Thoughts on: "Tagore Stories on Film"

Biting the bullet: silent, black-and-white, Bengali.

On occasion of the 150th birthday of the acclaimed literature-nobelprice winner from India, Rabindranath Tagore, the Indian government published a filmset consisting of six films concerning the literary legend. This was done with the help of the National Film Development Corporation. 

There have been many filmatizations of the stories and novels that Tagore has written, but the government and NFDC have selected the following for the compilation:

Khudita Pashan (1960) - Tapan Sinha, Bengali

Teen Kanya (1961) - Satyajit Ray, Bengali

Kabuliwala (1961) - Hemen Gupta, Hindi

Ghare-Baire (1984) - Satyajit Ray, Bengali

Char Adhyay (1997) - Kumar Shahani, Hindi

BONUS DVD:

Natir Puja (1932) - Rabindranath Tagore, Bengali

Rabindranath Tagore (1961) - Satyajit Ray, Bengali

I promised you to write about the filmset by the time I'd be finished watching all seven films, so here I am, talking about three things I thought I would never fully be able to appreciate as much as I wanted:

1. Silent films (Natir Puja)
2. Black-and-white films (Natir Puja, Khudita Pashan, Teen Kanya, Rabindranath Tagore)
3. Bengali films (Natir Puja, Khudita Pashan, Teen Kanya, Rabindranath Tagore, Ghare-Baire)

With the exception of the silent film, which I simply cannot truly adjust to, I've grown fonder of the latter two than I had excepted initially - but what am I rambling; let's start to dive deeper into the subject...

MY THOUGHTS ON THE FILMS

(including a few of those essential trying-to-be-objective remarks)

Evil can arise anywhere...

... as long as the situation is right - is what Lars von Trier said as he was asked to explain his film DOGVILLE.

Dogville (2003)

Dir./ Writer: Lars von Trier

★ Nicole Kidman, Nicole Bacall, Chloe Sevigny, Paul Bettany

Before I saw DOGVILLE, I knew what minimalism looked like in paintings and pictures, in architecture, furniture and fashion. But minimalism in films I hadn't fully understood yet. How can you make a minimalistic film? Cut all side plots, cut most of the dialogue, reduce it to one or two characters? I had seen the second suggestion in VALHALLA RISING, the only Mads Mikkelsen film I haven't been able to like – which, let me tell you, is very uncommon. I don't know if that film was minimalistic, though, and I didn't know that DOGVILLE was. Until I watched it. Already in the first minutes I realized it was different, and a few minutes later I knew how it was different. It was minimalistic, and I was crazy about it.

Who Wears Prada? – Shaitan (2011)

Directed by Bejoy Nambiar

Rajit Kapoor - Rajeev Khandelwal - Kalki Koechlin - Pawan Malhotra

Shaitan means devil, and the film itself is as fire-spitting, thunderous and capricious as only the devil hidden inside us humans can be. 

It tells the story of a group of more or less rich, chronically bored, rebellious young adults who slowly get absorbed in a slough of drugs and, eventually, violence and murder. 

The Tree of Life (2011) - A Bittersweet Symphony That's Life

After a long time now, I'm finding myself writing a non-Indian review again - only the second published on this blog. Many things are changing in my life at the moment, mostly mental things. I stopped learning Arabic, and I don't feel the urge to learn new languages (except French at school) anymore. 

I don't feel like watching Indian films, I'm tired of a lot of films that wasted my time.

Hence I felt I needed to review a film that meant a lot to me and has had a great influence on my thoughts for the past few days. 

In all my past reviews, I had a small section saying who the director, the authors and the actors were, and a short sentence about the plot. You won't be seeing that again. As I said, my mentality or however you may call it, is changing more than usually at the time, and I have also, in addition to many other things, thought about Lime Reviews. So this is one of the alterations I've made. 

When You're Speechless

Speechless-review:

Dhobi Ghat [Mumbai Diaries] (2011)

directed by Kiran Rao

Watch. This. Movie.

NOW.

The Good, The Weird, The Awesome - Triple Mini-Review

ACTION REPLAYY - EK CHALIS KI LAST LOCAL - ANARI

That I would end up writing about these three films in particular, in one single post, was nothing I had had in mind when watching them. They were just coincidental views, films that I bought because I was curious and had heard about them. It's funny that Ek Chalis Ki Last Local was the only one I had been wanting to buy for a long time, the only one I watched even though it wasn't the first one of my new films, alphabetically - and the only one I ended up not liking, plus being disappointed by.

