सचिन- अ बिलियन ड्रीम्स: 'फील्ड' से 'फिल्म' तक, एंटरटेनर नंबर 1 ! [3.5/5]

हर खेल का एक भगवान होता है. मुक्केबाजी में जैसे मुहम्मद अली, बास्केटबॉल में जैसे माइकल जॉर्डन. क्रिकेट में ये रुतबा सचिन तेंदुलकर को हासिल है. बावजूद इसके, ‘सचिन- अ बिलियन ड्रीम्स’ इस लिविंग लीजेंड को परदे पर ख़ुदा बनाकर पेश करने की भूल नहीं करती. बल्कि फिल्म की सारी कवायद सचिन की जिंदगी में एक ‘फैन’ होने की गरज से झाँकने की रहती है. एक ऐसी फिल्म, जिनमें सचिन एक आम खिलाड़ी की तरह बुलंदियों का सफ़र तय कर रहे होते हैं, या फिर अपने पारिवारिक जीवन में सुकून की छाँव तलाशते नज़र आ रहे हैं. सचिन परदे पर ज्यादातर वक़्त अपनी कहानी खुद ही बयाँ करते दिखाई देते हैं. इसीलिए कहानी कहने की शैली कभी-कभी उन्हीं की तरह बहुत सीधी-सादी, फीकी और साधारण जरूर लगती है, पर आखिर में उनके चेहरे, उनकी शख्सियत, उनकी अदायगी में रची-बसी वही सादगी, वही अच्छाई आपको लुभाती भी रहती है.

क्रिकेट दौरे से लौटे सचिन अपनी बेटी सारा से पूछ रहे हैं, “शतक मारने के बाद पापा कैसे इशारा करते हैं?’, डेढ़-दो साल की सारा अपने दोनों हाथ हवा में उठा देती है. अपनी पत्नी अंजली से पहली बार मिलने की कहानी बताते हुए वो उतने ही ‘क्यूट’ दिखने की कोशिश करते हैं, जितने वो अंजलि को तब लगे थे. उनकी शादी के विडियो में भी वो ही ‘दिल के आकार’ वाली विंडो खुलती-बंद होती है, जो अब आपको अपनी शादी के विडियो में शर्मिंदा कर जाती है. बेटे अर्जुन को क्रिकेट सिखाते हुए उनके अन्दर भी वही ‘बाप’ दिखता है, जो बेटे की कोशिशों में हमेशा ‘और अच्छा करने’ की गुंजाईश ढूंढ रहा है. इन सब छोटे-छोटे खूबसूरत पलों के बीच, सचिन का क्रिकेट कैरियर, जो पाकिस्तान में अब्दुल कादिर जैसे दिग्गज के सामने खड़े हो पाने से लेकर शेन वार्न और शोएब अख्तर जैसों की धुनाई तक सबको रटा-रटाया है, बहुत सलीके से एक के बाद एक परदे पर आता है.  

‘सचिन- अ बिलियन ड्रीम्स’ खुद ‘नॉस्टैल्जिक’ होने और आपको करने की कोई कसर नहीं छोड़ती, पर साथ ही कहीं न कहीं आपकी उम्मीदों पर तब नाकामयाब साबित होती है, जब आप फिल्म से ‘थोड़ा और’ चाहने लगते हैं. थोड़ा और, जो आपने सुना न हो. थोड़ा और, जो आपने सुना हो, पर सचिन से नहीं. थोड़ा और, जिसे बयाँ करना सचिन के लिए भी आसान न हो. सचिन और फिल्म दोनों इस उबड़-खाबड़ रस्ते पर जाने से बचते हैं, और आपको उसी एक तय रास्ते और रफ़्तार पर हलके-हलके घुमाते रहते हैं. सचिन का ‘फैन’ होने के नजरिये से आपको अच्छा भी लगता है, पर एक जागरूक दर्शक के तौर पर आपका रोमांच कहीं बीच में ही छूट जाता है. ‘मैच-फिक्सिंग’ जैसे गंभीर मुद्दे पर सचिन सिर्फ इतना कह कर कन्नी काट लेते हैं कि, “मैं क्या बोलता, जब मुझे कुछ पता ही नहीं था”. सचिन की अच्छाई, जो उनके मासूम चेहरे से छलकती भी है, को अलग कर दें, तो उनके संवाद बहुत ही आम, बेअसर और कभी-कभी बहुत ज्यादा ‘स्ट्रक्चर्ड’ सुनाई देते हैं. एकरसता इस हद तक है कि कप्तानी से हटाये जाने पर बोलते हुए, ‘...और उन्होंने मुझे एक फ़ोन भी नहीं किया’ जैसा एक थोड़ा सा ही कड़ा बयान भी आपको वो ‘किक’ दे जाता है, जो आप फिल्म से उम्मीद लगाये बैठे थे.

