The Croods: In search of Tomorrow !

Breaking Barriers !

I have faced some flak for my Facebook posts questioning the gods and religions. I was in a little bit of dilemma about the 'hurting the sentiments' part of the story, though I had no doubts about my convictions. Then I watched "The Croods", a movie as endearing and funny as it is enlightening.

This Dreamworks 3D animation movie is all about a family of 'Cave Man' [Neanderthal Man] Grug and his family. Just because a lot of families were killed in different circumstances, the Dad puts enormous restrictions on the movements of this family and believes 'his rules' alone can save his family and he steadfastly holds on to his beliefs.

The Croods family consists of Grug, his wife Ugga, Eep the 'curious' daughter, Thunk, the dimwit son, Sandy, the always hungry little daughter and Gran, the mother-in-law with a funny bone.

Eep, his teenage daughter is curious and wants to see the world. But she is restrained by her family. 'Curiosity', the Dad says is what killed the bear and others. But the little creature is too restless and goes out to explore and meets an extremely exciting guy called Guy and thus the roller-coaster ride begins.

I wouldn't divulge any more details than this but would like to say, "This is one wonderful journey of discovery of the world beyond us and a world within us". Guy, who comes across as a more evolved species [Homo sepiens] and hence evokes dislike, hatred and disdain from the Croods. But how he manages to break the barriers and how Grug manages to see the light is what makes the 98 minutes of sheer beautiful journey worth.

The best part I liked about the movies is there are no gods, no religions and no blaming or praising the supernatural. Just a journey of learning for the primitive human. We all have traveled a lot of distance from the caves and the fears that plagued the cavemen. But during the journey, we created our own new set of rules and decided to live within the darkness of those rules. This movie should be seen as an eye opener to those who are worried about rules, the gods and religions and religious sentiments.

Kirk DeMicco and Chris Sanders have given us a simply beautiful movie with some pleasing animation and 3D visuals, though people should refrain from comparing the movie with 'Avatar'. In terms of content, "The Croods" is miles ahead though it doesn't match the technical brilliance of the mega-hit 'Avatar. The BGM is brilliant and so is the camera-work.

The action sequences, the hunting for the giant eggs and the earth-quake scenes are all brilliantly crafted. But more than any of the technical aspects, "The Croods" becomes a must watch for the absolutely marvelous journey of learning it presents.

This is all about the evolution of the human species in search of knowledge that is represented by the 'Light' they chase and which they call "Tomorrow". The journey doesn't end where the movies does, we are continuing that !

My Opinion: Brilliant and a Must Watch: **** Stars !

Kai Po Che [Brothers for Life]: Makes the 'Cut' !

I always believed "Dil Chahta Hai" was a Cult Classic and it gave us a new genre of movies about friendship and male bonding. Many movies have come since but only "3 Idiots" and "Zindagi Naa Milegi Dobaara" made it to the list of my all time favorites. Having Chetan Bhagat minus the "3 Idiots" controversy meant "Kai Po Che" was a must watch even before I had read reviews. It did prove a worthy successor to the illustrious movies mentioned.

"Kai Po Che" means "I have Cut" in Gujarati and that is a popular expression used during the iconic 'kite game' that is famous in the state and beyond. The movie deals with male bonding, ambition and lack of it, religious tensions and love with a precocious lead girl.

"Kai Po Che" tells the story of Ishaan Patel [Sushant Singh Rajput], Omi aka Omkar Shastri [Amit Sadh] and Govind [Rajkumar Yadav]. The story as we all know is based on Chetan Bhagat's "The 3 Mistakes of My Life" and the script is credited to Bhagat, Pubali Chaudhuri, Supratik Sen and Director Abhishek Kapoor of "Rock On" fame, another male bonding movie that will be remembered for long.

The 3 lead actors bring alive the friendship, affection, anger, anguish and then repentance alive through the 127 minutes of running time. Digvijay Deshmukh as the super talented six hitting "Ali" steals the show with an amazing performance. Amrita Puri as Vidya, Ishaan's sister and Govind's beau is cute and bold. She looks the teenager she is supposed to be when she is actually close to 30. Rest of the cast is absolutely perfect including Manav Kaul as the menacing Bittu Mama.

The movie chronicles the Gujarat earth quake and then the Godhra and Gujarat riots and how it affects the lives of the 3 protagonists with Cricket playing the fourth protagonist. Authentic chronicling of Cricket events and using Ishaan's passion to nurture Ali at any cost, the movie never allows for a moment of boredom.

Be it the earth quake or the riots, "Kai Po Che" doesn't become judgmental or go over the top like some movies like "Parzania" did. It just becomes part of the narrative and we are thankfully spared from any kind of preaching.  The climax is both feel good as well as touching with some kind of poetic justice meted out to both "Ali" and his mentor "Ishaan" !

