Punching thin air

Film: Mary Kom

Director: Omung Kumar

If you walk into this Omung Kumar film with the expectation of being blown away by India’s most celebrated south-paw, you are in for a surprise. You do get punched after watching Mary Kom, however, it is not by of the inspiring story of MC Mary Kom, but by a glove filled with melodrama, unnecessary sympathy, in-your-face patriotism, untimely product placements and what feels like a bag of loose change.

The film begins with a little girl picking up a boxing glove from a wreckage and ends with her winning the world championship for the fourth time; between which, she faces opposition from within the community, fights corruption from within the association and all that comes with being an athlete, and a woman at that. The film journey’s through her life as the eldest daughter of a rice farmer to a national champion to being a wife, a mother and a world champion.

Frankly, there couldn’t be a better story to tell, and the failure here lies with the storytellers who simply glance through the important milestones and stitch those moments with melodramatic overtones. The screenplay is haphazardly strung together and there are moments in the second half where you are left disinterested as Mary oscillates between training and looking after her children.

The supporting elements to the narrative too fail to integrate and bind it into one compound and there are always little shots of melodrama to distract you from thinking how a lot of issues are being omitted. Right from the trivialization of the rebellion in Manipur to a caricatured portrayal of corruption in the system, the film overlooks many a fundamental problems. Be it the long scene where Mary is made to apologise for her outburst to the federation or the causal outburst where she, with no prior hints at the issue starts screaming that the federation is being prejudiced against her for being a Manipuri.

That apart, comparison to other boxing films would come automatically; however, that only weakens the case for Mary Kom. The moment you start thinking Million Dollar Baby or Raging Bull or Rocky (if you are into that), you realise how poorly shot it is. The scene where she picks a fight with a boy, or the montages of her training just highlight how uninspired and non-committal the film is.

There was a huge outcry about Priyanka Chopra playing the lead in the film, but after having watched the film, that criticism can finally be validated. Priyanka as Mary Kom is as poor a casting as it would be to cast Mary Kom to play Priyanka Chopra in a biopic about her life. It is the equivalent of Zack Galifianakis portraying the Mahatma in Attenborough’s Gandhi. The other characters in the film are too uni-dimensional, be it the no-nonsense coach, the skeptical father, the supportive husband, the spiteful federation representative and the fierce German nemesis.

The mushy background score, the perennially weepy protagonist and the patronizing story make for a tableau of sympathy-seeking story, which makes the treatment of Bhaag Milkha Bhaag seem neo-real. It is high time we stopped spoon-feeding emotions to our audience and leave it to them to appreciate the beauty of a life well lived. Mary Kom the person, Mary Kom the persona, and Mary Kom the phenomenon, are all let down. We are sorry magnificent Mary, we owe you a film.

Rating: 1.5 out of 5

Carnival of 'Rust'

Film: Zanjeer

Director: Apoorva Lakhia

Prakash Mehra's Zanjeer (which was made in a much simpler time when it was acceptable to see an angry young man take on an army of goons), charted a path for Amitabh as the angry young man, gave Pran yet another unforgettable role as Sher Khan and was laden with heavy duty dialogues and story of the hit duo Salim-Javed. Apoorva Lakhia's re-make, starring Ram Charan, is simply a loud, confused tale, oscillating between the genre of the angry young man and the new-age Dabangg sensibility.

The adapted screenplay, written by Suresh Nair and the director himself, doesn't deviate much from the plot structure of the original, save for setting the film in contemporary times (something that the re-hashers of Agneepath did not do). The protagonist, Vijay Khanna, who is tormented by the same dream of a masked murderer on a horse, kicks the chair and says “yeh police station hai, tumhare baap ka ghar nahi. Jab tak baithne ke liye kaha na jaye, chup chap khade raho” and has the swagger of a young man whose blood is boiling. However, this, and many more parallels that are subconsciously made by everyone who has seen the original, make Lakhia's film look like a cheap imitation.

