In Takkar, the villains hide the temple treasures inside the idol and hopes to escape with the loot, but the trio heroes – Jeetendra, Sanjeev Kumar and Vinod Mehra sing ‘Murti Ganesh ki, andar daulat desh ki…’ and expose the villains.

In 1981, Filmwala’s Kalyug was among the early films to portray the immersion procession in all its glory. The film’s hero Shashi Kapoor is driving home and gets caught in a traffic jam. The chaos on the street reflects the turbulence in his heart beautifully captured by director Shyam Benegal.

Ajanta Arts’ Dard Ka Rishta 1983, supposedly inspired by Sunil Dutt’s personal life, delved on a young girl’s obsession with the elephant God. Baby Khushboo is in a coma but hears echoes of the Lord coming home. To fulfill the dying girl’s wish, her father brings the idol to her hospital bed and she dies in peace.

To be continued…

@bhawanasomaaya

Ganpati festival is a busy time for the film fraternity because a lot of them bring the deity home. Salman Khan, Rishi and Ranbir Kapoor, Ekta Kapoor, Nana Patekar, Shilpa shetty, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Anil Kapoor, Raveena Tandon, Padmini Kolhapure, Sonu Nigam, as long as Rajesh Khanna and Sunil Dutt lived they never missed bringing Ganesha home.

At public pandals decorated all over the city singers like Shankar Mahadevan, Sukhwinder Singh and Anup Jalota are invited to perform live before the deity and celebrities from all walks of life are invited for a special darshan of Lalbaug ka Raja. For all the attention film folk’s shower on the Elephant God, the deity has limited presence in our movies and it is difficult to think of ten memorable scenes projecting the God of wisdom on the big screen.

I will try and recap some moments and on top my mind is Humse Badhkar Kaun/ 1980 that told the story of families living in a colony and collectively celebrating the festival. The haunting number ‘Devaa ho devaa…’ singing paeans to the Lord proved a chartbuster and is even today chanted at all the pandals.

To be continued…

@bhawanasomaaya

Date: 14 September 2018

Director: Anurag Kashyap

Cast: Abhishek Bachchan, Tapsee Pannu and Vickey Kaushal

First things first, Manmarziyaaṅ is unlike any Anurag Kashyap film you have watched so far.

There are no dark frames, dark thoughts or dark deeds in the entire narrative, no violence, no abuse and no cuss word either.

The premise is the bright and colorful Amritsar, so there is the Golden Temple naturally and also chunri sangit, salwar sweater romance on terrace, hockey stick references and tall glasses of lassi.

Some characteristics continue though. As always Kashyap film is non-judgmental. There are no good/ bad characters that do right/ wrong things and are strong /weak in different circumstances but they are accepted as they are.

The passion sustains too and as always is illogical and fearless. So every morning when Vickey/ Shyam Kaushal  wakes up, he jumps over walls to meet his beloved Rumi/ Tapsee Pannu and does what he desires uncaring of being caught.

It is not just the passion, it is the expression. In an unusual moment in the film Rumi tells Robbie/ Abhishek Bachchan ‘Mujhe pyaar chaḍha hai’ before the couple make it to the bed, this is definitely a new line from a woman to a man.

All Kashyap films are unconventional and Manmarziyaaṅ is no exception.

Apparently a love story between DJ Vickey/ Vickey Kaushal and Rumi/ Tapsee Pannu, Robbie/ Abhishek Bachchan is the banker who arrives from UK and takes away the dulhaniya. 

Manmarziyaan addresses multiple issues that range from moral/ social/ family/ gender to generation issues without getting preachy. Vickey suffers from commitment phobia and Rumi with red hair is a free spirit nobody can control. Robbie returns to roots and agrees to arrange marriage but the problems are far from over.

Sex is never a mystery in Kashyap films and the characters freely discuss virginity. Nor is religion fortunately as Robbie grabs a puff and a drink remaining respectful to the turban.

