Kalank

Can Bollywood please leave the job of creating epic period dramas to the experts at the job? 

Guess not. Abhishek Varman is that friend in the exam we all meet, who even after given the entire cheat sheet to a problem, messes up the answer by wasting time in the beautification and elaboration and thus ultimately misses the point. From the first song sequence of “Odhni”, Kalank explicitly starts giving you déjà vu of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s creations, but only a bad one at it.

What Abhishek or Dharma productions is yet to understand is that Bhansali’s epics are the result of complete passion, intense storytelling, heightened emotions  and  most importantly surrendered madness with flamboyant backdrops. There are no stained realities in Bhansali’s world neither are there any safe surface level attempts; so if you are so obviously deciding to recreate that magic, then at least be fair to it.

For me, Kalank was a visual treat, just like any Bhansali productions. And how can it not be? Kalank’s cinematography is done by Binod Pradhan who worked with Bhansali to create Devdas. Along with it, the production design by Amrita Mahal Nakai just made it a splendid visual treat.  

The passage to Bahaar Begum’s Kota is mesmerizing just like the castles and costumes by Manish Malhotra, Maxima Basu, and Ajay Kmr. The problem with Kalank is the same; they have taken painstakingly intense efforts in setting up the story milieu and did a lazy job creating characters with layers and a plot worth rooting for.

The major reason why Bhansali’s grandeur way of storytelling works is because of the insanely intense performance by his actors.  It’s also evident that along with the actors’ talent its Sanjay’s passion that creates the magic onscreen.  What Abhishek lacks in Kalank is also the same, that fire or passion that automatically will transform the characters out of the actors. All the characters created and the plot did have a lot of scope to have been developed into an epic drama about the complicated human lives. But sadly story writer Shibani Bhathija, screenplay writer Abhishek or dialogue writer Hussain Dalal was hardly interested in it.

I was so relieved that Alia Bhatt was finally given characters with so much caliber that she can handle a whole movie on her shoulders if need be. Unfortunately, Alia as Roop in Kalank hardly is able to give her best due to the underwritten surface level role given to her. 

Same is the case with otherwise bankable actors Madhuri Dixit as ‘Bahaar Begum’ or Sanjay Dutt as ‘Balraj Chaudhry’. They all seemed uncomfortable and painfully one toned. Maybe it's just me but it was disturbing to see Madhuri’s expressions fall flat in many instances in the song sequences or in an intense moment of outburst in the movie. 

After Badlapur and October, Varun Dhawan luckily is given a complex character as Zafar, probably the only character in the movie who was given justifiable effort crafting. Zafar is not the easily likable character but Varun successfully threads on the blurred lines of right and wrong as Zafar and gives an earnest performance.

Aditya Roy Kapur’s sober existence as Dev Choudhry throughout the first half was a relief but sadly once again his was also reduced to a one-note role, probably due to which the second half shows him drinking out his sorrows (which has almost become a sure thing in Aditya’s movies). Sonakshi Sinha as ‘Satya’ manages to convince as too much of a sanskaari wife. Although I don’t understand how forcefully getting your husband to marry someone against both their wills is actually love.

Somebody, please give Kunal Khemu more meaty roles. He enacted Abdul’s short yet pivotal role with so much passion that ‘bande ne aag laga di’ almost literally. He is hugely promising and it’s criminal to let him be trapped in the horrific ‘Rohit Shetty world’.  

Apart from the title track, beautifully choreographed ‘Ghar More Pardesiya’ and ‘Tabaah Ho Gayi’, none of the other tracks by Pritam felt like worth it, though background score by Sanchit and Ankit Balhara was just what the movie needed.

The movie drags on with unnecessary male lead bonding with “Chikni Chameli” type item numbers, in-authentically recreated political turmoil from the 1940s India, shirtless ab displays, random bullfights with pathetic CGIs and after all this for almost three hours later, you will hardly be able to root for the climax moment, which was intense but consumed by its own exhaustion.

