Mini reviews: the Films I Actually Liked Edition.

NH10 - I went in not knowing much about this one beyond the initial premise of an urban couple getting mixed up in rural violent disputes along the highway. I also probably won't ever go back to this one, such a brutal watch it was, but this one really nailed so many things I didn't expect it to. Anushka Sharma delivered a career-great (or career upper echelon but hopefully not the best we get to see out of her yet) performance. The mood was fantastic throughout, capturing the terror and the panic and the constant threat of violence looming over. The soundtrack underscores the mood, and the milieu is perfect for it, too. Enjoyable, but tough, precisely because of how real it feels.

Piku - This tale of bowel movement and road trip and family bonding and tentative romance feels like precisely the worst kind of "quirky" film you could imagine, and yet it's one I'll probably find myself recommending the most. The strength of the script, that immediately allows you to feel at home with these characters, added to the strength of the performances (Deepika has probably been this good before, and even so this feels special) simply makes Piku a delight. I just sat there, watching it, being awed and delighted by its world and its humour. Amitabh and Irffan are fantastic here, as well, but their value has been demonstrated before, whereas Deepika Padukone is making great strides as of late. I love that this was a hit.

Sunrise (2014) - A French-Indian co-production was one that I felt safe taking my Bollywood-hating friend to, as the whole thing clocked in around 90 minutes of running time and did not seem like your standard crime fare. Adil Hussain leads in this noir indie where rain is a constant and the narrative dips in and out of reality as we follow the cop Joshi chase shadows on the streets of Mumbai as multiple children are turning up dead. A sort of b-plot follows a group of dance girls in a heart-breaking portrayal of the underworld. I don't particularly want to get too deep into everything that happens, as the film (directed by Partho Sen-Gupta) is so small in scale and its objectives that it's best viewed without knowing too much. I saw it at a festival, so I don't know how widely it's been released yet, but worth looking out for.

Detective Byomkesh Bakshy - Sushant Singh Rajput had impressed me so little in his previous films that the poor man did not even have a tag on this here blog, following his debut in Kai Po Che and his second film Desi Shuddh Romance (which I hated). But with this Hindi adaptation of the famous Bengali detective novels, he's arrived in a big way, both to my graces and in the industry in general. I loved this Dibakar Banerjee film, in its 1940's Kolkatta milieu and noir style cinematography, the story in all its twists and turns and fantastic supporting cast. And that rocking soundtrack, by god. This might not end up being my favourite of 2015 but it'll probably at the very least crack top five, and I look forward to any possible sequels,

Rewatch magic: Paa & Mujhse Fraaandship Karoge.

When I first saw Paa, I was sure my extreme emotional reaction to it was a fluke. It wasn't a hyperbole to say I cried my eyes out throughout the movie, by the end letting out dry sobs because I had no tears left. It was so bizarre - this had never happened to me with any movie, and I had watched a fair bit of tear-jerkers in my time. So it had to be something other than the film, causing this reaction - maybe it was just my mood to cry my eyes out, and the movie gave me good impetus to do so without feeling silly for it. 

This is not to say anything against the film. It's a damn good one, and even if I was wary of the "gimmick" of having the son (Abhishek) play the father, and the father (Amitabh Bachchan) play the son, who suffers from progeria. Acting through prosthetic make-up is difficult for anybody, and Amitabh-ji was praised through the roof for this performance, and I wondered whether that was because of the performance, or his star power combined with the braveness of taking such a role.

Thankfully, the movie puts the story and its characters front and center, thus making sure you almost forget about the gimmick entirely. And even if the film is named 'father', the mother is the real highlight here - I feel like Paa was the first role where Vidya Balan was just staggeringly amazing, and I'm pretty sure I cried the hardest whenever her character cried. 

I went into my rewatch thinking that I probably wouldn't be so emotionally prodded by the movie, as I remembered crying at so many lines and so many scenes. This time, I thought, I'd know what was coming - surely that had to make it less emotionally impacting? 

