Watch Bharat with your family

Film: Bharat

Release: 05.06. 2019

Director: Ali Abbas Zafar

Writer: Ali Abbas Zafar, Varun Sharma/ dialogue

Cast: Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif, Tabu, Disha Patani, Sunil Grover, Jackie Shroff

Music: Vishal-Shekhar

It is 1947 and the last train to India is set to leave Lahore.  Jackie Shroff struggles to board his family, wife/ Sonal Kulkarni with two toddlers on top of the train. He has entrusted the responsibility of the daughter on his oldest son young Bharat who is carrying little Guddi on his back. ‘Hold me tight’ the little boy tells his baby sister, ‘We are not at a fair’. She clings to him but as the train takes off Guddi falls down and Jackie Shroff goes searching for his daughter.

The family is separated and even though decades pass by, the ghosts of the past continue to haunt Bharat who lives in the hope of uniting with his father someday.

Based on the year 2014 South Korean film Ode to My Father which traces the history of South Korea following the life of the hero, writer-director Ali Abbas Zafar adapts the story to India-Pakistan partition and after.

We can describe Bharat as a story of a nation, the story of a family or the story of a hero. There is a dialogue in the film that says: ‘A country is made up of people and people are recognized by their families’ and that is the message of the film.

Bharat’s father has asked him to wait for him at his aunt’s Ration Store in Delhi. He does not want his family to be a burden on his aunt and takes up odd jobs to earn some money. He sells newspapers, shines shoes and when he is a little older, he joins The Great Russian Circus.

The 70s concentrates on migration post-oil crisis in the Gulf where Bharat emerges as the hero fighting for equality an attraction blossoms between him and the chief engineer Kumud Raina/ Katrina Kaif.

What works about the film is its sheer simplicity and high emotional quotient. There are flashbacks and flash forwards but they don’t intervene in the narrative. The main characters are well etched out and refreshingly original. For Bharat, the family comes first and for Kumud, what you see is what you get. Kumud has no qualms about proposing to Bharat and when he turns her down, does not hold it against him!

The film travels six decades and adds action/ drama/comedy/romance adding many layers and flavors to the story.

The drawbacks are the exaggerations in the name of creative liberty. There are some factual errors, some detailing deficits in terms of production design/ dialect/ costumes and the supporting cast. No effort is made to elaborate on Bharat’s younger siblings and you have no idea about who is who in the family scenes.

Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif are 70 plus but except for a few grey strands walk erect and look robust.

But that’s irrelevant, what is important is that the film touches your heart. The railway station sequence in the beginning and the Wagha Border sequence in the climax fill your eyes with tears….The sea pirates attacking the Navy ship and the twist they bring is hilarious!

Curly haired KatrinaKaif owns Kumud with quiet dignity and shares special chemistry with her hero, Salman Khan. Salman shares special chemistry with director Ali Abbas Zafar which is evident in their trilogy, Sultan /2016, Tiger Zindaa Hain /2017 and now Bharat/ 2019.

It is my duty to warn Salman lovers that he does not take off his shirt this time. I must also prepare you that the film is a tad long, scattered and stretched in parts but nevertheless an engaging watch.

Bharat is reflective of the olden times when films entertained you and also served you justice within three hours.

Make your festival special and book your ticket to Bharat for the love of your family and your country.

Bhawana Somaaya

Part II of the evening was a panel discussion with two more speakers on the dais namely Mannu Sandhu, President of Vancouver International South Asian Film Festival and Kiran Manral, author and consultant Ideas Editor at Shethepeople.tv. Manral moderated the session and invited the women to voice their opinion on not just the film but also to what was happening in society. Oorvazi wanted to know which of the scenes in the film stayed with the women.

After a brief question- answer with the audience, it was time to mingle with friends in the audience, was happy to spot actor-singer Ila Arun, director KK Raina, Dolly Thakore and Rushad Rana..

Anahita’s Law, releases on the digital platform Youtube on 3 June 2019, on the channel, Humara Movies.

@bhawanasomaaya

Filmmaker Oorvazi Irani’s short film Anahita’s Law premiered last week at the National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai.  The event began with a welcome address followed by the 21-minute film that addresses gender bias, the Uniform Civil Code and the dynamics of religion and law. I was asked to conduct a conversation with the filmmaker and we discussed the narrative and the characters of the film in detail. I had many questions to ask her and Oorvazi was happy to elaborate on the structure and the message of the film.

As the producer, director and performer of the film Oorvazi’s attachment to the subject is understandable.  I asked her how she retained her objectivity playing so many different roles and how did she know that she needed an extra take when she was the actor as well as the director. “I am also a teacher of acting and therefore critical of my work. I know it instinctively when I can improve with another take and I had able assistants to tell me when  they felt a scene was going wrong.”

To be continued

To be disciplined and arrive on time, one has to actually arrive everywhere before time and sometimes the traffic is so easy that you have to now look for a place you can stop for coffee to kill time.

It happened with me last week when I was invited to the National Gallery Museum of Arts to moderate a session. Fortunately, I had a friend with me and we were adventurous enough to walk into a nearby cafeteria with Blue walls.

My friend and I discussed that there was an aura about South Bombay that cannot be described and which was very different from the suburb crowd and probably the Sobo crowd felt it the same way when they were in our side of town.

A half hour later we were ready to cross the street and attend the event but the host was still not ready, so I spent time walking the corridors and appreciating the portraits on the wall and clicking some pictures.

To be continued

Our Muslim friends have been enduring the summer heat without breaking their fast. They still have more than half a month to go and they are being courageous. If you are walking the streets at 7 pm in the evening you will feel the energy of the holy month Ramzan. People are rushing home on scooters and the food stalls get ready with choices for hot snacks. The masjids have an aura about the place by the evening. I have never been inside a masjid but seen in pictures a line of fruit plates placed on the carpet as devotees can wash their hands/ feet and gather to open their day-long fast.

