Bajirao Mastani (Hindi) (2015)

At the outset, let us first tip our hat or in fact give a standing ovation to a few people involved in Bajirao Mastani.  Fistly – Sriram Kannan Iyengar, Sujeet Subhash Sawant, Yantra Design Studio and Saloni Ankush Dhatrak for some breathtaking Production Design – probably the best we have seen since Mughal-e-Azam!!!

David

It is 1975 and the setting is the city of the Big Ben.  We have a special group of Indian services personnel who are in a conversation with someone who seems quite influential.  The common thread – Iqbal Ghani – a renowned gangster who has complete control over the South Asian community in that part of the world.  He is also wanted for activities that India deem “not safe”.  The group of people are plotting his death.  The only way that is possible is if they get through to one man.

 

Cut to 1999.  Maximum City.  A reverend – Father Noel (Nasser) is addressing a group of people in an attempt to get them to contribute towards helping people who have been impacted by a suburban fire.  He is being supported by his daughters Alice (Shweta Pandit) and Sussannah (Shweta Menon).  But when the water truck makes its appearance, the crowd disappears equally quick.  His son, a musician, walks in at the end of it all and mocks his father’s attempts.

 

Cut once again.  To a place that is considered to be paradise by most people on the west coast.  And I am not talking about God’s Own Country (some may argue that this is the original version of GOC).  A well-built man is getting drunk in a shack by mixing whiskey and soda through a funnel.  He is being mocked by most around him as the unluckiest man on the planet because of his runaway bride.  The result – most at the bar (including a woman) finds herself sore and on the floor.

 

What connects these 3? DAVID.  That’s what their parents named them.  But how do their lives come together? It is 3^rd February in the respective years.  By 3^rd March, they will all be faced with a huge choice that they need to make and will impact their lives significantly. 

 

I loved Shaitan – and I think I am a small portion of the audience.  And I was expecting at least as good from Bejoy Nambiar.  In terms of the way the movie was made, absolutely no debate that he has lived upto his reputation.  But where he probably gets it wrong this time around is the story.  You are left waiting forever to figure out why there are 3 storylines in the first place.

 

Also, the casting could have done with at least one change.  Chiyaan Vikram was a disaster.  I am quite certain that if there was more effort put in, we could have found someone closer home.  The music was again quite different. While I liked the version of Dama Dum Mast Kalandar, I could not quite understand the reason for its positioning in the movie.

 

At the end of day, David is not meant for the masses for sure.  It is a very well made movie but how many people will be able to sustain the 140 minutes of semi-commercial cinema remains to be seen.  In my books, the best movie this year to date.  6.5 on 10.

 

Trailer on http://www.youtube.com/user/bigpictures?v=fmOBx6jS3Fc

Jodi Breakers

Sanjukta Chawla, sure is what can be termed as a, “safe copy cat”. So as a story writer she surely keeps looking at the least obvious places that people would look at to draw inspiration. Can someone tell me whether she is related to Pritam (music director) in some way? How else could you explain Miss Chawla partially lifting the story of the 2010 French movie L'arnacoeur starring Romain Duris and Venessa Paradis? Unluckily for Sanjukta, L'arnacoeur aka Heart Breakers released just a few days back in this country. Luckily for Sanjukta it didn’t last for too long.

I would have been inclined to give the lady some credit for not having generated a colour photocopy of the original but the changes that she has made only deteriorated the story line for her. Heart Breakers was an average romantic comedy. With some bad changes and atrocious script writing, Jodi Breakers, finds itself a few steps away from the Bollywood graveyard. Thankfully, a few steps away and not in it.

Sid (R. Madhavan) has lost everything in a messy divorce to his money mongering wife Ira (Mrinalini Sharma). Leading his table of losses is Horny (red Audi TT convertible) that supposedly costs only 30 lakhs. With support from his friends, led by the agonizingly irritating and predictable Nayansukh Bhai Chamanlal Patel aka Nano (Omi Vaidya) he finds his feet back. He now dedicates himself to the social cause of saving people from marriages that they are not happy in. Small price to pay in lieu of a lifetime of alimony right? But what happens next is predictable – Sonali (Bipasha Basu) and full louv.

