Ashdoc's Bollywood movie reviews

Azhar ( may 2016 )



One wonders why cricketer Azharruddin gave permission to make this film---for even though it purports to remove the stigma of the match fixing scandal from him , it actually once again reminded me of the whole gory saga and the endless speculation about the whole thing in media about 16 years ago . And once again the movie brings back the days when Azhar was accused of match fixing and puts his infamy in focus . At the end of the whole movie some ingenious but ridiculous explanation is given as to why he took money from a bookie and how he was really a patriot after all blah blah blah....does he really expect the public to be such a fool as to buy such explanations....one would have wanted him to not support the making of such a movie and let sleeping dogs sleep and not wake up....

Ravi Shastri and his family are sure to be angry at Shastri's portrayal in the film---he is shown to be a womaniser who has to be saved by Azhar ( who else ) from the scrutiny of his wife when he is philandering with women . It seems Azhar is taking revenge for the fact that Shastri was caught by Manoj Prabhakar on camera in a sting operation in 1999 saying that Azhar is being protected by Dawood Ibrahim , the Pakistan based don . Of course , Ravi was a well known womaniser , but what is shown in the film is too much .

On the other hand , no pot shots are taken at Azhar's real enemy in the cricket world---Sachin Tendulkar , for whom Azhar has expressed open hatred in real life . It seems the makers of the film did not want to explode a further controversy in what is already a film on a controversial topic , because Tendulkar is considered God by some people who would have been doubtlessly irked if his name had been dragged ; the director of the film is no Tanmay Bhat after all....

Kapil Dev also has escaped Azhar's wrath , because he came out in support of him later---or so the film shows...
Manoj Prabhakar obviously has not fared well .

The film shows Azhar's pain at not having been able to play 100 matches for India , something that he had promised his beloved grandfather whom he missed dearly after his death . Reason---the match fixing allegations , for which he was banned . Later half of the movie shows Azhar and his lawyer friend fighting a court case for years to get the ban lifted .

It being a movie , there is ample scope for romance ; both his first wife Naureen ( played by Prachi Desai ) and second wife Sangeeta Bijlani ( played by Nargis Fakri ) are shown . Prachi Desai acts well ; Nargis is horrible . Azhar is plainly unapologetic about leaving his first wife for his second ; the movie shows him openly declaring his affection for Sangeeta on live television without caring for the pain and hurt it would cause to Naureen .

So does Azhar manage to get the ban lifted by court ?
And does he manage to get his named cleared in the eyes of the public by means of the film ?
Watch the movie to answer to the second question for yourself , for the answer to the first can be found by simple google search .

The movie is clearly Azhar's version of the story , for it leaves out his perfidies like his claiming that he was targeted for match fixing allegations because he belonged to the minority community . Eemraan Hashmi has tried his best to act like Azharuddin , and has mastered his various mannerisms well . But he sounds too confident compared to the shy person he was supposed to portray .

Music is decent , and photography is okay . The film does not bore you and keeps you engaged throughout . But it focuses on the match fixing scandal and hardly shows the otherwise glorious cricketing exploits of it's leading character .

Verdict---okay .

Two and a half stars .

Tonight, the film Bubble Boy was on and a character is driving a van which has a green statue on the roof of a six-armed deity. Weirdly, he describes it as the "Goddess Siva". Hopefully I'm not going mad but that sounded a bit wrong to me.

we hindus are liberal and dont mind some fun being made of our gods . in the film PK a character playing siva is shown running away like a coward from the hero and the underclothes are seen . we dont mind . anyway siva is male god not goddess

Ah, well I'm not sure whether they were making fun or just didn't know.

Do lafzon kee kahani ( A tale of only two words ) June 2016



'Do lafzon kee kahani' is a simple and predictable love story set in Malaysia , and stars Randeep Hooda and Kajal Agarwal in the lead roles .

Randeep is a boxer by profession , who becomes an enforcer for a gangster because he is fooled out of his career by another boxer and his wife . But in the midst of this violence , he becomes unwittingly responsible for the blindness of a sweet girl ( Kajal ) . Unknowing of this , the blind Kajal falls in love with Randeep , who himself does not know of what he had unwittingly done . But when Randeep comes to know of this , he resolves to raise money for a costly operation that will restore Kajal's eyesight . But it is lot of money and Randeep literally has to stake his very life for it .

So does Randeep succeed in raising the money and still surviving at the end of it all ? Will Kajal be able to see Randeep with her very own eyes , someone whom she only managed to feel with her hands earlier ? Watch the movie for that....

There is a lot of violence in the movie , yet it seems like a love story all the time . That it self is the triumph of director Deepak Tijori . Even though the storyline is predictable , the director has also managed to keep things simple and sweet as far as the love story is concerned . You also tend to overlook a lot of things that are unrealistic in the movie while you are immersed in seeing the movie , and that itself is another triumph .

The chemistry between the lead pair is really nice and Kajal Agarwal looks so sweet and vulnerable and delicate , even though actually she is no beauty . Randeep has pulled off the act of looking real hard in the exterior but having a soft heart and he has pulled this off really well .

Music is good and songs are really nice---it is they that set the mood for romance rather than violence in the movie . No spectacular scenes are filmed , but still photography is decent .

But in the end the unrealism of the movie and the predictability does catch up with you , and the impression of the movie is not really great . Not worth writing a even a long review over it . However it has it's sweet moments .

Verdict---Okay .

Two and a half stars .

Shorgul ( Uproar ) July 2016



Once again I am attracted to my favourite cinematic destination---the mofussil towns of Indian states of Uttar pradesh ( UP ) and Bihar . And my favourite cinematic recipe---those towns burning with the conflagration of communal conflict .

