The Magnificent Seven Overview

                                    The Magnificent Seven (2016)

Directed by: Antoine Fuqua

Screenplay by: Nic Pizzolatto, Richard Wenk

Starring: Denzel Washington, Chris Patt, Ethan Hawke, Vincent D’Onofrio, Byung-hun Lee, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Martin Sensmeier, Hayley Bennett, Peter Sarsgaard.

Expectations do not bear a conundrum. Take movies, for instance. You experience a great film and then, when it’s time to make your conscience aware of another feature film, the former expects to relive the same greatness. Even more, if it’s the same genre. This is not a deliberate effort, but the algorithm of brain’s evolution is honed in such a manner. The same expectation which the DC fanatics writhe with; post Christopher Nolan’s thrilling and philosophical Batman saga.

The gripping genre: ‘Wild West’ or simply, ‘Western’, invoke a carnivorous, blood-thirsty and passionate vibe within me and many of you, perhaps. ‘Django Unchained’, ‘Once Upon A Time In The West’, ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’ and many other Western movies have set a tone, in which the cowboys, their savage antagonists (irony), the timid victim, altogether create crackerjack plots and hence, give rise to a magnificent story. In The Magnificent Seven, I couldn’t find such magnificence. In the following statements, I will explain how this movie failed to parallel my expectations. 

The story is the backbone of a movie. Details are what should be pondered upon, before finalizing the script. Should a writer wonder whether each dialogue delves into the moral fibre of the character and whether he/she is writing an original piece or just following a mediocre dogma? Yes, he should! This movie lacked a sturdy backbone. A woman’s quest to avenge the death of her husband by hiring seven talented hunters to raise hell against a powerful trader and his army, could have led to a visual poetry, perfectly grand to be inducted into the ‘Cult-classic’ category, in the years to come. But again, the writers got allured by the charms of dogma.

It is certain that I cannot judge the deeds of a director in a particular movie, in a manner that professional directors would do. It is also certain that I am not blind. Being naïve is a tangible choice. In this case, I ignore the choice. Where some scenes - like the wide shot of Denzel Washington and Hayley Bennett riding their horses against the tangerine dusk or Byung-hun Lee and Ethan Hawke training the spooked farmers or the initial skirmish between The Seven and Bartholomew Bogue’s (the trader) men or some perfectly timed close-up shots exposing the emotions of the struggling victors in the final war – made me think that the director, Antoine Fuqua is capable of visualising an ascending linear narration; the rest of the movie made it clear that he just wants to show us a replica of a Marvel Studio’s war story with cowboys and ”Texicans” . War stories, that can leave only a sixth-grader, bedazzled.

The tea was brewed with a behemoth potential and the cup was strong enough to carry it, but the saucer was faint-hearted. It was either scared or inapt for the duo. The tea was poured and the cup moulded it into a magnificent shape, but, on touches the cup to the saucer and the saucer quivers. The cup dangles around the saucer’s curb and the tea spills. Though the cup does not fall, it spills the good half of the tea. The person watches the entire action and now with a stained desire sips only the remainder. He knows that the tea is divine, that the cup has its base well-guarded, and that it’s the saucer which robbed the divinity of the act of drinking a cuppa full of tea.

Saucer – The Script, the mediocre direction by the director.

Cup – The sets, setting and the occasionally displayed aesthetic side of the director.

TEA – THE ACTORS AND THE ACTRESS IN THE LEADING ROLES.

P.S.      I kept imagining Daniel Day-Lewis in the role of Bartholomew Bogue (the antagonist), just because There Will Be Blood. Haha?  

Pink Overview

                               Pink (2016)

Directed By: Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury

Story & Screenplay: Ritesh Shah

Starring: Amitabh Bachchan, Taapsee Pannu, Kirti Kulhari, Andrea Tariang, Piyush Mishra

“Ye Duniya Agar Mil Bhi Jaaye To Kya Hai?” Minal (Taapsee), while suffering with the state of paranoia and bewilderment in her voyage through the prison cell and courtroom, must have heard this song, ricocheting in her mind palace. Or I can just assume that.

