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Pink (2016)
Pink : Is A Must Watch! It is a Socially Relevant Movie!
Pink: She is on the Warpath!
Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury's 'Pink' is a must watch to know what actually a 'No' means because a 'No' is not just a word; it means a choice, right, and decision of a woman to execute her feeling she is going through then and there. And we men need to learn to respect their choice and right to say 'No' and that a single woman, a friendly girl, or a woman who shares a drink doesn't mean that she is available.
Pink unrolls an incident of molestation and attempt to rape that embroils the life of three working women Meenal, Falak and Andrea in Delhi which results into a nightmare for them. A late night out at a rock concert followed by a dinner invite at a resort in Surajkund by three boys whom they met through a common friend triggers a chain of unpleasant incidents that rocks their peaceful life. Some incidents can break you or it can make you strong.
Pink goes ballistic through its plot against the atrocities that is unleashed every day in the life of millions of women in our country and around the world. Amitabh Bachchan as Deepak Sehgal, a retired lawyer has been a silent witness of the whole ordeal the three girls have gone through who actually stays across his flat, decides to take up the case as their defense lawyer. The courtroom drama that hovers around the incident takes many satirical digs on male chauvinism, conservative mindset of our so-called progressive society, its misconception about perfect womanhood and their selective moral yardsticks for women.
Amitabh Bachchan in his unique style and baritone voice spews anger as the defense counsel and list down points that can be made into a 'Women Safety Manual Rule Book' based on the arguments presented by his equally talented counterpart and prosecution lawyer Prashant played by Piyush Mishra in the film. Both Amitabh Bachchan and Piyush Mishra are outstanding and ups the court room drama by their performances, though, at times they go a bit over board and are found to be rhetoric. Dhritiman Chatterjee as the presiding judge makes the whole proceedings intriguing by his comments and timely interventions.
Angad Bedi who plays the spoiled brat Rajveer stands apart and has done an impressive act. He is well supported by Raashul Tandon as Dumpy and Tushar Pandey as Vishwa who tries to broker peace between the girls and the boys. Vijay Varma one among the boys who actually was not there during the said incident plays a perfect misogynist pig who is hell bent to teach the girls a lesson. Mamta Malik as the Haryanvi SHO who manipulates with the FIR register leaves a mark through her performance.
All the three girls are so realistic in their performance that you go through the ordeal along with them. The pain, embarrassment in the court, the anger, the outburst, the helplessness and all those emotional upheavals they go through becomes your own. Taapsee Pannu as Minal is brilliant, consistent and credible in her role. She is well supported by Kirti Kulhari as Falak Ali. Andrea Tariang as a girl from Meghalaya representing the 'North East' tag enacts very well her vulnerabilities and fear of being considered as the 'Other' in her own country.
Pink despite its strong social message and stellar performances from all the actors has its share of flaws. A few to mention without revealing much: why the boys and their family remains low once the case goes to the court even after being in power and having all the muscle power is not mentioned or justified; after the Surajkund molestation bid there is another kidnap and molestation that happens with one of the girl in a moving car in the busy streets of Delhi which is not raised or even mentioned in the court by the defense lawyer Deepak Sehgal; the kind hearted and supporting house owner played by Vijay Nagpal is not even called or mentioned in the court as a party to collect evidence against the boys; the defense lawyer and his bipolar disorder is fleetingly mentioned and conveniently ignored; the ailing wife of the retired lawyer and they being a childless couple in the story doesn't further the story telling in any way.
Nevertheless, Pink is a must watch because such movies need to be appreciated for its social relevance and for its content having the potential of being a change catalyst.
Movie Rating: 9/10
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan (Deepak Sehgal), Taapsee Pannu (Minal Arora), Kirti Kulhari (Falak Ali), Andrea Tariang (Andrea), Angad Bedi (Rajveer Singh), Raashul Tandon (Raunak Anand aka Dumpy), Tushar Pandey (Vishwa); Genre: Thriller,Drama; Director: Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury Producers: Rashmi Sharma,Shoojit Sircar Release Date: 16th September, 2016 Duration: 136 Minutes Language: Hindi
Freaky Ali (2016)
Freaky Ali could have been a good sports film if it had been handled with the required amount of panache and cinematic sense of excellence.
