Movie Review: Ae Dil Hai Mushkil – is hard to praise

The heart wants what the heart wants. Only, in this case, we as the audience weren’t quite sure what Karan Johar’s heart truly wanted from his latest offering – Ae Dil Hai Mushkil. Was it that he wanted to explore the complexity of love in various shades, give Ranbir and Anushka a solid platform to express themselves or re-live the memories of his past offerings. Or perhaps, he too, knew that he didn’t have a solid offering and the title is actually him, convincing his own heart, that it seems difficult that he can win his audience this time around. Whatever the intentions, ultimately – he manages a predictable storyline which is heavily reliant on a mish mash of his previous successes but doesn’t come into its own for even a moment of its over-long runtime.

Ae Dil Hai Mushkil starts off weird and a little desperate to get your attention and goes further downhill from there. The attempts on humor are forced and you feel a little for both Ranbir and Anushka who are still trying to make those lines work. There are a few laughs, to be fair, but the previous offerings have offered a much easier ride (I am not counting Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna in this list). The premise for the intermission feels laughably shallow as does the romance up to that point. That it forms the basis for the remaining movie is indicative of the weak foundation the movie has.

The second half offers a breath of fresh air with Aishwarya Rai Bacchan looking the ethereal beauty – her presence is quite mesmerizing on screen. Anushka’s performance is earnest but finally unconvincing; she simply lacks the power her character needs – something that Kajol did for Karan Johar movies previously and quite effortlessly at that. You feel for Ranbir a bit, who doesn’t put a foot wrong despite his weak character, and ends up with a performance that was delivered well, but didn’t do justice to his immense talent. Tamasha (another not so great movie) provided him a better platform to perform and express himself so you can imagine the range this one manages. Fawad Khan has too fleeting a presence – I am sure the original version would’ve shown a lot more of him, but after all the cuts and edits – there is nothing left, of notice.

The songs, otherwise the bane of most Bollywood movies, are pretty much the saving grace for ADHM – especially the haunting piano melody of the title track – which becomes your best reason to still stay interested in the proceedings on screen. That music is also what’ll stay with you long after the ending credits – not much else. The twists and turns are few and far between and those too seem forced rather than a natural extension of the plot.

When I first saw and heard the title song – I fervently hoped that the movie would do justice to this awesome melody. Far from it, ADHM is perhaps one of Karan Johar’s weakest offerings (after Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna). If your heart refuses to listen, you can still watch it – but keep in mind, this time ‘Kuch Khaas nahi hota hai’ - this one’s going to be hard to praise.

Movie Review: Inferno…scarcely the scorcher you hope for

While the closest to the riveting Da Vinci Code that took the world by storm, in terms of its setting and build up (I refer here strictly to the book and not the movie), for all its depictions of hell, doomsday, blood and blazing fires, Inferno is scarcely the scorcher you hope for.

The start is promising – Robert Langdon is back and while proceedings are a little slow you brace yourself for the earth shattering impact that would subsequently be revealed. Following an atypical Dan Brown book setting, it spins its yarn against a series of paintings and ancient history and yet another conspiracy theory, yet again. However, while the threads for the Da Vinci code were deliciously complicated, Inferno keeps the solutions a little too simple. There seems to be much ado over nothing – even the background score suggests it. While we have the illustrious Hans Zimmer at the helm yet again, he is but a shadow of his true self – something that’s been the case with this series itself.

The big reveal (if one can call it that) is when the stuff simply crumbles and  you realize that the pieces don’t fit together as well as you hoped. There are more questions than answers and the entire scenario seems forced rather than a natural flow to the proceedings

While I have great respect for Ron Howard’s directorial skills (especially after Rush) this time around, he seems to be at a disadvantage with a poor script. While he tries to push that same sense of urgency and a race against time that Angels and Demons (the most successful of the book adaptations, in my view) did – this time there isn’t enough to hold your attention.

