Mythology and entertainment media have a close connection but while many films have been made on Lord Ram and Lord Krishna, Lord Shiva has not been explored on the big screen. On the small screen, however, Lord Shiva has been a national obsession.  I caught some old episodes of Devon Ka Dev on television late night and was unable to switch the channel. The serial is rich in content and engaging in storytelling with extraordinary writing. The first episode concentrated on Mahadev’s biggest devotee Parshuram.

One day, before Mahadev went in for his meditation, he requested his sons Kartike and Ganesha to guard his gate so nobody disturbed him and so when Parshuram walked in unannounced, younger son Ganesha politely turned him down. Parshuram was offended at being denied to meet his lord and in a rage attacked Ganesha with his weapon that broke his tusk.

Sometime later when Mahadev emerged from his meditation, an angry Parvati urged her consort to punish Parshuram for attacking their son but Ganesha pacified his mother that he can protect himself but didn’t because defying Parshuram’s weapon blessed by Mahadev would be defying his own father and he wouldn’t want that. Parshuram was spellbound by little Ganesha’s wisdom and blessed him. He said, “What is done cannot be undone but this broken tusk in time to come will write the biggest epic”.

In another episode, I was riveted by the interrogation between father Mahadev and his firstborn Kartike but I’ll leave that story for tomorrow. Till then Happy Maha Shivratri to all.

To be continued

@bhawanasomaaya

Film; Sonchiriya

Date: 01.03.2019

 Producer: Ronnie Screwala

Director: Abhishek Chaubey

Writers: Abhishek Chaubey SudeepSharma/ story Sudeep Sharma/ screenplay, dialogues

Cast: Manoj Bajpayee/ Dadda, Sushant Singh/ Lakhan, Bhumi Pednekar, Ranvir Shorey, Ashutosh Rana.

In Ishqiyaan/ 2010 and sequel Dedh Ishqiyaan/ 2014 Abhishek Chaubey was a revelation, in Uddta Punjab/2016 the filmmaker had you in a daze and in Sonchiriya/ 2019 he has you addicted to his cinema.

Set in the ravines of 1970’s Chambal, the film is about a gang of dacoits led by Maan Singh / Manoj Bajpayee fondly addressed as Dadda by his boys as they battle with the cops, each other and their own conscience.

The reason Sonchiriya is not a regular dacoit film is because it’s focus is not just on crime but the aftermath of it. The story travels into the mind of the perpetrators of crime rather than their action.  They are unhappy living the life they do and in moments of quietude dream of a peaceful, normal life.

Abhishek Chaubey’s outlaws are a principled bunch with a strong sense of right and wrong. They will not fire at women and children and if they do by mistake, they will do penance. They will not hurt animals intentionally and if that happens, they seek forgiveness, visit the shrine to seek blessings of mother goddess.

Shot across the barren valleys of Madhya Pradesh, the director travels you through the heartland of India using Sonchiriya as a metaphor – the bird everyone longs to own but nobody can – happiness!

It is a film about criminals but the presentation is poetic and seeks answers in the laws of nature… Snakes prey upon mice and the vultures prey on the snakes.

All the characters are inward looking and the dialogues sensitive. ‘We can wear the best medals but all of us die in our natural uniform, naked’ comments a cop while Sushant Singh in a poignant asks that he can run away from people but how does he escape his conscience?

There is a haunting feeling of remorse throughout the film highlighted by the background score that pierce your heart. The film addresses multiple issues – caste, class, gender, superstition, poetic justice that if you have harmed others you will be doomed too!

Superbly shot and delicately written Sonchiriya is a triumph of combined efforts – editing, music, production design, costume and stellar performances from ensemble cast -Manoj Bajpayee, Sushant Singh, Bhoomi Pednekar, Ranvir Shorey and Ashutosh Rana including the little girl who does not speak a single word.

If you are looking for escapist entertainer Sonchiriya is not for you. Chaubey’s cinema is about ravines and redemption; dark secrets and debts. His characters walk miles, sleep on rocks and survive in one costume. Sonchiriya is an emotional catharsis

I rate Sonchiriya with 3.5 stars.

@bhawanasomaaya

Yes, you heard it right, we have heard of many classics being dubbed in English or subtitled in English but this is the first instance of a masala Hindi film being subtitled into English. Director Indra Kumar does not care for the protocol or for the critics, he is satisfied with his film and decided to subtitle it in English for his overseas market.

He feels the film has immense potential and wants to indulge in the experiment. Kumar believes the film has attracted family audiences and this is a strategy special strategy to attract the audiences away from home. The PVR cinema chain has decided to support the idea and are in the process of doing the needful. The subtitled shows are for select cinema and would start from 27th February for a week.

As Anupam Kher would say in showbusiness Kuch bhi ho sakta hai…

Oscar award-winning Brie Larson is a huge fan of India and Indian food. During the promotion of Captain Marvel Larson revealed she had traveled to India before and loved the experience, “I loved India, there are so much color and culture to the country. I was happy to visit Kerala which has a lot of fish and coconut chutney, it was so good and the pickle was delicious. I can eat an entire bottle in a day.

Her forthcoming film Captain Marvel is the first stand-alone, female-franchise that introduces Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The movie is an all-new adventure from a previously unseen period in the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Acknowledged as Marvel’s mightiest Superhero, Captain Marvel is touted to begin 2019 with a bang and is undoubtedly one of the most awaited films of this year. Brie Larson, who has won an Oscar, followed the epic strength training routine in preparation for the role that includes flight training which was rather intense but Brie didn’t give up. She pushed to believe it or not 2500 KG Jeep to get into insane shape for the role!

Marvel Studios’ Captain Marvel is produced by Kevin Feige and directed by Anna and releases on 8th March, in English, Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu.

