Tag Archives: Neil Nitin Mukesh

Retro Review: Jail (2009)

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1 Star (out of 4)

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It’s natural to have sympathy for a person unjustly accused of a crime. Jail assumes that sympathy is all an audience requires in order to identify with the movie’s hero. That’s not the case.

Jail‘s protagonist is Parag (Neil Nitin Mukesh). Soon after celebrating a promotion with his flight attendant girlfriend, Mansi (Mugdha Godse), Parag is pulled over by the cops while driving with his roommate. The roommate pulls a gun on the cops and is shot while fleeing the scene. His backpack contains two kilos of cocaine.

The police assume that Parag is a part of the drug dealing operation and throw him in jail. A judge convicts Parag based on circumstantial evidence. When the comatose roommate dies, so do Parag’s hopes of having his name cleared.

Most people, if falsely accused of a serious crime, would protest their innocence vigorously. Not Parag. He sits at the police station stunned, occasionally stuttering about his confusion. He remains similarly silent throughout his imprisonment. Fellow inmates have one-sided conversations with him. Even a visit from his mother elicits only a mumbled, “Ma.”

Despite his silence, Parag’s fellow inmates sense that he’s a good guy who doesn’t belong in prison. How they can tell from his mute indifference, I’m not sure. Someone must have told them that they were in a movie and that he was the protagonist. Parag himself doesn’t do anything to encourage their friendship or respect.

On one of the rare occasions when Parag actually does something, there’s nothing heroic about his actions. A jerk named Joe buys his early release and brags about it on his way out of prison. Parag attacks him, not because Joe’s being cruel to the other inmates, but because Parag thinks he should be the one getting out instead of Joe.

At the end of the movie, the producers include a note about the thousands of people imprisoned without charges in Indian jails. Reflective of that stance, the prisoners in the movie are nicer than the guards, who are themselves admit to being hampered by bureaucracy. The blame for the system’s injustice is laid on zealous police investigators, lazy judges and greedy defense attorneys.

The conditions of the jail, if realistic, are disturbingly primitive. Dozens of prisoners share one large cell, sleeping on blankets on a dirt floor. There are semi-private toilets and a water trough for bathing and washing clothes. Critics who find American prisons too luxurious would be impressed. The stark setting illustrates how easily it would be to lose a share of one’s humanity in such a place.

But the movie’s success rests ultimately on Mukesh’s performance as Parag, who doesn’t grow throughout the film. It’s hard to get to know a character who’s so unresponsive. Apart from a few breakdowns, he never seems in danger of losing his humanity, in part because his fellow inmates won’t let him. Why they are so concerned with saving him, I’m not sure.

Opening November 6: Jail and Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani

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Two new Hindi movies open in the Chicago area on Friday, November 6: one serious and one silly.

The serious movie is Jail, starring Neil Nitin Mukesh in a drama about the cruel treatment of inmates in Indian prisons. Jail is only opening at the AMC South Barrington 30 in South Barrington. It has a runtime of 2 hrs. 35 min.

Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani is the silly movie, about a boy named Prem (Ranbir Kapoor) whose efforts to please everyone go awry. It costars Katrina Kaif and has a runtime of 2 hrs. 35 min.

Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani will play at the South Barrington 30, AMC Loews Pipers Alley 4 in Chicago, AMC Cantera 30 in Warrenville and Big Cinemas Golf Glen 5 in Niles.

Carrying over for a second week is London Dreams, which earned $207,964 in its first week in U.S. theaters. London Dreams continues to show at the Cantera 30, South Barrington 30 and Golf Glen 5.

Last week’s other new release, Aladin, gets a second week at the South Barrington 30.

Wake Up Sid ends its five-week run in U.S. theaters this week with $717,977 in total earnings, while Main Aurr Mrs. Khanna earned $196,203 in three weeks.

Other Indian movies playing in the Chicago area this weekend include Telugu films Ek Niranjan and Village Lo Vinayakudu and the Kannada movie Raaj — The Showman at the Big Cinemas Golf Glen 5 in Niles.

