Bollywood
It’s 2.38 am (Singapore Time) & I just got out from a very beautiful, visual ,cinematic experience -Raavan. I was one of the lucky few who got to experience Raavan a day earlier before it’s FIRST DAY FIRST SHOW date! And boy was i lucky.
Mani Ratnam always gives you something to think about after watching his films. It’s a beautiful piece of cinema that does not spoon-feed their audience, unlike other hindi films. You fall in love, sing a little whole lot, comes the edge of the seat conflict and than a happy ending. Ravaan does not come near a love story nor a rumored Ramayana epic storyline.
As an audience you got introduced to a “kampong” town, called Lal Maati. A town where the law is not set by a government or a ruler but a tribal named Beera Munda, played by Abhishek Bachchan. Beera is , from the movie, is the protector of the weak, the leader of the opressed people of Lal Maati. He’s a strong rugged, non-conformist man. Dev Pratap Sharma , a righteous and a respectful police officer, who is played by Vikram (on his debut bollywood film) knows that the key to bring order to Lal Maati is to KILL BILL Beera :)
Abhishek Bachchan played the villain/hero in the movie. He stayed true to his character, he didn’t sound like himself and you were drawn by the character’s emotions. The way he walked, spoke, fought- you can feel his burning desire for revenge! Why Revenge ? Dev wants to kill Beera-for peace and equality, but Dev’s police/army have harmed Beera’s sister instead , that lead her to take her own life. Beera was furious and he decided to kidnap Dev’s wife Ragini to the jungle, played by Aishwarya Rai.
(SMALL PLOT- not going to tell you the whole story, you got to watch for yourself)
Aishwarya Rai was pleasant to watch, and to see her dance once again was flawless and beautiful. She was elegant and her facial expressions are getting better. I think the whole lot of training done in the jungle made all of the actors recognize thier own roles and embraced them physically and emotionally. Kudos to Mani Ratnam, in executing the characters very well.
I think the surprise element in this movie was GOVINDA! When you see Govinda, you think less is always more. And that’s what Govinda is! No one have spoken about his character, nor see him making rounds doing promo for the movie. But i can tell you to look out for Govinda in this film! He played the forest guard , who aid Dev to look for Ragini in the jungle.
Although, this i can tell you-i am a little bit dissapointed with the Plot & Vikram Sir.
PLOT- Less is more. But the plot is really really not there ! and i am dissapointed that it was more heavy on the cinematography of the exotic locations rather than telling a story. I thought Mani Ratnam might be a little bit over ambitious to have filmed the movie simultaneously in hindi and tamil. I think he got lost in the plot. The characters were hugely defined but the plot was gone.
Vikram- Yes, it’s he’s debut hindi film. But i was expecting MORE MORE MORE! He was too coy and small for the hindi crowd. He’s always larger than life in tamil films, and i think he was too engrossed in depicting Dev a little smaller for the hindi audience, that he lost the essence of playing DEV, the HERO in the film. So he lost my vote there. I hope that he’ll do a better job in playing Beera in the tamil version.
Overall, I was left with mixed feelings for this film. I hope it will do well, politically speaking and i hope people will not anticipate it too much, because then you’ll end feeling a little bit disappointed ! I give this film 3 1/2 popcorn :)
A thriller that promises you $20k and suddenly grabs you by the horns!
I wake up one morning to a dvd in mail. It reads, "Chance to win $20000.00, crack the code". Now they have my interest. I have just moved to United States after a stint with a major Indian newspaper to review Bollywood films. I ask myself,"How the hell did they find me". I had not even informed my dear friends about the move. So I popped the DVD in player thinking that these guys have to be real desperate. And boy, Was I right? The first half of movie sucked like rotten tomatoes. I wanted to turn it off but that code and $20K? Now here's the deal! Film-makers wanted me to identify the four digit numerical code, basically four single digits in the order that they appear in the film, input at their website, make 20K. SO pretty much I sulking through the film, looking for my money until the film actually grabbed me by my horns. Holy cow! I did not even realize, when it happened? I was hooked and last 45 minutes were like, Okay! may be you deserve a review. So here I am, an indie thriller from bollywood, which opens like a trashy B grade film school kind of deal, develops into something that holds your attention for 45 long minutes. It may not be in my best interest to write this review, since I was looking for ways to win that $20K but it is hard. May be they forgot to place the code in my DVD. Per their movie website, the code appears only in theatrical version. Now a reviewer is going to a theatrical screening of a film, to make some money. Regarding the film, it's all right. Where's my money?
