Movie Review : Luck

As soon as Luck reached the Interval point, I SMSed my friends this – Interval point in ‘Luck’. So far – terrific. What I had seen till then was a thrilling joy ride. I just loved the way the film unfolds. Natural – yet paced. The actors, the locations, the encounters – all of them were too thrilling.

Scene one grips you. Riveting you in the seat. Its pure thrill. And seeing Sanjay Dutt do it all – is pure fun. From then on, Luck starts to engulf you in a rather simple story about a bunch of characters – each with its own set of problems.

The first half primarily focuses on establishing the character. Yes, it takes too much time to do that, but at no point do you feel bored. The characters - complete with their back story and the character conflict - are established in the first half. However, the way it unfolds is not very descriptive, but still very interesting. The visuals in the first half are dark, yet revealing, at times blurred, yet absorbing. The editing was top-notch and never do you feel that you are losing out. At least in the first half.

But second half is where the film actually falters. Not much, but when compared to what was presented to you in the first half – quite considerably. There are moments when you feel that the action could have been faster. Much faster. Second half at times, looks like a dragged-on episode of Fear Factor. Perhaps the writing is to blame here. Not enough is happening in front of the viewers. There are no sharp turns and the thrill-sequences leave much to be desired. One feels let down by all the drama that was built up to the point. The story had potential that could have been tapped well by the director. Still, the second half has its moments.

The climax is perhaps the biggest let-down. The setup was fantastic, and it could have been the most thundering-roaring climaxes any Indian films had seen in recent years – but again a poor imagination, mediocre writing and below-par execution ruins it all. Again, not exceptionally bad, but based on the expectations build by the first half – leaves much to be desired.

For the most part, I liked the dialogues (Soham Shah). However, would have been much better had he trimmed them down a bit. Let me explain what I mean – in one of the scenes, Imran Khan asks Danny – “Tumhe mere bare me itna kaise pata hai”. And Danny replies – “Stock par paisa lagane se pehle company ki poori information nikal leni chahiye”. Now till now, it sounded good. But Danny’s character goes on to explain – “usi tereh, tum par paisa lagane se pehle maine tumhare bare me sab pata kar liya hai”. Clealry, in the explaining part – the dialogue starts losing its effect. (Please note I am writing the dialogues just from my memory. They were not exactly these – and were much better written )

There is not much to write about the story. To be very honest – the story is not something spectacular. The focus here is more on characters and their conflicts, and later on – on visuals. First half just oozes with fast-paced and thrilling photography. The scenes immerse you within themselves. Not much is left to think about the story actually. And you don’t complain, coz it all looks good and keeps you entertained. The drama that is built up till the interval point is so good that you just want to take in every detail that is presented in front of your eyes. And you expect something extra-ordinarily big in the second half. The scene just before the interval when 15 people play the death-game in a desert is just brilliant. Well shots and beautifully executed. Leaves your expectations sky-high.

Sanjay Dutt is as always – fits in the role to a T. The thing is, he has done so many roles in this structure, that when you start writing a story like this, Sanjay Dutt is the only person who fits the bill. The role here is easily an extension of the ones that he plays in Musafir, Plan etc. I would not use the word stereotype, but Sanjay actually looks the part in such roles. His walk still commands attention.

Danny Denzongpa is easily one of the highlights of the film. The man is raw energy. I cannot deny being in awe of him every time he comes on screen. I wish he could do more roles. He is perfect in the role that demanded to look authoritative, demanding, a father-figure, and mean – all at the same time. When Danny speaks – you just have to listen. The way he delivers his dialogues makes you wonder what could have become of Gabbar Singh, had Danny accepted the role in Sholay?

Mithun Chakraborty is another actor that makes you sigh in admiration every time he does an A-grader. Seriously, why are we not using him enough? Forget other stars, Mithun doing a major role in an A-grade Bollywood project is enough for me to go and watch that film. There were two moments in the film where the audience clapped and whistled – both showing Mithun Chakraborty. He still holds a lot of promise.

Imran Khan was good in a role that required him to do action, emote and show a lot of anger. While the guy can do with a little bit of (more) expression, the way he mouths the dialogues is quite good.

