Kamal's Take

Thoughts on the movie The Tashkent Files

The movie is about the mystery around death of India’s 2nd Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri. But is it really? Actually if you see deeply, the movie is about a bigger narrative - India Who’s Who vs. India Nobodies - the few privileged Powers to be who control the fate of the larger population. The controversy around the death is just used as a clear ploy to make a bigger point - not openly but still. (There were few movies with similar intent just before the general elections like The Accidental Prime Minister - intent can be to show truth otherwise not known or to just win the election. But then there is no smoke without the fire.).

I always had this idea in my mind about the humankind existence. God & Goddess up in the heaven playing a giant board game. And we just being the counters (or may be bots) in that game. They roll the dice and strategize the game, which in turn impacts our lives. And we don’t understand that game at all. Bringing that to multitude of layers below, we have the Powers to be, who are sort of semi-Gods. They play a different power games which directly or indirectly impact our lives - by means of opportunity lost, or opportunity being opened to selective few. We are just the pawns in their game which is played in the board called country or world. And irony is we somewhat sense that but don’t get to know the exact game.

The movie is about portraying that very idea. It points how the entire machinery can be used to create a false narrative, in fact even a false history. All pillars of the democracy have a price to be sold, and how they come together to create something that these semi-gods want us to see and believe. Fake news or Deep fakes seems to be a current technology or social media creation. But if you see, these have been prevalent from ages. We have been served history and narratives that suits the people holding the power. Different story that power of social media is now helping to bring many of these out.

A great weekend - ended up watching 2 movies - quite deserving to be seen, though quite late - both in seeing and writing a review after a long period of time. Coincidentally both have a common theme around prejudice - them vs. us - the deep rooted “Yeh log aise hi hain”! The coincidence doesn’t end there. Both movies are by the same director - didn’t realize till I was half way through this blog. And further, two of the actors are also common who beautifully portrayed support roles - Manoj Pahwa & Kumud Mishra.

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The first one was Mulk - a movie based on religious prejudice. As much as we can deny, most of us have grown up with this prejudice been fed to us (and this is true for all communities against each other). And many of us have not grown out of it since then - irony!

Anubhav Sinha picked the right nerve and provided a great treatment on the subject. Not only this prejudice impacts our day to day behavior, but also impacts the delivery of justice. The courtroom drama brings the point very well. Though would have appreciated had the director made the defense lawyer a less comical and could have portrayed a more serious discourse.

A great performance by the cast - Rishi Kapoor, Taapsee Pannu (potrayal of vulnerable yet strong character - very nuanced), Rajat Kapoor (his usual best). But the most surprising performance was by Manoj Pahwa - another underrated actor. And not to forget Kumud Mishra. The so called “supporting” actors. Actors are actors - roles are just different. Another day for that debate.

But a thought stuck.What is a valid topic between two communities, can well be a valid topic between two countries, if taken at an higher level. At end, it is about identity - be it community or a country. Hence the portrayal of jingoism in the movie seemed a bit of betrayal to the subject. Why Mulk, why not Insanayat?

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The second one was Article 15 - this time a movie based on caste based prejudice. A shameful truth of this Mulk. This time, Anubhav Sinha beautifully used humor and sarcasm to showcase the harsh reality.

Lot of these realities have been very well portrayed by Anubhav Sinha using small incidents. It even had a scene showing how manual scavenging is being done - a harsh visual so it can sink in. Things we take for granted. Again the movie was about identity - them vs. us. And ironical is how some of these opposing identities come together to become a single identity to fight another identity - based on what is the opportunity in front of us. 

A great cast - Ayushmann Khurrana, Manoj Pahwa, Kumud Mishra and many others playing their own role to the perfection in the larger scheme of the things.

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Last night saw The Good Road.. Let me admit that I saw it just to find why it was the official Oscar entry. And no way it was on my mind why not Lunchbox. It was more of why not "Bhaag Milkha Bhaag".

First how was The Good Road as a movie.. It is a nice simple story on various lives - harsh but true realities. It shows some aspect of rural India that you don't see otherwise. But it ends there. Beyond that, neither the direction nor the performances will impress you much - it's very ordinary. And hence surprised.. And hence not surprised why there is no much hue & cry of it being the official entry.

I hope the judges knew that this is entry to Oscars, that honours the art of movie making and not to a tourism conclave to showcase the elements of the country.

It is about how the different elements of art have been used to weave an experience that enthrals the audience. Some draws their power through direction, cinematography and some through powerful performances by the cast, and some having a mix of both. It has to be definitely something more than a story. Because the movies are about telling the story - the medium has to add value on top of the story.

And that's where Bhaag Milkha Bhaag or The Lunchbox scores far more than The Good Road.

The Lunchbox is again a simple story written around a wrongly delivered lunchbox (yes, six sigma allows such few mistakes in million cases). It also beautifully plays around the small elements of daily life. For example, Irfan who usually remain inside the train mostly, is shown hanging by the gate soaking in fresh air, when he falls in love. And not to forget the strong but silent performance by Irfan Khan - how many people can do that - be it here or beyond. Probably the ending disappointed the jury as it did many in the audience, as we have grown up to the "live-happy-ever-after" endings.

Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, a boipic, but more than that a great exercise in movie making. Right from how to romanticise a story to presentation (flowing as a prose) to solid performances, it has left no stones unturned. For me the biggest victory for this movie is how it has left my 6 year kiddo inspired. He has been running since then (hope he didn't go too far..).

And if I have to pick a wild entry, it will certainly be Inkaar. Again not the art movie variety but nevertheless a great movie - a very mature treatment to a mature issue. And what makes it score higher is the direction - showing same scene in two subtly different way based on who is saying the story, adding those biases to the scenes.

Movie Review for Bhaag Milkha Bhhaag!!

Bhaag Milkha Bhaag is a biopic inspired by story of great athlete Milkha Singh aka The Flying Sikh. But for me the movie is not about story of an athlete or story of his struggles, success or failure. I see this movie as pinnacle of The Art of Story Telling!!

This movie is an impeccable work by Rakeyesh Omprakash Mehra. This is indeed a collector item that can be seen again & again to learn the art - the art of film making, the art of story telling. He sets the standard with the first scene itself (the loss in Rome Olympics). And from there onwards, it is just pure story telling - one will never feel like lost in spite of total run of more than 3 hours.

By no means the story of Milkha Singh would have been an ordinary tale (I have not read much about him as of now). But it could have been a plain story telling of someone great. But the way Rakeysh Om Prakash has told the story, he has taken it to another level altogether. Even Milkha Singh will get inspired seeing this movie & think that I never knew that my story could be so exciting.

Such a compelling story telling, do require someone of equal caliber to portray it on the screen. And who could have been better than Farhan Akhtar - with a pinnacle of performance. His charm, physical looks, the portrayal of struggle, defeat - all shows his honesty towards this medium. He has been fabulous. Not to forget he is main factor attracting people to the theatre.

Well supported by a great support cast - Pawan Malhotra, Yograaj Singh (father of Yuvray Singh for those who don't know) & Divya Dutt. Yeah it also has some Sonam Kapoor :)

The best thing that will touch is the emotional pain of Partition. Many movies might have been made on this subject, but none have portrayed it the way, as done in this movie through a life on an athlete - his horror and finally coming to peace towards the end. I can't do justice to what I have seen through words - this needs to be watched.

The songs add the right Bollywood elements and add to the overall expereince. The special effects being world class - playing a perfect role in the perfect story telling.

Review of movie "Special 26"

Special 26 is a crime drama movie (won't call it a crime thriller or crime suspense). The movie has a good plot of a big heist, much like what have been seen in many movies like Ocean's 11 and it sequels. In spite of great story, it has lot of holes in the screenplay, if one apply the logical filter. But the thrill & suspense very well covers those shortcomings. Could see audience getting excited on each twist & turn and clapping. But I was able to guess lot of those twists (can get into the director's psyche) - a different point altogether.

In spite of that, it is a great movie to watch. Why? "Execution". The movie has been very well executed with some great performances by Akshay Kumar & Anupam Kher. Both have done tremendous justice to the role without any sort of over-acting. Full points to Neeraj Pandey for the superb execution. Not many movies, will you find audience getting surprised and excited as the movie goes on. The movie certainly keeps the audience engaged.

And people who have always doubted Akshay Kumar's talent, certainly must watch this. Not his fault if he keeps getting the stereotyped roles to play, in spite of his huge potential.

Review of movie Inkaar

Humans are a complex being. How they interact & react to each other is even more complex. Hence it is a very complex task to depict different facets of human emotions. Lot of our movies try to do that, mostly the ones in the drama genre.

This is where Sudhir Mishra has completely nailed it in Inkaar. Not seen a movie in long time, that has handled human relationship & emotion with such a maturity. Made on the theme of office politics and sexual harassment, it could have been easily diverted and lopsided to show woman as victim kind of movie in a patriarchal society. But Sudhir Mishra kept it quite balanced, keeping it completely competitive between an ambitious man and an ambitious woman.

Screenplay too supported this balance in a great way. Showing the same incident into two different forms based on who was narrating the story, was the highlight of the movie. Absolutely done in a beautiful and mature manner. One of my best is the scene where Arjun Rampal is sitting on sofa next to Chitrangada's bag. When Chitrangada narrates, Arjun is completely leaning on the bag as if to obstruct her from taking it. But when Arjun narrates, he is far off from bag sitting decently on the sofa. (Liked the depicted nuances so much, hence mentioned the entire scene. Otherwise I hate spilling story or scenes in a review). But true devil lies in details. And Sudhir Mishra have been an absloute devil in that.

Very strong performances by Arjun Rampal & Chitrangada Singh. Both looked hot as well as powerful in their role of ambitious professionals. But could see so much "SRK"-isation in Arjun's acting - but who is complaining if he is better at that even than SRK himself ;). Chitrangada looked absolutely hot, making it worth a watch even if one doesn't like the maturity and the directorial nuances.

OMG - Oh My God !