Archives for March 2022

RRR review: SS Rajamouli provides an artistically crafted masala entertainer

March 27, 2022 by Keyur Seta Leave a Comment

Not many films receive the kind of enormous appreciation and humongous box office success like Baahubali: The Conclusion (2017) did. The movie made filmmaker SS Rajamouli a celebrated name across India. Such adulation is generally received only for star actors.

No doubt Rajamouli would have cherished such success. However, not many would have preferred to be in his shoes considering the huge expectations from his next. But despite such pressure and scrutiny, Rajamouli has not only made a film on a similar scale and even a higher budget but has also succeeding in hitting the bullseye yet again.

With RRR (Roudram Ranam Radhiram), he has given a masala entertainer worth celebrating.

RRR is fictional story featuring the real-life freedom fighters Alluri Seetarama Raju and Komaram Bheem. In the film, they are known as Ram (Ram Charan) and Bheem (Jr NTR). The story starts when a British family forcibly takes away a tribal girl with them after they are impressed with her singing and painting skills, despite her parents pleading and begging. Bheem, who hails from the same tribal community, is sent to Delhi to rescue the girl.

On the other hand, Ram (Ram Charan) works as a loyal cop in the British force. He is given the task of hunting down Bheem. They come across each other under unusual circumstances and become thick friends. Ram doesn’t reveal that he works for the British while Bheem also hides his identity. Bheem gets a shock when Ram betrays the friendship and arrests him for rebellion against the British government.

Three action sequences alone in the film are enough for your visit to the theatres – When Ram and Bheem meet for the first time, the long action sequence before the interval and the climatic war.

However, RRR provides much more than these paisa vasool moments. The story of the little girl, Ram and Bheem’s camaraderie, reunion and the climax are narrated through a screenplay that is fast as well as smooth by writer K Vijayendra Prasad (Rajamouli’s father).

On top of that, Rajamouli, as per his habit, has presented even the simplest of scenes as a visual treat; full of grandeur and style. His handling goes few notches higher while dealing with the aforementioned action sequences. The filmmaker has shown yet again that even a mass-pleasing masala entertainer can be presented in an artistic way.

He did the same in both Baahubali films and the result was such that even those who generally don’t prefer masala movies appreciated the films. Don’t be surprised if the same happens with RRR.

The technical aspects (cinematography, editing and background score) also play a major role in the film achieving high marks. There wasn’t much buzz about the music before the film’s release, at least for the Hindi version. But RRR’s songs suit the narrative and are pleasing to the ears too. The track ‘Nacho Nacho’ and the situation when it comes provides an electrifying effect.

After witnessing Ram Charan and Jr NTR’s chemistry, it is difficult to judge their performances individually. The two actors excel while displaying emotions and also during the wild action sequences. The writing and direction has given absolutely equal importance to both the characters.

Olivia Morris, as the British girl Jenni, becomes memorable despite the screen time. Ajay Devgn and Alia Bhatt do well in cameos. The child actress playing Malli impresses in a difficult role. The film doesn’t have much scope to the rest of the supporting cast.

Also read: The Kashmir Files review

Coming to the drawbacks, RRR’s pace dips a bit till sometime in the second half. The film also has the usual flaws when it comes to masala films where the focus is more on entertainment and less on logic.

But these issues don’t bother much after witnessing the exhilarating climax where the character of Ram actually fights while being Lord Ram.

Overall: RRR is an artistically made masala entertainer. The film needs to earn a huge amount at the box office in order to be called a blockbuster. It’s difficult to predict right now whether that will happen but the film surely stands a chance of becoming a hit.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Director: SS Rajamouli

Producers: DVV Entertainment

Writers: KV Vijayendra Prasad and SS Rajamouli

Cast: Ram Charan, Jr NTR, Olivia Morris, Ajay Devgn, Alia Bhatt (the last two in cameos)

When the umpire denied Shane Warne his 1st test century

March 19, 2022 by Keyur Seta Leave a Comment

The world lost one of the game’s greatest when Shane Warne untimely passed away earlier this month due to a heart-attack at the age of just 52. He was a legendary leg-spinner who continued to astonish with his sheer skills of getting batsmen out, including behind their legs, throughout his career.

Warne picked up a huge number of 708 wickets in test cricket and 293 in one-day internationals. He took a 5-wicket haul as many as 37 times in tests.

But Warne was also handy with the bat. At times, more than handy when the Aussie batting line-up struggled. One such incredible knock of his came against New Zealand in December 2001 in the 3^rd and the last test of the series.

The first two tests in Gabba and Hobart turned into draws, so the winner of the 3^rd match would have taken away the series.