Anari and Ek Chalis Ki Last Local have currently received the exact same rating at the IMDB: 7.3/10. Both are Parallel Indian Cinema, Anari was a Superhit with superstars, directed by disinguished Hrishikesh Mukherjee - Ek Chalis Ki Last Local was a Flop with "normal" actors and directed by debuting director Sanjay M. Khaduri. Now, Action Replayy is something in between, starring two big Indian stars, but receiving a Below Average rating from the box-office, a 3.9/10 rating at IMDB and being directed by a unsuccessful but commonly known director (Vipul A. Shah). 

Differently from my other mini-reviews, I won't divide this one into the different films, but into categories and compare the films this way.

Who's who?

Just to clear this at the very beginning - without revealing my deepest thoughts, which I will do at the end only; 

The Good: Action Replayy (2010)

The Weird: Ek Chalis Ki Last Local (2007)

The Awesome: Anari (1959)

Story

Many people pointed out, that the main idea of Action Replayy seemed to be stolen from all-time-classic Back to the Future, which in some ways is true, but the story actually is very different. Still, this does not make it more original; I haven't heard or read anyone mentioning this before, but the plot is very similar to 2007 German tv-production Küss mich, Genosse! (IMDB). I don't appreciate story stealing at all, so in this category, AR does worst. One of the problems about Ek Chalis Ki Last Local is, that there doesn't seem to be any story at all. A guy misses his train at night, has to spend two hours in a village and meets a girl. Boring, and hard to make a good screenplay of (which I also don't think they did). 

The sad-funny story of a poor young gold-hearted man, who doesn't seem to have much luck by his side is typically Raj-Kapoor and 50's Indian cinema - so it's not hard to decide, who wins in this section.

Screenplay

As already said, ECKLL's screenplay doesn't count to the best ones made. The love story is minimally interesting, but all other plot lines didn't catch my attention at all, which is also why I turned off the DVD player after almost 2 hours. Off course, I could have stayed through the last 30 minutes, but I really couldn't stand it any longer. 

AR takes us on a bubbly, coulourful 70s-trip and manages to never let boringness slip through any giant screenplay-holes. How nice.

Everything in Anari can be classified as either interesting, amusing, or entertaining - in one word: as Raj Kapoor. Therefore, as in every other category, Anari wins.

Cast

You (and I) already know that no one can beat Raj Kapoor, but as I'm not the most versed person concerning actors from the 50s, I'll tell you what I thought about my first meeting with Nutan. I was very pleased by her performance, her wittiness and beauty, which reminded me strongly of Kate Winslet. Along with Raj Kapoor and Lalita Pawar, she is the person that makes Anari shine. -- If you've been following this year's Deol Dhamakka, you've most certainly read my (only) contribution to that event (if not, read it here). In that post, among other things, I tried to express my love to Abhay Deol, which thankfully is still untouched after watching this film. He was lovely as ever in ECKLL - thank god. An item song in Heyy Babyy was all that I'd seen of Neha Dhupia until ECKLL (and Action Replayy, for that matter), but she does look promising, even though I think there's much more she can, than what I've seen yet. 

Aishwarya Rai, I don't think you're the Queen of Bollywood, like Western media often tries to call you, but nevertheless what you are is: definitely already one of the finest actresses of this decade, one of the best dancers after Madhubala and Madhuri Dixit, and one of the most beautiful women I've seen. Akshay Kumar is... well, I think he's one of the most sympathetic actors I know, and also he can make the worst movies and still not loose me as his fan. He can also look incredibly ugly in films, and incredibly 70s-fashion-victimy - never will my affection for him die.

I think we can agree that all of these films could mention some worthy names in their credits, and that all of them did a good job.

Music

One of the reasons, and also the most important one, that I wanted to watch ECKLL, was not Abhay Deol, funnily. Around the releasing time in 2007, I had one of those periods where I listen to all of the latest Bollywood soundtracks, and immediately fell in love with this one - three years before I even watched my first Abhay-film. Laree Choote features a wonderful singer and is very intense, Ekka Chauka is funny and fast, Akh Ladiye is a great example for a disco-background/underground-track - shortly: I love the soundtrack.

