CineSketches_The Fault in Our Stars

Size and Scale:

Fits All! A romantic flick with an unusual drama. Definitely makes you start loving yourself and the near and dear ones more, after understanding what can be the extreme situations in life. Not exactly 10 on 10 but a lot closer to that. Must watch!   

CineScope:

Well it could have been an usual story of teenage love between Haze (Hazel) and Gus (Augustine) who are studying , falling in love with each other and with situations creating some drama. What if the situations are way too drastic than one can imagine? So unfortunately both of them are cancer patients, at later stages of the disease and knowing that they are not going make it longer. The 2+ hour movie traverses through the graphs of emotional lows and occasional highs in their lives, or probably the efforts made by them, their parents and friends to create those highs, moves us inside out. It is also about the very sensitive  element of parenting the kids with such diseases and dealing with very delicate mindset of such kids. It's also about the caring, the enthusiasm, and the determination to realize self and others dreams during the curtailed span of life. 

BFB (Bang For the Buck):

A very apt title. Both the leads were played by very young actors Shailene  Woodley (Haze) and Ansel Elgort (Gus). While Shailene has potential to become the next Jodi Foster or Sandra Bullock, Ansel definitely is the next Leonardo DiCaprio. Even after knowing the movie consists of some traumatic situations, you'd watch it for their outstanding performances, and for occasional lighter and humorous moments, for their funny friend Isaac (played Nat Wolf) and a cameo by none other than William Dafoe. It takes time to understand the  importance of William Dafoe's shabby, drunkard, and annoying character.  

 

My High!

1. Scene depicting the 3 ailing friends at Gus's pre-funeral knowing his last days are nearing.  And then they speak his eulogies. Very unusual situation and very touching.

2. In the end when Haze first refuses to take / read the piece of paper which she receives at Gus's funeral, and then after reading the crumpled paper the emotions unfold for Haze as well as for us, makes us take a bow at the writing prowess.

 

And the Award goes to…./ ScreenEsha Speaks

1. Both Shailene and Ansel have already received multiple awards at junior / certain levels. They may even be considered for the Golden Globe / Academy awards.

2. John Green's novel (by the same name) would be in the race at Oscars for best story.

3. Josh Boone the Director may have his share at least for his nomination.

 

YO & U

CineSketches_LUCY

Size and Scale:
Game for somewhat emotional,  and also a bit more logical sci-fi Hollywood/Western flick? Lucy it is then for you! Fits All, even though has some violence. Lucy is the new 'Terminator', and boy it is amazing. 10 out of 10!

CineScope:

Based on a theory that for ages human beings have been using only 10% of their brain capacity, what if it can be a little more than that, or what if it can operate at the full 100% levels. Sounds simple, but not it is. Lucy briefly refers to the first hominid /ape / human registered in the history, but then the story revolves around another Lucy of the current era - played by the beautiful Scarlett Johansson. While studying / working as an ex-pat in Taipei and living normal life of a young woman, how she gets trapped, becomes a drug mule and what makes her develop and use 100% of her brain capacity is all about Lucy!

BFB (Bang For the Buck):

I was captivated right from the moment I watched the promos in the theater. For the very theme and for Scarlet Johansson, not just for her :-) but for her being in a completely different role from her on-screen image. True-blue Sci-Fi, but from 80s /90s,somewhat like 'The Terminator', and probably NOT from the Matrix era. In short the special effects are minimal and it also tries and covers the emotions while dealing with, literally and 'explodingly!' increasing capacity of the brain. No futuristic gadgets,  gizmos, or aliens, spaceships etc. but the sci-fi that gets straight to your heart / or probably into the brain :-)

My High!

1. I could relate to the theme (100% usage of brain) as I experienced (need not to be believed though:-)) something similar. Me and a couple of friends visited Swami Kriyananda's (foremost disciple of Yogananda Parmahansa) Anand-Ashram near Pune on 1 January 2011. He was recognized as the eminent spiritual Guru in the world. Everyone in the hall attended the session that day, could get a chance to take his blessings. While he was doing that and I looked at him for a moment, I felt as if he has scanned me completely and knows everything about me and also about every single person in the hall. The gaze was so powerful and was just out of the world, as if he is God / Superhuman / Someone using his powers / brains to infinite levels.

And the Award goes to…./ ScreenEsha Speaks

Probably 4 Academy Award Nominations, may not be a winner though:
1. Scarlett Johansson best actress, and Luc Besson the director, Luc again for the Writing and the  Best Picture.

YO & U

CineSketches_Mardaani

Size and Scale:
Even if 'ata tumchi satakali asel' still you won’t mind watching ‘Mardaani’ and still acknowledging the Police in the latter. ‘Must Watch’ in a theater with (respective :-)) spouses / friends. Though has some abusive language and violence (Doesnt fit All). It's 10 on 10 movie.

CineScope:
A Senior Police Inspector, who dresses, talks and  acts like real life police. It’s about some Policemen (err) and their values, doing right things to help society, and without any preaching.  Also subtly touches upon their stressful work and personal lives.  And did I mention Policeman - Oops the Senior Inspector is played by Rani Mukherjee (Shivani Shivaji Roy!). But then do you want to classify it as a woman centric film? That will be a bit of disrespect towards the overall theme of the film. The raw language and action makes it more realistic against movies wherein HEROS ’banging 20 villains and 10 cars jsut with their ‘dhai or whatever kilo ka haath’. 

