FRACTURE

Sky and I decided to watch a movie today. After giving a few recommendations, I typically leave the choice to Sky. During the time that Sky takes to pick a film from one of the three platforms, I manage to watch a film AND write its review.

Sky is a fan of Anthony Hopkins. The first movie that we watched together was The Rite.

After dismissing the movies on Prime and Hotstar, Sky finally decided that he wanted to watch a lawyer movie. So, I suggested Fracture.

Fracture is a 2007 film starring Anthony Hopkins (Hannibal) and Ryan Gosling (Hey Girl, you got to know him!). The Director is Gregory Hoblit, who is also the Director of Primal Fear (one of my favourite legal thrillers).

This film is available on Netflix and listed under the genres of crime movies and crime dramas and listed as dark and suspenseful.

Sky put up with me predicting every move of the characters. Halfway through the movie, I realised that I may have watched this movie earlier. It’s either that or I have great deduction skills.

PLOT: Ted Crawford’s (Anthony Hopkins) wife has been shot dead and he’s been arrested on account of having confessed to the crime. The arresting officer also happens to have a personal grudge against Ted. Willy Beachum (Ryan Gosling) is the District Attorney conducting this trial. Willy has had a 95 percent success rate and has recently been hired by a leading corporate firm. Willy agrees to take on this matter as his last as it’s an open and shut case. But is it?

The police have not been able to retrieve the murder weapon and the case that was already built on a weak foundation begins to crumble. Things aren’t going well on the professional front either as now Willy’s employment with the new firm is at stake.

Will Ted manage to hoodwink the system and escape scot-free?

REVIEW: If you love legal thrillers, courtroom dramas or if you have watched Primal Fear and enjoyed it, you most definitely will enjoy this film too.

The plot is entwined with twists and despite having your detective hat on, you may not be able to predict the next move.

Anthony Hopkins is at his Hannibal best. He has that eery, sinister smile plastered on his face, constantly provoking the District Attorney and even succeeding at it. Gosling is his usual cocky self. He starts off as the smug, “I’ve never lost a case” lawyer until he has his smile wiped off his face by Hopkins (not literally though, remember this isn’t Hannibal!)

Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl) plays the role of Gosling’s boss and love interest and barely has much of a role.  

This film is a classic cat and mouse thriller with excellent performances by Hopkins and Gosling and a well-spun script.

TRIVIA: Chris Evans had auditioned for the role of Willy Beachum.

VERDICT: Some old films that had gained enormous popularity during the period of their release have not withstood the test of time. Here’s one that you can watch and still enjoy.

Do you like legal thrillers as well? Then please do follow me on Facebook and Instagram @lucidlucent. 

Image Source - Wikipedia

HELEN: WHAT'S IN A NAME!

During the initial days of lockdown, PM was on a movie watching spree, viewing many regional films. I caught her contagious bug and decided to watch a regional film. Earlier I was apprehensive of watching films in languages I don’t understand but now that I am addicted to subtitles (I have them on for Hindi and English movies too!), I decided to pick one from her list of recommendations.

Sky’s cousin T is a big fan of the Malayalam film industry and had recommended a few films to watch which I unfortunately never did. I recall the first Malayalam movie I watched in 2001. It was on a bus. It was during a school trip and as I scanned the bus wondering whom to sit next to and pester into translating the film for me, my eyes rested on NS. I am not sure if NS enjoyed that bus ride having to sit next to me and translate each and every dialogue but I most definitely enjoyed the film.

I decided to watch Helen.

Helen is available on Amazon Prime. It is a 2019 release.  Its falls under the genres of Suspense and Drama. The film is directed by Mathukutty Xavier and stars Anna Ben, Lal Paul and Noble Babu Thomas.

Anna who plays the title character in the film, has won many awards for her performance and deservedly so.

The movie is based on true events which makes the film even more intriguing.  

PLOT: Helen is a nursing student. She lives with her father. With loans looming over their heads, Helen intends on moving to Canada with the hope of landing a high paying job there. On the sly, Helen is seeing a Muslim boy knowing fully well that her conservative father would not approve of the same. Helen also has a part time job at Chicken Hub, a KFCesque eatery in a mall where she works the late-night shift.

