Jagga Jasoos is no Broadway

First impression: Anurag Basu possibly dreams of directing a Broadway play someday. Until then, he's working on Bollywood productions.

Jagga Jasoos is a proof that when you wish to mount a theatre production, you should do exactly that, instead of making a movie. Basu's attempt of making a Hollywood-style musical falls flat with inclusion of Bollywood-style songs. Musicals, by definition, do not need a reason for the characters to sing. Songs are equivalent to dialogues. But when you give the protagonist a reason to sing, in this case Jagga's stammer, you make it difficult for the audience to believe that other characters should also sing. After all, the reason for them is missing.

Basu tries to establish Jagga (Ranbir Kapoor) as a teenage detective on the lines of Famous Five, but the cases are not strong enough or convincing enough for us to believe his detection skills. And the local police is only too happy to hear him every time he turns up with a theory, without a trace of annoyance. Then comes the big case, Jagga's search for his father figure, Tuti Futi. The only clue - VHS tapes that Tuti Futi sends every year on his birthday from different parts of the globe. And this is where the story goes completely off-track. What could have been an adventurous ride across the globe, turns into a forced attempt to uncover an international arms racket.

References to Feluda & Sherlock Holmes don't do much to add interest. Neither does the fact that Jagga suddenly has a Tintin-inspired hairstyle. Basu scatters terms & names like Agapastala & Shundi as a wink to Bengali movie-goers. But does not dwell long enough to make them interesting for the non-Bengali audience. For the uninitiated, Agapastala loosely translates to 'from head to foot' and Shundi is the place of prime action in Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury's story and Ray's popular children's film, Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne. And somewhere in the middle of trying to give as many references as possible, and making a statement about arms dealings, Basu completely forgets that this was a musical. Jagga stammers through the second half of the film, while trying to help a good looking journalist, Shruti Sengupta (Katrina Kaif), find Tuti Futi, and save the world.

The movie, undoubtedly looks good due to the beautiful frames created by cinematographer, Ravi Varman, and the only part that Basu gets right in this hotchpotch is the father-son equation of Tuti Futi & Jagga. But in the times of flawless VFX, I am not willing to accept effects that are evident. For the rest, next time if I want to watch a play, I'll go to Prithvi. 

Wannabe Hero

Hero (1983)

Hero (2015)

Cast:                                                                                Cast:

Jackie Shroff as Jackie Dada / Jaikishan	Sooraj Pancholi as Sooraj
Meenakshi Sheshadri as Radha Mathur	Athiya Shetty as Radha Mathur
Sanjeev Kumar as Damodar Mathur	Sharad Kelkar as Sharad Mathur
Shammi Kapoor as Retd. IGP Shrikanth Mathur	Tigmanshu Dhulia as IGP Shrikanth Mathur
Amrish Puri as Pasha	Aditya Pancholi as Pasha
Shakti Kapoor as Jimmy Thapa	Vivan Bhatena as Prince Rannvijay Shekhawat
Bindu as Jamuna (Radha's widowed aunt)

Irrespective of the million jokes about Bollywood, I proudly call myself a Bollywood buff. So it goes without saying that this weekend would be booked for Hero, remake of Subhash Ghai's hit (in all reality, it is not a cult film) of the same name.

Let's start with the good parts. Sooraj Pancholi & Athiya Shetty are good additions to the lot of star kids. Both have potential, which you may not see in this debut film. But sparks show in a few emotional scenes. The music is officially part of my new playlist. Thankfully, we do not have a scheming, loud aunt in the new avatar. And the 'better than the best' part is Salman Khan crooning Main hoon hero tera during the end credits.

Now for the not so good parts. In one word, everything else.

When you remake a film, you are not only supposed to push the timeline forward but also fill the gaps of logic in the original. But if you intend to make a film that adds more gaps, I request you to leave the original alone. Or else, be prepared to be compared (hmm! I could use that somewhere as a cheesy punchline.)

I can understand Subhash Ghai agreeing to hand over the rights, what with his fame limited to a film school & remake royalties (I am choosing to ignore his recent 'adoption' of Radhe Maa). But he should have also handed over the logic of the plot that runs deeper than giving the male lead character the original name of the debut actor.

