REVOLVER RANI

3 stars


Dark comedy is not for everybody but black humor is gradually beginning to make inroads into Bollywood as the sensibilities are changing and the ghetto has been broken. Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro (1983), Sankat City (2009), Ishqiya (2010), 7 Khoon Maaf (2011) and Dedh Ishqiya (2014) experimented with dark humor that took on the establishment. While some attained the cult status and the rest failed to strike a chord with the audience because it is difficult to experience laughter and discomfort simultaneously. Debutant director Sai Kabir's Revolver Rani is one such dark B-grade concoction of politics, comedy and a bloodletting love story.

Set against the backdrop of Chambal, Kangana Ranaut is playing the titular role of Revolver Rani alias Alka Singh, whose father -- who died early when she was just seven -- never accepted her for being a girl child. She craved his love but was fascinated with his revolvers. She picked up the revolver because she saw her mother being raped in front of her. She grew to womanhood in the company of her sly & manipulative mama, Balram Singh (Piyush Mishra), just to be a terror in the area but now, he uses Alka for power. She shot her husband dead because he had an affair and supposedly thought of Alka as sterile. Alka belongs to a lower caste but she dreams of escaping to 'Benice', orders clothes from Italy and primps like a diva in metallic conical bras. She is a dacoit-turned-politician and has just been ousted from her political position of power by the Rural Development Minister, Thakur Udaybhaan Singh (Zakir Hussain). With the help of her mama, she starts fighting for tribesmen/adivasis whom Udaybhaan, in the company of two half-witted brothers, has cheated out of their land. She falls head over heels for struggling Bollywood actor Rohan Kapoor (Vir Das) in the meanwhile but he starts using Alka as a ladder to climb up in Bollywood. Ultimately, he becomes her toy boy and when Alka decides to shut all her guns down because she's pregnant with Rohan's child, the opposition leader traps Rohan in order to destroy Alka completely. What follows is Alka's journey of deceit, betrayal & survival...

The story (Sai Kabir) is offbeat and a great satire of political love. This issue has never been raised before in Bollywood. Even though the premise of the flick is unbelievable and too wacky to be true, the plot redefines pulp fiction by fusing notoriety and crass in right dosage ala Quentin Tarantino's style of movies. Right from the avant-garde production design (Mayur Sharma) to accomplished cinematography (Suhas Gujarathi) capturing the hinterland with rigour to assorted background score uplifting the mood (Surender Sodhi), the detailing is precise and real attitude of goons and politicians are shown with utmost precision. Military insignia laden jackets paired with salwars, metallic bra and eyecatching sunglasses suit Kangana's demeanour outright. Kudos to costume designers (Ridhima Pandey & Gavin Miguel) for the quirky/unusual wardrobe! The dialogues (Sai Kabir) are rib-tickling with usage of broken English dialects only enhances the pleasure of watching a true-blue desi politics. The TV anchor in the film managed to evoke the maximum amount of mirth. The director nails in characterisation of the characters, which is sheer humourous. Sai Kabir has done a fantabulous job in his directorial debut by mixing love and violence in an unusual way and sticking to the reality of the land of rebels, politicians, bullets and blood where the people either live by the gun or die by the gun. The twists in the tale, the superlative acting & the hard-hitting climax pack a solid punch and are the highlights of the enterprise. Though aimed at the hoi polloi, the movie is *not* easy to digest because it needs the viewers' attention right from the very onset as the content is raw, real and riotous.

On the grey side, the film has no logic whatsoever. The slow & laborious runtime of 132 minutes with those thirteen outlandish songs (music: Sanjeev Srivastava) popping out of nowhere, make the viewers dog-tired. A dark comedy should be neatly peppered with pacy situations to keep the watchers hooked but the movie has got scenes so long drawn-out (editing: Aarti Bajaj) that the whole impact fizzles out by the end of it.

