Tribhanga review: "Lacked the uniqueness of its name!!!"

After having watched "The Great Indian Kitchen", the next movie that caught my eye was Renuka Shahane's "Tribhanga" for a couple of reasons. First & foremost, it sounded pretty weird for me (since I have no clue about Odissi) & secondly, coz of the cast and crew involved in the project. From the trailer, it was evident that it was about the tumultuous relation that three generation of females shared with each other. There are obviously going to be issues like generational gap, but would it make relationships as sour as this? It would be interesting to know whether the movie was as refreshing as Renuka's radiant smile.

Acclaimed novelist Nayanthara (Tanvi Azmi) had sought the help of biographer Milan (Kunal Roy Kapur) to pen her memoir. Despite the literary honours that she had garnered over the years, she was aware that the personal decisions that she had taken, unknowingly affected the life of her children, Anu (Kajol) & Robindro (Vabhav Tatwawaadi). This left a deep scar in their relationship & she had hoped that her children will forgive her for the mishaps. However, things take a turn when she has a stroke & goes into coma.  

This is the second directorial venture of Renuka Shahane after the Marathi movie "Rita" which was adapted from her mother, Shanta Gokhale's novel 'Rita Welingkar'. This time around she has opted for her own script & it certainly did have a credible thread. However, it did not materialize as well on screen as we dont quite empathize with the characters despite the tough times that each character had to go through. Hence the whole movie feels rather slow & does not manage to attract our attention. The only character that could have added more depth to the proceedings was that of Nayan but she is in coma for most parts. 

When it comes to performances, Tanvi Azmi was the pick among the lot as she had the grace & the looks of a strong female who would stand by her principles which the character required but she did not come across as self centered. It might sound surprising to quite a few but Kajol was just over the top in many sequences. It's understandable that she is portraying a star who is arrogant, even then it doesnt across as natural. Mithila Palkar (as Masha) has given a mature performance though she wasn't given much scope despite being the third protagonist on focus. Kunal Kapur definitely looked awkward as Milan while Vaibhav & Kanwaljeet Singh (as Raina) did their parts aptly.

Verdict: There is no doubt that the movie could have been much better if more justice was done to the thread of the story. It felt as if Renuka wasnt sure whether she wanted the emotional or the light hearted quotient to take predominance. In short, it doesnt rise to expectations!!!

Rating: 2.25/5

Regards...Ben

The Great Indian Kitchen review: "Stark portrayal of reality that at times many fails to realize!!!"

One of the most oft mentioned statements that most of us would have come across is "The way to a man's heart is his stomach". However, it does not emphasize on the point that the hard work that the women put into plating up such delicious dishes is pretty immense. None of us are oblivious of the long hours that our mothers & grandmothers have spent in the kitchen and though with time, things have started to change; the script has remained the same in many household even to this day but to varying degrees. This is what Jeo Baby have tried to portray in "The Great Indian Kitchen". So was it able to stand out among the women empowerment movies that has come out in recent times???

The film unfolds with a couple (Suraj Venjaramood & Nimisha Sajayan) having tied the knot entering a new phase of their life. The girl with the guidance of her mother in law, gets acquainted with the house hold chores. The responsibility of the household falls on her shoulders when her mother in law had to move to her daughter's place to take care of her during the maternity period. Despite the inexperience, she invests wholeheartedly in her responsibilities but the callousness of her husband to her concerns & rather rigid adherence to customs started taking a toll on her. 

The last time around Jeo Baby came out with a directorial venture was in 2018 with "Kunju Daivam" which had endeared to both the critics and the public. In his latest celluloid creation, he has focused on the topic of patriarchy & that too in an organic manner, to the extent that many of us would feel that it could be any typical kitchen. This point is emphasized through the fact that the lead pairs are not addressed with their names, meaning it could be any one of us depending on which spectrum we look at it. Quite a few would feel that it is way too monotonous & nothing much happens in the kitchen (which in itself is a character). Interestingly, that is what Jeo wants to stress upon that many of the females lead a similar monotonous life that doesn't look beyond attending to the whims & fancies of their families. The major positive is the fact that it does not adopt a preachy pattern & ends in an impressive manner whereby it is upto the audience to decide as to on which side they stand on. 

On the technical side, the sound department has done a fine job as it had nothing apart from the sounds that we usually hear from the kitchen. Among the female leads that has come into the industry in the past decade or so, Nimisha is undoubtedly one of the finest among them. She was spot on as the protagonist & giving her perfect company was Sooraj who continues to dazzle the audience whenever he is given a role of substance. The duo deserves an applause for their impressive performance just as  in "Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum". The rest of the cast have also done their parts aptly be it Siddharth Siva, the in laws etc.

