REVIEW 382: FAN

Release date:	April 15, 2016
Director:	Maneesh Sharma
Cast: Language:	Shah Rukh Khan, Shriya Pilgaonkar, Waluscha de Sousa, Yogendra Tiku, Deepika Amin, Sayani Gupta Hindi

We have watched stars wave warmly at fans from their balconies and cars, saying a kind word here and there at sundry public dos. We have seen them interact with their admirers at well-organised corporate meet-and-greet programmes. What happens though after those few moments of engagement? Beyond the smiles and cordiality, how would a public figure react when a fanatical supporter demands more than some seconds and wants to play a larger part in his life?

Writer-director Maneesh Sharma’s Fan sets out to answer those questions not by dispensing grandiose philosophies about fame and achievements, but in a specific scenario featuring Bollywood superstar Aryan Khanna and a cyber café owner in Delhi, Gaurav Chandna, who is obsessed with him. Gaurav is not a routine fan-turned-stalker of the kind celebrities have been known to report to the police. His actions involving Aryan have far-reaching consequences in his own life and in the fortunes of the object of his devotion.

To say more would be to give away too much. Know this: this film is not a light-hearted affair as it might seem from the lovely promotional song Jabra fan. It is not a comedy drama, although the hugely entertaining opening 15 minutes might suggest that. It is funny and engaging to begin with, and then at one point changes gears in a completely unpredictable fashion to become an uncommon thriller revolving around one star who turns out to be a human being after all and one very foolish fan. 

While the film establishes Gaurav’s Aryan fixation and his parallel career as an Aryan impersonator, it is unrelentingly amusing and believable. Adopting a patronising tone towards Gaurav would have been the easy thing to do, but it avoids taking that lazy route to elicit laughs or turn us against him. Yet it manages to make him a creepy, disturbing creature. When it switches modes, it remains gripping in a way you might usually expect in a crime flick. Again, it would have been so easy to paint Aryan as either satan or saint, but the film does neither. And though it has a couple of flaws that are exasperating to say the least, the narrative is so pacey and the acting so credible that there is not enough time to stop and think too much while events unfold on screen.

Shah Rukh Khan plays both Aryan and Gaurav with help from an excellent team of make-up artists who ensure that Gaurav bears an uncanny resemblance to his idol yet is clearly younger and, when you give him another glance, different. There is also some clever camerawork at play here, which serves to make Gaurav a slighter figure.

Their personalities are dissimilar not just because of prosthetics, creams, brushes and trick photography though. SRK alters his body language, his posture and his mannerisms to dissolve into Gaurav, in a way we have seen him do once before to differentiate his Don from Amitabh Bachchan. Through much of his career, Shah Rukh has played to the gallery with his performances, delivering that charming dimpled grin and the trademark quirky mannerisms that his dedicated followers are so in love with. It is such a pleasure to see his star traits take a backseat in Fan while he reminds us, as he did with Chak De! India and Swades, that he is a tremendous actor when he chooses to be one. C’mon SRK, give us more of this.

Two problems in the script by Habib Faisal pull this film down though. First, considering that he is such a major film star, Aryan seems to be accompanied by a rather minuscule personal team at a gala in Dubrovnik, Croatia – one manager, one lawyer, one securityman. Really? Don’t know about other industries, but Bollywood stars of that stature are usually escorted by large entourages including multiple bouncers, which makes this a very irritating flaw since any industry observer would know this. It is as though the writer could not think of an adequate ploy to explain how Gaurav manages to do what he does in this sequence.

Equally implausible are Aryan’s actions at the point when he decides to take matters into his own hands in Dubrovnik. His moves might have appeared natural if the script had spent time establishing him as an impetuous, quick-tempered man. Unfortunately, while a lot of effort is devoted to drawing us into Gaurav’s life in the beginning, we get to know Aryan far less as a person before he begins reacting to Gaurav’s behaviour.

