Rating: **
“Phillaur”: Directed by Anshai Lal; Starring: Anushka Sharma, Suraj Sharma, Diljit Dosanjh 

Sad, but true. Some films work better on paper than on film. I can just imagine how excited Anushka Sharma must have been to play a ghost in a film about a restless spirit trying to find a culmination to her incomplete love story from 98 years ago.

It’s a clever premise, evoking nostalgia as well as history in cascades of poetry, music and drama. Lamentably the poetry is more corny than epic, and the music, barring the “Sahiba” track is at best, serviceable. This is an inexcusable lapse in a film that takes us into the Punjabi heartland on two levels, the present and the past, both done in contrasting colour palates, one rusty and rugged the other peachy and saturated.

Alas, the theme of love finding a resting place in two lifetimes barely registers. For a large part, “Phillauri” moves through the lavish labyrinth of a big fat wedding in a Punjabi household with the same misdirected gusto as Vikas Behl’s “Shaandaar”. Except for the fact that the characters here are in principle, quite interesting in the way they respond to the presence of a friendly ghost in their bustling home.

The pace does the narrative in, bringing what seems like noble ambitions to the ground with a thud. I suggest the makers of this film watch this week’s other release “Anaarakli Of Aarah” to see what vigorous pacing can do to a film.

Anushka Sharma makes a pretty ghost. But Shashi is a ghost as interpreted by Anushka Sharma. She behaves like Anushka’s character in “Ae Dil Hai Muskil” in blingy apparition with the added advantage of being seen only by Suraj’s character.

If only the narrative slid into the past with more economy and equanimity and less misplaced enthusiasm. Shashi’s village-bound romance with the neighbourhood poet (Diljit Dosanjh, confident but unremarkable) is drawn with the faint paintbrush strokes of an artiste who has all the time in the world. The relationship between Anushka and Diljit) develops through a series of vignettes planted into plot’s oscillating memory-chip with little room for plausibility.

In the present, Kanan (Suraj Sharma)’s wedding to the pretty Anu (newcomer Mehreen Pirzada, adequate) is threatened by the presence of a ghost who has been released through a bizarre ritual.

Suraj’s bewildered responses to local superstition is so apt, you wonder if the young actor has stepped into a role written for him. Unfortunately he gets little spice to chew the meat of the plot which simmers on slow-burn, sometimes so sluggishly paced, you wonder at the gall of the director to attempt something so unhurried at a time when audiences have all the patience of a sparrow building a nest during rainfall.

Curiously the languid narrative pacing doesn’t bring in its wake a ‘thehrao’ in the theme. All through the fidgety story, the competent actors wait for the dialogues to get less cheesy, the plot twists to evolve mature and fructify.

“Phillauri” is deplorably deprived of a smooth narrative. At times the episodes in the storytelling seem like gate-crashers at a wedding, unwanted guests over-staying their welcome.

Initially when Kanan presses the panic button after meeting the ghost, a whole lot of misdirected laughter is aimed at a little servant boy thinking he is being seduced by the bridegroom at a wedding. The joke is stretched to breaking point seeking to justify its presence with painful explanatory footnotes. It all seems like an edifice constructed to impress with little to support its ambitions except a sassy appetite for spirit-hunting and a zest for a self-created melodrama .

“Phillauri” has its redeeming qualities. The homage to history that is brought into play at the end is so daring in its sweep and suggestion that you admire the film’s debutant director for going against the grain. Some of the period detailing in the past is interesting. The moment of the advent of the gramophone disc is warmly caught in the characters’ awestruck faces. Such tender odes to a time long-gone should have added up to make a film that leaves us with a bright beam of light piercing our skepticism.

Tragically “Phillauri” is neither humorous enough to be deemed a rom-com nor propelled by ample heft to be called a historical epic. It is neither this nor that. It is just exasperating for the possibilities it throws open but fails to explore.

