Gangs Of Wasseypur | Pure Awesomeness | The Critique

In Bollywood, we rarely come across a movie so story driven that characters, no matter how well done, are reduced to particles. They never dominate the story. Last time, I saw such a movie it was Black Friday. GOW belongs to that league. Anurag Kashyap reinvents his brand with this epic. The way story about Wasseypur and the gangs is told, it will give you that feel of fables told by elders about mysterious world of crime. First nail well nailed.

When you hear the title, what do you think - Mafia, crime, gore, sleaze? You will find every element. At no point Anurag tries to glorify the virtues which people usually do to give a moral shade. He doesn't need it. The characters are not grey. They are like coal... black. All they care about is their life and their desires. Morality has no place as crime is so rampant that the human sensibilities tend to lose their meaning. Though each character has a moral stand at some point, the means to achieve that is not always right. Thats where the line fades away. The story is about a goon who is murderded and his son decides to take revenge. Its not about just revenge by violence, its about crushing the opposition, take away their pride and self respect and let the pain take over. This is how Sardar wants to take revenge from killer of his father Shahid. Its about rivalaries and socio-political dominance in Dhanbad and suburb Wasseypur.

Manoj Bajpai as Sardar is a pure delight. He is so perfect that it can leave goosebumps on you as you leave the theatre. Nawaz, in a short role he has, is brilliant. Richa Chadda, what a powerful bomb she is. She got perhaps the most difficult role to play and she is scores birdie. Chemistry between her and Manoj is a delight. Reemma is looking hot but not much to offer. Piyush Mishra is usual self. His control on his voice can be a case study for any artist. Its in perfect sync with his subtle character. Tigmanshu is good. As a matter of fact, each sub-plot and side character has been brilliantly devised. Another rarity.

Sneha Khanwalkar and Piyush Mishra created the music this movie needed. It not only adds to the impact of story, its perhaps the soul of the movie. Direction is freaking awesome. At moment you might find scenes a little vague only to realise later that why it was vague. Anurag Kashyap has proven a point to all mass-critics. He made a mass movie with a class. Bravo to entire cinematography and editing department. The smooth and crisp transition between different stages of the story captivates the imagination of audience. Whistles and hoots for this piece of pure awesomeness... aur haan... kahaani abhi baaki hai.

Written By: Sujoy Ghosh

Mesmerising Moments | Editor's pen

Hi friends…

It’s difficult to choose one between Shanghai and Kahaani, two amazing offbeat movies of this year. For these two movies, an awesome Paan Singh Tomar, a promising Gangs Of Wasseypur, Barfi and expected blockbuster Talash, it looks like that we can call 2012 as one of the most outstanding years for Bollywood in recent past. But we will talk about them some other day. Today, I want to talk about these two different movies – Kahaani and Shanghai.

From different POVs, each of these two excelled. Kahaani was fast paced entertainment with awesome thriller quotient. You can’t find loopholes until you leave the theatre. You will be awestruck with the amount of energy Vidya exudes in her performance. Great detailing as well. On this point, even Shanghai earns quite a handful of brownie points. Amazing detailing in character development. But low on entertainment, high on thoughts. It let you understand about the irony in life and reality between infra development.

The one moment where Vidya works on computer (while standing) and Rana (Parambrata) looks at her with tender emotions (while sitting) as Vidya is extracting information from Police database makes me weak in knees while watching Kahaani. Perhaps the best piece from my namesake’s most successful movie. Shanghai, too, had an amazing moment. It almost brought tears in my eyes. Interestingly, it involved Emraan Hashmi. When he went to see his friend’s death body. How well he pulled off that odd scene. Remarkable. The lump in his throat. The pain in his eyes. The apocalyptic feel. He nailed it.

Next Edition will be a director’s special. Wait for it.

Love,

Sujoy

Hans Rolfe Monologue Defending Holocaust Criminals | My Take | Under Lens

When wars are fought, there are more than few people responsible. In Judgment at Nuremberg, when Ernst Janning accepts the responsibility of Holocaust and regrets the decisions made by him for the greater purpose, defense attorney Hans Rolfe doesn’t have much to say. It’s a lost battle. But then he delivers one of the finest statements in courtroom drama pictured on silver screen.

Hans Rolfe tries to put pieces in picture in right order. The decisions taken by Judges being tried were wrong if calibrated against the laws established post war. However, they were in accordance with the letters of laws established in Nuremberg with a state policy and ideology in mind. If the spirit or intent behind those decisions has to be taken into account, many more entities should face the trial and that would bring everyone in front of law.