This film is supposed to be based on the Muzaffarpur hindu muslim riots of 2013 , but deviates from showing the rumoured real cause of the riots . Instead it shows the riots to be caused by a one sided love story . The town also has been renamed in the movie---to Malihabad . The name of the chief minister of UP has been changed too , though only barely---to Mithilesh .

Even before the unrequited love story comes to a gory end , Malihabad sits on a communal tinderbox . Jimmy Shergill plays the stylish leader of the hindu right wing party that is hell bent on making it's mark in the town , and he and his acolytes duly appear at every occasion that hints at communal antagonism . The most vile of his acolytes is a lame man ; lame men are typical villains in Indian stories starting from Shakuni in the ancient epic Mahabharat....

The antidote to the communal politics of Shergill is played by Ashutosh Rana , a calming sage like figure who has no distinction between caste or religion in his mind---this even though he is of a religious bent , thus harking to Mohandas Gandhi . And just like Gandhi , he is shown to lose his life in the midst of communal conflict . Rana has a goodlooking son ( Aniruddh Dave ) who has a friendship with the beautiful Suha Gezen , who comes from a muslim family that has close relations with Rana's family . And not surprisingly , Aniruddh is in secret love with Suha who does not know of that . But alas !! Suha belongs to someone else---a liberal muslim ( played by Hiten Tejwani ) who does not mind the friendship between Suha and Aniruddh and steers clear of orthodoxy by refusing to keep outward marks of the muslim religion like beard .

Enter the troublemaker---a muslim refugee from the communal riots that have occurred in another state ( Gujarat ) who has a huge scarred piece of skin on his neck as a mark of those riots . He makes clear his hatred and resentment for hindus from his entry onwards . He also is in contact with a muslim fundamentalist leader who is ever ready to stir up trouble in the town and has the stockpile of weapons for that . This refugee makes Suha's fiance come to know of Aniruddh's secret love for Suha , this stirring up the fiance's jealousy . And leads him on to a violent confrontation with Aniruddh , which leads to murder....

Predictably , the entire town goes up in flames as all the communal actors who have been introduced play their predictable parts . The situation goes totally out of control of a sane leader like Rana , and Suha is forced to become a refugee in her own land . But the film that was going on very interestingly till now , begins to drag at this point....

Of course , the scenes of violence have been well pictured . Photography of mobs going out of control seem all too real . Houses , vehicles and humans are set on fire . The destruction of the town seems to be total . Victims running for cover from savage mobs chasing them seem really scared . Rabid politicos like the muslim home minster give inflammatory speeches designed to be rabble rousing for the islamic crowds . This is matched by Shergill who rouses the hindu pride and anger among his followers . Both leaders hark to the same theme---of people of their respective religions having been too understanding to the aggressive behaviour of the other . And now the time having come to act---for the brave are the ones who inherit the land , or so the leaders say .

Problem is , there seems to be no coherent end to the violence and bloodletting . It just drags on purposelessly . Nothing good comes out of the mayhem , and the entertainment factor becomes less . The director has tried to make the point that leaders who live by extreme violence also die violent deaths . But not before their propensity for violence has shattered entire regions and spilled innocent blood . However , the mindlessness of the whole violence in the second half makes the audience lose interest and attention . On the other hand , the first half is better and more coherent .

All actors play their roles all too well . Jimmy Shergill looks confidently stylish and urbane taking massages from semi clad young women and drinking scotch . Ashutosh Rana looks as if he has inherited royal blood and acts in an extremely sophisticated manner . Suha looks so fair and delicate and soft and lovely . Songs and music is good too , all filled with melodious tunes . Worth hearing more than once later .

But the whole film cannot be called a special effort . The director has no solutions to the endless Hindu muslim feud . In fact , he feels that fundamentalists of both religions will grab power by flaming sectarianism and will work to mutual benefit . The feud will go on....

Verdict---Okay .

Two and a half stars .

Rustom ( August 2016 )



This is a film on the sensational real life case that occurred in Mumbai ( the city was then called Bombay ) in 1959 , where a commander of the Indian navy shot dead the man who was having an affair with his wife . The navy officer was K M Nanavati and his wife was an Englishwoman---her name was Sylvia . They had three children . Due to Nanavati's long absences while on duty on the high seas his wife used to feel lonely and fell in love with Nanavati's friend Prem Ahuja and they had a passionate affair . Prem ( Prem ironically means love in many Indian languages ) had other girlfriends and Sylvia felt acutely jealous of them as she was deeply in love with Prem . She wanted to divorce her husband and marry Prem but Prem Ahuja was a philanderer---he refused to marry her , leaving her distraught . Deeply disturbed , one night she confessed about the affair to Nanavati who was so shocked and hurt by the confession that he wanted to shoot himself dead . On being calmed by Sylvia , Nanavati dropped her and their children to Metro theatre for a movie as the parents had promised the children a movie treat . Then Nanavati went to confront Prem , but not before he had gone to the naval base to get a pistol . He asked Prem to marry Sylvia and accept their children . Prem refused . Angered by this Nanavati shot Prem Ahuja dead and surrendered himself to the police .

The ensuing case brought to confrontation two rich business communities of Bombay who were both refugees from other lands---the Parsi community to which Nanavati belonged were people of the Zoroastrian religion who came from Iran centuries ago , and the Sindhi community to which Prem Ahuja belonged were more recent Hindu refugees from Pakistan . Parsis made huge demonstrations to free Nanavati . He was publicised as the upholder of the asian concept of honour and the killing was presented as upholding family values and honour . The fact that Nanavati had given Ahuja the chance to marry his wife , that he still wanted to spend the rest of his life with his wife inspite of her perfidies , the fact that his wife now stood by him , the fact that he had surrendered immediately to the police---all this was presented as proof of his high moral character and upbringing . A Parsi owned newspaper ( The Blitz ) ran a passionate campaign to free Nanavati . This tilted popular opinion in favour of freeing him . The jury was influenced by this and voted to free Nanavati . But this was not accepted by the court . Jury decided trials were banned in India and remain banned till date . Nanavati was given life imprisonment . But public opinion stoked by the Blitz newspaper was not ready to accept this . Finally three years later Prem Ahuja's sister was induced to ask for a pardon for Nanavati , in return for freeing a Sindhi man also---this to placate the powerful Sindhi community which was baying for Nanavati's blood . After he was freed , Nanavati and Sylvia remained together but migrated to Canada to escape the repercussions of the scandal . Nanavati died in 2003 while Sylvia is still alive today .

