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2016- We have reached the halfway mark, is there hope?

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I have been more and more away from this space and particularly so for more than a few months (could be 6). Frankly, there was and there is nothing home to write about. There seems to be a serious catharsis of ideas and Hindi cinema is reaching a point where mediocrity is being celebrated and perhaps a sense of complacency seems to be settling in everywhere. Most names and banners are cocooned in their shell and are kind of refusing to come out of their comfort zone.

I guess a name like Balaji Telefilms needs its fair share of accolades and kudos for all its experimentative approach to back films, where there is an idea or perhaps a thought. Look at the body of work (and newbies) that Balaji has backed and that has frankly surprised me. And that to me was/is good news.

Coming back to 2016, did it hold any good. There was Udta Punjab, Kapoor and Sons, Neerja (only for Shabana, you can watch it a million times) and two small gems Dhanak and Nil battey sannata (I haven't seen both, but it is on my bucket list), there was Airlift too but Akshay and his brand of cinema never convinces me enough, to feel he is serious about this genre. So with an industry producing more than 10000 films a year, we just have a handful to talk about. And that is sad. It is true that there is a populist genre which produces the moolah and the traffic to the cinema, but we are a bunch of audience languishing somewhere and waiting for some kind souls to think of us.

It also bothers me abundantly, why do big banners go selective producing movies which are on the same hackneyed theme and plot. When the producers decided to back Udta Punjab, there must have been a zillion thoughts going through their minds in terms of backing the concept. However, I would tend to believe the movie's moment of truth was the casting coup and each of these guys are fairly big names in their league. And for this I will give a big Thumbs up to each one of them. The one that deserves the biggest has to be Diljeet Dosanjh, for his superbly understated performance, considering he is such a big star, back in his home state.

Kapoor and Sons worked for three important people, Rajat Kapoor, Rishi Kapoor and Ratna Pathak. They provided the pivot for the two leads to perform and for once Sidharth was trying to act, which was good. Neerja (Biopics are the order of the day and I would write off all of the others made in the past) worked for Shabana and she held it all together. Shoddy in most parts, but the film was held together by her and that was a big big thing. I have to see Dhanak and Nil Batte Sannata (It has my favourite Swara Bhaskar).

I also chanced to see Q's Brahman Naman on Netflix and for those who haven't, it is worth a dekko. Why? At least it took me back in my growing up years. It also has the classic Bangalore of 80's the sleepy little pensioner's paradise and of course a great casting and great concept to move with large dosage of sexual innuendo's thrown in and if that is not enough, you have Sid Mallaya to boot.

I am not too hopeful with the rest of the year, going by the way things are. Even Hollywood did not throw in anything worth resplendent about. The usual Marvel fare gets doled out in regular intervals and then we had the deadpan Deadpool (sigh!)

I am now been following a lot of the mini series on TV and then there is serious theater to always go back to (and that is what I have been chasing for some time now).

So till we some signs of recovery from the industry, you will see less of me and that is indeed sad to say the least...        

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