Analysing films

Today we revisit the epic 1982 film Gandhi by Sir Richard Attenborough. The film till today stands as the most definitive work on the man and his works. It took several years in the making; initially as the brain child of Pandit Nehru and upon his demise the project was stalled for some time. However, with the support of the IB Ministry, Mrs. Gandhi and with Colombia Pictures the film was back on track and finally released in 1982. It took the vision of Sir Attenborough (what a paradox) on envisioning the life of the Mahatma. With such an illustrious and important character from Indian history and much of whose work shaped the path of the freedom movement, later even influencing global leaders it was indeed a herculean task to be putting together all of his life into a feature film which is just about 3 hours long. A lot of back stories on making of the film floats around with several characters talking of their experience in making of the film. In all the stories though the common thr

Unpaused is unique in its treatment and approach. It is an opportune film and of course timely. It showcases 5 stories about how humans are coping with the pandemic, lockdown and the fear of living with the virus all the time. Glitch, Apartment, Rat A Tat, Vishaanu and Chand Mubarak. Each story is unique and showcases 5 directors. It starts with Raj and Krishna DK's Glitch and ends with Nitya Mehra's Chand Mubarak. But the beauty is in the penultimate segment, directed by Avinash Arun Dhaware (Killa and Pataalok fame). This one titled Vishaanu focuses on the migrant labors and the challenges they faced. It is deep, dark and disturbing yet in its narration it gives us moments of hope and joy. It features my personal favorite Geetika Vidya Ohiyan (its a pity we see so little of her) who is a powerhouse of talent and delivers so well in the plot. One needs to keep seeing her for several times to understand why she is such a fantastic actress we have amongst us. It was a treat to w

Salaam Bombay is Mira Nair's most definitive film. It is unrivalled to me till today in explaining what Bombay (sorry it still is Bombay to me) and what the Bombay life on the street is all about. The film is not the usual feature film so to speak but an experiment and an extension of a workshop. It is unmatch-able in everything one can think in terms of film making. The location (it captured Bombay in a different context), the casting (nobody got so realistic), the music (the magic of L. Subramnaiam) and an ensemble foreign crew and yes finally, Raghubir Yadav's performance. It is a quite simply a potpourri of it all. Salaam Bombay starts with this little gem called Shafiq Sayed who literally captivates you with his subdued performance. At the end of the film when all is lost and he rests on a verandah and the camera pans to his face its a mix of hopelessness, emotions running high, the harangue he has been through and it is what the film is all about. My favourite Roger Ebert

Today we visit the epic from Ray, Nayak (The Hero). Personally, amongst all of Ray's work this is my personal favorite and today I want to talk about why is it so. Nayak premiered in 1966, a tumultuous time for Bengal and for Bengal cinema where the city and the state was going through transition. The politically charged environment where the Left was gradually making for the Right saw this gem releasing. It is touted as Uttam Kumar's (in Bengal he is the Mahanayak - Superstar in English) finest performance in a vast repository of work that he featured in. It is also now in folklore that when Ray had planned and written the film he had Uttam Kumar in mind to play the role and if he (Uttam Kumar) would not have agreed, Ray would have shelved the project. Now, Uttam Kumar has screen presence which is unrivalled till today. So a film comes in the way where practically he has to play the part he lives it was something that came naturally to him. And, Nayak is perhaps the finest per

Today we revisit the delightful 2017 gem from Amit Masrurkar, Newton. Upon it's release then, the film garnered a lot of critical acclaim and it was indeed a delight to watch this film then and now. The context was topical, an extremely well thought of casting (even characters with 2-3 lines had so much depth) and finally it falls into the genre of black comedy, that makes Newton so enjoyable to watch. Newton to me is an out and out Pankaj Tripathi film, followed by Raghubir Yadav and then Rajkumar Rao. A lot of people might rank it the other way round but to me its Pankaj right at the top. He is spot on and every bit of his moment and presence are gilt edged. Infact, he complements the sullenness of Rajkumar' character so well. His opening lines where he enquires the visiting entourage about their preference for eggs is awesome. There are several such moments in the film which are so well cut out. Raghubir Yadav being the genius and such an underrated character comes out with