Coming to the movie , it shows a large part of this and is good when showing the real life events . The first half of the movie holds your attention with some good scenes and decent acting , but the movie meanders and is too longish after the interval / intermission .
Begins to falter when it adds an angle of Nanavati ( he is called Rustom in the movie ) unearthing corruption in a military deal of buying an aircraft carrier from Britain , and then unexplicably and unconvincingly protecting the officers involved . The prosecuting lawyer ( Sachin Khedekar ) acts in too melodramatic a manner and so does sister of the murdered person ( Esha Gupta ) . They are too loud in their overacting . On the other hand Ileana D'Cruz acts well as Cynthia---as Sylvia is called in the film . She looks so sweet and delicate and vulnerable . Akshay Kumar is okay as Rustom / Nanavati . Obviously his patriotism is hyped to the maximum extent in the movie---he was a volunteer to the navy not a conscript . Some real fun is added by the comical performance of the editor of the Blitz , who sits in the court every day to influence the proceedings of the trial—to the extent that he is jailed by court order on several occasions ; not a real life event but a cinematic liberty taken by the director . Also comic is the performance of the maid of Rustom’s house , who pointblank asks the judge what he would do to his wife’s lover if he caught them cheating !! Songs and music are good and sentimental---appropriate for the situation . Overall the film can be called as a decent watch , but not too fantastic .

But women are liking the movie a lot more than men as they have liked the fact that Rustom / Nanavati is shown to be deeply caring about his wife even after her affair with another man , and chooses to live with her after all the saga . Also he is shown to be protective about her even during the trial , seeing to it that her named is not dragged in the mud in any way . Generally he is shown to be a strong proponent of women's dignity and honour throughout the movie---a smart move by the director , which may yield rich dividends at the box office in the coming days .

Verdict---Decent .

Mohenjo daro ( The ancient Indus valley civilization ) August 2016



The real cracker of the movie Mohenjo daro comes in the ending . Instead of being destroyed by waves of Aryans from south Russia and central asia ( as the leftist historians claim ) , the great civilization of Mohenjo daro is drowned in a great flood that sweeps water from the river Sindhu ( Indus ) onto the cities . So the aryans ( who intermingled with dravidians to form hindu civilization ) were not the villains who destroyed the great Indus valley civilization !! How the movie must be biting the leftists !! Instead the Indus valley people themselves cross the flooding river sindhu by a bridge of boats ( a spectacularly photographed scene ) and push east to create a new settlement on the banks of the Ganga---the beginnings of hindu civilization . Needless to say , that is what must have exactly happened . But I could see the leftist critics getting angrier and angrier as they saw the movie , which casts aside their carefully built version of history which paints aryans killing dravidians . Furthermore , the leader of the Indus valley people ( Hrithik Roshan ) uses a trishul ( trident ) to fight his enemies !! The same trishul which is weapon of Hindu God Shiva !! Perfidy !! Now I know why the leftist critics have been howling against the movie , which is better than they claim .

The movie is the story of Hrithik living in a village far from the great city of Mohenjo Daro , but always feeling that his destiny is in the city . And him having visions of a one horned animal that is emblem of the city . Of him marching to the city and falling in love with the daughter ( Pooja Hegde ) of the city's priest and she responding to his overtures . Of him then coming to a clash with Kabir Bedi and Arunoday Singh , who control the city with great tyranny . They have built a dam that diverts the water of the sindhu river , so that gold can be excavated . As Hrithik fights and wins against the evil duo , powerful rains bring a huge flood on the river Sindhu---a flood that will overflow the dam and swamp the Indus valley civilization . It is upto Hrithik to lead his people ( for he is son of their former leader who was killed by Bedi ) to safety .

The fight sequence of Hrithik with the crocodile is good to see when above the water , but it's special effects are not great underwater . Better executed is Hrithik's fight with two huge ferocious cannibals using the trishul . The city of Mohenjo daro is shown authentically and looks awe inspiring . It is divided into the lower city for poorer people and upper city for the affluent . The upper city is more elegant . Photography of the city is really nice . It trades with the Tajiks of central asia ( who bring horses ) and the civilization of Sumer .

Hrithik looks bronzed in the film , and Pooja Hegde looks fair . Kabir Bedi looks every inch an ambitious tyrant , while Arunoday lusts for Pooja . The clothes of the people and the dances---all look good . The truly ancient era of India has been well created by the makers . Music is decent and songs are hummable . The film is a little long , but I was never bored watching it . Acting is okay by everyone .

Verdict---good .

Rajjo ( 2013 )



Rajjo is the love story of a prostitute---and as expected , it is full of problems for her and the man she loves and marries . But the problems are more the ones created by the director rather than the expected ones . In fact sympathy for the love story pours from the ones who are least expected to be in favour of it---the ones who control the brothel of course . They actually solemnise the marriage between the couple and allow the girl ( who had been sold to the brothel owner in her tender age ) to go !! The movie seems far from real at this point ; why would a brothel owner let go of a girl he has bought without asking for his price ? It is upto the director to prove that he can make a real story beyond this point , and surprisingly he does make us empathise with the love story for a while , failing only at the end .