Kangana Ranaut is evidently the best thing in the film. She is on a nailing spree. One cannot imagine this role without Kangana. Portraying a crazy, vulnerable, aggressive, abusive and nymphomaniac dacoit with tanned tone and kohl eyes is no cakewalk but she slips into the skin of Alka with elan. A virtuoso act, indeed! Vir Das is confused throughout. He is wasted. Piyush Mishra is fantastic, as always. He is phenomenal especially in the second half. Zakir Hussain and Pankaj Saraswat are pitch-perfect as shrewd politicians cum goons. Deana Uppal is a femme fatale. Kumud Mishra, Nikunj Malik, Jami Jafry, Preeti Sood, Rahul Gandhi, Zeishan Quadri, Zafar Khan, Sanjay Singh and Abhijeet Shetty are consummately terrific in their respective roles.

On the whole, to endure Revolver Rani the viewers need to have a *strong appetite* as it is the *most brazen* dark humor to have churned out of Bollywood in recent times. The superlative performances -- particularly Kangana Ranaut -- along with plenty of good laughs and stirring effort of debutant director Sai Kabir make for a wild watch. Give this one a shot! And yes, it has a hint for the sequel as well!


first appeared on http://www.desimartini.com/movies/revolver-rani/md3336.htm

2 STATES

3.5 stars


K. Balachander's Ek Duuje Ke Liye (1981) kicked off the trend of *inter-caste relationships/marriages* in Bollywood. Though it has a tragic denouement but the movie was huge success back then and accordingly, the template became all-important for a Hindi movie to set the box-office ringing. Latterly, Shoojit Sircar's immensely acclaimed Vicky Donor (2012) redefined the idea where Ayushmann Khurrana's Punjabi mother detest Yami Gautam's Bengali parents. But Abhishek Varman (director/screenwriter), for his debut outing, has adapted Chetan Bhagat's -- the biggest-selling English-language novelist in India’s history -- biographical book by the same title '2 States: The Story of My Marriage', which is simplistically palpable & deals with the psyche of young adults in a country like India where a love affair resulted into marriage is no less than a battle won. Here, instead of becoming a rebel by going against their parents' wishes, together they make sure that the girl's family has to love the boy, boy's family has to love the girl, the girl's family has to love the boy's family and the boy's family has to love the girl's family. The message is simple and clear -- True love knows no boundaries, states, communities and cultures even though it crosses many and it has a sole intention of bringing people together to a time called forever.

The story is told from the point of view of the male protagonist. Punjabi boy Krish Malhotra (Arjun Kapoor) is tall, handsome, chiseled, knowledgeable, has great smile/dimples and awares of his reality, duty and ambition. He hopes to be a writer someday. He's raised by an overbearing Punjabi mother, Kavita Malhotra (Amrita Singh) and an alcoholic father, Vikram Malhotra (Ronit Roy). Krish meets Ananya Swaminathan (Alia Bhatt) at an elite MBA college and quite predictably, both of them fall in love. Ananya is intelligent, confident, pretty, the eldest child of a middle class Tamil-Brahmin family from Chennai and full of ambition & youthful energy. She holds great value in the consent and happiness of her more traditional mother, Radha Swaminathan (Revathy) and father, Shiv Swaminathan (Shiv Subrahmanyam). They take a compos mentis decision that they won't get married till the time their parents don't give their consent and to convert their love story into a love marriage, the couple faces a tough battle in front of them all. Eventually, how Krish succeeds in walking down the aisle with Ananya and becoming a writer, forms the apogee.

