Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo

A friend had recently shared a list of South Indian movie recommendations with me. I was excited to expand my purview of movies from the Indian sub-continent, especially as I had heard about some really good movies coming out of that part of India. I trust this friend’s taste but I think he tried to bamboozle me with this one. 😉 Out of the 15 or so movies he recommended what are the chances that I stepped on this Easter egg first? M, I haven’t lost faith yet! I will continue watching the others after I am over the injuries inflicted by Ala Vaikunthapuramaloo.

I have to admit my appreciation of an out and out South Indian hit may be a bit off. This movie made over 260 crore rupees at the box office and has an IMDB rating over 7. I, however, was not able to sit through this past the 45 minute mark. I kept giving myself 5 minute increments – 9 times! – until a violent voice inside me said “Kill this movie NOW or somebody is gonna get hurt!” Fearful of my own fury I stopped.

At first I thought I am watching a David Dhawan-esque movie with South Indian sensibilities. Bit by bit it dawned on me that my grey cells were at risk of mass extinction if I continued. Why? Here’s a sampling…

• The way the nurse holds a newborn and slaps him to check if he is alive might actually do the opposite…
• 2020…I know, Corona and all…but a mullet hairstyle for the main lead?
• There is a whole ‘fly in the air’ type of action sequence. Bonus: a chunni – used as a weapon – gets washed in the whole process!
• 20 minutes into it the first song hits you over the head with so much bling that it makes the Golden Temple in Amritsar look pale – giant gold rapper pendant, gold playing cards, gold sneakers, gold car keys, …
• The lead actor gets a job by hanging his future employer upside down by his legs. Go figure.
• The “heroin” is objectified down to her legs (literally) from the moment she enters the frame. The “hero” simply cannot take his gaze off of her legs for any conversation he is having with her. I finally lost it when the next song came on: “My eyes are hooked on to your legs!” [<– literal translation]

These are just sample atrocities from the first 45 minutes!

My ratings scale is shaken right now but I’ll give this a 1/10 purely so I can keep my faith alive in Tollywood. (1/10)

Pray for my mental recovery and I shall be back with another Kolly-/Tolly-/Mollywood review for you soon.

Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl

Disclaimer: I understand the portrayal of men of the Indian Air Force in this movie is being heavily debated – and most likely rightfully so – hence this review is not about the handling of that reality but rather a view on other aspects of the film.

With the recent conversation about nepotism I am fully aware that Janhavi Kapoor didn’t have it easy to act in this movie so I started watching it with a clean slate imagining she is just an actress and not a star kid. Acting skills were particularly important in this role because it is a movie that requires an actress and not a heroine in typical Bollywood manner. I haven’t seen Janhavi Kapoor’s first film – Dhadak – yet but I felt she was ok in this one. Neither good, nor bad. I have seen far worse acting…and by that I mean faaaaaar worse. However, she still lacks finesse in emoting and fully feeling the character. Her facial reactions to the rather charged situations in the plot are a bit lackluster. That’s not to say she can’t get better. But yes, the question remains would another mediocre actress get another chance if she was not a star kid?

Take Angad Bedi, for example. He did a fantastic job with the few scenes he had but will he get meatier roles because of that going forward?

Obviously, I don’t know how close this story is to the real life of Gunjan Saxena but more than the heroic actions Gunjan undertakes in the movie and the resilience with which she goes through her training what really stood out to me is the father daughter relationship and the related equal opportunity discussion. I watched this movie with a lump in my throat from beginning to end recognizing many of the cards Gunjan was being dealt just because she was a girl.

Allow me to digress:

Many girls grow up with career aspirations that are either directly thwarted by their families and/or circumstances or indirectly sabotaged by themselves because they feel pressured by the society they grew up in to follow a certain path. The later is only accentuated by the lack of guidance and support in their lives. I wish every girl had a father or mother, an elder brother or sister, or another mentor in life who would not let those dreams of her die under the burden she is carrying by virtue (or vice) of her gender.

The father daughter relationship in this movie was exceptionally endearing. The conversations between Anup Saxena and Gunjan are a masterclass in mentorship. He listens with an open mind, he understands, he doesn’t give her an answer but gently guides her through getting to her own answers. These are true leadership skills in any milieu! I was moved to tears in the scene where he takes her to the kitchen and explains to her why marriage is not a bad thing but why giving up her dream is. It is just incredibly unfortunate that for many girls it is often not an AND situation but an OR situation.

