It's the page-turner script that steals the show. It's packed with enough turns, intrigues and twists to hold your attention, keep you guessing. All of it bound by some sort of logic still.
Mayank Shekhar writes.
It's a sweet, intimate, fable-like film, even unnecessarily sanitised in parts, that touches upon issues of class, poverty, childhood, dreams, without ever quite losing sight of a reasonably plausible, engaging tale to tell.
Office Office, I hear, was a much-loved series on television. I haven't watched a single, complete episode, but it's not that hard to tell why. It starred one of the nation's most under-rated acting talents, Pankaj Kapur. As does this film. The story bears resonance, empathy. The difference is in the medium alone.
Mayank Shekhar writes.
Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara is a hard-core male-bonding 'bromance' all right. Their dares probably have more to do with overcoming their own personal, pet fears, or phobias, if you like.
Mayank Shekhar writes.
You see. This is a youth film -- ideally spelt with a capital Y. Every production house in Mumbai rolls out one of these Excel sheet stuff every other weekend.
A popular
pir (learned man) at a
pind (village) in the Pakistan side of Punjab makes a point about tradition. It's like taking the same road everyday, he says. But one day, if you find a snake sitting on that same road, would you not change your path?
Mayank Shekhar writes.
The film derives itself almost wholly from a pop, counter-cultural new wave of late '90s that roughly defined independent films back then – first in Britain (Trainspotting, Lock Stock And Two Smoking Barrels…), then in America (early Tarantino, Rodriguez; Requiem For A Dream, and the like).
Mayank Shekhar writes.
The strange thing about this story is that it spells love with an 'e', and without a 'u': sample
Luv Ka The End, I Hate Luv Storys, Kuch Luv Jaisa.... These filmmakers deserve mention at the spelling bee contest, writes
Mayank Shekhar.
None of those American rules apply in an Indian context of course. Where men, right up till their mid-20s, go without having dated any women at all. This is true for the three blokes in this movie as well. They're soul mates first, flat-mates later. Their individual problems with the women they're with couldn't be more different though, writes
Mayank Shekhar.
Opinions are like Anupam Kher. Every film has one. This one has two, Anupam Khers that is. One’s a shrewd education Mafiosi in a village, who diverts government funds for labs, library, benches into his personal account. Read on..
Every film needn't merit a review. Some deserve little reports addressed to loved ones alone; just so they know you're fine, and that you really did survive the movie. Or as in this case, almost survived, up till a point, beyond which it became possible to take it anymore.
Mayank Shekhar writes.
Tanuja Trivedi (Tanu in short), the girl; and Manu Sharma or Manu, the man (Madhavan, Kangana, in top form, both). They should’ve ideally never met. Read on...
Inception has a scene-by-scene shooting script available in a book format that movie wankers might enjoy. You can’t tire yourself reading, refuting, discussing the film though. Mayank Shekhar writes.
The film's title suggests, so you figure, the heroine will have blood in her fingers each time she ties the proverbial knot. You still remain glued to the screen. For Priyanka Chopra, who plays the Anglo-Indian protagonist, this is unquestionably a role of a lifetime. She has you by the eyeballs. So does most of the movie.
To use popular journalese, the peg of this Patiala (House) story is British racism of the early '90s. This is around the time Indians and various other coloured minorities were targeted by white skinheads in the increasingly multi-racial neighbourhoods in the UK.
Mayank Shekhar writes.