Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (2013)

When was the last time you saw a theater full of people cheering an athlete on screen like they would in a stadium? Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s homage to India’s foremost track and field champion is an evocative triumph that successfully portrays the essence of Milkha Singh – his scars from the Partition, his poverty, his life of crime, his loving but broken heart and his outstanding athletic ability on the field.

The film begins in medias res, with the ill-fated Rome Olympic 400m final, in which Milkha Singh finishes 4^th, a result that is attributed in the film to a recurring reminiscence of his past. In the aftermath of that race, Milkha is reluctant to travel to Pakistan for a friendship series due to the scars he bears from the time of the Partition. As a group of people travel to Chandigarh from Delhi to try and convince him, his entire story emerges in a non-linear fashion. What follows is a masterful peeling of Milkha Singh’s persona, layer after layer until his wounded core is left exposed. Whether he is able to treat that wound and exorcise those ghosts is what the film tries to explore.

‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’ combines the best qualities of the biopic and sports genres. Great biopics are about capturing the essence of the person and great sports films are about showing the growth of the athlete despite the odds until their biggest challenge faces them. Prasoon Joshi’s wonderful script portrays the flawed character of Milkha and is careful not to blindly deify him. The non-linear nature of the story allows a viewer to understand the context behind his decisions and his personality – a penchant for running since childhood, a life of crime taken up to overcome poverty in the refugee camps of Delhi, a life of crime given up to become worthy of a girl he loved, a burning passion to succeed on the field driven by an urge to run away from his past, to earn respect, to be the best he can be.

Omprakash Mehra’s direction leaves you spellbound from the start. His filming of the running sequences is realistic and captivating as is his intelligent use of graphic novel-inspired sequences to showcase Milkha’s ghosts. He maintains a sense of balance and avoids any temptation to over-dramatize any sequence. His showcasing of Milkha’s Partition experience is a master class. Binod Pradhan’s cinematography intersperses current with the past superbly and gives you a distinct view of different phases in Milkha’s life. Where the movie suffers is in the pre-climax where Mehra seems to lose a bit of steam – the train journey from Delhi to Chandigarh seems unending at times. The music of the film is energetic with the wonderful guitar riff on ‘Zinda’ setting the tone for some hard-core passion and athleticism.

Farhan Akhtar can easily be called the Warren Beatty of Hindi cinema. He has excelled in all aspects of film-making and in this film stakes claim to be called a first rate actor. In a genre of mainstream cinema where larger than life actors try to portray everything from college kids to nuclear scientists while changing nothing about themselves, Akhtar has worked tremendously hard to portray both the emotional and physical dimensions of Milkha and the results show. He looks every inch a sprinter and shows excellent running technique. He is ably supported by Mehra regulars like Nukkad’s Pawan Malhotra and Divya Dutta with inspired cameos by Prakash Raj, Yograj Singh and, hold your breath – Art Malik, the big-eyed villain in ‘True Lies’ as Milkha’s father.

‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’ is one of the best biopics you will see. Don’t miss it.

Read More

• Share

J.Edgar (2011)

Biopics are always challenging. As a film maker you have to absorb multiple view points of the character and look to present as much of an objective view as you can. But you are ultimately driven by your own conviction of what the person was or is. J.Edgar is the depiction of a complicated man, who had the drive to create an effective national security organization, the FBI but who, along the way rubbed many people the wrong way with the flexible boundaries that he drew for himself and the freedom he allowed himself in creating his own legend.

The story begins in medias res, with an older Edgar narrating his autobiography to many FBI agents, who are well versed in typing and English. The story of his life is interspersed with events of the present and the narrative moves back and forth like intricately woven fabric. Edgar’s belief that the United States needs a robust forensic methodology leads him to head up a new group, an anti-radical division that starts cataloguing records of citizens and suspected radicals like a library catalog system. The story traces the evolution of the FBI, the setting up of its Crime Lab, the deft handling of the Lindbergh baby kidnapping and several campaigns against suspected communists, anarchists and other public enemies of the State.

His professional growth is often marred by brushes with Presidents. His career overlapped with 6 Presidents. He authorized phone taps and audio recordings of affairs of heads of state or their spouses, both hetero and homosexual in nature. He built a positive image of the agent and fed that image to popular culture through comics and movies.  He is shown in this movie as a gay man, but a ‘chaste’ one who adores Clyde Tolson, who he makes his deputy in the FBI and spends most of his time with. His relationship with his mother, the dominant influence on his life forms the core of his existence as she guides everything from his eating to dressing to dancing style. He even wears her clothes after she passes on, to feel her presence in his life.