Well, it did not. Not only did I cry my one paper tissue soggy, I was also so mesmerized by the film I couldn't just hit pause and go get another one. When the climactic scene arrives, even though I knew what was coming, even though I had seen it coming miles away, I was just completely broken. If my tear ducts had any moisture left, it was all let out by the end of the film. Again.

So I keep wondering. What is it about this story that just gets to me? I don't feel like there's anything particularly personal about the story for me, so it's not like it reflects my own life in any way. I suspect some other fans of the film may feel the same way, but considering I'm not really the tear-jerker person, nor does this film get consistently mentioned among the best or most favourite films (hell, even I don't regularly list it as one), I'm kind of puzzled. The performances are all great, the musical cues certainly heighten those performances, and the soundtrack is wonderful, but I still don't know why this movie leaves such an impact on me. The only thing I know is that on my next rewatch, I'll know to prepare more tissues. 

Mujhse Fraaandship Karoge, on the other hand, remains the perfect rainy day romcom to watch. I wonder if Kunal Kohli feels that way, too - since I recently realized, being a little slow I guess, that Fraaandship is basically a modernized version of Mujhse Dosti Karoge. MDK, of course, and this has been admitted by Kohli himself, was kind of a dated movie even when it came out. It was a late 90's film for the early 00's, and though it has some redeeming features (that Antakshari song or the completely filmi and wonderful climax), it's not really one to remember much nowadays.

I wondered about the expiration date of Fraandship as I rewatched. Preity and Vishal fall in love via Facebook by impersonating their friends, and while social networking could be here to stay, youth culture does tend to change rather rapidly - what's cool one minute tends to not be so cool the next. Still, from the marketing perspective (ugh, yes, the kind of phrase I never wanted to type), it makes sense to give the youth films that portray characters who are also young, and hopefully in a way that's realistic but still idealized.

Another thing I picked up on was that the film was directed by a woman, Nupur Ashtana, which is sadly a rare thing world over. Good on Y-Films for finally getting some women directors in the fray as well (will mothership Yash Raj Films follow suit sometime in the future?).

I also thought about the message the film sends. As with any glossy romcoms, there is some focus on superficial traits, but what is notable in Fraaandship is how personality, chemistry and compatibility win out in the end. Preity and Vishal have instant chemistry online, but they continue to bicker with one another face-to-face. There is also no "make-over moment" - when Vishal sees Preity all dolled up for the club, he still doesn't seem all that interested. 

When Rahul and Mallika (the friends whose online identities our hero and heroine adopt) first meet, they don't seem to hit it off that well, even though they are both very attractive people. However, once they get to talking and discover they actually have some things in common, they become more interested in one another.

I know it's not much, but I'll take it as it's so much more likable and relatable than the films with paper-thin characterizations and so much emphasis on fashion and looking cool, hot, whatever. Of course films will always try to sell a very glamorous image, and that includes the superficial focus, but actors shouldn't just be moving clothes racks for the latest designer clothes. So for all its classic mainstream film traits, at least Fraaandship is putting a simple, yet agreeable message out there.

12 awesome random filmi pictures.

Nadira!



Any picture with both Vidya and Rani is a winner in my books.


Sonam looking gorgeous as per usual.



This picture of Dharmendra is just ... A++++




Who doesn't love the apples in Maine Pyar Kiya?



..or the lair in Parvarish?


Or this swishy skirt of Rani's from Bunty aur Babli?



Oldie stars eating away!



Siddharth as a baby!


Vinod Khanna living the life!



Production still from Kagaaz Ke Phool.



Aradhana to cap this post off.

Happy 12/12/12, guys!

East Coast break.

Hiya blog, what's kicking? Not much for me, just had a brilliant two-week long holiday in East Coast US, mostly trapped in Brooklyn with my (non-filmi) friend thanks to Frankenstorm Sandy. But a little hurricane can't keep a good girl down, and I had an absolute blast even though there was rain and storm!

