Movie Review: Madras Cafe

First of all, a standing ovation for John Abraham. No, he has not matured as an actor over night. In my personal opinion, it is too much to expect from him even at this stage in his career. At this point of time, John Abraham has become a sensible producer who is willing to invest on a well written script, believing there are audience out there who will put money to see a well made movie devoid of melodrama. which makes them pause and think. Moreover, we are all aware about the strong arm techniques before the release of this movie. John, as one of the producers, didn't back down under pressure. At the end of the movie, Major Vikram Singh, the character played by John Abraham, says which is in fact a fitting reply to all the detractors. The message sums up as follows. A revolutionary for some is a terrorist for others...whatever be it, I lost my prime minister.

Then you should applaud the real heroes of the movie, the director Shoojit Sircar and the writers, Somnath Dey, Shubendu Bhattacharya and Juhi Chaturvedi. Shoojit Sircar had earlier directed the immensely likeable comedy Vicky Donor last year. From comedy, this is a giant leap. Moreover, thrillers are a genre which has never been effectively explored in Hindi movies. With this movie, Shoojit not only proves he can handle movie with varying canvases but also effortlessly switch genres. While doing so, he also give Hindi movies a thriller which all of us can be proud of. The perfect recipe for a thriller is weaving a story, inspired by newspaper articles and imagination. This is where the writers comes into play. They have focused on the Sri Lankan civil war, Indian intervention and subsequent assassination of a former prime minister. The names of people and organization are different. To that matter, even the shoes worn by the former prime minister is different. But veils are so thin that you can easily figure out who and what is being referred to.

Through an efficient use of background music, photography, editing and locations, Shoojit Sircar and his team glues us to our seats eagerly waiting for the next scene. Although the director and his team has not used real locations, they have found suitable locations elsewhere in the world. The pathos and the wastefulness of the war driven areas are poignantly captured using black and white still photography. I am not sure if there are real war photographs or not. But it is impossible for us to be detached while seeing those on the screen. The first half of the movie is the build up to the conspiracy and the second half is the conspiracy. Despite knowing the outcome, we are still hooked to the proceedings mainly because of the impotency we feel. To assassinate a political figure is no ordinary matter. This means the conspiracy takes part in different part of the world. The director, the producer and the writers do not compromise in shifting locations across different parts of the world. This is one movie which may not be shot in multiple locations but the story constantly shifts between Jaffna and other parts of Sri Lanka, New Delhi, Cochin, Chennai(or was it Madras then?) and coastal Tamil Nadu, Singapore, Bangkok and London. You better be attentive while watching the movie.

The movie unfolds as a voice over of Major Vikram Singh narrating the events from a few years before the assassination. This in fact works for John Abraham. He isn't bad in this movie as an actor. At the same time, he isn't great either. The voice over mostly helps in covering up his act. As for the performances, there are two people who stands out. Siddharth Basu surprises us with his no-nonsense portrayal of RAW chief Robin Dutt. Be it advising the superior about "the island" or inspring Vikram to forget the tragedy in his life, he is the RAW chief we would love to see and hope to have. Check out how he effortlessly cuts an apple for Vikram while discussing the political situation when the latter is recovering in the safe house. The feather in his crown is the scene when he tries hard to control his feelings while telling his wife he tried everything to save the ex-PM. That is the good guy. To balance the good guy, we need a bad guy. That is Bala played by Prakash Belawadi. Heading the operations in Sri Lanka and opposing Vikram in many ways, Prakash's Bala spits venom with his dialogue delivery and mannerisms. The way he accuses Vikram of going behind his back and also gets angry at his wife in Malayalam are the two scenes which Prakash Belawadi displays his calibre.

I am not an expert on current affairs. But I know a great deal about good cinema. This is definitely one. And you know what my recommendation is. Don't wait for the DVD. Go see it today itself on the big screen.

