Master Director Adapts Another Story to a Screen Gem

Vishal Bharadwaj, whose worst work so far is better than the best work of many directors in Hindi film industry. When he directs a movie, what you expect? When I saw the trailer, my expectations were that high. The trailer sure raised curiosity. Then there were people who watched the movie and gave reactions as strong as, "7 khoon Maaf. The biggest blunder to watch in 2011." Since I am not someone to get influenced by someone else's opinion I yet wanted to watch it, but it definitely lowered my expectations. So here I was watching 7 Khoon Maaf, starring Priyanka Chopra with a bunch of actors of different age groups ranging from Neil Nitin Mukesh to Naseeruddin Shah playing her husbands, with not that high expectations.

The movie is the story of Susanna Anna-Marie Johannes, who is in search of a perfect life partner. In her search she marries a one legged super possessive, super suspecting army major, a cross dressing, drug addict rock star, a poet with violent sexual fantasies, a cheating Russian nuclear scientist, a pervert intelligence officer and a filed businessman who had plans of acquiring her wealth by killing her. The twist here is, Susanna is a woman who when threatened by a dog on her way to school as a kid decided to kill the dog with her father's gun rather than changing her way. "Madam rasta nahi badalti, raste me aane wale kutton ko maar deti hain" as put by one of her three servants who assist her in killing these dogs and digging their graves.

Keeping up to his tradition of adopted screenplay's this time Vishal has chosen a story by Ruskin Bond, which I have not read so cannot comment on the adaptation part. However it is a difficult story to make a into a movie and even more difficult to make people like the movie. Priyanka Chopra plays the role of Susanna, who ages from 25 to 60 in the movie and her husbands are played by Neil Nitin Mukesh, John Abraham, Irfaan Khan, some Russian guy Aleksandr Dyachenko, Anu Kapoor and Naseeruddin Shah. Her three faithful servants and partners in crime are played by Usha Uthup, Shashi Malviya and I missed the name of the third one. Then there is Arun, a kid who she raises and helps him become a doctor played by Vivaan Shah and Konkana Sen Sharma playing Arun's wife in a cameo. Finally a tribute to the original story writer a cameo by Ruskin Bond himself. That's a lot but the master director gets the best out of each of them. Direction is top class and he relies on audiences' intelligence rather than explaining every piece of the story. One thing that impressed me a lot was the way time line in tracked through historical events using news headlines and cross conversations. Operation bluestar, Fall of VP Singh Government, Babri Demolition, 2nd Nuclear test by India, cannot recollect and 26/11 terrorist attack are the historical events used in the movie. Then there is a photograph with a message and a year 1964. 30 minutes in the movie you come to know that there is someone in the cast with 6 fingers and almost in the end you see who that is and how cleverly Susanna hides that despite a blunder from Arun. She is a smart woman and her story needs to be viewed with smart attention. In IIT while writing scripts/screenplays we used to look for introducing wow factors, this movie is full of those wow factors.

Music is top class and supports the flow of the story. Gulzar is great and shows the glimpses of his greatness in the lyrics. Each song is so full of meaning and appropriate that you feel like clapping for the master. Visually also the movie is appealing and a treat to watch.

I would call it another masterpiece from the director of Makadi, Maqboool, Omkara and Blue Umbrella. Pay attention to the whatever is going on in the screen and you will love the movie. Look away and you might end up regretting being in the theater, this from the experiences of others who hated the movie.

The Legend of Tees Maar Khan

Tees Maar Khan, so appropriately named movie it is. I am sure the movie would have killed at least 30 people so far if not more. It almost killed me thrice (managed to watch it completely in four attempts. fell asleep-half dead in three attempts). Thanks to life saving medicine named after the most faithful animal, I survived. You people would be thinking why I dared watch this much appreciated cinema after hearing so much about it from so many sources. My answer to those truly well wishing friends is, "mahanta balidaan mangti hai."

