According to Ajay Devgan he had planned it correctly. First the promotion of Ella Helicopter then the release and as the frenzy settles down he announces his next film and starts shooting but Dada/ Pradip Sarkar director of Ella got diagnosed with dengue and the entire schedule went haywire.

The Devgans had the option of getting Ella’s post-production done by another filmmaker but Ajay and Kajol chose the difficult option of waiting for Dada. They put the promotion of Ella on hold and postponed the release by a few weeks.

In the meantime Taanaji: The Unsung Warrior who fought for Chhatrapati Shivaji has gone on the floor today at a suburban studio as scheduled.  Directed by Om Raut and produced by Ajay Devgn’s ADFL with Bhushan Kumar’ T-series will release on 22 November 2019.

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Waiting for the lift outside BigFM studio I bump into the versatile actor Divya Dutta who is here to celebrate her birthday on air with her fans.
In jeans hair tied up Ina bun on top of her head, she is almost unrecognizable from her avatars on the screen.
Last week I saw her in a cameo in Nandita Das’s Manto and marveled at her projection of the character.
And now, an hour after our meet at the studio I listen to her interview with RJ and fall down laughing. Divya calls herself lazy Libran and says on Sundays she is so lethargic that her family complains that they feel sleepy just watching her.
Doesn’t seem so at all watching you on the screen Divya.

@bhawanasomaaya

The day after the elephant God leaves for his abode begins the Sharad period.
This is the time when Hindus remember their ancestors and seek forgiveness for any failings during their lifetime.
They seek forgiveness for any failing in their final rituals and finally pray for their welfare.
The Sharad considered a mourning period lasts for a fortnight when nothing new or auspicious is done by Hindu families.
For years the film industry never shot /announced /released a film during Sharad and exhibitors screened old hits of superstars in theatres.
I don’t know when exactly all this changed. Perhaps with the entry of the studios or the young producers who came baggage free.
But suddenly Sharad time was zoom time without any restrictions on announcements or new releases.
Cannot believe that old production house like YRF will now be releasing Sui Dhaga during Sharad time.
Sab time time ki baatein hain ji.

@bhawanasomaaya

It is not just the Shoe flower, ganpati bappa likes all flowers that are offered with love.

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All deities love flowers and they are a mark of worship it is how they are displayed that makes all the difference.

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Film: Batti Gul Meter Chalu

Date: 21.09.2018

Director: Shree Narayan Singh

Writer: Vipul Rawal-Sidhartha Singh-Garima Wahal

Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, Divyendu Sharma, Yami Gautam

Music: Anu Malik, Rochak Kohli

There are many ways to describe director Shree Narayan’s Batti Gul Meter Chalu.

You can call it a love story, a story of friendship or a story of a movement supported by the entire city.

Set in the beauteous Uttarakhand BGMC addresses the issue of fluctuating electricity and inflated bills and how the common man struggles with these pressures without help from the establishment.

SK (Shahid Kapoor), Nauti (Shraddha Kapoor) and Tripathi (Divyendu Sharma) are childhood friends who make an effort to spend quality time together despite their individual careers.

SK is a lawyer who has short cuts for every problem. Nauti is a local designer who runs her own shop while Tripathi has recently invested in a Printing Press.

The first half of the film is about their bonding, adventures, some challenges and some mishaps. Tripathi is worried sick when he gets an electricity bill of 1.5 lakhs and by the time he complains about it the amount escalates to 54 lakhs in the following months.

The story really begins in the second half when the usually laid back SK decides to fight against SPTL, a privatized electricity company and becomes a hero.

The positives are one, the locations – the quint city perched on the hills amidst nature. Two, the issue of availing electricity to the remotest region and finally the message that it’s important to fight a cause, not important that you win!

Without attempting to the film is gender sensitive.  So we have Sushmita Mukherji as the cricket fan judge and Yami Gautam as the public prosecutor.

Shraddha Kapoor lives with two single women (mother and grandmother) without restrictions and makes her decisions at home/ work and in love.

The negatives: are primarily the length (close to three hours), the pace (takes too long to come to the point); the sutradhars are annoyingly invasive and a waste of screen time and the climax unfortunately overstated.

