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Ludo (2020)
http://filmytown.com/movies/ludo-movie-review/
Ludo-The wicked wicked game.
This is the latest offering by Netflix as their original feature film. Ludo the eponymous board game which everyone as a child would have played. Lately it seems to have caught on the fancy of young and old alike in it's online Avatar. It sounds like an unlikely name for a movie and does aroused curiosity. The movie juxtaposes this game as and with the game of life. One gets excited and is expectant to see something different or new, as for the last few offerings on the various OTT platforms are anything but entertaining or even vaguely logical, lt seems that the makers set out to make something good with the kind of themes and story ideas at their disposal but somewhere in the intervening period they lose their way and the story meanders and hurtles towards its climax. Same is the case with Ludo, it starts out with high expectations as a bearded Anurag Basu (the director of the movie) and his sidekick descend upon the screen with a briefcase. One feels some kind of Gangland exchange is going to happen but they turn out to be the Sutradharas and their conversation takes us forward to a floating Mafia den helmed by Sattu (Pankaj Tripathi) and his wacky gang. We are introduced to four sets of tales which are explained away as the four players of this game of Ludo. Though not interconnected but they keep crossing each other's paths as Sattu is the common thread or the canvas on which their existence hinges and who has the power to control them. The story keeps shifting from one set of players to another, in the process bumping into each other as on the ludo board and inflicting back to square one to each other. It finally boils down to the climax where all the four stories converge on a common ground literally and what follows is that different fate is handed over to different team. Some get just rewards and some just perish. And what about Sattu the unbreakable, the master controller of the pieces he is having a time of his life despite being the villain of the piece so what is the moral of story Live and Let die?
Now let's talk about the teams and the characters there in:
First, the yellow corner of the board : The Akash and Shruti story i.e. Aditya Roy Kapoor and Sanya Malhotra. A goldigger falls for a struggler and their love story goes viral, it has to be reversed, so who best but apna Sattu bhai who will lend a hand. Kapoor is maturing as an actor but still retains his cockiness. Sanya displays right amount of chutzpah. The ventriloquist doll is the highlight.
Second, in the green corner : Alok and Pinky story i.e. Rajkumar Rao and Fatima Sana Shaikh. A lovelorn majnu gyped in love by his paramour is forced at the hands of his heart to put in his all to save his beloved's family in trouble due th Sattu. Is ultimately rewarded by fate. Rajkumar is in top form mimicking Mithun and sporting a different look. Fatima is unable to shake off her pehelwan looks and even as a guntotting moll in minis does not evoke any desire.
Third the Red Corner: The Bittu story i.e. Abhishek Bachhan, the loser. Solitarily carry's on to give succor to his friend turned rival who has usurped his family, wife and all from him. Is the only one to be handed tragedy by fate. Bachhan shows absolute restraint and gives a fitting performance as the role demands.
Fourth the blue corner is the story of Rahul and Shreeja I.e. Rohit Saraf and Pearle Maaney. It is an unnecessary interlude but the fate is kindest to them as they finally realise their dreams of becoming millionaires a la Lootcase and Waisa bhi hota hai part II. Not much acting to their credit though they hog a lot of footage.
Finally we come to the granddad himself i.e. Sattu or Pankaj Tripathi who lives the Gita shloka of being indestructible only here we are not talking about his soul but his body (the soul is forever lost). With guns tied on his thighs a la femme Nikita under his lungi he and his gang act as the irritant louts but also the common thread that binds the narrative. Pankaj is in his usual laid back style and now we have seen him one too many times in the last 2-3 years. It seems he and Nawazuddin are the only character artists and dons left in the industry.
Some final observations: The female characters in all the four stories are shown the manipulative ones, even the child who plans her own kidnap has a hardened Bittu wrapped round her fingers. The male protagonists are their saviours, how naive. The movie finale gives us the parting kick as the Director and his sidekick are dipicted as dhan-ta-dan....Yama and Chitragupta, well, well, well......so much for the mytho.