Sadly this did mean that going the cinema was just not an option, so I didn't get to do my usual "going to see a Bollywood film in a foreign country" routine, nor did I get to meet up with some blogger friends I would've loved to meet up with (FG, next time!). But I did manage to get up to Boston to stay with Filmi Geek aka Carla, and over at her place, I got to watch some delightful Hindi oldies.

Chor Sipahee (1979)

This fast-paced masala romp we watched in the confines of Memsaab's filmi lair, and the plot is precisely what it says on the box. Shashi Kapoor is our sipahee, a badass cop who wears leather jackets well and goes to jail and comes out even more badass. Vinod Khanna plays the chor, a rogue who's bad because that's what poor people do when they can't earn enough, or something. It's really too bad he's just not the best thief, outwitted by pretty much everybody (but mostly Shabana Azmi's character) and then some, and disowned by his sister (Parveen Babi, who wears amazing things so she is destined to be with Shashi in this film). 

But it's fine that Vinod sucks as a bad guy, because Shashi is here to fix him with the power of buddypyaari (seriously, these frenemies just have it going on). And Shashi will go to jail for him! And grow a jail beard! And then wear women's sunglasses, because that's what villains do, dammit. Wait, you're not following this? Doesn't it all seem really logical?

What a film. I will certainly need to purchase it, and rewatch it, and rewatch it, and then build a shrine to encase it in.

Half-Ticket (1962)

While at Carla's, I felt like it behooved me to watch one of her favourites, especially as the film seemed so close to a mutual favourite of ours, Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi. Plot-wise, I feel like Chalti is a bit tighter than Half-Ticket, but they are equally delightful and packed with amazing songs to boot. The film really is all Kishore all the time - he plays a layabout goof who escapes his father's plans to marry him off, and pretends to be a child to get a half-ticket on the train, where he meets both a crook (young Pran, always priceless) and a beauty (Madhubala). What follows is a series of goofy goofball scenes where Kishore gets to show his comic prowess and sing some incredible songs. His jodi with Madhubala is as cute as ever, and Pran's villain character also manages to tickle the chuckle bone.

The film does go off the rails every now and then, but it never ceases to entertain, so this is another future must-purchase for me. 

Muqaddar ka Sikander (1978)

A long over-due viewing of a classic! Amitabh Bachchan carries this highly melodramatic masala about an orphan boy named Sikander, whose love for his childhood friend Kamna (Rakhee) carries into adulthood, and makes him blind to the affection shown to him by Zohrabai (Rekha), a prostitute he visits to drink away his sorrows. Vinod Khanna plays the lawyer Vishal, who becomes an important friend to Sikander, one he's willing to sacrifice almost anything for..

Muqaddar ka Sikander plays a weird twist on its viewer, where the extreme melodrama seems so extreme it's a little chuckle-worthy, rather than believable at first. But slowly, you get sucked in, and by the end, it really tugs at your heartstrings. I'd attribute a fair amount of that to Amitabh's splendid performance - this is by far one of his best ones. It didn't quite make it among my favourites, mostly because I feel like I prefer my masala goofy so that it doesn't stomp on your already-heavy heart, but I could definitely tell why it was such a classic.

The soundtrack is also worth mentioning. There were a couple of tracks I already adored (Pyaar Zindagi Hai and the female version of O Saathi Re) and the rest were awesome as well.

Jewel Thief (1967)

Life got in the way of me finishing this film, but I began it and liked it, then was quite confused by the plot, and eventually had to stop it about 50 minutes before the end due to lack of time. I did enjoy it, but I definitely need a rewatch from the beginning, at a time when I can focus all my attention on it.

I'm merely mentioning it here so I remember to seek it out and finish watching..

Oldie photos.

I feel like my brain is completely running on underdrive thanks to doing so much studying. Me and some friends did watch Andaz Apna Apna and Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, confirming once again that I can watch those two as many times as possible and they'll still stay favourites. And I have some newer films I need to review but like I said, too brainless. So have some oldie photos for the lack of actual substance.

