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

May 08, 2015

Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Irrfan Khan, Deepika Padukone, Moushmi Chatterjee, Jisshu Sengupta, Raghuvir Yadav, Balendra Singh

Director: Shoojit Sircar

One hardly expects to be rewarded with warmth and genuine sweetness from a film about a cantankerous old man and his exasperated grown-up daughter who spend most of their time arguing about his bowel movements. But Piku, directed by Shoojit Sircar, is a charming, unpredictable comedy that – like Sircar’s Vicky Donor – mines humor from the unlikeliest of places.

Deepika Padukone is Piku, a successful architect struggling to manage both her career and the responsibility of her 70-year-old father Bhashkor Banerjee (Amitabh Bachchan), who can be quite the handful. The cranky Bengali senior is a hypochondriac, and also happens to be perpetually constipated. His motions, or lack thereof, are the subject of virtually every conversation in their Chittaranjan Park home. He’s obsessed with details of the color, the texture, the size, and the consistency of his poop, which he insists on sharing with his daughter even when she’s at work or out on a date.

Bachchan is pretty terrific as Bhashkor, who reminds you of that oddball uncle that you nevertheless have a soft spot for. He bickers with the maids, harrows his hapless helper, and expects that Piku stay unmarried so she can attend to him. At one point, to ward off a possible suitor, he casually mentions that his daughter isn’t a virgin; that she’s financially independent and sexually independent too. Bachchan embraces the character’s many idiosyncrasies, never once slipping into caricature while all along delivering big laughs thanks to his spot-on comic timing.

Also bringing his best game to the film is Irrfan Khan as Rana Chowdhary, the owner of a private taxi company who volunteers to drive Piku and her father all the way from Delhi to Kolkata when the old man insists on visiting his ancestral home. The film takes the shape of a road-trip movie from this point on, and it’s Khan – applying his trademark dry humor – who gets some of the best moments here. Amused by Bhashkor’s fixation on his tummy issues, Rana explains the merits of squatting on a Indian-style toilet, and in another hilarious scene draws out the entire digestive route of food for a fascinated Bhashkor.

But it’s with the character of Piku that writer Juhi Chaturvedi pushes the envelope farthest, giving us a fully flesh-and-blood modern woman. Unembarrassed to admit she has sexual needs, unafraid to pursue a casual relationship with a colleague, and never shy of snapping back at her patience-testing father, Piku is a refreshing character in the movies, and Padukone plays her without a hint of artifice. It’s a performance that never feels like a performance; she’s that good in the film.

Into this richly layered script, Chaturvedi sneaks pertinent questions about ageing, the shifting dynamics of responsibility between parent and offspring, and the line between duty and sacrifice. Sircar keeps a breezy, light-hearted tone throughout, infusing a hint of humor even in the decidedly emotional bits. He surrounds his leads with strong supporting players (including a feisty Moushmi Chatterjee as Piku’s thrice-divorced aunt), and shoots relatively long conversation scenes in a manner that feels real and honest and unaffected.

I’m going with four out of five for Piku. Although obsessed with all the wrong body parts, it’s a film that’s full of heart.

(This review first aired on CNN-IBN)

May 01, 2015

Cast: Akshay Kumar, Shruti Haasan, Jaideep Ahlawat, Suman Talwar, Sunil Grover

Director: Krish

To everyone who thinks that movie critics have the best jobs in the world, I’d like to say only this – Gabbar is Back.

Sure, getting paid to watch movies for a living beats the hell out of sitting at a desk all day. But remember, freedom of choice is a luxury that movie critics don’t enjoy. You get to watch the films you want to. We must watch everything, so you don’t have to. Which brings me to Gabbar is Back, the new Akshay Kumar film that I can bet is only a slight improvement on watching two hours of CCTV footage of an airport baggage carousel.

Even the most unconditional Akshay Kumar fans will likely agree that the film’s premise – a wronged man becomes a vigilante to weed out corruption from the system – feels dated, and devoid of any original insight. Hardly surprising, given that the film is a remake of Ghajni director AR Murgadoss’ Tamil hit Ramana from all the way back in 2002 – yes, 13 years ago.

Borrowing the alias of Hindi cinema’s most enduring villain, but bringing none of his dangerous appeal, Akshay plays a college professor who moonlights discreetly as a dispenser of justice, handpicking corrupt government officials and hanging them publicly to spread fear among the dishonest. It makes him a sort of hero of the masses, even as the police struggles to uncover his identity and bring him to task. Eventually Gabbar finds himself on the wrong side of a ruthless builder (Suman Talwar) who becomes obsessed with exacting revenge on him for tarnishing his business reputation.

I’ll spare you the details, except to say that director Radhakrishna Jagarlamudi (aka Krish) paints in broad strokes, giving us conflicts that feel too exaggerated and resolutions that are too simplistic. A scene in which our protagonist exposes the malpractices in a prestigious private hospital by staging an entrapment plan is far-fetched and frankly unconvincing, even if it does tap into the very real sentiment of one’s frustration against the medical system. There isn’t one quiet moment or even a hint of subtlety in the film’s 130-minute running time, its blaring background music only emphasizing the melodrama. There are clap-trap lines peppered throughout the film that front-benchers will inevitably cheer, and you’re left with the feeling of being pounded on the head repeatedly with a message that’s questionable to say the least.

The stray moments of humor in this film are strictly unintentional, particularly those bits in which our protagonist’s chief nemesis bandies on repeatedly about his “brand value”. At one point during the final confrontation between the two, Akshay rubs his rival’s face in the fact that “Gabbar is a bigger brand than you!” Television funnyman Sunil Grover gets a few good moments as an enterprising constable, but the same can’t be said for the film’s leading lady Shruti Haasan, who plays a Google-quoting dimwit. Even worse is the raw deal handed out to poor Chitrangada Singh, who is left to shake and shimmy to a sleazy-sounding item song.

From the clumsy plotting and a manipulative back-story featuring a visibly disinterested Kareena Kapoor, to the been-there-seen-that action scenes and the uninspired score, there’s little to recommend in this movie. At best, Akshay Kumar lays on the charm in a few well-timed sequences. But it’s too small a reward in exchange for sitting through this boring film.

I’m going with one-and-a-half out of five for Gabbar is Back. Not surprisingly, your migraine’s back too!

(This review first aired on CNN-IBN)