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Reviews
Uunchai (2022)
A good idea ruined by poor script
First, the idea of three elderly friends taking the desire of another recently deceased friend seriously enough to attempt a hike to the Everest Base Camp for dispersing his ashes, coming from a deeply embedded Bollywood production house, is novel and refreshing.
But that's where the novelty and freshness ends.
The film meanders at a pedestrian pace, pandering to the usual Rajshri maudlin sentiments, leaving one frustrated and thoroughly dissatisfied.
The film suffers from the inclusion of the 3 female characters of Neena Gupta, Sarika, and Nafisa Ali. They are not at all required to move the plot, but work only to drag the script at an excruciating slow pace. The film is almost 3 hours long. If the script had been kept true to the original idea, the film would have been a tight 100 t0 120 minutes long, and a delight to watch.
Even the magnificent Himalayas fail to lift the movie beyond mediocre.
Why I Killed Gandhi (2022)
Short but succinct film on Nathuram Godse
A very important film on an important event that successive Congress and Leftist Governments in India tried to suppress. Nathuram Godse removed the false halo around Gandhi's head like an onion, peel by peel, and displayed the false Mahatma's egocentric mentality that resulted in not only a religious partition of Bharat but also sowed the seed of perpetual hostility between Muslims and the rest. Godse's last speech at his trial is a masterpiece that needs to be widely read and now heard.
A very simple film, presented simply, without any frills. That makes it even more appealing.
Amol Kolshe is the only star in this drama and his performance is absolutely riveting.
Gravity (2013)
GRAVITY - The best film I have ever seen
Just watched the most amazing film I have ever seen. I must say that I am not fond of what film buffs call sci-fi and fantasy cinema, with its special effects and camera tricks that are so intriguing and beguiling. Somehow, despite all the high technology and the enormous amounts of money spent on creating mind-boggling sets, the narratives fail to rise above the mundane, and one is left wondering at what the creator of the film was trying to convey that could not have been said with simplicity. Most of the so-called hi-tech movies are modern versions of the old Westerns that were such a delight to watch when we were young. No amount of special effects that made Star Wars such a great success at the box office can make it a better or a more engaging film than Gunfight at the OK Corral or The Last Train from Gunhill. Hollywood has made a huge investment in studios, sets, and technology. To recover these investments the producers feel that they have to make films with special effects that can use this technology, and scripts are tweaked to include the use of mental pyrotechnics in order to keep the spectators on the edges of their seats. Blockbuster films like Avatar, Inception, Oblivion, and the Dark Knight saga exploit these techniques to the hilt. Their recognition all around the world, and the Academy and other international awards they routinely win, would seem to justify the investment that the industry has made in these technologies. But all the special effects and all the technology only add to the visual appeal of the cinema; it does nothing to the content. And that is why Gravity is such a different film.
In the hands of Alfonso Cuaron Gravity becomes a profoundly philosophical experience; an intense, emotionally exhausting journey into the universe that is unimaginably vast and incomprehensibly complex. The story is so simple that it can be written in just one page. No wonder actors like Angelina Jolie, Natalie Portman and a number of Hollywood celebrities made themselves unavailable for the role of the leading lady. I can imagine them telling the Director that the script gave them no scope to display their histrionic talents, and that they would not like to waste their energies on such a project. Even the male lead played by George Clooney had been offered to Robert Downey Jr., the star of the new Sherlock Holmes films, but he too might have found the role too minimal for his star status and discovered that he had "scheduling problems."
Teaming up with his writer son Jonas Cuaron, and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, with whom he had earlier made the immensely successful Y Tu Mama Tambien, Cuaron has created a masterpiece, a film that grips you from the first scene, shakes your every nerve, and leaves you physically and emotionally drained at the end. Sandra Bullock, playing a medical engineer Dr. Ryan Stone, on her first space mission, is a devoted scientist who leaves her laboratory every evening and drives home to a meaningless existence outside that lab. George Clooney is Matt Kowalski, a veteran astronaut, on his last space mission as its commander. The two are performing a routine space walk while repairing some instrument aboard the Hubble space telescope when disaster strikes in the form of a Russian satellite disintegrating and crashing through space destroying other satellites, creating a veritable assault of space debris that crashes at astronomical speeds into whatever it encounters in its path. In the process the two astronauts get separated from their shuttle and are set adrift in the vastness of their surroundings. All the resources available are contained within their space suits, and with Oxygen levels dropping, their chances of survival are reduced to near zero.
How the two cope with their predicament is the narrative of the 90 minutes of this stunning film that has perhaps the most wonderful visuals of the universe as seen from 600 Kms., above the earth. This, we must understand, is not a Discovery Channel documentary, but a human drama taking place not on terra firma but in an atmosphere of zero gravity, where there is no atmosphere to speak of. The film revolves round these two actors although we do hear the voices of the mission controllers and the third astronaut aboard the shuttle, who happens to have some connection with the Indian subcontinent, and who keeps singing the famous "mera joota hai japani" song from Raj Kapoor's Shree 420. The film is shot in 3-D, which makes the viewer get totally involved in the action. In space, where there is no atmosphere to carry sound, and where silence is supreme, the Director has introduced a musical score that heightens the drama, and only science purists will cavil at this cinematic license. I am not sure how accurate the physics of the film is, but for an average, reasonably well educated viewer, it should not matter. The performance of Sandra Bullock, a late choice for the role, is undoubtedly her best till date, and I am sure the actors who passed this role must be rueing the fact. Bullock should easily win the Oscar for this performance of a lifetime. George Clooney has yielded top billing to his co- star, although his performance is no less commendable.