Chhalaang (2020)
Chhalang-- A Very Long Jump
Chhalang-- A Very Long Jump
Another OTT original feature film release in Covid times, this time on Amazon Prime. Lately we have been hearing such names like Chak-de, Dangal, Panga, which point to a desi flavour in tales of inspiration in sports. They are comparable to similar offerings in Hollywood of fight and motivation. Generally such stories are drawn form real life. As the name suggests this movie too deals with the same genre I.e. sports but the inspiration is from a hurt to the ego of one man as, the movie set out to be Montu'sl story of goof and love but there is a jump literally midway. It changes to a story of the underdog. Though everyone has their respective favourites in sports but one's heart surely goes out for the underdog. The movie is set in a quintessential town of Haryana. Indians love their heros in the field of sports and are proud of our Tendulkars and Milkhas and P.T. Udhas and Sindhus and want our children to be as successful as them, but as Montu-Rajkumar Rao's character says we as parents don't want to support our children to be like these idols. It is naukri and chhokri for which the boys are prepared in their youth and if a girl studies even upto 12th in the mofussil towns of India it is breaking news as they are prepared for chula and chowka for their in-laws' house. People who support their children or their married daughters-in-law really have a big heart. Though things are a changing but ever so slowly. Realisation that sports can also give a career and has professionals is setting in due to the various leagues in football, kabaddi, badminton etc. apart from cricket which is a religion for our teeming billion. Some encouragement, some support and some financial aid is the need of the hour. It is a story of courage and never say die spirit. It is about never giving up in face of extreme adversity. With a little hope, encouragement, out of the box thinking, perseverance and you will come out tops. That is the USP of this film but in the second half. The first half is dedicated to an insensitive, ambition-less PT instructor whose main job is to avoid work and loaf around, his passions are aroused only when he faces challenge in both job and love from a superior individual. The story changes to a tale of inspiration from then on. The unique touch of Director Hansal Mehta who makes us forget that it started out to be a romantic flick and splendidly turns it around. He is also the person who has helmed such sensitive socials like Shahid, Aligarh, Omerta and his latest offering being Scam 1992 which is a web series streaming on Sony LIV OTT platform besides this one. There is a definite shift in his subject, whereas in the past his films have dealt with social issues, the latest offerings from his stables have been more of mainstream commercial cinema but the touch is definitely still there. The performances are as expectedly great from seasoned actors like Rajkumar Rao, it is very noticeable that Haryanvi suits this guy and he he has not let us down either , he has given us a superlative performance in the movie and has looked every bit the Hero for the movie and in his character. The surprise packet is Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub as Mr. Singh the Johnny come lately who it trying to take over Montu's job and love. Nusrat Bharucha as a whiskey sipping, out going and a girl with a head firmly in place has performed suitably for the role and she looks dainty too. The veterans Satish Kaushik, Ila Arun and Saurabh Shukla make their presence felt. The dialogues and the behavior of the small town characters have been captured with subtle finnasse, in scenes like the fight in vegetable market and the sports ground or the one at Monty's friend Dimpy's eatery where they tease him for his cooking and profession that's the kind of banter we hear in such places where small things matter too. It is the second movie in as many days after 'Ludo' where the heroine asks the hero 'daru pilayega'? The equation seems to be changing. It is food for thought to all ye horsing males.
http://filmytown.com/movies/chhalaang-movie-review/
Laxmii (2020)
LAXMII....THE DEFUSED BOMB.
LAXMII....THE DEFUSED BOMB.
This movie was awaited for sometime because people wanted to see Akshay Kumar's daring transgender look in a saree. Released on OTT platform of Disney Hotstar on the 9th of Movember 2020. There were some fantastic promos, great posters, super trailers. All of which pointed to an entertaining masala horror movie with good dose of comedy put in to make it a universally watchable. There was also the controversy about its name which was then changed just before release from Laxxmi Bomb to Laxmii. All this was a sureshot formula for success at the hustings. No such luck though as it turned out to be a damp squib. A bomb that never went off. One sat through the whole movie for that moment to come, where the pent up expectation were answered but it never arrived. The start was punchy and it did give a scare down the spine. Then the scene with Akshay busting the myth of the tantrik baba that was also picturised well but that was it and these two instances came right in the beginning. From the time the family bit was thrown in the movie, it was only downhill from there on. There are many things that don't work for the movie. First the casting, why, because the Kiara and Akshay chemistry does not work though she is all over him. Age shows on Akshay and Kiara appears mismatched for his character and imagine, they are shown as elopers! Secondly the Mother and daughter-in-law bit does not evoke any laughter as it is over the top hamming, even slap stick would have done, but no go there. The other two characters of the house the men, look lifeless in their own right, you draw out nothing from their performance. I don't know why Akshay's character is named Asif, does it change anything, don't know, maybe apart from some social message in the time of CAA may have produced results, but we have all moved on and it falls to one side. It cannot be called a tribute to the transgender community either as it appears very late in the day and irrelevant. Well one has to really think hard to come up with the salient points or saving graces of this flick. There are three though . One: Sharad Kelkar in a minuscule role does appear effective as a transgender and Two: Akshay in some parts specially when possessed. Three the fx where three personalities spring out from Akshay's character. But all these three instance are so filmsy that the whole movie cannot be held together by them. A rich subject utterly guttered. Promised to be a hyrdogen bomb but turned out to be what we call the past Diwali 'fuski'. Being the remake of the hugely successful Tamil film 'Kanchana' the prospects seemed immense from it, but no go. Even the music or the highly anticipated transgender song, though it had some excellent choreography, it falls flat as it is hardly hummable. To be strictly seen with a forward button at hand and on the a lazy Sunday, when you have nothing to do and you have a lot of Data to spare. In hind sight one can say 'Thank God they removed the Bomb from the name' and changed the spelling and wisely released it on OTT rather then wait for a theatrical release in India. Go figure what would have been the fate.
