All Systems Down My Review Court

Director  Chaitanya Tamhane

Starring  Vira Sathidar, Vivek Gomber, Geetanjali Kulkarni, Pradeep Joshi, Usha Bane, Shirish Pawar

Language  Marathi *English Subtitles 

I am not going to build up to it. Court is a film that hit me in my gut. It was not only because it is a debut film of a director, who is all of 27 years old, that belies his age and life experience, and that it has gathered so many award internationally, but because as the film says through a song.. Don’t insult us by calling us artists… Art is just a way of hiding the truth… a bold statement indeed, when people discuss art vs life and the creative liberties that an artist must have. But does the artist become bigger than the truth? This film is a courtroom drama, but so much more than it and aims and presenting truth and nothing but the truth. And yes, it succeeds in great measures.

A film that is so layered, so full of symbolism, and mind you not of the kind which only the director will understand (wink). The characters are so minutely etched, it is a pleasure to know them.

The story, ah, that being the masterstroke, is of a folk singer/activist who is arrested under the charges of abetting the suicide of a gutter cleaner. Why? Because he performed in the locality where the gutter cleaner lived and two days later committed suicide, found in the same gutters he has spent most of his life cleaning. Even though the charge sounds highly ludicrous, the court takes it seriously. After all justice is serious business.

And thus unfolds the tale.. pitching so many worlds together, against each other… yet with each other, as you see the story progress.

Chaitanya Tamhane, the director uses each scene, almost every shot, to say something. He has managed to comment on a lot of things… and unlike some films, has managed to do it successfully.

The biggest achievement of the film for me was that it made me feel I am fighting the case, I was rooting so much for Narayan Kamble, that I wanted to scream out loud at the way our systems run. Stock witnesses to archaic laws, the apathy of the police, the dozing advocates and the Judge who keeps shifting from black to white to gray.

The detailing in the film is such a pleasure. Not showing off, but just being.. true. From the Public prosecutor who discusses olive oil prices in the local train, cooks  dinner every night, and then finds time to go through her case, her routine life is without a spark, barring an occasional lunch at a Maharashtra thali joint, with her husband and two kids. She is the Mumbai Middle class, which works hard and still doesn’t make enough money. You know she has studied hard to be where she is, and with limited exposure, she relies on the tomes of law, reading her arguments verbatim. “But law is law, no” You want to bang your head when she drones on and on, and yet to see her, I mean really “see” her.

The defence lawyer… belonging to a rich Gujarati family, shops in Natures Basket, loves wine, Jazz and hanging out in swanky lounges. Yes, he is modern and privileged. Yet he fights for the have-nots. His refined self is in steep contrast to the drab courts, yet his largesse is what makes him more human and empathetic to his clients.

Within the scope of the story, Tamhane manages to address issues ranging from the caste divide to the lack of safety equipment for people in hazardous professions, where a cockroach is their saviour, to the UP Maharashtra divide, to the trend of outraging against anything and everything by the various preservers of communities. The steep poverty and the helplessness of the people who do not have resources to fight and can be picked up for anything deemed unlawful by the police, who is clueless to say the least.

The film is not from one cut to another, it breathes organically, as life is… you can leave the room, but the room is still brewing, he stays on scenes even when the characters have left and it works beautifully. The actors are par excellence, each one doing such a great job.

Nothing seems to be changing as centuries go by,  we live in sad times, but there is also hope, there is also the need to raise our voice… and yes, as the climax again underlines… Justice meanwhile takes a leisurely nap.

I cried and clapped various times in the film, laughed at the inanities of our justice system but the feeling that was topmost was that of frustration and finally building to one of “I wish I could be of some consequence in this society we live in, be of help, coz this system is dead Jim”

My Verdict 4/5

Of Truth, Calcutta and the Heady drag My Review Detective Byomkesh Bakshy!

Director  Dibakar Banerjee

Starring   Sushant Singh Rajput, Neeraj Kabi, Anand Tiwari, Swastika Mukherjee, Divya Menon,                       Meiyang Chang

*May contain spoilers

Detective Bomkesh Bakshi, a character that has endured for more than 8 decades… Oh and he hated being called a “detective”. So let’s call him the way he likes it, Satyanweshi, the seeker of truth.

Many adaptations have been made and savoured of  Saradindu Bandyopadhyay’s  famous Satyanweshi.  The closest to the mass memory is the one played  famously by Rajit Kapur on Doordarshan. 