Freaky Ali : Fails to Exploit Nawaz Calibre!
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Nawazuddin Siddiqui a dependable and a terrific actor struggles hard to keep the film Freaky Ali from sinking by his acts and dialogue delivery. But we know, little can be done by an actor like Nawaz when the plot is weakened with predictable situations, 'rich and poor divide' clichés, rags to riches situations, 8o's kind of a sidekick and goons who are less dreadful and more of buffoons. While watching Freaky Ali one would definitely wonder what would have made Nawaz to sign this film.
Freaky Ali could have been a good sports film if it had been handled with the required amount of panache and cinematic sense of excellence. But unfortunately after watching the movie one can easily gauge that the filmmakers didn't have that kind of vision to offer a class film to the world of entertainment. It seems they just wanted to cash in the rising popularity of Nawazuddin Siddiqui by offering him the titular role of Freaky Ali and Nawaz may not have had any other option but to oblige the 'Khandan' out of love and regard.
Nawazuddin Siddiqui plays the role of Ali a Muslim orphan, found on the steps of a Dargah by a Hindu lady (Seema Biswas) who he calls 'Aaayi' fondly. The film open up to a busy market where Ali is found selling undergarments of all hues. The scene is funny and arouses chuckles in the theatre but soon fades out due to below the belt jokes. Ali thrown out of his job by his shop owner due to some flimsy reasons ends up teaming up with his childhood friend Maqsood (Arbaaz Khan) in his extortion business. Both works for 'Danger Bhai' (Nikitin Dheer) who is accident prone and is more of a buffoon who is always in company of his clumsy and dumb headed cohorts. In one of Ali and Maqsood's extortion bids they happen to meet a golfer Vikram Singh Rathod (Jas Arora) and this chance meeting on the golf ground changes the destiny of Ali. Later, armed and trained by a caddy Kishen Lal (Asif Basra), Ali challenges the champion in many tournaments. What follows is breach of trust, fixing and disappointment on the field. The film fails miserably even after having some best talents in the industry like Seema Biswas, Nawazuddin, and Asif Basra because of its weak story line, very poor execution, disjointed narration and sequences. Amy Jackson as Megha, the manager and love interest of Ali has nothing to do. She doesn't even add the glamour quotient by her presence. Jackie Shroff in his guest appearance as the big baddie is disappointing and unbearable.
This plot of Freaky Ali had the potential to become yet another inspirational sports story if made by any other deft filmmaker and storyteller. In short, there is nothing much to write and appreciate about Freaky Ali except to pray that may good sense prevail in the future projects, if any, by Sohail Khan and his likes in the industry.
Movie Rating: 3/10
Cast: Nawazuddin Siddiqui (Ali), Arbaaz Khan (Maqsood), Amy Jackson (Megha), Seema Biswas (Sulbha), Jas arora (Vikram Singh Rathod), Nikitin Dheer (Danger Bhai), Asif Basra (Kishen Lal), Genre: Comedy Director: Sohail Khan Producer: Sohail Khan Written by: Sohail Khan, Raaj Shaandilyaa Based on: Happy Gilmore by Tim Herlihy Music by: Sajid-Wajid Cinematography: Mahesh Limaye Edited by: Prashant Singh Rathore Production: Sohail Khan Productions Release Date: 9th September, 2016 Duration: 120 Minutes Language: Hindi
Baar Baar Dekho (2016)
Baar Baar Dekho has lessons for life but very little to entertain!
Baar Baar Dekho: Rewind, Forward, Rewind and Dekho!
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Nitya Mehra's 'Baar Baar Dekho' is an earnest attempt to tell that life in the 'Here and Now' is more beautiful than in the past and the future; therefore, stay in the 'Here and Now'. And it is the most challenging task for many of us because the past haunt us and the future is too promising and hence, we lose sight of the present. In the quest of making the future 'picture perfect' we avoid 'the moment' in hand that can give us assured happiness than the one in the future.
