Gravity (2013)

I have a particular feeling about movies which have a tragic backdrop, like for example, movies involving different kind of animals doing breakfast, lunch and dinner of humans, survival movies, movies involving natural disasters, end of the world movie, they bring the horror inside me to the surface,  I just hate them all equally.

So when the question came about ‘Gravity’ a movie involving people lost in space, it was like my worst nightmare has come true. I even didn’t have the courage to watch the trailer of the movie.  A concept like this is enough to give you creeps. So why did I even bothered to watch the movie? Well because off all round appreciation by everybody including my younger brother. And the result is not easy to describe.

The movie is principally about two astronauts, who due to an accident loose their ship and starts floating in the space with no communication with earth. The idea in itself is enough to scare the shit out of you, but while watching the movie that never happens and that is the beauty of the movie. The dialogues and interaction between the two astronaut keeps you engaged and even make you wonder what you will do if you were in the same situation.  George Clooney is amazing in the supporting role, this man does not loses his charm, not even in space, and Sandra Bullock has also preformed a complex role with ability. The photography of the movie is just amazing, ditto to story, dialogues, direction and music, but the best part is in the end when you leave your seats you are a happy viewer due to the overall experience.

Putting a genre on this movie will be unfair. All I can say about the movie is you take back a spiritual experience back with you to your home.  I watched the movie in 3D, and I beg you to watch it only in 3D. I sincerely believe that no other movie till day deserve to be seen in this technology but this one. You may have enjoyed other movies with 3D technology and the graphics may have impressed you, but in ‘Gravity’ the 3D technology make you go into the shoes of the characters and in the whole movie you feel like you are floating with the characters, and all I can say is that it is an out of the world experience.

Rating ****.  

Shudh Desi Romance

 

'Typical' that is one thing you will not find in this movie, and 'Atrocious' is the word that was used multiple time by my friend during the movie and that's about it, its “Shudh Desi Romance” for you in a nutshell.

So what's different here than the other 'typical' rom-coms? well lets just say everything. The hero of the movie is in a unique business of playing a 'for-hire baarati', well to tell you the truth I have serious doubt over the existence of this profession, however for argument sake lets assume this business exists.

So in the very first scene our hero is actually preparing for his own wedding but falls for a girl (Parineeti Chopra) who shares the same profession as him, we would have expected a lot of melodrama to happen, but firework follows, when our hero keeps aside his dignity as he leaves his bride to be in the 'mandap' and makes a run for it. Now you start to expect hue and cry in the wedding ceremony, however after learning about the departure of the reluctant husband the bride (Vaani Kapoor) instead of hanging herself with the ceiling fan asks for a cold drink, what follows is treat to watch, and at times even not possible to guess.

Throughout the movie I couldn't figure out whether it is a foreign bases concept with Indian backdrop or an Indian based concept with foreign sensibility, and I am not sure even now. 

Performance wise Sushant Singh Rajput is excellent, his confused cum confident act is watch worthy, Parineeti is fire brand as always, Vaani Kapoor makes a good debut but its early to pass judgment on her talent. Rishi Kapoor is amazing as always.

Even thought the concept of the movie may not go down well with a lot of conservative and even not so conservative people of the country, one must say that the director has hold his ground throughout the movie, he has not preached anything; even I am not entirely in favour of his views about relationships, but I respect the director for giving an appropriate end to the story by not going into the trap of giving it a perfect ending.

Shudh Desi Romance is comical and should not be taken seriously, it is funny and entertaining and bold and of course ‘Atrocious’

Recommended for open minded viewers, families are advised to keep away.

Rating ****.