It’s a force in sync, a hyperbole decry against a victim of prejudiced cascade, that satisfies the unscratched itch of a tub-thumper or the plaintiff’s advocate (Piyush), in this case. His antagonist, Deepak (Amitabh) relies heavily on the shredded boundary that has kept his diving heart, still afloat: his dying wife. That wrath which appears as an aftermath to a helpless condition was waiting to burst out. That agony which absorbs the spongy mind, following a traumatic experience had already seeped through his aura. The former could be seen as a hustler, in the courtroom, and the latter - as the ethics calculators define it - a licentious being. They bark against each other. Condescending attitude flows parallel with them. They raise different glasses in the honour of their cause. But the occasion and the champagne remains the same. We get to know that they are advocates. The question that the director wants us to answer is - Who is the devil? (With a metaphorical sidekick) Who gets to be awarded as ‘The Devil’s Advocate’?

'Evil' is a questionable word. A continuum of Red and Black. The motive of the girls’ (Taapsee, Kirti, Andrea) search for leisure or the guys’ underhand impressions for pleasure. The free will to live or man’s age old tradition of deriving a woman’s clandestine desire. Perhaps, Zarathustra would have been a better advocate-cum-judge in this quest; but our courts are devoid of Nietzsche and replete with judges, scanning facts and figures.

The trio of the beautiful (perception, mind you) victims, or the “normal working” women [whatever that means] had enacted their characters in a good fashion. Not great, as you can sense it with nearly every Bollywood movie. Nearly. The director, a B-town debutant has worked on visualising an escalating scenario on our screens with an impact akin to that of the Sonam Kapoor starrer Neerja. Call it my prejudiced aspiration, but considering that he belongs to the land of the legendary Satyajit Ray and performs the same profession which Ray did, I was waiting for moments where I could pleasantly whisper, ‘WOW!’…I mean, the mainstream audience should be introduced with the epiphany, which veterans like Akira Kurosawa and Martin Scorsese, and layman like the writer of this article, experienced when they watched the classic: Pather Panchali.

Piyush Mishra is a poet by heart. The crux of a poet is the rhythm of the underlying waves inside the senses, obtained as a result of manifestations that the body experience. The ebb or the upswing of this rhythm, determine the poet’s mood. In Pink, I caught Mishra swimming in the same rhythm as he did in Anurag Kashyap’s classic, Gulaal. As if Prithvi Bana left the turbulent abode of Rajputana to portray the criminal lawyer in Pink. Amitabh Bachchan, is the figure who seems to understand the analogy in character enactment and the architecture of the same, at the seven-score of his life. Still lacks the savageness of on-screen Manoj Bajpayee, but if someone hails the former as his/her favourite actor, I would comprehend with his decision.

  

Like a blithe in the alfresco air, maybe the producers demanded it or the director felt the same tinge of emotions that Manuel Neuer felt before challenging Leo Messi in the Champions League match (2014-15), that after the movie finishes, the actual scenes of the infamous incident upon which the plot of the movie revolves, is displayed to the audience in coherence with the ending credits. Note that, the cinematic element of this movie lies in the hidden truth, in the absconding tradecraft of the protagonists and the antagonists and in the final judgment of the viewers. The ending display stitched a glitch in the impact of the movie, unlike Talvar and much like Morgan Freeman’s narration at the end of David Fincher’s thriller: Se7en.  

    

Overall, Pink is a movie which exhibits the storyline, much loved by (stereotypical) feminists and is controversial for pragmatists. For a cinema lover, Pink is a movie you must watch at least once, either for the sake of changes in movie-making scenario in Bollywood or you could taste the sugar of unified dismay towards the guilty actions against women and praise the film-makers.          

Morrison Effect in Paanch (2003)

  

     Luke Morrison and the Drifted Minds

A still from the movie, Paanch.

Written & Directed by Anurag Kashyap.

