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Dil Dhadakne Do (2015)
Dil Dhadakne Do: Character-driven Brilliance minus the Cheese and Corn
**This review may contain spoilers**
Zoya Akhtar had a kind of a decent start with her debut Luck By Chance some years ago. From then on, she has come quite a long way with her last outing Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara which arguably was the spiritual successor to her brother's debut Dil Chahta Hai. With Dil Dhadakne Do, Zoya has made more than a statement as a filmmaker. She has quite simply announced her arrival as one of the best in the industry today.
Dil Dhadakne Do delves into the lives of a business tycoon, the Mehra family, consisting of Kamal Mehra (Anil Kapoor) and Neelam Mehra (Shefali Shetty), parents to Ayesha Mehra (Priyanka Chopra) and Kabir Mehra (Ranveer Singh), as they celebrate the 30th wedding anniversary of the Kamal and Neelam Mehra, which they plan to give shape in the form of a Mediterranean cruise while also inviting friends and family. Trouble starts when the brother and sister try to deal with their romantic lives while taking the pressures of their parents into consideration (or not).
The cruise also holds an opportunity for Kamal Mehra to save a sinking ship, his business, by finding a buyer for 49% of his company's stake in the form of a wedlock between his son and Lalit Sood's (Parmeet Sethi) daughter Nuri (Ridhima Sud). Then there also is also his daughter, Ayesha who is looking to walk out of her marriage with her husband Manav Sangha (Rahul Bose). Things get slightly more complicated for the Mehras with the entrance of two more characters: Farah Ali (Anuskha Sharma), an dancer performing on the ship, and Sunny Gill (Farhan Akhtar), a journalist and Ayesha's estranged lover.
Without doubt Dil Dhadakne Do is essentially a character-based film in its soul. There is relatively little in terms of the story but what takes the cake is Zoya Akhtar's treatment to it. And there are quite a few of them characters, alright. This brings us to the performances of the actors who played them:
It's refreshing to watch Anil Kapoor in this all greyed-out avatar of his in Dil Dhadakne Do. He stands out with his performance as the father who feels the need to stamp his authority on his children even though they are adults. Then again he has played the neglectful husband to his on-screen wife with his usual brilliance. He has literally played a character which has shades of grey (pun intended) to it. There is also a certain growth to his character as the film progresses which takes its full form toward the climax. Superb.
This is Ranveer Singh's best work till date. Starting out as the confused son to a rich dad to an almost lovelorn guy in the second half of the movie, he has outgrown himself as an actor.
Priyanka Chopra has definitely been much better in Dil Dhadakne Do than some of her previous, more loud performances.
Shefali Shetty is simply amazing to watch. She plays the rich housewife to the T. the chemistry between Anil Kapoor and her deserves a special mention for sure.
Anuskha Sharma, Rahul Bose and Farhan Akhtar provide great support throughout the length of the film. They have well-written characters which definitely can be seen through their performances in this otherwise crowded ship of characters.
The song Gallan Goodiyaan deserves a special mention for being an amazingly shot one-take song. There have been quite a few of such sequences in the past but this one is really great to watch since it involves so many actors performing and dancing without breaking their characters.
Dil Dhadakne Do is certainly not immune to some plot holes and continuity errors. The film most certainly needed a better ending. In fact, the last fifteen minutes do grave injustice to the rest of the film. There are some loose ends that have been just left with no explanation from the protagonist which has been played by the dog of the family named Pluto, and voiced by Aamir Khan.
That said, the good in Dil Dhadakne Do certainly outdo the bad. Zoya Akhtar needs to take a bow for Dil Dhadakne Do. She has created a niche for herself. A slot that will be very hard for anybody fill.
There might just be a feeling that Zoya Akhtar's films have particularly "rich" people in the lead characters which is definitely true. But what makes her successful as a filmmaker is the fact that she is able to create characters that are so very relatable to every Indian family.
Strictly speaking from the heart, Dil Dhadakne Do might just be the film of the year. There might be the Khans lining up their releases later in the year and which also might do much better commercially than this one. But this is a film that has its head firmly on its shoulders.
