can whistles and class go together? Well, it’s those kind of dialogues, trust me! There are punch dialogues, cheesy romantic ones, and solitary mass appeal ones here and there! To give an example, lines like these:

“Cheeteh Ki Chaal, Baaz Ki Nazar Aur Baaji Rao Ki Talvar Par Sandeh Nahi Karte, Kabhi Bhi Maat De Sakti Hai”- Bajirao

“Kiski Talvar Par Sir Rakhu Yeh Bata Do Mujhe, Ishq Karna Agar Khata Hai Toh Saza Do Mu”he"- Mastani

The point is that movies can usually be classified into three tiers of commercial, artistic, and artistic-mainstream cinema. These categories can more or less be drawn by the audience based on their entertainment value or artistic value. Very few films have managed to fall right in between commercial and artistic films, making them both a critical and box-office success. Do not get this wrong, this movie is not a war-film. It's a film on love. And it takes time to build itself. It is more like a drama and hence I don’t see this movie catering to most types of audience. This movie at most would be liked by those who are into watching films that are bigger than mere entertainment for 2 and half hours. It for those who seek a lasting impression from a film and I think Bajirao Mastani does leave a lasting impression. It is just a beautiful film.

And it is tough to see this film garnering commercial success through its entertainment value. This movie is more ‘pure’. It is honest, simple and classy. The movie does not have fast paced writing. The screenplay is kept true to the tale that was promised: “Baajirao Ne Mastani Se Mohabbat Ki Hai Aiyashi Nahi”.

I thoroughly liked this film. Bajirao Mastani has magnificent sets, powerful dialogues, splendid costumes and stellar performances. For a period drama on love, this film is artistic film-making at its best. But can this be everyone’s cup of tea? Probably not.

My Rating: 150/150 (Value for buck!)

Snoopy and Charlie Brown: The Peanuts Movie Review

The peanuts is my second most favorite comic strip that I check out in the newspaper every day (Obviously, Calvin and Hobbes is my most favourite. Btw! Hey! Hollywood, when will we get to see a movie on Calvin and his pet tiger?) Charlie Brown is one of those characters that you would instantly love. That loves comes from the depths of the pity you feel for the poor guy. It’s the kind of love that we have for Tom. We really feel sorry for him because Jerry sometimes gives him such a hard time. Poor Souls.

And The Peanuts comic strip is about more than Charlie Brown anyway. There’s his dog, snoopy, his sister, Lucy, and his little gang of friends Schroeder, Peppermint Patty, “pig-pen”, Linus and of course the evil Lucy.

So does the movie do justice to all these characters? Does it have the core essence of the comic strip? Yes and yes.

The movie felt just like an extension of the comic strip. It had all the things that you love the most from Peanuts. It had Snoopy’s big dreams- the World War fighter! Fighting his arch nemesis The Big Red Baron who abduct’s Snoopy’s love- and it also delightfully showed everyday struggles of Charlie Brown. He leads a life against such odds! Damn!

The movie also had the arrogant Lucy making life tougher for Charlie. And yes The Little Red Haired girl too- The female lead of the film! The only thing that I missed was some scene with Linus’s blanket. I just love whenever Linus and his blanket show up in the strip. But yes, all of it can’t be there in the movie.

The animation of this movie is a bit different than the conventional animation (I have got to read more about why and how they do it) and it was very good. It fit into the narrative. Once again, my complaint is on the 3D. I did not see why this movie had to be in 3D. A non-3D version would have been equally good. I just don’t understand why Hollywood does this.

The movie was very simple, cute and absolutely fun. It has what is expected of it.  Me and my friend, both of us being Peanuts fans, enjoyed the film. We were laughing out loud at many moments because it was just so relatable. The movie just has those brilliant feel good moments. I go to movies for those moments. These movies capture that "feeling" so well. There are lessons to be learnt for not just kids but for us too. Somehow, movies always inspired me. And even movies as simple as these too work their magic. The underlying current of not giving up, to fight it out, to go that extra mile for something that you want, these are gold!

But at the same time this movie does not have a great story that will pull audience who aren’t familiar with the comic strip. The screenplay could have been tighter, but given the story line that they chose to go ahead with, I thought it was decent enough though. If there was more of an “adventure” kind of story line I guess this movie could and would do much better with other audiences too enjoying it. But surely, the ones who made the film must have had their reasons.

So, can the movie have the ability to create a new fan base? Probably not, but it does strengthen the stranglehold over its comic strip fans. I think the makers were trying to be as true to the original and they made a commendable film for their fan base.

So, if you are familiar with Peanuts and like it, you would most certainly enjoy this. But if you aren’t, pass this one.

My Rating: 110/150

Tamasha Movie Review:

(Disclaimer: Minor Spoilers ahead)

With a combination that boasts of AR rahman, Imtiaz Ali, Deepika Padukone and Ranbir Kapoor, four of my most favourite artists in Bollywood from music, direction and acting respectively, I was expecting to get blown away. But well, not so much.

