Befikre! Sure enough, Please don’t bother

This was the most Befiker direction by Aditya Chopra so far. Sure enough, the movie was made in 50 days and may have been scripted in 50 minutes?. So what goes right with this one, for a lot has gone really wrong! -Ranveer Singh and Vani Kapur have given their best performance relative to the lousy script and screenplay. I am hoping and praying that poor Vani didn’t go through the knife just for this movie, maybe to look a little French. Her hardwork really shows, the chiseled Abs, a solid screen presence and the incredible dancing, but girl what happen to your face?

The movie begins with a breakup of Dharam (Ranveer Singh) and Shyra (Vani Kapoor) who are in a live-in relationship and are unable to cohabitate due to massive differences in lifestyles. Now, the movie makes a few jumps in the flash backs as to how they met and etc. So Dharam is from Karol Bagh in Delhi, and comes to Paris to work in a “Indian Comedy Club” ..Ok I didn’t know that Paris had so many Indians minus the Indian tourists to need that but let us play along. If the plot was in London or New York , perhaps, it would have been a little believable but I guess YRF has done pushing enough tourism on that side anyways, so time for Paris now. Sure enough Shyra the female protagonist  is a tourist guide part time (a lot other things part time- whew!) and she takes us around Paris. So well both Dharam and Shyra bump into each other at a party and dance their way smoothly in a live-in relationship with care a damn (befikre) and lets dare attitude. Now, back to present day, the couple comes back together as friends after a year with a Mushy breakup Anniversary celebration. The drama  starts with the handsome, cultured, Oxford graduate Anay coming in to the picture, who is interested in marrying Shyra. All is well, but now Dharam and Shyra who are great friends are confused and the movie ends as you expect it, typical Indian way, so I am leaving it at that. I think the underlying idea of the movie was to show that relationships that start slow by building a friendship first, are stronger than the ones that are built on lust, but all is lost in over-dramatisation and unnecessary grandeur. So well Ranveer’s dialogue goes like apni toh lust story thi, love story nahi..something on those lines.

This movie could have been easily sponsored by some lingerie or Brief brand. Vani Kapoor has been a female Salman Khan,  getting her tops/shirts out in true style and Ranveer doing the same with his pants.  I wonder how this movie got a U/ A certification? I personally resent that .  It’s funny that how in a movie like Kahani 2 which is based on child sexual abuse, the subject matter is dealt with “like a bird and the bee talk” while here sexuality is just exaggerated without a purpose. Once again, NRI’s or Indian born abroad are portrayed literally people who are non-committal and confused, they are just different people- agreed, but not indifferent and insensitive. Also, I wonder what the deal about the movie ending in a church wedding, when neither the bride or the groom are Christian. So well go watch Paris and steamy kisses, if that works for you!.

Dear Zindagi about loving your life

A movie that was just not made for the sake of being a commercial success and I am so glad huge amount of risks taken with the story and concept,  for not everyone in the Indian Audience is going to really get this one and might even find this slow and rhetoric. I am now an even bigger fan of Gauri Shinde than I ever was, she has a subtle style of dealing with heavy subject matters and treating them with lightness and freshness that keeps the audience entertained as well bring to light some real life issues

The screenplay, art direction and cinematography are all brilliant and they really play along the plot (Goa) and mood of the characters. Alia Bhat is one engaging actress with immense potential, and \ all  Alia jokes are soon going to go out the window. She only seems to be growing as an actress and I really hope she continues to chose roles that challenge her.  Her styling for this movie is fantastic, a perfect combination of bohemian, artistic, elegant and young and she seems to have really worked for an extremely slim frame which makes her look way taller than she actually is.

Alia plays the character of Kaira, a young filmmaker  who has issues with her personal relationships and most importantly with  romantic relationships. Nothing seems to be going right and she loses sleep, which pushes her to reluctantly visit a therapist, Jehangir Khan / Jug (Played by Shahrukh Khan). The interaction between the two is weaved in to some witty/ funny dialogues and quotes rendered by SRK, whilst Kaira has her breakthroughs.  I know for sure that real life therapist's sessions are not so philosophical and  generic, but I guess this had to be made more entertaining and and less complex to connect with the audience . There are some real good generic takeaways for the audience and if you can relate to any of the situations that Kaira has been in, it does make sense  - "you do not have to go through difficulties to achieve something", "You do not have to face your fears unprepared", "you do not be afraid of being judged" and "you do not have to fit in to societal norms", "being true to yourself is the most important when you are in a relationship", "nobody is perfect" and "forgiveness is about loving yourself"

This movie breaks a lot of stereotypes, perhaps for the best, about seeking mental therapy or showing the female protagonist as someone who is out and about dating and dropping men.  Kunal, Aditya and Ali Zafar, just fill-in the story as Kaira's boyfriends and nothing more . I must add, watching an SRK movie with a friend who is a big fan was great fun and did she and a few others go Awww, so loud every time a dialogue was rendered in the cinema theatre, that kind of energy itself can work for the movie. I would recommend this movie to anyone who liked English Vinglish and who is not looking to be entertained by dance and songs. This movie could be pulled of as well as it has been, only because it has been written, scripted and directed by the same person.