It pains to see how at every turn her otherwise loving mother and brother belittle Gunjan for her aspiration. It is a very true reflection of our society. Take two siblings: a boy and a girl. Both are similarly qualified (or if one had access to less privileged educational opportunities it’s not because of her lack of intellect but because of the lack of encouragement she was given), both are earning similar amounts of money, both are doing full-time jobs BUT the expectation is that the girl can cook, clean, iron, organize, research things for the home, the car, the family’s health…the whole nine yards. The boy is expected to just do well in his job and God forbid he is away from his “work” for a few minutes he “needs to relax”. How did we end up in a world like this?

Films can’t alter reality but they can steer conversation. It may take another generation or two to get anywhere close to equality but every commercial endeavor that gets people to reconsider their thinking is worth it. (7/10)

Bandish Bandits

Disclaimer: I have zero musical bones in my body when it comes to Indian classical music so I am in no position to comment on the quality of music and singing in this web series. But I do know a thing or two about good storytelling, believable acting and engaging visuals so my review is primarily based on those aspects.

Have you ever experienced FOMO even before the absence of the thing that was giving you joy? This is how I felt as I was past episode 5 of Bandish Bandits. I simply did not want this to end!

It took two episodes for Ritwik Bhowmik to grow on me but man was that some hockey stick growth! His acting is commendable and the way he got under Radhe’s skin still gives me goosebumps. It is hard enough for some people to deliver a straight dialogue and here he is mimicking classical vocals as if he has been doing it out of his cradle. I had never heard of or seen Ritwik before so for me Ritwik = Radhe and Radhe = Ritwik in real life. Just to see how different he could actually be in real life I started following him on Instagram and up until now I am positively surprised that he is the same down-to-earth, humble, approachable person that Radhe is.

I was similarly impressed by Shreya Chaudhary, who is playing the more modern pop singer Tamanna Sharma. These type of characters can become rather unlikeable in a story, especially when compared to a character like Radhe’s but Shreya did a beautiful job of staying just as likeable as him.

The innocence of both the protagonists is very special and carries throughout the series.

The casting director of this show deserves an extra special hat tip for his excellent ensemble of every single character. It is common to see a few good actors and a slew of mediocre actors as part of a movie/show but in this case he hand-picked a cast that seems like they were just waiting for this role to come their way. From Naseeruddin Shah as the strict Sangeet Samrath with some shady ego traits, to Sheeba Chaddha who gracefully carries a boatload of burden and suppression on her shoulders for decades and yet keeps doing what is right for her family, to Atul Kulkarni – the well-intentioned yet revenge-driven step-uncle, to Rahul Kumar and Kunaal Roy Kapoor – the resident comedians in a non-obtrusive manner, to Amit Mistry – the very supportive uncle with his own grief that he has been living with. Uffff, I could watch this series at least a couple more times to soak in the brilliance of each of these actors.

What I loved most about this show is that just like in Pakistani dramas there was no obvious villain for the sake of villainhood. Three characters had grey shades but all were put in context:

• the grandfather’s greed to maintain his legacy
• the step-uncle’s challenge to win back what was supposed to be his
• the mother’s iron-fist upbringing of her daughter to ensure a good future for her

Did they all do bad things? Yes. Did all of those behaviors come from a bad place? Not always.

One scene particularly stuck with me for how genially it was handled. It’s when Radhe finds out that the girl he is getting engaged to has come to India to marry him because her image has been tarnished by a compromising video leaked about her by her ex-boyfriend. The grace with which he responds to that situation and the even more graceful response of Sandhya is remarkable. Someone else’s wrongdoing ruined her whole life and yet she has not an iota of complaint on her face.

The entire show is centered around Indian Classical Music woven into the story of a family. Not many viewers might be familiar with this genre of music but the director did a stellar job of explaining the intricacies of it to the laymen to the extent it is necessary to appreciate the story. I certainly walked away with a lot more knowledge about the gharana culture than I had before.

For those of you who have been to Rajasthan you already know that it is stunningly beautiful but to put that into moving images consecutively for 10 episodes and really doing justice to it is a feat to be celebrated. Everything from the framing to the lighting to the sounds is so pitch-perfect (pun intended) that it makes you fall in love with Rajasthan all over again.

10 episodes can sometimes feel like a drag or at least someplace in between the story loses its tautness and you wish they’d cut out an episode or at least a few scenes. Not a single time during this show did I feel that way. Every episode had new conflict, new crescendos and more to look forward to. What a well-sprinkled approach to keep the audience engaged.

