Gulaal

Intense and violent, Gulaal is a peek into the dusty Rajasthan heartland, where the bleakness of the surroundings complements its macho (and sometimes violent) men folk – the Rajputs. A dark and brooding tale about politics, lust and love - and how sometimes mixing these can go horribly wrong. The movie opens with a shot of the Thar Desert and the protagonist Raja Chaudhary walking towards a bar with neon signs in the middle of nowhere! He plays Dileep Singh, a law student new to the fictional town of Rajpur. (He is also the co-writer of the movie, not to confused with the loser from Big Boss 2)

When the mild natured Dileep comes into Rajpur, he couldn’t have in his dreams imagined what he would face – his unabashedly hedonist roommate Ransa or Rannvijay Singh, local autocratic Rajput leader Dukki Bana with grandiose dreams, scheming brother-sister duo of Karan & Kiran who are seething at their illegitimacy and Anuja, his unlikely confidante who he can never understand. In no time Dileep in caught up in events that are out of his comprehension and he just gets sucked into the whirlpool of politics, love and insanity.

The attraction of Gulaal is the way the director peels off the story layer by layer and things go progressively rotten. What starts off as a innocent student’s ragging becomes more and more putrid as you are surprised by how little value life sometimes has – and how ruthless people can become to reach their long cherished goals. Anurag Kashyap never lets down on the intensity as we follow Dileep and the others down to moral hell. The only relief from the narration comes from the madcap yet satirical poetry from Prithvi Bana, Dukki Bana’s delusional elder brother.

Casting has been perfect and its difficult to think of a better person to play Dukki Bana than Kay Kay Menon. The slightly tinted lenses add a touch of menace to the sharp face – and when he exhorts to rise and fight, you cant help but admire the powerful oratory. An equally admirable performace is from Aditya Srivastava as Karan. He seems to gel really well with Anurag Kashyap – his performace as Badshah Khan in Black Friday also attracted rave reviews. His character is understated, not given to histrionics – but immensely complex. Piyush Mishra does a great job as Prithvi Bana, but even better as the music director – do listen to Yaara Maula separately and you will be blown away !

Deepak Dobriyal does good as usual, and newcomer Ayesha Mohan is even more impressive. But the standout character by far is Abhimanyu Singh as Ransa – he has a powerful screen presence – arrogant and in-your-face. The lasting image of him is wearing a soldiers helmet and riding a Bullet around town.

After Black Friday (and Return of Hanuman), this is the first movie where Anurag Kashyap has somewhat controlled his weird trippy ideas that alienate most of the audiences (No Smoking, Dev.D). I say somewhat – because you can still see some of the weird ideas running around in the form of the Ardha-Nareeshwar. I still cant, for the life of me, comprehend what he/she is supposed to signify. But these aberrations thankfully do not distract from the main drama.

Gulaal is a hard hitting story about human frailties & greed, set in politics of Rajasthan. It is not a movie to make you feel good – but something on the lines of Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi, Shool, Omkara etc. If you appreciate good cinema, definitely do not miss it.


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Little Zizou

This weekend is turning out to be an embarrassment of riches ! First there was Gran Torino to recommend. Now there is Little Zizou - and Gulaal promises to be worth a watch as well.

Though I have a peeve with the makers of Little Zizou - why are the trailers so bad ?? For such a wonderful movie couldn't they made the trailers a little more interesting? Even I could have made them better trailers than the ones airing now ...
As the trailers tell you - Little Zizou is a movie about the parsis, made by the parsis. Most of the cast - with the exception of Imaad Shah - are parsis. So is the director Sooni Taraporewala. But the appeal of the movie is universal - mainly because it says what it has to say so humorously.

The movie is about Cyrus II Khodaiji - a self proclaimed religious scholar and healer who fancies himself as the next messiah. As is the rule of the world, crazies like him attract more media attention and soon his 'Back to purity' BTP campaign has a large fan following. It is also about Boman Presswala (played by Boman Irani), editor of the Parsi newspaper Rustam-e-Sohrab. He is the sane voice of the community and just doesn't miss an opporunity to ridicule Khodaiji in his paper.

Caught in between this are Khodaiji's two sons - Xerxes and Artaxerxes (Imaad Shah - Naseeruddin Shah's son). Having lost his mother at childbirth, 11 year old Xerxes is an unloved kid as his father is busy playing messiah. The only thing that he really loves is football - more specifically Zinedane Zidane (or Zizou). And more than home he prefers spending time at Boman Presswala's home - where Roxy aunty (Boman's wife) mothers the poor motherless boy. And this irritates Boman's younger daughter Liana no end - she thinks her mother likes little Zizou more.

His elder brother Artxerxes - or Art - is a soft-spoken young man with a very artistic hand - and no love lost for his father. He is a graphic artist who keeps sketching scenes he encounters everyday in his artbook. And these drawings are interspersed liberally in the movie. He also prefers Boman's home more - because of Boman's other daughter Xenobia.

