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Raazi (2018)
Raazi- a gut wrenching thriller or a wondrous attempt?
Meghna Gulzar gave us a brilliant take on two parallels of 2008 double murder case with "TALVAR", and with "Raazi" she tells story of our unsung heroes and the futilities that wars bring. Set during the Indo-Pak war of 1971, RAAZI is a story of a college going girl, Sehmat and how she leaves everything at the behest of her father to render her services for nation as a spy by marrying into a High command Pak family.
The screenplay is etched out beautifully by Gulzar and Iyer and incorporating Urdu in a nuanced manner makes it a standout. Raazi also wins in its dignified approach to take such intricate story and narrate it without shoving patriotism and border hatred down our throats with heavy intense scores or chest thumping dialogues. This is evident from the usage of song "Ae Watan" for Indo- Pak alike and cleverly syncs with the overall theme. With a stellar cast, film delivers strong performances making you feel every ounce of energy punched to character portrayals. What makes it short of a thriller though is the editing which makes it a dull affair before the climax is reached and takeaways are drafting in your mind. The writing works for a larger part of the movie whilst making the smaller parts fall into an erratic pacing. I found Gulzar's portrayal of Sehmat as an apologetic one rather than a transitional one. Raazi thus manages to clear the set standards of Indian mainstream cinema but it falls a bit short to achieve a higher pedestal.
Jab Harry Met Sejal (2017)
JHMS is Imtiaz's random musing.
Jab Harry Met Sejal comes out of Imtiaz's random stick-notes rather than his creative diaries. The film starts on a light note giving some laughs as Harry, a tour-guide and Sejal, a quirky Gujarati begin hunt for her engagement ring which she lost during the course of her travel. Harry initially reluctant to offer any kind of help due to his inconsistent and tawdry behavior with his past women clients gives in when Sejal assures that she has control over self and he should shed the "High hopes".
The journey henceforth intended by Imtiaz of rediscovery and self healing is reduced to a mere Europe sight seeing with Pritam's music supporting the fallout. The only scene that tingles with your senses is a night-shot with Harry calling out to his loved ones atop his voice to a wide ocean. While you may relate to the character of Harry because of some uncanny touch to it or the way SRK dons it but Sejal's character falls flat and takes away the soul of this journey. Imtiaz is not a writer who takes years or months to write his scripts (he wrote Jab we met in flat three days) but to see this random musing transform for screen gives you serious doubts over the adaption process. What remains is an empty feeling in your stomach that wanted so much more out of this perfect match-up but am afraid only pop-corns can save you from that.
Jagga Jasoos (2017)
Basu breaks the storytelling norms!
Anurag Basu dares to take a road that no director will think of and through this attempt he takes us on a journey worth remembering. "Jagga Jasoos" with its musical take on comedy opens a different genre for Indian audiences and gives them a detective to root for. The tracks taking the story forward are funny and groovy and numbers like "Unlucky", "Ramu Kaka", "Raita" keep your feet tapping, other short tracks too are tad brilliant and I wish Jagga album would have released with a full movie soundtrack. Ranbir gives a stellar performance as the goofy detective and has Tintin swag throughout. The movie could have been reduced short by 15-20minutes to make it a more memorable experience but the cinematography and strong visuals make you forget that too. I don't know what one has to do to make the collection ticking at box office if not this, I wish it was appreciated to the level it deserves.