Film Review: PIKU

The film will keep you rolling with laughter and shedding a tear or two

Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Deepika Padukone, Irrfan
Written by: Juhi Chaturvedi
Director: Shoojit Sircar

The Movie

Piku (Deepika Padukone) is probably in her early thirties and lives with her cranky 70-year-old father Bhaskor Banerjee (Amitabh Bachchan) in Delhi. She’s partner with Syed Afroz (Jishu Sengupta) at Minerva Designers.

Bhaskor Banerjee suffers from chronic constipation and the movie revolves around it. BB feels that his daughter’s life should be with him and his motions rather than her setting up her own life. He does his best to discourage young men who may be interested in wooing her into marriage. He insists that women should lead an independent life and not be shackled by a husband. He doesn’t seem to mind if she’s shackled by her father, though.

My Perception

Yeah, I was revolted when I saw the promos and decided not to see the film. But then, at least three people told me that it’s a film not to be missed. And for the reason that I loved Vicky Donor. So, went to PVR Cinemas Sion with Venkat for the 11.30 pm show last night.

Amitabh Bachchan is a veteran actor, no doubt. In his role as the cranky and stubborn Bhaskor Banerjee, he has surpassed himself. Watching him walk and talk was a joy. As you sit through the film, you can’t help laugh at his antics and find him endearing despite his irritating nature. A special kudos to Senior Bachchan on his scintillating performance!

Deepika Padukone is excellent as Piku. Her expressions change from sadness to anger to joy to tears within seconds, keeping the audience enthralled. Her relationship with her father is so beautifully portrayed. She adores him despite his idiosyncrasies. Amazing performance!

Irrfan (yeah, that’s how is name is mentioned in the titles) is a great actor. His performance as the owner of a taxi service is commendable. He’s so able to relate to Piku’s pain as she deals with her recalcitrant parent, who is completely dependent on her.

The rest of the characters are well chalked out and play their roles to perfection.

Just imagine creating a film about “motion se hi emotion” without a strong storyline! Writer Juhi Chaturvedi and Director Shoojit Sircar must surely have had a lot of guts to come up with such a theme. But believe me when I say that they have come up aces with this one. The film has the right balance of humour and emotions to strum your heartstrings.

It must have taken some kind of gumption to have dialogue after dialogue describing the various forms of stools that a person can have. Piku is so used to them that it never strikes her when she talks about excrete descriptively at the dining table.

VERDICT: A truly well made film of just two hours. It will keep you rolling with laughter and shedding a tear or two.

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

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