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

August 25, 2016

Cast: Tiger Shroff, Amrita Singh, Jacqueline Fernandez, Kay Kay Menon, Nathan Jones, Gaurav Pandey

Director: Remo D’souza

A bumbling young fellow, bullied by a cantankerous mother, plagued by insecurities, and terrified of confrontation, is suddenly bequeathed incredible powers…only to transform into a reluctant superhero. Hell, his mum’s more excited than he is!

It’s a terrific premise, and one’s that’s ripe with potential not least because Tiger Shroff, oozing sincerity, plays Aman, a clumsy martial arts teacher who makes for a clumsy vigilante. And the eminently watchable Amrita Singh – although more shrill than even her character in 2 States – is his belligerent mum who implores him to get off his ass and go save the world.

But co-writer and director Remo D’souza squanders the opportunity to develop that idea into a fully satisfying film. Weighed down by a script bursting with clichés, an assembly line of cardboard characters, and tacky special effects and production design, A Flying Jatt never emerges the crackling homegrown superhero film it so easily could’ve been.

The film coasts along nicely when it doesn’t take itself too seriously. Our superhero, afraid of heights flies embarrassingly low, and dutifully waits for the traffic light to turn green. His early attempts at crime fighting are woefully inept, and his mother thinks nothing of interrupting him mid-flight to pick up lauki from the market for dinner.

Such irreverent moments, however, are few and far between. For the most part, A Flying Jatt feels like a slog because it’s so amateurishly executed. The action scenes between our hero and the film’s (literally) growling villain, Raaka (Nathan Jones), who rises from a toxic wasteland and gives off noxious fumes, are bargain basement imitations of Rohit Shetty set-pieces. Other bits – like a time-stop sequence – are cheerfully plagiarized from Hollywood hits.

Nothing and no one is more grating on the nerves than Jacqueline Fernandez though, who plays a giggly schoolteacher and the object of Aman’s affection. Their romantic track is predictable and boring, but that’s not even the biggest problem. Jacqueline plays the part so animated and ditzy, you have to wonder if her character suffers from an attention deficit disorder.

There’s Kay Kay Menon, too, playing a greedy industrialist who will stop at nothing to forcibly acquire Aman’s ancestral land. But Kay Kay, who’s usually such a dependable actor, is the human equivalent of a ham-and-cheese sandwich here.

Unfolding over a punishing 2 hours and 30 minutes, A Flying Jatt hammers you on the head with repeated sermons about the valour of the Sikh community, and bandies on about its anti-pollution/eco-friendly agenda. These are noble ideas but they’re conveyed with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer.

I was also particularly surprised by a mean-spirited joke directed at an actress who makes a one-scene cameo. How cruel, to someone who’s done you a favor!

When all’s done and dusted, there’s little to recommend in A Flying Jatt. Remo D’souza fails to infuse the film with a consistent lightheartedness, and as a result the fun dries up too soon. Tiger Shroff is both agile in the action scenes and flexible in the dance numbers, but no if no but, this Jatt is stuck in a rut.

I’m going with one and a half out five.

(This review first aired on CNN News18)

August 19, 2016

Cast: Diana Penty, Abhay Deol, Jimmy Shergill, Ali Fazal, Piyush Mishra, Javed Sheikh, Momal Sheikh, Kanwaljeet Singh

Director: Mudassar Aziz

Happy Bhag Jayegi shares virtually nothing by way of DNA with the Julia Roberts starrer Runaway Bride, although in both films the plot is set into motion after the female protagonist, a bride-to-be, makes a dash for it on her wedding day. Treating that idea as merely a starting point, writer-director Mudassar Aziz constructs a winning premise.

Not particularly thrilled about spending the rest of her life with thuggish local coporator Daman Singh Bagga (Jimmy Shergill), Amritsar girl Happy (Diana Penty) leaps into a fruit truck that will take her to her lover, good-for-nothing Guddu (Ali Fazal), with whom she plans to elope. But she ends up in a wrong truck headed to Lahore, and finds herself in the home of a Pakistani diplomat, whose son Bilal Ahmed (Abhay Deol) is horrified at how this is going to look.

This premise is ripe with potential and the filmmakers maintain a light and breezy tone throughout. The laughs come fast and frequent in the first half as we watch the chaos that ensues on either side in the wake of this incident. Back home in Punjab, Guddu doesn’t know where his girl has vanished, and Bagga is mad at having been stood up. Meanwhile in Pakistan, Bilal, who is being groomed to become “the next Jinnah”, volunteers to help Happy reunite with Guddu so he can get her off his back.

The film is co-produced by Anand L Rai, and like his Tanu Weds Manu movies, Happy Bhag Jayegi benefits from crackling dialogue and colorful supporting characters who often steal the scene from the principals. Piyush Mishra, playing a bumbling Pakistani cop and a sort of sidekick to Bilal, gets some of the film’s best lines and funniest moments like when his chaste Urdu raises Bagga’s hackles.

