Film Review: MADRAS CAFÉ

Madras Café is Simply Superb! 

Cast: John Abraham, Nargis Fakhri, Rashi Khanna, Siddhartha Basu, Ajay Ratnam, Prakash Belawadi
Director: Shoojit Sircar

Looking at the promos, I realised that the film was about Sri Lanka, India and the LTTE. I was not too keen on watching it as I thought it would be full of violence. I wondered why they wanted to dig up the past and irritate the world.

But when Venkat said he was going, Vignesh joined in and I decided to go with them. I am glad that I did. We went for the 11 pm show at Cinemax on Saturday night.

THE STORY

Major Vikram Singh (John Abraham) is in the Indian Army. When the Indian Peacekeeping Force is compelled to withdraw from Sri Lanka during the civil war, RAW Chief Robin Dutt (Siddhartha Basu) appoints Vikram as a special officer for RAW. Vikram is to go to Sri Lanka on a secret operation to find out what’s going on. Vikram’s wife (Rashi Khanna) is terribly upset and scared about her husband’s mission. Jaya (Nargis Fakhri) is an Indian-born journalist based in London. She is also at Jaffna to get information on the civil war. Anna Bhaskaran (Ajay Ratnam) is the leader of LTF (read LTTE) rebels. He’s ruthless and determined.

The spy thriller goes on to show a plot to assassinate the ex-Prime Minister of India. While the film is fictional, it is obviously based on the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi.

MY PERCEPTION

I was worried that the film will be very violent considering that it’s based on the LTTE and Sri Lankan civil war. While there were a few scenes depicting this – they were absolutely necessary – the film has been too well made.

John Abraham as Major Vikram Singh is good. While John is not a great actor, he has done his best in this one. This role did not require much acting and hence did not tax the actor too much.

The role of a London based journalist suited Nargis Fakhri perfectly. She did not have to undergo a gamut of expressions and had to predominantly speak in only English - just perfect for the actress.

So, I suppose it was a casting coup as well as Shoojit Sircar’s directorial skills that made a success of these two characters.

Rashi Khanna is tearful in the few scenes that she appears in. Not too bad, I suppose.

I have seen Ajay Ratnam play the villain in a few Tamil films. In this one, he plays the role of the stony-faced LTF leader Anna Bhaskaran. He was good.

Siddhartha Basu is known best as a quiz master. He is also the producer of Kaun Banega Crorepati. Basu has turned towards acting for the first time in Madras Café. He plays the role of RAW Chief Robin Dutt. He has done an excellent job of his role and has proved that he can turn his hand at just about anything - something commendable for one who has begun his acting career at 59. Congratulations Siddhartha Basu!

Prakash Belawadi is another actor who definitely deserves a mention. He plays the role of Balakrishnan who is Vikram’s senior at Jaffna. He was very good.

The film itself has been tightly scripted and keeps one hooked throughout. Running for 2 hours and 10 minutes without a single song, the movie has been edited precisely without any part of it dragging unnecessarily. One has to congratulate Chandrashekhar Prajapati for editing the film so well.

A final Congratulations to Director Shoojit Sircar for delivering an interesting spy thriller after the hilarious and thought-provoking Vicky Donor.

VERDICT: The film was simply superb!

RATING: ****Snazzy

*Silly
**Shaky
***Smart
****Snazzy
*****Super

Film Review: VICKY DONOR

A couple of hours of unadulterated fun with a strong story outline

Cast: Ayushman Khurana, Yami Gautam, Annu Kapoor, Dolly Ahluwalia, Kamlesh Gill
Director: Shoojit Sircar

I had been wanting to see this film since I watched the promos on TV. While Vini was busy with her MBA finals, Viggy and Venkat did not want to go. Finally, Vinitha and I went to see it yesterday, in the film’s third week of release.

THE STORY

Vicky Arora (Ayushman Khurana) is a jobless graduate who lives with his widowed mother Dolly (Dolly Ahluwalia) and paternal grandmother Biji (Kamlesh Gill). Dolly runs a beauty parlour and the house runs on that income. Both the women have spoilt Vicky rotten and he just loafs around, not taking life seriously.

Dr. Baldev Chaddha (Annu Kapoor) runs an infertility clinic and a sperm bank in Delhi. Recently, he has been facing a number of failures and dissatisfied clients. That’s when he advertises for sperm donors. Unable to find a good one, he zeros in on Vicky after he happens to see him. The doctor has Vicky’s forebears checked out and decides that he would be a great sperm donor. But will Vicky agree? Chaddha chases Vicky diligently until the young man is completely convinced. Of course, the money goes a long way in persuading him. A few years later, Vicky falls in love and gets married to Ashima (Yami Gautam) without letting on that he is a sperm donor by profession.

Watch the drama that unfolds when she finds out the truth, especially after it has been diagnosed that she cannot have kids.

MY PERCEPTION

Considering that the subject is a sensitive one, the story and screenplay have been handled superbly well. The dialogues are Punjabi based Hindi and typically from Delhi, with a lot of humour. I simply loved it. Kudos to writer Juhi Chaturvedi and director Shoojit Sarcar!

Both Ayushman Khurana and Yami Gautam are Bollywood first-timers. While Yami has done a good acting job, there is definitely room for improvement. Ayushman has done a terrific presentation of Vicky. He’s a natural in the role. Congratulations to both!

Annu Kapoor – while we see very less of the versatile actor, he has done an excellent job as Dr. Chaddha.

Dolly Ahluwalia and Kamlesh Gill as Vicky’s mother and grandmother have acted so naturally that their characters come alive. I suppose it’s a combination of acting and directorial skills. Their characters have been superbly visualized and executed. Their drinking bouts at home and at Vicky’s wedding are hilariously wonderful and absolutely real.