Mira Nair's 2001 odyssey can best be summed up in her own lines when the film premiered; a movie which is a reality check on Hum Aapke Hain Kaun (a 1994 release from the Hindi film industry); Monsoon Wedding is not an easy film to make and with an ensemble cast with such heavyweights like Nasseruddin Shah, Shefali Shah, Vijay Raaz, Tillotama Shome, Lushin Dubey, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Rajit Kapoor, Neha Dubey, Roshan Seth to name a few it really is indeed complex a film to make. Almost 80-85% of the scenes in the movie is showcased in context of marriage as a setting and that is where the scenes will always be populated. And Monsoon Wedding is gem to watch from hereon.  And the keen eye of Mira Nair is therefore to see. One can't help and comment on the fact that Mira's love for film is so pronounced and it shows frame after frame in Monsoon Wedding.  For starters as I said earlier Monsoon Wedding has an extremely strong set of actors from Hindi cinema and pitching them all

This week we delve into Fellini's classic La Dolce Vita. Lo Dolce Vita is not your routine film but an episodic one where each of the incidents happen in silos bounded by three main characters of Mastroianni as the Journalist (Marcello Rubini), his live in partner (Emma) played by Yvonne Furneaux and his intermittent relationship with Maddelena, the character played by Anouk Aimee. And capturing all of these episodic features is the guy we know as Paparazzo from whom the name Paparazzi is what we know "them" as famously today.  The 7 episodes over 7 days in the life of the journalist Marcello captures him while at work and at his personal moments. Often the line separating the personal and professional parts gets so intertwined that one is unable to distinguish. Take for instance the episode which seems to be the least connected with the central plot on the magical power of the tree and the two kids and their chance viewing of Madonna. And our protagonist, Marcello is wor

Today we visit the near silent movie 2011, Drive. The definitive part of Drive is the brilliant Ryan Gosling and his chemistry with Carrey Mullighan, second the minimal lines that the two leads get to speak which means that most of the conversations happens through eye contact and body language which transcends the moment they often spend together and last of the cog in the wheel to me is the constant ramblings of my perennial favourite Bryan Cranston (he was fresh of the success of Breaking Bad).  The movie which was inspired from the 2005 novel of James Sallis was always in the danger of falling in the trap, but it took the vision of the Danish director Nicholas Winding Refn and a brilliant screenplay from Hossein Amini to take the movie to the level of being a genre unto itself. Often the film has striking resemblance in moments to the cult classic Taxi Driver, yet it steers clear of that and carves a niche for itself. Drive takes you on see-saw. It showcases the lows of a see-saw t

This week we delve into the Neeraj Ghaywan, gem, Masaan. The beauty of Masaan lies in its casting and there are no two words about it. The four main characters are perfect in their roles and none of them miss the cue. But, its Vicky Kaushal who in his debut avatar as the boy from the Dom community (the lowest of the Hindu caste who are resigned to burning dead bodies) shines head and shoulder above the rest. Perhaps, Sanjay Mishra with the subtleties in his acting repertoire comes close.  The brilliance of Vicky's acting is often discussed in the scene where he says those tragic lines at the end; Ye dukh khatam kyu nahi hota! But to me, his brilliance actually starts with the opening scene where he is sitting with his friends at the cyber café and tries to decipher the medium of Social Media. His expressions of naivete, innocence, the smile of trying to feel up to the moment and the coy in his behaviour is an absolute class unto itself. He reminds me of Soumitra in Apur Sansar wher

This week we review the classic Eric Rohmer; Pauline at the beach ( Pauline à la plage ). The lockdown was a catalyst to subscribe to the streaming platform Mubi and it has opened up a completely different world to me. There is a problem of plenty on Mubi and there is so much quality content to view that it at times becomes difficult to choose.  However, I decided to choose Eric Rohmer and his cinema which was featured as a series of films and I decided to soak in with the classic Pauline at the beach. Rohmer along with Godard, Truffaut, Chabrol and Rivette are known as icons of New Wave French cinema. Rohmer's work has three distinct phases to his repertoire and Pauline at the beach is from his Comedies and Proverbs phase. It will be interesting to note that Rohmer and several of his contemporary were themselves film critics and were extremely well read and educated directors. Hence, the kind of work they produced between the 50's and the 60's were distinct and carried a l

