Ek Tha Tiger - Movie Review

http://www.planetbollywood.com/displayReview.php?id=f081712081230 

What does one expect from a Salman Khan movie? As Vidya Balan says in The Dirty Picture, “entertainment, entertainment and entertainment”…and he is entertainment alright! He remains, in the true tradition of Bollywood, one of the heroes for whom movies are written. You do not expect a story when you enter the theatre hall, you expect a lot of masala though - you expect good looking locales and dances, dialogues and action. You expect a larger than life setting and character for Salman Khan. So does the film deliver on expectations. After the phenomenal success of Dabangg, Ready and Bodyguard, does this movie generate enough whistling, hooting and dancing for its audience to call it another “classic” Salman movie? Almost!

There is a scene in the middle of the movie when Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif are both running away from the secret services and you see two efficient officers of ISI and RAW shooting at them together. There is a pause in the scene as their eyes meet with each other. It is probably the first time when ISI and RAW go hand in hand to kill someone – and that is the story of the film. A love story of spies with a lot of spice! The Story (and it was slightly surprising to know that there is one), traverses the love life of RAW agent Rathod (Tiger) and ISI agent Zoya (Zee). The movie starts with a chase sequence in Iraq and ends with another one in Cuba. Tiger is on a mission to Ireland tracking movements of an Indian Scientist (Roshan Seth) where he meets Zoya. There is Girish Karnad and Ranvir Shorey on the Indian side of spying, paying the bills for Salman Khan and there is Gavie Chahal on the Pakistani side.

The mission, as you can expect is not as important as the love story that develops, so much so that the writer leaves the mission like an open ended thread where you don’t know what happened to the scientist. But you do not have time to croon over it because soon you are transported from Ireland to Istanbul via Delhi. And then as the lovers elope you move with them to the colourful Cuba. Salman Khan movies are like love- you shouldn’t think much over them and if you just go with the flow you will enjoy them. Just like the scene in the movie where the characters read “ Amor cuerdo, no es amor” – A love without madness is no love.

The movie is replete with chase sequences and behaves differently from other spy movies. As the movie traverses continents, people and countries there are umpteen numbers of wide angled landscapes at sunrise and sunsets, leading lines of convoluted roads where the chase happens and keen feel-good production design which is aptly supported by James bond-meets-Dhoom series background score. Songs appear when they are not required but they won’t irritate, as else there are very few occasions when the good looking agents get a chance to dance. Dance is a subtle part of the movie.

Salman Khan as Tiger, is a treat to watch for his fans. He slips into his larger than life role with ease and enjoys the action sequences. Acting skills are not important here but the sheer charisma that he carries can be felt in the darkness of theatre hall around you. Katrina Kaif looks beautiful (though a little plump!), and does extremely well in the action sequences. Dialogue delivery was never her forte and it still looks like an unattainable peak. The rest of the cast is wasted including Girish Karnard as a RAW senior with almost silly lines to utter along with Roshan Seth as an Indian missile scientist who is not given a single dialogue to deliver. Finally Ranvir Shorey a competent RAW officer who is not allowed to talk about mission and its complexities. Ditto with Gavie Chahal who gets a good debut though.

Direction by Kabir Khan is at best average. If he was not ably supported by his assistant directors that managed the grand production locations and were it not for the impact of his lead actors, it would have been difficult for him to pull this one off. The ambitions here are at an entirely different scale compared to his prior works – Kabul Express and New York. He mixes the feel of Kabul Express and New York at various points in the film. Where Kabir Khan disappoints is partly in the story and screenplay (although that can be forgiven) but particularly in the dialogues that are written alongside the talented Neelesh Mishra. Some of these dialogues are outright silly – imagine an ISI senior telling his subordinate “Bibi, ek aurat ke liye uski izzat hi sab kuch hoti hai” or a senior RAW agent telling his junior “thi ek sweet si ladki”. There are no classic one liners like “Maine ek baar commitment de di…” or “Mujhe pe ek ehsaan karna….” In the film. This dries up what could have been a constant stream of whistling and madness in the movie hall. The movie had a lot of scope for dialogues which were missed thoroughly.

