Movie Review: Chennai Express (2013)

19 Replies

2.5 Stars (out of 4)

Buy or rent the movie at iTunes
Buy the DVD at Amazon
Buy the soundtrack at Amazon

Circumstances have conspired to keep me from writing a proper review of Chennai Express, so here are some brief thoughts on the movie:

  • The film delivers on the romance, explosions, and lavish dance numbers promised in the trailer, so in that regard, Chennai Express is successful. However, the fact that so much of the film’s comedy relies on fans being well-versed in Shahrukh Khan’s previous movies limits Chennai Express‘s chances for greatness. The movie isn’t truly universal, and I don’t think it will stand the test of time.
  • On the other hand, the in-jokes about SRK’s movies aren’t critical to understanding the plot, so the film on the whole is pretty accessible. The funniest scene in the film is when Rahul (SRK) and Meena (Deepika Padukone) communicate in code in front of her kidnappers by modifying the lyrics to popular film songs. One doesn’t have to know all of the songs to find the scene humorous.
  • Many of the rest of the jokes are about Hindi-speaking Rahul not understanding the Tamil-speaking residents of Meena’s hometown. For the sake of audience members who don’t understand Hindi or Tamil and can’t easily tell them apart when spoken, I wish the English subtitles would’ve been presented in a way to convey which language was being spoken, perhaps by italicizing the Tamil dialogue subtitles or displaying them in a different color from the subtitles for the Hindi dialogue.
  • The story was okay overall, but the plot details left a lot to be desired. Supporting characters are introduced to move the story along, but are never seen again. Rahul is the only character to undergo any kind of character development (Meena falling in love with him is more plot progress than character development).
  • Meena fleeing her forced marriage is the catalyst for the story, but she doesn’t have a single scene alone with her father (played by Sathyaraj) to discuss her desire to choose her own husband. Instead, the climactic fight scene is preceded by Rahul giving her dad a condescending speech about women’s rights. Dad ignores the speech and declares that the winner of the fight gets to marry Meena.
  • The final fight scene takes place in Bollywood’s favorite generic fight setting: a public square full of market stalls just waiting to be destroyed. In addition to the obligatory bangle stand and pile of clay pots, director Rohit Shetty introduces a new kind of product to be decimated: a table full of plastic Tupperware containers!
  • The beautiful scenery in Tamil Nadu is the real star of the film. Check it out:

Links

Opening August 15: Once Upon a Time in Mumbai Dobaara

2 Replies

Once Upon a Time in Mumbai Dobaara opens in the Chicago area on Thursday, August 15, 2013.

OUATIMD opens on Thursday at the AMC River East 21 in Chicago, Regal Gardens Stadium 1-6 in Skokie, AMC South Barrington 30 in South Barrington, and Regal Cantera Stadium 17 in Warrenville. It has a listed runtime of 2 hrs. 38 min.

After breaking first-weekend box office records with U.S. earnings of $2,416,513, Chennai Express carries over for a second week at all of the above theaters, plus the AMC Loews Crestwood 18 in Crestwood and AMC Loews Woodridge 18 in Woodridge.

Other Indian movies showing in the Chicago area this weekend include the Tamil film Thalaivaa at the Cinemark at Seven Bridges in Woodridge.

Movie Review: Mere Dad Ki Maruti (2013)

7 Replies

mere-dad-ki-maruti2.5 Stars (out of 4)

Buy or rent the movie at iTunes
Buy the DVD at Amazon
Buy the soundtrack at Amazon

Product placement plays an integral part in how movies are financed these days. Artful product placement in a film showcases the sponsored wares in a way that is obvious but unobtrusive. The product placement in Mere Dad Ki Maruti (“My Dad’s Maruti“) is gratuitous, as though the movie is really one long commercial for an automobile.

The overt commercialism is a shame, because Mere Dad Ki Maruti (MDKM, henceforth) is a pretty good movie. Created by Y-Films to appeal to a young adult audience, writer-director Ashima Chibber’s plot draws inspiration from a number of ’80s comedies, particularly Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. The story is familiar but fresh, and it doesn’t overstay its welcome.

The story centers on Sameer (Saqib Saleem), an immature college student caught up in preparations for his older sister’s wedding. As the movie begins, a brand new Maruti — an Indian subsidiary of Suzuki — has arrived in the family’s driveway. Sameer assumes the car is meant for him, until his short-tempered father, Tej (Ram Kapoor), explains that it is a gift for Sameer’s soon-to-be brother-in-law, Raj (Karan Mehra). Tej says that if Sameer wants a car, he needs to earn it by being responsible, like Raj.