For starters, Nikhil Advani took on a task when he decided to recast legends like Shammi Kapoor, Amrish Puri & Sanjeev Kumar. It is an understatement to call their shoes too big to fill. Instead we have Tigmanshu Dhulia, Aditya Pancholi & Sharad Kelkar, respectively. Dhulia does make a commendable effort as the grieving father who can't compromise on his responsibilities as an officer. But when you look back on the stature of Shammi Kapoor, Dhulia falls short, literally. Aditya Pancholi looks sauve as Pasha. But that is not what the plot needs. We need to believe that this man is a dangerous criminal & Dhulia's character, IG Mathur is right in putting him behind the bars. Instead, we see a lot of good side to this goon. Morality vs crime, that formed the basis of the original, is completely missing from the remake. In fact, we see IG Mathur loosing cool in a manner that makes Pasha look more civil. Any hints of criminal activities that have been given for Pasha are so flimsy that we have nothing more than IG Mathur's word to believe that Pasha is a dangerous goon. As for Sharad Kelkar in the role of the bumbling bee inspector & the supportive brother, he looks good, acts well, but lacks the humour of Sanjeev Kumar.

Now for the lead pair - Sooraj Pancholi & Athiya Shetty. Since the leading lady is called Radha in both the versions, we will call them RadhaM (Meenakshi Sheshadri) & RadhaA (Athiya Shetty) for convenience.

Both the debutants show potential in the two emotional scenes (yes, it was that limited that we could count it on our fingers). But we wish there was more scope for them to act & emote. Pancholi needs to get out of the shadow of Salman Khan & be himself. Jackie Shroff did not need to pull off his shirt & flex muscles for us to root for him or for RadhaM to fall in love. Unfortunately, that is all Pancholi does, along with a dance face-off & a punch in a night club, for RadhaA to go weak in the knees & mumble "he's so hot". The love logic is as weak as the original where RadhaM falls in love because Jackie can play the flute. I mean, it is only in the boring, real world that we need to know if the person is a good human being or not. Athiya Shetty, for her part, tries hard. But never looks the damsel in distress. With her height & body structure she would be more suited to play a Lara Croft than a chiffon clad, running in the snow girl. I really hope she chooses better the next time.

So we have a stubborn RadhaA who misbehaves, abuses & takes selfies. Question: why does a stubborn child always have to be a brat? I'm a stubborn kid but I don't go around abusing or looking down on people. So, don't understand the logic. And we have a gunda with a golden heart (read another rendition of Robin Hood) who distributes money to help the needy. Again question: So it's cool to hit people, till you give away a part of your earnings to social causes?

And this is just the beginning of missing logics!

Jackie goes to threaten IG Mathur & plans to kidnap RadhaM to create more pressure. Sooraj is told by Pasha to kidnap RadhaA. Till now Jackie has more grey cells than Sooraj, who comes forth as nothing more than Pasha's man-friday. Jackie's friends pretend to be dacoits & Jackie, in the garb of a police officer, saves RadhaM. Sooraj & his friends simply stop RadhaA in the middle of the road, give her a cock & bull story about danger and take her away. Brownie points to RadhaA for calling her dad, as opposed to RadhaM who believed Jackie only because of his uniform. But the new age IG Mathur is more of Kunti. What will a man be more concerned about - his daugther-in-law's labour pains or his daughter trying to confirm whether he actually sent a team to whisk her away to safety? Aka Kunti, all he has to say is "jo wo keh rahe hain waisa karo," and the daughter sashays away with the fake cops.

Jackie had a backstory that gave us solid reason for why & how he became Pasha's right hand man. All Sooraj has to his credit is that Pasha considered his mother a sister & brought up Sooraj after her death. Not convincing enough if you are working for a criminal.

No changes to the love story or the gunda trying to reform for love. But it is too long. Or maybe it's just me. I mean how much of crying & muscle flexing can you take before it gets too much! 

