Jazbaa (2015)

English translation: Passion

Director: Sanjay Gupta

Screenplay: Sanjay Gupta, Robin Bhatt (remake of the Korean film Seven Days)

Cast: Aishwarya Rai, Irrfan Khan, Shabana Azmi

Music: Amjad-Nadeem, Arko Pravo Mukherjee, Amar Mohile

Time: 128 minutes

Bottom-line: Good thriller, but with too much drama

Aishwarya Rai returns to the screen after a five-year hiatus with this legal drama, Jazbaa, and that, by itself, is a delight for all the Rai fans. The last time I saw her as an action heroine was in Dhoom 2, and in this film too, she plays a powerful lead role. Anuradha Verma (Rai) is a prominent lawyer with a highly successful career. She is also the single mother of Sanaya (Sara Arjun). One day, in her school, Sanaya gets kidnapped. The captor informs Verma that she must defend a criminal, Niyaaz, accused of rape and murder of a young woman.

 

Rai as Anuradha

All the evidence points to him, and it seems quite clear that Niyaaz is guilty. Verma takes help from the policeman in charge of the case, Yohan (Khan), who is now being accused of corruption. Verma also faces pressure from a politician, whose son is involved in the case, as well as the victim’s mother, Garima (Azmi), for so shamelessly fighting to defend a ruthless criminal. What Verma does to save her daughter, and career, is what the film is about.

The best part of the film is the twist ending. At one point, I felt that there were too many characters being introduced – which made the plot a touch hazy – but in the end the film tied everything up, with a new twist to ponder over. The twist reminds me of an Agatha Christie story, but the way it was executed here was really effective. There is too much drama at times, not to mention the accompanying over-acting! Don’t expect much courtroom drama in the film; the emphasis is more on the mother-daughter relationship.

 

Irrfan Khan as Yohan

That’s one reason why the exchanges between Garima and Verma are interesting to watch. Both are mothers fighting for their daughters, but neither seems to understand the plight of the other (or do they?). Shabana Azmi has done well in acting, using all her experience to play a mature, well-composed role. Irrfan Khan, as always, does what he does best: plays the stylish cop with occasional outbursts of violence and sarcasm, adding yet another movie to his list of excellent supporting performances!

Aishwarya Rai’s performance is commendable most of the way, barring – as I said – the occasional bits of over-acting (with unwanted close-ups and slo-mo shots too). She plays the mother role far better than that of a lawyer, but then, the legal bits of the film aren’t what you should be scrutinising anyway. Watch Amitabh’s Pink if you want a proper courtroom drama. I do appreciate the fact that Sanjay Gupta wrapped up the film in less than 2 hours without any song sequence and such… that itself has become so rare these days!

 

Azmi as Garima

Overall, Jazbaa is a fairly well-made drama, with good bits of acting from everyone. It’s not great, but wait for the end and you might take away a superb twist ending.

My Rating: 3/5

Children of Men (2006)

Director: Alfonso Cuarón

Screenplay: Alfonso Cuarón, Timothy J. Sexton, David Arata, Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby

Cast: Clive Owen, Michael Caine, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Clare-Hope Ashitey

Music: John Tavener

Time: 109 minutes

Bottom-line: One of the best sci-fi films of the past decade

The last one to die… please turn out the light.

Set in a Dystopian future, Alfonso Cuarón's science fiction drama, Children of Men, is certainly a top contender for portraying the most sadistic or most violent future on Earth. The year is 2027, and for 18 years, women have been infertile on the Earth. Humanity is facing extinction, and the whole world is in chaos; the UK – one of the few stable governments – has become a police state, rounding up and detaining immigrants. The lead character, a former activist, Theo Faron (Owen), is given a job by a militant’s immigrant group (led by his estranged wife Julia (Julianne Moore)) to secure transit papers for an African woman named Kee (Ashitey). The reason? Kee is pregnant.

This is where Cuarón brings in science fiction and other theories: Kee is the first pregnant woman in 18 years, and her character was written into the movie based on Cuarón's interest in single-origin hypothesis. With the baby being the symbol of hope, Theo is desperate to take Kee safely to the “Human Project”, a scientific group dedicated to curing infertility. The problem…a group called the Fishes want the baby to support the revolution, and their leader wants to assassinate Theo. The chase that ensues as Theo, Kee and a former midwife, Miriam, along with help from Theo’s friend Jasper (Caine), struggle to evade the war/military/Fishes and several other death threats, is what the film is about.

 

(From left) Ejiofor as Luke, Ashitey as Kee, Miriam, Owen
as Theo, and Moore as Julia 

Children of Men excels in several technical aspects, as expected from a Cuarón film. The continuous takes (something I loved in Gravity too) and the shaky-cam technique add to the feel of the war zone, and the visual effects are simply astounding; a lesser known fact is that Kee’s baby is created entirely out of CGI. I liked the futuristic setting too – depressing as it may be – with grey skies, roads covered with debris, dust, blood and bodies, the explosions, the gun-fire…the film does have a lot of graphic violence: murders, executions, and a lot of bloodshed. Yet the cinematography and direction are so superbly done that there is just enough violence (not to forget the suddenness of the outbursts) to make the viewer feel the shock as well.