@bhawanasomaaya

They jump from one role into another and often they have to be trained in special skills. A while ago Tapsee Pannu trained in hockey and now she is training in shooting from her personal coach Vishwajeet Shinde. Tapsee reveals it is the most difficult part of the character study because the coach and she leave for the location early morning and do rehearsals of how to hold the gun, the nuances and tricks as a safety measures.

Tapsee confides that shooting does not come easily to her and she feels scared every time she has to touch the gun and one of the reasons she agreed to do the film was to get over her blockage. “But Saand Ki Aankh is the most challenging role of my career so far, she adds,  my character’s life far removed from what I have played so far so I have built her from scratch drawing upon my observations of her.”

@bhawanasomaaya

Kareena Kapoor is excited that Kangana Ranaut is making a film on her life. Kareena who has always claimed that she is a big fan of Kangana and rates her as the finest actresses in the filmdom is fascinated that Kangana has directed Manikarnika. Ranaut has kind of got used to all her films making it to 100 Crore club and that includes Tanu Weds Manu Returns, Krrish 3 and now Manikarnika. Ranaut is now gearing up for Mental Hai Kya opposite Rajkummar Rao and Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari’s Panga.

In Bollywood praise coming from the opposite sex is common but unusual that a heroine is so overwhelming in her praise for another.

@bhawanasomaaya

Nawazuddin Siddiqui had become a hot favorite with Pakistanis after his cameo in Bajrangi Bhaijaan. However Siddiqui like all other actors has taken a stand that his forthcoming film Photograph will not release in the border country after the recent tragedy from Pulwama attacks

It does not matter that the actor has a huge fan following back in Pakistan, the actor along with director of Lunchbox, Ritesh Batra and his heroine Sanya Malhotra at the press meet revealed that no Indian film will release there.

@bhawanasomaaya

Total Madness

Film: Total Dhamaal

Release: 22.02.2019

Director: Indra Kumar

Cast: Anil Kapoor, Madhuri Dixit, Ajay Devgan, Arshad Warsi, Ritesh Deshmukh, Boman Irani

After Dhamaal in 2007 and Double Dhamaal in 2011 director Indra Kumar presents the third of his Dhamaal franchise as Total Dhamaal.

 The first half of the film concentrates on establishing the 10 players who are introduced to us in 5 pairs.

Pair No 1: Radhe/ Ajay Devgan – Johnny/ Sanjay Mishra who have dreams of making it big in life and are ready to court big risks for big money. They plan the ambitious robbery and are almost successful in their mission but are betrayed at the last minute by their disloyal chauffer.

Pair No 2: Avinash Patel/ Anil Kapoor and his Maharashtrian wife Bindu/ Madhuri Dixit who have just emerged from the Divorce Court but agree to flirt with adventure before breaking the news of their separation to their only son at the boarding school.

Pair No 3: Adi/ Arshad Warsi and his bro Manav/ Javed Jaffery who are so clumsy that they have to just stumble into a venue and break everything into pieces be it expensive arte-facts in a gallery or a super stylish car.

Pair No 4: Lallan/ Ritesh Deshmukh and his lackey who travel in a jeep strung with brass bells and are so spineless that they can do anything/ anywhere/ anytime for money.

Pair No 5: Don/ Police Commissioner Boman Irani who is in the habit of looking back always and getting trapped, while his assistant always looks ahead and saves his skin.

The 10 characters have their individual tracks laced with crazy situations and dialogues. They are all forever embroiled in impossible situations and encounter exasperating characters be it a nariyal wala or an engine wala.

All the characters come together for the first time just before the interval, on a desolate highway to save a dying man! Post interval the film focuses on the chase for 50 crores stacked in a secret place at the zoo of Janakpur.

Their journey to this destination is filled with unimagined calamities but like superheroes, they are on top of every situation.

So Ajay Devgan who is misled by a hilarious IPS of a stolen car is stuck on top of a hill but makes it to Janakpur via a diving helicopter. Anil Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit dare to drive through a small stream and get caught in a cyclone. Their mid sea crisis, believe it or not is resolved by Lord Shrinathji.

Boman Irani gets trapped inside a tunnel, Arshad Warsi with Javed Jaffery is lost in a desert and Ritesh Deshmukh with Johnny Lever struggle for life stuck inside rusted, rickety helicopter mid-air.

Despite grave obstacles, all the characters manage to reach the zoo on time before the climax and since all of them have exhausted their bag of crazy tricks, the director now depends on the animals to entertain us.

We discover that the zoo security is a Chimpanzee; the Guerilla here is more emotional than Nirupa Roy and the baby and mother elephants friendlier than Rajesh Khanna’s Haathi Mere Saathi. The Lion here is named Simmba and Anil Kapoor believe it or not converses with the Tiger in Gujarati and about Gujaratis.

I have to prepare you that Sonakshi Sinha appears from nowhere and start dancing to ‘Mangda…’ and why she does that I have no idea! I have no idea why Esha Gupta communicates with the animals in French.

In the world of Indra Kumar there is no dawn, no dusk, in short nothing realistic. The characters don’t eat/ sleep/ or answer to nature’s call and most importantly, for all that they go through their clothes/ makeup/ hair remains intact till the last scene – so do their sunglasses and mobile phones.

What works in favor of the film are some witty lines, the ensemble cast and some cracking up moments like the kerosene fuelled antique helicopter built out of an auto-rickshaw body. The demerits are the senseless situations, slapstick humor and some vulgar lines.

It is credible how all the actors make the impossible situations believable. Must you watch Total Dhamaal, well it is a time pass film for sure, so if you have enough time and money to splurge you can watch the film but if you are a snob like me read the review carefully before you click the mouse to book your show.

I rate Total Dhamaal with 2 stars.

@bhawanasomaaya