Also Anari  was discovered by me through its music, namely when I listened to some of the songs that won a Filmfare Award for Best Singer. The song I'm talking about ("Sab Kuchh Seekha Humne") really is one of the best ones I know, combining satirical lyrics with the awesome singing talent of Mukesh and an interesting melody. But also the other tracks are fabulous and will stay on my mind (and iPod).

Though I listened to the music of AR before, I only really liked it in the film. The best tracks are Zor Ka Chhatka and Nakhre, while Baaki Main Phool Gayi can only be described with 9 letters: h-i-l-a-r-i-o-u-s, believe me. However, this soundtrack is the weakest, compared to the other two.

Title

Ek Chalis Ki Last Local = The Local Train That Went at 1:40.

Unusual title, but in the end just as totally meaningless as the film itself.

Action Replayy = Action Replay 

Fits the story, but the second "y" is just as annoying as stolen from Heyy Babyy (2007).

Anari = Idiot/ simpleton

Brilliant title, brilliantly used in the film.

Camera (Cinematography)

After all those camera-experimental films, filled with 1-second-shots, dizzy-making rotations and shaky hand cameras, a 1959 classic black-white motion picture can feel like a supreme vacation (inlcuding virgin pina colada). Long, clear-shot scenes, no distracting eastman colour, grainy quality... I am sighing with relief. One may notice, that ECKLL is also shot in a rather quiet and non-distracting way, but a little more bang-bang would have been nice due to the boring screenplay. I'd like to mention the kiss scene though, which was not only well-performed but also beautifully captured.

The poster of Action Replayy already says that the film is shot "IN EASTMAN COLOUR", and that's also what you NOTICE when looking at the poster. 70s slam-tam-bamboo-banga eastman colour, that's what this film is made of. Sometimes the camera setting is very mainstream-music-video like, for example in the song Zor Ka Jhatka, but otherwise very fitting and a good contrary to category-winner Anari.

In a nutshell... (Lucky-Nut)

Action Replayy: 

I expected a long-drawn, exaggerating, very below average film with some good songs.

I saw a never-boring, exaggerating, very entertaining personal-hit (with some good songs).

Ek Chalis Ki Last Local:

I expected a satirical, unusual, surprising film with a cute Abhay and a great soundtrack.

I saw a boring, art-housy-bad, uninteresting and weird film with a cute Abhay and a great soundtrack.

Anari:

I expected a Raj-Kapoor-film.

I saw a Raj-Kapoor-film.

---------------------------------------------------------

Let's end this post with a little smile:

"Marriage, now? We've only just sung a duet song!"

(Akshay Kumar in Action Replayy)

Introduction to Hindi Parallel Cinema

Including mini-reviews of 

BHEJA FRY (2007) and MIXED DOUBLES (2006)

 

When thinking of Hindi films, your thoughts immediately turn to the films that could be classified as mainstream Bollywood, even though many of them are good films. Mainstream is not a bad label, it is nothing the more intellectual viewer should be afraid of watching or "being caught" watching.

But one should always be aware of the parallel and independent cinema, which also exists as a part of the Hindi film industry, as in every other film industry I'm familiar with. The difference between mainstream and independent Hindi cinema is actually very small; basically, the independent cinema films have a very small budget, and you can sense that they're made for a special audience. Off course, most directors and producers would like to earn money with their films, mainstream or not, but the the mainstream cinema tries to appeal to the biggest audience possible. Meanwhile, independent films know they have a rather narrow amount of viewers, but for them, the most important thing is just a few people liking and thinking about their films.

The Hindi independent cinema has its roots way back in the time of silent black and white, when the well-known director V. Shantaram released his Sawkari Pash in 1925. The film is about a poor peasant, who looses all his money and is therefore forced to try his luck in a big city. (Source). I have not seen this film, as I'm not that familiar with Indian films before the 60s, but it sounds like being worth a watch.

Guru Dutt and Satyajit Ray are remembered as pioneers of Indian independent cinema in the 50s and 60s, especially Satyajit Ray's films are also famous in the Western hemisphere. Guru Dutt's Pyaasa (1957) was featured in the TIME Magazine's 100-movie list of "All Time's Best Movies". Again, I must disappoint you by not having seen the independent works of that era, but I will live up to that as soon as possible. However, it was only in the 70s and 80s, that the Indian Parallel Cinema reached a larger amount of viewers, also in India, and some of the contributors were Gulzar (which most of you probably know as lyricist of many well-known soundtracks, for instance this year's 7 Khoon Maaf), Shyam Benegal (still making critically acclaimed films today) and Mahesh Bhatt, who especially made some famous thrillers like Jism, and is the co-owner of production house Vishesh films.

