Fraud Shakespeare

Film: Issaq

Director: Manish Tiwary

What’s in a name? That which we call Issaq, be by any other word, wouldn’t be as awful. To think that Vishal Bhardwaj’s adaptation of Othello (Omkara) was on the verge of being called Issaq, going by the sound of how Ishq is said in the larger part of North India, would make you shudder after you watch this film. However, the destiny of the word Issaq was somewhere entwined to a Shakespearean adaptation.

But in Manish Tiwary’s world, the adaptation begins and ends with a few simplistic pick-and-drops. Verona becomes Varanasi, Capulets become Kashyaps, Montagues become Mishras and the sweet smell of a tragic, yet rosy romance is lost in the pungent odour of its twisted narrative that combines more elements than are necessary in a film.

As if family rivalry and a romance in its midst wasn’t dramatic enough, Issaq adds an element of Naxalism, with Prashant Narayanan as a leader of a Naxalist faction that randomly attacks and yells “Lal Salaam!” for no reason whatsoever. This might be the Indianised adaptation of the part in Romeo and Juliet when the Crusaders marched over Verona. Oh wait, William never wrote that. The overall screen time wasted on the peripheral, fruitless sub-plot could have been used to better depict the romance.

But that would do no good either. The principle characters of the film, Prateik as Rahul and Amyra as Bachchi, leave you utterly dissatisfied. In most of their romantic encounters, you want to stop them and request a re-take. In fact, the lousy effort from Amyra who speaks with a Western accent and then goes on to pronounce words like “Sa-pecial” makes it utterly ridiculous. However, it is fitting then, that our Romeo, Prateik, compliments his Juliet with a lousy performance of his own. We have waited too long for him to live up to his potential (and genes) and this is as good a time as any to give up.

Makarand Deshpande, who plays a yogi baba (with a Naxalite back-story as well), is the herb-smoking rendition of the Apothecary. And whatever herb it is that he was puffing, make sure you do too (if you want to watch the film without wanting to stab yourself). A few other secondary characters have indeed given appreciable performances, like Rajeshwari Sachdev in a role parallel to Capulet’s wife and Ravi Kissen as (one might infer) Tybalt. But throughout his loud role, he never touches the “Peace? Peace. I hate the word.” sentiment. The film initially has its characters perform in a theatrical manner but loses the poetic dramatisation somewhere in the middle.

Relocating a five hundrend year old story into an alien setting is quite a task, but we have seen films where it has been done with ease and grace. From Kurosawa’s Throne of Blood to Bhardwaj’s Maqbool – there are numerous examples where Shakespeare’s tales have been beautifully re-enacted on screen. However, Issaq simply adds too many elements to its narrative and in maintaining all of them, presents a dismal finished product.

The film has given Shakespeare’s last words in Romeo and Juliet, “For never was a story of more woe. Than this of Juliet and her Romeo” a new meaning.

Rating: 1 out of 5

Published in DNA (Pune) on July 27, 2013

A Shipment par excellence

Film: Ship Of Theseus
Director: Anand Gandhi

Cinema will become great if it receives great audience. But it is equally important that this great audience gets the opportunity to watch great films and that is why cinephiles should rejoice at the commercial release of Anand Gandhi's Ship Of Theseus. Based on a novel concept and treated with a fresh perspective, the film doesn't simply make for a good watch, but is also a motivator for more and more indie filmmakers to come forth and seize the day.

The title refers to the Theseus' paradox, wherein the Greek philosopher Plutarch questions whether a ship that has been restored by replacing all its parts, remains the same ship. The film addresses this philosophical query of identity, justice, beauty, meaning and death through the lives of an experimental photographer, an sickly monk and a young stockbroker.

With a voice of its own, all the dialogues in the film try to prove a point using their characters' vantage points. The characters themselves portray life as is, without dramatising a situation that is at hand. Aida El-Kashef's portrayal of a blind experimental photographer is overwhelmingly believable. And if you thought Farhan Akhtar's transformation in Bhaag Milkha Bhaag was commendable, wait till you see the Christian Bale-like transformation Neeraj Kabi has gone through for his role as a monk suffering from liver cirrhosis.