The warning signs were there. The trailers and promo were mediocre, which promised a been-there-seen-that story line and in fact they were even guilty of revealing too much.

There are two surprising things about this film, one is that Imtiaz chooses to reveal his entire story line of the film in the trailer and second, the entire story is done, chewed up, by the interval scene.

As I came out of the theater at the intermission, I was wondering. So if that was basically the entire trailer, a.k.a the entire story, that panned out in an hour and 15 minutes then what was left? Other than the very obvious ending?

It was just an hour and a quarter into the film. So, what was Imtiaz going to do with the film for second half? For another hour and a quarter?

Well, Imtiaz must have wondered so too. Because, it’s ridiculous! This movie has a climax that stretches the entire second half. Even if this was a very melodramatic Hollywood, it would have hardly survived for another 20 minutes. But no, Imtiaz drags it for 75 minutes! 75! Are you kidding me, Imtiaz? Gosh! An entire Sherlock episode is done in that time!

The drag coefficient of this movie was so high that the thrust provided by Ranbir, Deepika, AR Rahman is rendered irrelevant as the movie nose dives into the ground after the intermission.

The film is about a regular guy, an average bloke finding true love, finding himself, finding his calling. It’s a simple enough concept. Except that Imtiaz digs so much into the past of his protagonist that he shades his darkest character yet, beating his own lead character from Rockstar. In fact, if you thought Ranbir screamed a lot in Rockstar, then fasten your seat belts for more of it.

The character of Ved (Ranbir) almost turns sadistic and sociopathic at few moments in the film and in spite of the director’s best efforts to justify through the flashbacks, I just could not buy it. I believe the movie, without Ved going bat-crap-crazy, would still have panned out exactly the same way as it does (and even better perhaps with the shorter run time). Sometimes, there is a concept, there is a story attached to it. Yes we get it. But the execution of which might be very difficult and this here was such a concept. Sure, we understand, the reason for Ved acting the way he does, but do we buy it on screen on reel time? Nope. This is the lowest point in the film for me. There might be film fanatics elsewhere who might like this movie for these moments, but it just wasn’t my cup of tea.

The first half of the movie though is an altogether different story. It has some good music, great direction and acting that will keep you smiling and enjoying. It has all the Imtiaz Ali flavor that is synonymous with movie-goers. It keeps fans of his, like myself, content. The dialogues were witty and chemistry between the lead couple is electric.

And Ravi Varman (cinematographer of Barfi) weaves his magic throughout the film. The cinematography is top notch. Corsica is captured beautifully and so are the nights of Delhi. It’s just art and I couldn’t help but appreciate it every frame. He has seriously got to be one of the best doing the rounds in India.

AR Rahman does what he always does. There might be folks complaining, ‘this music doesn’t feel like ARR’ but once one watches it in the theater, one would get that ARR scores for the film, the plot. The kind of music that eases itself into the written screenplay giving a particular scene that much more of an impact. Simply put, its music made for the film. Perfect.

Now speaking about my favorite aspect of the film, the acting! Wow! Deepika and Ranbir rock it all the way. Ranbir especially shows us why he is arguably the best in Bollywood right now. And Deepika, my love :p what can I say about her? She is absolutely stunning! Breath Taking! My god! (Wait, I am a huge Deepika Padukone fan, so I wouldn’t even understand even if she performed otherwise, so your call, here) She would rivet anyone’s eyes while she’s on screen. There is no way I was going to watch this film again, but just for Deepika, I might watch it on Blu-Ray sometime later.

Coming to the direction, well, I have to concede I was expecting a bit more from Imtiaz. Sure where do you go with such a concept? About finding oneself? But Imtiaz over does a lot of elements- the melodrama, the dwelling on the past, the obsession on the idea that all the stories are the same, the poetic analogies within the film, the dark side of Ved, the obsession of Tara (Deepika) on Ved- to name a few.

But saying all this, I think there would be some people who might connect to the second half and like the entire film, but for me, nope! Sorry. The second half was a bit too philosophical and sadistic for my liking that downs the entire film.

So I would not suggest you to skip this film as there is Deepika in it, but sure, watch it if you must!

My Rating: 50/150

The Walk Movie Review

The last time I came out of a theatre and said, “Wow, the 3-D for that film was something!” was probably after I had watched Avatar on the world’s biggest screen (Prasads IMAX) in IMAX 3D in 2009. And now after watching The Walk, I revisit the good olden days where 3-D films were exciting and rare! (And mind you, I loved the 3-D experience in spite of it not being an IMAX experience, as we Hyderabadis do not have an IMAX theater anymore)

The Walk comes out as a film that you would least expect to score highly in 3-D experience category, as it is not basically an action or adventure or a fantasy film but rather a simple true story of an incredible man’s unbelievable act of walking on a high wire between the World Trade Centers back in 1974.