Dibakar Banerjee’s Byomkesh Bakshy! (yes, the Ys used twice itself indicate that this is the director’s take on the literary detective ) is set in the early 1940s, a World War II strafed Calcutta, where nothing is what it seems. The turf war between the Chinese drug gangs, the Japanese Army and the British has laid Calcutta wide open.  Danger, deceit and mayhem… this is the world a young Bakshy enters unknowingly.  Approached one day in the college by Ajit Banerjee,  asking for Byomkesh’s help in finding his father Bhuvan Banerjee, a chemical scientist, who has disappeared without a trace two months ago.  A case that seems so simple to Byomkesh that he says in the very first instance that Ajit’s father is dead, his body hidden somewhere! What he doesn’t know that he is going to get embroiled in a mystery so warped, it will be tough to get out alive.

But seek the truth he must, so he finds lodging in a Men’s Only guest house , run by Dr. Anukul Guha, who treats patients for free.  From here the search begins, that leads him through twists and turns, to mysterious yet alluring creatures like the Mata Hariesque Anguri Devi, the strong willed Satyawati and Deputy Commissioner Wilkie, committed to busting the drug scene in Calcutta.

As my current favourite police Detective on TV Blackstrom would say, I am Dibakar, I want to make a larger than life film on the favourite literary detective, what would I do to make it big, make it different, make it real, yet do it in my own unique style, give it the noir hues, create a world that is real in detailing yet magnificently cinematic at the same time.

Well, he manages to do all that and more.  From the first adrenaline pumped scene to the last frame, each scene has been treated like a stand-alone tableau.  The Calcutta that has been painstakingly re-created seems so real that you feel you could step inside and board the tram to Bada Bazaar.  The camerawork is one of the main strengths of the film, by Nikos Andritsakis, who has teamed with Dibakar in LSD and Shanghai.  His camerawork makes simple movements like a pan deliver sheer beauty. He captures perfect frames, at times slow and languorous, at times manic.  Always giving something striking.  As a motif, shadows play a large role in crucial sequences.

The case itself is the first case in the published series,  titled “Satyanweshi”. This was the birth of the detective. But the character of Dibakar’s Bakshy is different from the Bomkesh we all knew in the past. He is young, impulsive, edgy. His razor sharp brain doesn’t miss much, and he while finding the truth also finds time to plant a long kiss on the femme fatale’s scarlet lips.

Now to come to the casting. It was unique and risky to say the least. Will Sushant Singh Rajput even come close to the genius and gravitas of Rajit Kapur was my question. But he doesn’t have to. Dibakar has created Byomkesh which lets Sushant breath in his own skin. The first thing to go was the requirement of a Bengali accent. Dibakar clearly knew it was a risk worth taking.  Sushant has largely succeeded in his effort to play the legendary detective.  Neeraj kabi, again a brilliant actor plays the deceptive  Dr. Anukul with great relish, but in the last few sequences, he ends up messing up… larger than life villain yes, but the hamming came as a shock.  Swastika Mukherjee as Anguri Devi  for me didn’t work initially, but yes.. she grew on me… smoky eyes and pouty lips.  Satyawati played by Divya Menon was believable, fit in perfectly.  Anand Tiwari is brilliant as Ajit Banerjee. Really nuanced performance. Meiyang Chang plays  Kanai  well.

The music of the film is grungy new-age rock. It is used well in most places, and is another spin which propels the director’s vision of the film further.

Dibakar is one of the most gifted directors of our times. He has evolved and broadened his vision, challenged his own limits with every film… DBB is a labour of love and the man knows what he is doing. As he had said in many pre-release interviews,  his Byomkesh will be hated by Puritans, but I do hope they would be able to see beyond the obvious and enjoy the emergence of DBB as possibly a film franchise! 

The  film is not without its flaws. The simple original story has been changed and tweaked, obviously for  the requirement of a full length feature, but it gets laden with just way too many plots and red herrings. The Chinese gang, the Japanese Army, the attack on Calcutta… it becomes a bit of a mish mash at some point.  And then the climax sees a long sequence of  Byomkesh explaining each and everything. The film doesn’t end there… though visually brilliant the last few minutes of the film look like a part of some other movie,  they are so over the top. But as a pay-off it does leave with the promise of a sequel.

But the film has so much going for it, it takes you through such brilliant moments, the detailing that is god level, you let go of the minor flaws and applaud.