VERDICT: Two hours of unadulterated fun with a strong story outline and very good role-play by all characters.

RATING: ****Snazzy

*Silly
**Shaky
***Smart
****Snazzy
*****Super

Film Review: JHOOTHA HI SAHI

Cast: John Abraham, Pakhi, Raghu Ram, Manasi Scott, Anaitha Nair, Alishka Varde, Prashant Chawla, Omar Khan, George Nick, Madhavan, Nandana Sen
Director: Abbas Tyrewala

The Story: Siddharth Arya (John Abraham) lives in London and is in a live-in relationship with Krutikka. His best friend is Omar (Raghu Ram), a Pakistani whose unmarried sister is pregnant. By a quirk of fate, Sid ends up receiving calls meant for a 24/7 suicide helpline for Indians. He spends a sleepless night answering desperate callers on the verge of giving up their lives. That’s how he gets to know Mishka (Pakhi – Abbas Tyrewala’s wife, btw). She is about to swallow all the sleeping pills in a bottle when she decides to call the helpline. Siddharth talks Mishka out of committing suicide. Mishka continues to call him every night and Siddharth patiently listens to her. When he refuses to divulge his name, she calls him Fidhaatho, meaning ‘someone who is absolutely trustworthy’.

Unfortunately, Siddharth meets her and pretends to be someone else. He lives a dual life – one as the voice on the helpline and the other as Siddharth. He lies a lot – I am not sure I understand the purpose to it, except that it fits in with the title of the film. The film goes on to show whether their relationship will last after Mishka gets to know the truth.

My Perception: The concept of the plot – the helpline for people on the verge of committing suicide – is good. Siddharth helping Mishka is very acceptable. The film has been built on this strong premise. But how it has been fleshed out is another story all together. The characters are all believable. A pregnant woman who refuses to accept the baby’s father’s (a Japanese) marriage proposal; a Gay man trying to find the right partner; Omar having hidden feelings for his best friend’s girlfriend; Mishka feeling desolate when her mother commits suicide and her boyfriend Kabir (Madhavan) ditches her for another woman; Kabir feeling jealous of Mishka’s newfound happiness with Siddharth – everything is believable and acceptable.

But the most important point of Jhootha Hi Sahi – Siddharth feeling the urge to lie to Mishka – I am not able to quite swallow that one. It does not seem natural. I can quite understand people telling lies under exceptional circumstances. And then there are those who are compulsive liars. Siddharth is neither. Why does he feel the need to lie? I felt lost. And as this is supposed to be the backbone of the story, the film just falls apart as it does not work.

John Abraham – it’s a surprise that he has made a name for himself in competitive Bollywood and directors have the guts to make films with him as the only hero. I have never found his acting great. But it was quite appalling in this film. He goes through the film with a dumbstruck look most of the time with a bit of pathos thrown in on and off. It’s amazing how the producer and director thought that they could rely on such an actor (?) to make the film run.

Pakhi – she was not too bad in what I presume is her debut venture in Bollywood.

Raghu Ram of the MTV Roadies fame has does an excellent job in his role as Omar. If there is a reason to watch this film, I would say that this is the one. He is the saving grace of the film.

The music by AR Rahman was good. What surprised me was the stammering Siddharth breaking into songs that are sung perfectly.

One more scene that needs to be mentioned is the one at the Chinese restaurant where Sid and Mishka go for dinner. The waiter tries to be helpful when Sid stammers while reading the menu. Mishka turns around and tells the poor man off. I am still (2 days after seeing the film) trying to fathom why she is rude to him. One angle to the story is that Mishka is pleased that she has become confident enough to tell someone off for his bad behaviour. But what was wrong with the waiter’s behaviour? I am flummoxed.

Verdict: All in all, a waste of good money. If you are keen on seeing the film, would advise you to watch it on TV as the film is bound to get to the small screen pretty soon.

Rating: ** Shaky

* Silly
** Shaky
*** Smart
**** Snazzy
***** Super

Film Review: NEW YORK

Cast: John Abraham, Katrina Kaif, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Irrfan

Director: Kabir Khan

What the film is about: Omar Aijaz (Neil Nitin Mukesh) is a cab owner in Philadelphia. The FBI traces a consignment of AK-47s and explosives to his cab storage area and Omar is detained. While questioning him, Omar recalls his life ten years ago when he had been a fresher from India and joined the New York State University. There he had befriended Sameer Sheikh alias Sam (John Abraham) and Maya (Katrina Kaif). Omar falls for Maya but moves away when he finds out that she is in love with Sam. After ten years, the FBI wants Omar to help them nail Sam as a terrorist. Even as Omar insists that he has not been in touch with either of his friends since seven years, FBI Inspector Roshan (Irrfan - yeah, that's what the title says) finds a way for him to get back into their lives. Whether Sam is really a terrorist and whether Omar is of any help to the FBI goes on to form the rest of the story.

What we liked about New York: Neil's acting and Irrfan's dialogue delivery - not necessarily in that order. Neil is very expressive, especially his eyes and he has done his role with great subtlety with the nuances just perfectly turning out. Irrfan's style is his own and the dialogues seem to just slip out with the right bite and satire. John and Katrina had performed well and there is not much else to say about it. The camera work and sound effects were perfect. We have to mention the editing here. It was just right - not one extra scene or an extra dialogue and more importantly, not an extra song to drag the picture along.

What we did not like about New York: This is not a fault with the film itself. But we were startled when we realised that it was a terrorist flick. We were going to the multiplexes after more than three months and wanted to be entertained - with just some fun. And believing that the film is from the Yash Raj House, we expected just that. But the dark film came as quite a shock and not the best we would have chosen for a pleasant Saturday evening.

Rating: ***

* Silly
** Shaky
*** Smart
**** Snazzy
***** Super