John Abraham’s debut production venture is ‘Vicky Donor’ which has a tagline “I am a sperm donor”. A Hindi movie introduces a rare and daring subject in 21st century modern-social South Asian society moviegoers but thought-provoking simultaneously.
To make the movie looks interesting for viewers and worth-profiting from viewer’s middle-age pockets, and also to reduce the establishment of kingdom of boredom towards less-bearing serious subject, the director chose the romantic-comedy flavor to convey the message in stimulating way…
By intending to watch, you think it’s a naughty B-movie about sex and sperm, but watching this movie will in fact propel you to do bad things in good way for others. (I say bad thing in a sense that from religious sense, masturbation is unlawful in my religion, Islam)
Coming back to movie, Vicky is a Punjabi munda who is jobless but not colorless. His widowed mom Mrs. Arora runs a beauty parlor. Vicky is caught in fertility doctor Dr.Baldev Chaddha’s eye and offers him money to donate sperm. He refuses the offer and after his many efforts, Vicky finally agrees. Meanwhile, he finds his girlfriend, a Bengali banker and marries after convincing their cultured conservative parents. Watch yourself now to whom will he donate the sperm? :P
Brilliant direction from Shoojit Sircar after 7-year comeback from 2005-movie ‘Yahaan’. Very impactful dialogues penning by journalist Juhi Chaturvedi. Movie see 2 superb debuts; popular TV presenter Ayushmaan Khurana & model-come-TV actress beautiful Yami Gautam. Simply awesome acting and good acting prospects. One more cast is important to mention who was the main cast, culprit and life savior at the same time, Anu Kapoor showed his versatility in acting like always. ‘Pani Da Rung’ was obviously the best number, in fact the movie is one of best I have seen in 2012.
Sometimes the story is everything. A mere 5-crore-rupees movie earned 50 crore rupees due to a rare subject on which film makers dare to make film due to less attraction of viewers and low profits.
Movie Status: Gives social message “masturbate for others” ;P
City of Life and Death is a 2009 Chinese historical drama based on ‘Battle of Nanjing‘ and its aftermath which is famously known as Nanjing Massacre. The battle was fought in 1937 between Japan and China during 2nd Sino-Japanese War. When Japanese invaded the Nanjing city, they showed no mercy on Chinese as massacre began in next 6 weeks which included mass murders, human tortures, slavery and most specifically war rapes.
A German businessman and Nazi party member, John Rabe, ran Nanjing Safety Zone, where thousands of Chinese women, children, elders and wounded soldiers took refuge. This safety zone was created by International Committee for the Nanking Safety Zone. Despite all the efforts, the Japanese soldiers forcefully entered the zone for raping Chinese female refugees. This was repeated numerous times as women later on decided to cut their hairs and dress like men to save their lives. Later on the Japanese officer ordered at least 100 women to join Japanese camps as ‘comfort women’. And the massacre moved on…
John Rabe got orders from Germany to return and stop his activities of running the safety zone. His secretary Tang left his daughter to die and sister-in-law rape. While leaving the zone, Tang, at the last moment decided to stay and let his wife move in order to make way for a Chinese soldier. Tang’s wife revealed she was pregnant and later on, Tang was executed.
Can’t believe that Chinese cinema can be up to a merit of amazing cinematic substance as brilliant direction and realistic screenplay saw the movie meeting commercial and international success. The movie won many international awards in film festivals. A terrific period masterpiece.
The movie is biography over an unsung Indian hero-cum-villain, a story moving from Usain Bolt to Veerappan and the movie changing its flavor in 3 phases (soldier, athlete & bandit). In 1949, he joins army and stuns his seniors in his athletics skills. He wins gold medal in Indian National Games 7 years in a row. Participates in 1958 Asian Games in Tokyo but fails.
To his misery, a journey of a soldier who willed to fight war but the law (athlete soldiers don’t participate in war) made him low. His commitment towards athletics knew no bound and at age 32, breaks his own national steeplechase record. Soon he retires, village feud heats and leave the village and grows his own gang to avoid a drop of blood on his family.