Aseem Mishra’s cinematography is top notch, something that is very much a pre-requisite these days. The approach taken here reminds one of another great movie of yesteryears, The Great Gambler. Low camera angles to cover the rising mosques of Turkey, wide angle shots to show a barren Iraq, a hurried camera in the chase sequence and colourful Cuba are all nicely utilized. The art direction in particular, with local team hires to set up the production design for Cuba and Turkey is top notch. Chase sequences are beautifully edited by Rameshwar Bhagat with sharp cuts, beautiful pauses in slow motions and narration and nicely choreographed action shots. Action sequences (with Input from Hollywood – Mark Rounthwaite) are the key highlight of the film.

Vaibhavi Merchant and Ahmed Khan gets enough chance to show the dance movies, its well-choreographed with Latin numbers in Cuba, ball room dancing at UN assemblies and ballet dances in Ireland. Music by Sohail Sen and Sajid Wajid is thankfully less intrusive and the background score (by Julius Packiam) is racy but could have made a bigger impact.

Overall, Ek Tha Tiger delivers what it promises to deliver. It is a well made, charismatic, and larger than life film with beautiful cinematography and splendid action to boot. Dialogues and story leaves a lot to be desired. The movie is intentionally simplistic and silly at times but fits the bill for a masala movie. It is strongly recommended to Salman Khan (and Katrina Kaif) fans. For the rest it is just passable but a key element of Bollywood is diversity – for every exemplary Gangs of Wasseypur there would be a charming Ek Tha Tiger.

जो है मज़ा मझधार का - A song

 

जो है मज़ा मझधार का, वो ना किनारो पर मिले,

जो मंज़िलें हो नाव की ना वो लहर बन कर मिले,

एक चोट पर हो घाव तो एक चोट पर मरहम मिले,
हम कल मिलेंगे जीत से जो आज सौ ठोकर मिले,

होगी कोई मजबूरियाँ, जो कह ना पाई तुम मुझे,
बेबाक सा वो इश्क़ भी तो कर ना पाई तुम मुझे,
कब तक कहूँगा प्यार के में झूठ अपनेआप से,
जब याद में चुभते हुए सब बेवफा खंजर मिले,

आँखें भरी हो दर्द से, हो भूख का लावा जवान,
जब रोशनी जाती रहे, दुश्मन लगे सारा जहाँ,
तब होसला बनकर कभी वो साथ में आ जाएगा ,
थे ढूँढते उसको बूत्तों में वो मगर अंदर मिले,

हो एक साया एस ज़मीन पर जो मेरा रहबर रहे,
चाहे वो हो बेज़ार सा या बादशाह अकबर मिले,
सागर रहे, गागर रहे, या बूँद भर हो ओस में,
अब जो मिले वो ठीक है, हो नूर या पत्थर मिले

 

Poem - अधूरी आस सा भारत

कहीं चलती कहीं रुकती, बताओ आग कैसी है,
बुझा दो हर वो दीपक जो अकेला रोशनी चाहे,
लगे ना जो सभी में वो बताओ आग कैसी है,

जलाके रूप ना बदले वो अंजन हो नहीं सकती,
जलाए जो नही सोना वो कंचन हो नहीं सकती,
अगन जब भी लगे तब वो कोई बदलाव लाती है,
ना लिपटे रूह से ज्वाला तो बंधन हो नहीं सकती

करे जो राम सा शासन, वो रावण नहीं मिलता,
बड़े भाषण तो मिलते है मगर राशन नहीं मिलता,
हमारे देश के नेता, सभी है भूख के मारे,
कभी चारा कभी दाना, कभी सावन नहीं मिलता

कभी था कृष्ण की भूमी, खुदा के नूर सा भारत,
हैधर्मो से, या जनपथ पे, लो जगड़ो में फसा भारत,
कभी सारे जवान बेटे कहे, पैंसठ की बुढ़िया है,
अकेले गाँव में रोता , अधूरी आस सा भारत,

बुझा दो हर वो दीपक जो अकेला रोशनी चाहे,
लगे ना जो सभी में वो बताओ आग कैसी है

Gangs Of Wasseypur -2 : Movie Review

http://planetbollywood.com/displayReview.php?id=f080712055332

The first part of Gangs of Wasseypur had left the audience wanting for more and the expectation with GOW 2 are therefore sky high. Does the film live up to the expectations? Even before we answer that let us make a point first : this movie reinvents the genre of revenge themes and redefines the use of violence and dark humour in narrative. It is surely one of the most well researched movie which tries to capture every possible detail of the characters it portrays.

