Spoilers ahead…
Ashutosh Gowariker’s Mohenjo Daro opens with a big disclaimer that none of what’s to follow should be taken too seriously. I suppose this injunction is meant for those who missed the trailer with the flying crocodile, but it does make sense, especially when you see what it really means: This isn’t a history lesson, title be damned. We’re trying to make quasi-historical, quasi-mythical shlock, the kind Cecil B DeMille specialised in. Also, if you bought Elizabeth Taylor as an Egyptian queen in Cleopatra, which Hollywood has never quite topped in the schlock-o-meter, please don’t complain about Hrithik Roshan’s gold-tipped curls that manage to remain curly even after a wrestle with the above-mentioned crocodile. And please, no sniggers about his amazingly modern, gym-sculpted torso. Did burpees exist then? Sorry, wrong question. Here’s the right one: Who cares?
What Gowariker and his “researchers” have done is essentially corral up facts about the ancient civilisation and weave a Chosen One story around them. Facts like these: there was a Lower City and an Upper City; there was urban planning; they had “ghar ke oopar ghar” (flats, in other words); they liked Indrajal comics (characters are named Hojo, Lothar); they burnt their dead; they paid taxes; they built dams; they mined gold; they marvelled at horses and tropical birds brought in from other countries; they loved staging multicultural, multinational dance events (sort of like the opening ceremony at the Olympics, but with AR Rahman’s mighty shrug of a title track, which sounds like it was tom-tommed all the way from the Phantom’s jungles). In the final frames, we even see the famous “Dancing Girl” bronze statuette, whose hand-on-the-hip pose clearly inspired some of the choreography. What inspired the shockingly generic screenplay, though, is anyone’s guess.
So Hrithik plays Sarman, who, like all self-respecting Chosen Ones, lives in obscurity (he’s an indigo trader) and has portentous dreams. He dreams of a unicorn, which, thanks to the visual effects, looks more like a unigoat. Destiny, which always shows up in the supporting cast in these stories, drags him to the titular city, where he falls for Chaani (Pooja Hegde). I must say Hegde acquits herself more admirably here than she did in Mysskin’s ill-fated Mugamoodi, which impels me to coin a term for this phenomenon: The Taapsee Pannu Effect. After a series of insipid performances in Tamil films, I was shocked to see Taapsee’s entertaining turn in Baby. What a difference knowing the language makes. I’m not saying Pooja Hegde is great or even good – just that she at least looks like she knows which way is up, which way down. The problem, though, is that she looks too modern – and this is a problem with most of today’s heroines. You don’t face this problem in Utsav, the gold standard for Hindi-film period epics. Rekha had that kind of face, that kind of bearing. I had fun thinking who’d play Vasantasena in an Utsav remake today. You can think these things during Mohenjo Daro. In fact, you may have to think these things. The film is 150 minutes long, and if Gowariker won’t entertain you, you’ve got to do it yourself. Oh, the plot. It’s dazzlingly new. See, you have this rich girl who meets this poor boy, and they fall in love. What’s more, the girl is being forced to marry the villain’s son (Arunoday Singh). And, and… the villain (Kabir Bedi) killed the hero’s father. I’m amazed no one thought of all this before.
Gowariker, as always, directs with the sincerity of a class topper reading out an essay during Parent’s Day. There’s not a trace of wildness, not even when a mad plan is hatched to make a bridge by lining up boats. The jaw should drop. Instead, the eye rolls. Thank heavens for Kabir Bedi. He’s clearly the only one who read the screenplay and saw it for what it truly is – his gloriously hammy turn is one for the ages. And the one time Hrithik should have gone for broke with the nostril-flaring that has marked a lot of his recent performances, he reins it all in. He cuts loose only in an action sequence, before which we’re told he’ll face the toughest of tests. I expected something grandly trashy, like getting a blue flower from the head of the wife of a short-tempered, curse-prone rishi. Alas! Sarman is made to fight two musclemen who look like extras who have dropped in from shooting a Rohit Shetty action scene in the adjacent set. Oh well. At least, the film answers two pressing questions. Who invented democracy? And who named the Ganga? The answer to both is Hrithik Roshan. I know we live in an age where history is being rewritten, but this may be a tad much: our most sacred river being christened by Jadoo’s BFF.
The film’s finest touch is a fleeting one. Early on, the characters speak in a language we don’t understand. After a while, the camera zooms in on a pair of lips and zooms out – the conversations are now in Hindi. It’s a beautifully cinematic touch to imply translation. And for a while, the Hindi they speak sounds just a little odd: sapeena for sapna, janawar for jaanwar. We get the sense of people like us, but not exactly like us. Gowariker’s films always have a couple of good lines. Of Sarman’s anger, his aunt says, “Oas ki boond hai uska gussa, ek pal mein hawa ho jayega.” It reminded me of this exquisite line from Swades: “Apne hi paani mein pighalna barf ka muqaddar hota hai.” There’s a smashing masala line too, when Sarman yells, “Jo rakht tune bahaya main uska katra hoon.” My question, then, is this. Why do Gowariker’s films have just one or two lines that stand out? If you have an ear for dialogue, why not fill your script with prose that borders on purple? Because the film, otherwise, is the very definition of colourless.
KEY:
- Baby = see here
- “ghar ke oopar ghar” = a house on top of another
- Mugamoodi = see here
- Utsav = see here
- sapna = dream
- jaanwar = animal
- “Oas ki boond hai uska gussa, ek pal mein hawa ho jayega.” = His anger is like a dewdrop. It will evaporate in a moment.
- “Apne hi paani mein pighalna barf ka muqaddar hota hai.” = It’s the destiny of ice to melt in its own water.
- “Jo rakht tune bahaya main uska katra hoon.” = I am a drop from the blood you have spilled.
Copyright ©2016 Baradwaj Rangan. This article may not be reproduced in its entirety without permission. A link to this URL, instead, would be appreciated.
Sabah
August 12, 2016
I enjoy reading your reviews, but being an Arab, who understands a little Hindi, or let me put it in a better way, trying to (learn to) understand Hindi, it would be extremely helpful if you could translate into English the quotes you use here and there..
Thank you.
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sanjana
August 12, 2016
Loved the review. Now can we have a real review?
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Ramsu
August 12, 2016
I believe Gowariker has struck upon a novel way to make an original story: set it in a time so long ago that, chronologically speaking, this poor boy falling in love with a rich girl precedes all the other poor boys who fell in in love with rich girls. I hate to be the one to break it to him that it doesn’t quite work that way.
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Anuja Chandramouli
August 12, 2016
‘I expected something grandly trashy, like getting a blue flower from the head of the wife of a short-tempered, curse-prone rishi. ‘ ROFL!!
The light bulb above Amish Tripathi’s noggin just went on and he is rubbing his hands with glee even as his agent makes urgent calls to the publishers before calling Bollywood to negotiate for the film rights. You may get your grand trashy epic as yet BR!
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Deepak
August 12, 2016
Lagaan was a pile of schmalz but it was our pile of schmalz in the sense that the actors understood what kind of movie it was and they went for broke. This showed in the results and allowed us to enjoy the movie in the same way we could enjoy Inglorious Basterds – we know this isn’t historically accurate but it’s too much fun, too involving for us to care. Sadly, the actors in this movie don’t seem to have that awareness of what kind of movie they’re in. Neither does Gowariker it looks like sadly.
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Dracarys
August 13, 2016
Alrite..it is set then….bunch of buddies and beers and this ‘blockbuster’!!!
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sanjana
August 13, 2016
http://scroll.in/article/813840/film-review-mohenjo-daro-is-a-costume-party-with-food-for-thought
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prasunsblog
August 13, 2016
Jo rakht tune bahaya main uska katra hoon
This transliteration of रक्त bothers me. Shouldn’t it be rakt/rakta (or raktha if you go by the Southern Convention). Where does the kh come from?
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10yearslate
August 13, 2016
Drawn in by the director of Lagaan, Swades and even What’s your Raashee, This was an inadvertent FDFS for me, in fact the very first one in my life, in the company of a quarter theatreful of Thobe clad Qataris in Doha.
Totally disappointed is the word. The CGI is too evident and almost as amateurish as in its early days. The small nuggets were-the lota filling up with water being the time measure and the reasonable effort to find zebu to match the famous seal.
Apropos the technique of zooming out to emerge in Hindi-this was used way back in ‘The hunt for Red October’ with Sean Connery playing the Russian commander of Red October.
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brangan
August 13, 2016
10yearslate: I also remember it being used in The 13th Warrior, the Antonio Banderas adventure.
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Akhilan
August 13, 2016
There was no way in hell I was gonna take this movie seriously when the characters themselves refer to the city as Mohenjo Daro… I mean which city in its right mind would call itself the Mound of the Dead…?!?! And don’t even get me started on Chaani’s and Maham’s ridiculous head gear… Whatever happened to the Gowariker who gave us the likes of Lagaan, Swades, and Jodhaa Akbar (which I thoroughly enjoyed despite much criticism of it on this blog)…??
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niranjanmb
August 13, 2016
I don’t intend to watch this movie but I think I technique with a zoom in to change the language also happens (maybe the first in Hollywood?) in ‘Judgment at Nuremberg’.
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Pavan
August 13, 2016
From Pathala Bhairavi to the recent Baahubali, films set in the bygone era had some stereotypes to offer. Despite being set in a time “ahead” of these, i mean in BC, the stereotypes did remain the same. Wished that it also managed to suspend our disbelief.
PS: Apart from people calling the city “Mohenjo Daro” (lit. heap of the dead) even before it drowned, something else also intrigued me — their strange headgears!
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P
August 13, 2016
I honestly think people like Gowarikar cannot make good movies without the overbearing involvement of the star in question. In this case- Aamir Khan, the only hero to have gotten something out of Gowarikar.
Aamir Indianized Gowarikar’s conceit in that one (and lets face it, he’s really good at conjuring incredible conceits), he gave it the heft it required, he made it nautanki. Cause without the Nautanki even Lagaan was no different than Mohenjodaro. I mean no one cared about historical accuracy in that one, then why in this one? Because it sucked!
