I am not an
uncontrollable cinephile. But I do like
to watch movies occasionally and like to analyze it quite incisively. Bad ones create guilt and disappointments
within me for wasting my time in a movie hall. Good movies unleash creative
energy within me. There are movies that brought me tears and I never felt
embarrassed for that as the nature of depiction of certain events by the
respective directors deserved an emotional appreciation. Certain characters,
events and dialogue could emerge out of the screen and haunt us for some time after we finish seeing the movie. Many times, we don’t mind watching a movie we liked again and again.
I could
watch four movies in the last ten days (it was a rare treat to myself). Two in
a hall, third in a flight and the fourth at home. None of them disappointed me.
Let me share them with you in the order of my liking: the best to the next
best.
The Best: ‘Manjhi: The Mountain Man’
This is a
real life story of Dashrath Manjhi (1934-2007), a poor labourer who lived in a
village in Bihar, India. He single
handedly ventured into creating a road in a hillock using a hammer and a
chisel. Ketan Mehta wonderfully created a beautiful story out of this.
Nawazuddin Siddiqui played the role of Manjhi
and Radhika Apte, as his wife.
Current
generation is unaware of the nature and extent of untouchability that gripped many
parts of the country decades earlier (I don’t mean that it is vanished
completely). The movie clearly depicts the suffering meted out by the poor and
the low caste in the traditional Indian society. In the second part of the
movie, one can see the determination of a single individual to fight against
all odds to achieve what he aspired, for the benefit of the people. The
director has given a visual treat to the viewers by showcasing unadulterated
humor, romance, and wonderful music.
There are
many flaws in direction and script. I would like to condone all those irritants
for the following reasons:
a. The movie carries a great message to
the humanity
b. The producer had the courage to
finance a movie about a simple, humble and extraordinary villager who followed
his dreams
c. The movie depicts the life in the
caste-ridden traditional Indian society.
d. The socio, economic and political
realities of society projected in the movie are still visible in contemporary
India and provides a hint that individuals can spearhead a social revolution.
e. Above all, the superb performance of
Nawazuddin Siddiqui.
For above
reason, I give the above movie Rank No.1 among all four movies I saw in the
last ten days.
Second
Best: Still Alice
This movie
I watched while travelling from Delhi to Bangalore in Air India’s best fleet,
‘The Dreamliner’. (You should not miss travelling in this state-of-the-art
Jet.)
‘Still
Alice’ is about how life changed for a family when the lady of the house,
Alice, a professor of Linguistics started forgetting words, names and events in
life. The husband and the three children were in a shock when the Doctor told them
that it is an Early-onset Alzheimer’s disease.
Julianne Moore acted as Alice and Shane McRae as her husband. Directed
by Wash Westmoreland and Richard Glatzer, the movie clearly depicts how a
person with Alzheimer’s progressed in life and how her immediate family coped with
that. You will like this beautiful movie for the wonderful acting, apt
expressions of emotions, and realistic scenes.
Third Best: Piku
Piku is the
story of a hypochondriac Bengali father Bhaskor Banerjee (Amitabh Bachchaan)
and his busy architect daughter Piku (Deepika Padukone), wonderfully narrated by
Juhi Chaturvedi and ably directed by Shoojit Sircar. This is a movie you should
not miss! This is not just about how a stubborn father who suffered chronic
constipation and a short-tempered daughter coped each other under one roof,
but on how individuals with views and
attitudes that are at variance struggle to get along each other. Irrfan Khan wonderfully
played the role of the manager cum driver of a cab company. Amitabh Bachchan
once again proved that none can beat him in playing a role so realistically.
This is not
a typical Bollywood movie with romantic songs and dances in exotic locations,
artificialities and unrealistic story line. The movie is closer to real life
and the settings, dialogue and the scenes looked very natural.
Fourth Best: Baahubali
I could not
miss S S Rajamouli’s ‘Baahubali’ after it has broken all box office records. I
watched the Hindi version at Inox. I liked the movie, touted as the most
expensive Indian film, for its best use of technology and the amusing
choreography. It is worth a watch for entertainment and also to appreciate the
efforts of the producer to invest about 120 cr (US $18 million) and reaped more
than 600 cr so far. Nothing unique about the story, but it carries a social
message.
Sibichen K Mathew
Read an interesting movie review by me below:
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