Verdict: At less than 1 h 45 mins, Jeo puts across his points emphatically & shows us that at times it essential that we do introspect as to whether we practice what we preach. There is no doubt that it has a lethargic pace with hardly anything happening & for those who is looking for an entertainer, you would surely be disappointed. But if you ask me, it's a movie that needs to be watched!!! 

Rating: 3.5/5

Regards...Ben

Master review: "Cracking combo that could have been much more impactful!!!"

After close to a year, the Govt has finally given permission for the theatres to be opened albeit 50% occupancy. However that in itself was music to the ears but it remains to be seen how confident people would be to venture into the halls coz of the COVID situation. Anywaz the first movie to hit the screens in this Pongal is Lokesh Kanagaraj's "Master" which featured Thalapathy Vijay & Vijay Sethupathy. Can there be a more mouth watering combination in this festive occasion? But the question is whether Lokesh managed to do justice to the star value that was on offer. 

Nagercoil, 1992 was the day that Bhavani's (Mahendran) life changed forever as his parents became victims to the wrath of the rivals in the truck association. With time, he ended up in the juvenile home & things moved from bad to worse as he was constantly tortured. This made him into a ruthless gangster & he became a dreaded name in the underworld. Elsewhere, JD (Vijay) was an alcoholic Prof who was loved by his students though the management didnt warm up to his unconventional way of dealing with issues. It is at this juncture that JD is asked to take charge of the inmates of the juvenile home. This essentially set the stage for the clash between the dynamic duo.

After the resounding success of "Kaithi", Lokesh is a well known name among the public & a much sought after director. He has already given us glimpses of his next venture "Vikram" with Ulaganayagan & that seems like a cracker as well. In "Master" he pulled off an absolute stunner when he casted Sethupathi as the antagonist after all the impact of the protagonist could be elevated only if he matched in all levels by his opposite. In that sense, the last time, Vijay had someone as good as that was Vidyut in Murugadoss's "Thuppakki". Scripted by Lokesh, the backstory for Bhavani was interesting but apart from that there was hardly anything that was unpredictable or got us excited. That essentially was the weak point as it neither had a solid story to narrate & still lasted for close to 3 h. Even the choice of numerous supporting characters made no sense as they barely had much to do and this includes the female lead as well. 

However, there were quite a few aspects that I enjoyed such as the nod to movies like "Gilli", "Premam" etc especially the reference to Kamal Hasan's character Prof Selvam in "Nammavar" (not surprising after all Lokesh is a self confessed fan of the legend). On the technical side, the stunt choreography, the colour tone Satyan Sooryan used for the frames & Anirudh's music were fine. Thalapathy was cool as ever & has done a fine job but my personal favourite was Sethupathi who oozed confidence & charisma in equal measure apart from the fact that he performed naturally as always. Malavika Menon did her part aptly along with Arjun Das, who seemed poised to be in the industry for some time. As for the rest of the cast, most of them barely had much to do but the kid who helps Malavika's character was pretty impressive.

Verdict: If it wasn't for the Covid situation, it would have shattered all sort of industry records as both the lead actors has given a cracking performance. Unfortunately, Lokesh's writing ought to have been much more imaginative & that is surely a significant let down which gets amplified even further coz of the length of the movie. In short, despite the shortcomings it does provide adequate entertainment!!!

Rating: 2.75/5

Regards...Ben

Paava Kadhaigal review: "Impactful as expected!!!"

A couple of months back, "Putham Pudhu Kaalai" was released on Amazon Prime which saw a host of talented directors coming together for an interesting Tamil anthology. This time around Netflix has come out with an anthology of four stories in the form of "Paava Kadhaigal". However, unlike the previous one; this looked pretty grim & deals with topics that has consistently shaken our conscience. These include the trauma that transgenders go through, honour killing, caste based violence etc & these are not incidents confined to any particular part of our nation. Hmm... so does the maverick directors deliver what we expected???

So as mentioned earlier, this is a compilation of 4 stories which are as follows

Thangam

Sudha Kongara has set this story in Kovai in the 1980s where Sathar (Kalidas Jayaram) who has been saving money to perform his transgender surgery is in love with his childhood friend Saravanan (Shantanu Bhagyaraj). However, his hopes of marrying his friend was shattered when the latter tells him that he was in love with Sathar's sister Sahira (Bhavani Sre). Though heartbroken, Sathar does whatever was possible in his power to get the two together but the price that he had to pay for was much more than what any of them had expected. 