I just wish Ashutosh leaves film-making and sticks to conjuring up conceits in some corner. Hmf.
He almost ruined SRK’s career with Swades, and with this he basically ruined Hrithik’s.
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arielsomebody
August 14, 2016
@P “I just wish Ashutosh leaves film-making and sticks to conjuring up conceits in some corner. Hmf.”
i want to say the same thing to Bhansali after every film, especially Bajirao Mastani. 😛
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Sifter
August 14, 2016
He dreams of a unicorn, which, thanks to the visual effects, looks more like a unigoat….. 🙂 🙂
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P
August 14, 2016
@arielsomebody: Good for you. But then Bajirao Mastani at least was a hit and did wonders for the careers of those who were in it. I heard there was a PVR in Juhu where there were just 9 people for Mohenjodaro. He has effectively ruined Hrithik’s career.
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Abdul Sami Qahar
August 14, 2016
In 13th warrior, they showed him looking at their lips for some time to understand the lip movement and sounds and then he finally speaks. Different context because they showed him learning the language.
for the review, Uni goat was the main point. Not watching this one. Gowarikar has not done much for me since Lagaan.
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Madan
August 14, 2016
I didn’t even find Lagaan everything that it was cracked up to be. It was nice-ish but the main attraction, again, seemed to be how beautiful the sets were and just how beautifully the film was shot (for its time). As a story, I didn’t find it particularly riveting and lacked the grit of CDI (which of course was made later). I also thought it relied on jingoism just as much as Gadar, only of a more benign variety compared to Sunny’s high decibel take (but the context of the latter was also more relatable and more poignant on the other hand). I am not particularly fond of either SLB or Gowariker’s films but would rate the former higher for sure.
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MANK
August 14, 2016
Every bit the film the trailer led us to fear*
Brangan, my problem is that the film isnt bad enough. from the trailers, i expected something worse enough to be enjoyable as nice cheesy campy fun. you know something like old clash of the titans, flash gordon or the CB Demille movies you were referring to like samson and Delilah or Ten commandments – a nice mix of tits, asss and muscles cheese that was the staple of hollywood.
damnit. AG is far too chaste a filmmaker to take it even in that direction. the result is a film that cant be taken seriously and isnt fun enough.
To give credit where its due, it should be said that AG is not a lazy filmmaker. you could see that there are some good concepts and ideas in the film . what he is trying to do here, is using the first civilized state that existed in the indian subcontinent as an allegory for the contemporary times. if you take the basic premise of the film – a despot who overthrows a democratic entity and establishes his dictatorship, builds an unwanted dam over a sacred river for the purpose of excavating gold that is going to be used for purchasing illegal weapons for taking revenge against his home state that had kicked him out unceremoniously. that has deep resonance with the current india-pakistan story. unfortunately, what should have been the primary premise turns out to be a mere subplot now in the completed film. if the lead protagonist of the film was Maham, then that would have been a film to watch. its too bad the center stage is hogged by a very generic romance & revenge story. so the the very fact that the story is set in mohenjo daro makes the whole film a pointless exercise.
There were so many things that was exclusive to that culture – and of which we get fleeting glimpses through out the film – if developed fully would have made the movie so much interesting. the barter system of trade, the city being governed by a consortium of merchants, the concept of unicorn worship, even the end of that civilization which may or may not have been caused by a great flood. all these things are scattered all over the film here and there but never coming to the surface. the treatment is very very simplistic and naive to a great extend. to compound matters, AG chose a masala template to make this film and AG is anything but a masala filmmaker. he neither has the visual bravado of SLB or the desert warrior aesthetic of a J.P.dutta. This film would have been something if this was made by either of those filmmakers or even RK Santhoshi. I totally agree with Punee that AG is more of a concept man. he neither has the technical virtuosity or the narrative acumen to pull of this concept. this was truly missed opportunity.
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MANK
August 14, 2016
Punee, i dont agree that AG almost ruined SRK’s career with Swades. Swades is SRK’s career best performance. its the only film where i liked his performance 100 % . As a film too, it was no turkey. it had a wonderful ensemble cast and performances, not least of which is the ethereally beautiful Gayathri joshi in her one off screen performance whom i absolutely loved. she was such a spontaneous performer and very unlike the hindi film heroine of the times both in beauty, talent and dialogue delivery skills – man she could pronounce pure hindi words properly and effortlessly. in many ways a precursor to heroines like Anushka, parineeti and others who came after her. It had a superb ARR score and some of Javed Akthar’s best lyrics.
What bogged down the film was an overtly preachy tone, repetitive scenes and dialogues about us vs them debates and a unnecessarily bloated runtime or to put it in a nutshell, AG has the Christopher Nolan problem
If you have seen the more famous Nolan films like TDK series , Inception or Interstellar. you can understand what is the problem. He takes 10 shots for something that can be conveyed in 2. it takes 10 lines to convey what could be done in 2 lines. merely putting across an idea isnt enough. it seems necessary to ram the idea\message right down the throat of the viewers. the end result is that film becomes bloated with scenes repeating themselves and worse much of the ideas conveyed through dialogue rather than visuals – an absolute no no for a predominantly visual art form like cinema. AG is no different. the fact that he hardly has the technical acumen of Nolan only compound matters.
Just look at the time he takes to bring srk from US to his native village and the amount of exposure he has to get through to make us feel what the character is feeling on his return. or those endless debates about cast, class differences, apathy that ensures between Mohan and the villagers. after a point it gets tiresome.
All he has to do was to look up to Javed Akthar. man how he conveys such emotions with very few lines. the songs in the film are superb – WTE of that terrible baba title track remix-. in the yunhi chala chal rahi song it goes like ‘Jaise bhola sa bachpan phir se aaye, jaise barson mein koi ganga nahaye’ . man thats all it takes to convey the feeling of the guy who has returned from abroad to India after a long time. or check out the the beautiful ‘Pal pal hai bhari jo vipita he aayi’ song. ‘ ram tere man hai, ram mere man mein hain. man se ravan jo nikale ram uske man mein hain’ . just goosebump inducing
The problem is present in all of AG’s films and is in abundance in Mohenjo daro. the million dollar secret of Sarman’s origin and being the savior of city is revealed to the different principals at so many different times , that by the time Pooja Hegde starts on her epic speech at her father’s funeral with ‘sarman ka mohenjo daro se purana sambandh hai…’ , i was ready to throw up.
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MANK
August 14, 2016
And i dont think Hrithik needs anybody’s help in ruining his career. he is doing a very good job of it himself. His post jodha akbar career looks like n exploration in self destruction. he has had very few releases in the last 10 years and his movie choices have been terrible. not to mention his personal life – endless physical injuries, break up of his marriage and a most bizarre court case in the annals of bollywood, i am surprised that he still maintains his place in the A list. And this for a guy who was touted to be having the potential to be not only the biggest superstar of the country but also go all the way to Hollywood. now even age is beginning to catch up with him. he is 43 now and inspite of all those fab biceps and triceps, he looks aged in MD. he is still pretty agile and athletic though. But seeing that his next film Kaabil is with Flop master Sanjay Gupta, i dunno how long he can hold on to his position with such talented guys like Ranveer and Ranbir close on his heels.
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Anu
August 14, 2016
That Swades ruined SRK’s career. is news to me. It had one of SRK’s best (few?) performances, that was not ruined by overtones of Rahuk/Raj. I agree with MANK that the film was bloated and preachy. Gowariker doesn’t seem to know when to stop. His earnestness reminds me of ‘Moral Studies” in school. That said, I quite liked Swades. And it wasn’t a flop by any means.
Gowariker gave us a heroine who knew her own mind, was not shy about expressing her opinions, and stood by her principles. He gave us a hero who was real.
I haven’t seen Mohenjodaro but like MANK says, Hrithik has ruined his own career very effectively. He didn’t need Gowariker to do that for him.
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Prasad
August 14, 2016
Great comments.
Hard to believe if this is guy who gave Lagaan and Swades. Actually we can extend the same to even more directors like Rakesh Om Mehra and even Farhan Akhtar. They all come with a blast…an original idea …a spark which comes across their first movie. … Rang de….or even Dil Chahta hai ….so fresh and original which is almost path breaking …but that’s all. Not even a single movie of them in later period(Farhan’s Don series.etc) can match their first movies in terms of originality or even content. Not sure how their writing becomes so flat and lame. Why can’t they rediscover their touch…sometimes it makes you think their first movies was a fluke though.
Any thoughts from anybody?
About Swades…would agree with MANK. Definitely agreed it is preachy especially in 2nd half but it is a cult classic. Very rarely you see Shahrukh emoting on screen and this movie is one of them. The transformation of Shahrukh also was convincing but too much of preachiness in 2nd half made it little tiresome. This scene is something we can treasure for a long time. Every time you see this scene it has a similar effect.
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Radhika
August 14, 2016
Swades did get preachy, but i agree, it is one of SRK’s better performances (Chak De is the other one I like) – and while it was heart-on-your-sleeve in its earnestness, it also had some highly touching scenes, like the one where SKR goes to get the rent from that poor family.
For those with a naughty bent of mind, there’s a ribald spoof of Mohendjo Daro on youtube, with Hrithik as a mechanical engineer who enters a hostel, much fun is made of his headgear. Inspired costume design indeed
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Rishikesh
August 15, 2016
If you have an ear for dialogue, why not fill your script with prose that borders on purple? Because the film, otherwise, is the very definition of colourless.
Yes, I think he should take a leaf out of Bhansali’s book, who does not make the most authentic period movies but does it flair, effort and never forgets to decorate it with poetic prose. Expected to swept way by music, visuals and dialogues here too, but all I got was sight of Hrithik trying his heart out to keep the dreary saga afloat.
