Rating : ***

“Meri Pyaari Bindu” from the Yash Raj Films (YRF) stable is a sincere yet frothy tale, designed from a pulp novel. And like any other pulp fiction, this film is a light-hearted fluff, racy and engaging.

Designed as a catharsis, it is the tale of a successful pulp writer Abhimanyu Roy aka Bubla, who has compiled novellas like “Chudail Ki Choli”, “Dracula’s Lover” and “Das Cabin”, among many more.

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On the insistence of his publisher, Abhimanyu is forced to write a romance, which he does begin but is stuck between his real life heartache and imagination. He finds it difficult to chronicle his thoughts about this “unpredictable, impatient, imperfect, crazy, restless and larger than life, live-wire girl” called Bindu, who was once his neighbour and who over a period of time crept into his life and soul.

So, when Abhi returns home and stumbles upon an old audio cassette with their favourite playlist, it sends Abhi down memory lane and his novel unravels speedily juxtaposing his past and present.

With a good dosage of old Hindi film songs and titbits as transitions, metaphors and analogies, the treatment of the chaotically jumbled script along with the screenplay, is astutely handled. The plot moves at a frenzied pace regaling the ecstasy and agony of Abhimanyu and Bindu.

While the plot is well-charted, it is the conflict and the resolution that disappoint. It lacks substance in terms of oomph and other exploiting factors that make for engrossing viewing. The non-linear narrative style, at times, creates confusion with the timelines. The dialogues too are worth a mention and are delivered with gusto.

Ayushmann Khurana, with an intellectual demeanour, plays the flurried pulp writer Abhimanyu Roy with panache. With natural ease, he internalises his character and communicates his affection through his intense gaze. He is sincere and endearing in his portrayal and it shows.

On the other hand, Parineeti Chopra essays Bindu with dexterity yet she seems superficial and shallow, especially in the restaurant scene when she tells Abhimanyu about her boyfriend, Mathew. Her portrayal of the character lacks depth.

The rest of the supporting cast is natural and have their moments of on-screen glory. Especially noteworthy is the character who plays Abhimanyu’s mother.

Technically, the film is well-mounted. The camera movements are fluid and the flow of the visuals seem uninterrupted with the skilful and smooth editing. The songs naturally integrate into the narrative.

Overall, while the film is interestingly told and is engaging, the last scene, though it talks about a happy ending, unsettles the purist.

By Troy Ribeiro
IANS

Rating: ***1/2

Film: “Baahubali 2: The Conclusion”; Director: S. S. Rajamouli; Cast: Prabhas Raju, Rana Daggubati, Ramya Krishnan, Anushka Shetty, Tamannaah Bhatia, Nasser, Charandeep, Satya Raj, Prabhakar, Rakesh Varre, Rohini, Tanikella Bharani, Teja Kakumanu

Why did Kattapa kill Baahubali? This perennial question that haunted those who have seen “Baahubali: The Beginning” will now be rested. Director S.S. Rajamouli does answer this question and offers much more in “Baahubali 2: The Conclusion”, which is an action-packed revenge drama.

For the uninitiated, Baahubali is the story of an orphan prince Amarendra Baahubali and his son Mahendra Baahubali in the Kingdom of Maheshmati. While the first edition concentrated on Amarendra being unaware of his identity, the Conclusion takes off from where the first part ended and delves deeper into the life of Amarendra Baahubali, the father of Mahendra Baahubali the child who was dramatically saved in the opening shots of the earlier film.

Narrated in a melodramatic manner with surreal action sequences and epic battle scenes along with plenty of dilemmas and betrayals, it is Amarendra’s tale that is interestingly gripping as it answers the question of why Kattapa killed Baahubali.

The final act of The Conclusion, which concentrates on Mahendra’s story seems like a rushed job. And with a run time of 167 minutes, the film eventually seems to drag.

On the performance front, with dramatic lines and over-the-top acts, every actor performs his part earnestly. With an imposing, yet tender personality, Sathyaraj as Kattapa, the loyal warrior, is impressive. Prabhas Raju in a dual role is charming as Amarendra and sincere as Mahendra Baahubali.