But this equilibrium is shattered when Khodaiji becomes obsessed with preventing foreigners - Russians, Brazilians etc - from adopting the Zoraster faith. He even forms an army called Parsi Liberation Organization to defend the Parsi faith and from here things go downhill in the lives of everyone around him.

Sooni Taraporevala has crafted a simple yet entertaining world - all from the eyes of Little Zizou. Both the kids - Zizou and Liana - perform superbly, especially Zizou. He is endearing and evokes sympathy, without seemingly maikng an effort. And Liana is your irritating younger sister, who will spill all your secrets. But the star of the show is undoubtedly Boman Irani. He is so full of life its a joy watching him - especially during the 'Italiano Mamu' song !

There are a lot of other characters in bit roles throughout the movie - including Cyrus Broacha, John Abraham and Shiamak Davar - its more like all the parsis you ever saw in any form of media. But they all gel together amazingly well - mainly because somehow, the director seems to have convinced these people that there isn't a camera on them. All the lead actors perform so naturally as if they were actually leading their normal lives in some Parsi colony !

Little Zizou is a must watch because of the wonderful humour and the subtle message cloaked effectively in all that fun - about the conflict between the liberals and the religious zealots. Watch it to remind yourself just why Boman Irani is so fabulous - and for a little more insight into the world of parsis



PS - Both Xerxes and Liana are Sooni Taraporewala's own kids
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Gran Torino

If you ask me, this movie is worth watching just to see Clint Eastwood growl - at everything !!

No seriously, he actually growls whenever he is angry ! And he is always angry in Gran Torino ....

Clint Eastwood plays Walt Kowalski, a tough-as-nails Korean War veteran and a retired Ford worker. Living somewhere in a Midwestern suburb, Kowalski is the last remaining white man on his road. The rest of the neighbourhood is populated with the Hmong people - South Vietnamese who fought for the US in the Vietnam War and moved to the US after the war - Kowalski calls them 'gooks'. And being forced to live with gooks makes Kowalski mad.

There is something very enjoyable watching the cranky, hard-talking, racial old man cock a snook at the entire world. Especially if he is Clint Eastwood. He is the quintessential American - who swears by American products - and has lovingly maintained a 1972 Ford Gran Torino. Its a beautiful classic sportscar that everyone has his/her eye on - from his own family to the neighbourhood hoodlums.

Kowalski's relationship with his family is non-existent at best - his children and grandchildren are only interested in what stuff they will get when he dies. The only living thing he probably cares about, is his dog Daisy. And his ideal day is to sit on his porch and swig beer from his ice chest. However all this changes when he intervenes in a fight involving a neighbourhood gang and his neighbour Thao. Suddenly he is a hero to all the 'gooks' in his neighbourhood - and inspite of all his initial misgivings, he finds himself spending more time with them.

Clint Eastwood delivers a superb performance as Walt Kowalski - something that should have won him a few awards. Initially, a grumpy curmudgeon, as he interacts more with his neighbours, he shows that there is more to Kowalski than just the growling act. His interludes with Father Janovich, who is bent on getting him to confess, and his banter with his Italian-American barber are a treat to watch.

The only complaint - very small one - that I have with this movie is that while the ending was a very wise one, it somehow didnt live up to my expectations. Kowalski in may ways, it something like an older version of Die Hard's John McClane - and I expected him to go Yippie Kaye at the end with all guns blazing. But that isnt what happens ...

The unexpected ending does very little to distract from what is undoubtedly a very good movie. Clint Eastwood lives up to his great legacy in both acting and direction - by making a fantastic movie out of a simple story. I doubt if he is going to do many more movies since he is already 79 - but this should be one of the best he has done.



P.S. Gran Torino stands 81 on the IMDB list of all time great movies.
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Movies to look out for this week

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The Reader

Even though it won the Oscar for the best actress and was nominated for best motion picture, I'd recommend you do not watch The Reader in a theater. Not that its particularly bad, no. Just that the censors have cut out scenes so horribly in the first 45 min that its a maddening exercise watching that part. There arent any more cuts thereafter, but the overall experience still has a bitter aftertaste.

And on the question of censorship, why is showing a naked butt ok but not the bosom ??

Coming back to the movie, it begins in the summer of 1956, when Hannah (Kate Winslet), a tram conductor, randomly helps a 15-year-old Michael Berg who isnt feeling too well. Soon that meeting blossoms into a full blown affair between Michael and a much older Hannah. The uniqueness being that Hannah demands to be read to before sex - everyday ! And she isnt particular about her literature - anything that Michael can lay his hands on - from Homer's Odyssey to Chekov to Tintin even. Most of the reading happens in various states of undress and needless to say, all the censorship happens in this part.