The story is simple, *not* excessively melodramatic/emotional, has its heart & mind in the right place and a humorous take on inter community marriages in India. The proceedings are even more enjoyable than the book, which, in fact, is the real attainment. Kudos to debutant director Abhishek Varman for the detailing, the susceptibility with which he handles relationships *without* taking sides & employing any contrivances to catch the fancy of audience and bringing out the best & the worst in both the communities. He uses all the elements in a right measure, which proves to be the silent intrinsic force that makes the flick interestingly entertaining. The story has many things at the same time. The circumstances are relevantly destined than designed. Right from the couple's mission to make a truce between their families to Krrish juggling between his job and different cities in his attempt to marry the love of his life Ananya, are picture perfect and relatable. The backstory of Krish and his father packs a solid punch. The scene in which a solemn Krish proposes marriage to Ananya and her family with four golden rings in his hand saying, "Mai Aap Sab Se Shaadi Krna Chahta Hu", is one of the many highlights of the enterprise. The climax too, is worth rounds of applause. Hussain Dalal's funny one-liners & self-denouncing remarks about one's family and community are sure to bring the house down with Parik-Tubby's background score uplifting the mood at every single juncture. The story moves between four cities – Ahmedabad, Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai. While the viewers are shown just a glimpse of the first city, the other three are described in full radiance with DoP Binod Pradhan ingeniously capturing the cultures & panoramic locales of north and south India. Amrita Mahal Nakai's production design takes the impact of the movie notches ahead. She's avowedly the real winner of the enterprise. Resplendent! Manish Malhotra, Shiraz Siddiqui, Natascha Charak and Nikita Mohanty's costumes are both modish and conventional at the same time. The mellifluous soundtrack (Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy) in context with newfangled lyrics (Amitabh Bhattacharya) go down well with the mood of the film. Winsome!

On the flip side, the pace is dull to some extent especially because the film borders at a runtime of 149 minutes. The editing (Namrata Rao) could've been more taut for an overwhelming after-effect.

Arjun Kapoor's composure while effortlessly slipping in the role of Krish is laudable. He's evidently a scene-stealer! One cannot take his/her eyes off from him. Alia Bhatt is on a nailing spree. She's the next big thing in Bollywood in days to come. Her eyes & body language emote incomparably. Alia's Ananya is a virtuoso act. Ovation! Ronit Roy -- who quietly observes the tumultuous events unfold in his son's life -- is exemplary, precisely after Udaan (2010). Watch out for him during the closing moments. Amrita Singh's banters are the highpoint. She's impeccable throughout. Wow! Revathy, Achint Kaur and Shiv Subrahmanyam are tactile pillars of the enterprise.

After 3 Idiots (2009), 2 STATES is the next ultimate tribute to Chetan Bhagat's literary piece of work, which merits repeated viewing owing to its chartbuster music, relatable storyline, fantastic performances and mainly, the jaw-dropping technicalities. Right on!

first appeared on: http://www.desimartini.com/movies/2-states/md1131.htm

BHOOTHNATH RETURNS

3 stars


In this day and age, when remaking a South masala movie has almost become a norm, content-driven flicks are seen once in a blue moon that could even bring the house down. Bollywood has almost lost its lustre by tilting towards mindless entertainers in order to make hefty bucks in no time. Even follow-ups are effectuated in order to just make the most of prequels. But very few filmmakers know how to cash in on the current prevailing scenario and that too with a movie so meaningful and thought-provoking that it redefines the meaning of issue-based cinema interspersed with stirring messages punctiliously.

First, the premise! Bhoothnath Returns commences precisely from where Bhoothnath (2008) culminated, with Amitabh Bachchan's voiceover. As the 60-year old ghost returns to the 'Bhoot World' -- an exotic locale where male ghosts chill out, female ghosts bitch about others and all the ghosts wait for reincarnation -- Kailash Nath aka Bhoothnath (Amitabh Bachchan) is welcomed with taunts and denunciation from other ghosts for bringing disgrace to the ghost-community after getting intimidated by a kid on Earth six years back. Post the mortification, Bhoothnath decides to redeem himself and comes back to Dharavi in Mumbai to scare a bunch of kids but in turn he turns into a comic character. The task brings him to Akhrot (Parth Bhalerao), a slum urchin who is also the only person who can see him and fears none. He doesn’t attend school and earns his living from tourists by taking them on a tour of Dharavi. Together they agree to help each other and they become business partner in the task of removing spirits from haunted buildings in return of good money from property developers but their friendship gets them involved in a cause that is Brobdingnagian while trying to bring a haunted property worth 300 crores in the same position as it was earlier as per the order of conniving politico Bhau (Boman Irani). To save Dharavi constituency from such unscrupulous goon-turned-politician, Bhoothnath takes on Bhau by contesting against him. The Lok Sabha elections are nearing and Bhau's victory is just formality. In a world, where a common man is afraid of politics, will a common man's ghost overcome his fear to stand up for what's right and fight against injustice? How ultimately Bhoothnath beats Bhau over, forms the apogee.

