RRR

RRREVIEW: RRR
It has been five yearrrs since the magnum opus BAHUBALI’s sequel hit the big scrrreens. And dirrrectorrr RRRajamouli had set the barrr so high for the fantasy genrrre in Indian movies that no one else had the guts to attempt making a movie on that scale. And so the onus was on the same perrrson to attempt anotherrr fantasy crrreation.
And the idea of RRR was borrrn!
Not surrrprrrising therrreforrre that therrre has been so much of hype in the last few weeks awaiting the rrrelease of RRR on the big scrrreens. Made on a budget of arrround ₹ 400 crrrorrres, the scale of the movie necessitated waiting till the virrrus had rrreceded to the backgrrround forrr it to be brrrought to the big scrrreens. I saw RRR on the big scrrreen at PVR and followed it up with a grrrand lunch at MTR😊!
I have always been verrry imprrressed by the action packed opening scenes of Bond movies beforrre the title of the movie comes up. And in RRR, the action that begins from the firrrst scene strrretches to morrre than half an hourrr beforrre the title shows up!
RRR is a heady amalgam of trrribal prrride, nationalistic feelings, excerpts from mythology and bonding between frrriends imbued with fantasy and verrry liberrral doses of superrrherrro moments ( actually hourrrs!).
BAHUBALI worked because it had a powerrrful storrry, and the rrrich prrroduction supporrrted it ably. RRR has undoubtedly superrrb acting on display by its two lead actorrrs, who also display excellent dancing skills ( if you do not have time to see the full movie, just watch the Naatu Naatu song), overrr-the-top VFX scenes and a pulsating and pounding music scorrre. Bit the storrry line is weak and that cannot get totally compensated by RRRajamouli’s excellent efforrrts. But as a stand alone movie, RRR will no doubt be appealing to larrrge sections of the audience and will keep the cash rrregisterrrs rrringing forrr a long, long time!

RATING: 3.5 out of 5
March 28th 2022

Review: DOWNFALL: THE CASE AGAINST BOEING

REVIEW: DOWNFALL: THE CASE AGAINST BOEING
Very tragically, just as I set out to write a review of the new Netflix documentary “DOWNFALL: THE CASE AGAINST BOEING”, comes the news of the crash of a BOEING aircraft belonging to China Eastern in China.
This 90 minute stark documentary is scathing about the impact of the culture changes in Boeing after the McDonell Douglas merger with BOEING from being a strong safety orientation to a stock market price orientation in its senior management.
For those who don’t have the time to watch this movie, here is a short synopsis.
Following the ascendancy of the Airbus neo 320 aircraft and Boeing’s loss of the 737 marketshare, the engineering team works out a solution to improve the fuel efficiency by fitting heavier engines to offset the impact of which, a system called MCAS is developed. Wonderful, one could say, but the feature which would cause the nose to be directed down ( in case of need) was just based on one sensor’s feedback ( Cost cutting?). And if the sensor mal functioned because of a bird hit or any other reason, the MCAS system would take over and send the plane into a dive. The pilot would have a precise 10 seconds to over ride this command. The management decided that if this new system would be shown to FAA, then it would further delay getting this product to market. And so, Boeing marketed the 737 MAX without any new pilot training!!! The Lion Air and Ethiopian Air crashes of the 737 MAX have now been conclusively proven to be caused by lack of pilot training as to what yo do if the MCAS system acts erroneously.
And it took BOEING a Senate hearing and grilling to make amends.
I hope that I have not made a complicated matter so simple that it defies logic; please see the movie to be aware of the pitfalls of unbridled “stock market” driven rewards on human lives!
Vijay

