Review: When Hari Got Married (documentary)

Direction: Ritu Sarin, Tenzing Sonam

Rating: ***

There’s a saying in Hindi about how the taste of water and the language spoken changes with every new town or village in India. The same could be said of wedding rituals.

Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam’s documentary (75 mins) looks like it’s been made for an international audience, but to its credit, it does not attempt to glamourise its subject.

The subject is an Indian wedding — not the lavish song-and-dance-in-Manish-Malhotra-lehengas that Bollywood has sold extensively, but a simple, village affair that provides a truer, more democratic picture.

Hari is a taxi driver in Dharamsala, and he’s agreed to an arranged marriage just because he knows it will make his father happy. In choosing to trace a male protagonist, the film avoids a cliché – that it’s only the woman in small-town India who makes compromises in an arranged marriage.

Hari’s met the girl just once, and he regrets that he wasn’t even able to see her face. All he remembers is how short she is, and that bothers him. He’s no Clint Eastwood, at 5 ft-something, but he’s worried his to-be-wife is “not even 4 ft…people make fun of short people”.

Hari’s no trained actor, so his spontaneity before the camera is remarkable. He chats with the girl on phone, flirts even (their only way of getting to know each other, he says), speaks broken English and shows clarity of thought – “India is a magic country for foreigners because the dollar multiplies,” he says.

Though the rituals are unique, the expenses, the worried father, the spontaneous happiness that weddings bring are familiar. You wish, however, that there was a little less of the filmmakers on screen, and the questions they ask at times were not so generic.

Yet, as documentaries go, Hari… manages to do its job — capture a real story with a lot of honesty.

The documentary manages to do its job — capture a real story with a lot of honesty.

-Sarit Ray

Review originally published in hindustantimes.com (click here to see)

Review: Chor Chor Super Chor (indie)

Direction: Rajesh K
Cast: Deepak Dobriyal, Priya Bhatija, Anshul Kataria, Anurag Arora
Rating: **

Commercial masala films bring star-studded casts, gravity-defying fights and glossy romances to the table. Indie cinema must compete by sheer dint of ideas. Lead actor Deepak Dobriyal is a powerful actor and convincing as the ‘super chor’. Yet, as far as ideas go, they are just about as novel here as the film’s title.

The canvas (once again) is Delhi, its narrow lanes juxtaposed against its glossier malls and metro stations. Yet, this story of petty criminals could have played out anywhere. ‘Beware of pickpockets’ is a warning to heed even on Mumbai’s local trains and Kolkata’s rickety buses.

Satbir (Dobriyal) is a conman who wants out. He’s a romantic, and hopelessly in love with a girl who’s out of his league (TV actor Priya Bhatija as Neena). That apart, we know little about him. What are his motivations? What led him to the profession? The film glosses over such things. There are no back stories or insight into the criminals’ lives. Acts of theft, and a police-criminal nexus, merely make for comic set pieces. A Punk’d-style reality show, however, provides some novelty.

The film reminds you in parts of Dibakar Banerjee’s Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! That’s about the highest compliment one can accord debutant director Rajesh K’s work. Dobriyal, on the other hand, deserves some praise. His acting is earnest and understated. He belongs to that new crop of impressive Bollywood actors who, alas, only get supporting roles. This is his chance to play hero, which seems to have been his biggest motivation.

The film is, however, well-shot. And the editing is crisp (it clocks an impressive 99 minutes).

Exciting things are happening in the indie space. Films like Ship Of Theseus, even BA Pass to an extent, are proof. Chor Chor..., however, is a below-par effort.

-Sarit Ray

Review originally published in hindustantimes.com (click here to see)

Review: Bajatey Raho

Direction: Shashant Shah
Cast: Tusshar Kapoor, Vinay Pathak, Ranvir Shorey, Dolly Ahluwalia, Ravi Kishan
Rating: **

Bollywood has made up its mind. What the underworld drama has been to Mumbai, the slice-of-life comedy must be to Delhi. The Punjab-isation (of weddings, accents, songs and sense of humour) in our movies isn’t new, but it’s a better fit in the Capital. There’s natural contrast afforded by the middle-class lives in the narrow lanes of Lajpat Nagar, versus the brazen display of wealth in sprawling Chhatarpur farmhouses. Add a corruption angle, some jugaad and jhol (concepts so indigenous, they are hard to translate), and you’re ready to roll. Bajatey Raho weaves in these elements, but unfortunately, does so in a story that’s rather pat.