The director, Robert Zemeckis, who directed some of my all time favorites like Back to the Future Trilogy, Polar Express, Forrest Gump and Cast Away, brings not only this act to the big screen in the most glorious way but also the heist like planning that went behind in pulling off this stunt back in the 70s in New York. The movie adopts a different narrative style where Philippe Petit (played by Joseph Gordon Levitt) addresses the audience directly here and there. That might not be something that everybody would enjoy but I most certainly did. In fact whenever the narrative was on, I felt that the movie almost had a poetic aura to it.

The movie beautifully transcends from the ‘poetic phase’ to the old fashioned heist phase of a movie and then again back to the poetic phase of the final act. The movie had layers to it in terms of story telling and the movie portrayed the layers of emotions running high behind the man, Philippe, brilliantly. 

Don’t expect a fast paced, out and out entertainer, as the first half takes it time to establish the character. But the build-up, the back story, the simple but witty dialogues, the cinematography that captures 70s of Paris and New York, everything, carries the feel good factor throughout the film and culminates in an epic thirty minute final act that was visually breathtaking. Trust me when I say this, that entire sequence on the high wire couldn’t have been any better. It is immersive cinematic experience at its best with direction, acting, visual effects, and editing peaking in tandem.  

Joseph Gordon Levitt as the French guy trying to bend into a New Yorker with an American accent is convincing and that is also a source of intentional comedy. Ben Kingsley in his small but prominent role is a delight to watch as usual. And all the actors chipped in with pretty decent performances themselves.

In short, the movie might be on the slower side in the first half (even though I didn’t feel so) but the last thirty minutes of the movie more than makes up for it as it is truly stunning and the entire film carries the feel good factor. It is inspiring and it most certainly needs to be experienced in 3-D.

My Rating: 150/150 (Worth every buck!)  

The Martian Movie Review

“Yay! Space science fiction again FTW!”

I was excited for Gravity. I was ready to jump off a cliff for Interstellar. Strangely for The Martian, even though I looked forward to it, I wasn’t as excited as I should have been, considering my love for science fiction and space adventure. Was it because of the simple Premise?

Will he or won’t he? (Make it back to the Earth) That was it. That was it about the movie. That much was definitely made clear from the trailer. So, a Cast Away on Mars? Meh.

But let me tell you this much with certainty, when I walked out of the theatre I knew that this was arguably the best space adventure movie. This movie is a testament to what great writing in terms of the screenplay could do to any film (You! Young aspiring film-makers out there- don’t miss this one for this specific reason folks. Screenplay is everything!). You can be on mars, you can be on earth, you can be in a different galaxy, you can be on Everest, you can be on a sinking ship in the Atlantic, you can be racing around in cars, or you can be in a haunted house, but all that matters at the end of the day is the writing and execution. And The Martian truly, truly shows how it’s done in spite of a paper thin premise.

The movie is about a guy who is all alone on a planet fighting for his survival. Has to be depressing right? No! It isn’t depressing at all. It is absolutely a fun ride! There’s a lot of humor. There’s a lot of tension. I was literally on the edge of my seat for quite a few moments, because they were so gripping. Even at 144 minutes, the movie just kept up its brisk pace all through. The screen time shifted wonderfully well, from Mark on Mars, to NASA back here, to his crew members aboard Hermes making their journey back to earth. I will say this again, I have rarely been this impressed with a Screenplay of a film. Delightfully tight!

Ridley Scott the director, man behind films like Alien, Gladiator and Black hawk down, executed this movie phenomenally well. There is so much ‘science’ in this movie (not the Interstellarish science, not to worry!) and it is made sure they are all explained extremely well and the movie definitely does not make the audience feel dumb (Trust me that’s a lot of effort :P ). The movie has amazing cinematography. Earth felt like Earth. Mars felt like Mars, I mean, based on all the pics that I ever saw of Mars, that’s always how I imagined it would be and that’s how it is. Red, desolated, dusty with rocky terrain.

The casting of the film! Phew! Great actors all of them. So obviously, they delivered liked they always do and Matt Damon does what Matt Damon does. Knocks you out with his performance. I am a sucker for performance driven movies. This movie has plenty of that. In fact I am a sucker for thrillers and comedy too and this movie ticks those boxes too.

The Martian is one of the best that I watched this year. This film was not just about the exquisite art in terms of the acting, direction or writing, it was about what a film offers to the audience, and this film has that to its credit. It has got everything to offer. The movie was thoroughly enjoyable. And I would probably end up watching this movie, at least, two more times with my friends. And hence, the rating:

Rating: 450/150. Simply Spectacular!

Do check out the trailer for this film, if you haven’t:

My first theatre experience: Between the lines

And I fell in love with theatre. Truly!