All you need to further know about the plot is this – “The movie follows the turn of events after Helen doesn’t return from work one night”. I’ve picked this line from the description on Prime. Please do not read up on the plot from reviews (you may read my review :D) before you watch this film.

I believe that the thrill in watching this movie also lies in attempting to figure out what trouble befalls Helen.

Review: Helen is a survival drama. If you enjoy watching movies that keep you on the edge of the seat, you must watch this one. Here is why I ask you not to delve too deep into the storyline before you watch this film- the suspense is two-fold. You know that something bad is going to happen to Helen and the first three-quarters of an hour has scenes that make your eyes grow big in apprehension, wondering whether that random catcall by the autorickshaw driver or being stopped by the police is what will form the crux of the story. And then unexpectedly, boom, when you least expect it, you realise why Helen will not be returning home that night.

I love the way this film has been shot and the way the actors are presented. It could be the story of the girl next door. There are no extravagant costumes, elaborate scenes, orchestrated background score nor the least bit attempt at making the lead character look like she stepped out of a magazine cover.  I am drawing comparisons with mainstream Bollywood cinema and while doing so, I know I am generalising, considering the massive shift we have seen in recent Hindi cinema. This film feels real, almost as if you’ve caught a glimpse into the life of Helen, who exists in real life. The film showcases not only Helen’s struggles to escape but also her father’s desperate attempts to look for her.

Helen (Anna Ben) is outstanding and to think this is only her second film.  Other noteworthy mentions are Lal who plays Helen’s father Paul, Aju Varghese who plays the Sub-Inspector and Rony David who plays the manager of Chicken Hub.

The movie ends with a heart-warming message on kindness.

When the end credits begin to roll, you realise that the opening shot with the ant was not randomly inserted.

Verdict: I can assure you the movie will not leave you cold.

If you enjoyed reading this movie review, please do follow me on Facebook and Instagram @lucidlucent. Thank you. 

Image Source - IMDb

OZARK

When S began to tell Sky and me about Ozark, I interrupted and asked him my usual question if it was on Prime. When he said it was on Netflix, I half-heartedly continued to listen to him as he went on about it being a great show. I was happy with Prime and the content it offers and despite having been asked to subscribe to Netflix and Hotstar on numerous occasions, refused to do so. I take ages to order in a restaurant if the menu exceeds 5 pages and there have been times when I’ve left home, having already picked the dish off the online menu to save the embarrassment of being asked if I was byhearting the dishes on the menu. You can imagine my consternation when Shugu and Archie gifted me a yearlong subscription for Netflix.

Now, I have numerous movies and series “watch-listed” on all three OTT platforms (yes! I have a Hotstar subscription too now) based on recommendations given by my like-minded friends and I must admit I am enjoying the wide array of choices I now have. I have worked out a system where I alternate between the three so as to devote equal time to all.

Ozark is a Netflix original series and has currently aired 3 seasons.  The 4^th shall be the final season. It is listed under the genres of Crime TV Dramas, TV Thrillers and TV Dramas. It is described as ‘ominous’ and ‘dark’. It is rated 18+ due to its mature content. The series stars Jason Bateman (Arrested Development, Horrible Bosses) and Laura Linney (Primal Fear). The show is created by Bill Dubuque (The Accountant, The Judge).

PLOT: Marty Byrde (Jason Bateman), besides being a financial planner, is also money laundering for a Mexican drug cartel. When his partner is caught embezzling money from the drug mafia, Marty talks his way out from having his eyes gouged and body disposed off in a vat by offering to launder millions for the cartel in Ozark, Missouri. He is offered 3 months’ time to launder 8 million dollars by Del (Esai Morales), the No.1 lieutenant for the cartel. Marty relocates to the Lake of the Ozarks with his family who reluctantly join him - wife, Wendy (Laura Linney) and children, Charlotte and Jason. Life isn’t perfect for Marty on the personal front either. He learns his wife’s secret but is stuck with her in the Ozarks to keep their family safe. 

Season 1 revolves around Marty’s attempts to launder 8 million in three months. His family’s life is at stake as he’s running out of time. Things look bleak with the locals not trusting Marty and his “fancy” financial schemes. To make things worse, the FBI comes sniffing around suspecting Marty to have ties with the mafia. The local lowlifes, the Langmore family has their eye on the bundles of cash hoarded by Marty and will go to any lengths to steal it. Marty has also stepped on the toes of the local heroin dealers, the Snell family who only know one way to deal with opposition.