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Baahubali 2 – The Conclusion Trailer | Prabhas, Rana Daggubati | SS Rajamouli

Rana Daggubati excels as the vicious Bhalladeva. But it is Nassar as the scheming Bijjala Deva, father of Bhalladeva, who steals the thunder from Rana.

Ramya Krishnan as the Rajmata Sivagami along with Anushka Shetty as Devasena — Amarendra’s wife — offer a stimulating performance. Tamannaah Bhatia as Avantika, Mahendra’s love interest, in a miniscule role has nothing much to offer.

On the technical front, like its prequel, this film too is at par with any big ticket Hollywood caper, in terms of its mounting. Visually the film is colossal and monumentally spectacular. In fact, it is a bit better than the previous edition in terms of VFX effects and sharper edits. The action sequences too are artistically and aesthetically choreographed. The music and background score by MM Kreem add to the cinematic experience.

Unfortunately the dubbing in Hindi is not up to the mark.

Overall, this concluding part of Baahubali will appeal to you, irrespective of whether you have seen The Beginning.

By Troy Ribeiro
IANS

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

Anaarkali of Aarah Review | Swara shines in this simple but strong film

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Rating: ***

Film: “Anaarkali of Aarah”; Director: Avinash Das; Cast: Swara Bhaskar, Sanjai Mishra, Pankaj Tripathi, Ishtiyak Khan 

How a nautch girl, Anaarkali (Swara Bhaskar), in Araj, Bihar, who has received singing and dancing from her mother in legacy, keeps away the advances of debauched Vice Chancellor Dharmendra Chauhan (Sanjai Mishra), and copes with this humiliation, fighting to preserve her dignity forms the crux of this simple but strong film.

The message of respecting a woman’s right to physicality resonates strongly, albeit in a small town setting reminiscent of the recently released film “Pink”.

Performing regularly at weddings, functions and local events, luring her audience with her innuendoes-laden songs, Anaarkali is the heart-throb of many but catches the fancy of the Vice Chancellor who is smitten with her to the extent that he gets drunk one night at a function and misbehaves with her in public.

The film boasts of a simple story but well-written screenplay, astutely handled by debutant director Avinash Das. There are no unnecessary Bollywood-esque meanderings or deviations. He remains true to the story and engrosses you completely in Anaarkali’s life.

The second half of the film, however, drags a tad in parts.

The climax gives you an adrenaline rush owing to its tempo and the robust performance by Anaarkali.

The music of the film is replete with the flavours of Bihar and the raunchy dance numbers are equally befitting the setting. The background score, especially “Man beqaid hua”, beautifully captures the mood of the film.

The performances are easily the highlight of the film. Swara Bhaskar shines as Anaarkali in an earnest performance as she bites her teeth into the character with aplomb, whether it is singing, dancing or even dealing with local goons in a feisty manner. With her electrifying energy, she lights up the screen.

Sanjai Mishra as the corrupt and depraved Vice Chancellor effortlessly delivers a stellar performance. Pankaj Tripathi as Rangila, Anaarkali’s music partner and troupe companion, is equally impressive and charming.

Ishtiyak Khan as Hiraman, Anaarkali’s well-wisher and silent lover, although has a limited screen time, gets into the skin of his character and portrays sincerely. Anwar, her companion who stands by her in her troubled times, renders an honest performance and is immensely likeable. Police officer Bulbul Pandey too is a competent actor.

The film is redolent with the flavour of Bihar and transports you there with ease. Entertaining yet hard-hitting, “Anaarkali of Aarah” hits the bull’s eye, as far as its strong universal message goes.

By Troy Ribeiro
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: ***1/2

Film: “Kaabil”
Director: Sanjay Gupta
Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Yami Gautam, Ronit Roy and Rohit Roy

Why do awful things happen to good God-fearing, law-abiding, tax-paying, spouse-loving people?

