An Jo on ‘Gangubai Kathiawari’ and ‘Laal Singh Chaddha’ performances

The Performances’ weightage

Over the weekend, I finally watched ‘GANGUBAI KATHIAWARI’ on Netflix. Two things struck me; one, the horrible negation Aamir is getting for LSC, and two, the over-praise that Alia got for GK.

An Jo on Laal Singh Chaddha and Life

On LSC and life…

Spoilers: Unavoidable

It takes some time to realize and put together holistically the achievement of Advait Chandan’s LSC. In its own fragments of cinematic scenes, it doesn’t seem to present many take-aways; but as a whole, as a ‘circle of life’ it hits you hard enough as depicted in the climactic scenes of the movie. There are two things to any good movie: An enlightenment-devoted/entertainment successful marriage or getting 100% right one of these components. The former might mostly not rake in the moolah; the latter surely does. Aamir takes the path of the former mostly and that might prove its undoing. This is one honest film-making with no intention at all, on the box-office. One can interpret my line anyway one wants.

An Jo on “Bullet Train”

On ‘Bullet Train’ and Pitt’s fantastic aging…

Right in the realm of Guy Ritchie’s notorious action-comedy gangsta/assassins’ films like ‘Snatch‘ and ‘RocknRolla’, David Leitch’s ‘Bullet Train‘ is one joy-ride, though a little slow in the beginning in picking up speed. Having directed the superb ‘Atomic Blonde‘ starring the stunning Charlize, and of course, ‘Dead Pool’ and ‘John Wick’, a fun ride was expected anyway from David.

An Jo on Gargi

To begin with, let me straight out declare that this is one of the most powerful movies I have seen this year. A straight-forward story of girl-child abuse shot and explored so brilliantly through the lenses of the writer and director [hear me out before you cry me out merciless], it deserves an award on its own: No Cannes, no Filmfare are needed to justify the audacity of this film.

An Jo on Rocketry: The Nambi Effect

The first thing that hits you when you watch Madhavan’s ‘Rocketry’ is his belief in Nambi Sir, and thence, the technicalities of film-making. Throughout, one can make out the awe, and rightly so, that Madhavan has for a scientific bent of mind, so different from ordinary mortals like us, thinking of things light-years ahead. When Indian scientists are satisfied with ‘progress’ toward solid fuels, Nambi Sir is thinking of liquid fuels; and if that’s not enough, he jumps to cryogenics.

An Jo’s Viewings (Updated)

Quite liked MAJOR. The initial portions regarding Sandeep’s formative years were, frankly, quite tackily done, though one can understand the spirit behind it. [Such scenes were shot better in SHERSHAH I felt.]

An Jo on the making of a ballad on ‘Samrat Prithviraj’

On the making of a ballad on ‘Samrat Prithviraj’

What I was delighted with, and also kind of shocked was that I got the movie that I expected from Dr. Dwivedi in which he would stay true to the ‘legend’ of Prithviraj and display it exactly as one would interpret the court-poets’ written words would and visually bring it to life on the screen. This was never going to be a historical biopic [never a ‘Braveheart’, never a ‘Joan of Arc] since the history itself is subdued and there’re counts taken in this film from Chand Bardai, his court poet, especially the ‘epic poem’, Prithviraj Rasso.

An Jo: ‘Veer’ Sooryavanshi

Disclaimers Out of 15, I picked top 4:

1. Major Spoilers/Disappointments
2. No intent of comparison to Hollywood or ANY claim of superior intelligence or ‘taste’. I love Suppandi
3. No intent of bringing down the morale of the Hindi film industry
4. No claim over ‘masala’ and English ‘Grammar’

When Saibal Chatterjee from NDTV, who is utterly unfit to view or understand commercial Hindi cinema, rated it a 3 on 5, I was bowled over! This was like Ray giving ‘Gunda’ a thumbs-up! Then it is decided; this is going to be a full-on blast for me! And 2 shows were immediately added yesterday in DC [there were only 2 decided for the week – ‘Sone pe Suhaaga’; 2 more shows.

An Jo on ‘No Time to Die’

Mild Spoilers

The irony of the title isn’t lost as one connects it to the finale in ‘No Time To Die’; the last movie in which Craig plays 007, ever since revolutionizing the Bond series with the best in Craig’s series, ‘Casino Royale,’  closely followed by ‘Skyfall.’ However, the rest of the movie would fall into the ‘trying-to-be’ mold and doesn’t spectacularly succeed. It has neither the smartness of ‘Casino Royale’ in balancing and fleshing out, bit-by-bit, Bond getting hooked onto emotions, nor the bold walk towards maternal feelings and the weird sibling rivalry that Bardem has with Craig. [“Orphans make the best spies,” says M to Craig in ‘Skyfall’ when he asks her why she selected him.]

An Jo on BELL BOTTOM

Bell Bottom is one heck of a ride

‘BELL BOTTOM’, the first Hindi film to be released in theaters since the lock-down, is quite an interesting film; which also includes the part the Akshay Kumar is the first actor to take the bullet for the suffering industry by releasing it in theaters knowing fully well that it could end up a very, very risky decision, and of course, I think it has ended up like that going by the BO results. However, I am glad that someone took the risk, and hopefully, it paves the path for further risky adventures.
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An Jo on Shershaah

I must say I didn’t expect but I quite liked the movie! Of course, it is a hagiography. The film is nothing but a pictorial version of news clippings and readings that one has been exposed to. There is no ‘psychological’ depth here when considering the thought behind Vikram Batra the person and the one exposed in media and swallowed and regurgitated by people.

An Jo on BLACK WIDOW

Watched BLACK WIDOW in the cinema hall in XD box version. What hell of a difference the viewing experience it makes! With each and every bullet ricocheting and creating goosebumps up your arse, it was a thrilling ride. The last time I watched a movie in theater was in December 2020 and that too only for Nolan, for TENET. The superbly shot Bombay sky-scraper sequence, the initial opera attack, and the reverse entropy scene, those were the highlights for me in terms of cinematic experience.