Amit Trivedi's music and Anay Goswami's cinematography is top-notch. The lighting has been used to absolutely fantastic effect. Deepa Bhatia's editing is razor sharp, especially the Cricket scenes. The cover drive shown in the climax is an absolute delight and shows the hard work of the team to attain perfection.

My Opinion: Definitely a worthy successor to the iconic movies like "Dil Chahta Hai", "3 Idiots" and "ZNMD". Go for it if you already haven't !

Special 26 is Truly Special !

When a first time Director makes a movie like "A Wednesday", he will forever be burdened by the weight of expectations. His second movie will face the same fate as an Amitabh Bachchan's son or Sachin Tendulkar's son faces. Unless of course, he can better himself. Neeraj Pandey's "Special 26" released with similar background. Does it work ? Has Pandey bettered himself ? read on...

First of all what is NOT so Special about the movie...

01] Kajal Aggarwal: Not her fault. Catering to so called mass effects, her role is unnecessarily extended like a rubber-band. It actually pulls the movie down by a few notches.

02] Songs: Seriously whoever conceived songs in this kind of a movie needs a proper scolding. They act like bumps in the road during a thrilling ride.

03] Peter England: Not the fault of the Company. We just get a glimpse of a Peter England in a story happening in 1987. A minor flaw, but all the same a flaw.

04] Sunil Gavaskar: Well, what was he doing on TV, playing a Cricket match in Sharjah in late 1987 ? He had actually retired from Cricket on 17 March 1987, a day before the movie begins !

And now, what is Special about it ?

05] Neeraj Pandey: He has exceeded himself. A superb second film to follow up a first one. An extremely well researched movie with very few glitches.

06] Anupam Kher: Lost somewhere in the Indra Kumar - Ashok Thakeria kind of buffoonery, this giant of an actor of "Saaransh" fame is the highlight of the movie. In a role that demands him to be serious and scared while making us giggle, Kher is pure delight. So are the names of his count-less children.

07] Manoj Bajpai: One of the finest actors of this generation got his due mostly in Prakash Jha movies. Here, he is at his best as the honest and somewhat arrogant CBI Officer Wasim Khan. One of his better movies !

08] Akshay Kumar: His best role and movie in a long time. Period !

09] Jimmy Shergill: One more under-rated actor gets a fabulous role as Inspector Ranveer Singh and he has done complete justice.

10] 100 Rupees and honesty: Good to see 100 Rupee note getting respect. The thug returning the officer's honestly earned 100 rupees shows the values people had in that era. Even the kids don't have respect for either 100 rupees or honesty these days.

11] Divya Dutta: "Sirjee, Asli kaam toh yeh log karte hain". In spite of looking older, this lady entertains with her comic act.

12] Kajal Aggarwal: Her role was extended unnecessarily in not her fault. The young lady looks beautiful in 80s style costumes and emotes well.

13] CBI: Central Bank of India... How many people really know the real expansion ?

14] Black Money: Hiding money in the Pooja room, inside the bed and in car seats was fashionable those days. Amitabh Bachchan always managed to find it if he was playing Inspector and invariably managed to escape with it if he was the "Don" !

15] The Phone: The huge black phones with 4 or 5 digit numbers and the cord-less connection phones as large as the dumb bells are sheer nostalgia.

16] Hello: The old style phone tapping was in currency during this period and this has been shown to help crack the case. Zail Singh once blamed Rajiv Gandhi of tapping his phone. Ironically these two begin the proceedings in the movie.

17] Cars: Old cars, Ambassador, Maruti, Padmini, Fiat and not a single new generation car on the roads makes it look absolutely authentic. So is the Connaught Place of the yore. A lot of meticulous work has gone into this. Appreciated !

18] Humor: Extremely subtle. So subtle, most people would miss it if not attentive. A subordinate officer clad in Lord Shiva's getup [under cover], walks past a serious discussion between Bajpai and Shergill, casually greeting them with a "Good Morning, Sir". This is serious comedy !

19] English: "I want to do my Country". This is not the pretentious "Don't angry me" or "Child in the arm pit" stuff. This is real English spoken in India in 1987 and even today !

20] Chulloo Bhar Paani: I don't know how many times this dialogue has been used in Hindi cinema. But I bet it can't be bettered after Manoj Bajpai's Classic act in the climax. The actor turns even the trivial into a classic.

21] Minister: Ministers those days did fear the CBI even though it was post Indira Gandhi era. The guts shown by P. K. Sharma when he slaps the Minister defines the mood of the movie.

22] Dialogues: Neerak Pandey's dialogues are just point blank. The seriousness, humor and timing all are just perfect and are made worthy of a long stay in our minds by some extremely good actors.

23] Rajesh Sharma: as Jogindar, one of the 4 in the gang is life-like. He lives the role. We don't see any 'acting' !

