Bolly Volley Vol. 9: Looking Forward to Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola

Arup specializes in any job that requires stretching out his legs - whether it is on a reclining chair at the beach, or in the Economy Plus seat of United Airlines, or on the shoulder of the person sitting in front of him in the theatre. And when dreaming, travelling for work and watching movies is not keeping him busy, he tries to write. He lives in Naperville with his wife and son, who are cinema freaks as well

A monthly shower of Bollywood previews, reviews and my unsolicited views

by Arup Raha

Someone recently asked me which movie I am looking forward to, now that the earlier favorites for the year, Paan Singh Tomar and Kahaani, have already released. There are many but I would name just one. Matru Ki Bijli Ka Mandola. Yes, that is the name of a movie and not the sign on a highway dhaba in Haryana!

It is Vishal Bharadwaj’s next release but at this point it holds my interest primarily because of this very unique and intriguing name. The release dates are not confirmed yet so I will talk about what to expect from MKBKM in a future edition of Bolly Volley.

Today, let’s talk about the two films I had excitedly previewed in the last edition. Both have released and have lived up to those expectations.

It’s a rare luxury for an Indian movie-lover to get two such high quality releases within 2 weeks! Paan Singh Tomar is powered by Irfaan Khan and a very interesting true story of an armyman’s transformation into a champion athlete who then converts into a vengeful bandit. That this movie on Tomar’s life was made, is reason enough for applause.

Besides the story, the performances, the locales, the authenticity portrayed by the characters and dialogues make this a great movie. Yes, I would have loved to see a little more time spent on the athlete part of his life, but hey I have no complaints! This may not be the first time I am saying this, but while there is a self-proclaimed King Khan in Bollywood, there definitely is an undeclared Emperor Khan (Irfaan) who someone rightly referred to as a national treasure of India. Unfortunately, the story of Paan Singh Tomar’s ascent to fame got quickly overshadowed by another great story – Kahaani. It took only a day after its release for news to spread that Kahaani is a must watch and by the time I could reach the theater, I only managed to get a bad corner seat. Not that it mattered, because most of the time I was sitting on the edge of the seat or falling off it! It is hard to point out one particular aspect of this movie as exceptionally good, because perhaps everything in it is. If at all, I would say it’s the simplicity of storytelling. A thriller needs to focus on the “thrill”. It should not unnecessarily layer it up with style, slick, stunts, gore and twists (which is what I think Agent Vinod will have. I am yet to watch it. More on that later).

Kahaani’s strength lies in using ordinary people in commonplace settings to take the viewer through an immaculately thought out sequence of events (tight script and fantastic editing chopping off anything that is not relevant) that creates the suspense and thrill that Bollywood movies hardly ever achieve. People have talked about Vidya (“Bidda”) Bagchi and Kolkata as the two main characters in the movie but I almost felt that I myself (the viewer) was the third character in the story on my own quest for truth along with Vidya, the police and the others. While it is true that Vidya Balan carries this movie as the lead actor (almost every possible praise has already been showered on her), I feel every other actor has played a huge role as well. Notably Nawazuddin Siddiqui (intelligence bureau officer) and Parambrata Chattopadhyay (the young cop assisting Vidya).

Nawazuddin is as much a treasure as Irfaan Khan, it’s a matter of time before he becomes as well known as him. He was very impressive in Peepli Live and while he had a small role in Paan Singh Tomar, after Kahaani expect to see him much more often in the coming months and years. Parambrata (already a very successful actor in Bengali cinema) had worked with Vidya Balan in her debut film (a Bengali film called “Bhaalo Theko”) but after his class supporting act in Kahaani I am sure he is now getting a lot of phone calls from all across India. Before talking about upcoming movies, let’s talk about last edition’s quiz where the theme was “plagiarism”. Did you identify the Bollywood song that was inspired by the song in the video? Yes, it was the famous Mehbooba of Sholay (1975)! Ramesh Sippy wanted RD Burman to create this song based on the Demis Roussos’ (Greek Singer born in Egypt) “Say you Love Me”.

Amongst the current Bollywood chart toppers (2012) many of you may have already heard Boney M’s Rasputin-inspired “I will do the talking” song of Agent Vinod. Fortunately this time, music director Pritam has officially bought the right for this remake.

Now let’s talk about the upcoming movies to watch out for: Coming soon to a theater or a store near you After 2 great movies, the next few weeks may not be something to be proud about for Bollywood, because I don’t see any movie that’s worth craving for. There are a few movies like Blood Money, Housefull 2 and Bittoo Boss that may turn out to be watchable but not worth writing about yet.

I will pick two for now. There are some good movies releasing towards end of April and I will cover them in the next edition. Agent Vinod – Released. The movie has released before this edition could hit the “stands”! I have not seen it yet but I didn’t expect much from this movie except it being pleasing on the eyes with more style than substance. However, it won’t hurt to watch it. There have already been comparisons made to the James Bond franchise and various other western spy-action movies and that is what it would be – a mish-mash of multiple plots and sequences packaged with hi-tech action and foot-tapping music. The Saif and Kareena pairing is another attractive “feature”. I will watch it for Director Sriram Raghavan whose earlier movies Ek Haseena Thi and Johnny Gaddar were both awesome. Maximum – Releasing Apr13. Maximum has a great cast – Sonu Sood, Naseeruddin Shah and Vinay Pathak (my favorites in that order). It also has Neha Dhupia who has created a good niche for herself as an actor by playing some great roles in such “non-commercial” movies. A movie about politics and land deals in Mumbai with two cops (played by Sonu and Naseeruddin) at the center of it seems to have an interesting premise. Director Kabeer Kaushik has had mixed success in the past – but I liked his Sehar (Arshad Warsi) very much.

Now it’s time for Quiz!

Again, a very easy one!!

QUIZ

There is a movie releasing in late April called “The Coal Mafia” about the mafia in the coal mining districts of Jharkhand, their conflicts with society and the police. This movie will probably flop, but there was a very famous movie made 3 decades ago which was inspired by a mining disaster in the same area. Name that movie. See, I told you it would be easy !