AURANGZEB(2013)

There have been many Hindi Films before Aurangzeb that dealt with the issue of two lookalikes living different lives until fate makes them cross each other’s path resulting in some serious drama. The parallels with films like Don(starring Amitabh Bachchan) was unavoidable. People and critics alike have gone on to the length of drawing parallels with films like Trishul exploiting a tarnished father son relationship and even Donnie Brasco which in turns dealt with a cop sent as a mole into a crime rig. However I would like to start off by saying that Aurangzeb, even though starts off in the same footing but by the time it reaches its finale turns out to be poles apart from all of the films mentioned herewith.

Ajay and Vishal(Arjun Kapoor) are heir to Yashvardhan(Jackie Shroff) who is introduced as the biggest gangster of the area where the film is set. Their mother(Tanvi Azmi) disapproves of his wrong doings defecting away with with his son Vishal leaving Ajay with his father. Yashvardhan is under the impression that his wife and kid are dead as a result of a police encounter which never happened in reality. The concerned officer reveals the story to his son ACP Arya(Prithviraj Sukumaran) before his death and Arya reaches their doorstep to fulfill his last wish.

He is shocked to find Ajay’s lookalike Vishal and quickly brings in his uncle Ravikant(Rishi Kapoor) to their house. The duo are able to convince the mother and son into making Vishal pose as a mole and replace Ajay at the Yashvardhan house and get in some substantial evidence against Yashvardhan with which to implicate him. Everything goes according to plan and Vishal replaces Ajay. Vishal starts his works but soon the ties of blood start making his job difficult and its only a matter of time before the whole plan turns into a fiasco with everyone loosing what they crave for the most.

Aurangzeb is extremely gripping. For its rather long runtime of about 2 hours 20 minutes, I couldn’t think of a single moment that was blunt and lacked a panache. The screenplay is wonderfully laid out with both the halves having enough meat to keep the audience interested. while the first half is all about setting up the pawn, the second half dwells with the reasons why the pawn was set. The reasons which are revealed in the second half outweigh the ones set  in the first half and works as the biggest surprise element of the film. The sudden change of balance between good and evil and the shocking revelations about the actual cause for bringing down Yashvardhan will pleasantly surprise many.

The story and concept is novel and the way the proceedings unfold has a firm grip on the audience. The screenplay has minimalistic background score and action elements but when they do happen, they leave an impact. The action almost always happens as a  result of upsurge of heightened emotions and situations rendering it both believable and desirable.  The cinematography is ravishing and each frame is a picture of beauty. The characters are evenly poised during the prolonged dialogs giving us an in depth look into their facial expressions and most importantly their eyes making their feelings abundantly clear.The music by Amartya Rahut and Vipin Mishra is both soothing and enchanting. The Tracks “Aurangzeb” and “Barbadi” truly standout. They add a touch of melancholy to the scenes where they appear giving the audience a feel of the psych of the characters involved.

That brings me to the performence which I must say leave nothing to be desired. Arjun Kapoor excels in both the roles with Vishal leaving a predominant mark while Ajay play the screen stealer. Arjun renders the two characters life like and apart from just a few scenes where he goes a tad over board, Arjun essays his part with the marksmanship of an Olympic archer.

Rishi Kapoor is the biggest asset of the film. Yes!! it might sound strange to many, but his multi-layered character takes the film to a whole new dimension. It wont be wrong to say that he is the biggest surprise of the whole package and makes up the difference that takes Aurangzeb miles ahead of many in its category. After a debacle of a launch in Aiyya, Prithviraj finds his mark in Aurangzeb. He is a picture of confidence and his scene towards the end with Rishi Kapoor will leave many spell-bounded. He is the perfect Indian male and that shows in his mannerism. Notice his transformation throughout the length of the film evenly segmented but mattering in every situation.

Sikander Kher in a cameo makes a mark. Lookout for him in the Climax. Jackie Shroff does complete justice to his role and is able to keep his histrionics at a check. Amrita Singh is pitch perfect in her rendering of a sinister money-grubbing vamp. Sasha Agha is the oomph factor in the film and she doesn’t disappoint. She shares some of the most convincing lip-locks ever to have graced the Indian screen. And wonder of wonders , she emotes well in the scenes which need her to do so.

