Sunday, November 19, 2023

The Railway Men: A Gripping Retelling of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy


The Railway Men, Netflix's latest series, isn't just a 'story' of the 1984 Bhopal Gas Tragedy; it's a powerful 'retelling' that grips you with horrific realism. The valiant Railway Men of Bhopal prevented a catastrophic death toll, showcasing courage beyond duty. 

The four episodes unfold with terrific

performances, a brilliant screenplay, and a haunting 80s setup. The detailed portrayal of safety issues at the Union Carbide Factory, accompanied by a chilling background score, intensifies the narrative. 

Scenes like the moment of gas leak, Divyendu's entry scene, Raghubeer Yadav's crucial train sequence, trains about to collide, and Kay Kay Menon's communication attempt are a few instances of the brilliance of this show. The series has many such scenes that keeps you hooked.

The last impactful scene of burials is reminiscent of 'Sardar Udham' Jallianwala Bagh Massacre. Kay Kay Menon, as the Station Master, deserves a National Award for his phenomenal performance, portraying a range of emotions flawlessly. 

Babil Khan shines as the fresh locopilot with a personal history, resembling his father Irfan's brilliance Divyendu Sharma adds humor as a robber disguised as a constable, providing a needed balance to the intense drama.

R. Madhavan and the stellar supporting cast, including Juhi Chawla and Rahgubeer Yadav, elevate the cinematic experience. Yashraj Entertainment's OTT debut surpasses expectations, outshining their recent theatrical release. 

"The Railway Men" is a must-watch, transporting you into the tragedy's pain, dread, and heroism.It bring forths the negligence of authorities but largely celebrates the bravery that saved thousands. Don't miss this cinematic journey – you won't regret it. #TheRailwayMen #NetflixReview @chhabs @mimansashekhar @kaykaymenon02




Saturday, October 28, 2023

Mani Ratnam Masterclass Highlights :The Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival 2023

 The Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival 2023 recently hosted a Masterclass featuring renowned filmmaker Mani Ratnam in conversation with director Imtiaz Ali. Mani Ratnam, a celebrated figure with a four-decade-long career, shared insights into his creative process and filmmaking journey. During the event, he was honored with the MAMI Excellence in Cinema Award (South Asia) for his remarkable contributions to the world of cinema.


Mani Ratnam, known for his versatility in exploring various genres, discussed his early influences and how he finds stories in everyday life experiences. He emphasized that the story leads all other aspects of filmmaking, from casting to language and setting. His creative process involves multiple roles, including writing, directing, and editing, each with its unique approach.

Ratnam also highlighted the importance of working with diverse talents, including his encounter with music maestro AR Rahman. He stressed the significance of learning from failures and adapting to audience preferences. He mentioned that filmmaking becomes more enjoyable when actors contribute creatively to the process.

The Masterclass was well-received by cinema enthusiasts, directors, actors, writers, and cinematographers, providing an opportunity to interact with the accomplished filmmaker. Additionally, Mani Ratnam's recent blockbusters, Ponniyin Selvan part I and II, were screened at the festival.

Mani Ratnam's body of work is characterized by intimate character portrayals, exploration of societal and cultural contexts, and nuanced themes. His notable films include "Pallavi Anupallavi," "Mouna Ragam," "Nayakan," "Roja," "Bombay," "Iruvar," "Alaipayuthey," "Kannathil Muthamittal," and "Guru." He has received accolades such as the Padma Shri and the Jaeger-LeCoultre Glory to the Filmmaker Award at the Venice Film Festival.

The Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival, the most prestigious South Asian Film Festival, has returned after three years and features screenings and events at eight venues across Mumbai from October 27 to November 5, 2023. The festival actively fosters a cinematic ecosystem for voices from the region and beyond.