Gravity should be the hottest favourite to win a clutchful of Academy Awards this year and I cannot see any other film coming close to it in the race for the top honors, including all the technical awards. Overall, it is an extremely satisfying film that raises difficult questions about the limits of science in an infinite universe; and whether the laws of physics are the only tools required to resolve the riddles of existence; birth, death and the human response to intangibles like love, care and despair. It raises questions about the validity and the role of spirituality in a world governed by science.
Kahaani (2012)
Not Flawless
Kahaani is definitely Vidya Balan's film as she has the panache to carry this entire film on her more than capable shoulders. It seems that with her stupendous performance in Dirty Picture, she just needs to be in the lead to make people declare the film as "outstanding". But, in the final analysis the film fails to rise above the level of mediocrity. It's biggest drawback is the story. Having taken the Tokyo Serin Gas attack as the starting point, the narrative completely forgets to explain why the attack took place at first and what motivated the head of the Indian Intelligence to get involved in the conspiracy. The attacks in Japan were launched by a religious cult who believed that it was the duty of its members to bring the apocalypse on this world. The entire edifice of Kahaani is built on very weak foundations. Secondly, the film owes a lot to Malayalam film Director Blessy, whose Calcutta News was also shot in the city and Sujoy Ghose has used his imagery almost to the extent of having copied it. The end leaves a lot to be desired. It was too contrived with the inevitable Durga Pooja processions providing the backdrop. The film is put together well for which the editor deserves a lot of kudos. but on the whole, it has received a lot more praise than I think it deserves.
The Artist (2011)
Not original
There is a great b & w film of the 50's in Hindi titled "Kagaz Ke Phool". It was directed by the legendary Guru Dutt, and starred the director himself and Waheeda Rehman. Those who have seen this film will immediately notice how much The Artist owes to Guru Dutt. Even Dutt's film was inspired by Chaplin's Limelight. So I fail to see why there is so much noise about a silent film that is different from the two films I have mentioned in only an absence of sound. Kagaz Ke Phool had outstanding camera work by V. K. Murthy, who explored light and shade as had never been done before or since. I am quite certain that the director of The Artist is familiar with Guru Dutt and Charlie Chaplin's works. He would have enhanced his reputation had he acknowledged his debt to these two greats of cinema.
Raincoat (2004)
Monsoon Memories
RAINCOAT is a very different kind of cinema. Although it is loosely based upon O'Henry's The Gift of the Magi, the dissimilarities are more striking than the similarities. I would like to call it an original idea, and not a screenplay adapted from an existing text.
Before I saw Raincoat I had seen only two of Rituparno Ghosh's movies. One was UTSAB and the second CHOKHER BALI. The problem with Ghosh is that he was under a very heavy influence of Satyajit Ray; I guess it is very difficult not to be influenced by HIM. Utsab was stylized by SHAKHA PROSHAKHA, and Chokher Bali By GHARE BAIRE. Both the Ray movies are among his great works, although nowhere near the Apu trilogy and the earlier B&W work. I have not seen UNISHE APRIL, which, I believe, is very good. But then, I think, the credit probably will go to Aparna Sen for that, as I understand she is outstanding in the film. As a matter of fact, Aparna Sen is one Bengali film maker who understood Ray the most, and consciously avoided falling into a mimetic trap. Her films have no Ray stamp on them and yet they are as artistic and humane as any Ray film. Among the contemporary film makers, Aparna Sen is probably the only one who can be counted as an original with her solid body of work.
Coming to RAINCOAT, Ghosh has made a conscious departure from Ray and created a film totally his own. In this he has been aided by a wonderful script, and two outstanding performances by the lead pair. His cameraman has captured the bleakness of a monsoon day in Rai's apartment, and you can almost feel and smell the musty dampness of the room. The lighting is amazing, and like Ashoka Mehta's camera-work in 36, Chowranghee Lane, explores the dark corners of Rai's home, thereby laying bare her soul. Yet the movie is not all gloom. Through dialog, you are kept involved in the pathetic make-believe world of the two protagonists (I will not call them lovers). Manoj may have a feeble right to be called a jilted lover, but Neerja never really loved him. She was always looking for a meal ticket and settled for the first eligible candidate without even a cursory glance backwards. Her pride does not permit her to accept that she had made a bad choice and the game of one-oneupmanship is still very much on with her. It is only when she says that her name consists of six letters and could have been used for naming his company, that she allows you to glimpse a sense of remorse. The fact that Rajnee is an anagram of Neerja, enhances this sense of loss and pathos. Yet, you do not feel sorry for her. She made a very deliberate choice and no amount of sacrifice on her part will endear her to the audience. Manoj's sacrifice, therefore, is more laudable, considering that his future is absolutely hopeless, and that he will have to start from all over again. He has also undertaken to find a solution to her problem after three months.. His ordeal seems to have just begun, and we don't know how it is going to end.
The other aspects of the film are flawless. The cameo performances of Annu Kapoor and Mouli Ganguly are brilliant. The title song by Shubha Mudgal is perfect in theme and rendition. Gulzar's verses exploring the dark corners of Rai's room are almost Ghalibian and beautifully appropriate. There is not a single superfluous scene or dialog in the film. No footage is wasted and not one word is meaningless. The undercurrent of the story is one of loss and pathos, yet one can appreciate the irony of the situation, and it becomes almost comic as the two play their game of one-oneupmanship. This is cinema at its best and like a Greek tragedy it has a sense of catharsis through the lines spoken by Mouli Ganguly.
The Raincoat eventually becomes a symbol for the masks we wear in order to hide our insecurities, our disappointments, and our egotistical selves. The raincoat worn by a domestic help has to be perfumed before it can be loaned to a middle-class out-of-work friend. The same raincoat carries in its pocket the letter revealing the true state of Manoj's affairs, and finally, the jewelery that Neerja thinks will help Manoj in his endeavor.