OTT:

Haven’t been active on the blog simply due to COVID induced inertia, nothing else.  Nothing seems interesting, such pall and gloom pervades all around. But today a chance chat with a friend reminded me that I have a blog too where I used to love writing about my interpretation of Hindi films. But in the last 9 months since Lockdown and closure of multiplexes and theatres, one has migrated to the various streaming channels that are called OTTs. Some offer great content, some trash, but they invariably succeed in catching eyeballs. 

What bothers me about these series on OTT platforms is the unnecessary and over-reliance on mindless brutality and gutter level abusive language, not to miss the use of sex as a tool to characterisation. Be it the Sacred Games or Paatal Lok or Mirzapur, they all give this sinking feeling that the society has gone to the irredeemably lowest nadir, courtesy all the negative, diabolical characters and their dark noir plots. While they cant be faulted on their direction and art of story telling, butteresed with some brilliant acting, the appeal is lost when you realise you cant sit through such frightening darkness. Of course there were some realistic ones too, like Panchayat, which tickled your funny bone and you heaved a sigh of relief that thuggery and thieving may not be so evil after all and could be normal features in an evolving society.

It’s on account of this that I fear the appeal of OTT Platforms may not last beyond the regular opening up of Cinemas across the country

 #ShakuntalaDevi: 

The biopic premiered on Amazon Prime yesterday and I thought watching it was such a hassle free exercise:  no tickets to book, no traffic to manoeuvre, no pricy popcorns to waste money ( and calories) on ... pure & unadulterated movie watching! 

@VidyaBalan plays Shakuntala Devi, the human computer who really needs no introduction. Everyone knows the mathematical genius that she was, but not much is known of her personal life.  So facets of her childhood, unschooled brilliance, the pots of money she earned, how she shot  a spineless boyfriend in the 1950s or had another Spanish boyfriend, “Javier with a silent-J” in London, came as interesting revelations, as did some of her personality traits. But the movie is really about overt feminism, because of which even the maths was interesting -although, I would have liked more insights into  “how” she did it rather than the “what”! 

Other than celebrating Shakuntala Devi, the maths-wizard, the movie is also a drama about three generations of mother-daughter relationships, and how the men in their lives continue to loosen the grip on their lives till they are rendered almost irrelevant and relegated to the margins! I don’t recall a movie from the Hindi cinema stable in recent times which is so hugely dominated by women characters,  even if they are in minuscule roles like the Guest House lady in London. 

The movie traces the rise and rise of Shakuntala Devi- from being a poverty-stricken genius, whose family couldn’t afford the medical expenses of treating an invalid elder child to buying swanky properties in London to marrying and divorcing an IAS Officer ( YES!), Paritosh (Jisshu Sengupta). While she diversifies her talents into politics, writing and astrology, she never loses sight of her responsibilities as a mother. But maybe she overdoes that bit, for the daughter Anu, played by Sanya Malhotra, soon enters a hell of her own choosing! It’s the daughter’s mother-in-law who drills some sense into her about ‘perfect mothering’ but it is left to the mother to be crafty to smoothen out the rough edges of their relationship and in the process create the critical elements of drama. 

Vidya Balan holds the film together as no one else can or does. She metamorphoses brilliantly during different phases of her life and it is not just in a physical sense. Her nuanced acting as a rebellious young lady, never toeing any line drawn for her, her yearning to return to the world of maths-shows after tasting matrimony and motherhood, and her craving to hold onto her daughter are all enacted effortlessly, as is her own catharsis vis-a-vi’s her mother. In fact, but for her acting, the film has some nagging flaws eg; in terms of the script’s inability to ably depict the various transitions in her life. It’s too fast paced and you almost miss the points of progression, but its Vidya’s confidence and conviction in her portrayal of Shakuntala Devi that keeps the plot glued together as a credible whole. At times you sense the  self-obsessed, egotistic and almost megalomaniac, but humorous, character of Shakuntala Devi. At others you are driven to tears by the mother in her. Such a range of emotions and such versatility to deal with them! Sanya Malhotra also impresses you with her acting skills (minus the hideous wig in London!) and the intense Amit Sadh shines n sparkles as an almost irrelevant husband to a feisty wife. 