Look! Just see that man’s face. Rohit loves his wife Suparna to death. Her death, as it happens to be. A moment so shocking in the film and filmed with such gruesome pathos, that I found my hands going up to my mouth in sheer horror.

Noooooo! This can’t happen to such lovely people going through such a dream-like journey of togetherness, rudely interrupted by a kind of life-stopping tragedy that sucks the very breath out of romantic yearnings. “Kaabil” tells a very simple two-storeyed story.

In the first opulently romantic overture, Rohit is set up for a date with Suparna. They meet in a string of beautifully beaded encounters — Rahul and Suparna Get Lost In A Mall, Rahul and Suparna Take To The Dance Floor, etc. Then they fall in love, and get married.

This is all familiar mush territory shot by cinematographer Sudeep Chatterjee in a filtered haze of delirious romanticism. There is just one difference. Both Rohit and Suparna are blind. Well, technically, that is. For all practical purposes, they can see far better than many people around them.

A lot of the film’s warmly conversational dialogues take good natured digs at people who can “see” but can’t really comprehend the immense power of humanity to heal. Instead, they choose to hurt one another, sometimes just for fun.

The hideous doings of Amit Shellar (Rohit Roy) and his friend Wasim (Shaidur Rehman) break the idyllic beauty of the couple’s paradise with a shattering impact. It’s an ugly turning point in the plot, and one that signals the turn-around in mood from tender soft supple colours to a splash of angry blood red orange glow hues.

Hrithik’s transformation from romance to rage is so credible, compelling and chilling you flow with his fury to the battered, bruised, bloodied, wounded love-soldier wondering if hell hath any fury like a blind man scorned.

So far, I thought the most convincing blind act I had seen was Naseeruddin Shah in “Sparsh”. Now I am not so sure. Hrithik plays blind with a blinding brilliance. Intelligently enough, his unseeing character stumbles and panics when thrown into strange circumstances and places rather than act cool heroically super confident.

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Haseeno Ka Deewana Song Video | Kaabil

To understand this star-actor’s mastery over his character’s dithering destiny, we just have to see how he dances with his Significant Other in an elaborately staged ballroom sequence. Here Hrithik dances how a blind man would dance if he could dance like Hrithik Roshan.

The vendetta, when it bursts forth in a raging torrent, is again defined wholly by the protagonist’s character’s physical abilities. Action director Sham Kaushal conceives elaborately staged stunts where Hrithik fights using his extra sharp audio perceptions to compensate for his character’s visual impairment.

It’s an astonishingly skilled performance. Sharp and penetrating, conveying an elaborately charted map of the human heart and yet never obvious in its intentions. This is his best since Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s “Guzaarish”.

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Yami Gautam as the love of his life is capable and likeable and seems to love the attention she gets from the camera and her co-star. But after Hrithik, it is Ronit Roy as an unscrupulous contractor-politician who stuns with his ability to say much without speaking it all. Watch him in the sequence where he visits Hrithik to condole. His casual reference to crime and sexual violation will shock you. Ronit’s Marathi accent is bang-on.

There are some other very accomplished actors around, notably Narendra Jha as a conscientious policeman and Girish Kulkarni as his corrupt colleague. But if I’ve to single out one other hero in this saga of fumbling fortitude besides Hrithik, it would have to be sound designer Resul Pookutty. No other Indian film in recent times has made such telling use of sound. Voices and whispers blend into the sanguinary fabric to create an aura of ominous retribution and redemption.

As a director, Sanjay Gupta has seldom been more willing to let his characters appear vulnerable and undefended though not defenceless. Gupta creates a romance splendid and tender, only to quash it with a brutal spin that takes us kicking and screaming to a finale that never ceases to amaze us without losing its plausibility.

“Kaabil” is a film about love and its abrupt send-off. It is a violent film. But the emphasis is on the damage done to the soul of the wronged man. It must be seen for Hrithik Roshan’s incredibly moving performance and for the unexpected glimpse it provides into its director’s romantic personality.