Gandhi's realist treatment reminds you of Kieslowskian imagery, which shows you life without any filters and creates its impact through realistic actions. Be it the dialogues, the camera movement or the sound design, the film engages you emotionally, stimulates you on an intellectual level and at times, makes you physically uncomfortable with its honest, stark visuals.

The film makes you question a lot of concepts in your life and to some extent, changes the way you think. If that is not success, what is? Ship of Theseus touches you, moves you, makes you feel and provides the whole package of a cinematic experience. It is also advisable for cinema geeks to watch this film repeatedly, so as to find the embedded philosophical values.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Published in DNA (Pune) on July 20, 2013

Alternative history enters Hindi cinema

Film: D Day

Director: Nikhil Advani

Let us keep aside the coincidence that D Day released on a dry day, and focus on the coincidence of how Rishi Kapoor's character of Goldman resembles Dawood Ibrahim. But apart from playing it safe by not naming the character after the real life kingpin, Nikhil Advani gets his basics right. From using verbal and non-verbal codes that convince you who the man really is, D Day takes you on a journey no Hindi film has embarked upon.

The film opens with a R&AW team consisting of Wali Khan, Rudra Pratap, Zoya and Aslam (Irrfan, Arjun, Huma and Akash Dahiya) undertake the cohort mission (Operation Goldman) of striking at a wedding to seize India's most wanted criminal. The film then takes you backwards and counts down to how they all came to be in one place. Developing every character's back story without playing to the gallery at any given point, the film makes you root for the foursome.

Why D Day is an important film is that it introduces a genre in Hindi cinema previously unknown. Although we have had plenty of historically inaccurate films, cinema about alternative history (like Inglorious Basterds) has never really been made. In doing so, the film shows you things you had never dreamt of seeing.

Unlike Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai and Shootout At Wadala, where we are indirectly introduced to the Bhai in the past, and unlike films like D, Shootout at Lokhandwala and others, where he is simply shown as a shadow who runs the show while safe in his house in Dubai; D Day imagines Goldman as he is today - wise and frail with age. From the red aviators that never leave his face to each and every dialogue he mouths, the film tries to give an insider's perspective on the don.

The complex flow of events is simplified, but not over-simplified and keeps you interested in the proceedings. Huma Qureshi and Arjun Rampal stick to their characters and are pretty convincing. Irrfan Khan as Wali Khan would steal the show on any given day, but comes second to a phenomenal show put up by Rishi Kapoor. Adding a little royal demeanour to his Rauf Lala from Agneepath, he (with a decent contribution of the makeup) has you convinced that you are seeing the man who has terrorised this country for over two decades.

Playing to its strengths, the film is entertaining through and through. A few action sequences are very well choreographed but there are some that appear just too choreographed and leave a scratch on an otherwise job-well-done.

Now that this weekend has you spoilt for choice, this would be a safe bet to take. Because White Houses will be blown many more times and producers will introduce their sons again, but India will only strike back once in a while. Make the most of it.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Published in DNA (Pune) on July 20, 2013

For the history books

Film: Bhaag Milkha Bhaag

Director: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra

The film opens with the final race at the 1960 Rome Olympics where the Flying Sikh took that infamous backward glance and shattered an entire country’s dreams. Two things are made clear by that visual; one, we are going to take a look back at how a refugee from Pakistan went on to become one of India’s most celebrated athletes, and two, Farhan Akhtar does not exist in the film, who we see is Milkha Singh.

A three-hour epic, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag chronicles the eventful and awe-inspiring life of Milkha Singh, without patronising his character and honestly narrating what is by far the best biopic made in Hindi cinema. Right from life as a little boy in a village in Pakistan, to his days at the refugee camp, to his youthful romance in a new village, to the joining of the Army and then to the life changing career in athletics – the film checks all boxes.

Pointing out minor flaws and misgivings in its narrative would be unnecessary nitpicking and would spoil the overall experience of BMB. Because walking in the shoes of a great man, as he journeys through his life, while sitting in a cold dark room, doesn’t get better than this.

