Movie Review: Crazy Rich Asians (2018)

The best and the worst thing about this movie is its title. At its best, it is catchy and generates curiosity in viewers. But after watching it, we realize that it is just a regular "Cinderella" theme movie with everything "Western" replaced by "Chinese". To be honest, the title of the film should have been "Crazy Rich Chinese" since there is nothing else "Asian" in this movie. 

It is important to know that the movie is based on a novel of the same title, published in year 2013.

The plot is very simple, a regular girl and a super-rich boy fall in love and once the boy takes her to meet his family, she is subjected to humiliation and manipulation. By the end, she gives up and returns, but then, in a twist, the boy's family allows him to pursue her; and hence the movie ends in a typical "boy gets the girl" fashion. It is easy to see that the unequal marriage's survival is still questionable in the long term, but the film industry wants to keep viewers in a "fairy tale" world where stories end after a boy and girl marry, and now they do not even write "and they lived happily ever after" since we all know how convenient it sounds. 

The movie heavily relies on the acting and charisma of actor Henry Golding. Henry was born to a British father and Malaysian mother. The actress Constance Wu gets the most limelight in the movie though and does her job well but there is nothing extraordinary in her performance. There are several side characters in their small side stories, but everything in this movie looks like "stolen" from other movies made on Cinderella type marriage theme. 

As a final verdict, watching this movie is like watching a medley of two dozen other movies on similar theme. If one loves China, then it is a definitely a must-watch; because in the end, its glorification is the only takeaway from this movie. 

- Rahul 

Movie Review: Oppenheimer (2023)

When this movie came out last year, I assumed it would be boring; after all, how interesting can life of a scientist be? I know lives of artists were interesting enough, but what can a movie of 3 hours on the life of a scientist offer us? J. Robert Oppenheimer was not an Einstein, or a Niels Bohr and I never read about him in school days. Hence, I dropped the idea of watching it and I recently watched it on JioCinema. 

One interesting thing to know is that the movie is made based on the book "American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer" by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin. The book had won the year 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography. This explains the movie's tilt towards a particular episode in the life of the scientist: "security clearance hearing", to make it more interesting for the viewers. But I did not like the hearings during most part of the movie and it offered some good insights only at the end. The story about nuclear bomb's development was much more interesting and it would have been better if the movie makers covered the nuclear program part apart from giving some insights on other parts of life, like his childhood, parents, of the old age. It is supposed to be a "biopic" after all. 

The star cast of the movie is mind-blowing. It is like a dream to have a collection of so many actors and actresses I liked, and all have been included to make this movie.  

I have been a great fan of Cillian Murphy, and he has done a good job in this movie. After all, he got an Academy Award for Best Actor for this film. But I noticed that he has become almost skeleton like thin, and I am not sure if he became like this for this rule since the real J. Robert Oppenheimer was thin but not 'this thin'.

More than Cillian Murphy, I loved the role played by Robert Downey Jr. He has totally nailed the role of an old astute politician Lewis Strauss and he is hardly recognizable in his role, and it is so amazing to witness his great art of acting. I read that he got Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor too. 

Emily Blunt is great in her role of Katherine Oppenheimer, the wife of Robert Oppenheimer. 

Matt Damon is surprisingly "average" in the beginning and only by the end of the movie he justifies his huge name and fame. 

It is great to see Alden Ehrenreich in the role of a Senate aide to Lewis Strauss. I remember him from his amazing movie "Rules Don't Apply" (2016) and it was nice to see him again on screen. 

Coming back to my overall feeling after having watched it, I think the movie makers should have shortened it to 2.5 hours, and if they could have found any other backdrop instead of "security clearance hearing", it would have been better. I think as a "biopic" this movie definitely falls short of my expectation because it is about only two particular events from his life. 

- Rahul 

Movies: Shikara Review

I read the review of movie 'Shikara' on Rediff. It mentions that the movie "questions" the "politics" around Kashmiri Pandit's exile in 1990. It questions the genuineness of other Hindus who support KPs and are sad and angry with (Cong party) govt for why it did not protect KPs.