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P
August 15, 2016
MANK: chummas to you for agreeing with me 😉
I do think Swades ruined SRK’s CAREER ( I am not speaking of performance here- obvio SRK aces every single goddamn performance) because it was one of the first movies of his that very few people watched in the theatre( I didn’t even do that!), and for sure no one watched it again and again the way I even watched like say Kal Ho Na Ho twice in the theatre.
That is the ruin of career I am speaking of. Sure, you highly intellectual people are happy that SRK played a generic guy on the street who was that very important word “relatable” but professionally its seats in the theatres that get filled up that matter to an actors career- fortunately or unfortunately.
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P
August 15, 2016
MANK: I agree that Hrithik hasn’t done great films but they had pop culture fun at least, I watched Bang Bang so many times because it was so much bloody fun- especially the dance numbers, but Mohenjodaro I can’t bring myself to watch it though I will have to because I love Hrithik so much.
He’s effectively managed to make a beautiful man like Hrithik look AWKWARD. And that is a horrendous disservice to an actor who put his trust in you.
Mohenjodaro is Hrithik’s Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Se/Katti Batti. The latter two ruined Abhishek and Imran’s “Carry a movie on their shoulders” ability, and this has done the same for Duggu 😦
And for all those thinking of AG being so doodh ka dhula, chew on this:
http://www.pinkvilla.com/entertainment/guess-who/360154/filmmaker-cuts-vfx-cost-his-period-drama-saga-gets-panned-critics-and
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P
August 15, 2016
Kal Ho Na Ho(2003):
Budget: 280 million rupees
Profits: 860 million rupees
Swades(2004):
Budget: 210 million rupees
Profit: 342 million rupees
The comparision in these numbers (sourced from Wiki) should prove the point I am attempting to make.
And sorry to say but I think that SRK’s best performance is Dil Se.
Girl who’s loved him since she was 5.
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MANK
August 15, 2016
punee, chummas in return for your chummas 😀
What you are saying is only partially true. Actors need to have commercially successful films. but i would say that a bad hit film is more damaging for an actor than a good flop film. A good film irrespective of its bad commercial result never hurts an actor. may be it might give a temporary setback but the goodwill that the film creates always stays with the public. Swades might have been a commercial failure, but that definitely wasnt end of his reign. after some misteps (like paheli , don,..) he soon came roaring back to form with the double whammy of chak de india and Om shanti om. so there was no way he was hurt
What hurt SRK’s career was a series of bad films starting with Ra1, don2 chennai xpress, jthj etc etc.. individually there were all huge commercial successes, but the quality of the pictures were very bad and the quality kept on sliding with every subsequent release. the result is that the situation he find today in that even a decent film like Fan cannot become successful anymore. he has lost the faith of the audience to such an extend.
And sorry to disagree with you again 🙂 , but SRK hasnt aced every one of his performances IMHO. devdas was a nightmare 😀 , and so was Ram jaane, duplicate, koyla,… i can go on and on , but i dont what to break your heart any further 🙂 I sorta agree about dil se, it was a terrific performance for about 2\3 of the film but in the end he was back to the shivering, whimpering SRK that i detest
but i sincerely hope that Raees brings him back to the reckoning. he hasnt done a solid masala film since main hoo na – which i loved-. hope this is as good as that and not end up as another Ram jaane. 🙂
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rohitsathishnair
August 15, 2016
Swades might have ruined his career for you, but even commercially, he did get big hits after 2004. Heck, in 2007 he got a Chak De India AND an Om Shanti Om.
Even with MNIK, he could appease the public, as well as most critics.
Yes, I agree he had to bide his time till say, KANK or Don after Swades for a moneybag, but even that year was a great one for him, with Main Hoon Na and Veer-Zaara.
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rohitsathishnair
August 15, 2016
Sorry for the repetition, MANK☺
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MANK
August 15, 2016
punee, nobodys calling AG doodh ka dhula, all directors have to be a little bit of bastards. its the nature of their profession.
I dont blame Hrithik for choosing MD. he must have genuinely felt that this would have been a leg up in his career working on that subject and with a director with whom he had good prior experience with. neither do i think AG wanted to make such a terrible film by choice. he was just too ambitious for his own good.
Bang bang might heve been fun and honestly, i think those are the kind of roles that suits him the best along with the likes of D2 and so on which does not require any heavy emotional lifting. where he can coast along on his drop dead good looks and atheleticism. but you cant make a lengthy career out of it.especially once the age starts catching up with you. thats why actors like Aamir and Akshay very wisely decided to change course in their career , once they were about to hit 40. i see no such attempt from Hrithik. he still seem happy to be Papa’s boy 🙂
P.S. : i am no dry intellectual, ithought you must have figured out that by now 😀
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Snehal
August 15, 2016
Just to chime in on the SRK good performances. Does anyone on here like Kabhi haan kabhi na? Somehow, Swades and Chak De always come up when talking about his good ones. I have always loved him in KHKN though. For every re-watch I feel downright miserable when Anna marries the other guy but a little bit happier when Juhi arrives on the scene. But all this is coming from a big shahrukh fan, having watched all the English babu, desi mem, ram jaane fiascos in theatres.
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MANK
August 15, 2016
Rohitsatishnair , no problem Great minds think alike. 😂
BTW, I finally caught up with kammatipadam. Mind blowing film man. It was the only silver lining in a week full of movie duds. People like AG should watch kammatipadam to understand the meaning of a movie epic. its nothing to do with grand sets or costumes or special effects. It’s about the scale and depth of the emotions of the characters and events portrayed. To see the evolution of a rural swamp land into the bustling metropolis over a period of 30 years and how the people change along with it. It was an overwhelming experience rajeev Ravi is a true master of the medium. It’s films and filmmakers like these that restores our faith in cinema. And cinema it is, pure cinema at its greatest
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Ajax
August 16, 2016
@MANK : I guess the biggest factor that’s gone wrong with Hrithik is that he has just not done enough number of films and has not made his presence felt over the last 6 years. Its not that he’s choosing the wrong films, its just that isn’t choosing enough number of films. He was on top between 2003-08 both commercially & critically and that was the time when he needed to capitalize. Instead he took over 2 years to complete a movie like Kites which had no particular target audience in India whatsoever. Then he got a kickstart with ZNMD, Agneepath and Krrish 3 working well commercially. However, when you do just 1 film every 18 months on an average, you just cannot follow up something like a Krrish 3 with a Bang Bang. Doing a movie like Bang Bang requires an actor to follow it up with something like a ZNMD or a Jodhaa Akbar within a relatively short span of time. Firstly, HR needs to start choosing his films wisely, do more number of films and star working with more reliable people instead of the Sanjay Gupta’s and Siddharth Anand’s of the world. Choosing Bang Bang was not a bad decision for a guy whose biggest career hit is Dhoom 2. Neither is choosing a MJD a bad move considering that the duo worked well the last time over (frankly i don’t think MJD deserves the kind of criticism its been receiving from multiple quarters). But doing 5 films in a span of 6 years is definitely not something a top rung bollywood star can afford.
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Rohit Sathish Nair
August 16, 2016
MANK:
Caught the 4-hour version?
When I first watched it in theatres, I was doubtful whether the movie was great (Plus, bad audio quality at EKM Kavitha slightly marred the experience for me.) Watching it a second time in a multiplex, I found it a lot better. I could catch a lot more Dalit references, which are neither on-your-face, nor hidden deep like in say, Kabali.
Now thanks to your opinion, (is it fine if I call you Maneesh Chettaa?), I can’t wait to watch the DVD version!
How did you find the performances? Especially Dulquer’s?
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praneshp
August 16, 2016
@Punee: your logic is mindblowing. Every movie of a star has a set of people watching that star’s movie for the first time. Why do you think more people watched SRK for the first time in Swades (vs DDLJ/Kaho na pyar hai/ Kal ho na ho)? Your numbers in the next comment just prove Swades didn’t work well, not that it ruined SRK/made people stay away. SRK has only made crap in the last 5 years or so; I’d argue those movies have been worse for his career. He still had great hits after swades (my name is Khan, Chak De, Om Shanti Om(?)).
If you’re going to make ridiculous statements, help us understand your perspective at least. (and not crap like I loved him since I was five/I want to marry him/he used to live in my old apartment, etc.)
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rohitsathishnair
August 16, 2016
MANK:
By the way, how was Suicide Squad?
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Aneek
August 16, 2016
@snehal I sure agree with you.kabhi haan kabhi naa is my favourite srk movie by miles!!
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Ss
August 16, 2016
Mohenjodaro is gowarikar without his mojo…apt review!!
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Ajax
August 16, 2016
Mohenjo Daro is a magnum opus gone wrong thanks to a cliched plot and lazy writing. However, its not entirely unwatchable courtesy a worthy climax sequence and Hrithik’s earnest (yet repetitive) performance. My review :
http://simplebollywoodreviewer.blogspot.in/2016/08/mohenjo-daro-review-too-much-effort-too.html
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Santa
August 16, 2016
A bunch of folks seem to be offended by the characters within the movie referring to the city as Mohen-jo-daro. Well, what should they have called it? Sure, it’s a contemporary name, not its true historic name, but does anyone know its true historic name? What would they rather have the city referred to as? Something entirely fictitious? In which case, what is wrong with Mohen-jo-daro? Its as related to the real name as any other imagined name.
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Rahini David
August 16, 2016
Santa: People don’t typically call the place they currently live in “Mound of the Dead”. You can well imagine why they eventually gave it that name?
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sanjana
August 16, 2016
In which language Mohenjo daro means Mound of the Dead? Was that language known to those who lived there?
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Rahini David
August 16, 2016
Sanjana: According to Wiki, Sindhi. For that matter there is no reason why there should be a first name that goes “Thimiru” or a surname that goes “Aruvameesai” in another part of the world. And there is no reason why rahini should not mean something hilarious in another language. But ancient people having called their town Mohanjedaro because it meant Sun City in their language, and later the city becoming a mound of the dead and later another set of people calling it Mohanjedaro because it meant mound of the dead in their own language is a bit much to take, illa?