Here begins Bandit King, and Tigmanshu Dhulia successfully reminds this bandit phase of movie towards Shekar Kapoor’s famous ‘Bandit Queen’. At that time, Tigmanshu was casting director of the movie and now brings more charm in directing this phase. Paan tries to resolve the issue of land acquisition with his relative Bhanwar Singh but fails. He even calls District collector but to no avail. Infact Bhanwar singh and his goons attack on Paan family in his absence but family escapes leaving his mother killed. In 1979, Paan becomes bandit and raises his army to bring terror in Chambal valley.
Revenge, gunshots, crews of gangs & dialogues are touchy and realistic. Rarely have I seen the leading cast dying not in front of camera. Mahie’s simplicity in Paan’s role twinkles but the limelight is Irrfan Khan with a loud-voiced bravo performance. He surpassed Paan Singh’s legacy from his acting towards a height. The movie I believe is one of best biographic movies ever made in Bollywood and such an excellent direction was expected as Tigmanshu is a modern history-graduate + researcher, and it took him 14 years since shooting of Bandit Queen to collect/research Paan Singh.
One of best movies of 2012 indeed….
Movie Status: Govt should grow up and respect the sportsman before they disrespect you
I always believed that Joker-inspired ‘The Dark Knight’ is the best Batman movie, oh sorry, the best superhero movie I have ever seen in my life. But Christopher Nolan has changed, not my mind, but my heart to speak out that I was wrong. The best was yet to come.
The movie plots 8 years after Harvey Dent’s death when under Dent Act, GCPD (Gotham City Police Deptt) gets supreme power to cntrl+alt+del the organized crime in Gotham City. This is a time when Bruce Wayne don’t entertain anyone and lives as hermit, and the batman legacy is finished. His business rival John Daggett forwards his assistant to deal with the meow-clothing Selina Kyle to bring Mr. Wayne’s fingerprints to erase her criminal record in program Slate. Bane, the Gotham’s reckoning masked man, hits the Gotham Stock Exchange and uses Wayne’s fingerprints in a transaction to make Wayne bankrupt. On the other hand, Commissioner Gordon appoints officer John Blake a detective.
In fear of Daggett’s take on his fusion reactor project, Wayne convinces Wayne Enterprise board member Miranda Tate to acquire the company. Later on, Bat Wayne fells under Bane’s trap and throws him in a prison-hell far from Gotham. Wrath of Bane begins as he isolates Gotham and attack. Somehow, the Batman escapes the prison-hell and tries to save Gotham from Bane’s terror and destruction. And then begins a civil war between Gotham’s reckoning and Gotham’s beckoning.
Go in depth wherever you want to judge a movie of it’s class. Many of scenes are finishing with raised eyebrows. Action & Words, both are louder together i.e. dynamic actions and powerful dialogues. Revenge has hunger of strike.
Hans Zimmer’s finest music score ever, I don’t think there is any need of nominations for music score in Academy Awards ceremony this night at Dolby Theatre, he is clear cut winner. As expected, performances were no surprise as it was expected that reprising roles will obviously have charm along with new roles.
Veteran actors Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine were all furnishing roles like before. As expected at the announcement of cat-woman role to gorgeous Anne Hathaway, she surpassed and was the perfect-match role. Christian Bale as always have been a brilliant actor but as a superhero, the reprising role in this episode proves to be the toughest and challenging from the former one.
Then comes the best role and acting what I see is Tom Hardy with a distinguished role of the masked man, Bane, full of applause. So Heath Ledger’s Joker is not the end as powerful villainous appearance. Seems like a trend Nolan has begun to show Hollywood industry that memorable villainous roles will be there to remember all the time in future. Unarguably one of most powerful villainous act by Tom Hardy.
Last 30 minutes are exceptional and brilliantly directed by Nolan and terrific suspense to end the batman trilogy. The movie never lets you down and keeps impressing as almost 3-hour american movie is never going to create boredom. Simply one of greatest movies I have even seen.