Naseeb - or thoughts on various negative factors.

Naseeb, a 1981 Manmohan Desai masala has it all, like a typical Desai masala would - the name means destiny, and there's a heavy sense of that, familial bonds breaking and being tied back together, epic dosti, lots of messy love and villains galore. There's Amitabh Bachchan and Rishi Kapoor, Hema Malini and Shatrughan Sinha. There's funky fashion, kickassery, cool women and people falling out of windows onto two-decker busses:

Yeah.

The plot goes a little something like this; Daddy'O (played by Pran, not the character's actual name but work with me here, I'm lazy) gets screwed over by his two friends (Amjad Khan, Kader Khan) and framed for murder. His friends become rich villains with evil sons, lairs and fancy stuff. Daddy'O flees the country, assumed dead or something. Amjad Khan's son Vicky (Shatrughan) is a successful businessman who is returning from London to India to meet his father and his friend Johnny (Amitabh), incidentally Daddy'O's son. The friends fall for the same girl, Asha (Hema Malini), while Vicky's childhood friend (Reena Roy) is hopelessly infatuated with him. Meanwhile, Johnny's younger bhai Sunny (Rishi Kapoor) romances Asha's younger sister, villains plot away, Amrish Puri makes an appearance.

But even though I liked the movie, and all it's zany components, I wasn't in love with it. So what gives?

By Hercules and his tight velvet vest, I can't figure it out. Then I screencapped the movie and it hit me - the DVD just may be really crappy. The BABA DVD makes all the colours look drab, and the film appear more meandering and dull than it actually was.

Or maybe it is the period? This is early 80's, not late 70's and in Hindi films, that can actually make a world of difference. Maybe the film, as it was shot, was not as full of colour and exciting visuals, somehow darker in tone (literally, not metaphorically).

Because try as I might, I can't say there's anything particularly wrong with the film. Hema's character is pretty fun, Amitabh's is a little too Anthony throwback-like but then again, who cares? Rishi plays far too small a role but is still good and the plot has enough drama and twists in-tact.

And the amount of classic villain actors in this movie is mind-boggling! Amrish Puri, Pran, Shakti Kapoor, Amjad Khan, Kader Khan, oh my. Desai loves his plentiful villains (see also: Dharam-Veer) and I love him for it!

And in the first song we get the proto-type of Om Shanti Om's Deewangi Deewangi (ie. star guest appearances galore!), where Amitabh's character learns the First Rule of Dharmendra - Don't mess with Dharmendra.

And you got fashion like Shatrughan fishing in cowboy gear (what all sophisticated Englishmen do), or ..

Hema being excessively sparkly.

Okay, so maybe the problem doesn't lie with the fact that this movie is unexciting on the Desai Masala-meter, but rather that it just doesn't fall in line with some of my other overwhelmingly amazing Desai favourites, like Dharam-Veer or Parvarish or AAA. And it's not really so much a flaw as it is a shame - I'll rewatch this movie but mostly for the songs.

But seriously, if you can avoid it, don't buy the BABA DVD of this. It makes me sad to think the bad DVD might've affected my Desai enjoyment and I don't want that to happen to anybody else!

Paa - where even the skeptic in me goes, "Wow."

I had a lot of prejudice regarding Paa, for a lot of the obvious reasons. Amitabh Bachchan's acting skills are so praised that there seem to be no new height for things to be said about them to be reached. If everything he does is the best thing ever (aside from Aag) according to people then nothing he does is the best because there's nowhere for him to go. So there was a real sense of people appreciating him because he was taking this leap and because he was AB, not because
the performance was actually worth praising.

And of course, the gimmick of a father playing a son to his own son, and portraying a child with a genetic defect that allows some believability to that, it all just seemed like too much. I was really uncertain whether this movie was a victim of overhype, whether I'd find anything likable in it, just whether it'd work.

And then I saw it.

And it worked. It really worked.