#anotheraircrash #GreedKills

THE KASHMIR FILES, BADHAAI DO and JALSA

THREE REVIEWS: THE KASHMIR FILES/ BADHAAI DO/ JALSA

After a long, long time, I saw three Hindi movies on three successive days, all of which came up to what I call “Malayalam Standard”. What does “Malayalam Standard” connote? Movie that are fairly devoid of glamour, marked by excellent direction and acting by actors whose “star” value is not in the top rungs, and featuring themes that are wildly and widely different from the run of the mill commercial entertainers. Mind you, I am not against commercial entertainers, but these days, I am loving watching “Malayalam Standard” movies!
THE KASHMIR FILES: ( in theatres)
Much has already been talked about this presentation on the fate of the Kashmiri Pandits in various media; and if you haven’t heard about this whether you are in India or abroad, I would strongly urge you to come out of the closets and lend an ear to a side of the story which hasn’t been given as much prominence as it should have been. True, the Nazi genoicide was on a much bigger scale and Vivek Agnihotri, the director could have presented it with less gore. But you cannot fault the director for so brazenly showing the helplessness of the people in power and efforts to push this carnage which happened in January 1990 in rubble. Yes, there is hyperbole, but can you combat misinformation without some of it at least?

BADHAAI DO ( Netflix)
Lest you get confused with the beautifully done BADHAAI HO of 2018, this is not a sequel. But there are commonalities: both are thoroughly entertaining, the characters are very relatable and the performances of the entire cast is excellent. Also the script writing ensures that no one or two persons hog the majority of the screen time. But BADHAAI DO ( directed by Harshvardhan Kulkarni) is much more than a family entertainer. The way the director and script writer have woven a message about sensitivities of people with same sex orientation without sounding preachy stands out as an excellent example of communication skills. And cloaking such a topic in a light hearted manner will go a long way in changing our attitudes. Not to be missed. You don’t come across such gems often.

JALSA ( Amazon Prime)
Built around a hit and run accident, JALSA ( directed by Suresh Triveni) scores not merely because of the excellent performances of the entire star cast ( which includes Vidya Balan, Shefali Shah and Rohini Hattangady), but because of the portrayal of the conflicts in the human mind. Who or what is right? And although one doesn’t know as to whether it was the writer’s intention or not, the audience sympathy gets drawn to the victim. Does class or social strata decide who is a bigger victim or otherwise? Can acceptance and confession help in alleviating the pain?

RATINGS
THE KASHMIR FILES 4 out of 5
BADHAAI DO 4.5 out of 5
JALSA 3.5 out of 5

March 20th, 2022

REVIEW: THE POWER OF THE DOG

REVIEW: THE POWER OF THE DOG (Netflix)
RATING: 4 out of 5
When a friend recommended to me to watch this new release on Netflix ( this was released worldwide in theatres last month), and said that it was a western, I promptly put this on my “to watch” list.
I had not seen a western for a long time; the excellent actor Benedict Cumberbatch was playing a lead role, and because of the title, I thought that it was about dogs and the role they play in keeping the herd together. Just last year, I had watched a brilliant movie “THE CALL OF THE WILD” starring Harrison Ford, about the tale of a dog and had loved it.
When I started watching THE POWER OF THE DOG, I felt quite bored in the initial twenty minutes or so. The movie was based in Montana in 1925 and added to that there were very few dialogues; even those dialogues were made up of terse sentences with very few words. And to top it all, the movie was moving at a snail’s pace..and there was no sign of the dog! My wife, who was also watching the movie, seemed a little more patient or perhaps was following something which was escaping my attention and therefore we decided to continue to watch.
The rest of the movie progresses just as slowly, and the “dog” is nowhere on the scene! But, it begins to draw you deeper and deeper because of the excellent performances and the director Jane Campion’s craftsmanship to convey every mood, every character’s insides, with a truly minimalistic approach. And one begins to appreciate it just as the unexpected ending happens. While there may be some doubt on whether the actors will walk with the Oscars in February 2022, and whether the movie will lose out on the Best Picture Award, I have little doubt that the female director, Jane Campion will win the Best Director Award. The way she has presented this movie is always by hinting; never by directly saying it. And if you are not attentive enough, you could miss out on these hints.
And this is not a spoiler: “Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog.” is from Psalm 22 in The Bible!
It is not an easy watch, but I found it a fascinating movie. But who or where is the dog? Watch it and you could perhaps find the answer!

