I AM press conference, L-R: Arjun Mathur, Abhimanyu Singh, Purab Kohli, Onir, Juhi Chawla and Sanjay Suri

Heard about the I AM sneak peek happening at Coomaraswamy Hall at the Museum near Kala Ghoda and had to visit considering my good friend Sanjay Suri was promoting his co-production with director Onir and Juhi Chawla.

Present at the event besides Sanjay, Onir and Juhi were Purab Kohli, Arjun Mathur and Abhimanyu Singh. They all spoke about the film and what got them interested in the premise, why they feel so strongly about the subject matter of the four stories — child sexual abuse, homophobia, Kashmir and women having children through artificial insemination.

What’s interesting about I AM is that the producers solicited money for it through social networking sites. At the event, Juhi joked that Onir even made her pay to be in the film!

Purab, Onir, Juhi and Sanjay

Sanjay moderated the event like a pro and the packed hall seemed enthusiastic after the ‘raw’ trailer for the film was shown to them.

There were originally supposed to be five films and not just four. The fifth was to be centred around Purab but was ultimately shelved. So Onir ‘fitted’ him in one of the films with Nandita Das in which Purab plays a sperm donor. Sanjay quipped, “And he had to audition for it!”

Purab and Juhi before the event started

The camaraderie and spirit of the filmmakers and actors was evident. They believe in their product and the message it has. One only hopes the film will come out soon to avoid looking dated. And where was Rahul Bose?

I AM poster boys

> on the scene: Sailesh Ghelani <

‘Rakht astra, rakht shastra, rakht shatru, rakht charitra’ blare the lyrics in the background as multiple men and women get killed in Ram Gopal Varma’s first installment of Rakht Charitra. The lines, aided by typically loud and harsh background score that you’ve come to expect from RGV’s films, do more than just underline the blood-curdling bloody gore being played out on the screen. It points to a sad but natural culmination of a filmmaker who once pioneered the shift from sappy romances and profligate wedding videos in the name of cinema to raw stories told detachedly but with great technical aplomb. Rakht Charitra is RGV’s most violent film to date yes… but it is more problematically a window into his mind. And going by what’s on display, he needs to be checked into an asylum without more ado!

Rakht Charitra is purportedly based on the life of Paritala Ravi, the son of a Naxalite in the Anantpur district of Andhra Pradesh who became a dreaded gangster after the murder of his father by local political factionists and later entered politics to end up as a Cabinet minister. But the film could’ve been about anybody else or nobody at all. Because RGV’s main objective seems to be to put on display a show about ‘different torturous ways to kill a person’. So, right from the beginning, you have both black and white characters getting killed in one unique fashion after another. You cringe just as much when Ravi’s father is killed by having his head smashed with a huge rock as when you see Ravi avenging his father’s death by chopping the hands of the person responsible. With all the killing going around, you wonder how the little village doesn’t run out of people to kill. And since everybody seems to be waiting for an excuse to kill, and kill inventively, one supposes the kids in Anantpur get treated to ice-creams for coming up with the most creative kill idea.

But it’s not just the violence. It’s also the misogyny. RGV has always been guilty of objectifying his leading ladies. But here, the ladies literally get slapped, beaten, randomly picked up and raped, and abused! And when they’re not being subjected to that, they’re happy condoning the violent actions of the men in their lives. There isn’t much skin on display, but then blood is deeper than skin… and in the borderline pornographic world that RGV creates here, blood is both omnipotent and explicit.

Only towards the end of the second half does the film actually manage to sober up a little, and we begin to get some character detail. Much of that is to do with the entrance of Shatrughan Sinha as a superstar-turned-politician who imparts to Ravi the ways of righting wrongs in a flawed system. Sinha turns in an interesting performance, getting the Andhra accent correct. The only other performance worth mentioning is that of Abhimanyu Singh. Singh is creepily scary as the bare-chested and constantly horny lecher and monster. Watching him lick the barrel of a gun makes you feel violated!