Paras Arora plays a young boy who comes from a household of priests . Once on winning a sports event he is taken to the fleshpots of Grant road in Bombay for seeing a dance by prostitutes . And on seeing the dance by a beautiful girl named Rajjo ( played by Kangana Ranaut ) he is simply mesmerised . To be honest I was mesmerised too....Kangana's exposed belly looks so deliciously delicate , her navel so attractive , her cleavage oh so inviting , her soft back in backless blouse so fair and lovely , and her movements while dancing so lascivious , that I kept on looking at her slim white body that is so perfect for dancing....

With the brothel owner being paid to allow him to meet Rajjo , Paras strikes a rapport with her and soon it develops into love . Encouraged by a politician's speech asking young men to come forward to marry sex workers and liberate them from their profession , Paras decides to marry Rajjo especially because the politician promises a job and a house for doing so . But the politician's promises are false , and his own parents predictably throw him out of his house for marrying a prostitute . To make things worse , another politician and his thugs are after Rajjo because that politician ( Prakash Raj ) lusts for her . Even though the couple flees away to a village , the politician and his goons rentlessly harass them there . The brothel where Rajjo grew up also is destroyed by property developers...in short trouble strikes everywhere . How the couple manage to extricate themselves out of this forms the rest of the story .

Paras Arora really looks innocent enough to not know the consequences of marrying a whore . But it is Kangana whose charms as Rajjo are delectable enough to make us watch the movie . Many actors in the movie are from the marathi community ( people living in western India ) because the director is from the marathi community . But the ending is disappointing , even though the saga of the couple does hold our interest midway in the movie . Colours of the movie are good , and songs are okay . The highlight of the movie are the three dances by Kangana in sexy clothes .

The movie majorly flopped at the box office , but interestingly scored at the box office at one theatre even after other theatres had stopped showing it . That theatre was situated in Falkland road , the heart of Bombay's red light district . Even in failure , the movie was honoured by the people it depicts---some cold satisfaction for the makers of the movie....

Verdict--okay .
Two stars .

Pink ( September 2016 )



Three mod babes go to a resort with some young guys they meet at a rock concert . The three seem to be from the bubble gum crowd---wearing miniskirts or shorts showing off their lovely legs and thighs , wearing sleeveless tops that show off bra straps....but are actually more than just that , having had experience of sex with multiple partners before . The guys are not from their class---sure they have money , but are a world away with their feudal mindset of considering mod babes as 'usable material' and not allowing women of their own family any freedoms .

A scuffle breaks off between the girls and the guys which leaves one of the guys badly injured and being rushed to hospital . What could have happened that led to the fight---this the audience is left wondering , for both sides have different views of the matter and until the end of the movie what happened is not actually shown . Rather , it is reconstructed in front of the audience as their opposing versions in court .

So what could have happened ? Considering the obvious political correctness that such a movie is bound to take , shouldn't it be clear to the audience from the start that the guys must be in the wrong and the women in the right ? That the guys were about to rape the girls....

But the movie stretches the political correctness to the limit . What if I told you that the girls actually agreed to take payment for sex and changed their mind at the last moment because when the actual moment for physical intimacy came they were repelled from selling their bodies by their own conscience ? What does that make the guys who had already paid for sex , but found their advances thwarted at the last moment---victims or villains ? That is the question that is to be solved by the honourable court .

And helping the court solve this question is a lawyer played by the superstar Amitabh Bachhan himself , and he solves it in his own inimitable style---showing the judge how different rules are applied to girls and boys along with double standards of morality . And showing how girls of the regions on the chinese border ( one of the girls is from north east India ) are treated as 'loose and easy' .

Of the three girls , Tapsee Pannu looks best . Kirti Kulhari has become somewhat bloated since the days when I had reviewed her movie 'Jal' ( water ) , where she was a slim beauty . Andrea Tariang looks okay . Of the guys , Angad Bedi looks smart and tall but menacing . The rest look like his hangers on but some are menacing .

The mindset of the feudal Indian male is shown . Angad is ready to use his political connections to tweak the evidence in his favour and even female cops do not have any qualms in helping him in doing that . And of course , the whole system looks at girls who wear certain clothes and have certain lifestyle ( like alcohol and multiple relationships ) as sluts .

Music is good and so are songs . What is riveting is the courtroom drama that Amitabh dominates . His acting is in good touch even at this age . Actually all act well . What is pathbreaking in the film is , the message that a 'no' by a girl should be treated as 'NO' in capital letters . Even if the 'no' is said at the last moment .

Verdict---Good .

Three and half stars .

Star ( 1982 )



'The only thing that I have liked from Pakistan'---singer Nazia Hassan and Zoheb Hassan.....and I grew up listening to their songs , especially from the movie 'Star' . When one cassette ( it was the era of music cassettes ) broke down from overuse , I forced my father to buy another one...and in the end the cassettes stopped being available in music shops , to my eternal chagrin...
So when the era of the internet came to my home , the first thing I searched was the songs of 'Star' on youtube...and imagine my joy when I found them...just listened to them over and over again...my childhood fascination with glamour started with the songs---because they were among the first hindi pop songs , some of them fit to be listened to in discos and nightclubs....

But the movie itself was another thing ; it was a major flop at the box office...the only thing that was worth remembering was the songs....
However , the movie is available on youtube....and it being available on youtube , one day I was bound to see it....and as I was bound to see it , I was bound to review it....so here it is , the review....

Once you see the movie , it is easy to understand why it was such a flop . While the story has some substance , it is hampered by bad direction , sloppy editing , bad dialogues and bad acting . The fights feel not altogether badly shown , but that is because you compare with the horrible choreography when dancing on the songs . And the dancing is truly horrible . Some of the dance moves look like P T exercises !! Left right up down---the hands go and so do the faces....is this really dancing ? Totally laughable....

