This is not a review… it’s just a fun post to note down some of my thoughts on ‘Apne’ (the Deol-fest). Some thoughts are sensible (I hope), others silly, but all part of the experience I had seeing the movie. It was really a lot of FUN, for me 'Apne' is a solid all-round entertainer. Many thanks to Nitin ji (of the wonderful chakpak.com) for all his support!
1. The scripting could have been better, tighter – the pacing was off. They tried to do too much in too little time. A lot of scenes should’ve landed on the cutting room floor, to give the better scenes ‘room to breathe’…
2. How cute was Dharam Ji? Yup, he’s still got it.
3. Who was that Igbo guy (“I told you, don’t go near the ring!”)? That was amazingly hilarious!! The guy was quickly christened ‘Chidi’ by the other cinemagoers. Up Naija! Igbo kwenu!!
4. The music was not as bad as I thought it would be – it was actually rather nice. Nice one, Mr. Reshammaiya – I may not be your biggest fan, but I don’t think you did badly at all.
5. The song picturizations were absolutely great (well, except ‘Mehfuz Rakhta Hoon’ – it was just barely ok). I loved that they didn’t try to make poor Sunny dance – the choreography was all really nice and natural, and the placement of the songs flowed well with the story. Dharmendra made me cringe a little, especially when he whipped his shirt out of his trousers – it was so great to see him having fun, though.
6. Ok, ‘cut me, Papa, cut me’ was a bit unnecessary… especially since we didn’t actually see any cutting! I’m torn with this one – on the one hand, as a MASSIVE ‘Rocky’ fan, I’m very appreciative of any nods to the Rocky films; but on the other hand… it was a little bit unnecessary.
7. The girls done good – Shilpa was so cute and I loved her acting (I’m warming to that chick these days). Katrina was lovely as ever, and her acting was not too bad. I didn’t think she could convince me that she was a doctor, but it kinda worked. She needs to work on that Hindi though. Loved the chick who played Dharam’s daughter as well – must find out who she is, I know I’ve seen her in something before...
8. Still on Shilpa, I think it was a silly idea to have her come into Sunny’s match so late… it made no sense in the context of the type of relationship they’ve convinced us that they have. And it just didn't work. ‘He… he’s my husband…’. Blech. (sorry)
9. Ok, so obviously the place they were claiming was the USA was so obviously not… no matter how many times they tried to flash the American flag in our faces. Actually, this is probably a good point at which to state clearly that this movie is NOT realistic. It’s a lot more fun when you realise you can’t make it realistic – it’s just not. It’s just a movie, chill out and enjoy it (at least, that’s what I did).
10. Back to Shilpa, she had Sunny had lovely chemistry together (based on ‘Indian’, in which they co-starred, I was expecting otherwise). It totally worked. Good on them.
11. I’ve always rather liked me some Sunny, he’s a big, brawny, often corny, quiet, tough-guy-softie – and I really liked him here. He was so adorable – his part was really emotional and he totally keyed into the emotion and made you believe him. Loved his fights with the ‘Luca Garcia’ character (angry Sunny rocks!) – and the swearing match with Luca (‘Bleep!’ ‘Bleeeep!!’ ‘Bleeeeeep!!!’) was absolutely hilarious! Loved his fights with his Daddy! Go Sunny! Go Sunny! I need to find me some more Sunny… he’s a guilty pleasure for me now (with all the emphasis on the ‘pleasure’ part).
12. Dharmendra’s character was rather selfish (and a little bit mean) for much of the film – I don’t think anyone could watch this without screaming at him the words ‘get over it, it’s not all about you!!’ at some point. Thankfully, he did redeem himself eventually, but it was all a bit rushed and bogus towards the end. As noted in thought number 1, the big problem of this film was the plot-pacing – they should have devoted less time to his self-obsession and more to him coming to his senses. The ending was a bit WTH?
13. If you don’t like outpourings of emotion, ‘Apne’ is not for you – it might make you gag. I thought the emotion was lovely, it didn’t get in the way of the film, and it just flowed so well from one character to the other. It was all really sweet and natural, the emotion was obviously real and sincere (if sentimental). I loved it. But then, I’m… obviously very partial.
