somaayabhawana

Producer : Viki RajaniDirector : Sabbir Khan

Music: Meet Bros

Stars: Tiger Shroff, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Niddhi Agerwal

 The film opens with a dance sequence inside a film studio. Long haired Michael/ Ronit Roy grooves to the music among the chorus dancers and post pack up waits to collect his paycheck. He is informed a bit curtly that he will not be required for the next day shoot because everything has an expiry date and he is now too old for show business.

 On his way home on a rainy night, Michael discovers a baby in the garbage and brings him home but does not know how to silence him when he cries for food so plays music and the baby starts smiling. Not surprising that he grows up to become Munna Michae/ Tiger Shroff who looks for a new place to dance every night and if anyone messes with his group Munna is ready to punch him blue.

 Munna has a dream to become a professional dancer like his father but Ronit Roy wants him to take up a corporate job. In the meantime a Delhi mafia Mahinder Fauji/ Nawazuddin Siddiqui Munna meets accidentally wants to hire him as his dance guru and a small town aspirant Dolly/ Nidhi Agarwal wants Munna around her as her good luck charm.

 There are some films you watch for emotional content and characters, some for a feel good of location/ action/ music and choreography. Munaa Michael falls in the second category that combines action/ emotion/ drama with a lot of song and serious dance.

 The first half is racy and engaging and Tiger Shroff has you gripped to his grooves. The surprise packet is a hilarious Nawazuddin Siddiqui cast as the underworld with a passion for dance. The problem is the second half where everything becomes predictable and debutante Niddhi Agarwal is so dead pan that we need subtitles to explain her expressions.

 In a career spanning just three years this is the third collaboration of actorTiger Shroff and director Sabbir Khans, first action/Heropanti, second emotion/ Baaghi and now Munna Michael/ a film about dance.

 All of us understand that there is a deep connect between action and choreography because both call for rhythm and synchronization and Munna Michael establishes that an actor who can groove like Jackson can do serious action as expertly and gracefully. There are three reasons to watch Munna Michael. To applaud Tiger Shroff as a dancer, as an action hero and to encourage Nawazuddin Siddiqui match steps with Tiger Shroff.

I rate Munaa Michael with 3 stars.

Producer : Viki RajaniDirector : Sabbir Khan

Music: Meet Bros

Stars: Tiger Shroff, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Niddhi Agerwal

 The film opens with a dance sequence inside a film studio. Long haired Michael/ Ronit Roy grooves to the music among the chorus dancers and post pack up waits to collect his paycheck. He is informed a bit curtly that he will not be required for the next day shoot because everything has an expiry date and he is now too old for show business.

 On his way home on a rainy night, Michael discovers a baby in the garbage and brings him home but does not know how to silence him when he cries for food so plays music and the baby starts smiling. Not surprising that he grows up to become Munna Michae/ Tiger Shroff who looks for a new place to dance every night and if anyone messes with his group Munna is ready to punch him blue.

 Munna has a dream to become a professional dancer like his father but Ronit Roy wants him to take up a corporate job. In the meantime a Delhi mafia Mahinder Fauji/ Nawazuddin Siddiqui Munna meets accidentally wants to hire him as his dance guru and a small town aspirant Dolly/ Nidhi Agarwal wants Munna around her as her good luck charm.

 There are some films you watch for emotional content and characters, some for a feel good of location/ action/ music and choreography. Munaa Michael falls in the second category that combines action/ emotion/ drama with a lot of song and serious dance.

 The first half is racy and engaging and Tiger Shroff has you gripped to his grooves. The surprise packet is a hilarious Nawazuddin Siddiqui cast as the underworld with a passion for dance. The problem is the second half where everything becomes predictable and debutante Niddhi Agarwal is so dead pan that we need subtitles to explain her expressions.

 In a career spanning just three years this is the third collaboration of actorTiger Shroff and director Sabbir Khans, first action/Heropanti, second emotion/ Baaghi and now Munna Michael/ a film about dance.

 All of us understand that there is a deep connect between action and choreography because both call for rhythm and synchronization and Munna Michael establishes that an actor who can groove like Jackson can do serious action as expertly and gracefully. There are three reasons to watch Munna Michael. To applaud Tiger Shroff as a dancer, as an action hero and to encourage Nawazuddin Siddiqui match steps with Tiger Shroff.

I rate Munaa Michael with 3 stars.

A decade later, Hrishikesh Mukherjee had Raakhee just stroll the forest and sing to no one in particular ‘Sawan ke Jhoole…’ in Jurmana. Most of the time, rain was a metaphor or a muse to express longing for  a beloved as a result Hema Malini a dancer in Abhinetri  does her work singing ‘O ghata sawari…’ yearning for Shashi Kapoor while Rajesh Khanna -Zeenat Aman are in a playful mood during ‘Bheegi bheegi raaton mein…’ in Ajnabee.

