Analysing films

If you can spare some time do listen to the podcast of Samdhish Bhatia with Anurag Basu (the link is here so you don’t need to work hard, searching: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkeUWYeDweA) you read through the mind of a gemmologist like Anurag Basu who gave us further gems like Life in a Metro, Jagga Jasoos (one of his most underrated work but stands head and shoulder), Barfi, Ludo to name a few. Also, Anurag has had a long stint on Television too which is what makes him versatile and resplendent in his work profile. His latest, मेट्रो ... इन दिनों , somewhere fails to connect and takes a tad long time to build itself. In the pre interval stage it nearly takes about 30-40 minutes to build the plot around four main characters much like his previous anthology (Life in a Metro). Aditya Roy Kapoor- Soha Ali Khan, Konkona Sen Sharma - Pankaj Tripathi, Fatima Sana Shaikh - Ali Fazal and Anupam Kher with Neena Gupta. Post interval too, the plot disintegrates and is unable to conne...

If you remember Season 1 of the supremely popular web series, and in the opening sequence of episode 1, there were a few petha (a variety of sweet meat from Agra) placed and a glass of water welcoming the new appointee in the gram panchayat, Sachiv Ji (the popular avatar from the TVF factory, Jitendra Kumar). The scene was worth remembering for primarily few reasons. One it captured the rustic essence of part of India which is often left to entertaining guests with petha and water. Second, Petha is a very dry and drab looking sweet meat with no inherent character (Unlike a ladoo or rasgulla) of its own. Third, it looks dry and rugged from outside and a bite into it, helps gets ushered in extreme sweet and syrupy taste, very unlike the perception one makes from the outside. The series starts off on a dry note and as you bite more of the petha (read watch more episodes and season) an unseen world and unseen character with a different dialect got gradually unfolded in front of our e...

  The first thing about Sitaare Zameen Par (SZP) that draws your attention, it does not carry any baggage from Taare Zameen Par (TZP). The creators decided to paint on a fresh drawing board with no reclamation from the past. And which is why SZP catches its audience by surprise and does not disappoint you. While TZP was dealing with a problem which most of us as a community were getting exposed first hand. But SZP deals with a scenario were some of us have some inkling of it. Also, the beauty or if I may say the strength of SZP was more in the fact that it does not sound preachy and it takes us through imperfections in life. Including the protagonist, Gulshan (Aamir Khan) who does not wear the badge as seriously as he did in TZP as Ram Shankar Nikumbh. Gulshan is a mess at home (Dolly Ahluwalia and Bijendra Kala in a hilarious chemistry as Gulshan's parents), an even bigger mess at his workplace, an alcoholic prone to doing dangerous acts with DUI. In all Gulshan (the name is metap...

  Cinema is a medium to convey a message; message which are verbal or visual based. It has the power to alter narrative or perhaps the discourse too. In the 50's 60's and even more pronounced in the 70's and 80's film stars commanded a huge influence on the audience. Hair style, clothes and accessories were copied by audience blindly. The Sadhana Cut became a famous hairstyle or the bouffant of Asha Parekh or the Sharmila Tagore style eye liners; even the men folk were not left behind. The ear hiding hairstyle of Amitabh Bachchan or the bell bottom or the unbuttoned shirt (only the first 2-3 buttons) went on to be cult classics. But, this rage was/is actually a global phenomena. It happened across the world and it still continues to create a sense of dystopian world which audience are more than happy to lap up.  In more recent times, two Hindi films, Dil Chahta Hai and later Zindagi Na Mile Dobara went on to change the way how youth looked at lifestyle and travel. Infac...

