Tag Archives: movies

MANIKARNIKA Review: where Kangana saves the Queen!

From all those history lessons back from school, there was one powerful imagery that stuck in most of our heads – that is of a woman warrior fighting an uphill battle against the British empire with a child strapped to her back. You may know or not bother to remember anything or everything around the event, but that imagery had always been powerful. Thus in these times of biopics and real-life events making it to the big screen, it was a no-brainer to get a movie based on India’s real life ‘wonder woman’ the Jhansi Ki Rani, Laxmibai out there. The journey wasn’t easy but certainly it had been headline making. Post all the controversies and plot-twists, the producers have finally managed to release their ambitious biopic MANIKARNIKA: THE QUEEN OF JHANSI.

In terms of casting, there isn’t a better candidate for the role of the brave, fierce queen in the Bollywood industry than Kangana Ranaut herself. Not because the other big names don’t fit the bill, but Kangana has been preparing for this role for some time offscreen. She has stood out as this lone fighter against the Bollywood bigwigs with her outspoken and candid persona, thereby making her fit the role like a glove. So, when she is out there playing a woman defying stereotypes and taking on social norms and traditions single handedly, we ask no further questions. She instantly sells the character of Manikarnika aka Queen Laxmibai.

manikarnika03

The movie starts off with the oh-so-familiar Bachchan Saab’s booming voice talking about how the evil East India company has been taking control of the Princely states. At this point, you are thinking two things – are you headed for an epic like Lagaan or a dud like the Thugs of Hindostan?

Soon we are introduced the girl child who is predicted for ‘greatness’. And on the Manikarnika Ghats, she is named ….no prizes for guessing.

Cut to a grown-up young woman who, in the initial few reels itself is established to be a skilled archer, expert at sword combat, an animal lover, educated and a voracious reader. Impressed by her skills and bravery, an alliance is sought from the Jhansi kingdom and Manikarnika agrees. That is after we are also established another important aspect- she is a desh bhakt.  A patriotic song is sung to her lest she forget.

Now Jhansi is facing a serious threat from the British Company who is out to annex the kingdom under the ‘Doctrine of Lapse’ policy and therefore it is essential to avert it by having an heir to the throne. The kingdom is hoping they have found the right bride in Manikarnika (who is now rechristened Queen Lakshm) for their king (played by Jisshu Sengupta).  However, Manikarnika turns out to be a little too ‘wild’ for the throne. When the Queen mother is hoping her to take to the domestic ways of the palace, Queen Laxmi is keener on taming wild horses and the Brits.

Though history shows that the Queen had been on friendly terms with the British for most of her reign, what is the point of a Bollywood production if there is no ‘masala’ added?  So we make way for some seeti-maar scene that pits Queen Laxmibai with the British.  For starters, the Queen is in no mood to bow down to anyone. This gets the English officers furious.

Then she becomes the protector of cattle, by gatecrashing the Brits party and ensuring they get to enjoy no steak. The English officers are livid.

And then she ends up making the officers to turn up to work on a Sunday. By now the English officers are enraged.  At this point, them baying for her blood is understandable.

In between all this getting on every one’s nerves, the free spirited queen also finds time to bear a child to the throne. However, tragedy strikes, and now the Queen is forced to step up and protect the throne and keep the enemies at bay.

What follows is in lines with the historical events, so not sure whether revealing more about the plot would essentially be considered a ‘spoiler’. The 1857 mutiny strikes and the rest of the second half has the Queen taking the fight to the colonizers.

It eventually closes up with the words of Officer Huge Rose that remarked Queen Laxmibai as a ‘a man among mutineers; the dangerous of all rebel leaders’

manikarnika02

 

I am not sure if it due to the change in the director’s seat or if it was originally scripted in this way, but one cannot deny the confused bi-polar nature of the screenplay.

On one hand, it tries to become this voice for ‘woman empowerment’. Only to have it ruined with a facepalm moment later when the King reveals the reason why he wears bangles in his hand.  In one of the big moments mentioned above, the Queen boldly makes her stand clear that she will not bow down to anyone. Fine, but then why follow it with a hullabaloo when another character is thrown out of the kingdom for refusing to bow down to the Queen?

The one that takes the cake, though, is much later during the battle where the English positions their cannons behind a temple. Now for a movie that has been blatantly going on and on about love for motherland before everything else, it suddenly has the characters deciding that the protection of the temple is primary. So, they work around a way to carry on the attack without causing any damage to the temple, even putting their own lives at stake!