 

Caine as Jasper 

The story ends a little abruptly, in the sense that a lot of things are left to interpretation. The emphasis of the film was more on how desperate humans become in the future, and how utterly chaotic the world will be, and importantly, how many sacrifices are made for a better cause. The baby is like the light at the end of the tunnel, but the end is not reached in the 109 minutes; what we see is only the darkness. Cuarón and the other writers have beautifully woven a tale combining science-fiction, violence, action and a little philosophy too. In the end, you might not take away an adrenaline-pumping thriller story, but you will have a lot to ponder about.

This is the first film of Clive Owen that I have seen and I was impressed. He takes on the role of a leader, fighting all odds, losing his friends, all for the greater good. Michael Caine and Ashitey have done a really good job too. Children of Men is certainly one of Cuarón's best, and with its thought-provoking story, amazing CGI and editing, it is one of the best films of 2006 (the same year we saw The Departed, Blood Diamond, Little Miss Sunshine, The Lives of Others, Pan's Labyrinth,  to name a few).

My Rating: 4/5

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 92%

Lucy (2014)

Director: Luc Besson

Story: Luc Besson

Cast: Scarlett Johannsson, Morgan Freeman

Music: Éric Serra

Time: 90 minutes

Bottom-line: Nonsensical, but fun

Humans can, at the most, use up to 10% of their brain capacity.

This popular myth is the underlying theme for this science-fiction thriller Lucy. Starring Scarlett Johannsson, Morgan Freeman and Choi Min-sik, the film intrigues us with the possibility of exploration of the human brain, but also goes way off-course with its nonsensical stunts and superhero-like action.

Life was given to us a billion years ago. What have we done with it? (opening line)

Lucy (Johannsson) is an American woman studying in Taipei. Tricked into working as a drug mule, she is forced to deliver a case to a Korean mob boss, Mr. Jang (Min-sik), containing four packets of CPH4, a synthetic drug. Herself and three others have one bag sewn into their abdomen to transport to different parts of Europe. However, an injury causes Lucy’s bag to break open, releasing the drug into her blood. This gives her abilities like telekinesis, mental time travel and she now feels no pain or desire or emotion. She is able to remember everything and also control devices. Meanwhile we come to know about the myth through Professor Norman (Freeman), and we realise that Lucy’s brain is developing far beyond the expected 10%. This gives her more and more power but lesser time to live. With Jang hot on pursuit, how does Lucy use her gifted powers, as her life clock ticks away?

 

Johannsson as Lucy

Life was given to us a billion years ago. Now you know what to do with it. (closing line)

Scarlett Johannsson does quite well for an action hero (she also plays Black Widow in both the Avengers movies), and with knives, guns and lot of special effects, her character Lucy is one to look out for! First she plays an ordinary human, petrified when she notices the doings of Jang. Later she plays a “superhero” with exceptional mind-control powers, with barely any emotion or feeling. Morgan Freeman has a very small role to play; I think they used a veteran actor just so that the viewers would pay attention to the science he talks about (else all eyes on Johannsson obviously!!).  

Freeman as Prof Norman

The visual effects are amazing; look out for the visuals shown towards the end when Lucy reaches almost a 100%. The story is, as I said, intriguing at first; however, after a point her powers seem to be too exaggerated; while it is impossible to predict what would happen if we could use even 25% of our brain capacity (assuming the myth is true), I doubt anyone can do the stuff that Lucy does. But that’s the fun bit of the film I guess. I would have liked it better if the focus was more on the science part rather than the action, making it more of a serious watch than an action flick. The ending is poor; there are a few loose ends, and it was too abrupt.

While the storyline needs a lot of work, the acting by Johannsson is quite impressive. The effects are good and few selected scenes are worth watching. But overall, a poorly made film.

My Rating: 2/5

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 67%

  

M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story (2016)

Director: Neeraj Pandey

Story: Neeraj Pandey, Dilip Jha

Cast: Sushant Singh Rajput, Disha Patani, Kiara Advani

Music: Sanjoy Chowdhury, Rochak Kohli, Amaal Mallik

Time: 190 minutes

Bottom-line: A good attempt to make a biopic, but could have been a lot better

The man, we know; his story, we don’t.

Cricket fan or not, every Indian knows the man Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the captain famous for making India win the cricket World Cup at its home ground, 28 years after the first victory. In 2016, Neeraj Pandey brings his life to the big screen, and the film starts off with none other than the finals of the 2011 ICC Cup, with the timeframe quickly shifting to Dhoni’s childhood. Like any typical middle class Indian family, education always comes first to the parents. Somehow, in Dhoni’s case, his parents fully support his career, with a high level of commitment from his side as well. The story goes on to show his journey as a ticket collector, his two love interests, and his progress in the Indian team till the night he leads his team to the World Cup victory.