Photo Gallery: Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival's Grand Opening Ceremony

 


Vijay Verma


Vidhu Vinod Chopra


Tannishtha Chatterjee, Guneet Monga and Amit Sial 


Tahira Kashyap Khurrana 


Sunny Leone

Sunny Kaushal 

Sonam Kapoor Ahuja 


Sobhita Dhulipala 


Siddharth Roy Kapur 


Shriya Pilgoankar and Saiee Manjrekar 


Shanaya Kapoor 


Shabana Azmi


Sanya Malhotra


Saif Ali Khan


Riteish Deshmukh 


Richa Chada and Ali Fazal


Priyanka Chopra 


Karishma Kapoor


Sharvari Wajh and Karan Johar


Jim Sarbh


Ekta Kapoor

Babil Khan

Tara Sutaria

Rajkummar Rao and Patralekha 


Ishaan Khatter 


Bhumi Pednekar


Aditi Rao Hydari


Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival's Grand Opening Ceremony

The Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival, renowned as the world's premier South Asian film festival, marked its triumphant return with a spectacular on-ground opening ceremony. The festival, held at the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre (NMACC) in Mumbai, featured an impressive gathering of both international and South Asian talents, including luminaries such as Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Mira Nair, Luca Guadagnino, Kamal Haasan, Mani Ratnam, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Sonam Kapoor, and more. 

The event was graced by Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Chairperson of the Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival, and Isha Ambani, Executive Director of Reliance Retail Ventures Limited and Director of Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited. The opening ceremony introduced a meticulously curated lineup of over 250 films spanning ten days, from October 27 to November 5, boasting an impressive 40 World Premieres, 45 Asia Premieres, and more than 70 South Asia Premieres. Notably, this edition saw a record-breaking submission of over 1,000 films for the South Asia program.

The evening commenced with the prestigious Excellence in Cinema Award, presented to internationally acclaimed directors Mani Ratnam and Luca Guadagnino for their substantial contributions to the world of film. These awards were presented by Kamal Haasan and Priyanka Chopra Jonas. 

The festival's South Asia Competition features a distinguished jury, headed by Academy Award-nominated director Mira Nair, along with esteemed members David Michod, Isabel Sandoval, and Edouard Waintrop.

Bhumi Pednekar, the brand ambassador for Dimensions Mumbai, awarded the winners of the short film competition centered on the theme of Mumbai City. The winners were joined by Dimensions Jury members Shahana Goswani, Anvitaa Dutt, and Shriya Pilgaonkar.

Sonam Kapoor, brand ambassador for Word To Screen, honored the Book on Cinema award recipient, Prakash Magdum, for "Mahatma on Celluloid: A Cinematic Biography." Word to Screen is an innovative platform offered by the Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival, facilitating collaboration between writers, publishers, and filmmakers to adapt stories into various film formats.

The festival paid tribute to legendary figures in the film industry, presenting them with Lifetime Achievement Awards. The esteemed honorees included Aruna Vasudev, Nasreen Munni Kabir, and Uma da Cunha. These awards were presented by Marco Muller, Karan Johar, and Adoor Gopalakrishnan, respectively.

The Royal Stag Barrel Select Large Short Films awards celebrated outstanding short films, with "Summer of Soul" by Sanjib Gogoi being named the Best Film, and James Elia from the film "Vakuppu (The Clause)" winning the Best Actor award.

For the first time in India, Jio MAMI partnered with IMDb to establish a portrait studio that attracted stars like Kareena Kapoor Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Sonam Kapoor, and Mira Nair. Additionally, this year's festival introduced the IMDb Audience Choice Award, which will honor the most popular title with a cash prize of 15 lacs for the winning filmmaker.

The opening ceremony featured the presence of festival partners, including Jio, Reliance Foundation, PVR Inox, Turkish Airlines, Film AlUla, NEOM, IMDb, and Royal Stag.

Anupama Chopra, Festival Director, concluded the opening ceremony by acknowledging the Young Critic Award winner, Diya Mathur. The evening was hosted by Neha Dhupia.

To cap off the event, the festival treated its audience to the South Asia premiere of "The Buckingham Murders," starring Kareena Kapoor Khan, directed by Hansal Mehta, and produced by Ektaa Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor Khan.

The Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival promises ten days of cinematic enchantment and the celebration of film's finest, making it a must-attend event for film enthusiasts and industry professionals.

Saturday, December 3, 2022

Is 'style' over powering 'substance'?

Off-late the two Hindi movies that I watched; both made me ponder over 'style & substance'. Few weeks ago, 'Monica O My Darling' was a 'stylish' attempt to represent 'neo-noir'. It did work largely due to the decorated presentation and the 'substance' - the story had enough plot twists- some organic - a few quite convenient ones still to keep one hooked. 

Take for instance the death reveal of the titular character Monica. It was a convenient plot twist. As viewers, we are smart to identify that the killer could be one of the many characters introduced earlier. What saves the film is the comedy treatment of situations that could have otherwise been a one note scene. Of course the racy late 70's & 80's 'style' music and fantastic lyrics heightened the 'suspense' element. 