This was also a time for many new talents to be discovered in Parallel Cinema, like Naseeruddin Shah, Shabana Azmi and Om Puri. Rekha and Hema Malini also took a chance to work in some Independent films, which had been rather unusual for popular actresses before. Today, it is a more commonly seen phenomena. 

Meanwhile, the movement (at that point called "Indian New Wave") dispread to various regional film centers, such as the Tamil and Telugu film industries, and the Malayalam film industry even experienced a so called "Golden Age" with its contribution to the Indian New Wave. As I've only watched three regional Indian films, this is obviously not my field of expertise, but my plan is to investigate this era and movement further.

Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1989)

After those years of joy and exhilaration for Art-house, Independent and Parallel Cinema, came the 90s. If you've ever seen a Bollywood 90s film (honestly, who hasn't, except for some of my non-BW-bloggers or readers maybe), you know that this was a time far from experimentation or cinematic independence. The romantic comedy Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, released in 1989, was a guideline the largest part of films released in that decade. It was a blockbuster, and the two main actors Aamir Khan and Juhi Chawla became famous over night. The story line was based on stories like Romeo and Juliet, but however, it still brought some fresh air into the mainstream Hindi films. But because of its giant success, film makers orientated themselves by this film, producing thousands of cheesy, overlong, incredibly colourful and fashionably horrible films that overshadowed the independent productions. Off course, this is generalizing, and there were also good and unusual films in the 90s. While Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge is not what I'd call Art-house, it's a great film that I could watch over and over again, just like Darr or Baazigar were entertaining thrillers (Darr was a tad better). Speaking about those films, you made have noticed they're all starring Shahrukh - the 90s were the times of his big breakthrough, and he starred in a lot of crappy nonsense, but also in some of my favorite films. One of them was actually what comes very near to Independent Cinema, personally I consider it to be so, and one of my all-time favorites: Dil Se, which if you haven't seen yet, you must see immediately.

Vikram Bhatt's Ghulam, released 1998 and produced by Mukesh Bhatt, is also known for focusing on social aspects and problems, and I would also recommend it - if you can stand the seas of blood, and the fact that Rani's loved, smoky voice was dubbed, for whatever reason. Deepa Mehta also directed to famous pieces of Independent cinema in the 90s, which I have already written about here - the boundary-breaking film about two lesbian sisters-in-law, Fire, and the Indian-independence-investigating acclaimed Earth.

Another reason for the lack of Parallel Cinema in the 90s, was the big influence the Indian mafia had on Bollywood at that time. It was hard to find sponsors for controversial films, because the mafia basically was the sponsor of Bollywood back then.

With the millennium change though, Hindi Parallel Cinema slowly regained its strength and is again recognized as an important part of Bollywood, and I think the future looks bright for these films.

There are various labels for these films nowadays, as the border between Mainstream and Parallel Cinema is also beginning to smudge. Yuva, Omkara, Bas Ek Pal, Dev.D and also last year's Tere Bin Laden are examples for films that had success and are often described as "Off-Beat Films". Within the 2000's, another new label/ genre has evolved in Bollywood: Mumbai Noir. The term has already been used in the late 1990's, known as films that revolve around the Indian mafia based in the underworld of Mumbai. Pioneer of this genre is known to be Raj Kapoor, who already in the 50s made films concerning this particular subject. Nowadays, it is Ram Gopal Verma who seems be a leader in this genre, though some of his newer films turned out to be more or less disasters. However, his latest project, Rakht Charitra, which has been filmed in two parts, has gained much success and also good critical response. I've seen the first part only, and I think that RGV is back in his best shape, which is delighting. But Mumbai Noir is today also used as a label for urban-set films that deal with social problems in the city of Mumbai, such as this year's Dhobi Ghat - Mumbai Diaries by Kiran Rao, which I'm dying to see. Another trend inside Hindi Parallel Cinema is films spoken in Indian English, which might be useful for attracting an international audience. Deepa Mehta was one of the first ones to take advantage from this, in 1996's Fire. Also, like in various Independent cinemas all over the world, Hindi parallel cinema is often based on literature, western or Indian. Omkara, for instance, was based on Shakespeare's Othello. 