Starring: Kay Kay Menon (Luke Morrison)

               Aditya Shrivastava (Murgi)

               Vijay Maurya (Pondi)

               Tejaswini Kolhapure (Shiuli)

A demented recluse. A fear of conformity to the mundane. He does not watch a replica of himself when he confronts a mirror, but a torn side-effect of mankind appears clawing its way through the rustic glass. An archetype for the breeders of cognitive dissonance, the only mirror he finds virtuous is the red wall and the only Luke he finds on the blood enveloped mirage, is the Satan. It’s no surprise that the drifted mind finds his own mirror; paints his own picture.

I shall call it the Morrison effect. The ones whose minds have been filtered dark, finds the estranged identity of Jim Morrison - their sojourn. The former poet, one of the original Gods of Rock, the Club 27 Godfather, et cetra. It’s not the fame which advances a germinating mind, like Luke, but a transformation that the latter is supposed to evolve with. The transformation, that the ordinary world is supposedly devoid of, but the world of Morrison entails.

Paanch, a movie written and directed by Anurag Kashyap, deals with five misguided youngsters whose ambitions turn from pursuing an ‘ideal’ society’s moralistic career to dwelling in a Tarantino-friendly atmosphere.

The protagonist or the antagonist (depends on your mindset), Luke Morrison portrayed by Kay Kay Menon is a cleverly crafted character who subconsciously seeks to deepen the dimensions of friendship with his mates while simultaneously, in a conscious effect, jeopardises the juxtaposition of stoned, broke yet talented musicians of his rock band. He forbids the inmates of his house of psychedelia and tension, to enter his room; the room whose space only he could consume. Applying the subtle tradecraft of movie direction, Kashyap does not let the viewers get a glimpse of the inner chamber of Luke for quite a while but forces us to focus on the living room. The room, which glitters with the iridescence of the divergent, painted veil of Luke and Gainda(rhino), his amigo.

Luke never got the chance of leaving a crowd in consternation as what Jim did with the infamous Miami concert. Luke never got his band’s song to hit the height of numero uno nor did his song lit a fire across the youth’s conscious. Or I can say that he never became the Morrison he aspired to be, but experienced the catharsis in a fashion, inciting enough for the noir buffs. Outrage over a weakling Pandya, playing The Doors’ classic: Roadhouse Blues in a state of psychedelia, painting the masks of human deafness on the canvas of the walls, bludgeoning and the sheer delight of murder. The expressionless orders of his brain to commit the aforesaid deeds brought the Morrison out of him.

In a wind inflicted space, the seed of anarchy must have deluded him. The chaos of company, anti-socials as the comrade, the aesthetic grandeur of the genre of Rock and the ever-pervading desire for blood, eased this wild child’s dilemma. The parallel of pain and the masquerade of laughter, bullets piercing through the authority and the seeping infatuation for a broken bird (Shiuli) became the music for the writer’s ear and delight to the viewers.

Luke’s friend Murgi, enacted by Aditya Srivastava, confesses to a cop that he saw the VILLAINY on Luke’s face when the latter bludgeoned the quarrelsome conductor, on the streets of Mumbai. On an observer’s glance, what he actually saw was the mirror image (Satan with a laugh) which Luke had painted on the wall and now observes every-damn-day. No wonder, Luke’s amigo - Gainda instinctively declares the painted Satan as Luke when the cop, or Luke’s future murderee, inquires about the wall art.

We are born amidst coward choices and rusted actions. A different mind, an outcast, a rebel, fades away to black and what is left is the victory of ‘humane’ sect of society. Many Lukes have been and are born and they taste the sour syrup of death unlike others. The SOCIAL, NORMAL fella will call this fate, the ‘just’ way, for the society and by the society. For the film’s Luke, it would be the message painted on his room - the room forbidden to his mates - as the director leads the focus to the saffron-red bathed wall of his chamber.

The message, displaying: the anguish of living the life, where your talent is unappreciated but death, oh death becomes the alchemist, transforming the stone-cold jinxed wings of this grey-tainted bird to a phoenix; glorified and remembered by all. 

Birth of Al Pacino: the Intense Legend

Carpe Diem, Al Pacino!

