MIRZYA : TO WATCH OR NOT TO WATCH?

The first thing that strikes you is the stunning visual effects. The opening scene is set in an unidentified time period in history where some kind of a 'swayamvar' is going on. The costumes seemed to be inspired by Game of Thrones and our leading lady Saiyami Kher is seen standing in a model like posture (tall, dusky and all set for the runway). One of those competing in the 'swayamvar' is of course Mirza, played by Harshvardhan Kapoor, with his face half covered. Deliberate attempts were made to create a mysterious aura around the character of Mirza, which also explains why the audience doesn't get to see his face before 30 minutes of the movie has already played out in front of our eyes.

The film is based on the Punjabi folklore Mirza Sahiban or as I and many others out there would like to put it: the Indian version of Romeo and Juliet. Here are a  few observations that I made while watching the movie:

The director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra has paid a tad too much attention on the look of the film then on the story itself. Interestingly the screenplay is written by Gulzar but there is no glimpse of the genius that the man is otherwise known for. But then there are the songs in the film which are also written by Gulzar and our faith in him is restored . The music is the best thing about Mirzya.

Harshvardhan Kapoor's debut is both daring and safe at the same time. Safe because he is being launched by an established award winning director and producers with enough money to spare. Daring because even within the parameters of a commercial space he is not your typical Bollywood hero. To begin with he has no six pack (just like Ranbir Kapoor) which made him look normal throughout he film and mind you there are quite a few shirtless scenes of him. Secondly his character is not a 'MARD' who can fight with ten baddies at a time. In fact there is a scene where a policeman chases him and grabs him from the back but it was Saiyami who comes to his rescue. Harshvardhan possesses a raw sexuality and a 'Gael Garcia Bernal' kind of aura about him. However his expressions hardly changes throughout the film and he has a very soft voice which didn't go well with the role he essayed.

Saiyami Kher is gorgeous and has a 'in your face' sexy attitude. She is quite a vision in the red dress when she goes into the water (Well you will have to watch the movie to get a better picture of what I am saying). Alas she is not much different from Harsh when it comes to acting. And if you were thinking that Anil Kapoor's son and Sonam Kapoor's brother is the only star kid in the film then you are wrong. Saiyami Kher is the granddaughter of yesteryear actress Usha Kiran and the niece of Tanvi Azmi, which makes her nothing short of a star kid herself.

Assuming that you all know the story of Mirza Sahiban (or you can just Google it), all I can say about the story is that the film has stuck to it's source. The supporting cast is eclectic and leaves a mixed impression in our minds. Anjali Patil deserves a special mention. Om Puri is a waste in the film. To sum it up in one line: Mirzya is well made but it offers nothing new. The lead pair looks good but has a lot to prove in their upcoming films. Harshvardhan Kapoor will get many more chances but I hope that Saiyami too gets better films in the future.

RATING: 2 STARS (OUT OF 5).

MS DHONI: THE UNTOLD STORY?

After a long wait, ever since it was announced almost two years ago, 'MS DHONI: THE UNTOLD STORY' finally released on September 30. Within three days of it's release it has broken records of sorts by minting more than 66 crores at the domestic box office. This naturally means people across the country are loving it, right? The main purpose of me writing this blog post is to share my personal views regarding the film. The key word here is 'personal view'. I have already put up a Facebook status regarding the same but you can only write that much in such a platform. So let me jump right into the party!

Let's start at the beginning. The film begins with the ICC Cricket World Cup final 2011 and our man Dhoni is all set to go out for his batting. Sushant Singh Rajput who plays Dhoni, takes off his shirt and puts on the number 7 jersey and the audience goes berserk, after all we Indians are a cricket crazy lot. The opening scene sets the tone of the film and then it goes into flashback right into the day Mahi was born.

Mahi grows up and now he is in school. Average in his studies and more interested in sports (more in football and less in cricket), just like any other school kid. His father played by Anupam Kher is a pump operator and everything seems fine until one midnight he sees his father watering a field. May be it had an impact on the young mind; gave him a reason to do something significant with his life. So far so good. His sports coach one day saw him goal keeping and asked him if he would like to play cricket (as a goal keeper of course). He reluctantly agreed but his heart is in batting. Well if that's exactly how he got into cricket (mind it Dhoni himself supervised the script) then fine I have nothing to say. However I couldn't help but notice that his growing up years is shown in a pretty generic manner. There are clichéd dialogues like 'Padhoge likhoge to banoge nawab, kheloge kudoge to hoge kharab' to which our young Dhoni replies 'Padhoge likhoge to hoge kharab, kheloge kudoge to banoge nawaab'. And naturally the audience starts murmuring casually with peals of laughter as they already know that the young boy grows up to be 'Dhoni: The great cricketer'. Seems pretty basic and convenient?, well this is just the beginning.