But the film loses some of its steam post intermission when the comedy takes a backseat to high-strung melodrama and contrived emotional subplots. The suggestion of a love triangle involving Bilal never rings true, and the climax feels rushed and a tad convenient.

Although the film gets its title from its female protagonist, Happy is frankly the least compelling of the film’s characters. It’s an underwritten part and one that feels superficial and strictly surface level. Doesn’t help that Diany Penty is easy on the eyes, and while she definitely tries she doesn’t have the muscle to scratch beneath the surface and get under the skin of the character.

The men do most of the heavy lifting here, and they each get their moment to shine. Ali Fazal nicely conveys the restlessness of a separated lover, and Abhay Deol knows how to make a joke land. But it’s Jimmy Shergill who’s terrific as the lunkheaded Bagga in a part that echoes his character in the Tanu Weds Manu movies.

Clocking in at a little over two hours, Happy Bhag Jayegi is mostly fun despite its shortcomings, because the humor is earned. The jokes are mined from the characters and the scenarios they find themselves in; they’re never merely slapped onto the narrative like in so many films. It’s far from perfect, but it’s unlikely you’ll be bored.

I’m going with three out of five.

(This review first aired on CNN News18)

August 12, 2016

Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Pooja Hegde, Kabir Bedi, Arunoday Singh, Suhasini Mulay, Manish Choudhary, Sharad KelkarPa

Director: Ashutosh Gowariker

Named after one of the largest settlements in the ancient Indus Valley Civilization, Ashutosh Gowariker’s film Mohenjo Daro is an antiquated love story-cum-revenge drama that never rises above its clichés. Borrowing plot points from both The Lion King and Gladiator, the film tells the oldest story in the book: Downtrodden hero goes google-eyed over upper-caste girl, then avenges his father’s death while rebelling against an evil overlord. The city of Mohenjo-daro is believed to have been destroyed when the raging Indus river flooded over, but the film drowns under sheer tediousness and predictability.

It all goes ominously downhill from its very opening set piece in which our hero Sarman (Hrithik Roshan) wrestles a rubber crocodile. Sarman, who has been raised by his uncle and aunt, is an indigo farmer in Amri village, but longs to go to Mohenjo-daro after he repeatedly dreams of a unicorn. Small town boy with big city dreams in 2016 BC! Once there, Sarman realizes his destiny – falling in love with the priest’s daughter Channi (Pooja Hegde), then going up against evil chieftain Maham (Kabir Bedi), and his bulky son Munja (Arunoday Singh) who is engaged to the girl.

Gowariker, the director of Lagaan, Swades and Jodhaa-Akbar, once had the knack of weaving compelling drama around unusual stories, but the new film is devoid of both. Frankly, it’s puzzling why this film is set in the Indus Valley Civilization, given the alarming lack of attention to detail. Characters seem to have found razors to trim their designer stubbles and sideburns, and some of the costumes and headgear are completely outlandish. There is little that this film tells us about the times than what we already knew from our history books. For what it’s worth, the film could’ve been titled Elephanta Caves and it wouldn’t have made much of a difference.

Sarman and Channi’s love story is sleep-inducing, but there’s more drudgery to come once Sarman discovers the extent of Maham’s treachery. None of this feels even mildly interesting. Even the sight of Hrithik dueling with two hulking Neanderthals can’t nudge you out of your coma.

Much of this is because of the flat writing and lazy casting. Kabir Bedi and Arunoday Singh are stock villains with bulging eyes and standard issue complexes. Debutante Pooja Hegde is attractive, but barely makes an impression. Perhaps one can put Hrithik’s bronzed frame down to the fact that Sarman spends way too much time in the sun, but the golden highlights are baffling. Hrithik, all quivering lips and nostrils flared, attacks the material with all he’s got, but you can’t help feeling like you’ve seen this performance before. Hardly his fault though, the film barely challenges his talent.

I’m going with two out of five for Mohenjo Daro. AR Rahman’s score, and the sincerity that Hrithik brings to the film are its only strengths. Let’s face it, this tale was best left in the ruins.

(This review first aired on CNN News18)

August 12, 2016

Cast: Akshay Kumar, Ileana D’Cruz, Esha Gupta, Arjan Bajwa, Kumud Mishra, Pavan Malhotra, Parmeet Sethi, Kanwaljeet

Director: Tinu Suresh Desai

Never mind that it’s already inspired at least two Hindi films, the Nanavati case of 1959 remains an inherently fascinating story. Naval Commander Kawas Maneckshaw Nanavati shoots his wife Sylvia’s lover, Prem Ahuja, in cold blood, then proceeds to surrender. The ensuing trial to determine whether it was a crime of passion or premeditated murder receives unprecedented media coverage, turns the Parsis and Sindhis against each other, and results in a shocking jury verdict that is subsequently overturned by higher courts.