You know right from the first frame that revenge is the end motive of the movie and the nemesis of the protagonist is going to face it brutally. But it goes beyond brutality. It is probably the most violent scene you would have ever seen in a Hindi film. Nawazuddin Siddiqui with that little smirk of satisfaction on his lips and the unshed tears in his eyes defines the gist of revenge. He exactly puts his finger on what all the revenge movies till date missed – satisfaction and relief of ending a story.

All of Anurag Kashyap movies are well layered and this is no different. Obsessed with storytelling, his indulgent, amoral themes transcends the boundary of good and bad and leaves aside the age old motifs of victory of virtue over vice. The illegitimate and deprived part of the society supersedes the one containing legitimate power owners and is the focus of attention throughout the move. This form of storytelling works for many as it is very relatable to people. There is a strong political power struggle, a think family bonding, and a rich narrative that adds to the dark theme of the movie. In between a marriage celebration, as the leading lady of the movie (Protagonist’s mother) while singing a wedding folk song, moves into the agony of her past – of death of her elder son and her husband, the mood swings from celebration to sadness. That scene almost summarizes the crux of the movie- a family’s story written in blood, power struggle and precedence of enemy over lover.

The story of GOW 2 starts with the demise of Sardar Khan (Manoj Bajpayee) and rise of the next generation. Danish (Vineet Singh) gets killed and Faizal (Nawazuddin) takes over. Two colourful characters of Definit (Zeishan Quadri) and Perpendicular, former copying Salman Khan and later Sanjay Dutt, make the story edgy. With Sultan (Pankaj Tiwari) and Ramadhir Singh ( Tigmanshu Dhulia) growing older the story of revenge intensifies with introduction of characters like Shamshad (Rajkumar Yadav) and killings now include that of women of the family as well. The pointlessness of all the killing and violence is well mentioned by Faizal’s character at a point.

The style of narrative is strongly influenced by world movies, film noir and pulp fiction. Unlike the sentimentality of movies that we like to fall for, the movie treads the thought process and theme of the story. Action is the prime mover. The blood and gore in the movie might remind you of Tarantino and it’s unique because there is no precedence to such violence in Hindi films. Yet it is strongly rooted with the impact of Bollywood on the common man. References to eras and times of Khan’s, Qureshi’s and Singh’s are done through Bollywood movies. Yashpal Sharma’s character with his songs like “Teri Meherbaniya” , “Yaad Teri Ayegi” and “My name is Lakhan” is an exceptional point in case. Dark humour apart from this song is everywhere as well – do check out some of the chase sequences in a crowded town as well as goof ups during the gang wars.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui is the find of the movie. Of course we saw him in Kahaani and Pan Singh Tomar this year, but this surely will be a landmark role in his career. Evil, simple, greedy, ruthless and charming at different times, he delivers an extraordinary performance. Zeishan Quadri who also happens to be the writer of this epic story, is the next in line as definit. He portrays his character with ease. Vineet Singh, Pankaj Tiwari, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Piyush Mishra, Satya Anand, Jameel Khan – all are pitch perfect like the first part of the movie.

Anurag Kashyap seems to understand women better now. Unlike mostly powerless and oppressed females of Gulaal and victimized chanda of Dev D, Nagma (beautifully essayed by Richa Chaddha), Mohsina (Huma Quereshi), Sama (Anurita Jha) and Durga (Remma Sen) are more in control. Huma Quereshi stands out from the lot this time. She shines and charms the audience in the love scenes with Nawazuddin.

Dialogues for the movie (Zeishan and Anurag Kashyap) give a beautiful earthly feel to the almost unrealistic backdrop of violence. The story and screenplay are absolutely spot on as you do not feel bored even with a little extra length of the movie. Zeishan Quadri has done a great job in characterization, giving enough space for individuality. Cinematography by Rajeev Ravi adds to the screenplay. There are times when the screen goes completely black and those pauses in the visual story telling are beautifully taken, as you move around in your seat trying to squint and find out what happened to the character. Some of the violent shots with unstable camera movement has a gritty nervy feel about it. Visuals of perpendicular – a well-built teenager playing with the blade in his mouth and Definit taking a cobra like a muffler are tightly integrated with the screenplay. Editing again is to be blamed but with the kind of indulgence, you tend to feel that editing just to keep the length short would not have done justice to so many characters and their backstory.

One of the strongest and omnipresent character for the part 2 of GOW has been the music. The movie for the first half deals extensively with percussions. The drums, the dhols, the daflis – all keeps you hooked to the movement of the story. The occasional flavour of folk songs and the experimental songs with lyrics like “Frustiyao na moora, Nervasao na Moora” being used absolutely intelligently adds to the flavour. Sneha Khanwilkar, you are the chosen one!