Very often the rain sequence was a transforming moment for the character or the story. Remember how Amitabh Bachchan walks Raakhee home under an umbrella in Kaala Pathar and they become soulmates? Remember a young Anuradha Patel driving older Naseerudin Shah in a tizzy singing ‘Mera kuch samaan tumhare paaas…’ in Gulzar’s Ijaazat? Remember an anguished Vinod Khanna singing ‘Lagee aaj sawan ki phir wo jhadi hai…’ in Chandni as Sridevi in present and Juhi Chawla in the past dance in the rain?

My favorite song for today is Sawan ke jhoole pade…

My favorite scene: Kajol watching Shah Rukh Khan on television in My Name is Khan.

For more on the #Monsoon Magic tune in @927BigFm Monday- Thursday all week.

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If ‘Pyar hua iqrar hua…’ with Nargis and Raj Kapoor shot under a wind blown umbrella in Shri 420 is the anthem for monsoon songs in Hindi films, Aamir Khan and Gracy Singh dancing to ‘Kaale megha kale megha…’ in Lagaan is a song of hope and ‘Badal yun garajta hai ..’ in Betaab a song of reunion where childhood friends Amrita Singh and Sunny Deol meet after a long separation.

The poets always had a new expression for rain songs depending on the context of the scene and the character. The filmmaker combined with the choreographer always made sure that these moments were magical on the big screen. So if the Black & White cinema Bimal Roy just made Sadhna stand in the balcony, look at the desolate skyline and sing ‘O sajna barkha…’ waiting for Dev Anand in Parakh Shakti Samanta had the youth excited with ‘Roop tera mastana…’in Aaradhna.

 My favorite song for today is O sajna barkha bahar aayin…

My favorite scene: Kajol watching Shah Rukh Khan on television in My Name is Khan.

For more on the #Monsoon Magic tune in @927BigFm Monday- Thursday all week.

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Romance in Hindi films is synonymous with rain sequences. Much before the item numbers dawned into our entertainment business, rain songs were the only ticket to erotica in Hindi movies. Not all of them were explicitly sensual but they reflected a longing, an admission of desire and therefore all these songs were memorable. We remember some of these numbers for the extraordinary lyrics and the melody and some for the song situations and choreography.

How can we forget the spirited Aishwarya Rai dancing to ‘barso re megha…’ in Guru,  Kareena Kapoor drenched in the shower seducing a shy Rahul Bose in Chameli and before that a cheerful Madhoo jumping in the paddy fields singing ‘Dil hai chotasa…’ in Roja..?

My favourite song for today is Barso re megha barso…

My favourite scene: The flood scene in the climax in Satyam Shivam Sundaram.

For more on the #Monsoon Magic tune in @927BigFm Monday- Thursday all week.

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Film: Jagga Jasoos

Date:   14 July 2017

Writer/ Director: Anurag Basu

Music: Pritam

Stars:  Ranbir Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Saswata Chatterjee

Ratings: 2 stars

I have often wondered why a film that has been in the making for too long somehow never appeals to the audience. Does the film get delayed because the people making it lose interest or does the delay become the cause of the loss of interest among those involved? It is a mystery I have never been able to resolve. One thing is certain however the audience always senses the vibration of a film they somehow always know instinctively what’s going to work for them and what’s not.

Jagga Jasoos is the story of a lovable orphan raised in a hospital, until one day he finds a Godfather/ Bagchi who brings him home and fills his life with care.  The paradise is short lived because Bagchi/ Saswat Chatterjee has a secret mission to fulfil and admits Jagga into a boarding school promising to fetch him soon but never comes back. Months roll into years and now Jagga is a big boy/Ranbir Kapoor who has a nose for mystery and his friends call him Jagga detective.

At the onset, it has to be said that Jagga Jasoos is not a regular film. It is scripted like a play and shot like an opera where characters break into a jig and song every time they need to express themselves. Initially, it is all very attractive and we are drawn into the meadows and the melody, the yellow fields, the singing birds, the grazing animals and the mesmerising nature but after a while, the one-dimensional characters and the monotony of the treatment become a tedious watch.

When Jagga does not receive his annual courier from his father he sets on a distant journey to find him and accompanying him is his new friend, accident prone journalist Shruti Sengupta/ Katrina Kaif. The second half of the film travels to exotic locations and combines action an adventure but we are not entertained because the narrative is dull and far from engaging.

As Ranbir’s father Saswat Chatterjee delivers a convincing performance but the normally dependable Saurabh Shukla has no scope to shine. Katrina Kaif looks visibly disinterested and Ranbir Kapoor mysteriously lacks the zing! Just a few years ago director Anurag Basu and Ranbir Kapoor together gave us Barfee that we have yet to recover from. Now they bring us Jagga Jasoos after a three-hour watch I have yet to recover from!!

Watch Jagga Jasoos only if you are a Katrina- Ranbir fan so that you can resolve the mystery what went wrong and why. I failed and therefore rate Jagga Jasoos with 2 stars.