Dhoni Not Out

Another weekend and a couple of movies to watch!! Yay…. This weekend has been wonderful, great quality time with family, good food, great drive and two good movies. I will review my second movie first simply because it is more close to my heart now (The other movie is Ek Mein Aur Ek Thu, read review in separate blog).

We managed good seats thanks to online booking, but ended up thinking we should not have spent that extra 40 bucks (“convenience charge”) because the screen was empty from the 5^th row from back. This is the fate of movies which does not boast of “star” cast, in spite of the fact that the movie only released two days ago. A Pity!!!!!

Dhoni – not out, Prakash Raj’s directorial debut in Tamizh (I stress on tamizh cause he has already directed a kannada film which was a remake of his highly successful Abiyum Nanum) happens to be a remake of “Shikshanachya Aaicha Gho” a Marathi film. I have not seen the original, so no comparisons here again. I feel Prakash Raj has only taken the basic plot from the original and has given it the local flavor (NO!!! THERE ARE NO ITEM SONGS, HERO BEATING UP 50 GOONS AND KUTHU SONGs)

The story line is simple yet very powerful, just like 3 Idiots (You can read Nanban as well) here is another movie which questions the education system, the difference is this time round it’s from a father’s angle. The film begins with Prakash Raj being escorted to the police station and flash back then on. Subbu (Prakash Raj) a clerk in the registrar office/ part time pickle business man is a content father of 2, a Son and a Daughter. The elder son Karthick (Akash Puri, around whom the movie is set up) a 9^th grader is a budding cricketer and as an opposite reaction a week student. The Indian cricket captain MS Dhoni is his inspiration.  As life moves on smoothly with Subbu trying hard to meet ends to his “monthly budgeted” life, there comes a shocker from the principle of Karthick’s School – “Your son is weak in studies and we cannot afford to have him in the school as his failure would mean that the school does not have 100% pass percentage”. That’s when subbu stops Karthick from his passion and forces him in to tuitions to better his marks, and finally in a fit of rage ends up hurting Karthick (Head injury) which sends him to Coma. What happens then, does Karthick play cricket again, how will this incident affect Subbu’s life forms the rest of the story.

Prakash Raj proves time and again that he is the most versatile actor in the current industry; he carries the whole movie on his shoulders and has pulled it off brilliantly. Though there are some scenes were you get to witness amateurish direction, these tiny lapses can be ignored given the fact that the DIRECTOR is an amateur in this task.

The casting of the movie is top notch; he has retained most of his trusted lieutenants from his earlier movies like Mozhi, Abhiyum naanum e.t.c. The heroin Radhika Apte is a debutant in tamil and has stuck to her directors words with a subtle act (her character is surprisingly strong), Nasser, as the cricket coach is brilliant as always, Brahmanandam does tickle your funny bones and a I must mention Murali Sharma – As Ghani Bhai, Tamizh cinema gets yet another north Indian Villain (though is not in this movie) who can be funny as well.

Prakash Raj has added another feather to this movie by giving the complete responsibility of music to the Maestro, he has proven time and again that he is a genius and age is no bar to creativity. The background scores is fantastic, it is to the treat to the musical ears when you get to hear the sounds of original instruments as against the digital music the new set of music director’s use. The songs are hummable and “vangum panathukkum” song rendered by SPB (Screened with Prabhu Deva) deserves special mention as it takes the listeners back to the early nineties.

 Through this movie the filmdom is posing the same question all over again to society, a review of the education system is an urgent requirement. Are we nurturing talent or just burdening our kids to run the race?  “Life is a race, bhagoo jeeto ya dhoob maro” (Simply translated to “Life is a race, run to win or just sink and die”.

The answer is quite simple and writ all over the wall…… It’s not just the system that has to change, it’s the mentality that has to change, parents should be guides who can show their children the right path, and they should not force their ambitions and wishes on their children. Why is there a rule that a doctor’s son should only be a doctor and not an artist? Its time we CHANGED.