Will Marty be able to launder the 8 million and save his own and his family’s life from the Mexical drug cartel, the Langmores, the Snells and the FBI?

Review: Would I recommend this show? Yes, most definitely. I have completed Season 1 and reviews claim Season 3 to be the best so far. 

S had cautioned that the start may feel a bit slow. While I found it gripping from start to finish, I need to put this out there as G too had a similar response to this show as S. Do keep in mind that the show is also listed as a Drama series.

I was initially a bit apprehensive when I saw Jason Bateman featured in a crime/thriller/dark series as one generally associates him with comic roles. Bateman usually figures as a sassy individual, often indulging in self-deprecating humour. Bateman has played to his strengths and continues to retain a bit of his usual cheeky self, talking his way out of sticky situations. In the words of Wendy, when during one of their fights she says “What? No dry, witty comeback now?”

Linney is at her usual best. Straight faced and calm. You never know what Wendy is thinking, not one to mince words, not apologetic for any of her actions and has no qualms on breaking the law if it means she can keep her family safe.

The children are portrayed by Sofia Hublitz (Charlotte Byrde) and Skylar Gaertner (Jonah Byrde) , the former a typical moody,  “my life is ruined forever but I can get some good shots here for my Insta” teenager and the latter a self-professed oddball who is caught pulling out the insides from dead animals and wields guns larger than him. Julia Garner as Ruth Langmore, with her southern drawl and violent temper has been winning Emmys. Mrs. Snell, oh well, let me not let out any spoilers now.

The setting and the background score add to the dark theme of the show.

Be prepared for a roller coaster ride. Just when things begin to work in favour of Marty, something goes drastically wrong and then it gets sorted out but not in the way you hoped it would and then something goes wrong again. 

Some scenes may at times, seem just too convenient or clichéd but we shall let that pass.

The show has an inclusive set of characters.

Trivia: Around Episode 3, I noticed that the symbols in the letter O that appears in the opening credits change with each episode. These symbols represent scenes from that episode.

Ozark has been compared to Breaking Bad – “Its like Breaking Bad but more money laundering and less drugs” (source: Internet)

Verdict: I loved it and shall be watching the entire series. Do not watch it expecting it to be a quick-paced thriller series. 

Marty and I share similar ringtones. While he has a cricket chirping, I have the cicada buzzing.

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Image Source - Pinterest 

THE LION KING

Image Source - IMDb

It’s only fair; I compare this film to Aladdin. I liked Aladdin better and Skip, The Lion King (his reason being cute Simba). The visual effects though are far, far superior in the Lion King. I was captivated in the first 5 minutes. The Lion King is a live action film with photo-realistic animals. The intricate details of the flora, followed by the appearance of lifelike animals would in the words of R3 (my cousin sista) give you a realistic experience of being on a safari. In certain scenes that pan across the forest landscape, if you observe carefully, you can even spot tiny balls of seed hair fibres floating in the air.  If you thought The Jungle Book was impressive (which also happens to be directed by Jon Favreau, the director of The Lion King), be prepared to be blown away with the graphics in this film. The characters have been rendered digitally using photo and video references of real animals.

In case you’re wondering who Jon Favreau is (tsk tsk). Here’s a picture of him, do you recognise him?

Image Source - IMDb
If you're Happy and you know it clap your hands!

Following the footsteps of Aladdin in being inclusive and racially diverse, the live action film seeks to undo the criticism faced by its predecessor of having an all white cast. Here’s the list of the voice cast:

Young Simba – JD McCrary

Simba- Donald Glover (more popularly known as Childish Gambino)

Mufasa – James Earl Jones ( who voiced Mufasa in the animated film as well)

Nala- Beyonce

Timon – Billy Eichner

Pumbaa – Seth Rogen

Scar – Chiwetel Ejiofor

Zazu- John Oliver

Shenzi – Florence Kasumba

The actors were a perfect fit as the voice-overs considering the film is set in Africa. I particularly liked Timon and Shenzi. Timon is hilarious and Shenzi gave us all the chills.

I’m glad that they retained certain iconic scenes from the animated film and it was refreshing to see them in live action.