These shortcomings in the writing are infuriating because they are what hold Fan back from being the great film it could have been. This is particularly disappointing because Maneesh and Habib had earlier too teamed up as director and writer respectively on the fantastic Band Baaja Baaraat (Fan’s story is by Maneesh, screenplay by Habib, dialogues by Habib and Sharat Katariya who made the heart-warming Dum Laga Ke Haisha last year). Fan is not BBB, but as things stand it is still a very good and very unconventional Bollywood film. SRK’s performance is so enjoyable and the question of what will happen next is so pressing at all times in this film, that it is impossible to look away from the screen.

Although this is not a regular cops ‘n’ robber flick, it features three very exciting, very well-handled, crisply edited chase scenes. Its use of music too is unusual, since Jabra fan does not appear in the film nor is there any long ruminative number playing in the background while the protagonists go about their business, as is typical of Bollywood. For the kind of film Fan is, this is a wise decision. Andrea Guerra’s unobtrusive background music is effective in building up a sense of heightened tension and low-key poignancy as and when required.

The story is almost entirely focused on Gaurav and Aryan, yet the supporting cast use their limited screen time to good effect. It is also such a relief to see that producers Yash Raj Films have not penny-pinched while casting their European extras, as most Hindi films do. Whew!

As an aside, it is worth noting some of the detailing in the film. Fan is clearly made by people who know Delhi and Mumbai well. It is nice, for instance, to see a Hindi film referencing Golcha and Delite theatres in the national capital, and not feeling the need to have a character drive past India Gate, the Hanuman statue at Jhandewalan or Red Fort to convince us that we’re in Delhi.  

Though Fan is far from being perfect, it urges us to think about issues relating to stardom, fandom, idolatry and public expectations from famous people without overtly appearing to do so. It is suspenseful without beating drums and clanging cymbals around its many twists and turns. Much of its appeal lies in the fact that the central characters are not stereotyped. Besides, when Shah Rukh Khan decides to go real and understated, it always makes for compelling viewing.

Rating (out of five): ***

CBFC Rating (India):	UA
Running time:	142 minutes

This review has also been published on Firstpost:

http://www.firstpost.com/bollywood/fan-review-unpredictably-gripping-with-a-very-convincing-shah-rukh-khan-2731444.html  

Photograph courtesy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_(film)

Video courtesy: Yash Raj Films

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkS_Ar0Yad0&feature=youtu.be

Related link: revisiting my review of Maneesh Sharma’s first film as director, Band Baaja Baaraat:

http://blogs.intoday.in/headlinestoday/SWEET-SMALL-OH-SO-LOVELY!-62202.html

REVIEW 134: ISHAQZAADE

Release date:	May 11, 2012
Director:	Habib Faisal
Cast:	Parineeti Chopra, Arjun Kapoor, Gauahar Khan

Regressiveness is never more dangerous than when it’s pretending to be liberal. Ishaqzaade is a cleverly deceptive anti-women film that diverts attention from its true colours with a heroine who spits fire and can fire a gun with panache rarely seen in a Bollywood leading lady. But like so many Hindi films that have come before, it also stipulates that a woman must forgive even the worst, most inexcusable crime committed by the man she loves. And make no mistake about this: what the hero does to the heroine at one point is nothing but a crime!

The film’s shockingly backward stance on women is particularly disappointing because it is directed by Habib Faisal who made that excellent Rishi Kapoor-Neetu Kapoor-starrer Do Dooni Chaar and wrote the fabulous Band Baaja Baaraat. Don’t get me wrong … I have no doubt situations and characters like the ones in this film do exist in the real world, but it is always clear when a film is taking a position on an issue as opposed to a position being taken only by a character/s in that film. Ishaqzaade’s story by Aditya Chopra and Habib Faisal, screenplay and dialogues by Faisal leave us in no doubt where the makers of this film stand on women’s rights and sexual aggression. This is unfortunate because Ishaqzaade has so much else going for it!

The story is set in the small town of Almore in northern India. The patriarchs of the Qureshi and Chauhan clans are standing for elections from opposing parties. Against this backdrop, Chauhan’s no-good grandson Parma and Qureshi’s feisty daughter Zoya meet and fall in love. As you can imagine, because of the political rivalries and religious differences involved, the path to the altar is not smooth for them.