And then enters the third problem in the love story - elder brother's friend as the fake fiance but who actually falls in love & tries to create havoc. When Shakti Kapoor steps in as Jimmy & faces Jackie, you already know who's the winner. Shakti Kapoor looks the eternal bad guy. So, of course, we want Jackie to get the girl. But when Vivan Bhatena steps in as Prince Rannvijay Shekhawat & faces Sooraj, he is equally good looking & charming, in fact, at times more. And has a great physique as well, which is all it took RadhaA to fall madly in love. So we don't see any logic for why Sooraj will win in the end, except being forced to believe the weak subplot that Prince Rannvijay Shekhawat gambles & owes a lot of money to Pasha, which makes him the bad guy. Towards the end, Shakti Kapoor also loses because he has a case file against him, proving him to be a smuggler. Poor Vivan Bhatena gets a bullet in the back for trying to hit Sooraj. Is there something wrong with our 2015 IG Mathur? You just saw your preferred would-be son-in-law get beaten up by the guy you hate. And all it took was 10 minutes of badly written lines for you to have a change of heart? So no real proof that Bhatena is the bad guy but it's time to bring the film to an end (thankfully) so let's just believe the other guy.

To Jackie's credit, he makes a genuine effort to speak to IG Mathur & propose marriage. It is only after IG Mathur insults him that he takes to self-destruction. All Sooraj does is leave RadhaA with her father with a melodramatic line. We never really see him pine for his love; his pain on losing RadhaA. Also, Jackie did not need pages of monologues to convince the father. His actions were enough. Our RadhaA never falls in enough trouble for Sooraj to prove himself, and thus, the dialogue writer gets ample opportunity. You got to justify the paycheck!

Two star kids launched. And they have real potential. But we hope to see them making better movie choices rather than remain in the shadow of their Godfather. Heck, even their Godfather has good acting roles to his credit without any need for muscle show. So next time take a cue from those instead of advertising gym membership & giving a bad name to Bollywood heroines.

Kyunki saas bhi kabhi bahu thi...

My better half is a complete mamma's boy. No one can match up to his mother. No can cook like his mother. Or take care of him and the house. Or be as good at everything as is not humanly possible. Mamma, mamma & mamma...all the time.

Heard that before? Of course, you have. It's your voice, and that of your mother, and your grandmother.

Through generations we women have complained how a mother has maximum control over her son; how even after a relationship or a marriage, the mother comes first. And yet, generations of us have forgotten this cribbing when our sons grew up and became the bad mother-in-law 'who keeps her son in control'.

But what is this constant cribbing all about? Is it about a power game or a demand for attention? Is it born of insecurity or love? The answer may be a little complicated.

Every wife/girlfriend desires undivided attention from her partner. And every mother demands undivided loyalty. Both have their own share of reasons. The wife/girlfriend argues that she is now the 'woman' in his life and knows what is best'. The mother argues that she has taken care of him for years and is best familiar with his needs. But in the process both forget that the man is not a trophy to be won. He is either your husband/boyfriend or your son; a living being who should be allowed the right to think & decide.

Men often get caught in this crossfire and end up taking sides. And, in the process, losing the other side. They would either spend days buying gifts for the wife or praising the mother's intelligence & culinary skills, just in order to achieve cease fire. 

I am reminded of an episode of the popular sitcom, Sarabhai vs Sarabhai, where the son is caught between the mother & wife because they share their birthday and both wish to spend their day with their 'man'. In reality, the answer was as simple as a family dinner. In life, as well, the solutions are actually that simple, only if we wish to look for them.

I don't deny that there are times when the influence of once side can get overbearing, leading to unwanted circumstances. The wife can get so dominating that the son sends his mother to an old age home. Or the mother interferes to the extent where the son is forced to severe all ties with his lady-love. But in either cases, it is the man who has to take a stand, instead of cursing & cribbing all his life.

It also becomes the responsibility of women to not forget their complains and become a control freak, once the son is in a relationship, alongside teaching the son to respect a woman's space.

Cribbing, complaining & pointing fingers seems way more satisfying and easy when compared to the task of finding answers & solutions. But nobody said it would be easy; only it would be more permanent. So look for a few answers & remember to tell your sons about them.

Looking the other way

How often have you looked the other way? How often have you witnessed something that disturbed you, but you walked past as if all was fine with the world? And when will you stop looking the other way?

Possibly when you stand at the center of an incident. But looking the other way will still be an option. You could walk away from the confrontation or you could stay and fight. Both, I assure you, would come with their share of consequences.

I was pick-pocketed yesterday in the bus. Rather attempted pick-pocketed. The man, short and lean, hardly in his 20s, could not get away with it. He was caught red-handed, beaten by the passengers, and made to get off at the next stop. Thanks to me and my big mouth, every living soul I came in contact with during the day, got to hear about my adventure. 

But soon my adventure stopped feeling exciting and started feeling life threatening.