Overall, Aurangzeb is extremely entertaining and gripping. For the lovers of cinema, it will score big time. Its for anyone who is willing to look beyond the crap that is dished out to us in the name of crowd-pleasers and masala-fare and what not….. !!! Watch Aurangzeb for sure. It will amuse you in more ways than you could have imagined.

MAMA(2013)

Mama will rate as the year’s creepiest and best horror film that I have seen. Horror as a genre seems to have lost its shine completely over the years with below par movie spoiling the genre respectability and appeal to a great extent. What mam really does well for us is that, it introduces us to some new and interesting ways to spook us out as viewers. These sequences are dealt with wonderfully raising the film from its understandable lacking to a more respectable and engrossing affair. The audience is used to having ghosts scare the Jesus out of people, especially the kids. But here we have a couple of kids who are attached to a ghost and love her in her crudest possible form.

The story starts with a father making way with his two daughters and speeding away until he is brought back to his senses with a sudden decline into a gorge. The father makes his way to a cabin where he contemplates suicide after killing his two daughters but as luck would have it, the cabin is the home an ancient soul which would not let him do what he desires. Jeffrey as we come to know him as is killed but his two daughters survive in the cabin and remain their for the next 5 years until the persistent efforts of their uncle Lucas leads to their discovery. The daughters all this while were however looked upon by the spirit itself and they know her only as Mama. Once Lucas is able to win the custody of the two daughters and settles with them in a home made for medical analysis and research, strange things begin to happen.  Its only a matter of time before Lucas is attacked and he ends up in a coma making Anabel, his girlfriend the only caretaker for the girls. As the plot thickens, a reluctant Anabel turns into a desperate protector for the girls.

Like I said at the onset, there are some sequences in the film which are sure to catch you off-guard. The uncanny bond that Lily(Isabelle Nélisse), the younger of the two girls share with Mama is both shocking and bizarre. As Victoria(Megan Charpentier), the elder sister, starts developing apprehensions about Mama and stays away more and more from her frequent visits, Lily starts getting agitated and her expressions are a treat to watch. With Victoria finding her way of life back, she tries a crack at a normal existence but is haplessly bound to Mama for the years that they spent together. Her sisters attachment to Mama further makes the matter complicated for her. Her only solace is her uncle Lucas(Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), who being her father’s twin brother has an uncanny resemblance to her father. This becomes reason enough for Victoria to strike a chord with him instantly.

Mama herself has a horrendous past which she reveals first to Victoria and then in a smashing first person perspective dream to Annabel(Jessica Chastain). He past and her long lost child provides her reasons to feel attached to the kids that she looked after for five years. Now when the same kids are rescued by their parents, Her motherhood feels threatened by this sudden intrusion. In desperation the spirit takes it’s toll on the hapless family.

The setting of the film is wonderful and in keeping with the aesthetics. The special effects are gorgeous. The final sequence involving the family and Mama is exquisitely filmed. It has the right balance of beauty and shock value attached to it. Jessica Chastain after her heroic Maya in Zero Dark Thirty takes a sharp turn to essay an almost helpless semi-mother who doesn’t have a clue on what to do next to save her children.  Megan Charpentier and Isabelle Nélisse essay Victoria and Lily with aplomb. they render the characters life like. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau has shortish role but does his bit with conviction.

Overall, Mama is a worthy watch if you like the horror genre. Its the best bet that you have at a Horror film this year. At least for the while.

