Don 2

The concept of an anti hero is not new to Bollywood, but there were certain cliché associated with these characters, killing him in the climax or him going to prison were the most common of them. The ultimate demise of the bad character allowed the filmmakers the convenience to end all the complications of the story in one stroke. You don’t need to put efforts to find out a more creative and innovative culmination to the story, rather just shoot the character who had taken law in his hand to avenge the carnage of his family, or someone who went to the dark side out of circumstances and never has the opportunity to make a come back to normal life. So truth prevails, and characters with criminal background dies (unlike parliament), in the great world of Bollywood.

Right now there are two super hit franchisees in Hindi Cinema where the focus of the story remains with the Antagonist i.e. the main negative character or simply put, the villain. Those two franchisees are Dhoom and Don.  Although the formal differs from the later in the way that, the good policemen are able to catch the criminal in the end in case of Dhoom movies, but Don has already survived two perfect crimes. Don has already crossed 100 crs mark already (India + Overseas) and still counting.

The character of Don is in no way a victim of circumstances, he is in the business for the simple reason of money and power. Still, while watching the movie, we don’t want him to be caught, we are cheering for the villain for a change. Any other movie with the same story, but with the point of view of the police and we would have sweared by heart if the police would have missed someone like Don.

What’s happened is that, may be we can’t see our beloved SRK to be defeated in a movie, or may be we are enjoying a movie with a difference, or may be now we have become more matured or the most uncomfortable of all, that we have stared accepting the truth that there is a good side and a bad side in us simultaneously, and the bad side is more appealing, and the manifestation of that side winning against all odds without being apologetic about it satisfies you in some irrational way.

I have not commented upon the story, screenplay, music, performance or any other technical aspect of the movie, because I believe many would have already seen the movie, however the above mentioned aspect fascinated me more than any other thing about the film. I wont call the movie path breaking or thought provoking but it success shows something more, and that is, you don’t need to become preachy with every story and sometimes it is good to be bad.

No ratings this time.

The Film Emotional Atychar

Indian cinema has evolved a lot in the last decade; the traditional image of everything is fast becoming irrelevant in this field, a reason could be, because, old school film makers who used to treat movies business like a road side food stall, have learned that their could no longer be a constant recipe for a hit movie as there is for a ‘vada sambhar’ or ‘idli dosa’.

I vividly remember, just after ‘Kaho Na Pyaar Hai’ released and became a smash hit, I saw a gentleman on television, who incidentally was the producer of Hrithik Roshan’s forthcoming movie, when a reporter asked him about the film, his reply was, “we have Hrithik, we have Amisha, what else we need”; Well I believe you needed a story, a screenplay, good music, beautiful treatment, nice performance, etc, etc. This is not a assembly line manufacturing. And if you still can not guess the movie in question here, I would not blame you, the movie was not worth remembering, its name was ‘Aap mujkhe acche lagne lage’. Turned out to be one of the most disastrous flops in Hrithik’s career.

However, getting back to our movie in question “The Film Emotional Atyachar” is the kind of movie Indian audience is watching due to changed paradigm in Bollywood. The new Bollywood, where people are not bound by budget, to make good movies. The ‘small budgeted movies’ with focus on stories rather than star cast.

The movie appears to be about random stories. About one man driving on a lonely highway who is confused about helping an injured man, the injured man who appears decent but is been shot by a bullet in stomach, another about two corrupt cops who are trying to extort a casino owner, and another one about a crook who is planning heist of a lifetime. The movie is non linear like pulp fiction or reservoir dogs. And slowly all the stories start to become interrelated.

It’s a kind of a noir movie with dark humor at appropriate intervals. The movie boasts of a very talented star cast, Vinay Pathak, Ranveer Shouri, Abhimanyu Singh, Kalki, Ravi Kishan and Mohit Athalawat (Please ignore the comment for this actor). The situations in the movie are not entirely unexpected but they keep your interest alive, the interaction between Ravi Kishan and his gang members is simply hilarious, the movie has a adult undertone but no way near to Delhi Belly. The movie deserves a watch from the people who like non regular cinema.

Rating ***.

New rating style with a qualitative statement:

1) Better knock your head to a wall for headache.

2) If no other thing to do, you Could Watch for time pass.

3) Some serious effort has been made to make the movie, you Should Watch

4) A good one, Must Watch.

5) Not watching this one is lose for you, not for the movie.

The American President

I watched 5 movies this weekend, 1) Hart’s War, 2) The Naked Gun – Smell of fear,

3) The Naked Gun – The final insult, 4) The Lady from Shanghai and 5) The American President. And I didn’t felt like writing about any of the above apart from the last one.

Michael Douglas stars in the movie as the American President, with Martin Sheen and Michael J Fox in supporting roles. It’s a soft romantic comedy about the most powerful man in the free world i.e. The American President, who lost his wife 3 years ago due to cancer and had been single since than, one day encounters an Environmentalist Lobbyist Miss Sydney Wade in White House. He falls for her right away, and invites her to be his date for a state dinner in honor for the new French President.

As Presidents personal staff starts contemplating about the negative affects this budding affair could have on re-election, the opposition starts forming their offensive strategy centered on the character of the President. And while the President tries to woo the girl, just like a simple man would, he tells every body in his staff to mind their own business about his (President’s) personal life as he is a single man and there is noting wrong about him dating a woman.

Things start getting complicated as President start loosing his popularity in pre election polls due to strong propaganda by the opposition over the character issue, and further due to a complication that arises when he has to choose between a bill he wants to put in Senate (The American Parliament) against a bill that Sydney wants to put. How he manages to win against all odds in the end forms the climax of the movie.

Frankly such a movie can’t be made in Indian context, as there is a wide difference between how we judge morality as compared to the Americans public. While not missing the fact that in India we have never seen President or the Prime Minister as a character in a movie (‘Asambhav’ being the only exception), as by doing such a thing a maker may expect wide arrays of protest, starting right from sensor and ending with the ‘karyakartas’ of different political parties.

On the whole it makes an entertaining and intelligent watch. Romance with politics as backdrop. Nice…

Rating ***.