I have, for a very long time, wanted to go to a play but thanks to my procrastination I never actually did. Until of course this unsuspecting lovely Friday evening of August that I drove through the haze of polluted chemicals, beating my long time friend, procrastination, to go to a play, partly because I wanted to try something new and partly because I was bored of movies and partly because of the artistic brand associated with the name ‘Nandita Das’, the director and actress of the play ‘Between the lines’.

And as much as I hate living in cities for the pollution, I love everything else that they have got to offer, especially the many art forms that converge here that one could indulge, explore and get lost in. And this visit to a theatre to witness a play for the very first was a very conscious effort on my part to explore in that regard. I walked in to Ravindra Bharati with my friends with very high expectations of something that has always been told very highly of. A play. As I took my seat and looked down onto the stage from the gallery, everything felt perfect: The lighting, the set, the stage and the buzz of a capacity audience. I knew it was going to be something special.

It’s a shame that it took me 20 years of my human existence to witness an art that existed through the ages, far older than what our history could take us back into. And to make up for the delay, I now realize I am going to watch many more of these, because this was an experience that will be cherished by me. I write about movies, I review them, because the stories told are more than stories. They are an expression of a being told through the eyes of an actor, the string of a musician, the vision of a director and the passion of the crew. And the play that I watched today was an embodiment of all that, but it felt much better than watching a movie because I got to witness live acting of absolute class.

The play wasn’t just about the ambiance inside or my juvenile excitement of it but it was rather the plot itself that was engaging. The play was about a husband and wife, Maya (played by Nandita Das) and Shekar (played by Subodh Maskara), who are lawyers who accidentally take a case which pitches them against each other. Shekar, a reputed criminal prosecutor who doesn’t lose cases usually, is up against his wife, Maya, who takes up her first ever criminal case, as a defense lawyer, after a long gap, which eventually blurs the line between their professional and personal lives. The play reflects upon finer intricacies of the feminine struggle that is existent even in a modern day couple. The little things, the little actions that cannot hide the male chauvinism is up on the fore and the dialogues aren’t written in a way that is a propaganda for feminism but they were rather a repartee that was witty. Frankly, there wasn’t a dull moment for me.

The ingenious single set which was convincing for the two locations of the play, the simple yet perfect props that served for both home and court acts, the great cast that comprised of only two but who played four characters, the endearing background score, the phenomenal acting, the realistic nature of conversations, the deep thought provoking plot that makes you want to read between the lines, together makes up one enjoyable 80 minute ride. Frankly I wished I could watch this play immediately again. I enjoyed it so much. And I want to watch many more of such plays. Hopefully they come along.

As I have not seen any other play, I do not have a comparative scale as such to know for sure if it was in fact a gem of an act. But the fact remains that for me it simply was. And if this play is the pinnacle of plays, I would want to watch plays, and if this play isn’t the pinnacle and there are better ones around, then I would obviously want to watch them even more. Anyway I have found a new love in theater art. For now, that would do. Better late than never. 

PS: I heard there is a really good play tomorrow too called "2 to Tango, 3 to jive" (i.e on August 23^rd, 2015 at Ravindra Bharati) as part of The Hindu Theatre fest. See if you can catch it :)

The point of contention: Number 3

Miracles do happen in cricket. But as fans it is so tough to be on the right side of a miracle. Sadly, Indian cricket fans have found themselves on the other side time and again in the last one year- once in South Africa, once in New Zealand and once in Australia, and now in Sri Lanka where the match had slipped right from the hands of Indian team. Bad luck boys. Bad luck

Forget the results, while they do matter, they are not everything, because in the last one year, Indian team has played some really good cricket with some great batting displays and bowling spells by GenX. We just lacked the killer punch more often than not but it is not something to worry about just yet. It will develop. Give the same bunch of players some time and it will.

But quietly, unnoticed by many, there is something else that is slipping away from Indian cricket fans. It is Pujara of course. Life doesn’t give you two Rahul Dravids in succession, but when it does, just don’t do what Indian cricket team management is doing right now. Pujara is The Wall of a new era. Be it the temperament, the solid technique or the saint-like calmness itself, he is what every Indian could only have ever dreamed of after Rahul Dravid announced his retirement.

Before the start of Sri Lanka tour, Virat Kholi justified his preference of Rohit Sharma over Pujara by stating that he needs someone who would counter attack and score freely at the top (as if we did not have Dhawan or Kholi himself for that matter and also as if every great test team had a counter attacking number 3 batsmen. Funny) and also that Rohit deserves a chance at number 3. Sure, we backed Dhoni for his choices, preference for his players, but Dhoni always came up with rationale reasoning over his decisions. Kholi’s argument though has no buyers.

While Kholi can back his instincts and give chances to players but the larger question remains is at what cost? Pujara for that matter did not perform so poorly that it would have warranted that he be dropped from the team. In the three test series against SA, Eng and Aus, Pujara averaged 70, 22 and 33.33 respectively, stacking up numbers that weren’t too bad. And in the same period Rohit has 11.25, 17.00 and 28.33 against SA, Eng and Aus. And while Pujara had 1 test hundred and 3 fifties, Rohit has 1 fifty in that period.