After a point, it turns out to be all trumpets of jingoism and ‘naari-power’ with no real substance.  In fact, it works as a “beginners’ guide to the Jhansi Rani with the depth of an Amar Chitra Katha.

What though makes the movie work, to a decent extent is the powerhouse efforts of Kangana. She gives it all to the titular role of the fierce and brave legend. It is a performance that rises above the script and screenplay to carry the movie home. In an industry dominated by the Khans and Kapoors, she is once again out there proving that she can run the show on her own. In fact she even puts in a line about ‘speaking English’ as if to throw in a fitting reply to all her trolls.

However, her attempt to do ‘everything’ on her own is also the movie’s biggest folly. Firstly, her additional responsibility of being the stand-in director has affected her onscreen performance. At times in the second half, you witness her going overboard as the intensity picks up. And for all other tricky scenes, you see her getting out of situations with ‘eyeball-popping’ ease.

Everything is written around the central character without leaving any scope for the other characters. As a result, you see despite a support cast that comprises names like Atul Kulkarni, Suresh Oberoi and Danny Denzongpa, it seems much of their work has been left back at the editing room. You experience scenes awkwardly jump from one to another in the first half, and characters popping in and out with not exactly a flow. Even Zeeshan Ayub, who is relatively a reliable showstealer ends up making no impact. One must remember that the role was originally shot with Sonu Sood and once he walked out, Kangana ended up reshooting all the scenes with Ayub. As a result, Ayub’s scenes are all shot with a handful of British actors and never really interacts with any of the key characters except for one key moment, when the heir to the throne is announced.

The less said about the English/Western actors the better. They still end up playing caricatures and still end up mouthing hindi lines even when they communicate with each other.

manikarnika01

Production wise there is much to be admired here. Despite not having the budget of a Baahubali or the opulence of a Bhansali production, it still boasts of commendable efforts in the set designs and costumes. The fight and battle sequences were also adequately mounted but lacks the creative flourish to make it stand out from the rest of the Indian movies of similar genre.

Music from Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy is functional. Prasoon Joshi’s dialogues seem uncharacteristically overzealous, dripping in national fervor. I am not sure of how much of Vijayendra Prasad’s original screenplay has made it to the screen.  But the final product constantly oscillates between a factual historical drama to a crowd-pleasing fantasy epic, eventually becoming neither.

Whatever the shortcomings, Manikarnika thankfully does not turn into a snooze fest or a silly comedy. The director in Kangana has managed to ensure that the movie avoids being any of that. The fact is in an attempt to make it all about her, she has definitely kept the movie from soaring to any further heights. For now, we get an average movie with a superlative one-woman show. But unlike the imagery in our heads from the history books, this one is not going to remain etched that deep.

 

Cast: Kangana Ranaut, Jisshu Sengupta, Atul Kulkari, Danny Denzongpa, Ankita Lokhande, Richard Keep, Taher Shabbir, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayub, Kulbushan Kharbanda

Directed by Kangana Ranaut  and Radha Krishna Jagarlamudi (Krish)

Rating  2.5

Kayamkulam Kochunni Movie Review: Prince of Thieves!

In the simplest of terms, one can label the legendary figure of Kerala folklore, Kayamkulam Kochunni as a local Robin hood of sorts. However, given the context of social structure of that times, he is much more than that. Here is a young Muslim man who is considered a deity in one of the Hindu temple in Kerala to this day. A Muslim who learned the martial art form of Kalari at a time when it was not exactly thought to ‘outsiders’. And a man who from whatever we know of him, stood for the lower caste and oppressed while taking on the rich and the upper strata of the society. A man who was eventually betrayed by his own men for a few pieces of gold. In short, a man who has a story that has all the makings of an epic.

And yet, direct Rosshan Andrews attempt at giving this legendary figure a fitting movie adaptation proves to an underwhelming one.

kk01

Kayamkulam Kochunni narrates the tale of Kochunni (Nivin Pauly), a young chap with a heart of gold and a do-gooder. He flees from home when his father is caught for stealing and seeks to live an honest life. He takes up the job with a Tamil Brahmin as a storekeeper for his livelihood.