Here are just a few reactions that I got:

• Don't do this ever again!
• What if he had a knife?
• What if you were surrounded by his gang?
• Don't take the same bus/route for at least the week to come, they might keep an eye-out for you
• You should have let go of the money. It was just petty cash.
• You can afford to lose 50 bucks. But that guy probably needed it more than you can imagine.

The list could go on with a lot of variations of the above reactions. Here is what I had to say:

• I will do this every time; not just for myself but for anyone else who needs help.
• If he had had a knife then he would have been told some good use of it (knife don't scare me)
• I was in a moving bus when the incident happened. His gang couldn't have been bigger than the crowd in the bus.
• That is my regular route to office. And I refuse to change it. Stubborn as it may sound to many of you, I can't imagine telling my boss that I won't be coming in/will be late for the next week because some idiot on the bus tried to pick-pocket me.
• No, I shouldn't have let go. I work hard for that 'petty cash'.
• I can possibly afford to lose 50 bucks. But I refuse to believe or encourage the thought that every one who is in need of money is turning into a pick-pocket.

The fact is that we are so often fed on stories of crime that we forget the stories of victory. I am not blind to the fact that there could have been dire consequences to my action. But I refuse to look the other way and pretend that life is normal. 

No, it is not normal. It is not normal when children are kidnapped in broad daylight, it is not normal when men and women are mugged in crowded streets, and it is not normal when people block the traffic to watch an accident scene but no one moves to help.

We are no longer 'social' beings. We have turned in to a spineless species and are harbouring a generation of cowards. Don't fight, don't get involved, don't speak up, don't live at all. And then when we stand at the center of a disaster, we complain that no one helped. Why will they? Would you have?

Why do we forget that crime is not born out of strength, it is born out of fear. And by being scared we are feeding the monster every single day. Generations have been brought up on stories of good vs evil where good always wins. But through the maze of all those stories, we forgot a vital lesson - good did not win because of some divine intervention, it won because it decided to FIGHT evil.

Instead of teaching us to be scared, if only someone taught us to fight, to stand up, and to never give up. 

Move on with a smile

I'm writing this months after my best friend parted ways with me with the classic cliche "it's not you, it's me". So since then everytime I look at besties at a table, I should get a lump in my throat & a little teary eyed. But I don't. I am perfectly fine seeing them share a laugh, without grudging them the pleasure.

We humans make a huge fuss about remembering & forgetting, specially when it comes to relationships. But I have come to realize that it is nothing more than a habit.

Sure, some of it is related to how deep the relation was, but it has more to do with our idea of appearing sensitive. We believe that the more time we spend wallowing in the past, the more sensitive we'd appear. Of course, some overdo it & only stop when others around threaten to strangle them.

Memories would always stay. But there is no reason why we should spend nights with tissues & days with dark circles,  unless we are planning a patch-up or a revenge. If both those options don't apply then please stop behaving as if the world is ending & get some sleep.

I don't deny that the first few days hurt. But after that it is we who keep revisiting the pain until it becomes a sore. Can you deny those small moments when you completely forgot the incident & laughed as you truly should? But within minutes you return to being misty-eyed & distant because you feel guilty for being happy; you feel guilty because 'it's too soon'.

Trust me, no time is ever too soon. If you don't remember the pain, it's because something better, something stronger is happening to you. Let it happen. Don't stop your life (& of others). And in those moments when the memories do come back, honour them with a smile.

I have not forgotten my friend & I will eternally be greatful to her for all the things she added to my life. But I don't wish to dedicate my entire life to tissue boxes & what-ifs. So my request to all of you out there, move on. No one can replace them but someone could bring something different. Don't push away those surprises coz you never know what the next box of chocolates would hold.

Resignation Letter

Back in school, we were taught to write formal and informal letters. Or, at least, we were taught the format for writing those letters. A letter to your father asking for money, a letter to the city mayor asking for a reform, a letter to your principal asking for a permission, a letter to your brother wishing him on his birthday. 

But in all those formats there was never a format for resignation letters. We were never taught to write a resignation letter. May be because they did not want us to recognize the feeling of resignation, the feeling of walking away from something. But may be they should have. It would not only make us less awkward when drafting a resignation letter, it would also make us better prepared to receive one.