I think that cinema in India has been produced by dime a dozen and there are a handful that needs to be looked as a definitive movie that sums up a large number of sub-contextual elements. The other day I happened to read a piece of news about Amit Sadh and his experience with Kai Po Che. The workshops they did before the movie went on floors and the time Abhishek Kapoor (the director) spent on thrashing out the characters and how they all miss Sushant now. This got me thinking that why not start a new series on my blogpost about revisiting a definitive movie from any era and then review it from my own perspective. Kai Po Che made perfect sense.  At the onset the movie clearly stands out for being an honest effort from a lot of people, and since it happened to be a debut for several of the leads, the honesty in the performance showed. There have been reams written on how Sushant's (Ishaan) character virtually steals the show. Yes, there are no two words about it. In his debut avata

What can one say about a doyen and a Kimbadonti (meaning legend in Bengali) of Bengali film industry. His death is perhaps another reason for people like us to look back at the simplicity and the greatness attached to a legacy of Soumitra and his work.  Regional cinema in India have had their share of legends often defined by the fan base and the legacy of work. In the south most often legacy is defined by the fan base who often have taken the memories and the trivia associated with the star to an all new level. MGR was one such legacy. The living legend now, Rajnikant is another who continues to inspire a generation. In Bengal, one had Uttam Kumar whose sudden and untimely death had brought the whole state to a halt. Uttam Kumar had the charisma, spontaneity and the screen presence which till today remains unparalleled.  And that is where the contrast of Soumitra Chatterjee lay. He was often compared to the legacy of Uttam Kumar and the media/fans and everybody tried to bring in a sen

Chaalaang is the classic feel good movie to be watched on a Sunday evening with the family around. Clean and largely expletive free, it works for an extremely strong cast to boot and a storyline though wobbly in some places makes up with the right screen time and good editing. A little over 2 hours the run time is just enough to keep you glued to the seat. Anything more than this it would have been like the other recent release; Ludo; where the extra 20-30 minutes from the middle drags the film down.  Chaalang has an array of talent to boot. There is Saurabh Shukla, Satish Kaushik, Illa Arun, Jatin Sarna and of course Zeeshan Ayub Quadri (who cowrites the film too). Then there is a running chemistry of Hansal Mehta and Rajkumar Rao who have had an history of Omerta, Aligarh, Citylights... together. The weight of these actors and their chemistry wears down heavily on the frames of Nushrat Bharucha for whom after a time carrying it gets difficult and she seems to pale out. Chaalang has a

  At the start while reviewing Ludo; mandatory disclosure; Catch and Snatch kind of movies usually have a max viewing time of 90 minutes and anything above that it starts to get a tad iffy and "lost" even. And that is where the problem of Ludo run time is and  they could have done away with the middle 30-40  minutes of the film. Those were times when the film actually lost the plot and meandered into finding answers to every plot lines it had introduced. A film that starts well with a modern day Chitragupt and Yama (Anurag Basu looking impressive) looking for answers to life and gradually builds the plot of four different tracks (A la blue, red, yellow and green ludo dots) and each one with a back story that typically collides at different times of life and moments. There is an Abhishek Bachchan plot, a Rajkumar Rao plot, an Aditya Roy Kapur plot and finally the impressive Rahul Saraf plot. The plots all converge to Sattu Bhaiyya (Pankaj Tripathi) in some way or the other mea

Today we delve into the mind of Richard Linklater and his classic movie; School of Rock. School of Rock is one of Linklater's underrated films and he is known more for the iconic film, Boyhood. But School of Rock holds an important place of its own. The film started on a premise of a failed Rock Band singer trying to fit himself into the mainstream (make some money to earn a living) and in the process fakes as Temp teacher to get into a premier and elite Private School (as a proxy to his friend) and thereby gathering the momentum amongst a deadbeat set of students already loaded with the parochial and archaic pedagogy of modern education (a kind of ridicule on the modern education which is incentivized at every step). School of Rock is not a regular music based film but goes beyond the realm of it to showcase how passion is important in things that you want to do. An iconic Jack Black (Dewey Finn) was just the right guy to play the failed musician and his energy, passion and love f

 I have never reviewed a Web Series here before, barring the occasional Pataalok which I talked about extensively earlier in one of my posts. Well, Pataalok deserves all the accolades and the kudos for some terrific writing and a brilliant casting. And it has to stand tall amongst all of 2020 releases so far in the Web Series category. I am also hoping against hope that the makers do not get into a Pataalok2 and that might be the death knell for it. We are usually not good the second time!  And that is where Mirzapur (showcasing on Amazon Prime) and it's second innings is all about. The first season had its moments and the audience woke up to the dialect, the tone, the arrogance, swag and everything that was Eastern UP. For a boy growing up in the 70's and 80's in that part of the world a lot of it came to me naturally and was relatable. However, the larger context of the 1st season was that it had a storyline (even though weak) was moving. A lot of things though sounding u

