Hello, blogosphere. Long time no see! I'm still seeing movies, but sadly not writing about them like I used to. I ought to fix that. (But probably not when I'm in the middle of National Novel Writing Month.)
This weekend, I saw Prem Ratan Dhan Payo, the touted return of Salman Khan as Prem in a Rajshri movie after ... a very long time. It was like the Rajshri that brought Maine Pyar Kiya and Hum Aapke Hain Koun in some ways good (family relationships, songs feel timeless) and bad (several very retro elements, themes feel unoriginal), but there’s an important difference: It doesn’t feel nearly as relatable.
The family is royal, its relationship tensions primarily rooted in who controls the family wealth. Can you relate to a brother that wants to kill you because you didn't pay his bills? Doubtful. The four siblings also belong to one father but three mothers, none of whom are in the picture. No parents in a Rajshri family movie? What's up with that?
But then again, Salman plays up the humor and beats up some guys but not too many, keeping it watchable when the movie doesn't get too deep into the family problems.
I usually like to start off reviews with a synopsis of the
plot, a glimpse of what the film’s most basic story is. I’m not really sure I
can start off talking about Bhaag Milkha
Bhaag like that because the film is basically one giant, multidirectional,
nonlinear ramble through the life of Milkha Singh, likely India’s most
celebrated runner and Olympian.
I wish I could give Bhaag Milkha Bhaag a wonderful review.
Because much of it is wonderful, powerful and beautiful — with the perfect amount of excellently done humor mixed in. But what ruins it is
that Rakyesh Prakash Mehra doesn’t seem to know what editing is. The film is
chock full of fluff — unnecessary focus and detail, absurdly long shots,
frivolous montages and repetitiveness. Either a good 45 minutes
should have been cut out or should have been used more effectively.
Most shots are wonderfully crafted and somehow Milkha’s
running rarely gets boring, thanks in part to thoughtful shots such as a
close-up on his shoes literally tearing up dirt. But the problem is many shots
are just too indulgent. No one has patience for the unending deluge of them.
How many times do we have to watch Milkha’s sweat droplets pour into a bucket?
Or watch a sped-up shot of the track he’ll be running? Or watch him running
dramatically in training? Or watch a so-long-it-started-drawing-laughs shot of
Milkha weeping over the loss of his family? It all seems to lose its appeal
after a time.
Synopsis: Kundan (Dhanush), son of a Hindu Tamil priest
(thank goodness they explained that accent of his), goes about Benares making
trouble. And then as a child, he happens to spot a Muslim girl named Zoya
(Sonam Kapoor) who he falls head-over-heels in love with for the rest of his
days. As a teen, he commences the stalking typical of Bollywood movie love,
which causes Zoya’s family to exile her rather than have her love a Hindu. But
eight years later, Kundan is still there, still as madly in love with Zoya as ever,
though she doesn’t recognize him at first.
So. The first half of this movie is what you see in the
trailers: upbeat, funny and pretty darn adorable.
The second half turns into politics, murder, guilt, sadness
and oh did I mention SADNESS? Lots of that.
I’ve seen some films that truly fall under the “curse of the
second half” label, but this one is damn near bipolar. It’s not so much a curse
of the second half — because the second half would be fine on its own — as it
is too big a leap between halves.
Which half did I prefer? The first.
It was remarkably funny and just had a lot of things that
flat-out made me smile.
The Holi scenes made me smile. They are beautifully done.
Yes, Kundan’s got that whole stalking-for-love thing going
on that I tend to hate, but Dhanush is fabulously off-beat and silly about it
in a way that just seems to somehow work. Let’s just say that it comes down to
a (not-quite-literal) fight between
him and Abhay Deol’s character for the affections of Sonam Kapoor’s, and for
once I could not side with Abhay Deol. That is a remarkable feat. And when
Kundan breaks down crying because Zoya is set to marry someone else, well, I
may have teared up a little. Maybe.
When I was home visiting for Mother’s Day weekend, I paid a
visit to my old bazaar and bought a couple of DVDs for old time’s sake. I
noticed when I did so that I haven’t bought a new Bollywood DVD in ages, much
to my sadness. I have unwatched DVDs (mostly SRK stuff from the 90s) but
haven’t made a dent in them.
