The Illegal directed by Danish Renzu is a gritty, realistic portrayal of the social underclass of immigrants in the US, The Illegal follows a middle-class Indian student who comes to America to join a film school and fulfill his dream of becoming a filmmaker. An unfortunate turn of events forces him to choose between his family and his ambition. Renzu’s deft handling of the story is bolstered by a cast that includes Suraj Sharma, Adil Hussain, Iqbal Theba, and Shweta Tripathi.

Aadhaar is set in a part of Bharat that can only aspire to be part of the new India but has no idea how to go about it. A social satire revolving around a Jharkhand resident who becomes the first in the state to issue an Aadhaar card, while everyone else is reluctant, grants him instant stardom but when a local priest predicts that his unique 12-digit ID number will prove ominous, it spells despair in his life. The impoverished man now struggles to change his id number against bureaucratic red tape and religious superstitions.

Starring Vineet Kumar Singh, Saurabh Shukla, Raghuvir Yadav, and Sanjay Mishra and directed by Suman Ghosh of national award winning films like Nobel Chor and Podokkhep this marks Ghosh’s debut in the Hindi language. Backed by the powerhouse Drishyam Films known for international award-winning titles Masaan, Newton Umrika, the film shows promise of similar acclaim following its world premiere at the Busan International Film Festival.

To be continued

@bhawanasomaaya

The festival opened at different venues across the city hosting screenings and master-classes.  This year has 190 films from 54 countries across 49 languages including features, documentaries and short films. This year the highlight was Netflix combining force with MAMI to celebrate the evolving role of women in Indian story-telling. Commenting on the success of women helping other women in film, producer Guneet Monga shared poet, Meena Kandaswamy thought when she won the Oscar for ‘Period. End of Sentence’ – “When you shine, I shine.”

There were some spectacular films and sparkling master classes this festival and mention must be made of five unique films at Discovering India at MAMI. This year’s festival spotlights Indian Cinema’s universal reach in globalized, changing landscapes. This section showcases international films made by resident Indians like Tanishtha Chatterjee’s Roam Rome Mein marks her debut as director. Celebrated for her performances in films like Parched and Angry Indian Goddesses, Chatterjee stars in the film with Nawazzudin Siddique. Rome Rome Mein is a story about a brother’s search for his missing sister, which in turn paves the path to his self-discovery. The film challenges the patriarchal psyche.

This included films made by directors of Indian origin living elsewhere like The Last Color made by Michelin star chef Vikas Khanna. Having mastered the culinary world, Khanna has made a breezy entry into filmmaking with his debut feature, a heart-wrenching tale of boundless friendship between a nine-year-old tight-rope walker and flower seller, Chhoti and Noor/Neena Gupta, a widow whose austere white saree symbolizes a life of total abstinence and social proscription from festivities, especially Holi, the festival of colours.

The film chronicles their spiritual bond over the years as they contest archaic social systems. Following its world premiere at the 2019 Palm Springs International Film Festival, the film has already travelled to over a dozen festivals and recently won the Audience Award and the Director’s Vision Award at the Indian Film Festival Stuttgart.

To be continued

@bhawanasomaaya

Come October and Mumbai city is all set for a galaxy of festivals. It always begins with MAMI where film buffs rub shoulders with cine fans and celebrate international cinema. Over the years Mumbai Film Festival has proved itself to be one of the most immersive and comprehensive festival to celebrate diverse cinematic voices of our country and instills pride in audiences.

Founded by a group of film industry stalwarts in 1997 and conceived, created with an aim to engage film lovers from all walks of life, and to foster an ideal climate of good cinema across the country, the idea was to present the best of global and Indian cinema.

The academy’s vision was to celebrate cinema and over the decades the dreams have multiplied and so have our expectations from MAMI. It has always lived up to our expectations and barring a few glitches like the screenings and the tedious bookings, there’s lot to applaud.

The opening ceremony this year was held at Mumbai’s Bal Gandharva Rangmandir and Deepika Padukone took the stage to deliver the keynote address as Festival Chairperson. Board of Trustees, MAMI, and Director, Reliance Jio and Reliance Retail Isha Ambani welcomed the audience while also announcing new initiatives.

