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Immaan Dharam (1977)
Nice attempt at showing interfaith harmony, typical 70s film, but not great
Movie is good. It justifies the title. It revolves around the issues of diverse religious faiths in India and how these people lived in harmony once, irrespective of their differences. All religions are to be respected and adored. Sanjeev Kumar's character, Kabeer, is living Gandhi-way, trying to set an example of higher thinking and simple living. He is knowledgeable and knows the essence of all religions. He tries to practice the messages of Gita, Bible, and Quran. People of different religions are so integrated that one can't differentiate who belongs to which religion. They speak same language, they have similar life styles and do good for each other irrespective of their faiths. Its the one and universal religion of Insaniyat that keeps them together. Few glitches do appear where Gita and Quran happen to do miracles of saving lives but they still seem logical as can be considered as matter of faith, rather than true miracles as shown in some movies of that time. The movie spreads the message of true india where all kinds of people live together, specially of different religions and how they establish harmony. Few examples are:
1) Two best friends - one muslim and another hindu, they perform same type of work. Their work and socio-economic conditions bind them together. They are poor and apparently not much educated but literate enough to read Gita or Quran.
2) The muslim guy agrees to act as the father of a fatherless christian girl when insisted by her christian mother. She will pay him Rs 400 per month for this job.
3) A hindu rich actor, son of a wealthy businessman, denounces his family work and wants to study about all religions, including works of literature. He is educated and is in love with a poor hindu girl. He has high ideals of seeing India as a developed nation, but on principles of Universal love and harmony, where people would stop doing bad deeds if inspired by people like him. He seems to practice non-violence and through his words and acts, inspires others and help them in following the path of humanity. He wants people to read whichever religious book they like but want them to be honest and truthful. He can sacrifice his life for his ideals as he believes that his sacrifice can bring others on a good path. He is an ideal Gandhian, though Gandhi is not referred in the film. He is dreaming for a better, harmonious India.
The movie is all about showing how religious harmony can unite india and how honesty and simple lifestyle can cultivate high ideals. As usual, wealthy people are criticized for their exploitation of poor.
B.A. Pass (2012)
turned out to be an excellent movie than expected, promos were misleading.
I didn't know it was first day first show for me. I just bunked my college and went directly to a nearby cinema theater to see any worthy popular film. I couldn't get the ticket for Bhaag Milkha Bhaag so I went for BA Pass. Till interval movie has only thrilling sex scenes, not common in Hindi cinema. But after interval everything comes unexpectedly.
It depicts the story of a young boy studying in BA (pass) course at a college when his parents suddenly die due to an accident. The movie starts with the mourning of family relatives over the death and discussing about the future of young children, Mukesh (Shadab Kamal, the lead actor and the student), his 2 younger sisters, Sonu and Chhutki. The boy stays in the aunt's home (bua, father's sister) and wants to complete his studies while sisters stay with the grandfather. But the aunt's family is not supportive and asks him to do various household work. He dislikes his studies but somehow wants to finish it so that he can earn to regain his self-respect and bring his sisters. Meanwhile he becomes friend of a coffin maker, Johny, at a graveyard where he used to study books about Kasparov's chess moves so he could master chess. Johny also loves to play chess so they become friends. One day he meets his aunt's friend, Sarika (Shilpa Shukla), who invites him to her home for some business. But persuades him into a series of sexual encounters. One day she offers him the job of a gigolo where he would be sent to various rich and mature ladies, mostly in their 40s, who want a young guy to satisfy themselves for some or the other reason. Various scenes of these sexual experiences have also been shown. He wanted to take private home tuitions but being lured by aunt's sexual favors, high amount paid by woman customers, and difficulty in finding tuitions threw him in gigolo business.
Audience was not expecting the sensuality that has been shown on screen. Though I found a mature audience as the sex scenes were very intense. The couple sitting next to me went away after the interval. The girl was not comfortable watching the movie. Though the audience was less in number but I do feel that the film would attract more audience in coming week, specially the weekend.