It is a film that can be enjoyed by both adults and children, alike. A word of caution for parents with younger children: children who aren’t used to non-animated films or those younger than 5 may find the film a bit frightening.

The film features songs from the original soundtrack plus a few new songs and ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight’ which had us all humming and singing along (thank you subtitles).

As in all Disney films, this film too had its share of inspiring messages for all. Here are some of my favourite quotes from the film:

“Everybody is Somebody, even a Nobody”. - Rafiki

“To change the past is a big order, but you can change the future”. – Timon

“I may run from Hyenas but I always fight a bully”. – Pumbaa

A must watch film and one to be watched in the theatres.

A question for all you Disney fans – Do you prefer the original animated films or the present live action ones?

While I enjoyed watching the animated films as a child, it’s nice and refreshing to see the same being recreated as live action and more so as the creators haven’t diverted much from the original script and storyline.

And now repeat after me – “Hakuna Matata”

Skip manages to keep himself entertained on most days. But on some days (days when I'm too tired to even move a muscle), he decides he needs his mommy dearest to play with him and that's when we try our hand at Origami (courtesy YouTube videos)

BADLA

Image Source - IMDb

Plans were made to watch Badla and Archie excitedly messaged on the Whatsapp group that the movie Badla was an adaptation of a Spanish film, The Invisible Guest and announced that she would be watching it before Badla. The five of us sat in the movie hall with our thinking caps on whilst Archie just had a smirk on. She knew how the movie ended and was eager to see if we’d discern the plot.

Archie informs that besides the gender reversal of roles and the extra tadka offered by Bollywood filmmakers, Badla is an exact frame to frame adaptation of the original.

I was excited to watch the film more so for the Amitabh- Taapsee collaboration after Pink. Also, I happen to enjoy whodunits.

PLOT: Naina Sethi (Taapsee Pannu) is accused of murdering her lover, Arjun (Tony Luke) and is on house arrest. News of her arrest and murder is making the headlines as Naina has recently won a prestigious business award. Naina’s only hope of getting an acquittal is Badal Gupta (Amitabh Bachchan), a meticulous lawyer engaged by Naina’s lawyer Jimmy (Manav Kaul).

Badal comes to Naina’s apartment to extract information and deconstruct the entire murder scenario in an attempt to find a loophole in her case. The entire movie revolves around Naina presenting her version of the events and Badal questioning and challenging the same in order to be able to recreate and present a distorted set of facts that could set Naina free.

Naina’s story opens up a Pandora’s box that involves another crime.

Did Naina kill Arjun? Is Naina involved in this other crime? Does Badal succeed in getting Naina an acquittal?

The film is directed by Sujoy Ghosh (of Kahaani fame) and produced by Red Chillies Entertainment.

Needless to say, Amitabh and Taapsee are a treat to watch. The film also had Amrita Singh in it, playing a distraught mother and this was a surprise entry as I didn’t recall seeing her in the trailer. She’s the woman behind the camera in the poster. Tony Luke who plays Taapsee’s lover makes his debut in Hindi cinema and it’s refreshing to see an actor with a strong “South Indian” accent who isn’t in the film to merely serve as a comic relief and doesn’t dress in a lungi sipping lassi from a coconut. Sadly, Manav Kaul has only a minor role in the movie. 

If you liked Kahaani (the first one), you will like this film too. Typical to most thrillers, this film is fast paced and has a gripping storyline. Shot in Glasgow, the movie will have you enjoying the panoramic views only to be jolted out of your seat half way through that. Whilst some critics have labelled the film predictable (this could be true if you are one of those ardent fans of Agatha Christie and you’ve learnt from her books to suspect even the imperceptible commuter at the station with the scarf and big sunglasses who sneaks out of the train only after giving a furtive glance and a half-smile), be rest assured, there are many red herrings thrown in that will have you constantly second guessing Naina and Badal’s next move.

Despite being an adaptation, the writers have succeeding in infusing Hindu mythology into the storyline with Amitabh Bachchan quoting the Mahabharata. The dialogues are catchy, the kind that make you want to repeat them while walking out of the hall. :D

Would it be a spoiler if I were to say that the name of the movie is a spoiler in itself?

Archie and I have decided to mimick movie posters or rather mimick the expressions of the actors on the posters. We started off with the Gully Boy poster. We scoured the length of the floor only to find a teensy poster of Badla. You can find our pictures on our Insta page.  If you like our posts, please follow us on Insta and FB.