Number 3 position is about more than just scoring big hundreds here and there, it is about seeing off fiery spells from Steyn, swinging bullets from Starc or table top turners of a day 5 pitch. But if the number 3 fails in that phase, it exposes off the middle order a bit too soon to the wrath of oncoming fire from bowlers who are on top spells.

Rohit Sharma, the eternal talented star of Indian cricket, has some scintillating ODI knocks but he never displayed the solid technique that would have instilled a belief in the fans that he could see through spells from Steyn or Starc on tough days. On the other hand, Pujara had already proven himself in series against SA and also in Australia briefly where even though he didn’t score heavily he did all the hard work and saw off the tough opening phases but unfortunately got out to soft dismissals. There was no way he could have been dropped after a not-so-bad first three tests against Australia. But dropped he was on the first day Kholi took up full time captaincy.  

It is still very early into Kholi’s Test captaincy era, but we are already getting what the looks have promised: Arrogance and brashness. It is one thing to be aggressive but it is something else to expect every batsman of the team to be a replica of the captain, the aggression. What if Pujara isn’t aggressive? Does he have to be? To play in the Indian team? Was Dravid aggressive? Did Sourav Ganguly drop Rahul Dravid for a Yuvraj Singh? Nope. It’s still early to comment, but these are disturbing signs as far as captaincy is concerned.

It’s good that we lost the first test in such a shocking turnaround. It gave me the opportunity to pout and cry about Pujara, because if we had won, Kholi would probably have been right and me and legions of other cricket enthusiasts wrong if we brought up the Pujara topic. Kholi had already said that he would give an extended run to Rohit Sharma to prove himself at number 3, because he believes if Rohit gets going there is hardly anything that could stop him. But test cricket isn’t about that one knock on a flat track, it is about much more. 

Forget Rohit, it is not about Rohit. It is about Pujara. Does he deserve to sit out on the bench match after match? Was he that bad before he got dropped?
Look up the stats: He was not. 

  

  

Bahubali: The Beginning Movie Review

Bahubali: The Beginning is like a wave that does not rise high enough in its course but hits the shore with a powerful might, calling curtains on its short lived life with that deafening splash. The first half of Bahubali Part 1 is like that, it does not rise, forget curling and rising up, but yet in the second half strikes us with a force that makes us take notice of a path breaking Indian film from one of the modern masters of Indian film Industry, Mr. Rajamoulli. The movie, not only has some of the best ever CGI shots of an Indian film but also narrates a tale that is worth escaping into. Bahubali takes us quite convincingly into the world of kings, queens, ministers and traitors, and of course wars.

The two biggest surprises to me from the movie were MM Keeravani’s back ground score and Ramya Krishna’s screen presence. While MM keeravani’s score packed a punch and gave depth to most of the scenes in the movie, Ramya Krishna’s commanding role was gripping. Prabhas and Rana Daggubati have both done quite well, and in fact the acting in the film was top notch from all quarters, except of course from Tamannah who has established herself as someone who just cannot act. Period.

The sheer imagination and magnitude of Rajamoulli’s brilliance is at the fore by the end of this film. Notice the use of my words “by the end of this film”, because that is where the problem lies with this film because though it is a path breaking film, it misses meeting its true potential of being one of the finest ever Indian movies. And this primarily is because it suffers heavily from the over ambition of Rajamoulli. There is a fine line between ambition and over ambition that is drawn by pragmatism, and the director caught up in a world of his own creation is guilty of breaching that line.

The movie’s first half wasn’t that great and I am infuriated because had it not been for these three simple, totally avoidable “mistakes” in the first half, we could have had a near flawless masterpiece: Terrible CGI, weak screenplay, and unconvincing sequences.

1.       The unconvincing sequences: One of the foolish arguments that you hear here down south is that “if one can accept some Hollywood star hitting the crap out of 20 bad assess at once, why can’t one accept our heroes doing the same? If one can accept cars flying in all directions in fast and furious, then why can’t we accept our Sumos flying up in the air too?” And the answer is in the word “believable”. As an audience, we like watching unrealistic stuff (Like cars flying off and heroes kicking the hell out of others or even magic), and we like watching unrealistic stuff which are perceived, executed, shot and presented in the most believable of ways. And Bahubali part 1 in its first half doesn’t do that, the sequences stretch from being hilarious to outrageous because it was just not believably shot. For example, if you want a guy to jump from one hill to the another, why to make him look like he is just popping up like superman, instead of showing that guy approaching that jump at least with a run? Just one example to elaborate on my point. There were other sequences like that.

