MARDAANI – A Must Watch.

Approximately after three weeks of it’s release, zillions of missed chances, and innumerable instances of utter laziness, I finally got myself to wake up on a Sunday morning, and travel to an unusual multiplex – the life span of which I don’t see lasting beyond the next 4-5 years; In order to catch the decently slotted and priced show for Mardaani. I genuinely thank my stars, turning a blind eye to the extra twenty minutes of travel, the almost deserted, dysfunctional multiplex, the broken seat in the auditorium and the stinking seat cushions, that I did not miss this cinematic wonder on the big screen. Had I lazed around today as well and categorized the film in my ‘Download-and-watch’ section, I would have been thoroughly disappointed with myself and my inability to make the right choice of watching the film in the theatre.

 Mardaani is a highly unusual film to come out of the corridors of the highly suave and poised Yashraj Films studios. It’s endearing to see YRF being a part of the highly progressing and developing wave of Indian Cinema (Not to be confused with or intellectualized by ‘The Indian New Wave Cinema’). Mardaani showcases the story of a feisty, and courageous Mumbai Police officer, Inspector Shivani Shivaji Roy (Rani Mukerjee) and her team of honest public servants as they crack the deadly syndicate of drug smugglers and child-trafficking pimps in the capital of India.

 Rani Mukerjee’s portrayal of the honest and strong crime branch police inspector could be considered as one of the most convincing portrayals of a cop (Male or female) to be seen in Indian cinema, after a very long time. Everytime I see a Rani Mukerjee film, my respect and pride for her goes up manifold and my belief of her being one of the finest actors in mainstream cinema today, gets reinforced time and again. Be it romance, comedy, drama, and now action, Rani Mukerjee has proved her mettle repeatedly and has always raised the bar for herself as well as the others. Post her recent wedlock with producer Aditya Chopra and securing herself to be the heiress of the greatest empire in the Indian film industry, there are theories of Mardaani being Rani Mukerjee’s last stint with acting. Well if that is true (I and many others would hope for it to be untrue), it will be a tremendous loss of high caliber talent for Indian cinema, but Rani Mukerjee would become an envy (or hopefully an inspiration) for all the actors; That there will always come a time to bid adieu to your work, and when that time comes, signoff with a bang, like Rani Mukerjee has with Mardaani, and how!!

After gifting the industry extremely talented actors with high potential like Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor, the casting director for Yashraj Films, Shanoo Sharma has nailed it yet again by introducing the young and extremely talented Tahir Raj Bhasin as the villainous mastermind and Shivani Shivaji Roy’s arch nemesis. Having mentioned this earlier as well, I am a film viewer who tends to love his antagonist more than the protagonist and gives high importance to the negative element in any film as I believe that the reason for the conflict and tension needs to be extremely important and only a well characterized villain can bring out the heroism of a hero. With Mardaani my hunger to watch a 100% convincing antagonist in films for the last few years has been sufficed. As opposed to the loud, boisterous and antics oriented ‘bad-guys’ we have been bombarded with for quite some time now, Tahir Raj Bhasin is a classy, composed and evil mastermind. A wonderful actor who has maintained a perfect balance with his performance of neither over doing it nor underplaying it, Tahir Raj Bhasin is a strong contender for the Best Debut this year and has immense potential that needs to be channelized smartly and carefully. In Zoya Akhtar’s directorial debut Luck By Chance A veteran Shah Rukh Khan advices a young debutant Vikarm (Played By Farhan Akhtar) that “Yeh sochlo ke tumhari pehli film ne tumhe chuna, iss ke aage jo kaam tum karoge, it will be You. It’s important to make the right choice of work that you do.” If Tahir Raj Bhasin follows the above advice, He is definitely here to stay and make his mark on this industry with his work.

 The cinematic sadist in me is feeling a little low while penning my thought about Mardaani as I have hardly any or rather no critiquing points to make. The film is decently shot and well cut in keeping with the required pace and tone of the film. The story and screenplay of the film deals brilliantly with the sensitivity of it’s subject without gory visual depictions or over the top dramatic outburst or portrayals. All actors have performed well and justified their characters perfectly. The background score of the film is haunting and acts as a perfect asset in unison to the visuals playing on the screen. The Mardaani Anthem is the only song in the entire film and strongly evokes the necessary emotions in the audience watching the film, at an absolutely perfect time. After a really long time I have enjoyed the action in an Indian film, with a highly convincing and realistic approach to the fight sequences that are free of unnatural sound effects and scientifically defying movements.

 Director Pradeep Sarkar has yet again lived up to his forte of making women oriented films (The likes of Parineeta, Laaga Chunri Main Daag and Lafange Parinde (To which I turned a ‘blind eye’, Pun Intended)) with absolute precision and being able to come up with such wonderful emotionally and sentimentally provoking cinema. Looking forward to many more films in the same caliber coming from this highly talented film-maker.