Manikarnika- Kangana Run-out!

Image Source - IMDb

Happy New Year folks!

Have you been sticking to your resolutions! I have: p

After a 3 month sabbatical, Bob and I are back with our reviews. We thought we’d start out with a film review. Please follow our blog and also follow us on Facebook and Instagram. We have loads of recipes, product reviews, book reviews, DIYs lined up!

Kangana Ranaut had been on quite a roll and deservedly so. I loved her roles in Queen, Tanu weds Manu Returns and Simran. I hadn’t even seen the trailers of Manikarnika and I was excited to watch this film. I like historical films provided they stick to the plot and keep the film as close to real life events and that would also mean not over-romanticising situations/events. I was also curious to see how the film would turn out knowing that Kangana was one of the Directors of the film.

I was disappointed!

PLOT: The film is based on the life of Rani Laxmi Bai.

Manikarnika is a young woman, full of spunk. Jhansi is beset not only by the British forces but also by enemies from within the walls of the palace. Sadashiv Rao, a rival prince has his eyes on the throne. A minister of Jhansi spots ‘Manu’ hunting a tiger and impressed by her courage, he chooses her to wed the King of Jhansi. Unlike her husband, ‘Manu’ refuses to be cowed into submission by the British Officers. At the same time, she wins the affection of the people of Jhansi by standing up for their rights.

Post the death of her husband and son under mysterious circumstances, Laxmi Bai succeeds as the Queen of Jhansi. Taking advantage of this situation, the British ask the  Queen to leave the palace. She finds support from the locals and gathers an army to take back the palace and defend Jhansi from the clutches of the British Empire. What follows is the battle between Jhansi led by Rani Laxmi Bai and the British troops led by Hugh Rose.

I was probably expecting too much from this film and hence came out of the hall disappointed.

Let’s not take away Kangana’s acting skills. I wouldn’t call this, one of her best works, but she was good. Other actors had negligible scenes in the film. One would have expected more screen space for actors portraying pivotal roles such as those of Sadashiv Rao (Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub) and Jhalkari Bai(Ankita Lokhande). The senior members of the cast -Suresh Oberoi as Bajirao (in whose palace Laxmi Bai has been brought up), Danny Denzongpa as Laxmi Bai’s trusted army general, Kulbhushan Kharbanda as a minister of Jhansi too have a ‘blink and you’ll miss them’ role in the film. However minor a role, apart from the actors playing the British Officers, the rest have done a good job. The Britishers’ speech sounded forced and rehearsed unlike the ones who acted in Lagaan.

 Here is what ruined the film:

1.     I am a fan of Kanagana Ranaut and I understand she’s the protagonist of the film (well, the film IS named after her character) so don’t get me wrong when I say this – she’s made the film all about herself! I really do think that scenes of other actors have been deleted from the final cut. Am I nitpicking? If you felt the same, please do leave a comment below.

2.     It’s a historical film! Why do we need the lead to be all dolled up, sporting a different hairstyle in each scene? Wasn’t it enough that all close-ups of Kangana were airbrushed!

3.  Every visual scene needn’t be vocally explained to the audience by a loud proclamation. When we see a person lying on the floor in a pool of blood, we know he’s dead. Don’t announce it. We are not watching CID!

4.    What’s with the random song and dance sequence! And we have the Queen joining in too. Let’s keep it real, people!

5.   Enough with the tight shots and sweeping shots already! We don’t need to see Kangana and her palace from all angles.

6. The dialogues felt very 1990’s. Kangana’s dialogues in the second half when she’s proclaiming her love for her country and encouraging her subjects to follow suit, while well delivered, is not moving enough. I wasn’t left teary eyed!

7.    There’s no correlation between some of the scenes. For eg: when Jhalkari Bai’s calf is taken away by the British officers from her house (which is nowhere in the vicinity of the palace), the next scene has Laxmi Bai barging into the Officers’ mess to get the calf back.

I hear the film is doing well and receiving accolades but I wouldn’t recommend watching this in the theatres. The film would have been much better with another Director/s and scriptwriter.

Clearly, Kangana’s association with the name Krish has never gone down well.  

