Jab Tak Hai Jaan
Skin in the first half, brawn in the middle and amnesia towards the end can't save this expensive wax fantasy with the pulse of a frozen fish. Surprising low - Music by A.R. Rahman and Lyrics by Gulzar. Not so surprising saving grace - Anushka Sharma. London, Ladakh and Anil Mehta's cinematography royally wasted. (15th November, 2012)
Life of Pi
A tiresomely unending self-consciously excited 3-D ocean, an overdose of secular gyaan with an oriental tadka, and pseudo-scientific discoveries about carnivorous islands and vegetarians coming of age. Money not well spent. (19th December, 2012)
Talaash
A good first half, and a second which is closer to a sanitised (read boring & predictable) murder mystery from Meerut. Aamir Khan begins with a bang, and stays frozen in those mard ko dard looks thereafter. Rani Mukherjee is quite good. Kareena Kapoor is almost there, especially in the first half. Nawazuddin Siddiqui as the treacherous lame kotha underling (cliche, cliche) and Aditi Vasudev (she was the tomboyish daughter in Do Dooni Chaar) as the star pimp's live-in girlfriend initially sparkle in their respective characters. The dialogues by Farhan Akhtar & Anurag Kashyap manage to draw attention to themselves (you guessed it - mostly in the first half). The music is almost hummable. All in all a leap of faith, without a landing. (1st January, 2013)
Vicky Donor
What a good script, good set of dialogues, good ensemble cast, and the good old Lajpat Nagar can do to a film. (14th May, 2012)
Neros’s Guests
One of the more quietly powerful documentaries to emerge in recent times in this country - the film owes as much to Deepa Bhatia's skilful yet unobtrusive cinematic structuring as it does to P. Sainath's strength of beliefs and inherent ability to communicate with ease and empathy. (3rd November, 2012)
Paan Singh Tomar
After many years Irrfan Khan achieves the unpretentious assimilation of character one admired him for. The film is good. But the hype was greater. The language used, of the areas around Gwalior, Morena, Bhind, Dholpur (Bundeli), was a delight to hear. Reminded me of wonderful childhood holidays spent at my nana-nani's place in Gwalior, in the early 70s. We would sometimes take the bus from Agra to Gwalior. The route took us through hardcore baaghi country and we crossed the Chambal river on a temporary pontoon bridge (the main one having collapsed). (16th March, 2012)
Jai Bhim Comrade
The citation of the Jury at MIFF 2012 while giving 'Best Film of the Festival Award' to Anand Patwardhan's 3 hours plus documentary 'Jai Bhim Comrade' read - "In recognition of the dedication and commitment for over three decades, not only to documentary cinema but to all the marginalized and oppressed communities of India". I saw the film yesterday. Salute! (2nd March, 2012)
FRF = Film Reviews on Facebook
Skin in the first half, brawn in the middle and amnesia towards the end can't save this expensive wax fantasy with the pulse of a frozen fish. Surprising low - Music by A.R. Rahman and Lyrics by Gulzar. Not so surprising saving grace - Anushka Sharma. London, Ladakh and Anil Mehta's cinematography royally wasted. (15th November, 2012)
Life of Pi
A tiresomely unending self-consciously excited 3-D ocean, an overdose of secular gyaan with an oriental tadka, and pseudo-scientific discoveries about carnivorous islands and vegetarians coming of age. Money not well spent. (19th December, 2012)
Talaash
A good first half, and a second which is closer to a sanitised (read boring & predictable) murder mystery from Meerut. Aamir Khan begins with a bang, and stays frozen in those mard ko dard looks thereafter. Rani Mukherjee is quite good. Kareena Kapoor is almost there, especially in the first half. Nawazuddin Siddiqui as the treacherous lame kotha underling (cliche, cliche) and Aditi Vasudev (she was the tomboyish daughter in Do Dooni Chaar) as the star pimp's live-in girlfriend initially sparkle in their respective characters. The dialogues by Farhan Akhtar & Anurag Kashyap manage to draw attention to themselves (you guessed it - mostly in the first half). The music is almost hummable. All in all a leap of faith, without a landing. (1st January, 2013)
Vicky Donor
What a good script, good set of dialogues, good ensemble cast, and the good old Lajpat Nagar can do to a film. (14th May, 2012)
Neros’s Guests
One of the more quietly powerful documentaries to emerge in recent times in this country - the film owes as much to Deepa Bhatia's skilful yet unobtrusive cinematic structuring as it does to P. Sainath's strength of beliefs and inherent ability to communicate with ease and empathy. (3rd November, 2012)
Paan Singh Tomar
After many years Irrfan Khan achieves the unpretentious assimilation of character one admired him for. The film is good. But the hype was greater. The language used, of the areas around Gwalior, Morena, Bhind, Dholpur (Bundeli), was a delight to hear. Reminded me of wonderful childhood holidays spent at my nana-nani's place in Gwalior, in the early 70s. We would sometimes take the bus from Agra to Gwalior. The route took us through hardcore baaghi country and we crossed the Chambal river on a temporary pontoon bridge (the main one having collapsed). (16th March, 2012)
Jai Bhim Comrade
The citation of the Jury at MIFF 2012 while giving 'Best Film of the Festival Award' to Anand Patwardhan's 3 hours plus documentary 'Jai Bhim Comrade' read - "In recognition of the dedication and commitment for over three decades, not only to documentary cinema but to all the marginalized and oppressed communities of India". I saw the film yesterday. Salute! (2nd March, 2012)
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