It is like I bumping into a red Indian dude and treading on his toes and he saying “Vazhapazham vazhukki vaalibar uyir oosal” for it means “Look where you are going, lady” in his language. No reason why it can’t happen. Just unlikely. 🙂
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Santa
August 16, 2016
Rahini: Sure, no one is going to call their city mound of the dead. But I look at it more as a cinematic device – the characters speak in their native language but we hear Hindi; similarly, the characters use the actual name, but we hear Mohen-jo-daro because that’s the name we are familiar with. This kind of cinematic device is not uncommon. See, for instance, ‘Allo ‘Allo.
Perhaps AG could have gone with Harrapa, but Mohen-jo-daro has more of a ring to it.
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sanjana
August 16, 2016
Mohen jo Daro sounds like Moghul e Azam! Grand!
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MANK
August 16, 2016
Santa, yes it is a cinematic device, but its not very organic is it? compared with the other words that s spoken in the film. AG tries his darnest to infuse the language with names like Hojo and Lothar, dunno it still, sound weird to me. especially if you know what it really means. and particularly in the ‘celebration of the city’ song where every body is going mohenjo mohenjo mohenjo daro, i feel like bursting out laughing.
but the main thing is that the film sucks big time, that’s why people are nitpicking on everything. if it had a decent enough dramatic force, then all these criticisms could have been brushed aside.
Sanjana , does it? isnt mohenjo daro rather strange name for a hindi film. we have had english or urdu names as titles- Mother India , Mughal -e -azam, Pakeezah- that sound grand. this doent do that for me. of course its better than harappa.
On a lighter note, i think if we combine the 2 films released this friday, we could get a perfect grand title for this film, Rustam- E-Sindh 😀
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MANK
August 16, 2016
Rohitsathishnair, no it was the 3hr theatrical cut. i checked with the dealers, but they insist its the only version out on home video.
But i dunno what the 4 hr version is going to add to the film. i think its perfect in the current version.
Its economical in storytelling and much of it unfolds visually. a film thats so high on violent emotions and events and there is no melodrama, no sentimentality, no judgement. it was fascinating to watch
The caste politics reminded me of Ranjith’s Madras than Kabali. its a little more explicit than that, but still the dalits and other castes are treated as people first. The caste or their political affiliations are not overtly discussed. i liked – the potrayal in the film- the way the power dynamics in the city keeps changing over a period of time. first it was upper caste hindus, then christians, then muslims, it isnt stated overtly, but it is implicit in the narrative. and how the status of dalits pretty much remain the same. they are always used and abused by the powers that be. the way Ganga is killed by surendran is a very powerful metaphor for that – beaten to death- like how the old landlords would do to their low caste slaves, instead of bamboo sticks, its golf clubs now. thats the only difference. oh it is so multilayered and rich film,i saw it back to back twice and still feel that i missed out on a lot of things.
And Dulqar was perfectly cast. he is well suited for the introverted implosive angry young man. may be in the older portions he became a little self conscious and stiff. otherwise he was good.but anyway the heavy lifting in the acting dept is done by Vinayakan and manikandan- both of them turn in such sterling performances. I am glad to see that actors like them getting to hog the centerstage in a film Rajeev Ravi should be congragulated for that
P.S. than maneeshettanu chumma viliyedey 🙂
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P
August 16, 2016
@praneshp:
@Punee: your logic is mindblowing.
Every movie of a star has a set of people watching that star’s movie for the first time.
Why do you think more people watched SRK for the first time in Swades (vs DDLJ/Kaho na pyar hai/ Kal ho na ho)?
Maybe because they were dying to see him brought down to a non-dramatic, ordinary man role? no idea.
Your numbers in the next comment just prove Swades didn’t work well, not that it ruined SRK/made people stay away.
SRK has only made crap in the last 5 years or so; I’d argue those movies have been worse for his career. He still had great hits after swades (my name is Khan, Chak De, Om Shanti Om(?)).
If you’re going to make ridiculous statements, help us understand your perspective at least. (and not crap like I loved him since I was five/I want to marry him/he used to live in my old apartment, etc.)
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MANK
August 16, 2016
Ajax, yeah i mentioned his lack of releases as a point in an earlier comment. dunno whether its his health problems that is bogging him down or has he become lazy and complacent after he achieved a certain amount of stardom.
what makes it even worse is the fact that he has a well established home production company and he doesn’t take advantage of it. its not like SRK , who had to first work his way up to be a star and established his production company. Hrithik was born with a company in his lap. and what kind of films has he been making recently for his home banner- kites,krish3,kaabil. hell, Rakesh Roshan in his peak years as a filmmaker used to make such diverse movies as Khudgarz,kishen kanhaiya,khel,kaala bazaar and so on. Hrithik could at least take a leaf out of it.
i have a feeling that Both HR and RR has been trying to develop HR as a brand , rather than as a star\actor . which explains the obsession with films like Krishh and Kites.And yes when you have films releasing on a duration of 18 months or 2 years and budgets anywhere between 100 and 150 crores riding on them, then commercial success at any cost becomes the mantra.Quality and diversity be damned bcoz one flop is going to severely set back your career.
As for his future choice of films, he has his work cut out.it seems that the good filmmakers have already started turning their backs on him. Ranveer, Ranbir or Varun seems to be the first choice of the major filmmakers these days.He will have to take the initiative and may be go for a salary cut and make some medium budgeted films like Akshay has been doing.
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P
August 16, 2016
@MANK:
I don’t see Swades being a cultural touch point the way a DDLJ or even Yes Boss was. It is mostly mocked even when its referenced in pop culture. Chak De India was a small film, small budget, its no surprise it was a hit(personally I find it boring though!). Om Shanti Om, I think Deepika had a lot to do with it being a hit. Everyone was curious about her. But even then neither was a blockbuster.
Honestly, the next list of films you have written, all of them were commercial failures and pop culture failures except Chennai Express- and thats completely kudos to Deepika, her turn as Meenamma was a scream! No one remembers Ra1 (unless as a joke about wasteful expenditures), Don2 or JTHJ, honestly and they were failures commercially, SRK has himself admitted that about Ra1 and there is a reason why Don 3 is not being made and why JTHJ is not considered worthy of Yash Chopra by his most hard core fans.
And I am not speaking only of my personal opinion here, did I hate KANK, yes, but did mostly everyone else also? YES. SRK spoke about it on KWK as well where he said people can’t talk about KANK and say “Oh, wasn’t it so nice, that scene where they cheated on their spouses?”
Devdas- did I love it. YES! I adore it. ITs one of my favs. Did everyone else love it? yes. did every girl start dreaming of wearing those kind of clothes and costumes for her wedding, yes! did every girlfriend and boyfriend feverishly recite the couplets that Dev and Paro did to each other? YES! Even in small town Mysore where most of us could barely even speak alien language named Hindi! 😉 Same goes for Koyla and Duplicate- love both those movies to this day! Plus during those days, he wasn’t spacing out his films as he did when he got older i’e post Swades. Unfortunately both those facts coincided.
You may detest SRK when he shivers and whimpers but trust me when I say that the core voters dont. I don’t. The ending of Dil Se and Devdas inspire tears of ecstasy in me to this day 🙂
I had huge hopes for Raees too- it looks really commercial and even the trailer had so many one liners, but then Rahul Dholakia may yet make an art film out of it (shudder!). It speaks to a horrifying drop in SRK’s popularity that Excel decided to postpone it by a whole year!! I mean imagine the word in Bombay is that SRK being scared of Salman- the latter being the one who was most unambitious career wise at one time. Oh, how the tables have turned 😦 Remember a time when Salman was obsessed with his girlfriend and SRK was all career-focused? 😦 Its just a little heart breaking as a fan 😥 I don’t think even Raees can ressurect his blockbuster years again though. SRK was a 90s man. And its not the 90s anymore…
PS: My dream is for SRK and Kajol to do a series of remakes of the movies that Kat Hepburn and Spencer Tracy did together- 9 in all. They can start with the delightful Adam’s Rib and end it with the beautiful Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner in like say 15 years or so, but I would be ok with any order 🙂 🙂
PPS: And SRK beration is something I have faced since forever, I don’t feel bad about it at all! 😀 😉
PPPS: Did you see Ranveer in Switzerland imitating a shivering, passionate SRK in “Tu Mere Saamne”? Now there is a core voter 😉
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Rohit Sathish Nair
August 16, 2016
P:
OSO not a blockbuster? Mother of God, you are a mystery!
MANK (Maneesh Chettan):
I think we can safely consider Rajeev Ravi as an auteur now. (We now have a lot of new directors with flashes of uniqueness, but auteurs… I don’t know). Kammatipaadam has a lot in common with Annayum Rasoolum and Njan Steve Lopez, and he has tried a lot of new things too.
There’s always something different, something a little new now and then.
Take the instance where they drive Dalits out of their land. While another filmmaker would have piled up resistance right then with thesis points, Rajeev Ravi stages it as a mini-knockout sequence, getting us to support them at least at a visceral level. We later see protest from his grandfather (grandfather grudge from NSL), and we realise our mistake along with them.
He seems to have left his stamp in every aspect of the film, that to talk of each thing may take real long. Even say the editing choices, score and the songs are a little off-kilter, a mix of something old and something new (It vaguely reminded of Iruvar, another EPIC in its own way. Rajeev Ravi isn’t Mani sir’s biggest fan, but it would sure be interesting to hear his opinion on Iruvar).
The whole religion stuff too, I only noticed on watching it a second time.
This must be some Dalit film to not have said the name ‘Ambedkar’, or for that matter, anything related to mainstream politics.
Another nice touch I noticed was it is never shown to rain in the very rainy city of Ernakulam, and we find scorching heat in a lot of scenes, a different, perhaps even gimmicky way to highlight the indifference shown to Dalits.
The only downer for me was the ending, written in the most uncharacteristic manner, though it is somewhat logical (Krishnan, who has for long had to suppress his angst and give up things for his friends, finally gets to explode). The very disturbing ‘Puzhu Pulikal’ song though, instantly redeemed it for me.