Look what I found on the Just Cricket, Cricket Academy grounds :) 

ALL THAT GLITTERS, AIN’T GOLD!

Image Source - IMDb

When I watched the teasers for Gold, I couldn’t wait to watch the movie. It had two of my favourite genre for movies –sports and Indian Independence period drama and it had Akshay Kumar who has been churning up some good films. The story is a fictional account based on real events of India winning the gold medal in Hockey at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London.

We are a patriotic lot. We have completed 72 years of Independence and yet feel strongly about our past. While I don’t believe that reparations by Britain to its former colonies is the solution, I do believe that apologies are in order and mere condemnation of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre as a ‘deeply shameful act’ by a former British Prime Minister would not absolve them of their actions past . My heart swells with pride when I see our national flag being hoisted but are we reduced to merely this – to be seated in a theatre and revel in seeing our flag unfurl above the nation that plundered and pillaged us for 200 years?

 We love sports. Our Hockey players may not be considered cool enough to clinch major Fairness Cream endorsements, but we did believe for the longest time that it was our national game until Sports Ministry of India confirmed otherwise. Look how well Chak De did at the Box Office. It’s the only movie I’ve watched twice in a theatre.

Let’s not forget Akshay Kumar! We like him too!

PLOT: The movie begins with the ‘British’ India team winning the gold medal in the 1936 Olympics held at Germany only to have Britain’s flag hoisted with their national anthem being played in the background. The manager of the team Tapan Das (Akshay Kumar) vows to win the next medal with the Indian flag being hoisted. He has a strong team led by Samrat (Kunal Kapoor). However, due to the ongoing World War, Olympics is cancelled the consecutive years which sends Tapan on a downward spiral. The players have gone their separate ways and Tapan is a penniless alcoholic now.  

The year is 1946. India is on the verge of gaining independence and Olympics is to be held in London in 1948. Tapan mends his ways and sets about to bring the old team together but he faces hurdles on the way. Samrat has retired from the game and instructs Tapan to make Imtiaz Ali Shah (Vineet Kumar Singh) the captain. Along with Imtiaz, Tapan recruits new members – Himmat Singh (Sunny Kaushal) and Raghubir Pratap Singh (Amit Sadh) both from different ends of the social spectrum, but equally brilliant centre forwards.

Partition takes place, taking along with it most players from the team.  The three firangs in the team have been asked to get back to Australia. The team is low on funds. Morale is low and egos are high amongst the team members. Tapas faces opposition from his colleagues.

India wins the gold.

The movie begins with Akshay Kumar narrating the story and that’s when my left eyebrow went up. Akshay Kumar is a Bengali in the film and apart from the stereotypical references and exclamations in Bengali, he was quite unbelievable as a Bengali Dada.  He’d remember to pronounce the As as Os during the scenes but while narrating would slip into his impeccable Hindi accent.  The entire movie, I wondered why they’d gotten Akshay for this role besides the obvious reason of having a blockbuster star feature on the movie poster, until the final 30 minutes when Akshay is required to give a morale boosting speech to the team members that ultimately leads them to win the match and earn crores for the film. You may think I am nitpicking. Oh yes, I am! And this why-

We have evolved as an audience and gone are the days when we expected our films to be the quintessential Bollywood masala film with tragedy, comedy, drama, romance, action etc squeezed into one storyline. This movie had an excellent story to work on, a brilliant cast- a sure short winner (come on, you can’t go wrong with a movie that ends with India winning the medal and the entire audience standing to our national anthem) but what they did was get a big star who inadvertently managed to hog the limelight from the other actors/characters, throw in some cheesy slapstick comedy, have a romantic number thrown in (!!!) and make it a commercial film. What should have been a serious period drama film, focusing more on the struggles faced by the players with the imminent freedom, the partition, lack of funds, lack of unity, the pressure of beating their invaders on their home ground has ended up in a comical representation of historical events.   

Kunal Kapoor, Mouni Roy, Vineet Kumar had hardly any role to play in this film. Thankfully, Amit Sadh and Sunny Kaushal have been given their due.

Amit Sadh was good, but Sunny Kaushal was better. What a brilliant actor Sunny is! His portrayal of Himmat Singh, a short tempered Sardarji was spot on. I actually believed they’d gotten a Sardarji to play that role until I started writing this post and checked out the names of actors.

