Chakravyuh

Strong theme but too much of commercialization

 

                Director Prakash Jha’s Chakravyuh is yet another issue based political thriller. Chakravyuh deals with issue of Naxalites in various states of India. Firstly, Kudos to Jha for even daring to take up an issue which had the potential of hurting the sentiments of either side of the issue.  Jha struggles but succeeds to display the pros and cons of both sides- The police and The Naxalites.

                Adil (Arjun Rampal) is an efficient police officer who takes up the job of dealing with Naxalite infected area of Nandighat. Soon his best friend Kabir (Abhay Deol) offers him help by infiltrating the Naxalite group and taking down Rajan (Manoj Bajpai) who is an influential Naxalite leader.  Will Kabir be successful enough is the question.

                What is really new about this Jha venture is the well executed Naxalites Vs Police firing sequences. Controlling a huge crowd is a difficult task and its efficient execution shows that Jha has total command on his set. However, apart from the firing sequences Jha offers the similar sets, locations, dialogues, characters and actors. It is time Jha reinvents his direction skills by adding something really new to his work.

 

                Jha has a grip over his story and knows exactly what he needs to convey, however the screenplay is typical and dragged. Although the story seems engaging the extended unnecessary scenes add to the duration and cause impatience among the audience. The biggest disappointment of Chakravyuh lies in its director’s falling prey to the so called commercial appeal. In an era of Indian cinema where mature filmmaking is a key to entertainment, Jha prefers to show some really unnecessary songs, one of them being a pure item number by Sameera Reddy. Having songs and more specifically item songs is fine, but does a Chakravyuh really need it? Besides, Jha’s story telling is still like the 80s method of spoon feeding the audience with every detail, again, is it really necessary?

                Music is below average and the item number can hardly attract any eye balls (since its presence is only for those eye balls). Cinematography is functional and so is the editing. Being so used to the strong stern Ajay Devgan performances in all Jha films, Arjun Rampal as a capable police officer looks dull. He tries his hardest but his performance falls out in a lot of scenes. Here’s one actor who is expected to give more than he can. Abhay Deol as the short tempered Kabir looks average in the first half but nails the second. Esha Gupta as Adil’s wife has limited work to do and does a below average job. Manoj Bajpai can never be a disappointment when it comes to an abusive, violent dacoit (a Naxalite in this case). Surprisingly he has a smaller role to play in the film, but he shines through what he gets to do. Eventually the one actor who shines is Anjali Patil as Juhi, a female Naxalit leader. From being an abusive, violent, earthy naxalite to a vulnerable girl, she gets it all right.

 

I am going with 2.5 out of 5 for Prakash Jha’s Chakravyuh. Chakarvyuh minus the songs and dragged scenes would have been a 3.5 on 5.

 

Rating:

 

 

Trailer:

 

 

Student of the Year

Typically KJO!!

 

Director and producer Karan Johar’s Student of the Year is yet another signature KJO film; just that this time around he risks having three newcomers carry his lavish high budget project on their shoulders rather than playing safe with a Shah Rukh Khan.

Lavish school, good looking teenager students, glamorous clothes and a wisely chosen locale of Deheradun, Student of the Year has it all. In case you have been missing the KJO movie feel for a few years since My Name is Khan didn’t have all this, Student of the Year is your treat.

St Teresa is a dream school which hosts the Student of the Year competition every year. Abhimanyu(Sidddharth Malhotra), Rohan(Varun Dhavan) and Shanaya(Alia Bhatt) are amongst the students of the school who are ambitious to win the contest.  The competition soon initiates rivalry, jealousy among friends and a vicious rat race. Simultaneously the three leads are caught into a complex love triangle and the fights, ego clashes follow. The end feels a little abrupt and over dramatic unbelievable sequences wrestle to make sense, but eventually they fall just short of it.



Sequences are borrowed and inspired from Kuch Kuch hota hai, Main hoon na, Harry Potter-The Goblet of Fire and many more; but all that never bothers. The screenplay is used straight from Jane tu ya Jane na with a friends reunion and the flash backs! In spite of all this, Student of the Year qualifies as a decent film due to the director’s entertaining writing, quirky music and good dance numbers.

Vishal and Shekhar do an excellent job with the music. Music has always been a key point in KJO’s movies, and Vishal Shekar carry the legacy ahead. Manish Malhotra is a busy man designing so many glamorous and fancy costumes for the film’s leads and he doesn’t disappoint. To show the lavishness on the big screen, the cinematography and editing do proper justice. The camera catches the most spectacular frames of Deheradun and the rich college campus.

Rishi Kapoor as the gay Dean proves yet again that he can pull off possibly any role offered to him. Alia Bhatt is fresh and talented and does most of the opportunity she gets. In the end it’s the boys who steal the show. The film demands a lot of testosterone and the boys give it all. Varun Dhavan looks promising but Siddhart Malhotra is the best in the film.

 

I am going with 2.5 out of 5 for Karan Johar’s Student of the Year. Go watch it, if KJO movies are your taste!

Rating: 2.5/5

Trailer:

 

 

Aiyya

 

Absurd and a confused mess

 

Sachin Kundalkar’s Aiyyaa which looked promising enough is a letdown. Makers of Aiyya were surely confused of its genre. Call it a romantic comedy, a simple love story or mad out and out comedy, you eventually realise that the movie fits into neither of the genres. Not that a film must always fit into a standard genre, but when this confusion directly reflects onto the script and the screenplay, then boy, it can’t be anything but a royally rumbling mess!