With many international and Indian film personalities in attendance, the academy celebrated talent who continue to define and shape the filmmaking community today. Deepti Naval who is an actor/ director/ painter/ photographer was presented the Excellence in Cinema Award by Vishal Bhardwaj and Deepika Padukone for her exemplary contribution to the Indian film industry.

More about them in the coming days….

To be continued

@bhawanasomaaya

Slow and repetitive

Film: Laal Kaptaan

Date: 18.10.2019

Director: Navdeep Singh

Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Manav Vij, Deepak Dobriyal, Zoya Hussain, Simone Singh

For some strange reason Eros and Color Yellow, producers of Laal Kaptan have decided to release the film without any promotions. Unfortunately, the only news that made headlines about the film is that Saif Khan’s styling is borrowed from Pirates of the Caribbean and which provoked Saif to clarify that the Naga Sadhu, the dreadlocks, the bandana, and his ash face, even the red jacket comes from the East India Company.

And there is a reference to the jacket in a scene where the British soldier while beating him up wants to know where he robbed the uniform from. There are many intriguing moments…

The begum/ Simone Singh desires the blessings of Laal Pari for her newborn and even though her husband/ Manav Vij is not a follower of such faith, he escorts his family to the faraway location where the mystic meditates in an isolated cave. We discover that Laal Pari is wrapped in Black fabric and rolls her eyes upwards before communicating with her devotees.  She sticks out her tongue to reveal that she has a black tongue before she makes any predictions and everything she says comes true!

Laal Kaptaan is the story of what happened in the 18 century in Bundelkhand. There are many ways to describe this epic drama. You can say it is the aftermath of Buxar battle, the story of a unique and multi-cultured nation, a story of a family or just a story of passion and revenge. What is disappointing is that all these tracks put together combined with backstories don’t serve an engaging narrative!

There are some films that grab your attention from the very beginning, some get you involved in the narrative slowly but gradually and there are some that merely build your expectations and don’t deliver till the end. Laal Kaptaan falls in the last category where characters wander aimlessly from one desert to another, one ruin to another seeking revenge and creating mayhem!

After every stomach-churning action sequence that usually ends in a line of dead bodies you expect some revelation but the mysteries take ages to resolve and you are drained before the interval. The main culprit is the uninvolving screenplay. The characters though interesting cannot hold your attention because the pace is exceedingly slow and the information imparted painfully repetitive.

It is never easy to make a period film and shooting in the ravines calls for different challenges. There is no doubting the intent and courage of director Navdeep Singh and his creative team shooting in such difficult circumstances. The technical team is first-rate specially the cinematography, the production design, and the action. It is a well-cast film introducing refreshing faces.

Zoya Hussain is photogenic and effective so what if she wears kohl in her eyes even in the ravines. Deepak Dobriyal in his cowboy hat and homemade shoes has the best role in the film and it does not matter that his hat never gets torn or blown away in the wind despite many travels and battles.

Saif Ali Khan has always ventured out of his comfort zone to experiment with new characters and he does it this time as well.  There is a character graph in his portrayal of Naga Sadhu and it is consistent and detailed.

So must you watch Laal Kaptaan, well only if you like horses, guns, dust, soldiers, ruins and Western movies,  if not then save your time and money for Diwali cleaning and shopping.

I rate Laal Kaptaan with 2 stars.

Bhawana Somaaya

Unlike a fiction writer, a journalist does not choose her subjects/characters; she is the lieutenant sent on the operation and does her best within the circumstances. There is a possibility however that doing the same kind of interviews makes her an expert on the subject. This happened to me.

I wrote exclusively and extensively on cinema and therefore my debut book and others that followed focused on cinema, a trilogy on Amitabh Bachchan, the authorized biography of Hema Malini, essays on the magic of movies and chronicling the history of cinema.

Only two out of the 15 books I have authored between the years1999 to 2019 only two are fiction and feature Lord Krishna. More about that tomorrow….

To be continued

@bhawanasomaaya