Muslims ruled the subcontinent for 1000 years… really?? I don’t know… Anyhow the Britishers came to teach you the difference between leadership and dictatorship with every fish caught and stored in their ship. You were ruled by them and by years oops I mean by decades to come, you successfully certified (dignified) yourself to be ruled in ages and generations to come and salute.
After major efforts of freedom fighters to Control-Alt-Delete the Britishers, you got inter-dependence in 1947. Later on, your father left the nation in higgledy-piggledy and there was a big ” :S ” over leadership to fall over someone’s shoulder. In the next 65 years, your political system and leadership become laughing stock (of exchange) in many regions of human globe of invest-meant.
More to a mockery of a joke is that it was hard to find a human being to lead the country with green dignity. So the animals used the human brain and ruled you big time. The political world and state of monarchies (and anarchies) expected separation-demanding people to produce green merlins to justify their separate land’s existence. But instead of green merlin, you in fact produced green chaplin, sometimes green dublin, and even green goblin.
So the leadership was tossed between two kinds of rulers. The ones who are in the military (with all their military ranks embarked from Britishers) and the politicians who are greedy of chair to build their own monarchy and throne their generations by mimics, I mean gimmicks (excuse my heart).
The ruling of the country became unstable and it is all after the assassination at Company Bagh, Rawalpindi in 1951, when a heritage of ‘fish-slapping dance‘ begin. The first presidency was proved a vehicle without engine and after many coronary bypass surgeries, the patient chose to share his bed with another patient in 1958. In almost three weeks, both president and army chief played fish-slapping dance on each other. Soon after Mr.president finally drown in water with a heavy halibut-punch, your military began to rule for the next 13 years. So martial law was imposed on the country (three months after the inaugural Nigar Film Awards).
The next two presidential elections in 1960 and 1965 witnessed the same army chief, so no challenge of defeating him in fish-slapping dance until in 1969, the guy of his same army rank punched him Halibut-fish. 1970 witnessed your inaugural gene-rall elections. In order to stabilize the heritage of dance, sardine-fish are distributed in Eastenders while halibut-fish in Westenders. A year later, ‘Finding Nemo‘ is released in December 1971.
The toss changed the fate as the man, who founded Pakistan Peoples Party in 1967, got the leadership as the Halibut-fish remained in his hands for the next 6 years. A warning Kiss over nuclear dilemma in 1976 was enough to pen his book in the prison cell. In 1977, nine political parties challenged him to win the fish-slapper over them. Then the introduction of rigga-rigga was rumored in general elections which controversially outraged the opponents of losing the contest without slapping him. The army interfered again and martial law was imposed for the third time with its leader serving the country for the longest term.
After the plane crash in Bahawalpur in 1988, the leadership had enjoyed (suffered) almost 30 years of fish-slapping dance. But this time, the transfer of leadership suffered a dissolute passion in shape of disease which spread in all the political parties. That disease was Osgood–Schlatter, which broke all the political movement to knees.
Here comes the voice of anarchy, I mean monarchy (excuse my heart again) as the first lady on earth is historically appointed as PM of Muslim state, I repeat… ‘Muslim’ state!! She leads the country twice but with an incomplete period of time due to dismissal from the president. The reasons were simple, Osgood-Schlatter disease made the government unstable enough to not be able to stand on their feet. Surgeons had pre-informed the patient for knee surgery but she didn’t listen to him.
In the chair-winning race after the plane crash of 1988, further more animals were found in different regions. One city saw a revolution where a minor student organization transform to a major ethnic organization which gave birth to a major party based on their roots to be realized as rejected in many controversial events in the past. The other city came on major hold by a man jumping into politics only to get his family property back snatched by the past government. He expanded his business and political roots stabilized in his region but the disease had no limits.
Finally in 1999, a fish-slapping dance contest was fought between the-then leader and the mercenary. The incidents matched tribute of first ever dance put to formal in 1958, as the army kicked the man the same way and 4th Martial Law was imposed on the country. Next eight years, the man in army boots never let anyone dance with sardine-fish on him. Big names left the country. Years later, they came back. Even the ‘justice league’ of Pakistan (coughs) were put to test the patience. The mercenary stepped down after the 2008 general elections and the country witnessed a real animal winning the presidential election. The country witnessed no-holds-barred in the most corrupted and shameless government ever came to run a 5-year term. Osgood-Schlatter was on it’s Everest-peak and all the fish had committed suicide just at the announcement of the new president being a dog.