The first half of Ishaqzaade is quite lovely – the humour is unusual and unrelenting, there’s a natural style to the storytelling and there’s a twist at every turn leading to an entirely unexpected scenario right before the interval. Like most Hindu-Muslim romances in Bollywood, this one too plays it safe and sticks to the tradition of making the woman the minority community member while the Hindu in the relationship is the man! That apart, I enjoyed the way Faisal’s smoothly written lines don’t pussyfoot around the offensive terms people tend to use in real life to describe members of other communities: Parma repeatedly calls Zoya a Musalli to her face, she calls him a kaafir. But post interval, the story goes out of control, the medieval attitude towards women is revealed, the dialogues begin to sound over-smart and the humour feels misplaced considering the grim setting. All this leads up to a completely unsatisfactory conclusion!

Debutant Arjun Kapoor – son of producers Boney Kapoor and Mona Kapoor – plays Parma in the first half of the film as if he was born into the role. This ishaqzaada is first a haraamzaada (bastard) in the fullest sense of that word – a trigger-happy goonda, a liar, blackmailer, a regular visitor to brothels, an oppressor of the poor. In the second half though, when a more nuanced performance is called for, he falls short. He also needs to guard against the fact that a couple of his facial expressions seem lifted right off Abhishek Bachchan. Still, because he’s got an interesting screen presence I’ll wait to see him in his next film before deciding whether he was simply being himself in the first half of Ishaqzaade or he was acting well.

Gauahar Khan as the prostitute with the golden heart and the actress playing Parma’s mother are the pick of the supporting cast. The mom is also blessed with the most credible and consistent character in the film. The rest of the cast is a mixed bag.  

The star of the film though is Parineeti Chopra playing the spirited Zoya. This role has much in common with the cheeky kid she played in her debut film Ladies vs Ricky Bahl just months back, but she manages to bring enough to this performance to make Zoya’s pizzazz different. Parineeti’s obvious talent is no compensation, however, for Zoya’s conformist, wimpish behavior after the interval that seems completely out of character. In fact, Zoya’s inconsistent characterisation must rank as one of the worst pieces of writing in a Hindi film in recent years!

Discussing the music, cinematography and other technical aspects of Ishaqzaade seems superfluous considering the way the film’s fun and seemingly feminist first half is marred by its anti-women second half. Perhaps this should not come as a surprise. After all producers Yash Raj Films are the ones who gave us Laaga Chunari Mein Daag which suggested that an abla naari in the big city with a family to support back in her village has no option but to become a hooker!

There’s more to liberalism than putting a gun in your heroine’s hands!

Rating (out of five): **1/2

CBFC Rating:                       U/A

Language:                              Hindi

Photograph courtesy: https://www.facebook.com/Ishaqzaade?ref=ts#!/Ishaqzaade

REVIEW 129: BITTOO BOSS

Release date:	April 13, 2012
Director:	Supavitra Babul
Cast:	Pulkit Samrat, Amita Pathak, Ashok Pathak

The trailer of Bittoo Boss reminded me of two recent films. Apart from the similarities in lingo, look and feel, there’s also the fact that Bittoo Boss’ hero shares his first name with the lovable Ranveer Singh’s character in Yash Raj Films’ Band Baaja Baaraat (2010) … remember that crazily charismatic fellow? And perhaps the resemblance to the posters and promo of TanuWeds Manu (2011) has something to do with the fact that TWM and Bittoo Boss are both Viacom 18 films.

But should the comparisons end there? Unfortunately, yes.

I say “unfortunately” because I adored Band Baaja Baaraat, I found the first half of Tanu Weds Manu lots of fun, and Bittoo Boss is a film with tremendous potential that it simply does not live up to.

Bittoo is an attractive, talented and cocky wedding videographer in Punjab who revels in the attention he gets from female guests. His ultimate goal is to become a feature film maker, but when the going gets tough, he decides to take up pornography to make a quick buck. I can’t tell you more without giving away too much. But promising story brief, right?

