Career spotlight – Irrfan Khan

Way before The Lunch Box, Slumdog Millionaire, Life of Pi and Haider, Irrfan Khan has had his share of struggles. Success didn’t come easy to this 48 year old. Having started his career in 1987 from the TV series Srikant, most of Irrfan’s noticable performances have only been in the last 10 years, may be starting with “The Namesake”. You can tell how famous you are by seeing how often you get picked at the stand up comedy shows or award functions. Irrfan’s mockery became a very frequently repeated act on the comedy series “Comedy Circus” around 2009/2010. And you could tell, people are starting to get used to his style.

May be it was timing, the 80s and 90s were no decades for a stony face hero in Bollywood. These were the times when “chocolate” faces were in. The smooth, silky, fair face guys. The Amir and Shahrukh khans ruled those decades. All movies were about singing and dancing around the trees which Irrfan is still not appropriate for. So he wandered around on the small curtain aka the television for some odd 20 years. And he did some incredible TV series, some of the legends that many of us 80s kids didn’t appreciate then but totally want our kids to watch them now. Bharat ek khoj, Chanakya, Chandrakanta, Hamrahi, Just Mohabbat. But he persevered, and he stayed, and he kept doing his job honestly. And eventually, success happened.

    He is a national school of drama graduate, a school that has given us some of the finest actors like      Naseeruddeen Shah, Om puri, Anupam Kher and many more. But then, a script and the right spotlight can do a lot for your career in showbiz. When he did get noticed, the right roles started flowing in. And towards the new millennium, the Indian audience had also got tired of bollywood cliches and had become more acceptable of new faces and different features. I call this the IT influence as through clever blogs, and email forwards, we started becoming aware of how much stupidity we were being fed through movies lately.

As for Irrfan, watch him in  The Namesake, Slumdog Millionaire, Life of Pi, The Lunch box, Footpath, Maqbool, Paan Singh Tomar, D-Day and you will know what the real Irrfan khan is. He is one of the class actors in bollywood. Has his own style. Has taken things slow. And has entertained us for three decades.

He is a gem in the bollywood art crown. His best performances, probably – Paan Singh Tomar, true story of a 7 year national champion turned the most dreaded Chambal Dacoit. Mainly because he is the sole actor, and plays the protagonist in the movie. The Lunch Box is another incredible one under his belt, the story of a middle class government office worker’s romance with a married housewife by exchanging notes in the lunchbox. The lunch box script is a masterpiece and I dont think anyone else would have done it so beautifully as Irrfan Khan and Nimrat Kaur. Do check it out if you haven’t already done so. Its one of those movies that deserve to be at the Oscars, but that’s a different chapter. Irrfan was at his best in The Namesake too. But in terms of deep impact, that one belongs to Tabu, who we will talk about in another post.

What can we learn from Irrfan? Commitment, Dedication, Perseverance. He was good all along and he did his job with all honesty. He never gave up. He Believed. There is always light at the end of the tunnel, if only, we believe. Here’s the trailer of The Lunch box to check out.

Hawaizaada – Looks Promising

The first three weeks of Jan were utter failure for Bollywood. Tevar went down the drain. And Sonam happened to Dolly ki Doli, so I am not even thinking about reviewing that movie. But it looks like Hawaizaada will make a splash before Jan ends. Here is why –