 

Go Goa Gone

 

हिंदुस्तानी फिल्में हमेशा से ही विदेशी फिल्मों से कहानी और प्लॉट उधार लेते रहें है, पर ये पहली बार है जब हमने एक ऐसी फिल्म बनाई है जिसकी कहानी का केंद्रीय बिन्दु ‘ज़ोमबी’ है। अमरीका मैं इस आधार पर कई फिल्में और धारावाहिक बने हैं। पर भारतीय सिनेमा के लिए ये एक नया अनुभव है।

हालांकि इस तरीके की फिल्में ज़्यादातर हॉरर और मारकाट के भरपूर रहती है पर “गो गोवा गॉन’ इस मामले मैं एक अपवाद है, क्योंकि यह एक कॉमेडी शैली की फिल्म है हालांकि इस फिल्म मैं गोलीबारी की कोई कमी नहीं है।

फिल्म की कहानी इस प्रकार है की तीन दोस्त गोवा जाते हैं वहाँ उन्हे एक पार्टी मैं जाने का मौका मिलता है जो की रशियन माफिया ने एक नया ड्रग लॉंच करने के लिए रखी गयी है, पर ड्रग रीयक्ट कर जाता है और उसे इस्तेमाल करने वाले लोग ज़ोमबी मैं बदल जाते हैं और बचे हुए लोगो को मारने लगते हैं। अब इन तीन दोस्तों को उस जगह से बच निकालना है, और उन्हे इस काम मैं मदद मिलती हैं सैफ अली खान से जो रशियन माफिया का हिस्सा हैं।

कहानी के नाम पर आपको ज्यादा कुछ नहीं मिलेगा पर फिल्म रफ्तार और मनोरंजन से भरपूर है, संवाद आजकल के युवा वर्ग को ध्यान मैं रख कर लिखे गए हैं, फिल्म के गाने भी थोड़े हट कर हैं जो पहले से ही लोगो को पसंद आ रहें है। पारिवारिक फिल्मों को पसंद करने वाले लोगो को इस फिल्म से दूर रहना चाहिए पर नए तरीके के मनोरंजन की तलाश मैं रहने वाले लोगो के लिए ये फिल्म एक अच्छा विकल्प है।

कुणाल खेमू को फिल्म के सबसे अच्छे संवाद मिले है जिसपे सीटी और ताली बजनी लाज़मी हैं। हालांकि फिल्म के संवाद शरारती और कहीं कहीं पर काफी खुले तरीके के हैं जिस पर कुछ लोग आँखें ततेर सकते हैं पर जिस वर्ग को ध्यान मैं रख कर ये फिल्म बनाई गयी है वो शायद इसका बुरा नहीं मानेगे।

सैफ अली जो इस फिल्म के निर्माता भी हैं उन्होने ये फिल्म बना कर एक जोखिम उठाया है जिसका नतीजा जल्द ही हमारे सामने होगा, अंत मैं मैं यही कहूँगा की ये फिल्म मनोरंजन के लक्ष्य से बनाई गयी है और काफी हद तक ये फिल्म अपने लक्ष्य मैं कामयाब होती है।

रेटिंग ***1/2

Some good movies you may have missed - Part II

Continuing with the topic regarding movies that got overlooked, a few more names come to mind….

Haasil: Hassil had a new director Tigmanshu Dhuliya and a non-star cast, Jimmy Shergil and Ashutosh Rana were the most known names in the lineup, with one character artist names Irffan Khan as the main antagonist. Till date people who have watched the movie have only positive feedback, it was this performance of his which caught the eye of the industry over Irffan Khan. A story revolving around student politics in UP, with Jimmy and his lady love Hrishita Bhatt caught in the middle, this is one compelling watch, not worth missing. (Genre: Drama, Politics) 

 

99: Time and again people try to imitate Guy Ritchie and his style of film making with multiple storylines intercommoned in a single movie, seldom does anyone succeeds, well 99 seams to be the exception, with some unconventional casting and good performances backed by a good script the movie is worth a watch. (Genre: Comedy)

 

Ek Hasina Thi: A very talented director came to Indian cinema through this movie, Sriram Raghvan, Saif Ali Khan gave one of his best performance till date in the movie, a no nonsense revenge drama, to some extent lifted from “If Tomorrow Comes” a novel by Sydney Sheldon, worth a watch for any thriller fan. (Genre: Thriller, Crime)

 

Chupke Se: It is a nice feel good movie, where the heroine tells a lie that her name is just for fun, but than is forced to keep up with the lie and suddenly all her life starts getting impacted by the deception. The movie is light and funny, with some exceptional ‘shyari’ by Om Puri’s character, he plays a don who is desperate for publicity. All in all it makes a decent watch with family.