An immensely watchable film with Vidya Balan in a role that only Dirty Picture can match. Go for it guys.#ShakuntalaDevi: 

The biopic premiered on Amazon Prime yesterday and I thought watching it was such a hassle free exercise:  no tickets to book, no traffic to manoeuvre, no pricy popcorns to waste money ( and calories) on ... pure & unadulterated movie watching! 

@VidyaBalan plays Shakuntala Devi, the human computer who really needs no introduction. Everyone knows the mathematical genius that she was, but not much is known of her personal life.  So facets of her childhood, her unschooled brilliance, the pots of money she earned, the shooting episode with a spineless boyfriend in the 1950s or the other  Spanish boyfriend- “Javier with a silent J”- in London, came as interesting revelations, as did some of her personality traits. But the movie is really about overt feminism, because of which even the maths was interesting -although, I would have liked more insights into  “how” she did it rather than the “what”! 

Other than celebrating Shakuntala Devi, the maths-wizard, the movie is also a drama about three generations of mother-daughter relationships, and how the men in their lives continue to loosen the grip on their lives till they are rendered almost irrelevant and relegated to the margins! I don’t recall a movie from the Hindi cinema stable in recent times which is so hugely dominated by women characters,  even if they are in minuscule roles like the Guest House lady in London. 

The movie traces the rise and rise of Shakuntala Devi- from being a poverty-stricken genius, whose family couldn’t afford the medical expenses of treating an invalid elder child to buying swanky properties in London to marrying and divorcing an IAS Officer ( YES!), Paritosh (Jisshu Sengupta). While she diversifies her talents into politics, writing and astrology, she never loses sight of her responsibilities as a mother. But maybe she overdoes that bit, for the daughter Anu, played by Sanya Malhotra, soon enters a hell of her own choosing! It’s the daughter’s mother-in-law who drills some sense into her about ‘perfect mothering’ but it is left to the mother to be crafty to smoothen out the rough edges of their relationship and in the process create the critical elements of drama. 

Vidya Balan holds the film together as no one else can or does. She metamorphoses brilliantly during different phases of her life and it is not just in a physical sense. Her nuanced acting as a rebellious young lady, never toeing any line drawn for her, her yearning to return to the world of maths-shows after tasting matrimony and motherhood, and her craving to hold onto her daughter are all enacted effortlessly, as is her own catharsis vis-a-vi’s her mother. In fact, but for her acting, the film has some nagging flaws eg; in terms of the script’s inability to ably depict the various transitions in her life. It’s too fast paced and you almost miss the points of progression, but its Vidya’s confidence and conviction in her portrayal of Shakuntala Devi that keeps the plot glued together as a credible whole. At times you sense the  self-obsessed, egotistic and almost megalomaniac, but humorous, character of Shakuntala Devi. At others you are driven to tears by the mother in her. Such a range of emotions and such versatility to deal with them! Sanya Malhotra also impresses you with her acting skills (minus the hideous wig in London!) and the intense Amit Sadh shines n sparkles as an almost irrelevant husband to a feisty wife. 

An immensely watchable film with Vidya Balan in a role that only Dirty Picture can match. Go for it guys.

 GULABO-SITABO: After months of feeding on old repeats on TV or binge-watching a few web-series ranging from the good, bad or ugly to mediocre, I was looking forward to an authentic experience of a new release from Bollywood. I Waited almost with bated breath for Shujit Sarkar’s “GULABO SITABO”, which premiered Friday on AmazonPrime.

it is a story woven around a very dilapidated old Haveli in the heart of modern day Lucknow, whose owners are also equally deprived and decrepit. Mirza ( Amitabh Bacchan), the 78 year old co-owner of the haveli, hunched over and looking at least 10 years older, hobbles around on arched legs, wearing tattered kurta-pyjamas and a head scarf, trying to maintain his balance and often failing to do so, but somehow managing his 5 tenants and periodically stripping the haveli of its artefacts to make ends meet. His Begum is 15/17 years his senior, living in her own world of isolation, who cant remember whether she eloped with him or with a former lover/husband, and everyone is simply waiting for her demise so that the Haveli could pass on to Mirza to do as he pleases.

One of the tenants is Bankey Rastogi played by Ayushmann Khurana, who runs an Atta Chakki and looks after his 3 sassy sisters and widowed mother. Tenants for 70 years, his family finds all kinds of excuses not to pay the rent and the equally wily Mirza finds his own ways to extract whatever he can from the family, including thieving and selling away their light-bulbs. In fact Mirza’s frustration in being unable to either evict the squatters or get them to raise the rent manifests itself in some interesting moments in the film.