My Verdict  3/5

Girl Gun Goons My Review NH10

Director Navdeep Singh

Starring  Anushka Sharma, Neil Bhoopalam, Ravi Jhankal, Deepti Naval, Darshan Kumar

Quite early on in the film you see Meera (Anushka) rubbing off the word "Randi" from the door of a toilet in a highway dhaba. This is one of the gentler words women find written inside loos, and not just the ones on hinterland highways.

Directed by Navdeep Singh, whose last film Manorama Six Feet Under is a favorite of mine, NH10 promised a gritty, bloody and hard hitting drive through the gut of Haryana. The land of honour killings and khap panchayats.

Arjun and Meera are a young, rich, urban couple, staying in Gurgaon, a city which boasts of gargantuan Malls and elite housing. It also falls in Haryana, the Jaat land. And even today, a drive alone can be a horror for a woman, which is established as the film opens.

From a happy weekend get-away, the lives of Arjun and Meera turn to hell as they witness a brutal honor killing of a young couple, trying to run away from the blood thirsty relatives. They are now the targets of the men who will not leave anything or anyone coming in their paths alive, whole.

As the film turns into a shocking, brutal thriller, you see Meera do unexpected things, for her and her husband's survival, alone in a nightmarish world which she never knew existed.

Purely as a thriller, the film keeps you engaged in most parts, a woman pitted against a band of killers.

But the film pitched itself as a social statement, with the villains not just merciless killers and psychos, these men kill for their version of honor, they treat women worse than a rabid dog, they find the thought of a boy from another Gotra marrying their sister/daughter so revolting, they will violently snuff life out of them.

So when you put the heroine in this world, does it just remain a story of Her revenge, Her journey, Her Victory over these bad men? Yes it is thrilling to see a woman turn into a killing machine, but was it the only purpose of the film, to give the audience an adrenaline rush?  Then why use a grave issue without making a decisive statement about it? I would have been as entertained if Meera was left in jungle with lions, alone at night.

The pitching of Urban vs Rural is almost childish in its projection, it made me cringe. "Ye gaaon wale hain" as Arjun (Neil Bhoopalam)  says, bunching all of them together as imbeciles, you almost say aloud, no but... all of them are not like that.

I, as an Urban female viewer, fighting for gender equality and fiercely guarding my independence, should have broken into applause as the film ends, but didn't, because somewhere, Meera did not totally convince me, neither did the script.

The film does have its moments, the husband who smarts from the insult of being slapped in front of his wife, trying to be a man, deciding to show his wife he is not a mouse. The easy banter of the couple in love in the beginning of the film, the little village boy coveting Meera's designer watch...

Anushka shows her acting chops and does a good job of holding it all together. Bhoopalam looks dishy but is weak. Darshan Kumar (of Mary Kom fame) gives a patchy performance. Deepti Naval tries hard, but looks out of place. Ravi Jhankal is a solid performer and leaves an impact as a matter of fact, often chillingly funny killer. The Haryanvi spoken in the film is inconsistent and sounds fake in most places

A film which could have been much more... at least I went in expecting it to be.

My Verdict  2.5/5

Sau Sunar kee Ek Lohar kee! My Review PK

Director
Rajkumar Hirani

Starring
Aamir Khan, Anushka Sharma, Boman Irani, Saurabh Shukla, Sanjay Dutt, Sushant Singh Rajput, Parikshet Sahni, Ram Sethi

Why do film-makers make films? Each film and its maker will give you a different answer. The underlying commonality would be to tell something they feel needs to be told. A story, yes? Now how they choose to tell their story is  completely up to them.

Hirani chooses to tell stories which are at the core relate-able, and in his own way exposing the lacunae in our beliefs, morality, outlook. His films to me are about simplification, like Aesop's fables, with a moral underlined firmly.

Earlier this year Ankhon Dekhi had a protagonist who is very close to my heart, Bau Ji, who decided to question everything that he himself hasn't seen, experienced. Hirani has chosen PK (Aamir Khan in the title role) to ask questions, questions which are timely, considering the murders being committed in the name of God and Religion. Not a first, but definitely an important film.

The route he takes is extremely smart, using an Alien's perspective, which works because somewhere like Hirani, I believe we humans have lost ours. PK comes from a world where one is naked and equal, no difference created by the way you dress up. No religion, clear communication without saying a word, He sees our world, swathed in layers of all kinds, starting with the Gods we follow, the diktats that come with religion, the differences which exist in our minds, as to his eyes, the humans do not have any "Thappa" (stamp) of whether they are Hindus, Muslim, Sikhs, Christians.