Subhash K Jha
IANS

Rating: ***

Film: “Raees”; Director: Rahul Dholakia; Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Mahira Khan, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Atul Kulkarni, Narendra Jha, Sheeba Chaddha, Sunny Leone

“Raees” is a typical Bollywood blockbuster designed like films of the early 1980s, with over-the-top yet thrilling action, drama and a tinge of romance. It is a biography of a disciplined businessman, albeit with ragged edges.

Set in the late 80s and early 90s and inspired from true events, Raees is a fictionalised story of the rise and fall of a bootlegger-turned-gangster,in the alcohol prohibited state of Gujarat.

Told entirely from within the closed underbelly of Fatehpur in Gujarat, the script attributed to four writers does a brilliant conjuring act of inviting us into the
life of Raees (Shah Rukh Khan) who at a very early stage in life is inspired by his mother, a ragpicker who quotes, “Koi dhanda chota ya bada nahin hota hai, aur koi dharam dhanda se badkar nahin hai.” which literally means, no occupation is small and no religion is bigger than one’s business.

So with this as his mantra and philosophy he sets out in the world on his own terms.

He starts off small by working for Jairaj Seth (Atul Kulkarni) who indulges in branded liquor. Jairaj appoints “Raees” because he has, “baniya ka dimaag aur miyabhai ka daring,” which means he is shrewd like a shopkeeper and daring like a Muslim. How Raees gradually grows into a formidable figure in society, forms the crux of the tale.

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With complex scenes, the plot offers nothing that you have not seen before. Narrated in a linear manner, the script is taut and the narrative moves at a rapid pace. The first half is promising and the second half which begins with Inspector Majumdar’s point of view holds your attention with equal gusto, but unfortunately, the climax tilts into a predictable zone of bad things happen to bad people, making the film a cliched fare.

The film is largely elevated by Shah Rukh Khan’s performance and a few dramatic dialogues that are used to churn the emotions.

Shah Rukh essays the eponymous character with sincerity and aplomb. He emerges as a sympathetic and even admirable character and he does a very good job of portraying a brutal character albeit with soft tones in equal measure.

Nawazuddin Siddique as the incorruptible IPS officer, Jaideep Majumdar is equally competent. His cat-and-mouse chase with Raees, punctuated with vibrant dialogues often elicit a chuckle. Together they keep you hooked.

Mohammad Zeeshan Ayub as Sadiq — Raees’ friend and partner in crime — is effortless and affable. Unfortunately, though he has his moments of onscreen glory, he does not rise from being Raees’ lackey.

Mahira Khan as Raees’s wife Mohsina is wasted in the film. Her character is perfunctorily included to add the romance angle and her onscreen chemistry with Shah Rukh lacks zing.

The rest of the supporting cast are sincere.

The action sequences are well choreographed, brutally raw and a bit far-fetched, making the act unrealistic especially the long chase and fisticuffs with Muharram celebrations in the backdrop.

The songs, “Dil ka patang, udi udi jaiyae,” “Oh Zaleema,” and “Laila Main Laila” are well choreographed and seamlessly mesh into the narrative. But the quick edits mar the viewing experience.

With excellent production values, the era is realistically created. But there are certain scenes which are marred by the director’s inability to control his actors from taking “star liberties”. Evident among them are the few scenes where Shah Rukh Khan is seen without his spectacles.

Overall, “Raees” is a well made film that would appeal to the masses.

By Troy Ribeiro
IANS

Rating: **1/2

Film: “Coffee With D”; Director: Vishal Mishra; Cast: Sunil Grover, Zakir Hussain, Anjana Sukhani, Dipannita Sharma and Pankaj Tripathi;

Isn’t it amazing what a slew of talented actors can do to an outrageous idea? Think of “Coffee With D” as a boys’ day out with Dawood, and you will actually enjoy the implausible goings on.

This is a what-if idea carried to an extreme of satirical eventuality but laced with lots of humour and saved from a catastrophic plunge to inanity by actors who know how to hold the dialogues even when the words run all over the place.

