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SagarMehta87
Reviews
Raazi (2018)
A good ride, but not close to a masterpiece
Patriotism sells well. If you can combine it with a gripping story, that's even better.
Raazi sees Alia take on the role of Sehmat, an Indian spy who marries a Pakistani Army officer to send intel back to India. It's not a role she takes up because she loves her country, but because her father hands down this responsibility. All of 20 and barely trained in being a spy, she sets off to Pakistan as a newly-wed.
A movie like this relies on the believability of its stars. That's something that it delivers in the career-making performance of Vicky Kaushal, who plays the (eventually doomed) husband. Alia is believable as well, holding her own in scenes setup like horror movie jump-scares - you know it is thrilling because the film tells you it is. Shankar Mahadevan's background score helps accentuate this feeling well.
On the downside though, you're slapped out of your suspension-of-disbelief when Sehmat spends way too long screaming and lashing out at the officer who trained her near the end of the movie. Her inner conflict & anger at what happened seems to not understand a basic thing anyone who is a spy or in the military would understand: collateral damage.
Some of the movie, though thrilling, feels too easy like when Sehmat plants an "orgy of evidence" against the trusted servant (who she killed earlier). On the plus side, the relationship between Sehmat and her husband is handled with care so that it never seems too fast. That they make out for the first time while Sehmat is mourning her father's death was cringe-worthy but you let it go as quickly as the movie itself does.
Movies like Baby & Special 26 keep you hooked the whole time and the stakes in those movies are pretty low, compared to here where a full-fledged war between India & Pakistan is almost certain. Yet, those higher stakes are never really communicated and it feels like a normal suspense thriller with a patriotic tinge.
There's a monologue about the casualties of war by Kanwaljit at the beginning that features Sehmat and Iqbal's son as one of the officers listening in, which picks up after the movie as well. I'm not sure why this was necessary, because I didn't feel it helped setup or finish the story in any way.
One thing I did like was the fact that none of the Pakistanis (army men or otherwise) were depicted as maniacal or hardliners. They were treated as citizens who feel a sense of duty towards their country, much like Sehmat.
All in all, a good ride, but not close to a masterpiece.
Kaalakaandi (2018)
Fun, especially the first half
Indian cinema is rapt with sentimental, over-the-top and routinely cheesy films that revolve around family or romance or both and barely explores new areas. Other than the occasional horror flick from Vikram Bhatt or something out of the Kashyapscape, there's never any respite from from the drudgery of dance numbers and emo-esque melodies. A film like Kalakandi therefore has the responsibility not only to be different but to be extremely entertaining to stay relevant.
That's not a good predicament to be in, though it does succeed in being a black comedy as it claims to be. The first half has genuine laughs. Where it falters as a movie is where it gives in to the lore of backstories and motives. It isn't enough that Saif has a life-ending disease (the news of which triggers the film's "trip"), but also a failed marriage and a son he doesn't get to meet. That story arc finds only 2 mentions and adds no layers to the character.
What does work really well are the acid trip visuals. Although slightly incorrect in how they're shown and possibly a bit exaggerated, they do give a kind of preview of what a real trip might be like and also add to the laughs sprinkled throughout the film.
Another thing the film achieves, with surprising success for Bollywood, is its treatment of a transgender character. Without being overtly sexual or derogatory, it still goes through the cliches and curiosities around them. That's mature film-making.
There's 2 other story tropes, with two young couples at a night out and two thugs planning a way to loot their boss. It's a pleasure to see Shenaz Treasurywala (Ishq Vishk, remember?) and Pappi Bhaiya (Deepak Dobriyal), who holds his own in every frame with Vijay Raaz.
The star power is surely with Saif but he never steals the spotlight. It's the perfect kind of film for Saif because he has certain limitations when he's the leading man. Without him though, this would feel like an indie film about getting high and money or something. Him being there helps the film and even the scenes where he isn't there, simply because you want to go back to find out what's up with him.
The film doesn't try to tie together the three plots, except a chance meeting of 10-15 seconds. Better editing would help. The one thing I despised was the last scene when Pappi gets hit by a bullet Saif shoots towards the sky. I was reminded of the movie Welcome. That felt obvious for the film and yet very forced.
I'd say watch it for the first half, and let the second half go by without complaining.
Tumhari Sulu (2017)
Acting chops aside, this is mostly Sulochna
Vidya Balan doesn't need to prove she has acting chops. To the discerning eye, glimpses of her in Euphoria's Gully music video or the Parineeta trailer are enough proof. In a film about Sulu then, it feels utterly unnecessary to have scenes that serve the actor, rather than the film itself.
Sulu's husband is played by Jajantaram Mamantaram's Manav Kaul, who I was happy to see after so long. He does a good job of whatever limited screen time he's given, especially in the hit song Ban Ja Rani. Even Neha Dhupia glimmers in her pseudo-glamorous role of a radio station boss.
Balan has played a radio jockey before (Munnabhai 2). Here, it's her Dirty Picture character brought into the mic booth. What is an interesting idea for a story makes for a very slow movie because of scenes that could be cut short.
The love between Sulochna and her husband never feels forced and is handled delicately, given that there's always a kid at home. If you to came to see Balan, you get her in leaps and bounds. But, you get her in ordinary, boring scenes that drag on and on. The husband and child are given decently progressive arcs for their stories where they actually go through things (husband through a new boss and a threat to his job at the company he's been loyal to for 12 years, the kid spoiled and bullied and fighting to gain approval).
Balan gets no such arc. First, she's a housewife who really wants to do something with her life. Then, she gets a job as a radio jockey. That's pretty much it. There's the usual melodrama you'd expect in a movie that follows a middle-class family.
What's missing is the real pizzaz you'd expect out of a film about an RJ who plays a sensual lady anyone can talk to. Sulu's sexy voice is great to hear, only she isn't given many scenes to truly shine. We have to make-do with less than 5 scenes of her on the job, which is sad because her tear-jerking resignation is the longest scene in the whole film.
Yes, she spends more time quitting her job than doing it. As an audience, you aren't quite sorry for Sulu as she does it. This is simply because we never see what the journey was like or what it meant to her.
In one of the best scenes that shows how much potential having the RJ on air could have had, Sulu gets a call from an old man who lost his wife, also called Sulu, to old age. When Sulu talks to the man and calls him Sudha like his wife used to, you cannot help tearing up yourself with bittersweet happiness. This scene only proves how wasteful the other scenes were.
What would have saved the movie was this Sulu - more scenes on the radio, children calling Sulu aunty, angry women calling her to complain about their husbands, young girls calling her for real advice on life or men or both, men calling her to learn how to deal with strong women they like - ah, the possibilities. I'd even be ok with some sort of a moral lecture in there if it meant I could get more scenes on the radio.
But for now, I think a better title for the movie would be "Mostly Sulochna".