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Movie Review – Street Dancer 3 – Day 1734

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Film: Street Dancer 3

Release: 24.01.2020

Director: Remo D’Souza

Cast: Varun Dhawan, Shraddha Kapoor, Prabhu Deva, Nora Fatehi 

In 2013 director Remo D’Souza made ABCD  that told the story of  Vishnu/ Prabhu Deva who mentors and trains street dancers to win a competition. Made on a modest budget ABCD earned100 crore at the box-office only because it managed to touch so many hearts.

In 2015 Remo D’Souza made ABCD2 featuring Varun Dhawan and Shradha Kapoor who combined force to win a dance competition in Las Vegas. Made on a budget of more than 150 crore ABCD 2 though successful at the box-office failed to connect an emotional with the audience the way ABCD did. 

And now five years later, Remo D’Souza brings the same pair to tell yet another story of dance called Street Dancer 3D. This time the scale is even bigger as a result all the characters reside in sprawling mansions and do nothing for a living except of course dance! So all we get to watch in the 2.5 hour film is laboured gymnastics, done to death dance rehearsals and irrelevant discussions/ debates on dance. 

All the dance movements, expressions are mechanical and without any emotional connect and nothing about the choreography is remotely appealing with the sole exception of Prabhu Deva’s ‘Muqabla’ and climax number ‘Mile sur jo mera tumhara’. The problem is that the film wants to combine too many messages – team spirit, patriotism and the issue of illegalimmigrants. The demerits are too many because everything is unconvincing, exaggerated, unrealistic and over the top.

Some sequences are blatantly plagiarized like Varuun Dhawan’s outburst with Shradha’s father in the climax is a takeoff from Shah Rukh Khan’s conversation with Amrish Puri in DDLJ.Some lyrics offensive/ ‘Garmi’, some camera angles appalling and some dialogues bizarre like Prabhu Deva lecturing on physics/ history/ geography and Moral Science! Street Dancer 3D is devoid of any surprises/emotion or entertainment and I would warn you to watch the film at your own risk. 

I rate Street Dancer 3D with 2 stars.

Bhawana Somaaya

24 January, 2020
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Junoon Salons – Day 1733

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23.01.2020

The aim of #Junoon Salons is to reach out to business and cultural leaders and to connect to the world of the performing arts.  Come Tuesday 4 February 2020 #G5A will showcase #Adishakti’s Bali, a retelling of the various events that led up to the battle between Bali, ruler of Kishkindha, and Ram, King of Ayodhya. In signature Adishakti style, the play asks fundamental philosophical questions that trigger introspection. 

Through a delightful narrative that travels diverse viewpoints of multiple characters, Bali explores notions of right and wrong, ethics, ideologies and identities, with  minimal text and powerful visuals and breathtaking design, the play offers theatre at its best – thoughtful, playful and utterly moving.

Junoon says it is proud to present Adishakti’s Bali which delivers a tour de force that sets the benchmarks for contemporary Indian theatre.

@bhawanasomaaya

23 January, 2020
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A film a month – Day 1732

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Pen Marudhar Cine Entertainment (A Division of Pen Studios) has a packed calendar for 2020. In January it is Jawaani Jaaneman starring Saif Ali Khan, Tabu and Alaya, directed by Nitin Kakkar. In February it is Love Aaj Kal 2 featuring Kartik Aaryan, Sarah Ali Khan, directed by Imtiaz Ali. In March it will be Angrezi Medium with Irrfan Khan and Kareena Kapoor Khan, directed by Homi Adajania.

In April it is Dolly, Kitty Aur Woh Chamakte Sitare starring Konkana Sen Sharma, Bhumi Pednekar, directed by Alankrita Srivastava. In May it is Coolie #1 featuringVarun Dhawan and Sarah Ali Khan, directed by David Dhawan. After a three month gap in August is Attack and Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Gangubai Kathiawadi starring Alia Bhatt and this is enough to make anybody breathless.

@bhawanasomaaya

22 January, 2020
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Shabana Azmi is stable – Day 1731

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After a four day celebration of Javed Akhtar’s 75th birthday Shabana Azmi’s car met with an accident on 18 January on Mumbai- Pune Express Highway but she was moved to Kokilaben Ambani Hospital and is on her way to recovery. This post is to inform all her fans and well-wishers that she is under the supervision of the best doctors and will be fine soon.

@bhawanasomaaya

21 January, 2020
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Footprints – Day 1730

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Artiste Mahesh Karambele’s latest painting is titled Footprints and there’s a story behind the making of the picture. Before he embarked on this painting Karambele first uncluttered his mind and later his studio. He discarded everything he did not need and was happy to be in open space in his tiny 10ft x 8ft studio. He noticed that the sky was pink and his new painting needed to reflect that and more.