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Rohit Sathish Nair
August 16, 2016
About the Shahrukh Khan thing, anyone else who was reminded of SRK on watching Jared Leto’s Joker?
If not, comic fans, please forgive me…
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brangan
August 16, 2016
Here’s something I wrote on Njan Steve Lopez, and I love love love Anneyum Rasoolum (except for Andrea’s performance):
Actually, looking at how cinematic these films are, it’s almost embarrassing looking at Tamil cinema. I mean, here Bala is considered an “auteur” — but the auteurship is restricted only to thematic things, not to the filmmaking, which is rudimentary. I still shudder thinking of the Andaman portions in Thaarai Thappattai, which were saved solely by Raja’s great score.
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Radhika
August 16, 2016
@ Snehal. I liked Kabhi Haa Kabhi Naa too – it was one zany movie – I read somewhere that SRK felt his character in the movie was the closest to his own persona. Perhaps I like him in Chak De because he had his mannerisms (that crinkled nose, that funny laugh) all under tight control, so we got to see what he is without those tics.
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MANK
August 16, 2016
Brangan, so have you see Kammatipadam?
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brangan
August 16, 2016
As with most performers, I like certain SRK roles for their “actorly” value and some for their “star” value. Among the latter, one of my favourites is K3G — not the weepy latter scenes but the ones where he meets and woos Kajol in her Chandni Chowk neighbourhood. Complete star charisma at work here — the essence of SRK in many ways.
PS: Radhika, wasn’t shouting at you. Was just emphasis 🙂
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Rohit Sathish Nair
August 16, 2016
Brangan:
Doesn’t what you said about Farhaan’s performance apply for Andrea too?
Somehow Andrea’s casting, for me, added to Anna’s ‘unattainability’.
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Rohit Sathish Nair
August 16, 2016
Brangan, did you watch Suicide Squad?
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brangan
August 16, 2016
Rohit Sathish Nair: Yes, I did. Here’s what I tweeted:
“A bit bewildered at the bile being brought upon Suicide Squad, which is as good or bad as your average superhero movie. Some extraordinary visuals too.”
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MANK
August 16, 2016
Brangan, so from your silence, i take it that you have not seen Kamatiadam 🙂
I hope you do soon and write something about it. then we can all pow wow a lot more 🙂
Rohit, agree about the Fact there is no rain depicted in the film. its another metaphor. i mean even water is very scarcely shown in the film. the only time we see the characters drenched is in the the jail fight scene where dulqar and friend is suffocated in a bowl of water by the inmates.
Punee , your comment has left me speechless 😀 . i need some time to recover
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Rohit Sathish Nair
August 16, 2016
For someone with no prerequisites as far as comics and superhero cartoons are concerned, I enjoyed it a little more than Civil War.
The visuals, yes, some set pieces (Joker in a helicopter, the last scene), if not thrilling, were great stuff to watch. The intros too, did have some swagger.
Margot Robbie does well initially, but the writing fails her, and she becomes predictable, which ideally shouldn’t have happened. Will Smith livens up his role with some star charisma.
Jared Leto…he brings a whole new level to ‘does a hell lot for the movie, which in turn does very little ‘. I really don’t know why they stripped the character of a lot of his mythic grandeur, downsizing him to another big gangster.
I half-expected him to say :”Harley, meri jungly billi”. All that hissing and shivering and purring…
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brangan
August 16, 2016
MANK: Seeing it soon.
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P
August 17, 2016
BR: EEPS! I loved SRK in K3G. The whole of it. I love watching it with my mom who is a huuuge Kajol (or Kadz as she refers to her) fan. We are charmed and laugh all through the first half and cry all through the second half 😀 😛
To think we would agree on this of all things! (Even if partially 😛 )
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P
August 17, 2016
MANK: Take your time mon frere 🙂 I shall await your rebuttals.
Rohit Satish Nair: OSO is not a blockbuster. Sure, its a hit. But blockbuster means DDLJ, K3G, Darr, KKHH levels of madness. Meaning it should be commensurate with the number of years spent in the industry given that one assumes that star power is only meant to grow as the years pass by. I don’t know if I math-ed that correctly but I hope you got what I meant 🙂
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P
August 17, 2016
Rohit Satish Nair: Haven’t watched Suicide Squad yet (tooooo busy and it looks tooo nihilistic! 🙂 but I will catch it on BluRay- so will keep a look out for Leto) but I did think that that Facebook guy who was Lex Luthor in B vs. S was highly like SRK as Rahul in Darr. His mannerisms and gait and talking style- very similar. Some of my firangi friends said they got the creeps from just looking at him, but old-hand at these tactics that I was, I didn’t lose much sleep on it 🙂
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Madan
August 17, 2016
Om Shanti Om by all accounts was a blockbuster and it does not matter who, as individuals, did or didn’t like it (I didn’t either). For that matter, I disliked many of the terrible Hindi films of the 90s that were super duper hits then.
OSO simply couldn’t have been as big a hit as it was without appealing at all to his core fanbase. Maybe you – P – didn’t like it, that’s all there’s to it. Swades really had nothing at all to do with ruining SRK, at any rate not any more than his own production Ashoka. The latter was a rank flop; Swades was merely a disappointment by SRK BO standards. And SRK has always had a mix of flops, so-sos and hits so it’s nothing new. You could say maybe he didn’t latch onto a formula to keep giving hits (like Aamir’s I-am-so-intelligent banalities or Salman’s campy action). I have something similarly snarky to say about SRK’s KJ/YRF films but I will pass. And a vote for Kabhi Haan Kabhi Na from my side too, yes, probably my favourite SRK role too.
PBDH clashing with and losing out to KNPH seemed to affect SRK pretty badly, going by what he’s said in interviews. I would say that that single event rattled his confidence and perhaps he’s never completely recovered from it. He’s had flops before but this was a home production and he appears to have put a lot of heart into it and so couldn’t handle failure in that instance.
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sanjana
August 17, 2016
SRK should do something like Pushpak.
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naveenkrwpress
August 17, 2016
@P, i thought u would mention Anjaam and Fan. i usually skip sRK movies. but watched Fan bcos wanted to see SRK the star…half the movie was good. i do think Swaesh and Chak De, apart from Kabh Haan kahi naa, Baazigar had his best
thanks to this thread, i have saved my 120 Rs on MJD.
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P
August 17, 2016
Madan: You are mistaken. I loved OSO. That and Main Hoon Na are the only reason why Farah became a director of some merit in my eyes. I just don’t think its a blockbuster in terms of repeat value or pop culture value or sheer amount of money it should have made given SRK’s star power and number of years in the industry he spent and the sheer filminess of its storyline. I think it was a hit, sure, but it wasn’t a blockbuster.
I remember Parineeti quoting an obscure line from KKHH in an interview which she and Ranveer did to promote some movie and everyone immediately knew what she was referencing. Would OSO have that kind of pop value to a 2000s kid? I don’t think so.
SRK has never had a blockbuster (though he has had good films or hit films surely) post Swades and Swades was the beginning of that end, per moi.
Of course hits and misses are a par for course, sure. Everyone has had that. What I mean is Salman had a HAHK in 1994 and again a Dabanng in 2010. Has or can SRK do something like that across decades? That is star power and in him it has waned terribly. And I pinpoint Swades as the reason, others might have other reasons.
And I am a huge fan of the 90s. I have zero condescension toward it. It had Madhuri Dixit for god’s sake! I live and breathe that era 🙂
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Ajax
August 17, 2016
@MANK : As I type this I hear that HR’s rejected YRF’s THUG (a film that’s now gone to Aamir) and is focusing on just the Sanjay Gupta film for now. Now unless Kaabil is costing nothing more than 50 cr, “self destruction” would become a synonym for this erstwhile superstar!
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MANK
August 17, 2016
Punee, oh you mad crazy SRK fangirl 🙂 . You’re certifiable in your fan worship , you know that dont you? 😀
well your personal preferences are your preferences, i have no problem with that.That’s a subjective thing, but your claims about which films were cultural touchstones and uniform successes are more apocryphal than real.
Yes Boss is a cultural touchstone ?, Am i seriously missing something here 🙂
why keep hankering after Swades being the tipping point of SRK’s stardom when everybody around here have given enough facts to the contrary.Thats bound to be looked at from an objective POV As Madan pointed out, PDHH (vs KNPH) was really the first of his big failures. we had the media unequivocally appointing HR as the new superstar and SRK being bust.of course the fact that HR could not continue with the dream success of the film was beside the point. SRK has had intermittent successes and failures all throughout his career before and after swades, even though the recent dip in his popularity and success seems to be a real concern. the last universal blockbuster SRK had was KKHH. the year he had KKHH, dil se and duplicate where flops. the year of DDLj, he had more than 4 flops or so. so i dont know when was this pre swades SRK golden period when he kept on raining blockbusters. if we just take his major successful films between KKHH and swades. neither K3G, nor Devdas was a an unqualified universal blockbuster .. Lagaan, Gadar, KNPH, HDDCS were the biggest successes during the period. While Lagaan and Dil chahta hai became the biggest pop cultural phenomenons. Devdas was no pop cultural phenomenon, it was more reviled than appreciated. i still remember the running jokes about the film and i definitely refuse to believe that every girl start dreaming of wearing those kind of clothes and costumes for her wedding and every girlfriend and boyfriend feverishly recite the couplets that Dev and Paro did to each other. oh please, it may have been true about KKHH or DDLJ , but devdas never. That’s over exaggeration of punee kind :).
And you are also saying that OSO became a blockbuster because of Deepika and not SRK,You do know that OSO had one of the biggest openings for 2007 right?. so let me get this straight. we have the country’s biggest megastar starring opposite a rank debutante and the people went to watch the film for her and not him. Please dont tell that to Deepika 😀
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Rohit Sathish Nair
August 17, 2016
P:
I do agree with you, as you say that Shahrukh has failed to reinvent the star in him. In each film he has done recently with a bankable director (perhaps all his directors), they were either super-lazy, or out of their element.