Independent and critical Coming-of-Age films are also up-and-coming, last year's Udaan being a good example. It was even nominated, and won, several Indian awards, which is actually uncommon, as the awards tend to focus on Blockbusters and big names (not what awards are supposed to be about, I think).

I'd like to finish this article off with my mini-reviews of two often discussed Independent Cinema films, which by the way can be viewed free and legally on bigflix.com - though I'm sad to tell you, that only Bheja Fry has English subtitles. Bigflix seems to offer various films of Hindi Parallel Cinema, which is something I really appreciate, and will definitely take advantage of in the future. 

BHEJA FRY (2007) Sagar Ballary

Plot: Rich music producer Ranjeet and his friends meet every friday for a special dinner, where everyone has to bring at least one "idiot", which they all find quite amusing. For one of those dinners, Ranjeet plans on bringing Bharat Bhushan, a tax-office-worker, who thinks he's the best singer in the world. When Ranjeet invites Bharat to come to his house before the dinner, the madness begins...

According to Wikipedia, "Bheja Fry"-director Sagar Ballary is planning to produce a sequel of the film this year, this time with a larger budget and an international setting (Malaysia). Therefore, it was high time for me, to watch the original film. 

You immediately notice, that "Bheja Fry" is a low-budget-production, but in a positive way. The makers wanted to produce an independent and unusual film (even though it's based on the French "Le Diner de Cons"). Especially the 1,5 hours of play time are almost revolutionary (even though there are films as short as this one, it's still not very common). If you're used to films with at least 2 hours of play time (normal is 2,5), this shortness can be quite refreshing. I don't mean to say, that long films are bad, but a equation of longer and shorter films would be desirable. With shorter films, however, the danger of being amusing only, is very big, and "Bheja Fry" does suffer from this at times. It's also a little disappointing, that even though one smiles almost end-to-end, there's no way we're talking about real hysterics or grand joviality. For that, the jokes are just to foreseeable and half-baked, though in a charming kind of way. Rajat Kapoor is an actor, from whom I haven't heard or seen to much until now, but also nothing negative yet. He plays the role of the rich anti-hero very well, though maybe a little bit too understated. Vinay Pathak, who's supposed to portray the "idiot", seems very familiar to me, and one gaze at his filmography tells me why, but funnily, I cannot remember a single one of his roles. In this film, however, he delivers a brilliant performance and masters the difficult tightrope walk between slapstick and good humour. 

I don't know anything about the director, Sagar Ballary, except for my little pearl "Mixed Doubles", in which he was Associate Director. But I'm excited for a sequel, even though a little skeptical because of the increased budget and "international setting". 

Rating: 6.7

MIXED DOUBLES (2006) Rajat Kapoor

Plot: To heaten up his 10 year old marriage, shy office-worker Ranvir asks his wife Malti to take part in a thing called "wife-swapping", where they'd swap their partners for one night. After a couple of discussions and fights, Malti finally agrees, without being really sure about this decision...

The name of my latest obsession is: Rajat Kapoor. After seeing "Bheja Fry", I discovered his work as a director in "Mixed Doubles", which I had only heard about in an interview with Konkona Sen Sharma, and a couple of reviews.

The film is a low-budget and independent-production, just like "Bheja Fry", but in contrary to last one, it was not at all successful at the box-office ("Bheja Fry" turned out as a surprise-hit). All the same, I find "Mixed Doubles" a lot better than the hit, because it's not only more recondite, but de facto even funnier. It is that subtile humour, which is not only caused by Rajat Kapoor, but also the rest of the cast (except for Koel Purie, she was good, but not that funny).

The second actor that I had already noticed in "Bheja Fry" (negatively), is Ranvir Shorey. He truly demonstrates talent in his portrayal of the shy, but at the same time nagging and somehow sweet husband. Most of you might know, that I admire Konkona Sen Sharma. She's not only one of the best actresses of India, but of the entire current film world (and I'm not overdrawing). By the way, I was very disappointed by her 3-minute role in 7 Khoon Maaf. She deserves so much better.

What I especially liked about the first half was, that everything seemed so incredibly realistic: the interplay between the young, but long-married couple, the small apartment, that every-day-life, which seems so familiar, even though it's actually unknown (I hope you know what I mean). 

Perhaps this was also due to the fact that there were no parents-in-law living in the apartment, which is otherwise very common even for Indian middle class and rich families.

The second half is slightly different, as most of it takes place in the apartment of that other couple and also in a situation, that most of us are not familiar with (especially not teens like me). 

