Behind the Scenes: Remakes

About two years back, Remakes seemed to be the talk of the town. The grapevine had rumors of remakes by almost every director. An over-smart director dared to a touch classic like Sholay for a remake. He went on to make many stupid statements in front of the press which eventually resulted in his remake becoming the joke of the town. Most of the cinema-lovers were surprised to see a new-kid-in-the-block taking up a movie like Don for a remake. And some veteran directors went a step ahead of these people, by taking up their own films for a remake. What courage! :-)
Almost all of these remakes bombed at the box-office; arguably few have done average business.
These directors state that they have packaged the classic in a new format and presented it to the audience. But, do they understand what this packaging means? Packaging it in a new format does not mean shooting the movie in foreign locales, having Hollywood technicians on-board and signing multi-million dollar lead actors.
Retrospection reveals some reasons why they have failed. Film makers have taken up great films for a remake without applying their heads. They have gone ahead with the assumption that the so-called “Right Formula” for success already exists in the film and they don’t have to play with that.
Wondering what this “Right Formula” means? Clearly, the movies that they have picked for remakes have achieved the status of a classic because of many reasons, be it the immortal characters of the film, or the unique storyline or those super-hit dialogues or the exemplary music.
When a remake is to be attempted on such a classic, the director needs to rework this “Right Formula” in such a way that it is more pertinent to the present audience. I strongly believe that the director should not hesitate to change the storyline if he feels that it can give that extra zing that the viewer is looking for. Of course, it is extremely important that his amendments meet the standards set by the classic (Standards are subjective, only good directors can fulfill this requirement :-) ). Only beyond this point, the director should think of showcasing his other creative juices in terms of technicalities like cinematography or action or art direction.
To sum it all, making a remake is a huge responsibility on the director’s shoulders. Hope to see a director emerging victorious in this fixture some day.
Oh! Did I hear some extremely talented singer/composer making a remake of “Karzzzzzzz”!!! :-)

Cheers to Cinema!

Jodhaa Akbar: Almost Magical

Before starting off with the analysis, I want to clarify this to all readers that I believe that making a movie based on historical facts is the biggest test that a Director can face. Many great directors have fallen into this trap.
In an age when popular audience has become more and more demanding, many directors have claimed their understanding of modern cinema. Inspite of all their bullshit fundas, their movies have failed to impress the audience. But there is a league of directors who dont speak, they just perform. For me, Ashutosh Gowariker belongs to this league.

Unfortunately, before its fate could be decided, his Jodhaa Akbar has met with a lot of distraction. Keeping those controversies aside, I consider JA as a piece of fiction.

The movie starts off in Ashutosh's signature style powered by a voice-over by Amitabh Bachchan. It nicely takes you through the most important events of Akbar's childhood and Jodhaa's upbringing. In his journey to accompolish his father's dream of ruling entire India, Akbar makes a lot of enemies in Rajputs and also within his own empire. His political marriage with Princess of Amer, Jodhaa is not appreciated by many people. Amidst all this, love blossoms between two strangers who belong to different cultures. Director successfully deals with the translation of their mutual respect into love.
The story later deals with Akbar’s transformation into a ruler of masses caused by Jodhaa. Unlike Lagaan and Swades, Ashutosh slips this time as Akbar’s transformation fails to leave you with the same feeling of happiness. Of course, there are some twists and turns in the story, most of which do not actually give any new dimension to the storyline.
The climax might remind you of Troy like setting, but we can forgive the director for that.

