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

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

Not Dabangg Enough

The Robin Hood Pandey returns with a new positioning as Kung-fu Pandey; and somewhere in that transition, the essence of Chulbul Pandey is smothered. Arbaaz Khan’s sequel to Abhinav Kashyap’s much-appreciated Dabangg is nothing but an ill-constructed amalgamation of the protagonist in Ready and the villain from Singham. By all means, the film is an outright entertainer; however, built on a carcass of the first film, Dabangg 2 fails to recreate the magic of its predecessor. The main defect in the sequel, without a doubt, is the direction. A lack of vision in terms of a standalone project, it relies heavily on the laurels of the first film and hence, falls on its face to some extent. A character driven story, Dabangg 2 has very little to offer apart from the charismatic cop Chulbul Pandey portrayed with excellence by the people’s favourite superstar, Salman Khan.

Following a similar narrative pattern, Dabangg 2 could easily have been an experience of revisiting Dabangg; like in the case of the Hangover franchise, which didn’t meddle with the plot in its sequel. However, in tampering with the narrative structure, the writers have added some ridiculous bits that are too stereotypical and ridiculous even by the standards of a regular mainstream entertainer. The bad guy harming the family of the good guy who then flares up to take revenge is something we unfortunately grew up on and don’t wish to see anymore.With action sequences that are literally going South (if you know what I mean) with every single film, and the line between the ridiculous and the real growing thinner and thinner, Dabangg was a franchise from which one expected some craftsmanship; but that seems to have left it along with Abhinav Kashyap.

Apart from Salman Khan, whose belt buckle sways automatically this time around, no other character leaves a lasting mark in one’s memory. Prakash Raj delivers yet another Jaikant Shinkre-sque performance and quite frankly, a great actor is being bound in the shackles of being typecast as the big eyed baddy with every single role. Deepak Dobriyal, who plays the bad guy’s brother, is under-utilised. A fine actor whose talent has been quite adequately realised only by a few makers, Deepak’s character, like most others, is simply used as a marker to establish the might of Chulbul Pandey. Sonakshi Sinha plays Chulbul’s wife Rajjo, a role that demands an able bodied woman to just exist, while Salman romances with it.

As everybody had correctly expected, Dabangg 2 is ‘Of the Salman, By the Salman, For the Salman’. With Wanted, he created a realm about himself that has been accepted and appreciated by everyone. It has grown with Dabangg, Bodyguard, Ready and most recently, Ek Tha Tiger. What these films have done is that they have made the viewer tolerant to a kind of absurdity, so much so that his actions are now acceptable. There is realism, there is magic realism, there is surrealism and now, it is safe to say, Salman has created a realm of his own, a Salmanic Realism, if you may.

He drives the wagon of the film and the franchise single-handedly and with his typical dance moves, giggles and punchlines; Salman keeps you entertained throughout and is a job well done. And while you put up a Salman poster in your room and stick it 'Fevicol se', the director needs to apply some 'Zandu Balm' for denting what could have been a good franchise.

Rating - 2.5 out of 5

Published in DNA After Hrs (Pune) on December 22, 2012