#theghaziattack

what’s good

1. Bollywoods first war at sea film after glorifying the army for so many years..(Border still remains the best I have seen) It’s a very mysterious and controversial piece of our historic victory in 1971 on our over-friendly neighborhood which was classified to begin with. Shot splendidly inside what looks like a real submarine, the mounting is very impressive and the screenplay is tight with engaging sequences.

2. Tense moments in the second half which remind you of the titanic when the Indian submarine hits a mine laid by the Pakistani vessel..

3. Clever dodge sequences of missiles between INS 21 and PNS Ghazi frustrating the captain of enemy sub to shout: saala commander Hai ke lift man hai? This is the dialogue of the century

4. Gripping piece of photography inside the hydraulics Chamber of the sub and awesome special effects though not comparable to the crimson tide.

5. Performances – KK after his life’s worst look and role in The flying jatt rediscovers the Rakesh Maria of black Friday as a hot headed sharp naval captain. Good to watch Atul Kulkarni uback on screen after a hiatus in Raees and this one (with more screen time) but om puri n nasser are wasted. Rana Darukibatti gets some dialogues and action in the second half after KK dies.

Now why its also disappointing?

1. Taapsee ponnu – PNS ghazi and INS 21 had more torpedoes than she had screen time and dialogues in the movie.. She’s the only girl in the movie..

2. There’s a 2 minute disclaimer read out before the film begins where reference to creative liberty is given and that’s the most disappointing thing to know as the sub surfaces.

3. There are references clearly to INS Vikrant but why INS Rajput is referred as INS 21 nobody knows.. In the end, You again take pot shots at history which is easily available on Google n wiki.. But the moot point here is how badly history is tweaked here in the name of creative liberties.. Frankly if the director had just followed history it could have been one helluva movie coz the star cast was awesome.

4. PNS ghazi was sent to destroy INS Vikrant stationed near the bay of Bengal border with bangla so that supplies route to Chittagong was clear.. This is the message with which the film starts..now why no reference to Vikrant was made by INS and why S21 was sent is left to your imagination… No worries.. Creative liberty taken..

6. In the second half, there’s absolutely no communication between PNS ghazi n pak naval command and suddenly the captain decides to bomb Vizag. No talk about Vikrant here.. For no reason..no worries.. Creative liberty taken

6. The whole track of ins Rajput being intercepted as ins Vikrant and the intelligence shown by the Indian Navy to park ins Vikrant in the Andaman n fool the PNS is missed here…no worries.. Creative liberty taken

7. The movie dint have many patriotic dialogues which can give you goosebumps and the essence of singing saare Jahan se achcha and Jana gana mana was missing. Emotions are high when kk was on screen but on his exit the film also exits from its course and enters unchartered territory.

I would first request all to read some piece of war history before they make and watch such movies (including Karan Johar who has forgotten how to make evergreen movies and is now solely waiting for SSRs Baahubali to bail him out)..all in all, a big salute to the Indian Navy

http://m.economictimes.com/slideshows/nation-world/real-story-of-submarine-pns-ghazi-and-the-mystery-behind-its-sinking/the-masterplan/slideshow/56085884.cms