Ramsu's review convinced me to put aside my prejudice and give this film a try, and I am so glad I did. It's been a while since I've been this affected by a movie. I was just so broken by every emotional cue the film gave me, constantly getting misty-eyed, and utterly in pieces during the final scenes. It was kind of ridiculous, but I also loved it. Sometimes a tear-jerker is just what I needed, and because bullshit family drama ala K3G does nothing to my tear-ducts, films like Paa are in high demand.

Vidya Balan broke me the most. There's just something so believable and captivating about her performance. She simply excels at playing these sort of very grounded characters, and of course she looked absolutely amazing. Abhishek wasn't far behind, though.

And then there's Amitabh. I could critisize certain visual aspects of Auro that don't necessarily make for the most realistic portrayal of somebody with Progeria, and the fact a tall man is tough to shrink down in size. And I could also talk about how the character has a bit of "noble sick person" syndrome happening. But you know what? I don't really care. I just bought it, and that's the chief victory of this performance.

The cinematography and editing were top notch, and even if there was a somewhat unnecessary side plot, it's safe to say I really enjoyed the emotional rollercoaster ride of Paa. Sometimes I guess I should believe the hype.

Golden Kela Awards... smell the prestige.

I don't follow Razzies because I barely watch the good Hollywood movies, so I don't really keep up with the bad ones. But with Bollywood? Bring it!

Golden Kela Awards celebrates the worstness in Hindi cinema. But I think the whole awards are fabulously tongue-in-cheek and I laughed my ass off reading through the winners. It's snark in Awards form! A lot of Indian award ceremonies are not to be taken seriously but this one especially.

Consider for example the "black Award for Emotional Blackmail" that went to Amitabh Bachchan in Paa. I loved Paa but this is so spot-on!

And Critics Award to Taran Adarsh, easily the worst Bollywood critic around (because predicting box office numbers and spoiling endings to films great reviewer not make!). Brilliant.

And Bas Kijiye Bahut Ho Gaya (Stop it that's enough) Award to Madhur Bhandarkar. Yes, yes, yes.

And big big props to Abhishek Bachchan for accepting his Worst Accent award for Delhi-6 so graciously with the following tweet:

Another milestone in my carrer. I won the golden kela award 4 worst accent in Delhi 6. Chalo at least delhi 6 won something. I'm overjoyed!!

As are we, Abhishek!

And last but not least, the ace Cyrus Broacha was awarded the very special, prestigious Cyrus Broacha Memorial Award. His response?

‘It’s great. I’m thrilled. I hope to win this award every year,’ Cyrus said in his cheeky fashion. [source]

Beautiful. Also check out FG's take on these for a bit of alternative perspective.

70's week: Villains, action, general badassery.

I just realized I'm not really sure what villains in Parvarish do, apart from wearing swanky suits, hanging out in submarines, smuggling diamonds and smoking in lavishly decorated villain lairs, plotting smuggling more diamonds.

But who cares, right? As long as we get dishoom-dishoom. I could lapse into some thinky thoughts on how it's interesting that the villain is the rich fat cat smuggling diamonds, drinking expensive foreign booze and entertaining dancing girls, and nowadays it's the hero who has money to throw around, despite no diamond smuggling.

Gosh, it's so glamorous, diamond smuggling.

Of course, the baddies are bad. They have no regard for human life, and all of that bad bad bad stuff but still. Diamond smuggling. That's just kind of cool.

Plus if there were no baddies, when would Amitabh get to make his "shooting people" face?

If there were no villains, we wouldn't have the awesome Vinod Khanna performance where he's half-hero, half-villain. Redemption is naturally always just around the corner, but why bother when it's so fun to be evil? You get to smuggle diamonds, smoke in lavish lairs and threaten people with hand-grenades.

And if you are lucky enough to be a Vinod Khanna fan watching this movie, you get the best of both worlds - he's perfect fit for both sides of the coin, as the calculating criminal and as the romantic hero/good guy.

And when he has his change of heart? The whole scene is a delicious manpain buffet. Just so good.