But still, one can relate to the characters, and the second half is really fun.

Actually, I could imagine what was going to happen at the end, but it was still nice to see my thought confirmed.

With its 1,5 hours play time like "Bheja Fry", "Mixed Doubles" serves airy and entertaining reflectiveness off the beaten track, and all that without side-effects.

Rating: 8.0

...............................................................

I don't yet know, if I'm going to have internet or even time to write during my internship, so this might be the last post for the next two weeks. I hope you enjoyed reading, at least I had writing, and please wish me luck (and maybe watch some Hindi Parallel Cinema while I'm gone). 

Thank you for reading,

Mette M. K.

Review: "The President Is Coming" (Satire-Goody)

THE PRESIDENT IS COMING (2009)


Director: Kunaal Roy Kapur
Author: Anuvab Pal
Starring: Konkona Sen Sharma, Shernaz Patel, Shivani Tanksale, Anand Tiwari, Namit Das, Vivek Gomber, Satchit Puranik, Ira Dubey, Imran Rashid, Paul Knox

Plot: It's the year of 2006, a special year - president of the USA, George Bush, will visit India, and one young, talented Indian is going to shake hands with him. Six candidates are chosen with the help of television, but only one can win... Who will be the chosen one: language coach Rohit, cosmetic Archana, social worker Ajay, writer Maya, rich guy Dev or software-nerd Ramesh?








Written the 29th of August 2010
When I had just seen “3 Idiots”, I somehow got used to the thought, that the Indian comedy was slowly going to evolve into something that's actually funny. I had to make up my mind again, when I watched this flick a few days later. “The President Is Coming” is by far the most funny Indian film, I've ever met. It is even considerably funnier than many of the western comedies known by me. In the beginning, it is a little confusing, that the film is described as a “documentary”. But very soon, you realize, that it's a fake documentary with a few real TV-scenes from the archive. The directing is quite unusual and fresh; many of the camera settings make you think of “Big Brother” or “Mitten im Leben” (German reality-TV) – formats that are wonderfully parroted in this film. The cast is perfectly picked and all of the actors really get into their roles (it must have so much fun filming this!). Konkona Sen Sharma is the only real “star”, but her presence does not at all keep the spotlight away from the other performers. It is kind of hard to describe this movie, or to say, what exactly is so funny about it, without ruining everything for you... America, globalization, homosexuality etc. - the film shows what's important in India at the moment, but also what's being not-said. A scene where I just freaked out, was when a TV show, called “Build-Yourself-A-Bush”, was shown. And that's how it goes on and on. Everything and everyone is being made fun of – but also in a loveable kind of way. I slowly got sympathized by the traditional macho type, and at the end even by the horrible, psychotic group leader.

"The President Is Coming” is a modern Indian satire, a first-class one.
Intellectual, but not too much, so that it can still be commercial, but miles away from the 0/8/15 comedies á la Akshay Kumar. (Whom I do like, but he often picks the wrong movies).
A little satirical masterpiece!

Rating: 7.9

Thank you for reading my review,

Mette M. K.

Mini-Reviews: Devdas & Dev.D

I will now try something new: The mini-reviews, which you probably already know from some of the other Bollywood bloggers. What's great about this method is that you with little effort can delete some of your DVDs from your to-write-list. Somehow reminds me of short films in comparison to feature films...
We'll start with SLBs Blockbuster, Devdas, and the experimental remake Dev.D.

For those who are not familiar with the story of Devdas: Devdas was the name of a Bengali novel by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, written 1917. It has been picturized many, many times, but the story is always the same: Devdas is a boy from a wealthy family and his best friend is Paro, who belongs to a middle-class family. They both live in the same village. When Devdas returns after 13 years of studying, the two childhood-friends fall in love with each other. But when Paro's family makes the wedding proposal to Devdas family, they are insulted, because Paro doesn't belong to the same caste as Devdas. She's "not worthy". Then, Paro's mother finds an even richer husband for her. Devdas then leaves the village and tells Paro, that they were only friends. However, he changes his mind and tells Paro, he would do anything for saving their love. Paro is now almost married, so she makes only one request to Devdas: He shall return to her, before he dies. While Paro lives the life of a bird in a golden cage, Devdas seeks consolation in alcohol and Chandramukhi, a courtesan, who falls in love with him.