To me it is the boldest subject Hirani has dealt with so far. Imagine questioning the combined religious beliefs, centuries old, of a nation of 1.21 billion people as per the 2011 census. To question our way of life, more often than not guided by which religion we belong to. It is not about the big things, it is about the smallest of things we do, which are ingrained in us from the day we are born, praying to road side idols, giving money at the temple as if god needs it!!

Mind you, Hirani does not say there is no GOD, but he definitely says to question anyone and everyone who says "This is how GOD should be, This is how you will find him and This is how he will hear you better".

PK is fun yet poignant, happy yet melancholy, entertaining yet requires you to come to the theater with your brains.

PK (Aamir) is an alien from one of the planets that inhibit the vast galaxy, who lands on earth to study life here, but as soon as he meets the first human, he is robbed of his "remote" that is his only connect to his space-craft, his only way back home. Will he find his remote, what will be life for him on Earth... and what will be his "Alien" point of view... that is the story of PK.

In his journey to find his remote, he meets Jaggu (Anushka) who is a television reporter and starts helping him in his search.  From an Indo-Pak love story to a powerful Godman (Saurabh Shukla in fabulous form), Hirani uses lot of done before tracks, but then how he makes them his own as he spins a very involving yarn, is the uniqueness of PK and the director.

This film may not please the hardliners, to them this is a sacrilege, I mean questioning Religion, Oh My GOD! but anyone with an open mind will see the absolute urgency of having more such films. Films that question.

Aamir Khan owns PK. He is totally uninhibited, believable and adorable. It will be one of his most memorable characters to date after Bhuvan in Lagaan.  Anushka is effervescent as Jaggu, their screen chemistry works. Pixie like and stubborn, she is convincing in her portrayal of the character.

Everyone in the supporting cast does justice, Boman, Sushant Singh Rajput, Parikshet Sahni... Oh and what an absolute pleasure to see Ram Sethi in a lovable cameo.  A doff to his and Amitabh Bachchan's films, you will know when you see PK.

An effort five years in the making, PK doesn't disappoint. There are many memorable sequences in the film, my favorites being where PK says "Ye Bhagwan chalna band ho gaya hai" and the scene where he explains the problems with our language by using "Achaa" as an example. Another one is with Shiv jee (Wont't give details) is absolutely brilliant.

Merrily stealing money from the Daan petis, and clothes from "dancing cars", whether PK finds his way to his planet or not, he definitely will find his way to your hearts.

PK is not without flaws, but it is one of the most important films to come out this year.

GO WATCH!!!

My Verdict : 3.5/5

Of Raging Battles, Inside & Out | My Review Haider

Director  Vishal Bhardwaj

Starring    Shahid Kapoor, Tabu, Shraddha Kapoor, Irrfan Khan, KayKay Menon

Hamlet is one of the most melancholic and variously interpreted of Shakespeare's plays. The tragic prince, his pain, his confusion, his heartbreak and the deceits that fraught his life... it became even more wrenching as it all came from his own. The wounds on his soul were not carved by the enemy, but ones he loved. And that is the biggest tragedy of life, all of our lives when betrayed by those we trust.

This is the third of Vishal Bhardwaj's adaptation of the Bard's works. Starting with Maqbool (Macbeth) and Omkara (Othello). Betrayal, passion and forbidden love run through these as a theme, and the same continues in Haider (Hamlet).

Considering it is a tough play to adapt and mould while adding your own interpretations and twists, Vishal Bhardwaj had taken up a mammoth challenge. To make a dark, tragic tale into something even more relevant in today's time, he picked up yet another challenge, to set the film in the Kashmir of 1995, the militancy at its peak, the Army waging an intense war against terrorism, the common man, torn by both sides, coming in the crosshairs willingly or unwillingly.

Coming to the film, it has been shot mostly on locations in Kashmir. Visually it is stunning, revealing a side of Kashmir hitherto unseen. It is not the mughal gardens, the dal lake and the skiing spots. It is the everyday Kashmir, which also bore the brunt of the unrest and violence. If it is quiet and full of pathos, it is because it has been witness to tragedy. People walking without a spring in their step, pained faces and shoulders limp. VB has captured the broken spirit of the people masterfully.