Unfortunately, the performances (Oberoi is effectively restrained), the cinematography (the camera thankfully not overacting as much as it did in RGV’s Rann) and other little plusses don’t matter; given that they all take a backseat to RGV having sex with violence. And yet, the attached trailer to the sequel at the end (with Tamil actor Surya making his Hindi debut as Ravi’s nemesis) does manage to tickle you to give it a dekko. Well… porn in all forms is addictive!

Film: Rakht Charitra
Director: Ram Gopal Varma
Cast: Vivek Oberoi, Shatrughan Sinha, Abhimanyu Singh, Priyamani, Radhika Apte
Rating: Good 
 
Supreeta Singh
Ram Gopal Varma (RGV) is back in the groove. In Rakht Charitra he does what he does best. He creates a tale of bloody revenge without a moment’s respite. His earlier gangster films like Satya, Company or Sarkar look staid in comparison to his latest offing. And if you are not brave enough to sit through the horrific murders, gruesome gore and unrelenting saga of conspiracies and violence, try watching some other film instead.
The story of Rakht Charitra is more straightforward and simplistic than RGV’s previous films. Here is a world where morals have no place and all players are aware of it. There is no naiveté or pretence or sudden revelations because everyone is hungry for power and they can go to any length to achieve what they want. Hence, there are no good or bad characters, but their motive becomes all-important. When Pratap Ravi’s (Vivek Oberoi) father Veerbhadra (Rajdenra Gupta) and elder brother Shankar (Sushant Singh) get murdered, he comes back to the village of Anandapur to avenge their deaths. One of them is the son of a local politician, Bukka Reddy (Abhimanyu Singh).
The story takes a turn when superstar Shivaji Rao (Shatrughan Sinha) contests the election against Bukka’s brother Puru. Shivaji is ruthlessly driven out of the village by Bukka’s men. To curb Bukka’s foothold, he takes Pratap under him and trains him to become a part of the system and then destroy Bukka once and for all. Shivaji becomes the chief minster of the state and the benign face of his party, Pratap becomes his right-hand man who wipes out all evil-doers by slaying including Bukka. In this scenario, there are both bad and good cops who are used as pawns of the chessboard.
RGV’s characterisation is brilliant. Although an ensemble cast, each actor manages to leave a mark. Vivek Oberoi as the educated and intelligent gangster-politician is the perfect foil to the popular Shivaji Rao. Zarina Wahab and Sushmita Mukherjee as wives of the local leaders appropriately bring forth the helplessness and grit of such womenfolk. Radhika Apte as Nandini is simple and sweet.
But the scene-stealer is undoubtedly Abhimanyu Singh. As Bukka, he is evil incarnate whose bestiality knows no end. He loves to terrorise with or without reason. The actor’s body language, dialogue delivery and emotive skills are unbeatable in the film. There is a line that Shatrughan Sinha says in the film, ‘the topic is over’. But it’s definitely not so for RGV. Rakht Charitra 2 will hit theatres on November 19 where the story of revenge will continue with Pratap’s nemesis Suryanarayan Reddy (Suriya) avenging the death of his family. We are surely looking forward to it.

Those who have watched Anurag Kashyap’s brilliant film Gulaal will not be forgetting its terrific actor Abhimanyu Singh any time soon. Abhimanyu played a powerful Rajput student-leader, who gets shot to death.

Abhimanyu will be seen at the marquee once again in this week’s release Accident On Hill Road.

But it has been a long wait for the actor, who spent 10 struggling years in Mumbai [ Images ] before he bagged a decent role.

“It hasn’t been easy,” Abhimanyu admits, talking about his long struggle. “Gulaal gave me a chance to channelise my restlessness into a character that had layers of complexity,” he said.

Abhimanyu studied in St Stephen’s college in Delhi [ Images ] and decided to join the IAS (Indian Administrative Service) or IPS (Indian Police Service), as his parents wished. But he realised that he was not cut out to be a public servant, where he would be required to ‘just follow orders.’

“The passion was fading away and I realised that I cannot work somewhere where I will have to say ‘yes sir’ to every person above me in the hierarchy, even if I don’t agree. I wanted freedom to do what I wanted,” he said.

