Dishoom is hot and happening - DAY 871

Film: Dishoom                                 Producer: Sajid Nadiadwala & Sunil Lulla

Director: Rohit Dhawan

Music: Pritam

Cast|: John Abraham, Varun Dhawan,  Akshaye Khanna ,Jacqueline Fernandez and Saqib Saleem

Ratings: 3.5 stars***1/2

The film opens with India’s top batsman, Vijay Sharma/ Saqeeb Saleem hitting sixes on the cricket pavilion and a few scenes later, you discover that the sportsman is missing. The finals are two days later and the chase begins to hunt the missing star.

Kabir Shergill/John Abraham is the super cop assigned on the mission and assisting him is the young and cheerful Junaid Ansari /Varun Dhawan.

On the surface it is a regular action thriller but there is a difference, this one has substance and a 36 hour deadline. What works about the film are the virgin locations, Ayananka Bose’s seductive cinematography, Tushar Hiranandani’s script, Hussain Dalal’s dialogues and the dare devil action.

Mention must be made of a refreshing supporting cast and the delightful surprises (Nargis Fakhri, Parineeti Chopra, a hilarious Satish Kaushik and an unstoppable Akshay Kumar in cameos).

Saqib Saleem as the abducted cricketer is reserved and reassured, Akshaye Khanna effective in negative role and John Abraham–Varun Dhawan reminiscent of Amitabh Bachchan -Shashi Kapoor pairing of yester years.

What does not, are some exaggerations, some unending thrills, a cacophonic background score but  all diffused by Ritesh- Rokade’s razor sharp editing that keeps you engrossed till the end.

Dishoom is fast, furious, energetic, stylish and entertaining. Watch it for the delicious Varun Dhawan, the handsome John Abraham and most important, for the new director on the block, Rohit Dhawan take a bow.

@bhawanasomaaya

Sarika Sanjeev Take 2 - DAY 870

Sarika and Sachin as child stars did a couple of films with Sanjeev Kumar and considered him as their guru so after Sarika had grown up and become a leading lady, Sarika was too excited when she was offered a film opposite Sanjeev Kumar by her favorite director Basu Bhattacharya. Basu Bhattacharya in his last years made four films on the subject of marriage –Anubhav about stagnation in marriage, Aavishkar – about disappearance of romance in marriage, Griha Pravesh – about the other woman and Aastha about the other man or men in marriage.

In Griha Pravesh Sanjeev Kumar is married to Sharmila Tagore for many years and finds himself attracted to a much younger office colleague in the office. One day, on the young girl’s insistence, Sanjeev Kumar brings her home to meet his wife and many masks are lifted.

Sarika rates the shooting of Griha Pravesh released today in 1979 as a memorable experience in her life to work with her idol Sanjeev Kumar and to stare at the diva, Sharmilaji unabashedly.

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Fragrance of Abhimaan - DAY 869

It is 43 years since the release of Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Abhimaan/July 1973 but the film is still fresh in our memories. We still listen to the music of the filmin our car and become nostalgic. Everytime the film is shown on television I stop to watch one more scene and end up watching the entire film again. It is called the power of the medium. The digital media is full of annecdotes on the film and the cast but we are always hungry for more details. The film was ghost produced by Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bhaduri that is why it was called Amiya Productions. Jaya wore her personal saris in the film. The film was originally titled Raag Ragini but Hrishida changed it at the last minute to Abhimaan because he felt it better suited the story. Amitabh and Jaya got married during the film and shot the climax after they returned from their honeymoon.

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Hema Malini is the lucky charm - DAY 868

Two films released today, Gehri Chaal in 1973 and Amir Gareeb in 1974 both starring Hema Malini and there are interesting stories involving both. The original end of Gehri Chaal engaged Jeetendra and Amitabh Bachchan in a fight but by the time the director began shooting the climax Seeta aur Geeta was released and the distributor laid a condition that he will buy the film only if the climax depicted Hema Malini fighting the goons and the director had to oblige much to the displeasure of both the heroes. Dev Anand’s Ishq Ishq Ishq released in 1974 the same year as Amir Gareeb and while the former was a disaster at the box-office what saved Dev Anand was lucky charm Hema Malini.

Today is Jugal Hansraj’s birthday and I was the first journalist to interview the beautiful child star of Masoom sitting in the lawns of Mehboob Studio in Bandra.