There is also the whole episode of him wanting to learn the art form of  Kalari which makes him seek out a local teacher Thangal (Babu Anthony) who initially refuses to teach him.  However, the determined man ends up learning the art by hiding on a treetop and watching the classes closely after dusk. When he is eventually sniffed out, the master is impressed at the man and his skills he has picked up.

The turn of events comes in when Kochunni stumbles upon some treasure which he duly informs the high priests of the village. However instead of being rewarded, they frame him once they get their hand on the loot and brands Kochunni as a thief and leave him out to die.

And he would have died, had it not been for the timely entry of a famed thief by the name of Ithikkara Pakki (the hyped cameo from Mohanlal). He comes in to save the central character and the film just in time. Pakki inspires a crushed Kochunni to stand again on his feet and fight back at the privileged few who cheated and framed him a criminal.

Thus, Kochunni becomes gradually Kayamkulam Kochunni, the feared thief whose name is enough to send shudders down the spine of the elite, while ensuring he does his bit for the oppressed and downtrodden.

kk02

Sure, all of it needs to be taken with a pinch of salt as much of the screenplay is about creative cinematic liberties. Kochunni has already made it to the big screens once in the sixties, with Sathyan playing the role of the infamous thief. And even in recent past, the stories made its way into our living rooms in the form of a televised series.  And now with a budget of supposedly 45 crore, director Rosshan Andrews takes a shot at it.

Bobby-Sanjay, the writing duo, who has been the backbone of some of Andrews’ finest works fails to really bring out the distinctive epic materials that the script required. Instead taking inspiration from a basic Amar Chitra version of the character, the screenplay also goes about ticking off some basic events of Kochunni’s life without really bothering with the whys and hows. We never really get into the emotional psyche of the man, and as a result, we are not really engaged with the central character. The screenplay basically misses all the emotional beats making us disconnected with Kochunni’s victories or setbacks.

This is only made worse with the portrayal of the character by lead man Nivin Pauly. For starters, his approach to what could have been the role of a lifetime is extremely disappointing. He never looks comfortable in the part and does not really come off well in the transformation from the boy next door to the much-dreaded thief in town. His failure to become the character, mentally or physically turns to be the biggest bane of the project.

In fact, Mohanlal, even in his fifteen minutes, puts in much more effort with mannerisms and body language to give his character of Ithikkara Pakki, the much-needed distinction. So much for a tale of a thief, when the veteran in his 20 minute appearance ends up stealing the thunder. Yes, Pakki does look like a character from belonged in another film, with the costume and the western BGM. But no one would complain about authenticity there, because his scenes were the better portions of the movie. Wish Andrews and Nivin put in as much effort to the titular character.

kk03

Priya Anand also turns out to be another case of wrong casting. She does not look the part and is seen struggling with her lines. Of the supporting cast, the ones that does shine are Sunny Wayne and Babu Anthony. Director Jude Anthony also do well in a brief sequence. The rest of the lot, including the extras and the foreign actors, all seem over the top and appear too amateurish. It has always been a recurring problem in the historical / period dramas and the same issues continue here too. There is that sense of artificialness that makes you detached from the period setting and giving you the feeling that instead you are witnessing a school play.

The movie makes room every now and then to voice the social issues of the times with a commentary on the prevalent caste structure of the times. Add to that the presence of the British. However the dialogues are poor, including one hilarious line mouthed by one of the English characters who goes “ He is your race, he is your case!” .  In fact, the whole British portions have no impact on the proceedings and seem just fillers with no real implications. The item number from Nora Fatehi also comes across as an unnecessary addition.

On the positive side, one needs to applaud the makers in spending the time and effort in recreating the settings. Sunil Babu’s production design and the cinematography by Binod Pradhan and Nirav Shah are definitely the major plus factors of this expensive venture. Gopi Sundar’s music is decent but it needed more folkish touch. Which is why he ends up creating a better impact with the background score and folk songs towards the end.

All in all, the movie is an amalgamation of several wrong choices that takes away the authenticity and works against the mood and feel of the movie. Something that no technical prowess is going to change or conceal. In its safe commercial avatar, Kayamkulam Kochunni turns out as an average venture that robs the audience from having something memorable or path breaking.

 

Cast : Navin Pauly, Priya Anand, Sunny Wayne, Babu Anthony and Mohanlal

Directed by Rosshan Andrews

Music Gopi Sundar

JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM movie review: Bites the dust!

