Movie Review: The Lunchbox - Simply Brilliant!

A movie with Irfan Khan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui, arguably the two best actors in contemporary Bollywood, is a must watch. There would be lots of critical acclaim for the actors and rightly so, but let me first speak of writer-director Ritesh Batra, whose name I had not heard before.

At a time when directors are raking in millions by successfully diluting the collective IQ of the nation to below 50, Batra deserves rich applauds for daring to make a movie in a style probably Satyajit Ray would have appreciated, focussing on the actual things that make for good cinema. A good story, perfect real life characterization, great acting, direction, cinematography, captivating camera angles capturing real life, among other things.

Saajan Fernandes(Irfan) is a boring, mundane but efficient government employee, nearing retirement, who has nothing exciting coming up in life. His wife is long dead, he has no kids and lives alone. Irfan has completely become the character. No one can say he is the same Irfan Khan who played Pan Singh Tomar that got him the national award. Just think of a routine, old government employee, they way they talk, the way they behave, almost lifeless at times, Irfan gets all this perfectly right. The scene where he buys a painting, where he explains that he is an old man, where he tries to hide a letter, are worth savouring. It is very interesting to watch the subtle changes in his behaviour, when something "interesting" does happen in his life.

He gets a dabba(lunchbox) from a hotel, through the dabbawalahs of Mumbai. In real life it has been extrapolated through live examples, that the dabbawalahs probably make one mistake in 6 million deliveries. However such a mistake forms the crux of this beautiful story. A dabba reaches Fernandes, made by a housewife Ila(Nimrat Kaur) and hence starts an unusual relationship through small letters in the lunchbox, where they share their experiences, insecurities and hopes in life. This would make one nostalgic of a bygone era where love and relationships did happen through letters!

Nimrat Kaur as Ila is absolutely brilliant, not sure why we do not get to see more of these actors. She plays the role of a housewife to perfection, the way she cooks and tastes the food, the mannerisms, the way she washes clothes and her attempts to impress her insensitive husband, her hopelessness, are all spot on.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui has probably got nothing wrong, since he started acting. He has proved time and again, that if you know your acting, you do not need a background, godfather, looks, dance, action, but just brilliant acting. Here he proves his mettle again, scene by scene, against an exceptional Irfan. An irritating trainee Aslam, who is supposed to replace Fernandes, displaying dignified sycophancy, Siddique again delivers with his expressions and dialogue delivery. The scene where he speaks out to Irfan for not training him, the scene where he expects the latter to offer lunch just through expressions or the one where he requests him to be his guardian, stand out.

The novel experiment of using the recognizable voice of Bharti Achrekar as the Aunty upstairs also comes off very well. Lillete Dubey as Ila's mother has just two scenes, but does very well in the second, emphasizing the vacuum and hopelessness at a certain stage of life and how we realize things were not exactly what we thought, when they happen. 

The unusual camera angles, the attention to details,(example, the clear and crisp sound of an unfolding paper), the excellent research done on the dabbawalahs of Mumbai and the subtle nuances of a common man's life a Mumbai, in the packed buses, local trains and offices, dogged and romanticizing at the same time, have been done skilfully. All these underline the fact that the movie has been made painstakingly, with the attitude of a perfectionist. Life does not have a perfect ending, everything would not fit in logically, but we still need to hope and do the best we can to be happy, the movie seems to say this the end.

On the downside, I did not find anything glaring or worth mentioning. However since we are also catering to an internet and Whatsapp generation, that wants things very fast, the pace of the movie could have been slightly faster especially during the first half. But that could have diluted a few things that cinema connoisseurs would enjoy, so I guess this one should be watched for the craft of film making.

Such movies need to be watched simply for the reason that the Indian audience also needs to watch some real cinema. Otherwise no one would make these kind of movies that may not fetch 200 crores, but would live forever as classics and masterpieces. They need to seen because we need to have more of real actors like Irfan, Nimrat and Nawazuddin in India and directors who can at least come close to someone like Satyajit Ray.

They need to be seen so that we can proudly say that yes we make such movies too!

4.5 out of 5 stars for this one!




 

Movie Review - Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, please book your tickets immediately!

Some stories need to be told.

Many people know the Olympic heartbreak of India's greatest runner, but people need to know the tough circumstances and situations in life, braving which this man became the Milkha Singh we know. Suffering partition, to being a wagon breaker and being jailed, to joining the army, losing in love and becoming a champion.

The way such a story is told is very important and Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra deserves a standing ovation to have done this with utmost brilliance, with a classy script penned by the very talented Prasoon Joshi. The movie did not focus only on Milkha's running. The core of course is that, but it is very skillfully wrapped around the pangs of partition, human relations, choices in life, nostalgia and fighting one's own demons.

The cinematography perfectly capture the haunting memories of partition, the competitive spirit of the training and the races, the complete essence of those times.
Like life, the movie has humour, pain, love, competition, defeat and victory, a real biopic in the true sense.

Farhan Akhtar is unbelievable in the movie. We often hear that actors need to "get into the character" of the role they are portraying, something many of our superstars are often unable to do. Here Farhan Akhtar just becomes Milkha Singh, he took his soul. The Sikh mannerisms, accent, style, attitude, everything is spot on! One would not find a strain of the characters he portrayed in Rock On or Zindagi Na Milega Dobara. However the most amazing part is the way he has built his body and the way he ran in the movie. The ones who have followed people like Jesse Owens, Carl Lewis and Usain Bolt would say he ran just like a real top class athlete would. The technique, coordination of hands and legs, falling over the finishing line, flawless! Brilliant director, singer and now roles like this, the junior Akhtar surely would end up as one of the most talented Bollywood has ever seen.

