SOLO - An anthology of human emotions

I had to wait until its’ DVD release to watch this film even though this was in my bucket list since the day it was announced in 2016. The solo reason is Bejoy Nambiar. I became an instant admirer of this guy after watching his debutant feature film ‘Shaitan’, way back in 2011. Shaitan is a cult modern cinematic experience for me that explores the inner demons and dark sides of human beings through a series of events that unfold as a trigger of self-inflicted revulsion in their lives. The film was strong on technical grounds. Absolutely super slow-motion scenes fused with fast paced songs and background scores (still get goose bumps while watching the chase scene that overlaps with ‘Khoya Khoya Chand’), camera being a character, sturdy flash backs & witty narration. I googled about this guy and watched his short film ‘Reflections’ from YouTube and guess what? It features Mohanlal. Reflections was no different from Shaitan. Not on the aspects of storyline or technical grounds but with the making style. A Nambiar’s signature was evident in both these films. Be it David or Wazir, his making style is brilliant.
I read about Solo before its release and even heard from Nambiar’s interviews that it’s an anthology film based on four different elements (Earth, Fire, Wind & Water) with different facets of Lord Shiva. The commonalities in these four segments are many; protagonist has various names of Shiva, each segment opens with an opening shot that signifies the theme (one of the elements) of the segment, each segment has a story that spans over 4 years, each segment deals with twists at the end and relates to an emotion of ‘lost love’. These flavours are evident and anyone could easily pick this up while watching the movie and for me, it’s a big win for the maker who succeeds to connect with the audience. The visuals are good treat for us to watch. In world of Shekhar, water leads the first segment that covers most of the frames. It talks about an intense love story of visually impaired couple with a brilliant making style similar to ‘Reflections’. The closing shot of this segment is DQ & his daughter enjoying the sunset in a beach with a theme music of Kerala ‘vallam’ kali. Second segment, World of Trilok is bit more fast-paced with a gripping screen play and fine performances. Its dark and intense. The third segment, World of Shiva is my favourite one which is based on Fire that talks about a revenge story. The red colour tone throughout this segment holds the essence of fire, burning revenge and subtexts of unexplored lives. The fourth segment World of Rudra depicts the element, Earth. Though there were a lot of scenes that remind us of Manirathnam frames, it scored last amongst the four segment in terms of its screenplay and narration style. DQ… take a bow! You pulled off various emotions; goodness, brutality, heartbreak and compassion so easily with unbelievable performances and screen presence. Not in a single segment you brought the traces from other segments which could have happened with a mere negligence. Govind Menon, you were a big surprise as an actor, kudos!
If you like to watch a film that tells more than ‘just a story’ and in a mood to explore something different, you shouldn’t miss SOLO. (Sounds like a ‘fan’ speaks? well, then it is...J)

Baahubali 2 - Beginning was better than Conclusion.

'Beginning’ was one of the most expensive movies made in India, enthrals audience with its sheer screenplay, stunning visuals and kickass actions sequences. Since then, sequel to ‘Beginning’ was hot star among movie buffs and WKKB became most spoken words for last two weeks. Apparently expectations raised to its peak whilst ‘Conclusion’ ended with an average watch with more predictability and conflicting character attitudes. However, it gives few goosebumps moments which make you feel that movie is gonna be exciting from that point but leaves you disappointed after that. You have seen Kattappa in a loyal stubborn profile in ‘Beginning’ suddenly turns out to be hilarious in first half of ‘Conclusion’, loosing the tempo of character. On similar note, Shivagami the only person who has got the control over Baahubali is being shown as shrewd, intelligent and politically brilliant character but got easily manipulated by Bhallala Devaa and Pinggalathevan in an important segment in screenplay. Having said, the terrific boost happens just 10 minutes before interval and 20 minutes of second half. The scene which Shivagami carries baby and announces kingship before escaping (opening scene of ‘Beginning’) is the ultimate scene which does offer goosebumps. War sequences were innovative (except few disastrous strategies), mind-blowing visuals and above par background score. Though visuals are feast to watch, VFX doesn't match to the standards that people were claiming. The pillars of ‘Conclusion’ are Ramya Krishnan and Prabhas. While Rana Daggubati, Sathyaraj and Anuksha showcased some stellar performances, Nassar was a huge disappointment and irritation.

Finally, the man behind the show S S Rajamouli - You are the real hero, not because of conclusion’s aesthetic sense but for re-writing Indian cinema history with Baahubali that kills the locution ‘One and Only Bollywood’.