फिल्म के एक दिलचस्प हिस्से में, लोग मशहूर और सीनियर क्रिकेटर मोहम्मद अज़हरुद्दीन को नज़रंदाज़ करके सचिन का ऑटोग्राफ लेते हुए दिखाई देते हैं. दूसरे हिस्से में, इंग्लॅण्ड के भूतपूर्व कप्तान नासिर हुसैन कहते हैं, “स्लेजिंग का सचिन पर असर भी क्या पड़ता, जब लाखों लोग स्टेडियम में एक साथ ‘सचिन-सचिन’ कर रहे हों’. सच्चे मायनों में सचिन के कैरियर में उतार-चढ़ाव के ऐसे अनकहे-अनसुने किस्से फिल्म में बहुत कम हैं. इसी तरह फिल्म में कपिल देव, सिद्धू, राहुल द्रविड़, सौरव गांगुली और धोनी का ‘न’ के बराबर दिखाई और सुनाई देना भी खलता है.

आखिर में, ये कोई डॉक्यूमेंटरी फिल्म नहीं है, जो पूरी तरह ‘फैक्ट एंड फुटेज’ हवाले से बनी हो. हालाँकि फिल्म में सचिन के बचपन का काफी हिस्सा अभिनेताओं के साथ दुबारा शूट किया गया है, पर ये कोई बायोपिक भी नहीं है. डोक्यू-ड्रामा जैसा कुछ कहना ही सही होगा, पर उससे कहीं ज्यादा ‘सचिन- अ बिलियन ड्रीम्स’ भारत में, और भारतीय क्रिकेट में सचिन के ‘होने’ का जश्न मनाने वाली एक बॉलीवुड मसाला फिल्म है, जहाँ सचिन हीरो हैं, और बस्स सचिन ही हैं. हर फ्रेम में. बॉलीवुड के किसी जाने-माने सुपरस्टार की नयी-ताज़ी फिल्म की तरह, इसमें फैमिली है, ड्रामा है, रोमांस है, इमोशन है, एक्शन है, और एक जबरदस्त क्लाइमेक्स भी. भरपूर मनोरंजन! [3.5/5]                  

BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE : Justice denied! [2/5]

Every film has a reason behind its existence. Some possess the purpose to entertain. Some have a propensity to satisfy one’s creative urge. Zack Snyder’s BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE is no exception. It’s just that the reason it holds works more in favor of its sequel JUSTICE LEAGUE planned for the next year release. Consider this a conjunctive chapter that has to be there before the sequel could finally take off. Obviously the much-dreamt clash between the world’s two biggest comic book superheroes was another potential orgasmic spectacle one could never miss to experience on big screens but far-flung from all that, BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE is substantially a tough and nauseating endurance-test as how much Hollywood trash you can take at once. And if that wasn’t enough, you get a whole container of Bollywood junk to make it even tougher for poor you!

Imagine this; a mother is taken hostage by a maniac who wants to see the son, also a superhero by passion, in wrestle with the other superhero. I don’t want to put you on the spot but if you’re an ardent fan of these two DC comic characters, you would know better that they will stop at nothing. Well, you got what you asked for. They are out now to kill each other before something supernatural strikes. The son, at the very final flash, recites his mother’s first name. Guess what? The other superhero has a mother of same first name too. Bingo. The two have now joined their hands to take down the scheming baddie. Sounds familiar? I know. We have been gulping down this bitter mixture for centuries. The problem doesn’t rest in the unintelligible and unimaginative plot but in shamelessly marching ahead from one muddy mess to other convenient chaos.

Superman [HENRY CAVILL] is held responsible for all the causalities constantly taking place in his insensitive missions to save the world. People have started labeling him as an ‘unwanted alien’ to the earth. Even the Gotham city has few unfortunate hits under his name. Batman [BEN AFFLECK] must stop him. Meanwhile, the evil head Lex Luthor [JESSE EISENBERG] has his own plans to establish his supremacy in the Metropolis city. One of them is, of course, to bring both the superheroes in the same arena, against each other. AMY ADAMS plays Clark Kent’s love interest mostly to get herself into troubles so that the Superman could come and save her. An interesting and comparatively satisfying addition in the cast comes as the Israeli beauty from THE FAST & FURIOUS series GAL GADOT playing the Wonder Woman.

