India Masala

Bollywood drama – off screen and in parliament

You cannot escape Bollywood and the drama that comes with it, not even in the hallowed environs of the Rajya Sabha.

On Monday, as actress Rekha, the newest member of the upper house of India’s parliament took oath, the focus — at least that of the cameras, was on another, older member. Rekha’s short swearing-in ceremony was interspersed with several shots of a very grim-looking Jaya Bachchan.

Anyone watching the five-minute swearing-in ceremony, would have been forgiven for thinking they were watching a Bollywood awards ceremony, where the camera pans to a Shahid Kapur when a Kareena Kapoor is dancing or a Ranbir Kapoor when Deepika Padukone is performing.

It seems Jaya Bachchan hasn’t taken too kindly to that camerawork, complaining to Rajya Sabha chairman and Vice-President Hamid Ansari about the attempt to “sensationalise” news.

Given the amount of Bollywood gossip over the decades, it would seem natural that cameras would go into overdrive if the two women were in the same room. But what if that room is not just any room, but the upper house of parliament? Does that rule still hold? Can Rajya Sabha TV function like any other television channel?

Whatever the case, it seems like this week has been one of dipping into the past for our parliamentarians. Whether it is a decades-old cartoon, or a decades-old incident, we seem to be happier reliving the past.

LIVE Movie Chat: “Department”

Dangerous Ishhq: Death is not the end

“What is my soul trying to tell me?” Karisma Kapoor asks a character in ‘Dangerous Ishhq’. It’s a serious moment in the film, one that is expected to lead to a major plot point, but all you can do is try hard not to burst out laughing.

All the characters in Vikram Bhatt’s latest 3D project are trying so hard to “act” in a film that has inane dialogue, a ridiculous storyline and absolutely no honesty at heart — that their acting rings hollow.

Karisma Kapoor, in her comeback film, plays one of her most lacklustre characters, that of supermodel Sanjana who gives up a flourishing career (in Paris, no less) so that she can be with her boyfriend Rohan (Rajniesh Duggall), the son of a rich industrialist. When unknown men kidnap Rohan, Sanjana starts “seeing” incidents from her past lives (three of them), giving her clues to Rohan’s whereabouts.

With the help of police officer ACP Singh (played by Jimmy Shergill), she helps track down her fiancé, firm in the belief that events from past lives are still relevant. “Dangerous Ishhq” harks back to the tried and tested Bollywood formula of rebirth and reincarnation, but Bhatt attempts to give it a slick look with 3D.

Unfortunately, the film has so many plot holes the entire effort falls flat. Characters routinely mouth dialogue that is unintentionally hilarious. Try as you might, it’s hard to take this kind of stuff seriously.

Karisma Kapoor, returning to the big screen after several years, looks botoxed and obsessed with her high heels and make-up. Her diction in scenes requiring Urdu and Rajasthani is so laboured, you wish she’d give it up and break into English instead. Duggall, on the other hand, doesn’t do much except give pained looks from time to time. The chemistry between the two of them, so important for romance movies, is non-existent.

This is one of those movies that’s so bad it’s good. Gather a bunch of friends and laugh your heart out. If you are looking for a serious movie-watching experience, stay far away.

Jannat 2: This sequel is not paradise regained

In the first ten minutes of Kunal Deshmukh’s second instalment of the “Jannat” series, the director sets up his principal characters, establishes a romance angle and even adds a song for good measure. He also manages to inject no originality or freshness in any of these facets of the film, with the result that “Jannat 2” never really takes off, maintaining a staid pace throughout its two-and-half-hour duration.

Deshmukh borrows nothing from the original “Jannat”, except for his lead hero and the vague notion of a protagonist who seeks heaven on earth — mostly in the arms of a coy lady.

Emraan Hashmi plays Sonu, a smart-talking small-time crook, who deals in firearms. When he comes across a angst-ridden cop (Randeep Hooda) who urges him to turn into a police informer, Sonu agrees, hoping it’ll keep him out of trouble with the police.

When Sonu falls in love and decides to get married to a coy doctor named Jhanvi (newcomer Esha Gupta), he doesn’t realise his past will come back to haunt him.

Deshmukh keeps his story pretty straight and simple — sometimes overly so. The gun trade, Hooda’s anger and his desire for revenge are explained away rather superficially.

The dialogue is sprinkled liberally with lots of swear words that seem to have been added just for the shock effect — they lend absolutely nothing to the film otherwise. Deshmukh sticks to the Bhatt formula — lots of skin show, provocative dialogue and Emraan Hashmi.

Unfortunately, the whole film has the distinct look of a college play — and Deshmukh’s amateurish direction comes across rather glaringly. The film is too long and none of the lead actors manage to inject any energy in their roles. Hooda, especially, is too over-the-top to be believable.

Fatso: Insipid slice of modern life

The modern Indian youth has it easy. Very easy. They party, they romance, and they make marriage plans without ever having to worry about their careers and how they would pay their bills. Or at least this is the version Bollywood has been trying to shove down our throats since “Dil Chahta Hai“.

