Cinema & society: The Obsession for Entertainment

Entertainment, entertainment and entertainment. 

That's the problem with 'Bollywood' or probably everything around us. We want to get entertained in everything that we listen or see on screen.

So, when the cars go flying in hot pursuits and heroes indulge in gravity-defying acrobatics, it gives us our dose of adrenaline rush and quenches our thirst of thrill, it satiates our craving for violence and sex, or in fine, emotions which otherwise we are not able to express. 

In our repressed society, most live like slaves jailed in our own cage, enslaved to our secrets, bottling everything inside. So we like to suck up all the on-screen delicacies, licking every drop of melting mussy love or erotica that Bollywood serves us.

No matter, how much the critics cry foul or the fans of Indian cinema smirk or scream in shame, such commercial potboilers will continue to be dished out and savored by the audience, who are so burdened by their everyday responsibilities of life that there is no space or time in their heart and mind to watch a real life story. 

Reality bores us. So we prefer to stay away from cinema which pinches us or questions our reality. So, a movie like 'Perched, Court' or 'Aligarh' or any film dealing with human trafficking or on any social issue will not have many takers, unless, they are written and portrayed with dollops of correct comic timings and carried on the shoulders of some big star. 

And if it so happens that a star acts in such a film, and the movie sinks, it further dissuades him and fellow actors to tread the path again and thus the circle of life continues. 

We all are stuck in this virtual world for eternity and nothing will push us to change that, although most of the film aficionados, who believe Cinema as an art, strive to bring that change.

Sometimes some exceptional story is told in an extraordinary way by filmmakers such as Anurag Kashyap, Dibakar Banerjee, Vishal Bharadwaj and Shoojit Sarkar but most find it hard to find that balance, either turning it into a tear-jerker or a mockery in the name of comedy.

So the story continues. We don't want to see the bitter world around us. We don't want to see why so many people, army and civilians alike, are dying in Kashmir or northeast India or at the red corridor, we don't want to see how voices were crushed during the emergency, we don't want to see how people were stuck in a quagmire of emotions during the Sikh or Gujarat riots or partitions, we don't want to see the blood or hear the screams. 

No one wants to see the reasons which drives individuals to take decisions, No one wants to see the realities that dictates one's action. Probably we are either stuck in our so called self-righteous moral arrogance or we don't want to accept the truth because we are just too comfortable living a life we have learnt to believe in our mind as truth or perhaps we have forgotten the art of listening, observing and learning.

In a country, where most people still fight over what we eat, read, wear or look, cinema could have been a medium to bring that change in perception. It could have been a platform to educate them about the changing scenario around us, teach them about the taboos and social evils that plague this country, problems which is eating our roots away. 

Where education failed, cinema could have been that bridge of enlightenment.

A postmortem of 'Baar Baar Dekho'

Often crystal stones can hide amidst diamonds but when they are all by themselves, the lie gets noticed and they are exposed, sometimes too easily. While this could be a poor analogy to make, Siddhartha Malhotra and Katrina Kaif suffers from a similar fate in 'Baar Baar Dekho'.

The two actors with tremendous screen presence flourished in scenes where they have to dance, sing and act all cutie-pie but fails when have to emote raw human emotions. Better actors would have hold on the attention for longer time. Of course, even that perhaps would not have been enough to save this film because of the poor script and screenplay.

In Indian film industry, we have not experimented with the idea of time travel or repetition of a day like in films 'GroundHog day' or 'Time travellers wife'. So in that respect, there was novelty in the idea for Indian audience. But it is a cut-throat world where implementation matters more than intentions and the film doesn't deliver much in that respect.

Like most rom-com from Dharma productions, the film is bright and vibrant in colours and texture and looks very slick with good music. But the banality of all that happens in the script is a problem.

The fact that the protagonist skipping timeline of his life is the main plot of the film, it is introduced too late and with comic treatment. The film lacks in enough twists and details that can create the confusion which needs a resolution in the end and drags to deliver the message.