New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat. Thanks to the three centuries from Lou Vincent, Stephen Flaming and Nathan Astle, they declared at a large score of 534 for 9. Australia didn’t have a good start and they kept losing wickets. Warne entered the scene when they were in trouble at 192 for 6 and unsure whether they would avoid the follow-on.

He had a good counter-attacking partnership with Damien Martyn but the latter got out on 60 when the score was 270 for 7. Warne continued playing attacking shots. But when he reached 80 odd, Australia had lost 9 wickets with Jason Gillespie out with the score on 346 for 9.

With Australia’s famous number 11 batsman Glenn McGrath for company, Warne took two 2’s off Shane Bond’s bowling when he was on 94, which took him to 98. He took a single off the last ball of the over and reached 99. Interestingly, Warne had scored an impressive 70 in the previous test at Hobart in the first innings.

Also read: When Geoffrey Boycott had to chew his hat because of Ajay Ratra

New Zealand’s Daniel Vettori, who was just in his early 20s back then, bowled to Warne when he was on 99. Maybe in a hurry to reach the three-figure milestone, Warne slogged Vettori on the second ball of the over. It still wasn’t a completely bad shot because mid-on and midwicket fielders were inside the circle.

However, he got a top-edge and the ball went high up in the air. Mark Richardson, fielding at deep square-leg, took a difficult catch. Warne was out on 99! Obviously, he was dejected and so was the enthusiastic crowd at the WACA.

But the story doesn’t end here. Later on, it was found that the ball on which Warne got out on 99 was a no-ball. Vettori had clearly overstepped, which is visible in the picture below. Warne’s disappointment increased further. If the umpire had spotted the no-ball, he would have crossed to the other end and that would have been his 100.

In just September last year, Warne was the guest on the funny cricket show ‘The Professor and Barney’ on Fox Sports where he relived those moments in a humorous way. During the course of the discussion while speaking about the no-ball not given, he said,

“Gimme a 100!”

Watch from 1:10 onwards to hear Shane Warne speak about his dismissal on 99

The Kashmir Files review: Creates an impact despite hiccups

March 12, 2022 by Keyur Seta 2 Comments

The genocide of Kashmiri Pandits is one of the darkest chapters in Indian history. Yet, not much has been spoken about it over the decades. We have had only two Hindi films made on the issue before this week – Ashoke Pandit’s Sheen (2004) and Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Shikara (2020). We now have the third one in the form of filmmaker Vivek Rankan Agnihotri’s The Kashmir Files.

How exactly the film plays out will be discussed later. But broadly speaking, it succeeds in its basic aim of making you feel for the incident and the Pandits.

The Kashmir Files narrates two parallel stories. One is based in 1990 when terrorists headlined by Farooq Abdul Bitta (Chinmay Mandlekar) create havoc in the lives of Kashmiri Pandits. They are given an option to convert to Islam, run for their lives or die. One such family is that of Pushkar Nath Pandit (Anupam Kher), his son, daughter-in-law (Bhasha Sumbli) and two grandsons.

The other track is based in today’s times and it revolves around Krishna Pandit (Darshan Kumaar), the grandson of Pushkar. He studies in ANU in Delhi and is a part of a radical group of students who don’t believe the enormity of the Kashmiri Pandit genocide and demand a separate Kashmir. The group is captained by their professor Radhika Menon (Pallavi Joshi).

Pushkar returns to Kashmir after his grandfather’s death to distribute his remains. Once there, he gets to know the seriousness of the Kashmiri Pandit issue and his views about the whole affair go through a change.

The Kashmir Files leaves no stone unturned when it comes to showing the gruesomeness of the whole incident. We see disturbing visuals of people being shot point blank, cut vertically through a wood-cutting machine, a woman forced to consume rice mixed with her murdered husband’s blood, etc. These visuals, obviously, are disturbing but a majority of times they work for bringing to light the horrific crimes against innocents.

Splitting the narrative into two time zones is a smart idea. One does feel a bit confused on few occasions but things fall into place, especially by the time the film ends.

The camerawork and colour grading suit the subject perfectly. This subject doesn’t deserve vibrant visuals of the valley, as is seen from various happy Hindi film songs shot here in the past.

This is the meatiest role Darshan Kumaar has ever got to play and he grabs the opportunity with both hands. He shines the most during his monologue. Chinmay Mandlekar is the best of all, not just when it comes to expressions and body language but also the diction. It’s difficult to believe that just last month we saw the same person play Shivaji Maharaj in the Marathi movie Pawankhind.

Pallavi Joshi, The Kashmir Files — Pallavi Joshi in The Kashmir Files

Pallavi Joshi is excellent as the radical professor. It is a surprise why we don’t see her more often. Mithun Chakraborty, as the helpless IAS officer, succeeds in moving you. Atul Srivastav and Puneet Issar chip in with good support. Bhasha Sumbli is the surprise element.