24] Kishore Kadam: As Iqbal, the fourth in the gang is another competent actor.

25] Illustrated Weekly of India: Long dead papers and magazines like Dharmyug come to life adding to the nostalgic value. Old is truly Gold !

26] The heist: Finally, after such duds like "Thees Maar Khan", we get to see an extremely competent 'heist' movie in Indian cinema. A genuinely delightful climax adds to the brand-value !

My Opinion: An extremely well made movie with some forgivable glitches. Would have been much better without the songs and with lesser of Kajal Aggarwal. Yet, this one is Special and is a must watch !

Kadal : All at Sea !

Mani Ratnam's "Kadal" [Sea] is a long [2:44 hours] walk on a beautiful beach infested with the good, the bad and the ugly people. But unfortunately it never ventures into the deeper oceans of the mind and stays superficial till the end.

The story credited to Jeyamohan and Mani is about the triumph of good over evil. It takes the beaten and rocky path and lets both the youngsters [Gautham Karthik and Thulasi Nair] down. Only good thing is a strong come back by Aravind Swamy as Fr. Sam.

Arjun's role is extremely poorly written and the reason for his claims to be the Satan remains unsubstantiated. Why does he foster so much of hatred remains a mystery. But he still manages to pack power into his performance.

Gautham Karthik is intense, gawky and suits the role to the tee. Thulasi Nair is supposed to be an angelic figure. Somehow the charm is missing in spite of an earnest performance by the little girl.

As a generation, our taste in cinema was redefined by Mani Ratnam with movies like "Geethanjali", "Anjali", "Nayagan" "Thalapathi" and "Roja". The usual Mani ingredients like the shadow and lights play, the black and white backgrounds and the omnipresent rain grace "Kadal" too. But somehow, the soul is missing. Even "Ravan" had more soul than this movie.

For me, Mani playing safe is Mani having lost the confidence. Why should he resort to a theme any new-comer Director would have handled beats me. Was it to launch two star-kids ? But given their pedigree, they too deserved better.

With all this rant, I must add, the movie is technically brilliant with international quality camera-work and some breath-taking shots of the sea. But the content never ventures beyond the ankle deep waters. A. R. Rahaman's music is good but this must rank as his most ordinary score in a Mani Ratnam movie.

So here are the main reasons why was I disappointed by Mani Ratnam's "Kadal"

Logic in movies is not always a prerequisite of a commercial Cinema. But, Mani making such blatant mistakes like...

1] Not a shred of justification for the extremely hostile and wicked "Satan" nature of Bergmans [Arjun] !

2] Father Sam [Aravind Swamy] gets punished depending on just one woman's word. No investigation was done about those dressing materials, blood on the beach and the boat and other tell-tale evidences of the existence of Begrmans in the boat. No effort at all was made by the Church to find out the truth of a reputed Priest from a very rich family. No Church in the world would sit quiet ! Under which law was he imprisoned for 4 years ? This is a HUGE GAPING hole in the plot that can't be glossed over.

3] In spite of some magnificent shots of the 'Sea' and the Cyclone, Mani never tries to delve deeper into Psyche of either Father Sam or Bergmans at any point. Why ? Instead of wasting time on those boy taking the girl on boat scenes, he could have tried to enter a little deeper into these characters !

4] Thomas' [Gautham Karthik] affection or devotion for Chetti [Ponvannan] in spite of consistent rejection and humiliation is tough to understand. He harbors enormous grudge for everyone with no reason often but continues to adore the person he believes to be his 'Father' !

5] Telling us Beatrice is like a kid in her mind is one thing. But making her look convincing is other. Mani made "Geethanjali" [Girija Shettar] extremely ethereal yet convincing in "Geethanjali" / "Ithaythe Thirudaadai". Young Thulasi Nair suffers not because she is deficient but the characterization has let her down. Sad !

These are 5 of the many reasons I felt let down by "Kadal". I never felt the thrill of a ride into the "Sea". It was all shallow throughout but for technical brilliance !

Expectation is a beast that bites from both ends. Damned expectations; this would have been a damn good movie from any other Director. Overall, I was all at "Sea" and Disappointed with one more below par movie from an Icon we have venerated. But, Dear Mani Ratnam, I still believe in you and hope your next movie will take you back to where you belong; at the top !

Race-2 Oblivion !

At one point in Abbas-Mustan's Race-2, Aditya Panscholi says, "Shroud of Turin hasn't been stolen even in Hollywood movies and you people are planning on that". They aspire to out-do Hollywood. Do they succeed ? Read on...

A Race is all about numbers and count downs. The Race begins with a count down, but when it ends, it is the 1, 2, 3 that matters. After making an 'Iconic' first part almost half decade ago, Abbas-Mustan return with a sequel with some old and some new characters and same old style of "Style over Substance" kind of film-making !