14. Ooh, Dharam broke some glass with his bare hands (like he did in ‘The Burning Train’). Woohoo… I luuurrve it when he breaks glass! And he still does it sooo well…
15. Anyone who doesn’t get excited at Bobby’s miracle moment has a stone for a heart, I tell you. That was maaad exciting! Hot stuff…
16. Bobby bhaiyya, we’ve had this talk before… this longish, curly-furly hair that you so clearly favour does you no favours. You look so much nicer with short hair. And please, go easy on the hair dye and highlights – you must’ve had like 20 different hues in your hair in this film alone. That stuff’s not good for your hair, ok? One day it might all start to break off from all the heat application - all the tweaking, teasing and colouring – and where would that leave you? By the way, you did very well in ‘Apne’. You were rather cute, if slightly cheesy (but hey, it's a Deol-fest - I expected nothing else). Big ups.
17. Two brothers. One is covered in hair all over his chest and back – a veritable pelt. The other’s chest and back? Smooth as a baby’s bottom. Very striking contrast. (Don’t look at me funny, I’m sure everyone else who sees the movie notices this too!) If it’s a wax job in Bobby’s case (and I seriously doubt it – that ish was sooo smooooth), then I want his wax-person’s number (not for my chest of course)… and while he’s at it, he might want to hand it to Sunny too (at least for the rug on his back and shoulders). Ok, enough hair talk. I'm starting to feel grossed out.
18. The flashbacks to Dharam’s character’s boxing youth could’ve been better. They were a bit shoddily done – more work should’ve gone into making it look authentic. They really didn’t have to over-use that same black-and-white photo of young Dharam-ji that’s all over the internet (the said photo is even on this blog, in one of my ‘All About Dharmendra’ posts…)
19. The pacing could’ve been so much better. Some parts felt a bit incoherent and unfinished, some parts felt rushed, some parts were a bit overwrought. But hey, you can’t have it all.
20. The movie was a lot of fun to watch!!! A LOT!!! The drama, the excitement, the emotion… I enjoyed every single minute of it. (How could it have been otherwise?) But it wasn’t just me, (I would probably have been pleased with almost anything, even dross) everyone in the hall (including some people who mentioned that they haven't seen a Hindi movie since they were kids) was laughing, applauding, passing funny comments… there were even a few screams. ‘Apne’ was really entertaining to watch.
21. If you have a problem with boxing, or more importantly, with boxing-related violence, then err... this ain’t for you! It’s not as violent as any of the other boxing movies I’ve seen (contrary to what some reviewers have said, I thought the violence was a bit toned-down), but I guess it’s kinda violent – lots of khoon and fractures and such.
I have a problem with boxing as a sport, but I am a huge ‘Rocky’ fan (go figure) – so the violence did not bother me at all. I loved watching the boxing scenes, and I thought they were very nicely done – I was a bit worried that they’d look horribly fake, but they looked really good for the most part. The make-up was pretty realistic and the Deols obviously did a bit of training for the movie. The punch-sounds were too loud though – but that’s a small quibble. Bigger quibble: the pacing problems of the film affected the boxing bouts – they didn’t seem to know when to cut things short or let things roll out a bit.
But I think, to be absolutely fair: they did very well all told. You can’t expect perfection when a film-maker’s doing something largely unprecedented. Bollywood hasn’t done this kind of stuff before, as far as I’m aware, and they did a very good job when you take that into consideration. They really managed to hold the viewers’ attention – made you feel like you were ringside. Shaabash!
22. How random was the sudden entry of Luca’s girlfriend, and all the “I love you babys”? That was way too random and fake. They should’ve kept that character out of the movie. It would’ve been nice to have her if there’d been time to develop her properly, but there’s only so much you can do in 3 hours…
23. What was with all the ‘Luca, we want blood!’, ‘Luca will eat you alive!’, ‘Luca will kill you, destroy you and send you to hell!’ (ok I made that last one up) signs? That was ridiculous. Oh well, it was funny in a macabre kind of way…
24. Kirron Kher is such a good, consistent actress – totally loved her in this. And she and Dharmendra were really good together – very natural. And Victor Banerjee was really great with Dharmendra too. Dharam ji was just so awesome to watch in general… I loved his performance… I love Dharam ji, I just love the man… I could go on and on about how much I loved watching him… so I’ll just stop.