Cast: Chris Pratt,Bryce Dallas Howard, Rafe Spall, James Cromwell, Toby Jones, Jeff Goldblum, BD Wong and Isabelle Sermon

Directed by J A Bayona

studio  UNIVERSAL

jworld01

 

The park is gone! Now it is time to take your toys and play indoors!

That is exactly what the makers of Jurassic World seems to have done this time around., I kid you not!

With the park long abandoned, the writers have come up with the ridiculous idea to take the mighty prehistoric creatures and put them in a claustrophobic setting of a mansion to generate the thrills. Just an indication of how low the franchise has fallen with the latest installment, JURASSIC WORLD: Fallen Kingdom.

Evidently gone is the magic that one had with the original Jurassic Park movie twenty-five years ago, when Steven Spielberg gave us a big screen experience like no other. But now in this age of visual technology and CGI advancements, watching these beasts is certainly not all that bewildering as it once used to be. And so, the studio has now started treating this more on the lines of a horror series, plugging in the scares while the Universal studios laugh their way to the bank.

Not that it does not work. They successfully employed the trick with the reboot JURASSIC WORLD three years ago by creating a killing machine like the Indominus Rex and letting it loose in the theme park. Eventually the movie did prove everyone wrong and went on to be a massive global success that has now led us to this sequel. But unfortunately, this time the studio seems to have no idea where to take this franchise and instead it pops out a summer event movie that is nothing but a mere money-grab exercise.

Fallen Kingdom is watchable. But what worries is the obvious dearth of anything innovative or fresh. They do hint at a new ‘Planet of the Apes’ like direction right at the end buried under the mumbo-jumbo of the dangers of ‘Playing God’ voiced by good ol’ Jeff Goldblum, but the entire movie preceding is clearly not on the same page.

 jworld02

Movie is set three years after the events of Jurassic World and we find the famed Isla Nublar is facing a serious disaster threat with the active volcano on the island threatening to turn the entire island and its inhabitants to ashes. And outside, the world is debating whether the lab generated dinosaurs deserves to live. Despite the fights and protests of certain groups and activists, the authorities decide not to do anything about it.

At this juncture, former park manager and now dino activist, Claire (Howard) is called in by Benjamin Lockwood to his estate. Lockwood was John Hammond’s ex partner and is now interested in giving these creatures a new home. The operations are headed by Eli Mills who has formed a rescue team of mercenaries to assist Claire to get a select set of these dinosaurs. They are also very particular of getting Blue, the last living Velociraptor and Claire knows that is only possible with the aid of Owen Grady, the Velociraptor researcher who literally raised Blue.

It does not take much to convince Owen and before you know it the team is back on the island, however stupid they idea may seem.

Once on the island, and with Blue tracked down, the tables turn and Claire and Owen realize that it was a trap all along and the team was only capturing these dinosaurs to take it back to the Lockwood estate where Mills have already arranged to sell them at a black market auction.

Claire and Owen somehow do manage to escape from the island before it meets its ultimate doom. But now they must stop Mills from carrying out their plan, especially a new biological creation, the Indo-Raptor, a much more ferocious killing machine designed with the mix of the Velociraptor and the Indominus Rex, with ‘Blue’ being the key to breed a whole new gen of these violent beings.

 jworld03

Much of the first half goes in the silly excuse of getting our lead cast onto the island and then have them escape from it. They must fight through mercenaries, dinosaurs, molten lava and extremely lazy writing to literally stay afloat. Things only kick into gear with the appearance of the new baddie on the block, the IndoRaptor offering some genuine thrills as we watch the imprudent advanced species scamper for cover.

The real tragedy of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is how the CGI creatures have more personality and character than the live ones. The star of the piece is Blue the velociraptor who yet again comes to save the day and the franchise. The T-Rex still makes the obligatory appearance and makes a kill or two while the the highly intelligent IndoRaptor is a serious enough threat. Even the most affecting moment in the film is the long shot featuring a Brachiosaurus that is about to meet its end on the island.

But when it comes to the live actors, there is nothing worth highlighting.  Bryce Howard’s character does get that upgrade from the ‘damsel-in-heels’. But while Bryce have lost the controversial footwear from the earlier one, Pratt too seem to have lost all the charm and goofiness he had last time around. And two movies down, and still we see zero chemistry between the pair. At least nowhere close to what Pratt shares with his velociraptor. The new characters (Daniella Pineda, Justice Smith) also really do not bring anything memorable to the mix.