Subhash K Jha
IANS

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Documentary by Dilip Mehta

Rating: ****

At one point in this haunting look at the life of a porn star who betrayed her conservative Punjabi family to rule the adult entertainment industry, Sunny Leone bursts out, “So what if my home town disowned me? Today every Indian family wants me to be a part of them.”

Ahem. Not quite. The level of acceptability as a ‘Bollywood actress’ that Sunny and her incredibly-supportive husband Daniel Webber, imagine for her, is just not a realistic goal. During the long revealing monologues in camera in this eloquent documentary, Sunny seems to feel she has left her past, as a porn star, behind.

Dilip Mehta’s searing documentary reminds us not too gently how outrageously impossible it is to wipe out one’s past karma in a flurry of song, dance and drama that is Bollywood masala.

“Mostly Sunny” is not a fluff job. It is neither a cop-out nor an insider’s job. But somewhere in-between. It doesn’t focus on the sleazy, leery side of Sunny’s life to generate a heated titillation. Calmly, Mehta, whose earlier documentary on the widows of Vrindavan remains a haunting portrait of desolation, doesn’t take the easy route while focusing on Sunny’s provocative activities in the past to show how they impinge on her present.

Many times the acts of betrayal that turned ‘Karenjit’ to ‘Sunny’ make us flinch for their unabashed homage to materialism. This is not an ordinary raunchy-to-posh saga of a Punjabi girl from Sarnia, a small town in Canada, who decided she had to make obscene amounts of money to afford the lifestyle that she craved for.

Joining her in her cru(de)sade is her faithful husband. It is not very clear to me why Daniel gave up his thriving family steel business to become a porn star alongside his wife. Dilip’s documentary is hazy on that issue. Perhaps it is of little interest to Mehta. What he tracks down with a sleuth’s single mindedness is the ghosts from Sunny’s past as they come to haunt her present.

The most memorable moment in this diligently packaged portrait of a life entrapped in erotic excursions are when Sunny (with faithful husband) visits her hometown and is shunned by everyone as the daughter who brought disgrace and doom on her family.

To reiterate the damage that Karenjit Kaur perpetrated on her folks when she transformed into ‘Sunny Leone’, there is Sunny’s brother Sunny (Yup… she took her alias for her adult activities from her kid brother) saying on camera that their mother drank herself to death after she got to know her daughter’s true calling.

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Indeed, the most genuine and humane face of Sunny Leone when she is no longer pouty, provocative, poseur is when she talks about her parents. Mehta’s camera captures her in stark make-up-less anguish. These are moments that are filled with an unspoken rage and fear about what happens when the light dims and the oomph fades away.

It is not difficult to see why Sunny Leone has disowned this saga of her life as seen through the eyes of a director who is unsparing in his morality and dispassionate in capturing a life that has forfeited a self-discipline. “Mostly Sunny” is a searing, stark, sometimes startling peek into the void at the heart of the stardom that comes to those who are in the business of titillation.

What makes Sunny Leone tick? And what makes her fans get sexually aroused at her very thought? This capably crafted heartfelt homage to the heroine of the horny hemisphere spares us none of the sordid sidelights to Sunny’s seemingly charmed life.

Seen in a harsh but non-judgmental light, she comes across as strong and vulnerable and terribly misguided in her belief that it’s okay to have sex on camera and then move on in life.

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Rating: **

“Tum Bin 2”; Director: Anubhav Sinha; Cast: Neha Sharma, Aditya Seal, Aashim Gulati, Kanwaljit Singh and Sonia Balani; Rating: **

An old-fashioned love story about selfless love, friendship, forgiveness and sacrifice, Anubhav Sinha’s “Tum Bin 2” is a sequel to his earlier film “Tum Bin”, made in 2001. The setting is different, the faces new, but the story line is almost the same.

Taran (Neha Sharma) and Amar (Aashim Gulati) are in love and on a holiday together, when while skiing in the Alps, Amar meets with an accident and goes missing. Devastated, Taran tries to put together the pieces of her life and is helped by Shekhar (Aditya Seal), a well-wisher, along with her family and friends. Just when she is able to reconstruct her life once again and makes an effort to be happy, life deals her another blow.