(Genre: Romance, Comedy)

Some good movies you may have missed

Bollywood makes more than 100 movies in a year, many belonging to big production houses, some with popular stars, some with great music, hype, publicity etc etc etc….

But not all movies get same kind of attention, some time due to lack of big stars, some time due to lack of publicity and some times just because the timing is not right, which causes some good or even fantastic movie to go unnoticed, so today I would like to list a few movies that I like a lot but may not be very popular, but I believe if these movies were given the right platform they could have landed in the category of hit movies when released.

Sehar: Arshad Warsi is known to be funny; he is part of many comedy franchise movies like Golmal, Dhamaal, Munnabhai. It may be hard for people to believe that he can act in a serious role, but he did exactly that in Sehar (2005). A realistic thriller with UP’s Mafia-Political collaboration as the back drop. Watch this for Arshad Warsi’s subtle performance and for Pankaj Kapoor of course. (Genre: Drama, Politics, Crime)

3 Deewarein: When I first heard about the plot of this movie, I was horrified as it was story of three prisoners who have been awarded capital punishment in a jail, waiting to be hanged and how they interact with a journalist. I thought it was a documentary wrongly classified as a commercial movie, however I watched the movie due to the director i.e. Nagesh Kucknoor, and I was so wrong, this was a beautiful movie with virtually no melodrama and a great story with an amazing climax. (Genre: Drama, Crime)

 

Via Darjeeling: A few friends are sitting in a house in Kolkata, sipping tea and coffee, just a casual get together; however the things become interesting as soon as one of the friends who is a Police Inspector starts telling them about an unsolved case where a man disappeared from Darjeeling, and the Police could not find any trace of him, and suddenly all the people in the room starts throwing their own theory of what actually could have happened. (Genre: Suspense, Crime)   

7 ½ Phere: It is one movie where Irrfan Khan starred opposite Juhi Chawla, interesting combination by all means. Story is about Juhi who wants to make a TV show about a real Indian wedding while actually shooting the program during the marriage ceremony, the problem is that no one is allowing her to do so in their home, how ever our hero Irffan falls pray to Juhi’s charm and allows her to shoot the marriage ceremony in his house secretly by installing cameras in different rooms of the house. And chaos begins… (Genre: Comedy, Romance)  

The above mentioned movies although not very popular may still make a good watch rather than some highly hyped but content less movies which are popular these days. So take some risk and make a pick.

Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster Returns (2013)

Saheb Biwi aur Gangster was a surprise success at the box office in 2011, so much so that a sequel Saheb Biwi aur Gangster Returns was immediately announced to cash in the brand.

 

However the story moves forward in this movie unlike many other sequels like “Munnabhai” and “Golmaal” where similar characters are placed in different story lines, or like “Murder”, “Jism”, “Jannat” which are called sequels more on the base of similar themes rather than continuation of charters or story, so this could be well placed between “Dhoom”, “Don” or “Hera-Feri” where the story and characters move forward.

You need to watch the previous part to understand the dynamics between Sahib (Jimmy) and Bibi (Maahi Gil) otherwise you may feel lost, just like the last part where a third element (Gangster) enters their life in the form of Randeep Huda, in this part as well there is a third angle in form of Irrfan Khan and a forth angle in form of Soha Ali Khan.   

The story keeps on moving with changing power structure and shifting loyalties and that keeps you engaged, the first half is a delight to watch, where everybody is throwing poison dipped dialogues to everybody. Unfortunately second half is a little bit weak in comparison to the first half. However it is not bad at all. Although there are a couple of lapses in the screenplay that we need to ignore. Performance wise Irrfan and Jimmy both are outstanding with good support from Maahi Gil and Soha Ali.