Ae dil hai mushkil- Must kill myself to like this one!

(Pic Source: Wikipedia)

This movie is spot-on the tittle, just too hard to relate to or make sense of.  Karan Johar claims that he wrote the script in 9 days, well I would say, waste made in haste!. This movie is gives you the feeling of “I have seen this before” but not quite all of it from the same movies. So since this is a Dharma production, Yes,  there is the grandeur, the fabulous elegant sets, the beautiful scenic locales, the awesome makeup and designer wear but is that always going to work?.  For the first few minutes, you will quite enjoy the screenplay, the dialogues and the romance,  although the script seems trite, and so does the casting of the movie . For example, Ranbir in Rockstar and Ranbir in ADHM is no different- budding singer, whose friendship turns in to unrequited love. The story line only slightly different, in this they keep Ranbir (Ayan)rich, this is Dharma production so we have to have that, also here he never really gets the female protagonist to see the “lover in him”..Wow! after all that romance , you go like- there is no love!.   Oh come on!....placing the plot in Britan, doesn’t make the script any stronger and NRI’s are BTW not so confused about love.

The movie is about some sort of unrequited love thingy that is going in circles, Ayan loves Alizeh (Anushka Shrama) but Alizeh loves Ali (fawad Khan), Ali loves many women, including her ……so somewhere in the middle,  Ayan decides to romance Saba (Aishwarya rai), Saba loves no one but then she thinks she is going to love Ayan, so this is endless and hopeless… I call it a thingy because I DON’T GET IT!! The message that you take back home, if any, is that passion overrides care and compatibility in a romantic relationship.

Call me a traditionalist, but I would say that the character of Alizeh, is  actually all narcissistic and shallow which the director tries to shove it  down your throat for being rational, balanced, loving, caring etc. There was one scene that may perhaps be funny for the witty dialogues, where Alizeh drops insults over dinner conversation to  Ayan’s girlfriend, if you actually replay that scene in your head, you would go like how mean and cocky was that? Isn’t Alizeh actually a bully?. Aishwarya Rai does make some impression in the very short role she plays. However, even if the movie had to be re-shot with another actor replacing Fawad Khan, given the recent controversy, it wouldn’t have mattered, he hardly exists. The actor was wasted in any which way, with absolute no focus on him in the movie and barely any screen time

After two most stressful and hectic months of my life, I was desperate to watch a movie , the way I like it – “on the Big Screen” .  Getting to watch a Diwali release on its’ second day and that too an early morning 8.40 am show….folks not worth it..not this one! I am trying to wash this movie off my head by watching the SNL mock on the final US presidential  debate, over and over again and I sure cant get enough

Ki & Ka - it is not about gender equality

Ki & Ka…I go Balki wah wah!! What is so different about a Balki directed movie is purely the “smoothness” in the script. He has no jolts and bolts for you, despite addressing very serious issues on gender, old age, relationships, diseases, etc. The dramatization of the script is kept at a realistic level with every detail well thought through. I think it is most difficult to classify a Balki film for being commercial or parallel, but truly it is a work of art. Briefly, Ki & Ka is a romance, drama, comedy and a new age film

   Ki & Ka  starts off as a story about exchange of gender roles, or rather exchange of widely accepted gender roles i.e- man is a breadwinner and the woman runs the house. Arjun Kapoor is a lucky lucky fella, this macho man has the best personality combo of emotional vulnerability and masculinity and no better fit for this role (Kabir- Ka) or his role in Finding Fanny . Though, largely one could credit the astounding dialogues given to him to render, am still sure this chap has done his homework before the shoots really well or he is truly just natural.  Kia, had to be Kareena. – as strong and sassy as Kareena herself comes across. I will specially also credit Manish Malhotra this time to add on to the necessary externals to Kia’s character- A corporate wardrobe that practically means business and nothing else. Yes! When an actress is playing a corporate honcho she better NOT look ready to go to a nightclub, a common faux pas in most Indian movies. It was delightful to see the talented Swaroop Sampat onscreen after ages, as a kid she was my “yeh jo hai zindagi wali funny aunty” and plays the role of Kia’s mom. Not just the dialogues but the lyrics of the songs in this movie have depth.

By the end of the movie, you realise that the movie is  truly NOT about gender equality, nor does it push you to accept the exchange in gender roles. Well yes! it addresses all these, but what it really focuses is on how ego plays up in human nature and can take a toll on relationships, irrespective of gender. A person can feel as victimized or as insecure but that is ego-driven too. It’s a story that ends well, leaving a message that you have to understand your ego driven reactions first, than judging another to keep a relationship going.

With a very special place in my heart for Mr. Balki and Mr. Maniratnam, you make the south proud. Your work speaks for you and the culture you come from – dignified, modest, understated, to the point, visionary, global practical etc, etc, etc and visually spectacular -kudos!