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While the emotional quotient of the film’s theme is high, the pace drags and somewhere, it fails to involve you as the momentum is lost. You do not empathise with the characters. The film recourses to several cliched dialogues and situations and is predictable from word go, with no element of surprise. The outcome of the love triangle too seems a tad outdated given the sensibilities of the youth today. There are some light-hearted moments, some real situations, one can relate to, but these are few and far between.

“Tum Bin 2” Star Cast :-Neha Sharma, Aditya Seal, Aashim Gulati

The performances of the lead cast are praiseworthy as of the other supporting characters. Aditya Seal as Shekhar shines with his subtle histrionics and charms you immediately. His acting style is strongly reminiscent of Akshaye Khanna. Neha Sharma as Taran is natural, emotes reasonably well and is endearing, while debutant Aashim Gulati appears confident, but seems filmi making an earnest effort to act. He lacks spontaneity.

Kanwaljit Singh as Amar’s father aka ‘Papaji’ renders a sincere and heart-warming portrayal. Sonia Balani as the youngest sister Gurpreet, is competent and lights up the screen with her effervescence. The actor playing Manpreet, the older sister, is equally a treat to watch and makes good use of her limited screen time.

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Written and directed by Anubhav Sinha, the film lacks freshness in its writing and the dialogues are verbose and hackneyed. The treatment of the film too, is expected and there is no hook to keep the audience engaged. He treads cautiously, keeping the old framework intact but makes changes, where there was no need.

The film scores high on its music by Ankit Tiwari and Nikhil-Vinay, as the songs “Teri Fariyad” rendered by the late Jagjit Singh, and “Ishq Mubarak” are soulful and a treat for the listeners. The title song “Tum Bin” however fails to recreate the magic of the 2001 film song sung by K.S. Chithra, which haunts music lovers even today. “Nachna aaonda nahin” with Mouni Roy in a special appearance is a damp squib.

Watch : Watch Naagin actress Mouni Roy shoot special dance for Tum Bin 2

Ewan Mulligan’s cinematography does justice to Scotland in all its hues, making each scene look like a picture postcard.

Overall, “Tum Bin 2” had the potential of being a love story that could warm the cockles of your heart, but somehow this one does not, despite the strong performances by Aditya Seal and Neha Sharma.

Troy Ribeiro
IANS

Rating: **1/2

Force 2: Director: Abhinay Deo; Cast: John Abraham, Sonakshi Sinha, Tahir Raj Bhasin, Adil Husain, Narendra Jha 

“Force 2”, directed by Abhinay Deo,  is a sequel of the 2011 released “Force”, but unlike its prequel which was the remake of a South Indian film, this one is an original but staid, action-packed, bleak revenge story that is generic in nature.

Films have one sure way of involving us that never fails, they give us a character who has been wronged and then invite us to share his frustrations as they try to talk some sense into the blockheads. That character in “Force 2” is Rudra Pratap Singh alias Shiv Sharma, who is out to destroy the Indian intelligence agency RAW. Stopping him in his endeavour are ACP Yashwardhan aka Yash and an Intelligence Officer, Kanwaljeet Kaur aka KK.

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The narrative begins with a few RAW agents getting eliminated in Shanghai but Anjan Das, the head of RAW, is not perturbed. It is when Mumbai Police Inspector Yashwardhan receives a coded message in form of a gift from his deceased friend, he realises that his friend was betrayed by someone from within the agency.

To avenge his friend’s death and to avoid other RAW agents from getting eliminated, Yash offers his services to RAW. Anjan Das reluctantly agrees to Yash being on the mission, but not before assigning an able and efficient KK, as the team leader.

The lead takes the duo to Bucharest, where majority of the action sequences take place.

John Abraham as Yashwardhan is all beefed-up. He shines sporadically with his muscle power and he offers his punches more convincingly than his dialogues.