Supporting roles are done to perfection by Pawan Malhotra, who plays Gurudev Singh and Prakash Raj, who surprises you for a change. Divya Dutta as Isri Kaur, Milkha’s sister, brings a sense of composure to his life, she is the only constant in his life. Dilip Tahil’s Nehru, Sonam Kapoor’s Nirmal Kaur, Meesha Shafi’s Perizaad and Rebbeca Breeds’ Stella, all come and go with very little to talk about.

Like Milkha, who squeezes his sweat into a mug in the film, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s seamless direction, which binds the efficient screenplay by Prasoon Joshi into a cinematograph, squeezes all the juice from the story and puts it into the film. The strength of the film, like Mehra’s other films, lies in the editing. PS Bharati, seems to have spent some time inside Mehra’s head, envisioning the film in unison. Binod Pradhan’s cinematography needs no description, and save for the substandard computer graphics in places, the images are pure gold.

All these put together, BMB becomes a life experience; as you live every moment of it as it happens. The thrill of live sport (made believable by Farhan’s hardwork), the pain of partition, the melancholy of a heartbreak, the despair in defeat and the jubilation in victory – you don’t simply watch it, it’s as if it is happening to you.

This is a film that is inspired from history, and is made for the history books. The legend of Milkha Singh has always been immortal, but with Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, it has become something more.

Rating: 5 out of 5

Published in DNA (Pune) on July 13, 2013

This one is for the kids

Film: Pacific Rim

Director: Guillermo Del Toro

In a pile of sci-fi movies shipped to us from Hollywood, finally a blockbuster arrives with a heart of its own, and brings along something entirely fresh to the current scheme of things. But the problem with Guillermo Del Toro’s Pacific Rim is that the heart just stops beating towards the end.

Set in the near future (2020), the film opens with legions of monstrous creatures, known as Kaiju, emerge from an inter-dimensional portal in the depths of the Pacific Ocean. To fight these demons, the human race unites to create large manned robots, Jaegers, of its own. However, while the robots take care of the initial threats, the aliens begin to adapt, evolve and grow stronger. On the verge of defeat, the governments disband the Jaeger project. But Marshall Stacker assembles what is left of the project, and creates a private resistance to get rid of the problem once and for all.

The film offers magnificent imagery of a world united by a common fear and is fairly innovative in thought and precise in its execution. The screenplay progresses in an upward manner, starting off with just a few glimpses of a threat that grows bigger and bigger with every passing sequence. But just short of its climax, the film lets go of its imagination and resorts to a tried-and-tested, derivative method to resolve the conflict.

The first duel between a Kaiju and a Jaeger takes place in the presence of a trawler with humans on it and this theme, which tries hard to establish a human connect while a giant robot is fighting an ugly monster, disappears somewhere in the second half. Between being aloof and spontaneously melodramatic, the film fails to find its tempo at times.

The graphics and action sequences overwhelm you with their size and surpasses the likes of Transformers in terms of technique and Godzilla in terms of impact. However, the fact remains, this is a film about creatures from foreign planets duelling with giant robots of equal size. If you are into that, go ahead. But make sure all the 8-10 year olds you know watch this. They deserve the magnificence and grandeur.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Published in DNA (Pune) on July 13, 2013

An Artistic Journey

The theatre doyen explains the process of creating a play with examples of her renowned play Hamidabaichi Kothi. Some excerpts --

Great theatre directors are moulded by their experience as seen in the case of playwright, director and theatre doyen Vijayabai Mehta. In an interview at the programme Samhita Te Natyaprayog - Ek Kalapravaas (Script to staging - an artistic journey) on Saturday, Vijayabai revealed the art and science of the theatre. At the start, she made it clear that all her observations were her opinions formed out of experience and not universal philosophies.

She said, "The journey began when I was 21 and is still going on. This journey requires a sense of companionship and also collaboration. I was lucky to get to work with people with similar sensibilities. Pitching your art to the right audience is also important."

Vijayabai then explained the process of creation in a step by step manner.

Concept and Filters

"All art forms are like morning tea. You take tea leaves; you add water, milk, sugar and boil it. What you have now is life and once you filter it to weed out unnecessary things, what you have left is art. In art forms these filters come at several levels. The first is the director, who interprets the script. Then, the rehearsals start and every actor adds his own filter. Then the music, set, properties, light -- every department adds a filter. Finally, the audience views the play with their own filters. That is when it becomes an art form -- when the creator takes an element from society, refines it and gives it back."