After the interval movie takes a totally unexpected turn when Sarika's husband, Khanna (Rajesh Sharma), comes to know about Mukesh's visit to her. After that starts a series of suffering, betrayal, tensions, crime and painful emotions. The portrayal of women has been scintillating, who are using their money, beauty and name for either revenge or pleasure. Sarika's acting is extremely bold and sensuous. The movie has been made from a very realistic perspective. Movie centers around the need and importance of money and how a consumerist society loses all morals and emotions when it comes to acquisition of money.
An intellectual perspective about the role of women in this movie would be the suppression from patriarchal society, and various turns in the movie come from this interplay of surviving in a patriarchal family and the betrayal by women due to that. The woman is shrewd, clever, highly astute, and revengeful. The woman is also passionate and wicked. She knows how to make use of her powers. She is strong but only when free from patriarchal rule, otherwise she is oppressed, defensive and unhappy.
The boy, being a late teenager, something 18 or 19 years old, still has to face many challenges in face of lack of financial and family support. The situations become worse because of 2 sisters for whom he has to earn so that he could give them a safe home. Although it can be argued that film has shown many unexpected and unrealistic turns, like Johny betraying him and he using a shortcut to money. But the circumstances give these turns a reason and validity. A story can be shown from various perspectives but possible uncertainties and twists show realism and add spice to drama. Although not shown in the movie, but he must have thought that he can't earn much money if he aspires to do something else (like tuitions), with which he would not be able to bring his sisters back from the hostel. The influence of passion and charm could be possible reasons but they only add to the complexity of motives in this unripe age. As Hume says, "Reason is a slave to our passions.", seems justified in this movie. The moral dilemma of becoming a gigolo has not been shown properly, except when he tries to seek male customers. The boy gets easily trapped into the business by his own sexual passions due to which the climax situation owes him the responsibility for whatever happened to him.
Overall, the movie is psychologically thrilling, shows passions and emotions, realistic circumstances and how the character of the parent-less boy strives in a society of adults whose passions crush him to the very core at the cost of his self-respect and much more.
A 10/10 from my side as I do not find any significant mistake in this film.
Go Goa Gone (2013)
A Surprisingly Brilliant movie, may turn-on a new wave in Indian Cinema
It is extremely astonishing that Indian film-makers are now making movies with entirely different story-lines, hoping to appeal to the audiences with varying tastes in films. This film is surely gonna be loved by many indians, even those who are aversive to such themes when a Hollywood movie is played. Zombie-theme is not a very favorable one to many, believing it to be just another add-on to the sci-fi cult. There have been plenty of such movies made in west, like Zombieland, Resident Evil series, to name but few. Anyone before watching this movie would have definitely thought that such story-themes can NEVER be made in India, by any Indian film maker. Not only Zombie-film, making any sci-fi film in India comes with great risks as audience is not yet ready for such films. Only a handful of people, mainly younger generations would love to watch a sci-fi film.
Go to any theater playing the latest Star Trek movie and you would find few groups of guys sitting here n there in the theater, few loners, most of them wearing specs, and rarely a couple would be seen, and a whole family is rarest to find. Such has been the taste of Indian audience even in current times when sci-fi cult has grown hugely in west. How can one imagine to have a zombie movie then in an Indian theater? But Go Goa Gone has startled everyone's assumptions and imaginations. Purely a Zombie-based theme, a sci-fi element that a drug would damage most part of the brain making the survivors Zombies, and the rest being the similar masala from any such western counterpart. The movie could be a bit predictable to those who have watched many such movies as various scenes and screenplay seemed to be copied from various sources. Originality was lacking in the movie, the characterizations and the similar scenarios are very commonly seen in any such sci-fi movie; whether a group of young adults is stuck at an island surrounded by zombies, or surviving the attack from a monstrous-mutant animal, or survival from the spread of a virus, or escaping from an alien etc etc. But as with western movies, though scenarios are common and predictable, but what attracts the audience in them is a new story-line different from the previous ones, along with new elements of technology.
Out of few sci-fi's made in India, like Koi Mil Gaya.., Ra.One, (also including few non-Hindi films like Robot etc) this definitely provides a very unique story-line and theme, never seen and expected in Bollywood. Indian audience is definitely going to get a surprise in this movie and complete entertainment included. I am sure people from all classes are going to like this movie, despite its first-time presented theme which would be novel to several Indians.