So let us begin the count down in terms of performance from 10/10 downwards...

10] Shah Rukh Khan: Well, we all know he isn't there in this movie and is busy sobbing about his Muslim identity being a disadvantage in India. But, SRK gave Abbas - Mustan duo their best movie to date and I doubt if they can better "Baazigar" !

09] Saif Ali Khan: It is safe to say he carried the film on his shoulders like John Abraham carried Typhoon. He looks stylish, intense, intelligent and does an encore of Race-1.

08] Akshaye Khanna: Well again, his absence is felt. Tough to replace him and since he is the second on the list of missing people, he still figures high on my list.

07] Anil Kapoor: The wicked but good RD gets wickeder but not better. The actor is an icon when it comes to over the top comedy and tongue in cheek one-liners.

06] John Abraham: He is a handsome hulk and he and we all know that. No big deal. But in a role that deals with big deals, John at times tends to 'Ham'. The problem also is with us. Race-2 is NOT Dhoom-1 for John Abraham.

05] Amisha Patel: I thought Sameera Reddy couldn't be replaced for the stupidity she oozed in first part. As Cherry, Amisha manages to look and talk immensely stupid. But she is so fit and prim at 37, her curves distract us from her stupidity !

04] Deepika Padukone: She looks seductive, melancholic, happy and sad alternatively without much relevance to the going on in the movie. But her legs save her from becoming a total disaster. Tough for her considering she has to replace Bipasha Basu who gave her best performance in the prequel.

03] Aditya Panscholi: He looks more like a middle-aged failing businessman on a forced holiday with his bitch of a wife rather than the all powerful Don he is supposed to be. Miscast I must say.

02] Jacqueline Fernandez: If Amisha tries hard to look stupid, Jacqueline tries hard to look intelligent. Amisha succeeds but Jacqueline fails. Poorly written role; can't blame the young lady. How we miss Katrina Kaif !

01] Race-2: With expectations as high as we had, Race-2 fails to reach 10% of the thrills the prequel afforded in spite of the bigger money, bigger canvas and casinos.

00] Abbas-Mustan: Though it may sound harsh, this is disappointing from the duo who have thrived on thrillers. With all the budget and best of the star-cast at disposal, they forgot something; a good story with a tight plot and something new.

Too much of style and feminine Anatomy and very little substance and Chemistry between the lead actors lets Race-2 down. Diehard fans of Abbas-Mustan style of movie might enjoy this. But unless they bring in some new dimension to their movies, the duo might soon fade away. This might be the beginning of their "Race 2 Oblivion"

Second Hand Lions

This is a feel good movie about a kid, Walter who is left at a ranch by his mother to spend time with her great uncles, fraternal twins Garth and Hub.  Garth and Hub are eccentrics and their relatives believe they have huge amount of wealth stowed away somewhere in their ancient house.  Walter's mother Mae intends him to locate this place so that they can get away with the money, buy a house and settle down.

Walter is a lonely kid, who knows his mother is a liar and therefore does not believe her.  In fact he doesn't easily believe anyone as all he heard from his childhood is lies from his mother.  The eccentric grand uncles take a liking for Walter and Walter gets from Garth and Hub what he never got from his own mother, affection and a stable home.

The movie provides many light moments mainly due to the eccentric nature of the uncles such as shooting at salesman, ordering anything from a glider to a yacht or even a lion to keep on their ranch.  The performance of the trio, that is Walter (Haley Joe Osment), Garth (Michael Kane) and Hub (Robert Duvall) raises the movie to a different level altogether.  Definitely a must watch movie.   

Ek Tha Tiger

Bollywood does not make much movies on espionage, Agent Vinod and Ek Tha Tiger (ETT) are only 2 agent movies to come out of Bollywood in recent times.

Agent Tiger is a RAW agent who falls in love with a Pakistani ISI agent Zoya (Katrina) whom he meets during a mission.  Both of them decide to stick together even as ISI and RAW tries to capture them.   Girish Karnad plays the role of Shenoy, Tiger's Boss, and Ranvir Shorey is Gopi, Tiger's friend and colleague.

The movie is not a full blooded agent movie, but then we do not make such movies here, do we? ;).....One thought that kept me amused was about Jason Bourne, the amnesic agent from Bourne Series, poor Bourne, if only he had been an ISI or RAW agent, he would have surely been able to survive with his gal and live happily ever after as these two agencies are quite lenient (read fools/idiots/nincompoops - at least that is what ETT makes us believe)  towards absconding agents.

Overall it offers what an average Salman Khan fan would love to watch i.e. some comedy, good stunts, with scenes shot in Iraq, Istanbul and Cuba, and as the story moves at a fast pace, it is an interesting watch,  and a must watch if  you are a Salman Khan fan.