Baby (2015)
Baby: Essentially India's First Espionage Thriller
I have a problem with Hindi movies. Well, at least most of them. They are pretentious. They play to the gallery. They also suffer from a sever bout of sycophancy. But every now and then, there comes a film that changes my opinion, albeit for the time being. Baby is one of them.
In post-26/11 India, there is a need for an elite counter-intelligence force that can handle any future threats to the nation. Enter Baby, which is formed as a five year trial run. Danny Denzongpa plays Firoze Ali Khan who heads this elite force and is joined by his man Friday, Ajay, played by Akshay Kumar. The film takes off on the premise when it is learned that insurgents in Pakistan are planning an attack on India.
This is director Neeraj Pandey's third directorial venture and boy is it good. He has managed to keep it real and with amazing consistency. Among all its merits, the biggest would be the fact that the film moves at an amazing pace. There is not a moment's respite and there is always a twist waiting to move you off your seat. The most important ingredient in a perfect thriller.
There a few standout scenes that Baby something even more special than what it already is:
1. The slap scene at the minister's PA's office. It's shot in a lighter vein but it makes you want to applaud for the way Akshay plays it out with that straight face.
2. The other slap scene during Sushant Singh's interrogation. Again, a scene shot it lighter vein. Neeraj Pandey has managed to pull off these scenes excellently.
3. The big twist at the hotel in Al Dera (won't spoil it for those of you who haven't watched it yet). Amazing twist. Nobody saw it coming. Take a bow, Neeraj.
Baby is flanked by one of the best supporting cast performances I have seen in a long time. Rana Dagubbati is superb as the beefy second in command to Akshay. Taapsee Pannu is a surprise package. She is outstanding in her almost cameo-like role. Madhurima Tuli is needlessly around as Akshay Kumar's wife. An angle that seems to have been created to keep the family audience in mind. Nevertheless, her presence in the film is irrelevant and almost hampers the pace at times. Anupam Kher is surprisingly out of place. He plays a been there done that role of a forever irritated technician in the team. His performance just feels a bit out of sync. Mikaal Zulfikar deserves a special mention for his brilliant portrayal of a person who plays the role of an Indian asset in Saudi Arabia. We first saw Rasheed Naz in the superb Pakistani film Khud Kay Liye. In Baby, he excels as the hardliner cleric with the ease of a thorough artist. Kay Kay Menon plays the mastermind Bilal Khan. He has very few lines and lets his eyes do most of the acting. Brilliant.
Baby needs to be watched to witness the mastery that Akshay Kumar shows in his performance. He seriously needs to do more of such films. Neeraj Pandey deserves a standing ovation for Baby. He keeps at being the "no holds barred" filmmaker that he is and hits another one into the stratosphere.
Adding any more words won't change the fact that Baby is a film that must be seen and experienced.
Sholay (1975)
Sholay: A Film That Keeps Calling You Back
+ Direction: This was Ramesh Sippy's first out-and-out action attempt. Every scene has been set-up with a lot of thought and it shows. The character treatment is one thing that is also quite unique about Sippy's direction.
+ The duo of Amitabh and Dharmendra: Where do I start? Amitabh Bacchan plays the straight-faced ex-con. Dharmendra plays the quirky, playful, hopeless romantic. Both characters are poles apart in terms of their personalities, yet so close. So much that they would kill for each other.
+ Gabbar Singh: Any good action/thriller would be incomplete without a good antagonist. Amjad Khan as Gabbar Singh is more than just good in Sholay. Khan plays a dacoit who is feared by the local villagers and is unrelenting in everything he does. Brutal, unforgiving, selfish, savage, barbaric, bloodthirsty, and vengeful. He encompasses all these adjectives and some more.
+ Action: Sholay has some of the most iconic action sequences that excelled in every aspect. Technically sound and so well-executed.
+ Performances: Sanjeev Kumar, Hema Malini and Jaya Bhaduri top the list in this department. Kumar plays the hapless but vengeful Thakur Baldev Singh who is out to do whatever is necessary to get his revenge from Gabbar Singh. Hema Malini plays the local horse-cart driver who lends some much needed comic relief with her never-ending barrage of words. Jaya Bhaduri plays the mellow and unassuming widow to Thakur's late son.
+ Music: Every song compliments that particular moment in the film's timeline in which it features. That said, each one of them is a gem. Essentially 70's RD Burman in every sense.