25. Did I mention how much FUN this movie was? Delightful is the word. It was so much FUN!! LOVED it. Random thought: I loved all the Hinglish parts and the way they switched between languages. I loved when Dharam told Luca he’d pick up the Hindi with time. Fab. The emotional parts got me emotional, the funny parts made me laugh, the clumsy/fake/silly/ridiculous parts (and yes, there were a fair number of those) made me laugh, the action was very exciting… what’s not to love? Nothing, that’s what! I LOVE ‘APNE’!! Ok, brief teenage flashback over…
But… GO DEOL MEN! Ya’ll need to get together and make a sequel or something – or at least another movie with all three of you… (I know, it’s unlikely to happen, but this was so much fun – so I’ll just keep dreaming that they come up with another 3-Deol film, thank you very much…)
Showing posts with label Shilpa Shetty. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shilpa Shetty. Show all posts
Monday, September 03, 2007
25 THOUGHTS ON 'APNE'…
Monday, June 18, 2007
LIFE... IN A METRO
'Life… in a Metro'… wow! I’ve just seen this movie, and I really loved it. Maybe it’s because I really wasn’t expecting a whole lot (for some reason, I thought it might be a bit boring), but this film has left me feeling good – about people, about the possibility of second chances, about relationships, about humanity. And I love when that happens.
Don’t get me wrong, ‘Metro’ is not a happy-slappy, hearts-and-kisses, fun-in-the-sun flick. No, actually it’s set in the Mumbai monsoon season, and the continual rain and dull weather reflects the turmoil and trauma undergone by the characters in this film. There’s betrayal, misery, loneliness, bereavement, regret and bitterness in this movie. It’s a tough world, one of crippling discontentment, broken dreams, and loads and loads of deception – everyone is lying to someone, even if it’s just to themselves (and I find that very realistic).
But do you like to see movies that remind you of all the greys that lie between black and white? Do you like to see movies that remind you of the challenges we all face living in big cities in the noughties? Do you like to see movies that don’t beat you over the head with moral judgment, but subtly, compassionately show that there are better choices to make than those that ultimately mean hurting yourself and/or the ones you love? Do you like to see movies where the characters are given agency, and not treated like pawns on a chessboard? Do you like to see movies where you truly come to care for the characters, to the point where, even though you can’t bring yourself to agree with all their choices, you respect their right to seek their own paths to fulfilment? Do you like to see movies that surprise you – but without being totally jarring? Yes? Then, hopefully, you’ll like ‘Metro’ as much as I did. Oh, and do you REALLY love Dharmendra, to the point where seeing him onscreen just fills every cell of your heart with pure undiluted joy? No? Aww.. well, I hope you’ll like this movie anyway.
Let’s see if I can talk about this film without giving away too much, because I don’t think I’d have liked the movie half as much had I known what was waiting around every corner. My garam Dharam is as good a place to start as any – in this, my tenth Dharmendra movie (yayyy!!) and the first I’ve seen on the big screen, he plays Amol, a man who is reunited with the love of his youth, Shivani (played by Nafisa Ali). I once said on this blog that old people in love=cute. And is it true in this movie or what? I have to say, I really like the fact that in several Hindi movies I’ve seen recently (‘Honeymoon Travels’, ‘Just Married’ and now ‘Metro’), it’s been recognised that older people have emotional and physical needs too, and that there’s nothing ugly or shameful about portraying that on celluloid. I really hope this is a trend that’s here to stay, because I think it’s a cryin’ shame that many fine older actors are stuck playing ‘Maa’ and ‘Babuji’ in every film (nothing wrong with playing parents, of course, but older people are more than just parents). Shivani and Amol walk an unconventional and difficult path with great grace, and it was so brilliant to see my Dharmendra do his thing. Wow. I don’t know why I love this man so much, I just do. I can’t wait to see ‘Apne’. I love him…
Anyway, moving on (and shaking myself out my Dharam-induced reverie)… much as I loved Shivani and Amol, I loved Shruti (played beautifully by Konkona Sen Sharma, whom everyone knows is a wonderful actress) and Monty (played by Irrfan Khan) even more. Shruti, a young career woman who is attracted to one of her co-workers, a popular radio DJ named Vishy K, is a likeable girl-next-door kind of character. You can’t help but love her, even if you’re not kind of at the same place in your life as she is (I am). But Monty is another matter. He’s a total oddball, he dresses really weird and talks weird, he has a bad habit of staring at women’s ‘bits’, and he lies a lot (and isn’t ashamed to admit it, either). But he is so cute in his nuttiness – he has a good heart, he is absolutely hilarious and he is a ‘real’ person, and I personally found him irresistible (almost as irresistible as I found Irrfan in the excellent film ‘The Namesake’, in which he played a somewhat different – but just as loveable – kind of character). I have to say I am loving Mr. Khan – I want to see more of him.