Director J.A. Bayona draws from his previous works like The Impossible and A Monster Calls. Unfortunately, while the entire first half is preposterously staged, he really comes to his own only in the second half when he gets to display his love for an atmospheric horror flick. However, one wishes the Spanish director brought more of it much earlier to the screenplay.

Visually the beasts have never looked better, but it is the writing or lack of it that is the downer.  There is a need for the franchise to evolve, but that for now is certainly not happening.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom plays out just as one feared. All business and no heart. But it is no rocket science, the franchise will still live on…. irrespective of how lifeless these individual movies may prove to be!

 

The People vs OJ Simpson: A TV Series that Towers Above All

“Pressure! You want to turn up the pressure? The city is about to explode!” Somewhere in between episode 9, Shapiro slams Cochran for aiming to heat up a story already loaded with perception, half-knowledge, and truly critical socio-political scenario. Immediately following this scene, Darden reprimands Clark with shivering rage for including Fuhrman as a witness and getting him to testify. By this time in this exceptional TV series, we are as outraged, exhausted, frustrated, and agitated as the characters in front of you are.Continue reading “The People vs OJ Simpson: A TV Series that Towers Above All”

Patriots Day (2016) Movie Review: Strength in Pain!

PATRIOTS DAY is the third collaboration between director Peter Berg and leading man Mark Wahlberg. And like the previous two movies, LONE SURVIVOR and  DEEPWATER HORIZON, this too is based on a real-life incident. A formula that Berg is perfecting, this time he opts to retell the tragic Boston Marathon bombings of 2013, with a screenplay based on the book, Boston Strong.

Mark Wahlberg plays a fictional character, Tommy Saunders, whom the writers planted in the screenplay as a binding factor, while the narrative span across the events from the day of the tragic Marathon day right until the capture of the actual bombers.Continue reading “Patriots Day (2016) Movie Review: Strength in Pain!”

How can you watch a movie alone?

How can you watch a movie alone?

This is a question which I often encounter, let me tell you that I had been dodging this question when I was a lot younger.

When you are young, your choices are not exactly mainstream, so then you are bound to watch most movies alone. Let me put it mildly, when most kids those days were crooning tujhe dekha to yeh jaana sanam, I was humming the tunes of Mithun Chakraborty songs.

Continue reading “How can you watch a movie alone?”

Main Aur Charles Movie Review: Suave and Stylish, but Where is the Substance?

MAC 1Director Prawaal Raman’s Main Aur Charles is riddled by an inherent dual conflict. As a viewer, if you are familiar with chronicles of the (in)famous ‘bikini killer’ or ‘the serpent’ Charles Shobhraj, you will find Raman’s film to be devoid of sufficient thrill and excitement. On the other hand, if you are ignorant about Charles Shobhraj, you will find Main Aur Charles to be confused, incoherent and incapable of providing any deep insight into the life and times of perhaps one of the most dreaded serial killers in recent times. It is this ambivalent nature of Main Aur Charles that eventually pulls it down, even if it does have its share of merits and a great degree of style and charm.Continue reading “Main Aur Charles Movie Review: Suave and Stylish, but Where is the Substance?”

Is Accessing MAM (Mad About Moviez) Now a Problem?

So in this recent ban on porn sites in India we’ve already been facing a flurry of complaints & protests, mostly to do with freedom of individual privacy and the growing discomfort with the establishment in terms of diktats enforced. To add to it we now have an added problem-certain legitimate websites which have nothing to do with porn have also been allegedly blocked by some ISP’s and/or mobile data services providers.Continue reading “Is Accessing MAM (Mad About Moviez) Now a Problem?”

The Dissolve (2013-2015), The End Of A Cinephile Community

Today, it becomes a week since The Dissolve dissolved. Sorry for the bad pun. I’ve been spending a lot of time reading old articles, focussing especially on the comments section which has at times been as enlightening as the posts and sometimes more. The Dissolve had this rare following of true geeks of cinema who wouldn’t miss a step discussing color, sound, framing, shot selection or anything about cinema under the sky and beyond and whose comments would make a lesser person like myself feel like I was being educated on the finer nuances of the medium I’ve come to love. The fact that the editorial team managed it in less than a 2 year period is extraordinary and in all honesty, I haven’t come across another website so enriching and complete for discussions about film-making.Continue reading “The Dissolve (2013-2015), The End Of A Cinephile Community”