BFB (Bang For the Buck):
Zanjeer of today's era and the first time the Angry Young Woman genre has actually worked for the Hindi Movies. Rani at her best, should get her worth after this movie. Puts her in the leagues of Madhuri, Vidya Balan (read utterly versatile) of recent period. She is superlative delivering Mumbai (slang / offeding) Marathi and Hindi, comic, emotional and action scenes. The Pradeep Sarkar we know of was for his gentle movies like Parineeta. But the anger that is shown here makes you feel like getting into that situation and fighting it out with all those Goons and Dons. The new age villain portrayed by Tahir Bhasin actually compliments/successfully generates the anger to make Rani’s character even stronger. Hats off to Rani, Pradeep da! and probably to the editor for keeping it crisper, under 2 hours. 

My High!
1.       A crime scene - Goons smashing and breaking a shop. Shivani the inspector dashes in. And asks them to stop in a true Department (read Police) tone. The goons still mistook her for just a woman. Shivani starts slapping the goon and counts a penal code for the crime they committed for every slap. For ages we are used to see Senior Bachhan doing that so convincingly on the Silver Screen.
2.       Several other moments which take the experience to next level purely by Rani's portrayal of Inspector Roy. Simply put she has made the 'Angry Young Woman' genre and 'Shivani Roy' character immortal.

And the Award goes to…./ ScreenEsha Speaks
1.       Multiple awards for Rani and Pradeep Sarkar and for the Picture
2.       Hopefully we'd get to see more of Rani in these roles and off-course Pradeep Da! as well
3.       a) More movies of this genre in Hindi  b) probably Mardaani be either remade in Indian Regional Cinema,  c) this genre would be explored more in Indian Regional Cinema. 

Yo & U!

CineBits_'How Old Are You'

It was my second stab at the regional cinema in the recent times and incidentally both were Malayalam movies. Have watched loads of regional cinema on DD during late 80s,early 90s, when the satellite channels were yet emerging and DD was creative in its own ways as the ‘sky’ is not dictated by the western media tycoons. While ‘Drishyam’ was recommended by an inspirational colleague, and will be remembered for the story telling and for Mohanlal’s awesome performance, ‘How Old Are You’ will be remembered for the tribute to the Indian woman and a superb portrayal by Manju Warrier.

It’s about a middle aged woman, a homemaker in a small town of Kochi and the finer aspects of her life initially dealing with her mundane and unsatisfactory government job, a teenage school going and daunting daughter, a loving but negligent husband, and her tryst with the graying hairs. And then later on the moments which phenomenally change her as a person, regaining her self-respect, confidence, and becoming an entrepreneur, creating rewarding jobs in the neighborhood, and promoting an environment friendly culture.

A must watch for the Déjà Vu with Erin Brokovich and English Vinglish, and an equally compelling performance by Manju, which is her come back movie after a long hiatus of 15 years. And also for the overall feel good factor about India!

Yo&U.....

CineSketch_Begin Again

Size and Scale:

Fits All! ‘Must Watch’ in a theater while you pay for friends and family! Home collection too! 10 on 10!

CineScope:

One of the best Hollywood musicals of recent times. Very successful / talented Dan’s (Mark Ruffalo)  career is nose-diving along side a troubled marriage, making him alcoholic. Gretta (Kiera Knightly) who has devoted her teen / young life for her boyfriend’s career but who has cheated on her. It’s about Dan and Gretta’s struggle and then beginning again successfully in their respective lives with unparallel passion and conviction.

BFB (Bang For the Buck):

Must watch for the songs, for songs Kiera sung and enacted on screen, for Mark Ruffalo‘s drunkard  but a very passionate song producer. For the wonderful chemistry between both of them and for lots of beautiful tracks that will last in your memories forever.

My High!

Incidentally both are songs:

1.       Song ‘A Step You Can't Take Back’: Cut 1: At a bar Gretta was pushed by her friend to sing this even though she is not prepared, and she sings beautifully w/o any supporting instruments. Cut 2 – Dan in the audience at the same bar, the  very moment, heavily drunk, having a great ear for the music, immediately picks up this song, and starts composing it adding and orchestrating various instruments IN HIS MIND. Directorial marvel!  And he thus sees a Superstar in Gretta

2.       Song ‘Like a Fool’: Comes at an emotional turning point in Gretta’s life. Just the light bass guitar, subtle keyboard and Kiera Knightley’s soft but very sad voice and equally deep portrayal of emotions. Unforgettable!

ScreenEsha Speaks:

At least 2 Oscar nominations and most likely a  win at 2015 Academy Awards.

1.       Mark Ruffalo: Best Supporting actor

2.       Best Original Background Score

3.       Best Original Soundtrack from one of the above

4.       Kiera Knightley: May be for the Best Actress

Yo&U......