The story is that of a young man ( Kumar Gaurav ) obsessed with music , so much so that he dreams of being the next Elvis Presley . He is kicked out from a job because he is more interested in listening to music on his walkman ( yeah , it was era of walkmans ) rather than working . He tries to get a job as singer at a disco called Club 54 , but is rebuffed by the arrogant owner ( Saeed Jaffrey ) . Then he goes to Charlie's disco and is mesmerised by the singing of the singer there ( Rati Agnihotri ) . Not surprising , because she is singing 'Boom Boom' playbacked by Nazia Hassan , one of my all time favourite songs . Rati introduces him to Charlie , the owner of the disco . His singing in turn mesmerises them both ( he sings 'Ooie Ooie' , another likable song sung by Zoheb Hassan ) , and he lands a job as singer in the disco .

As Kumar Gaurav's singing attracts crowds in the hordes , so does the popularity of Charlie's disco go up , and the moolah begins to roll in Kumar's pockets . His parents are not happy with his singing in clubs , because it was 1982 and India was mired in the depths of socialism ; clubs and discos were considered symbols of the capitalistic west and it's westernization . But Kumar's brother ( Raj Kiran ) supports him .

But there is another danger lurking , and that is the growing jealousy of the owner of club 54 ; his disco is running half empty because everyone is flocking to Charlie's for Kumar's singing . Saeed tries to entice Kumar to his disco with greater pay , but Kumar refuses . So Saeed has Kumar beaten up and his voice choked . But Raj Kiran takes revenge on those who beat his brother by soundly trashing them one by one . Rati and Raj come close in all this and fall in love , shattering Kumar who is in love with Rati .

But they all have to unite when Saeed's men come together to attack Raj and he has to be hospitalised ; this happening on the very day Kumar has to sing on national television , something that will make him what he dreamt of being---a Star what else...and get the love of another girl who has been angling for him---Padmini Kolhapure , who is more of an afterthought in the film as her role is very small .

In the midst of all the juvenile direction , I found myself lost once again in the songs....and it seems I will never tire of listening to them again and again....it is as if in the midst of all the socialism in my childhood I was secretly dreaming of a capitalistic liberation !! of westernisation !! of dancing with beautiful babes in the discos and nightclubs !! of grooving to rock and pop music !!...happily , my dreams came true after I grew up....

However the movie is rank bad , you have to admit that....but as I saw it for my first and only time , I was on a trip of nostalgia....and thanking music director Biddu for all the music !!

Parched ( October 2016 )



This film is a a typical film made for the western audiences who shower awards on it after lapping up all the grime and poverty that is showcased in the movie . It is a well oiled machine ; a film maker makes a film showing the horrid life of people in some corner of India , shows it at western film festivals , and the awards come tumbling in . This gives the chance to publicise the film in India and earn moolah at the box office . Critics duly write favourable reviews in order to boost earnings of the film . In all this the image of the country takes a beating ; India becomes known as the land of poverty stricken people living with all sorts of unimaginable injustices . Forget that Africa is poorer , that the middle east has more violence , that China has more repression ; India is shown as the epicentre of the world's horrors because it has a population that does not care about it's own image in the world .

So in a rural and semi desert part of the Indian state of Gujarat live three women who form the centre of the story . They live among men who are the worst specimens of humanity---presumably only India produces them according to the director . The director packs all sorts of injustices forced on women by men into two hours of the film--women are beaten , sodomised , raped by their fathers in law , married off at early age , are neglected by their husbands who go to prostitutes , forced to marry with persons not of their choosing . One is forced to wonder why such an overload of tyranny is shown in the haste to lap up the awards .

Tannishtha Chatterjee plays Rani , Radhika Apte plays Lajjo and Surveen Chawla plays Bijli . Rani is a widow in her early thirties , and marries off her son to find out that his wife has her hair cut off . This angers him and he begins to go to prostitutes and being physically abusive to his wife . Lajjo cannot produce a child , and this brings on savage beatings from her husband . The two women have a friendship with the local whore---Bijli . The three women have to live lives restricted by age old customs , but in their private time they talk about sex and relationships . If there is anything remarkable about these women , it is that they are parched---parched for love , parched for kindness , and parched for physical intimacy and sex . The scenes between them have a touch of homoeroticism as they are free and intimate with each other caressing each other's half nude bodies in private , though they don't actually cross the limit .

Bijli's profession allows her the freedom to do what she wants and the restrictions on the other two women do not apply to her , because she is considered beyond the pale of society . This brings her into contact with a man who can fulfil the dreams of Lajjo of bearing a child---and she takes Lajjo to him...and thus is created a passionate rendesvouz in the middle of the desert ; Lajjo has a night full of passion with this mysterious man in full glory of her nudity , and afterwards the three women frolic in their joy fully naked in a lake nearby . The Indian censors have blocked some portions of their bodies in screen , but I was able to get my hands on a whatsapp clip of part of the scene . One must say that Radhika Apte ( Lajjo ) has a really lovely body and watching her shamelessly show it on screen without inhibitions is a treat . A sex kitten has been born on the silver screen !!

But what will be the reaction of Lajjo's husband on hearing of the pregnancy caused by the passionate encounter ? It can well be imagined . And what about Rani's daughter in law---the girl who has been abandoned by her husband because she has cut hair ? When her story comes tumbling out , then Rani shows a humanity that can be seen only in works of fiction like films . But the violent reaction of her son is another matter altogether . Bijli secretly hopes that her pimp loves her and will bring her out of her miserable life , even as another younger girl now threatens to upsurp her position as town whore . But like all men in the film he is a hypocrite .

As the three women find themselves at the receiving end of increasing physical brutality , they realise that they have reached the crossroads of life . And the three decide to shake off their past and their relationships and begin a new journey together....but this ending is too filmy and belies the claim of the film to be an art film ; it is more fit for a commercial film .