Quickly forgetting his father’s rebuke, Sameer “borrows” the car to impress a girl, Jazzleen (Rhea Chakraborty). Their first date is a success, until Sameer hands the car keys to a man he mistakes for a valet. The car goes missing, and Sameer resorts to increasingly ridiculous means to replace it, aided by his level-headed best friend, Gattu (Prabal Panjabi).

Both the structure and themes of MDKM are familiar. There’s an emphasis on personal responsibility, familial love, and the bonds of friendship. Sameer and Gattu make a great comic team, and Jazzleen is a welcome addition when she’s finally let in on the secret.

In fact, the movie has a lot of really funny moments. The highlight is a dance performance Sameer’s sister, Tanvi (Benazir Shaikh), dedicates to Raj, in order to convey her unspoken feelings for him. However, her feelings border on X-rated, making for an awkward performance in front of the whole family.

For all that MDKM has going for it, it’s impossible to overlook the its crass commercialism. I’m not sure how much Maruti paid Y-Films for titular product placement rights, but it had to be a lot. There are songs and speeches dedicated to Maruti, even a musical montage in which Sameer and his family fold down the sedan’s back seats to make room for all the luggage they need for an overnight trip.

The most reprehensible scene takes place in a Maruti showroom, where Sameer and Gattu inquire about buying a replacement for the car they lost. The model they want is over their meager student budgets, but the salesman explains what great value you get for the money: comfortable seating for seven, plenty of trunk space, and two engine options. If you come in for a test drive, you might even win a car. Wow!

This sales pitch would be tacky in any movie, but the fact that this film is aimed at young people makes it reprehensible. Y-Films should be embarrassed to stoop this low. What’s next, an animated movie for preschoolers, starring Kool-Aid Man?

Links

Opening August 9: Chennai Express

Leave a reply

Chennai Express opens in theaters on August 9, 2013, to one of the largest international releases in Indian film history. That’s evident locally, as the Shahrukh Khan-Deepika Padukone action comedy plays in seven Chicago area theaters.

Following the trend of many recent Hollywood releases, four area theaters have scheduled Thursday evening showings of Chennai Express: Regal Gardens Stadium 1-6 in Skokie, AMC Loews Crestwood 18 in Crestwood, AMC Loews Woodridge 18 in Woodridge, and Regal Cantera Stadium 17 in Warrenville. Chennai Express opens on Friday in three additional theaters: AMC River East 21 in Chicago, Big Cinemas Golf Glen 5 in Niles, and AMC South Barrington 30 in South Barrington. The movie has a listed runtime of 2 hrs. 20 min.

Bollywood fans will note that Priyanka Chopra adds her voice to the Disney movie Planes, which also opens Friday.

Bhaag Milkha Bhaag carries over for a fifth week at the South Barrington 30 and Cantera 17. Its total U.S. earnings stand at $1,572,690.

Starting Friday, the Golf Glen 5 carries the Tamil film Thalaivaa and its Telugu version, Anna — Born to Lead.

Mini-Review: Jolly LLB (2013)

6 Replies

Jolly_LLB

Buy the DVD at Amazon
Buy the soundtrack at Amazon

I’m not going to classify this as a full movie review with a star rating since I didn’t finish the movie, for which I have a good reason: after forty minutes, I had no idea what was going on. If you can’t read Hindi, don’t bother watching Jolly LLB.

The story generally concerns a lawyer named Jolly (Arshad Warsi) who wants to make a name for himself in Delhi. However, the movie opens with a dramatic chase scene in which the drunk driver of an SUV follows a sedan full of drunk young people. The car appears to veer successfully around a corner, but the SUV fails to make the turn, smashing into a concrete pillar.

As far as we are shown on screen, no one outside of the SUV is injured in the accident. There’s a line of laundry hanging from the pillar, but we don’t see any dead bodies or other evidence of injury. We learn later that the driver — the son of a famous, wealthy family — was uninjured in the crash when he is found not guilty of causing the accident.

All that is depicted on screen is a one-car accident in which no one was hurt.