2.       Terrible CGI of first half: The limited resources who could handle CGI: In most of the Hollywood films, there are hundreds and hundreds of CGI artists who work on the innumerable scenes of a single film, who because of their strength of work force manage to maintain quality for every single scene. And an Indian film doesn’t have that strength. And when Rajamoulli showed some of the CGI of the movie in trailers, we were overwhelmed, but the truth is that those brilliant CGI were far and few and were sandwiched between the usual underwhelming Indian graphics. When I first watched Eega, I immediately became a huge fan of Rajamoulli, because in Eega, Rajamoulli was aware of his resources at hand and worked brilliantly to set frames of most scenes in such a way as to minimize the use of CGI, resulting in lesser work to do in terms of generating computer graphics which resulted in quality graphics. Compare that to Bahubali and you would be shocked to see that the same guy had a brain freeze here. For example, there was a shot in which a lady was speaking at the foothill of a waterfall and frame was set from way beneath her so as to show her and also the entire waterfalls behind her when she was delivering a dialogue. I mean why? Just why? That CGI behind her was terrible. Couldn’t the frame have been set higher and minimized the appearance of waterfall to just water cascading behind her? That would not have required any CG? So, basically there were a lot of scenes as such, which looked like they unnecessarily had to go through a very busy computer graphics department, with the end output being compromised CG quality, except for a few scenes of course (On an average it felt like there were 6 terrible CGI scenes out of every 10-with the other 4 being phenomenal).

3.       Clearly, the decision to make this into a two part film was taken citing financial reasons and it wasn’t in Rajamoulli’s initial plans, and one could forgive the loose screenplay as such, but it is no excuse to stretch a film for 160 minutes when it could well have been cut down to anything less than 130 minutes. Those 30 minutes, is the reason why it is generating the negative flak among the masses, because the first half almost felt “tiring” to watch after a certain point. The movie simply was not flowing there.

Saying all this, the movie moved onto a second half which was unlike anything I have ever seen in an Indian film before. The CGI in the second half was near perfect. The entire war sequence was of the highest standards. The story moved at a brisk pace, with some great acting, good background score and some breathtaking moments. And a special mention to art direction team which has imagined and executed the Mahishmati Kingdom aplomb. From the costumes to the sets to the CGI buildings of the empire, kudos!

In the end, it looked like there were a lot of people who gave some of their best work into this film and credit must be given to the director for bringing them together and getting the best out of his team, but sadly, I couldn’t help but wonder if Rajamoulli was both the Hero and Villain of Bahubali: The Beginning, who has both unnecessarily flawed it with over ambition and resurrected it with his natural brilliance. The movie, on the whole though, was pretty good. It was flawed but it was not bad on any scale. It was better than most Tollywood and Bollywood films, but it was only that we, as fans, expected so much of Rajamoulli.

Not to be cruel, in parts, Rajamoulli did deliver what he promised: An Epic.

Rating: 150/150 (Paisa Wasool entertainment)

A touchdown

Last week has seen the release of three reports in India- MDG (Millennium Development Goals) report, SECC 2011 (Socio Economic and Caste Census), and RSOC (Rapid Survey of Children).  The data contained in these reports are to an extent reassuring but to a greater extent disappointing. And it is disappointing only because numbers don’t lie.

MDG report 2015 shows that India has halved its incidence of extreme poverty from 49.4% in 1994 to 24.7% in 2011 (Limit of extreme poverty has been set for those living for less than 1.25$ a day). And as halving the extreme poverty by 2015 was one of the targets of Millennium development goal in 2000, we should be fairly satisfied with these numbers, as we have reached a goal.

However, in the same period, poverty reduction achieved by our poorer neighbors Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh is higher. I am not implying anything, but only stating what I have read in The Hindu. Not to compare apples and oranges, let us move on.

The MDG report also says that,

1.       India is on track to achieve its hunger targets as well

2.       But it is still home to

·         One quarter of world’s undernourished population

·         Over a third of world’s underweight children

·         Nearly a third of world’s food insecure people

When we go through the highlights of these reports, we realize how much of the real India is behind the veil of curtain drawn across by our ignorance and pride of a number that only shows our GDP growth because, recently, I came across facebook posts which were pitting our GDP growth against China’s GDP growth, that took pride in the prediction that ours would out do theirs in lesser than a decade. I am not being a spoilsport to the dance of Incredible India  (again, sorry for generalizing the general public) but am only asking a touchdown of our flight of pride, if we are aboard one, because some of these numbers should in fact make us crash that flight.

Coming back, there are positives in terms of the drop in infant mortality rate (No.of deaths per 1000 live births-88.2 deaths to 43.8 deaths) and maternal mortality rate (No.of deaths of mothers per lakh live births- 560 to 190) from 1990 to 2012. But the report says that the annual progress has been slow.

