Let’s be honest here, as a desi audience that’s grown up on Bollywood Masala, we are definitely no strangers to the musical. But in Jagga Jasoos, director Anurag Basu tries to push the envelope by presenting most of the movie in tune and verse, an attempt to bring Broadway to Bollywood, something we probably last saw in Shirish Kunder’s equally befuddling debut effort, Jaan-E-Mann. But with an experienced hand such as Basu at the realm, some stunning cinematography by Ravi Varman, as promised in the promos, a promising soundtrack by Pritam, and an extremely good-looking starcast, does this audacious experiment work?Continue reading “Jagga Jasoos Movie Review: Arrested Development”
Tag Archives: UTV Motion Pictures
Revisiting Khosla Ka Ghosla: 10 years of Uncleji and Chiraunji
On 22nd September, 2006, a small Delhi-based production house and a team of fresh cast & crew members gave us a movie that was to open new gates in Hindi Cinema – the concept of multiplex movie, foray of UTV Motion Pictures into backing many such movies, frequent usage of Delhi as a character and a director called Dibakar Bannerjee
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Mohenjo Daro Movie Review: AG goes from Oscar to ‘Ab Bas Kar’
Every Independence Day we like to remember Indian History to be proud of it. This I- Day is different. People who forget history (Khelen Hum Jee Jaan se, Whats your Rashee, Everest etc.) are condemned to repeat it. Ashutosh Gowariker seems to have lost his itch, though his last good movie (Jodha Akbar) was 8 years ago.
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Fitoor Movie Review: No Love Here, Just Impossible Inanity
Ask me no questions and you will be told no lies. If you still want to know how this adaptation of Dickens’ Great Expectations is, well, you asked for it.
Fitoor spares nothing, and no one, as it annihilates anything and everything that was beautiful and sacred in the source novel and the milieu this adaptation is set in. For the most part, this massacre is orchestrated by a disastrously miscast Katrina Kaif while some part of the blame should deservedly reach the doors of Aditya Roy Kapoor and Tabu (yes, the lady can misfire too).Continue reading “Fitoor Movie Review: No Love Here, Just Impossible Inanity”
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Irudhi Suttru Tamil Movie Review: No Knock Out This
“Do not meddle with the way I coach”, says Prabhu (R Madhavan) to the assistant coach. “If I had listened to you, she would be cleaning toilets like you do”, he says pointing out to the aspiring woman boxer Madhi (Ritika Singh). “I may be the one cleaning toilets, Sir” replies the assistant coach, played by the excellent Nasser. “But you are the one who stinks”, he retorts with arguably the best line written for Tamil cinema this year. (And the year has just begun!). It is, therefore, so very disappointing that Sudha Kongara(Story/Screenplay/Direction) and Arun Matheshwaran (dialogues) choose to punch below their weight and could get this brilliance only occasionally transmitted on the screen. (But Sudha delivers as a filmmaker – more about that later).Continue reading “Irudhi Suttru Tamil Movie Review: No Knock Out This”
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Tamasha (2015) Movie Review: The Art of Bad Storytelling
Imtiaz Ali’s film Tamasha is, at best, an attempt at a grand spectacle, and at worst, an eloquent exploration of the title’s other meaning, that is, commotion.The movie starts with the back story of a child fascinated with storytelling, beautifully shot by the talented Ravi Verman of Barfi fame, and coherently strung together by editor Aarti Bajaj. The movie is narrated not so subtly, by a theatre show of a futuristic robot and a joker.In a desperately clichéd attempt to portray the story as contrary to reality, young Ved is seen escaping his cruel father, collecting stolen pennies in a secret box, and using them to pay to listen to an old man’s (Piyush Mishra) fantastical tales. The old man keeps reiterating that all stories are essentially the same with characters that keep changing. The child, much like the protagonist in Pan’sLabyrinth, finds stories in unlikely places, and imagines characters materializing from the dark corners of his house. Unable to discern reality from fantasy, his young mind is enraptured by the possibilities of a fictional world, which contrast starkly to his life under his father watchful eye.Up until this point, Tamasha has merit enough to be a very good children’s film.Continue reading “Tamasha (2015) Movie Review: The Art of Bad Storytelling”
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Tamasha Movie Review: Performance of Life
Jab We Met, Break Ke Baad, Ek Main Aur Ek Tu and Tamasha – what do these have in common? They have a stuck-up, somewhat depressed beta-male who is liberated from the monotony of life by a freewheeling sorted-in-life chic. They unlock the guy’s true potential. Out of these movies, 2 have Kareena Kapoor, 2 have Deepika Padukone and 2 are made by the same guy, Imtiaz Ali. It says a lot about all of them. Kareena and Deepika are the true female superstars of the multiplex era. Just like Madhuri and Sridevi (Beta, Chalbaaz) from the 90’s, they fulfill the male writer-director’s fantasy of women with reins (“If I’m going to submit myself to someone, it has to be one of these”). Imtiaz Ali’s lead male characters are highly conflicted (nothing profound, just confused) and eventually turn to the women for life-affirming comforts. With Tamasha, he continues with his adolescent pre-occupations of finding the one-true-special-one, but this time he exhibits a very strong narrative control for almost three quarters of the movie, where he shifts through places, timelines and perspectives much more organically than his other more ambitious films like Love Aaj Kal and Rockstar.Continue reading “Tamasha Movie Review: Performance of Life”
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Tamasha Movie Review: Imtiaz Ali’s Mera Naam Joker Moment
If you flip through filmography of accomplished directors, you will find at least one film that goes on to become a symbol of their pedigree. ‘That one film’ may not necessarily be the directors’ most accomplished work or a roaring commercial success, yet it beams with the faith, idea and conviction of its creator.Continue reading “Tamasha Movie Review: Imtiaz Ali’s Mera Naam Joker Moment”
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Tamasha Movie Review: A Mainstream Commercial Film with a Lot of Heart and Mind
There comes a time in life when you introspect, reflect about what you have been doing all these years. Is it the real you? Being enslaved in mundane stuff for eons, can a spark bring back that true self in a quest to recognize your identity. Significantly, have you even identified that deep within, you are not living a life that you once aspired for. Sometimes an incident, a moment or maybe even a failure can shake your core self; leading to a descent, only to realize your own self-worth. A worth which is required to accentuate your importance in your own eyes.Continue reading “Tamasha Movie Review: A Mainstream Commercial Film with a Lot of Heart and Mind”
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