Shruti Haasan is a star right from the word Go. She just shines. She’s got a perfect screen-presence, and and got the right kind of looks to become the dominant download on the Internet (the current queen of downloads is Katrina Kaif). This is not to say that she acts perfectly. Far from it, in fact. Her dialogue delivery needs a lot of improvement. It was quite evident that she was not very comfortable mouthing those lines. But with time, this should ease out. She’s got a beautiful face, and trust me – an ahhh-mazing figure – check out the scene where she is emerging from a swimming pool. I can safely say NONE of the current Bollywood brigade has a figure to match.

Ravi Kishan and Chitrashi Rawat are competent. It was actually good to see Chitrashi Rawat in another role after Chak De India.

On the whole, the film was a nice attempt. The focus was on visuals and not so much on the story. Personally I did not felt let down by the lack of story as much as the lack of a competent screenplay. Had there been enough to savour on screen, I could have easily given this one a higher rating.

The film is good in parts. But definitely worth a watch.

Rating – 3-stars

Chalegi?

I think so. The film has created quite some curosity. Though reviews from foreign-film-fed reveiwres have been not so encouraging, the film conects with the masses on some level. In totality, I liked this one better than New York. This one should emerge successful on the box office.

Movie Review : Gulaal

I went with a lot of expectations for Anuarag Kashyap's Gulaal. And I was not dissapointed. The film is a must watch. The story, right from the first scene, holds your attention. The choice of actors is something I want to pay special attention to. Everyone, fits the role.

Complex characters, with proper, developed backstory. the characters are fleshed out well and are multi-dimensional. I was delighted in the way the film uses the characters to progress the story. Which brings us to another aspect of the film. The story. The story is very well written and has many layers to it. It moves at a good pace, touches several issues and blends them into each other convincingly.

Gulaal shows a different world altogether. Not seen by many in bigger cities. Life in rural Rajasthan is very well captured. Indain cities are more than Mumbai. I'd recommend all college students in cities like Mumbai and Delhi (more, Mumbai) to go and watch Gulaal. Indian colleges are more different than the one shown in Kuchh Kuchh Hota Hai. The college, hostel and ragging shown in Gulaal is a reality in many parts of North India. This is the real India. Welcome to the ride.

Anurag Kashyap shows the local flavour like no one else. The scenes aptly captures the 'mood' of the place.
They way he blends different subplots to finally lead to his climax is worth a mention. Gulaal is definitely one of the most polished narratives I have come across recently. Things are fleshed out well. Characters behave the way they should.

Gulaal is raw energy. Be it in the story, the screenplay or even the set design. Everything falls in place and contributes to the narration. Nothing is rudimentary, nothing is complete, yet, everything looks just perfect. The set design is worth applauding. The deserts conveying the vastness, the buildings conveying the royal, and various other props used to communicate the mood and feel of the film.

Kudos to the casting director, each actor fits the role to a T. Kay Kay Menon looks every bit the royal blood that he plays. Kay Kay is one actor that had carved a niche for himself. In the overtly loud Bollywood style films, work done by Kay Kay still stands apart, thanks to directors like Anurag Kashyap. Kay Kay has grown with every film. And here, we see him evolve again. As Dukey Bana, Kay Kay gives us ample reason to hate the character, while loving the actor.

Another one to take your breath away is Abhimayu Singh. The actor plays the role of Rananjay Singh to almost perfection. You hate the character at first. Then hate him more. And then somewhere you realize that its a lovable character. Rananjay's charcater looks like a side character at first, till you realize its a more developed and powerful character. You start liking it. And all this, while the mannerism and beliefs of the character are the same as they were in the first scene! Kudos to the director for this one, and a pat on the back for Abhimanyu Singh for playing this one in a manner that makes you want more from the actor. I am definitely looking forward to the actor's next.

Aditya Shrivastav is another strong actor in the cast. As the the arch rival, Aditya paints a picture dark enough for everyone to hate, yet you look forward to his next step with interest.

The film's protagonist, Dileep Singh played by Raja Singh Chaudhary is, perhaps, the weak point of the film. You feel more for Rananjay Singh, than you do for Dileep Singh. Dileep's transition is shown convincingly. Kudos, to the director, again. But I felt something lacking in the performance.