 

Rajput as Dhoni, with Patani as Priyanka

Biopics usually have a much higher chance of leading to controversial issues compared to other films, and even more so when the person you’re filming about is alive, and in this case, the person is still active in his career too! The story has several strengths, the important ones being that most facts are true, and the parts of the movie shown after his entry into the Indian team are chosen correctly (and even scenes like the encounters with Yuvraj Singh), in the sense, to see all the memorable moments that track Dhoni’s success on screen would bring a smile to all his fans, and Pandey did well to capture the highlights of his career (his first match, to the 2007 World Cup exit and subsequent outrages of the public, to the T-20 win…).

When the movie title mentioned “The Untold Story”, it probably referred to the part where he had to work as a ticket collector to play cricket – the dilemma Dhoni had to face to choose between full-time cricket for his improvement, or part-time to earn the much-needed income for his family – and his love life; the second one with Sakshi (Advani) is something that a lot of people know, while the first, with Priyanka (Patani) – a girl whom he meets on the plane – which is verified as true by a number of sources, is lesser known. Her character could have been cut off completely, in my view; it interferes into Dhoni’s privacy a lot more than needed, apart from adding another 40 minutes to the screen time. The film doesn’t show much of his struggle either, except for that one dilemma.

 Advani as Sakshi, with Rajput

The (only) good thing that came out of this, is the song “Phir Kabhi”, which, along with “Besaabariyan”, are quite melodious (and finding such songs is becoming rarer by the day!). The acting by Sushant is top-notch. He pulls off the role with style, and whether it is Dhoni on the field, off the field, as a teenager or much older, Sushant is adept in his acting. His face has been morphed into many live match scenes which feature Dhoni. Anupam Kher, as always, has done well; he plays the role of Dhoni’s father, supporting him all the way. There are a lot of one-liners and jokes that come up here and there, which blend in well with the main track.

 

Kher as Dhoni's father

Overall, the story could have been much crisper, even if the aim of the movie was to bring out the personal life of Dhoni. The acting by Sushant overshadows the average performances of Patani and Advani, and the music is superb. As a biopic, the film needs a lot of improvement, but if you are a Dhoni fan, then M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story will be a delight.

My Rating: 3/5

Karthik Calling Karthik (2010)

Director: Vijay Lalwani

Story: Vijay Lalwani

Cast: Farhan Akhtar, Deepika Padukone

Music: Shankar-Eshaan-Loy

Time: 124 minutes

Bottom-line: Fast-paced and thrilling, with a disappointing climax

Having heard the name and story of the film in passing, I finally got to watch this psychological thriller, Karthik Calling Karthik. Like many other thrillers, the film starts off high and goes uphill, but the climax sends everything crashing. The film deals with just three (or should I say four??) characters, played by Farhan Akhtar, Deepika Padukone and Shefali Shah.

Karthik (Akhtar) is a silent, introverted man, afraid to stand up for himself, and being picked on by everyone. He is constantly traumatised by the memory of his childhood where his brother accidentally drowns in a well and Karthik blames himself for it. Karthik is in love with Shonali (Padukone), a co-worker who doesn’t know he exists. After he gets fired, Karthik decides that it is the last straw, and is about to take an overdose of sleeping pills when he gets a call. The caller is also named Karthik…in fact, it is himself! He seems to know everything from his personal problems to bank pin number and even others’ secrets. From that day on, every morning at 5 am, Karthik gets a call, giving him advice, in return for secrecy of his existence. Karthik’s life soon becomes exciting again… until the caller gets angry when Karthik breaks the secret…

 

Akhtar as Karthik

The film draws concepts from many other films I have seen before: an “invisible friend” like that in Chamatkar or Mr. India, some concepts from Inception and psychiatry-related stuff. The story follows the typical Indian melodrama theme: simple hero, everything goes downhill, then a sudden stroke of luck, he rises up again, then is at the peak of his life, then something goes wrong again. Many aspects of the story are predictable, and in fact the truth behind the mysterious caller is pretty much the only thing that keeps you in your seat – they could have well cut out the songs… would have made the wait less agonising. The ending is, in a way, obvious and in a way, different. It’s not entirely logical, but I was expecting something more interesting! 

Padukone as Shonali

The acting however, is commendable, especially that of Akhtar. Although I felt his character transition – from the timid person lacking self-confidence to someone who even blackmails his co-worker and landlord – a bit too sudden, I was amazed the way he plays both extremes equally well. His character is what makes the film interesting to some extent… and I like the way he “hides his own identity” towards the second half of the film. Deepika Padukone plays the role of the “hot girl that everyone wants” – that pitiable girl who has been in messed up relationships before the hero comes along and impresses her by proving that he is “not like the other guys”. That just adds to the list of clichéd themes used in the film.

A few plot holes and clichés apart, the film provides a fairly fast-paced entertaining story. The ending is debatable… but seems logical (although I cannot comment on the authenticity of whatever the psychiatrist says about the mind) but somehow more nonsensical the more I think about it. It’s one of those “time-pass” movies; go with an open mind.

My Rating: 2.5/5