Relationships are always complex and writer Kanika ushers the happy and sad moments unobtrusively. Manmarziyaan deconstructs marriage/honeymoon, introduces us to new age parents/in-laws who know when to take a back seat.

We have been watching love stories from time immemorial so what’s different about Manmarziyaaṅ? Well, it is spunky, frothy, breaking stereotypes and presenting a new gaze which is liberating!

Tapsee Pannu and Vickey Kaushal are sparkling and share terrific chemistry while Abhishek Bachchan returns in a mature, refined performance as a dream husband.

Director Anurag Kashyap proves that he is as effective in bright, happy frames as in the dark alleys and what he chooses is his manmarziyaan.

I rate the thoroughly entertaining Manmarziyaaṅ with 3.5 stars.

 @Bhawana Somaaya

Date: 14 September 2018

Director: Tabrez Noorani

Cast: Mrunal Ṭhakur, Freida Pinṭo,Richa Chaḍha, Manoj Bajpayee, Adil Hussain, Rajkumar Rao.

The opening shot of the film has a schoolboy in a remote village trying to capture a butterfly in a glass jar; he opens the jar briefly and as the butterfly flutters to escape, it is trapped into caressing his cheek referred to as a ‘kiss’ the boy’s face tightly pressed against the jar.

The image is a metaphor for what the story has to unfold.

Preeti/ Riya Sidodiya and Sonia/ Mrunal Ṭhakur are cheerful as long as they at school because once home, they are the mercy of their angry father/Adil Hussain, an impoverished farmer who makes them slog on the field all day and curses them for being born as daughters at night.

Misfortune propels him to sell his older daughter to Dada Ṭhakur/Anupam Kher and when Sonia learns that Priti has been taken to Mumbai she escapes home to find her sister and is inevitably trapped into the flesh trade herself.

Love Sonia is about the tragedy of global sex trafficking in helpless minors. Director Tabrez Noorani who has been line producer for Hollywood films set in India aided by his writers (Shah/ Vaja/ Caplen) through a stirring tale of siblings’ journeys us to the inner working of a brothel. This isn’t the first time we are exposed to the cruel side of humanity but what sets apart Noorani is his intention to use cinema to lend a voice to the oppressed.

In a jarring scene, Richa Chaḍha describes the brothel to a Chakla – a place without doors and windows and we can sense the claustrophobia of the underbelly through dark streets and darker deeds.

New girls unwilling to obey orders are burnt, beaten, chained to the bed, locked in the dungeon and pushed to clean filthy toilets. After a police raid, the girls are drugged and cooped inside a container and smuggled to Hong Kong and further, their misery beautifully captured via never-ending flyovers and neon lights in different cities combined with a heart-rending score from Neils and A R Rehman.

The negative is that the pace slows down in the second half and the climax is unrealistic.

The positives are the performances – Adil Hussain, Anupam Kher, Manoj Bajpayee send shivers down your spine while you empathize with Riya Sisodiya, Richa Chaḍha and Freida Pinṭo but the film finally belongs to Sonia/ Mrunal Ṭhakur whose expressive face and eyes haunt you long after the film is over. Brave of her to choose this as her debut!

Love Sonia is stifling, disturbing, immensely depressing but the cruelties are understated. Watch it despite the melancholy to feel gratitude that you don’t know and never know any Sonia in your life.

I rate Love Sonia with 3.5 stars.

Bhawana Somaaya/ @bhawanasomaaya

It was evident then that both were well versed with each other and it came out of spending a lot of time with each other, which happens in this profession and particularly at their age.

So who between the two of you is the director’s favourite?

Janhvi: Me because my hero bullies me and he feels I need to be protected.

Ishaan: That’s true, Janhvi is the director’s favorite but these days the equilibrium is changing.

 Who is the producer’s favourite?

Janvi: He likes both of us equally.

Ishaan : That’s true Karan sir is nice to everybody

How is the family taking the pre-release pressures?

