Enthralling !!

Film: Kahaani 
Director: Sujoy Ghosh
Cast: Vidya Balan, Parambrata Chatterjee & Nawazuddin Siddiqui
Genre: Drama | Thriller 

Kahaani is truly a jack-in-the-box surprise. Kahaani is that rare film which gives each and every person associated with it an equal opportunity to shine.

After watching smarter than the smartest BBC show ‘Sherlock’, I never actually expected ‘Kahaani’ to work for me. But the film rose over and above my expectations. From the very word ‘go’ till its shocking climax, it made me bite my nails. Surprise and suspense are very well blended by director Sujoy Ghosh and am happy to announce that film is ‘original’.

The movie centers on 7 months pregnant Vidya Bagchi (played by Vidya Balan) who travels far & wide, all the way from London to Kolkata to find her missing husband, Arnab Bagchi. In Kolkata, she goes to the local police station for help where she’s treated nicely and is given the necessary attention & aid.  Film takes plenty of U turns & atmosphere becomes frightful when this case gets interlinked with the terrorist who is responsible for the metro massacre which killed hundreds of innocent citizens. So cops opt to catch that terrorist first and what about Vidya Bagchi’s husband? Right. What about him? Well, there is a question mark on his existence but there’s a hope too.

Vidya is proficient enough to hack servers of national data center and tries her best to find her better-half but police instead of taking her case into consideration begs for her help to hack that system again so they can grab hold of main culprit and poor lady instead of walking away helps them, but with blatant disappointment in her eyes.

Central character is so beautifully sketched that however stone-hearted you are, you will sympathize. With Kahaani, Vidya makes sincere effort to win National Award next year. The way she befriends kids in the movie is really cute and from pain to disappointment to wrath, each phase is skillfully rendered by her. Actress confidently delivers yet another memorable performance.

Anurag Kashyap’s ‘That Girl In Yellow Boots’ had plenty of characters and characterization was vague plus their presence remained unjustified till the end. But writers (Ritesh Shah, Sutapa Sikdar & Sujoy Ghosh) triumph here. All the characters here are for a reason and each and every actor is gifted with very-well written character. 

Nawazuddin Siddiqui as hyperactive cop delivers credible performance and he definitely is the man to look forward to in upcoming days. Every time you see him in a conversation with Vidya, you expect something phenomenal to happen and that’s the charisma of his personality. However, my favorite character is - Rana (played by Parambrata Chatterjee). Throughout vidya’s journey we see cop Rana helping her without any personal interest. Honesty is not only in the character he plays but in his performance too. He is the most endearing character in the film. Also, there’s a funny-looking but impious contract killer who kills witnesses with ease. Yes, just like Bourne films.  

Severe problem of Vidya Bagchi seem surmountable when legendary actor Amitabh Bachchan lovingly sings "êkla chôlo re". It’s undeniably the best moment of the film. 

I also loved the way humor sprouts in the film. You’ll literally smile when local Bengali people instead of uttering Vidya will utter “Bidya”. And ignorance of computer in police-station is dramatically depicted.   

Kolkata clad with the luminous decorations of Durga Pooja is a feast to eyes. Film is gloriously shot by cinematographer Setu. He wisely takes actors and viewers for a jog in the heart of Kolkata.

Above mentioned aspects of this 115 mins long film easily overcome its only drawback i.e. leisure pace. Not a problem but still brisk pacing could have acted like cherry on top.

There is much more than what I’ve written so don’t let your imagination fill in the rest, go watch this enthralling thriller right away !

Rating: 3.5/5

For all those of you, who loved 'êkla chôlo re'


Bengali Phonemic transcription


Jodi tor đak shune keu na ashe tôbe êkla chôlo re,
Êkla chôlo, êkla chôlo, êkla chôlo, êkla chôlo re.
Jodi keu kôtha na kôe, ore ore o ôbhaga,
Jodi shôbai thake mukh firaee shôbai kôre bhôe—
Tôbe pôran khule
O tui mukh fuţe tor moner kôtha êkla bôlo re.
Jodi shôbai fire jae, ore ore o ôbhaga,
Jodi gôhon pôthe jabar kale keu fire na chae—
Tôbe pôther kãţa
O tui rôktomakha chôrontôle êkla dôlo re.
Jodi alo na dhôre, ore ore o ôbhaga,
Jodi jhôŗ-badole ãdhar rate duar dêe ghôre—
Tôbe bojranôle
Apon buker pãjor jalie nie êkla jôlo re.


Translation into English


Here is the translation in prose of the Bengali original rendered by Rabindranath Tagore himself. 


