Monday, August 30, 2010

Antardwand: A war within


After every darkest night, you witness the brightest day. Antardwand is definitely not the simile for the Bollywood rampant churning of movies. Once in every while you see a movie which will be with you for a longer time. Such is Antardwand, a movie made on shoe-string budget by Ranchi’s director Sushil Rajpal.

Based upon real events around Bihar, Jharkhand and eastern UP, this story is about the taboo, well accepted by certain castes & society. Movie explores the lives affected by this raunchy social ill- practice called ‘Groom abduction’ or 'Pakrauah/Jabariya shaadi’. By demanding more Dowry and harassing bride side can have side effects for the groom side too. In this competitive “Moonch ki Shaan ki Ladaai”, the victim is oneself. The story brilliancy was to capture the effect on each side of this forced marriage. The loose end was very well justified, giving you a piece of food for your thought. The camera and the cut were well executed. Maybe a little higher budget would have given a better glow to the frames. The Rustic shots and the location were carefully chosen. The screenplay was loud and very close to the core, as it should be if you are shooting a real film. And so were the casts, close to the core, chosen especially from the state itself to give the real flavor conviction. Antardwand does not seek to entertain or titillate the audience like “Peepli Live!”; it is a drama that will leave you stunned.

It cannot be more authentic than this that the language, the locations and everything else looked real. Even a feudal lord was shown helpless with all the Pehlwaans and police on his side. The human character was haloing over each character. Right from being an IAS aspirant to a helpless man who has no clue and control, the protagonist was shown lost in this social taboo, a taboo which a bollywood hero even cannot solve.

Raj Singh Chaudhary has evolved himself heavily from Gullal, yet another remarkable performance. The expression full eyes with a clue of bewilderness were very powerful, and so was his helplessness.
The characters were strengthen by all the remaining, esp. by Swati Sen. This debutant from Bihar itself, has made a landmark with the expressions. And Sushil made no mistakes in capturing that. Right from ‘the first touch of the bride’ to ‘marital rape’ to ‘the rising of a lady’. She showed the maturity and a promise which can be relative of Smita patil.

And so was Vinay Pathak, the scene where he is a strong, no nonsense male chauvinist yet a father, holding a telephone and advising his son was rare. Perfection, he did match. The scripts were so real you could feel that a father is talking to you, when you are in a deep shit, Friendly yet affirmative with a reference to your mother. Ditto for Akhilendra Mishra, a brilliant portray of an egoist father, who has accepted his mistakes but cannot really show.
Jaya Bhattacharya and Neelima were sexually suppressed characters in the male dominated feudal society.
Songs from Amitabh Verma’s pen were tight as scripts and did not break the flow of the movie. He did a marvelous job for writing the dialogues and screenplay as authentic as possible. No leaf was turned out by his writing.


A movie to cherish the cinema art, after a very long time since Benegal and Nihalani.


Friday, August 27, 2010

Aashayein and Expectations


 It’s a movie where reality meets fantasy. Nagesh Kukunoor have always dealt real issues in a very subtle ways and showcased us the true beauty behind the camera. Be it Dor, Iqbal or Hyderabad Blues’ the story lines were greatly woven with camerawork and screenplay. Aashayein lacked in story and screenplays. But kukunoor knows how to extract the performances from the casts.

The moment the protagonist wears the cowboy’s hat of Harrison Ford and lands into Ark full of Ghosts, the story looked childish. Before this turn, the first half is worth watching and it was touching the nerves. Soon the contact with emotional aspect got lost and a thrill ride happened. The entire human aspect of the movie lost its meaning.

The Movie opened with a very great camera and a real betting zone where one easily win some 3 crore Rupees. Another marvelous moment followed with a small party and a proposal. The Director didn’t spend much time telling you the dilemma the movie is going to deal. After all you need money to die too...

Enter Hospice, where the death is not serious and looked like a filmi-set.
Sonal Sehgal looked efficiently beautiful. Nagesh was sure that this girl does not need a makeup to be more beautiful. Her performances were carried well. Anita Nair as an obnoxious kid was brilliant with a Wiggy effect. The last wish was something one could die for. She got some good lines along with Girish Karnad. This Chak de girl was brilliant than the famous self. The only weak character was of Farida Jalal, whose role and acting didn’t do any justice with an HIV infected person, she was eating well and shown well without any hint of AIDS. John was chosen because of the innocence and carrying beard. However his cigarettes and holding ashes over them looked quite amateurish. Abraham did his bit with an effort; he was good in eating mangoes and impersonating Ford. The small child avatar with big eyes and hanging teeth was amazing and a beautiful story teller.

Like always, this movie had a happy ending. A low budget film with promises not delivered as it should be. There was not a single scene stealer in this movie where one needs to hold back his tears. There was even a tribute to Hrishikesh mukherjee.The beach song was unnecessary and worst among the lot. Salim-Suleiman music was catapulted to touch emotional strings.