Love Panna Uttranum

The next segment was directed by Vignesh Sivan who draws our attention to a feudal land lord Veerasimman (Padam Kumar), who portrays himself as someone who believes in caste equality. This was merely a facade to boost his political career since in reality he despised interactions with the lower caste which included slaughtering of couples involved in inter caste marriages that he himself endorsed. Just like the public, even his daughter Aadhi (Anjali) believed in the broad mindedness of her father & opened up about her affair to their driver. Will her father be able to accept her daughter's wishes???

Vannmagal

Gautham Menon has been on a roll in recent times & he has come up with yet another winner about a family that goes through the trauma of their daughter being raped. Satya (Gautham Menon) & Mathi (Simran) tries to deal with the tragedy in their own ways while the brother, Bharath (Aadithya Bhaskar) bayed for revenge. Amongst all these flood of emotions, will their daughter ever have a normal life???

Oor Iravu

The director that I looked forward the most to in this group was Vetrimaaran & he has rocked as always with a movie that is disturbing yet not gruesome. This also deals with a girl marrying against her families' wishes to a guy from a different caste.  The couple in question was Sumathi (Sai Pallavi) & Hari (Hari Krishnan) who were well settled & expecting the birth of their first child. It was at this juncture that her father Janakiraman (Prakash Raj) manages to locate them & invites them over to the hometown for the baby shower. However, will her relatives be able to keep aside their animosity???

All the segments were picturized well & had an interesting tale to convey, though Vignesh's part did not quite have the effect that the other three had. In terms of performance, pretty much everyone has done utmost justice to their roles of which Kalidas & Simran definitely stood out. It was heartening to see Kalidas being offered a meaty role & he was able to convey the nuances that the character required aptly. Similarly, Simran was spot on as the anguished mother who braves the storm in her daughter's life resolutely.

Verdict: This a is type of movie that will give the audience a couple of uncomfortable moments. It makes us realize that whatever might be the case, families need to stick together at all times rather than sacrifice happiness for the sake of the society. Of course we have to survive in a society, but nothing is more important than the happiness and welfare of our loved ones. The movie doesn't quite have light moments, so if you are looking for some light entertainment; this is definitely not the one for you or else dont miss it!!!

Rating: 3.25/5

Regards...Ben

AK vs AK review: "Kapoor rocks though the movie doesn't quite!!!"

Seems like most of the establishments are back on their feet though the film industry is still waiting for the day when the public will flock back to the theatres. Until then, OTT platforms will remain their only option to showcase their wares & this Christmas season,  Netflix released Vikramaditya Motwane's "AK vs AK". Ever since I saw it's trailer a couple of weeks back, it certainly aroused my curiosity as it was a meta movie & from the looks of it, both Anil Kapoor & Anurag Kashyap has gone all out in this experimental flick. But will the audience warm up to the concept after the initial thrill.

Anurag has been chosen as the subject of a documentary titled 'Best of Indian Cinema' which was shot by an aspiring film maker, Yogita. Her assignment starts off with Anurag attending a talk show with Anil in which they get into a war of words which eventually resulted in the latter being thrown a glass of water onto his face. As expected, Anurag's actions were slammed by many in the industry & he gets professionally sidelined. This is when Anurag along with Yogita hatches a plan to kidnap Sonam Kapoor & put her father through a world of pain. 

It's been quite a while since Motwane had called the shots but he has been involved on the production side of some interesting movies like "Cargo", "Manmarziyaan" in the recent past.  His latest directorial venture is truly an experimental meta movie that has real & reel being played out in equal measure in front of the audience. Scripted by Avinash Sampath, it is an interesting movie with many of the dialogues being acerbic yet humorous . However, the glitzy life of the stars, their insecurities, privileges' as well as troubles that they have to take coz of their profession has been shown in fair detail. In terms of the plot, it certainly had a suspense element to it but it lacked the thrill & the twist in the end, kinda missed its mark. On the technical side, Swapnil Sonawane's camera work, Bunty Bhansali's editing and production designs were spot on with the mood of the movie

This is undoubtedly one of the finest performances from Anil Kapoor in the last decade or so. He was completed invested in the role & it's hard not to appreciate the effort that veteran has put in at this age. In comparison, Anurag seemed average especially in the latter half of the movie while the rest of the cast which were mostly cameos seemed ok with Harshvardhan seemingly outlandish. 

Verdict: First & foremost, kudos to Motwane for taking the effort to create a different type of movie. However, the script could have been much more tighter as it fails to keep the audience hooked until the very end. In short, Anil was brilliant & though the movie doesnt quite match upto its potential, it's still worth a try !!!