I am sure I am not the only one secretly checking the interwebs for news on a second season of Bandish Bandits. Who knew I’d ever be interested in a show on Indian Classical Music? (10/10)

Shakuntala Devi

Yet again, Vidya Balan strikes a sixer! We really need to see more of this woman. She gets under the skin of her characters so deeply that you forget she is just acting out someone else’s life. From her South Indian accent while speaking Hindi to the unwavering confidence of a self-made woman, the resounding laughter of a happy-go-lucky person and the guts to call a spade a spade I loved every bit of Shakuntala Devi…or was it Vidya Balan…or maybe both?!

Her genius aside, she was a woman to admire in a million ways! Throughout the story she is shown as someone who does not see a difference between man and woman, who repeatedly calls out society’s skewed gender expectations and who keeps screaming at the top of her lungs that self-actualization is just as important as slipping into a role assigned to you by someone else.

The movie tells a full circle story of her relationship with her parents, especially the grudge Shakuntala Devi holds against her mother for not speaking up to save her sister, how she herself becomes a woman with opinions and a voice that is literally heard the world over finally culminating in her relationship with her daughter who doesn’t think much of her mother until she becomes one herself. Very well fitted in between are two extremely well-told episodes of her relationship with a Spanish man who admired her but was intimidated by her success and her eventual marriage and separation from a Bengali man, who was a perfect gentleman.

What I loved most about this movie is that no one was shown as a bad character or – even worse – a villain. Shakuntala Devi’s husband, Paritosh Banerji, was an incredibly great husband and father and likewise she was a wonderful wife and mother but sometimes two perfectly fine people are also not able to lead a perfect life together. Their ambitions were different and they simply could not fit into the others’ life the way they had imagined.

Similarly, the two mother-daughter relationships between Shakuntala’s mother and her and then her daughter and her are beautifully told. Each is right in their own way, yet everything is wrong. It takes a skilled storyteller and director to portray relationships like this.  What a piece of art!

You might have noticed that I did not talk much about why Shakuntala Devi became a global sensation in the first place – her extraordinary math genius. It is present throughout the movie and shown with due respect but what’s really admirable about Shankuntala Devi is her grit and attitude regardless of what the matter is at hand. The way she approaches her relationships, her work, her decisions – this world really really needs more Shakuntala Devis.

This woman was truly ahead of her times! Even in today’s world people would be out to eat her alive but I am confident she would live her life on her own terms. (9/10)

Dil Bechara

Considering Bollywood has the magical ability of saving every one of its heroes fighting all odds at the end of every movie the irony of Sushant Singh Rajput’s reel life and real life ending didn’t escape me.

This was an ineffective copy of the 2014 Hollywood movie “The Fault in our Stars” and an unsuccessful health drama not coming anywhere close to the “The Sky is Pink”. Given Sushant Singh Rajput’s unfortunate demise this might clearly do well at the Box Office but the movie is flat in storytelling, doesn’t translate well into the Indian milieu and has wide gaping holes in character definition.

Narrated in a first person voice by Kizie the protagonist halfway through the movie the story becomes all about her boyfriend, Manny. How do they become a couple in the first place? No clue. It seemed more forced into the plot than a square peg in a round hole.

Copied straight from “The Fault in our Stars” Kizie wants to go meet her celebrity crush, a song-writer, in Paris but is disappointed once she meets him in person. However, the entire reason why she wants to meet him makes the audience question her sanity rather than understand her emotions behind it.

The pacing of the movie is slow, there is no depth to storytelling and despite it being a rather emotional topic it did not manage to stir my emotions a bit. (4/10)

Thappad

So poignant that it has the power to open very old wounds and evoke the pain it used to cause with brutal force.

Thappad – the actual slap – is just the trigger that jolted Amrita enough to make her see what’s going on in her marriage, but

• it hurts more to be treated as if you are invisible every day
• it hurst more if your opinions don’t matter
• it hurts more if what and who you love do not matter
• it hurts more if you are just an outlet of another person’s negative emotions
• it hurts more when you are verbally abused
• it hurts more when no one doubts the man
• it hurts more when lies are told about you that are nowhere close to reality
• it hurts more when your contributions are not only not acknowledged but always fall short somehow
• it hurts more if you are expected to “compromise” – and you are the only one asked to do that
• it hurts more when the consequences of a divorce don’t change anything in a man’s life but ruthlessly rip apart the fabric of a woman’s life

This is just a short list of the wounds a bad marriage inflicts. The torture is incessant and invisible to most because our society has conditioned women to stay quiet, compromise, deal with it, figure it out, hope for the best, kill their intellect and emotions…

The Thappad served as a catalyst for the lead character to take action but often women get asked why did YOU not end the marriage. Let me answer this: because when you are in a marriage like this you are being slow boiled like a frog. Bad turns to worse and worse turns to worst and before you know it you are dead! Too dead and drained to take any action. You fear for your family, you fear for yourself, you fear for the helplessness you will have to face because you have been taught that marriages are a permanent thing and there is no looking back.