Predictable meets implausible as the widow Mrs Baweja (Dolly Ahluwalia), her son Sukhi (Tusshar Kapoor) and co hatch plots to steal money back from the businessman Sabharwal (Ravi Kishan, hamming it as usual) who wronged her husband. So, among other set pieces, you have a sting operation, and a fake raid that suddenly reminds you of Special 26. A half-baked romance and needless song-and-dance are added to the mix.

The film does, however, have its moments. The neighbourhood uncle who requests the cable guy for the ‘English picture’ at night is rather real. As is a kitschy Sherawali version of a Desi Boyz song. Ahluwalia is as natural playing a Punjabi mother here as she was in Vicky Donor. And you can trust Vinay Pathak and Ranvir Shorey to handle their parts maturely, even if you’ve seen them in such parts before.

Shashant Shah’s Dasvidaniya (certainly a better film) lacked in originality of idea, but had good treatment. In parts, you could say the same of Bajatey Raho. Yes, it’s predictable. But if you’ve got to go see a new Hindi film this week, this is your best bet.

-Sarit Ray

Review originally published in hindustantimes.com (click here to see)

Review: Issaq

Direction: Manish Tiwary
Actors: Prateik, Amyra Dastur, Ravi Kishan, Neena Gupta, Makrand Deshpande
Rating: *

Over the years, Shakespeare’s famous star-crossed lovers have found themselves in various forms and in various places — classic, award-winning dramas (a famous 1936 version, and one in 1968), a musical about New York gangs (West Side Story), Baz Luhrmann’s guns-blazing punk version (Romeo+Juliet), even as warring garden gnomes (Gnomeo & Juliet), among several others.

Yet, seldom have they been associated with as nonsensical a mess as Manish Tiwary’s Issaq. The story opens with a man relaying an eyewitness version of a gunfight between rival sand mafia — the Kashyaps and the Mishras. Who is this man? How does this event fit into the plot structure?

The film evades such issues of logical progression. Instead, what you get is a hodgepodge of stereotypes (rigid patriarchies, corrupt cops, even an evil Naxalite leader who sprays bullets and shouts ‘Lal salaam’) and flavouring borrowed from stylised, new-age Bollywood films set in the hinterland.

Yes, you do have a romantic hero in Rahul Mishra (Prateik), who’s more than adept at Parkour-ing over walls and climbing balconies, a prerequisite for Romeo, no doubt. 

Yet, you’re left wishing that he also had the ability to emote, a department in which Prateik is left direly wanting. His Juliet, then, fittingly, is played by an amateurish Amyra Dastur (as Bachchi Kashyap). She is all mistimed facial contortions, and sports an accent best described as too-posh-to-pull-off-rustic.

A slew of side characters are thrown in to add heft and armed hands. Anurag Kashyap does it in Gangs of Wasseypur, largely to good effect. Tiwary, however, clearly out of his depth, doesn’t know what to do with his massive cast.

So he kills some off and relegates others to the background. Strong actors like Neena Gupta and Makrand Deshpande are wasted as insipid nannies and caricature-ish sadhus who levitate without rhyme or reason.

The setting is Benares, Tiwary will have you know with a collage of aartis, boats floating on the Ganges and, of course, our hero jumping over low roofs. Yet, the randomness that is Issaq could have played out anywhere.

It’s a pity that Issaq joins remarkable films like Maqbool, Omkara and Angoor on the list of Bollywood adaptations of Shakespeare. In a time when works of literature are judged by their TV and film versions, it could even give the Bard a bit of a bad rep.

-Sarit Ray

Review originally published in hindustantimes.com (click here to see)

Review: Ramaiya Vastavaiya

Direction: Prabhudheva
Cast: Girish Kumar, Shruti Haasan, Sonu Sood
Rating: *1/2

Ramesh Taurani has produced some of those 90s romances. Now, he decides to make one for his son. However, the formula is stale and Ramaiya Vastavaiya rehashes older stories rather than create a new one. It borrows liberally from two Salman Khan starrers - Maine Pyar Kiya and Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya. 

Sona (Shruti Haasan) is the poor girl and Ram (Girish Kumar) is the rich boy who must win her over and Sonu Sood, the strict brother who stands in their path.  It's a showcase film for Kumar so the boy must show his much-bench-pressed body and shake a leg. His dancing, unfortunately is only slightly less stiff than his acting. Haasan acts and looks like a porcelain doll. In that, they make a perfect match.
Rich boy, poor girl, inevitable romance and the trials in the path for 'true love'. The formulaic love story was in the 90s what south remakes is in today's Bollywood. It raked in money, made women believe in archetypical romantic hero willing to kill and be killed was real and launched the careers of some today's biggest stars.

