Friday, December 23, 2016

DANGAL - Shabhash !

STORY -

It is a biographical sports drama about Mahavir Singh Phogat & his daughters Geeta Kumari Phogat & Babita Kumari, their journey into the world of wrestling & fulfilling the dream of winning a gold medal for the country to make a much needed strong statement in this patriarchal society. Since this is based on real life story & characters, few cinematic liberties have been taken for the dramatic effect.

MOVIE -

Mahavir Singh Phogat (Aamir Khan), former national wrestling champion has now given up on his dream of winning a gold & wishing to have a son to fulfil his dream. He gets devastated when the fourth child born is also a girl. The teenage daughters unwillingly go through the fierce training sessions. Consistent mocking in the society & facing a strict father becomes too much for the kids. They try to rebel but eventually are made to realise what they're rebelling against. The pace here is pretty decent & most importantly no songs act as speed-breakers. Humour & emotions are equally balanced throughout the first half filled with terrific wrestling sequences featuring Zaira Wasim playing young Geeta Phogat. She's equally supported by Suhani Bhatnagar (young Babita). Director Nitesh Tiwari has got the detailing right in establishing these characters which instantly connect with the audience.

Post interval, the story moves in a predictable pace with Geeta Phogat moving to the NSA & losing her concentration which ultimately affect her performance as well as her relationship with her father. Again it's the realistic feel captured that keeps the movie going. Also the strong first half helps you stay connected with all the main characters. Though there's little space for humour, Aparshakti Khurrana playing the close-cousin provides enough humour without going overboard. As the pace dips here, it's the powerful performances that elevate every scene & realistically shot wrestling matches are a hoot. The last two matches gives you the edge of the seat feeling.

Similarities with Sultan or even Saala Khadoos which released earlier this year are inevitable. All of them tried to highlight the same elements such as - underdog story, poor coaching, lack of proper support, patriarchal society & a failed sportsman wanting to fulfill his dream again. What separates Dangal from them is the realistic portrayal. While Sultan played to the gallery, Dangal keeps it subtle & of course it does eventually plays to the gallery which I don't want to reveal as the result can be witnessed in the theatre. Dangal hits every right emotions be it patriotism, feminism or father-daughter relationship.

PERFORMANCES - 

The true stars are the four girls.

Zaira Wasim played young Geeta Phogat & Suhani Bhatnagar played young Babita have done terrific job. They truly bring life to the two characters. They're part of the majority of the first half & they've handled each scene with amazing conviction.

Fatima Sana Sheikh played older Geeta Phogat & Sanya Malhotra played older Babita give top-notch performance. Just like the younger girls, even they live their characters. I wish there was more of Babita's character or a sequel is a made focusing on her.

Sakshi Tanwar has got limited opportunity but she has done a good job in all the scenes. Girish Kulkarni as the poor coach is first rate.

Aparshakti Khurrana provides ample humour & also the kid playing his younger self. He plays the perfect side-kick.

Finally, the perfectionist. Kudos to Aamir Khan for coming up with yet another restrained mature performance. Definitely one of his best. It's not just about his dedication but the way he balances each scene with all the four girls.

POSITIVES - 

1. The story of Mahavir Phogat & his daughters. This demanded to be made into a film & thanks to Aamir Khan for saying yes to this project.
2. The 4 girls are the life of this film.
3. Entire training episodes in both first & second half.
4. Wrestling matches in the first half with boys.
5. Aamir Khan vs Fatima Sana Sheikh face off in the second half.
6. Phone sequence.
7. Semi Final & Final matches in the second half.

NEGATIVES -

1. Predictable which results in pace dropping in the second half.
2. Songs don't yield the expected impact. Though not a huge problem, one does expect better music in an event film.

MY RATING - 4/5

FINAL WORDS - Shabhash !

Friday, December 9, 2016

BEFIKRE - Watch it at your own risk. I DARE YOU. I DOUBLE DARE YOU.

STORY -

Okay, Dharam & Shyra are the main characters. She's French born Desi girl who is carefree & Dharam is the usual Delhi ka launda who is careless. They get into a casual relationship which turns into live-in relationship & results in their break up. Now, both of them decide to renew their relationship by renaming it as friendship. What never seen before stuff happens next? Will they discover love out of lust or ruin their friendship due to love is definitely not the way story is presented in the film, heck, the way I wrote it here looks tons better than what's shown on the screen. Anyways, it's the usual will they? won't they? story.