1. The Picture Treatment – It ain’t the Bhansali blue, or RGV Yellow, neither is it the Chopra or Johar’s Rainbow. It’s very Picasso. Very Holllywood. Now I am not saying that the Hollywood kind of picture treatment is some kind of a bar, but its nice to see Bollywood is giving the film the treatment it needs for the kind of story it is. Remember Lagaan, where their idea of a period movie treatment was lots of Indians wearing white dhoti and kurta talking in a bhojpuri accent.
2. The Story Line – We make very few movies based on true stories or based on History. The ones we do, we overstuff them with a dozen songs with at least one song that has more than 300 dancers each one choreographed to the exact dance step (Read Ashutosh Gowariker). For some reason, our directors have falsely fooled themselves into believing that ancient Indians had Bollywood Genes and didn’t even need a choreographer. But Hawaizaada, seems to have moved away from that belief and has kept the storyline on track of narrating the story of Shivkar Bapuji Talpade, who made the first ever plane in the history of planet earth. Not the Wright brothers. It will be interesting to see how the international audience reacts to this story.
3. Music Track – Vishal Bhardwaj. No need to say anything else. But do check out Daak Ticket.
4. Ayushmann Khurrana – He is no SRK, or Salman Khan or Amir Khan. He is no Kapoor. He is a mellowed down version of Abhay Deol. Your next door guy. And for a film like this, you need a face like Ayushmann. When you look at him, you don’t see Stardom, or any preconceived styles. You don’t hear a dialogue that’s been repeated on the radio over and over. You don’t see anything. And that’s what you need for someone to play Shivkar Bapuji Talpade, a guy no one knows. You need someone who can completely own Shivkar Bapuji Talpade. Ayushmann can do that.

The trailer seems to have all the elements of an international treatment. Now, let’s just hope Bollywood doesn’t happen to this film.

Here is the trailer to check out if you haven’t already done so –

Music Review – Roy

2015 has started on a good musical note. Roy seems to be January’s winner, although there is still half a month left.

I am not sure if Chittiyan Kalaiyan will end up on your 2016 new year’s dance mix, but “tu hai ke nahin” and “Yaara re” are for sure going to be on your long drive list for a few months.

The music has that Rockstar Rehman feel to it. Especially, Tu hai ke nahi, has a lot of similarities with “Tum ho”, also shot on bike with Ranbir kapoor.

Boond Boond is steamy hot, and has a rhythm to it. I actually like it for the lyrics –  “Main na bacha, mujhmein thoda sa bhi, Dekh tu na bacha, tujhmein bhi…..

I love songs that are mesmerizing, hard core romance. As long as they don’t get loud. And this song is exactly that. Remember bheege honth tere. The lyrics were bold, but there was a subtlety to it. Boond boond is the same.

Suraj dooba hai comes with the trailer, its one of those fusion, party feels. Nothing extraordinary. But not bad either.

In the last couple of years, bollywood’s been trending towards one song worth listening to albums. And more often than not, it is the one song that’s sung by Rahat Fateh ali khan, or Atif Aslam, or Arijit Singh, or Yo Yo honey singh. You only get an exception like Rockstar, or Barfi or Lootera once in a year or two which has the entire album worth listening to.

Roy is one such album. Go for it. Music score – 4 stars….

Best of 2014….

2014 was a pretty average year for Bollywood. Not in terms of the 100 crore clubs, but in terms of creativity and pure work of art. Bollywood didn’t take a lot of chances, there weren’t very many hatke movies. I wonder if we are trending towards making more money on the box-office, rather than creating artistic cinema.

Very few movies were worth your 1000 rs, or $12. Even fewer were worth your 150 minutes. If you are still catching up on your 2014 watch list, just go with the ones below, and don’t bother with the rest and you can still continue to love bollywood…..

The “Hatke” winners

Highway – Imtiaz Ali has proven again that Indian women are not just about dreaming of their prince charming on a white horse. He sees women in a different light which is so refreshing. The non-forgiving, dreamer, daring women, who are not afraid to live life on their own terms. It’s high time the Indian directors stopped treating women as an ever forgiving, bullshit accepting abla nari. Highway was fresh, out of the box thinking, and Rehman’s music was a cherry on top. The man of this match is for sure Randeep Huda, raw in his charms, and manly in every which way to play the Mahabeer with all the honesty that was needed for this role.