Also Jay being a mathematical genius doesn't affect the film in anyway. His ambition to research on vedic time travel also doesn't affect because it wasn't actually a time travel film like 'About time' or Time Travellers Wife. It was more of magic realism.

If the character would have used his knowledge of vedic science to resolve this problem then it would have mattered. It was afterall more a story of an ambitious man who doesn't give time to family to follow his dream but he not realising it for most parts is a rare stupidity that doesn't suit such a mathematical genius.

Baar Baar Dekho is not the worst film that have been made on relationship but it lacks clarity and enough punch to entertain or interest the audience. So another opportunity lost because it had potential of being something different for Indian film industry.

Sadly for Katrina, after 'Fitoor' it is her second flop. Both films had interesting story line but lacked implementation. For Siddhartha, it is a wake up call to work harder on his acting skills to come back stronger with his next film.

SRK back with a bang with 'FAN'

It is all about saying sorry in the end.

Fan is a dialogue between a star and his fan. Its about mutual respect for each other. It is about not crossing that fine line and it is about saying sorry, sometimes even if you are not wrong.

Over the years, SRK has gained this reputation of being rude.someone who despite all the stardom have equally gained the criticism after being involved in various incidents whether it is Wankhade stadium or it is slapping Shirish Kunder. SRK has, in fact, confessed in an interview that he is not someone who can say sorry easily and it has affected his relation with many. So in that context, Fan is his answer to his fans and critics alike.              

Fan shows why SRK's fans expect so much from him. He was refreshing and spontaneous as a young Gaurav. The way he brings forth the ethos of a fan, I don't think any of the new comers could do. As Aryan Khanna, SRK has played a narcissist character, who is willing to dance in weddings for money and can sometimes take shit from the wealthy to keep his stardom. But at the same time, he is also human deep inside. In short, SRK did justice to both the roles - a star and a fan.

One may argue with the climax or the violence of protagonist Gaurav, who is over obsessed with the star but perhaps the idea was to hammer down the point home through a violent character because most fans are not psycho.

The action chase scenes, whether it is escaping from Delite hotel or up and down the roof tops, was well executed. Though it reminds of some scenes of Hollywood action movie but it is racy with fast edits. Jazzy music during the tussle in the cyber cafe was also good.

However, Director Maneesh Sharma and screen play writer Habib Faisal should have spent more time on the script in the second half where Gaurav has a go at his idol. Here logic goes for a toss. Why to take the trouble of going through 3D scanning for a younger and different look only to blow all the difference away in the second half?

If one can look away from such loopholes, Fan will prove to be an enjoyable ride for any film aficionados who has loved his anti-hero roles in films such as Darr, Baazigar and Anjaam.

In fine, Fan is a homecoming of an actor who seemed to have lost himself in stardom and number game.

P.S.     For argument sake, probably a star would have done the same with someone who used violence to reach out to him. But possibly an interaction with him first would have been a better approach considering the fact that not always a fan takes law into own hands to meet his idol. But then a star will always execute more caution before meeting someone who has managed to thrash another star.

The concept of an obsessed fan is not new and has been used in many Hollywood films in the past but SRK's FAN is nothing like it. Here are few links which gives a glimpse:

http://www.bollywoodlife.com/news-gossip/robert-de-niros-the-fan-kathy-bates-misery-5-hollywood-films-shah-rukh-khans-fan-looks-inspired-from/

Why 'Fan' is a make-or-break film for SRK?

A man from nowhere became the star of Bollywood. 

Call him "Baadshah of Bollywood", "King of Bollywood" or "King Khan", Shah Rukh has charmed the world for more than two decades with his exuberance and charisma but then stardom weighed heavy on him and he became so busy to fight gravity and keep his throne that the actor slowly faded away. He kept giving hits after hits, riding the number game but his role and his portrayals were repetitive and uni-dimensional. 

However, his next two releases Maneesh Sharma's Fan (releasing on April 15) and Rahul Dholakia's Raees seems like a step in the right direction and give a glimmer of hope for a star to find his soul again.