As can be expected in such a relationship, the older woman calls the shots - and the young Michael is eager to please her. But he cant quite understand her completely. Till one day, Hannah just walks out of the apartment and out of Michael's life - without so much as a goodbye or a note.

Years later, as a law student while covering a trial, Michael comes across Hannah again, who is the accused in the trial. And his feelings of tenderness for her conflicts with his revulsion at the crime she is accused of. And for years to come, he tries hard but cannot bridge that divide.

The premise of the movie could have made a very good emotional drama - but it loses out on one aspect. While going for the classy effect of subtle show of emotions, the director probably expects a bit too much from his audience. There are subtle cues alright, but some of them are just impossible to decipher. Atleast it was for me - at many points in the movie, the faces of Hannah and Michael were inscrutable. I just couldnt be sure of what they were thinking/feeling. The contrast with Revolutionary Road is too stark - where every emotion of almost every character was transmitted powerfully onto the screen - leaving the audience in no doubt.

And this is a major downer for a movie which aims to draw out emotions from the audience for Hannah and Michael.

Which is a pity because the movie has some very powerful scenes - like the meeting between Michael and the American at the end of the movie. But even there, I am not sure exactly what Michael indicates was the nature of his relationship with Hannah.
So sloppy editing/censoring and hard to decipher emotions make me give this Oscar winning movie very middling grades. If it were me, I would have given the best actress award for Revolutionary Road instead - but then I guess this isnt the first time that the best performance didnt win.


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13B

I have to clear one misconception first – though this movie is marketed as a horror movie, it is not. It’s a good suspense thriller with supernatural overtones. The good kind which makes you feel satisfied after coming out of the theatre – instead of the usual ‘plot hole’ discussions that follow every hindi thriller movie.

The movie has Madhavan playing Manohar, a civil engineer who along with his extended family, have just shifted into a apartment 13B of a new building. Things seem very saas-bahuish with Poonam Dhillon playing Manohar’s mother, Neetu Chandra playing his wife and a Vidya-Balan-lookalike playing his bhabhi. The K-serial theme follows as we are treated to their daily chores of getting ready for work and school/college in the morning before the saas and the bahus settle down to watch their daily serials.

However, there are small incidents that tell you that things are not quite right. Camera photos come out weird and the lift just refuses to work when Madhavan is in the lift alone. There is also a creepy looking blind man with a guard dog, who is their next-door neighbour and for some reason reminds me of Sudhir Mishra, the director.

However, these intriguing happenings are interspersed with family events, and some lame-assed romance between Madhavan and Neetu Chandra – including two ill conceived songs which should never have been there. The pace tends to flag a little when these things come, but the director is quick to yank our attention back to the sinister happenings – like the blind-guard-dog refusing to enter the house and the milk getting spoilt each and every day.

Meanwhile, all these events are noticed only by Madhavan – for reasons not explained – the others do not seem to notice anything funny. Especially when the women of the house are captivated by a new serial called Sab Khairiyat which features a joint family moving to a new house – and which appropriately comes at 1:00 pm (13:00 hrs) on channel number 13 !! Only Madhavan picks up the similarities between their life and the show – and realizes that the show foretells what will happen to his family (which makes us question the collective intelligence of the women of the house [snigger] )

The premise is intriguing and the director exploits this idea intelligently. There is no ‘ghost entering someone’s body’ crap and the story is peeled back layer by layer, leaving us curious to know more. The second half of the movie is paced much better as there is no time spent on joint family theatrics. Things have a sense of urgency as Madhavan races against time to uncover the mystery.

So far so good. Now time to point out things that are not so kosher.

One – the director has taken pains to highlight each weird happening or incident, by playing a music crescendo and lingering the camera on the object. While this is ok a few times, the audience is not so dimwitted that they have to be guided to the mystery EVERY time with helpful music and camera !! Credit the audience with some intelligence !!

Second – I went to the movie expecting to be scared. However there was nothing which was scary – spooky, maybe yes. But not scary. Which was kind of disappointing. When can we hope to get a real scare-the-shit-out-of-people hindi movie ???
Debutante director Vikram Kumar makes an intelligent beginning by putting the idea of the supernatural into something daily-life like a tv. For a film industry that is stuck on to the idea of bhoot banglas, it is a good step. The script shows intelligence and doesn’t have any significant plot holes. Acting by Madhavan is pretty good and the suspense doesn’t let up till the end.

The climax though, is a bit underwhelming. Because the movie adheres to the unwritten rule that the killer has to be one of the characters that has already been introduced, it fails to capitalize on the originality of the film’s premise. And the last scene with the phone was just very lame. So a middle rating for 13B


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Revolutionary Road

Almost every couple likes to think they are special - their love is unique, their chemistry is out of this world or maybe even that they have the best sex ever!! That somehow, they are better than the others. And they try to back this up by hyping up every small celebration - an office promotion, a vacation abroad or a new car. But somewhere down the road of life, everyone comes around to the fact that they are meant to be just ordinary people - and their lives are going to be ordinary.

