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Archives for June 2024

Paradise (English-Sinhala-Malayalam) review: Provides a gradual hard-hitting jolt

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Filmmaker Prasanna Vithanage’s Paradise is a Sri Lankan-Indian joint venture produced by Newton Cinema and presented by Mani Ratnam’s Madras Talkies. The movie is a tri-lingual in English, Sinhala and Malayalam.

Paradise tells the story of a couple from Kerala, Kesav (Roshan Mathew) and Amritha (Darshana Rajendran), who visit a hill station in Sri Lanka to celebrate their fifth wedding anniversary. Their trip coincides with the mass protests in April 2022 after the country declares bankruptcy. Hence, there are agitations at various places for basic necessities of life.

But Kesav and Amritha are not bothered much and they start spending quality time with each other. Kesav’s happiness doubles after his upcoming web series gets greenlit by Netflix. However, their happiness is short-lived after they are robbed at night when they are fast asleep. Both of them lose their gadgets. Kesav faces a bigger loss as his work related stuff was in the iPad and mobile phone, which got stolen. They lodge a police complaint.

This reviewer hadn’t seen the film’s trailer before watching the film and that turned out to be a good idea since the trailer gives away a lot.

As the couple start their trip, one is constantly reminded of the impending protests in the background. And that is enough to not only keep you hooked but also anxious of things turning sour for them. Once the robbery takes place, the narrative goes into a different drive.

What’s more impressive is that the movie is not narrated like a crime thriller with elements to keep you hooked, especially through the technical departments. It follows a gradual narrative and has enough material naturally to keep things tense. The film scores the highest during the handling of the ending moments that provide a jolt. Along with that, Paradise also deserves brownie points for portraying the slow and seamless cracks in the relationship between Kesav and Amritha.

The characters are seen giving references of different versions of Ramayana. During a conversation, one character speaks about the Jain version of the epic. This appears like a casual conversation until you experience the ending moments, which leave you speechless as well as with a few questions.

There is not much of a negative point in Paradise. The only little issue here is that the two of them face a personal problem after their stuff is stolen and are not directly affected by the mass protests. Of course, the robbery can be an indirect reason for the lack of amenities in Sri Lanka at that time. But one would expect them to face something directly related to the volatile situation.

Roshan Mathew and Darshana Rajendran have proven their talent on numerous occasions over the years. They are flawless here too. There are various moments when they speak a lot without saying much, especially when their relation is going through a gradual turmoil. The movie also has some fine performances from numerous supporting actors.

Overall: Paradise is a finely narrated drama that refuses to leave you much after it ends.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Director: Prasanna Vithanage

Producers: Newton Films

Cast: Roshan Mathew, Darshana Rajendran

Also read: Pushtaini review: A true-blue independent film with a big heart

Pushtaini review: A true-blue independent film with a big heart

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A lot of indie films are based on unexpected journeys that bring about a change in the film’s character(s) and provide a heartwarming message in the end. Director, actor and producer Vinod Rawat’s Pushtaini is also one such film but it succeeds in standing apart due to quite a few reasons.

The story revolves around Bhupinder Rawat aka Bhuppi (Vinod Rawat). He is a struggling actor in Mumbai, who has just landed a role in a film starring the famous actor Ankur Bhatia (Rajkummar Rao) for a small sum. If this wasn’t enough, his friend (?) Sumit (Nitin Goel) shows him a video of his sex scandal that happened while he was drunk recently. Bhuppi has no idea of him indulging in such an act. But now Sumit asks for Rs 8 lakhs from him, else he threatens to make the video viral.

This takes Bhuppi to his hometown in Nainital in some hope to get the money from his family to pay Sumit. He visits his sister’s family first and gets a jolt to know that his father died mysteriously a year ago. His father had created a will on his name. Bhuppi hopes to lay his hands on the money, so that he is bailed out of the embarrassing situation. However, things are not as easy as they seem. Circumstances take him to a voyage across the state of Uttarakhand with unexpected people.

The aforementioned story appears very massy or commercial. But Pushtaini is anything but that and this is not said in a negative manner. The movie is made with limited resources. Even the numerous actors are from Rawat’s own family.

This, however, doesn’t stop Pushtaini from becoming a heartwarming, funny and emotional saga that says a lot without saying much. The narrative uses unconventional means but it never loses track and continues to keep you gripped, with some surprising turns adding to the goodness. The short duration of 80 minutes also helps the cause. A major positive here are the dialogues that are conversational but at the same time funny and moving.  