However, Anupam Kher doesn’t live up to the expectations as he goes in the over-the-top zone on quite a few occasions. This comes as a rude surprise.

The Kashmir Files would have been much more impactful but for few issues. The runtime of 170 minutes is very high. There are a number of periods where the pace slows down and the narrative almost becomes like a docu-drama. The film needed to be much crisper. Although Darshan Kumaar acts well, the way his character keeps changing sides is not convincing and too convenient.

But what hurts the film the most is the more than in-your-face propaganda when it comes to the portrayal of JNU [the censors made them change it to ANU]. The university is vilified as a hub whose only aim is to harm the nation, especially through the character of Pallavi Joshi.

Also read: Gangubai Kathiawadi review

At one point, this aspect becomes so strong that it somewhat reduces the impact created about the sorry tale of Kashmiri Pandits. In other words, this eagerness to paint the entire institute in a particular way affects the very issue the film eagerly wants to raise, although for some time.

Overall: The Kashmir Files creates an impact despite the hiccups. The film is expected to gain surprisingly positive box office collections because of the high amount of buzz. Plus, the film’s budget is only Rs 14 crore.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Director: Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri

Writer: Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri

Producers: Tej Narayan Agarwal, Abhishek Agarwal, Pallavi Joshi and Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri

Runtime: 170 minutes

When Geoffrey Boycott had to chew his hat because of Ajay Ratra

March 6, 2022 by Keyur Seta 3 Comments

Sir Geoffrey Boycott is easily one of the best test batsmen the cricketing world has seen. He played over 100 test matches for England and scored as many as 22 hundreds with an average close to 50. And this came at a time when batting was much tougher in the longest format of the game.

Geoffrey Boycott retired from international cricket in 1982 but that didn’t end his fame. As a commentator, in the coming years, he gained supreme popularity for his no-holds-barred and bold views behind the microphone. This resulted in him gaining fans from people who were born even after he stopped playing cricket, including me.

As per his true nature, Geoffrey Boycott had the habit of rubbishing off any player he didn’t like or felt wasn’t worthy enough to play international cricket. One such cricketer who became his target was India’s 20-year-old wicket-keeper batsman Ajay Ratra in the fourth test against the West Indies at Antigua during the 2002 tour.

It was Ratra’s debut series and he wasn’t able to show any magic from his bat before that match. Deep Dasgupta played the role of the wicket-keeper in the first test. But he was replaced by Ratra from the second test onwards in the five match series. In his first two tests [2^nd and 3^rd test of the series], he had scores of under 20 with one 0.

But Ratra was still included in the playing 11 in the fourth test. He came into bat in the first innings when India were 257 for 6. As soon as he faced a few balls and wasn’t able to play them with confidence, Geoffrey Boycott started criticizing him with his famous line being, “I don’t think he can bat.”

This started a fun banter in the commentary box between him and Ravi Shastri, who subtly took Ratra’s side. When Shastri said he is a good batsman, Boycott came up with a vow saying that he will chew his hat if Ratra scores a hundred.

I didn’t think much of that at that time because I could see Ratra was struggling and I didn’t have much hopes from him. But somehow, he stood his ground and started playing with some confidence. After a while, he even reached his fifty. Now, I did start thinking about Boycott’s vow. The also led to some fun in the commentary box.

Ratra finished the day on 92 not out.

In an interview with former cricketer and YouTuber Padamjeet Sehrawat in 2020, Ratra said that he wasn’t aware at all about what transpired in the commentators’ box that day. After the day’s play, Shastri told Ratra to please score the remaining 8 runs and that it would be great fun in the commentary box if he did so.

The next day, after some anxiety-driven moments when he was on 99, Ratra finally reached the three-figure mark through a boundary down to the fine leg area. He was, obviously, overjoyed and so was Shastri. He then came up with his remark that I still remember, “The man who can’t bat is batting on 100.”

Ratra’s century had an even more importance. He became the first Indian specialized wicket-keeper to score a test century overseas. The yesteryear icon Vijay Manjrekar did score a 100 against West Indies in West Indies in 1953 while keeping wickets, but he wasn’t a specialized wicket-keeper.

There were more records broken in the match. It was the first test match ever where wicket-keepers from both the teams scored centuries after WI’s Ridley Jacobs also scored one. Other than these records, the match was a boring draw.

Coming back to Ratra’s century, Geoffrey Boycott had to keep his word. I remember he showed some great sportsmanship and did chew his hat once after the day’s play while criticizing the West Indian bowlers. Shastri made the occasion livelier by bringing a glass of wine.

Of course, it was all in good humour.

P.S: I was reminded of this incident at the end of last year while watching Kabir Khan’s 83. The film highlighted an incident where an English journalist had to literally eat his own words after team India proved him wrong by winning the 1983 World Cup.

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