And the saga of rise of Dhoni into a young man with great sporting skills continues throughout the first half. He hits a lot of sixes and has the ability to pull crowds when he plays and 'Mahi maar raha hain' becomes a regular catchphrase among his hordes of supporters. The feeling I got here is that Dhoni was a born prodigy who got lucky with his circumstances. He was good in football and when the situation demanded he also adapted very well into cricket although not without the customary 'machli pakad raha hain kya' scolding from his coach. And there's the inexplicable neighbour cum supporter cum the owner of the shop where Dhoni works, who goes out of his way to use his contacts to get Dhoni a sponsorship. A born prodigy and a lots of lady luck, I am not so sure if that's how one should show the formative years of a sporting icon. The entire episode in the movie can be summed up in one word: uninspiring. The screenplay is as basic as it gets. A little bit of dramatization wouldn't have hurt. It's a movie after all and it's not like the makers have not taken any creative liberties in the film. For instance the day he was born the nurse tell his father that his wife gave birth to a boy and the doctor tells him that it's a girl. It was clearly to add some comic element to the film or did it really happen? Well we'll have to ask Dhoni's parents.

Another episode is when he misses the opportunity to play in Kolkata as he misses his flight. The very next moment he is buying 'Singharas' for his friends as he wants to remember the day and work as hard as he can. Well everyone has  a different way of dealing with missed opportunities but the problem is that he is shown as this super human who never breaks down barring one scene in the second half when he finds out about he death of his girlfriend. The director seemed more focused on selling the image 'Dhoni: The Romantic' more than 'Dhoni: The Person'.

The mid portion of the film where Dhoni is offered a job in the railway and takes it up reluctantly due to family pressure and also partly due to his necessity, is the most insightful part of the film. We get a glimpse of the silent suffering and 'a boy lost in the world' kind of feeling that he undergoes.

If the first half was ordinary, the second half really tests your patience. He is part of the Indian cricket team now and after performing poorly in a couple of matches he meets his first girlfriend in a flight. It is such a overdone scene which we have seen hundreds of times in Indian films. A chirpy girl who is a Sachin fan but has no idea who Dhoni is, asks for the latter's help to get an autograph from Sachin. Disha Patani, the girl, consoles Dhoni that he will definitely play well in his next match and guess what he did play well. Then romance blossoms between the two and the girl constantly keeps asking, 'hamare paas bohut time hain na?' hence giving you an idea that she is going to die soon. But before that happens she gets two romantic songs thus giving her somewhat around 10-15 mins of screen time. After the girl dies of course Dhoni's form goes haywire. His good form is because of a girl's wishes and his bad form is because a girl died, isn't that an insult to the man's talent? or may be the director, Neeraj Pandey, was trying to bring in some feminist angle to his narrative like 'behind every successful man there is a woman' kind of melodrama.

The next thing we know that he is the captain now and has made some necessary changes in the team. By now the film has already begun it's downfall journey. The next few moments are only a  collage of  some good and bad performances on the field, crazy maniac fans burning his effigies right outside his house and a breaking news with funny headlines. One fine day he meets Sakshi, puts on a disguise and hangs out with her on the streets. There is also a ritualistic song in a foreign location. Finally the media finds out an the two love birds gets married. Cut to the world cup final where he scores the winning six. Sure it was a proud moment for India and to see that moment once again on the big screen people were understandably ecstatic and emotional. However it couldn't hide the fact that it is a flawed movie. I couldn't connect to it. There's no emotional depth, no display of sportsmanship spirit in any particular scene. Had it been a documentary it would have worked wonders but this was intended as a drama film which falls flat form the word go. Coming to the title 'MS DHONI: THE UNTOLD STORY', the film doesn't offer anything 'untold' to the audience. Any crazy cricket fan (which is most of the country) knows all the details shown in the film: where he was born, where he studied, what his father was, how many runs he scored in the Ranjis, when he became captain, who his first girlfriend was, how much income tax he pays (not shown in the film, but naturally), how many bikes he has, that he was a railway ticket collector. There are numerous newspaper and online articles and innumerable books available for people to read about his personal life. The film has no exclusivity. It is just a celebration of the man's achievements, but do we really need such a long movie for this?

I do understand why the film works for those who enjoyed it. They were looking at things from Dhoni's perspective. For them it was not any actor falling in love, it was Dhoni falling in love, hence the loud cheers. However if you don't look at the movie with a  filter of jingoistic patriotism you will realize that it's a perfectly average movie. For me personally it was a disappointment because the expectation was sky high. This was supposed to be Sushant's Rockstar and Bajirao Mastani but sadly it isn't. It will definitely go down as one of his best performances but the film is nonredeemable. And I am not talking about the box office here. Even a 'Housefull' earns over 100 crores at the box office. That's a different topic for another day.

RATING: 1 OUT OF 5.

If you have watched MS DHONI: THE UNTOLD STORY, do let me know your views.

Thank You.

SUZZANE BAKER one of the winners from the northeast who will walk the ramp at the Lakme Fashion Week Winter Festive 2016.

GULAAB GANG

LIFE AND TIMES OF A MISFIT: GULAAB GANG: The film marks the coming together of the two finest actresses of Indian cinema; Madhuri Dixit and Juhi Chawla. Each a phenomenon in their ...