- Length: It's 188 minutes long. That's a little over 3 hours and that's long even by Hindi film standards. That said, there's not a single moment in the film where you feel the enormity of the length.
Sholay can be termed as the first Westerner-inspired action classic, custom made for Bollywood. In essence, Sholay is a true blue revenge-action film. A film that gained cult status over these years. It shall always be the film that inspired many to at least try and make a film that can rule the hearts of millions.
Every scene is a gem. Be it Jai and Veeru's first tonga ride with Basanti, Gabbar's reprimand when his cronies return empty-handed from the village, the Holi massacre and the subsequent scene with Thakur and Gabbar, the train shootout, or the climax. The list is just endless to be honest.
Yours truly is guilty of having watched this gem many times over. There's no keeping count anymore. And one can't be blamed for it. It's a film that keeps calling you back.
American Sniper (2014)
American Sniper: Bad Attempt at Cashing in on 'Murica
+ Bradley Cooper: He has played his heart out. One can imagine how Chris Kyle would have been in real life through Cooper.
- American jingoism: This film is a classic example of American jingoism. The film tries very hard to cash in on the recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
- Clint Eastwood's plan to cash in on an American hero: The worst part about American Sniper is Clint Eastwood himself. Everybody knows that Eastwood makes movies revolving around jingoistic subject matter but with American Sniper, he has chosen to make money out of an American war hero and that just doesn't sit well.
Where do I begin? American Sniper has been a huge disappointment. It reeks of jingoism right from the first shot. Everything about American Sniper is about 'Murica. Chris Kyle is a typical cowboy who wishes to serve his country by joining the SEALs. He does so and ends up being an ace sniper in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq post-9/11. Not only that, he also becomes once with the highest number of kills in U.S. history. The film follows the internal struggles of Kyle as he battles depression and anxieties from his tours.
The problem with American Sniper is its script. It has been written to appease the American patriot. The story would have been so much better if it spoke more about Kyle's struggle. Eastwood does manage to touch the subject but decides to focus the narrative's effort on Kyle's triumphs in the war zone.
Bradley Cooper stands out as Chris Kyle. He manages to pull off the character well and despite the controversy surrounding Chris Kyle himself, Cooper has done a good enough job overall.
American Sniper is overrated to say the least. Eastwood has left no stone unturned to turn this film into a cash cow based on America's contribution during the wars.
Interstellar (2014)
Interstellar: An Ode to Science Fiction in Film
+ Cinematography: It's a visual treat. The depiction of space travel couldn't get any more beautiful than this.
+ The Science: Some really good scientific thought has gone into the making of this film. This is enough to assure the audiences that Interstellar isn't just another run-of-the-mill sci-fi movie.
+ Story: While this concept has been tested previously by a lot of films, Interstellar has managed to pull off the human extinction theory with relative ease.
- Length: The screenplay has been accused of being on the slower side throughout and with good reason. Interstellar drags on quite a bit and could have done with a better pair of scissors.
- Performances: Hammy to say the least. Every character has done it. Not very Nolan-like but there's a first time for everything.
- Preachy script: Almost every character gets preachy about love and other things which gets irritating after a point.
After the outstanding ending to the Dark Knight trilogy, Nolan has yet again come back with something brilliant. Set in the not-so-distinct future, Interstellar is a tale of a holocaust-like human situation where crops have started dying and there's a fear of the extinction of the human race as we know it. A team of astronauts headed by Cooper (Matthew McConaughey), Dr. Amelia Brand (Anne Hathaway), Doyle (Wes Bentley), and Romilly (David Gyasi) go on a journey that transcends galaxies with the help of a worm hole that has been suspected to be placed by some unknown alien life form.
Interstellar also depicts the relationship between Cooper and his estranged daughter Murph (played incredibly by Mackenzie Foy as a child and Jessica Chastain as the adult.) The film tries to delve into love as the most primal form of human emotion. While at that, it often gets a little preachy with the same.
Hans Zimmer's score is hauntingly beautiful as it get the viewers engage in the movie experience like never before.
The climax is totally unexpected and has been brilliantly treated. Save for some plot holes, Interstellar largely manages to give the viewers a visual experience of a lifetime. Perhaps the greatest aspect of the film is that it is backed up by real science and theories that exist. Interstellar is a true blue sci-fi that more than respects the genre.