All in all, this is the best movie to come out from India this year so far. It is gritty, well-paced, extremely well-acted, genre defining, path breaking work of art. The movie is not for the ones who are not comfortable with violence being depicted graphically. If you can digest violence on screen, it is a sure winner.

Gazal by Jaykumar Shah

સફળતા સમય ને જુઠા પ્રેમ ના છે,
ઘણા છે મિત્રો પણ બધા નામના છે,

ન સમજાય ઍવી જગત ની કથા છે,
અગન જાનકી ની, ભજન રામ ના છે,

દુનિયા નકામી દુખો માં બળે છે,
સુખો તો બધા તોય પરધામ ના છે,

ન સ્વતંત્ર માણસ, ન આઝાદ ઈચ્છા,
જો યુધ્ધે ચડેલાં, ધરમ-કામના છે,

હૃદય લાગણી થી સભર રાખવાને,
આ મારા બધા તો દુખો ગામ ના છે,

મફત માં મળી જાય મૌલિક વિચારો,
નકલ ચોર અહ્યા વધુ દામ ના છે,

બધી ભૂખ ની ઍ પરાકાષટા છે,
ઘરે પેટ ખાલી, પિતા જામ ના છે,

હવે કોઈ સામે ન માથું નામવું,
બધા દેવતા હાડ ના ચામ ના છે,

ખુદા તો કહે ત્યાગ કર કામના ને,
સભા માં મજાની તોયે નામના છે,

બપોરે સળગતા સૂરજ આથમેતો,
અધૂરાં રહે જે સપન શામ ના છે.

Gazals

Hindi Gazal

(If you wish to sing sing it like Kumar Vishwas' "Koi Deewana kehta hai" or Mohd Rafi's "Khilona jaan kar ..." :):))

गली के मोड़ पे बैठा वो भूखा गुनगुनाता है, 
पके जो चाँद की रोटी, लगे मीठी बताता है, 

टहलने आज निकला है, पुरानी याद का मौसम, 
वो गाओं से भरे बादल, शहरो पे बहाता है, 

नही है मौत की परवाह, नही है जन्म पे रुकता, 
फकिरो सा समय जोगी सदा बढ़ता ही जाता है, 

यहाँ पे वक़्त किसको है, यहाँ सब दौड़ना चाहे,
कभी माँ-बाप का रोना, कभी बच्चा सताता है, 

कहीं गोरे कहीं हिंदू कहीं हिन्दी के मेलो में,
जो छूटा एक बच्चा, नाम वो भारत बताता है, 

हवा में धुन्द है, लंबा सफ़र अँधा कटे कैसे,
रूको तो राह की चिंता, चलो तो चैन आता है,

बड़े कितने बनो तुम शाह रहोगे बस खिलौने से, 
वो जितना खेलना चाहे हमें उतना खिलाता है

 1222 1222 1222 1222

 

Gujarati Gazal

જીતવુ નો'તૂ ના હારવું હતું
ફક્ત આ સ્વપ્ન કંડારવુ હતું,

હાથતાળી દઈ, આપ તો ગયા,
જે વધેલુ જીવન કારમું હતું, 

તુંય તો ખ્વાબ આ દેખતી હશે,
સાવ અણધારયુ ધારવુ હતું,

બાન્ધયુ'તૂ જે અમે ડાળખાં મૂકી,
ઍક ઍ માળખુ બાળવું હતું,

સગપણો જો ઘણાં પૂર માં વહે,
બસ હવે ડૂબતું તારવું હતું

212 212 212 12

 

P.S. : Have been learning to write behr/chhand based Gujarati and Hindi Poetry for a while. Understood after quite some time that there is some very basic difference between  the two and needs to be treated differently. Hindi Poetry relies directly on the sound of a word and also gives quite some freedom to the one who is delivering / reading the poetry to pronounce. Whereas Gujarati poetry is slightly inflexible in that sense. The unit it uses unlike Hindi Poetry is not "Phoenetic sound" but it is the letter! Which means that "hrsva" or "Dirgha" of the letter is one that decides the weight. Moreover I saw little liberty in taking words like "til" "bil" "fir" as one letter of double weight, it is seldom considered to be 2, but is always 21. ​

 

 