RSOC (Rapid survey on Children) by UNICEF, on the other hand, had data that was a touch more cheerful. The report shows that both child stunting levels and underweight children in India had fallen to a historic low but then almost all states have performed poorly in reducing the number of underweight adolescent girls. Gujarat, a perceived developed state, is the only state to perform worse than the national average in reducing the number of child stunting case and underweight children (An awkward sheepish moment for all the “Gujarat model” propagators may be?)

And coming to the last one, SECC 2011 (Socio Economic and Caste Census) released only this week, data for rural households revealed that

1.       In over 90% of households, the main earning member makes less than Rs. 10,000/- a month

2.       Over half the households are landless

3.       Over half the households rely on casual manual labour for the larger part of their income.

4.       Out of a total of 17.4 crore households, 1.8 lakhs households are engaged in degrading work for a livelihood (i.e manual scavenging). Saying that, it is a significant improvement from the 35 lakh such households back in 1961.  

These numbers are not something that are seriously looked upon as the foundation from where “real development in India” has to begin. Because these numbers are not too grim that they could set the alarm bells ringing or could start an up roar in the parliament (in fact, who would up roar? Each of those parties had formed governments in the past two decades and the data today is only a reflection of the policies of the different governments in different periods spread over the last two decades). But yet considering our population, the percentage would wind up to staggering numbers and that all of them live in a country that I too live in is disturbing. I cannot be proud of the high building rises of my cyber city or the investment rains of my state, or the growth of my country, until the rural society too sees some proportional development in tune with urban society.

There is no point in pointing fingers at any parties, or any individuals for the inadequate policies or policy implementation, because all that matters now is how all these data are taken by the present government. What matter is how do we go forward from here? How much of those numbers would reflect in the policies and reforms? It’s not just the politicians but also the bureaucrats, who are at the other end of implementation chain, who have to buckle up and be pro active in cutting down such numbers in data. A true leader does not only talk loudly, or act popularly, but someone who recognizes the ‘less fancier’ true base of a country and propels it forward. And can NaMo be that leader? Only time will tell.

Source: Data is from The Hindu
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A defeat, a reaction and a champion

Indians looked like they were more bothered with International Yoga Day than anything else on the morning of 21^st June, but in fact, lot of us were more anxious on how eleven of our boys would flex their muscles across on the eastern border of Bengal in the second odi. We comforted ourselves with the words “Come on! We couldn’t lose an ODI series to Bangladesh for God’s sake. Chill!” and went about our day’s activities. But 35 overs into 1^st innings, all of us knew.

Most of us, after the defeat, might have played it down with “Well, we played non stop from last 16 months” or “Yeah, it’s a sport! Happens” or “yeah whatever, I am not that much into cricket now”,  but the truth was that we all switched off our TV sets, did not carry on our duty of checking out on the world by logging into facebook, and crept under our bed sheets, snuggled close to ourselves, and cried (Over exaggeration obviously).

On the face of it, a night’s sleep would have sufficed for most of us ardent fans. And it was. True Indian cricket fans are already over the defeat. Time to move on. Bangladesh bowled and batted better than us and we simply met the inevitable result of defeat. What if it was to Bangladesh? They are a side that is improving and it would do cricket a world of good if the number of good competitive teams are increasing.

But what bothered true Indian cricket fans, was the reaction of media and their deep rooted tradition of quoting without context. The headlines “Dhoni offers to quit captaincy” lay bombarded in my newsfeed and notifications in my phone. To shed some light onto the context, what Dhoni exactly said was in response to the questions of two “journalists” who questioned him if he thought he was still the right man to lead Indian cricket team, and one of them went as far as to question Dhoni if he thought himself as the reason behind the mess that Indian cricket is in (wait, first of all, what mess?), and when you take the journalists words and the following reply from Dhoni into picture, you will understand that what Dhoni said was more of a hit back at critics (as rightly headlined by espncricinfo, the only sensible media house in the country that is worth following as far as cricket goes)

Dhoni’s reply:

"I am really enjoying my cricket, I know this question was coming. I know the media really loves me. Yes, if it is a justifiable thing that if you remove me and the Indian cricket will start doing really well, and if I am the reason for all the bad that is happening to Indian cricket, definitely I would love to step away and play as a player. Ultimately you want India to win. It doesn't matter who is the captain”

"I was never really in line to become a captain. It was a job or responsibility for me. I have taken that responsibility. If they want to take it away, I am happy to give it away”

Now for a second, think about the stupidity behind the scribes question and how Dhoni replied, and also about how foolishly Indian media quoted it out of context. #JustThingsIndianMediaDoes should be a trend every time they pull up such stuff, so that we as people could alienate our identity from theirs so that we Indian people itself are not scathingly looked at as immature as our media. Indian cricket fans are mature and composed enough to handle defeat to a former “minnow”, but certainly that’s not the picture that is being painted to the world.  

