D DAY

India's most Wanted....known by many names (Rishi Kapoor) has to has to has to attend his son's nikaah in Karachi. India's RAW lays out a secret mission. The mission is to catch him alive and get him to India. Men on mission are Wali Khan (Irfan), Rudra Pratap (Arjun Rampal), Zoya (Huma Qureshi), Aslam (Akash Dahiya) and it is master minded by Ashwini Rao (Nasser).

The plot unfolds. Absolutely bang on edge of the seat opening sequence. Intercut with a song sequence picturised on Rajpal Yadav, the men on mission start their work. They are almost there but not quite. The Don is almost cornered. But not quite.

Flashback. Irfan's background followed by the laying out of each character and conflict follows neatly. Over here Pakistani officers are trying their best to convince the man to avoid attending the function. RAW is going about its planning in the most secret ways. Ashwini Rao also faces some departmental resistance. The mission goes on unofficially.

At interval we come back to the start point. Additionally Rishi Kappor manages to escape with a resolve of vengeance. 

Now there are conflicts. The Don wants to get his hand on the 4 people. Pakistan forces are after them. Indian agencies do not want them back. Packed with action and meet and characters and conflicts and drama the film engages you every single moment.

The story, the screenplay (Nikhil Advani, Ritesh Shah, Suresh Nair) , the direction, the performances everything falls in place and rather seamlessly. In fact one would want to give a standing ovation to Nikhil Advani. His craftsmanship and treatment are excellence personified! Ditto for the work of Tushar Kanti Ray as the DoP. The use of low light and tones is marvellous and poetic. Another winner is the editing Aarif Sheikh . There is not a single frame in the film that is not needed and the way intercuts are used in remarkable.

The film has some brilliant moments...the lighter ones with Irfan and his family, the romantic ones with Arjun and Shruti Hasan...the terrifying ones with all the encounters. The way the song post Shruti Hasan's death is picturised and treated leaves a mark...You have to see it...it is one of the most differently executed song for a long time.... The sequence where Irfan loses his family leaves a mark editorially apart from it being brilliantly enacted. the use of mirrors is another noticeable aspect of the film.... 

Speaking about the performances...Rishi Kapoor does it once again. He hits the bulls eye. He is ever so understated and yet so terrifying. Irfan is just himself carrying each and every detailed emotion effortlessly. Arjun Rampal impreses and one feels he grows leaps and bounds with this performance. He has very few lines but his eyes speak a lot. Huma Qureshi and Aakash Dahiya impress and so does Shruti Hasan. Chandan Roy Sanyal, Naseer, KK Raina, Sandeep Kulkarni, Nissar Khan, Imran Hasnee all are in top form. 

Very rarely you see an action film where you feel that action was a part of story and the film was not only an overdose of bullets and blood. Very rarely comes a film in which every single song playing in the foreground or a background has a story to tell. Very rarely these days comes a film where the background score carries the mood of the film without yelling at the top of the voice.

The vision, the story, the purpose, the team everything comes out right this time.

HAPPENINGS IN GUJARAT

AHMEDABAD

Sat 20th July 2013
Bhamasha (Hin) (Dir Manoj Shah) 8 30pm Convention Hall (Event organised by JITO group)
Sun 21st July 2013

Hu Chandrakant Bakshi (Guj) (Dir Manoj Shah) 8pm Rangmandal 

GUJARAT

Please watch the national award winning Gujarati Film 'The Good Road'

For details 

https://www.facebook.com/FilmGujarat

http://www.nfdcindia.com/thegoodroad/

THEATRE TO WATCH OUT FOR THIS WEEKEND (19 - 21 JULY '13)

Fri 19th July 2013

The Big Fat City (Eng) (Written and Directed by Mahesh Dattani) 7pm NCPA Expt Nariman Point 

Sir Sir Sarla (Hin) (Dir Makrand Deshpande) 6 and 9 pm Prithvi Theatre Juhu

Sat 20th July 2013

The Big Fat City (Eng) (Written and Directed by Mahesh Dattani) 7pm NCPA Expt Nariman Point 

History of India (Eng) (Vir Das) 7 30pm Nehru Centre Worli 

Kitty Kitty Bang Bang (Eng) (Directed by Saurabh Agarwal) 6pm Canvas Laugh Factory Paladium Mall Lower Parel

Chaar Small (Hin) (Trishla Patel) 6 and 9pm Prithvi Theatre Juhu

Sun 21st July 2013

Dear Father (Guj) (Paresh Rawal) 3 30pm Nehru Centre Worli

Kitty Kitty Bang Bang (Eng) (Directed by Saurabh Agarwal) 6pm Canvas Laugh Factory Paladium Mall Lower Parel

Chaar Small (Hin) (Trishla Patel) 5 and 8pm Prithvi Theatre Juhu

The Good Honest Road

A new film is to be out on 19th july in the major cities of Gujarat. What's about it? It's a gujarati film which recently won the National Award for the Best Regional Film. The Good Road. 

Written and Directed by Gyan Correa, the film revolves around two children, with different social and cultural background and apparently different destinies. The film is shot in the intoxicating desert land of Kutch, the largest district of India

. 

Recently, I read a few reviews of the film on the internet. Not a single of them good. It's bad to that extent that the artist community of Kutch is severely hurt by the film. They feel that Kutch and Gujarat are being portrayed in a wrong way. That the film hurts the beautiful culture of Kutch, spreads a wrong notion of Kutch to the rest of the country. One of them even commented that whichever film portrays Gujarat in a bad light always wins a National Award. People are disappointed. They cannot digest the expletives that fill most of the film. They dislike the performances and they dont like that there are only two professional actors in the film, the rest are not professionals. They consider the film emotion-less, with non-actors' expressionless faces right down to the blank feeling-less screenplay. 'Nuff said!