Language: Hindi

Genre: Thriller

Rating: ****

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Movie Review: Memories

A man is kidnapped, tortured, killed and then hung in a public place. The cops arrest an young man who confesses as the perpetrator. Before long, another murder takes place in the same manner. One of the top cop then asks Sam Alex(Prithviraj) to aid the investigation. But there is a problem. After a personal tragedy, Sam has taken to the bottle and doesn't want to come back into the police force. How Sam changes this decision, comes back to battle his personal demons and finally nail the culprit forms the rest of the story.

Scripted and directed by Jeethu Joseph, this film also marks the director's return to the genre he debuted as a director. I personally like Jeethu Joseph as he is only 4 films old and he has already experimented in 3 genres. The second reason is the pace set of his movies. He is never in a hurry to tell a story. He wants to make sure the audience is with him and do not want to confuse them, giving them enough time to catch up with him. You can see this while Sam Alex deciphers a crime scene or while Sam is arriving at a conclusion based on his deduction. When everyone finally find out the identity of the killer, the first thing Sam tries to do is match the killer's missing dates with that of the dates of the murder. The director is not ready make his characters jump into conclusion without proper reasoning. Despite a pace which is unhurried, the director successfully keeps us hooked to our seats with his style of storytelling.

You can treat the movie as a murder mystery. You can also treat the movie as a one man's attempt to take control of his life which is spiraling out of control fast. Many of the scenes have many subtexts which make the viewing more interesting and fun. One of the most evident scene is when Sam picks up the book titled "Holy Bible, the solutions to all your problems" when the investigation team is blocked by the password screen on a computer. The script is written in a rhyming fashion. The movie starts in a shootout and ends also with a shootout. In the final scene, Sam has a hostage situation in hand. Earlier in the movie, he has failed miserably in such a situation. The script writing is heavily inspired by Hollywood style of writing. But Jeethu Joseph infuses drama very intelligently especially the final confrontation with the killer.  Also, the background music has been used very effectively. When Sam is about to deduce something critical from the surroundings, the background score reaches a crescendo.

The film is not entirely devoid of drawbacks. Luckily the positives outweigh these drawbacks. One of the drawbacks is the long tracking shots implemented with the help of VFX. Sometimes the camera tracks a moving vehicle from a distance. In one shot, the camera pulls back from the conversation and goes through many places which includes buildings, forests, roads to finally end up in a roadside cart where the next scene starts. The VFX is evident thereby rendering the scene very cheesy. The other point is the interval between the murders. The murders happen between a span of many months. This does not come very evident while watching except during a conversation towards the second half of the movie.

Prithviraj excels in the role of a cop who has lost the interest to live taking refuge in the bottle. As an star, he has taken care of his physique keeping it in shape in the recent years. This also poses the biggest challenge for him. It is impossible to hide a good physique. How Prithviraj and Jeethu Joseph finally manages it is by clothing the lead actor in shirts which a size or two too big for him. This conceals the physique to a certain extent. Then Prithviraj transforms himself into a drunkard. I am not only talking about the stubble, puffed up cheeks and watery eyes. The way he crouches, the way he walks, the slow reactions. All these add up on the screen to give us a drunken cop who still has not lost his touch. Some of the scenes are played brilliantly especially the sarcasm while mentioning "common sense" as the source of deduction and also how he casually shakes the flask to mix the alcohol with the soda while interrogating the shopkeeper.

This is a good thriller. The investigation does not start immediately. There are emotional blackmails necessary to make Sam accept the case. But even with the heavy duty drama, this is an engaging thriller. If you have not seen it yet, go get a ticket as films like these needs our encouragement.

Language: Malayalam

Genre: Thriller

Rating: ****

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Movie Review: R.I.P.D

This is the screen adaptation of the comic book of the same name by Peter M. Lenkov. If you are have no clue about the comic book, then this is about a department of police officials. The difference between R.I.P.D and any P.D in the world is that the former comprises of dead police men. After their death, they are inducted into R.I.P.D to apprehend the dead people who have escaped judgement and wandering on earth. Normal people cannot distinguish these aimless souls and hence it is up to R.I.P.D to capture them in order to transport these "deado"s to next life.