I received one recently and I know how unexpected and strange it feels. And it was not from an employee. I'm, fortunately, not in a position where I will receive resignations from employees. But I received one from my best friend. 

Yes, you read it right. My best friend resigned from the 'post of being my best friend'. So that makes her my ex-best friend. 

Ironically, it came after a comment on Facebook where she proclaimed that she would never share me with anyone and we'd be best friends forever; in the chat lingo BFFs. She made it sound as if it was all about she changing as a person, but in the process she was terminating our friendship. She claimed in her resignation that I'd remain "one of the closest souls" to her. But she could no longer remain my best friend. Contradictory, I'd say!

This was not the first time that I have said good-bye to a friend. But this is definitely the first time when I have received a written resignation. In the past, people and I have just drifted away. This time someone made the effort to leave a note. And I can't help but think that it was a very selfish, self-centered note; no matter how much sweetness and apologies you put in there. You left when you did not need me anymore. You did not leave when you were crying buckets over a jerk boyfriend or fighting over an unfair professional decision. You did not leave when you were fighting to keep your head above water. But you left when you made it to the shore.

I did not fight or argue with the decision. I accepted the decision with a silent prayer that may you never feel the need to return, may you never feel the need to call me or cry over my shoulder. Because I don't take pain twice in my life. May you never feel the need to turn back because I will not be found standing behind you. May you never fall because I will not catch you. May you have the courage to fight your own battles because I will not be your shield anymore.

May you live a life without any regrets and not be deserted by people you hold closest to your heart. Because they may leave with a part of you that no one can ever make up.

Will I forget you? Never. I will remember you the day my fiance comes to the city for you promised to receive him with me. I will remember you on each shopping day for you promised to go shopping with me. I will remember you on every day of my marriage preparation for you promised to be my wedding planner. I will remember you on the day of my wedding for you promised to be my maid of honour. I will remember you the day I give birth to my children for you promised to spoil them rotten. And I will remember you the day I die for you left me with a lesson and a void.

I close my chapter with you here, today. I take our eight years of friendship, put them in a box and leave them in the ocean, hoping that they become part of the innumerable secrets that the ocean hides in its heart, never to be found.

Why Didn't You Ask ME?

I know the title would remind some of you of Agatha Christie's Why Didn't They Ask Evans? But honestly, how many times have you felt that you were at the receiving end of a misunderstanding? How many times were you hurt by the same people who claimed to know and understand you the best? How many times have you felt like screaming aloud, "Why didn't you talk to me? Why didn't you ask me, once? Why did you judge me? Why did you not give me a chance to explain?"

I know, I have, on a lot of different occasions. 

Some of these memories jump to the forefront without any effort, some of them just could not be erased.

Occasion 1: Beginning of my career, my first job. I get a promotion and raise on completing a year with the publication. And I noticed behavior changing all around me. At first I ignored it. And then I heard it. Rumour had it that I had slept with my boss for that promotion. And everyone who had appreciated my writing and hardwork over the year, decided to believe the rumour than believe in my capabilities. But not one person had the guts to mock me in my face; let alone ask me the truth. I had worked hard for that promotion but all appreciation became backbiting in the face of a rumour and people's habit of following the mob.

Occasion 2: A dear friend decided to ignore all calls and then, finally, take the call and abuse me without giving me a chance to speak. He called our friendship nothing more than a one night stand and something purely based on lust. But when the 'one night stand' was happening, I was the only one present in his life, or so he claimed. He chose to believe his better half on two different occasions and misbehaved with me. You could say that he did what any person would do. We all give our partners more importance than anyone else. But why not have the courage to face me? Why shut me out, based on a misunderstanding and some assumptions? Why didn't he give me a chance to explain? And all this, after he claimed to be my best friend; after he claimed to understand me without any 'footnotes'.

Occasion 3: Another friend decided to severe all ties because she assumed that I did not need her any more. She felt left out. But she never bothered to bring it up even once. She never bothered to speak to me. She never had the courage to shake me by the shoulder and say, "Why didn't you call me? Why was I left out?"

If I really put my mind to it, I can come up with more similar examples. But these two should be enough to remind you of all the times when you wished that you were not shut out or punished for no mistake of your own. You wished that the people who claimed to be protective of you, did not abandon you.

I have tried to think about this time and again. But I fail to understand the reason for this indifference that people live in. When it is so easy to clarify certain facts then why do we choose to live in utter blindness? After all, how blissful can ignorance be?

