Indian cinema
has always come up with some very interesting pieces of satire or comedy. Every once in a while, you get some low
budget comedy movies that provide wholesome family entertainment. You know, the likes of Do Dooni Chaar (Rishi
Kapoor & Neetu Singh playing a middle aged couple from Lajpat Nagar) or the
more recent Vicky Donor. You get what I
am saying right?
Showing posts with label Sitaram Panchal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sitaram Panchal. Show all posts
Friday, 8 March 2013
Monday, 12 March 2012
Paan Singh Tomar
One can be quite certain that if Irrfan Khan has picked up a movie to be part of, it will be a good enough for at least a one time watch. And the world is going all ra ra about Paan Singh Tomar. So much so that I seem to be the last person in the world to watch it. Surprising right? Not when u have had a jam packed weekend with commitments to conduct quizzes in front of a massive 25 teams (notice the sarcasm). Bad call. Will be more astute in my calls in the future. Quite certainly, it has cost me at least 100 odd hits to this blog.
Tigmanshu Dhulia is usually a dependable director. But despite the rave reviews, I was a bit cautious approaching PST because of my previous experience with Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster – a movie that I thought had so much more than what it eventually delivered. But somewhere deep down, as I went into the hall to watch PST, I was hoping that I would use the words “Scorcher of a movie” when I write this blog later in the day. I wasn’t totally wrong. I wasn’t totally right either.
Lets talk about the good things first. It was firstly heartening to watch a movie that was centred around an athlete for a change. Probably because it makes it easier? I am not sure. But then I am glad. Also, as mentioned towards the end, it is dedicated to the unsung heroes of Indian Sport. Paan Singh was one such hero. 7 times national champion in the steeplechase – the toughest race on track. Winner @ International events. Forced to take a gun in his hand due to circumstances – genuine ones. Not whining ones. So – a good story line. Well narrated. Some great camera angles too.
The icing on the cake would have been the great performances. Primarily Irrfan who single handedly carries the movie all the way. Ably supported from 2-3 corners. Mahie Gill surprisingly under stated and good execution this time as Indira – Paan’s wife. Brijendra Kala & Zakir Hussain also doing extremely well to keep the movie @ acceptable standards.
What ticked me off though is that where on one hand, Tigmanshu Dhulia pays so much attention to detail, on the other hand, there are horrible consistency errors. Like the pain taken to put up a Rs.10 note from 1980 was very commendable. That it was a cheap print out was way too obvious. The camera work during the ice cream run was quite brilliant. That Paan Singh reaches major saab’s house with a shirt that seems recently pressed is just juvenile!!!
But I guess these gaffes are noticed only by the pathetic, heartless, stone cold, amateur critics like this author. But it still gives me the right to be disappointed with what I though could have finally been Tigmanshu Dhulia’s moment of truth. Where he breaks into the league of an Anurag Kashyap or a Vishal Bharadwaj. Not to be. 7 on 10 of which half the points come from Irrfan. As good as Kahaani – actually, Kahaani is probably better albeit marginally.
Watch the trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enwaoPOO0Ik
Tigmanshu Dhulia is usually a dependable director. But despite the rave reviews, I was a bit cautious approaching PST because of my previous experience with Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster – a movie that I thought had so much more than what it eventually delivered. But somewhere deep down, as I went into the hall to watch PST, I was hoping that I would use the words “Scorcher of a movie” when I write this blog later in the day. I wasn’t totally wrong. I wasn’t totally right either.
Lets talk about the good things first. It was firstly heartening to watch a movie that was centred around an athlete for a change. Probably because it makes it easier? I am not sure. But then I am glad. Also, as mentioned towards the end, it is dedicated to the unsung heroes of Indian Sport. Paan Singh was one such hero. 7 times national champion in the steeplechase – the toughest race on track. Winner @ International events. Forced to take a gun in his hand due to circumstances – genuine ones. Not whining ones. So – a good story line. Well narrated. Some great camera angles too.
