Film Impressions

REVIEW: Satyagraha

LOST CAUSE

If Madhur Bhandarkar scavenges on the Page 3 circuit, Prakash Jha picks his themes from the day’s headlines. Sadly, he’s content projecting the bold print (or its screaming-ranting equivalents on prime time news), never showing the slightest inclination for introspection or analysis.

With four films in as many years, the quality of his output has progressively declined. By comparison to what followed, Raajneeti was a decently plotted political thriller. Aarakshan’s first hour wasn’t bad––at least it attempted a debate on reservation before jumping tracks to a blustering indictment of the commercialisation of education. In Chakravyuh you only got the sketchy outline of an ideological conflict through a simplistic good vs. evil narrative.

REVIEW: Madras Cafe

ANATOMY OF A KILLING

The constraints under which Indian filmmakers have to operate can be crippling. Especially when it comes to political subjects, given the state’s indifference towards providing an environment conducive for free expression and the increasingly violent pitch of dissent and prejudice. Recently the release of Kamal Hassan’s purely fictional spy thriller Viswaroopam was stalled in Tamil Nadu despite a Censor clearance under the pretext that it may incite communal unrest. 

ESSAY: Jawaab And The Unforgettable ‘80s

*In which I revisit Smita Patil's forgotten films

WHAT IS IN A NAME?

I watched Ravi Tandon's Jawaab in 1985 when it first released. Not out of Smita-love but because we couldn't get tickets to Rahul Rawail's Arjun which was running to packed houses. Disappointed yet determined, my dedicated film-watcher uncle and I rushed to Chitra in Dadar East for the last show of Jawaab. (The logic being, if you're stepped out to watch a film you must watch a film.) Incidentally it's director is Raveena Tandon’s father, his only notable venture being Khel Khel Mein the whodunit of “Khullam khulla pyaar karenge” fame. 

REVIEW: Once Upon Ay Time In Mumbai Dobaara

OF MISPLACED MACHISMO AND MINDLESS MISOGYNY

In writer Rajat Aroraa and director Milan Luthria’s worldview women are commodities men use for distraction, gratification or merely as possessions. Even in the so-called women-oriented The Dirty Picture, Vidya Balan’s Silk proudly proclaims that she’s ‘entertainment’, employing bold dances and gestures to please a ravenous male audience. In Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai, Ajay Devgn’s Sultan relentlessly pursues Rehana (Kangna Ranaut), although seeing where the sequel takes this stalking, his approach seems dignified in hindsight.

REVIEW: Chennai Express

GET OFF THIS TRAIN BABY

Random thoughts on watching Chennai Express:

For a film that keeps reiterating, "Don't underestimate the common man," it does precisely that, displaying unqualified disdain for the audience's capacity to discriminate between intelligent self-referencing and lazy writing.

Shah Rukh Khan claims he's 40 and Deepika Padukone chides him suggesting he looks 50, but what he's really saying is, "I'm still the loveable, cognac-eyed, dimpled brat of Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge and am going to show you how little I've evolved over the last two decades."   

REVIEW: B.A. Pass

DOESN'T MAKE THE GRADE

The neon lit signboards of Paharganj were first used in Anurag Kashyap’s to echo the protagonist's hollowness in Dev D and as markers to his progressive despair. Taking us through the squalid bars and dingy rooms occupied by painted faces it worked because it was original, and Kashyap knew how to measure it out without tipping over. Cinematographer-director Ajay Bahl trips on the latter count and after a point, lights flashing in the background for every other scene in the second half start burning holes in your head. Perhaps that was the desired effect––putting you in line with an innocent boy’s frantic slide into the murky world of prostitution and the tragedy it unleashes––but it doesn't work.