Alas, all of that drama is reduced to a farce in Rustom, which frankly is about as enjoyable as a toothache.

Akshay Kumar, although sincere, is never convincing as a Parsi. He plays Rustom Pavri, a character evidently based on Nanavati, but the script (by Vipul Rawal) takes several liberties with the truth.

The first half of the film has a few interesting moments, but director Tinu Suresh Desai spends ways too much time setting up the affair between Rustom’s wife Cynthia (a mostly comatose Ileana D’Cruz) and playboy businessman Vikram Makhija (Arjan Bajwa).

Post interval, the action shifts to the courtroom where, for no discernable reason, Rustom has decided to defend himself in the ongoing investigation, while everyone from the prosecutor (Sachin Khedekar), to key witnesses (Usha Nadkarni, playing a domestic servant) and jury members, crank up the shrillness quotient. Kumud Mishra, in a role inspired by Blitz editor RK Karanjia, who campaigned vociferously for Nanavati’s acquittal, shows up purely to provide comic relief.

What was a sensational case in the early sixties that polarized a city is ‘dumb-ed’ down to the point of silliness. Esha Gupta, playing the slain victim’s revenge-seeking sister is a real hoot as she puffs away at the end of one of those long cigarette holders, dressed in off-shoulder blouses and sporting a single, stock expression.

There’s also a pointless subplot involving blackmail that culminates in a ho-hum twist. What links Rustom to A Wednesday and Special 26, both films directed by Neeraj Pandey (who is one of the producers here), is that it asks us to root for a law-breaking protagonist. But this isn’t half as thrilling a film as those were.

Period details are hit and miss, facts are distorted for the sake of convenience, and technically the film is no great shakes. But most unforgivably, the film sacrifices the complexities of the Nanavati case for the sake of facile drama.

In the end, Pavan Malhotra is typically dependable in the role of the investigating police officer, and Akshay Kumar shows some flair. They are the sole bright spots in Rustom, which is too long, wholly disappointing, and feels like an opportunity lost. I’m going with a generous two out of five.

(This review first aired on CNN News18)

August 05, 2016

Cast: Manoj Bajpayee, Mayur Patole, Tilottama Shome, Shruti Marathe, Chaya Kadam, Gajraj Rao,

Director: Soumendra Padhi

Budhia Singh – Born to Run is positioned as a biopic of the world’s youngest marathon runner, but it’s as much an indictment of Indian bureaucracy and petty politics as it is true story of the five-year-old tyke whose achievements it celebrates. Winner of the National Award for Best Children’s Film earlier this year (under its original title, Duronto), this stirring drama, written and directed by first-timer Soumendra Padhi, is powered by consistent performances from its ensemble, led by a showstealing Manoj Bajpayee in the role of the boy’s coach.

Bajpayee plays Biranchi Das, a well-connected entrepreneur in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, who among other small businesses, runs a judo school where he trains the 22-odd orphaned kids he has sheltered in his home. When he rescues 4-year-old Budhia (Mayur Patole) from an alcoholic bangle seller who ‘purchased’ him from the boy’s penniless mom (Tilottama Shome), Biranchi recognizes his athletic potential and pushes him towards professional greatness.

It’s a by-the-numbers underdog story, and Padhi tells it competently. By the time Budhia is being prepped to run his most ambitious marathon yet – a 70km course from Puri to Bhubaneswar – the kid has become a mini celebrity, drawing attention from the media, local politicians, and the state’s Ministry of Child Welfare whose top dogs want the circus pulled.

The film raises pertinent questions about exploitation and the loss of childhood, while never offering any easy answers. Biranchi, who goes on to legally adopt Budhia, clearly cares for the kid. But Bajpayee’s nuanced performance doesn’t let you miss such details as Biranchi’s growing arrogance and defiance in the face of opposition, and his inability to recognize that the Olympic dream he is fighting for the boy to fulfill is his own, and not necessarily the kid’s.

As is the case with most films based on true stories, there is a tendency to tinker with facts, to exaggerate details, and to portray any character not aligned with the protagonist’s interests as gnarly villains. Yet, the film never derails because Padhi captures the spirit of Budhia’s story with adequate sensitivity. It helps too that young Mayur Patole is so natural as the frail but lively Budhia, his performance never feels contrived or affected. In the marathon scenes, putting everything he’s got into the run, it’s hard to believe that’s not the real athlete we’re watching on screen.

I’m going with three out of five for Budhia Singh – Born to Run. It’s predictably told but heartfelt…and thought-provoking to boot. Not a bad way to spend two hours.

(This review first aired on CNN News18)