Movie Review - Bol Bachchan

Planet Bollywood Review Link 
http://planetbollywood.com/displayReview.php?id=f071312023925

Entertainment coupled with a weak story, a weaker screenplay, and complete lack of common sense– Bol Bachchan has all the exact ingredients of cooking a 100 crore dish. The movie and its box office collection reflects the average film making for the average film going audience that Bollywood has currently ended up in. The story is inspired (the new term we use for copied) from legendary Golmaal (yes this time they copied the story in place of name) and fails to create the same vibe. The dialogues partly inspired by senior Bachchan movies and partly by the done-to-death inept English speaking dimwit roles that we have seen fail to make a lasting impact. Its inability to recreate Hrishikesh Mukherjee feel makes you remember and miss Hrishi-da all the more. For most of the English speaking role of Ajay Devgn, you might recall Chupke Chupke’s Dharmendra for the play on language.

The background music and the looks of the protagonist makes you remember a better made Singham, and yet for most part of the film the character looks like a spoof on Singham. It has flying cars and prop assisted Darasinghified (god bless his soul) fight sequences like all other Rohit Shetty films but misses the pulse. Presence of dedicated comedians like Krishna and VIP and Asrani in unnecessary character sketches reminds you of the times when Johnny Lever and Kader Khan used to light up the screen in their roles for comic relief. Infact it would even make you miss Rohit Shetty’s very own Golmaal famed – Arshad Warsi, Sharman Joshi even Tusshar Kapoor and Vrajesh Hirjee. Bol Bachchan has a strange deja-vu like feeling with all aspects of movie making. Don’t get me wrong, the movie isn’t bad. It is a lazy film. It neither wants to say anything new nor does it want to say anything that is already said in a different way.

Bol Bachchan is a story of Abbas Ali (Abhishek Bachchan), who moves to Ranakgadh headed by Prithviraj Raghuvanshi (Ajay Devgn) for certain circumstances and has to pose as Abhishek Bachchan (Oh yes that is his onscreen name as well) in front of Prithvi. Prithvi’s old lover who died in a car crash looked exactly like Abhishek Bachchan’s sister Sania (Asin) and Prithvi’s sister Radhika (Prachi Desai) eventually falls for Abhishek Bachchan (for lack of a better hero in the film). And then there is comedy of errors ala Golmaal the original one. The background score shouts “Khatra” just the way you would have heard “Golmal hai bhai sab Golmal hai”, which I think was much better used even in Hera Pheri. There is a motley of crowd in Zohra bai (Archana Puran Singh), Ravi Shashtri (Krishna), Shashtri (Abhishek), VIP and all helping the lead Palactor (inspired from Palekar).

To give the credit where it is due, the movie has some moments of genuine laughter; especially a couple of scenes with Archana Puran Singh which are memorable. Don’t miss how while posing as Abhishek’s mother she simply effortlessly gets in to her real character of Johrabai singing “ye hai reshmi zulfon ka andhera…” Last time you would have seen her act with so much restrain and subtlety was probably in Jalwa. She is very good. Ajay Devgn does a seemingly impossible task of carrying the role, the lines and the film in turn on his shoulders successfully. BolBachchan is a movie where everyone spoofs himself in jest and pack is led by Ajay Devgn. Abhishek Bachchan overacts to fill his 2 roles with the extra bit of acting. Krishna, VIP and Asrani are well placed and do their non-existent part with conviction. Neeraj Vora hams for most of his part. Asin stands, smiles, dances and looks nice. So does Prachi Desai. Though her looks would surprise you - She looks peach and almost 5 years younger than in Rock On!

Sajjid- Farhad’s dialogues need some mention here as they try to save the lack of novelty in story (Yunus Sajawal). Though the dialogues too were mostly inspired (the first one it reminded me of was Swades’ mela ram saying “apni chaukhat ka dia and giving light to neighbours place”). Cinematography (Dudley) is pretty impressive in a couple of scenes not connected to the story but during songs. Else it’s the usual Rohit Shetty film with spinning camera continuously running over trollies. Steven Bernard’s editing had a lot of scope of shortening the movie, which it did not. Background music is nothing extraordinary. Action of course is at a level that befits Rohit Shetty and Ajay Devgn’s prior works, but is unnecessary most of the times.

On the whole the movie with all its shortcomings and surprising laziness is an entertaining film for efforts of a few who acts well. In cinema, there is a thin line between art and entertainment. Bol Bachchan surely tries hard to be classified as entertainment but just falls short of it.