Did I pique your interest? If the answer to the question is yes, then let me assure you I had the same enthusiasm while reading the premise. Unfortunately, the director Robert Schwentke wastes a good opportunity of making a watchable action movie. If you are not familiar with Robert Schwentke, he is the same person who gave us R.E.D a couple of years. He seems to have a penchant for adapting comic books which has acronyms as the name. So we have R.E.D, R.I.P.D etc. Unlike the previous movie, he doesn't have an ensemble cast. But he is consistent in rendering an interesting premise into a boring movie.

Detective Nick Walker(Ryan Reynolds) is killed by his partner Bobby Hayes(Kevin Bacon) when the former decides to walk away from making easy money by stealing the unexpected gold unearthed as part of a drug bust. In between the journey from earth to afterlife, Nick is grabbed by Mildred Proctor(Mary-Louise Parker) in order to recruit him for R.I.P.D. Nick is also assigned a new partner Roy Pulsipher(Jeff Bridges) who was a US Marshal in the Wild West era.

One thing for sure, Ryan Reynolds needs to spend more time in choosing scripts. None of his comic book adaptation has turned out to be a watchable fare. If you have any doubts, think Green Lantern. What is Jeff Bridges doing in this movie? If you examine his character, it is an extension of Rooster Cogburn played in the Coen Brothers' adaptation of True Grit. But this alone cannot make the movie enjoyable. The odd couple theme of Nick and Roy falls apart because it is a rehash of cliches we have seen many times before.

The interesting part of Nick and Roy is normal living people see them as different people on earth. So Nick appears as an old Chinese man(James Hong) and Roy as a beautiful Russian blonde(Marisa Miller) to normal eyes. This is interesting but the treatment of this angle leaves a lot to be desired thereby taking all the humor that could have been associated with it.

Moreover, this movie is in 3D. Why? I am still asking myself. Stay away from this. This is not even worth sleeping through. I advice to spend your time wisely

Language: English

Genre: Action

Rating: *

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Movie Review: The Wolverine

I am not a comics fan. When X-Men was released in 2000, I stayed away from the movie. Later, I was hooked to the series after watching the excerpts on a long flight. The movie is about a group of misfits and teamwork. X-men are talented but it only makes sense when they are all working together. Among the X-men, Wolverine/Logan is the person who stands out because he hates teamwork. He can easily survive alone. With the unique talent of longevity that comes with self healing power, he has been doing that for centuries. So it is no surprise when the maker decide to create a spin-off from the X-men series featuring only the moody loner, Wolverine/Logan.

The role of Wolverine/Logan has been safe with Hugh Jackman for over a decade now. It is not only the physique but also the intensity brought into the role that has made us love Hugh Jackman's Wolverine/Logan. But the first outing, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, introducing the spin off was a letdown. Although it featured a lot of action scenes, it failed to connect emotionally. I thought the series was dead after the fiasco. When you are talking about Wolverine, all sins are pardoned when the next trailer is launched. Luckily, they have changed the director in the second outing.

This time, James Mangold is at the helm as the director. With him on-board, I hoped he would combine drama and action in this series just like how he did it in the remake of 3:10 to Yuma. Unfortunately for us, James Mangold infuses a lot of drama but fails in the action department. The movie starts off at an unspecified time after X-Men: The Last Stand has ended. At this point of time, Logan is a disillusioned warrior longing for Jean Grey(Famke Janssen). When the immortality has driven Logan into a recluse, Yoshida beckons him to Japan to bid farewell. Upon reaching Japan, Logan has to protect Mariko(Tao Okamonto) from Yakuza and Viper with the help of Yukio(Rila Fukushima). 