This scene is a masterpiece. Not many monologues have this kind of impact on viewers. When Maximilian Schell raced ahead of Spencer Tracy for Academy Awards, I have a reason to believe that this scene played a very important role in tilting the trophy towards the Austrian actor. Each word is placed beautifully. The sequence of events, as stated by Rolfe, has an impact on the viewer. At some point one might consider giving a waiver to the culprits. He states the facts and puts across the reason why court should be lenient. He becomes a little aggressive and one can see the German pride in his moist eyes. He vents out his anger at the other factors which helped Third Reich and later fought against it.

Maximilian Schell had a tremendous control over his body language. As he speaks, sweat on his temple, anger in his eyes and lump in his throat evokes emotions in audience. He earns respect for his ability to justify a gross wrongdoing to the humanity and at a later point, in a rhetoric condemn this respect is highlighted. In Judgment at Nuremberg,  Maximilian Schell fought against the tide and sailed well.

Written By: Sujoy Ghosh

Jessie Who Made Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa So Special | Under Lens

Jessie - The Way She Was: Girls are usually confused about their emotions. So was Jessie. In VTV, as the story progresses different layers of her character opens up and how well. In first phase she is a poser who doesn’t want to open up her heart. However, later we realize that she was masking her emotions for Karthik. Born and brought up in an orthodox family, she is held back by family pressure and believes that nothing can materialize between her and Karthik. However, walking on the aisle, her independent self restrains her from saying ‘I Do’. It’s a big U-turn. She profess her love and shows the element to revolt against norms. The sinusoidal paradigm shift in her character makes her the USP of movie.

Jessie – The Way Karthik Saw Her: Obsession. Fixation. Nothing else can define what Karthik does for Jessie. Love, definitely but in a very unique abrasive way. He actually doesn’t care much about what Jessie says. He feels an eternal connect, a kind of hunch which ultimately works in his favor. When he believes Jessie loves her, he is right. For an artist an imprint on canvass is something he can envision. Similarly, a true cine-obsessed young man, his love story is something he can envision and he falls for it. Is this true blue love is subject to discussion. When he follows her to Kerala, when he kisses her in train and when he fights with her brother, he remains in his element and the little bit of arrogance as well. Even when she dumps him, he is not able to throw her away from his system. That’s why it’s an obsession.

Jessie – The Way I Felt: Rarely I feel so strongly for a character who is in very clichéd circumstances. Jessie is vulnerable character. She is not only confused, she is consumed by the choices available. She is strong but not enough to snap ties with parents and live with love of her life. Her situation is the one between rock and a hard place. Her choice can be criticized, intention is pure. In VTV, she exists in two separate levels. Imaginary one where Karthik loves her and a realistic one where her parents want her to settle with a groom of Christian beliefs. Evokes a few emotions in me as well.

Written By: Sujoy Ghosh

Sandalwood And The Ray Of Hope | Under Lens

Talking about Kannada Film Industry, it is one of the most dominant cine-industries in whole of India I believe only in terms of numbers movies being released every week... unfortunately, not in terms of quality. Every week around 2 to 3 movie would be released each movie competing with other. The Audience faces great trouble selecting best of the movies. Due to uncontrolled number of movies being released, most of the movies turn out to be box-office disasters. I strongly believe it is the peak time now to decide on the number of movies and quality of movies. Add to that most of the movies released would be re-make or re-mix movies. However even in such a pitiable situation, we cannot completely say Sandalwood is worst. We have a few rays of hope.

Yogaraj Bhat whose Mungaru Male had collected Rs. 75 Crores in Box office with investment of just Rs.1 Crore. His debut movie “Mani” which was acclaimed by reviewers had won 5 state awards. Albeit this movie is one of the masterpieces of sandalwood, it was not a commercial success. On the contrary, his 2^nd movie- Ranga (S.S.L.C), which I feel was worst of Mr.Bhat, did fairly well at box-office. Mungaru Male was his 3^rd movie followed by Gaalipata, Manasare, Pancharnagi, Paramatma... all were success at box office and each of them celebrated 100 days. On an average it is believed that all the Yogaraj Bhat movies collect at least 4 times of the investment. Though media claims that Paramatma was not great, it did make any loss for neither producers nor the distributors.

The next director under my scanner would be Soori, who came to lime light with success of Duniya which was released in the year 2007 and was a major commercial success. The very low budget movie made in about 80 Lakhs had collected around 20 crores. His next movie “Inthi Ninna Preethiya” was not successful at box office. But personally I believe that the movie was great.  His next movies Junglee and Jackie were commercial success. Infact, “Jackie” was the biggest hit of year 2010.

The other two young faces would be Guruprasad with his two commercial success low budget off-beat movies “Mata” and “Yeddelu Manjunatha”. The next would be Shashank with commercial success movie like Sixer, Moggina Manasu, Krishanan Love Story and Jarasandha. Waiting for more to come...

Written By: Sandeep Shetty