Rajat Kapoor’s “Fatso” is no different. Nandini (Gul Panag) and Naveen (Purab Kohli) are an urban, handsome, young couple. They are also very modern. Their modernity is depicted through public displays of affection, sex before marriage and English dialogue.

They party, wear fashionable clothes and eat out at chic restaurants. But somehow, they never have to worry about money. For them, life is one smooth, work-less ride.

It’s also a very boring one — a word that more or less sums up the entire movie.

But our perfect couple’s relationship does hit a speed bump, when the carefree and athletic Naveen is killed in a road accident just before his marriage to Nandini. Unfortunately, authorities in the limbo between life and after-life have goofed up. It was not Naveen, but his best buddy, ‘fatso’ Sudeep (Ranvir Shorey) who was supposed to die in the crash. Naveen, whose body has already been cremated, is given a chance to return to earth via Sudeep’s body, so he can sort his love life.

The on-screen couple’s chemistry is as smouldering as a doorknob and the dialogues, especially the ones in English, are stilted. The story, which seems loosely inspired from the American TV series “Drop Dead Diva“, is insipid and unfocussed.

Gul Panag’s expression remains unchanged through joy or sorrow, and Kohli is cute but fails to gain the audience’s empathy. Shorey is the only saving grace in this flat, unexciting project. He effortlessly portrays the awkward, self-effacing ‘fatso’ — but the movie doesn’t really dwell on his obesity or its embarrassing implications, making the audience wonder why the film is named so.

from India Insight:

No ‘Dirty Pictures’ please, we are Indian

Indians woke up on Sunday to front page newspaper ads announcing the TV premiere of “The Dirty Picture”, a National-award winning film that was both critically acclaimed and successful at the box-office.

The film, based on the life of soft porn star Silk Smitha, was one of the most popular Bollywood movies of 2011, and its success catapulted lead actress Vidya Balan into the big league.

It was a glaring example of how Indian audiences, torn between traditional values and rapidly Westernising cities, have come to accept films with bolder themes.

For those who hadn’t watched the film in cinemas, this was a chance to see what the hype was all about. Sony Entertainment, the TV channel, launched a high-octane publicity campaign for Sunday’s telecast.

But noon came and went and there was no “Dirty Picture” in sight. Instead the channel ran a ticker, apologising for not being able to show the movie. As it turned out, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting deemed it unsuitable for family viewing, asking the channel late on Saturday night to air the film only after 11 p.m.

This after the censor board asked the film’s producers to make 59 cuts in the film to make it suitable for television viewing. Bollywood was furious, as were the producers of the film.

“It is sad that even after a valid U/A certificate from the CBFC and all the cuts being in place, the channel was directed to telecast the film at 11 p.m.,” Tanuj Garg, CEO of Balaji Motion Pictures, which produced the film, told Reuters. “We have not seen this happen to any other film”.

Agent Vinod: The spy who disappointed me

Perhaps the most surreal moment in Sriram Raghavan‘s “Agent Vinod” is during a shootout at a seedy hotel in Latvia, when there’s a horde of gangsters chasing the protagonists.

Instead of filming the scene like a regular action sequence, with lots of gunfire, smoke and action, Raghavan turns it on its head — filming the scene almost entirely in slow motion and to the tune of the “Rabta” song.

It’s one of the inspired moments that take “Agent Vinod” to another level altogether — only to have it come crashing down a few scenes later when we are subjected to a long, emotional and implausible monologue about how India and Pakistan must come together to fight terror. And that remains the tenor of the film throughout — the flashes of brilliance don’t add up to a great film.

Raghavan’s protagonist is Agent Vinod, an Indian intelligence officer, played by Saif Ali Khan. We are introduced to him in a fast-paced sequence in the arid Pakistani desert, where he escapes from the clutches of a battalion of guards with panache. Raghavan gets you hooked immediately, and the first half is a jumble of names, characters, random numbers but nothing is what it seems.

But it’s all too good to last. The second half drags on interminably, defeating the very purpose of a spy thriller and by the time the credits roll, you are just glad it’s over. The intentions of the characters seem a bit too simplistic, and even his protagonists don’t seem to appear as interesting as they did in the first half.

The film makes the classic mistake of trying to spell out everything to the audience, underestimating their intelligence and weighing the film down. Raghavan succumbs to a lot of stereotypes, and simplifies a lot of situations — and no amount of style can make up for that.

There are, of course, some moments that make the film worth watching, like the shootout scene I mentioned earlier, and some of the dialogue is brilliant, playing on many day-to-day phrases we all use. Saif Ali Khan pulls off the suave spy act very well, and Kareena Kapoor is, as always, excellent.

Kahaani: Vidya’s latest is a taut thriller

If you go by the Bollywood formula, Sujoy Ghosh’s “Kahaani” doesn’t tick any of the boxes. It’s a thriller — a genre Bollywood usually stays away from; it’s got a female lead, hardly any songs and no distractions in the form of a comedy/romance track.

It does tick one crucial box though — it’s a well-made film, with some great characters and powerful acting, and if you are willing to ignore some plot holes and go with the flow, this is a very satisfying watch.

