The Unfathomable Esoteric: 2015

Thursday, 12 November 2015

PREM RATAN DHAN PAYO

In My OPINION: Get bored easily don't watch! If you are a Salman fan "What's the point then, you will watch." ;)

Suraj Barjatya, this name flashed on the screens in 2006 when VIVAAH released. It was his Experiment with Prem. VIVAAH was a commercial success but everyone missed 'the real PREM'. So when the trailer of Prem Ratan Dhan Paayo was launched and as HE (SALMAN KHAN, the quintessential PREM) said, "Main wapas aa gaya" it was bound to cross more than a million views overnight. And that was just the trailer, after that the lead pair of the movie was almost everywhere promoting the film. On every channel, every show, every song of the movie was repeatedly played across radio stations, and soon it became the most touted film of the year. And the film was set to release on one of the biggest festival of this country, DIWALI.

The hit duo of Sooraj Barjatya and Salman Khan was last seen in Hum Saath Saath hain, 16 years back! Hum saath saath hain was not a big commercial success when compared to the previous Hum Aapke hain kaun or the first in this chart Mainey Pyaar kiya which was a major hit of its time and it set the milestone for future PREM.

Coming back to the present, i watched the film today and it took me two hours after the movie to get over that overdose of bad music that was served. The movie includes 10 songs (i am not talking about INDRASABHA) and the total duration of all songs is 38 minutes, in a movie that is 170 minutes long!

Coming to the plot of the movie, which is as predictable as a couple during their courtship days, in love walking into a closed room is..... Ohh i am sorry, if the boy belongs to 'Sooraj Barjatya camp' then the story can be different. He may sit inside and read her verses from RAMAYANA, even when the girl wears that 'favourite short dress', holds his hand takes him to that secluded corner and gives him a feather to write what he wants on her back !!

Bacchi ki jaan logey kya, Issey zyada kya keh de ? *Facepalm*

Apologies for i just got carried away! So the story is about a fight between siblings, One brother trying to kill the other brother, step sisters hate the brothers, the elder brother is engaged to a princess, princess hates her fiance' andddd comes PREM, to get them all together, Bade Aaraam Se.

Sonam Kapoor as Princess Maithili looks good and carries her dresses gracefully for which she is well known. Nothing much for her to do in the movie but she tries to wear the 'cap' i mean 'Lehenga' of Madhuri from HAHK and shake that booty.... Alas!

Neil Nitin Mukesh as the evil younger brother, Swara Bhaskar and Aashika Bhatia as vengeful step sisters and Armaan Kohli as the Villian(which is the only role he fits in) have all done their part well. Anupam Kher as the Loyal Deewan Ji whom Prem lovingly calls Virgin Bapuji stands apart with his display of emotions, acting skills and fulfills the void of Aloknath , who became the All india Babuji due to Sooraj Barjatya Movies. Deepak Dobriyal as Kanhaiya is brilliant as always and is almost a replacement of Laxmikant berde.

The only good part about the film is undoubtedly PREM. No one knows how to do it more innocently than Salman Khan. He is simple, earthy, god fearing, sanskaari boy from Ayodhya but he somehow reminded of Bajrangi, may be due to the innocence. Salman does not look like a 50 year old anywhere and he dances his way out through the movie(with 10 songs its all he should be doing) but he tries to pull the movie on his shoulders and entertain the audience in which he succeeds but by the time one starts enjoying a song starts!

The movie is made with a budget above 80 crores out of which 56 crores were recovered before the release with music rights and satellite rights and this Diwali weekend is all booked for PRDP. Its a win-win situation for Mr. Barjatya and friends, all thanks to the PREM they have given us.

In a nutshell; Bad editing,nicely shot, awful songs by Himesh but who cares just go and watch, PREM ke liye.

HAPPY DIWALI to all.

Friday, 23 October 2015

In my opinion: Don't watch. (You will do yourself a favor)

Shandaar is a movie that if you do not go and watch you will actually do yourself a favor.

You become the company you keep, this is true for the 'once upon a time' talented film makers Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane, who happen to be the producers for this epic movie along with the 'expected' producer for such movies, Mr. Karan Johar!