Shilpa Shetty, who’s definitely brought a great deal of good fortune to this movie by doing ‘Celebrity Big Brother’; plays Shikha, Shruti’s adorable but confused ‘didi’. (By the way, I loved that I was totally convinced that these two really were sisters, although they shared the screen very little). Shikha is unhappily married to an utterly selfish, frustrated, cold-hearted, nasty piece of work called Ranjit (played to perfection by Kay Kay Menon). She becomes strongly attracted to a young man she meets at the bus stop, named Akaash (for some reason, I found Akaash really annoying, dunno why, there’s nothing wrong with him or anything – I just did. Poor Shikha). The choices she makes (especially right at the end of the film), I found questionable, but as I said earlier, by this time I cared enough about her to just want her to find her own path to happiness – and all I could do was just wish her the best.
Ranjit (the prat) has been involved for quite a while with Neha (played quite well by Kangana Ranaut), a troubled young girl from his office. Neha doesn’t know it, but someone at the same office, a desperately over-ambitious and even unscrupulous young man named Rahul, has a crush on her. And there’s a link between Neha and Ranjit’s family that adds more drama to the situation later on – but I think I’ve said enough. The rest you’ll have to discover for yourself. But there are some lovely dramatic/hilarious scenes – watch out for Shruti going off on Rahul (Konkona is fabulous in this scene), Monty dissolving into ‘tears of joy’, the recurring ‘Brokeback Mountain’ poster that says a lot more than you might think the first time you see it, Shikha walking back into Akaash’s flat (beautifully shot), and Shivani applying make-up again, obviously for the first time in a long time – those are just a few of the scenes that made an impact on me.
Almost all the characters are connected in some way, a theme I also saw in the recent ‘Salaam-e-Ishq’. And they’re all played very well – I must say Shilpa impressed me in this film. It’s not a groundbreaking performance, but it’s a very competent one, much better than I’d ever have given her credit for (before ‘Metro’, I’d only ever seen her in more ‘traditional’ Bollywood films like ‘Dhadkan’, films in which the acting tends to be OTT and all weepy and over-emotional). I think she did very well with her more subdued performance in ‘Metro’.
Speaking of ‘traditional’ (‘archetypal’ is probably a better word) Bollywood; in my last post, I expressed the hope that the music from ‘Metro’ would pleasantly surprise me. This was one of the interesting things about this film – the recurring appearance of a 3-man rock group, all dressed in black, performing Pritam’s songs (complete with plenty of rocker angst and passion) throughout the film. They were everywhere – on bikes, on buildings, in alleys… I couldn’t decide whether the constant appearance of these guys was cute, corny, weird, silly clever or fun (probably all of the above) – anyway, I loved the idea. It was different and interesting, and so were the songs they sang, which I really liked – except for one song that was really glaringly out of place. But for the most part, I think these songs shall very nicely fill a vacant slot in my filmi song collection – so I’m off to download them right away.
It was nice and refreshing to see a movie without any of the usual huge marquee names, and a bit less ‘Bolly’ (if you know what I mean) than is normal (nothing wrong with full-on ‘Bolly’, I love it to bits, but it’s really nice to see something a bit more toned down from time to time). I particularly liked that, in ‘Metro’, I could see the characters ‘doing’ stuff – it wasn’t all about stuff being done to them, which is something you get used to seeing in more ‘Bolly’ films (why I am using the word ‘Bolly’? There has to be a better word! Using ‘Bolly’ makes less than zero sense!) And I also liked seeing Mumbai as a strong presence, almost a character, in this movie. It definitely takes you to Mumbai, and it’s fascinating just on that level (again, a nice change from the more ‘Bolly’ thing of going to the UK or Switzerland).