-Sarit Ray

Review originally published in hindustantimes.com (click here to see)

Review: D Day

Direction: Nikhil Advani

Cast: Irrfan Khan, Huma Qureshi, Arjun Rampal, Rishi Kapoor
Rating: ** 1/2

Any self-respecting Hindi film buff can rattle off names of half a dozen films on Dawood Ibrahim. D-Day is the latest. And it comes from unexpected quarters. Nikhil Advani is known for elaboraltely woven love stories (Kal Ho Na Ho, Salaam-E-Ishq). His only prior attempt at action (Chandni Chowk To China) was universally shot down.
Yet, Advani shows command over the genre in D-Day. The action is slick, the settings credible and the cinematography impressive (DOP Tushar Kanti Ray also shot Dhobi Ghat and Shor In The City). And till halfway point, the film is thoroughly gripping. Post that, however, the story unravels so fantastically, it demands tremendous suspension of disbelief.
References to actual events (1993 Mumbai blasts, 2013 Hyderabad blasts) build premise rather than root the story in reality. The R&AW despatches a team to Karachi to nab India’s ‘Most Wanted’ criminal. Iqbal Seth, aka Goldman (Rishi Kapoor) is obviously Dawood, with rose-tinted glasses, moustache, even some lines in Marathi.
But the film invests more in the agents’ stories than in Seth’s. Wali Khan (Irrfan) is the most fleshed-out character — an undercover agent with a family he cares and fears deeply for. Irrfan, unsurprisingly, is also the strongest actor. Arjun Rampal (agent Rudra Pratap Singh) brings to the role what he brings to every film — good looks and a standard brooding expression. Huma Qureshi (Zoya Rehman) gets plenty of screen time, but has little to do. As does Kapoor who, when not getting yanked around at gunpoint, spews one-liners like “trigger kheech, maamla mat kheech” (pull the trigger, don’t stretch the matter).
Yet, the matter does get stretched, till plot lines wear thin and reason dies a bullet-riddled death.

-Sarit Ray

Review originally published in hindustantimes.com (click here to see)

Review: Ship of Theseus (indie)

Director: Anand Gandhi
Cast: Aida El-Kashef, Neeraj Kabi, Sohum Shah, Vinay Shukla
Rating: ****

A blind photographer; an idealistic monk refusing treatment for liver cirrhosis; a stockbroker who seems to evaluate the world in profit-and-loss margins, and who’s just undergone a kidney transplant. Their respective worlds are so disparate, they’d be unlikely to ever meet or cross paths. Yet, debutant director Anand Gandhi manages to put them, well, in the same boat. “Where does the individual end and his environment begin?” the young lawyer Charwaka (Vinay Shukla) asks. Ship of Theseus explores such abstract, metaphysical ideas. It is, no doubt, an intellectual exercise, the sort festivals films often indulge in. Yet, the narrative is lucid, and the stories are simple and deeply moving. And it’s all captured in stunning frames, as colourful and evocative as varied in range – from Mumbai’s cramped alleyways too narrow for well-fed men and their sedans, to solemn monks in white against an expansive view of the dusk along its sea face.

Gandhi’s prior directorial experience is with shorts. Here, too, he tells three stories. The first is the sharpest – that of the blind photographer Aliya Kamal (Aida El-Ashaf), who seeks moments through sound rather than sight. Her transformation – and her epiphany – is also the most ironic. Post-surgery, she gains sight, but seems to lose the artistic eye. Next, we meet the monk Maitreya (Neeraj Kabi), who refuses treatment, and is willing to die rather than sacrifice his ideology (he’s fighting a legal battle against pharmaceutical companies). The third story is that of stockbroker Navin (Sohum Shah), who after being reassured that his kidney isn’t stolen from the poor man at the hospital, still takes up cudgels on his behalf.

Gandhi cleverly, if obliquely, ties the stories together through the conceit of Theseus’s Paradox (if all the parts of Theseus’s ship were replaced, was it still the same ship? And if those parts were used to build a new ship, which was the real ship of Theseus?). Cleverness, however, comes with a propensity to show off. So the dialogue is at times overwrought and unreal. At one point, a conversation between Charwaka and Maitreya is so contrived, they seem not so much individuals as on-screen mouthpieces for the director’s didacticism. Maitreya’s story is also the most long-winded, and an ill-timed interval (added for Indian audiences’ benefit, one imagines) does it no favours.

Yet, the film truly impresses, as much for its assured direction as for its ability to make you think. Ship of Theseus is perhaps too far removed from the Bollywood mainstream to make a splash at the box office. Yet, hopefully, when its young, talented crew goes on to other ships (with star casts and bigger budgets), it’ll take a bit of Theseus with them.

-Sarit Ray

Review originally published in hindustantimes.com (click here to see)