Janhvi: Dad is stressed but not showing it, he has been a producer all his life so he is more preoccupied with the logistics of the film, he is anxious about me as well but we prefer not to talk about it. My sister Khushi knows what’s going on within me, so there is excitement all around.

Ishaan: My mother was nervous before Beyond the Clouds and emotional after the screening, it is the same now. Brother Shahid is my bro and my friend; he has been through the grind himself and tells me to stay grounded.

Are you prepared for comparisons with your bloodline?

Janhvi: It happened all the time and now that I am coming into films, they will compare me to her as an actor, I am prepared.

Ishaan : Shahid is my brother and  it is natural that we have a resemblance, but I cannot match his caliber so comparisons are unfair.

 @bhawanasomaaya.com

A few days before the release of Dhadak I had met up with Ishaan Khattar and Janhavi Kapoor and both were excited about their forthcoming film, a month after the release of the film I bumped into the two separately and they told me that life had more or less turned out the way I had predicted for them.

Not as an astrologer but as a senior journalist and to understand what that means here’s recapping their enthusiastic chatter over the next few days…

Within a few days your film will be in cinema halls, what are you feeling?

Janhvi Kapoor: I am very excited about the release and cannot wait for it to hit the cinema halls we have worked very hard and want the film to be appreciated by everybody.

Ishaan Khattar: I am relishing every bit of the promotion process, every question asked and our answers is a journey of self-discovery but the release moment will be magical as well

Once the film is released you will not be spending as much time together as you are now?

Ishaan: We may not be spending time together but we will always stay connected, this bond is too special to fade out.

Janhvi: Exactly, both of us knew from the beginning that we will eventually travel our paths but we can remain friends forever.

Does it worry you that the film will be compared to Sairat?

Janhvi: On the contrary, I am proud to feature in the remake of an iconic film which has redefined box-office figures and hopes to find the same love from the audience.

Ishaan: See, all films cannot be originals and not all originals have the potential of a remake so you choose from what comes your way. I am overwhelmed to have been given the opportunity to play the hero in this one.

What was more fun, shooting with each other or having the camera entirely for self?

Janhvi: Honestly, shooting with Ishaan never seemed like work because we are so well co-ordinated but I loved my solo scenes as much because I love the camera.

Ishaan: We were comfortable together but when I was facing the camera alone I wanted to surprise myself all the time.

To be continued…

@bhawanasomaaya

I have been going to Ahmedabad since I was a little girl and even though I am a senior citizen today my eyes light up every time I visit my favourite city. The city has always proved a cathartic experience. It absorbs all my eccentricities and fills me with a new energy to face life.

Every year we take a road trip and do the same things and love the familiarity of it all. We visit our family temple in Rajkot followed by a stop at Gondal’s Khadi Plaza where we relish jalebi fafda with masala chai.

In the evening we stop at the mall and have an early meal and reach back home before midnight.

Next morning, over tea in the garden we discuss our darshan and our shopping followed by our regular meal comprising dhoklas and theplas.

On the third day when it is time to leave for Mumbai, it is painful to say goodbye to the Champa tree. The Red and the White Champas know that I will soon be back…

 @bhawanasomaaya

“He is very keen that I write poetry, from the time I was a little girl he has been asking me to give him 100 poems so he can publish me but I never did, not because I don’t like poetry but because my poetry is private and not for everyone.”.

Gulzar says that while lyrics and filmmaking is a part of a creative process only books are solitary possessions of the author and therefore most satisfactory. I tell Bosky books should be a way of life, should be written like a routine.”

Meghana smiles again to say her father has a way of making her do things he feels strongly about. He has pushed me as a creative artiste, as an author, not as a filmmaker because I always wanted to make movies.  I am blessed to have lived a fascinating life because I was privileged to have an enriched life because I was privileged to have enriched parents”.

To be continued…

 Bhawana Somaaya/ @bhawanasomaaya