To watch Logan struggle with his demons is interesting. It makes the character more human. In the end, a lot of fleeting appearances of Jean Grey at many places in the movie spoils the experience. When the director and the script writers focuses on Logan's struggle, they spend less efforts on bringing a strong villain to movie thereby forgetting the series is also about action. By moving the setting to Japan, it provides an opportunity to match Logan's adamantium claws with samurai swords. The only action sequence that stands out is the fight on top of the bullet train. The first action sequence during the funeral is also good. But the shaky camera and the 3D works against it. This movie would have been far more enjoyable if the makers had used the traditional approach.

The most exciting part of the movie is the post credits. Luckily you don't have to wait an eternity for this portion to come. This is when Professor X(Patrick Stewart) and Magento(Ian McKellen) shows up to set the stage for the next one. I advice you to skip this one and wait for the next instalment. The man who started it all, Bryan Singer, is back as the director. Moreover, the cast is a mix of the oldies (featuring some of Bryan's initial cast and Matthew Vaughn's cast from X Men: First Class. The next installment is worth waiting for.

Language: English

Genre: Action

Rating: **

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Movie Review: D-Day

When diplomacy and international boundaries are the roadblocks, the head of the spy agency in India gives a last shot at apprehending the criminal by going ahead with a covert operation. Nikhil Advani, heavily inspired from theme which is featured many times before in Hollywood movies, attempts to transplant the scenario to the current socio-political context of India. If you are familiar with the works of Nikhil Advani, then you also know the director has left his comfort zone to attempt an entirely different genre. Nikhil's strong point is melodrama. This strong point appears at several places in this movie too but not in a positive way. In the end, the movie turns out to be a watchable fare because of the screenplay, the way in which the movie is shot, editing and some of the actors.

The screenplay by Nikhil Advani, Suresh Nair and Nikhil Vyas(the last two of Kahaani fame) is non-linear. The movie without wasting time puts us right in the middle of action in the first few minutes. The protagonists Wali Khan(Irrfan Khan), Rudra(Arjun Rampal), Zoya Rehman(Huma Qureshi) and Aslam(Aakash Daahiya) tries to nab an unsuspecting Goldman(Rishi Kapoor) after ambushing his convoy in the parking lot of the hotel where Goldman has arrived to take part in the pre-wedding party of his son. That is when the action is abruptly halted on the screen for the director and his screenplay pals to tell us how this operation was planned. This is a technique you see through out the movie. The trio shows us a scene and then take us through the chain of events that led to the scene. This can be at times confusing. But this is also a good way of laying out the movie to keep the viewer hooked to the proceedings. Most of us walk into movie with certain preconceived notions.This technique helps in shaking us out of it. To make the viewers feel they are in the midst of action, the cinematographer has used the shaky camera technique. This adds to the thrill.

It is a doomed operation. The plans do not work and the four operatives are abandoned by their country. To make matters worse, Goldman and the Pakisthani officials are on the lookout for these four operatives while Ashwini Rao(Nassar) who authorized this covert operation tries to get these operatives back to India. The role of Ashwini brings out the bureaucratic and political idiosyncracies. This forms the second half of the movie where Nikhil Advani decides to concentrate on the emotional turmoils of each operatives. This slows the second half especially Rudra's angle. This is a totally unnecessary backstory. Little is said about Aslam. They could have done the same about Rudra to make him more mysterious to the viewer. The whole movie is about suspension of disbelief. Telling nothing about Rudra would not have made us stretch this ability of ours more than what we have done already. Wali's backstory is essential for the plot while Zoya's is amusing which shows the difficulty of balancing work(especially espionage) and life. The second half could have been racier if Nikhil Advani had played the role of a ruthless editor to chop off the songs and also Rudra's love for the prostitute played by Shruti Haasan. Luckily for us, the director returns back to main theme after being lost for a few minutes.