If they answer not to thy call walk alone,
If they are afraid and cower mutely facing the wall,
O thou unlucky one,
open thy mind and speak out alone.
If they turn away, and desert you when crossing the wilderness,
O thou unlucky one, 
trample the thorns under thy tread,
and along the blood-lined track travel alone.
If they do not hold up the light when the night is troubled with storm,
O thou unlucky one,
with the thunder flame of pain ignite thy own heart
and let it burn alone.

Blah Blah Blah. . .

Film: London Paris Newyork
Director: Anu Menon
Cast: Ali Zafar & Aditi Rao Hydari 
Genre: Romance

Debutant Anu Menon’s LPNY borrows apparatus from Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise. So, film has just 2 characters and throughout the film we witness their conversations and emotions. This is bollywood. Hence, songs are also there plus one of the most legendary cliché also comes into picture in the final moments of the film i.e. heroine’s dad.  

Protagonists Nikhil (played by Ali Zafar) & Lalitha (played by Aditi Rao Hydari) meet at London Airport and they merrily spend a day together and gentle emotions & spark of love ignite during the time of departure. They take a vow to meet again but in the meantime, no one’s supposed to call/write each other. In fact, they don’t share details like phone no./e-mail but they decide to see each other after a certain span of time. Sounds cool, eh?

As the name suggests, film criss-crosses across three dazzling cities of our planet and out of those three cities, our leads meet at two cities (London & Paris) and spend a day together. During their meet in third city (New York) they finally take a long-lasting resolution which I don’t think is worth appreciating because we’ve witnessed 4 rom-coms in past 4 weeks. It’s fine, just fine but because of overdose I am not able to connect to it.

Best thing about Anu Menon’s film is that it’s just 100 mins long and worst thing is that even in that short duration film unintentionally requests you to stare at your watch, yawn & even take a nap. ‘Before Sunrise’ had sharp & captivating conversations. It had power to hypnotize viewer but LPNY doesn’t have such power. Only two scenes stand out in the whole film, one’s when Lalitha translates one couple’s cocky & sexy discussion in male voice in our national language & another one’s in climax when Nikhil portrays his frustration & rage.  

Acting of both fluctuates after every few minutes and as the film contains only them it becomes easy to point out. Both look charming, both have enormous sex appeal but their absurd dialogue delivery & inconsistency in acting is unapologetic.

And yes, Ali Zafar’s music qualifies to enter my playlist but I am sure it won’t stay for long time. Cinematography is splendid & glowingly captures the essence of all the 3 cities. 

Concepts of feminism and banter related to “mills & boon” are sure to bore you but if you are in dilemma about where to go for honeymoon then you should watch this film. 

Rating: 1.5/5

  

Laughter Barrel !!

Film: Carnage
Director: Roman Polanski
Cast: Christoph Waltz, Kate Winslet, Jodie Fosterand & John C. Reilly
Genre: Drama | Comedy



Plot of Roman Polanski’s ‘Carnage’ reminds me of my school days. When I used to exchange blows in school with fellow mates I used to set one condition in advance i.e. after the fight is over, however wicked is the consequence, none of us is allowed to drag parents to settle the accounts. Here, kids are not having any ethics. One nefarious kid breaks other kid’s two teeths by smacking them with stick and their parents meet to establish peace treaty.


Alan and Nancy Cowan (Christoph Waltz and Kate Winslet) are actually the winners because it was their son who understood Charles Darwin’s theory at an early age and smacked other kid but if one thinks logically then one may reach to a conclusion that kid must be a die-hard Salman Khan fan. Penelope and Michael Longstreet (Jodie Fosterand & John C. Reilly) are the sufferers, who invite Alan and Nancy for sorting out this despicable event. 

Polanski’s film is based on Yasmina Reza’s play “God of Carnage”. Clocking at around just 75 mins, film offers hell lot of laughs. In their juvenile & brainless effort to solve the issue, we witness everything from outrageously silly comments to that four letter word being extensively used to appropriately convey their anger, frustration and pain. Soon they forget the real issue and brag about their disgruntled married life. One of the prime reasons why this film works is the atmosphere of dubiousness created by Polanski. At every next minute, characters come up with something unimaginable and infinitely stupid. I must say, no other film in recent times has used cellphone so cleverly. 


All the four actors are in top form, but ladies deserve applause. Nancy on one hand is sorry for Penelope’s son but on other hand she’s not ready to admit that her son was the root cause of the quarrel. Both ladies succeed to portray mother’s heart. 


Carnage is fantastically adapted & offers non-stop laughter. After a long time, I enjoyed foolhardiness of characters. 


Rating: 3.5/5