But what if you REALLY believe that you are the special ones - and you refuse to admit that you are just the same as your next-door neighbours ?

This very dilemma forms the crux of the story Revolutionary Road. Based on a novel by Richard Yates, Sam Mendes directs this wonderful period drama about the Wheelers - Frank and April Wheeler - living on Revolutionary Road in a Connecticut suburb in the 1950's. Having moved into the suburbs because of the children, Frank (Leonardo DiCaprio) commutes everyday to the city - he works in Knox Business Machines, the same organization that his father used to work in. The work doesnt interest him at all. But he is doing it to provide for family. He thinks he is destined for greater things - but isnt quite so sure about it anymore.

April (Kate Winslet) isnt too happy with her life as a housewife either. She has aspirations of acting, but all she manages are two bit roles in small productions which end in disaster. Their life has become mundane and they fight frequently. Infact, her arguments with Frank are one of the best parts of the movie. The emotions are raw and every feeling they go through is transmitted to the screen in a powerful way - as if you, the viewer, can see into both their psyches ....

Both characters are painfully human, Frank more than April. He is arrogant, liar and in many ways, immature. Yet you can see that more than others, he is lying to himself. April is the more free-spirited of the two - yet tragically for her, she was a little ahead of her times. This was the 1950's where people wore hats and ties to work - and women stayed at home and brought up the kids. Her inability to accept this 'ordinariness' as her destiny makes the story so powerful. (The art director and the costume designer won oscar nominations for the period look)

The movie is littered with memorable sequences - and some of them really touch your heart. It wont be right to discuss all of them now, but I cant help mention the scene where Shep sheds tears by the coffee machine in the hospital and then walks out with two cups of coffee.

Apart from the lead duo, Michael Shannon gives a brilliant performance as the manic maths genius. He completely steals the show in all the scenes he is in - and in a way, he is the most sane man there. The other cast in the movie do pretty well too. And with Kathy Bates teaming up with Kate & Leonardo, it was very reminiscent of the Titanic (Molly Brown - the fat female who lends Leonardo a suit). But the lead duo - Leonardo and Kate are exemplary - and both of them should have been nominated for the Oscars instead of just Kate.

With an ending that raises as many questions as it produces laughs, Revolutionary Road is a definite watch for everyone. Not the most entertaining of movies, but its a movie that showcases how powerful cinema can be - and is something that will stay in your mind for a long long time.


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The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

If you are the type who gets put off by the hype around a movie - in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, I'd recommend that you make an exception and go watch it - its really worth your time! Based on the intriguing premise of a person aging backwards - and based on a Scott F. Fitzgerald short story of the same name - Benjamin Button is an involving watch even though you already know the basic premise of the story. Born as an old wrinkly child with arthritis and rheumatism, who grows younger as he grows up, Brad Pitt plays the lead character Benjamin Button. And he does a wonderful job of it, notwithstanding the CGI help.

The movie starts with an old woman on her deathbed, insisting that her daughter read aloud a diary - that of Benjamin Button. And we move back into a flashback - 1918, the day World War I ended and Benjamin was born, losing his mother at childbirth. His father cant bear to look at him and abandons him the very same day. Thankfully he is adopted by a large-hearted old-age-home-caretaker, who loves him unconditionally and helps him face the hostile world.

The movie goes on to highlight events - events that Benjamin thinks are significant in his life - his first crush, his first drink, his first affair etc. The people he came across - some like Daisy (Cate Blanchett) whom he claims he can never forget, and others who had a smaller impact on his life, some of whom he cant even remember the names. And interwoven with his life are historical events - second World War, the baby boomer generation and there is even a rocket launch from Florida. Even though the story slows down a little towards the end, it still carries with itself enough interest in the life of Benjamin Button - or rather, his eventual end. The director finely balances the need to highlight different 'life incidents' in Benjamin's life with the depth and believability of these experiences. Interestingly, his love story with Daisy has lot of parallels with that of Forest Gump. But it isnt very obvious because Forest's achievements are extraordinary while Benjamin doesnt do anything on the same scale.

And that brings me to my main criticism of this movie. Throughout the narration, Benjamin keeps focussing on things that you do in life. But disappointingly, Benjamin himself doesnt do anything significant in his life - absolutely nothing !! With such an extraordinary quality in his life, he lives his life REALLY ordinarily - unless you call aimless wandering around the world significant. But this is not something that bothers you when you are watching the movie - its only when you come out of the theater that you wonder what Benjamin Button's life was really about.
'Ordinary life' notwithstanding, Benjamin Button is a definite watch - for its unique concept and a warm look at relationships and life.


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