Monday 15 August 2011

Rowdiram

2011 by Gokul - Tamil movie

Angry young man is one of the most favourite theme for Indian movie industry. Even the public loves it. There is no Indian super star who has not done at least one angry young man role and some became synonymous for this role. Yet another Angry young man from Tamil movies, but the difference is, here there is a debutant director who has tried to do it differently.

Shiva learned martial arts from his grand father who asked him to live like a man, ie to die only once in your life. Shiva hence always attracts trouble and he has a family who is worried and a girl friend turned wife who is supportive. 

The story in fact is nearly the same as all such entertainers. But I must agree that the debutant director wanted to make it look different. Hence unlike in the regular entertainers, scenes are not always going overboard and the hero himselves looks quite restrained, except when he is angry. He promptly irritates a feared criminal and has to wage a war with him. And here is one of the highlights of this movie. The action scenes are simply brilliant, may be the best after Jnan Mahan Alla, but it is quite different from that too. Definitely, I can watch this movie once again only for those scenes. And especially in the first half, there are some really simple light hearted fun too.

However, in his attempt to try to be different, Gokul seems to have made a big mis judgement of the ordinary people who decides whether a movie is successful or not. Gokul built a crescendo towards the climax, between the hero and the villain, but then he seems to have dropped it there. For me, I would love to see different kind of thoughts to our entertainment movies. So I am allright with the ending of this movie, which is more in tune with the reality. But for the ordinary man, who wants to see a start and a finish in between the sprints, they will be terribly disappointed by the climax. And this I am afraid, has seriously prevented the chances of Rowdiram becoming a hit. I am not saying, if not for the climax it would have been a nice entertainer. The first half was really good, but the script loses its tauntness in the second half and the movie look like a bit too stretched there. But inspite of all this, if the director had built up on that final crescendo, ordinary men would have forgiven the faults in the second half and would have loved it. They just didnt get to see that final punch in the end and that will make this movie suffer at the box office.

Gokul definitely proves he has talent and with a better script he can make better movies. It is definitely heartening to see new movie makers coming out with such out of the box climax thoughts. I would definitely give credit to him for that. But may be not the producer..

Jeeva really steals the show as the angry young man. This is an entertainer where the director has demanded restraint from every artist, be it the actors or the technicians and Jeeva has been excellent. Such a pity that this one will not earn as much as his previous box office topper Ko

Aarakshan

2011 by Prakash Jha- Hindi

Whenever there is a movie from Mr. Jha, Bollywood centered media come out craving for a great movie, as if a very genuine director is making a film with a great theme and message. For me, I liked his Gangaajal as a good entertainer, which was different from typical Bollywood movies. Bollywood normally does not want its viewers to think. Prkash Jha gives something to ponder about in his movies, though it has never been great. However, this time he has taken a theme, Reservation for backward castes in Governmental higher educational system and jobs, some theme, the mention of which even can lead to heated discussions and even petty fights and sometimes even riots. I have to say, he is really bold to base his new movie around reservation and through his protagonist, air some views which is definitely not going to please the upper castes and the great Indian middle class. No wonder that the theatre was almost empty.

Professor Prabhakar Anand is the principal of an ideal philosophy of education and of such an institution. He does not care for caste or family background to encourage a needy student. But as he too is surrounded by those who run the education mafia, he has to get out of the institution and run his own system. 

Mr. Jha is quite a bold person in the first half of this movie, when there is this strong battle between the view points of two groups, one group against reservations and the other for the reservations. And this half definitely is the better half, inspite of having two unnecessary songs taking their time within the first 15 or 20 minutes. But in the second half, it takes a different turn and the politics behind the reservation is almost like lost and it turns out more like the battle of sustenance between two individuals who took two sides in the first half. And it is this second half, which made Aarakshan look pretty ordinary. In the first half, we see a director who is bold enough to take a hot theme and clearly takes a stance through his protagonist. So the first half is commendable, as it airs many questions and should make us think. But the same director chooses a path in the second half, which we have seen in so many movies from across India, in which the good finds some ways, mostly quite easy, to get over the bad. At the end it all looks pretty ordinary.

For once, here is a Bollywood movie which happens almost in some North Indian town. But still, there is a scene which happens somewhere in America. America seems to be such an integral part of every thing in India now, at least for Bollywood. And for the first time, I think, Saif Ali Khan comes out looking like a pretty ordinary man and tries to convince in that role. He is not excellent but still it is a good performance from him as he has tried his best to not go over board. And then there is Mr. Bachhan. But I doubt, with the kind of talent he has, if he really had to put in a big effort for this role at all.

Finally, a different effort which decided to end up normal. Still congratulations to Mr. Jha to raise some serious questions in the first half. But he should have known that, his pertinent questions must be quite irritating for the majority of that class who are biggest promoters of Bollywood. At least if the upper castes, who also form the chunk of the Indian middle class, if they would even care to think about the issues arised in the first half, Mr. Jha must be a happy man. But I doubt so. For, Indians only like to point fingers at other nations when there are racism issues in the west. Their own mirror never reflects them. Or they dont like to see what they are and the result show in the theatres.


The Bank Job

2008 by Roger Donaldson - British movie

Normally, to know that Jason Statham leads a movie cast deters me from watching that movie. The only hope here was that this is a British movie and so there must be some difference.

An old time friend and model offers Terry an opportunity to make some money by robbing a bank. Martine is actually set up by the secret agencies as they would like to seize some photographs that can defame some royal personalities. Only once the job is done does Terry is aware about the waves of troubles he is to be engulfed with . 

Now, this is a true story from the 70's. And hence we really cannot blame that there are lots of typical cliches in this movie. So that means, extra ordinary drama in real life too is full of cliches.

However, the movie is a good one time watch with lots of 'allright' thrills through out except towards the end when it looks a bit clumsy. But still I must admit, there is a kind of difference to British movies. I mean this is a plot which is always fit for the Hollywood. But British talents have made better scenes of a script, which Hollywood would have exaggerated and blown off. The team has managed to make it an ok heist movie.

And for the first time, for me, I think Jason Statham seems to have acted. He does have scenes where he has to have some expressions on his face rather than on his physique. I cant remember him in a better role.