Kukunoor need to stick to his blue satire and the realistic movies where we don’t see any fantasies.

No need to take it to the Heart.




One Star for the performances and camera.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Kingfisher Blue 4×4 Freedom Drive

Kingfisher Blue 4×4 Freedom Drive


All the thrill started from Wednesday 11th August when I was announced winner of “Kingfisher Blue 4×4 Freedom Drive” Contest on Facebook, an off road event organized by the Munzerabad Club in Sakleshpur and sponsored by Kingfisher.



A three day experience with all expense paid, was packed with adrenaline and adventure. An adventure never tasted and conquered. All I need was to tackle some terrain and get to know some serious mud-slush. Friday the 13th was completed with a small photo shoot with KF blue Gypsy followed by the ride to Sakleshpur. Some odd 250Kms was covered in 7 hours form Bangalore to the land full of coffee estates along with smoky mountain slopes and streams. The weather was pleasant and everyone in the rally was praying for a rain to add more slush to the track. The Night was busy with meeting most of the entire contestant across India and Karnataka. We were also hooked with the gears and 4wheels.


Our stay was planned at the Munzerabad Club resort which was established in 1839 by British planters. This club organized “Munzerabad Arvind Off Beat Drive 2010”, in memory of one of the founder of this Off beat rally. There were about 110 4x4 vehicles that took part in this event. There were a couple of Pajeros, Boleros, one Land Cruiser, Nissan Patrol, One Land Rover, Volkswagen Touareg, Toyota’s fortuner, Ford’s Endeavour and lots of Willys, M&M jeeps and Maruti Gypsies.



Next Morning the event started with flag off @ 8 Am for the 35 Km circuit. Soon we hit the track and the dirt. With more than 150 ORV’s, the jungle track looked encroached and was thumped up with the gas. The drizzle made the ride cool and lovely, however the biggest challenge was the slush and mud as it was extremely sticky since it had been raining past weeks. The lighter vehicles like Gypsy’s and Jeeps had the advantage for not getting stuck easily with the slippery mud. Apart from some serious mud, we had to cross some slippery and wet rocky terrains, which was real adrenaline pumping fun. With almost no grip and an incline, all the 4 wheels were engaged to cross the obstacle. The thrilling brooks were also conquered with all the excitements one could have.



Soon we reached our breakfast point, an oasis amidst tea estates: Tusk and dawn Resort. DJ was playing a loud thumping music to push our tempo in the jungle. The rest was very brief with exotic body-paint dancers and some anchoring. Soon we were back on four wheels. The Route now had more wetness and mosses resulting in more leeches. We were given rubber boots to protect ourselves from mud and leeches of course. Mud plugging made all the roadies into westerners. Some vehicles were winched to make cross the slippery gateways and boulders. We crossed some wooden bridges without any railing, along with lemon grass fields. These fields were so fragrant that one was completely mesmerized. Soon we found ourselves coming down the tea estates valley to Kadumane Resort.
 

This was the end of our 7 hour long off-roading experience. This was the place for afterparty and late lunch. All the off-roaders felt awarded and they patted their own back and each other’s. The ride turned into a great party, indeed a Good time. The music was loud and echoing across the tea plantations. The wildness was energized by the Kingfisher Blues’.


Late night we reached back to Munzerabad rooms. Next morning I had a chance to witness the Independence Day parade by the children of a school nearby. I took some good pictures of Migratory birds like Egret, snakebirds and Darters, who took the shelters of Munzerabad old trees. After breakfast we packed and hit the road to Bangalore with an experience to remember.





A complete gobsmacked Experience..


Details of the contest:
Ø  Q: Answer these 2 simple questions in the comment box below:
From the Video, If you were the driver in the car, what would you do next?
Why do you believe you are driven enough to take the Kingfisher Blue Freedom drive?
Ø  Answers:
o    1. If you were the driver in the car, what would you do next?
o    A: Nothing just stomp on accelerator with all the 4 wheels on.... Let the river be crossed.

o    2. Why do you believe you are driven enough to take the Kingfisher Blue Freedom drive?
o    Because I ve already acquired the taste of freedom. All the challenges are there to take and beat. Been to highest Khardungla and to Bangalore traffic ..... Need i explain more
Ø  Verdict:
Kingfisher: The lucky winner of the Kingfisher Blue 4x4 Freedom Drive contest, walking away with an all expenses paid trip with for himself and a navigator, is Saurabh Raj Sharan! Congratulations, enjoy the treacherous challenge & get liberated with Kingfisher Blue Freedom!
References:

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Peepli Life!