Acting is good by everyone , and music and photography is good . Only two men in the film ( lover of Rani's daughter in law , and another who brings jobs for the women in the village and marries a woman from the state of Manipur in the north east ) are good , and message of the film is that rural Indian men are bad bad bad ; of course , none of the bad men belong to India's minorities---the film is a politically correct film after all and political correctness requires that no blame should be put on minorities . The director has some directorial talent , and I wished that it had not been wasted on maligning the already bad name of the country---a name made bad by a slew of such so called 'art' films made in the past .

Verdict--decent .

Three stars .

Mirzya ( October 2016 )



From the land of Punjab in northwest India comes the legend of Mirzya---of a warrior named Mirzya who won the love of a beautiful girl ( they are always beautiful in these stories ) who was forbidden fruit as she belonged to another community . Because marriage between people of different communities was forbidden in ancient times , they had no choice but to elope . Mirzya was a great warrior whose arrows unerringly found their mark . As men from her own community closed in on the spot where Mirzya and his love were resting , the girl was fraught with apprehension as to what would happen if it came to a fight between Mirzya and her kinsmen . Surely Mirzya would kill them all with his sharp arrows . Fearing a slaughter of her own people by her lover , she broke his arrows into two while Mirzya was asleep . But when her kinsmen closed on to the lovers , they showed no mercy while Mirzya looked helplessly at his broken arrows and then to his love in dispair . They killed him with their arrows , and thus the legend became a famous tragedy....

Now this legend has been brought to the silver screen by Bollywood , and leading the cast are Harshvardhan Kapoor as Mirzya and Saiyami Kher as his love . But the story has been created with an interesting twist . While the ancient legend of Mirzya is shown in all it's glory and it's tragedy , as a parallel the whole story is shown recreated in the modern era . Both stories are shown with one part of the ancient legend being followed by a part of the modern story .

So in the modern era Suchitra (Saiyami ) belongs to a royal family and is best friends with Munish ( Harshvadhan ) from their young days in school . But Munish loves her so much that he kills his teacher in school because he has beaten Suchitra . He escapes from reformatory school and takes refuge in a poor muslim family taking the name Adil . Suchitra grows up to be betrothed to a handsome prince . But chance brings Suchitra and Adil together and he reveals that he is really Munish . Suchitra can't take her hands off him and soon the two resume their childhood love...but love between a poor boy and a royal is like tasting forbidden fruit , and once again the legend of Mirzya is repeated with the lovers being forced to elope and the old situation of arrows being broken replaced in the modern era by bullets being removed from gun....

The story begins with great promise and the idea of showing the same story in two parallel tracks and mixing parts of both tracks one after another is simply novel , at least to me . I found myself relishing the story of Mirzya as shown on screen even though the end was bound to result in tragedy for both tracks . Saiyami Kher , who is the granddaughter of yesteryears marathi actress Usha Kiron and Dr Manohar Kher ( who was my professor of anatomy in medical college ) reminded me of her grandfather in looks at least---though I hope she does not match him in temperament , for Dr Manohar Kher was a very hyperstrict Professor ; he failed me once in my anatomy exams in college . Harshvardhan Kapoor is hirsute like his father actor Anil Kapoor at least on face ; he is bearded with thick hair , though he did not get a chance to show whether his body is as hairy as Anil Kapoor's is .

Somewhere along the line , the movie which began raising some expectations loses steam . The proceedings in the second half lack the zest raised by the beginning . Acting is okay by both Saiyami and Harshvardhan without being anything special . Photography is decent and so are the colours . Music is okayish . Problem is---nothing is notable , everything is somewhat better than ordinary . But it would have required a much better than ordinary effort to make the movie a hit because it has no stars but newcomers . Result is that the movie has already flopped within a few days of release .

Verdict---Okay .

Two and a half stars .

31st october



31st october deals with the aftermath of the assassination of Mrs Indira Gandhi , the prime minister of India---an event that occurred in the year 1984 . The subsequent massacres of the sikh community that occurred in the capital city Delhi have remained a bitter memory that has forever marred relations between the sikhs and hindus , judging from the attempts that are going even now to stoke the embers of separatism in Punjab .

One wonders why the film was not titled '1984' , since that is the year that most sikhs invoke when they put forth their grievances . Maybe that title has been taken up earlier by some other film .

The film starts with life going on as normal for the sikh residents of Delhi . Morning chores are being done , but the lack of background music does create a sense of dread for those like me who know what is going to happen next on that day . You wait with trepidation for the news to break out...

The one thing that is shown is that news is coming out already in newspapers of the militancy in Punjab that is taking the lives of hindus at the hands of sikhs . But the principal character of the film ( Vir Das ) calls the militants a blot upon the name of the community . Director Shivaji Lotan Patil and producer Harry Baweja would like to remind us that not all sikhs were in favour of the Punjab militancy at this point .

While this was going on , at the other end of town the bodyguards of Mrs Indira Gandhi were getting ready to take her life . Before that the killer of Mrs Gandhi pays obeisance at a gurudwara and the words 'waheguru waheguru' ring at the same time . Does the director want to say by this that the act has the blessings of sikh gurus' tradition ? Something that is not clear to me .

Once the news spreads of the assassination , attitudes towards sikhs rapidly change in the nation's capital . Vir Das finds his loyalty to the nation questioned abrasively by a man in his office , and even another who is sympathetic to him asks him to go back home . Later the sympathetic man refuses to help him out when Vir's family is in danger because he does not want to risk his own life .

Mobs which attack sikhs are given directions to do so by politicians . I could recognise two of them from the trademark goggles of one actor and the distinctive beard of the other actor---H K L Bhagat and Jagdish Tytler .

As mayhem breaks out in the city , the movie focuses on the saga of Vir Das and his wife who is played by Soha Ali Khan . Their life is in danger at the hands of rampaging mobs . The one tragic feature that the film shows is that sikhs with hair which are cut are likely to have their life saved , as the episode of a Canada returned Sikh shows . So sikhs can save their lives only at the cost of forfeiting the main mark of their religion !!