Sonakshi Sinha is natural as the agile KK. With no deviation in her character, her on-screen chemistry with Yash, as his colleague is perfect and is probably the best part of the film. Together, they make a perfect buddy duo who bond over the investigation.

Tahir Raj Bashin is the surprise package, of the film. Understated, and ordinary in his approach, he propels the narrative convincingly, but unfortunately, since we Indians like our antagonist to be larger than life, he disappoints and this is not his fault.

Adil Husain as the politician, Narendra Jha as Anjan Das and Boman Irani as Rudra Pratap Singh’s father, in miniscule roles are effectively perfunctory.

Technically the film is mounted with excellent production values. The lone song snuggly fits into the narrative.

The chases and the action sequences are well-choreographed and they tend to be stretched at times. The climactic sequence with visuals captured by hand-held cameras and layered with loud background score gummed together in snappy edits, is an eye sore.

Overall, “Force 2” offers nothing that you have not seen before, yet entertains you. It is an ideal watch for John and Sonakshi fans.

By Troy Ribeiro
IANS

Ajay Devgn’s second directorial venture has been one of the talked about movie as its action sequences have been compared to Hollywood. And how it would compare to the other Diwali release Ae Dil Hai Mushkil. Our in house ‘expert’ Shubham Gupta gives his ‘verdict’. 

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Rating:*1/2  

By Troy Ribeiro

Not all novel adaptations are alluring as films, certainly not Dan Brown’s novels. “Inferno”, Brown’s fourth novel and the third to be adapted by Ron Howard after “The Da Vinci Code” and “Angels & Demons”, is far from towering. In fact, it is an absurdly mounted mystery thriller that fails to impress.

This Robert Langdon series, featuring Tom Hanks as the Harvard University professor of symbology, begins with a shoddily gummed-up montage that forms the prologue. In one of the early scenes in the pre-credits, we see Ben Foster as the crazed billionaire geneticist Bertrand Zobrist falling to his death from the top of a bell tower in Florence and in one of his public address on the evils of over-population, we are informed that, “Humanity is the disease and Inferno is the cure”.

After the initial credits, we are shown Professor Langdon waking up in a hospital in Florence, Italy with a scar on his head and no memory of what transpired over the last few days.

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He, once again, finds himself the target of a major manhunt. Doctor Sienna Brooks, played by Felicity Jones, helps him escape from the hospital and together they travel across Europe, trying to solve the mystery and thereby avert the deadly virus Inferno, which Zobrist had invented, from destroying humanity.

How Langdon uses clues from Dante’s epic poem Inferno and various works of art to track down the deadly virus, forms the crux of the tale.

While the poem tells of Dante’s journey through Hell, guided by the ancient Roman poet Virgil, the poem is used in the film as an allegory of Langdon’s expedition and hence fails to deliver the finer nuances of the poem.

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Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon is brilliant, but his character is stumped due to the poorly written script. He is aptly supported by Irrfan Khan in a prominent role as the enigmatic Harry Sims; Sidse Babett Knudsen as doctor Elizabeth Sinskey; Omar Sy as her French consort Christoph; and Ida Darvish as Martha.

The script, written by David Koepp with its many tangles of double crosses is convoluted, predictable and lacklustre.

Devoid of tension and any semblance of character development, the film is stuck in cinematic limbo. The dialogues too, without any punchlines, are dull and boring. All the characters have a serious air about themselves and there is never a moment of spryness in the narrative.

Visually too, the first half, packed with snappy edits, is disconcerting to the eye.

Overall, when at the very end, you hear “If you loved humanity or this planet, you’d do anything to solve it”, you feel let down with all the hype of the “Inferno”.

IANS

First day first show review of Sonakshi Sinha’s Akira. Most of he fans have given the movie their thumbs up. With many praising the actresses’ action and acting in the movie. People have taken a liking to Anurag Kashyap’s portrayal as a villain in the film as well.  

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