‘Metro’ definitely has its flaws – for example, some of the scenes come off just a little contrived, and certain aspects of the relationships it explores are not properly resolved (especially with regard to Neha and her obviously troubled history, and Shikha’s obvious dissatisfaction with the life she lives – somehow the idea I think I was supposed to get, i.e. that being with Akaash had helped her to resolve all that, was difficult to digest); but all-in-all, these didn’t bother me too much. I found this one a very, very satisfying watch (fascinating themes, interesting relationships, good music, good drama, old people love, oddball love, self-love, what’s not to like?), and definitely one for my collection when it comes out (but of course, the mere adorable old-man-in-love appearance of my Dharam-ji would have ensured that).
Don’t get me wrong, ‘Metro’ is not a happy-slappy, hearts-and-kisses, fun-in-the-sun flick. No, actually it’s set in the Mumbai monsoon season, and the continual rain and dull weather reflects the turmoil and trauma undergone by the characters in this film. There’s betrayal, misery, loneliness, bereavement, regret and bitterness in this movie. It’s a tough world, one of crippling discontentment, broken dreams, and loads and loads of deception – everyone is lying to someone, even if it’s just to themselves (and I find that very realistic).
But do you like to see movies that remind you of all the greys that lie between black and white? Do you like to see movies that remind you of the challenges we all face living in big cities in the noughties? Do you like to see movies that don’t beat you over the head with moral judgment, but subtly, compassionately show that there are better choices to make than those that ultimately mean hurting yourself and/or the ones you love? Do you like to see movies where the characters are given agency, and not treated like pawns on a chessboard? Do you like to see movies where you truly come to care for the characters, to the point where, even though you can’t bring yourself to agree with all their choices, you respect their right to seek their own paths to fulfilment? Do you like to see movies that surprise you – but without being totally jarring? Yes? Then, hopefully, you’ll like ‘Metro’ as much as I did. Oh, and do you REALLY love Dharmendra, to the point where seeing him onscreen just fills every cell of your heart with pure undiluted joy? No? Aww.. well, I hope you’ll like this movie anyway.
Let’s see if I can talk about this film without giving away too much, because I don’t think I’d have liked the movie half as much had I known what was waiting around every corner. My garam Dharam is as good a place to start as any – in this, my tenth Dharmendra movie (yayyy!!) and the first I’ve seen on the big screen, he plays Amol, a man who is reunited with the love of his youth, Shivani (played by Nafisa Ali). I once said on this blog that old people in love=cute. And is it true in this movie or what? I have to say, I really like the fact that in several Hindi movies I’ve seen recently (‘Honeymoon Travels’, ‘Just Married’ and now ‘Metro’), it’s been recognised that older people have emotional and physical needs too, and that there’s nothing ugly or shameful about portraying that on celluloid. I really hope this is a trend that’s here to stay, because I think it’s a cryin’ shame that many fine older actors are stuck playing ‘Maa’ and ‘Babuji’ in every film (nothing wrong with playing parents, of course, but older people are more than just parents). Shivani and Amol walk an unconventional and difficult path with great grace, and it was so brilliant to see my Dharmendra do his thing. Wow. I don’t know why I love this man so much, I just do. I can’t wait to see ‘Apne’. I love him…
Anyway, moving on (and shaking myself out my Dharam-induced reverie)… much as I loved Shivani and Amol, I loved Shruti (played beautifully by Konkona Sen Sharma, whom everyone knows is a wonderful actress) and Monty (played by Irrfan Khan) even more. Shruti, a young career woman who is attracted to one of her co-workers, a popular radio DJ named Vishy K, is a likeable girl-next-door kind of character. You can’t help but love her, even if you’re not kind of at the same place in your life as she is (I am). But Monty is another matter. He’s a total oddball, he dresses really weird and talks weird, he has a bad habit of staring at women’s ‘bits’, and he lies a lot (and isn’t ashamed to admit it, either). But he is so cute in his nuttiness – he has a good heart, he is absolutely hilarious and he is a ‘real’ person, and I personally found him irresistible (almost as irresistible as I found Irrfan in the excellent film ‘The Namesake’, in which he played a somewhat different – but just as loveable – kind of character). I have to say I am loving Mr. Khan – I want to see more of him.