This movie is a must watch for all the parents and parents to be, I wished this movie had released a 10 years ago and my parents had seen it and realized that I should become what I want to be and not what they wanted me to be……

AGNEEPATH

Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Sanjay Dutt, Rishi kapoor, Om Puri, Priyanka Chopra

Director:  Karan Malhotra

Let me tell you this, I HAVE NOT SEE THE ORIGINAL AGNEEPATH, thus this will not be a comparative review, rather a movie review about a remake.

First up, thank you Mr. Karan Johar for not playing your trademark KKKB (Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham) soundtrack  on the  production house credits and just sticking to the soundtrack of Agneepath to tell your viewers that this movie is produced by Dharma Production. That was well done because this movie does not do justice to your set of family sob stories or Romantic flicks.

Now for the cast, much has been typed/spoken/debated/discussed earlier about  the casting in this movie.  Am only trying to find answers to some questions I had.

1.       Can Hrithik Roshan reprise Amithabh Bachan’s ikonic VIJAY DHEENANATH CHOUHAN?  

Well, you find smart direction here, the new age VDC (read as the characters name, saves time reading/typing the whole thing againJ) is not a flashy guy and keeps a very low profile, thus he does not have to match Mr. AB’s Charisma.

2.       Sanjay Dutta as “KANCHA” the Villain? He did look menacing in the promos though!

Sanju baba does make up for one heck of a villain, the one who can outsmart the hero by looks and on performance, though  he comes off as hard rock in some scenes, he does leave a menacing feel  in your mind. Block one Film Fare (Best Villain) for him

3.       Why did they have to remake this movie, off all the other good old Hindi movies?

Well, Mr Johar clarifies that in the opening credits when he quotes that Agneepath was his dad’s fav movie and he was only trying to remake it for his dad (Guess he is trying to make up for some money his dad lost in the original version, I have heard that the original  AGNEEPATH was a dud at the BO)

                                The movie starts off in a Village called “Mandwa” which is supposedly an island village near Mumbai. There is this good school master who is trying to do good deeds to improve his village and he has managed to get permission to make SALT. There enters Kancha, who is the son of the village pradhan and he tricks the whole village in to leasing their lands to him so that he can invest in the Salt company,his true intentions are to make Cocain in these lands. The master-ji convinces the people not to give their lands, and Kancha very easily eliminates the master by hanging him in front of all the villages after turning the whole village against their beloved master.

This leaves the poor VDC and his mom without any support and they set sail to Mumbai. VDC is the angry young boy who wants to avenge his father’s death and free Mandwa from Kancha’s evil clutches, who turns Mandwa in to India’s cocain farm with the villagers as his slaves. That is when Rishi kapoor enters the frame as the dreaded “Lala” who is the Don of Mumbai , VDC joins Lala at a very young age (after Killing an inspector) and as in all the movies grows on to becomes Lala’s most trusted lieutenant

By now everyone can imagine how the movie is about to shape up and just then the director throws in a surprise twist in the story where VDC actually aspires to become the DON of Mumbai apart from eliminating Kancha. How VDC manages to eliminate kancha and does he become Mumbai’s don forms the rest of the movie.

The cast has done justice to their roles, Hrithick sticks subdued performance to portray VDC. Sanju baba is menacing as Kancha, Rishi kapoor is the surprise element as Lala (he has proved that years of experience enable one to carry out any roles to perfection), Om Puri is as always is fantastic as Police officer Gaitonde and Priyanka Chopra is convincing as Kaali (VDC’s love interest)

+ves

The director has stuck to the basic plot of the movie

Good performance by all the actors is definitely the highlight of the movie.

-ves

                Screenplay could have been a bit more brisk, the movie gets a big too drag towards the end.

Loud THUD THUD music does not add any pace to a slow screen play and it’s high time the music directors understood this fact.

Verdict

                Though my verdict in no way decide the fate of the movie or it’s BO collections, I thought I should have a verdict to review as it’s the norm

                AGNEEPATH is not MUST WATCH movie. The movie is a remake which has been remade brilliantly; it has good performances by its cast. I would go with 3/5 for movie.