Enter Archaeology Research Centre’s Gyanesh Shukla (Vijay Raaz) who thinks the 100 year old Haveli has the makings of an archeological site and should be sealed. At the same time, builders’ mafia in collusion with a lawyer Christopher Clark ( Brijendra Kala) plans to grab the property and convert it into a heritage resort. What follows is a low-key battle of wits between Mirza, Rastogi, Shukla and Clark with a feisty Guddo, the oldest of Bankey’s 3 sisters, with some interesting forays into Nawabi establishments.

Amitabh Bachhan as always fits the role to a T, and turns out a sterling performance, and so does Ayushmann, but alas  its all in vain. What could have been a witty situational comedy, wobbles around and peters out. it never picks up the pace and the plot never seems to come cogently together. A comedy needs pace, events unfolding quickly but this one suffers from inertia, is laid back and largely uneventful. However, the movie authentically captures the ordinariness of poverty-stricken people, holed up in squalor, trying to bargain with life itself for a better deal. It has great characterisation too. Amitabh Bachhan as Mirza is unapologetically selfish, petty, greedy and unscrupulous but he is real! As is his love for the haveli! Ayushmann as Bankey is a typical loser but a fighter! He can think on his feet and connive & manipulate, but of course loses the game constantly. Despite all the great depth of character and competent portrayal, the movie falters primarily because of the poor screen play.; the problem in the story-telling, thinly woven and dispersed, never allows the fullness of the movie to emerge. 

Sad, but this one didn’t work for me. Still I would recommend you watch it for the love of Amitabh Bachhan and Ayushmann and the clever but subtle message of communal harmony.

 Parasite:

 I think twice before watching a foreign film with subtitles as somehow the translation never captures the true essence of original dialogue. But if it’s the first foreign language film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture and for Best International Feature Film then it had to be seen, if only to decipher how the Academy could break free of its strong American/Hollywood/Caucasian biases. Parasite also took the awards for Best Screenplay and Best Director, for Bong Joon-ho, so I knew there was something unusual going on and I must watch it!

Parasite is a South Korean film by their acclaimed Director Bong Joon Ho. As a genre one would find it difficult to classify it, but it has elements of a dark comedy, thriller and social commentary rolled into one. It’s a story of class-conflict, the typical haves vs have nots and how the two lead their separate existences, with never a chance of stepping on to each other’s well demarcated turfs. But that is precisely what happens.

A family of four -Kims- lives in relative poverty & squalor, with grown up kids dropping-out of college and parents only barely employed, making Pizza boxes and struggling to obtain full wages from the quality control freaks. They steal wifi time from unsuspecting neighbours, till password barriers are drawn. On the other side of the class divide is the Park family ( also 4 members) who live in a resplendent house in a very up-market area, with housekeepers and chauffeurs! Very quickly the family of Kim cons its way, one by one, into the household of the Parks through one act of referral deceit and subterfuge over another, even as the Parks remain oblivious to the fact that their new retinue of helps and tutors are in fact related to each other. Up unto this moment the parasites create comedy and humour, but soon it turns out to be a thriller, with the emergence of two more parasites! If I reveal more of the plot, the incentive to watch the movie will disappear.

Suffice it to say that the plot takes several twists and turns and a series of events happen that bring you to the edge of your seat, causing uneasiness as you hold your breath in bewilderment, not quite understanding what the sequence is going to lead to but apprehensive that nothing good can come out of this. The night of the flood spells and extenuates the socio-economic contradictions in the lives of the two families, where the Kims’ house is flooded with gooey sewerage and they have to wade through horrible, stinking sludge to find shelter in a community relief camp while the Parks rejoice in the beautiful rain, unmindful of and apathetic towards the difficulties faced by those less fortunate than themselves.

While the film is set in modern day South Korea, it is almost universal in its treatment of socio-economic disparities between the privileged and working classes. Infact the flood scene might very well have been from Mumbai or Delhi, with similar developments and class responses. One of my favourite scenes in the movie is when the son asks the father: papa whats your plan? Papa replies, very stoically, “the plan is that I have no plan! If I have a plan and it fails, then I have a setback but if I have no plan, then I suffer no setbacks!” Perhaps that’s how one should be……… and of course you are left wondering exactly who is the parasite here or is there more than one parasite? Is everyone a Parasite? In the end it’s  brilliant story telling, with the craftiness of theatre, replete with sound, light, morse codes, stairs going up and down, ghosts, red-indians and all other ingredients that call for a thrilling experience. I would call it one of the best movies I have ever seen, despite some lose ends. Go watch it while its on! Dont wait for Netflix or Amazon Prime!