Piyush Gupta and Nitesh Tiwari have come up with a satirical story of friendly ghost, taking a political route this time around, which though is unreal but shows a mirror to the society plagued with corruption, poverty, scams, kickbacks and frauds committed by certain politicians. The story is much more appreciable and far more entertaining than the prequel. Director Nitesh Tiwari opts for an issue-based flick and packages it with commercial ingredients to connect with the aam aadmi with sarcastically hard-hitting dialogues and inducing scenes galore which packs a solid punch outright. The first half exclusively focuses on the growing bond and camaraderie between I-look-cuter-with-my-broken-tooth-Akhrot and Bhoothnath, well stocked with subtle message of ‘fear of good’ or the satire of uneducated people running the nation, it makes the viewers smile continuously at the rather piteous situation of our country. The flick shrewdly avoids clichés and even exhibits some real footage in order to showcase the prevailing state of India pathetically in "Nazar Rakhna" song. In a scene, an old lady (Usha Nadkarni) is asked by Akhrot if she would vote for a ghost if she gets the basic amenities like water and cleanliness in place. She eventually says in an anguishing tone – “I will even vote for a dog if promised water at least once in a day.” Almost every single scene is sprinkled with rousing message with compelling background score (Hitesh Sonik). The background music enlivens the mood at every single juncture. Well Done! Bhoothnath encapsulating the situation of aam junta in police station scene is amusingly hard-hitting. With a bloated runtime of 155 minutes acting as snag but the nimble pace and tout editing (Chandrashekhar Prajapati) helps from turning the flick soul-destroying. The movie has its heart and mind in the right place with habile direction totes that deserves a pat on the back of Nitesh Tiwari. Going by the director's mastery over the medium, the viewers would find it very tough to believe this is his second film only. The story has many things at the same time. The narrative moves through circumstances that appear more destined than designed. Nitesh Tiwari exercises an enormously flexible yet firm grip over his optimistic plot. Bravo! Though the makers have taken some cinematic liberty, yet there are no loopholes in the proceedings. The ongoings are settled and the DoP (Kamaljeet Negi) captures the real slums of Mumbai, the railway tracks, the garages, the back alleys and an abandoned ship with adroitness. What heightens the impact is the camera angles. Splendid! Right from Bhau's residence to Bhoot world (which is very much alike any other Government office in India) to Sanjay Mishra's factory to song sequences, the state-of-the-art production design (Wasiq Khan) including an old torn couch and a few brown barrels where Bhoothnath and Akhrot have their heart-to-hearts are appealing to the core. At par with Hollywood standards Vfx complement the theme of the movie outstandingly.

Fortunately, the movie doesn't succumb to the curse of second half. The face-offs between Boman & senior Bachchan are the highlights of the enterprise. Boman provoking Mr. Bachchan to surrender his supernatural powers while going live on tv and the scene with Chief Electoral Officer when Mr. Bachchan falsify the allegations of not having the right to vote are spellbinding of sorts. In the penult moments, when Bhoothnath urges the hoi polloi to cast vote should be used as the election anthem/speech of India in days to come to promote the importance of voting. Kudos to the Shreyas Jain and Nikhil Mehrotra (additional screenplay) for coming up with such flag-waving emotional scenes! Right from filing nominations, campaigning to exercising the right to vote, the message is well-etched. The climax too, is *not* preachy. It will leave the viewers moist-eyed, followed by applause and whistles. The music by Meet Bros Anjjan & Palash Muchhal ("Party Toh Banti Hai"), Yo Yo Honey Singh ("Party With the Bhoothnath") and Ram Sampath ("Har Har Gange", "Dharavi Rap" & Nazar Rakhna) is top-notch with sarky lyrics (Kunwar Juneja, Munna Dhiman, Nitesh Tiwari & Rakesh Kumaar) taking the essence of the flick to the highest standards.