Kal Aaj Aur Kal (1971)
KAL AAJ AUR KAL- THE GENERATION GAP
As the title suggests this story is about three generations which had its footings in the film fraternity itself- the Kapoor family. Prithviraj-Raj and Randhir Kapoors aptly captured on the canvas by Randhir himself. This one is a rare one. A delightfully light movie which had an uncanny parody by Mehmood of this very three generation of Kapoors in the 1970's Humjoli. This is about the only movie which has all three generations of the same family in it at the same time and playing the same characters in reel life too and that too the premiere Kapoor family for that matter. Released on December 17, 1971. It tells of the rigors of the middle generation which is sandwiched between the traditions of the past generation and the liberties of the next generation and how it tries to balance both by taking the load on itself. Apart from the above three it also had the fourth Kapoor, Babita, who went on to become Randhir's wife in real life too. Though it was Prithviraj's one of the last films as he passed away in 1972. The strife between the three generations has been displayed on the silver screen with élan.
Grandfather Diwan Bahadur Kapoor (Prithviraj Kapoor) who live in the village is the overbearing head of the family. The grandson Rajesh (Randhir) studies abroad and lives there. The middle generation Ram Bahadur (Raj Kapoor) a widower is unable to continue to live alone in such a big house and has convinced the other two to stay together which they agree. Now grandpa has his own designs as he has promised his friend, that he will marry his grandson, to his friend's granddaughter. Rajesh believes in self-determination and would rather follow his own path in life and cannot be cajoled into any promises made by the past generations which he needs to uphold. He is also very much in love with his girlfriend Monica (Babita), a modern girl with modern values. On the day of celebrations of his return to India he comes to know of his grandpa's deal, when his grandpa announces his grand roadmap for his grandson. Rajesh frets and fumes and would have none of it this. The bickering between the grandpa and grandson has its negative effect on the middle generation Ram Bahadur (Raj Kapoor), who has always wanted the three generations to live together as a family, pressed from both sides he has to endure, but as the bickering grows he is not able to take it anymore and leaves the house for both the Old and the new to reconcile. As Ram takes to wine and women with a vengeance, the other two conspire to get him back and pretend reconciliation to save themselves from public ignominy. Ram finds out their ruse and takes matters into his own hands to straighten out both and iron out things.
The movie was Randhir Kapoor's directorial debut. It had many a hummable numbers, notably the title songs which is very peppy and very beautifully picturized on the whole family in one frame including Babita, another well sung number is 'Bhaware ki gunjan' by Kishore Kumar and last but not the least the funny 'Hum jab honge saath saal ke'. Though a moderate success as it missed the sharp masterly touch of Raj Kapoor himself, but nonetheless see three generations of Kapoor in one frame is rewarding enough.
Knives Out (2019)
Knives Out
Out - movie review
A Black comedy murder mystery
December 17, 2019 Editorial
Genre: Thriller Recommended: General Audience Released: 29 November 2019
Starring: Daniel Craig, Christopher Plummer, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas
Directed by: Rian Johnson
Knives Out poster
A successful author of mystery books is found dead in his attic study in mysterious circumstances with his throat slit right after his 85th birthday celebrations, leaving behind a big fat bank balance and estate and his quibbling family. Knives Out movie review...
It looks like a suicide but someone does not seem to think so and mysteriously hires an eccentric ace detective to solve the death puzzle, the inquisition that follows a la Agatha Christie style points at every member of the family as suspect as each could have a motive and are lying through their rich pompous noses.
There's the younger son who it seems has been fired by the old man and is unable to cope with it , the daughter's husband is playing Rasputin behind her back and the elder son's widow is skimming on the old man's generosity all in all everyone of them had had a run in with the old man just before celebrations.
Each one of them has their reasons to be cross with him though they do try to portray a happy family picture, then there is the old man's pretty South American nurse who cannot digest lies and behaves very strangely at times which catches the eye of the detective Benoit Blanc, Daniel Craig's character with an elaborate drawl and puffed cheeks, looks as if he is trying hard to shake off his Bond image though his handsomeness fails him.
Knives Out is a story which is tightly framed within the confines of the scenic locale of the death perceived murder and a few outdoor shots.
Though the cat is out of the bag before the interval if you have the intellect. The detective is also shown doing his investigation in a bumbling manner as if giving full chance to the perpetrator to escape and basing his deductions more on the conversations during inquisition and background checks rather than the usual crime scene physicalities .
But... but... but all things have to come out in a way so that all's well and that ends well in the end. Is it a murder, is it suicide or is it a true tribute to our beloved old dame Agatha, the jury or shall we say the knives are still out