 My only disappointment with Mardaani would be the A certificate. Yes, in keeping with the language of the film, expecting anything but an A from the censor board would be like expecting the second coming of Jesus, which would be nothing less than a miracle. But Mardaani is a film every teenager, adult and basically human (Male or female) should see because it throws limelight on a society we are a part of and yet so disconnected from it. The film is not a revelation or speaks about something unheard of, yet it makes you feel ashamed of the happenings in our surroundings and urges each one of us to rise and let the Mardaani in each one of us awaken to fight against injustice and malpractices anywhere around us. Maybe only 0.5% or 1% might take up this urge in earnest, but the message and purpose of the film will stay with each and everyone in the audience and has make us all more aware and conscious towards the cleansing of our society, in whatever capacity we can.

 Are you convinced that you HAVE TO see Mardaani, or need I say more?

Amit Sahni Ki List… Does It Feature On Yours?

Before I start, I would like to congratulate all those who have had a divine revelation about the existence of a certain film called ‘Amit Sahni Ki List’. Yes, there is actually a film by this name and it did hit the theatres yesterday (i.e. Friday – 18.07.14). However, if Bollywoodhungama.com and the article ‘List of Bollywood films of 2014’ on Wikipedia are not frequently found in your browser history, you wont be blamed for this ignorance. Produced By ‘Pyxis Pictures’ and directed by ‘Ajay Bhuyan’, Amit Sahni Ki List implemented the low-key strategy of marketing and featured on minimalistic slots in the print and broadcast media. To top it all, the buzz for the film on the Internet was also almost negligible, As opposed to the boisterous and in-your-face marketing strategies being implemented by studios and feature film production houses for quite sometime. What made the makers and marketing officials of the film take this decision is unknown to me.

The film revolves around the life of an investment banker, bachelor Mr.Amit Sahni (Virr Das) and his ‘LIST’. Now what is this ‘Amit Sahni Ki List’? The list includes all the factors that Amit Sahni is looking for in his soul mate. The film is a documentation of his journey in the quest to find THE perfect girl, and if failing to fulfill one criterion on the list the poor and sometimes not-so-poor babe is rejected. (Gives me the feeling of a Government office, Where if I take my Passport or Pan Card and fail to showcase my electricity bill, am sent back home, after the man/woman across the counter will make me feel so dejected and low about myself.) Thank goodness this concept did not dawn upon Mr. Steven Spielberg (The one Hollywood film maker everyone knows, for whatever reasons best known to themselves) or else we would have the next Harrison Ford starrer ‘Indiana Jones and the quest for the perfect girl’ with the list written on parchment paper and to be found under one of the pyramids of Giza.

In keeping with the spirit of the film, I decided to go unconventional this time. With almost 18 years of cinema viewing experience at hand, I have been able to come up with a list of all the elements that I expect to find in a film that I watch. 

So here it is, Meri Waali List:

1. Great production design
2. Huge production value
3. Artist’s performances
4. Good music and perfect usage of the same to enhance the film
5. Technically sound
6. No room for questioning and challenging the turn of events
7. Good dialogues with effective punch lines
8. True to it’s genre

And Last, not the least and infact the most important of them all 

9. The script, story and screenplay

Well, Lets start off with the elements from the film that lived up to my expectations and that I could tick off my list. 

Hands down, the film looks marvelous. With production design and production value topping my list, this film was a visual treat for me. The sets, costumes, locations and everything else one could you ask for has made it’s mark like any other bigwig in the league. The film is very well shot and is almost perfectly put together at the editing table. Apart from a few dubbing mishaps, here and there (Which can very well be forgiven) Amit Sahni Ki List almost technically flawless. 

The film showcases some great performances by the artists like the Vega Tamotia as Mala and the Indian-British actor, Kavi Shastri (NO… Not the cricketer, that’s Ravi Shastri) as Amit Sahni’s bum chum. Even Natasha Rastogi as his wannabe cool mother puts you in the right perspective. Now, What about Mr.Virr Das?

I have heard about a particular practice in the rural parts of India, where the concept of written letters still thrives and where illiteracy is still a major problem at hand, postmen carry letters to the receiver and read to them the message or piece of communication from the sender. The postmen read out all sorts of information to the receiver with emotions as though they are the sender’s voice. God graced himself upon the receivers and perhaps even Mr.Das, who perhaps would have read out the auspicious news of a beautiful child’s birth and the sad news of an ailing person’s demise with the same expression and in the same tone. Amit Sahni himself fails in the film, with one monotonous tone of dialogue delivery and expressionless poker face by the end of the 2:30 hours, Virr Das simply gets to you. He fails to communicate the filmmakers’ intentions behind the story, to the audience effectively.