#rangoon directed by Vishal bhardwaj, produced by sajid Nadiadwala (who also produced Haider), known to convert Shakespeare plays into celluloid, this time pens something out of his comfort zone..movie begins with a world War 2 bombing sequence in rangoon in 40’s where Jamaadar Nawab Malik of British army (Shahid) who’s actually captain Nawab of the INA headed by SC Bose, gets shot n caught by enemy and then runs out of their jail (the escape sequence is not shown here)..cut to bombay where miss Julia is painting the town red with her character inspiration from Fearless Nadia and Eros echoes Bloody hell in Toofan ki beti..all her movies are produced by Russi billimoria aka hey hey wow Saif.. Who actually bought her for 1000 rupees as a child..he continues his fascination for girls half his age in reel life too..Rusi to prove his loyalty to the British army is asked to send Julia to rangoon to entertain the British army every night with songs and dance performances.. Here on her trip she almost drowned in the river but somehow lands on a rock..Don’t know how but she had to survive else the movie was over in 30 mins.. Then she entertains the Japanese soldiers as she couldn’t control her sneeze not once but twice..n then Jamaadar appears from no where to rescue her.its Julia’s interactions with the Japanese soldier in the first half which bring you back from boredom.. she owns the film. .by interval atleast 4 songs are in..but it’s only 1 hour n 15 min..n then another 1 hour 35 min to the second half.. Aisa calculation first time dekha Hai.. Rusi had less screen time in the first half but somehow wakes up Vishal in the second half to tell him that I have acted in parineeta n omkara..you gave me a Langda role now with an amputed hand Give me some dialogues..So he says towards the pre climax Hum funkaar hai..jhooth ko Sachai se jeena pesha Hai humara..passion and chemistry is not hot between the lead pairs and thats one major drawback.. too many not so popular songs in the movie also slow the pace down throughout..His songs n melody n lyrics from gulzar is too repetitive now.. May be Vishal shud try some other music director like amit trivedi next time..the CGI is not at all upto the mark especially in the climax where Rusi does The Walk.. Again it’s not shown how he reaches the other side of the bridge carrying such a heavy sword..really unfortunate Bose had to go through all this..so what are the positives.. Just a couple

1. Stunning cinematography..absolutely world class

2. Kangana ranaut..definitely award winning nomination if we don’t have a tough fight amongst other actresses like last year

But like Rusi says in the movie.. Public film dekhti Hai shots nahi.. RANGOON is only about few shots

Lion is based on the real life story of a 5-year-old Indian boy who got lost at a train station, accidentally travels to Kolkata and gets separated after being adopted by and Aussie couple. How he makes every attempt to find his real family again with the help of Google Earth after 25 years is what the film is all about. Brilliant direction from debutant Aussie Garth Davis. Kudos to the casting director and every other technician on this helluva film.

The film’s story has been taken from India-born Australian businessman Saroo Brierley’s auto bio A Long Way Home – where he explains how he found his biological mother over two decades after he was accidently separated.

The film carries us through the journey of Saroo and the importance of adopting kids to showing disturbing condition of homeless and missing kids (with Kolkata as a base). These kids do need a character like Deepti Naval’s for a better life. The reunion of saroo with his mother will just tear you apart from inside. there is a reason why the title is Lion and I would not reveal that. Even though the kid is hardly 4, he is thoroughly aware of the family’s condition and is willing to take on risks to support his elder bro and at the same time smart enough to make out of people who are actually helping you and who is not.

As a kid, he was told by his elder bro not to leave the platform seat till his return but still wanders about looking for his bro. the whole track of Dev patel romance is a waste. But these are just couple of things you can easily overlook when a real life story gets captured on celluloid.

All in all, I have seen many kid actors act brilliantly in Taare zameen par, Dhanak, etc. But this kid Sunny Pawar is the pick of the lot. He is simply the best I have seen so far. he is super talented and you just cant forget the sequence where he is imitating a man eat his meal with a spoon. Dev Patel otherwise is outstanding and even Nicole Kidman. They all deliver knock out performances and award winning.

Most of the times I do talk about impact not being there in films, dialogues, background score, etc…here, with not much of stress on dialogues and a very strong undercurrent of emotions, the background score heightens the impact in each and every scene. The setting in Kolkata does remind you of Danny boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire but that is it.

This movie does remind me of Mani Ratnam’s classic war drama film Kannathil Muthamittal and its sheer coincidence that both release around the same time in Feb, though Mani’s magic came 15 years back. The tamil movie was the story of a child of Sri Lankan Tamil parents, then adopted by Indian parents and then desires to meet her biological mother in the midst of a civil war.

End of the day, it does tell you that God does exist and miracles do happen. It connects to your heart because you were a child some day and live to raise one one fine day, but when you see a saroo (there are 80,000 children in India who go missing each year) lost in an ugly world like ours, what can you do to help him?