The icing on the cake would have been the great performances. Primarily Irrfan who single handedly carries the movie all the way. Ably supported from 2-3 corners. Mahie Gill surprisingly under stated and good execution this time as Indira – Paan’s wife. Brijendra Kala & Zakir Hussain also doing extremely well to keep the movie @ acceptable standards.
What ticked me off though is that where on one hand, Tigmanshu Dhulia pays so much attention to detail, on the other hand, there are horrible consistency errors. Like the pain taken to put up a Rs.10 note from 1980 was very commendable. That it was a cheap print out was way too obvious. The camera work during the ice cream run was quite brilliant. That Paan Singh reaches major saab’s house with a shirt that seems recently pressed is just juvenile!!!
But I guess these gaffes are noticed only by the pathetic, heartless, stone cold, amateur critics like this author. But it still gives me the right to be disappointed with what I though could have finally been Tigmanshu Dhulia’s moment of truth. Where he breaks into the league of an Anurag Kashyap or a Vishal Bharadwaj. Not to be. 7 on 10 of which half the points come from Irrfan. As good as Kahaani – actually, Kahaani is probably better albeit marginally.
Watch the trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enwaoPOO0Ik
Thursday, 2 September 2010
Peepli Live
Is Aamir Khan the man with the Midas touch in Bollywood? His first movie through production house AKP went all the way to the Oscars. The second one was a raging hit within the country and a launch pad for his nephew. The third, it would seem is as big a hit but from a completely different genre and with absolutely no “stars” in the true sense of the word – barring of course one gentleman who goes by the name of Naseeruddin Shah. I really would not call Peepli Live a comedy, unless of course it is preceded by Dark. The correct term would probably be Satire.
Natha (Omkar Das) and Budhiya (Raghuvir Yadav) are brothers who are deep in debt. Their farmland has been mortgaged with the bank who now wants to auction the land off since our brothers have not been able to pay the money back. The brothers stay with their Mother (Farrukh Jaffer), Natha’s wife Dhania (Shalini Vatsa) and Natha’s 3 kids. On their return from the bank, their only hope rests with Bhai Thakur (Sitaram Panchal) the local politician / representative for the ruling party of the state of Mukhya Pradesh. Thakur tells them in jest to commit suicide and that the government pays upto Rs.1 lac for families of farmers who have committed suicide. The two poor illiterate souls actually take this seriously, find out details and debate on who should commit suicide between them.
Parallely, on ITV, Nandita Malik (Malaika Shenoy) is interviewing Union Minister for Agriculture, Mr. Salim Kidwai (Naseerudding Shah) who more or less trivializes the issue of farmer suicides by claiming that a lot of them are natural deaths. He also turns it into a point of putting down the Government of Mukhya Pradesh which is led by the opposing party. ITV’s editor in charge is not happy with his falling TRPs and the fact that Bharat TV the Hindi National Channel is raking in the big numbers thanks to some ridiculous programming. Nandita is instructed to do whatever it takes to up the ratings. As luck would have it, a local newspaper journo, Rakesh from Jan Morcha over hears Natha and Budhiya planning their suicide. The ensuing article begins to create waves but Rakesh, smitten by Nandita, informs her first. Not for too long though coz the entire country now wants to see the man who is going to commit suicide on live Television.
Peepli Live is a superb satire on 4 issues that the country faces today. The fact that the progress from being an agri economy to a service based one has left a whole host of farmers completely high and dry. The favourite victim as most people who has seen the movie perceive it, is the media; and rightfully so. Watching the news these days, is as good as watching a daily soap. The only way most news channels understand is sensationalizing how Salman Khan takes a leak and not really addressing the core and more important issues at hand. Lastly it takes a royal dig at the existing political system in the country where politicians and bureaucrats would rather point fingers at each other or join hands with rival parties for their own personal gain or provide irrelevant support to people like giving a farmer who is struggling for his survival a Television and attempting to generate mileage out of it. I say 4 issues coz somewhere I believe Peepli Live is trying to push us into a specific direction of saying no the kind of crap that we are put through these days, either by the political system or the media. It seems to be an earnest plea to all of us to not just wait for a change but to be the change. Remains to be seen how many of us actually take the message forward into action.