December 23rd 2021

REVIEW: The Great Indian Kitchen

REVIEW: THE GREAT INDIAN KITCHEN

This is easily one of the best movies in its genre in at least the last two decades. And that can be seen from the rating that I have given in the end.
Now, what’s the genre which we are talking about?
Nothing can be more misleading than the title of this 2021 Malayalam movie (presently on Amazon Prime) when it comes to describing the genre of this movie. Yes, nearly half of this less than hundred minutes movie, is shot in the kitchen of a typical middle class South Indian home in a semi urban area. There are umpteen close-up shots of the ingredients, the cooking process and the utensils and the equipment and there is far more time devoted to the background sounds than dialogues. And yet, the movie is not about food!
It is, instead, a scathing commentary on the outdated customs and practices that cause the married women folk in such households to be treated, without any compunction whatsoever, as mere instruments to cater to the needs of the men. And strangely, the very women who have been such victims in the past, aid the men in this exercise. Life goes on as usual for everyone else, but for the woman, the kitchen becomes a prison of sorts. If you are a male and have had even a remote and fleeting exposure to such scenarios, however long back it might have been, I will challenge you that you will squirm uncomfortably in your seat a number of times while watching this.
While the movie shows that one could think that he or she is a deeply religious person and devoted to “tradition and customs(?)” and simultaneously subject the women to such hideous treatment, it would be unfair to accuse the director of trying to foment rebellion against deemed holy institutions soaked in sanctity.
The ending is on the lines of what Om Puri feels in the classic ARDHASATYA, but that’s the reason, why I have not given it a full 5 on 5 rating. As movie makers, there is a responsibility to show there is a shimmer of hope in the end, but Jeo Baby, the writer and director, has concluded it in a manner, which doesn’t indicate that.
But that doesn’t prevent the movie ( excellent acting by the three lead players) from making a powerful statement!

RATING: 4.5 out of 5
April 7th, 2021

And if after watching this, you require to watch a feel-good, light rom com, see the same director’s KILOMETRES AND KILOMETRES ( on Netflix). Even if you don’t get very entertained by this, you will at least get to know more about the famous Bullet Baba temple ( 40 kilometres from Jodhpur), where devotees worship, an Enfield Bullet motorcycle!

RATING: 3 out of 5

THE MUSIC OF 99 SONGS : A R RAHMAN

THE MUSIC (or should I say MAGIC) OF 99 SONGS : A R RAHMAN
About four weeks back, when I first listened to fourteen songs from 99 songs, the first thing which I decided was that I would listen to these over and over again. And I have listened to these numbers at least a dozen times in the last four weeks! And this is the second time that I have heard new songs at such a frequency in 2020, the first time being in January, when the Telugu album ALA VAIKUNTHAPURAMULO was released. For those of you who do not know, the music of this Telugu film has been the first album in India to exceed one Billion music streams on YouTube India! But this post is about 99 songs and not ALA VAIKUNTHAPURAMULO!
I queried with at least twenty of my musically inclined friends about whether they had heard of 99 songs, and not one seemed to have heard about this! And that was about the time when AR Rahman in a rare exchange of views with media had talked about his not getting enough opportunities to score music for Bollywood. It was then that I put two and two together, and understood as to why the best music album in Bollywood in 2020 till date had not garnered much publicity!!
99 SONGS is a Bollywood commercial movie produced by AR Rahman (his first as a producer), that was premiered in Busan International Film Festival last year, where he performed live the track THE ORACLE, which is the theme tune for 99 SONGS and which track is appended to this post. The whole sound track was released in March this year, and it is easily Rahman’s best creation since ROCKSTAR which happened about nine years back. Each of the numbers is in a different genre and at least six of these fourteen tracks are worth hearing over and over again.
My pick is JWALAMUKHI, rendered by Arijit Singh in his trademark pitch and the lyrics seem to convey Rahman’s inner feelings : Jwalamukhi Bezubaan! And there is a female version of this as well, sung by Poorvi Koutish, one of the alumnni from Rahman’s music school. Another new singer Shashwat Singh gets to sing five numbers, but the most outstanding is the first number in the album, O Aashiqa. And there is a Sai Bhajan by Bela Shinde, and a lullaby that sounds like the Chanda Hai Tu from Aradhana. And you have Armaan Malik singing O Humnawa which stays with you for a long time. I can write and write about these numbers (because there are fourteen tracks), but I do not want to come in between your listening to these tracks. Before concluding, I must however mention the Soja Soja track sung by Shasha Tripathi to the accompaniment of a jazz type structure and how the lyrics (If you dont love me, I will put a bullet through your heart) seem to resonate with the thoughts of a jilted lover or paramour.
And this movie 99 SONGS is about love and sensuousness of art and music and is slated for a release on NETFLIX shortly. I dont know how the movie will be, but you will love quite a few numbers in this album! Happy listening!
#MusicOf99SONGS #99SONGS