It kind of mentions that most people who support Kashmiri Pandits cause on "social media" are plain trolls who have "never met a KP" and never seen a "refugee camp". This is such a negative and skeptical view of the reality.

Quote: 'Sir, he has never seen a Kashmiri Pandit'. That's the note on which Shikara concludes.

Well, I have known many KPs from my college days. And I know about KP's refugee camp in Pune; our office colleagues used to go there to donate food items.

It seems this movie is a kind of "propaganda" film; which will do more harm to the KP community than benefit. I read that Vidhu Vinod Chopra is a Kashmiri himself. Perhaps he wanted to make a movie on Kashmir to satisfy his inner demons. But he did not have the guts to show truth.

To some extent Shikara is then like the movie Aarakshan (2011) which was supposed to be a movie on anti-reservation movement but became a rant against coaching centers. It was made by Prakash Jha who comes from the community which suffered due to caste quota. And hence Aarakshan became such a disappointment; despite having big stars like AB, Manoj Bajpayee, etc (and it flopped on Box Office too). Therefore, due to the dishonest work by movie makers, Shikara too seems to be going to be a flop.

It was better if movie-makers did not make such movies on sensitive topics which mock the subjects and ridicule people who genuinely believe in a cause.

I will of course not watch it.

- Rahul

[Reflections] Innocence Can Move Mountains

Happened to watch a movie ‘Flipped’ on TV which is about teenage love or crushes. In the last scene, after having disappointed the girl a lot and since long, the boy decides to plant a tree in her garden, a kind of tree which she loved and one such was cut down in the neighborhood. It was truly a lovely gesture and heart touching. Apart from other things, what is clearly seen in this case is ‘innocence’ of both the kids.

I remembered my own childhood when I planted plants and trees; though in our own garden and not in some girl’s! I remembered how I decorated our home; though not to impress anyone else but to feel good myself. That pure innocence with which we built miniature clay houses, forest, pond – a whole world – with our own little hands! How we tried to make ourselves as ‘ideal’ human beings, not doing anything wrong and doing all things right. Oh, that innocence I doubt if I possess anymore!

That is how life is – the same person keeps evolving. I remember in childhood I had thought over how I would look like or what I would do when I grow old. I imagined myself till school days; even stretched my imagination to imagine how I would be when I join the college – perhaps taking inspirations from some others older guys I came across – but I had not been able to imagine how I would be after I take up a job or get married. My little world in my head could not stretch to imagine myself into things beyond a limit. I still remember that day when I concluded this. I asked myself if I agreed that I couldn’t imagine myself beyond that stage – and answered that I could not indeed. And see, here I am and I can look back into those days of childhood. While looking into future, we can’t go beyond a limit; but while looking into the past we can go as we please. But that limitation in my head – which made me say that I did not know beyond that limit – had to do something with innocence.

It occurred to me some time back that being all wise and all was not really an asset. When you know that something would not work; would you give your 100% to it? You won’t even try properly! May be if you did not know that it would not work you could have tried better and may be it could have turned out well, just for a change! So knowing too well has its negative side too!

One problem with life is that we can’t go back to some past stage of evolution. I remember what someone said once – if I tell you a fact, I can’t again tell you something which could negate the first learning you made. It is an irreversible process. So where does that leave us?

Having lost innocence once, we can’t go back to be innocent again. And that is some real precious loss I feel bad about…

- Rahul 

[Society] Who Takes Care of Fathers?

Sometime back I watched a movie where children of a rude father got really annoyed with the hard-headed manner in which they were treated. They complained that their father did not play with them, did not do anything to impress them; but just gave them orders and found faults in them. They said, “Our father is not nice”. One of their neighbors was listening to their complains and he decided to intervene. He said something like, “Have you ever realized that may be your father needs your help?” Children did not get it and asked “how”? The man went on to explain.

“As you know, you have your mother who takes care of you. Your mother has servants who take care of her. Everybody has someone or the other who takes care of them. But have you ever wondered who takes care of your father?”

The children were speechless.

“So if your father had a bad day at office, who can he complain to? If he is tired and exhausted or worried – it did not occur to you that he has no one who would take care of him! May be he needs help – did you ever try to help him out?”, the man continued.