The saving grace was the final half hour of the movie. And, of course Sunny Kaushal.  

SANJU – NAYAK/KHALNAYAK ?

As we headed to the theatre, we had “Tamma Tamma Loge” playing on the radio and then this auto cut us from behind and sped ahead of us.      

  

An RJ was reviewing this film and stated that the film didn’t send across the right message as it was glorifying a person who abused drugs and alcohol, had a self-indulgent lifestyle and had faced jail time for concealing a weapon at home. I would have to disagree with the RJ. The film is a biopic and depicts incidents from Sanjay Dutt’s life, those that we have been privy to and then goes about to rationalize (and at times even validate) his life choices. We all know that Sanjay’s life has been a roller coaster ride and wrought with bad life choices and via this film he seeks to explain why he made the choices that he made and how media failed to report these events accurately. He is not made to appear as a “larger than life” hero in this film nor are his choices glorified. As a viewer, you may choose to either empathise with him or may walk out with derision for him. I chose to enjoy the film as any other regular film and not have an opinion on the veracity of the events narrated in the movie.  

PLOT: The film begins with Sanjay Dutt (Ranbir Kapoor) trying to rope in Winnie Diaz (Anushka Sharma) a biographer in attempt to get her to write a book on him that would clear his name and erase the tag of ‘terrorist’ associated with him. Sanjay narrates his story to her, starting from the filming of Rocky. The film covers his relationship with his parents, Sunil Dutt (Paresh Rawal) and Nargis (Manisha Koirala). There are many characters introduced that structure his life-  his conniving friend, Zubin Mistry (Jim Sarbh) who introduces him to drugs, his ex girlfriend Ruby (Sonam Kapoor) and her father (Boman Irani), his close friendship with Kamlesh (Vicky Kaushal), his pillar of support, his wife Manyata (Dia Mirza).

The film spans across the period of his introduction to films, Nargis’s death, Sanjay’s downward spiral with drug abuse, his involvement with the underworld and his arrest and stint in prison for possession of illegal weapons.

Disclaimer: Never been a fan of Sanjay Dutt.

Most reviewers seem to be judging Sanjay Dutt and not reviewing the film. The film doesn’t glorify Sanjay in any way but it does seek to justify all his actions-drug abuse caused by demise of mother, being dumped by girlfriend, a controlling father; concealing weapons at home due to Sanjay’ naiveté, fear of the Underworld, blind faith in friends, desire to protect father.  Have the facts been narrated truthfully? Who knows? Who cares?

Let’s review the film for what it is. A well-known actor with a celebrated lineage has had a tumultuous life that involves drugs, sex and crime. Once proclaimed a failure, he makes a comeback and what a comeback that was! There is so much material to make a high grossing film. And that is what has been done by Raj Kumar Hirani.

When I had initially read that Ranbir would be playing Sanjay Dutt, I couldn’t visualise the resemblance. Upon watching the film, I must say that Ranbir has done a brilliant job at portraying Sanjay Dutt and has perfectly reproduced nuances of Sanjay’s behaviour. Some scenes may have been over the top but then Sanjay Dutt has at times been “over the top”.  But the scene-stealer is clearly Vicky Kaushal. He portrays the role of a nondescript, Gujarati friend with such ease and his role, though not one of a protagonist clearly showcases his versatility as an actor. The other actor that deserves a mention is Jim Sarbh as the scheming friend. Paresh Rawal is good but somehow not well suited to play Sunil Dutt. Other actors have been underutilised such as Boman Irani, Piyush Mishra and Anjan Shrivastava. The female actors have minor roles.

I only wish the film hadn’t been scripted in the typical Hirani fashion. Slapstick humor is introduced to lighten the atmosphere and most scenes that ought to have remained solemn are punctuated with silly comedy. To make up for this, a tear jerking scene is thrown in. The second half feels a bit rushed, with the Director trying to cram in as many plots within the three-hour framework.

Sky believes that Ranbir did not perform to his full potential and that Barfi still remains his best work till date. He was all praises for Vicky Kaushal. He rated the movie with a 3/5.

I would give it a 4/5. The film was entertaining, the actors were good, some laugh out loud scenes and some had the audience tearing up (not me!). The film had its moments (the Munnabhai scene) that got a few hoots from the audience. I’d say watching the film in the theatre was money well spent.