On the flipside, it is difficult to believe that in today’s day and age of connectivity, Bhuppi was unaware that his father passed away for one long year. There are also a couple of moments of emotional outbursts by the protagonist that don’t gel well in an otherwise subtle narrative.  

But this doesn’t reflect negatively on Vino Rawat’s performance since he does well in those moments too. The actor, who is Hrithik Roshan’s acting coach, shows a gamut of emotions with ease. He deserves to get more and bigger acting opportunities. Rita Heer (Dimple), Hemant Pandey (Hemant), Prema Karayat (Bhuppi’s aunt), Nitin Goel and Mithilesh Pandey (Yashpal Sharma) also chip in with good acts. They, along with various others, don’t make one feel that they are non-actors.

Pushtaini doesn’t boast of rich production design or flashy editing or camerawork. But the technical aspects work well suit the film of this nature.  

Overall: Pushtaini is a true-blue indie film with a big heart.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Director: Vinod Rawat

Producers: Lotus Dust Pictures and VinRaw Films

Cast: Vinod Rawat, Rita Heer, Hemant Pandey, Nitin Goel, Rajkummar Rao

Also read: Maharaj review: Karsandas Mulji’s story, unfortunately, is relevant even after 160 years

Maharaj review: Karsandas Mulji’s story, unfortunately, is relevant even after 160 years

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The name of Karsandas Mulji isn’t heard often when one speaks of Indian social reformers that were active during the British Era. Filmmaker Siddharth P Malhotra’s Maharaj will perhaps make him a talking point to some extent as the film is based on his heroics in a bygone era.

Produced by Yash Raj Films, Maharaj, which is streaming on Netflix, is based on the book of the same name written by Saurabh Shah in 2013. It narrates the story of Karsandas’ fight against an evil priest. The story starts off in a village in Gujarat in the 1820s where Karsandas, as a kid, questions everything, especially religious practices. He is sent to Bombay to his uncle’s place after he grows up (Junaid Khan). Karsan’s critical and revolutionary mind makes him a fearless journalist and a social reformer. He regularly writes about the evil social practices in Dadabhai Naoroji’s (Sunil Gupta) newspaper.

Karsan is engaged to Kishori (Shalini Pandey) and they deeply fall in love. During that era, Jadunathji (pronounced in the film as ‘Yadunath’) Maharaj (Jaideep Ahlawat), the priest of the biggest haveli (temple for Vaishnavas) in Mumbai, is worshiped by millions. He makes negative use of the devotion by engaging in ‘charan sparsh’ with young girls. The activity is nothing but sleeping with girls in the name of blessing.

One such ‘charan sparsh’ activity by Jadunath enrages Karsan and brings both of them face-to-face with each other. Karsan vows to expose and punish Jadunath through the use of his pen but the evildoer is unperturbed because of his powerful social position.  

The basic plot of Maharaj is similar to that of Manoj Bajpayee starrer Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hai (2023), which was based on the infamous Asaram case. But the makers of the former can’t be accused of taking inspiration from the latter for two reasons – Maharaj is also based on a true story and the film was in production before the Bajpayee starrer was released.

Apart from that, what sets Maharaj apart is that it takes the viewer deep into the chamber of the evil Godman and his practices over there. It also goes into detail when it comes to the religious practices and rituals of the devotees of Shrinathji. What also makes the film hard-hitting is the powerful lines, especially the ones mouthed by Karsan. The sequence where he addresses a large group of devotees after Jadunath shuts the haveli temporarily provides goosebumps and is certainly the highest moment of the film.

The court proceedings, although arriving much later, keep the hard-hitting nature of the film alive and the dialogues play a major role here too. The final moment surprisingly doesn’t provide the kind of a kick one would expect, especially after experiencing the aforementioned scene. But nevertheless, the film ends on a high, more so because of the tribute given to the real Karsandas Mulji.

Maharaj isn’t fully perfect in its narrative though. The idea of traditional families happily giving away their daughters to Jadunath for ‘charan sparsh’ despite knowing what he actually does with them and accepting it as an important ritual is not established at all. We also don’t get to know how Karsan earns enough money to live a decent lifestyle. There are a few other questionable moments and creative liberties too.

Subrata Chakraborty and Amit Ray’s production design recreate the bygone era to perfection. The film is also rich in music (Sohail Sen) and the background score (Sanchit Balhara and Ankit Balhara).

Maharaj marks the debut of Junaid Khan in what is one of the most heroic and challenging characters of recent times. The young actor displays his talent by successfully getting into the difficult shoes of Karsandas Mulji (more so in the scene mentioned above), except for one or two instances. Jaideep Ahwalat is remarkable as the evil Godmen who doesn’t lose his cool even once, no matter what the situation. The actor keeps the character’s evil nature alive even behind a smile.

