Friday, August 22, 2014
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Tahaan: Hypnotizing, Entertaining!!
Borrowing from the narrative of some brilliant Iranian films (those of Majid Majidi’s and Abbas Kiarostami’s), Santosh Sivan has actually painted the celluloid and the result “Tahaan” is a masterpiece. It just mesmerizes you with its simplicity… an innocence that is so rare in Hindi cinema. The scintillating colors of Kashmir have never been captured so beautifully before. Santosh Sivan’s camera becomes the brush and its strokes go on and on and on and on…so fluidly, that the result is simply hypnotizing.
The story can’t get simpler than this. Tahaan ( meaning-merciful) is the story of an eight-year old boy Tahaan ( Purav Bhandare) whose best friend is his donkey- Birbal. Birbal is everything for Tahaan. To pay some debts, Tahaan’s family has to give all their assets including Birbal to the local money lender (Rahul Khanna). Now getting his dearest Birbal back becomes the sole aim of Tahaan’s life and he is ready to pay any price for this purpose. Tahaan finally gets the donkey but at what price? This is one story where the journey is definitely more interesting than the destination.
There have been many films with Kashmir as the backdrop but none of them have come even remotely close to the real Kashmir both in terms of the visuals or atmosphere there. Tahaan is about the real Kashmir, without any preaching and without taking sides. It touches every aspect of the life of Kashmiris- the family waiting for the only man in their house, cross-border terrorism, unknown fears and a universal message hidden in the simple narrative. The language is also universal…the language of innocence. The purity of the mornings and the solitude of the evenings in Kashmir just drips from every frame of Tahaan. It is as if Santosh’s camera becomes a mere spectator of the happenings in young Tahaan’s life. No one seems to act and nothing seems made up. Wow! It’s just so real.If Santosh the cinematographer excels, Santosh the director surpasses him. The screenplay is brilliant and so are the dialogues. There are no pretensions, the story flows like a gentle breeze through the valley.
The performances are memorable. Anupam Kher is mind blowing; Sarika, is brilliant as Tahaan’s mute mother and Rahul Bose finally (after duds like Maan Gaye Mughal-e-Azam) is in top notch form. But Tahaan belongs to the young Purav, whose raw innocence delights you. From the first frame to the last, it doesn’t feel as if Purav is”acting” and that’s the biggest compliment. Also noteworthy are the performances by Sana Shaikh (who plays Tahaan’s sister Zoya), and Ankush Dubey (who plays the young ‘terrorist’ Idrees.) Small but wonderful roles.
And yeah, for the box office pundits- Tahaan actually “entertains” without any big stars and item songs. It may or may not rule the box office but such films rule the hearts of cinema lovers. And for the same reason I really wish such films should be regularly made and watched. Not everything could be measured in terms of business, some things are done for sheer indulgence. Watching Tahaan is one such beautiful indulgence. Watch It now…
Kudos Sivan Sahab!!!!
My film review can also be read at:
Sarkar Raj: Welcome Back The Good Ol’ Ramu
Sarkar Raj was tremendously hyped as the first film with the Bachchan trio…and believe me it is just that. There are Bachchans in every frame of the film even at the cost of making the story unconvincing but ya there is one goodnews… Ram gopal Verma is BACK…Abhishek bachchan has got another author backed role after GURU but still seems he doesn’t have a third expression (the two you can see in all his films including this one).Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is the CEO of the company that wants to set up the power plant but surprisingly the CEO never takes a decision herself and always look upto the Sarkars for everything. The character is badly written. And Ramu ji please explain why is she present in all the emotional and personal meetings of the Sarkars….the scenes where abhishek’s wife dies and finally abhishek’s death scene, the mother (Supriya Pathak Kapur , completely wasted to accomodate the bachchan trio) is nowhere to be seen but Sarkar saabcry with the CEO sahiba… With such CEOs, no project could ever be completed.
So Sarkar Raj is made with the sole aim to showcase the Bachchans… And only Amitabh Bachchan, expectedly, comes up with a terrific performance. He underplays the role of Sarkar brilliantly. All the villains look like buffoons instead of looking menacing. Only Dilip Prabhawalkar plays his part convincingly. The actor enacting the role of Dilip Prabhawalkar’s grandson is very good.
The film falters at the climax. From a political conspiracy story, it suddenly becomes a revenge drama and this looks abrupt.
RGV is back in his elements after the AAG debacle, but wish he would’ve worked harder on the script. It is nicely shot and the cinematography is excellent. And what is it with the Extreme Close Ups and the done to death monochromatic frames Ramu? We understand such shots create an excellent impact…but excess of anything could be bad. And here the entire film is in extreme close ups which sometimes looks jarring, especially when it shows the wrinkles of Amitabh and also when we have to closely bear with the same deadpan expression of Abhishek Bachchan. When there are no ECUs, there are wide angled shots giving it a ‘ghostly’ look. We are not against the changing of grammar of cinematography, but experimenting should be with proper reasoning.
Though their is no chance of Sarkar Raj ruling the box office, we welcome back the good ol’ Ramu…
My film reviews can be also read at:
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Hello: 2 stars out of five.
Three years back a novel called "One night @ the call centre" recorded phenomenal sale and perhaps re-wrote the success mantra in Indian English Fiction market. Its author, Chetan Bhagat, never boasted of producing a great piece of literature, but his believable characters, free flowing language and a raw sense of humor sustained it at the bestseller shelves for almost a year. 'Hello' is the screen adaptation of this bestselling novel. 'Hello' has everything going for it- a very good storyline, good actors and of course the pairing of Salman Khan & Katrina Kaif... Yet something is missing !!!
'Hello' is the story of six characters working in a call centre. Everything is going wrong in the lives of these 6 characters…relationships going awry, dreams shattering and insecurity is looming large. Sharman Joshi loves Gul Panag but circumstances separate them. Their love story forms the core of 'Hello.' Then there is Sohail Khan as the overexcited dude Vroom whose favorite pastime is mouthing US-bashing dialogues. Amrita Arora and Isha Koppikar also keep on popping up at regular intervals. The eldest in the group is Sharad Saxena, the good-natured 'military uncle'. But once inside the call centre they have to forget all their struggles and become individuals with new identities responding to the 'Hello!!' of callers. But one night a call changes everything…a call from none other than GOD. They say 'Hello!' to this call and things are never the same.
However strange it may sound but the sequence of the conversation with GOD was perhaps the most important and spellbinding sequence in the novel... but in the film it completely falls flat. Since the climax disappoints, the whole impact of 'Hello' is gone.
This is the second film of director Atul Agnihotri after the disastrous Dil Ne Jise Apna Kaha. Though he has improved a lot but he failed to translate the energy of the novel into the scenes.
The only point where the film actually matches the book is the dialogues. Chetan Bhagat introduces his brand of tongue-in-cheek humor and the actors also do complete justice while uttering them.
Sharman Joshi and Sohail Khan are first rate. The underrated actors complement each other very well. Gul Panag is good and so is Sharat Saxena. Amrita Arora and Isha Koppikar had nothing significant to do. Dilip Tahil is completely over the top.
There was absolutely no need of Sajid-Wajid's harsh soundtrack. Every song just ruins the pace of the film.
And ya…there is Salman Khan playing a superstar jumping to a tune that goes like Bang Bang Bang…Boom Boom Boom… and Katrina Kaif playing an angel… Both look completely uninterested in the proceedings.
So watch 'Hello' if you haven't read 'One Night @ The Call Centre', it might be a good time pass. But if you have read and liked the novel, 'Hello' will disappoint you.
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