Prakash Raj, who re-creates Ajit's character on screen, is reduced to a comic relief element for almost the entire first half. His opening scene, which shows him slit a man's throat after a house-servant whispers “Sir, gaddaar Shaun hai” in his ears, makes him appear more amusing than intimidating. Majority of his scenes are laden with unnecessary sexual overtones and see him reduced to a joke. Similarly, Mahie Gill, who plays Mona, is a colossal waste of a talented actor, as she moans and grunts her way through dialogues that add absolutely no substance to the film.

The only plus point of the film is Ram Charan's physique, which for the first time, allows the angry young man to take off his shirt and not look like a malnourished child from Sudan (apologies to AB of 40 years ago). Priyanka Chopra too is reduced to a good looking girl, who is just a narrative tool for a few moments of romance and intimacy.

The lesser said about Sanjay Dutt's Sher Khan, the better. Comparison with Pran is a sin we aren't willing to commit. But getting to re-live those lines itself would have been a good experience, had Dutt not spoiled it with his monotony.

Having made this film when police officer protagonists are selling like hot cakes, Zanjeer struggles to find its identity as whether it wanted to be a re-creation of the seventies' sentiment or a remix, which incorporated the story in today's age of Singham and Chulbul Pandey.

The film doesn't actively bore you, but leaves you with nothing to cherish. And if by the end of the first half, you're still not sure if this is a remake, Mahie Gill says to Prakash Raj, while watching Ajit and Bindu in the original Zanjeer, “Tumhari personality kitni milti julti hai.” Well, you decide.

Rating: 1 out of 5

Published in DNA (Pune) on September 7, 2013

A Box of Sweets

Entertaining, heartwarming and joyful, yes; but Anurag Basu's Barfi! has loopholes that can trap a Yeti's foot. The plot is thin as ice and is held together only by the sweet moments that bring a smile to your faces from time to time. Barfi! is a great series of short events, but in those events, the bigger picture appears to have lost its purpose. 

The gaps in the narrative are unseen while you are experiencing the delight that the film is, but as soon as the initial charm fades, the shortcomings and predictability of the plot become visibly evident. Barfi! is a story of 3 individuals and their search for love and where that search takes them depending on the paths that they choose. Their destinies are intertwined such that they affect each other and eventually, they all end up finding what love means, one way or another.

The screenplay, written by Basu himself,  unfolds on screen like a spoonful of ice-cream melts on your palette. But, however excellent the execution, every brilliantly crafted moment in the film reminds you of something you have seen in a good movie before. And that may very well appear revolutionary for the naive audience, for a veteran or a cinema junkie, Barfi! is a deja vu. The deja vu not only spoils the originality of the film but also brings you out of the world that is in front of you and you begin thinking about the parallels from The Notebook, Amelie, City Lights and others to name a few.

The music is a treat to the ears but it is impossible to not reminisce the time you watched Jean Pierre Jeunet's Amelie. The score is slathered with influence of the soundtrack from the brilliant French film. The songs are performed brilliantly by all the artistes and Swanand Kirkire's lyrics couldn't be more apt. A special fist bump/high five/ chest bump to whose ever's idea it was to start the film with Picture Shuru. The background score in the movie tends to be over used to fill the silences left by a mute protagonist, which, quite frankly, would not really bother you. It is just the kind of gimmicks that are undertaken to appease the restless audience and to spoon feed them that turn a good film into an average film.

Ranbir Kapoor speaks just one word in the film but reaches out to the audience like he never did. His Chaplinesque performance is a delight to watch and is not only a noteworthy performance but an homage to Raj Kapoor's legacy. Priyanka's portrayal of an autistic girl is a little over the top but the consistency of body language and the way she has carried herself throughout the film is commendable. Arguably her best role so far. Ileana impresses on debut but there is nothing extraordinary about her acting (unlike her pretty face). The overall ensemble cast puts in a satisfactory performance and after a long time, Saurabh Shukla is seen in a role that exploits his talents.

Ravi Varman is the stand out individual with cinematography that belongs to the elite league in Indian cinema. Every frame is perfect and the consistency of treatement is what makes the rest of the units in the film look good in unison.

All in all, Barfi!, for the audience that we are as a nation, will be one of the best films made this year. It is a great experience but there's nothing you take home. You love it while you live it.

Rating: 3 out of 5