Citing Hamidabaichi Kothi, Vijayabai said, "Anil Barve (the writer) came to me with the concept. He had met a girl, Shabbo, on a train. Her mother was a traditional kothi singer who had refused to teach her the dying art. Anil went to Mumbai in search of such a woman. Although he didn't find one, he came across interesting characters that became part of the play."

Vijayabai said, "I asked my mother-in-law, Durga Khote, about the era when the business of the kothis began to dwindle thanks to film music and records. She told me about a lady, Neelambai (a kothi singer), whom she knew as the person who brought Nargis' mother into the film industry. To my surprise, this Neelambai turned out to be the same lady whose daughter Anil had met on the train. Anil named the lady Hamidabai and I decided to call the play Hamidabaichi Kothi. In the lead role would be the music, second lead the kothi, third character would be Hamidabai and then all the wacky characters from Anil's journey."

Collaboration and growth

"Now I had to decide m what form the play should be presented. Every playwright had a particular style -- Vijay Tendulkar had a journalistic approach, Dalvi an involved way of expressing in his work. For me, Hamidabaichi Kothi had to be a melodrama. Melodrama means something beyond real, overwhelming, but not fake. It meant taking a particular moment and lingering over it to contain the emotions."

"For the music, I discussed with Bhaskar Chandavarkar. He procured the earliest recorded ghazals, showed them to me and told me, "The ball is in your court." DG Godse worked on the set and costumes. Ten days later, he came to me with fabric samples for every character and a plan for the set. He said, "Deviji, the walls of the kothi will be greenish and 60 years old." Yes, the place too had a character. He found one of those large thaals used in community dining, which helped me write a scene including it. Now the concept had started to shape up and the characters were set. That is where the role of the director becomes crucial."

Acting and the director

Vijayabai's direction style is suggestive: Instead of telling actors what to do, she aids them in arriving at the right place. She gives the example of Sattar's character played by Nana Patekar. "We all know how Nana is naturally. He couldn't find Sattar's morose, vulnerable, pitiful body language. So I made him improvise on a scene wherein he had to run some errands for Hamidabai while in constant fear of her finding out about his other business. While he was into that, he found Sattar's neck. Then he found Sattar's shoulders and slowly, he found Sattar's voice. What happened next, we all know," she added.

"For an actor, it is important to keep searching for the character. An actor has four identities -- one of himself, the second is the character written by the writer, the third the identity which observes how the first is adapting to the second and the fourth identity supervises the other three. The fourth identity is the art in you. And one thing every actor should remember, something Stanislavski said - "Always respect the art in you, not you in the art." Because once you are proud of yourself, that curiosity and the will to search subside."

Theatre: as it is today

"I belong to the renaissance period in theatre and today, the situation is not the same. There are theories that revolutions are a cycle and skip a generation or two. I hope there is another renaissance soon. Today, there are a lot of training institutes that teach the craft, but those can only take you so far. The trick is not in knowing what to do; but knowing when to apply a particular skill. Practice and perseverance are two virtues young artists should cherish. They should strive to bring something new to the table and try to stretch the limits," she added.

Vijayabai concluded the programme with a quote by Picasso: "All art, including theatre is the greatest lie ever. But it is this great lie which can take you closest to the eternal truth."

Published in DNA (Pune) on July 8, 2013

A Wave of Her Own

French filmmaker Claire Denis speaks about the role of cinema in culture, her own brand of cinema and the role of a filmmaker

From the country that gave us directors like Goddard, Truffaut and the French New Wave Cinema comes yet another director who has carved a niche for herself in world cinema with 11 films in the past 25 years. Claire Denis, whose latest film Bastards (a hard-hitting noir film) was the official selection for the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, is in India for a 12-day workshop at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII).