@bhawanasomaaya

Creative Writing Workshop - DAY 867

Fiction Writing…is it magic or logic…art or craft…inspiration or perspiration…gift or prize! Demystify the process of story writing with practical techniques. Unleash the writer within you and explore the world of stories with confidence! This Is An Era Where Creativity Rules! This is a Writers’ Workshop that has…Innovative exercises for story building. Radical techniques for plot development Practical solutions to writers’ block. Dynamic methods for characterization A bold new approach to the imaginative side of the mind. A chance to get published in a forthcoming anthology. Duration: 2 days Age Group: 14 years and upwards Dates: July 30 – 31 (Sat – Sun), 2016 Time: 10.00 am to 5.00 pm                               Venue: Living Bridge Training Centre, Aundh,​ Pune Fees: Rs. 4600/- only (Including Lunch & Tea) 18, Omkar, Runanubandh Colony, Kotbagi Hospital Lane, Next to Delhi Kitchen, Aundh, Pune 411007 Email: livingbridgepune@gmail.com  Website: www.livingbridge.net Ph: 020 - 41220478   Mobile No: +91 9890000587/7620023495 @bhawanasomaaya

Strictly for Rajni fans - DAY 866(1)

Film Review: Kabali                                                         

Date: July 22 2016

Director: Pa Ranjith

Cast: Rajnikanth, Winston Chow, Radhika Aapte

Rating: whatever box-office determines

Time has stopped still for Rajnikanth since he started acting in films because in Kabali he is still the dreaded gangster serving a long imprisonment in Malaysian jail. When he is finally set free, Kabali has to look for his estranged family but before that he has to settle scores with old enemies who turned his life upside down.

In the next hour and half, bullets fire in the air and blood flows like a valley like it did in his films of the70s, the 80s, the 90s and the 2000 in that sense time has stood still for the superstar. He still wears sqeaky shinning shoes and walks erect with his collars up. He still flops on the sofa his arms stretched and one leg resting on the other and he still throws his goggles in the air and whistles.

Some things have changed undoubtedly, this time he wears salt pepper hair and does not gyrate with his beloved but gets emotioal with his wife Radhika Aapte.

Traveling three locations Malaysia – Thailand and TamilNadu and sprinkled in three dialects Kabali is strictly for Rajni sir fans only.

No point of rating the film because the superstar lives by his own rules.

@bhawanasomaaya http://bhawanasomaaya.com/

Common man is special - DAY 866

Film Review: Madaari

Date: July 22 2016

Director: Nishikant Kamath

Cast: Irrfan Khan, Vishesh Bansal, Jimmy Shergill

Rating: 3 stars***

The film opens with a voice over questionning that presuming there’s a fight between an eagle and a mouse, who would win? If the eagle wins, the story becomes predictible. If the mouse wins, the story is unrealistic, so the third end is the story of Madaari.

An ordinary man/Irrfan Khan kidnaps the son of a powerful man, Home Minister/Tushar Dalvi and throws him a challenge.

This is not a regular cop and culprit chase. The issue is not ‘who’ but ‘why’. Shot on varied and fast changing locations within the interiors of India, the characters walk the sands, tan in the sun, sleep on chugging trains, ride in rickety buses and walk hungry for days.

What works about the film is the premise, the message and the intention. Director Nishikant Kamath has always displaced radical choice subjects beginning with his award winning Dombivali Fast, later Mumbai Meri Jaan on bomblasts and recently debate on right and wrong in Drishyam. This time Kamath knocks on your concience and exposes those in power.

The problem with Madaari is we have been throug similar journeys of the common man in A Wednesday and Traffic and the plot is devoid of surprises. The narrative is slow paced and the story unfairly hero centric. One misses the involvement of Rohan’s school, classmates and parents, particularly mothers of other students.

The main problem is the exaggerated climax. Would any minister under any dire circumstances ever visit a common man to resolve a crisis?

Jimmy Shergill as the investigating cop Nachiket is effective but almost invisible. Child star Vishesh Bansal is bright and cheeky but the film belongs solely to Irrfan Khan. As the dishevelled, unkempt kidnapper always on the move, Irrfan is merculrial and sparkling.

There is just one song in the film composed by Vishal Bharadwaj and another from Urdu poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz in the endcrdits and both add to the story telling.

Moral of the story: it is not necesaary for either the eagel or the mouse to conquer each other if both are accountable and ethical.

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