Movies Review: Shuddh Desi Romance

Shuddh Desi Romance: The filmCast: Sushant Singh Rajput, Parineeti Chopra, Vaani Kapoor, Rishi Kapoor
Direction: Maneesh Sharma

Rating: ***


Big fat Indian weddings make for a colourful backdrop and Bollywood loves using it to render its many love stories. Maneesh Sharma uses the same flashy canvas to mock the vibrant façade it manages to create.
Modern relationships are caught in transition - some are being redefined, traditional mindsets are being challenged, the man-woman equation has many new aspects to it. Societal pressure sometimes try to thwart this change, the expectation that everyone has to be happily married by a certain age puts immense pressure on individuals and their families and Indian weddings are sometimes used to veil the changing dynamics of relationships.
Maneesh Sharma tries to address the various nuances of love and commitment. He does raise some valid points but his treatment remains superfluous at best. It’s as if the filmmakers were scared to take a strong stand, afraid that it will ruffle the feathers of the gatekeepers of our conscientious Indian society and they would bar their young children from watching this movie. A section of the society is bound to feel that a film that makes no bones about pre-marital sex and live-in relationship is bound to have an adverse effect on the impressionable youth of this country. We did much rather live in denial than accept the very apparent changes.
‘Shuddh Desi Romance’ gives us some memorable characters and they remain with us long after we have walked out of the theatre.
Raghu (Sushant Singh Rajput) is quick to run away from his wedding, quick to fall in love soon after and quick to even recover from a heartbreak. We know so many men like that – confused, impulsive and irresponsible. Is his character flawed? Not really, merely unsure of what he really wants from life.
Raghu Ram follows his heart but when he realizes that it has misled him, he is ready to listen to his head instead and set right the mistake he made before. If the heart was wrong then the head has got to be right. A lot of modern marriages thus, end up being a decision of mind over heart.
Sushant’s character is the anti-thesis of the one he played in ‘Kai Po Che’. Raghu (Sushant) has no focus, he is charming and yet, annoying because he has no real personality.
Gayatri (Parineeti Chopra) is the cool babe; she smokes, is unabashed about her previous boyfriends and makes no big deal about her live-in partner. And yet, that’s only a front; she is as insecure in her relationship, as any other person. She is scared that the person she loves will judge her by her past. And she did rather run away from impending heartbreak than appear vulnerable.
Tara (Vaani Kapoor) is immensely likeable and creates quite an impression in her debut film. There is no high drama/melodrama accompanying her emotional trajectory. I especially love the look of pure pleasure on her face when she explains how revenge is immensely gratifying for the ego. She also makes a valid point – when you are flirting with someone who had previously dumped you, you are never sure whether you are enjoying the revenge more or whether you are actually slipping away again.
The thing is, the film forays into an unexplored grey area in most romantic relationships but it doesn’t really delve deeper. The protagonists never seem completely convinced about their feelings and may be that was intentional. How sure are we really of our emotions in a relationship? They tend to change over time. But then are modern relationships bereft of any kind of responsibility? Surely there has to be some accountability somewhere.

Also, there was much talk about the 27 kisses in the film but honestly, there wasn’t the chemical spark that you would expect from such a bold, young love story.

Movies Review and Trailer: Madras Cafe

Madras Cafe: The filmCast: John Abraham, Nargis Fakhri, Siddharth Basu
Direction: Shoojit Sircar