Things get confusing when various characters say that this is the most sensational trial in recent memory. A scene shows the driver’s celebrity lawyer (played by Boman Irani) receiving payment from the rich family and admitting to bribery to secure a favorable verdict. Jolly mentions media reports alleging evidence tampering, and he finds an eyewitness who was never called by the prosecution.

None of this hubbub makes any sense, given the footage of the accident presented to the audience. I watched the scene a second time, and, again, there’s nothing to indicate that this is anything more than a non-fatal, one-car accident. Why would that cause such a media sensation?

I suspect the answer lies in the newspaper clippings shown in a montage of Jolly’s search for the truth. They are all written in Hindi and are not subtitled in English, so the clippings are meaningless for audience members (like me) who can’t read Hindi. The headlines may mention anything from multiple deaths to the high cost of repairing the pillar, but non-Hindi readers have no way of understanding what was written.

Then again, the headlines may not add anything to story and everyone may truly be freaking out about a minor traffic accident. I have no way of knowing.

Perhaps the events of the accident are explained in dialog later in the film, but forty minutes seems more than enough of an investment of time when I wasn’t given enough information to follow the plot. (Nor should anyone outside of India be expected to know the details of the 1999 hit-and-run accident that inspired the plot.) Since the majority of the audience for Jolly LLB likely reads Hindi, I don’t blame the filmmakers for presenting information the way they did. However, filmmakers need to consider that presenting critical plot information via written Hindi — and without subtitles — limits the size of their potential audience.

Streaming Video News: August 2, 2013

Leave a reply

Two new bits of streaming video news for Friday, August 2, 2013. As of today, Raanjhanaa is available for streaming on Eros Now. Also, 2007’s Jab We Met was recently added to the Netflix streaming library.

In Theaters August 2, 2013

Leave a reply

With studios and cinema halls making way for the oncoming Chennai Express, there’s only one Hindi film showing in Chicago area theaters the weekend starting Friday, August 2, 2013. Bhaag Milkha Bhaag carries over at the AMC South Barrington 30 in South Barrington and Regal Cantera Stadium 17 in Warrenville. Its U.S. earnings stand at $1,294,456 so far.

This weekend’s lineup at the Big Cinemas Golf Glen 5 in Niles includes the following: the Malayalam films Honey Bee and Left Right Left, Maryan (Tamil), Naughty Jatts (Punjabi), Romance (Telugu), and Saptapadii (Gujarati).

Movie Review: Bajatey Raho (2013)

2 Replies

Bajatey_Raho1 Star (out of 4)

Buy the DVD at Amazon
Buy the soundtrack at Amazon

Dramatic tension is a necessary element of any film, even comedies. A hero has a goal, he must overcome obstacles to achieve it, and the consequences of failure must be dire. In Bajatey Raho (“Play On”, according to the subtitles of the title track), the heroes achieve their goal with minimal effort and little at stake. Why bother watching?

The story concerns the members of a family on the verge of losing their home. Flashbacks show the recently deceased patriarch, Mr. Baweja — a bank manager — unknowingly caught up in a scheme devised by the villainous Mr. Sabbarwahl (Ravi Kishan). Sabbarwahl stole the money from the neighborhood bank run by Mr. Baweja and pinned the crime on the manager, causing him to die from shame on his way to jail.

Faced with the prospect of having their house seized to cover the debts owed to their defrauded neighbors, the remaining members of the Baweja family set out to steal the money back from Sabbarwahl.

The composition of the Baweja family is confusing. Besides Mr. Baweja’s widow, Mummyji (Dolly Ahluwalia), and their son, Sukhi (Tusshar Kapoor), there’s an orphaned kid named Kabootar (Hussan Saad); Mintoo (Vinay Pathak), who’s either a nephew or a son-in-law; and Ballu (Ranvir Shorey), whom Mummyji refers to as Sukhi’s “brother,” but who probably isn’t, biologically speaking.

The large Baweja clan is an example of the film’s tendency toward character sprawl. There are so many people affiliated with Sabbarwahl — servants, gurus, underlings, future in-laws, sexy Russian yoga instructors — that it’s impossible to keep track of them or give them meaningful roles in the story.

The police give the Bawejas a couple of weeks to return their neighbors’ money or face eviction. This perfectly coincides with the timing of the wedding of Sabbarwahl’s daughter to a soap actor. The family devises a plan to steal the money during the wedding.

