nikhilkubrick Reviews

Raincoat (2004)

Bravo! A cinematic masterpiece comes our way

[10/10 · 31 March 2005]

Note: Review out of 4 Stars

Raincoat (2004)

Oh, what a wonderful wonderful film! This is why I love movies. Raincoat is undoubtedly the best film of 2004. Along with three brilliant performances by Aishwarya Rai, Ajay Devgan and Annu Kapoor this film excels in many other departments as well. Aishwarya looks divine. She has acted with magnificence, her best performance yet. Rituparno Ghosh directs this gem of a movie and also writes an excellent screenplay with intricacies and subtleties seldom found in Indian cinema. He is probably one of the best working directors in our country today who surely knows how to adapt a novel or a short story. He creates a dark and eerie world for the two characters a perfect setting for the both of them to … TALK.

Yes, talk.

Actually that is what happens in almost the entire movie which is its strong point, if nothing more. It's a story of forbidden love of Neeru (Aishwarya Rai) and Mannu (Ajay Devgan). Not a love story with all the mush-mush and bollywood style ridiculousness. They were in love but couldn't marry due to some reasons which are not told directly and that's where your brain has to do the working. Watch the film with patience and full attention and you'll notice everything.

So what does a Raincoat have to do with two people who couldn't marry and meet again after a few years? Well, I'm not gonna tell you that. Watch this film and be amazed. I was befuddled when it started, I couldn't believe it was happening. This was movie magic!

The cinematography is beautiful and the sets and the costumes are fabulous. The editing is fast paced and carefully handled. And I haven't gotten to the music yet. So wait. The music is fan-frickin-tastic. Shubha Mudgal lends her voice to create some very beautiful Radha-Krishna renditions which complement the film and further add to the greatness of the movie. 'Akele Hum Nadiya Kinare' 'Mathura Nagrapati' 'Raha Dekhe' and 'Piya Tora Kaisa Abhiman' (also sung by Hariharan) are all awesome. The ending is perfect. Spot on!

But I don't call this an ART FILM. In fact, I don't believe any movie can be categorized as an art film. Call it a sensible film and ill give you a pat on the back. There is either a good film or a bad film (plus the superlatives). And this is an excellent film. As I said, this is why I love movies.

Rating: **** (A modern cinematic masterpiece) (It would be criminal if I didn't add that)

P.S. Those who prefer to watch only mindless comedy or romantic flicks, ill just tell you this – STAY AWAY! (Cause you think that movies are only made to make you laugh which shows what an awful person you are, no offense)

My Brother... Nikhil (2005)

Much Better than Phir Milenge.

[8/10 · 31 March 2005]

MY BROTHER NIKHIL ***1/2 out of 4 Stars

Is it another Philadelphia? No. Another AIDS awareness movie? No. Another offbeat movie? No, I wouldn't call it that. A must watch? Yes.

Sanjay Suri plays a character called Nikhil who is a State swimming champ and has a loving sister played by Juhi Chawla. I love Juhi. She acts marvelously and also uses her presence as a refreshing treat for your eyes. Victor Banerjee and Lilette Dubey also shine in their roles and even Purab Kohli delivers. Sanjay Suri plays his character, as it should be. Very well made and this film also boasts off a wonderful screenplay which is the highlight of the film (apart from the performances).

Just the kind of AIDS movie we needed. But you can see some shades of Philadelphia which are ignorable because of the brilliance of the film. And there are some flaws which make you go ''Did they have the knowledge of all this in 1994?" which are again ignorable just like the ones in 'Black' but it has one thing in common with Black that it is one of the best films of the year. It is a tear-jerker but does not dwindle with this genre for long a la K3G. Despite its flaws, it was indeed a great film.

And to top it all, it has an amazing amazing song called 'Le Chalein' which is interwoven in the film and adds to quality of the film. Awesome song!

Page 3 (2005)

A great film. Madhur Bhandarkar returns!

[10/10 · 31 March 2005]

PAGE 3 **** out of 4 Stars

Madhvi (Konkona Sen) enters her boyfriend's house and its empty. She looks here and there and then goes in his bedroom and you get the picture - 'Ah! another girl … that two-timing baddie and yes indeed he his two timing her but it's a GUY this time around. And i say 'Brilliant!'

END OF SPOILERS (The above scene is not a spoiler really ... but for me it was so i didn't want to take a chance)

When asked upon as how was this film, my friend answered 'oh, it just an exposé of the P3 people' which made me believe that ill be watching a stupid movie if nothing more. When I went to the theater, I thought to myself '' I better get a pen and a paper to jot down the bad things about this film'' but I was proved entirely wrong… and then some because I could muster only the goods. This film was great. Great, not because it is offbeat and noncommercial cinema like storyline but because of the cleverness in the screenplay and how this movie tells you how to handle a movie brilliantly which could have been a dumb and senseless movie if given in the wrong hands.