The problem with sports films in India: either you make a tear jerker or you create one with heavy dose of adrenalin rush. The former fits in Toofan nicely while the latter will have Chak De fit in. But a Chak De works better in the sports genre, for the fact that the genre is about the down and out scenario or the rise of the underdog or even rising from the ashes. The West (read Hollywood) has clearly laid templates and they usually do not move outside of that; unless you are creating a Moneyball or a Million Dollar Arm or Remember the Titans. Each had a story in the story. So, if it is the Longest Yard or the Million Dollar Arm or Curve Ball and the many other they produce, is all a template. But, remember sports movies inspite of being in templates are hard to make. They need to be believable and convincing. Production is hard and so are character building. Watching Toofan you shall realize the hard work that the lead (Farhan) has put in. Unless the characters look convincing, a sp...

The passing away of Dilip Kumar was kind of anticipated for quite some as he was in and out of hospital in the last few years, quite often. The thespian was 98 years old, and it spoke of the tenacity of the man in cinema and life too. He was not the one with a large filmography. Just 60 of them and they were enough for a generation and thereafter to remember him and his work. A lot of yesteryear stars from Amitabh Bachchan to much later Shahrukh Khan swear by his name and acting. Three things that stood out in his acting was the dialogue delivery , nuanced approach to acting and finally his body language . Each one left a long-standing impression. His contemporaries, Raj Kapoor and Dev Anand had also developed their own style. Raj Kapoor was often compared to Chaplin and Dev Anand to Gregory Peck. In that respect, Dilip Sahab managed to create a unique space for himself.  The 50's brought in these faces to Hindi cinema, which had till then witnessed, Ashok Kumar, Prithviraj Kapo...

Family Man 2 is the news for all the right reasons. It pretty much stays on course from where it left off with Season 1. Except that Season 2 focuses less on the family and more on the action and chase part of the discourse. One character out of the whole melee that takes off is, Chellum Sir (Uday Mahesh) and has virtually got Social Media on fire. Amongst so many tower house characters why did Chellum Sir become so viral. He is what we want to be or be like him. Have answers and solutions to all problems, no matter how complex it is. And the solution remains in a matter of fact way. This is what 2020 and 2021 has been all about. Rise of the niche world. Super stars, item numbers, blockbusters have all crashed. Across industries (Telegu and Tamil remains an exception though) it has been the rise and rise of meaningful cinema, and meaningful content. Perhaps Hindi cinema is the worst affected. And the OTT boom has further decimated the hopes. Take for instance a film like 83 which has ...

One thing that remains clear after watching Sherni (it streams on Prime Video); never judge a film by the trailer. I remember a Srijit Mukherjee film (not a big fan anyways of his film) Zulfiqar released in 2016 and it had a promising trailer to boot. The trailer had created so much anticipation about the film and eventually the film turned a big Dud. With Sherni, the trailer did not hold, and I was only hoping to sit for a couple of minutes to see through the proceedings. However, the film just took off. Amit Masurkar took his own time after his debut, Newton launch his second outing and he continues to hold his mettle. Sherni is an important film not just for the context of the plot but also for understanding what happens when mankind and animal kingdom clash. This has been a phenomena affecting the animal kingdom globally. A brilliant documentary on Apple TV, The year the earth changed showcases when the humans where locked up at home in 2020, nature started reclaiming it's rig...

  Mandela has to be one of the definitive films of 2021. Mandela and Karnan (featuring Dhanush and another 2021 release) trudge the same path of caste based oppression but the genre of the two remains starkly different. While Karnan pretty much follows the age old path of revenge, violence and the down and out protagonist fighting back; Mandela takes a completely different route to addressing the issue of caste based oppression. In a small village Soorangudi (Tuticorin district) a small time low caste barber suddenly becomes the most important man in the village, as his only vote will decide the future of the village elections and the gram panchayat. The village has a history of conflict with the northern and southern part of the village at loggerheads (a caste based divide). Both the sides have their respective leader and who are ironically the sons of the local panchayat head. The head has strategically married two women from the two different sides of the village, but it still d...