Shalini Pandey is noticeable despite limited screen time. Sharvari is the surprise package. She lights up the role of a young woman who becomes an important part of Karsandas’ journey. Surprisingly, she is credited as ‘special appearance’ whereas she is a supporting character and has more to do than Pandey. The film also has good supporting acts from Sneha Desai, Jay Upadhyay, Sunil Gupta, Priyal Gor, Jamie Alter (defense lawyer), Utkarsh Mazumdar (Lalvanji Mahraj), Vaibhav Tatwawadi (Dr Bhau Daji Lad), etc.

Overall: Maharaj is a hard-hitting social saga about fake Godmen, which, unfortunately, is relevant even after more than 160 years.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Director: Siddharth P Malhotra

Producers: Aditya Chopra for Yash Raj Films

Writers: Saurabh Shah (book), Vipul Mehta and Sneha Desai

Cast: Junaid Khan, Jaideep Ahlawat, Shalini Pandey, Sharvari

Also read: Maidaan review: One of Ajay Devgn’s finest acts in one of the best sports dramas

Rahul Gandhi’s rise above EXTREME national bullying

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The year was 2014, just before the Lok Sabha Polls. Rahul Gandhi gave an interview to the very aggressive Arnab Goswami on Times Now. The decision turned out to be disastrous for him. The anchor started showering one tough question after another to which Rahul had no answers. Well, he did give answers but none of them were even half convincing with some making no sense. Plus, his nervousness was clearly visible.

This happened at a time when Rahul had already started being a subject of jokes. This interview made it worse. Not only the people of India but also the IT cell of the current ruling party started making jokes and memes on him. Honestly, I was also one of those who laughed at the memes and snippet videos from the interview and felt he is not at all cut out for politics. Then the inevitable happened when the result of the 2014 General Elections was out. The Congress had a record defeat and the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) got a thumping majority.

With the BJP winning so handsomely, I felt that the topic of Rahul Gandhi will be down and dusted as I firmly believed that he was a closed chapter. However, he was continued to being ridiculed on social media and What’s App. There were a lot of instances during his speeches and interviews where he said unintentionally funny stuff, which made things worse for him. Snippets from these also started making rounds.

It seemed that Rahul gained some confidence before the 2019 Lok Sabha Polls but he was still not being taken seriously. This was seen in the result of the polls in which BJP secured an even bigger victory than 2014. I, along with many others, was more than convinced that Rahul’s political career is over and that he is getting importance in the Congress camp only because of nepotism.

But Rahul somehow didn’t give up. He gave some fiery speeches during the anti-NRC and anti-CAA movement. Later in 2022, his confidence during his Bharat Jodo Yatra was impossible to not get noticed. The nervous and fumbling politician gave rise to a confident and determined leader. Very few would have expected this after his aforementioned 2014 interview.

Rahul’s confidence and fearlessness went even higher during the campaign for the 2024 Lok Sabha Polls. He was now a new and refined leader. His attacks on the government appeared convincing instead of forced. This influenced the final outcome of the polls where the INDIA alliance won as many as 232 seats and NDA were down from 353 in 2019 to 293.

The result has further indicated that one has to take Rahul Gandhi seriously and his journey in politics is far from over.

His rise is more than noteworthy simply by taking into account the psychological effect of such extreme national bullying can have. Many of us get mentally affected even if we receive 5 negative comments or face some bullying on social media. But this man was a target of the entire IT cell machinery and crores of ruling party supporters for around a decade. He was targeted not just from a political point of view but was subjected to plenty of personal attacks and even insults.

This can have extremely negative psychological effect on anyone. Just imagine your very existence being a butt of jokes for crores of people. Anyone else would have given up politics and taken retirement. But somehow, Rahul decided to keep going and reached as far as spoiling the mood of the ruling party in the recently-concluded 2024 General Elections. He ensured that those who were dreaming of ‘400 paar’ could not even touch 300 seats.

The other thing that has quietly happened in the last few years is that the IT Cell and the supporters of the ruling party have stopped circulating Rahul’s unintentionally funny moments. This can also be because their Supreme Leader has given even more of such moments and that too in controlled interviews and scripted speeches.

All this has also ensured that the nickname of ‘Pappu’ is no longer being associated with Rahul.

I am not a fan of any politician, including Rahul Gandhi. But it is impossible to not notice his rise purely from a psychological point of view.

Also read: Indi(r)a’s Emergency review: Shows the period’s relevance today