The children were still speechless. But their faces told that they had got the point and they did not have something with them in protest.

Well, I am a young father and I do not claim to be experienced enough to have gained the wisdom, but I do remember the day my babies were born and I was alone in hospital with my wife and kids. It was their first night and mother was not strong enough to take care of them. My daughter would cry and I would try to make her calm down. After a while baby would do potty or susu and again cry. Then it would become hungry. At times the nurse would be too busy in other work and I would have to wait. I would hold the crying baby and try to make her stop crying. Once she stopped and starred into my eyes for a long time – as if trying to say something. Then as if her wait was over, she started crying all over again. I felt a sheer sense of helplessness for not being able to make her stop crying. She would cry and cry until I broke down. Silently I cried too – pained by my helplessness! People may say they are proud to be parents and all, but I know that more than anything, fatherhood has been the most ‘humbling’ experience I ever had…

Our society expects the man to be strong enough to face all problems. Women are labeled weak and any act of courage and achievement from them is seen as an exception and rewarded accordingly. But the poor man – he can’t make mistakes – he has no right to be emotional – he has to carry whole burden on his own shoulders and not even flinch his eyes. I don’t know if we ever stop and think what goes inside a man’s heart. May be we don’t realize that a man has a heart too. It is the same story in literature, art and movies.

I think it is time when we do a bit of re-balancing of the manner in which we judge men. Why re-balancing? Because times have changed. Today's world is no longer a "man's world". Today, a man is expected to do a lot of things earlier he was not. Today, things do not work like they worked before - where men could settle down matters in their "manly" ways. Today, almost every job that men do expects them to be "unlike" a typical male a hundred years ago. Men by design find it difficult to change. And they have in fact changed a lot, keeping with the time. But at times I think our over-expectations can create friction. 

I think we have been too harsh on men while judging them. We have been too unforgiving. We have taken their virtues for granted and punished them severely when they make mistakes. We set very high standards for them and expect them to act right every single time. At some point of time we forget that they have to climb a learning curve too. Most of the time, we forget, in the words of the man from the movie - that men often do not have anyone to take care of them. I think it is time we look at men with some "empathy" too. 

- Rahul [Disclaimer: Views expressed are personal.]

Movie: Hanste Khelte Featuring Rahul Roy

Happened to watch an old Hindi film ‘Hanste Khelte’ (1994) on TV where actor Rahul Roy played the lead along with Nandini Singh. I don’t remember watching any Rahul Roy movie in the past – perhaps at the time he was at his peak, I was too young (and studious). After watching this movie I realized what I had missed.

I wonder why I liked ‘Hanste Khelte’ where Rahul plays a Casanova like character who is ‘cured’ by his infatuation towards a sanskari girl Nandini. It is not that I have ever dreamt to be like his character; and though I liked Nandini’s character very much, she was not the reason why I liked the movie. I think I loved the movie because I loved the human side of Rahul Chopra – the character Rahul Roy was playing in it. His flirtings Vs his true emotions; his boldness vs his vulnerabilities; the movie had a soul in it. I also loved the manner in which good Vs evil debate was presented in it through internal conflicts in Rahul’s heart (though the Divine men Vs Shaitan aspects and dialogues were too irritating and boring and the movie could have been cleaned up from the boring comedy overdone throughout). One particular scene clean bowled me:

Rahul’s and Nandini’s phones had a cross-connection and they happened to talk anonymously some times. On one particular occasion, Rahul attempts to flirt with Nandini, who at one time tells him that she was “alone and happy” (akeli aur khush). The manner in which Rahul destroys her castle of imaginary ideas, ridiculing her “akeli aur khush” status – it was superb and so truthful! I just loved it and it is heartwarming to even think about the episode…

I don’t know why Rahul is not working in film industry. I read Wikipedia article in his name, and it indicates that after a few of his films flopped, producers called off his upcoming flicks in hoards. What a disappointment for fans of such a promising actor… We just look into his eyes and it seems those are gateways to a beautiful peaceful garden laden with flowers…

Thanks ‘Haste Khelte’ makers and Rahul, Nandini, for giving me a heartwarming and breathtaking experience… Wish you all a very happy life. This is what sums up my sentiments.  