What does he portray? Where can a man search to find tremors rotting in a live walking noir? Am I greedy of guns or just perplexed at the intensity of a man holding it? Why must a director creep behind a camera, only to see a romanticized filming of anger - locked-in by unnoticeable manacles of struggle – before anyone else?

A simple, lively, love-drenched girl (Kay Adams, from The Godfather) was eager to explore the family secrets of a man who never made any attempt to hide the intensity he was born with. He was war-tainted and family bliss rejected. I was sure that Michael Corleone would suddenly bring an empathetic, cheerful look on his face and uncover the mysteries of the Don. But the Al Pacino guy never let the buried sadness in Michael’s eyes fade away. This grabbed my attention. Where some actors possess a sickening cape of deception to liven their characters, Al Pacino taught me that Silent and Intense are the trademarks of those who can uplift their virtues just by a two-second stare. Never must we drop our dark trademarks, no matter what peak we are about to scale. Yes, he made me believe that Silence is a virtue.

“Say, hello to my little friend.” If you do not remember this, you know nothing about the mafia in cinema. Triggering the savage hound to leave an immaculate cult in our mind, Scarface brought to light the norm: ‘Shoot it like Tony Montana’. When I ponder upon the cast of the movie, I feel that if the decision to cast Al in Scarface would have been dropped out, then thousands of rooms would have been void of the iconic, black & white Scarface poster.

James Dean with a cigarette… I’d rather watch Al Pacino with a cigar. Not that I don’t admire the badass Dean, but the mystique in the name of Al brings a shadow of John Dillinger upon mine eyes.

Vérité to be visualised, anti-utopia to be felt, I can proudly declare him as my favourite actor. A thousand recommendations, hundreds of actors donning the aviators, I grab hold to a cult-classic with Marlon Brando in a godly figure, just to watch his on-screen son flying in a tornado of war crimes. Grim souls surrounding a sapling, he mortifies the dogma of method acting in such a fashion that I could perfectly relate Pacino as Michael while reading The Godfather.

Prior to writing this article, I read and shared a column describing the most enduring love story of John Cazale and Meryl Streep. John Cazale, the guiding light of Al, shaped the latter in a way that would make him one of the best. The sadness is perhaps inspired from the evergreen Cazale. The depth of which broadened exponentially in Scent Of A Woman. If observed closely, we can seek Cazale in a hideous figure. The Academy Award for Best Actor in a leading role, is what I believe defines a subtle justification of this observation.

Words will reach an endless figure, if I write the admiration I have, for this Godfather. He shall rule my movies collection for as long as I have them. Happy Birthday, Al. Your birth in this acting realm is an act of conjuring. There shall only be few Martin Scorceses, Sergio Leones and Al Pacinos and I’m glad they exist at my time.     

Kapoor & Sons Overview

                      When I Met KAPOOR & SONS

Director: Shakun Batra 

Writers: Shakun Batra, Ayesha Devitre

Starring: Sidharth Malhotra, Fawad Khan, Rishi Kapoor

“So, how was Kapoor & Sons?”It was …. [Wait] I mean..

This was my friend asking me about the movie I had watched on a Sunday afternoon. With the aim of slaying the time, I entered the dark hall expecting a typical Dharma Production’s product to which I would have to glue my eyes upon. But after vacating the hall, I was emotional. Emotional, as I was after watching Whiplash or Gran Torino.  

I’ll be straight up honest. I’ve seen a lot of Dramas, Romantic Comedies of Bollywood. Some of them have been exceptional. But this is what I dislike. The word ‘some’ should have been replaced by ‘most’. Kapoor & Sons made it to the ‘some’ category which exist in my mind. The most intriguing happy-yet-sad ending was enticing enough for aspiring writers like me and the ‘big-shot’ Bollywood writers, to learn from. I had been noticing Siddharth Malhotra as another still faced John Abraham in his previous movies. But in Kapoor & Sons, I see this Sidharth Malhotra (Arjun) who is present with his friends and family, devoid of a production unit. Cheerful, sad, honest; justifying the character of the story. Fawad Khan, is a symbol of dapper with no glimpse of exaggeration in his display of Rahul Kapoor: a mature, empathetic and a successful writer. Alia Bhatt (Tia Malik) played a good part, but sincerely, she has a lot to learn to ace the skills of acting. The entire cast brought forward a family, which the writers of the movie, Shakun Batra and Ayesha Devitre Dhillon, had thought of each day while preparing the script.