Rating: 2.75/5

Regards...Ben

Laxmii review: "Irrespective of the change in title, it would have still bombed!!!"

Over the years, we have been witness to news of movie's title being changed either due to superstitions or pressure from external sources. The latest to join this bandwagon is Raghava Lawrence's "Laxmii" when certain religious outfits took offence over it's original title. Well it was released prior to Diwali & there were certainly high hopes riding on this movie after all it had Akshay back in his comic avatar or atleast that is what the trailer seemed like. Alas, it wasnt to be as it seemed like a competition for mediocrity for large parts of the movie.

Asif (Akshay Kumar) does not believe in ghosts & exposes fake gurus who tries to swindle money on the pretext of supernatural occurrences. On the wedding anniversary of his in-laws with whom he shared a strained relationship as his father in law, Sachin (Rajesh Sharma) didnt approve him of being married to their daughter, Rashmi (Kiara Advani), they invite him over in the hope of breaking the ice. Apparently, there was a haunted ground in the vicinity & after Asif had visited it, strange events start unfolding in his in laws home. Will Asif eventually be forced to believe in ghosts???

So Lawrence makes his Bollywood directorial debut with the remake of his own Tamil movie "Kanchana" (2011). I dont know about others but I certainly didnt find the original interesting & was perplexed as to why would anyone want such an average movie being remade. Anywaz since Akshay was in the mix, I certainly had hopes but it turned out to be an absolute torture for large parts. However, the portions that featured Sharad Kelkar as Laxmii was impressive & even Akshay in the transgender avatar (especially in the Bam Bam Bhole song sequence). But that was solely for their performance & not for the mediocrity that unfolds on the screen. 

Apart from Sharad Kelkar's performance, none of the rest deserves a mention as all of their performances were so damn pathetic & artificial. Even Akshay who usually revels in comedy sequences failed to tickle the funny bone. Ashwini Kalsekar seemed like she was vying for the worst performer award with stiff competition from Ayesha Raza. 

Verdict: Damn...this was undoubtedly the worst movie that I have seen of Akshay in the past few years. It belies my logic as to why Fox Studios decided to even invest money for such a lame script. In short, definitely AVOID IT!!!

Rating: 1/5

Regards...Ben

Chhalaang review: "A leap that doesnt quite match upto Hansal Mehta's credentials!!!"

The US Presidential Elections has come to a close with Biden chosen as the next President but Trump has chosen not to concede defeat for reasons that seemed absolutely absurd. Well even as many leapt in joy at his defeat, back home the Union Health Ministry announced that the COVID recovery rate leaped 92% of the cumulative cases. Hmm...seems like 'leap' is the oft used word in recent times as one of the the Diwali releases was "Chhalaang" which featured the hit duo of Hansal Mehta-Rajkummar Rao who have given us some excellent movies in the past. Apart from that, it also seemed like a sports drama which is one of my favorite genres. So is it yet another winner from the hit pair???

Mahender aka Montu (Rajkummar) is the PT Master in the same school that he spent his formative years. However, he lacked the professionalism, credentials or even the passion that was needed for his job as he took it for granted. But he was in for a rude shock when the Principal (Ila Arun) recruits Inder Mohan Singh (Mohammed Zeeshan) as the senior coach. Though he initially agrees to be the latter's subordinate, it didnt last for long & the duo decide to settle their differences with the teams that they coached across three disciplines. So will this motivation make Montu shake off his lackadaisical attitude for good???

A couple of weeks back, Mehta came out with "Scam 1992" a cracker of a web series & if you guys havent watched it, dont miss it. But the same cant be said about his latest celluloid creation which frankly speaking just didnt have anything that captured our attention as the script by Luv Ranjan, Aseem Arora & Zeishan Quadri lacked imagination. Even the sports drama that is being created in the latter half was predictable & lacked the thrill that we would normally associate with such genres. On the technical side, the music by a host of individuals was good while Eeshit Narain's visuals were fine.

All the artists have done their parts aptly be it Rajkummar, Zeeshan or Saurabh Shukla but with the script not offering much scope; there isn't much that they can add onto it except that they made it a decent watchable experience. Nushrat Bharucha did justice to her role but I felt she was miscast for the part.

Verdict: Well it is certainly one of the weakest movie of the Hansal-Rajkummar duo as it is pretty predictable stuff & doesnt offer anything different that we would naturally expect from them. In short, just an average feel good flick at best!!!

Rating: 2/5

Regards...Ben