“Coffee With D” suffers from a fundamental flaw. It presumes that a film about a clash between ‘Dawood’ and ‘Arnab’ (the gangster and the newshound) would generate instant drama.

It does. And it doesn’t. While Sunil Grover makes an interesting getaway from his comic avatar on television to play the vociferous newshound with straight faced self importance, Zakir Hussain’s Dawood is priceless. He is both sinister and satirical.

Pankaj Tripathi, that camera chameleon, as Dawood’s right-hand man shows a rare understanding of how funny the business of extortion can be when the man in-charge has a phone that needs constant recharging. And Anjana Sukhani as Grover’s spirited sassy pregnant wife is a bagful of fun.

I wish these actors had more in the plot to chew on. The story is a one-liner. Once ‘Arnab’ decides to get ‘D’ for an interview, the film flounders with the pacing.

Many parts of the film read like episodes from a web series.

The second half is devoted entirely to the one-on-one between the dreaded gangster and the aggressive newshound.

What could have been a hard-hitting interface is drastically diluted with words and sentences beeped out by the censors. This is a satire that is meant to offend none. It steers miraculously clear of vulgarity while negotiating a bumpy ride from Mumbai to Karachi.

“Coffee With D” is like an unfinished unpolished version of what could have been a rollicking run-in into a ruminative session between Indian’s biggest fugitive and loudest journalist. If only it had been allowed more leg space to lunge in the lap of the ludicrous.

As things stand, “Coffee With D”, with its beeped places, names and other bloomers, just remains a potentially funny satire.

Whenever ‘Arnab’ tries to steer the conversation to the prickly topic of communal strife, ‘Dawood’ snarls, “Don’t even go there.” A sure sign of how difficult it is for filmmakers in this country to address themselves to political issues. At best the question and answer between the Don and the scribe remains a “Koffee With Karan”. After the rapid fire round, Dawood even asks for his gift hamper.

Kaabil Official Trailer #2 | Hrithik Roshan | Yami Gautam | 25th Jan 2017

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By Subhash K. Jha

IANS

]]> https://glint.tv/movies/dangal-movie-review-aamir-shines-in-this-realistic-sports-drama/ Thu, 22 Dec 2016 14:16:29 +0000 https://glint.tv/?p=6512

Rating: ***1/2

Dangal: Director: Nitesh Tiwari; Cast: Aamir Khan, Sakshi Tanwar, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Sana Malhotra, Zaira Wasim, Suhani Bhatnagar, Aparshakti Khurrana, Girish Kulkarni

A fictionalised tale, based on the lives of an amateur wrestler — Mahavir Singh Phogat and his famed daughters, Geeta and Babita Phogat – Dangal is an inspirational story of an ambitious father, who, after failing to fulfil his dreams, aspires to achieve his vision of winning a gold medal for his country in an international arena through his progeny.

Narrated through Mahavir’s nephew and the girl’s early sparring partner Omkar’s point of view, the film is a balanced take on the subject and thus offers a few humourous nuggets which otherwise would have been a very dry documentation of their lives.

Designed as a typical sports film, and to establish the subject at the very onset, the narrative begins with a preposterous start but soon settles in on a convincing note, of a tyrant father who ensures his reluctant daughters follow his instructions. The shades in Mahavir’s character are highlighted subtly, bringing his softness and the messages the film relays to the fore.

As a biopic, though one-dimensional, the film is well-packaged and presented in a realistic manner. Apart from a few predictable cinematic liberties, it lacks high-voltage drama and the entertainment quotient is dutifully obligatory. The plot keeps you engrossed right till the end and the climax, with the slow-motion shot of Geeta toppling her opponent, is exhilarating.

The national anthem is used as a magnetic device to extract the feel of patriotism, and unwittingly, the audience land up giving Geeta and the film a standing ovation.

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Watch how Sakshi Tanwar impresses Aamir on the sets of Dangal

What keeps you glued to the screen, from the beginning, is Aamir Khan’s transformation into a Haryanvi. The actor not only reinvents himself, he tips his films with this novelty factor that wows his audience. This time, playing an aging wrestler, with added pounds and flab to his otherwise chiselled frame, he mesmerises you with aplomb. He literally breathes and lives the life of Mahavir Singh Phogat in rural Haryana.