DEVDAS (2002):
Devdas - another great film by SLB. All those dances, the style and production and the dresses and actors, that's already really impressive. But a good movie needs a good story, too. And Devdas has got one. True, I couldn't comprehend to some of it, but it was definetely dramatic! The actors are also superb! I didn't always understand Shahrukh's character, but at any rate, he acted well. Aishwarya was truly beautiful and also the acting was one of her top performances. Madhuri was magical. Both of them also performed some incredible choreographies, especially in the well-known "Dola Re Dola". And as we're already into it, the songs are fantastic. Well, they should be, as the composers needed 2 years to complete the soundtrack. "Silsila Yeh Chaahat Ka" is the first song in the movie, and it's staged very well, with the candle light and that whole choreography. "Maar Daala" is another gem, with Madhuri, who dances delightfully. The whole soundtrack is very romantic, a little bit like the soundtrack of HDDCS, but much better, off course. All songs are implemented very well, it was especially great seeing so many traditional dances. The backdrops are breathtaking, with plenty of gold and silver.
Well, I can't say much more, other than: Watch this movie!!!

Rating: 10.0

DEV.D (2009):
Wow - this movie really blew me away. The story about Devdas, Paro and Chanda (or Chandramukhi) was interpretated in a totally new, modern way. There were even two newcoming actresses: Mahie Gill, who I found very good. She seems very Indian and natural (she's been casted in other movies too, but this was her first big role).  Furthermore Kalki Koechlin, playing Chanda/Leni. I'm not sure of what to think of her. She was quite convincing in this movie, but the question is, if she can also fill out other roles...? The movie was also very gloomy,  a fact that doubtless doesn't stimulates you to watch it very often, but that was also quite fascinating. The music matched the movie perfectly, especially the many versions of "Emosanal Attyachar", but I won't listen to the soundtrack very often, as it's just real film-music.
I can only recommend this movie, particularly to fans of Abhay Deol (includes me) and all those, who also like the "dark" Indian cinema.

Rating: 9.4

All of you who are even more interested in the story of Devdas, I can advise you to watch all the other versions, from which the newest is from 1965 and the oldest from 1928. If I have the time some day, I might do that. But you should really have seen one of those movies, whereas the 2002 version is probably most compatible.

Review: Ehsaas

EHSAAS: The Feeling (2001)

 

Director: Mahesh Manjrekar

Screenplay: Deepak Kulkarni

Plot: Ravi is raising his child himself; his wife is dead. Though he loves his son, he can't really show his love to him - or generally show any feelings to anyone. Every day, his son has to get up early in the morning to practice running, because he has to become the best runner in India. 

Written the 10th of September 2010

I didn't expect a lot from "Ehsaas", just some light entertainment, a movie to watch while doing something else. As a matter of fact, I was surfing in Internet at the beginning and just listening with one ear to the movie (I know, I'm a shame for all movie-geeks!). But still, the movie surprised me right from the start, as it began very quietly, without some kitschy introduction and music etc. It went on like that: Very calm camera setting, not much cutting... Not what I expected from a movie, with the title "Ehsaas - time for feelings". That's a positive thing!

Sunil Shetty happens to be a lot better as an actor, as I thought he was; until then, I had only seen him in movies like "Phir Hera Pheri" or "Dus". Really, the man's got talent. He plays convincingly, let's the audience hate his character in some scenes, but also love him. Also Neha, who I didn't know at all before seeing this movie, filled out her character quite well, a little more energetically than

Sunil, but that fits to the character. Also a big praise to many of the supporting actors, mostly

Kirron Kher! Her soft aura spreads through the movie and the story is somehow held together by her.The children were also good and not annoying.

I normally watch all movies in their original language, but I just felt like watching this one in German. Surprisingly, the movie is provided with an extremely professional and very qualitative dubbing that harmonizes perfectly with everything.

As I already said, it's a very quiet movie, so the songs didn't really stick into my mind, but they're placed well and match the movie.

My only “minus” goes to the showdown (the race) at the end. That was, really, too much of the good, and also very unsentimental. Sadly, the good ol' melodram orchestra is at the end allowed to takes its fiddles and do what it has to do, which is a little annoying, as the movie otherwise was not that "filmi" . It seemed like the producers decided that they actually wanted this movie to be commercial in some ways. It's sad.

But in other ways, this one's a... well; I'd almost call it an "Insider", because I hadn't heard anything about this movie before I saw it.

Rating: 6.2

Thank you for reading,

Mette M. K.