Menakshi Deshpande (Rani Mukherji), a middle class Maharshtrian girl of marriageable age is struggling to live life on her own terms and the friction with her orthodox surrounding aggravates her desire for independence. And then the confusion between marrying a man of her choice to a man of her family’s choice follows. To look at it, this confusion, the clichéd conflict of family Vs personal choice is all done and over with in Indian cinema. The only novelty of Aiyyaa is that it shows a woman’s lust and obsession for her love unlike the regular drill of a guy being charmed by the girl, and Aiyyaa ensures to cash on it. The film has been wisely promoted with the trailers highlighting the lust of its female lead character in skilfully choreographed songs. However, very soon does this start to seem overdone and the viewer eventually becomes weary of watching Menakshi feel her crush’s body odour.  

 

Kundalkar writes over the top, whacky and unreal characters to create comic moments in the film. But he hardly succeeds in getting it all right because the scenes are poorly executed. This is a movie which floats between being a realistic believable film to being a thorough comedy. The Director chooses a theme with potential but fails to give it the right shape.  Aiyyaa could have been a good piece of work had the story writer and director Kundalkar kept his intentions right.

A major highlight of the film is its dances. Choreographer Vaibhavi Merchant grabs the opportunity of choreographing various styles of dancing all in one film and she makes the most of it. Music is functional with some catchy tunes. Dreamum Wakepum which has already hit high on the charts is surely Oh la la! inspired but doesn’t fail to amuse the audience. Cinematography is fine.

Prithviraj as Menakshi’s crush, Surya, doesn’t have much to do. Limited dialogues and a blank face make it a weak debut for him. Subodh Bhave as a kind hearted fiancé is perfect for his role. He looks decent, talks decent and dresses simple just what his character demands. Rani Mukherji as Menakshi is undoubtedly the hero of the film. From talking fluent Marathi to dancing on a Dremum Wakeupum to doing a belly dance, Rani excels in all. It’s a Rani Mukherji film, and watch it if you are her fan.

 

I am going with a two of five for Sachin Kundalkar’s Aiyya. Out of the two, one star belongs solely to Rani Mukherji. Watch it for her but that is only if you are ready to ignore its flaws.

 

Rating: 2/5

 

Trailer:

 

English Vinglish

Innocent and charming English Vinglish, touches your heart from the very first frame.

 

English Vinglish(EV) deals with simple hidden dilemmas faced by an Indian housewife, stressing mainly on disability of fluent English speech. It highlights the unintentional ill treatment given to people in India unable to speak fluent English . Shashi Godbole, played by Sridevi is a housewife facing severe internal inferiority due to her disability of speaking English. And the inferiority is cultivated by none other than her own family. She happens to travel to the States for a wedding and lands up into a quick English learning class.

Director and writer Gauri Shinde has a well grip on her script and her characters are properly etched. It is difficult to believe that EV is her debut as the confidence in the direction is so apparent. She captures the simplest conversational difficulties a non-english speaker would encounter while travelling alone abroad. The situations are so realistic that one would enquire whether the director had herself gone through the same.



The script has its shares of clichés; for instance, the characterizations of Shashi’s classmates are typical and formulaic, although they never bother. The screenplay is simple and linear, just as it should have been. The background score perfectly blends with the situations. Special mention to the fantastic music by Amit Trivedi; the music is melodious and flows with the emotions in film. The camera in the first half is shaky giving the film an absolutely unnecessary arty feel.

Sridevi is perfectly cast as the vulnerable housewife. The subtle changes in her facial expressions and body language when her characters changes phases are to watch out for. Her speech in the finale sequence proves that no one but Sridevi could have played this part. Amongst the supporting cast, Adil Hussain as a dominant Indian husband is well cast and so is the the charming French cook played by Mehdi Nibbou.

EV has a simple but a valid message to give. The simplicity of the story telling stuns you when it makes the viewer suddenly identify to one of the characters’ actions/dialogues. This is one film which relates to possibly every Indian family living in India or abroad. EV will praise you for being nice and hit you for being not so nice!

 

I am going with an out and out  4 out of 5 for Gauri Shinde’s English Vinglish. Watch it if you belong to an Indian family!

Verdict : 4/5

Trailer :

 

OMG! OH MY GOD!

                God is great, and so is the film!

 

               Adapted from a gujrati play, OMG!  is a simple, subtle film which makes one think about how today’s world deals with God and religion.  

                Kanji Bhai (Paresh Rawal) is a middle class Hindu atheist whose shop is demolished during a minor earth quake. Being financially helpless, he demands payment from the insurance company he had been paying premium to. After the company denies the payment owing to the company’s contract which says no payment against ‘act of God’ (earth quake), he urges to file a case against God!

                As fictional as this sounds, the story develops into real and believable circumstances making it relatable to today’s world. The story stresses on the ongoing modern world ‘babaism’, religion as a business and people’s idea of what God really is!

                What stands out is the scene writing and dialogues. Especially the court scenes which are crisply written, with apt and hard hitting dialogues. The dialogues own this film!



                Paresh Rawal in an author backed role justifies why he is one of the greatest actors India has seen. Akshay Kumar in an extended cameo as the modern day Lord Krishna plays is part right. Amongst the supporting cast, Mithun Chakraborty as the witty spiritual guru is hilarious with his feminine body language.

                OMG! may not have the best direction, music and cinematography, yet it steals the show purely on the merit of its theme and script. Here’s a cake with minimal icing but a very spongy interior unlike so many others which offer grand icing with hard and minimal interior.

               

 I am going with 3 out of 5 for director’s Umesh Shukla’s OMG! Oh My God! .Watch it for its performances and for what it preaches!

Verdict: 3/5

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