STAR TREK: INTO DARKNESS(2013) [3D]

Carrying on from where the Star Trek left off, Star Trek: Into Darkness lands you smack in the middle of action. The captain and crew of the USS Enterprise are busty saving a class M planet. The idea is to freeze off an erupting volcano. Spock(Zachary Quinto) volunteers into the volcano to strike off the device but lands up in a tight spot with him trapped inside the volcano. Kirk(Chris Pine) has to take a call on whether to follow standard procedure or save his friend and we know exactly what he does. Coming back, Spock files a report which gets Kirk fired from his captain’s post. It is during this time that a member of the Star-fleet declares a one-man war on the organization. He decimates the Star-Fleet archive and then goes on to attack their leadership before taking refuge in a distant war zone planet known as Cronos. Cronos is the home to the Klingons who are a mortal enemy of the Star-Fleet. With the captain of USS Enterprise , captain Pike(Bruce Greenwood) gunned down at the leadership counsel, Kirk assumes command of the USS Enterprise yet again and on the orders of Admiral Marcus travels to the war-zone planet Cronos to terminate their enemy. What happens next forms the story of this movie.

Star Trek Into Darkness unlike its predecessor has a complex storyline with multiple plots developing. It would be unwise to give up the plots here which would then spoil the fun for any viewer who might be planning to catch up this movie in the near future. So I will keep the storytelling to a bare minimum. The first film worked primarily because of the high dose of human emotions involved in the narrative which made the gizmos work in tandem with the human conflicts and rushes. The audience will be able to trace the same feelings with heightened contours in the latest installments. the relationship between Spock and Kirk is developed further as the two now run into conflicts much bigger than any they had come across. The introduction of Khan(Benedict Cumberbatch) sets alight the proceedings. his calculated assault on the Federation which no one is able to for-see or stop for that matter makes him appear larger than life which works wonderfully well for the film.

The last film boasted of an electric Eric Bana as Nero but here we have Benedict Cumberbatch who is much more poised, calm and ruthless. His superhuman abilities sets the onus even further on our heroes. The story takes a sharp turn with the capture of Khan by The Enterprise crew but then that just proves to be another pit stop before another adversary is revealed who has been hatching a sinister plots of his own. Having said that the Enterprise crew also has a new team member who might be their only insight into the plot that is afoot. The principal cast member of the Enterprise however remain the same from the previous film. Scotty(Simon Pegg) has a more important role this time while Uhura(Zoe Saldana) has been reduced to a mere prop.

The action is effective with some outstanding set pieces. The soundtrack by Michael Giacchino is terrific and effectively matches the visuals. Check out the initial sequences where in the crew of the Enterprise are rescuing a troubled planet with the Enterprise parked under the ocean. The scene where the ship resurfaces with the inhabitants watching in awe and the background score pounding on your heart, you are sure to experience a rush which will give you goosebumps. The climax too gives some startling wow moments. The finale between Spock and Khan is terrifyingly real.

According to sources in imbd.com, Paramount Pictures requested director J.J. Abrams to make the film in 3D. However, Abrams wanted to shoot the movie two dimensionally on film using IMAX cameras. The two compromised, and as a result this film marks the first time in cinema history that a movie was filmed in the IMAX format and then converted into 3D in post production. clearly this shows in the 3D of the film which I might add is leass than imaginative. I felt that watching this film in 2D would have the same effect as it had with 3D. The 3D doesn’t add anything to the movie.

Cris Pine as Kirk and Zachary Quinto as Spock are top notch as the two principal protagonists. Here Spock has a stellar role than what he had in the first installment. Having said that the screen stealer would still be Benedict Cumberbatch’s Khan. Cuberbatch looks super-cool every time he appears on screen. He is in such control of the proceedings that neither the Enterprise crew has any idea how to stop him from wrecking havoc and neither do the audience have any clue as to how to stop him from stealing their hearts. he looks apt in the action sequences and emotes well enough to get his point across.

Star Trek Into Darkness proves to be a perfect summer blockbuster boasting of a sensible script, sparkling performances, breathtaking action and great visuals. It would be blasphemous to miss this one. It is what the first installment was and a lot more. The story moves ahead with the second installment setting up for a rousing finale which is due in 2015.