Dustin Lance Black, who wrote ‘Milk’ writes a grim screenplay that projects J.Edgar as a serious man, committed to crime eradication amidst turbulent times. His choice of weaving the past with the present was a gamble. It makes it hard for the viewer to follow the story initially, but Director Clint Eastwood blends in the transition quite well and lets the viewer put 2 and 2 together about the man. The film does well to present a balanced view of J.Edgar and allows him to be judged by Tolson and by the Presidents who were his bosses and also provides for Edgar’s rebuttal to the charges. This allows the viewer to make her own choice. Cinematographer Tom Stern, an Eastwood regular creates a grim and dark mood throughout the film in keeping with J.Edgar’s own mood at most times.

Leonardo DiCaprio does a splendid job of portraying a more rotund man from his youth right through to his death. He shows Edgar’s difficulty in avoiding the attraction to men, while stopping himself from indulging himself very well. His portrayal of Edgar’s studied and practiced manner which helps him overcome his childhood stammer and be seen as a powerful leader is one of his best performances. However his voice modulation could have been better as Edgar sounds the same when old or young. Naomi Watts as Helen Grady, Edgar’s long serving secretary and Arnie Hammer as Clyde Tolson do a splendid support job.

J.Edgar is a good biopic, which lets the viewer make up their own mind

Read More

• Share

The Dirty Picture (2011)

‘Water Water everywhere, but not a drop to drink’. ‘The Dirty Picture’ brings out the paradoxical existence of the celebrity, someone whom everyone wants, but no one loves, a springboard for many ventures when on the ascent, but a sinking stone in the depths of anonymity when out of favor. The film is a hard hitting tribute, but is more of a mirror held to the grime behind the celluloid, that is so often applied on those that want to make it big and also fuels the age-old debate about cinema-entertainment or meaning?

The story, told through a narrative by Abraham, a film director who loves to hate vulgarity on screen, begins with a young girl Reshma, with stars in her eye, who runs away from her mother’s protective care to Chennai. Here she tries her luck at becoming an actor and a dancer, but meets with failure time and again. Her hunger due to poverty and lack of work is only matched by her hunger to make it big, no matter what it takes. She finds a niche for herself when she discovers her innate oomph and sex appeal and brandishes it boldly to catch the eye of a producer Selva Ganesh. He names her Silk and casts her opposite an aging yet powerful superstar SuryaKanth, whom she beds to further her career.

As her popularity rises, so does her disillusionment with the way she is perceived, something that her starry eyes never cared for in the beginning. She is always the sidekick and never the bride. The lack of love and acceptance from the men in her life and the insults from an industry that also benefits financially from her sexy avatar, finally begins to tell as she distances herself from her supporters through acts of frustrated brazenness. As her body begins to lose shape and the booze takes over, her attitude plummets as do her film offers. She finds a new soul mate in her worst critic, the meaningful filmmaker, Abraham, who tries to salvage her sinking ship. Is he too late?

The structure of the story is clearly demarcated by the struggle, pinnacle and decline phases on either side of the interval. The screenplay by Rajat Arora is commendable for the energy it possesses, backed by hard hitting dialogue, bold costumes and in-your-face cleavage. The unsung hero of the film is Vishal-Shekar's soundtrack that transports you into the 80s with, hold your breath-Bappi Lahiri and the background score that makes you really feel every moan, grovel and gyration. Kudos for a neutral Hindi accent portrayal of South Indians, an undeservingly lampooned section of the population in Hindi cinema.

Milan Luthria attempts a dream subject for a director as he captures the rise and fall of arguably one of the biggest stars of the 80s, while being careful not to judge her, a very important factor in a biopic. He shows a mirror to the hypocritical view of skin show on screen, and to industry and media for the opportunistic manner in which they treat their golden gooses. However, he leaves the story imbalanced, by not focusing enough on the parallel track to Silk’s story, that of director Abraham’s conversion from a staunch proponent of meaningful cinema to a masala mama. 

One loses track of the countless Oscars and Golden Bears won by actors playing troubled, faded, fading and dead stars and celebrities. Vidya Balan stakes her claim to every major acting award in a performance that should set the gold standard for character acting in this generation. Everything about her seems transformed – her physicality, body language, suppleness and attitude. She is Silk and to portray Silk, she needed something that most actors in her generation don’t possess-guts. Naseeruddin Shah as Suryakanth, is superb as a lecherous old man, who believes in his own immortality as a star. Emraan Hashmi and Tusshar Kapoor just about pass muster as Abraham and Ramakanth, Surya's younger brother.

‘The Dirty Picture’ is a superb and hard hitting tribute and tickles some reflection too.

Read More

• Share