The film reminds us through a dialogue by a character that sikhs had defended the hindu community on several earlier occasions . But the film honours itself by not blaming the hindus as a community for the massacre . In fact , it shows some hindus ( played by Deepraj Rana , Lakha Lakhwinder Singh and Vineet Sharma ) either risking or laying down their lives to save the life of Vir Das and his family . And the perpetrators of the massacre also back this fact by repeatedly giving warnings to those hindus who are saving sikhs that they will not be spared too as they are 'traitors' .

But bad apples do abound , as evidenced by the uncouth and foul mouthed police inspector ( played by Nagesh Bhosale ) who puts an impediment to saving Vir Das , another police inspector who flatly refuses to help the Canada returned sikh , a doctor who refuses to treat sick sikh patients , and a drunkard who pretends to give succour to a sikh only to call the mob baying for his blood .

At the end of it all , the film says that none of the people behind the genocide have been brought to justice . That the government figures for the dead are more than 2000 but independent sources say they are 9000 . But it also accepts that many hindus helped sikhs survive the massacre , and calls on them to help the sikhs again by backing the cause of bringing the perpetrators to justice .

The film does portray the terror that the sikhs must have felt on that day and in that night by repeatedly showing gangs armed with sharp weapons going on a killing spree and burning sikh owned establishments by fire . They literally patrol the streets searching for sikhs to kill . Soha has to disguise herself by putting on sari and red bindi like hindu women , and Vir Das has to hide in the trunk of a car .

Acting by everyone is okay but no one puts any spectacular performance . Music and songs are okay and photography is okay too , but nothing special . Colours are dull however .

As a person who likes to watch films with politically and especially communal inspired violence , I did find the film interesting . But the film has no new insight to the happenings and the drama does not fully touch your heart ; the drama is not high enough in the film . Maybe that is because the film exclusively concentrates on the massacres and has no romantic or emotional story at it's core .

Verdict--okay .

Two and a half stars .

Shivaay ( October 2016 )



Ajay Devgan plays Shivaay who is a mountaineer capable of extreme skills ; no wonder , because he is virtually the modern incarnation of the hindu god Shiva---with long hair and trishul ( trident---Shiva's weapon ) tattooed on his body . He shows his flair for extreme mountaineering in some fabulously photographed scenes in the beginning of the movie---all shots of white snowcapped mountains taken from several long range and close out angles .

I was laughing however when some firangee girls who came for mountaineering said that Shivaay looks so hot and sexy ; Ajay Devgan is ugly enough for a laugh at such statements . He openly flirts with one of them ( the bulgarian heroine ) who looks good with roses and milk pink complexion . While saving her from an avalanche they make passionate love in a tent that is hanging in a crevasse---another ridiculously unbelievable scene .

But she wants to go back to her native Bulgaria , and does go back after reluctantly giving birth to an unwanted love child---wanted by him because he is in love with her and wants a memory of his moments with her , but unwanted by her . But when the girl child ( who is dumb but not deaf ) grows up , she wants to meet the mother who did not even want to see her face...and the father agrees under pressure from the daughter to take her to Bulgaria .

Until now the movie was actually going well with some real story and sentiments and emotion ; I was engrossed . Even though the movie has been marketed as an action movie , it is actually in the emotional and tender moments that Ajay Devgan has excelled in direction...and he should have stuck to that . Because when he turns to action which is supposedly his forte , it is then that the movie unravels . For the actions scenes are nothing special and they are far too prolonged .

While photography continues to be good , I found the action not so entertaining . It is hampered by the permanent expression of distress that Ajay has on his face . The action itself seems to be veering on tragedy all the time . The punches and kicks that Ajay throws seem too tired in their execution . Shiva ( Shivaay ) has opened his third eye , but where is the smoulder in the look and the fire in the soul ? Instead it is just a tired looking and distressed Devgan .

In Bulgaria the daughter gets kidnapped by human traffickers , and Shivaay moves heaven and earth to get her back from the hell she is in . And mayhem does ensue . He is helped by an Indian embassy girl . And Shivaay has such divine powers that hundreds of bullets fired from a helicopter fail to hurt him for they fall all around him but don't hurt his body or his daughter's body while they are on the run---how ? only God Shiva knows....

The villains are the russian mafia , but there is no Indian villain---another mistake on Ajay's part . For with no famous Indian actor as villain and no famous Indian actress as heroine , Ajay has to carry the entire film on his shoulders . And he is no superstar to do that . Especially when the competition is 'Ae dil hain mushkil' with Aishwarya Rai , Ranbir Kapoor and Anushka Sharma .

On the other hand music is good and some songs are really hummable and worth listening to again . Acting by everyone is okay but nothing great . But the Bulgarian mother and daughter look real cute .

Verdict---average movie .

Two stars .

Oh, I like that. This is quite a way-out connection but it reminds me of seeing the opera singer Bryn Terfel performing on TV and guessing he was playing Mephistopheles because his character was wearing a red scabbard, almost like a devil's tail . When I was looking at the Hindu gods a while ago I found it interesting that Siva's third eye is vertical rather than horizontal, which actually makes it a more powerful image I think.

That's a bit like Danny Trejo's hilarious animal magnetism in Machete.

yeah , it is powerful . hindu mythology says that the world will be destroyed when shiva opens his third eye and anger and fire emanate from it .

brahma is the creator who creates the world , vishnu is the preserver who periodically has to come in various avtars on earth to save it , and when the world has to be destroyed ( because sin has exceeded all limits there ) shiva just opens his third eye....then brahma recreates it again .

it all fits nicely with the astronomical theories of big bang and big crunch , so hindu religious figures are cozy with those theories....just like the pope is too , or so i heard .

Ha ha, well that figures .

That's the first time I've heard the term Big Crunch and yet I remember about the theory of the universe ultimately contracting instead of expanding – good to know the terminology .