The director of the movie is again a very celebrated and someone who successfully won everyone's heart with QUEEN, Mr. Vikas Bahl. This movie is all set to break the trust of the audience from talents and name. I added the name of Vikas Bahl in the list of sensible directors like Raju Hirani, Sanjay Leela Bhansali and more such whose movies i wait to watch. Mr. Behl after Shandaar is definitely out of it for me. Like people seldom compare two brothers and say, "Ye dono sagey bhai hain" similarly i am forced to question, "Queen and Shandaar are from the same director and writer ??"

Story of the film is as sad as i sound this moment. The story revolves around 'a plus size' punjabi bride (Sanah Kapoor) and eight and 'a half pack of abs' sindhi groom(Vikas Verma) and their abnormal families. Both the families are bankrupt but want to become each others relatives to make their business positions in the market stable. Amidst all this chaos is an adopted / illegal child of Pankaj Kapoor and bride's sister Alia . A Bohemian character who is far from the real world, suffers from insomnia and is waiting for the man with whom she can 'sleep'. Comes the wedding planner Jaginder Joginder (Shahid Kapoor) who suffers from the same problem and both end up 'sleeping together' happily ever after in the end.

There i go! I have told you the story but i will be amazed if you weren't aware of it yet.

It was a happy surprise to see Sushma seth in the role of the matriarch of the Arora clan. Pankaj kapoor as the helpless son and a doting father is as usual splendid. The chemistry between Shahid Kapoor and Alia Bhatt is fresh but falters. The best part of the movie is debutante Sanah Kapoor. As a plus size bride she is beautiful, cute,bubbly and a natural performer. Her short act during climax is one of the high points of this movie.

Gulaabo and Shandaar (title track) are two songs that will be heard for a while.

The movie is not about destination wedding, nor about family clashes, its not even a love story, nor about the problems faced by a beautiful girl because of her size, infact i am still trying to join the dots and understand what is it about.

Festival, weekend, party time, those days of the year when friends and family get together. In such a beautiful atmosphere, Don't ruin it all by watching Shandaar.

Saturday, 17 October 2015

This week's film review is up on Pyaar Ka Punchnama -2

http://blog.glamshutter.com/entertainment/pyaar-ka-punchnama-2-review/

Thursday, 15 October 2015

hello people!!! I have collaborated with Glamshutter.com, so read reviews from now on the following link:

http://blog.glamshutter.com/entertainment/the-walk-movie-review/

Cheers!

Thursday, 1 October 2015

TALVAR

In My Opinion : A MUST MUST WATCH !

'Dharma rakshati rakshitaha'. It means that Dharma upholds and protects those who abide by and uphold Dharma itself.

Aarushi Talwar

Not only Mahatma Gandhi or Lal Bahadur Shastri but each and everyone who fought for free India, must be shifting in their graves at the sight of India's current Law and Order situation. Its ROTTEN !

I am not going to be a judge here but a murder case as gruesome as "Aarushi Talwar's " the way it was handled by our Law enforcement agencies is simply ridiculous.

And what's more ridiculous in our country is that we as citizens believe in sensationalism offered to us by journalists who are megalomaniacs and pass on the judgement even before investigation and we take their word for it. In Talwar case this was what was reported and believed :

INDIA TV : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYs4xO-544o

SANSANI : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mHeAcM8STw

TIMES NOW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQZbX3uUgis

Whereas the actual journalism is passe for us, this was no where shown to the common people;

TEHELKA : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sf6bxQoOM_Y

Short Documentary : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EM3WhFa98pA

TALVAR is no documentary, its a movie that tries to put sense in one's brain.

Talvar is a movie that reminds one of Rashomon with its multiple view point treatment of the case. it is based on the 2008 Noida Double Murder, where 14-year-old Aarushi Talwar, was found dead in her home with her throat slit along with family’s servant Hemraj's dead body which was recovered later from the terrace. This became the prominent case more after the incompetent investigation conducted by the U.P Police declared that the girl’s parents, Dr. Rajesh Talwar and Nupur Talwar, conducted an “honour killing” of their daughter after finding her in a compromising position with the servant. Eventually the Talwars were convicted and are in prison.