And this ignorance surrounds us all the time. I have been receiving email/whatsapp/twitter/FB messages about how Oprah Winfrey asked Tommy Hilfiger to leave her show when he affirmed that he had said, "If i'd known African-Americans, Hispanics, Jewish and Asians would buy my clothes, I would not have made them so nice. I wish these people would not buy my clothes, as they are made for upper class white people."

I thought this rumour was long dead, or, at least, should have been post Tommy Hilfiger's first, and real, appearance on the Oprah Winfrey show to clarify that this so-called interview never took place. Each message I receive asks me to forward it to more people so that everyone can boycott the 'racist' Tommy Hilfiger. 

But for everyone, who was using technology to spread the word, was it so difficult to take a minute and YouTube the interview? If even a single one of them would have bothered o utilize technology, then they would have seen Tommy Hilfiger's real interview on Oprah Winfrey show. They would have realized that by blindly forwarding a message, they are not harming the huge business empire as much, as they are harming a man's reputation in society and, most of all, in the eyes of his near and dear ones. I am sure, Hilfiger's children did not enjoy being at the receiving end of a media rumour and frenzy. This is not the kind of attention any one would want; not even for the sake of publicity.

Another recent forward has given Chinese whisper a new meaning. British Airways has been accused of racial behavior on different occasions. I have met people who have their own bone of contention to pick with the airline. But to turn an advertisement into a real-life incident that occurred on the flight, takes ignorance to a whole new level. A Portuguese anti-racism ad was commissioned by the Portuguese Commission on the 50th anniversary of  the universal declaration of human rights. But with time, this ad has taken the shape of a real incident aboard a British Airways flight in people's mind.

Conveniently people are forwarding these messages and 'planning a boycott' against Tommy Hilfiger and British Airways, without giving the consequences a second thought.

Is this what our education has prepared us for? Is this the kind of ignorance we want to pass on to our children as legacy? Have we lost all sensibility? Do we again need scholars across the globe to tell us, "Do not blindly follow what I say, test it."? Why have become so careless?

We travel the globe, increase the number of degrees and job profiles on our resume, increase the number of friends of Facebook, but we conveniently keep our brain locked away in a small glass jar where it will never find any scope of expansion. We teach our children theories of humanity but ourselves practice our animal instincts. We preach equality but do not believe giving an equal chance. We speak of making informed choices but gloat about misinformed opinions.

Why else would my friends never give me a chance to speak? Why else did they decide to shut me out and cut me off as if I never existed?

I do hope that their ignorance proves to be blissful.

Total Siyappa - A Missed Opportunity

Enough has been said and done on celluloid about the never-ending Indo-Pak differences. It has long been a favourite subject of filmmakers. But, of late, filmmakers have decided to move away from the serious subject of wars and take a more human look at the 'frenemies'.

Following the subtle, but hard-hitting depiction of Indo-Pak soldiers on the border in War Chhod Na Yaar, Bollywood is back with Total Siyappa, the story of Aman, a Pakistani boy, and Aisha, an Indian girl, who wish to get married. And this is exactly where the interesting bit begins and ends.

What could have been a humourous look at the whole subject of similarities between the two countries, irrespective of the political and geographical lines, becomes a slapstick at best. 

Total Siyappa begins on a promising note when a mere joke about 'bomb' by Aman triggers a scare and subsequent arrest. After a brief stay at the police station, the couple are all set to meet Aisha's family. And you are all set to go on a ride of culture differences when Aisha's brother walks into the house cursing Pakistanis, with no knowledge of Aman's nationality.

But hereon the film fails to impress. It becomes another attempt of promoting Ali Zafar's almost non-existent acting skills and his status as a musician. Anupam Kher and Kirron Kher are completely wasted in this scene by scene remake of the Spanish-Argentinian film, Only Human. With the power couple pairing on screen for the first time, the director, at best, gives them five minutes together on screen with nothing much to do.

Two dull instances of dialogues about Indians and Pakistanis being similar and a Rowan Atkinson lookalike trying to pull-off a Mr. Bean, don't to much to save this sinking ship. Come to think of it, the trailer and the poster are funnier than the film itself.

Released between the Madhuri Dixit-Juhi Chawla starrer Gulab Gang and Kangana Ranaut's Queen, Total Siyappa surprisingly managed to get enough people to the theatre to almost reach house full. If only the makers had put in a little more effort in the making, they could have ensured that people stayed till the end of the film.