BUT at the bazaar, I bought Duplicate because I really can’t stop adding
to the SRK collection (remember I said once I’d watch through all his films?)
and Mausam, which I was very disappointed to have missed in the theaters
because I adore Shahid Kapoor.
Well, I’ve only watched Mausam so far, but now I’m really glad I missed
it in the theater.
Synopsis: Punjabi boy Harinder “Harry” Singh (Shahid) falls in love with
Kashmiri refugee Aayat Rasool (Sonam Kapoor) when he’s aspiring to join the
Indian Air Force. Circumstances force them apart and back together again across
the world.
Mausam, whose title means “seasons,” is ridiculously disjointed. The entire
first half-hour of the film is not very well set up, but it is confusing.
Papaya and I couldn’t figure out who was whom, what the hell Harry was waiting
for to come in the mail (papers from the air force, it turns out) and what
people were doing.
After the season of confusion leaves, there’s some adorable romantic moments
between Harry and Aayat, like when they lie in the rain after having kissed for
the first (only?) time.
But it quickly this season fades and it goes back to confusing again. Aayat’s
family leaves unexpectedly on the day when Harry is supposed to go set a date
for their marriage. Nobody knows where they went or how to contact them.
Nobody. And the best thing about this plausibility stretch? You have to endure
it about four more times in the movie. Yes, really. Evidently the once
bitten, twice shy idea is lost on these folks. They keep leaving without
leaving contact information! That may have been a nice, heart-tugging plot
device the first and maybe even second times; by the fourth, it’s nothing but
frustrating.
The movie also somewhat frustratingly traces several seasons of terrorism in
India’s recent history: Aayat’s family is forced from Kashmir by riots, Harry
is forced away from Aayat by fighting in the Kargil war, the Sept. 11 Twin
Towers attack affects Aayat’s Muslim family, she and Harry meet again during
the 2002 Gujarat riots... Now, I’m not saying these aren’t important things
that should be addressed in film. I’m just saying this was not the film to
address them nor did this film do it well.
And in the final of those terrorism scenes, something serious and immediately
life threatening, at the movie’s close after Aayat and Harry are back together
for the third (?) time, the movie enters a season of utter ridiculousness. One-armed
Harry--well, one-functioning-arm-ed Harry, whose other arm was paralyzed years
before in a crash, climbs a stopped Ferris wheel to save one child whose family
was shot with everyone else on the Ferris wheel, somehow missing this one
little girl. Oh, and this Ferris wheel is on fire. Like everything else. And so
Harry, rather than fully functionally four-limbed Aayat, decides to climb this
Ferris wheel. And of course, he almost falls and almost drops the little
girl... only to discover he can use his other hand again. It is ridiculous.
And not in the amazing did-that-really-just-happen this-is-totally-filmi way
that Bollywood has.
Best part of this movie. Really.
Also, a disappointment to me: Despite how dashing and retro Shahid looks in his
IAF uniform and mustache... The movie isn’t actually retro. Well, it is. But
it’s only set in the 90s. It has a bit of a retro ambiance... that kind of
fails because it’s not actually retro. (And oddly as I type this, I’m reminded
of Veer-Zaara, also a retro-ambiance film about a dashing young IAF pilot...
That one’s retro vibe was much more successful.)
And though I’m often one to stand up for Sonam Kapoor, she pretty much sucks in
Mausam. She has over-the-top emotional reactions, little emotion otherwise and
just...not much to work with.
And so we passed through the seasons of terror, confusion, frustration and
disappointment with Mausam. With rare pockets of fresh humor and romance... But
not worth weathering all of the rest.
Kinda funny -- inadvertently talking about Sonam Kapoor films two days in a row! But this one and Saawariya are about as different as two films can possibly be.
Aisha! Papaya and I awaited the arrival of this one from Netflix for a long time. The promos for it just looked so good. Maybe the best parts of the film were in the promo, which is what reviews have said, but this was still a pretty good little film in and of itself.