‘Talvar’ has been produced and written by Vishal Bhardwaj and directed by the talented Meghna Gulzar. Yes, she is back after her 8 years hiatus. And what a come back, must say !She has treated the details of the case excellently and showed the multiple angles offered to us by CBI and Police. This is a thriller that keeps you gripped to your seats and even makes you laugh near the end in one segment just for the way its treated.

Gajraj Rao as the paan-chewing Inspector Dhaniram and the manner he handles the murder location and does not even seal it well, shows the way Police in India handles many such cases and the way media reacts to it is even better.

Meghna Gulzar has changed all the original names of the characters and that allows her to play freely but no where does she deter and tries to make the movie commercial. She very smartly changed names but kept the title as Talvar and provided a reference to the title with the sword in the hands of Law. Talvar as a movie is the truth or more so the versions of the truth, by all of them, and leaves it to us to believe what we want

The role of Aarushi's parents is performed by Konkona Sen Sharma and Neeraj Kabi. Nothing much needs to be said about Ms. Sen Sharma's performance as for Neeraj Kabi, he essayed his role well but the best performance of all of them comes from IRRFAN who plays the role of Arun Kumar name changed to Ashwin Kumar , Chief officer,C.D.I (Yes, they have changed the name of the agency too)

The moment Irrfan come on screen, he owns it. Not for one second he lets the tempo fall, he keeps the excitement on and make the viewer crave for more. Irrfan as Ashwini is the most detailed character of Vishal's screenplay. He has a back story, a wife who is desperate to get a divorce from him, a work that keeps him tired all through and colleagues who stab him in his back to rise up.All of it beautifully portrayed by this Gem of an actor.

Tabu plays a cameo as Irrfan's wife who wants to get divorced as she feels he has no time left for family. She has a negligible role but whatever little she had she has performed is TABU. The song from Gulzar Sahab's movie Ijazat, "Mera kuch samaan" used as a background between Tabu and Irrfan's phone conversation shows beautifully the plight of a separating couple without saying much.

Even the supporting actors are beautifully crafted. Sohum Shah whom we last saw in Ship Of Thesus here plays Ashwin Kumar’s assistant and later the backstabber Vedant does his job well. Atul Kumar essays the role of a Hindi speaking CBI officer who plays the onscreen role of AGL KAUL. he is the man to whom the case is transferred once Ashwin is shunted out of the case, and what he does is change the whole course and makes a mockery out of the case.

One of the best scenes of Talvar is a sequence near the end in which two investigating teams sit across a table as the CHIEF of the Intelligence agency asks both the team to debate and put their respective points across. And the entire, 'Dharam Pracharak Aasan' theory by the second team is hilarious and the counter questions to them by Irrfan make the situation even more funny. FYI, Dharam PARACHARAK Aasan stands for Missionary Position, which is what the second investigating team believes Aarushi aka Shruti and the servant were in when Dr. Talvar or Tandon in the movie saw them.

Music is given by the Producer of the movie himself, Vishal Bharadwaj being the master of creating the dark, intense music provides a brilliant background score and songs that help the narrative. Rekha bharadwaj 's voice is soothing yet haunting.

That is all the movie review is about.

---------------------------------------------------

Now let me just brief you up with the three different theories that were put by three teams on the table.

For U.P Police it was an open and shut case since the beginning. Within days of the murders, the UP Police had stated that they had solved the case. Inspector-General of Police Gurdarshan Singh called a press conference and declared it an "honour killing". "Both father and daughter had poor character." According to them, 14-year old Aarushi and the family's domestic help Hemraj, were caught in a “compromising” position by Dr. Talvar, who then hit Aarushi and Hemraj with a rod, slit their throats leaving them to die. Then created the murder scene at home.

Then the case was transferred to CBI and after investigation another press conference happened, "There is no substantial evidence against the Talwars. Krishna misled us." Arun Kumar, CBI joint director, began with these lines. His team inspected the Talwars flat using polylight, for tracing blood or semen that was not visible to the naked eye.