The interesting premise is let down by a patchy screenplay and inconsistent casting though. TV actor and film debutant Pulkit Samrat is pleasing to the eye and convincing as the aspiring film maker Bittoo who walks an unusual path to attain his goal. No, he doesn’t have the electrifying screen presence with which Ranveer Singh zapped us in BBB, but remember that Ranveer might have been half the smashing debutant he was without Maneesh Sharma’s brilliant direction, the impeccable writing by Sharma and Habib Faisal, and spunky Anushka Sharma as Shruti Kakkar providing the perfect foil to his OTT character. Still, Pulkit in Bittoo Boss displays a noteworthy ability to swing between the smug small-town heart throb with the swagger, the proud professional who can’t bear the slightest slight even if it could lead to a significant career break, the angry lover and the guy who can’t walk away from his golden heart. But too many aspects of his character and story are glossed over in this half-baked screenplay. For instance, are we seriously expected to believe that it takes just one hard knock for this supremely confident young man to take such a dramatic career decision? 

And before that, there is this other question: why did he fall for the leading lady? Don’t get me wrong. I’m not for a moment suggesting that only beautiful women should be cast as heroines in films. And to be fair, Amita Pathak is a good actress. But when almost every single female guest at a wedding is falling all over a cute guy, yet he has eyes only for one among them, she’d better be wonderfully well fleshed out in the script and played by an actress with a striking screen presence. Nay on both fronts here! The character is quite charmless. As for the actress … Well, charisma is not about looks, it’s about an X factor that’s hard to explain. You either have it or you don’t. Sadly, Amita does not. This is disappointing since the lead pair needed to share an exciting chemistry for his despair to be convincing. It’s not. ’Cos they don’t.

Amita is producer Kumar Mangat Pathak’s daughter so I cannot blame the casting team for her, particularly since their choices for some of the smaller parts are interesting. The actors in Bittoo’s attempts at porn feel like real people. A special mention must go to the kid playing the under-age girl whose name, I’m afraid, I missed! In the role of Bittoo’s porn assistant Vicky is Ashok Pathak who is energetic, believable and delightful.

The slumps in Bittoo Boss’ writing and direction are inexplicable since there are parts of this film that are handled in both departments with a simplicity and firmness of hand that are very effective ... such as the quarrel between the lead pair when Bittoo refuses to let a TV channel head insult his work; and especially especially the lengthy portion dealing with Bittoo’s foray into pornography. Here the film makes a superbly subtle point about date rape which is completely unexpected in a country like ours where the “she asked for it” taunt is thrown at most rape victims. In fact, this part of Bittoo Boss is so absorbing that it almost feels like someone else helmed the rest of it.

Erratic … that’s what Bittoo Boss is!

Rating (out of five): **

CBFC Rating:                       U/A
Language:                              Hindi with Punjabi

Photograph courtesy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bittoo_Boss  

REVIEW 100: LADIES VS RICKY BAHL

Release date:	December 9, 2011
Director:	Maneesh Sharma
Cast:	Ranveer Singh, Anushka Sharma, Parineeti Chopra, Dipannita Sharma, Aditi Sharma

I guess it can be safely said now: Ranveer Singh is here to stay. Unless he takes some really foolish decisions in the coming months and years, there can be no doubt that 20 years from now, this boy will be very much around and rocking. He was incredible in his first film Band Baaja Baaraat, but it was natural to wonder whether he (like some other actors we’ve known in the past) appeared good in BBB because his character Bittu was an extension of his own real-life personality. But with the varying tones he manages to capture while playing a confidence trickster in his second film, Ranveer lays all doubts to rest. In Ladies vs Ricky Bahl, he proves that he’s got acting talent, an arresting screen presence, an amazing body that he’ll flaunt if required, dancing skills and a likeability that no acting school can teach you.