Few sequences stand out, like the one where Irrfan poses as a journalist and meets a politician, ditto to the scene where he tries to honor his ancestor’s statue with his blood, and the scene with Irffan’s brother and Jimmy Shergil. Even the climax is top notch and unexpected.

The item number with Mugdha Godse was unwanted and idiotic and should have been avoided.

However the movie is a definite watch for anybody who liked the previous installment as the director has not disappointed this time as well, and left open the possibility of another sequel if needed.

Rating ***.

Argo

It’s rare that a movie based on actual events thrills you to the extent that ‘Argo’ does, based on actual events during 1979-80, when American Embassy in Iran was taken hostage by Iranian public and Government, ‘Argo’ is a movie about a secret operation that Canadian Government and CIA carried out to rescue six members of American Embassy. Although the movie takes a lot of cinematic liberties and diverts from actual events, but the end product is enjoyable.

When Shah of Iran (someone who has ruled and terrorized Iran for decades is overthrown by public) takes shelter in USA. Iranian people becomes furious because they want to bring Shah to justice, but as USA declines to send back Shah, the people of Iran retaliates by taking over the American Embassy in Tehran (Capital of Iran), and take’s hostage everybody inside, however unknown to them six Embassy staff members have left the building and went into hiding in Canadian Ambassadors house. CIA starts preparing a rescue operations, but they are out of clue how to pull this off, its then when Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck) comes up with a seemingly crazy plan to rescue these 6 people, the plan is to go to Iran on pretense of shooting a Sci-fi movie, and returning with the 6 people by calling them members of the shooting staff.  As idiotic it may sound on paper this actually happened.

What follows is the execution of the plan by CIA with cooperation with Canadian Government. However the narration and execution of the movie keeps your heart beat at a high speed; even I could barely sit during the last 20 minutes of the movie. The director has done an excellent job.

The movie may look tense from outside, but is shot in a way of a thriller. Ben Affleck, who is the lead artist and director as well, delivers a balanced performance, supporting cast has done a good job as well, and you may be amazed by the resemblance of star cast with the actual people who were part of the operation.

The movie makes a good watch, it’s an intelligent movie, watch it and enjoy it.

Rating ****.

Django Unchained

The latest movie from Quentin Tarantino starts with beautiful music, just the kind of music you hear in western movies, but wait a second, it itself is a western movie!

At least the kind of western movie one would expect Tarantino to make.

The movie is set in that era of American history which is not much talked about, an era of slavery, an era where it was common as well as legal to have slaves and to treat them in any way the master considered fit. However this movie is neither melodramatic nor an issue based movie. It’s just a Tarantino movie where cars have been replaced by horses, mafia & bad guys replaced by rich people trading in slaves, and bombs & machineguns replaced by old fashioned cowboys guns, but believe me the fun remains the same, its classic Tarantino stuff.

                                                                                                                  
The movie catches you from the very first scene, unpredictable characters, erratic situations, amusing dialogues makes you glue on the seat. When any scene starts you won’t be in a position to deduce, how it will end. There are some sequences which may make you laugh so much that you may start feeling your guts in your mouth, my favorite being when dozens of men go out on horses wearing masks to kill Djano and his friend.  

In the main cast Christoph Waltz delivers another amazing performance, he is a gifted actor, ditto for Samuel L Jackson for a fantastic performance, although Jamie Foxx plays the lead, and Leonardo DiCaprio is the main villain, they don’t come near the characterization or performance of above mentioned actors.

Action scenes are beautifully shot; there is one time in the movie when you may think the film will end without the kind of climax Tarantino is known for, and you start feeling cheated, when suddenly the scene changes and bullets start firing from everywhere. The director makes a cameo appearance again like many of his preceding movies.

All in all a must watch for any Tarantion fan.

Rating ****.