GO GOA GONE(2013)

Let me start by saying that I had the least expectation from this film to work out. But the constant surge of positive reviews flowing in made me think otherwise. So I finally decided to check it out once even if it was just for the sake of writing a review. Zombies have been a part of Hollywood for as long as we can think of. However Zombie-Comedy(Zom-Com) is a new upsurge with one movie standing out as a defining beacon. Shaun Of the Dead by Edgar Wright starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost clearly defined the standards for a Zom-Com. There were some more to follow it up, but Shaun of the Dead has stood its ground through the sands of time. What made me apprehensive about Go Goa Gone was the fact that Zombies never had a niche in the Indian(Bollywood) sensibility. That’s one concept which has its roots in the west and their it remains. So I was of the opinion that we would end up making another cheap and unworthy rip off. As it is clearly explained in one of the sequences, we Indians are used to Ghosts, Spirits and Black Magic but Zombies are a totally new concept for us.

This is where Go Goa Gone scores. it is a new concept for the Indian masses and the director duo of  Krishna D.K.,  Raj Nidimoru bring enough on the plate to make it work. They had to provide a reason for the outbreak which is done half way through subscequently letting the action, visuals and comedy take over. The reason was a crucial factor as it would contribute to the believability of the film. The reasons sited are enough to do that. Once the basic premise is set, the comedy, the many chases and the action takes center stage.

Luv(Vir Das) and Hardik(Kunal Khemu) are best of buddies. After Luv has a breakup, the friends decide to let it off at Goa. They employ the help of their third friend Bunny(Anand Tiwari) to reach the destination. Once in Goa, Luv quickly makes friends with Luna(Pooja Gupta) who invites him over to a rave party on a secluded island. The party is organized by a Russian Mafia boss known as Boris(Saif Ali Khan). However a mysterious drug supplied to the customers quickly turns them into blood sucking, brain dead zombies. From there on its all run run run….runnnn for your lives.

The movie starts off briskly with the whirlwind comedy making you laugh out of your seats. some of the one liners are bound to make you roll over with laughter. The interactions between Kunal and Vir are a laugh riot. Watch out for the sequences where Vir undergoes a transformation and then transforms back. With their arrival in Goa, the comedy still continues. The manner in which Luv goes after Luna is hilarious to watch. With the arrival of Saif Ali Khan, the nature of the comedy changes but it still remains effective.

Its only towards the end of the second half that the proceedings starts getting a tad bit tedious. But the action quickly comes to its rescue. I felt that the movie runs a bit low on the action and gore content which is an absolute necessity for a movie of this nature. Saif Ali Khan’s character is under done. He should have been given a meatier role with some more heroism attached to his character. But unfortunately he is used just as a prop.

The performances are top notch. Vir Das, Kunal Khemu and Anand Tiwari are superb. Kunal Khemu truly makes you giggle with every antic that he is apart off. watch out for his interrogation by Saif Ali Khan to check whether he is infected or not? The sequence where he has a heart to heart talk with Luna is another funny sequence. Vir Das is restrained but proves to be the ideal foil for Kunal Khemu. Anand Tiwari is plain out funny, effortlessly!!!. Saif in a cameo blows up a lot of zombies and looks tough but that’s about it. Pooja Gupta is passable.

The music and the special effects are good enough. the special effects make the creatures feel believable and that contributes to the overall success of the narrative. Even though there are no songs involved but the ones humming in the background are neither jarring nor boring. The track playing at the rave party grabbed my attention the most. the cinematography is good but could have been done better considering the tropical paradise that Goa is.

Overall, Go Goa Gone is a wonderful first attempt at a Zom-Com. It can be enjoyed at varied levels. It works both as an action flick, a comic relief and a snazzy entertainer. watch it. You wont regret it!!!….

DARK SKIES(2013)

Coming from the makers of Insidious and Sinister(both of which had a lot to offer in terms of material and spook), Dark Skies is a refreshing take on the whole concept alien abductions. What works wonderfully  well for the film is the utter lack of any jump out of your seat spook moments and an almost total absence of any creature violence. It is one of those movies which gets to you primarily because of its effective drama and not so much because of its cheap thrills. The film starts off nice and slow and keeps growing on you. You see an almost dysfunctional Barret family which is almost on the brink of falling apart. For the initial half an hour or so our concern is the Barret family and not so much their happenings in their house. But soon Things start getting out of control. Bizarre happening in the house and under inexplicable circumstances leads to some serious questions being raised.

