BEWAKOOFIYAAN: A film too easy to celebrate its existence! [1.5/5]

Every creation of art; be it of a pure commercial aspect or for the approval of one’s inner conscious, needs to have a motive, a reason behind its very existence. Sadly, YashRaj Films’ BEWAKOOFIYAAN doesn’t show any sign of having it. I tried looking for it, genuinely. In fact, it is one of those rare romantic comedies where you find the contagious essence of romance missing from the air. All you take out from this dull, unexciting, blatantly too easy love-story is disappointment, exhaustion, drowsiness and a sense of doubt on your sensibility as why did I make the decision to bet my money on it at the first place.

Just before getting sacked from his well-paid job in the airlines sector, Mohit [Ayushmann Khurrana] had enough convincing reasons to make his life a big blasting party. A never complaining girlfriend Mayera [Sonam Kapoor], well almost; promotion in the job, brand new car and a Gold ranked credit card with massive credit-limit! Life is smooth, fast and lavish. Until comes his soon-to-be father-in-law [Rishi Kapoor, the only relief] in the scene; a strict retired IAS officer having close connections with Home Secretary and the head of Police in the state. No prizes for guessing, the love-story takes the much expected turn to be on the ‘Meet the parents’ route. As if it was really manageable, Mohit is jobless due to recession hitting the aviation industry. Next is the potholed ride to impress the father and keeping the love alive between two.

Directed by Nupur Asthana, BEWAKOOFIYAAN is a big let down for Habib Faisal who adeptly has been a pillar in the writing for DO DOONI CHAAR, BAND BAAJA BAARAT & ISHAQZAADE. The wit, rust and textured appeal to the lingo is not a complete miss here but not sharp enough too to create some stimulation. It is a film that runs at a certain pace and forgets to take off. The only part that manages to pull my attention to add some novelty to the part is where Mayera bursts in complain over Mohit for doing her bit of ‘sacrifices’ to not go shopping for a new pair of sandals since his ‘jobless’ status. It is funny but more than that, it has a connecting authenticity to Sonam’s character. I was looking for more of this kind.

Performances here are absolutely average at the most. Sonam’s role of a less crabby-all supportive girlfriend has some unseen flares but with her limitations, it goes for a toss. Ayushmann too is very constrained in terms of exhibiting his emotions. Though, he does seem comfortable in comic parts. If anyone here is really much more than what one expects, is the inimitable Rishi Kapoor. His energy, his aura and his gifted ability to slip in the characters he plays is terrifically tranquil even in such shaky circumstances. Some relief!

Romantic comedies are judged best by the youngsters in love, provided it does have some blazing romantic scenes, an exploding chemistry between the lead, hardcore emotions and some good laughs to make their time together a pleasurable experience to cherish. Deeply dejected in my heart and with all my guts gathered at one, I announce that BEWAKOOFIYAAN lacks most of the above. Watch it on DVD, if you must! [1.5/5]   

HER: Imaginative, inventive and extremely human! [4.5/5]

Prank in which friends pass on mobile calls to other saying there is someone asking for him; later to make him realize that it is just a recorded computerized voice message from service providers of all kind, is an age-old tasteless joke ever played on you. But think of a next level in futuristic world not so far-off where technology has made into our lives so fanatically that we are bound to get connected to them for our every single need including the emotional support only human could afford to offer till now…and that is the premise on which celebrated filmmaker Spike Jonze constructs one of the finest and the amazingly fascinating mankind-meets-technology romantic science-fiction called ‘HER’.

Writing personal letters for his clients who may not have enough time and skill to do that and posting them to their loved ones on behalf is what Theodore Twombly [Played by Joaquin Phoenix] has been doing for a very long. This is the world where every single machinery around is operated by voice commands and you literally have nothing in the name of social connect. He is a loner on the verge of a broken marriage. His only pastime is silly interactive video-games with body movement recognition on life-size screen. Soon, he finds an artificially intelligent operating system run by a female voice named Samantha [Scarlett Johansson’s magical voice]. She can talk. She can discuss. She can observe state of mind of the one she’s talking to. She can chuckle. She can joke. She can see things and have her own opinion about them. She is everything but a trapped soul in a computer system without having any body. No wonder, Theodore finds a companion in her to share his loneliness and the emotional drain he’s been in. The bond gradually moves into a serious mutual relationship in which Samantha discovers much more than she’s designed to experience. Where would this unusual, odd but extremely emotional and ‘no less than any human’ love-story find its end, is the next in line.