If someone has seen Vikrant Massey in Death in the Gunj and now watches him in Ginny weds Sunny will feel helpless and lost like Massey in the film. From the word go he looks clueless and seems in complete discomfort in the avatar of a Punjabi lad from the interiors of Delhi. Set in a very Delhi locale the two neighbors Ginny (Yami Gautam as fair and lovely in those ads we see her) and Sunny (Massey in a forgettable role) the guy next door who has a flair for cooking and is promised a restaurant once he gets married (pity by the end of the movie, the plot of cooking is lost). What starts with some premise and promise and is ably supported by the support cast of Mazel Vyas (in a confident role), Ayesha Raza and Rajiv Gupta, fizzles out eventually in an extended Sangeet Video.  What works; in bits and parts the plot which is lost by the half time. The relatable Ayesha Raza and her relatable dialogues ( Hum Punjabiyon ke paas aur hai hi kya ... ek emotions, ek paneer ) and Mazel Vyas in a

  Heat is a classic action genre for many and a Michael Mann kind of movie (known for movies like Last of the Mohicans starring Daniel Day Lewis in a role where you wont see him too often). where action rules. Heat is however, to me a different space primarily because it puts two heavyweights Pacino and De Niro against each other who seem to have a respect for each other in what they do and the intensity with which they do. Roger Ebert in his review of Heat has mentioned that these two have acted in so many of those cops and thieves genre that the new gen cops and thieves take inspiration from them. That, indeed is a compliment. Heat is a simple plot of a heist that goes wrong at the start where they pick a wrong guy to do the job. The recruit (Kevin Gage as Waingro) does not follow the code of conduct and that upsets the team lead (De Niro) and decides to eliminate him, but Waingro gives them the slip. This was a costly mistake that plays up till the end. In the next 2 1/2 hours we ar

Alankrita Shrivastava takes off from the Lipstick under the burqa tale and continues it with Chamkte Sitare... The film opens to two sisters enjoying at the local fair and seem to be content in what looks like a happy family with Dolly (Konkona) with husband and two kids. Alongside we have Kaajal (Bhumi) staying with the family who is running away from being married off in her hometown (we have heard so much about that). In the next two hour or so we are witness to an unhappy marriage that Konkona has to wade through in between her brief fling with the food delivery boy Osmaan Ansari (Amol Parashar) and battling with her son's sexual orientation. And Kaajal's ups and downs in the relationships that she goes through, and a failed one at that. What could have built up as a plot and a interesting take on the classic middle class of where small town girls get mixed up in the brouhaha of the urban metropolis and a working woman trying to find her foothold gets all horribly mixed up.

One of the things that the lock down did offer to me was revisiting classics across genres, language and cinema of the world too. This might be an opportune time to write piece by piece. I may have watched these classics at least 10-12 times earlier and every time one gets to see it; there is a new way to look at the movie. We start the week with a classic Spielberg; SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (SPR). Released in 1998,  to me it has to be one of the best war films. There are many war films that may come close and some may even dispute the claim that there is a Full Metal Jacket or Apocalypse Now or Platoon or Deer Hunter or Pan's Labyrinth which could be ranked better. But to me SPR still has too be the definite movie on war and why so? The movie starts with the classic Normandy landing and then veers into a sequence where war becomes a backdrop. A dedicated set of 8 men will have to scourge through platoons to look for Private Ryan after orders comes right from the top about finding him c

 What I sense is that as Churchill said, every crisis has a opportunity. And the pandemic and the resultant lock down threw one down to some of us. A lot of we did spend time re-skilling ourselves with new things. But a film aficionado in me decided to make the best of this time with watching a lot of film. As the OTT platform went ballistic with a whole set of new releases but I guess it was all a problem of plenty and more importantly none of it was worth watching. Locked up at home between 24th March till about today (well in a semi-lockdown state perhaps) I can safely conclude about a film and a series which stayed on with me. But first the film; Kamyaab. Written and directed by Hardik Mehta (of Amdavad ma famous fame)it is a standout film of this year. Its a pity the film could not have a proper big screen time as the pandemic just about timed itself when the film saw a theatrical release. It soon circumvented into the OTT platform (Netflix). What stands to me; classic film making