On the grey side, the flick is strictly *not* for those who play it by the book. The plot is inconsistent at times and even the monologues might appear bit lengthy. People holding perfect eye-contact, who are (technically) unable to see Bhoothnath, is also a matter of sluggishness.

The actors in their slum clothes and demeanour are splendidly in-sync with their characters. Mukesh Chhabra is a go-to man when it comes to casting. The little kid Parth Bhalerao is a revelation indeed. Right from his mastery over the local accent to body language and impeccable comic timing, he lends charm and maturity to little campaigner Akhrot. Attaboy! He really takes the cake in the presence of stalwarts like Amitabh Bachchan and Boman Irani. He exhibits confidence and talent that's as scarce as hen's teeth. He needs to be applauded to the echo.

Amitabh Bachchan's energy evidently describes why he's been called as the 'Superstar of the Millennium'. One cannot think of anybody else to enact the part of Bhoothnath with verve. Watch out for him in the climax with Sanjay Mishra and Parth Bhalerao. He's superhuman avowedly. He truly deserves a standing ovation. Hats off Sir! No two words could precisely describe his energy and appetite to act.

An actor of calibre Boman Irani is nothing less than crème de la crème. He's a venerable performer. Even his poster in the flick emits villainy. He gives comedy an august standing. Watch out for him in the scene following the interval and the scene when he challenges Bhoothnath's powers in the studio.

Sanjay Mishra as Bhoothnath’s self-appointed lawyer is the consummately brilliant entertainer who loves entertaining. He leaves the audience in splits. Watch out for his outburst in the climax. Encore!

Usha Jadhav is naturally perfect. Brijendra Kala is exemplary. D. Santosh, Mukesh Bhatt, Kurush Deboo, Anurag Kashyap, Shah Rukh Khan, Ranbir Kapoor and Usha Nadkarni appear in enlightening cameos.

On the whole, BHOOTHNATH RETURNS beautifully portrays the right blend of humour, fantasy, thrill and drops a wonderful message alongwith entertaining the audience in abundance. The timing of this political sitcom just before the Lok Sabha elections in India is indefectible as well. For missing out on this satire will be considered as an act of sheer folly, if you are an Indian citizen with/without voter ID card. First, cast your vote. Second, book the ticket pronto and then Party Toh Banti Hai.


first appeared on http://www.desimartini.com/movies/bhoothnath-returns/md2716.htm

MAIN TERA HERO

2.5 stars

Well, without mincing my words, I must avow that critiquing a David Dhawan comic caper is fallacious because each and every masalathon of the consummate master of entertainers is set in his own ostentatious world, aimed exclusively at the hoi polloi. Being a remake of the mightily successful Telugu romantic comedy Kandireega (2011) -- MAIN TERA HERO brings together the father-son duo for the very first time -- the basic premise has been altered a la David Dhawan's own modus operandi of laughathons.

Let me rationalize the plot first! Srinath Prasad fondly called as Seenu (Varun Dhawan) is dikhne me cute, innocent aur swami type ka but at core, he is haraami type ka. He is a high school drop out in Coonoor. Mr. Prasad (Manoj Pahwa) provokes Seenu to get a degree from a reputed university, citing exemplar of Seenu's friends making it big in their lives. Seenu promptly decides to leave for Bengaluru for his higher education. On the first day at college, Seenu falls head over heels in love with Sunaina (Ileana D’Cruz). But the one-sided affair goes contrariwise when he realizes that the love of his life is betrothed to Angad Negi (Arunoday Singh), a bruiser policewala goonda, much against Sunaina's wishes. As luck would have it, Seenu finally wins Sunaina's heart, leaving Angad baffled. But Sunaina gets kidnapped by a don based in Bangkok, Vikrant Singhal (Anupam Kher), whose daughter Ayesha Singhal (Nargis Fakhri) -- whom Seenu had saved from local goons in the train en route to Bengaluru -- is in love with Seenu and wants to marry him and her Dadzu (read Dad) is left with no choice but to forcibly coerce Seenu. The comedy of error ensues and how Seenu becomes the Hero eventually, forms the apogee.