What I don’t see is why you choose to put the blame, instead of these writers, directors and the star himself, on a film which didn’t opt to use(or abuse) his star power, and instead let him play just a common man, which he actually is good at. Why blame a filmmaker who wasn’t this lazy a writer then, and had the guts to do this thing?
Hey Ram was hardly a film that asked for him to be the star that he is, but, at least for me, he did well (perhaps because he didn’t have to carry it on his shoulders).
Do you feel he shouldn’t have chosen such ordinary characters stripped of star value, or you just sulking for each film of his not being a ‘zeitgeist-defining, critic-silencing big bad movie’?
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brangan
August 17, 2016
SRK’s stardom is not just an Indian phenomenon. He essentially became the touchstone for foreign markets. I remember the craze for K3G in the US. Even at that time, there were foreigners in the audience. So I think his stardom isn’t just about Dil Se flopping in India, but as much about Dil Se becoming the first Indian film to crack the British Top Ten.
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MANK
August 17, 2016
About the recent films of SRK that i mentioned as failures, they may be critical and cultural failures but technically they weren’t commercial failures. all those movies got into the 100 cr club. Fan was the only film that topped out at 80+.so he still had the support of his core fans without which those horrible films wouldn’t have seen that kind of collections
Reg: Salman, well he is a mass masala star more in the vein of Rajnikanth and they can deliver blockbusters across decades. whether he is career oriented or not doesnt matter 🙂 . SRK was always primarily a romantic star, and as the record of Romantic stars from Rajendra kumar , Rajesh Khanna and others will tell you, there is a point of time where they burn brightly and they lose that magnetic pull pretty quickly once age catches up with them . Of course SRK is any day a multi talented performer than any of them – and that’s why he has endured for so long than any of their like that came before him- , but his core audience has always was for his romantic image . so he was bound to struggle once he got in to his 40’s to deliver the level of success that he had when he was in his 20’s or 30’s. so Blaming any particular film and that too one of his better ones doesnt do justice and is very unfair to SRK himself.
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Rohit Sathish Nair
August 17, 2016
MANK(Maneesh Chettan): I don’t know much about the Khans pre-2000, but wasn’t Salman a romantic/comedy hero back then too, till about the mid-noughties ?
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MANK
August 17, 2016
Ajax, yes i heard. there is also rumor that HR want to postpone the release of kaabil so that he can spend more time perfecting the film- post the MJD debacle . i hope it doesn’t take another 18 months. i even heard something like HR is mulling a remake of shahenshah. god forbid 🙂
BTW , there was at least somebody who was sure about the fate of MJD
http://www.pinkvilla.com/entertainment/news/360265/oops-was-rakesh-roshan-not-happy-hrithiks-mohejo-daro
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MANK
August 17, 2016
Rohit, yes he was , but even then, he had cultivated a more macho image than SRK or Aamir.all that cool attitude and bare chested shenanigans in film after film . Remember his body mambo in oh oh jane jane in Pyar kiya to darn kaya. Even in his debut film MPK , you had him posing bare chested on the poster with the demure Bhagyashree which wasnt the usual thing with romantic heroes then.. he had done those mass tapori characters in several films at the time and some were hits -baaghi,judwaa etc – where the kernel of the future mass superstar was very much evident. so he always had that mass audience base. That helped him to reinvent himself successfully in the later 00’s when the tastes of the audience changed from romantic to more masala driven films. it took Wanted in 2008 to bring that image to forefront and with Dabbang ,he had fully established himself in the new image.
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Madan
August 17, 2016
“I just don’t think its a blockbuster in terms of repeat value or pop culture value or sheer amount of money it should have made given SRK’s star power and number of years in the industry he spent and the sheer filminess of its storyline.” – Repeat value and pop culture are again extremely subjective considerations but in terms of amount of money, perhaps your “should have been” is divorced from reality? OSO was the third best performing SRK film in the BO from 2000 onwards behind Mohabbatein and Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi. It earned over 4 times of its budget and that is a blockbuster by noughties standards for sure. Further, lack of repeat value/pop culture are more symptomatic of the general film culture of our times than an unfavourable reflection on the film itself. We just don’t seem to make films like that anymore. The desire to emulate Hollywood seems to have resulted in directors focusing more on production values than staging memorable scenes. PK got rave reviews but I barely remember a single scene anymore. 3 Idiots was maybe the last film to create a pop culture moment. I am very ambivalent about that film as well but I won’t deny that it struck a chord with a lot of people.
And re SRK’s waning stardom, MANK has explained it well via the parallel to Jubilee Kumar and Rajesh Khanna. To that list, I would add Mike Mohan. Romantic heroes always have more difficulty aging, maybe because they are the closest male equivalents of attractive female eye candy. Once the looks or charisma, call it what you will, ebbs with age, they have trouble holding on to their fans or attracting new ones (esp it becomes difficult for a 40 something star to attract a fresh set of teenage girl fans).
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Madan
August 17, 2016
“but wasn’t Salman a romantic/comedy hero back then too, till about the mid-noughties ?” – Arguably, yes. But he made the transition to an action hero and thereafter has stuck to that niche. The problem is SRK has never been particularly convincing even in the few fight scenes he has done. It’s just not his forte. Added to that, I think he has been having health issues on and off over the last few years and it’s taken a toll on his energy. Even as far back as OSO, I already felt he no longer had the energy to pull off that kind of comic timing-based acting which he used to be able to. Also missing was the freshness of the 90s and its place a kind of knowing cynicism which dampened the appeal of the film. He did make an attempt to transition to action via the Don films and Ra One and the sequel as well as Ra One gave middling returns so that too turned out to be a dead end. Chennai Express success was based heavily on massive carpet bombing of multiplexes on an unprecedented scale. Had OSO been given such a big release, it may just have surpassed CE collections even without correcting for inflation.
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Snehal
August 17, 2016
@MANK: I am certainly not one of those girls who dreamt of wearing the clothes from Devdas. So your belief is correct 🙂
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Rohit Sathish Nair
August 18, 2016
Brangan: Your mentioning Bala as an auteur made me think in turn about his mentor Balu Mahendra! Maybe comparing the 2 now must be downright silly, but is there more to them other than the fact that both are cinematographer-cum-directors. and both started out with some immensely personal films?
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Rohit Sathish Nair
August 18, 2016
Perhaps a discussion on the parallels between Balu Mahendra and Bala would be fun too…
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Bunny
August 18, 2016
@Madan: Thanks for the update on Lagaan. Btw, what’s the Higbrow Jury’s verdict on movies like Psycho, North By Northwest and The Birds? Are they still highbrow or have they been downgraded?
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Madan
August 18, 2016
“what’s the Higbrow Jury’s verdict on movies like Psycho, North By Northwest and The Birds?” – Afraid I don’t have a hotline to the highbrow jury. If you do, why don’t you find out and let me know what they have to say?
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Rahul
August 18, 2016
Salman has never been a romantic hero. In Bollywood, the archetypal romantic hero does not just love the girl, he either loves himself as well (Rajesh Khanna) or hates himself (Dilip Kumar) or both (Shah Rukh Khan)
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Kay
August 18, 2016
Stardom aside are actor’s not remembered for the work they did? If you ask people what Rajesh Khanna movies they like I am sure Anand and Bhawrchi would be mentioned. Same with SRK Swades, Chak De and even Devdas will make it in the list. HR, SRK and many others will find continue to find success if scripts are written well, directed by a director that knows how to bring out the best and not allowing the crore rupees club influencing the making of movie. Romantic roles, action roles or character roles whatever…its the ability to make a viewer walk out of the theatre and remember the character is the success. Who knows in ten years time may be SRK will take over from where AB senior is at present.
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Ajax
August 19, 2016
“Salman has never been a romantic hero” ~ Haan bhai! HAHK (the biggest blockbuster in Bollywood folklore after Sholay), MPK (the biggest blockbuster of the 80’s), HSSH (biggest hit of 1999) to action films thi. What is bizarre statement to make. Media propaganda of SRK being the “king of romance” aside, Salman has given bigger blockbusters than SRK in the romance genre. For all the media hype and false propaganda of YRF, the fact remains that HAHK was the biggest blockbuster of the 90’s, recorded footfalls of over 7 cr (1.5 cr higher than that of DDLJ) and was a greater “impact film” than DDLJ among the mass audiences of tier 2 and tier 3 cities. Let me not even get into an MPK vs KKHH or DTPH vs HSSH comparison. Even in his prime, SRK had an impact only among the urban sector and tier 1 city audiences. Among the masses his popularity was always below even Aamir, forget Salman (the greatest megastar of the masses since AB). And that’s precisely why SRK’s struggling compared to the other 2 at this juncture. After all, how long can one continue dominating with only limited popularity catering to just the urban audiences.
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Ajax
August 19, 2016
The bumper opening of Rustom and the dismal opening of MJD among the premium multiplexes of metropolitan cities have indeed made the point about Akshay’s ever increasing popularity among the urban multiplex crowd, an audience that once outrightly rejected even the biggest of his hits like Welcome and Rowdy Rathore. This is thanks to him doing solid urban pleasing content films like Special 26, OMG, Baby and Airlift. Hrithik on the other hand has shot himself on the foot and his popularity has been steadily declining among both the urban as well as the mass audiences. Long absence from the silver screen coupled with signing films like Bang Bang & MJD has done him no favors. Its unfortunate to see an actor who was the undisputed box office numero uno exactly 10 years ago with the blockbuster performance of Krrish & Dhoom-2 now struggle to even get a double digit opening.