Shilpa Shetty, who’s definitely brought a great deal of good fortune to this movie by doing ‘Celebrity Big Brother’; plays Shikha, Shruti’s adorable but confused ‘didi’. (By the way, I loved that I was totally convinced that these two really were sisters, although they shared the screen very little). Shikha is unhappily married to an utterly selfish, frustrated, cold-hearted, nasty piece of work called Ranjit (played to perfection by Kay Kay Menon). She becomes strongly attracted to a young man she meets at the bus stop, named Akaash (for some reason, I found Akaash really annoying, dunno why, there’s nothing wrong with him or anything – I just did. Poor Shikha). The choices she makes (especially right at the end of the film), I found questionable, but as I said earlier, by this time I cared enough about her to just want her to find her own path to happiness – and all I could do was just wish her the best.
Ranjit (the prat) has been involved for quite a while with Neha (played quite well by Kangana Ranaut), a troubled young girl from his office. Neha doesn’t know it, but someone at the same office, a desperately over-ambitious and even unscrupulous young man named Rahul, has a crush on her. And there’s a link between Neha and Ranjit’s family that adds more drama to the situation later on – but I think I’ve said enough. The rest you’ll have to discover for yourself. But there are some lovely dramatic/hilarious scenes – watch out for Shruti going off on Rahul (Konkona is fabulous in this scene), Monty dissolving into ‘tears of joy’, the recurring ‘Brokeback Mountain’ poster that says a lot more than you might think the first time you see it, Shikha walking back into Akaash’s flat (beautifully shot), and Shivani applying make-up again, obviously for the first time in a long time – those are just a few of the scenes that made an impact on me.
Almost all the characters are connected in some way, a theme I also saw in the recent ‘Salaam-e-Ishq’. And they’re all played very well – I must say Shilpa impressed me in this film. It’s not a groundbreaking performance, but it’s a very competent one, much better than I’d ever have given her credit for (before ‘Metro’, I’d only ever seen her in more ‘traditional’ Bollywood films like ‘Dhadkan’, films in which the acting tends to be OTT and all weepy and over-emotional). I think she did very well with her more subdued performance in ‘Metro’.
Speaking of ‘traditional’ (‘archetypal’ is probably a better word) Bollywood; in my last post, I expressed the hope that the music from ‘Metro’ would pleasantly surprise me. This was one of the interesting things about this film – the recurring appearance of a 3-man rock group, all dressed in black, performing Pritam’s songs (complete with plenty of rocker angst and passion) throughout the film. They were everywhere – on bikes, on buildings, in alleys… I couldn’t decide whether the constant appearance of these guys was cute, corny, weird, silly clever or fun (probably all of the above) – anyway, I loved the idea. It was different and interesting, and so were the songs they sang, which I really liked – except for one song that was really glaringly out of place. But for the most part, I think these songs shall very nicely fill a vacant slot in my filmi song collection – so I’m off to download them right away.
It was nice and refreshing to see a movie without any of the usual huge marquee names, and a bit less ‘Bolly’ (if you know what I mean) than is normal (nothing wrong with full-on ‘Bolly’, I love it to bits, but it’s really nice to see something a bit more toned down from time to time). I particularly liked that, in ‘Metro’, I could see the characters ‘doing’ stuff – it wasn’t all about stuff being done to them, which is something you get used to seeing in more ‘Bolly’ films (why I am using the word ‘Bolly’? There has to be a better word! Using ‘Bolly’ makes less than zero sense!) And I also liked seeing Mumbai as a strong presence, almost a character, in this movie. It definitely takes you to Mumbai, and it’s fascinating just on that level (again, a nice change from the more ‘Bolly’ thing of going to the UK or Switzerland).
‘Metro’ definitely has its flaws – for example, some of the scenes come off just a little contrived, and certain aspects of the relationships it explores are not properly resolved (especially with regard to Neha and her obviously troubled history, and Shikha’s obvious dissatisfaction with the life she lives – somehow the idea I think I was supposed to get, i.e. that being with Akaash had helped her to resolve all that, was difficult to digest); but all-in-all, these didn’t bother me too much. I found this one a very, very satisfying watch (fascinating themes, interesting relationships, good music, good drama, old people love, oddball love, self-love, what’s not to like?), and definitely one for my collection when it comes out (but of course, the mere adorable old-man-in-love appearance of my Dharam-ji would have ensured that).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