CineLogs_Apur Panchali

London - Summer of 2014 - It's been a while now being in London and amongst few other key things, one thing that I'm surviving on is the 'Cineworld - Unlimited Card'. One can watch plenty of global cinema at a negligible price. Got to watch a number of Hollywood, Hindi, and Indian regional movies over last 08 odd months but surprisingly, only a few were notable amongst those.

While getting out of the movie hall after watching 'Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhaniya' , well hold-on, I'm not talking about that one here :-)…. So a girl was distributing leaflets in the theatre and unlike every other time when I humbly decline any requests for picking the leaflets, I went over to her and collected one, knowing there's certainly something interesting for me. And I am glad I did that. The leaflet was for the 5th London Indian Film Festival (LIFF), and opened up Pandora of events which proved to be the most memorable week over last one year stay at London. Fortunately in midst of gruelling but containing work week, I could cover 2 movies and 2 interviews . But incidentally it wasn’t planned. The leaflet was actually a small brochure enlisting 12-15 films at various venues in London. And 2 movies definitely caught my attention, one was Apur Panchali and the other one was Hemalkasa, both are coincidentally biopics. Could be because of the themes that interests me about human psyche and emotions as against the Sci-Fi and CGI effect movies.

It was a Monday evening and was on business calls till pretty late, could complete those just on time, and almost ran for the movie - It was Apur Panchali and I was 10 minutes late for a 97 minute movie. The hall at Cineworld Wembley was 70+% full, which was great knowing the movie is in Bengali with English subtitles and that even being first day of the week. Apart from being a biopic, the key reason I chose to watch was the love and respect I've nurtured for Satyajit Ray movies and especially for 'Pather Panchali.' I remember watching most of his movies screened on DD during 1992 after Ray's demise. It was DD's retrospective tribute to one of the most influential movie maker from India, who contributed not just to Indian but towards the World Cinema immensely. So I had real high hopes to see something similar to Ray's 'Body of Work' and to my surprise it was indeed the most captivating movie experience for next 80+ minutes.

The concept itself was very unique , on the real life of Apu - Subir Bannerjee who played the character of Apu in 'Pather Panchali' . The movie is about the elderly Subir Bannerjee in his mid 60's (~2005) and slowly unravelling his pshyche through the lens of a student who's also helping him to get his lost pride /persona back. The story shuffles across 3 levels, 1) the elderly Subir as of today (~2005), 2) his memories about Apu the character in Pather Panchali, Aparajito and Apur Sansar (from a child to young Apu in the trilogy), 3) the actual incidences in Subir's life from childhood to 60s, and which are strikingly similar with the reel life of Apu. Pather panchali which was released in 1955 and instantly became a global phenomenon, gave huge exposure to most of the movie crew including Apu played by Subir. However across all these years surprisingly the only movie in which Subir acted was Pather Panhcali. He couldn’t get selected for Aparajito, while Satyajit Ray was considering him but at the last moment it was given to someone else. And this reality haunted Subir for rest of his life, the fame he garnered at the age of 8-9 remained frozen there, and he had to live a very modest mill-worker initially and a PF officer life in the later part of his life.

The story is about his depression, feeling of a non-achiever, very short lived and lost glory in his childhood, and unfortunate events taking place in Subir'a life which are parallel to Apu's character which are multiplying all his frustrations. We see 2 different actors portraying Subir in Apur Panchali - Ardhendu Bannerjee the older Apu and Parambrata Chatterjee the young Apu. Ardhendu has underplayed the role just to show all the suffocation carried by Subir for almost 50+ years and definitely worth keeping the tone of the character very subtle. Parambrata (inspector in 'B'idya Balan's Kahani) is probably played the role of a lifetime - Showed the emotions with great intensity. Lived Apu in totality. Parno Mitra looks very graceful and loving all the time playing young Apu's wife. Cinematography and music are at a level which definitely resembles and camouflages with the texture of Ray's work.

But the highlight is the script and direction - The very concept and an equally intense presentation is unparallel. Ray's movies are altogether at different level, but Apur Panchali definitely gives any Ray fan a reason to relive those moments. In fact it's more apt to watch all that, than capturing here in the bllg. The first thing I did after getting out of the movie hall was to call Paresh in LV, to discuss about the movie (sheer excitement and nostalgia). Fortunately he is in the decent timezone to get hold of at that moment @9 PM BST. The reason being, we used to watch those art-house dramas and movies together 20 years back and there could not have been a better person that I know of, to talk about this masterpiece. The second person was Partha (fortunately in London) who's again a big fan of Ray's work.

Even though the movie was only about 97 minutes long (and while I started 10 minutes late), towards the end I had a feeling of getting over with a sumptuous and heavenly 7 course meal. The other feeling I got was of the strange but positive sequence of events occurred right from me collecting the leaflet, making it to the movie without even planning for it -but like someone is pulling me to the theatre. I don’t see a reason why it shouldn’t get the highest level of acknowledgements across film festivals and awards globally. This should be India's movie of the decade. This was just the start of one of the most happening, positive and soothing weeks that I've experienced in last several years. Will try and capture the essence of rest of the week some other time.

For the time being, Hats Off to the Indian cinema and long live Satyajit Ray and Apu!

YO&U....