Titli released in the summer of 2014 after having earned rave reviews in the international film circuit. A heavily awarded neo-noir and Kanu Behl's debut film, it is definitely not for the faint hearted. It opens to a title of the film in blood red and that pretty much sums up the sequence of events. Titli has a very Fargo kind of feel from the Coen brothers. Fargo plays out in the cold and mountainous North Dakota and Titli is set in the very rustic and dusty part of Delhi. It does intermingle with the narrow and shabby by lanes of North East Delhi where the buildings and the people are virtually breathing down on each other. Titli takes us into the lives of three brothers and their father. The relationship amongst them breathes the parochial and patriarchal mindset which is to say the least, toxic. The elder brother played brilliantly by Ranvir Shorey understands only one thing which is what he inherited from his father and thereon. The language of physical abuse and an extremely...

  Dibakar Banerjee with his first outing, Khosla ka Ghosla was fantastic, with his second, Oye Lucky he was good in parts and with the experimental Love Sex aur Dhokha (LSD) he was at his best. And after that he lost it. In between he did produce the amazing little gem, Titli. But after, LSD he has not reached the scale, which he did with his first three outings. Interestingly, if you chance to see a few other directors who came to the scene along with Dibakar, also have similar filmography. Shoojit Sarcar, Onir, Tigmanshu, Nadvdeep Singh etc. The first 3-4 films remain their bete noir and then lose plot in the later tales.  Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar (SAPF) falls in the same category of Dibakar. It starts with a great plot and context but loses out eventually to some bad casting (especially the two leads) and in the later half with lack of plot. One had expectations with Varun Grover as the co-writer on board. Or maybe the Director did not find a better way to close the plot. S...

On the sidelines of Disciple's release on Netflix, it is important to visit, Chaitanya Tamhane's debut film, Court. Why I say it? Because Court brings in a new perspective to film making which has been something novel to me and not seen in a long time at least in Indian Film Industry. And before you watch Disciple, Court remains an essential viewing, to set the context. What sets Court apart? First, the narration; which are episodic and is based on sudden cuts which when passes away makes the viewers connect to the earlier scenes. Court revolves around three main characters and four if you include the protagonist; who coincidentally has been a watermark to the proceedings with the three leads forming the crux of the conversation around him. The plot revolves around Narayan Kamble (a teacher and protest singer whose alleged provocative songs has forced a manual scavenger to commit suicide). The rest of the film revolves around the court proceedings where the police have arrested...

  Nayattu premiered on Netflix on 5th April and it has reached straight at No. 2 amongst the most watched in India. It is a compelling thriller and leaves the audience on the tenterhook right till the end and then you are left wondering whether it was a social message that was being passed or was it still the thriller genre. Three cops on the chase by the cops because of a series of mis-happenings that was happening since morning. All this in the backdrop of pitched election fervor and eventually it all leads to a major fiasco at the end of the day. And three cops, brilliantly underplayed by Kunchacko Boban, Joju George and Nimisha Sajayan (in a completely different avatar after the fantastic Great Indian Kitchen) are spot on. The main protagonist of Nayattu remains the context which is politics and its under current and the antagonist perhaps are these three characters.  Nayattu starts with the lives of these three characters and the challenges they face at home and at w...

  The brand new show from TVF, Aspirants Pre...Mains...Aur Life debuted about two weeks back on YouTube and their own channel too. Fresh from the success of Panchayat and earlier Kota Factory this one is take on the UPSC aspirants. While Kota Factory was targeted to the parents, aspirants and everybody who spent time in Kota (preparing) this one looks at the civil servant aspirants. As each episode ends the creators kind of converse on the same lines. However, I thought the series is for all of us who are looking to do something in life. And it comes out very clearly in the first episode where one amongst the three protagonist talks to the incoming batch about dedication, patience and perseverance (not necessarily following any order but you have the flexibility to place it accordingly).  I remember when I went to college in 1986, civil services was considered hallowed and was told that the hub of aspirants were in the Western part of the city and the go to coaching college wa...