Lion - The Charming Champ

You meet a soul in the first 30 minutes of movie and he takes you through the entire film. It's a real life story of a lost boy from India who grew up with his adopted parents in Tasmania, Australia. Movies are all about story telling. They come with various flavours - fiction, real life, sc-fi and so on.. Lion is the story from a man's life chapter who spent his initial five years in India under the tough, indigence life. Later he grew up in Australia, with memories of his lost mother, brother & sister. Years later, he decides to go find his lost mother and siblings and you become a part of his journey both emotional & heart-rending. On paper this is a simple story, but when you travel with this soul throughout his journey, it's intense and very much grounded. This is a true emotion that everyone could relate to.
Based on real Saroo Brierley's memoir "A Long Way Home", the true story of his own where he imagines the agony & pain of his mom and brother they went through in search of missing boy, the script (Luke Davies) itself stood as a backbone of this movie. With no background of directing a full length feature film, Garth Davis ensured the compassion and concerns of Saroo portrayed in best possible narrative style. The good part is is that as I mentioned at the beginning, you feel like being a part of Saroo's journey. To add on to the script and narration, cinematography & background score were above the par.
There was a shot in the movie where young Saroo was standing alone on the Howrah Bridge in the tungsten background which was incredible. The heavy traffic bridge was shut down by the crew in order to film a single scene and this was the first time the bridge had ever been closed to public. There was another scene from the movie where A.R. Rahman song "Urvasi" is featured and I'm sure that's the goosebumps moment for every Indian !.
Young Sunny Pawar is the show stealer of the movie and deserves ton of recognition for handling emotional ride for almost first half of the movie. Dev Patel became obsessed with withdrawn & memory haunted Saroo and definitely will be the conversation among award circles (after slumdog millionaire). Nichole Kidman as an adopted mother (as in her real life) showcased incredible performance especially in the scene when she explains why she adopted him when she could have had her own child.
Truely, Lion is one of the best movies I watched recently and personally it woke me up from the hibernation mode of not watching many movies due to x,y,z reasons. A must watch for all :)

'The Real' Dangal

Dangal is all about 'The Real'. You feel the pain, emotions, courage, struggle and patriotism. Nothing is over dozed, be it father-daughter affection, hardship of a national champion or nationalism. Well toned, nicely crafted and high performance delivered. Convincing performances by all the actors in this film. Zaira Wasim is the top performer who completely sparkled the wrestlingmatches in the film with top class reality that we sometimes feel watching a live wrestling performance. Special mention goes to Suhani Bhatnagar as the young Babita, Shaikh and Sanya Malhotra as the adult Geeta and Babita. Amir Khan, 'the perfectionist' delivered mind blowing performance, one of the top three of him till the date.

Another important aspect is the approach taken by Nitish Tiwari to impress audience with a lesser known game, turning it out to be the most thrilling game by explaining the sport and its rules with intelligence and sensitive wrestling sequences. Of course, Daler Mehndi's title track gives us an adrenaline rush, equally scoring background score at right places throughout the movie.

Ultimately, this movie is not to be missed, especially for those people who are obsessed with good films.

Leela - bold, classy tale

The luxury of elaborate narration and extravagant conceptualization are those aspects which a writer always enjoys. Ironically, these aspects define the boundaries for a filmmaker which will be a difficult task while transforming a literary work into cinema. Leela has succeeded that challenge turning out to be a bold, classy & unorthodox film adaptation of an acclaimed literary work in malayalam. The opening sequence of the movie furnishes the lead character, kuttiyappan keeping the vibe until the climax scene. The directo r actor duo to be given full credit for this charm. It’s indeed a daring attempt by Renjith to sketch this short story in big screen. He has succeeded in almost every aspect of this movie, including cast & crew. Surely its a ‘Film by Renjith and crew’. Biju Menon, Vijayaraghavan, Indrans, Jagdeesh & Paravthy contributed their fullest to the performance part while Prashant Ravindran scored well with brilliant cinematography, particularly those top angle aerial shots of deep forests. Bijibal’s background music was magnificent, creating the perfect mood for the movie.

My call outs are, Vijayaraghavan with his impressive body language and gestures proves one of the finest actors in malayalam industry. Jagdeesh has his career best performance till date playing the role as Nair, must say a come back movie. Indrans, yet another example of late discovery. Parvathy as Leela with deep shadowed eyes, without having any single dialogue in the movie set a stand for her promising career. Finally Biju menon with his natural grace and impulsive dialogue delivery handled the major portion of kuttiyappan character, also succeeded in going beyond his comfort zones in intense emotional sequence.

Movie intrudes into the man’s hypocritical ethics, vulnerabilities and moral values perhaps also gives the viewers something to think and act against current social issue.

Airlift - Tale Of Largest Evacuation

Some stories are meant to be told and Airlift is one amongst them. The tale of largest evacuation in the history of world by a civil airline, Air India is gritty, classic and reasonably well textured with incredible detailing of 90's middle east. Airlift takes off with no turbulence. Ten minutes into beginning, the plot is set for the race and never lost its momentum until the last bit of the film which looks bit hurried. There is no dramatic build ups or Bollywood heroism through out the movie, kudos to director Raj Krishna Menon for perfect shaping of lead character with the shades of real life unsung heroes. The movie is backed by impressive arial shots, nice background score and also well performed by lead as well as supporting actors. Akshay Kumar has given one of his best performances on screen, calm & composed. Purab Kohli, Inaamulhaq & Prakash Belawadi are terrific with their performances. Airlift with tight plotted script, execution, cinematography and editing is a must watch movie for this patriotic season.

Past is Present : A Complicated Journey

X is an experimental film with a blend of fiction and reality. The crazy abstract narrative style is confusing at times and exciting as well, leaving a note for the audience to build up their own imaginary story. The main plot deals with the complex life of a movie director who realises the meaning of his past life with a reflection of incidents that happens during the course of one night at present. This film which is been put together by a bunch of 11 directors is not a recommended watch, however those who loves watching experimental films with a different eye can try it for once.