Talking about the Hollywood trash; BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE emerges as an average sci-fi action entertainer that tries too many formulaic elements it possibly could. The conflict between the superheroes is undercooked and often confusing. God knows why couldn’t they just sit and talk in lengths to clean the slate. We have seen them performing this rather impressive (verbal) action in their earlier independent ventures. The overtly done and excessively exposed action sequences also don’t really add any substance to the intensity of the conflict, and only target your appetite to watch something mammoth if not necessarily momentous created in heavily confident CG machines.

Overall, BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE doesn’t do justice to any of your favorite superheroes featured in it. Performances range from being superficial to mediocre and one-dimensional. A lot would have been better if the plot hasn’t been so incoherent, lousy, convenient and Bollywood-ish! It looks so inspired from us that even you can sue them for creative and cultural plagiarism. After all, kidnapping mothers is a trademark move for all the Prem Chopras, Ranjeets and Shakti Kapoors of Bollywood, not some Jesse Eisenbergs. Justice denied! [2/5]   

FILMISTAAN: Divided by borders! United by cinema!! [3/5]

Clad in sheer innocence & extreme enthusiasm, Sunny Arora [played by the fabulous Sharib Hashmi] is probably one fervent follower of Bollywood we all have met-seen-known at some point in our lives. Hardcore is hardly able enough to match up with his degree of intensity. No matter how hostile the situation is, he never ceases to crack the juiciest ‘filmy’ dialogues Bollywood has produced in all these years. ‘iss chalte-phirte Bombay Talkies ko ignore karna mushkil hi nahin, namumkin hai’. He’s the undividable soul to FILMISTAAN- 2012’s National Award Winning Film by Nitin Kakkar.

In the deserted Indo-Pak border range of Rajasthan, Sunny Arora- a wannabe actor working now as assistant director in a foreign documentary filmmaking crew mistakenly gets abducted by a terrorist group. Till the mistake is being corrected, he has to find a place in a small village in outskirts of Pakistan. The fellows around to accompany him are a fanatic with gun [Kumud Mishra, last seen in Revolver Rani], his sidekick [Gopal Dutt in a controlled but confident performance] and Aftab- a local distributor-cum-seller of pirated CDs of Bollywood movies [Inaamulhaq in a competent supporting role].

Once reached in gun-shadowed Pakistan, FILMISTAAN starts trying to make the balance between the relatable similarities, the pain of partition divided in both the parties in equal measure and the undivided love for Bollywood. In one sequence, when the camera-conscious Sunny decides to take charge of directing his own hostile video, unknowingly he turns the terrorists in a film crew with designated roles to each one. In other, Sunny locked up in a dark room starts performing dialogues of Salman’s superhit ‘Maine Pyaar Kiya’ well in sync with the movie getting played on home video outside. You might enjoy this on screen but in real; nothing can be more irritating than that. I can guarantee. FILMISTAAN does the same to you. When you enjoy it, you enjoy it to the fullest but when it gets dragged and pushy with pinch of heavy drama and a completely unimaginative climax; you sure take the back seat as a discouraged viewer in search of a better outcome.

FILMISTAAN if does cross the above-average barrier, it is all because of the two very colourful, very dynamic characters disguised as big cinema-lovers. Sharib Hashmi is a total revelation as Sunny. His energy and confidence as a fine performer never run out. Inaamulhaq provides full support with his starry-eyed movie-buff portrayal. The chemistry between the two is one of the highlights. Kumud Mishra is a veteran and though he’s there hardly speaking much, his expressive eyes do the most for him. Gopal Dutt impresses. 

In gist, as quoted by Sunny in the film, “film chahe chhoti ho, dil se banani chahiye”…and FILMISTAAN is a film made with heart, humor and drama all at its place. Flaws can be ignored if entertainment is there in a larger capacity. Watch it for a good film and good fun! [3/5]

THE XPOSE: One of the cheesiest suspense thrillers, aka unintentional comedy!! [2/5]

Fans who have had regular access to gossipy magazines like ‘Mayapuri’ and ‘Stardust’ would agree more that bollywood film industry has always been blessed with cheesy, salty and spicy ‘inside’ news pieces on link-ups, break-ups, regular tiffs between stars, catfights in parties and rivalries that run longer than the film on box-office. Now, if someone from those unsighted admirers would have made a film like ‘THE XPOSE’ taking references from here and there, it would have been easily an ignorable offence…but coming from Ananth Narayan Mahadevan, a veteran himself from the industry, it is a shameful cold-blooded crime to present all of it in a hasty, half-baked and horrifically bad light.

THE XPOSE, set in glamorously stylish 60’s, is a fictional memoir inspired by real life incidents happened in bollywood. So you have a moody, egoistic and bigmouthed superstar Ravi Kumar [Played by who else? The Himesh Reshammiya], a character modeled on yesteryear Actor Rajkumar famous for his attitude and many regular interferences on set suitable to his self-proclaimed image. How can you not find the connection when he compliments one of his co-stars on her dress that he could use the same for his house as curtains??