Nitya Mehra's lead protagonist Jai Varma gets baffled to find himself time traveling and seeing visuals of his life in the future that can make him lose and ruin his personal life. Shuttling from past, future and the present Jai Varma learns the most important lessons of life to stay happy and make it worthy. Through Jai Varma and his lady love Diya Kapoor aka DK we also time travels and tries to pick up possible challenges and mistakes we are committing or may commit. In due course of time in the movie hall many of us may end up realizing the importance of the 'Here and Now' and may also decide to 'Baar Baar Dekho' our life to escape or deal with the impending danger of losing out the subtle happiness present in our life.
The story of 'Baar Baar Dekho' hovers around two childhood friends Jai and Diya who are about to get married but are locked up in a dilemma because Jai wants to focus more on his professional life and career. He doesn't want to lose the most cherished offer of pursuing his research on Vedic mathematics in the prestigious universities like Harvard and Cambridge. And he gets more perplexed and finds himself on the crossroads whether to say yes or no to Diya when he receives one such offer from his most liked university and that too a few days before his marriage. Shattered by Jai's reluctance to get married, Diya walks out of her newly bought fully furnished apartment by her rich father Mr. Kapoor (Boman Irani) leaving behind Jai to deal with his dilemma. A drunken Jai wakes up to find himself in a different time zone that is ten days after his marriage in Thailand celebrating his honeymoon with Diya. This leap of time zones continues from 10 days, two years, 16 years and then 34 years ahead.
The debutante director Nitya Mehra along with her writer friends Sri Rao and Anuvab Pal in the haste of telling us life philosophies forgot or may have missed the importance of entertaining the audience by etching out fully each characters in the movie and creating moments and scenes to get convinced to what they want to convey as a message. For instance, Jai doesn't appear as a selfish and self-centered boy, lover and a husband; there are no sufficient family moments to show their relationship turbulence; the parents and friends are having very less role in the whole happenings shown in the leaps of time zones and there is not a single moment of humour in any of the frames. Unfortunately, the most attempted concept of time travel in Hollywood could have been done much better by the team of 'Baar Baar Dekho' which they missed by a whisker. Sarika (Mom of Diya), Ram Kapoor, Rajit Kapur (Pandit), Sayani Gupta (Common Friend) are good in their respective roles but deserved more space in the plot to justify their roles. When Dharma and Excel join hands it's bound to give a damn good look to their movie and we find it here too with fine production values. Ravi K Chandran's cinematography holds your attention and the locations are very beautiful.
Katrina Kaif as Diya Kapoor looks stunning but doesn't look or act differently from rest of her movies. She has a copycat effect which she may need to work on. Siddharth Malhotra as Jai Varma is handsome and is left with no choice but to remain bewildered throughout the movie because of the untimely and unexpected time zone leaps he encounters. He does age because of the expensive and sophisticated prosthetics but could have supported the same by his acting skills which he fails to pay attention to.
In short, Baar Baar Dekho has lessons for life but very little to entertain. Though, the film ends with the already hit item song 'Kaala Chasma' you walk out with a clear lens to revisit your life with a resolve to be worthy of what you have in your life in the 'Here and Now' and live each day at a time. Go and watch 'Baar Baar Dekho' but not 'Baar Baar' only once!
Movie Rating: 6/10
Cast: Sidharth Malhotra (Jai Varma), Katrina Kaif (Diya Kapoor), Sarika, Ram Kapoor, Sayani Gupta (Chitra), Rajit Kapur, Rohan Joshi, Taaha Shah Badusha (Tarun) Genre: Romance Director: Nitya Mehra Producers: Hiroo Yash Johar, Karan Johar, Ritesh Sidhwani, Farhan Akhtar Written by: Anvita Dutt (Dialogues) Screenplay: Nitya Mehra, Anuvab Pal, Sri Rao Story by: Sri Rao Music by: Amaal Mallik, Arko, Badshah, Jasleen Royal, Bilaal Saeed Cinematography: Ravi K Chandran Edited by: Amitabh Shukla Production: Dharma Productions, Excel Entertainment Distributor: Eros International Release Date: 9th September, 2016 Duration: 141 Minutes Language: Hindi