A Rags-to-Rancid Tale
Slumdog Millionaire (2008), co-directed by Danny Boyle and Loveleen Tandon, fails to extricate itself from its own self-created "filmic ghetto" of stereotype and poor choices. Focusing on the story of Jamal Malik ( Dev Patel), a love-struck kid determined to shed his violent and tragic upbringing in Bombay slums, Slumdog Millionaire is a well-intentioned but ultimately failed attempt at social commentary. Running 2 hours and ten minutes, the film is rife with stereotypes, cliches and bromides that would make any Bombay-wallah cringe in dispair. Jamal's love interest is Latika (Freida Pinto), a hapless orphan whose presence offers nothing but predictability from her first appearance on screen.
Both Patel and Pinto struggle painstakingly through maudlin and fatuous lines of love, anticipation, and honour. Indeed the narrative, nothing short of hackneyed Bollywood-masala, forces us to wonder why the filmmakers didn't just throw in a few song-and-dance numbers since they had the famed music director, A.R. Rahman, in their company.
The most jarring element of the film, however, lies in what amounts to an unfortunate decision by the filmmakers to ignore an integral component of Mumbai life - its language. Not only Jamal, but hoodlums, thugs, and minor characters speak an immaculate English, barring one Hindi expletive (matherchod - motherfucker). In fact, the language of the slums in Mumbai, Bambaiya Hindi, is a mix of Urdu, Hindi, and Marathi. If the filmmakers really wanted to speak to the needs of the people of Mumbai, they should have tried to stay true to these roots instead of trying to pander to a global audience. Pinto and several members of the Indian cast are obviously uncomfortable with the nuances of their feelings rendered in the English dialogue and they often mumble their lines in incoherent little sentences as if reading a teleprompter on their co-actors' eyes. Indeed, because many of the exchanges between Jamal and Latika are barely audible, the filmmakers should have redone entire conversations in ADR.
The uneven storytelling is not aided by the Dutch angles which seem more ostentatious than helpful to the construction of the film. The pretentiously hip music does not adequately convey the grim conditions of some of the worst slums in India. Foreigners became cardboard cutouts created for comic effect, while antagonists are instantly familiar because they are either wife-beaters or are swearing at women with foul language. Even veteran Bollywood star, Anil Kapoor, portrays Prem Kumar, the host of, "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" with a healthy dose of histrionics and insincerity. The problems with language continue as Kapoor mumbles part of his lines in Hindi, an act which leaves the non-Hindi speaking audience clueless because the lines are not always followed by subtitles in English. Perhaps the only redeeming element of this mediocre and forgettable film is the soundtrack, which offers some innovative and entertaining lyrics.
One is left to wonder why such a problematic film received so many positive reviews from Hollywood-media critics. Is there an element of the "noble savage" in the way that Hollywood critics relax the standards for filmmakers who touch on South Asian themes or are they just being safe and politically correct in not identifying sloppy filmmaking for what it is? Do Hollywood movie critics have double standards for Hollywood-based films as compared to foreign films?
Slumdog Millionaire is a dog in Danny Boyle's oeuvre and we are left to ponder how the creator of a cutting-edge films such as, Trainspotting, could make a turn towards the rinky-dink of Bollywood . Prem Kumar's million-dollar question in the eponymous show to Jamal should have been: "Will this dud-of-a-movie pass the critics' muster...Are you sure?...Or would you like to go 50/50?"
