Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Why you must watch “Madras Café”?


Plenty of films release every Friday (These days even Wednesdays & Thursdays!). Some are good, some are bad and some are entertainers while some are class apart- Special. Madras Café (MC) falls in the last category.

Coming from a director par excellence like Shoojit Sircar who has the range to tell stories from a poignant romance amidst a war torn & tense Kashmir (Yahan) to the rib-tickling story of a sperm donor (Vicky Donor); MC is a sleek, gritty, precise and above all a ‘sincere-brave’ film.

Although claimed to be a fictional account (For obvious reasons), the film is a narrative of the what went behind the assassination of India’s ex PM. This- by itself- makes it a thrilling adventure to look forward. These are subjects we have blamed film-makers to be immature to handle. Someone has done it now, Its our turn to rise up and patronize that effort! However, what makes the film even more humane and heart wrenching is how it reveals to us the lives of all those faceless and nameless individuals (Officials of RAW, IB, NIA etc.) who strive day in & day out to keep us safe and respectable as a nation; as a society.

Without ever deviating from the gritty crux of the plot, Sircar’s direction and the screenplay by Shubendhu Bhattacharya & Dusan Tolmac effortlessly explores these “behind-the-scenes” people. The trauma they endure, the politics they battle and the losses they suffer makes you want to meet them wherever they may be, look into their eyes and say- “Thank you sir…Thank you”.

I never thought I did endorse a John Abraham film! But Sircar casts Abraham to do precisely what he can do best and even betters it. Likewise, before MC, I was terrified to watch Nargis Fakhri “act” after suffering her first outing but then again a perfect casting can turn perception on its head! Cast as a tough war correspondent, raised abroad, Nargis never speaks a letter of hindi and thus gets deliverance from the sin called- Rockstar! The supporting cast is refreshing (Siddharth Basu, Piyush Pandey!) and extremely believable when they mouth their lines. The action is top notch, the background score is spot on and the fact that there are no songs in the film is the biggest proof of how sincere the makers have been to the story and therefore to “us”- the audience.

The “bravery” bit comes from the sheer initiative Sircar & John Abraham (Co- Producer) have taken to make a film on this subject. The protests and threats against the film are proof of the fact that here is story that the powers above don’t want us to know! To invest so much time, effort and money in such a film is commendable and proud moment for Hindi films.

After the success of “Vicky Donor”, Shoojit Sircar had the luxury to make any number of “light on the mind” entertainers with big names, plenty of dance numbers and a riot of color. Instead, he chose a story that would make us ask questions, would make us think and wonder of what actually happened back in that time and more importantly what could be happening now!!!

Not every Friday (Wednesday or Thurday) does such an experience happen. Go take it. 

Monday, August 12, 2013

Chennai Express- Its a Rohit Shetty ride!


There are certain films which you do not judge as a whole. Instead, you sit through them and measure your 'experience per sequence!'

These are films that require you NOT to reason. One sequence follows another and no matter how illogical or obnoxious it may seem, all you have to do is to note whether you are being entertained or not.

Rohit Shetty has made these kind of films. He is not at all apologetic about it and makes no claims of being a classic filmmaker for the intelligentsia. If he is being so honest and upfront it is downright moronic of whoever looks to find meaning in his cinema. Why critics search for “Nuances” and “Character layering” in Shetty’s films is beyond me?! What is further atrocious is the critics’ knee jerk reaction to look down upon anything that does not have long silences or subtle colors! The moment any film is colorful, loud and jingoistic- the critics find it below themselves to like it. Its a risk they prefer to avoid! Alas…

Chennai Express is a fun film. Whether it is good or not depends entirely on what kind of mood you are in and how open you are to react to jokes! If you go in the hall with as much honesty of expectations as Shetty makes his comic capers with then you shall come out satisfied. For on all counts that Rohit Shetty has promised… he has delivered and much more.

I was entertained. I enjoyed the buffoonery of Shah Rukh Khan, I loved the cuteness of Deepika, I laughed at the gags, tapped my feet at the songs and flinched at the fights and what’s more is that I found nothing forced; making the “much more” part completely justified!

Get on the train baby... but travel light- no expectations! Your journey will be fun!