I am sure after reading above introduction, you would be super curious to know the details. As Farah Khan would have said in one of her TV show as judge, without much ado, here it is. The movie is about Tabrez Mirza Khan aka Tees Maar Khan aka TMK, who is described as half Robin Hood by buffoon police commissioner played by Sachin Khedekar, because wo ameeron se lootata to hai par gareebon me bantata nahi hai. If you did not laugh about it, you are an idiot according to Farah Khan, Shirish Kunder and Akshay Kumar because I am sure all three of them had believed it to be a really funny and would have expected the audience to laugh their asses off after hearing this. The movie is full of such wonderful one liners, which looks like Farah's attempt to make the world go bald, because everyone with a thinking brain would pull his hair off.

After this hair pulling introduction to legendary TMK, we are told that he is hired by Johari Brothers (played by Raghu and Rajiv of Roadies fame) to rob Bharat Ka Khajana, which is being transferred by super cop Sachin in a train. TMK being the super intelligent thief he is, comes up with the idea of hiring an entire village along with Oscar obsessed super star Atish Kapoor (Akshaye Khanna) in the name of shooting a movie, to rob the train full of precious ancient jewels worth millions being transferred under the security of two cops.

By this time I had already died twice. I do not have courage to write further about the story of this masterpiece written by highly talented Shirish Kunder (I wish he is kept away from all form of writing material after this). If you are brave enough watch it yourself and if not, you haven't missed anything you shouldn't have. The only thing worth watching in the movie is Sheila Ki Jawani, which I am sure all of you would have watched multiple times already and will do so many times in time to come. ;)

Everyone tries their best to act stupid in the movie. Every character is such that he/she has just been released from a mental asylum without completing his/her treatment. Someone please tell these guys, they don't have to be buffoons to create laughter.

Yeh Saali Zindagi

After very long gap there was finally a movie I wanted to watch in theater. There were three reasons, it starrs irfan khan in the lead (he rarely disappoints), it is directed by shudhir mishra (who has made movies like is raat ki subah nahi and hajaron khwahishen aisi) and last but not the least in the trailer I heard a man hit by a bullet on the verge of getting unconscious say, "sala aise mar gaya to log hasenge ki chutiya pyar ke liye mar gaya aur laundiya bhi nahi mili."

So there I was watching the movie. As the movie starts after a super emotional performance by disabled kids on national anthem, I see irfan hurt, chitrangada supporting him and consoling him that everything will be alright, I hear saurabh shukla's voice in the background saying, "ishq aur goli me koi farak nahi hota, dono seene me chhed karne ke liye chalte hain." I felt like clapping. At that very moment I knew I am not going to be disappointed. I was already expecting wonderful acting and fine direction, now I knew I was going to be treated with some brilliant dialogues. (as I have written this it got me thinking, was I expecting a haasil? May be.) if any of you have not seen haasil (watch it right away without fail) and don't know how much I admired that movie, you would not understand how big that expectation is to match.

Lets not drag and get back to YSZ. After the impactful first scene I have explained earlier, the movie goes into flashback, something you often see in master of the craft Martin Scorsese's movies. Next scene you see Irfan hanging onto the balcony of his apartment trying to call someone. Another brilliant scene which sets the tone of the film. Then starts the roller coaster ride called Yeh Saali Zindagi. The movie is about how you do not have any control over life (as the title song says) and it take it's own twists and turns irrespective of all your planning. It becomes even more complicated, when you are in love. Even more complicated when you are dealing with underworld, corrupt politicians and policemen. Adding to the complication is loads of black money stacked in some bank account overseas. Movie moves similar to what we have seen in the movies made by a guy named Guy (yes, that guy). :D

Leading the pack of very fine actors is Irfan Khan, very well supported by a brilliant cast the includes Shushant Singh, Chintrangada Singh, Yashpal Sharma, Prashant Narayanan, Sourabh Shukla, Arunoday Singh and Aditi Rao (she looks superb). Even the smallest of characters have been played by wonderful actors. Dialogues are the highlight of the movie, they are sharp, witty and to the point. Background score supports the flow of the movie and no songs are forced into the screenplay. Once I was out of the theater I did not remember exact details of many scenes and dialogs. That's because there were so many brilliant scenes and dialogs. Need the dvd. :)

In the end I would suggest it's a well made brilliant movie and will recommend it to all who do not have problem with using abusive words in their conversations or hearing them in others' conversations.