Rating: ***1/2


‘Madras Cafe’ is an engaging tale. Commendable mostly because Shoojit Sircar manages to weave an interesting plot and well-executed conflict stories are a rarity in Bollywood.
Any political thriller runs the risk of being biased and I am sure there will be an equal share of viewers who will be offended by the alleged pro-state stance taken by the director. To be fair to him, however, the narrative at various times does mention that every one has their version of the truth and it just depends on perspective.
Or like our protagonist reiterates, one man’s revolutionary is another man’s terrorist.
The director has also made it quite clear that the Indian state was quite ambiguous in its approach and subsequent resolution during the crisis. Prejudices aside, I am just looking at the cinematic merits of the film.
The film provides a comprehensive context to the Sri Lankan civil war and a taut narrative ensures that the pace does not slacken. I would assume the biggest challenge for the director was to sustain the tension in a story where we already know the outcome of the assassination attempt.
And on that account, Sircar delivers superbly. The action and the gun battle sequences are brilliantly filmed where he uses close-ups, black-and-whites and still photography to great effect.
The inconsistencies that standout like a sore thumb – a war correspondent needs little persuasion to divulge her sources and the LTF operatives wear cyanide capsules around their neck, but it doesn’t take too much of an effort for the police to break the ones who have been captured.
When they are trying to foil the assassination bid, they catch a chemical engineer who shares an integral trivia about the bombs that have been custom made for the attack. The RAW agents have this crucial information and are working against all odds to try and prevent the attack, shouldn’t they first share this unique character of the bomb with the security officials rather than wait for our hero to get there?
John Abraham may not be good with emotions but he has got the right body language for a covert army operative and is immensely convincing. Nargis Fakhri fortunately doesn’t have much to do but I am tired of journalists being stereotyped as incessantly cigarette-smoking women, as if that’s all they do.
Siddharth Basu and Dibang are effective in their debut roles.
‘Madras Cafe’ undoubtedly makes for an engrossing watch, a little more attention to detail and the film would have been brilliant.

Review: Chennai Express

"Chennai Express", with its huge marketing campaigns and tie-ups, heavy duty promotions, eclectic catchy music, as well as a grand release of over 3,500 screens in the country and 700 screens abroad, is expected to outshine "Bhaag Milkha Bhaag". It is also being dubbed in nine languages - English, French, Spanish, Arabic, German, Hebrew, Dutch, Turkish and Malay."

'Chennai Express' is a commercial entertainer and has an obvious and enormous demand overseas with Deepika Padukone's and Shah Rukh Khan's fan base," says Amrita Pandey, executive director, International Distribution Studios, Disney UTV.

Chennai Express: The film

Nine months after failing to impress his fans with his true-romantic avatar in "Jab Tak Hai Jaan", SRK has taken the commercial action-comedy genre route, which is usually the trademark of his arch rival Salman Khan.

 The hit jodi of 'Om Shanti Om' is back after seven years in 'Chennai Express'. It remains to be seen if this film can top their earlier hit in terms of box-office numbers.

 Deepika Padukone plays a South Indian in the film. For her, it is a sense of Déjà vu. Deepika, who hails from Bangalore had reportedly struggled to get the accent right when she stepped into Bollywood.

 Rohit Shetty whose films are known for their high-octane stunts has directed this romantic action-comedy. This is the first time, he teams up with Shah Rukh Khan.

 The story is simple. Boy meets girl. They fall in love and the girl's father doesn't like it. Much like SRK's earlier hit 'Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge' but with a twist.

 Apart from the Lungi Dance which is SRK's tribute to Rajnikanth, we'll get to see South hottie Priyamani doing an item number in a Hindi film.

 On August 9, director Rohit Shetty's Chennai Express brings together SRK and Deepika Padukone together on the big screen once again after the hit movie Om Shanti Om.

 This is the first time Rohit Shetty is collaborating with Shah Rukh Khan.

 SRK has spent over two decades in filmdom affirms that his films are meant for the masses.

 But the audience may have to shell out of rnoney for the multiplex ticket.Tickets to the Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone starrer will now cost upto 40 per cent more, thanks to a decision taken by the multiplexes.

 The Lungi song which has been trending on the chart is SRK's tribute to Rajnikanth.

 Whether this film will chug into the audience's heart or not, we have to wait and watch.

 Deepika Padukone's South Indian look in the film.

 Southern star Priyamani has an item number on the film.

 SRK in the still from 'Chennai Express'.

'Chennai Express' is a comedy film with a love story, but it's definitely not like 'Kuch Kuch Hota Hai' or 'Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge. It's a family entertainer. There's a little action too," SRK stated recently.

Will "Chennai Express" chug away to success with all its steam?

