Rajeev Masand – movies that matter : from bollywood, hollywood and everywhere else

February 27, 2015

Cast: Ayushmann Khurrana, Bhumi Pednekar, Sanjay Mishra, Seema Pahwa, Alka Amin, Sheeba Chaddha, Chandrachoor Rai

Director: Sharat Kataria

The title Dum Laga Ke Haisha has a nice ring to it. These words, commonly chanted when doing any kind of physically strenuous work, evoke an affectionate nostalgia for a time gone by…a time before mobile phones took over our lives, before Google made libraries redundant, and before shiny CDs replaced those double-sided audio cassettes that we inevitably wore out from repeatedly listening to the same track over and over again.

It’s that very nostalgia that writer-director Sharat Kataria’s film so effortlessly taps, set as it is sometime in the mid 90s, and in Haridwar, a relatively smaller town in North India that appears virtually insulated from globalization. Ayushmann Khurrana plays Prem Prakash Tiwari, or Lappu as he’s fondly called at home, a tenth-standard failed 25-year-old who sits at his father’s audio cassette-repair shop listening to Kumar Sanu hits all day. He’s bullied by his family into marrying an educated but rotund girl, Sandhya (newcomer Bhumi Pednekar), but he can’t summon up the slightest affection for his new bride.

Kataria creates believable scenarios and gives us flesh-and-blood characters that never feel less than real. Prem is cruel to his wife, he’s embarrassed to be seen with her in public, and insists that by marrying her he’s ruined his life. Sandhya, refreshingly, is unapologetic about her weight, mostly confident in her own skin, and she knows how to give it right back. There are other characters too: screaming fathers, pushy mothers, opinionated aunts, and assorted friends and relatives that pop up regularly and weigh in on the ‘samasya’. The script gives each of them a reason to be there, mining laughs from unexpected places. In one scene, on hearing the sound of overactive bed springs from her son’s room, Prem’s mother remarks to her husband: “Sayana ho gaya humra Lappu,” then follows it up with the zinger: “Zara Jaya aur Rekha ko bhi bata doon, mann halka ho jayega.” In another scene, a saline drip of all things becomes a source of much amusement.

It’s the relationship between the protagonists however, and how that eventually changes, that is at the heart of this film. Kataria’s script puts them through their paces, never rushing towards a contrived, convenient resolution. Ayushmann and Bhumi have charming chemistry, and each delivers heartfelt performances that ring true. Ayushmann plays it from the gut, never once striking a false note as the insecure young fella, bitter over being dealt an unfair hand, but who nicely transitions when he realizes he’s wrong. Bhumi, meanwhile, steals the film with an assured turn, effortlessly making you care for Sandhya, without ever reducing her to a slobbering, self-pitying caricature.

Dum Laga Ke Haisha sucks you into its world with well-etched characters, beautiful cinematography, perfectly detailed production design, and a host of fine actors – including Sanjay Mishra, Seema Pahwa, and Sheeba Chaddha – who add to the film’s authenticity. Music plays an important role too, as highlighted in one lovely scene where Prem and Sandhya switch between popular Hindi film numbers on the transistor to convey their respective moods. Anu Malik and lyricisit Varun Grover deliver some winning tracks, nicely rendered by Kumar Sanu, who isn’t merely a reference in the film but whose presence hangs over the picture throughout.

Simple and breezy, while at the same time evocative of life in small-town India, Dum Laga Ke Haisha is a charming film that you really shouldn’t miss. I’m going with three-and-a-half out of five.

(This review first aired on CNN-IBN)

February 27, 2015

Cast: Nana Patekar, Gul Panag, Vikram Gokhale, Ashutosh Rana, Mohan Agashe, Dilip Prabhavarkar

Director: Aejaz Gulab

Ab Tak Chhappan 2 is an entirely pointless sequel, a film that has frankly no business to exist. It has neither plot nor relevance, and even at a running time of 1 hour and 41 minutes, it feels too long and completely unnecessary. Unlike the earlier film from 2004 that was loosely based on the life and times of encounter specialist Daya Nayak, this sequel doesn’t particularly resonate with the times. Let’s face it, the underworld is no longer the formidable villain that it once was, which makes the very premise of this film outdated.

Sadhu Agashe (Nana Patekar), now retired from the police force and living with his young son in a coastal village, is persuaded to return to Mumbai and help release the city from the stranglehold of two rival underworld factions. As our committed hero goes about his job weeding out shooters and henchmen, it becomes clear both to him and to us in the audience that nothing much has changed. The lives of close ones are once again put at risk, even as those meant to uphold the law are revealed to have close links with law-breakers.

Predictable and simplistic, the script of Ab Tak Chhappan 2 offers little by way of freshness or originality, instead piling up the clichés and reinforcing lazy stereotypes. Director Aejaz Gulab stages mostly unimpressive action scenes – like a shootout in a cowshed and a chase through a red-light area – that are sorely lacking in tension or thrills. What you get instead are long, rambling sermons on the politics of power and the difference in perception and reality.

Although peppered with good actors like Ashutosh Rana, Govind Namdeo, Mohan Agashe and Vikram Gokhale, the film gives them little to do, leaving the bulk of heavy lifting to Nana Patekar, who thankfully doesn’t disappoint. Conveying a cynical world-weariness in his performance, Nana plays Sadhu as a man haunted by ghosts from his past, yet steadfast in his commitment to his cause.