Aisha is effectively the Bollywood interpretation of Jane Austen’s Emma. That in and of itself nearly guarantees a good film. I like to consider myself a relative expert on Austen because the Regency through Victorian era is my favorite field of literary study, and though Persuasion is by far my favorite Austen work, I’d say Emma is the best of all Austen works to consume visually, as is proven by the number of successful Hollywood adaptations. Additionally, Mr. Knightley is the most all-around loveable of all Austen heroes, even, if you can believe it, over Mr. Darcy. (And if you don’t want to read much comparison of Aisha to the original characters of Emma, skip the next couple of paragraphs.)
For the most part, Aisha does a quality job of sticking to and interpreting Emma appropriately. Emma becomes Aisha (Sonam Kapoor), the bratty rich girl who has an obsession with matchmaking and “improving” her poorer friends lives. Mr. Knightley becomes Arjun (Abhay Deol), Aisha’s friend/neighbor/brother-in-law who criticizes her meddling antics. Willful Aisha then sets about her meddling, which ends up going any way but the way she wants, and life gives her a few good lessons.
I’d say the film positively interpreted the character of Mrs. Elton, changing her into Aisha’s best friend Pinky (Ira Dubey) who just so happens to fall in love with the Mr. Elton character. While I’m usually a stickler for close interpretation and it confused me for 75 percent of the movie as to whom she was supposed to be, Mrs. Elton is a downright annoying character, and it makes sense to get rid of her rather than subject viewers to an hour of THAT. I’m on the fence, though, about interpreting Mr. Elton, who is one of those love-to-hate people in Emma, as Randhir, a misunderstood dork who just needed to be loved by someone unconventional.
This film makes much more use of this jodi (the Eltons/Pinky & Randhir) than Austen, maybe effectively for on-screen.
And to complete the spectrum, I was incensed by the adaptation of Frank Churchill as Dhruv, who just so happens to spring on Aarti when Aisha doesn’t show him enough interest. In this interpretation, Frank becomes a womanizing idiot without a cause. In Emma, Frank behaves the way he does toward Emma because he’s engaged the whole time to Jane Fairfax (Aarti) and simultaneously wants to hide that relationship while playfully torturing Jane. Instead of being a working, crucial part of working out the jealousy trianglesrectangles POLYGONS that comprise the basis of Emma, Dhruv is just… there to take away Aarti at the end.
I also kind of lament the underusage of Aisha’s father in the film because Mr. Woodhouse is such a comical and amusing addition to the storyline of Emma, especially in some movie adaptations.
Anyway… Overall, I felt like the film may have struggled to keep all of the characters straight and each of their individual storylines holding its own, but maybe that’s something only Jane Austen really could have managed to do without confusing everyone.
Yeah, too many people trying to cram in, because this isn't even everybody.
I felt that Sonam Kapoor filled this role pretty well. There were times when the performance didn’t feel like it connected, but for the most part, bratty Aisha seemed right up Sonam’s alley. (And no, I don’t mean that in a fully rude and derogatory way because while she’s often bland, I mostly genuinely like Sonam, but I can also see where playing a spoiled brat would be right up her alley.) And Abhay Deol, true to Deol form, is adorable as benevolent but teasing Arjun. There’s also the way the character of Mr. Knightley is written, but Abhay certainly brought his own charm and je ne sais pas to the role. I’d really like to see more films featuring him (hurry up, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara!).
The two also seemed to play well off one another as a cute, young, fresh couple even with Arjun being the older, more responsible one like Mr. Knightley - in fact, he brings a youthfulness to the responsibility. The only thing I was annoyed with was that after all the hype about it, the kiss was cut from this film. -_- You can tell in the resolution scene that something's missing, too. It wasn't skillfully worked around.
Abhay, may I nickname you Abdorable?
A couple of random aesthetic points: The film’s rather mellow music was pretty nice even though mellow music is usually not my thing (give me upbeat or give me depressing ballads, I say). I really enjoyed the Latin dancing scene, but then I have a love of Hispanic cultures that predates my love of Indian culture and am generally a sucker for Latin dance.
This film also features quite possibly the COOLEST CAMPING TRIP OF ALL TIME. Seriously, can I leap right into this scene?