The music of the film is, well… this is embarrassing, but I don’t remember a single track except one called ‘What the fark’, which is effectively made to sound like the F-word (But that’s also only why I remember this track).

If you are expecting a 2:30 hour laughter riot where you expect yourself to be in splits and TIYSL (Twisting in your seat laughing) you’re going to be highly disappointed. With the humor making its impact only in bits and pieces, the film finds its heart in Kavi Shastri (The friend) and Natasha Rastogi (The mother) who enable you to spread those lips from a semi-should I smile/should I not dilemma to an actually laugh.

 However, One should really watch the film for its maker’s attempt at storytelling, which somewhere down the line we have forgotten is one of the salient features of filming. A simple and sweet concept weaved into a smart yet simplistic story and presented to the audience. Although, the script is extremely monotonous, clichéd with it’s concepts and leaves a void unfulfilled after the film, it’s a genuine attempt from the heart, by the director and producers, and that is commendable.

If you are interested in being treated to some old school ‘storytelling’, Amit Sahni Ki List is YOUR thing and will be worth your time. However, if you are hungry for something big, more happening and a fast paced audio-visual experience that gives you a kick, I think we all know what you are eagerly waiting for.

Ek Villain – Teen Ghante Barbaad

Just imagine, you visit a clothing line store who’s designer has been the talk of the town since the last garments he designed sold like hot cakes and he made a whopping amount of Rs. 100 crore from the same. This season, he designed a shirt that everyone was looking forward to wearing the minute the shutters went up and the stores were open for the customers. He used a sexy hunk like fabric, fit in a beautiful set of delicate buttons that entangled it together and used a shade of colour like never seen before. This shirt was marketed with abundant excellence and lured the customers toward it thus raising the expectations manifold. The consumers rushed in and bought the shirt, but as soon as they put it on it started wearing off and ripped itself apart, as the designer forgot the absolute basic yet most important element that would keep the shirt bound together for a pleasurable wearing experience i.e the thread used to weave the shirt into one solid product.

The shirt is nothing different from Mohit Suri’s recent dark (apparently) love story – ‘Ek Villain’ with the thread being a metaphor for the script of the film. Without looking at Ek villain as an inspiration from ‘Kim Jee Woon’s’ 2010 South Korean masterpiece ‘I saw the devil’, lets look at it as an individual entity sans any comparison to the prior. For me ‘Ek Villain’ was an utter disappointment as it flawed endlessly.

It all began with the script being extremely loose and failing to captivate me beyond the first half an hour of the film, As the entire film unfolded itself in the first half and got done with whatever it had but the interval point. The second half was just an excuse to use all the money the filmmakers had. Throughout the film I failed to get a hold of the geographical setting of the film, Dribbling between Goa & Mumbai, it generated nothing but confusion for the audience. The performances in the film were half decent with Siddharth Malhotra trying his level best to perform well, with a constant angry/constipated/god knows what the hell is happening here look on his face (His look was the most consistent element in the film). Shraddha Kapoor sounds like a robot who has been made to remember her lines and recites them in a monotonously irritating tone. Ritesh Deshmukh takes you by surprise as the ‘villain’ who has done a good job if not for the audience, then atleast for himself after his last debacle at the box office (what was that film? ‘Judwaa’ or ‘Ek Hi Chehra’ or whatever, I forgot). Even the music of the film failed for me especially after the entire hoo-haa that followed the music of ‘Ashiqui 2’. I believe the theme music and Background Music works the best (THAT flute piece from ‘Galiyaan’ that gives you goosebumps, yeah that one).

But most of all what went wrong with ‘Ek Villain’ for me was the fact that I left the theatre with a void unfilled. I just felt incomplete and missing a lot. I am a person who loves is antagonist way more than his protagonist (unabashed to say it) and was expecting something similar with ‘Ek villain’, which it failed to deliver. I dare one filmmaker to do absolute justice to it’s antagonist with out falling prey to the ‘good wins over bad’ theory. The film doesn’t justify Ritesh’s behavior full heartedly, I wanted to see a back story there about his psychology and what made him the devil he is today, instead I got a shitty back story for Siddharth’s character which could might as well have been omitted. I was expecting much more darkness in Ritesh and his actions, and a consistency in his devious behavior which for some odd reason rises toward the end of the film, that wants to make you hate a fiend like him. However, you just land up hating the film instead. The action in the film is equally unexciting and you wish to get done with it.

Other elements like an item song by Prachi Desai (That chick from Rock on) with off sync lip movement (technical flaw) and characters like Ritesh’s friend KRK (NO not the IPL team, that dude from Deshdrohi, what? You don’t… forget it) and the ‘cant-speak-hindi-coz-I-am-from-Goa/Bandra/Mahim’ Remo Fernandes are totally unwanted and further spoil the already stale plot.