Another question that gets asked is: Did he ever hit you? Does it really matter? The million cuts inflicted upon a person through constant mental abuse are far deeper reaching than any physical action. Why discount them and wait for that slap?

The ones that are lucky, either experience a catalyst like Amrita that thrusts them into action or they are set free by their jailor because they have done as much damage to you as they could.

I wish these stories were told earlier – much earlier – to show women that they have options. This needs to be heard loud and clear so no one ever has to experience the pain that has been hammered into our relationships by society without even blinking an eye.

Thappad ingeniously creates contrast by showing not one but seven different stories:

• Amrita’s marriage with Vikram
• Amrita’s parents’ marriage
• Vikram’s parents’ marriage
• Sunita’s marriage with her husband
• Nethra’s marriage with Manav
• Karan’s engagement with Swati
• Shivani’s widowhood

Each story is different and covers a wide spectrum of what a relationship can look like and each character is chiseled to precisely draw out the essence of that relationship. The director had to make the characters so pointed because there were too many to portray. Had he been more subtle with them the viewers might not have caught on to the differences he was trying to highlight.

The most interesting contrast is that between Amrita’s and Sunita’s marriages. Amrita is married to a young, affluent corporate C-level while Sunita, her maid, is married to a drunkard poor man. While the former is abused in more “subtle” ways until the Thappad happens, the later is abused physically on a regular basis. But why is it more “normal”, almost “acceptable,” when Sunita gets beaten up so often? To the extent that she just jokes about it with her employer. However, when Amrita is slapped we – the audience – feel a certain way. We are shocked. We know this wasn’t supposed to happen. But why? Does the social strata of a relationship justify certain actions more than others?

Another phenomenon that the director beautifully draws out is that it’s not just men vs women it’s just as much women vs women. Mothers treating their sons like deities, mothers telling their daughters to just figure it out in private, mother-in-laws pampering their son-in-laws even when they don’t deserve it, mother-in-laws expecting the sky out of their daughter-in-laws, even other abused women questioning a woman’s decision to free herself.

Excellent acting all around but Geetika Vidya Ohlyan is the one that takes away the trophy here. What a powerhouse performer! Not once did I think she may not be a maid in real life. The melting of an actor with a character to this extent is worth its salt.

The only reason I am not rating this movie a full 10/10 is because the protagonist kept insisting that it’s the Thappad that is making her take a divorce which diminishes everything else that underlies the Thappad and is a far worse crime. (9/10)

I’ll let you in on one more little secret: Physical abuse is terrible but it doesn’t leave the same marks as mental abuse! It takes a village and extraordinary perseverance to stitch back together that broken person. Some make it, some don’t.

Love Aaj Kal

Let’s just start with the moral of the story (technically there was no story, but just in case there would have been one): Good girls like bad boys & good boys like bad girls!

…duh as if I didn’t already know this. 😉

After watching this kachra na aaj love hoyega aur na kal!

Imtiaz Ali needs some relationship therapy to sort out the depression in his head. I honestly could not imagine anything worse coming from him after the major debacle of Jab Harry Met Sejal but this tops even that. The entire movie has an illogical angst and layer of depression and regret that isn’t relatable at all. God knows what he was thinking when releasing this movie on Valentine’s Day. For any couples who went to watch it yesterday, I am sorry for you.

It began with me being majorly confused why within two decades or even less Kartik Aryan starts to look like Randeep Hooda? Huh? Kartik is playing old lover and new lover but along with new lover there is also old lover who now looks completely different. Do you understand any of this? Yeah, me neither.

There are absolutely unnecessary scenes and dialogues that can only be stringed together if you have the convoluted brain wirings of an Imtiaz Ali. This non-story – or shall I say these two non-stories – are a poster child for how not to tell a story.

Sara Ali Khan is portraying a pretty trashy Delhi girl. Clothes are optional, alcohol is water and bitch-is-my-permanent-attitude types. Kartik Aryan is the socially awkward, nerdy guy of rich parents who inexplicably falls in love with Ms. Can’t-ger-her-life-together.

And for any aspiring Event Managers out there, no, the CEO of a major company will not come talk to you multiple times just because you are organizing an event for his company and, no, he will most certainly not ask for your rishta for his grandson. So much BS that I almost puked the basket full of popcorn I consumed trying to keep myself from screaming in pain. (0/10)