Overall, Aisha is a decent chick flick and mostly enjoyable if not overly wowing. I believe the best term for this one is probably a word I tend to avoid using: cute. Maybe there was a bit too much focus on the film’s glamorous sheen and not quite enough on its heart, but the film is still a good four out of five from me. I enjoyed it perhaps a little more than Clueless, the particular Hollywood Emma adaptation it seems to draw from, and a little less than the 2010 PBS adaptation of Emma.
Yep, definitely a chick flick. Which, as much as you can dislike them, we all need one now and then.
Gulabji (Rani Mukherjee), a prostitute who frequents RK Bar, recounts the story of the bar’s singer Ranbir Raj (Ranbir Kapoor), who blows into town with his idealism and sweeps right into the hearts of the city’s entire red-light district because he treats them with respect regardless of occupation. One night Raj sees a mysterious frightened and depressed girl dressed in black and follows her, saving her from a drunken man. After escorting her home and learning that her name is Sakina (Sonam Kapoor), he falls in love. Before he can tell her he loves her, Sakina reveals that she’s in love with a man named Imaan (Salman Khan) and that she’s been waiting for him to come back for her for a year. Despite being heartbroken, Raj decides to help her.
This one falls into the all of the same categories as the other Sanjay Leela Bhansali films I’ve seen (Devdas, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam): The cinematography is GORGEOUS, scenes, sets, camera angles, etc.; the cast is top-knotch; and the storyline is, in the end, not what you hope for. Watching SLB films, I think, is a certain degree of masochistic. You have to love the film because it’s just SO well-made that you can’t help but love it, but at the same time, you know it’s going to end badly. Saawariya is no exception. So yes, I’ve done it to myself again with this one, but I know well enough now that I’m definitely steering clear of Guzaarish, which I was only toying with the idea of watching.
Saawariya is oddly reminiscent of Devdas (which, fyi, I have now seen but I can’t seem to form a coherent post that would be welcomed by the public) in possibly too many ways. There’s a hooker, an ultimately doomed friendship between a man and a woman, and a man scorned (if you will) that is the central character.
The cast of this one is pretty much, like I said, great. You have Rani Mukherjee, who I always love; Ranbir Kapoor who, as I’ve said before, you love even when he’s a TERRIBLE character and in this film his character isn’t terrible but pitiable; and Sonam Kapoor, who while possibly not the best has a coy cuteness to her that’s generally likeable. (And also considering, which I didn’t know at the time, that this was Ranbir’s FIRST film, his role is actually remarkable. A fantastic performance all around.) With such an ensemble class of marvelous actors, the film is sure to be liked.
This song is strange in many ways (why is he dancing naked in front of a window? Spending too much time with prostitutes?), but it shows many of the reasons to love Ranbir Kapoor!
The only person who should have been but isn’t a valid addition to the cast is Salman Khan. I feel like Sallu, being the huge box office draw that he is, should have been able to do more. In this film, he’s just there. Maybe it has something to do with remembering Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam and Aish. I don’t know. All I know is that in a film of great performances, Salman’s just there. And he isn't even there that much. Maybe three or four scenes. He can't even achieve peepeeman status.
Also, Ranbir and Sonam seem to play well off of one another. Sonam plays a mostly dour role for most of this film and Ranbir (in and out of this role) is a nearly constant source of light and joy that’s infectious, so the pair works well.
Sonam mopes while Ranbir smiles, but it works for a pair.
In a previous post about Dil Bole Hadippa, Paagal Papaya and I talked about how Rani Mukherjee while not old has a maturity to her that didn’t mesh well with youngster Shahid Kapoor in that film. I was afraid the same might be true of Rani and Ranbir, but with a blend of seductive pessimism and naïve optimism, they mix as well as Ranbir and Sonam despite the acting age/maturity gap. Even when the dynamic of the relationship abruptly shifts from an older, worldly woman toying with a young, idealistic man to something darker, it still works. I think maybe Ranbir is like Aamir Khan where he’s just such a great personality he can’t help but have chemistry with everyone.