Here lies a grandfather, with smoke curling up his face. His two grandsons rejoicing in time, time which will take their father away on a long voyage. Father takes away the bliss of mom’s marital life and mom revolts against the father’s existing and provoking lies. Younger son broods upon his prejudiced fate and the elder one seeks for solution to ‘em all. Younger one rages against the elder one where the elder one is already raged by the immoral choices of his father and his mother’s temper over his own lifestyle choices. Meanwhile, the father is economically troubled and so is the mother due to the decisions of the former and the aftermath which impacts her aspirations. And yes, all of this is accompanied by the Grandfather’s last wish, that is, a family photograph captioned as 'Kapoor & Sons, since 1921.'

The sublime juxtaposition of sub-plots to enhance the plot and hence, the delivery of the story is what I suppose, composes the proper construction of a movie. Sub-plots are complex in this movie in contrast to the ease of their assembly. The scenario of the plumber fixing the damaged pipe, with Sunita  (Ratna Pathak Shah) mulling over the indecisiveness of her hubby - Harsh (Rajat Kapoor), leading on to a  heated  debate accompanied by comical references by the plumber and another act of deliriousness by the brothers, Rahul (Sidharth) and Arjun (Fawad), made me marvel at the beauty with which the furor was put up on the screen. A scene, which I wish to watch over and over again.

Remarkable is the hardwork of director, Shakun Batra, who narrates the complex plots and sub-plots visually like a maestro. After cruising the movie, one is left with a question mark inside the head: a contemplating mood over life and happy ending versus reality. The fact which philosophers and bards have been promoting in their works is what Kapoor & Sons comprises of.

To sin is human, they say. But this movie stands for: To sin and yet forgive the sinner, is human; for love is a weak tragedy uplifted by the higher dimensions of death.

This movie is a Johar-ish effect made right, after all it’s a Dharma for the movie makers.

NEERJA Overview

NEERJA (the akin within the unakin.)

Directed by : Ram Madhvani

Written by: Saiwyn Quadras, Sanyuktha Chawla Shaikh (dialogues)

Starring : Sonam Kapoor, Shabana Azmi, Jim Sarbh

“Babumoshai, Zindagi badi honi chahiye, lambi nahi.” When all the people who watched NEERJA, related this statement to Neerja Bhanot’s (Sonam Kapoor) gut-wrenching scenario turned ‘I’m-gonna-save-‘em-all’ temperament; I saw director Ram Madhvani apply this aphorism to his movie-making process for the film. Yes, it is a two-hour long movie. Long, but Great in spirit.

The film starts with a melody in Neerja’s lips and a twist in her mom’s, (Shabana Azmi) soothing laugh. Taking a dig at Neerja’s childhood. Oh wait, but do I have to? She mimicks Rajesh Khanna’s moves and with a child-like humour, dimisses away her brother’s jest over her appearance, with a teasing touch. She is just twenty two. What we expect is a similar innocent future for a model-cum-airhostess. But time possess a mocking deception, and even space contorts against the evil of it. Let alone a human, seeking for, as the people say, ‘a bright career’.

Now there is a challenge. A marked destiny for me. I will sweat the blood out. I will make it better. There is a soulful blessing disguised as love which I will reciprocate. Why, I feel my heart pounding faster. There are bodies with smiles on their faces and my beaus are busy treating them fair. Things seem to go as planned. But now I see these men, with violence on their brows and smoked calibres on their palms. Gun on my temple, the visitors feel violated. Have I landed on the wrong land or is it the fate with a smirk? I must protect my kindred or die trying.