Karambele says that even before he lifted the brush he knew something special was about to happen, he could sense it and followed his instinct. He was going through troubled times and wanted to heal himself and he did expressing himself on the canvass through varied colors. “For the first time, I stepped on to the canvass and recreated my own footprints, it was a strange feeling as I dabbled in vibrant colours expressing my joy and anger, anxiety and passion, smiling and crying all at the same time

@bhawanasomaaya

20 January, 2020
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DocuBay – Day 1729

By Films

We are living in a world of technology and it is growing every day. DocuBay is the global membership video-on-demand streaming service by IN10 Media Network, announces a partnership with the International Film Festival of Shimla (IFFS) that will bring IFFS documentaries featured in last year’s film festival.

Select titles will be featured under their own category or “Bay” called IFFSBay and is now available for global streaming on the platform. DocuBay was also the official streaming partner of the IFFS, which took place in the historic and scenic town of Shimla in the Himalayan foothills.

Notable titles to be featured on DocuBay include Authenticity, about how Ayurvedic treatments might be the key to great health and lasting wellness. No Woman’s Land, about women in a Himalayan village defying the laws that keep them from inheriting property; Behind The Bars, about how learning homemaking skills like stitching and baking help to rehabilitate prisoners; and Dan the Himalayan Ibex, about a community of women determined to fight threats to the Ibex and help keep them alive despite hunters, poachers, and a declining habitat.

Akul Tripathi (CEO, DocuBay) stated: “Working with independent filmmakers and film festivals like the IFFS reinforces our commitment to providing a platform for storytellers to showcase their work worldwide. We’re very proud to highlight these features on DocuBay and look forward to further building relationships with independent filmmakers and other international film festivals to become a global voice for the factual film community.”

@bhawanasomaaya

15 January, 2020
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Speaking Tiger – Day 1728

By Books

For over three decades, Upamanyu Chatterjee has been an utterly distinctive and daring literary voice, with few equals among contemporary writers of fiction. In the twelve long stories that comprise this volume, he investigates, as only he can, the absurd comedy and the grand horrors of the human condition. The book opens with his most recent story, written in 2018, which follows Thomas Roe, the much-feted English Ambassador to the court of Jahangir, as he bumbles through a subcontinent far larger than his imagination can accommodate; and it concludes with the title story, written in 1985, in which a young Sikh sequestered in his parents’ home in Mussoorie, and debilitated by jaundice and ennui, listens disinterestedly to news of Indira Gandhi’s assassination and the massacre of Sikhs in Delhi.

A magisterial collection of stories—each as rich as a novel—The Assassination of Indira Gandhi is destined to become a classic of Indian literature has been shortlisted for The Hindu Prize 2019 – Fiction category.

The acclaimed author of the novels English, August: An Indian Story (1988), The Last Burden (1993), The Mammaries of the Welfare State (2000), which won the Sahitya Akademi Award for writing in English, Weight Loss (2006), Way to Go (2011), which was shortlisted for the Hindu Best Fiction Award, and Fairy Tales at Fifty (2014); and the novella The Revenge of the Non-vegetarian (2018), which was shortlisted for the Crossword Jury Award.

In 2008, he was awarded the Order of Officier des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government for his contribution to literature.

@bhawanasomaaya

14 January, 2020
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Remembering Akbar Padamse – Day 1727

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This exhibition talks about the landmark 1954 court case, a seminal moment in the life of Akbar Padamsee, in which he was acquitted, in the Lower Court and once again in the Higher Court. 

On his older brother Nicky’s advice, Akbar returned from Paris for his debut solo show. Akbar, then 25, was charged under section 292 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for two paintings – Lovers 1 and Lovers 2 – that were exhibited at the Jehangir Art Gallery. Both paintings – currently in the possession of two established art collectors – showed a man’s hand on a woman’s breast. The instinctive expression of love on canvas was labeled obscene and seized by the police. 

But a defiant Akbar wouldn’t take this lying down and was keen to fight the battle for artistic freedom. This story is retold by arts journalist Reema Gehi Desai using a meticulously handcrafted scrapbook of newspaper clippings by Akbar’s sister-in-law, Shahbibi Padamsee.

One of the highlights of the show is a short theatrical performance – directed by Quasar Thakore Padamsee – told through the voice of Shahbibi, sharing important vignettes of the year-long trial. Diary notes, court judgments, police correspondence, letters and additional newspaper clippings from the archives of Bhanu Padamsee, this is an exhibition you cannot miss!

@bhawanasomaaya

13 January, 2020
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