His parents were quite upset with his change in career plan. Yet, they supported him and gave him money from time to time.

Read more from HERE

Those who have watched Anurag Kashyap’s brilliant film Gulaal will not be forgetting its terrific actor Abhimanyu Singh any time soon. Abhimanyu played a powerful Rajput student-leader, who gets shot to death.

Abhimanyu will be seen at the marquee once again in this week’s release Accident On Hill Road.

But it has been a long wait for the actor, who spent 10 struggling years in Mumbai [ Images ] before he bagged a decent role.

“It hasn’t been easy,” Abhimanyu admits, talking about his long struggle. “Gulaal gave me a chance to channelise my restlessness into a character that had layers of complexity,” he said.

Abhimanyu studied in St Stephen’s college in Delhi [ Images ] and decided to join the IAS (Indian Administrative Service) or IPS (Indian Police Service), as his parents wished. But he realised that he was not cut out to be a public servant, where he would be required to ‘just follow orders.’

“The passion was fading away and I realised that I cannot work somewhere where I will have to say ‘yes sir’ to every person above me in the hierarchy, even if I don’t agree. I wanted freedom to do what I wanted,” he said.

His parents were quite upset with his change in career plan. Yet, they supported him and gave him money from time to time.

Read more from HERE

Last week I saw this movie called Gulaal directed by Anurag Kashyap. Most of the actors in the movie are not a very recognizable face but when it comes to performance, they can beat any mainstream hero. “Wow!”

I generally do not like dark and very very realistic movies as they generally leave their viewers frustrated and most of them are made to prove the caliber of a prize winning director. A simplicity of story –telling is generally missing in so called great movies but Gulaal is an exception. It’s out an out an entertaining movie without any compromise in it’s realistic approach. This is what called the great talent and Anurag Kashyap definitely deserves a lot of accolades for his work.

I hope that time has come when Yash Chopras, Subhash Ghais and Karan Johars will take a note of this change in Indian cinema and stop making mess in the name of movies which are generally very high in budget and very low when it comes to contents. We are really tired of these so called superstars with mediocre acting abilities. It’s really a relief to watch great performances of almost unknown actors in Gulaal.

Anybody who has ever been a part of north Indian states knows that characters like “Ransa” and “Bhati” in the movie are as real as they could be. And what a remarkable performance from Kay kay Menon! I remember him working in a small role in a Ravi Rai’s serial “Teacher”. Those were his struggling days and now he is getting his due for his hard work and patience.

Not to forget the performance from Mahi Gill. In my personal opinion, her “ Chak- Mak” song is far better than Aishwarya’s “Kajra re”. Mahi successfully portrayed the pain and glamour in his performance while Kajra –re was all about the plastic smiles. And where was Piyush Mishra till now? He is the most talented and original music composer and I am listening his songs again and again.  God bless him!!!

Well done, Anurag Kashyap. My best wishes for you and your team of performers in Gulaal.

Gulaal

Gulaal is a dark and brooding tale of a boy losing his innocence, of college politics, love, betrayal, deception and the need for revolution, woven together in a compelling narrative and laced with some superlative performances.

The film starts with Dilip Kumar Singh (Raj Singh Choudhury) coming to Jaipur to study law. As the hostel was full, he is forced to stay in a bar with the rebellous yet charismatic Rananjay Singh (Abhimanyu Singh), a Rajput of royal blood.  Soon he gets involved, unwillingly, in the murky world of college politics. Along the way he gets a liberal dose of ragging in form of a “brainwash”. Soon, Duki Bana (Kay Kay Menon), the Rajput senapati, convinces Ransa to stand for the elections. When the political rivalry results in his murder, Dilip is made to stand for the elections. Soon enough he finds out the real motives of Duki Bana, his quest for Rajputana, separate from the State of India.

Kiran (Ayesha Mohan), who loses to Dilip Kumar in the elections, seduces him, and others on her way to being the GS of the college. And once there, on behest of her brother (Aditya Srivastava, I think), dumps Dilip who is now in madly in love with her.  Eventually, the movie is about power and politics, and single minded determination to claim what some would call a ‘right’.