In HER, Spike Jonze paints a beautiful world using bright, vivid and vibrant color palette decorated luminously with minimal props and innovative art-design. The shades of red & yellow worn by Phoenix are nothing short of visual treat for eyes. Brilliantly shot outdoors to establish subtle futuristic world and aesthetically sticking to extreme close-ups to capture varied human emotions set an example in skilled cinematography. Editing is crisp and shows an upper hand especially in lyrical montages where Theodore recollects moments from his past relationship. Silence has its own rhythm in music and the sound designing in HER definitely knows how to employ and exploit that.

On one hand if it is a wonderful work of filmmaking, it is also exceptionally good at performances. Joaquin Phoenix in broad frames and thick moustache delivers one of his bests. Scarlett Johansson as the voice of Samantha excels in emoting through just what you hear and not seen at all situation and makes her presence felt completely. Amy Adams plays a colleague-cum-friend to Theodore who’s always there with her unconditional support to him.

Having said that, though it stumbles a bit in the second half with a repetitive approach in the series of events, Spike Jonze’s HER never slips from being the most inventive, imaginative and one of the cutest love-story on screen in a long time. I loved HER and I don’t see any reason why you would not. A Must-watch!! [4.5/5]   

HASEE TOH PHASEE: Parineeti rules! Writing Rocks!! One of the most refreshing Rom-Com!! [3.5/5]

If I could really take my eyes off the extremely sweet, lovable, charming, carefree and magically inexplicable Parineeti Chopra in debutante Vinil Matthew’s ‘no non-sense’ romantic comedy HASEE TOH PHASEE, I would have certainly noticed the ‘time demands’ merger of one of the most celebrated production houses in the industry and the most promising pool of talents. No wonder the product in result comes out as one of the most refreshing, brilliantly acted, smartly written but quite a balanced in nature rom-com in recent.

It neither forces you with the typical candy floss boy-meets-girl feel with all those unreal slow-motion shots overflowing with foot-tapping song & dance numbers and forceful melodramatic complications in the storyline. Karan Johar style of cinema masters in that league. Nor it makes you feel drained out with insipid, self-indulged, dead existent stories with layered harsh reality what Anurag Kashyap school of cinema is known for. It stands somewhere in the middle of both.

Nikhil, played by Sidharth Malhotra is all set to loose his bachelorhood for his girlfriend Karisma [Adah Sharma] of 7 years. Just 7 days to the d-day & he happens to meet a girl from the bride-side who’s no one else but Karisma’s younger sister Meeta, played by the infectious livewire called Parineeti Chopra. She supposedly was a drug-addict. She has this weird syndrome that deals with different kind of sensations in body as described by her, “thartharahat, sarsarahat, sansanahat, gudgudahat, dagmagahat, farfarahat & more”. She takes pills to be active on life. She eats toothpastes. She blinks her eyes in a certain ‘in your face’ way. She talks faster than you imagine. She’s anything but the girl next door; still you will find it hard to look anywhere else if she’s there in the frame. You feel connected to the girl who is equally sentimental but confined & reserved in revealing the wounds from her past. Same goes with confused Nikhil who is now left with choices that could ruin or rule his life afterward.   

HASEE TOH PHASEE is a good mix of over-the-top Indian emotions with uber cool practicalities of today’s generation. So, if there is a ‘would-be Damaad’ asking for financial help from his ‘would-be Sasur’- a saree king, in the most unhesitant manner, you would also find a rigidly traditional family that could abandon their kid for life as she had once decided to run away from the house. Though the film couldn’t save itself from being conventional & convenient specifically in the storyline, it compensates that with the garden-fresh characters [Casting director Mukesh Chhabra deserves applause for giving apt faces to fill the requirement], believable performances, quirky-witty-smart writing [Harshvardhan Kulkarni takes the credit here] & a sense of pragmatism while dealing with the situations. Beautifully cinematographed & crisply edited! But the performances are above all especially Parineeti. She amazes, surprises & also manages to move your heart with her ‘blinking eyes’ presence on screen. Sidharth plays it highly confident and a total fit for the role.

At the end, it feels good to see that the genre of romantic comedy in Bollywood is getting blessed by good grown-up writing. Watch it if you want a nice break from regular romantic love-stories! Watch not if you still believe in unreal overdramatic romance only made for cinema-screens! [3.5/5]

DON JON: Real, honest, witty & confident…a rare in romantic-sex-comedies! [3/5]

There have not been many adult comedies that are clear in head, certain in content & honest in effort to make you laugh with the real-to-the-core wit and also feel for the hearty participation of its characters in making it a not-so-regular adult joke book. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is not a new name in need of any introduction but with his directorial début in romantic-sex-comedy ‘DON JON’, he definitely earns another feather in his cap. ‘DON JON’ is real, honest, witty, emotional and matured enough to talk firmly & unhesitatingly about ‘grown up’ issues covered under the sheet till now.