GULAAB GANG

The film marks the coming together of the two finest actresses of Indian cinema; Madhuri Dixit and Juhi Chawla. Each a phenomenon in their own right. If we look back at the career of both these actresses, we will notice that Madhuri has clearly been the better and more successful actress of the two. So I am glad that for once Juhi has out shined Madhuri. I am talking about the performances in the film Gulaab Gang. Both of them have done exceptionally well but it's Juhi who takes the cake. As a cold, heartless and scheming politician she exuded pure evilness. She got every mood and nuances of her character bang on. I personally was stunned to see that level of brilliance in her performance. She was always this bubbly, sweet, girl next door kinda actress, an image which she had carefully maintained even after her marriage. I guess things are about to change for her now. Film makers are getting more subject oriented and actors getting more performance oriented. An actor's age is just a number now-a-days. Otherwise a film like this would never have been made. The director Soumik Sen took the brave initiative to cast two actresses in leading roles, who are way past their prime in terms of age and looks, but not in terms of talent. The gamble paid off but it seems the director forgot to pay any attention to the film as a whole. The story is inspired from real life events but at times it becomes too imaginary and impossible to believe as per the circumstances shown in the film. The attempt is praiseworthy but the execution is what brings down the film. Too many songs and dancing adds to the misery, and not a single song is pleasing to the ears. Tannistha Chatterjee appears in a small role which doesn't give her enough scope to show her talent.

So the first day of 2014 is almost coming to an end.How did I spent it? Well I got up late as usual, but there was something in the air that said to me 'smile', may be it was the sun I am not sure. I get this feeling of joy every year, may be because the first day of a new year is really special and why not. A new year is like life is giving you a new fresh chance to amend your mistakes, to assure you that all the wrong things that happened to you are in the past now. Well I may agree with the 'all's in the past' theory but I don't believe that it's mandatory to make yourself a promise to change yourself for better, as a part of your new year resolution. I mean 2013 was just one day, how can people or me for that matter expect to undergo a great deal of change in myself. It's like waiting for Santa Claus during Christmas, which is nothing but glorified imagination.

In the afternoon I went out to meet my school buddy, a girl. I was excited because we will see each other after a gap of over one year. I met her, talked about this and that decided to go out to grab some snacks. More talking, eating.......n finally the evening came to an end.

As usual I spent a lot of time on Facebook today, wished some of my frnds online, and planned a holiday with some of my university frnds. So looking forward to it. 2014 I hope you don't disappoint me. I want to travel a lot, drink and fuck out my frustrations.................And hopefully something will happen to me professionally........................................

PYAAR KA PUNCHNAMA

JUST BACK HOME AFTER EXAMS...SIMPLY WENT OUT TO MEET ONE OF MY OLD FRIENDS AND WE DECIDED TO WATCH A MOVIE IN THE EVENING...TO MY UTTER DELIGHT...THE ONLY THEATRE IN MY TOWN WAS SHOWING PYAAR KA PUNCHNAMA....I HAVE BEEN  READING AND LISTENING GOOD THINGS ABOUT THE MOVIE.... SO I WAS VERY EXCITED...WE WENT... WE WATCHED IT...AND TO BE PRECISE I WASNT DISAPPOINTED...NOR WAS MY FRIEND....A VERY REFRESHING MOVIE...TO BEGIN WITH...ALL NEW STARCAST...AND EVERYBODY DID A BRILLIANT JOB....THE FILM DEALS WITH THE ISSUE OF BOYFRIENDS AND GIRLFRIENDS 2 B PRECISE...3 BACHELORS IN THEIR MID 20S....SERIOUSLY IN NEED OF SOME1 IN THEIR LIVES...SO THEY FALL FOR DIFFERENT  GIRLS UNDER DIFFERENT CIRCUMSTANCES....1 GOT A NAGGING GRLFRND....2ND GOT A GRL WHO JST USD HIM AS A TYMPASS...3RD..WELL ITS A CURIOUS CASE...HE GOT A GRL WHO IS NOT SERIOUS ABOUT HIM NEITHER HER ACTUAL BPYFRND...TO KNOW WAT HAPPENS U HV 2 WATCH D MOVIE....BUT  IN SHORT IT TELLS US DAT GRLS JUST USE BOYS 2 GET THEIR WORK DONE....OR JUST SOME1 TO SLEEP WID WHEN THEIR BOYFRNDS R FAR AWAY....WHEN TIME CUMS 2 FACE D REAL WORLD THEY JST BACK OUT...THIS MOVIE TELLS THE STORY FROM  MEN'S PERSPECTIVES AND PORTRAYS WOMEN IN A VERY BAD LIGHT...AND NO I M NOT COMPLAINING....B'COZ DATS D TRUTH....THOUGH NOT ALL GRLS R BAD....D SAME IS WITH WE MEN...WE 2 HV EMOTIONS,GENUINE FEELINGS,COMPASSION...U NAME IT.....FINAL WORDS.....THOSE GIRLS WHO THINK WE R NOT SMART ENOUGH R NOT  GUD ENOUGH 2 B OUR SOULMATES...