In near future, there is a chance that finally the fish will not be tortured, voters won’t bother fingering when the thumb is gifted to mark on hope, international cricket may resume, international-begging may stop, minorities may not suffer, Baluchistan may not be forgotten. Because in these 5 testing years, a major voice became a nationwide revolution of change and call for unity in the development phase. The youth get inspired from all corners and patriotism level got exposure to height after a long time and lanky wait. Recent elections shook the momentum as the evidence caught, proved the general elections one of worst rigga-rigga displays of all time. The old gimmicks had applied to subjugate the land but the harsh truth for all fish-slapping dancers is that change has changed the change.
“A revolution can be neither made nor stopped. The only thing that can be done is for one of several of its children to give it a direction by dint of victories.” Napolean Bonaparte
Abominable or Adorable? The slavery of justice is impeccable…
Once, the three witches, who prophesied Macbeth of his becoming king, returned and landed on earth after 4 centuries, this time at Iqbal Park in Lahore. Their ears heard something familiar which was related to them, prophecy. The man on stage was addressing his nation, talking about his movement, cheering his supporters, and embarking on his wisdom.
Somehow, the witches were stunned when they heard that specific word, Tsunami, which roared his supporters nationwide. They were worried about these people because the last time the Tsunami ever severely hit was a year ago in Japan with the-then over 15,000 innocent lives officially graved. And these participating in the park were like ten-fold but they were to their surprise, gay and excited.
The witches moved to other parts of Pakistan with mixed responses to their wonder. They spot a boy gazing at them. Like if he was about to shout, the witches immediately flew to him to calm the closet. When witches confirmed their personification, the boy spoke up that the play, Macbeth, is taught in his school and always wished to see the witches in reality. When witches asked for the reason for such a wish, the boy replied of their importance of prophecies playing the core part in the ruling of Kingdom indirectly, as he wished to see them back to give prophesy this time under right hands for his country’s defense.
The witches were impressed but they convinced him of their return to a piece on earth was just under their observation of watching numerous Macbeths who don’t even need any prophecy. The boy wept and ran away, the witches kept touring. They found the army general waiting for martial law, chief justice of the highest court actually waiting for justice, medical students protesting outside their university, engineering students seeking jobs, TV anchors talking about patriotism, celebrities endorsing shame, mullahs arguing with mullahs as moo-laws, and the politicians doing everything but politics. Quite boozy-cal to upcoming elections to decide the country’s fate where such incidents happen. Oh, by the way, the witches crossed the line towards north to Waziristan. The militants opened fire on them by taking them as ‘Human Drones’, the witches somehow escaped unhurt.
All three witches now considered the boy’s wish to come true and challenged each other to prophesy the exact fate of the country. If foretold correct, will vanish her 2 partners forever;
The 1st witch prophesied: “The most seasoned campaign of sitters (but not seaters) will somehow win the contest and struggle to lead”
The 2nd witch prophesied: “The most trusted campaign who voice for reformation will convincingly win the race and dare to lead”
The 3rd witch prophesied: “The good and the bad will win together but work together in opposite ways until the third force intervene”
[Normally, when elections are upheld or behold anywhere in any region (you may say legion), whatever you predict or foretell, you actually get results. A country in a state of plagiarism but morally adapted to pluralism easily lumberjacks the nation. The school of thought which at least develops an interest in book-reading and the on-air heated argument becomes a school of fought. Living in this country or being of this country, you are in a state of mind where you are disturbing or disturbed. So do knot disturb.]
Soon as the prophecies and results of elections are revealed, Hecate has fallen unconscious at an unknown location whereas the witches are yet to decide whether to vanish or not. So after so many no-balls, the ball is yet to deliver to complete the over as you know what I mean. The latest but traditional news is that the army general is still waiting for the next martial law.
Sami Naik | Film Critic 