When Shah Rukh was yet to be discovered, Amir and Salman had already arrived. With Qayamat se Qayamat Tak (1988) and  Maine Pyar Kiya (1989), both Amir and Salman had already tasted success, taking Bollywood by storm, stealing the hearts of many a fans with their boyish charm. 

Amir further cemented his place in the industry with Dil (1990), Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin (1991), Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar (1992), Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke (1993), Andaz Apna Apna (1994) and Raja Hindustani (1996), for which he won his first Filmfare Award for Best Actor. 

Salman, on the other hand, left many women weak at their knees when he hit Madhuri Dixit with a catapult in Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! (1994). It actually had struck the hearts of his female fans and led to huge following, putting him at the top of the most eligible bachelor's list.

Shah Rukh, meanwhile, was trying to chart a new territory for himself with films such as Darr (1993), Baazigar (1993) and Anjaam (1994) after making his debut with Deewana (1992). Such roles earned him appreciation but also criticism for playing violent roles as the society then was not okay with such kind of portrayals.

But then something happened which changed everything. In exactly mid 90s, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995) happened to SRK and it opened up a new world of super stardom which only grew bigger with films such as Dil To Pagal Hai (1997), Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998) and Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (2001). He had earned the key to success, winning the heart of All and Sundry.

In the new millennium, however, the definition and dynamics of love seemed to have changed. But Shah Rukh still continued to rule the roost with films such as Mohabbatein (2000) and Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (2001), Devdas (2002), Swades (2004), Chak De! India (2007).

Amir, meanwhile, had found his calling in meaningful cinema that spoke about social and youth issues but also entertained. Films such as Lagaan (2001), Dil Chahta Hai (2001), Rang De Basanti (2006) and Taare Zameen Par (2007), were poignant and meaningful and also set the cash register ringing. Shah Rukh too sharpened his acting prowess and played the role of a character with Asperger's syndrome in Karan Johor's My Name Is Khan (2010). 

However, a new benchmark to gauge a film's success had emerged by the late 2000 -- '100 crores'. What followed was a maddening race among filmmakers, producers and actors to get their films into the '100 crore' club.

Interestingly, Salman, who went through a dark phase in the new millennium where he did more than 30 films but none matched his past rewards, emerged as the most consistent member of this club with film such as Wanted (2009), Dabangg (2010), Bodyguard (2011), Ek Tha Tiger (2012), Kick (2014) and Bajrangi Bhaijaan (2015) -- earning him unprecedented stardom. Amir also tried to balance it with Ghajini (2008), 3 Idiots (2009), Dhoom 3 (2013) and PK (2014).

However, Shah Rukh found himself sandwiched between two kinds of cinema dished out by the other two Khans. 

After Yash Chopra's last picture, Jab Tak Hai Jaan (2012), SRK starred in Rohit Shetty's Chennai Express (2013), Farah Khan's Happy New Year (2014) and Dilwale (2015) alongside Kajol. All the films were profitable but SRK received a lot of brickbats for his uni-dimensional portrayal of characters which seemed hollow and stale.

Shah Rukh is intelligent enough to know that the audience is changing and what he needs to do to woo them back. He can no more just seat back and play to the gallery like Salman or weave it like Amir and neither does he want to leave his fans to move away from him. 

Here lies the importance of Maneesh Sharma's Fan (releasing on April 15), where he is once again challenging himself to play a character which is obsessed and violent, a role which shows glimpses of his past portrayals in films such as Darr and Anjaam. 

From the trailer, the film seems to have been written interestingly, pitching an actor who had dared to tread uncharted territories and had caught the imagination of his fans in his earlier days against an actor that he has become over the years.

His dual roles of a superstar and his fan provides that double dose of SRK which even his critics are waiting to watch and if he can pull off something which Kangana Ranaut did with aplomb in Tanu weds Manu returns, it is surely going to shut the critics and win him many more hearts.