Jon [Joseph Gordon-Levitt himself] is any young blood who loves his life more than anything. The space he lives in, the bed he sleeps on, his regular workouts in gym, the church time on every Sunday with family, his friends, his car and anything that you can think of, for a self-centered man like him but what makes him out of the league is his self-acceptance of the fact that he loves watching porn. With enough reasons and grounds of his own, he just believes in and enjoys the idea of masturbation while watching sleazy sex-clips on porn-sites, even if there is a girl in his bed to give him the real pleasure.  

Things don’t pay any favor when one day his bossy girlfriend [the lovely Scarlett Johansson playing bitchy here] - a fairytale romance believer, catches him sticky dirty handed enjoying what he enjoys the most. Now, Jon has to compromise with his likings if he really wants to make it all good in his ‘true love’ relationship but is he ready? What about his new bonding with the much experienced and more thorough in life-lessons Esther, played by enigmatic Julianne Moore? Will he be able to learn-unlearn few things from her??

From the opening title sequence falling in between while surfing channels on TV to the montages showing the monotonous routine in his life-hours to the intercuts between porn clips & real life illustrating what mental state he’s in to, film impresses with the story-telling techniques big time. The fresh approach to be simple but straight in your face is very well communicated. The humor comes easy with the writing and in situations that fall apart out of nowhere. Joseph Gordon-Levitt looks every part of the character played by him, who can be very sure of one thing but completely clueless in impulse. Scarlett in her portrayal of a dominating-typical girlfriend material impresses. Her igniting presence on screen clearly pays off. Julianne Moore brings the sensitivity & sensibility factor in the account. There are also some delightful cameos to raise your heartbeats [Channing Tatum & Anne Hathaway is one of them].

With an unsullied writing hand and impressive directional skills, Joseph Gordon-Levitt creates an amusingly witty adult comedy that is best enjoyed if you do dare to accept things as they are in real. Not for ones who are adults but still think of sex as a cultural taboo to talk, to show & to entertain. Thoroughly enjoyable!! [3/5] 

LOOTERA: old-school romance retold-redefined in the finest form of cinema!

Move over instant love, experience intense love! Vikramaditya Motwane’s love saga LOOTERA is an old-school romance [all those Dev Anand classics if you remember] retold-redefined in the finest & superlative form of cinema. It’s pure, unadulterated and subtly mesmerizing in its each frame with an everlasting depth of emotions we naively have lost somewhere in today’s ‘where the hell are we going so fast’ way of life. So, it’s time to rediscover priceless moments of love, heartbreak, longing and redemption deep down within our ‘still very much alive’ hearts.

A heartfelt story inspired by O. Henry’s THE LAST LEAF, smoothly & unhesitantly transports you in times of 1950’s where vintage cars, regal mansions and zameendars in fears of ‘soon to be taken care of’ by the government of India come involuntarily in picture, in any given scenario. Varun- a swindler disguised as an archaeologist enters into vivaciously alive Pakhi’s life only to fall in love but with no fortitude to pursue it further and returns back in his dark galore of crime after blatantly shattering Pakhi’s world. The fate brings them together again, now in the turmoil of more harsh emotions like retribution & redemption. 

With Mahendra Shetty’s charismatically painted-tainted-printed perfect picture frames, a thoroughly meticulous Art Direction, well-researched costume design, and spellbound performances that leave you speechless, this modern masterpiece is worth every penny you spend in the name of cinema. Sonakshi surprises you the most and come out as a winner all the way so does Ranveer. Great to find that the actor in question could really pull out in every situation he’s put into. Character artistes [Aadil Hussain as inspector K N Singh and the actor playing Pakhi’s Father] are also a reason to hold your interest intact while experiencing this picturesque & poetic journey of love.

But this writing-work will never get its dues if I can’t have praises for the captain of ship Mr. Motwane. In his directorial debut UDAAN, we all might have missed his simply understated finesse of art & craft because of revelation that it came with such beautiful story with unheard unseen before emotions but this time with LOOTERA, he doesn’t leave any stone unturned, any effort undone that has even a bare minimum chance to doubt on the filmmaker’s sense, sensibility and sensitivity. If UDAAN pronounced him Bollywood’s one of the finest storyteller, LOOTERA crowns him as the most evolved filmmaker, to my surprise in his only second venture.

Having stated that, I can not miss my warning that if you like to visit Cinemas only for a full-on entertainers having slapstick comedies, popular item numbers and nonsense action, this is strictly not yours type. It takes its time to grow on you, like love does in most cases and also it doesn’t always speak in words but emotions flow all over on this grand canvas of cinematic excellence. Experience it. [4/5]