Total Siyappa is what I'd call there's many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip.

Pink is the new black

Of late critics and I have stopped agreeing to each other all together. Of course, the instances of agreement were few and far between. But we have now mutually decided to part ways forever and lead our own lives.

This Sunday was dedicated to Gulab Gang. When you have Madhuri Dixit and Juhi Chawla in the same screen space for the first time, all the controversy about whether the movie is based on the real-life Gulabi Gang, and comparisons with the recent documentary, Gulabi Gang, one watch is a must.

So there I was on a Sunday morning for my dose of women empowerment. 

Let me say this at the very outset, no matter how many disclaimers go up before the movie begins to avoid legal hassles, the similarities are too 'coincidental' to believe that Gulab Gang has nothing to do with Gulabi Gang and Madhuri Dixit is not on-screen Sampat Pal.

Moving on from the similarities, Gulab Gang is definitely worth a watch to see Madhuri Dixit and Juhi Chawla share the screen. Dixit, as the village belle turned rebel, and Chawla, as the cold, corrupt politician, make for formidable adversaries. It is delightful to see Chawla wielding her sweet smile but for a bad cause. But a lot is left unexplored once the rivalry becomes predictable and a game of tit-for-tat, with each group killing members of the other group left, right, & center.

I, personally, prefer the fictionalized version of Sampat Pal to the documentary because it touches on the reasons for the gang and the problems faced by them in more detail than the documentary. The reasons, definitely, needed a little more time to make an impact. Rajjo's (Dixit's character) fight for education and Sumitra Devi's (Chawla's character) battle to have complete control in a man's world are not very different from each other, although their methods vary.

Certain scenes would leave the audience cringing and feminists and human rights activists bawling. But that is expected to happen when a man deals with a woman empowerment film.

The climax is a tribute to the iconic climax of Mirch Masala, right from the red gulal (red chillie powder in the original) to the farmer's sickle. And a very clever presence of a foreigner lady documenting the entire event could be treated as a reference to Kim Longinotto's documentation of the Gulabi Gang.

For all the people rooting for Gulab Gang to be a misrepresentation of the real Gulabi Gang's works, I'd say the documentary never shows us the extent to which the real gang would go to provide justice and fight for its causes. Maybe the real Gulabi Gang could pull a few tricks from the Gulab Gang bag. After all, life imitates art imitates life.

Stories To Be Told

So this might be coming a little late, but it had to be done. The recent release, Gulabi Gang, has triggered conversations about the importance and need for documentary films.

Documentary films are fast coming up as a competition and threat to the world of fiction films. But, forgive the cheesiness, it sounds like brothers fighting. Films are a powerful medium of communication. It has more takers than books and has a longer lasting impact. And, yet we are fighting to prove one form of film making to be better than the other. Whatever happened to free will?

Case in point, the recent Gulabi Gang is not the first documentary to be shot on the women's group fighting for women's rights in their area. Kim Longinotto directed a documentary on the same subject called Pink Sarees in 2010. And yet, Gulabi Gang is definitely a bold attempt on the Indian screen and soil.

Following a murder case, it portrays the life that women are pushed to live in Bundelkhand, Uttar Pradesh. And this is where a lot is left unanswered. A group of women are fighting to give the right to live an honourable life to other women of the area. But we never get to know how they survived their society and the men.

Sampat Pal leads the group from one village to another, helping women to find their dignity in a place where killing a woman is as easy as swatting a fly. This raises the question of her safety and survival. How did she manage to escape and form this group? How did she find support in other women when the sister of a dead girl is ready to protect the family than fight for justice? Why was she or any other member of her group not kidnapped and killed in the dead of the night? To sum it all, how did Gulabi Gang survive?

In an effort the show their work, the makers forgot to show us their base. In that it does not provide me anything different from a fiction film except the real characters and places. 

This is what brings me back to the thought that it is not about fighting an internal battle. It is not about proving whether documentaries are better than fiction. It is about telling a compelling story through the medium of audio-visual and letting it find its own audience.

It is about time that films and film makers take the route of books. All kinds of books are released in a bookstore. It is the reader who decides what to buy instead of the authors trying to breath down their necks.

Try to tell a story well and people will listen.