Claire Denis

Apart from being a filmmaker, Claire has contributed to the development of formal engagements of French cinema since the 80s and is also a well-known teacher of cinema. Known for her unique approach, Claire has always seen films as something more than a medium of storytelling. "Storytelling is an important element, but cinema cannot always be used to give a psychological explanation. Our brains are full of literature and also of a dream world that consists of images and songs. And for me, making films is getting rid of explanations," she says. "Instead of providing an explanation, the audience should be allowed to realise things through the experience. The story is a basic entity and the way people speak of the narrative comes from their TV viewing habits. That cannot be applied to cinema,"she adds.

Claire's films are known to have a conscious connection of its characters to its setting, so much so that the spaces in her films also have a character. "It is an obligation for a character to exist in a particular space. And the movement of the character in time, has to be with respect to his location,"she states. She further adds that unlike photography, cinema is not static and unlike theatre, it is not live. Cinema has a movement in time that can be altered such that a 100-minute film can be a story of two days or a 1,000 years.

A still from White Material

In her opinion, of all forms of art and literature, it is cinema that can truly transcend boundaries. Having seen Pather Panchali as a child, Claire says, "This is my first visit to India and most of what I knew about the place comes from the movies I saw. No matter whether it's realistic or in the heightened logics of Bollywood, films enter people's homes and show what life is made of in a country."

Between her first film Chocolat (1988) to her latest film Bastards (2013), Claire's style has evolved over time. Having spent her childhood in Africa, the French post-colonial world is a recurring theme in some of her films like White Material (2009). "My way of making films has changed over the years. I have changed too. My body has changed and so has the way I think about life. I am less spontaneous, I day-dream lesser and I know I have less time than before," she says. "But I never really had a style in mind. I've not adhered to any way of making films. Neither mainstream, nor art-house, nor the New Wave. I am a wave of my own," she concludes.

Denis' Filmography

Chocolat (1988)

No Fear, No Die (1990)

I Can't Sleep (1994)

Nenette And Boni (1996)

Good Work (1999)

Trouble Everyday (2001)

Friday Night (2002)

The Intruder (2004)

35 Shots Of Rum (2008)

White Material (2009)

Bastards (2013)

Published in DNA (Pune) on July 9, 2013

There are films, and then there is cinema

Film: Lootera

Director: Vikramaditya Motwane

Imagine a room full of smokers, each puffing out smoke from their respective cigarettes. And among the grey haze of smoke, picture one of them who's exhaling purple smoke. If you take that room to be Hindi cinema, the one puffing purple haze is Vikramaditya Motwane and Lootera is his dope.

With the response that his debut film received, he had a lot of reputation running on Lootera. Fortunately for him and for us, it worked wonders. The film is a love story of Varun and Pakhi, but the multi-layered narrative and the attention to detail make it more than just a love story. It isn't the first film where a man enters a woman's life and changes it as he leaves, but the plot's treatment makes it feel like a first.

The post-independence setting of a transition period when India changed from many feudal estates to one nation, the accurate costumes, the lighting, the dialogues -- Lootera checks every box of what is termed as good cinema. A little concession for the graphics, which stick out like a sore thumb, is the only fault one can find with the entire viewing experience.

Like Udaan, Lootera too permeates your skin and begins to grow inside you. And slowly, there is nothing left inside but the film. Anurag Kashyap's dialogues bring life to a fresh romance and Ranveer and Sonakshi, the agents of delivering these dialogues, are precise. For Sonakshi Sinha, this could be considered an 'acting' debut and her portrayal of a vulnerable, love-struck daughter of a zamindar is one of the reasons to watch the film.

Amit Trivedi's soundtrack has a lion's share in creating the period in which the film takes place. That, coupled with the background score and other sound elements like the radio are an audio experience that one could keep on talking about. The songs, written by Amitabh Bhattacharya have an eerie charm, honesty and innocence that is not lacking in any aspect of the film.

There is very little about Lootera that can be explained in words as a lot of it has to do with the little things that a director adds to a film. It is not meant to be understood or elucidated; it just needs to be experienced.

With Lootera, Motwane has proved yet again that in this crowded film industry, there is still scope for a filmmaker to celebrate cinema. He truly is a magician in a herd of illusionists. And coming back to the cigarette that produces purple haze, let's hope Motwane has a whole packet left. 