I saw the film around 3 to 4 months back in a private screening for the first time. Obviously, as a 'responsible and sensitive' Gujarati, I too thought that how would the regular gujarati audience, who loved the previous two Gujarati blockbusters 'Kevi Rite Jaish' and 'Saptapadi',  accept such a bold, honest-to-earth, full-of-expletives Gujarati film. But I figured that if the audience accepted (and loved) Yo Yo Honey Singh's vulgar songs, make the producers earn crores in a week with films like Kya Supercool Hai Hum, it can probably think a little wider and accept this film too.

I dont say that the film is perfect. It has its flaws and loopholes. Performances,yes, they are less effective because of the non-professional cast. Some of the strong moments just pass away without notice because of the mild performances. Some dialogues do not sound good, like when the pimp explains the little girl what is expected out of girls in that brightly-coloured whorehouse. It comes out as too strong for the sensibilities of the general audience. 

After watching the film, I asked its cinematographer Amitabha Singh - "sir, I have lived in Kutch for 17 years. Does this kind of prostitution really exist there?" He said - "Yes. In fact, what we have shown is much milder than the reality. Truck drivers are the main clients of the highway pimps there. The condition is much worse, but we couldnt show the exact reality. It is very hurtful." 

It may be possible that we, the audience, sitting on the cushioned seats of the expensive cinema hall judge the film based on the reality of what happens to people who cannot afford to go to an expensive cinema hall with a biased unexperienced eye. Most of us, I mean kids of this generation, have never seen what poverty and helplessness really is. We would not understand why a truck driver has to remain away from his home for months together to earn little money so that he can support his family. Poverty is as old as Time itself. Eventhough I am completely against prostitution, I sometimes cant help thinking- 'why is it the oldest business in the world?'

I have worked with Amitabha sir, Priyank Upadhyay (the cleaner guy)has been my classmate in college, Pankaj Jhala (the evil Jadeja) is my uncle and I know, for sure, that the above mentioned people will never opt for a film which doesnt have a strong message or for a film which would propagate wrong message to the audience or to say 'fool the audience.' The film does have good moments and good cinematic moments I mean. As an audience, I was proud to see my homeland Kutch aesthetically shown. 

I wouldnt write anymore about it. The story - you have to watch the film for that and decide for yourself. Not everything that the newspapers and the critics write might be true. All the best! Sayonara! ) 

THEATRE THAT SHOULD NEVER BE MISSED (2)

Jo Ame Badha Saathe To Duniya Laiye Maathe

Gujarati Play

Written and Directed by: Saumya Joshi

Presented in a Bhawai style, Jo ame badha.....is a story of a lady...it is a story of dreams...it is a story of needs...it is a poignant tale which has a humane soul...where the protagonist's (Jigna Vyas) only dream in life is to go to the US. She has a talent and that talent presents her an opportunity..to go to US as a cook....Excited and confident she qualifies till the last round of the interview...she is almost finalized to go...but then there is a twist...her sacrifice....then a thought that reflects to an effect that 'if you have to choose between a dream and a need...the need must win'...Protagonist sacrifices...another needy woman goes through.

What is strikingly different apart from the fact that there for once is a gujarati play with a story...it doesn't resort to the color blinding hues and box sets for a set design it has a commercial story a unique treatment and scintillating performances by the trio of Pratik Gandhi, Jigna Vyas and Malhar Thakkar.

Saumya Joshi - already a director to reckon with..the director who has given gujarati stage plays like Welcome Zindagi and 102 Not out does it once again. What is commendable is the honesty with which the play has been written (by Saumya Joshi himself) the characters have been etched the narrative has been chosen...every thing is just right

But Alas...this gem of a play didn't quite get the results it deserved. If you get a chance you have to watch it.

A RARE GEM!

Jail! What is the first thought that comes to your mind? Criminals, crime, police? When one would sit down to imagine how life in jail would be, how would one perceive it? Certainly not very positive.

Director Aseem Sinha (A graduate from FTII specializing in editing, an editor to innumerable award winning films), in his 53 min documentary 'Who killed my childhood' raises an issue very few would have imagined and treats it with utmost honesty and positivity. 

Women prisoners are allowed to keep the children with them in the jail till the child turns 6. Many a times an expectant mother is convicted and the child is delivered while she is serving a sentence. What would happen to the child's future. Suppose a woman has to serve a life term or a ten year term will her husband keep waiting for her to return. Will the family raise the child? Most of the times the reality is NO. 

In such cases the jail tries to provide an environment where the child can be nurtured. Classes where they learn ka,kha ga..trips to exhibitions etc for worldly exposure to name a few. It is not a rosy world out there. 

There can be negative influences. It is a jail after all. Quarrels, spats etc are bound to happen. So after 6 years of age child is shifted to a more conducive atmosphere such as a 'Child Welfare Centre'. But what happens to the bond between the mother and child. Is there a resolution. The child is neither convicted nor a criminal so it should not be kept in jail. But then it comes at the cost of separation from mother. Unfortunately there is no answer right now not only in India but world over.

Where the director scores is that the focus of the documentary never shifts. It is moving yet insightful. Yes it is the tellers choice here to highlight the positives but still the very sensitivity of the subject and its handling engages you and makes you feel for the plight of the mother as well as the child.

The documentary is produced by Public Broadcast Service Trust (PSBT).