Ab Tak Chhappan 2 has neither the benefit of Shimit Amin’s crisp direction nor a script as wholesome and probing as the first one. Even Ramgopal Varma, who produced the earlier film, isn’t involved with this one. What it does have, unfortunately, is the same dizzying camerawork of many of Varma’s recent films. I came out with my head spinning.

I’m going with one-and-a-half out of five for Ab Tak Chhappan 2. Everything about it feels rehashed and redundant.

(This review first aired on CNN-IBN)

February 20, 2015

Cast: Varun Dhawan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Huma Qureshi, Vinay Pathak, Radhika Apte, Divya Dutta, Pratima Kazi, Zakir Husain, Yami Gautam

Director: Sriram Raghavan

The sheer thrill of watching a film and not knowing what will happen next is one of the great pleasures offered by director Sriram Raghavan’s unpredictable and deliciously twisted revenge thriller Badlapur. The film stages a chilling battle of wits between hero and villain, but nothing here is plain black or white.

Varun Dhawan is Raghu, an average Joe in Pune, whose life is turned upside down when his wife (Yami Gautam) and young son are killed in a bank robbery gone wrong. One of the two men involved in the incident, Laik (Nawazuddin Siddiqui), is arrested and promptly sentenced to 20 years in prison. The other, who Laik won’t identify, has taken off with the loot. Consumed by a cocktail of grief, anger and helplessness, Raghu retreats, aptly, to a small town named Badlapur where he simmers with revenge-fueled hate.

Seizing your attention from the moment in, the film’s crisp narrative seldom loosens its grip. You’re on the edge of your seat for virtually the entire first half of Badlapur, as Raghu and Laik’s parallel storylines unravel over the next 15 years, the promise of a volatile confrontation looming large. But, as anyone who’s seen Ek Hasina Thi and Johnny Gaddar will agree, Raghavan isn’t interested in violence for the sake of violence, and unlike last year’s similarly themed Ek Villain, this film is more psychological thriller than bloody blast.

Which is not to say that there’s no gore in Badlapur. There is. It’s a pretty brutal film, in fact. But Raghavan uses violence economically, and mines these scenes for maximum impact. It’s the unexpected moments of humor though, that catch you completely unaware. Laik’s repeated taunting of a prison bully inspires chuckles, as does a scene in which a detective introduces herself to Raghu when he shows up at her home. The script gleefully shatters clichés and rejects conventional plot turns to surprise us at every available opportunity.

Raghavan toys also with our traditional expectations from heroes and villains, by turning the accepted template on its head to blur the line between the two. The film’s key wisdom – that ordinary people are capable of extraordinary cruelty – is demonstrated in Raghu’s carefully orchestrated takedown of every single person he holds responsible for his misery. And in a climax that is both stunning and underwhelming at the same time, he uses the film’s most unlikely character to make a point about the futility of violence and revenge.

An ensemble of fine actors is assembled to breathe life into the film’s terrific plot, and each is integral in their own way, despite the length of their parts. Huma Qureshi and particularly Radhika Apte, both playing selfless women who will go to great lengths to defend their men, stand out with impressive turns. But the heavy lifting, expectedly, is left to the two leads.

Varun Dhawan, the star of mostly light-hearted romantic and comedy films, convincingly gets under the skin of the cold, calculating vigilante protagonist, displaying an intensity he hasn’t revealed before. Transforming not merely physically to play the older Raghu, he even somehow brings a distinct world-weariness to these portions. Then there is Nawazuddin Siddiqui, who walks away with all the best lines, and leaves his stamp all over the film. Alternating nicely between maniacal, cunning, and vulnerable, he delivers a performance that is at once internalized and yet playing to the gallery.

Despite all its strengths, Badlapur isn’t a perfect film. The pace slackens post-intermission, plot contrivances are many, and you might say the film is misogynistic in its treatment of women. These are relatively small problems in the larger picture, though. For the most part, the film keeps you on your toes, curious to see where its twists and turns will lead.

I’m going with three-and-a-half out of five for Badlapur. Welcome back, Sriram Raghavan; Agent Vinod has been forgotten!

(This review first aired on CNN-IBN)

February 20, 2015

Cast: Irrfan Khan, Tilottama Shome, Tisca Chopra, Rasika Duggal

Director: Anup Singh

Qissa, directed and co-written by Anup Singh, is the haunting tale of a girl who grows up as a boy. The film shows a Partition-displaced Sikh villager Umber Singh (Irrfan Khan), so consumed by his hunger to have a son that he brings up his fourth daughter as a boy. His subjugated wife Mehar (Tisca Chopra) and older daughters live with the theory that Kanwar is male, even as the confused child grows up to be a tortured ‘man’ (Tilottama Shome).

When Kanwar is found flirting with gypsy girl Neeli (Rasika Duggal), Umber forces them to marry, resulting in more gender confusion and tragic consequences. Your attention flags when Qissa goes down a supernatural path, but Singh leaves us with lingering feelings of sadness for the mixed-up Kanwar, and her even more twisted father.

Shome infuses Kanwar’s character with anguish, anger and pain, while there is vulnerability in Khan’s portrayal of Umber, which is at odds with his outward ruthlessness. Chopra is quietly emphatic as the torn mother, while Duggal captivates us as the spirited Neeli, who doesn’t give in till the end.

Both the cinematography and the background score are nicely moody and leave you with a sense of foreboding. Qissa is in the tradition of a compelling folktale that you can’t shake off once you’ve heard it. I’m going with three out of five. I recommend that you watch the film for its unique voice.

(This review first aired on CNN-IBN)