In all fairness, I haven’t read the book – so I can’t be sure if there was enough content or the movie doesn’t do it justice. From what I witnessed though, beyond a point I just didn’t care what happened to the characters and their world. I am pretty sure that’s not what the author would’ve wanted.
As for the acting, Tom Hanks is a veteran and he brings a level of sensitivity and endearment to Robert Langdon that makes you at least feel some connect for him. Felicity Jones is pretty mechanical but the role doesn’t require her to emote much. Our own Irrfan Khan comes off as wanting to sound a little too suave – something his no-nonsense dialogue delivery doesn’t go well with so that’s a disappointment.

If you’ve read Inferno, you probably know what to expect – I don’t think the movie can convince you otherwise. If you haven’t, you might still want to venture to the theaters to watch Robert Langdon’s latest adventure – but don’t expect much else. 

Movie Review: MS Dhoni–The Untold Story..best left untold

Yes I know…I can hear the sound of heartbreak. In our cricket crazed nation, a movie on Dhoni cannot go wrong and I am probably incurring the wrath of a billion fans by a review title like that –  but the truth, no matter how bitter, must be told - since the movie does go wrong and on so many levels that I can find no reason to suggest you waste your money and time (at an excruciating 3 hours) even though it celebrates the life of such a cricketing icon.

While its called ‘The Untold Story’ there isn’t much of a story to tell. The trailer, with its slick presentation, raised expectations significantly but in its attempt to engage, ended up giving all that the movie has to offer as well. If you can quell the curiosity, just watch the trailer of the movie and tick MS Dhoni off your list. There needs to be something significant and dramatic in the life of the protagonist for you to build connect with any story – something that jolts you and grabs your attention. Dhoni’s life may well have those moments – but the movie doesn’t.

The start is captivating and powerful – for the first 3 minutes. The moment you get thrown back to the birth of it all, is where the boredom starts. There is nothing interesting or engaging about the ‘journey’ and while the background score and lingering visuals suggest otherwise, nothing holds your attention and you wonder why the director is taking so much time to arrive at the point, assuming that there even is one.

Neeraj Pandey has given us one of the finest offerings in Bollywood cinema with A Wednesday. He followed it up with the pretty special ‘Special 26’ as well. It was with Baby (the forced India version of Argo) that the cracks began to show. However, with MS Dhoni he sinks to new lows that are surprising for a director of his calibre. If there wasn’t much to tell, you’d expect he would make it snappy and slick, throttling from childhood to the rising star to the super icon status Dhoni holds today.

Instead, he chooses to be the ‘fan’ – showing us uninteresting and unimportant things with a fervor suggestive of it being pivotal to the story he wants to tell. Mr. Pandey is convinced that since its Dhoni, everything will catch our fancy. And so, we are forced to sit through – Dhoni the batting star who everybody wants to watch, pretty much since childhood; the father who seemed unreasonable in the trailer but actually is pretty reasonable as the story progresses; shot after shot being hit by Dhoni till every stroke starts getting rammed into your skull and make you grimace instead of applauding – I can go on about these and believe me, I am just getting warmed up.

The only person I really feel sorry for in this entire waste of 3 hours, is Sushant Singh Rajput. Why it had to be Rajput who looks nothing like MSD, I’ll never know. However, once entrusted the role, he gives it his all – from Dhoni’s mannerisms, to his batting stance to even his accent – Sushant Singh Rajput adopts it all with ease and comfort and despite the lack of a story – makes Dhoni his own. His super-imposition into the shining moments of Dhoni’s career are also pretty effectively done, though the CGI is obvious. Neeraj Pandey’s trademark attention to detail is also staggeringly obvious – whether it’s the transition of mobile phones across the years, to the logos of airlines and their changes – this time though, its plain he’s just showing off rather than telling an engaging story.

Cut down to 90 minutes and focusing more on the little moments that make Dhoni – well, Dhoni – would’ve been a great tribute to the naturally talented and driven leader for Indian cricket and superstar icon of today’s youth. As it stands though, MS Dhoni – The Untold Story is a fanboy rendition of the life and times of the cricketer, that missed being edited.