Then, there are a couple of sex-symbols who catfights in parties and bears strong resemblance from real-life contemporaries Zeenat Aman & Parveen Bobby. There is also a top music director KD [India’s latest sensation Yo Yo Honey Singh playing someone like RD Burman] who can sell the same tune to two different filmmakers. If you could do an elephant-eyed examination, you will also find visible suggestions of Sunil Dutt saving Nargis’s life from a fire mishap on set, a publishing house giant replicating Nari Hira of Stardust and hidden interest of underworld in the business. All that and an unfortunate death of a leading actress [Divya Bharti?? Who knows!!]! Everyone is under scanner and the frisky & frolicky fiction takes over the touch of reality!

THE XPOSE is stylish and sensational but cheaply designed, undeveloped ‘insider’s view’ to encash people’s thirst for scandalous ‘behind the curtain’ news. It gets easier if you already in sync with those intimations and indications before hand in order to relate and rejoice but as an outsider, you will always miss the punch here. Watching Himesh delivering lines like, “Main jo bol deta hoon, wohi script ho jaati hai” and “Style pe aap kaam karo, attitude pe maine bachpan se kaam kiya hai” makes you giggle and chuckle at the first but soon you will feel the juice getting either too sweet or too salty to enjoy. Baby-faced Yo Yo Honey Singh looks fresh for the screen and bearable when lip-syncing his own songs. Newcomers Sonali Raut and Zoya Afroz do it as been told and predicted. Adil Hussain brings some credibility in his shorter but smarter performance. By the way, the story gets narrated by Irrfan Khan playing a blackmarketeer at cinema-halls. No explanations would be enough to understand why this special appearance??

With nasal-toned singing, ‘ice-dream khaoongi, Kashmir jaoongi’ kind of inanity in lyrics, average performance, distasteful writing and a suspense that falls more in the grid of unplanned-unintentional-accidental comedy, THE XPOSE is one of the cheesiest suspense thriller that can be watchable if you are allowed to make loud comments on its idiocy in theatre. It’s the only way out to relieve yourself of the load it throws on your intellect. Sadly, multiplex culture doesn’t pursue that any longer! So, better leave it for a home-viewing! [2/5]      

BOMBAY TALKIES : Cinema has given you a lot, now its time to return the favor! [4/5]

On the day when Indian cinema is celebrating its glorious centenary; I still remember how I, in my pre-teens, used to run after movie promotional rickshaws every time they showed up in my village, just in hope to get a movie poster someday. Memories are still fresh when my craze for the dynamic Kajol landed me in celebrating her birthdays and posting articles and photographs of her in a secret diary [I still have it :)] and trust me, there are numerous other examples of hardcore fascination towards Indian cinema that run in our veins secretly but passionately.

Karan-Zoya-Dibakar-Anurag’s BOMBAY TALKIES is one of loveliest short film bouquet that takes us through how Cinema or for that matter Bollywood has become an integral part of our lives. So, you see Karan Johar effectively pushing his boundaries as a filmmaker and walking around the dark galore of homosexuality where two people [played immaculately by Randeep Hooda & Saquib Saleem] bond over their common taste & love for bollywood music…SENSITIVE-BOLD-CONFIDENT! 

Zoya Akhtar decides to tell a dreamy story of a teenage boy [All praises for Naman Jain- the child actor] who idolizes Katrina Kaif as shiela and has now discovered his passion for being a dancer like her, rather than enrolling for masculine sports i.e. soccer…ENGROSSING! 

Dibakar Banerji presents Nawazuddin in a story originally written by Satyajit Ray, for a power-packed performance as a small time theatre-artist who is quite a failure in real world but seeks a new glossy story in reel world to bring rewarding smile on his bedridden daughter…MOVING-HEARTFELT-IMPRESSIVE. 

Anurag Kashyap’s short is definitely the most entertaining of the lot. A common man from Allahabad struggles to meet his cinema-idol Amitabh Bachchan just to fulfill his father’s sort of unusual last wish…HILARIOUS & LIKEABLE! 

This ode to cinema works for its finesse for the craft that gives you first rate performances, brilliance of writing, flawless screenplay & the most importantly its exhaustive realistic approach to stay honest to each segment and subject. Not all the stories are unheard before but the sincerity in execution demands a must watch in theaters. This is not strictly experimental for classes, this is not formula based for masses…but a rare for all cinema lovers. Cinema has given you a lot, now its time to return the favor! [4/5]