Ae dil hain mushkil ( It is difficult for the heart ) October 2016



Review has spoilers

'Ae dil hai mushkil' very literally translates into 'O heart it is difficult' , though the people with greater understanding of poetry will doubtlessly find deeper meanings into the title . What is important is the fact that it does live up to it's name . For director Karan Johar does make the situation of Ranbir Kapoor's heart difficult through a unique take on love and relationships .

Ranbir Kapoor plays Ayan , who is a wannabe singer who also dances well . He is befriended by Alizeh ( Anushka Sharma ) who is modern enough to chill out with a guy who is not her boyfriend . They hang out all over town , laughing and crying and having fun together at discos and restaurants and fulfilling Alizeh's dreams of dancing on bollywood songs wearing chiffon sarees in snowy mountainous locations . And the inevitable happens---Ayan falls in love with Alizeh .

But Alizeh has not gotten over her past relationship and wants Ayan just as a friend . She loves him but is not 'in' love with him , with the absence of the 'in' being of seminal importance to the situation . This was a situation that I had read in a Sidney Sheldon novel before , but it takes the skills of a Karan Johar to expand it into a full scale movie .

And once Alizeh sees her old love again , she at first wants to run away but on being confronted by that person ( played by Fawad Khan ) she goes back to him . When Alizeh invtes Ayan to her wedding Ayan explodes the truth to her---about his love and his longing . And she is left in tears and the ruins of what she dreamt would be a platonic relationship .

On the rebound Ayan gets into a intimate relationship with a beautiful divorcee ( Saba played by Aishwarya Rai ) , and this leads to some passionate scenes between the two---but the publicity machine of the film had hyped those into much more than what I got to see . It is enough to be said that there is not much that Aishwarya's husband Abhishek Bachhan has to complain about . But when Ayan tries to make Alizeh jealous about Aishwarya's beauty , she is simply happy for him dating such a stunning beauty . And he loses Saba too because she realises whom he really loves....

Brought to the crossroads of life by his multiple failures in love and longing , Ayan channels his pain into creativity and becomes what he wanted to become in the start---a famous singer . But what will push him to even greater heights of creativity and singing ??---a greater tragedy of course...we just have wait for it to happen....

What makes the movie watching experience better is the lessons the director teaches us in this journey from pain to success and from tragedy to greater success . If there was ever a university for exploring relationships then I would undoubtedly recommend Karan Johar for position of it's chancellor . The guy does give new insights every time he makes a movie .

The people inhabiting the movie are all goodlooking---from the beauty of Aishwarya Rai ( even at this age ) to the good looks of Ranbir to the kohl lined eyes of Anushka . But it is left to Shah Rukh Khan ( playing Saba's ex husband ) to teach Ranbir the ultimate lesson of falling and being in love .

Colours and photography are okay without being special . Acting is decent by all . Songs and music is decent too . The movie is less interesting in the first half but becomes better in the second half , with a nice ending . That is where it scores over 'Shivaay' . 'Shivaay' is better in the beginning but meanders in the second half . And people like movies with good endings rather than good beginnings .

Verdict---good .

Three and a half stars .

Rock On ( November 2016 )



'Rock on' is a demonstration of how westernised director Farhan Akhtar is....and yet he has managed to keep in touch with the Indianness within---a perfect blend of east and west .

He plays a brooding ex rock singer who has given it up after something bad that happened in the past , something that normal people would not allow to change their lives . But he is a sensitive soul who cannot forget it , and that is real enough at least to me---for creative people have the license to be sensitive souls . His wife ( Prachi Desai ) lives in Mumbai trying to keep the relationship alive because they have son together , but Farhan has left Mumbai for the far away state of Meghalaya in the north east of India . He builds a business in Meghalaya , but typically like creative people he fails to be practical and does not sell his produce to the powers-that-be in this part of India where people are not exactly fully respectful of the law . And those people burn up his holdings and destroy the lives of those who work under him . His own life is saved by Shraddha Kapoor .

Left with no choice , Farhan comes back to Mumbai to reunite with his old rock band buddies Purab Kohli and Arjun Rampal . Rampal is now the owner of a nightclub and is most successful financially . But their lives are set on a rebound course when they are again confronted with Shraddha Kapoor in Mumbai and they discover that she is deeply connected with the tragic happenings of the past ; happenings that had veered Farhan off course away from Rock music and away from Mumbai to Meghalaya .

However , Purab Kohli sees this as an opportunity to reignite their life's passion---Rock music , what else . With Arjun Rampal willing to not only co operate but also to pour money into the enterprise , they are on course to have a rock concert in Meghalaya whose proceedings will financially help those people whose lives were destroyed by goons in the fire there . But the youth that is required to put life into this old rock band is Shraddha....and will she be able to get rid of the ghosts of the past to become a rock star ?? More importantly , will the lawless powers-that-be of Meghalaya allow this rock concert to happen ??

The movie has some good photography of Meghalaya to obviously promote it as a tourist destination---wide lakes and green forests and tall mountains and deep valleys . It looks all nice during the day but I have experience of living in remote areas and believe me it is scary to live in such remote outposts at night . And while the tranquillity of streams of crystal clear water and the idea of being alone with lush greenery all around is enticing , the north east of India also has rebels in these isolated parts .

Amazingly however , the capital city of Meghalaya ( Shillong ) is also the capital of Rock music in India . And it is rock music that is the heart of the film , and also obviously it is in the heart of director cum lead actor Farhan Akhtar . The movie does do justice to it's title by belting out some decent foot tapping numbers . The songs are like Farhan himself---a blend of east and west .

Acting is okay by everyone without being special . The movie meanders for quite some time in the middle but it does give an emotionally uplifting and rousing climax---a climax that ends with the high of Rock music what else .

Verdict---okay .

Two and a half stars .