1. I love watching Rani dance. 2. She works as well with him even though she plays a prostitute!
Again, the cinematography is beautiful in this movie, and like Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam and Devdas before it, Saawariya has some scenes that are just so aesthetically beautiful they literally took my breath away. I can’t figure out the exact setting, which looks like Venice with its waterways but is distinctly Muslim. If anyone can shed light on that, I’d be much obliged.
And another thing I’ve noticed about the cinematography of SLB movies – they have a signature color. Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam was markedly red, Devdas was gold, and Saawariya is blue. The blue and the fact that this entire film seems to take place at night give the film an eeriness that led Paagal Papaya to refer to SLB as “the Tim Burton of Bollywood.” With the sorrowful underpinnings that run through all of his films and the particularly dark tones of this film (there are flashes of ever-joyous Raj being downright violent), I’d have to say that’s possibly an apt comparison.
Color progression: Bright, flamboyant red...
Rich gold...
Creepy blue.
SLB films tend to make a statement and make it boldly. Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam is about the validity of marriage and maturation. Devdas is about doomed love and the pain of life. Even without seeing it, I know Guzaarish is about having the right to die on your own terms. Saawariya… Maybe gets a little mixed. To a degree, it’s definitely about choosing to fight unhappiness. Other than that… Not really sure.
It almost feels like a reversal of Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam. In HDDCS, Nandini goes from the immature love fling she has with Sameer into understanding how deep Vanraj’s love for her is because that he’s willing to sacrifice everything for her happiness. In Saawariya, Sakina has a very childish fling thing for (not even WITH) Imaan and Raj sacrifices for her happiness to bring them back together, but Sakina ends up going right back to Imaan, who’s pretty much ditched her until then, when he arrives. I don’t know – maybe SLB just thinks young love is doomed and only “mature” duty-driven love will survive.
Happy? If you were, SLB says you're doomed to a duty-love instead. Obviously Sakina is obsessed with duty-love.
Overall, if you can stand the masochism of SLB films and the fact that this one’s slightly incoherent as far as statement goes, it’s worth watching for the aesthetics and the chemistry of most of the cast.
Okay, so me, Mango, and Papaya went to see Thank You in the theaters tonight. Which Mango probably is writing about or in the middle of writing about as I type this, lol. I know there have been A LOT of bad reviews for this movie. But I so happen to love this movie.
A funny note for this movie though... I think Akshay Kumar doesn't seem to like pants in this movie, lol. He wears a lot of robes as do others in this movie. And when the first part where Akshay jumps up and you see sensor blocks, I thought I was just seeing things, lol. I was completely startled. I didn't really enjoy that part; I just don't see why they couldn't have covered it up a little more... cleverly? lol. Not that there was really anything to see, I think he had shorts under... I... please don't tell me I opened a can of worms? lol.
Oh! but him wearing a pink sari? That was priceless! Even though you did see it in the trailer, it still kind of shocked me and was like 'oh my gosh', lol. He played it off well, with no indicator he felt embarrassed or shameful. Kind of cute if you ask me ;P
I liked the directing and producing though. It was different... the camera shakes and such (sorry I'm not a pro, I don't have big words to use for it). As Papaya had quoted me before, please don't think I'm out of line:
"lexiburpsalot Elysa: (discussing #ThankYou & what we did/didn't like about it) "I liked it. It was spazzy and it was like you're on acid but you aren't." " -- lol, I thought it was funny.
As for those who said it wasn't funny, I found it freaking hilarious. Laughed throughout the whole movie. There wasn't really a time I wasn't at least smiling.
Oh I'm going to end my little tidbit with the fact that Bobby Deol's hair bothered me in this movie. I know we're going "retro" with the 80's... but that hair is not the way to go... and there was one scene where his hair was cut decently, but it was just a tease! The next scene it went back and you never saw it that way again. What a tragedy. You can't see it too terribly well here, but trust me. If only he would've cut the back bottom of it, it would have been much, much better.
However, I will give this movie a 4 out of 5 stars. I will probably buy this movie, and add it to my growing collection of movies I love : ]
Oh! And (in response to those who say he should retire) I don't care what they say, keep Akshay! He can't retire yet! lol : ]