Rating: 4 out of 5

Published in DNA (Pune) on July 6, 2013 

Jack Sparrow on a train

Film: The Lone Ranger

Director: Gore Verbinski

The classic Western has been a dominant genre in Hollywood for generations and its impact on Hindi films too has left quite a mark (read Sholay). However, in an age of superheroes, vampires and sorcerers, a man on a horse all-guns-ablazing seems like a thing of the past. To add to it, Gore Verbinski and Johnny Depp both make The Lone Ranger look like Cap'n Jack Sparrow's adventures in the wild wild West.

The film is a thrilling adventure of a masked hero, who returns from the dead and saves the world with his partner, a misunderstood Native American with a dead raven on his head. Armie Hammer plays John Reid, a lawyer who returns home to find a lawless place. The film shows his journey of disillusionment from being a law abiding citizen to becoming an outlaw vigilante. And to be quite frank, if you watch it with your mind wide open, you might even see the point. But it is not worth it.

The film's moments come from an expected source -- Johnny Depp, who plays Tonto. His quirks remind you of Jack Sparrow on several occasions, and some of his lines, like "There is imbalance in the nature" and "There's something seriously wrong with that horse" will go down in the memory of his fans, just like "Why's the rum always gone?"

He also personifies the philosophy of the film, for instance, his reply to "Why would anyone trade a watch for grains and seeds?" - "Birds can't tell time." Verbinski has tried to take the classical conflict of the Western where the railway (an agent of progess) brings with it a lot of vice and greed and distances human beings from nature. However, the message is lost in the antics and unnecessary stunts, which are fun while they last.

But as a whole, the film falters time and again to eventually go down as a disappointing adventure. And apart from a message which was received by the audience after the first few movies were shot in the Texas desert. Depp and hammer themselves didn't want to be recognised in the film, probably, which would explain the mask and the heavy makeup. If you want to watch this film, it is advisable to do the same.

Rating: 2 out of 5

Published in DNA (Pune) on July 6, 2013

Adapting an email forward on screen

Film: Ghanchakkar 

Director: Raj Kumar Gupta

Spoiler Alert: the man taking you for a ride in Raj Kumar Gupta's Ghanchakkar is Raj Kumar Gupta himself (along with co-screenwriter Parvez Sheikh). Whether the 140 minute film is a comedy, drama or a thriller itself is a puzzle that takes time to figure. And while some of it is entertaining, the film is a crazy start-stop roller-coaster ride.

Divulging any more details than the ones available in the film's promotion would spoil the experience of watching it. Ghanchakkar is about Sanju (Emraan), who helps two schemers Pandit and Idris in robbing a bank. However, in the cool-off period, he meets with an accident and loses his memory, which causes him to forget where the money is hidden. The collaborators then enter Sanju's house and stay with him and his fashionable Punjabi wife Neetu (Vidya), hoping to recover their spoils. The film then comically sets up a web of deceit where you just can't tell who is telling you the truth.

At large, the film may seem like a comedy thriller, but it runs deeper. Beneath its layers of clever one-liners and hilarious sequences, the film underlines the melancholy of a man without his memory, his inability to trust anyone and his losing grip over his own identity. However, in the process of doing all of this, the makers (quite ironically) seem to have forgotten what they really wanted the film to be.

Some scenes are stretched beyond their communicable value and some others the film could have done without. A film shows a triad looting a bank wearing Dharmendra, Bachchan and Utpal Dutt masks later shoots its own foot by not living up to its own standards. As the humour in the dialogues begins to wither, the only thing that keeps you interested in the film is Vidya Balan. Her portrayal of a fashion-savvy, aggressive Punjaban is so convincing that if Ghanchakkar is the only film one has seen her in, it would be almost impossible to prove her South Indian origin.

Namit Das and Rajesh Sharma, who play Idris and Pandit respectively, fit into their characters like tailormade suits and seem effortless. Emraan Hashmi's Sanju is quite two dimensional and is made likeable by the lines he mouths.

A decent one-time watch after a heady week, Ghanchakkar is just the right amount of amusement that is expected from a normal movie. A treat for fans of Vidya Balan, who is a band apart from her contemporaries just for agreeing to this role. For the rest of us, not a waste of time to say the least. 

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Published in DNA (Pune) on June 29, 2013