In fact, Rahul Dholakia's Raees (SRK's next release), co-starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui is another film which will decide which way his stardom goes.

The swordmanship of Kohli

Virat Kohli is a tattooed swordsman who knows how to paint with his sword.

One who wears his heart on his sleeves, Kohli has always dared to express his emotions on field. Not one to shy away from difficult situations whether it is a fight on the field or a verbal duel, Kohli has also shown he has the stomach to learn from his mistakes.

For someone who has been in fluent form for what seems forever, Kohli has shown that words such as "form" doesn't exits in his lexican. His shots against Australia tonight at the World twenty20 were all copybook cricketing shots, whether it was the leg glances, cover drives, straight drives or the shots where he opened the face of the bat at the last moment or the pulls using his bottomhand. Each of these shots would have made his icon Sachin Tendulkar proud.

The way he ran between the wickets seemed he could have given Usain Bolt a complex. Yuvraj Singh, despite all the good intentions, had slowed the chase because he was not able to respond to Kohli's calls for twos. But that didn't upset Kohli, instead the Delhi cricketer dug his heels and kept walking slowy and steadily towards the target, knowing fully well his time will come.

This innings once again proves that he has reached a stage where he dictates the terms of his innings. The maturity he shows on field has glossed over the brazenness that gave him bad press in the past. It seems he has a compass inside his head which knows which way to go, something which works on auto-mode. It only proves that in no time, he has become one of the cricketing geniuses who will end at the top spot in the hall of fame.

There is no doubt, Kohli will go down in history as the best batsmen in the world because never ever in the history of international cricket, any other batsmen has won his team more matches from such precarious situation. Not even legendary Sachin Tendulkar. Even Australia's Mike Hussey and Michael Bevan will take a bow before this new master of cricket. He certainly shut a certain Mitchell Johnson, who will be eating his words!!!

Why Aligarh is not to be missed

Aligarh is not for an audience, whose glass is already full as nothing will help to change his or her views, leave a casual viewing of the film.

     Aligarh is yet another masterpiece from director Hansal Mehta. It tells the story of a man who loved poetry and music, taught Marathi to the students of one of the premier universities of India but yet faced the wrath of a morally arrogant society for his sexual preference and ultimately his controversial death.



    The long shot capturing the incident that happened in that fateful night on February 8th, 2010 sets the film in motion. Whether it is the dirty jokes which the two characters who filmed the incident is concerned or it is the production design of the rooms, the detailing of the film was done to perfection.



     The film captures the loneliness of the protagonist poignantly with the help of long close ups during the moments when he is drinks alone listening to Lata Mangeskar. The way the director portrays Dr Siras' slow alienation from society is commendable.                             


    The indifference with which this news debate of our prime time news channel are conducted was also showcased in one of the scenes in the film.

     As for the actors, Manoj Bajpai never ever slips even once in his portrayal of Dr Siras. His body language when he is sitting in the court room, his demeanor when he crooning a song or his mannerism when he conversing with people, Bajpai never leaves the character behind even for a second and his portrayal possibly should earn him a national award. Rajkumar Rao also does justice to his role as the young journalist. Never going over the top even once.


Questioning the Poor response

     Despite being a thoroughly researched and deftly directed film, Aligarh doesn't have many takers in the country as most of the cinema halls are running shows with most seats remaining vacated.

     Not that Director Hansal Mehta is bothered about box office collections. After all, here is a man who has showed the courage to make films such as Shahid and City Lights, both gems in their own rights, tackling issues which are more often than not brushed under the carpet by  Bollywood.

     But yet the question remains: Why a film like Aligarh doesn't get audience? Is it because it deals with Homosexuality? Is it because our morally arrogant society fears that it will corrupt our children or challenge our perception?

     Also is there a way to make such films more entertaining for the audience? I say entertaining because, the film doesn't fall short of engaging its audience, of course only if you are interested to know the truth or open to challenging your beliefs. An audience, whose glass is already full, nothing will help to change his views, leave a casual viewing of the film.