Hugh Jackmans The Wolverine Wobbles in U.S. but Rips Up Foreign Box Office

Associated Press/Twentieth Century Fox, Ben Rothstein - This publicity photo released by Twentieth Century Fox shows Hugh Jackman as Logan/Wolverine in a scene from the film, "The Wolverine." (AP Photo/Twentieth Century Fox, Ben Rothstein)

"The Wolverine" dominated the U.S. box office over the weekend, but the estimated $55 million haul for the Hugh Jackman superhero movie was less than distributor Fox had hoped for.

It didn't come close to matching the $85 million three-day debut 2009's "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," and could wind up being the lowest domestic opening in the six-film "X-Men" franchise. "X-Men: First Class" debuted to $55.1 million in 2011 and the original "X-Men" opened to $54.4 million back in 2000.

But the Marvel comics-inspired "Wolverine" was a force overseas this weekend. It opened in 126 countries – every major market except Japan and China -- and brought in $86 million, the best foreign opening for an X-Men movie ever. And Its $141 million in first-weekend global grosses surpasses its $115 million production budget.

The significance of the international number in today's market can't be underestimated; Hollywood's biggest films typically take in roughly 70 percent of their grosses from overseas these days. "The Wolverine" finds Jackman's mutant loner in Japan where he takes on the Yakuza and grapples with the loss of his healing powers.

With its Tokyo setting and cast that includes Japanese stars Tao Okamoto, Rila Fukushima and Hiroyuki Sanada, "The Wolverine" should have strong appeal throughout Asia. It doesn't yet have a date in China, but will debut on Sept. 13 in Japan, where much of it was filmed. Production was delayed by  2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami off the coast.

Since it was the only wide opener in the U.S. and in a market-high 3,924 theaters, 3,063 of which offered 3D, Fox had hoped for a three-day total in the $65 million range.

 

"The Wolverine" hit its demographic targets, with an audience that was 58 percent male and 42 percent under 25. The "A-" CinemaScore from first-night audiences and the foreign numbers took away any sting from the soft domestic figure for Fox's president of distribution Chris Aronson.

"Hugh (Jackman) and (director) James Mangold delivered a terrific movie and the way it was received globally was really spectacular. We're looking forward to the next couple of weeks because we know it's going to play well," he said.

The multiplexes were busy – up by more than 25 percent over the same weekend last year – but many moviegoers did some catching up on films already in release, and five holdover films dropped off less than 50 percent.

Last week's No. 1 movie "The Conjuring" was second with $22 million, followed by family films "Despicable Me 2" at $16 million and "Turbo" with $13.5 million, "Grown Ups 2" at $11.5 million and "Red 2" with $9.4 million.

While underwhelming, the opening by "The Wolverine" is the best live-action opening since "The Man of Steel" debuted to $116 million back in June, and breaks a four-week run in which big-budget movies "White House Down," "The Lone Ranger," "Pacific Rim" and "R.I.P.D." all belly-flopped at the box office.

The 47 percent second-week fall-off for "The Conjuring" is exceptional for a horror film; they typically take a tumble once genre fans have seen them.

But Summit's scream-fest, produced for roughly $20 million, has been very well-reviewed and word-of-mouth is strong, and it is now up to $84 million domestically after two weeks.

"Despicable Me 2" keeps rolling up the box office dough. The animated kids film crossed the $300 million mark domestically in its fourth week and is now the second-highest grossing movie of the year, behind only "Iron Man 3." And it has brought in more than $660 million worldwide for Universal and Illumination Entertainment.

DreamWorks Animation's family film "Turbo" couldn't catch the minions despite dropping just 36 percent from its first week, and the snail tale has now taken in $56 million in two weeks of domestic release for distributor Fox.

Sony's Adam Sandler comedy "Grown Ups 2" crossed the $100 million mark in its third week, and beat out Lionsgate's action comedy "Red 2' for fourth.

Sonam and Dhanush promote Raanjhaana

Tamil actor Dhanush and Sonam Kapoor have been busy promoting their forthcoming film 'Raanjhaana'.