The film is two parallel worlds intertwined. The journey of Haider (Shahid) and the journey of Kashmir and Kashmiris. VB excels in telling the story of Haider.

Shahid Kapoor, who despite being panned by many, I have always liked, his potential wasted in frivolous films in the past, but shining in films like JWM, Kaminey and now Haider, his best performance to date. He owns the character from the beginning, the emptiness in his eyes as he returns to Srinagar from Aligarh, after hearing about his father's disappearance. The quiet storm raging inside him as he watches his mother flirt with his uncle, the mad glint in his eyes as his whole world falls apart.  He has proven that in the hands of a fine director, he will shine. 

Kay Kay as Khurram, the conniving uncle, is back in form. He enjoys every scene, relishing each line, staying just a little longer in places, but he plays Claudius well. Shraddha Kapoor as Arshiya (Ophelia) brings in warmth and light to the dark tale, the girl has still a long way to go as a performer, but in Haider, her charm works, her wide mouthed laughter is a great foil to Haider's brooding looks. It is good to see Lalit Parimoo on the big screen, as the gray shaded father of Arshiya, who is against their love, he is adept. 

What delighted me was a cameo by Kulbhushan Kharbanda, whose track was opened and then forgotten all in a hurry. Another gem of a cameo is that of Irrfan Khan, he plays the "Ghost" inspired Roohdar, enjoying himself in this short but powerful part. The other supporting actors are extremely well cast too. Sumit Kaul and Rajat Bhagat as the Salmans are delightful, the grave-diggers are ominous yet playful, Narendra Jha as Haider's father (King Hamlet) does a decent job, though I found his presence not so powerful.

And now coming to the scene-stealer, Tabu. Her Gazala (Gertrude), Haider's mother, is breathtaking. Those eyes! they speak, smile, cry, bemoan, quiver, shine, scold, beg, love.... We have seen Tabu in Maqbool as Nimmi (Lady Macbeth)  which was her finest performance, Haider's Gazala gives it a tough competition. Her character of a woman who loves her son, to death... a wife who has not been a perfect partner, divided between multiple shades... She owns the film.  Shahid's fire to excel and Tabu's honing of her own craft, crackle the screen when they are together.

The story of a son's mission to find his missing father and dealing with life's tragic twists, Haider will move you to a realm that is dark and depressing, yet satisfying. The end is Vishal's own, which works. The co-writer on the film is the renowned Kashmiri Journalist Basharat Peer, whose real life experiences have helped create the world of Haider and the Kashmir we see in the film. The dialogues by Vishal Bhardwaj are memorable, sharp, witty and soulful, a rarity these days.

Coming to the Kashmir VB has created. The life without cheer, every day spent in fear, curfews and bullets, the paradise lost. I liked the gloom and the injustice of the situation, the futility of hatred, the sad phenomenon of "Half Widows", wives of the thousands who have disappeared... never to be found... But yes, I found the representation of "Kashmiris" almost myopic. The portrayal has conveniently forgotten the large chunk of Kashmiris  who are the Pandits, displaced from their land, their homes, their livelihood lost. A passing reference cannot be enough when you are talking of 1995, when chaos reigned supreme in every single Kashmiris life. The beauty of Kashmir also stemmed from the love and harmony of its people, which was the first casualty of terrorism. The take on Terror itself is unclear. 

So about the Kashmir of the film I have questions, which were not answered . Yes it is a fictional recreation and liberties can be taken, but then why even put a slate in the end applauding the efforts of the Army in the recent flood rescue and rehabilitation? When in the film the Army is actually shown in less than  complimentary light.

Having said that, Haider is an important film, on many levels. The unflinching storytelling, raising the difficult questions our cinema today shies away from, bringing Kashmir to the forefront and above all, giving us a film that stays with you long after you have watched it, in the times of popcorn cinema, which leaves you empty, just like the popcorn tub after you are done.

The subtle exploring of the Oedipus complex, with Tabu just killing it with her trembling hands and brimming eyes... aah, that itself was worth my ticket price.  

The music by Bhardwaj and poetry by Gulzar adds a lilting layer. I do wish the length had been a bit less, but well, that indulgence I shall allow. The production design of the film is another trump card, from the shawls, namdas, pottery to the locations, it is perfect. 

Kudos to Vishal Bhardwaj and his entire team. 

Go watch.

My Verdict  3.5/5 (An extra .5 for the Cinematography by Pankaj Kumar)