Whiplash (2014)
Whiplash: A Great Example of How Good Cinema Can Be Made From Anything. Even a Drum Set
+ JK Simmons: What a brilliant performance from him. He plays the ever-threatening Fletcher with the ease of an actor who has owned the character and made it his own.
+ Miles Teller: While there are no words to describe his amazing performance behind the drums, he has also managed to break his mould as a sidekick in sci-fi movies otherwise.
Whiplash will forever be remembered for being a film that has built so much around the humble drum set. Miles Teller plays Andrew, a teen enrolled as a drummer in a prestigious school called The Shaffer Convservatory of Music. He encounters Terrence Fletcher (JK Simmons) who is a teacher at the conservatory with a brutal and abusive teaching style. Things start looking up for Andrew when he gets picked up by Fletcher to play for the school band with the exception that he has to deal with the ruthlessness of Fletcher's teaching methods.
Whiplash is intense. The sheer chemistry between Teller and Simmons is something that takes the film experience to a whole new level.
The last drum solo is a scene that is much talked and for obvious reasons. Sellers delivers a stellar performance. The transformation of Simmons during that scene is also something to watch out for. There is also a difference of opinion going around the same last scene. People who are criticizing the scene for being vague and confusing need to understand the emotional aspect of the two characters in it.
JK Simmons delivers his career best. His on screen presence is something that is rarely seen in cinema these days. Miles Teller surprises everybody with his unassuming personality which goes haywire when pushed to the limits.
Whiplash makes one believe that good cinema can be made from anything, even a drummer and his drum set.
Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. (2003)
Munnabhai M.B.B.S.: The Film That Gives You a Jaadu ki Jhappi
+ Rajkumar Hirani: Marking his debut, Hirani sparkles with his simple style and his ability to extract the best from his actors.
+ Script: Munnabhai... also comes at a time when there was a serious dearth of good writing in films.
+ Sanjay Dutt: He reinvents himself playing a gangster with a good heart. It is a pleasant departure from his usual gun-totting gangster self that he otherwise is known to play.
+ Music: It is sort of a comeback for Anu Malik who was fading away from the limelight at that time. Brilliant music.
+ Supporting cast: Arshad Warsi gets to redeem himself as Munna's sidekick and takes the film to a whole new level. Sunil Dutt plays his last ever role as Sanjay Dutt's father himself and enthralls us all. Gracy Singh also gets to make a comeback after a slew of mediocre films. Boman Irani plays the character that would define him for the rest of his career.
- Length : As is with most Bollywood films, the length of Munnabhai M.B.B.S. is something that could have been managed by cutting it down a little.
Munnabhai M.B.B.S. will be remembered for a lot of things. It broke convention and told a story like never before in Indian cinema. It got together a famous real life father-son pair together on the screen and brought out a chemistry that was simply amazing to watch. It also brought together a cast of actors that were down on their lucks at that point of their careers.
Munnabhai M.B.B.S. tells the story of a gangster, Munna, who has also lied to his father that he is a doctor in the city. Every visit from his parents ends up in him faking the existence of a hospital run by him. Things go haywire when Dr. Asthana, a real doctor, calls him out after Munna's father proposes that Asthana's daughter get married to Munna. Left red-faced and embarrassed in front of his father, who vows never to see him again, Munna decides to become a real doctor to teach Asthana a lesson and win back the trust of his father.
Directed by the incredibly talented and the then debutant, Rajkumar Hirani, Munnabhai... will forever be remembered for being a sweet comedy that taught people something while entertaining as well. The term "jaadu ki jhappi" will be something that will stay with every Munnabhai fan for years to come. One can also never forget Arshad Warsi as Circuit, the sidekick who has a heart of gold.
Munnabhai will also be remembered for the chemistry between Munna and Circuit. They make it look so real and believable that is is difficult not to fall for their characters.
Sanjay Dutt rules the screen as Munnabhai. He even surpasses his performance in Vaastav with his role as the gangster with a heart.
Munnabhai is a special film. It set the ball rolling for a host of adaptations by regional filmmakers. Even Hollywood sat up and took notice. It is the film that will be etched in our memories as our all time favorite gangster film.