"There's no sign of dragging a body to the terrace," he added. In Aarushi's room, there was no blood or DNA of Hemraj. Some sound tests were conducted and they revealed that nothing could be heard in the Talwars bedroom with the ACs on. Nupur and Rajesh were wearing the same clothes the night before and morning after, even when they are accused of a DOUBLE MURDER ,the question that arises is, How did they do all that? Killed Aarushi, dragged Hemraj's body to the terrace, cleaned Aarushi's room, all of this without as little as one drop or mark of blood anywhere on their clothes . And cleaning up of crime scene was done with the permission of the Noida police, and Dr. talvar or wife never asked for it. It was their relatives who did.

But by September 2009, Arun Kumar was removed from the case. A new CBI team took over, based in Dehradun and Lucknow, with AGL Kaul as the investigating officer. Within 15 days, critical changes appeared in the case: From post-mortem evidence, new weapon of offence, and cleaning up of crime scene. Finally CBI filed a closure report, naming Dr. Talvar as the main suspect, but unable to prove it: "Critical gaps in circumstantial evidence", "absence of clear-cut motive" and "incomplete understanding of sequence of events".
So, simply on the basis of Circumstantial evidence, the couple is serving a life imprisonment sentence !
The three domestic workers, however, were left clean chit. The Talwars filed a protest petition, challenging each finding of the report and asking for further investigation. The consequence? Charges are framed against the Talwars and Nupur, who was not accused before, now becomes one.

Two set of families,the three servants and Talwars both were questioned by CBI. Servant's get benefit of doubt but Talwars don't.. Why? Just because they claim they are poor and belong to the weaker section of the society, and that itself adds politics to the case . There is nothing that absolves Krishna, yet no one wants to look at that angle. Everyone in the Talwar household was asleep by 11.30, crime happened between half past midnight to 4 am. Dr. Talwar has no alibi for that time as his entire family was asleep.

The investigating team under AGL KAUL has made some stupid remarks, such as Dr, Talwar drank whiskey before slitting throat (Even the most experienced criminals cannot do that, definitely a parent after killing daughter can't ), the router kept switching on and off that proves their was someone awake in the house (The router can keep rebooting itself if its faulty, even some electrical issue can force this activity, maybe the plug behind the router was loose or sparking.) I can go on and give logical reasons to all their absurd theories but my point is Why shouldn't TALWARS be given benefit of doubt ?

Their court case is due for hearing next month in Allahabad High Court.

The lines below are from the diary maintained by Dr. Rajesh Talwar:

"18 Dec, 2013: This is the 25th year of our marriage and we will celebrate 25 years on the 19th of January. Could anybody imagine where we would be on our 25th anniversary? No Aaru, no house, no clinic, no money, and sitting in jail for something we haven't done."

Saturday, 26 September 2015

In my Opinion : One Time Watch, no logic but just for a good laugh.

As i had planned of going for a night show of the movie i got enough time to talk to my friends who have seen it already. Most of them were against the movie and then there were a few who called it a laughter riot. It is then that i realized that almost all the negative reviews that i heard were from women! I completely respect their opinion but it made me ponder over the fact that the reason behind it is that today times have changed and marriage is not a priority. So the beautiful, independent, working women for sure hated the story line where four women act dumb and are constantly fooled by one man throughout the movie. All they care for is to get married to him, get dolled up, keep 'Karwa Chauth' for him and nothing else. How is that possible ?
Let me help you with the plot.

The story revolves around Kumar Shiv Ram Kishan aka SRK (Kapil Sharma) who is a wealthy man, by god's grace as no where in the movie it is shown that what does Kapil do apart from marrying? SRK gets ‘accidentally’ married to three women and how these 'accidents' happen are narrated in the first fifteen minutes.The most bizarre ways that anyone can get married, our hero gets through them all and gets married thrice.

Simran (Simran Kaur Mundi), Juhi (Manjari Fadnnis) and Anjali (Sai Lokur) are the three gorgeous ladies that Shiv Ram Kishan is married to, of course with different names. Interestingly, apart from three wives, he also has a bombshell girlfriend named Deepika (Elli Avram) who loves Kumar, SRK's first name.

Like Batman has Robin the same way Kumar’s sidekick in this story is Karan (Varun Sharma). He is a lawyer, old friend and a problem solver for SRK. With his amazing 'science' and 'Newton Laws' he keeps the wives and SRK's nosy Champa Bai (Jamie Lever) at check and helps to continue the drama.