In short, it follows the grand dialogue from, Maine Pyar Kiya - "ek ladka aur ek ladki, kabhi dost nahi ho sakte".



MOVIE -

Dharam (Ranveer Singh) lands in Paris to be a stand up comedian at his friend's bar. Like every guy ever portrayed in these scenario, he dreams of hooking up with as many French girls possible, only to be rejected. His "cuteness" & "honesty" impresses Shyra (Vaani Kapoor), a French born Desi girl who agrees for one drink followed by one song/dance & one night stand but quickly reminds him that LOVE is out of question as she just had a break up & want to stay single. Dharam surprisingly pursues her despite all the warnings & as usual wins her over. It's a relationship alright but nothing to do with love. Loads of kisses follow up in order to show they're having sex 24/7. Then in a quick show reel, we're shown the differences between them leading to fights & eventually their break up. Shyra gets serious whereas Dharam tries to be a playboy to get over her. 1 year passes, they get back together to celebrate their break up anniversary & decide to be friends. INTERVAL.

Now, all of a sudden, Dharam & Shyra become this YRF/Dharma approved friends that they plan everything together. To an extent, Shyra wants Dharam to decide what she should wear on her date followed by Dharam becoming the third wheel. Not surprisingly, everything turns corny, filmed in slow motion, a dream song occurs to announce the grand arrival of LOVE. This is entirely focused on Dharam to let us audience know that it's he who realises first. As usual melodrama continues, with Ranveer showing his rear talent, Vaani sporting bikini, followed by few more kisses, the director feels it's time for one more set of slow motion shots with the dream song being repeated to show even Shyra has come to realisation. Both Dharam & Shyra conveniently decide to get married to their "fiancee & fiance" on the same day & at the same venue. You can guess the rest. Actually no, it is here where Aditya Chopra tries to be Aditya Chopra by introducing a lengthy dance duet between the couple & without any warning Aditya Chopra decides to pull off a Sajid Khan on us. So expect Housefull/Humshakals kinda forced buffoonery in the end, if you dare to sit through the movie.

PERFORMANCES -

Ranveer Singh as Dharam gets to play Ranveer Singh for 130 odd minutes. All his off screen antics are on full display here. The actor Ranveer is completely missing. In the end it's all madness & nothing worthwhile to mention.

Vaani Kapoor is actually good in the ill-written role. She's mesmerising, awesome while dancing in fact shows more energy than Ranveer. But there's hardly anything for her to perform in this cardboard character which has been over done already.

Supporting cast is just there for the sake of filling the scenes. The actors who played the parents of Vaani, well I remember them through AIB & TVF so they're just there. None of them leave a mark or to say none of them get anything to leave a mark. Even the girl Ranveer dates, gets interrupted amidst her strip-tease so.

DIRECTION -

Aditya Chopra with all his right intention has got everything wrong in order to desperately reach out to the current generation. It might as well be a small film with a very simple story (or lack of it), but his attempt to make it a cool urban romantic film really gets on your nerves as he has only limited set of tools to showcase. Either make them kiss every now & then, or make them abuse each other. After Karan Johar's attempt at trying Imtiaz Ali's style of narration, this is Aditya Chopra's attempt, rather a failed one. Even the break up anniversary reminds us instantly of break up celebration from Love Aaj Kal.

And I agree, it's the expectations. Even with zero expectations, Aditya Chopra is such a big brand that it is impossible to even imagine such a bad film from him.

Positives -
1. Vaani Kapoor.
2. Kisses.
3. For those interested, Ranveer Singh's butt.
4. Some dialogues in the first half especially pre-interval is relatable.

Negatives -
1. Poor writing & direction.
2. Extremely predictable, filled with cliche in the second half.
3. Terrible Sajid Khan-esque climax.
4. Songs are not upto the mark considering the standards set.

My Rating - 1.5/5 (1.5 french kisses. 0.5? hmmm that would be without any tongue action.)

Final Words - Watch it at your own risk. I DARE YOU. I DOUBLE DARE YOU.

P.S. - The film is rated UA by the great CBFC but apart from all the kisses, bikini closeups, strip teases, they've allowed the Ranveer Singh nudity without any objection. There's a limit to double standards.