     I wondered, if there was a way to take it to the audience. But after a little ponder, I came to the conclusion that there was none because such an issue-based film cannot have a song encapsulating his pangs because it will break the flow and defeat the very claustrophobia that the director wants to create around the audience, a suffocation which Dr Siras went through in those last few months of his life.

     The director did try to use humour which are situational in a few places, something which a film like 'Talvaar' had done so beautifully despite tackling a tricky subject. But again 'Talvaar' was a murder mystery which had a lot of characters (Police and other people involved in investigation) to play with, whereas, here it was a case which was not even thoroughly debated or probed.   

   Probably, that is also the reason why the film leaves a lot of questions behind. There are scenes which leaves things open ended because perhaps in reality there has not been enough investigation to find those answers.

     In fine, Aligarh is a must-watch which raises a lot of questions, not all of them have been answered. While we can't find those answers legally, probably as a society we can look at ourselves in the mirror and go beyond the labels which we put on everything and find answers to those questions with empathy and may be it will help us to shed the burden of our age-old perceptions.

Oscars & Our films

A million butterflies subsided inside the stomach of fans as they let off let a sigh a relief after Leonardo Dicaprio finally received his best actor award at the 88th Academy awards for 'The Revenant'. Not that, it is Leo's best work till date but given the plethora of work that he has done over the years, it seemed almost unfair that he didn't receive it earlier.

'The Revenant' also earned a successive best director award for Alejandro González Iñárritu. Needless to say about the talent of this Mexican, who burst into the scene with his "Death Trilogy" comprising Amores perros (2000), 21 Grams (2003) and Babel (2006). Though, he has made films such as 'Biutiful (2010) and won the Oscar for Birdman (2014) last year, the death trilogy remains one of his best work.

The Revenant has a revenge story which has been done and dusted around the world, including India but what brings the film alive is its setting in the wilderness of the 1980s, its cinematography and performances. So it is a welcome decision that it didn't win the best film, rather that award went to 'spot light' which depicts the investigative journalism which went into uncovering the sexual abuses of the church.

'Spot light' reminds us about two films which I had watched during my growing up days -- All the President's Men (1976) and The Killing fields (1984). Another film which I liked recently was Kill the Messenger (2014), which also had a similar investigative journalism theme.

I wonder when we will make such films in India. After all, we too had our shares of investigative reporting in the last 60 years.

'Room' and 'The Danish Girl' fetched Brie Larson the Best Actress award and Alicia Vikander the Best Supporting Actress respectively. Both the films have got a thumbs up from the audience and I too want to watch them as soon as possible.

The actor who received the Best Supporting Actor prize for Steven Spielberg's 'Bridge of Spies' is Mark Rylance. Bridge of Spies is a amazing story set in the cold war and has such a power-packed performance from none other than two-time academy award winner Tom Hanks. But yet, it is Rylance who stole the show with his measured portrayal of a soviet spy arrested in US. The film is an extraordinary story of grit and human empathy that leaves you overwhelmed. May be Bollywood too can try out their hands, making a film on the time when KGB agents penetrated India during the 1970s or may be about the forgotten spies who were part of India's covert wars with Pakistan.

Coming back to the Oscars, one film that deserves mentions is Mad Max: Fury Road, the craziest film that I have seen in my life. This reboot of the late 1970s and 1980s, Mad Max was so different from the original and so creative that it made everybody awestruck with its sound design, editing and deservingly, it won a host of technical awards, including Best Editing, Best Costume Design and Best Production Design.

Well, all that is dark in Indian cinema tough. In Bollywood itself, with films such as Talwar, Haider, Gangs of Wasseypur, Neerja, Airlift, Baby and a few others, we too are slowly and steadily trying our hands in telling different stories of life and struggle. We have a treasure trove of good cinema in regional film industry and the Bollywood stalwarts need to encourage and invest in them to help in succeeding our own Oscar dream.