- Rahul

Movie: The Woman in the Fifth

‘The Woman in the Fifth’ is a movie based on a novel in the same name. It is the story of struggles of a writer in getting reunited with his daughter and family in the backdrop of his mental illness. At one point in the movie, we hear a statement which is often heard in many places. The idea is that the more personal disasters and tragedies a writer goes through, the more depth his writing acquires. The same can also be said about some other artisans like painters, singers and musicians. After I heard about this and realized it to be a commonly accepted proposition, I have sort of started disliking these creative fields. It is true that the more personal experiences a writer will have, one would be more in command of the variety and depth of one’s creations. But to make it a precondition or assumption about its necessity looks unfair. I think if there is one most powerful skill that a writer has, it is one’s power of imagination and observation. It can easily be believed that any writer can’t have all the varieties of personal experiences oneself, that exist in this world. There comes the importance of observation – writers can simply role-play or map someone else to develop a character for one’s book. Or else one can simply imagine and imagination knows no boundaries… In that respect power of imagination compensates for or even transcends the benefit of personal experiences in the literary fields.

It is not necessary that a writer or an author should have gone through personal tragedies oneself to get to write about things. It is definitely an advantage, but I not necessarily a precondition. Though, very often we notice that debuting authors do miracle with their first book but never get to repeat the magic afterwards. I think many times it is because the first book was based on their personal experiences and hence had that depth; while next books were written on demand and used more of imagination than experiences. If a writer is not that brilliant, one’s second or next books won’t be of same quality as one’s first book. But there have been so many wonderful authors who have written about character dissimilar to the ones experienced in their personal lives, through the power of observation and imagination.

If one needs a failed personal life to become a celebrity writer, I think it is not worth it. A life lived in simplicity and containment, which often leaves new members for our human civilization who inherit the noble virtues and ethics, is very precious. Fame is temporary and is a double edged sword.

Movie: Pride and Prejudice

Watched the movie ‘Pride and Prejudice’ and loved it. Though I had read the Jane Austin book a long time back, it seems I had forgotten it except a few recollections all through. And the movie is so beautifully made that I am speechless about the experience. It is overwhelming.

To begin with, I like happy-ending stories and this was one. When Elizabeth and Darcy seem to be separated, viewers can feel a simmering pain – how unfortunate? I wished it did not happen like it happened; and indeed there were secrets which came out and Elizabeth could see the real Darcy.

If I talk about the characters, I don’t know why Darcy was so grave always. He did not dance; not even smiled in the first scene when he makes an entry. And he keeps that serious face all through. Though I think we do not get to know the reason for apparent sadness anywhere in the plot. Was he sad over loneliness? In the later parts when he interacts with Elizabeth, one can see his childlike face lit up. Elizabeth appears stubborn though intelligent, and she realizes in the end about her weaknesses. Elizabeth’s mother was such a chatty character; she talked too much and most of the time unwanted stuff.

About the socioeconomic conditions depicted in the story; I could not help but notice some elements. Daughters were burden to the family in a way and parents had to do anything to get them wedded and sent out. Though the manner in which these parents were doing was shocking – sending daughters in front of soldiers and in public so as to display them in the hope that some worthy man could notice them. They were also offering for example Mr. Collins one daughter instead of the other of his choice. This part was shocking. In India, even though daughters are considered ‘burden’ in the same sense, but not treated in this manner, which can be called immoral by Indian parents if they see it here. When one of the sisters in the story eloped with a soldier who asked for a kind of pension or compensation to marry her; and the family had to agree to his demand in order to save their social prestige, it was shocking. It seems status of women in society and harsh social realities have been same almost everywhere in the world.

Anyways, ‘Pride and Prejudice’ has been an enlightening watch. How we are wrong in understanding people and individuals and how we tend to see faults in others while the same faults present in us are overlooked by us; is depicted very nicely in it.

Lootera: A Touching Love Story

We watched the new movie in town ‘Lootera’ starring Sonakshi Sinha and Ranbeer Singh. We watched it a few days after its release and by that time we had already heard opinion of a few friends. By and large the only criticism was that the movie was slow, though some also said Ranbeer was not as good as Sonakshi. While watching the movie I realized that it is natural for period cinema to demand a slower pace than masala movies which are what we get in the name of movies these days. And we too observed that Sonakshi had played her part so well that she could leave any other actress of these times miles behind her… Ranbeer was charming and good too; it was only that Sonakshi took the limelight with her acting.