Performance wise, the movie belongs to Irrfan Khan, Rishi Kapoor and Nassar. Irrfan's character, Wali, is complex to portray. He has been undercover for almost a decade for nabbing Goldman. He is also the man who convinces Ashwini to take up this mission but eventually is imbalanced by the fate of his family. At the end, he becomes a broken man unable to decide where his loyalties lie. The role is safe with Irrfan. Rishi Kapoor shows the various faces of Goldman very well. Goldman rarely becomes angry and when he becomes angry, you better stay out of the way. Otherwise he is always reasoning it out with everyone, even with his captors. These are the scenes which is enjoyable to watch because we know Goldman is playing with his captor's mind. Nassar is a surprising choice for the role. Hindi movies are not his forte although Nassar has effectively portrayed similar roles in Tamil movies. Nassar brings out the patriotic nature and the determination of Ashwini very well. Luckily, the director has allowed Nassar to dub in his voice thereby not diluting his performance despite having a pronounced South Indian accent.

There is a lot of blood and mutilation in the movie. So it should be out of bounds for kids. The movie is good attempt in making a thriller while heavily borrowing from Hollywood. There is a good amount of planning done on the project to customize it for our palette and also for how to tell a story. This is the best part of the movie. You may choose this movie if you have nothing else to watch in the multiplex.

Language: Hindi

Genre: Thriller

Rating: **

Tags: Movies,Irrfan Khan,Arjun Rampal,Rishi Kapoor,Nikhil Advani,Thriller

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Movie Review: Bhaag Milkha Bhaag

At the end of the movie, Milkha Singh(Farhan Akhtar) overcomes the demons in his life and participates in a race in a land where he lost most of his family. The climax has poetic justice written all over it. To be fair, the final race is thrilling too. Unfortunately, the thrilling climax comes at a point where the movie has already tested the patience of the audience. After telling a story about ordinary yet colorful life in Delhi-6, Rakesh Omprakash Mehra chooses to narrate the story of the Flying Sikh, Milkha Singh, on the screen. There is a "inspired by a true life" declaration at the end of the movie. This is to caution the viewers not to believe all what is seen on the screen. Even though the basic premise is inspired from the life of Milkha Singh, there is a lot of elements added or changed for entertainment.

The movie starts with Milkha Singh's losing out an opportunity to win the gold medal in the 1960 Olympics. After his return, an entourage sent by the Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, comprising of Coach Gurudev Singh(Pawan Malhotra) and Coach Ranveer Singh(Yograj Singh), pays a visit to Milkha Singh in order to persuade him to participate in the friendly races organized with the neighboring country. The story of Milkha Singh is slowly revealed in the train journey of this entourage from Delhi to Chandigarh. This is how Prasoon Joshi sets his screenplay. This is a good technique to hook the audience. Like a real conversation, the narrative meanders into many things except the answer to the question that started the conversation. Why is Milkha not willing to participate in the friendly races? We all have been part of the conversations where we have veered away from the topic. This is pardonable. Now if you add unnecessary footage, slow motion and jarring background to the above problem, the end result is horribly slow and unpardonable.

The triumph of the movie lies in a few performances and the action sequences (read it as running race). Farhan Akhtar, Pawan Malhotra and Yograj Singh, after a bad start, infuses life into this movie. Farhan Akhtar has built on his physique and appearance for the role. If you look at the old photos of Milkha Singh, you can see the resemblance. Farhan, being a good actor, easily slips into the role. Anyways, this is not a complex role to play but a physically demanding role to play. This is where Farhan succeeds. Pawan Malhotra is Gurudev Singh who is Milkha's first coach. Thank god! Pawan Malhotra makes sure the role does not degrade into the regular Punjabi speaking sidekick we often find onscreen. Pawan shows his calibre in the scenes where he pushes Milkha Singh to deliver the best or the move into the next phase of his racing life. Yograj Singh represents strength and stability. The role doesn't demand much except screen presence. This is what he brings to the table. He is gentle yet tough and can train an athlete.

The action sequences are beautifully executed. Being the story of an athlete, the movie has a lot of races. Although the races end up exasperating the viewer after a while, the race itself is an exciting piece to watch. In order to keep us glued to the seat, Rakesh Omprakash Mehra and cinematographer Binod Pradhan chooses many interesting compositions and angles. Moreover, the runners are real runners. You can feel their pain while running. Be it the way the runners breath during the race, the way their bodies are arched forward, the way their legs move, the way the muscles in the body ripple... You are in the middle of the race, closer than what is featured in the news channels.