“Devises a plan” isn’t exactly accurate. Stuff happens, then after the fact, the audience is told it was part of a plan we never see discussed. In fact, the circumstances by which Sukhi’s new girlfriend, Manpreet (Vishakha Singh, whose performance is the only good thing about Bajatey Raho), agrees to participate in the theft are never disclosed. One minute she’s eating ice cream and dancing with Sukhi outside of a movie theater, the next she’s acting as a mole inside Sabbarwahl’s house while posing as a dance instructor.

Why would she agree to get involved in this criminal activity so soon after meeting him? Isn’t she afraid of jail? How does she know that Sukhi’s telling the truth?

All of the moral conundrums are glossed over. No one questions whether it’s right to steal from a thief, or whether Mr. Baweja’s name can truly be cleared if done through devious methods . The characters are divided into childishly simple categories. Sabbarwahl is the bad guy and the Bawejas are the good guys, so whatever they do is okay.

As far as bad guys go, Sabbarwahl is a wimp. He only once brandishes a gun, and he doesn’t have any menacing bodyguards. He’s rich enough to buy people off, obviously, but the Bawejas don’t ever seem to be in any mortal danger from him.

Absent threat to life or limb, surely there are lots of obstacles to the plan succeeding, right? Wrong. Everything works out exactly as expected. There’s never any threat that the family will have their covers blown (Sukhi and Ballu pretend to be caterers, Mummyji and Mintoo a rich lady and her bodyguard, respectively), nor does Sabbarwahl suspect that anyone is conning him.

So the Bawejas steal the stolen money back, and then lecture Sabbarwahl on the evils of mistreating the less fortunate. No chase scene, no shootout, no case of mistaken identities. The heroes get what they want without any trouble. The end. What a waste of time.

Links

Streaming Video News: July 28, 2013

1 Reply

The horror film Ek Thi Daayan is now available on Eros Now free to subscribers or as a $1.99 rental. Despite an impressive cast and creepy atmosphere, Ek Thi Daayan lacks a coherent mythology to really make it work.

In other Eros Now news, the romance Raanjhanaa joins the catalog on Friday, August 2.

Movie Review: Oass (2012)

3 Replies

Oass3 Stars (out of 4)

The horrors of human trafficking seem almost unimaginable, but Oass (“The Dew Drop”) does an admirable job of depicting the experience through the eyes of a young girl caught in its web. The film is not easy to watch, but it succeeds in engendering sympathy for the 1.2 million children sold into slavery each year.

The girl at the heart of the film is Kiku (Dibya Chhetri), an 11-year-old from Nepal. She wants to attend school, but her father sees no point. He’s not heartless, just realistic: the few opportunities for work in their village dwindle every day, so there would be nowhere for Kiku to apply her education anyway.

Hope arrives in the form of Kiku’s aunt, who returns to the village clad garishly in furs and gold to emphasize her nouveau riche status. She offers to foster Kiku in the city and send her to school. Kiku and her parents agree, and the girl leaves her mountain village behind.

It quickly becomes apparent that Kiku’s aunt has sinister intentions when she stops at a police station and allows an officer to rape her niece. Kiku is sold to a brothel in Delhi, betrayed by the adult who was supposed to protect her.

The scene of Kiku’s first night in the brothel is horrific. She’s repeatedly raped, screaming continuously as a succession of men loom over her. As upsetting as the scene is to watch, it’s profoundly effective at depicting just how twisted and cruel a man has to be in order to have sex with a woman — correction, a child — who so obviously does not want to participate. I wish every person who ever blamed a woman for having provoked her own rape would watch this scene. No person could ever do anything to warrant such barbaric treatment.

Oass goes on to depict other facets of trafficking, from the illicit relationships between pimps and the police to the role of NGOs in attempting to free women from sex slavery. This fictionalized portrayal of the problem strikes more emotional chords than most documentaries typically can.

However, by taking such a wide view of the problem, the story periodically loses its focus. Kiku disappears from the narrative while the story focuses on the pimps, madams, and prostitutes that populate her world. The sidetracks highlight the complexity of the problem, but it leads to gaps in Kiku’s character development.

When the focus returns to Kiku, she undergoes rapid character changes. One minute she’s just a girl who wants to go home; the next, she’s a jaded hooker volunteering to service a new client. The choice she makes in the film’s final scene, while uplifting, feels abrupt.

Character development issues aside, Oass distills the convoluted problem of modern sex slavery into a story that touches the heart. Here’s hoping the film draws more champions to its cause by personalizing the problem in such a moving way.

Links