FITOOR: Oh, you (Hopeless) beauty! [2.5/5]

Apart from the jingoistic emotions and vigorous political projection attached to it, India has advanced another reason to not lose its possession over Kashmir. Bollywood loves to shake down this heavenly geographical part & pride of India to its maximum, sometimes by planting a great Shakespearean saga of love, power and betrayal under the grime of its atrocious past [Read: Vishal Bhardwaj’s HAIDER] or sometimes just by using its picturesque postcard locations as a canvas to paint someone’s cinematic dream. Abhishek Kapoor’s FITOOR fits the bill for the latter. Along with his man behind the lenses Anay Goswami, Abhishek stuns you with magnetic visuals capturing icy lakes, snow-clad wooden foot-over bridges, crimson-red mansions and some equally wooden-evenly frosty faces in and around too, in identical respect.

Official adaptation of Charles Dickens’ GREAT EXPECTATIONS, FITOOR is a tale of two star-crossed childhood lovers. They look nothing more than puppets in evil hands of fate dancing on someone else’s tune. Impoverished Noor [Aditya Roy Kapoor] finds a manipulative curator in Begum Hazrat [Tabu] and a susceptibly shifting lover in her daughter Firdaus [Katrina Kaif]. Their ways go apart to meet again but destined to demand more from their lives. The obsession fueled by the love and longing is ready to self-destruct all the dreams and hopes one is always lived for.

FITOOR is very much like the actors playing parts in it. It looks as ravishing, radiant and exquisite as Katrina Kaif on any given day. You can look breathlessly at both until they try to communicate with you. Ms Kaif’s weird diction and pronunciation force you to look out for a ‘never there’ remote control that could either fast-forward the scene or just mute her to make you switch to the ‘beauty-admiration’ mode again. Film also starts behaving like Ms Kaif, at times. It speaks, and a lot but expressions do get lost while being translated on screen. Guess what? Ms Kaif goes to London in this film too. Why? To get her admired accent. How many more times Bollywood will bless her with that added explanatory mention for her accent??

It is also on the likes of Aditya Roy Kapoor. He makes his presence felt on screen but does it at such a lifeless pace and with such a static force that you can never call it ‘a moving experience’. A self-destructive youth caught in the ill-fated love; haven’t we seen him before in such pitiable state? But the one where the film never ceases to hold the power to impress and ignite emotions on many levels is the performance of Tabu. This role earlier had the never-aging, ever-young Rekha in it but Tabu owns it now. From the sharp and shrewd lonesome soul to the hysterically remorseful aging beauty, she looked never so exposed. In other, the casting does have some surprising names from Lara Dutta and Aditi Rao Hyderi to ghazal singer Talat Aziz, mostly in favor of the film.

FITOOR doesn’t often satisfy you as a great drama or a gorgeous love-story but with the controlled direction, some amazing musical renditions by Amit Trivedi and a totally outstanding cinematography, it remains one of those unfortunate cinematic efforts that doesn’t get a full support from its lead pair and dies in a tough fight to survive its killing pace. [2.5/5] 

HAIDER: A Bollywood rare that tries to speak…emotionally & politically! [4/5]

1995, Kashmir. When single screen cinemas like Faraz & Sheila in Srinagar were turned into a full-fledged army camps & detention centers, we at the other side were probably unscathed enjoying those terribly silly love-stories on VHS in our drawing rooms and least bothered about that ‘integral part’ of our country. Calling it ‘integral’ itself is an irony. We normally don’t do that to other states. Are we? Vishal Bhardwaj’s HAIDER is a strong political statement retold and represented covered in the long dark shrouds of Shakespearian emotional saga. It’s depressingly sad, gloomy, violent, nerve-racking and makes you bleed emotionally.

Haider [Played by Shahid Kapoor] returns to his soil after his father goes missing in the bleak times of militancy contaminating the Jhelum waters. The disappearance soon gets linked with the unseen before closeness between his mother [Immeasurably talented Tabu] and his power-hungry uncle [Kay Kay Menon in a well-suited comfortable role]. The hunt for the missing and the haunting ache of losing all his emotional supports lands him into the fiery world of hatred, vengeance and revolt at personal front.   

Adopted from ‘Hamlet’ of William Shakespeare, HAIDER suffers from the 'Chutzpah' of Vishal Bhardwaj as a deep and sound filmmaker who ruthlessly puts you through the gloomiest atmospheric tale of Kashmir in the times of brutal political turmoil. This is the time of ambiguity when even the closest to your heart can ask you, “Whose side are you on?”. This is the time when ‘Freedom’ merely has just one connotation to it. The burnt doors, broken windows, unclaimed houses and people holding their identity cards waiting in line for getting searched; Bhardwaj sensitively paints the pain and melancholia in the air. There is a scene actually where a man in a mental shock refuses to enter his own house before being searched by anyone. Created to give you a moment to laugh but really?

In its one of the most comical sequences, Vishal Bhardwaj gives us two of Salman Khan fans who also share the name with Salman and run a VHS parlor. There are also moments and elements snitched from the original work like the slightest intimation of layered mother-son relationship. It does make you uncomfortable at first but the makers deserve a pat on back for such bold baby-step. In other, watch out for the old gravediggers stealing the moment at the climax.

And now the performances! Not many might be familiar with Narendra Jha by name but this man exceeds all expectations as a fine performer in the role of Haider’s father. You will find Kashmir in him in all senses. Tabu as an unsettling soul seeking serenity is a mesmerizing presence on screen. She makes us miss her more in films. Kay Kay Menon is comfortably in his zone. Somehow, this is a role we have seen him wearing like a skin. Shraddha Kapoor doesn’t leave any scope to complain. Irrfan Khan in a special appearance brings a good amount of joy and a flare of surprise.

And then there is Shahid Kapoor! Where in the first part he hardly shows anything unforeseen and mostly repeats himself, in the second half he completely blows you off with a brilliantly acted monologue piece and constantly reinventing his acting skills!                 

Despite all this, there is of course a muddled theatrical concluding part, bearably lengthy duration of nearly 3 hours and harshly done back and forth narrative to offer a bumpy ride and a sense of dissatisfaction but the melancholic shades in the characters and in the character of Kashmir both painted beautifully by some of the most sincere and serious performances make HAIDER an experience worth putting your time and money in. A bollywood film trying to speak is rare and should get a warm welcome! (4/5)