Vidya Balan plays Vidya Bagchi, a pregnant software engineer from London who comes to Kolkata in search of her missing husband. She discovers very quickly that no one seems to know where he is, and there are no records to show he even came to the city. Determined not to give up, she enlists the help of a young police officer, Rana (Parambrata Chattopadhyay), scouring the narrow lanes and crowded markets of Kolkata in the hope she can find some trace of the elusive Arnab Bagchi.

The deeper she digs, the more things get complicated, and it’s obvious that writers Ghosh and Advaita Kala couldn’t quite keep up. While the first half is gripping (the point when the film breaks for interval is nerve-wracking), “Kahaani” loses some steam in the second half.

There are some glaring plot holes, and the reasons for many of the protagonist’s actions seem blurred. This is not one of those movies you try to make sense of later, because it’ll just get more muddled in your head.

That aside, there is much to enjoy in “Kahaani”. The city of  Kolkata is frenzied, colourful and chaotic and Setu’s camera captures that quality perfectly. Ghosh obviously knows and loves this city, and opts to capture it during the Durga Puja celebrations — a time which is both festive and frenzied — lending to the tone of the film very well.

Ghosh also makes some great casting choices — much of the cast, except for Vidya Balan and Nawazuddin Shaikh (who plays an Intelligence Bureau agent) are from Kolkata. Parambrata Chattopadhyay, who plays Rana, is endearing and the perfect foil for Balan. Shaikh, as a hard-nosed IB agent is perfectly cast, as is Saswat Chatterjee, a contract killer whose day job is that of a bumbling insurance agent.

from India Insight:

Bollywood stars kick up a fuss with real-life rumpus

Pow! Biff! Bang! Dishoom! Real life action by Bollywood celebrities has caught the nation’s eyeballs. Shah Rukh Khan was accused of roughing up Shirish Kunder some days ago and made ripples as he brought the media’s gaze from corruption scams and the election circus to the one thing that never fails to draw attention -- a spicy brawl.

Now, Saif Ali Khan diverts attention from Vijay Mallya’s king-size woes for beating up a certain businessman in Mumbai’s Taj hotel. Saif was booked for assault, arrested and later bailed -- insisting that he was only defending himself.

Salman Khan has lost his temper on many occasions, and so have many others from Bollywood. Shah Rukh and Salman engaged in a verbal duel some years ago, and it would have ended ugly had Shah Rukh’s wife Gauri and Salman’s then girlfriend Katrina Kaif not intervened.

The latest incident comes a month before Saif Ali Khan’s spy thriller “Agent Vinod” is set to release. Therefore, we are pushed to wonder -- publicity or aggression? Or could these public spats be attributed to a heady mix of fame, power and alcohol?

It is acceptable in a movie for the hero to rough up the bad guys. The audience savours the good guy's vengeance. But these men are not superheroes in their real-life avatars, and are bound by the law. Justice will take its course, but in the mean time, the nation’s politicians should be grateful their real-life foibles are pushed down the front page.

Ekk Deewana Tha: Never-ending nonsense

Sometimes even the worst films can redeem themselves with a moment of lucidity. Just as you are struggling to make sense of Gautham Menon’s “Ekk Deewana Tha“, the heroine — in a fit of emotion — tells the hero “there is nothing here, no chemistry or anything at all. Nothing”. And just like that, she hits the nail on the head.

This almost three-hour romance is the cinematic equivalent of listening to someone scratching their nails on a blackboard. You want to pull your hair out and tell them to stop it already. Unfortunately, Menon seems to be in no mood to listen. Just when you think it’s all over, it goes on for a little bit more.

A remake of Menon’s 2010 Tamil hit “Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa“, the film tells the story of Sachin (Prateik) an aspiring film-maker who falls for his upstairs neighbour Jessie (Amy Jackson) at first sight. But Jessie is loath to return his affections, telling Sachin her conservative Christian family in Kerala wouldn’t take kindly to her falling in love with a Hindu boy.

Sachin doesn’t give up, following her all the way to her native village in Kerala, to convince her of his love. When Jessie tells him she is getting married, it seems like all is over for the couple.

Menon attempts to build a fresh, teenybopper romance, with the 80s theme of external circumstances like religion and age standing in the way of star-crossed lovers. While the idea itself isn’t new, the film could have worked with the right casting and script. But as you might have guessed by now, it has neither.

Scenes are disjointed, the film is edited haphazardly and the dialogue unintentionally funny. As for the film’s soundtrack, a couple of songs such as ‘Hosanna’ are easy on the ears but fans would expect much more from the Oscar-winning A.R. Rahman.

Adding to the mediocrity are the film’s leads — Amy Jackson looks like a rabbit caught in the headlights; scared out of her wits and doesn’t know where to look. Even in the most emotional of scenes, you don’t feel for her character. For that matter, you don’t feel for Prateik’s character either. He needs acting classes and needs them badly — Smita Patil‘s genes don’t seem to be kicking in. Someone needs to tell him that spreading arms wide and jumping in the air doesn’t constitute acting.