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The  movie proceeds at a very fast pace till the interval. It is dark, brooding with a dense plot. However, the ending seems a bit, well, unsatisfying. Probably it has more to do with the obsessive love that Dilip claimed to have, an aspect not dwelt with in a detailed manner by the director. That being said, the movie is definitely a interesting watch and will hold your attention till the end.

The dialogue is quirky, witty and downright fun, but filled with abuses and expletives. Considering the backdrop, it doesn’t feel out of place. A college goer shouldn’t really have a problem with this of course. But their parents might.

Also, the movie is shot in a very interesting way, with beautiful lighting and some amazing shots of the palaces, giving the Rajasthan feel to it.

The acting is top notch and the characters are perfectly cast. Kay Kay Menon, arguably the finest actor in Hindi film industry, gets to show his full range, be it the speeches or the sudden venomous outbursts.  He steals the show with his towering and forceful performance. The other noteworthy  performance is that given by Abhimanyu Singh as Ransa. He is brilliant. His screen presence, the quirky dialogue delivery laced with some witty one-liners, charisma and the strong characterization he managed to portray is indeed commendable. He stays with you even after the movie is over. Real neat. Deepak Dobrial does a very good job as Bhati, Duki Bana’s loyal sidekick (his noncommittal nod at the pan shop comes to mind).

Mention should be made of Piyush Mishra who plays the deranged foreign-educated, John Lennon-obsessed, brother of Duki Bana. He is also the the music director of this movie’s amazing soundtrack. One must appreciate his innovative use of poetry, not only in songs, but also in the dialogues. What is more interesting is the message it delivers.

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On the downside, one might argue that the director suffers from Dev D hangover. The use of neon lights, orange colour, drugs and booze, the crisp dialogues and an outrageous soundtrack, which took Dev D to an altogether different level, can be seen in Gulaal as well.  If we had three brilliant tap dancers in Dev D, in Gulaal we have the character of the body-painted ardha-nareshwar. As long as it enhances the movie, as it does in this case, that is not necessarily a problem. However, one hopes that Anurag Kashyap doesn’t get obsessed with these techniques.

Also, the character of Madhuri played by Mahi Gill, who is a beauty parlour owner having an affair with Duki Banna, is never really explored. Seems half baked and neglected considering the interest that branch of the story tends to generate. The same is the case with Jesse Randhawa, who plays the role of a physically abused teacher in the same college. Her character also suffers the same fate as that of Madhuri’s.

Another aspect not explained properly was the obsessive love shown by Dilip Kumar. The hows and the whys of this particular aspect was not really convincing. But then some critics (don’t really remember who) have argued that the director wanted to keep this aspect subtle so as to keep the focus on the political standpoint. Or perhaps the Dilip Kumar was the shy type, not showing his love to the outside world. Not convincing, is it?

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All said and done, this movie is compelling and engaging, if flawed, cinema. Definitely worth spending two hours on.

Cheers

Jais

Gulaal is Anurag Kashyap’s first movie that comes close to being called a masterpiece. I cannot say for sure if it is one, only speculate that it might be one.

The movie rests on the shoulders of two absolute geniuses.

The first of whom is the Anurag Kashyap of 2001. I say 2001 because after watching this and Dev D., I cannot say that we have finally found a genius, because we might just have lost one. Gulaal took shape when Anurag Kashyap was battling it out with the censor board over his first movie Paanch and was inspired by the song Yeh Duniya Agar Mil Bhi Jaaye from Pyaasa (check out its video and the lyrics/translation here).

The second is Piyush Mishra. He has written the songs for this movie. I wouldn’t call them lyrics, it is poetry at its best. He has composed the songs. They are not just songs, they are an *inseparable* asset to the movie. At each listen, they will remind you of the movie. He also plays a central character (Prithvi Bana) of almost a sutradhar, but not quite one.

Now about the movie.