Movie Review: New York (2009)

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newyork3.5 Stars (out of 4)

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In 2007, FBI agent Roshan (Irrfan Khan) tasks Indian immigrant Omar (Neil Nitin Mukesh) with spying on his college buddy, Sam (John Abraham), whom The Bureau suspects of being a terrorist.  The job forces Omar to deal with his feelings for Maya (Katrina Kaif), another friend from college whom he hasn’t seen since September 11, 2001: a day that changed the friends’ lives forever.

Relative newcomer Mukesh capably carries the weight of the film as Omar, even playing opposite superstars like Kaif and Abraham. The plot is detailed enough to make it a believable spy thriller, but never loses focus on the story of love and friendship at its core.

New York has the extra responsibility of addressing a sad truth. Hundreds of Muslim men were arrested by the FBI in the days after 9/11, abused and detained for months in the U.S. before being released without charges (the U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled on the related case of Ashcroft v. Iqbal). Writer Aditya Chopra and director Kabir Khan handle the subject compassionately, and yet with an objectivity I’m not sure most American filmmakers would be capable of, less than eight years after 9/11.

An American film would likely err on the side of either über-patriotism or empathy for those whose situations have driven them to violence. New York deftly avoids this by aligning itself against both extremes.

The film condemns the zeal and prejudices which led American law enforcement agents to target Muslims and men of Arab and South Asian descent. But the movie is no kinder to those ex-detainees whose desire for revenge against their captors might lead them to terrorism. Chopra & Khan’s ultimate message is that the cycle of revenge traps us all in the past.

The movie contains some graphic scenes of torture. Also, theater websites incorrectly list New York‘s runtime as 1 hr. 48 min.; it’s closer to 2 hrs 30 min.

Opening June 26: New York

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This weekend marks the opening of the first major release since Bollywood went on strike in the spring. Yash Raj Films’ New York takes place in New York City in the days after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The story focuses on an Indian university student (Neil Nitin Mukesh) and his two American friends (John Abraham and Katrina Kaif).

Yash Raj films are generally among the best that Bollywood has to offer, so this could be a good introduction for Americans unfamiliar with Indian cinema.

New York will play at the AMC Cantera 30 in Warrenville, the AMC South Barrington 30 in South Barrington and the Big Cinemas Golf Glen 5 in Niles starting Friday, June 26, 2009.

This weekend, the Golf Glen 5 will also feature Indian films Prayanam (Telugu), Ride (Telugu) and Mee Shivajiraje Bhose Boltoye (Marathi). Sathyam Cinemas in Downers Grove will show the Telugu film Evaraina Epudaina.

Here’s the theatrical trailer for New York:


Movie Review: Aa Dekhen Zara (2009)

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Aa Dekhen Zara2 Stars (out of 4)

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“A man inherits a magical camera” doesn’t sound like a promising movie premise. But Aa Dekhen Zara is, at its core, an action movie that uses the magical camera as a catalyst to jump start the plot.

Struggling photographer Ray (Neil Nitin Mukesh) inherits a camera from his inventor grandfather. The camera has the ability to photograph the future. By setting the camera’s date dial to a future date, Ray can see what the subject of the photo will be doing on that future date at the same time of day that the photo was originally taken. A date and time stamp in the corner of each photo helps Ray keep track of future events.

Once Ray figures out the mystery of the camera, he does what any reasonable person would do: he uses it to win the lottery. Things go reasonably well until other people figure out what the camera is capable of. Eventually, one of Ray’s photographs shows an image of a death he must prevent — as seems to happen in every script where the main character can see the future.

Though the major plot points of the movie’s first few acts are completely predictable, the way Ray ultimately tries to change fate is clever, adding an element of originality to a tired premise.

Mukesh and Bipasha Basu — who plays Ray’s girlfriend, Simi — give believable performances that make it easy to accept the magical camera’s existence in a world that is otherwise totally normal. Aa Dekhen Zara is fairly violent, so it may not be appropriate for children. But, with a run time of only two hours (short by Hindi-film standards), you’ll save some money on hiring a babysitter.