It is unconvincing that friendship can suddenly turn obsessive and some questions posed by Shahid to Shradha remain unanswered.

The film is a big break for Dwivedi Sharma and a new image for Shraddha Kapoor who pairs with Shahid for the second time. All of them speak the dialect effortlessly. Yami Gautam who played a victim in her last film Kabil plays a prosecutor but the film finally belongs to Shahid Kapoor- who is the first rate in his comic timing and restrained in the emotional moments, there are many shades to the character and Shahid has you addicted to SK!!

Director Shree Narayaṇ last time combined a social message with entertainment called Toilet Ek Prem Katha. This time he addresses another relevant issue – electricity.

Batti Gul Meter Chalu is long, a tad preachy but it is worth it for Shahid Kapoor.

I rate Batti Gul Meter Chalu with 3 stars out of which half star is reserved only for Shahid Kapoor.

Bhawana Somaaya

Amazing what effect these veggies from our refrigerator can create, wonder why we did not think of this earlier?

@bhawanasomaaya

Film: Manto

Date: 21.09.2018

Writer-Director: Nandita Das

Cast:  Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Tahir Raj Bhasin, Rasika Dugal

Background Score: Zakir Hussain

Editor: Sreekar Prasad

We have watched many biographies and many films on the partition but what makes writer-director Nandita Das’s biopic on Manto special is that it’s a biopic on a writer and that the film focuses on the most tumultuous four years in the writer’s life and that of the two countries he inhabits – India and Pakistan.

Manto is a widely read short story writer in Bombay who pens scripts for movies and disrupts shooting if changes are made in his script without approval. He also writes columns for newspapers and disconnects with editors who ask him to tone down his columns or negotiate on his fees.

He refuses to be a part of the Progressive Writers Association but relishes the company of other radical writers like Ismat Chugtai over endless cigarettes and whiskey pegs discussing burning issues.

Superstar of silent cinema Shyam dotes on the writer but as violence engulfs the nation there is a crack in their friendship and Manto makes the difficult decision to shift to Lahore, Pakistan but his heart aches for his friends and as time goes by, he is unable to find takers for his controversial writings.

His addiction to alcohol leads him to disaster but the great thinker even in abject poverty will not compromise on his writing.

Manto is lovingly cast and that stalwarts like Vinod Nagpal, Javed Akhtar, Rishi Kapoor and Paresh Rawal appear for a single scene speaks of their faith in the filmmaker.

Diligently researched and delicately designed the film travels you across two countries and many heartbreaks, gives you insights into Manto’s personal and professional relationships, his anger, empathy, pride, and pain.

From fiction to reality and back to the characters that consume Manto’s imagination Nandita Das weaves a seamless narrative of stories within stories skillfully conceived by an extraordinary man who in the worst calamities remained unbroken in spirit!

There are innumerable images that haunt you long after the film is over…The handwritten papers signed with Parker pen and sometimes pencil, the empty trains, desolate platforms of vintage India, the old media offices and the crowded bars filled with smoke and agitated conversations.

Innumerable moments that bring a lump to your throat…. When Manto shares that he would like to remain indebted to Bombay, when Shyam arrives in Pakistan and when Safia finally breaks down pushing the swing for her daughters.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui lives Manto with alarming honesty and Safia/Rasika Dugal and Shyam/ Tahir Raj Bhasin are the perfect foil for the volatile maverick.

Nandita excels in portraying the predictable as special so freedom by midnight is fireworks in the sky watched from Manto’s bedroom window and poetry/songs stumble quietly into the frame when Manto’s mind brims over with memories.

The only minus is the pace and the mood because even though there are flashes of the family man, the writer’s life is clearly devoid of color or cheer and after a point, the melancholy overwhelms you and perhaps that’s the intention of the filmmaker.

The first and the last scene stay with you for a long, long time…

Sensitive and achingly sincere Nandita Das at no point underestimate her audience and communicates with Manto devotees on a level she finds herself.

I rate the full of intrigue Manto with 3.5 stars.

Bhawana Somaaya/ @bhawanasomaaya