But the stars of the film are definitely Zara Wasim and Suhani Bhatnagar. As the young Geeta and Babita, they are simply adorable and charming. They portray their innocent and aggressive attitude with such finesse that you instantly fall in love with their characters and root for them. They lay the foundation for Fatima Sana Shaikh and Sanya Malhotra who play the older versions of the characters.

Similarly Ritwik Sahore as the young Omkar, lays the foundation for Aparshakti Khurana in the older role. They both do full justice to the character.

Vivan Bhatena in a cameo as Mahavir’s office colleague is wasted. Sakshi Tanwar in a passive role as Daya, Mahavir’s wife, is unimpressive as she plays herself.

The songs and background score mesh seamlessly with the narrative. On the production front, the international games are realistically recreated with precision and overall the film has a very realistic look and feel. Sans the performance, “Dangal” seems too perfunctory with its sports and biopic tropes that tend to be inspirational and motivational.

By Troy Ribeiro
IANS

Rating: *

Film: “Wajah Tum Ho”; Directed by Vishal Pandya; Starring: Gurmeet Chowdhary, Sana Khan, Sharman Joshi, Rajniesh Duggal

There is a lovely chick-bonding moment in this grotesque drama of absurdities where Sana Khan asks Sherlyn Chopra: “Are you really going to spend the night with this rapist?”

“Will you pay my bills?” comes the prompt retort. Then the brazen gold-digger then proceeds to sing a rehashed version of Dev Anand’s “Aise to na dekho”.

Amen to that. Unlike the rest of the cast, she has good taste.

Will the makers of this film pay us back the money we spent buying tickets for a film that makes as much sense as Trump’s victory or Hillary’s defeat? As the marketing boast goes, this is Bollywood’s first film about hacking.

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But it seems to have been written by hacks who have no knowledge of how a script should be paced, and how the characters can be kept interesting without giving them a jolting spin and a moral turn-around for the sake of a gasp.

Alas, the intended gasp turns into a tittering tedium as the script piles on the preposterous episodes with more inclination for putrid plotting than the Indian soap operas. The actors are required to pose as insanely rich and absurdly glamorous entities with enough money to buy off islands and civilizations. But they mouth closeted-spoof dialogues that give away their amateurish attempts at jetsetting aristocracy.

These are characters in desperate search of a reason to exist. Their expressions anguish and agony is manufactured and phoney. Most of the drama is generated through a pelting over-the-top background score that over-punctuates every moment like U-turn warning on a highway that leads to nowhere.

The courtroom scenes presided over by a judge who resembles Pervez Musharraf have to be seen to be believed. I swear I saw Gurmeet and Sana laughing at one another.

Every time the actors open their mouths they sound like they’ve been learningA the English language from an online crash-course service. Gurmeet and Sana show a lot of skin but fail to add meat to their parts. They are like pouts on faces that refuse to acknowledge seduction even at gunpoint. Sharman Joshi’s widower-cop act is beaten down by welters of outrageous indiscrepancies in the investigation that leads him to the arch-villain.

It’s all a hoax dream packaged in a plasticine that melts under pressure. The film takes on the cult of televised sensationalism, but loses its nerves and sense of direction even before the game begins. There some enjoyable bits. No, not the bits where Gurmeet bites off Sana’s lips. But the bits where he comes to blows with her show the heroine fighting back like man.

Wish the script displayed at least some level of guts and courage in dealing with issues such as excesses on reality television and rape. It hides in too many masked attempts at suspense and finally blows up in a climax that has all the ingredients of a dinner party gone wrong.

The smell of burning food in the kitchen doesn’t seem have reached the hosts’ nostrils. The cast and crew of “Wajah Tum Ho” are too busy rejoicing in their hacker’s paradise to realise they are just not getting anywhere.

What the hack!

By Subhash K Jha

IANS