I really love the action scenes, whether it's firearms or plain old physical mano-a-mano. Sadly these scenes typically fail to screencap well and me being a total screencap snob always fail to save the blurrier ones. But instead have this aftermath one from Sholay.

And speaking of which..

Just like you can't discuss heroines in the 70's (in my opinion) without mentioning Seeta Aur Geeta, I don't think you can discuss villains without mentioning Gabbar Singh. But I'm trying to keep this post short so you can read more of what I think of Gabbar from this post.

And badassery? Well, it kind of goes without saying. The villains are evil and the heroes are active, so you get epic chase sequences, shoot-outs, high-kicks and the works. The viewers all learn the Hindi words for "bullet" and "blood" (goli and khoon if I remember correctly).

You might want to skip tomorrow's 70's Week post if you are not an obsessed Vinod Khanna fangirl/fanboy. Just a fair warning!

70's week: Music and song picturizations.

Some of the first Bollywood music I ever heard was from the groovy 70's, when my friend gave me Rough Guide To Bollywood, about the only Bollywood music you could find at a Finnish store. Since I was such a newbie at that point, I hadn't heard any of these songs apart from DDLJ's Tujhe Dekha To and embraced this new music. And so I grew to love the classic 70's songs. Dum Maro Dum... Roop Tera Mastana (oh Kishore Kumar in this track!).. Chura Liya Hai Tumne.. Great stuff.

But of course, besides having the luscious vocals of Asha Bhosle, Kishore and Lata, and many great soundtracks composed by my favourite oldie composer R. D. Burman, these great tunes also have context.

The first song of Parvarish has our heroine sisters Neetu and Shabbo pocket wallets and watches from various people, while singing that everything belongs to the public ("Sab janta ka hai"). Shameless, you might think, but curiously both the lyrics and picturization elude to societal issues, like the rations where the government had grain behind locked doors but it didn't trickle down to the people who needed it the most (I may be over-simplifying this due to my shoddy understanding of Indian history - feel free to correct me).

The next song, Jaate Ho, is if at all possible even more brilliant. The girls have one-upped the guys by plotting their own marriages but the when the guys refuse, Neetu and Shabbo melodramatically decide to kill themselves. The guys show up to tease them, as each of their suicide methods go stale, and then offer them help. "Don't light yourself on fire with those matches, have this lighter!" I am hysterical watching this song but not laughing at suicide; I think at the core it is the heroines' over-dramatic behavior that elicits the laughter, and of course the fact they never really want to kill themselves - it is an act that the guys are participating in by teasingly offering them more efficient methods. And it is hilarious.

Every so often you encounter people who fast-forward songs in movies and think the songs offer absolutely nothing to the overall plot. Very well, I say, they have a point about some films, and with some songs. But sometimes, the song is a scene like any other, even with the song-and-dance, and it contributes to the logic of the film just as the scene that preceeds it and the one that comes after it.

Such is the song Hum Premi (dreadful quality on the youtube video, my apologies!), which at face value is a typical love song. In context of the movie, however, it becomes an incredibly clever dialogue between Amit and Kishan, heavy with dramatic tension as Amit suspects Kishan of being a crook. Even in terms of acting, the scene is fascinating, to see how they react to each other. Naturally, the DVD subtitles probably don't capture half the poeticism of the original lyrics, but even in their blunt form they make this a great scene to watch.

One of the best scenes in the movie, easily.

There are some other utterly fun songs in the film certainly worth discussing - like the qawwali of sorts with the heroines - or the utterly fun Neetu-in-a-maid's-outfit song as Amitabh harrasses her - but I think I'll skip ahead...



..to plug this brilliant fanmade video that takes the best bits of Parvarish and sets it to the Neetu-maid-outfit-song (Aayiye Shauk Se Kahiye). It's definitely spoilerous because it has all the best bits, pretty much, but nevertheless, well worth checking out if you need to refresh your memories of the film.

Friday's post will be about villains, action and all things badassery.