Picture Courtesy: IMDb, boldoutline, Bookmyshow

Super Deluxe

Super Deluxe is one such movie which makes it hard for a reviewer to review, not because it’s bad but since it’s so very well made that one remains speechless after the movie. I haven’t seen director Thiagarajan Kumararaja’s last outing Aaranyakandam (2011) and went in for Super Deluxe without any escalated hopes. In a phase where movie makers chose to tell almost the entire story of the movie through the trailer, Super Deluxe’s trailer kept me guessing and intrigued in so many ways and that’s the sole reason why I decided to watch the movie and trust me if I hadn’t, it would have been a huge loss.

The beauty of this movie is the precision and passion with which it is created; from an intriguing trailer to intricately designed posters to a brilliantly crafted movie, Super Deluxe never disappoints you. In an era of monotonously one toned characters, Thiagarajan’s world offers an entire story and characters are presented with extreme detailing and depth. Super Deluxe cannot be categorized as of one genre as it touches almost every aspect of life like life, morality, sex, gender discrimination, marriage, politics and what not and in a fascinatingly clever manner.

Just like the layered storytelling, each and every character has given us captivating performances. Before I go into any one of them, personally for me the star of the movie is Raasukutty, played by the endearing Ashwanth. With his adorable mannerisms, he takes you through the yearning and unconditional love for his father. He doesn’t give a damn about the world or its stereotypes; he doesn't care if his father is a man or woman. 

All he wants is his father, who came back after years changed as a woman, to stay back and his way of dealing with a trans person is an eye-opener for all of us. Raasukutty’s highly exasperated and emotional dialogue, “Nee ponbalayavo ambulayaavo irinthitu poo aanal enka koode iruthu tholaye” (You be a woman or a man, however it is, stay with us) is certainly going to haunt you even out of the theatre.

Vijay Sethupathi again proves his caliber in his portrayal of Shilpa, a trans woman refusing to be apologetic about the decision she took but haunted by the ghosts of the past and equally stumped by the unconditional love of her son. The extent of dedication Sethu puts into each character is evident in the transformation he goes through and Shilpa is no different. Sethu makes sure from the intro that one roots for Shilpa and her life.

Though not given too much screen time another character who made an impact for me was Gayathrie Shankar as Jyothi, Vijay Sethupathi’s wife. Her plight of longing and happiness about the estranged husband’s return, disbelief and utter shock of the transformation he went through and the breakdown realizing her repeated misfortunes is brilliantly portrayed in fewer words and intense expressions. Her dialogue, “Naanum oruvela April fool nu nenachen theriyuma” (Even I thought for a moment that you were playing an April Fool prank) looking at her husband busy draping a saree, is another dialogue which will hurt. 

Samantha Akkineni in a recent interview with Baradwaj Rangan said, her aim from now on is to do roles which she can be proud of. Well, with Vaembu she can safely say, she did open her account. Vaembu, the headstrong woman unapologetic about her sexual desires is by far the best performance of her career.

It was a pleasure to watch Ramya Krishnan back on screen with an impactful performance.  A doting mother, a badass woman, an actor who once used to act as goddess, now working in the porn industry to make a living, Ramya Krishnan made the character of Leela, memorable with her acting prowess.

Fahad Faasil as Mugil gives us another terrific performance; with his portrayal of Mugil’s emotions from shock to unaddressed frustrations, this actor proves he is a gem. His monologue with the corpse of his wife’s ex-lover is something one can never forget and director’s addition of a tinge of black humor here and there makes it hilarious at different levels.  

An eccentric character Arpudam aka Dhanasekar (played by Mysskin, also of the four writers of the movie including Nalan Kumarasamy, Neelan K.Sekhar, and Kumararaja) plays brilliantly with the rights and wrongs and lines blurred in between with regards to our belief systems. 

The transformation of Bagavathi Perumal as Berlin, one of the evilest cope I have seen in Tamil cinema recently, was a huge leap to take and what a perfect execution! The director literally pushes the edge so far with each character that you are left with no choice than to live the life with the characters and emotionally root for them.

This is one such rare movie which respects the audiences’ emotions and intelligence quotient; nowhere ideologies or viewpoints or humor is spoon-fed to you. In fact, most of the scenes in the movie are so open-ended that this movie can be perceived in different ways by different people. Still, for sure you will walk out of the theatre with most of your perceived notions and stereotypes disturbed.   

Picture Courtesy: Filmibeat, Film Companion South