As things stand now, these are the popularity ratings among the urban and mass sectors :
Premium multiplex metropolitan audience (~25%) :
1. Aamir Khan
2. Shah Rukh Khan/Salman
3. Akshay/Hrithik
4. Ajay/Ranbir/Ranveer/Varun
Tier 2 multiplex crowd of semi metros (~25%) :
Salman
Aamir/Akshay
SRK/Hrithik/Ajay
Ranbir/Ranveer/Varun
Tier 3 multiplex crowd and single screen audiences (~50%) :
Salman…(daylight)
Aamir/Akshay
SRK/Hrithik/Ajay
Ranbir/Ranveer/Varun/Shahid
Shivaay would give us a better idea of Ajay’s standing.
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hari ohm
August 19, 2016
Check this out for the Thug story – http://www.dnaindia.com/entertainment/report-rs-60-crore-that-s-how-much-hrithik-roshan-demanded-for-thug-2246607
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P
August 20, 2016
MANK: Punee, oh you mad crazy SRK fangirl:) . You’re certifiable in your fan worship , you know that dont you?😀
well your personal preferences are your preferences, i have no problem with that.That’s a subjective thing, but your claims about which films were cultural touchstones and uniform successes are more apocryphal than real.
Yes Boss is a cultural touchstone ?, Am i seriously missing something here:)
why keep hankering after Swades being the tipping point of SRK’s stardom when everybody around here have given enough facts to the contrary.
Thats bound to be looked at from an objective POV As Madan pointed out, PDHH (vs KNPH) was really the first of his big failures. we had the media unequivocally appointing HR as the new superstar and SRK being bust.of course the fact that HR could not continue with the dream success of the film was beside the point. SRK has had intermittent successes and failures all throughout his career before and after swades, even though the recent dip in his popularity and success seems to be a real concern. the last universal blockbuster SRK had was KKHH. the year he had KKHH, dil se and duplicate where flops. the year of DDLj, he had more than 4 flops or so. so i dont know when was this pre swades SRK golden period when he kept on raining blockbusters.
if we just take his major successful films between KKHH and swades. neither K3G, nor Devdas was a an unqualified universal blockbuster .. Lagaan, Gadar, KNPH, HDDCS were the biggest successes during the period. While Lagaan and Dil chahta hai became the biggest pop cultural phenomenons. Devdas was no pop cultural phenomenon, it was more reviled than appreciated. i still remember the running jokes about the film and i definitely refuse to believe that every girl start dreaming of wearing those kind of clothes and costumes for her wedding and every girlfriend and boyfriend feverishly recite the couplets that Dev and Paro did to each other. oh please, it may have been true about KKHH or DDLJ , but devdas never. That’s over exaggeration of punee kind:).
And you are also saying that OSO became a blockbuster because of Deepika and not SRK,You do know that OSO had one of the biggest openings for 2007 right?. so let me get this straight. we have the country’s biggest megastar starring opposite a rank debutante and the people went to watch the film for her and not him. Please dont tell that to Deepika😀
@Rohit Sathish Nair:
My problem was that SRK seeks to pander to those who criticize him the most. And I hate that about him. Unlike the other two Khans who don’t give a damn about their critics, SRK is always intent to prove that he’s “so much more” than JUST a “romantic hero” (as most people have dismissedly referred to him in this very thread!!) like that is a slur of some sort. Why must he make the Swades’ and CDIs of the world when his core audience is not happy with it? Why must he, the dreamiest of all Khans who literally taught us what a passionate lover is, be made to portray a lying, cheating scum of a husband just to show that he has “range”?!
For sure, the person who rejected Ashutosh Gowarikar (who played a small role in that gem- “Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa”) when he first approached him for Lagaan, would not have accepted Swades if the former hadn’t become such a BIG hit for Aamir. Its just sad I think that he chose to go into that territory, I mean, what is Swades if not patriotic porn of the worst kind?(and since then Ashutosh just keeps repeating the patriotism in various guises, like a latter day JP Dutta). Its supposed to be “realistic”?! Do you know any single Indian origin NASA scientist who came back to India to live in a village? LOL. At least Lagaan was more realistic, because Indians are cricket mad.
But I guess it is what it is- I have to accept this disappointment from my idol. And Swades was the first of his “proving-a-point” movies. And the first of his movies to have disappointed me personally, so I probably have a special irritation with it 🙂
So I guess my problem is ultimately with SRK only….Oh, how have the mighty fallen! There was a time when I couldn’t bear to hear a single word against him! 🙂 And look at me now…
Thanks all! This was fun, but any more introspection and I might not be able to watch an SRK film again….TC
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Madan
August 20, 2016
“But did Phir Bhi and Kaho Na release on the same weekend? No. And SRK fans (like me) were used to some movies not being such big hits, even if they were great fun” – See, once again, you are unable to separate history as it happened from your reaction to it. I also did not see PBDH flopping as a big deal but unfortunately SRK did. He has himself said in interviews that KNPH succeeding alongside PBDH’s failure affected him. Multiplex culture hadn’t yet arrived at Bollywood so a film getting a good run was a must for a star at the time; they couldn’t simply cash in on the brand and recover the cost. Today, PBDH would be much less of a failure for that reason alone.
I think SRK gets too emotional about his home/pet projects; I remember when he lashed out Korbo Jeetbo suck on it after KKR won an IPL match purely based on Duckworth Lewis rules. It was so laughable and yet it also gave an insight into the kind of person SRK is and why he reacted badly to the failure of PBDH. In later years, media critics would often be accused of SRK-bias but at the time PBDH received very mixed reviews while KNPH was received as a breath of fresh air. Guess media was bowled over by Hrithik’s Greek God looks because when I saw PBDH much later, I couldn’t relate to why the media had tilted towards KNPH so much.
Re Yes Boss, look, I really liked that film. I have always liked SRK’s collaborations with three directorial teams: Kundan Shah, Abbas Mustan and Aziz Mirza. But I was also aware that the KKHH SRK image was already beginning to overshadow that facet of SRK which I loved. The SRK of Baazigar was a Mumbaicha chokra like us. KKHH/DDLJ was NRI/SoBo-SRK; I never identified with him or those films for that matter. Also, as alluded to before, the swift journey from rebellious anti-hero to obedient, affable ladla was too much to take for me. Anyway, I digress; the point is I really don’t think it was a cultural touchstone and Wilson/NM college wala Mumbai was already taking over the movies from us hard core middle/working class types (at that time, there wasn’t so much of a gap between the middle and working class as there is now, sadly).
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udhaysankar
August 22, 2016
Mank: Watched kammattipadam. Fascinating movie. The guy who played Ganga keeps haunting me.
Does kammattipadam actually mirror the yesteryear happenings in Ernakulam? I’m just curious.
Are the characters based on real life stories?
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udhaysankar
August 22, 2016
And why not make the caste references explicit?. Somehow I feel Hollywood gangster drams embrace their character’s racial and ethnical identities with more freedom, whereas our films remain disturbingly silent about it.
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Ajax
August 22, 2016
My take on the Mohenjo Daro fiasco :
http://bollywoodboxofficedata.blogspot.in/2016/08/the-fiasco-called-mohenjo-daro.html
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MANK
August 22, 2016
udhaysankar,the characters are fictionalised but the story does have its roots in reality. the location -Kammatipaadam – was the name of an slum like area which was located in the heart of Ernakulam city. This area was later developed into a township, and divided into 4 different localities.
And yes the events portrayed in the film are reflection of what actually happened- how the paddy fields that was allocated to the dalit community – by the first communist government in kerala in 56- were acquired and converted into the current concrete jungle – that is Ernakulam city – by the real estate mafia post the globalization in 91. this led to the criminilisation of the dalit youth – who lost their households and their way of life- and rise of criminal gangs in the city . its all exactly as it happened albeit told through fictional characters.
And reg: And why not make the caste references explicit?
well there are 2 or 3 reasons for that
its an artistic call made by the director(s) to go subtle on those aspects, to emphasize on the humanity of the characters rather than the caste factor . emphasizing caste could be sometimes counter productive, people just tend to get off on the caste factor ignoring totally the merits of a film, which very few directors want , especially in our country the caste being a hot button topic.
Commercial reasons : a political film or a dalit film gets a bad rap from the mainstream audience and has a limited appeal. Especially in a state like kerala, reservations causes a lot of ill will towards the socially backward communities . the situation of the Dalits in Kerala is so much better when compared to that of other states The caste represented in this film is pulayan. it falls under SC. .A section of the backward castes are at par with the upper castes by taking advantage of the Reservation system . . There is definitely a creamy layer. everyone from the milk man to the Kerala Chief Minister are obsessed over their children’s education and getting them (white collar) jobs.The opportunities for jobs are few in Kerala and most of the Malayalis from the upper caste end up working abroad.This gives them the feeling that they are being discriminated against.So a film that is sympathetic to the plight of dalits is not always very welcome in the state. So always for a broad commercial appeal these aspects are kept implicit as possible.
most important of all is the Censorship Issue – Rajeev Ravi has to go through hell to get this film out. Censors slapped the A certificate for the violence, which is acceptable (but compared to the big star tamil and malayalam films that get passed with a U, is laughable ) but they insisted on cutting all reference to caste names including the superb song Puzhu pulikal, because it uses the word Pulayadi . Pulayadi or Pulayadi mon (son of pulayan) a word which at present times, is conceived as a highly offensive slang in Kerala on par with SOB, actually evolved from the word ‘Pulayan’, its a fact that Ravi wanted to show through the film as another instance of how the Dalits are treated.but the censors gave him a tough time and there was a time when he was not sure whether he could get the film released. but censors finally approved after cutting out a lot of dialogues which they thought was offensive.Crossing the censorship hurdle is always a harrowing experience for filmmakers. so its no wonder that filmmakers steer clear from caste based subjects or stating the caste explicitly in their films.
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MANK
August 22, 2016
Ajax, i agree about the points you’ve made about MJD. but the weak trailer was a given right?, you can put in the trailer only what you have in the movie.may be someone could have cut a really slick trailer , but i dont think any trailer could have camouflaged those (embarrassing) bull horn head dresses and costumes that the actors had to wear in the film.
Also i wonder whether Rustom would have done so well if it wasnt released opposite MJD. Rustom itself was such a terrible film. i think the audience found Rustom good in relation to MJD and flocked to that. perhaps this was one of the cases were releasing your film against another film actually benefited the film.