Aankhon Dekhi – I bet only a percent of Indians would have watched the movie, despite the movie being available on Netflix stream. There was hardly any marketing around it. And yet, this ends up being one of the finest movies to come out of bollywood last year. The story of a middle class man, who decides one fine day that he will only believe what he sees from his own eyes, creating a sea of question on everday small things we believe like the lion roars even thought many of us would not have seen the lion roaring in our lifetimes, to the existence of God. Like any other eccentricity, this one goes too far, and the people around him are not able to understand him anymore. Sanjay Mishra is brilliant as Raje Bauji. The end will leave you wondering about the realities of your own life.

Queen – Vikas Bahl has some really good credits under his “producer” hat. But he has surprised me with his directorial talent with Queen. Its uncut, unmanipulated, and completely spontaneous. Queen has some french movie traits to it, in that Rani, being on her honeymoon all by herself and exploring the world, is very very unusual for our masala loving bollywood audience. There is no masala in this movie. But there’s a lot of, spontanienty. The kind that you feel when some non-deserving guy like Vijay (Rajkumar Rao) fucks with your emotions. The best part of the movie, is the climax. I was crossing my fingers while watching the movie that she doesn’t accept him at the end, like the usual bollywood endings. And she didn’t. And the audience clapped. Bollywood had overcome its cliches. 

Haider – Haider wins the hatke category with its treatment of the cinematography.  Shot in the harsh winter of Kashmir, the whole movie is almost neon blue. Backed by artists like Kay Kay Menon and Tabu, this one deals with the kashmir situation with an infidelity, love and deception angle. I would have preferred for Shraddha kapoor to live, but sometimes those elements become important to keep the reality element alive. Shahid Kapoor has come a long way and handled the role really well, but watch this one for Kay Kay Menon and Tabu.

Citylights – Rajkumar rao no longer needs to prove himself as an actor. Citylights is one of the low profile movies that leave an impression on you for long. Its no glamour, beware. It’s dark, and sad and tragic. But it’s one of those movies that only comes once in five or ten years.

The Entertainers

Ek villian – If you are looking for something lighter with intense romance, Ek villian is worth a shot. Ritesh risked his image of the comedy sidebar hero with a villainous zeal in this one and it worked for him. He was super convincing as a frustrated criminal Rakesh and went hand in hand with stud Siddharth Malhotra in sharing the power on the screen. The screenplay, the editing, the timing, everything was perfect and it made for a good entertainer for a trip to theater.

Hasee to Phasee – When was the last time we saw an Indian female actress pee in her clothes and she isn’t even in the hospital or in coma. Hasee to Phasee is another light hearted, feel good chick flick that bollywood rarely gets right. I have no background on its director Vinil Matthew, but he seems to know his shit. This is his only directorial work, and he has done a great job. Parineeti and Siddharth make a great couple as two lost youngsters who aren’t sure what to do with their lives but are honestly giving their best shots at life. Watch this one for Parineeti if you like eccentricity, or for Siddharth, if you are the die hard guys-that-express-love-with-their-eyes fan.

PK – I know, I know. This one is the top grosser of the year. But to be honest, it’s also a bit overrated. It’s hard to decide these days what a fair value of a movie is. Bollywood movies are becoming more like art. The value is decided based on the artist rather than the art itself. Just like you would pay millions for a painting by Picasso, whether you understand it or not, people are going to the theaters on face value of the actors. It is almost becoming a trend that Amir Khan’s Christmas release is going to break all records. PK tackled a really good topic, in a very subtle way, I give it that. But there was no 600 crores worth of art there. In fact on most part, it was the same concept as “Oh My God”, except it has Amir khan, instead of Paresh Rawal. Its a good entertainer nonetheless, and has some really hillarious scenes.

Good Attempts –

Finding Fanny, Mary Kom, Hawa Hawaai were all good attempts at being different, but something just failed to move them in the real “hatke” category.  They were better than the other hyped up movies like Kick, and Happpy new year, but something was missing. Watch these if you really have nothing else to do, else pass.

What was your favorite movie of 2014?