Ek villain is a film with tremendous scope to have been made into a masterpiece but fails thoroughly. After all this lamenting and bantering it might be a 100 crore at the box office but surely years later one would have to tax their brains trying to remember and say ‘Arrey aayi thi naa who Ritesh Deshmukh ki EK FILM…’.

Once Upon A Time In Mumbai Again/Dobara (Your Choice)

After series of lesser known films or severe failures (Like ‘Hattrick’, ‘Deewar’ and ‘Chori Chori’) Milan Luthria hit the note of a high point in his career in with ‘Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai’ (2010), a period gangster film or rather folklore depicting Mumbai’s growing underbelly based in the 60s and 70s, apparently inspired from real life individuals like Haji Mastan (Aka Sultan Mirza played by Ajay Devgn) and Dawood Ibrahim (Aka Shohaib played by Emraan Hashmi). Inspite of being an imperfect film ‘OUATIM’ was appreciated enough owing to the catchy dialogues and one-liners, the upbeat plot, the well justified performances and the music, some of which still refuse to fade from our memory.

Three years later, Mumbaai has moved 12 years ahead (Reel time), with Shohaib being the most powerful man in the city (Controlling it overseas), after killing his benefactor Sultan Mirza, in a fit of rage and lust for power over whole of Mumbaai. Here’s the best part, 12 years from Sultan’s Killing Shohaib (Emraan Hashmi) becomes Akshay Kumar and Mumtaaz (Prachi Desai), who plays Shohaib’s lady love in the first part become Sonali Bendre. Some age miracle formula I must say!!

Apart from such liberties regarding casting issues, the makers of ‘Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai AGAIN’ (Yes, I like to call it by its name prior to the change because it sounds linguistically correct) have literally exploited the saying ‘Let your imagination run wild’ by exposing us to the unimaginable, like a Tiku Talsania having ‘Something’ (Say a fling, affair, or just ‘cordial’ relations) with… with… wait for it… Vidya Balan!! That’s like the film maker’s assurance policy for all the guys (no age bar) that well, if Tiku Talsania can get Vidya Balan, ANYTHING can happen, so be positive. In keeping with such awesome hyperboles, in a particular scene Shohaib, the most wanted man in India, with only macho juice flowing in his veins, walks into a Mumbai Police thana sees a photo of himself being the most wanted criminal, laments about its quality stating that a new one must be sent to replace the old one and walks out. It not only takes the audience for a ride but also badly reflects on the Police force and their quality of work.

‘OUATIM Again’ fails as a film because of the drastic shift in genre from a period gangster film to a love triangle set in the backdrop of a gangster environment. It’s an out and out love story, with bloodshed, deceit, breaching of trust and so on.

Milan Luthria as a director fails for me completely, with not being able to live up to the standards of his baby and doing no justice to anything from the first part. What really irks me is his inability as a director to trust his own actor to live to his expectations and shoulder the responsibility of a second film. Had Emraan Hashmi still played Shohaib, almost 50% of the film would have been better there and then.

Akshay Kumar as Shohaib is a complete let down, close your eyes and listen to him talk and you can’t tell a difference between Rowdy Rathore / Khiladi 786 and now this one. He is totally unable to convince you as Shohaib. Sonakshi Sinha and Imraan Khan make you indifferent to their performances with having done nothing different from what they have been doing in each and every film. (Except Lootera which worked great for Sonakshi and well… Nothing for Imraan)

After a point of time the entire film felt like a Kavi Sammelan, Having Rajat Arora back on board with the dialogues, no character was able to put forth a simple sentence without a ‘Saying…’ or an analogy or an idiom to convey a particular message. In keeping with his previous work from ‘OUATIM’ and ‘The Dirty Picture’ (Which got him several accolades and the dialogues of which are still remembered time and again when a particular situation arises) Rajat Arora has gone overboard this time. In their individual capacity the one-liners used are bang on!! But if every dialogue is a one-liner then it loses the impact its set out to create. Even the usage of Bura maan jaaega… seems deliberate and simply to keep in tone with the first film.

With no exceptional music, Pritam has let down all those who highly appreciated the tracks from ‘OUATIM’, especially with a newer rendition of Tayyab Ali (From ‘Amar Akbar Anthony’) and a controversial track, Allah Hoo (edited from the film) he has portrayed complete inability to produce anything new and worthwhile. Except for the background ‘theme’ score, which continues from the first film and is used as effectively in ‘OUATIM Again’ as well.

The film starts off on a note saying ‘Thank you to Ajay Devgn and Emraan Hashmi – for starting the journey’. All through the film I was hoping that the end would have a note saying ‘Sorry to Ajay Devgn, Emraan Hashmi and all you viewers for letting you down’. But then again, not all hopes are always fulfilled in life.