REVIEW: BANDISH BANDITS

REVIEW: BANDSH BANDITS [ New Series on AMAZON PRIME]

IF I hadn’t been referred to watch this new series, I may not have watched it. ( Why: That will come later on!)
IF you are a hardcore addict of violence, crime and continuous thrill infused movie buff,
IF you are someone who doesn’t like to see fresh faces on the stale idiot box,
IF you are someone who hates classical music of any kind, including that which is churned out by the ace team of SHANKAR EHSAAN LOY,
IF you are someone, who doesn’t find NASEERUDDIN SHAH to be a great actor,
IF you are someone who gets put off by the brilliant scenes and the blues dotting the buildings in a place like Jodhpur,
IF you are someone who loves loud melodrama,
THEN, it is best that you stay away from this magnificently crafted!
THEN, it will also be a waste of time for you to read further!

If you are reading this line, it means, that you have answered in the negative, at least a few of the above points!

And without much further ado, let me straight away recommend that you watch BANDISH BANDITS. And I am giving it a straight Four out of Five stars in my rating scheme!
It shouldn’t really matter that perhaps I have seen too many “thrillers” of late, and therefore when a classical music based series like this came in my line of vision, I might have been biased in my rating.
Because that shouldn’t take away the credit from the aspects of the ten episodes of Season One of BANDISH BANDITS, which make it a worth watch. It is rare for someone to take a risk to mount a theme like this on such a large scale, but writers Anand Tiwari ( who is also the director),Adhir Bhat, Amritpal Singh Bindra and Lara Chandni have very cleverly infused modernity and contemporary situations against the background of Hindustani Classical music. That coupled with superb acting by everyone ( which includes thespians like Naseeruddin Shah and Atul Kulkarni and a host of fresh faces), music by Shankar Ehsaan Loy and pleasing settings of Jodhpur help create an entertainment package, which should please everyone except the very hardcore purists of classical music.
Do not get put off by the usage of “classical” cuss words mouthed by a few characters now and then; remember that we are talking of contemporary times!
The last time, I saw a well made classical music based movie was five years back. That was the Marathi movie, KATYAR KALJAT GHUSALI starring Shankar Mahadevan, who made his acting debut. If you haven’t seen it, let me tell you, that it is on ZEE5. Don’t miss it!
Coming back to what I wrote in the beginning of this post, I thought that this was another series about the underworld and BANDITS and would have stayed away from it! Thanks to my dear friends for recommending this to me!

RATING: 4 out of 5
August 9th, 2020

REVIEW: SHAKUNTALA DEVI

REVIEW: SHAKUNTALA DEVI

Anu Menon’s previous directorial effort was five years back, when she directed Naseeruddin Shah and Kalki Koechlin in WAITING. A poignantly made movie about a friendship between two persons, whose spouses are in a comatose condition, this 100 minutes movie was a worth watching production. If you have missed seeing it, you can catch it on Hotstar. The BITS, Pilani alumnus, Anu won a couple of awards for her direction in WAITING. And she doesn’t let us down in the story telling of SHAKUNTALA DEVI.
But what helps Anu tremendously is the value brought to the movie by the excellence of Vidya Balan’s acting. Vidya Balan fits snugly in the character and makes it look as though it is easy to portray such a character.The movie doesn’t itself throw any light on how Shakuntala Devi managed to bring those answers to arithmetical (not mathematical) questions and hence the focus is just on incidents and how they help to build her personality and eccentricities. But the fact of the matter is , despite all research and psychological evaluations, there isn’t any clue on how she managed to find answers for those large arithmetical sums in a remarkably short time. Sanya Malhotra ( one of the two DANGAL girls) and Amit Sadh are reasonably adequate in the roles created for them. Jisshu Sengupta, who plays Shakuntala Devi’s husband has a very soft role, and I don’t know as to why the movie doesn’t delve much into his homosexuality ( as referred to in an article in India Today) and whether that was the trigger for her book on that subject.
There are many amongst us who do not know that there is a Japanese photographer, Keiko Nakahara, who is a much talked about person in Bollywood. Why she came to Bollywood is another story, but suffice it is to say that she has a neat job behind the camera in SHAKUNTALA DEVI, like she did in her earlier movie TANHAJI: THE UNSUNG WARRIOR. That makes her out to be the only person in 2020 who has the photography credit for two films till date!
There are three things in common between Shakuntala Devi and me: Both of us loved ( I still love!) the Dosas from Vidyarti Bhavan in Bangalore; both of us loved to travel ( I still do!) and I can multiply a two digit number ending in 5 by itself just as fast as she could!!!