The film opens well with a shattered dream and rousing track from the talented stable of Indian Ocean.
The village of Mukhya Pradesh was captured in the real delight and its sorrow. A remorseful sadness of Farmer’s plight was made humorous, just to have a silent impact near the credit roll. The Indian satire by NDTV journalist Anusha Rizvi’s first directional debut without Aamir Khan’s production would not have hit the bull’s eye, but it’s a well timed with screenplay. Camera was held in the darkest village neatly.The screenplay was harsh and real with no sugarcoating.


Raghuvir Yadav’s funny deliveries and the far-cry were marvelous. He is one actor still close to Earth and Theatre. A nice choice of theater artists in this movie was the first score and a sure win. Small laughter and small dialogues’ made the first half chirpy and interesting.

Malaika Shenoy as TV anchor did not do justice to a well educated, smart and confident women, however the punch line was delivered with an impact-“You are in the wrong profession” when referring to the ethical and emotions dilemma related to the job of a journalist.


Shalini Vatsa as Dhaniya was amazingly good and humorous, she was always great with the humor time and a expression well held.

Farukh Jaffer as Amma was the best in the lot, she got all the best dialogues and did full justice to a bed ridden irritate rustic approach.


Finally, Manikpuri -the silent scapegoat of the tragedian satire. Makeup and Hairs were well justified with his subtle laughter of innocence.

Inspired by Premchand’s Godan and the suicidal statistics of farmer’s suicide in India have a message in the end. There was a silent tribute to Hori and Dhaniya by giving the characters name from Munshi’s story of Indian peasant. Hori’s death was the turning point of the movie, which ended in Priyadarshan’s style of ending the movie with all the characters in a confused run. Movie lacked the content and flow by repeating the media craziness behind the TRP’s. It’s hard to make believe that people are taken so easily, even in remote villages. Bureaucrats and the media were also shown completely in low tastes.


Laal Bahudur (Literallly: Strong Red) had a mystery behind it and when it was revealed it was not red at all but green. It was a real delight to see the government take on announcing Yojnas— Laal Bahadur, Jawahar nivas, Annapurna and above all Nattha card.


All the actors did their part, not to mention the only star- Naseeruddin Shah; He was too polished and smart with an American seed company as state agriculture minister. His attire and accent didn’t suit the agriculture industry.



This movie had a collection of best songs and folks. “Chola Mati Ke Ram- Tanvir” by a MP folk singer Siwar was brilliant. Mehngai Dayan by Raghuveer Yadav was equally good, and with good rustic lyrics. Then we had the maestro Zindagi Se Darte Ho and Desh mera by Indian Ocean, with nice fusion of folk and rock.


By the way do you remember American Classics “Meet john Doe” and the media carnival in “Ace in the Hole”. I hope Rizvi should have taken more examples from the real India than simply showing the mad rush of Media and a suicidal man. The subtle character of the Hori, the man who digs and sells some Earth for mere Rs 15 was more impactful.

Could have been a well deserved debut.




2 stars for a very good casting, very good selection of songs, and a brilliant screenplay.
The artistic capture of the dug well by Hori, depicts the silver lining of a dark cloud , as the well had started showing signs of some water body beneath it.

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Clueless Aisha Tentwali


One thing this movie teaches youà to Avoid L’Oreal. And it’s the Eye mascara to be very specific.
Jane Austen died for the fourth time today (Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Clueless). Thanks to Kapoors...

Sonam kapoor is still a kid and that’s too daddy’s kid. His freakiness will surely make your head go wag. The fashion statements and the svelte looked so fragile on her thin frame that it gave Size Zero a competition. The Always-Open-wide-Smiling-Mouth was such a distress that one could bang one’s head onto the theatre’s wall.
New face- Amrita Puri played a nice middle class Shefali with a naïve, gullible character, and believe me she looked more beautiful than fashionable AISHA.

Thanks to the guys for the rescue…
Randhir gambhir was humorous but expressionless as he was a MTV Bakra himself. Looks like Abhay Deol is left unjustified with not so complicated act... unconventional hero in a fashion "chick-flick". Nice choice but a misfit......He was there just to throw some punch line after reading too many read-between-the-lines dialogues.
Some sexy River rafting shots were taken,the designer shorts and dresses looks pretty on Lisa Hayden.It was good that she didn't have much to say in the movie. Upper-class shopping and lifestyle was captured well.
some nice lines---
Aisha-”you will never know a girl.”
Arjun-“I just know women”
Rajshree Ojha seems lost in delhi holding Gucci bags, Luis Vitton Suitcase, Dior Perfume, Chanel’s Perfume, D&G belts, Elle,……. His Close-ups were so out of focus that you paid more attention to bad screenplays. An inspiration from Kjo’s KKHH didn’t help him much.
A predictable end of a freaky fashion show.









Qualifies only for negative stars.
PS: All my views expressed here are my personal views. Please do not consider it to be neutral.