What the film succeeds is in maintaining its soul, which is the love story between Jodhaa and Akbar. This is the best thing about the entire movie. The length of the movie could have been controlled without getting into too many aspects of Akbar’s life. But kudos to Ashutosh for intelligently dealing with some interesting details about Akbar like his inability to read and write.
Performances from the lead actors are power-packed. Hrithik truly impresses you as the Mughal Emperor. His sincerity with every role that he dons is clearly evident on screen. You will see him hitting the home-run in most of the scenes, be it the elephant-taming scene, or be-it the scene when he listens to Jodhaa’s demands before marriage. One small criticism on his performance could be his inconsistent voice modulation; in some scenes you feel like he apes Prithviraj Kapoor’s voice.
Aishwarya comes up with a good performance, but she ruins some of her important solo scenes by showing signs of influence from Ekta Kapoor serials. Its only her chemistry with Hrithik that saves her performance.
Ashutosh must be applauded for his splendid effort. He is successful in maintaining the focus of the film throughout those four hours. But he could have dealt with Akbar’s transformation in a much better way so that it could have left an impression in the viewer’s mind. But nevertheless, he has done justice to the script written by Hyder Ali.
Cinematography by Kiran Deohans blends with the narration excellently.
A.R.Rahman’s Music enriched by Javed Saab’s lyrics is blissful and has been superbly picturised on screen.
This movie will not be recorded in the history books of Hindi films, but it will surely prompt few more directors to come up with heavy-budget scripts and thereby make producers poorer.
Overall, it is a worthy watch because the director keeps his promise.

Rating: *** (Good)

Cheers to Cinema !

Mithya: Perplexed !!!

I spent this sunday watching Mr.Rajat Kapoor's latest flick 'Mithya'. I tried to watch it with an unbiased frame of mind, especially after gathering the opinions of people who had seen it. Tough task, indeed!
The plot opens on a very ordinary note, where in Ranvir Shourey plays a small-time actor in Bollywood (or Hindi film industry, as some would prefer to call it), who aims to make it big in the Sapnon ka Shehar a.k.a Mumbai. But what makes the start special is the unique sense of humor engraved in the scenes. Its an hybrid of dark and slapstick humor.
The first half deals with Ranvir's character trapped in a ploy laid out by a gang headed by Saurabh Shukla, to displace an underworld don. Just when you start guessing if the plot turns out to be a parody of Farhan Akhtar's Don, the director surprises you with a twist where Ranvir's character loses memory in an accident.
At interval, you are left wondering if the character has really lost memory or if it is another ploy; considering the fact that we have seen so many hindi movies where characters have faked amnesia. I believe this is the point where the narration goes weak.
The Director could have made this look more credible, atleast for people who have grown up watching hindi movies.
In the second half, the director completely loses his initial style of narration; by dealing with Ranvir's relationship with the Don's family (especially the wife) and his encounters with Saurabh Shukla's gang and prior-to-amnesia love interest Neha Dhupia.
The movie goes out of hand in the end, when the director deals with the Neha Dhupia's love for the Ranvir while he tries to find his identity. Amidst his crisis dealing with the underworld gangs and love for Don's family, the character loses the grip that was created in the first half.
The climax is a huge disappointment when Ranvir's character regains memory after being shot in the head and calls out Neha's name in a very filmi ishtyle.
The only thing that stands out in the movie is Ranvir's performance. His acting comes across as a revelation in an age where the masses have got overdoses of Khans' histrionics. We all knew that Ranvir was a splendid performer, but he surprises us by carrying the entire movie on his shoulders very responsibly. His performance is arguably one of the best we have seen on the big screen in the recent past. You would fail to accept that any other actor could have done justice to the character after watching some scenes, be it the one in which Ranvir accepts to play a part of the ploy or the one in which he struggles to answer the Don's wife.
Vinay Pathak's character could have been given more airtime in the second half, considering the pace it set for itself in the first half. Naseer's character fails to leave an impression, the genius cannot be blamed for this; the director should have made it more interesting like the one in Kaizaad Gustad's Bombay Boys. I wont waste your time by commenting on the other characters.
As a director, Rajat Kapoor is extremely promising; but he needs to concentrate on his narration. A director can make very limited assumptions about the viewer while telling a story.
Rajat gives you the impression of a director with honest intentions. But he needs to improve without losing his conviction.
Cinematography and editing are not path-breaking. So I need not comment on them too.
Its only because "Meri akal mere pichwaade mein nahi hai" that I am rating this movie as just above average.
Rating: **1/2
Cheers to cinema !

It begins....

Finally! I got a reason to blog. Considering the growing number of average movie critics on the internet (P.S - I am not referring to Atlee & Killi :D ), I thought my inclusion will even more complicate the system. I am taking my chances and going ahead with this effort.
My sole purpose is to project the right sense of the movie from the director's head.
Disclaimer: I wont pay for your bad decisions and misinterpretations :)