This week, I got to watch 'Freddy'. Another film lost to 'style' over substance. The trailer has already revealed to us that Dr. Freddy Ginnwala is a psycho killer. I began watching 'Freddy' expecting that the film would offer some serious rationale behind the motive, something more than what meets the eye. 

Alas, this isn't Drishyam or Drishyam 2 - a perfect crime drama and a strong emotional reason for the protagonist's motive who gets accidentally embroiled in the killing of an unwanted guest.

Freddy lingers largely between a 'revenge' drama and 'neo-noir' theme - where you are to decide if the protagonist's moves are morally correct. Sadly, the backstory for such a knee-jerk killing and eventual planned revenge by Freddy, a reputed Doctor today, is not entirely convincing. C'mon - murder witnesses donot become murderers!

It has been pretty convenient and cliched for Hindi films to add 'Love' (or the lack of it) as the prime reason for plot twists. We saw this with 'Brahmastra' too where the makers shove down our throats the reason why Shiva could over power the ultimate weapon 'Brahmastra'.

The world has perennially been debating whether 'Art imitates Life' or 'Life imitates Art'. Given the chicken and egg situation and the recent spine chilling Delhi murder, where 'ditching love to pieces' rocked our nation, it is disturbing to see love taking ugly turns.

You cannot be telling the audience to root for a sharp, self-assured, perpetrator that suddenly emerged from a nerdy, under confident, insecure character like Freddy and remains unscathed till the end!

Unless of course you want the audience to cheer for the acting prowess and striking presence of Karthik Aryan and immerse them in your 'stylised' decorative cinema over loosely stitched script that puts the blame on a failed love story, bad child-hood trauma as the cause and effect. 

Freddy is available on Disney + Hotstar for you to Judge.

Friday, August 23, 2019

Rajesh Rajgor's Book Review of 'I Don't Want To Meet Lord Krishna!' by Yashaswini K


When Radha Srinivasan, a crime reporter, is chosen to interview Lord Krishna, little did she know that the most fascinating interview of her life would turn into a nightmare. Once the interview gets published, she gets embroiled into one crime case after another. Many people do not believe the interview, but some who do believe, want to meet the Lord. Every now and then Radha finds herself thrust into an adventure fraught with perils. Things go to such an extent that her resistance is frequently tested. Can she over-power the incidents and come out triumphant? What exactly happened that she decides not to meet her favorite God. The incidents that lead to her decision involve the entire story of the novel – I don’t want to meet Lord Krishna!


First and foremost, I really liked the plot that has the mix of fantasy as well as crime. The thought of interviewing Lord Krishna by a crime reporter is exciting. Out of the 24 chapters, the first 12 chapters are really well-sketched out and lives upto my expectations and gives a direction to the book. Be it the pertinent questions of how society interprets religion, the varna system, the first crime incident, although involving Kashmir and the human Karma are very well presented. These chapter are successful in bridging the first interview that Radha publishes to the incident she faces.

However, I would have enjoyed the story further if all the incidents beyond Chapter 12, were inter-related too. Showing Radha face several criminal cases, one after the another and most of the time they are more societal in nature, than having direct relevance to Krishna, is overly ambitious to a character who is a criminal reporter. Writer Yashaswini K, throws in every possible crime scene that you would have read, heard or seen. From Kidnapping to rape and murder – everything finds a way in Radha’s life.

The idea of Krishna and his teachings as a central theme could have made for a more authentic storyline, had Radha used it for solving any one strong criminal case. Instead, the writer makes Radha solve different cases with very little or No connection to Krishna’s teachings established in the first couple of chapters.

Although, I wasn’t sure where the book was headed until the very last few pages, I will give writer Yashaswini K credit for constructing independent stories on the lines of Sherlock Homes. She builds up a strong cast of secondary characters who are all well-fleshed out and have their own plot threads. Apart from the central character Radha, her brother Karthik and Karthik’s friend Keshav are pick of the lot. Even Lord Krishna, emerges as the best thing throughout the length of the book. In fact, some of Krishna’s character traits like being smart and mischievous are also seen in Radha’s behavior. Hence, by the time, Radha says ‘I Don’t Want to Meet Lord Krishna’ you sense that this is just a temporary anguish, there is more than what meets the eye.

Click 'here' to buy the Book

Subscribe and Hit the Bell Icon to Watch the Video Review on YouTube