 SHIKARA: Vidhu Vinod Chopra

It brought back memories of my first posting. As SDM New Delhi, I thought I had dealt with a fair share of relief and rehabilitation work as I went every month to the Tis Hazari Treasury, picked up the relief cash and distributed it to Punjab migrants from the days of Punjab militancy at Peeragarhi camp.  It was always an unsettling experience, as on the one hand you were handling cash, and on the other you were looking at immense human suffering, people living in squalor, where government interventions were always inept and inadequate, with some migrants also trying to cheat the system. I didn’t realise it then, but I had seen nothing; till that summer, when suddenly Kashmiri Pandits from Shrinagar and other parts of Kashmir valley, descended on Delhi in large numbers, seeking refuge and help! To survive and to live with dignity. A very insensitive administration, thought “how dare they demand a place to run their businesses in New Delhi, where land is the price of gold”  or “weren’t NDMC Barat Ghars  sufficient shelter that they were also demanding coolers”. So poignant was the suffering that it would have melted the harshest of us and it did. Soon I found myself in Rajasthan and these experiences were relegated to the recesses of memory

Till it all came rushing back to me as I watched the movie Shikara by Vidhu Vinod chopra @VVCfilms. Shikara is the plight of Kashmiri Pandits and how they have been reduced to the status of refugees in their own homeland. It is a story of love and survival under the harshest of circumstances. It attempts to steal some snippets from the story of militancy in the valley, through a very innocent love story, but it is not a chronicle of the politics or history of militancy. New comers Aadil Khan and Sadia play the role of Shiv and Shanti, fall in love and get married in Sringar. The multicultural Pandit marriage ceremony where Shehnai is played by muslim artistes and a muslim friend of the groom falls for the hindu friend of the bride are cleverly and seamlessly interwoven in the plot to juxtapose the latter day developments of communal hatred. Roghan Josh, the mutton delicacy from the valley is cooked in a Pandit household to put in relief the uniqueness of Kashmiriyat. The house built by the young couple, SHIKARA, is built of stones  lovingly gifted by the Muslim friend’s father. Several such secular examples abound.

Till all hell breaks loose and this young couple is forced to flee the valley, deserting their love-nest, Shikara, in the face of serious threats of murder and mayhem from Islamic militants. Infact the hero’s close cousin is shot dead before his eyes and the whole colony of Rainawari is set ablaze. They are left with no option but to flee to Jammu, a part of the state of Jammu and Kashmir, their home-state and live the life of refugees for the next 30 years! Nothing changes for the couple, except that from saris tied together to mark the boundary of their 6x6 refugee camp, they actually move into “pucca” camps. Boys who played gully cricket become doctors, but the hero continues to teach the younger generation in the camps, without sparing a thought towards a better life for himself. Yes, the dream of returning to Shrinagar and to Shikara is a constant. As are the letters that he continues to write to the President of USA.

To me Shikara is a love story. It is not about militancy as much as it is about how militancy can impact ordinary people’s lives. How human exodus brings untold misery in people’s lives. Militancy is but a prop, a kind of landscape; yet always so much interwoven in thoughts that you cease to realise whether it is in the background or the foreground. It keeps rearing its ugly head at critical moments, even though Chopra, himself a Kashmiri Pandit, cleverly removes the reality of militancy from the lives of the protagonists in their refugee camp. Having said that, Chopra does seem to have over simplified the story, without trying to delve deep into the psyche of militants or the causes of militancy, or the role of cross-border mercenaries and their political handlers in fomenting trouble. In fact, he has steered clear from making Shikara a political commentary on militancy. At the end of the day, Shikara is a powerful metaphor for homelessness, yet it is about how hope abounds in a hopeless environment.

See the movie for a brilliant performance by Sadia as Shanti. Adil Khan as Shiv didn’t impress me much but these two will be remembered for the powerful characters they played in an equally powerful movie that holds your interest and moves you emotionally, from start to finish!