I have heard that the opening prayer is a brief offering; I have heard that some open their fasts with a pinch of salt, some with water and some with khajoor. Fruit/ fruit juices are essential for the iftaar because after no food all day it is important to consume food that is light on the stomach. Some crave for a cup of tea and hardly eat anything, some cannot stop eating all night and some have small snack backed by an early dinner.

No matter what time they sleep the devotees wake up at 4 am for the morning namaaz after which they are allowed a cup of tea and whatever they wish to eat though it is difficult to consume food so early. Most of them just prefer to relish a cup of tea with probably a toast or two. Not an easy exercise at all and to think they do it for 30 days, year after year. Respect…

@bhawanasomaaya

Veeru Devgan was born in Amritsar, British India and came to Bombay to try his luck in films. He was good at stunts and a well-wisher had told him that he had a bright future in films. It was not an easy journey for sure. Like everyone he started as a body double for the leading heroes and graduated to becoming a fight master.

Action is very easy in cinema today because of the technology, adequate precautions and the insurance contracts but it was not always like this. In the olden days however every film and every scene was dangerous and to be performed at the owner’s risk. It was Devgan’s dare devil attitude that made him a hit with all the lead heroes.

He was a favorite with all the production houses too.  There was a time matching the dates with the fight master was difficult and shootings were often cancelled if Veeruji was not available.  He worked with diverse banners be it Manoj Kumar’s Kranti, Bokadia’s Aaj Ka Arjun, Rakesh Kumar’s Mr Natwarlal,Boney Kapoor’s Mr India, Tinnu Anand’s Shahenshah or Rajeev Rai’s  Tridev.

His best action was reserved to launch his son Ajay Devgan in Phool Aur Kaante and subsequent films like Ishq and Dilwale.  Veeru Devgan produced Dil Kya Kare, Singhasan and Hindustan Ki Kasam, his only work as a director. Not many people know this butVeeru Devgan served as assistant director on Vishwatma and Mera Pati Sirf Mera Hai.

What a victory and what a speech, like the rest of India I have been glued to the television ever since the results have been out or maybe even before that. My phone is bursting with messages and it is interesting how those who were strongly against Narendra Modi have changed their tunes. This is apparent on the television as well. The news anchors have lowered their volume and have stopped pontificating at the Prime Minister.

I was certain he would win, not because I am a political expert, I am not but because I know Gujarat and I know people of Gujarat. I know how they feel about their Namo and why they feel he is a capable leader. Modi has transformed Gujarat and all credit goes to him.

As we celebrate BJP victory my mind goes back to one man, my brother-in-law. I was in Ahmedabad and we were watching the news at his home when looking at the state of affairs, my angry brother-in-law said ‘Nothing is ever going to change in this country unless we change our leader. There is only one man who has the courage and the guts to redefine India and unfortunately he is not at the center. It is my challenge, send Narendra Modi to Delhi and he will become the Prime Minister.

My brother-in-law said this in the 90s and even though Advocate LG Thakkar is no more today, his words have come true. Modi has changed India!

 Dreadfully slow

Film: India’s Most Wanted

Release: 24.05.2019

Writer/ Director: Rajkumar Gupta

Cast: Arjun Kapoor, Rajesh Sharma, Prashanth Alexander, Shantilal Mukherjee

The film opens with a cafeteria where the customer asks for his bill. The waiter places the folder on the table and a few moments later, the customer walks out of the restaurant leaving his bag on the floor. The waiter opens the folder and is surprised to find 500 rupees tip for him. He stares at the customer walking out of the gate and within moments the cafeteria turns into flames!

India’s Most Wanted is a spy thriller following an intelligence team as they hunt for a terrorist called Yasin Bhatkal/ Mohammed Ahmed Siddibappa founder of the Mujahideen and the mastermind behind 52 blasts (2007, 2013) across India and the man responsible for the death of 220 citizens.

Directed by Rajkumar Gupta of Aamir/ 2008, No One Killed Jessica/ 2011 and Raid/ 2018 India’s Most Wanted is inspired from true incidents where Prabhat Kapoor played by Arjun Kapoor and his team without any support, weapons from the Intelligence Bureau arrested the terrorist without firing a single bullet.

The film tells about the hardships and the commitment of these courageous officers, the obstacles faced from the system, their seniors. The regulations are crippling and in an exasperated moment, Arjun Kapoor asks ‘What system is this that permits a helicopter to drop flowers from the sky but is inaccessible to officers out to get a terrorist?’

The officers’ move incognito on the streets and we marvel at their patience and expertise. The sequence where they follow the informer and test his credentials to the smallest detail is compelling.

The problem with the film is the dreadfully slow pace!  Till the interval it is only about arriving in Kathmandu and contacting the informer and post interval is about nabbing the ghost who bombs!!

The climax is the most disappointing because all it takes for the team is to cover up the bungalow they have been watching for days, is to walk inside the unguarded gate, climb a few staircases, punch the two villains and drive across the border without a single security hurdle, wow!!

Supported by Rajesh Sharma, Prashanth Alexander, Shantilal Mukherjee, the team leader Arjun Kapoor delivers a relaxed performance.  Jitendra Shastri playing the informer is the surprise packet of the film, take a bow Shastri.

India’s Most Wanted is not path-breaking like Aamir or thought provoking like No One Killed Jessica but should be watched because it celebrates our unsung heroes who don’t get any credit/ mileage/ promotion/ money when the criminals are arrested.

I rate India’s Most Wanted with 2 stars

Bhawana Somaaya