To make SRK's life easy Karan suggests him to shift all at one place so that its easily manageable. He shifts all of them in one building on different floors and even gets Karan to shift to the top floor of the same building in order to keep him always around to help.

Even after three 'accidental' wives, SRK dares to plan his FOURTH wedding with the love of his life Deepika. What happens then is the movie all about.

Trust me if you think i have told you the story and now your film will be no fun, then you sir are wrong! This is exactly what they have already shown in the promos, but what surprised me was why did a director duo like Abbas- Mustan pay Anukalp Goswami ? They could have easily called David Dhawan as such stories, Mr. Dhawan Sr. can cough out in his sleep.

There is no head or tail to the story. It defies all logic but does give moments to laugh throughout.

Abbas-Mustan have been the famous director duo for their genre of suspense / thriller films with this movie its their switch for the first time from their forte. I guess the duo pulled their inspiration from David Dhawan style of film making. But even in those movies a man was only shown caught up between two wives, here it is three and still counting! It is a situational comedy so, the film does make one laugh out loud at some points where 'Nootan Laws' are explained or the confusion is shown and you end up laughing at the absurdity of it all. Having said that i would like to add that the film belongs to 90's as it is heavily inspired by movies like, Saajan chaley sasuraal, Gharwali-Baharwali, Coolie No.1 and more such. Honestly, if that was the benchmark then you can easily understand what was achieved as the movie lacked the expression, comic timing of Govinda-Kader khan level.

Acting wise Kapil was good in comedy but other parts he falls flat. Dancing,drama, emotional scenes, monologues are something where the moment he began, i wished to say, " Tumsey naa ho paayega". Especially, the drunk scene on terrace, its fake and he couldn't even fake it. When he is delivering emotional speech, you always fear he might not end up cracking a joke. That is the difference between a Govinda and a Kapil Sharma in such roles. One knows how to fill the loop holes with his expressions and performance, the other one has no idea till now where the loop hole is. Having said that a few of Kapil's punchlines are kick ass for which he is well known. The ‘Karva Chauth’ scene is a true 'B-grade trademark', i mean that big and bright a moon can only look if 'Bruce Almighty' wants, Period.

There is a lot of beauty in the movie, Manjari Fadnnis, Sai Lokur and Simran Kaur Mundi are actually good for whatever little screen time they get. But i failed to understand that how can they think a wife (in this case THREE) will not be able to recognize their husband just because there is cake smeared all over his face? How can anyone possibly be that dumb ?

This is Elli Avram's second film after Mickey Virus, she does well and looks stunning. Her character is also shown half developed, a girl whose father (Manoj Joshi) is shown to be a very big businessman but only keeps people at job who have a picture of their life partner. I know some weird stuff, i couldn't digest too.
Supriya Pathak and Sharat Saxena play Kapil’s parents and despite having small roles, they have done pretty good work.

Varun Sharma and Arbaaz Khan are brilliant in this film. 'Makkhi' and 'Choocha' are two actors who portray their roles so well that for the scenes they come on screen one almost sure laughs. Jamie Lever as Champa Bai is also fun to watch, true portrayal of the arrogant lot of Mumbai House maids.

The cinematography and screenplay are two of the worst departments of the film. In the already illogical plot, the background score of the movie is another pain. Music wise 'Bum bum' and 'Samandar main' are two songs that are okay but none good enough to linger on.

The problem with this movie is that the characters are not developed properly,no back story of the characters gives it a feel of a comedy show. From beginning till the end no one finds out what business exactly Kumar is into that he maintains three wives, one girl friend, a useless lawyer friend , a nosy kaamwali Bai, three flats in a posh locality, ride a Harley Davidson, drive a sports car and sit in a fancy office in Mumbai!

How? Simply How is that possible ?

Just when you ask yourself all such questions let me remind, you are watching a film that is based in the 90's but released in 2015. So it defies logic, go to the theatres for a good laugh with family and don't think how, when, what ? If you liked David Dhawan movies in 90's then you sure will enjoy, else stay home and watch Comedy Nights.