As mentioned at the outset, writer Tushar Hiranandani transforms Kandireega for the Hindi movie audience, which is frankly a been there, done that, got the T-shirt experience. The sequences are so designed in order to redefine the words 'screen presence' by bel esprit Varun Dhawan, who integrates father Dhawan's peers' cool (Salman Khan) and energy cum dance moves (Govinda), mouthing quick-witted dialogues (Milap Zaveri) -- which are though off-colour at some points but howbeit ne plus ultra of the enterprise aimed at the masses. Take these for instances: Varun talking to Ganpati idol, "Main sirf teen logo ka fan hu, TV me Amitabh Bachchan ka crorepati, Tennis me Bhupati aur Bhagwan me Ganpati."
In another similar scene where Varun does the talking to Lord Krishna's idol, "Rajkapoor jii ka ramaiya vastavaiya, jeetu jii ka taathaiya taathaiya aur bada natkhat hai re krishan kanhaiya."
Varun shouting at girls in the train scene, "Main tumhare phone ka touchscreen hu kya jo baar baar touch kiye jaa rhi ho." And in the same scene, he tells a goon, "Tere babu ko itna maaruga naa ki aaj ke baad naa baba paida kar payega naa baby."
Without expecting much intelligence from the audiences, the humor in the first half works due to the vitality of junior Dhawan. Stamps of David Dhawan's trademark style are palpable to the core with lavish production design (Sukant Panigrahy) -- breathtaking, modish costumes (Kunal Rawal, a consummate master of outfits) -- eye-catching, made to order cinematography (Sanjay F. Gupta) capturing the scenic locales of India & Bangkok with zest and already-a-rage music (Sajid-Wajid). The direction is simply phenomenal/justifiable for executing a mindless entertainer like this with a paper thin plotline.

On the flip side, clocking on the dot at 128 minutes, the editing (Nitin Madhukar Rokade) is exhausting as the movie shifts its base to Bangkok in the second half. The scenes & humor start getting flat and repetitive. Right from jokes on Katrina Kaif's hindi to Emraan Hashmi kissing know-how, the targeted-at-masses humor is nonsense. The scenes start off and end abruptly without any purpose whatsoever. Songs, though highlighting the mood, pop out of nowhere. Ditto for the stunts (Mahendra Verma), targeted only at the front benchers. Ideally, the film should have ended at the intermission point, but the over-stretched low on IQ scenes act as killjoy, with no relevance to the proceedings. I do agree that a David Dhawan masala outing remains same but haven't Mr. Dhawan himself milked this genre dry? The characters are introduced and forgotten immediately. Right from Ileana getting kidnapped to her marriage in the climax, the audience gets the glimpse of her parents only in Angad's backstory in the first half. The take-off of Badtameez dil song, Shakti Kapoor scenes and the whole of Anupam Kher's scenes just add length to the film. Above all, there's sequel to kissing scenes as well. Glaikit! The climax too, is hurried. In short, David Dhawan has used all the ineluctable requirements to make this a wholesome entertainer but the result is nothing sort of run-of-the-mill cliched.

Varun Dhawan is supremely talented upto the hilt but goes over-the-top this time as per the demand of the script. One cannot take eyes off from his torso and flexing muscles. He is the next big thing in days to come, beyond the shadow of a doubt. His act is sure to bring the house down with au fait comic timing and impeccable dancing skills. Wow! Evelyn Sharma, Raju Kher, Shakti Kapoor, Saurabh Shukla and Shireesh Sharma are wasted downright. Ileana and Nargis Fakhri are competent, in plain words, with nothing much to exhibit. The men take the lead here. Arunoday Singh's body language emits villainy. Fantastic! Rajpal Yadav provides genuine laughs. Anupam Kher is naturally funny. Manoj Pahwa and Supriya Shukla are all right.

On the whole, Main Tera Hero is a must for David Dhawan's loyalists. His direction stands tall while over-the-top plot and forced scenes badly fall. Dedicated cinephiles just wait for the DVD release.

first appeared on http://www.desimartini.com/movies/main-tera-hero/md2985.htm