The synopsis of Yash Raj Films’ Ladies vs Ricky Bahl is evident from its promos. Ranveer plays a con man who deceives women into parting with their cash. Three of his victims – Dimple Chaddha (Parineeti Chopra), Raina Parulekar (Dipannita Sharma) and Saira Rashid (Aditi Sharma) – team up to get back their money and get back at him. The person they rope in as their pawn is saleswoman Ishika Desai (Anushka Sharma) who is so good at her job that she could sell burglar alarms to the homeless! If this is the beginning, you’re likely to assume that the end is obvious. Yet it’s not, because of how the director deals with the journey there. Consider the possible scenarios that could emerge in the climax:

1)      Ishika and Ricky could fall in love and jointly con Dimple, Raina and Saira

2)      Ishika could fall in love with Ricky and become another of his victims

3)      Ishika could fall in love with Ricky and convert him to goodness

4)      Ricky could fall in love with Ishika and turn over a new leaf

5)      Ricky could fall in love with Ishika and trick her into reciprocating his feelings while still managing to cheat the other women and getting the one he loves as a bonus

6)      Ishika and Ricky may not do the obvious that you expect from a Hindi film hero and heroine – neither may flip for the other – and they could engage in an exciting fight to the finish

7)      Or it may be none of the above

See! The end is not as easy to predict as you may think! And of course I won’t tell you which of the above seven scenarios we get in the film!

Because yes, for the most part, Ladies vs Ricky Bahl is fun. Ranveer has the ability to metamorphose from one personality to the other. And each of the ladies fits their role to a T. Dipannita looks the part of the business-like corporate type, Aditi does a good job of playing the conservative small-town girl with gumption, and Parineeti – the big find of this film! – is utterly loveable as the spoilt rich kid. A salaam to the film’s casting team for picking them and also for investing their faith in Anushka Sharma. Unlike the experience of seeing Ranveer in Band Baaja Baaraat, I don’t remember being smacked in the face with the impact of Anushka’s screen presence when I saw her first in Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi. She came across as pretty and spunky, but not an immediate attention grabber. Yet, over the five films that we’ve now seen her in, I find that she’s grown on me. Besides, Ranveer and Anushka share such excellent on-screen chemistry that the sexual tension between them is almost tangible.

So why am I not blown away by Ladies vs Ricky Bahl the way I was by Band Baaja Baaraat, director Maneesh Sharma’s debut film? First, because the victims of the final con in this story by Aditya Chopra seem too gullible to be credible, thus robbing the film of much of its impact in the second half. Also, Habib Faisal’s dialogues are as natural as usual in this film, but he doesn’t give us any take-home-with-you phrases like he did with Bittu and Shruti’s “binness” in BBB or “bread pakode ki kasam”. Another problem with this film is the unnecessary insertion of songs … The first shot of Ranveer is subtle and impactful, designed by a director who recognises his star’s charisma but does not over-state the point; the song that follows is unnecessary! In fact, Sharma takes a disappointingly conventional route in giving his hero an introductory number, another to his heroine, and accessorising the closing credits with a peppy track that brings all the major characters together … why?! Worse, Salim-Sulaiman’s songs are unmemorable (notwithstanding Ranveer’s rapping in Aadat se Majboor and Amitabh Bhattacharya’s sparring lyrics in Thug Le), so instead of revving up the energy levels in the film, they slacken its pace.

In the overall analysis though, I liked more than what I did not in Ladies vs Ricky Bahl. There’s a neat little tribute to Ranveer’s screen idol Shah Rukh Khan in this film, thankfully without referencing SRK’s collaborations with Yash Raj Films as is the wont of YRF productions. But the nicest part is that unlike other Hindi films involving loveable men of questionable character, Ricky Bahl is irresistible yet the film at no point trivialises or glosses over the pain of his female targets … you know the way mainstream Hindi films about male infidelity demand that wronged women should forgive their erring partners in a jiffy? In Ladies vs RB, I succumbed to the man too, but right till the end I also had a lump in my throat for the hurt he had caused those women! Ladies vs Ricky Bahl didn’t take my breath away like Band Baaja Baaraat did, but it’s simple and sweet and tugs at the heart in a way I completely did not expect from such a film.

Rating (out of five): ***  

CBFC Rating:                       U/A

Running time:                        140 Minutes

Language:                              Hindi

Photograph courtesy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladies_vs_Ricky_Bahl