Dhoni was never as classy as a Dravid, as elegant and wristy as a Laxman, as talented as a Rohit, and as compact as a Sachin, but he has made it thus far with his awkward, unorthodox batting techniques. His value lies not just in the runs he contributed but the way he ran things in Indian cricket for the last 7 years without any scandalous episodes and controversies that were a routine to break out in the previous eras of captains. Being the captain of Indian cricket team is not just about the decisions taken on field but also about everything else outside, and Dhoni was a master at it. He cut down potential controversial questions with sarcastic comments filled with humor, gave lesser opportunities to be misquoted and defended and backed his players in front of press. The true value of Dhoni’s presence would be realized only when the sun would have set on his career.

I believe Dhoni’s skill set would someday be recognized as a case study to understand emotional intelligence with regard to leading a team, any team. When you see Dhoni leading a fielding side at a crunch situation with the batting team, say, require 20 runs in 18 balls on a flat wicket, it is not that he is not tensed, it is just that he has the immense EI ability to mask it, separate the emotions from his thinking capacities and then take decisions.

And the pinnacle of the achievement of his emotional intelligence skills can be traced to the recent success of Dhawan in the world cup. He backs and backs a player, drops them, gives them time and then picks them up, believes in them and they deliver. And this is possible only when a captain is able to understand his team emotionally, individually and work on it accordingly. It is no fluke that we have had tremendous success in ICC tournaments in the last few years because it was his ability to handle immensely talented players and make them perform at the highest level.

I may sound like a die hard MSD fan, but the truth is that, I absolutely am not. I am an admirer of Dhoni for his certain skill sets. I have been a neutral observer of Dhoni. My neutrality is true to the day and it was never affected by developments such as dropping of some of my favourite senior players like Yuvi, Sehwag or Zaheer, nor has it swung to the positive side with those big sixes that he hits.

There are allegations against him off the field. They might be true. They might not. I will never take controversial things on their face value as reported in media. Even if they are true, I will remember Dhoni for the man he was in front of the camera, on the field and off it, and in his own way he was the classiest, most compact and elegant player of them all.

PS: I am just sometimes sad that fewer people recognize him and give due credit for what he is, because I fear we are slipping into  a world of cynicism. If we look at things as simple as cricket that ought to be enjoyed, in such a pessimistic way, then well, Sachin save us :P

Jurassic World Movie Review

We all probably don’t remember Jurassic Park entirely, but we certainly do remember the rush of adrenaline when we first watched the film, may be? Well, at least I do. I, for one, used to imagine what it would have been like to have a functional Jurassic Park with all the attractions, had there been no slip up from John Hammond. Well yes it’s a fantasy, but it was something that I used to imagine when I was a kid!

And Bham! Jurassic world does exactly that! It shows my fantasy of how a functional Jurassic Park would look like. And it is here that I loved the movie most.

Erstwhile Jurassic Park, released in 1993, was not just a path breaking film in terms of CG and production scale, but it was the complete package of action, emotion and comedy that knocked everybody out when we first saw the film. And the latest Jurassic World had an onus of redoing those elements, and I think it is these expectations that weigh this movie down.

Don’t get me wrong, this movie is in no way a bad film. It’s a pretty good film, in terms of the action sequences, thrill factor, acting and also a bit of emotion. The biggest let down of the movie though, is simply, the most important ingredient of any film, its plot. It was way too predictive. It felt only like an extension to the trailer. While the trailer does well to prepare us to the idea of trainable raptors and the central plot line of a kick-ass hybrid dinosaur out of containment, the problem is that there isn’t anything else to the film.

Chris Pratt picks up from where he left off in Guardians of Galaxy. He was phenomenal, as usual. He kind of lifts this film with his screen presence, and the other actors did well too. As I am an Indian, I have to say that it was endearing to watch Irrfan Khan in such a big film, in a pretty significant role.   

But it has to be said that the direction and camera work in this film was neat, simple, perfect. Stephen Spielberg, director of Jurassic Park, who is on board as Executive producer for this film, has picked an ideal director, Colin Trevorrow,  to helm this project who was also a fan of the original, and it showed. There were a lot of references to the iconic scenes of the original and it gave the feels whenever they were touched upon.

I felt that this movie, with its lousy script could have gone a lot worse, had it not been for Colin. He worked brilliantly around the limited script resources. This movie, definitely, is not one for the critics. It’s for us, the casual movie buffs, fans of the original, and to those who want to get entertained. This movie is not disappointing. It just pales in comparison with the original but that shouldn’t bother. Jurassic Park was a wonder! And Jurassic World is a fine film!

BottomLine: Entertaining and definitely worth a watch.

Rating: 150/150

PS: There would be five grades in which I would rate movies from now. It actually stemmed from discussions with my own friends of whether a film is worth to buy a ticket for, and as we are students, we could probably use that money for better use :P

So, a) 300/150 (Two times! fix! Amazing! tongue emoticon )
b) 150/150 (Definitely worth a watch)
c) 80/150 (meh!)
d) 50/150 (You could probably wait for the DVD release)
e) I want a refund!