The movie is based on an old short story ‘The Last Leaf’ by O. Henry published in 1907. The movie is a classic love story and is set in the 1950s. The look and feel of the old days is captured very well. I am proud that our own movie makers can capture it so well; like so many classic Hollywood movies. Till the time you are in the theatre, you are taken on a journey of golden old times and it is indeed a wonderful story… The life and twist of fate for old Jamindars has also been shown fairly. After land-reforms, they did not lose only money but a lot! The toll on their self-respect, human psyche and socioeconomic life was grave and wrenching. I am not sure if any author or researcher tried to find that out on deeper levels. Perhaps it is not popular and cool to think of human tragedy when the victims are the rich lot from the past. But this movie does throw a fair light at the historical situation.

The movie shows the love between a daughter and a father so well. Sonakshi playing as Pakhi (btw, I think they should have chosen some new name; this ‘Pakhi’ is too filmy a name) loves and shares a very deep bond with her father who is equally concerned about her. He tells her stories (one story where king’s life is contained in a parrot is too touching) at her bedside, and nurses her when she is unwell (suffering from asthma). Given their respective age, she should be serving her old father but perhaps father was playing the role of her mother too and hence his love towards her also had maternal warmth… Apart from this, the friendships, be it between Pakhi and her female friend, or between Ranveer (playing as Varun Srivastav) and his friend Devdas are developed very well. In fact all characters in the movie are explored and developed so well. Even Pakhi’s maid servant (played by Divya Dutta) is shown feeling sorry for Pakhi and viewers can feel her emotions! Each character is alive and full of life and sentiments; be it Varun’s thief-friend or his thug uncle, all stand out and remain in the memory of the viewers… It is easy in books to achieve such an effect but I think this difficult task has been done in the movie very well…

Now coming to the love story; I think it is a heart touching story which moves us immensely. Viewers feel a hatred towards Varun when he lefts Pakhi and goes away; they feel immense pain for Pakhi when she suffers; they get angry when Varun returns and a love-hate episode runs between them; and in the end they feel sorry for him when he goes through so much pain and suffering… As it is said, there are no black and white characters in the movie but they tread in the grey areas enriching us with an experience that won’t be achievement in a world full of judgments… At many stages of the movie, particularly in the last hours, I felt like crying and it felt heart would break with so much pain and suffering which Pakhi and Varun were going through…

To a large extent Pakhi and Varun were victims of fate even though it may not appear clearly. Varun knew that his uncle won’t allow him to marry her, so he planned to go away to some unknown place with her to lead their beautiful life together. But just one day before the wedding, Devdas returned with their uncle appearing as Mr. Vajpayee and everything goes wrong. By the time he returns in the end, Pakhi was ill beyond cure and it was too late. Otherwise he could still say sorry (after knowing that uncle was already arrested; he could plan a new life). Also it seems Pakhi was unconsciously waiting for him, or perhaps she did not want to live; that she continued in a hill station even after knowing that the cold was not good for her health. In the old days a lot of disease were fatal, for which now there are cures. In a way Varun getting killed saved him from a lot of misery in store, because it would be too difficult for him to lead life when Pakhi won’t be there… 

Those who called the movie slow judged it from the modern masala-movies as frame of reference… I liked Ranbeer though in many scenes Sonakshi leaves him behind in acting prowess, and perhaps the producers chose him because he could be molded into what they would like to, while the super stars would like to carry the burden of their oft-repeated charisma… I watched a TV interview of director Vikramaditya Motwane along with Sonakshi and Ranbeer and I think he is great.

Also, the first part of the movie was full of fun and hilarious moments while the second went at deeper aspects and tragedies. The episode in the end with ‘the last leaf’ was soul touching…

Lootera is a heart touching love story woven in a period film of the rare kind now in the age of masala movies. You should not miss this experience and do watch it, if not already. I wish more such movies are made in India.