This movie is definitely going to set a new trend in film-making, and may be we will get to see an Indian version of Species, Aliens, LOTR etc in the near future.
The film has very nice dialogues, with beautiful cinematography, few of them are gonna become classic scenes. Saif's make-up is very apt for a movie like this, and he has shown mature acting. Kunal's dialogues and his role would become favorite of many, there has been the use of abusive language also. There are no sensuous scenes, but in a movie like this at least 1 or 2 could be added. May be the directors were intending to make it suitable for family watching, and also slang seems more acceptable than a sex-scene. And as a result the girl, Puja, was not shown in a glamorous way, though she is hot and cute. This has made the movie content-focused, and more footage has been given to the survival from zombies. All three young male actors have acted brilliantly.
I have given a rating of 8/10 because of some commonalities with Western movies.
A MUST WATCH, even you would love to watch it the second time.
Bombay Talkies (2013)
not according to the expectations, deviated from what it could depict
a combo of 4 short films -- nothing else, 4 directors appealing a handful of 4 different audiences leaving majority behind
Today I watched this movie and frankly I didn't know much about this movie when I purchased its ticket (something which I do many times, its good to watch something without a prior impression). But I made my assumptions what this movie could be about and there were high expectations from it. I was expecting a celebration of 100 years of Indian cinema but I could not get even a pinch of it. Four short films combined to give a 2 hours entertainment was not what audience was demanding. The lady sitting in the back row was saying, "Ye to khel ho gaya." I don't know whether I should criticize directors for this or make some over-optimistic interpretation of their effort to creep into the gaps which have been left by the film-makers, in order to appreciate the coming-of-age of Indian cinema. No doubt movies were all brilliant, but the way they have been presented was cheap and non-serious. Not because there was no connection between the four movies and they were all discontinuous, un-connected. The movie did not justify the title and the 'expected' theme. The movie should have been given some other title. There have already been few other movies made that show the similar thing - where different stories of different characters are shown, all demonstrating some or the other aspect of our life.
The four short films in this movie similarly showed 4 different stories. Definitely the stories cover contemporary issues of 'common man', which are also shown these days in full feature length movies now and then. The films never bore you and they provide gratifying entertainment. Obviously not every one's cup of tea. The movies have been made more from art movie perspective and have shown the content seriously.
Although the majority of audience would not like the serious content shown in movies, but when approaching commercial cinema and specially when it is about celebrating centenary of Indian cinema, the movie could be made more entertaining and thrilling so that many could connect with it, if not everyone. Indian cinema has reached its heights by making films which target various sorts of audiences. People identify through films, they relate themselves with movies and characters, then why this disappointment. I feel the four directors have tried to appeal to their own audiences and not the Indian audience in general. Its more of a narcissistic effort where all of them wanted to show people what they are capable of making and how differently they can make movies.
I have given a rating of 6/10 because the movies were great in themselves.
The Black Balloon (2008)
one of the best made on autism
Being a clinical psychologist myself, I have to work with autistic children. And being a movie freak, I once decided to download as many movies as possible depicting mental illnesses. When looking for autism I happened to find some very brilliant ones, like Ben-X and this movie.
So far I have found Black Balloon to be one of the best ones in which autism has been displayed as accurately as possible. Acting by Luke Ford (Charlie in the movie) as the autistic child is brilliant, never losing the actual flavor of autism. Reality is shown at its core and the unfolding of the character of Charlie's brother, Thomas has again been displayed brilliantly. The film never bores you and the intensity of relations that emerge in last few minutes thrill you in several ways. The way the character of Thomas has developed might not just be confined to such specific relationships. When interacting with such children, and especially when there is such a child in the family, such realizations are bound to happen to anyone involved.
Surprisingly for therapists too. As a therapist too, one may expect a lot from such children to improve in therapy but the reality is not always fair. Anyone working with such children may get frustrated and exhausted by the repetitive failures and disappointments, but it should be kept in mind that success need not be quantitative, rather qualitative. A simple and minor change in behavior is enough to be considered of significance. Acceptance of the real condition of such children is the key to work successfully with them.