Badhaai Ho - Film Review

#BadhaaiHo

The life and times of a typical Delhi-based middle-class family forms the back-drop of this enjoyable (mostly-)comedy. A comedy that arises from an event that is such an antithesis of a supposed lifestyle of a middle-class family, that it becomes the base for the entire plot.

The strength of this film comes from this one idea. That a conventional 50-something housewife conceives unexpectedly, amidst a mundane life that revolves around her daily duties of running the home and taking care of all members of the family (a husband, 2 young sons, and a crabby mother-in-law). And the emotional chaos and the multiple dramas that happen as a result.

In fact, that's pretty much the entire story. How everybody reacts to the news (mostly negatively) - the sons, the mother-in-law, the neighbours, the extended family, the son’s girlfriend, the son’s girl friend’s mother, the son’s friends. And then after some time, how everybody comes around to the fact that it’s completely normal and then reacts mostly positively.

Ayushmann Khurrana as Nakul Kaushik, again delivers a really good performance, being the central character, through which the entire story is told. Gajraj Rao (of Tech Conversations with my Dad fame), as the father Jeetu Kaushik gives a brilliant performance as an un-patriarchal head of the family, being both gentle with his family and still-in-love with his wife. Neena Gupta, as the mother Priyamvada Kaushik, also does a great job portraying a strong and silent woman, who’s self-effacing personality becomes a powerful contrast for the impact that her pregnancy has on everyone around her. Who thought she could be the one to shake up the entire system, that is held together by such fragile and meaningless rules and norms. And finally, Surekha Sikri as the dadi, does a brilliant role of a crabby traditional mother-in-law, whose primary job is to criticise the bahu and generally complain about everything and everyone.

Apart from the hilariousness of the different conversations that happen between different characters because of the situation, the movie is also impactful because it challenges stereotypes. It encourages us to be open-minded and tolerant of the different people that live around us, respecting the choices they make, whether we agree with them or not. Who’s to say what’s the right way to live one’s life? And who are we to judge others? The film reminds us to not put people in boxes. In a country with one of the largest youth populations in the world, it challenges perhaps one of the biggest biases we live with, in our country - the young vs. old bias. Old does not mean a road to ‘sanyaas ashram’. As long as we are alive, we are all human beings, with emotions, needs, desires and failings. What defines us is not our age, but the choices we make at our age. And the people that love us are the people that accept these choices and accept the life that comes as a result of these choices.

Where the film is weak, however, is the lack of a more defined storyline. It felt like the writers had this central idea and then they weaved everything around it. The narrative doesn’t move forward in a sense of what happens next. It just stays at this big event and things happening around it. The entire plot becomes about first showing the social conflict that is created by the late pregnancy and then the resolution of this conflict among the different characters. And while that’s perfectly enjoyable, it leaves you a little wanting for more.

The other area where the film had more potential was in building the different characters both inside the middle class society (like the younger teenage brother, Gullar and Nakul’s boisterous friends) as well as outside the middle class society (like Nakul’s girlfriend Renee, played by Sanya Malhotra of Dangal and her mother played by Sheeba Chaddha ). The film does try in building these characters through several scenes actually (like Gullar’s school fight with the bully, or Renee’s talk with Nakul or her talk with her mother), but because every scene becomes about the shocking unexpected pregnancy, there is no further aspect of the character that is built. And it’s not helped by a completely lacklustre presence (a non-performance) of Sanya Malhotra as the girlfriend, who actually has a pretty central role. Opportunity loss here.

But all in all, an enjoyable film with lots of laughter, in a surprising situation, with some great performances. Another feather in the cap for Bollywood in a year that is fast becoming one to remember for the most diverse set of movies, with completely unique plots and storylines. Once again a loud cheer for Bollywood 2018. 

Venom- Movie Review

#Venom. The byline of the poster says “the world has enough super heroes”. And that probably sums up the confusion that this next in the Marvel comics-brought-to-big-screen film is. 

So, he is not a hero? Then is he a villain? Uh! Ya. It is evil from another planet that wants to destroy planet earth. But wait.. not quite, because he changes his mind, and instead decides to save the earth. So may be he is a hero, after all. 

So maybe he is not a “super” hero? and he doesn’t have powers? Ya. He is an everyday loser who doesn’t care about saving the world or anything. But, wait.. not quite, because he likes the alien inside him (as weird as that sounds) that gives him all the powers to save the world. 

So maybe he is not “just another” super hero? He is bad ass, different, unique, R-rated like Deadpool? Ya, he is arrogant, cocky, bold, has sex too, but wait.. his girlfriend dumps him, he loses his job and he completely loses his confidence, will to live, and his general overall personality till the alien gets hold of him.

That’s when you realise you’re watching a weak movie. The plot is predictable and lame. And brings nothing new. 