While Mr. Barret is hell bent on discovering the reasons behind the strange happenings, Mrs Barret feels an alien hand in the menace. With the situation getting worse and kids of the family being branded and hurt repeatedly, the parents are forced to take the counsel of a man named Edwin Pollard(J.K. Simmons) who effectively explains the grave dangers that the Barret family is in. Now with the newly found knowledge about the extreme danger lurking around every corner, the Barret family has just one hope of surviving this grave danger. which comes in the shape of their own solidarity as a family.

Like a champion horror film, Dark Skies grabs your attention from the very first scene and is able to latch on to you for the remainder of its runtime. The characters are very real and their fears justified properly. they react to the situations in a way we would and thats exactly what gets us thick in the middle of the action. Their are spook moments aplenty but they are not the cheap thrills that we have come to expect from the horror movies. The thrills are very real and effective and they are almost every time a result of emotional upsurges which makes it even more viable.

The performence by the ensemble cast is wonderful. the four major characters do complete justice to their roles and contribute to making the screenplay work big time. Josh Hamilton as the father starts off as confused and disillusioned by a sudden cut off and his inability to find himself a job. But as he lands up with a job and its time to celebrate, his world starts crumbling right in-front of his eyes. Hamilton thoughtfully and effectively portrays the disgust and angst of a father who is trying to hold hid family together but isn’t being able to do so.  Keri Russell as the mother is effective and she matches Josh scene for scene. the two child artists Dakota Goyo and Kadan Rockett  are the heart and soul of the film. had it not been for their honest performence, Dark Skies would have been a much lesser achievement. J.K. Simmons in a brief appearance is effective.

The setting and the background score along with the superb cinematography compounds the effects of a well done story. The editing is edgy and yet somehow manages to offer enough to keep you contended. Dark Skies borders on the line between Science fiction and Horror. while primarily it may sighted as Sci-Fi but when human lives are threatened, the matter does become horrific so it may be called a horror film too in that regard. It is in a way one of the two good horror films to have come out this year, the other being Mama. Watch this one for the great content and even better execution.

SHREE(2013)

Rajesh Bachchani delivers a knockout punch on the face of Indian science fiction films as he muddles up time travel and teleportation into a murky slime of a story with practically no machinery involved. Add to that an insipid cast of actors who seem least interested with the proceedings on screen and you have yourself what they call as “Shree”.

The story revolves around Shree (Hussain), a hardworking fellow who has been working with a telecommunication company for a paltry salary. His luck however undergoes a sea change as his boss at the company invites him over to spend 12 hours with them for a payment of Rs 20 Lakhs. Hussain grabs the deal after the initial apprehension but soon realizes that he might have just made the biggest mistake of his life. He finds himself held guilty of multiple murders and on the run with practically no memory of what he had done until he meets up with his own self, 2 days in future time. What follows is a caricature of a script which is at best laughable.

The movie starts off briskly but as soon as we have the scientist explaining us his ridiculous theory of Time Fissure with every bit of the details seeming totally devoid of any senses, the story goes haywire. The director hopeless tries to stitch together elements of time travel and teleportation with devastating results. Just think about the possibility of a person jumping off a building and getting teleported to an alternate time in the future with absolutely no use of any machinery or gadgets. Its not that the Indian audience has any problem at being pissed on but the least that we expect is the piss to be at least called upon as rain.

Rajesh Bachchani doesn’t even bother to call the giant shit he takes on us, hailstorm. That’s my biggest complain with this film. Why do people take us viewers to be so nonsensical and inane. This was one movie which could have been thought out properly and made into a worthwhile experience but the director’s lackluster attitude towards the craft and logic as a whole ensures that Shree goes down in history as one of the hardest kicks in the nut for the Science Fiction genre.

Stay away from this one if you want your faith in Science Fiction to remain intact. I wonder what the likes of HG WELLS, ARTHUR C CLARK and ISSAC ASIMOV might make out of “Shree”.