This is just the mind of Neerja which I try, although vaguely, to uncover following her good-bye with the family. There are elements noticeable in NEERJA which distinguishes it from other much hyped about bollywood entries in the cinema halls in 2016. From displaying a playful and zesty emotion to what I already mentioned, a ‘gut-wrenching scenario,’ the mood of the audience is influenced cordially with what director Ram Madhavani attempts to portray. More attention on the sound effects could have uplifted the building angst of the viewers, but keeping in mind the visual craft, this flaw is easily neglected. Another very crucial factor adding to the pros of this movie is the liberties which the actors took to make Neerja as real as possible. There is no irritating Aisha’s Sonam Kapoor. This Sonam Kapoor is as brilliant as her sense in fashion. The game changer is the antagonist: Khalil (Jim Sarbh). I could never judge his (a foreign terrorist’s) linguistic problem to be faux. His desperation and fatigue, only an effort  of acting! If I were a hatter, I would gladly call for a hats-off performance. What leaves a long lasting impact on the viewers is the last message which Neerja leaves for her mother. You must witness this impact by yourself. Teary-eyed, Shabana Azmi is all but a diamond in the dark mine of Bollywood. 

Twenty people lost their lives in this (Pain Amplified) Pan Am Flight 73 airplane in Karachi. A boy pisses in his pants and a granny swells her eyes, credits to the fear faced by the former and the misery of the deceased heir shot in front of the latter. Grenades and AKs with willpower and a lasting numb cries of hundreds, this movie does not gives you chills but an ache for safety of the passengers over whom mankind does not lift its heavy hand. Some cinematographic details are brutal while other strange turns  in the nature of the rogues makes you wonder if someday you can make millions watch an episode of beauty turned “Papa ka bahadur bachcha” (Daddy’s brave girl).

P.S. If Airlift is a V8 powered Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Z06 then Neerja is Bugatti Chiron with a behemoth W16. 

The Revenant Overview

My take on The Revenant

Director: Alejandro G. Iñárritu

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy

Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki
 

One sure “Goddamn!” moment that I witnessed after a long time turned out to be the ethereal cinematography by Emmanuel Lubezki in The Revenant. From distant horizons garnished with white mist to the blood-thirsty eyes of Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio), Lubezki makes sure that even the naïve in the world of camera, realise the aesthetic mastery which he presents. To me, I felt that I did not waste the money spent on watching this movie when Glass (Leo) gets attacked by the hefty bear. Keeping long shots (take Scorsese’s Goodfellas, the bar scene) coherent with the actor(s) motive in a scenario is considered a work of genius in the world of cinema. Not everyone is able to perform such. Long takes in the bear scene is akin to that. You are brought to centre of action as well as kept in the vicinity of the battle, to witness a perky yet poignant rampage.

Will Leo get the Oscar this year? This question seems irrelevant after watching the movie. In the wild environment which director, Alejandro G. Iñárritu somehow perfectly presents, I could never think of Leo as a millionaire actor who lives in a fancy environment surrounded by the riches. Instead, the sheer art of method acting made me feel that Alejandro had actually hired a native caveman in a quest for redemption. Such meticulous dedication overshadows the win of a golden trophy. Supporting actor Tom Hardy (John Fitzgerald) brings alive the save-yourself-first nature in the event of danger, accompanied with greed and annoyance in a very simplistic nature. Excellent job on his part.

Dust of misery floating with the wind, he tends to lift himself up. Heart still aching for the better-half, it shatters on the alive-turned-stone face of his son. Rising, rising against the pain he hears the whispers of strength echoing, echoing in the voice of paradise. Mind relentless to fulfill an eye for an eye, hope clings on the seams of his willpower. Narrowed gaze to the darkened silhouette of the trees, his humanity broadens. Saves a girl from an afflict, Karma punishes his nemesis. The Revenant surely gives you a jaw dropping effect with a poetic display of will to power. The title for this movie not only symbolizes for the life of a man but also the constituents of life.

This movie will give you the definition of allegory.

In the end I felt highly grateful that I was seated in a comfortable chair, with coffee by my side,instead of raw meat and enjoying art on a screen; not worrying about arrows that may pierce through the skull at any moment or the dire need to sleep on a beast’s skin to protect myself from the killer cold. The Revenant is a must watch for the movie buffs and yes, also for the ones who have not found love for cinema yet.