I would be surprised if he does not get a national award for this performance, he has trumped someone like Irfan in Pan Singh Tomar. So some other actor would really have to work out of his skin to beat this performance and we have very few "actors" anyway!
Farhan is backed by a brilliant choice of other actors and their performances, for the other roles. Divya Dutta as Milkha's elder sister is impeccable, her expressions sometimes leave a lump in the throat. Espcially the scene where Milkha comes in wearing the Indian blazer. Pawan Malhotra is always perfect in his roles since his days in Nukkad, so it is no surprise that he adds pure value as Milkha's first coach.

Prakash Raj as Milkha's South Indian commander in the army, does well as usual and brings in some humour quotient. Yograj Singh as Milkha's national coach may not have the acting prowess of the other actors, but he did fine too. Maybe the tough ways he trained his son Yuvraj to be a champion in real life, helped him in the role. Sonam Kapoor has very few dialogues, but her scenes as Milkha's love interest are nice and bring back an air of innocent loves from the days gone by.

Most other actors, even in smaller roles, the kid Milkha, his massacred family in Punjab, his friends in differents part of life do their small parts very well, so again credit to the director.

The music and background score of Shankar Ehsaan Loy pep up the movie, though I felt we could have done with couple songs less, since this is anyway a long movie. The movie could have been a bit shorter, notwithstanding it is a biopic, especially in the first half. In case they decide to send this one for the awards, this needs to be trimmed a bit.

However this takes nothing away from the best cinema of 2013 as of now.

4.5 stars for this classic!

Movie Review: Goynaar Baksho - Quality Bangla cinema raising its head

In music there is a term called the "Thehrao" of the voice, that lets the sur stay alive in the vocal chords for a few seconds(or milliseconds) and provides the ears musical bliss and a sense of perfection. Directors like Aparna Sen have that "Thehrao" in the craft of film making, that is bliss for the senses. The beauty and the simplicity of the Post Independent Bengal, the poetry and the music apt for the scenes, the hypocrisy of the society, the arrogance and uselessness of the "Zamindars", the symbolic sequences, everything is brought out very well in an efficient screenplay.

Moushumi Chatterjee as the slightly wicked, expletive-spouting, yet tragic and overall good at heart "Pishima" is simply wonderful. Those who remember her as the glamorous heroine of yesteryears would be surprised! Konkona as the meek but determined wife is very good too. Though in some "stammering scenes" it looked like she was "acting", otherwise she does proper justice to the role. Saswata Chatterjee(now famous as "Bob Biswas" of Kahaani) adds to the humour quotient and plays the role of the "inefficient husband towards redemption" very well. The rest of cast does well too, though I felt a couple good actors were a bit wasted.

While the first half is simply brilliant, what does not work in the second is trying to bring in too many issues and trying to sew them together around the story. The plot could have been left alone with its simplicity without bringing in 1971 and Mukhti Bahani, among other things. Also I doubt whether a girl in a small town in Bengal would drive a scooter in the early 70s or for that matter whether a "child widow" from the pre Independence era, could so openly approach a labour to satisfy the needs of her youth. Debatable, but cinematic liberty given!

Bongs must watch this, connoisseurs of good cinema should watch too, it has sub titles.

3.75 out of 5 stars!
 

Movie Review - Bombay Talkies - Encouraging experimental cinema

Four directors, four short movies, slices of human life, showing the impact of Bollywood on people. So Bombay Talkies is a tribute to Bollywood and what these movies mean to Indians from different backgrounds and social groups. No unnecessary glitter or item songs, all four directors tried honest and realistic cinema.

In the first, Karan Johar tries something completely different from what he has done till now and succeeds very well. This is the best treatment of gay issues I have seen in Bollywood as of now. Randeep Hooda, Saquib Salem and Rani Mukherjee, all three are brilliant, still Rani would take the cake. One wonders if Johar had been this brave throughout his career, he could have belted out some classics, instead of meaningless candy floss love stories.

The second by Dibakar Banerjee is the best. If one honestly checks the variety of roles Nawazuddin Siddiqui has played with aplomb, one would have to concede that he has been the best actor of Bollywood during the past 2 years or so and definitely among the top 3 actors currently. Please note I am saying, "actor" and not "star". The latter group could receive acting lessons from him. The mundane life of an aspiring actor, his daughter and wife for whom he is a hero, his pet Emu who would give eggs one day, perhaps symbolic of his immaterialized dreams and ambition, his confusions and what happens when one day by accident he gets to act with a real star!
Banerjee's direction has shades of Satyajit Ray, on whose short story the film has been based.

The third one by Zoya Akhtar explores the pressures parents put kids into and the stereotypes that run through our society. A sensitive one, again acted very well by a child, but gets a bit slow in between. How the kid who does not want to play football but dance like "Shiela", who idolizes Katrina Kaif and how he finds a way to chase his dreams, forms a overall very good story. Zoya, like Karan has to be applauded for the choice of subject and direction.

In the last one, Anurag Kashyap also breaks his mould and makes the most "Bollywoodish" movie of the four, though sprinkled with real life like sequences, that is a characteristic of all his movies. How a simple man from Allahabad follows family tradition and puts in so much effort and pain to get home made "murabba" tasted by Amitabh Bachhan, so that his father could live longer! Vineet Kumar Singh has fine acting skills and brings in simplicity and humour together very well. The scene where he meets Big B, while the latter's dialogues play in the background, is my favourite from the entire movie.

The movie ends with a not so great song, but the ensemble of stars does impress!

3.25 stars out of 5!