Everyone starts their life with innocence and assumes the world is all innocent. But everyone has that one trigger when the rosy picture of the world is shattered forever. Gulaal is about that trigger.

Everyone is after that one thing in their life that they think will make them happiest when attained. Gulaal is about that chase.

Of course, Gulaal is this and more. Depending on how much you think later.

Set in Rajasthan, Dukki Bana (Kay Kay Menon) heads a secret society of the Rajputs who want the Rajputana back for themselves from India. Bhati (Deepak Dobriyal) is his right hand man. Dileep (Raj Singh Chaudhary) is a sincere fresher in Rajpur who has for a roommate the maverick Rajput prince Ransa (Abhimanyu Singh) who wants nothing of his heritage. Then there is the brother sister duo of Karan and Kiran (Aditya Srivastava and Ayesha Mohan), the illegitimate siblings of Ransa craving for legitimacy from their father and society.

This is the setting. It then kicks off a high voltage drama moving from scene to scene packed with action and aggression aided by powerhouse performances from each character without giving you any respite to introspect or judge any character till the end when the stage comes crashing down. That is Gulaal for you.

Each character is grey; and there is atleast one moment in the movie where you sympathize with each one of the characters, irrespective of which side of the protagonist they are on, even the ones that are outright negative. Watch out for the character of Ransa as well as the actor enacting the part. Both are one of the best in recent times.

Acting. I would be making a complete fool of myself if I sat down and judged the performances. 

Music. Ditto.

Screenplay/cinematography/art/colors/dialogues. Ditto.

To end, it is a rare movie which you must not miss. Be warned, it will get you thinking. It has been over 24 hours since I saw it and I still cannot get it out of my head. 

Yeh Duniya lyrics/translation courtesy theBollywoodFan.

The story meanders the life of Dilip Kumar Singh who unwittingly becomes a part of Dukey Bana’s (a local kingpin from a Royal Family) scheme of things. Ransa, the original poster boy of Dukey Bana’s Rajputana party falls prey to the rival, Karan’s desperate attempts to usurp power and that prompts Dilip to enter Ransa’s shoes. And soon Dilip realises that there’s a whole new breed of revolutionaries who would stop at nothing to achieve their goals. Caught between love and struggle for power, the insanity takes a toll on Dilip forcing him to shed his cowardice which changes the course of destiny of everyone involved.

Inspired by the lyrics of Sahir Ludhianvi “Yeh duniya agar mil bhi jaaye to kya hai” from the movie Pyaasa , Anurag along with Raja Chaudary explore the possibilities of power, lust and tragedy with their compelling narrative and colourful, multifaceted characters in Gulaal. The injustice meted out to the land since Independence and the dismal failure of democracy forcing the scion of a royal family to bring back glory to the land isn’t something which has been fiddled with in Indian cinema so often. The story also points fingers at some of the contemporary issues plaguing the country like who does the land truly belong to, relevance of law, radicalism etc,. On one hand you cannot stop the feeling of sympathy for these royal families under whom their provinces thrived with prosperity probably much better than what they have come to terms with post independence, yet the antithesis of the doctrine which they try to imbibe in their people denounces everything on which democracy and secularism is built upon.

The fiery speech by the protagonist trying to inspire his people is extremely reminiscent of a similarly themed speech by Hitler post WW I. And that sets the tone for this fantastic story which questions the morality of our beliefs. Kay Kay is stunning in his portrayal of Dukey Bana. So fiery is he that it almost overshadows every other character he has portrayed till date. Raja Chaudhary as Dilip Kumar Singh fits appropriately in the character’s shoes. Extremely vulnerable and fickle, this character is one of the best written roles in the movie and irrespective of certain fallacies, Raja Chaudhary pulls it off confidently. Abhimanyu Singh, Deepak Dobriyal, Aditya Shrivastav and others deliver wonderful performances in their respective roles. But the biggest surprise of the film is Ayesha Mohan who plays the role of Kiran in the film. An extremely confident performance, Ayesha steals the show with her screen presence, dialogues. The rest of the female cast, Mahie Gill and Jesse Randhawa are good but their roles aren’t properly etched out.