As regards the quality of execution, it is indeed very good. The performances of all the actors are excellent. Casting is superb. The costumes even more. Direction is only aided by the fact that the cast is really good. But one cannot take away credit from Anusha Rizvi and Mohammed Farooqui even more so since this was their first movie. Music is also very well managed between Ram Sampat, Indian Ocean and Nageen Tanvir. No questions about the story line which deals with the 4 issues in an extremely humorous manner that leaves you feeling good and not upset or depressed. The peak point in the entire movie would be when Natha’s son comes to him and asks, “Baba, aap kab maroge”? Overall a 7 on 10 surely from my side.
Natha (Omkar Das) and Budhiya (Raghuvir Yadav) are brothers who are deep in debt. Their farmland has been mortgaged with the bank who now wants to auction the land off since our brothers have not been able to pay the money back. The brothers stay with their Mother (Farrukh Jaffer), Natha’s wife Dhania (Shalini Vatsa) and Natha’s 3 kids. On their return from the bank, their only hope rests with Bhai Thakur (Sitaram Panchal) the local politician / representative for the ruling party of the state of Mukhya Pradesh. Thakur tells them in jest to commit suicide and that the government pays upto Rs.1 lac for families of farmers who have committed suicide. The two poor illiterate souls actually take this seriously, find out details and debate on who should commit suicide between them.
Parallely, on ITV, Nandita Malik (Malaika Shenoy) is interviewing Union Minister for Agriculture, Mr. Salim Kidwai (Naseerudding Shah) who more or less trivializes the issue of farmer suicides by claiming that a lot of them are natural deaths. He also turns it into a point of putting down the Government of Mukhya Pradesh which is led by the opposing party. ITV’s editor in charge is not happy with his falling TRPs and the fact that Bharat TV the Hindi National Channel is raking in the big numbers thanks to some ridiculous programming. Nandita is instructed to do whatever it takes to up the ratings. As luck would have it, a local newspaper journo, Rakesh from Jan Morcha over hears Natha and Budhiya planning their suicide. The ensuing article begins to create waves but Rakesh, smitten by Nandita, informs her first. Not for too long though coz the entire country now wants to see the man who is going to commit suicide on live Television.
Peepli Live is a superb satire on 4 issues that the country faces today. The fact that the progress from being an agri economy to a service based one has left a whole host of farmers completely high and dry. The favourite victim as most people who has seen the movie perceive it, is the media; and rightfully so. Watching the news these days, is as good as watching a daily soap. The only way most news channels understand is sensationalizing how Salman Khan takes a leak and not really addressing the core and more important issues at hand. Lastly it takes a royal dig at the existing political system in the country where politicians and bureaucrats would rather point fingers at each other or join hands with rival parties for their own personal gain or provide irrelevant support to people like giving a farmer who is struggling for his survival a Television and attempting to generate mileage out of it. I say 4 issues coz somewhere I believe Peepli Live is trying to push us into a specific direction of saying no the kind of crap that we are put through these days, either by the political system or the media. It seems to be an earnest plea to all of us to not just wait for a change but to be the change. Remains to be seen how many of us actually take the message forward into action.
As regards the quality of execution, it is indeed very good. The performances of all the actors are excellent. Casting is superb. The costumes even more. Direction is only aided by the fact that the cast is really good. But one cannot take away credit from Anusha Rizvi and Mohammed Farooqui even more so since this was their first movie. Music is also very well managed between Ram Sampat, Indian Ocean and Nageen Tanvir. No questions about the story line which deals with the 4 issues in an extremely humorous manner that leaves you feeling good and not upset or depressed. The peak point in the entire movie would be when Natha’s son comes to him and asks, “Baba, aap kab maroge”? Overall a 7 on 10 surely from my side.
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