Alien species lands on earth due to the misplaced ambition of a scientist (Carlton Drake, played by Riz Ahmed) to save the world through unscrupulous experiments. This species needs to inhabit human beings to survive and exhibit their power. One evil alien that inhabits noted journalist Eddie Brock (Thomas Hardy) turns good and the other that doesn’t inhabits the evil scientist. And the fight  between good and evil, till happily ever after. 

The plot had potential, no doubt. The one thing that IS remotely interesting (or should I say symbiotely interesting) is the the aspect of the symbiotic alien. They are two beings living in the same biological entity. One body, two souls. This opens up an interesting dimension of (no, not schizophrenia) a genuine double existence of 2 very different people in one form. Now, this is something that’s not explored before in a super hero, most of whom are very unidimensional. How the two-in-one co-exist, building on each other and completing each other in a way that makes them better together, both in a funny and a profound way and very often in a dark way. This aspect has a lot of possibilities. But in the way it’s done in the film, it feels like too much of a throwback to Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man 3, (remember, when the black gooey alien takes over Spidey to make him dark!) and loses the opportunity of creating something new. 

The only other thing that had potential was ofcourse, Thomas Hardy. And it seems like he was the entire bet for the film to work. But even he is not able to save the film. How can one can look at Hardy as a loser. It’s just not convincing. And the overall story lets him down. 

Again Riz Ahmed (a good actor) becomes another cliche of an evil scientist. Michelle Williams  (again, great actor), as the woman lead also had the potential to play a different, more equal partner to Venom, but again becomes another damsel not-even-a-sidekick. 

All and all, a disappointing, full-marks-for-trying-something-different-but-ending-up-in-a-seen-there-done-that not-quite-Marvel film. 

As you walk out of the theatre, you can’t help but agree vehemently with the byline. The world, indeed, has enough super heroes. We can live without this one.

Andhadhun - Movie Review

#Andhadhun
From director Sriram Raghavan, of Ek Hasina Thi (2004) Johnny Gaddar (2007) and Badlapur (2014), comes another engrossing page turner, centred around a single character’s story and how it intertwines with multiple characters along the way, in a crazy, dark, funny, twisted plot that reveals, as much as it unravels, with every passing scene.

This time the central character is a budding gifted pianist, living a blind life, working on his talent towards building a life of music. A chance incident makes him a witness to a murder, that triggers off a series of mis-happenings that push him deeper and deeper into related and totally unrelated mess. What follows is non-stop Newton’s third law of motion, where every action of his has an equal and opposite reaction, every doing leads to an undoing, till you’re left wondering will this poor guy ever get a break. And does he?

This movie is not about the moments and emotions and dialogues and relationships and such artistic endeavours. The art of this movie is squarely and single mindedly about the plot. And how it unfolds before your eyes. Sriram Raghavan knows he has you wrapped around his story telling because there is no space to think, or wonder, or feel. You are part of a journey that is being driven by him, right from the very first scene. And you have no choice but to fasten your seat belts and enjoy the ride. It is a refreshing and unique storyline that is told in an engaging and a relentless way. In this we see shades of inspiration from Guy Ritchie films, where even seemingly random events connect to each other and to the main plot in a ridiculously meaningful way, like the animated rabbit being shot by the farmer!

Ayushman Khurana does a great job playing the central is-blind-is-not-is-blind-is-not character. He is effortless and natural in his role, that admittedly isn’t as demanding anyway.

Tabu, as always, puts up a great show of a
complex character of a middle aged housewife caught in a situation that she is clever enough to do what it takes to get out. But, again Tabu is completely under leveraged in what she is capable of. Her character could have been more twisted, more layered.

And Radhika Apte, who is everywhere these days, does a decent job too, though honestly, I’m still waiting to be impressed by her supposed ‘talent’, that seems to be well hidden behind her looks.

But what you love most about the characters, in true Raghavan style, is the 50 shades of grey that each character is. Simi (Tabu), Inspector Manohar, Doctor Swami, Maushi, the auto rickshaw driver.. even Akash (Ayushman). None of them are golden hearted or pure evil, none of them have a larger than life agenda or have questions of conscience or morality or a life lesson to teach. What each of them is, is simply, biologically human, and like every species ever to have lived on this planet, are driven by just one simple, fundamental drive- survival.

But, Andhadun is not Sriram Raghavan’s finest film. At many points we can actually predict a supposed twist and some of the apparent surprises aren’t really that surprising. We wish he had pushed it even more - a little more stinging of the senses like when Varun Dhawan kills and wraps a dead body in plastic in Badlapur, a little more ruthless emotion like when Urmila Matondkar’s extreme hate for Saif makes her leave him to be eaten alive by rats in Ek Hasina Thi, a little more extreme scenes like the blood and kills in Johnny Gaddar. Just a little bit more..

But if we don’t compare him with what he is himself capable of, Sriram Raghavan does once again show he is a master story teller of slightly ‘hatke ’ plots that don’t necessarily follow a linear feel-good narrative, but are there to entertain like no other movie.

In short, go watch yet another totally worth-it film. What a fab year for Hindi cinema!