‘Gulaal’ is certainly not as abstract as Anurag’s previous works like Dev D, No Smoking but it does have its share of abstractness and fallacies. The motiffs used in certain scenes like Ardha Nareeswara and the highly irritative yet thought provoking singer in Dukey Bana’s house challenge your understanding. The editing could have been more crisp which could have saved the film a good 15 minutes of running time. Also the film never really delves into the uprising or the political movement, instead it relishes itself with the lives of Dukey Bana, Kiran, Karan and Dilip most of the times.

Anurag’s “Gulaal” is yet another example why he’s one of the best directors of contemporary cinema today in the country. One of the very few directors who have resisted the temptation of being sucked into formulaic cinema, Anurag continues to be a master storyteller, stories which require certain amount of intelligence. You just can’t sit and watch his movies eating popcorn and mocking your own stupidity which we continue to do week after week. This one may not be the best films you will ever see, but certainly one which you cannot easily forget. Go watch “Gulaal”. It boasts of a great cast, acting, lyrics and a wonderful story. And a theme which hasn’t been this maturely handled in a long time.

P.S: The camera work  and lyrics by Pankaj Mishra are amazing! And you will see why….:)

P.P.S: If your idea of watching a  is just for some laughs and lame jokes then this is NOT the movie for you.

P.P.P.S: Ahhh….that was my 50th movie review…Yuppie!..:)

 

This film should’ve been named laal (red). There’s a lot of blood, a lot of reds and a lot of gaalis. No doubt, Anurag Kashyap’s sincerity shines through in the script, but sadly it fails to make for a gripping watch. One expects a lot more from the director of Black Friday, DevD and let’s not forget he wrote Satya at the age of 22. I happened to speak to him just before the press screening of Gulaal and he told me the movie has been cut down a lot more than he expected by the Censor Board.

Shot in Rajasthan, the plot revolves around a secret Rajput separatist movement. Kay Kay Menon has acted brilliantly; the problem is that the other actors are too inconsequential. Gulaal is the story of an innocent young man, Dileep (played by Raja Chaudhary), who comes to study in the city and gets mixed up and involved in the separatist movement. A nice, simple and impressionable young boy, he goes through a lot of hardships as he enters college. His rebellious room mate Ransa (Abhimanyu Singh) is the son of the Rajput king; he has a lot of radical ideologies, but tries to protect Dileep from ragging and unnecessary trouble. Dileep hates violence and Ransa can’t do without it. Dukey Bana (Kay Kay Menon), from one of the most powerful families in the area, supports Ransa. When Ransa stands for college elections, he is killed by his illegitimate half brother and Dileep is sucked into replacing his roommate at the elections, backed by Bana.

The problem with Dileep’s character is that one expects more of him than what is portrayed. He wins the election and gets involved in politics without knowing it. It’s difficult to identify with him because you expect a reaction from him eventually, but no such luck — the wait is endless. Till the very end I was expecting a rise out of this dumb guy but NO — he holds no water and frankly, this is what didn’t work for me. Lawlessness in these states is a major problem which these guys capitalise on, but I doubt the cops are such nincompoops. Cinematic liberty goes a little beyond what it should. Kay Kay holds the movie with his performance. Newcomer Abhimanyu Singh’s acting is also noteworthy but the other roles could’ve been played by any good theatre actors available in abundance.

The music is not that great either. If you’ve ever been a Pink Floyd fan, there is a small surprise for you in Gulaal. Goodbye Blue Sky plays in the background during an intense scene. Such instances don’t come too often, though. But Anurag Kashyap does try to pack his musical taste into his movies, which comes as a breath of fresh air.

Conclusion: A lot of anti-India sentiments are expressed throughout the movie and the Censor Board has not taken this lightly. Probably the cuts that have been made are working against the very essence of Gulaal. All in all it turns out very mediocre. Probably the protagonist should’ve had some brains or brawn. Sadly, he has none.

RishiO Meter – 2.5/5