There are many things which Rakesh Omprakash Mehra goes wrong. The tone used for the movie is dark. For a movie which deals in the triumph of the human spirit, this is the wrong tone. Being a movie set in 1950s, there is a big challenge on the locales used. Here, a lot of CGI is used. The CGI may be subtle but the entire frame looks unnatural. The movie tries to cover a lot of events which mars the pace of the movie eventually. A running time of 189 minutes is an eternity when the scenes are dragged for no reason with multiple angles, slow motions and music.

It is ironic when the movie inspired by the life of the Flying Sikh turns out to be very slow. Although this is a brave attempt, the end result is not a focused one. I advice you to stay away. Give it a try if the makers a ready to trim the length.

Language: Hindi

Genre: Drama

Rating: **

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Movie Review: Furious 6

I know it is the latest installment of The Fast and The Furious. But I am not sure what is the name of the movie. Is it Fast 6 or Furious 6? I remember seeing Furious 6 when the credits came out at the end. What is in a name? With the 5th installment Fast 5, the series had undergone a major revamp. Now, this is not only about spectacular car chases but a bunch of action heroes thrashing everything that comes in their way. On top of it, the location of action changes. The last outing was set in Brazil. This time, the location moves to Britain and then Spain.

When the movie starts, Dominic Toretto(Vin Diesel) is forced to bring back him team consisting of Brian O'Conner(Paul Walker), Roman Pearce(Tyrese Gibson), Tej Parker(Ludacris), Han Seoul-Oh(Sung Kang) and Gisele(Gal Gadot). Letty Ortiz(Michelle Rodriguez), Dominic's former girlfriend, turns up alive and is working for a former SAS agent turned mercenary Owen Shaw(Luke Evans). They have been creating trouble for Luke Hobbs(Dwayne Johnson). So Hobbs decides to turn to his previous foe who had temporarily helped in during Fast 5. As you can see, it is about family this time. Thankfully for us, the characters don't waste time to cry about the familial ties and virtues of big joint family. Instead they start to do what they are good at. Start chasing the bad guys in mean machines and engage in hand-to-hand combats.

The movie is directed by Justin Lin. This also marks the fourth collaboration for the director with respect to this series. In Fast 5, Justin Lin showed remarkable maturity in handling an action movie. The term maturity might sound silly while talking about an action movie. For an action movie, the director should be able to make us forget the silly or even non-existent plot line with stunt sequences that involves a good amount of suspension of disbelief. In this area, Justin Lin excels. In order to show the prowess of his bulky leading men, he pits them against a bulky villain. The final sequence when both of them literally join to thrash the villain is fun to watch. That is exactly what we look forward in an action movie. It is not only the men, the women also are thrashing each other! You can find Gina Carano and Michelle Rodrigeuz punching and clawing each other! There are car chases, the one on the freeway in Spain is noteworthy even though the ending of the chase makes you guffaw. The final sequence when they take down the aircraft is also a pleasure to watch. To hell with logic. We just want to watch some explosions!

I never look for performances while watching an action movie. It is not worth it. The performance matters when the genre is thriller. When you have a cast like this, there are some men who has to look menacing and the others  are there for comic relief. You get all of this. Unfortunately, the girls take a back stage because they are less in number. The Bristish actor Luke Evans is a formidable foe for the protagonists. He is able to match up to the huge star cast primarily with his performance. He is the only one standing out if you are analyzing the performances.

Go for it. You will like the stunts even though you might not always believe what is unfolding on the screen. If you think this is the end of the series, guess who turns up in a cameo just before the credits roll. Hold you breath. It is Jason Statham! Are you now looking forward to the next in the series? To be truthful, I am.

Language: English

Genre: Action

Rating: ***

For trailer, click here.

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