I can’t quite make up my mind on whether it was the complete absence of any form of acting talent or as previously mentioned the atrociously slapstick script that got to me. It would be safe for you to assume that both were just as bad. In terms of acting, Helen is absolutely endearing and one cannot fault her at this age. But I am sure that is the lack of cash flow that forced someone as talented as Madhavan to go down this path.

In between this entire melee of gorgeous looking bodies – Bipasha Basu, Mrinalini Sharma, Milind Soman, Pradeep Kharab, Kubraa Sait – there are a few people who show some semblance of acting. Dipannita Sharma is the only one who is not only very confident on screen but stands head and shoulders above the rest of the cast. She continues from where she left off in Ladies v/s Ricky Bahl. Sadly despite his gut wrenchingly irritating antics, Omi Vaidya will continue to have a fan following – one of the unexplained mysteries of show business.

I haven’t seen Ashwini Chaudhary’s previous attempts but I am told Dhoop was a good movie. I can’t say that Jodi Breakers inspires any confidence in me. The list of flaws would be endless and so I will sign off with my standard statutory warning – watch this at your own risk. 4 on 10. Oh yes and by the way the music isn’t too great either.

Watch the trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czJk9maek-I0

Bheja Fry

Yet another advantage of visiting your friends abroad.  You get them DVDs that they have always wanted to have and more so with friends down under coz they don’t get most of our Desi Titles and even if they do, it is horrendously expensive.  The best part is that they have probably not watched an all out hilarious movie like Bheja Fry and a maniac like me was only looking for the next available excuse to watch it.  So on a not so warm evening around 8 kms away from a place called Margaret River in Western Australia, I seized the opportunity to watch one of India’s finest comedies to date with my close friends Shilpa and Parikshit. And for those who were wondering what I was doing watching desi movies on vacation – do come down to wine country and try to find some place open after 7. Would love to know J

Ranjit Thadani (Rajat Kapoor) is a successful music producer.  He is married to Sheetal (Sarika – and does she look gorgeous still – wonder why Kamal Hassan left her – the vagaries of the world I say).  Their marriage is going through troubled times.  Ranjit cares more about his work than what Sheetal does.  Sheetal is a reasonably successful singer in her own right and was actually seeing a music director, Anant Ghoshal (Milind Soman) when she met Ranjit, who promptly steals her under Anant’s nose.  Ranjit and his friends have a fetish.  A fetish to have fun at the expense of unsuspecting folk who think that they are searching for new talent (helped by the fact that they are in the music business). Every Friday, the gang meets up to “unearth” fresh talent.  Stuff like people a guy who genuinely believes he has talent because he can spit a really long distance – Ugh!!!  Whats worse is that the group actually believes that the entire process is a great stress buster for all of them.

It would be Ranjit’s turn the next Friday to introduce the next talent to the gang. And he is quickly running out of time.  But a close friend, Jagdish Varma (Ikhlaque Khan) bumps into a genuine “talent” on his way to Pune.  Someone who actually believes that he was born to do only one thing – sing.  Meet Bharat Bhushan (Vinay Pathak).  He is not only under the illusion of being a good singer, but also goes that extra mile to convince people that he really can sing.  He doesn’t waste a single opportunity to sing. And he is a leech to the core.  One doesn’t have much of a choice but to hear him out.  Complete chaos ensues when Bharat Bhushan enters the scene.  And very shortly, you would be holding on to your stomachs in pain – thanks to some amazing comedy that will come your way.

Bheja Fry is the kind of movie that comes every once in a while to reaffirm our faith in quality comedy.  Director Sagar Ballary is far from being a superb director considering the number of inconsistencies that existed in the movie and the editing that was definitely below standard.  But these gaffes are more than masked by the superb performances of everyone in the cast.  Everyone but for Milind Soman who for my money’s worth should realize by now that acting is not up his alley.  He should stick to modeling which he can continue with for the next 10 years plus – he still looks absolutely stunning and is a huge role model for us 30+ paunchy folks who have resigned to not looking smart and fit coz it is all too late.  People are going to remember the performances of Vinay Pathak and Ranvir Shorey for a long time to come.  And Bhairavi Goswami will be talked about till eternity for her classic dialogue as Suman Rao, “Ranjit, Jaane se pehle mujhe ek baat bata doh.  Yeh “Tharki” kya hota hai”? Complete Master Card moment I say!!!! Long Live Comedy.  7 on 10 for this one.