Konkona Sen Sharma is grace. She is so damn beautiful who has nailed her role perfectly as if she was born to play this part. One of the most charming actresses I've ever seen. But this is not the only performance which is good in the film, there's Sandhya Mridul, Boman Irani and Atul Kulkarni. Particularly Sandhya Mridul who just fires up the screen. (And guess what even the unusually accented Tara Sharma speaks normally)

The movies stars off with some silly old parties of the hush-hush celebrities of the film industry et al and you get the idea of what this movie will be about. And for about half hour through the film you feel just about the same. But then the movie picks up the pace grabs onto a good storyline and never lets go of it. Even Boman Irani agrees to that statement – 'It was a good story, Madhvi'. (Thank you). The great thing is that it tackles the issue of how silly these people are with style and does not make it over done and also tackles the social issues and does not make them boring. In the end its all a roller-coaster ride and Madhvi informs us that by just smiling at all these people. Just the reason why I love watching films. Ecstatic film-making. The screenplay is beautiful, clever and witty.

Vaastu Shastra (2004)

If bhoot scared you, this might bore you! (or whatever!)

[2/10 · 21 October 2004]

No Spoilers (there are no actual spoilers anyways)

I just saw this movie at a preview in New Delhi(PVR) i.e. on Wednesday (two days before the release) and i was really looking forward to this one. But as in the case of most Hindi movies ,I was disappointed yet again. The movie starts off real slow with unwanted sound effects (not even effects but those silly bangs and booms to give the audience a jolt)(a cheesy one includes sounds of a tiger roar now and then) which sounded inappropriate at times. Well, nothing i mean NOTHING happens till one and a half hour of the movie(what happens is the same old sightings of those zombies roaming in the house) and what all happens after that is silly (totally silly).

But the thing that bothered me most is that there are numerous plot holes in the story. In other words, this movie is made of three things: Plot holes, Plot holes and Plot holes. The screenplay (or the story) is pathetic. Many things remain unexplained and its like they are showing whatever they want to without even thinking about it once.

First i thought 'God, they have copied 'The Shining' because there was this boy who goes about the house in his small cycle and his dad is a writer and then when he starts seeing the ghosts i thought 'Okay its Sixth Sense now' but it was not even so. The Ending sequences are really stupid and seems like the director and the screenwriter are complete idiots to have thought of making such trash. The visual effects were as if they are of a B movie and were nowhere near visual effects (a kid could have done them up).

SPOILERS HEREIN - Those who want to know what it is about

The kid sees a zombie family and roams around the house speaking to them and playing with them. The zombie children live on a Banyan Tree (don't know if Bargat ka pedh is Banyan) and there's a small shed in the backyard of the house also. Some stupid scenes include a ball hanging in the air going here and there.

So his parents(The incredibly talented Sushmita Sen and that guy from Satya) hire a 'Bai' who steals their stuff and is hit by one of the Ghosts (zombies)(the scene is hilarious). She tells the boy not to tell his parents about her and even threatens to kill him. When he tells his parents they become worried coz of the weird things their child is talking about but then the maid gets killed and all the stuff is found which she stole so Sush realizes her kid was indeed seeing the ghosts all the while.

Also there is that funny short guy from Main Madhuri Dixit Banna Chahti Hoon who features in all of Ramu's productions (He was also in Hungama). He seems to know the story behind the family in the house and jumps in front of Sush's car whenever she goes to the hospital (she is playing a doctor)

Throughout the movie the kid keeps seeing the zombie family (which is not at all scary) and one night he and his parents go out for a movie, Sush's sis Radhika (played by Piya) is alone in the house and her boyfriend Murali comes to the house (Purab that channel [V] VJ) and starts playing with her in bed and then suddenly he disappears (The crappy part starts now).

MAJOR SPOILERS

Radhika starts searching him and then gets killed by the zombies. When Sush and people return they find Murali killed in bed and Radhika hanging by the tree. Even the husband gets killed and the boy is also smacked by the zombie family (who are now joined by Radhika and Murali zombies). Susmita comes to know about the tree through that mad guy (Small funny guy) and when she returns she sees her little boy lying on the floor and now her husband is also a zombie. She picks him up and runs for her life. Starts her car and goes round and round coz her neck is being held by her zombie hubby. Her car crashes into the tree and it goes on fire but Sush escapes out of the car and faints. The mad guy is very happy to see the tree in ashes and even pees in front of the tree but when he turns back the zombies are not gone. (Stupid no?).Sush wakes up in the hospital and finds her son okay and then when she picks him up the last shot of the scene shows the boy (her son) is also a zombie i.e. he died when the ghosts smacked him.

All of these things are unexplained and are pretty dumb. Do not watch this movie and if you are very eager to see it... rent it on DVD or something. But i might add that the only thing worth watching is Susmita Sen and her acting (does a great job after Samay). But i sense that the director is good and should get another chance. Rating 2 out of 10