A notable performance is of Piyush Mishra, as Prithivi Bana, Kay Kay's brother. Piyush has also given the music for the film and many songs are picturized on him. Piyush's words have that edgy feel that instantly reflects on the mood of the film. I absolutely loved watching him delivering those lines.

Deepak Dobriyal was another actor that delivered a knock out performance. I did notice him in Omkara. However, his appearance in 13B was quite brief. In Gulaal, he plays an important role, as the main associate of Kay Kay's character and pulls it off beautifully. He is restrained in just the right way. Another actor I'd like to see more of.

Jesse Randhawa is wasted. Her character is one of the flaws of the movie. Its under-developed, to say the least. There was much that could have been achieved in the Jesse-Raja angle. Else, it could have been done away with completely.

The film is lacking in pace a bit. Specially in the second half. But the first half is absolutely first rate. You do not at once feel like getting up. You want to see everything and know everyone. There are so many characters, all well fleshed out, and so much happening. But nothing goes out of context.

This is by far one of the better films that I have seen. And the credit goes to the director Anurag Kashyap. Anurag definitely has a vision that is different from other directors. Gulaal has been in making since some time now, still you do not feel it. The film looks and feels fresh. Anurag has worked out a good script and has made a wonderful film out of it. Dev D was just the beginning, Gulaal tells us there is more to come.

Gulaal is brilliant writing and riveting performances with splendid direction.

Rating : ****

Movie Review : Slumdog Millionaire

Slumdog Millionaire's first scene pulls you into the drama. A familiar Indian actor (Saurabh Sukla) builds some confidence. The film starts with intense visuals. With smoke and a strange yellowish tinge to this scene, what we see is a shirtless Saurabh Shukla hurling the choicest of hindi expletives at a young Dev patel, playing Jamal Malik. The drama soon turns less intense and more lively when Irrfan Khan enters the scene. In a local police station of Mumbai. Irrfan Khan plays the police inspector.

The best part of the film comes at the beginning. As the film starts documenting Jamaal's life, the narrative begins with a scene of street kids being chased by the cops. The chase in the slum is an amazing one. Specially because it has cops chasing kids. You can't help but fall in love with the kids. Specially these kids. From a slum in Mumbai. The background score in this sequence, by A.R. Rahman truly lifts the spirits.

A lot is shown in the film about India. Its a film that can be shown not only to people abroad but also to some of the people from the urban India. Many of the intricacies of the slums will be new to many of them watching the film for the first time. As it progresses you tend to smile at how the things have been captured. From the open-air toilets to the 'guides' in Taj Mahal, to the famous Dhobi Ghat at Agra and back to the Mumbai underworld.Of course, the Mumbai underworld part has been overdone in Indian films, most prominently by Ram Gopal Varma. But yes, the lifestyle of Salim sure deserves a mention.

How the film unfolds through the questions faced by Jamal Malik sitting in the hot seat in "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" is the centre point of the film. There is some heavy product-placement for the show here. The show is almost central to the theme of the film.

Background score by A.R. Rahman is riveting, to say the least. It completely engulfs you into the drama. Most notably, as I mentioned, during the slum-chase scene, the background appears like a character in itself.

The story of Jamal and Latika, as kids, looks interesting. Predictably enough it turns into a love story as they grow up. There's nothing new to the love story. I mean, may be, for the foreign audience, there is some novelty, but the Indian audience has seen enough of the romance-gone-awry-because-of-underworld stories. The story progresses and takes us through various 'phases' of life of Jamal. Interestingly, each phase reflects some intrinsic part of India. Really good to see all this. Specially by a foreign director.

The actors have done commendable job. The Jamaal's childhood character is too adorable. So is Latika's. All the 9 actors have done justice to the roles. Irrfan Khan shines again Saurabh Shukla is competent. Ankur Vikal, the actor playing the antagonist has done a good job. You can feel the terror in his eyes.

All in all, the film quite warm and good. The honesty in the script shows. Though there are a few glitches, they are easily ignorable.Though I found the film a bit over-rated and over-hyped, its still a good watch.

My Rating - ***

Chalegi?

The curosity around the film is enough to make sure it gets the audience. Although its niche theme and treatment would ensure it primarily gets seen in multiplexes.