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Ghahreman (2021)
I sunk in my seat during the last shot, you know a masterpiece when you experience it!
I am no critic, just a normal movie buff with an appreciation for thought-provoking storylines.
Having followed him since 'A Separation', Asghar Farhadi has time and again left me thinking deeper about the meaning of life. We can agree that he has defined his style through layering in nuances within seemingly simple plots, but every movie is as unpredictable as the previous.
Note: I personally don't want him to try out radically different ideas, just how you wouldn't expect an abstract painting from Monet, and 'A Hero' is a unique Farhadi-esque masterpiece, which I saw pre-release at a boutique New York theatre.
The movie starts out with an Iranian prisoner (Jadidi) starting on parole leave, during which they end up contributing to a seemingly noble deed. Without mentioning spoilers, this act, coupled with a bit of whitewashing, brings the prisoner a lot of goodwill and fame. What results is a complex game of limelight stretching and jealousy, which upends the prisoner's life.
What I love about the plot is that it perfectly captures the imperfections of humans (which I categorize across pride, greed, envy, wrath), and is a refreshing slap in my face which is so attuned to "happy endings" and the concept of an "ideal human society". A good example being the exploitation of the protagonist's verbally-challenged son by those seeking to save themselves through sympathy.
However, with that being said, 'A Hero' really elicited some of my feelings deep within during the last shot, which really highlighted that all of us really only desire the same thing at the end, no matter your age, religion, nationality, wealth, etc.
While Farhadi plots do a great job standing on their own, Jadidi did a far better job than prior protagonists towards adding emotions to the storyline, leaving me angry, perplexed, frustrated, sad and happy throughout this emotional rollercoaster.
It is unfortunate that folks are comparing 'A Hero' to prior movies and panning the ratings, which does disservice to artists (as ridiculous as choosing the 'better' between the Taj Mahal and the Pyramids of Giza.
Instead, I give it a 10/10 because a) It's a movie like none other b) It brings out raw human nature that is often disguised c) It leaves you thinking about your true desires in life.
Thackeray (2019)
Feels quite empty, had expected much more based on trailer
6/10 - Coming back after seeing this biopic of the larger-than-life Marathi politician, I am quite disappointed at how they have not done justice to this movie.
Acting: First of all, Nawazuddin is the only major role in this film and others remain bystanders throughout the movie. Nawaz is probably one of the better actors in today's era and he proves it with another great performance. However, he seems uncomfortable with Marathi and falls short at the fiery roar that Balasaheb possessed. For example, when I saw Sanju, I didn't realize that it was not Sanjay Dutt acting. Such actor-character sync was missing.
Yet, he was perhaps the best choice for this complex role (but would've preferred Nana Patekar or Manoj Bajpai if they were younger). Amrita Rao, while being the other major character, is non-existent and missable.
Screenplay: The story, while doing a good job of taking us through Thackeray's life, did feel over the top at times (Remember that this movie was produced by Sanjay Raut, who is a part of the Shiv Sena so it excessively glorifies the character). I also hated the fact that the first half is in black&white. I mean, what's the point?
However, it was really interesting to see some politically-unrelated moments of Balasaheb's life that I wasn't aware of. Some dialogues are pearls.
Direction: This was the biggest let down for me. Abhijit Panse, who had previously made his debut with Rege (2014) - an absolute gem of a movie - seemed sloppy in his second (though I am not sure how much he could control things). It appeared as if he let Nawaz get away at times, but could've aimed at perfection.
He also tries to tell too many things in 2 hours. I would've preferred less things but in more detail.
Music: While there are no songs in this movie, background effects were really good and gave me goosebumps many times, inspiring me to pay attention to every scene.
Editing: Like I mentioned, there are too many scenes, and the movie seems very fast. They should've fixed it.
All in all, worth a watch, but don't have high hopes like Sanju or Bhaag Milkha Bhaag. 6/10 stars.
Police Lines Ek Purna Satya (2016)
Fresh story and good acting, but feels over the top at times
Police Line is a good effort by Raju Parsekar at depicting the rough life of poorly-treated constables who form the heart of Mumbai's Police force.
Our usual notions about cops are associated with corruption and abuse of power, but this film will show you the other side of things, wherein constables have to work for over 14 hours a day, stay in shabby quarters and take on criminals at great risk to their own lives. The fact that such (real) things haven't been covered in other movies is unfortunate, and this movie is remarkable with a fresh story.
The direction is decent, and Raju makes sure everything stays together.
Juvekar, as in his other brilliant performances from Morya and Rege, is great with his acting. His co-stars put in decent performances, but they seem over the top in certain scenes, partly because the screenplay is such.
The editing could have been better, as the last quarter is much faster than the rest of the movie.
Of course, one can't expect a grand set or a great soundtrack from a very low-budget Marathi movie.
All in all, a nice movie that people should watch. I'm glad the Marathi movie industry still risks explore alternative movies, and the others should definitely try to do that same.