STAR TREK(2009)

 

With the new Star Trek movie just round the corner and having already booked tickets for a Sunday show, I felt obliged to finally watch the 2009 version of JJ Abrams interpretation of the long running and popular Star Trek universe. I was mighty pleased by Abrams work in Mission impossible 3. While many considered it as a stark departure from the MI franchise, I felt for the first time an MI movie felt real and worked on emotional levels. The masterstroke of making the extremely talented Philip Seymour Hoffman play the almost inhuman baddie may not have worked with the MI purists but I loved every bit of it. He followed it up with the Star Trek which I must confess I hadn’t seen till today and after sitting through it in this rather wet and somewhat chilly evening, I cant imagine why. I might not have seen it for it not been for the sequel which is about to hit the theaters tomorrow and now I feel that would have been very very wrong.

Star Trek traces the genesis of James Tiberius Kirk(Chris Pine) and Spock(Zachary Quinto). Kirk’s father remains the captain of the USS Kelvin for 15 minutes as it is attacked by a Romulan ship and its vengenceful captain Nero(Eric Bana). He is able to save 800 lives in the face of certain death. These lives include that of Kirk and his mother. Many years later, Kirk is called upon by a captain Pike(Bruce Greenwood) to enlist for the star-fleet. Kirk reluctantly agrees and within the next three years finds himself battling the dame Romulan ship that wrecked havoc in his life. Spock, on the other goes through a considerable amount of wear and tear emotionally. He rejects admission into the Vulcan Science academy and enlists for the Star-fleet where he meets Kirk and the two start hostilities almost immediately. The Romulan Nero has a personal vendetta against Spock and has been time traveling to give Spock what he believes he meted out to the Romulan planet. What happens when these three forces of nature comes up against each other forms the story of Star Trek.

Now, with the sequel ready to hit the theaters and another installment due in 2015, its only safe to say that Abrams envisioned this as the first of the three films and spends a considerable amount of time in character and plot development. The genesis of Spock and Kirk are traced well enough. The film also shows us the beginning of their unlikely friendship and how it all came about. What Abrams does best is to make Star Trek work as a standalone film. I had never seen another star trek film before and I for not even a moment, felt confused or overwhelmed. Instead my marvels and sense of awe at some of the visual splendors was painted further by the lucid and easy to fathom narrative. The story is effective and would easily extract emotional responses which was a prime necessity to make the sparkling visuals work.

The Romulan Ship

That brings us to the action. Oh! the action looks so so good. There is a tendency among the movie based on space odysseys to end up with action which look less than real even with the best of graphics. That could primarily be because of the content and treatment but that is certainly not the case her. The sequences on board the Romulan, the destruction of the Vulcan planet, the Fight atop the Romulan drill are just some of the immaculately filmed set pieces which are alone worth the price of admission. What works best for the action sequences are the physicality of the actors involved. The actors seem to be in the thick of things and are actually able to emote even under fire which goes on a long way to make the sequences work to their advantage.

The performances are top notch. Pine and Quinto share the bulk of the screen space between them and they don’t let us down. Quinto’s interpretation of the character of Spock is spot on with the right mix of emotions and expression keeping him on the razor sharp line between a  Vulcan and a human. Pine is let loose like a cannon not caring for a thing in the world until he finds his destiny and craving. However my favorite performer would still be Eric Bana. He

The USS Enterprise

looks menacing as the Nero and his tight jawed dialog delivery with a highly changed get up just add to the mannerism reminiscent of a evil adversary. He literally brings in the gusto to the movie. Without his antagonist, the film would be much lesser. The film is complete with a meeting between the old and the young Spock at the end.

Boasting of a pulsating background score, wonderful visuals and more than Ok acting, Star Trek impressed me to a great extent. It really doesn’t leave much to be desired. it is everything that we can ask from a summer Blockbuster. Now that I have seen it, the stakes are much more higher going into the sequel. I just hope it surpasses my expectations and makes me crave for more.