May be something similar is going to happen with Raees vs Kaabil clash. SRK is better off not postponing the film. 🙂
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Udhay Sankar
August 22, 2016
Mank: Thanks for the detailed reply. Going by what you said, the film seems to have been skillfully made, keeping in mind whatever needs to be done to get the film through, without controversies and yet, retaining the impact of the tale being told.
I wonder how AK released GOW though, despite it’s references to religions and caste. I caught it in the Bluray version and wonder how much of it was tampered during the theatrical release.
And I’m looking forward to the director’s cut, hoping it will explore the inter-human relationships between the leads a bit more, cause we never get enough of what’s happening between the characters despite the film’s length. Especially the one between anitha and ganga. I couldn’t exactly get what happens between them. Ganga realizes that he has spoiled anitha’s life by marrying her against her intentions and anitha also admits to have tormented him when he’s in the house. How does ganga realize this, for the impulsive, overbearing, pompous character that he is?, and why does anitha torment him? She seems to be an impassive character who resigns to her fate and gets on with life and not someone who could torment ganga. Somehow ganga realizing his missteps and ruing seems dissonant for the kind of character he is.
And, I’m also happy that dulquer chose this role. That made me watch the film. 🙂
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Rohit Sathish Nair
August 23, 2016
As far as I could infer, the Ganga-Anitha relationship was pretty much an iteration of the Balan-Rosamma affair which turned sour.
I feel Ganga is a lot of the same things that made Balan what he is; they especially share a lot of their weaknesses and vulnerability. Somehow, remaining under his brother’s wing never made him another Balan, and he is slightly frustrated by this (He in turn persuades Krishnan to make sacrifices). After Balan’s demise, we even see him trying a bit to boss around with his friends during their last hit, just like Balan.
We saw how Balan changed from a brash, unapologetic guy to a remorseful person. He felt that his sins (driving people of his own caste out of their land, showing no regard for his grandfather’s feelings) had led to him being doomed to not enjoy, among other privileges, a fulfilling life with a partner more beautiful than he was. Fate, destiny and even superstition, play games with these people as much as society does.
We eventually get to see how the albatross moves on to loom on Ganga, as he faces a lot of similar problems. (He literally mentions something similar to Krishnan in a phone call).
I didn’t really feel that the characters and relationships were less explored. Most of these relationships were given some push-pull characteristics and friction. I must admit that this was the first time on screen that I saw a love triangle implode, all 3 people moving separate ways. Instead of making the caste references explicit, I guess the makers chose to show how the inter-human equations were coloured by the caste issue.
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MANK
August 24, 2016
As far as I could infer, the Ganga-Anitha relationship was pretty much an iteration of the Balan-Rosamma affair which turned sour.
Rohit, yeah i agree, that’s why i dont think the film need any further character development on that front. The story telling is very economical and it adds to the narrative strength. basically the whole film is done from Krishnan’s pov, so we get to know about Ganga and Anita only what he gets to know.Furthermore you can get hints of what would have happened between Ganga and Anita In the arc of Balan’s character itself. Ganga is a lot more volatile and to an extend mentally unstable character than Balan. so in his case the actions and consequences would only have been worse than Balan.
Btw , what i would have loved to see more was Krishnan’s events in Mumbai, the girl he is supposed to be involved with . i loved that actress who portrayed his girlfriend . would have loved to see more of her. Her reaction when Krishnan complements her on looking beautiful in saree was priceless.
Udhayashankar, i am happy too that Dulqar chose to do the film. It was very generous and courageous of him to do it, where the spotlight was more on other characters . it also gives the film a higher visibility in the market place
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Sarathp
August 24, 2016
Rasika Dugal is the actress. She had acted in Qissa. Also check out another film of hers ‘Kshay’.
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MANK
August 24, 2016
Sarathp, thanks for that info. she did look very familiar.
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Ravi K
August 25, 2016
MANK: “Udhayashankar, i am happy too that Dulqar chose to do the film. It was very generous and courageous of him to do it, where the spotlight was more on other characters . it also gives the film a higher visibility in the market place”
I haven’t seen Kammatipadam yet. I’ve heard that the director’s cut will be released on Blu-Ray. But I’ve read a little about the film, and I cannot imagine a big star in Tamil or Telugu cinema doing this kind of film, especially not a a superstar’s son.
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Rohit Sathish Nair
August 27, 2016
Brangan:
(Thought of reposting this comment, just perhaps to start what I guess could be something interesting)
Your mentioning Bala as an auteur made me think in turn about his mentor Balu Mahendra! Maybe comparing Rajeev Ravi with Balu Mahendra now must be downright silly, but is there more to them other than the fact that both are cinematographer-cum-directors. and both started out with some immensely personal films?
Perhaps a discussion on the parallels between Balu Mahendra and Bala should be interesting too…
MANK, Udhay Sankar:
I wouldn’t go as far to think Ganga is mentally unstable; for me he is just a heady, explosive mix of childlike innocence and impulsiveness – in short, a very unlikeable character on paper (Great gamble taken by the writer to make them such remarkably flawed people, instead of going black-and-white on the characters). So as much as Manikandan’s Balan chettan was a knockout, I think an extra brownie point goes to Vinayakan for making us root for Ganga.
I am also happy that Dulquer chose this film, and it does show how capable he is as an actor, especially after a very good starry turn as Charlie (His State Award should have been for Best Movie-Star Performance, all natural ‘inner-Mohanlal’ charisma). He doesn’t do semaphoric ’40-50 year old-man’ acting, and it’s nice to see how he grows into the role, especially towards the end as he knows of Ganga’s death and Ashaan’s betrayal.
Somehow, due to him being seen as Mammootty’s son, people don’t really give him all the credit that he is due for his acting skills.
Ravi K:
There were reports of Telugu and Hindi remakes of Kammatipaadam being announced, and ironically, in both cases star-kids were chosen for Dulquer’s role (Akhil Akkineni and Arjun Kapoor respectively)
My total response to this news was: GULP!
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khalidrawat
August 31, 2016
They took inspiration from my novel, but they didn’t even acknowledge it! That scene of crossing the Indus on the boat bridge is taken from my novel along with other elements in the plot!
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Zain Abdullah
October 27, 2016
one time watch film
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Jai
January 18, 2017
Against my better instincts, I finally watched this film recently….and thoroughly regretted it. It was so kitschy and banal I got a headache. But after a point, I actually started enjoying myself laughing AT the film, at the completely unintentional and ludicrous sequences which unfolded.
Hrithik—I seriously don’t know what has gotten into him. He has tended to go heavy handed/ uncomfortably self conscious/ awkwardly posing/ over dramatic for quite some time now (ZNMD, Krissh 3, Bang Bang even Jodha Akbar to a certain degree….) and this film marks a new low for him. Its rather sad in a sense, that he hasn’t fulfilled the ample potential he showed in Fiza/ Mission Kashmir/ Koi Mil Gaya/ Laqshya.
BR, you got it bang on where you said that this kind of a film actually called for a nostrils flaring, face twitching, ‘bringing a cannon to kill a mosquito’ approach to acting, which Hrithik has seemingly perfected of late. But he did seem to be strangely lacklustre and subdued in all but a few sequences—perhaps he’s read the multiple critiques about how his sledgehammer approach to emoting isn’t always appropriate? 😉 😉
A particular grouse I had against this film, as a major history buff. And no, its not even the terrible headgear several of the characters sported (especially during that song sequence). Though they were an absolute eyesore, I was willing to let that pass. Even though the rhino and auroch/ bison horns and deer antlers made me laugh out loud. 😉
BUT…..for all that sanctimonious balderdash Ashutosh keeps spewing about how involved he was in research for the film, how it was a labor of love, blah blah blah ad nauseam, he gets BASIC facts and nuances wrong. This was something I noticed in Jodha Akbar, too.
In Mohenjodaro, we have a scene where Pooja Hegde’s character admires a collection of tropical birds—most of which are macaws. MACAWS. Found in South America.
Errrmmm…..The only problem is, while the Harappan civilization is known to have traded with the Bronze Age Civilizations of Mesopotamia, possibly Egypt and Persia and Central Asia, there is NO evidence whatsoever that the Americas were even known to the ‘Old World’ at that time.
Ashutosh portrayed Jodha having macaws in her quarters in Jodha Akbar too; but at least that was plausible (even if unlikely). What with the Spanish conquest of South America from the early 1500’s, its plausible that Spanish traders and merchants brought these exotic birds to India by the time Akbar ascended the Mughal throne. But in Mohenjodaro……Yikes. Beggars whatever flight of fancy one might be tempted to take, to explain it away. The pity is, there are so many beautiful birds Ashutosh could have shown instead. The most basic of checks would have informed him about the incongruous nature of having Macaws there.
But perhaps historical nuance is not what Ashutosh strives for in his ‘historicals’. Sigh. That much was clear from the opening sequence in Jodha Akbar, when Amitabh Bachchan’s wonderful baritone informed us that the Mughals entered India from about 1450……..The only problem is, Babur, the founder of the Mughal Empire, was born in 1483! His first foray into India came only in 1519, a mere border raid. It was only in 1526 that he actually established the dynasty in India.
But hey, talking about crores spent on the film, months and years spent on the research seemingly obviates a glaring error of about 70 years…..which reading a 7th or 8th standard history textbook could have corrected.
Sheesh. I really liked ‘Swades’, but it seems to me that AG has regressed completely since then.
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brangan
January 18, 2017
Jai: Thank you for that very entertaining comment. Especially enjoyed your outrage about macaws. MACAWS.
How wonderful people are, that their triggers, their responses are so varied, so fascinating.
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Gaah
January 18, 2017
Jai, awesome macaw rant! Really enjoyed reading your takedown. haha that was so great.
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Rahini David
January 18, 2017
For those who are interested in macaws and ostriches and road runners and owls.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ArtisticLicenseOrnithology
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