RATING: 3.5 out of 5
August 3rd, 2020

REVIEW : DIL BECHARA

RATING : 2.5 out of 5
July 25th, 2020

REVIEW : DIL BECHARA
A few days back, I wrote positively about the music of DIL BECHARA. If you haven’t still listened to it, please do so, because it is the best Bollywood music album from amongst all the movies released in 2020. And if you have heard the numbers a few times, you may like when the numbers are played out when and if you watch the movie. That is, if you still like to see the movie, after reading my views.
In short, I would call it VIEWER BECHARA!
That’s despite the very good acting by the lead pair, Sushant Singh Rajput ( his last movie before his unfortunate death) and the debutant Sanjana. And the wonderful story telling in THE FAULT IN THE STARS, on which this is based. And the very fresh sounding music of AR Rahman.
The story sounds hollow and no effort is made whatsoever in trying to detail Sushant’s character and background. All that we are told is that he is a fun loving person despite his health issues. And the adaptation from the parent is weak. Thus, instead of feeling with and for the tragedy lined characters, you actually wait for the next song to deliver some freshness. There are about 8 songs, and so you will come across one song every fifteen minutes or so!
Mukesh Chhabra, the director had an excellent theme to create a mushy love tale, but perhaps he too felt Bechara (Helpless)!

RATING : 2.5 OUT OF 5

July 25th, 2020

THE MUSIC OF DIL BECHARA

THE MUSIC OF “DIL BECHARA”
There aren’t many of my friends who wouldn’t have heard of the unfortunate passing away of the Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput a little over a month back. Sushant’s last film is DIL BECHARA which is slated for release in the next few days on Amazon Prime platform. The songs were released less than a fortnight back and I have just kept listening to these songs every day in the last week. The first time I heard these songs, two things struck me. One was that most of these songs sounded very different from the crap that has come out of Bollywood in the first half of 2020. The second was that the songs, because of the pitch changes and overlay of voices, sounded like “remixes” of the underlying melody of these songs. But very, very different from the Honey and Mika Singh remixes!
As a rule, most films beginning with DIL have pretty decent songs, the last film being DIL DHADKNE DO, about five years back. So, one can say that DIL BECHARA had that in built advantage! Add to that the fact that the prodigious AR Rahman is the composer and the lyrics are by one of the prolific lyric writers Amitabh Bhattacharya. Superimpose the tragic love tale of the movie and the tragedy involving the lead artiste, you cannot blame music lovers for not failing to reach out to listen to this album. A R Rahman’s last really successful music score for Bollywood was about nine years back for ROCKSTAR. After that, he has scored for just five movies, and barring a couple of songs, most of them were forgettable. Will DIL BECHARA change that downward slide? I dont know, but I would rate this as his finest composition after ROCKSTAR. But a long long way from his classics in another movie beginning with Dil: DIL SE.
There are songs of different genres, and although not melancholic in nature, do have a certain undertone of sadness like the storyline of the movie. How do I know that the story is a sad one? Because it is based on the enormously successful 2012 novel THE FAULT IN OUR STARS, which was made into a movie with the same title in 2014.
Like most AR Rahman’s numbers, you will need to listen to them a couple of times, and imagine the situations and the context and perhaps, you will like them. At any rate, this is the best Bollywood album in 2020 till date.