Manthan (1976)

[**** stars/*****]

Har nayi kaam mein rukavate aati hai

(Every new work has its hurdles)

Dr. Rao (Girish Karnad) and his team arrive at Semla village, Gujarat to help start a milk cooperative, but the going seems impossible with the villagers reluctant to change things. Can Dr. Rao succeed? 

What does it take to stand against ages-old tradition and empower  people? India has its roots in the exploitative caste and feudal system, and even 70-odd years after independence, anyone trying to counter this stubborn tradition has the odds stacked sky-high against them. 

That is why the success story of Amul, India's largest diary cooperative society is remarkable and miraculous, a striking example of what can happen when a group of determined people get together for a common good.   

Sharp, engaging cinema

Manthan (The Churning) is Shyam Benegal's sharp, extraordinary telling of how Amul became a large scale milk cooperative movement. 

This is Indian cinema at its realistic best. 

Manthan is among the first Hindi films that stood out for its stark, sharp realism, otherwise seen most notably in Satyajit Ray films until then.  

The mythology angle
In Indian mythology, the churning of the ocean took place between the celestial Devas and demonic Asuras in order to obtain the nectar of immortality or amrut. 

Manthan is a riveting human tug of war, just like the mythological one, arising in a society trying to do away with the old order. It is a bold chronicle of the struggles between classes, men, youth vs corruption and men vs women, that is, the temptations of the flesh and heart.

What works 
Benegal doesn't overplay any scene one bit, keeping audiences guessing, creating one powerful scene after another. This straight, simple approach later became the legendary director's rock-steady trademark.    

The sexual attraction, its complexities and consequences depicted between the city men and village women are among the movie's most surprising, revealing moments.

The rustic Indian village, the boredom of its afternoons, the sensuality of its rivers and lakes, widespread life-threatening illness, turbaned, wrinkled village faces, hostile rough-talking people, corrupt people with vested interests, dust and the hot sun, mud houses, chilly winter mornings, are aspects that come alive in Manthan, the movie is a breathing, compassionate mirror to rural India.  

   
Advent of great Indian actors
Among the stellar cast, Smita Patil and Naseeruddin Shah are unbelievably genuine as Gujarati villagers, while the great Girish Karnad as Dr. Vargese Kurein, the man who started the fire, gives a straight, grounded performance. Movie lovers will notice the early astonishing sparks that Shah and Patil display, two great actors in the making.  

Amrish Puri, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Anant Nag and Mohan Agashe also put in credible performances. 

Manthan review 
If you love confrontational, true story-inspired gritty drama, Manthan is classic gold.

Tu Hai Mera Sunday (2016)

[***1/2 stars / *****] 

Five football playing friends in their late twenties and late thirties get together at Juhu beach every Sunday to play their favourite game. In the process, they temporarily forget the stress and repression of living in overpopulated Mumbai.  

When an incident causes all types of sports to be banned at Juhu Beach, the five struggle to find another venue - open spaces are a luxury to find in Mumbai anyway. Meanwhile, the five have new things kicking into their lives. 

Five strands, one story  
Arjun (Barun Sobti), a subdued consultant who lives with his married sister's family is getting to know Kavya (Shahana Goswami) due to a chance encounter with her Alzheimer-ridden father (Shiv Kumar Subramaniam). 

Rashid (Avinash Tiwary) has a breezy girls-filled bachelor's life until a rat appears in his messy room, changing his life unexpectedly. 

Dominic (Vishal Malhotra) is a short-tempered, doing-odd-jobs son, still living with his widowed mom (Rama Joshi) when his elder brother (Suhaas Ahuja) arrives with a fiance (Maanvi Gagroo) to make things worse. 

Mehernosh (Nakul Bhalla) is a loner who has a thing for a girl at work, while secretly hating his demonic boss to whom he writes anonymous abuse-ridden letters. 

Jayesh (Jay Upadhyay) is a city man on the verge of a breakdown, frustrated with the responsibility and chaos of marriage, children and family. 

Delightful sunshine of a movie
Writer and director Milind Dhaimade skillfully binds the various strands of these five lives, interlocks with it the bittersweet sadness and joy of living in a congested city to give us an entertaining, beautiful, life-affirming movie. 

Spirited performances
The performances by the entire cast are surprisingly candid and heartfelt. 

Nakul Bhalla is especially superb as the sharp, on-the-edge Mehernosh. 

The talented Vishal Malhotra, formerly a popular TV host, deserves more movie roles - he nails Dominic in spontaneous dialogue rushes. Rasika Duggal is lovely as Rashid's neighbour. 

For me, Rama Joshi is the standout actor, portraying a vulnerable, pained, delicate mother, catch her tired despair at her constantly quarreling sons. When she cries, it feels as real as a wound.    

Tu Hai Mera Sunday review 
Tu Hai Mera Sunday (You Are My Sunday) is immediately relatable and immensely watchable as a realistic, sunny picture postcard of the many lives that fight to make memorable moments in congested, joyless cities. 

Manichitrathazhu (1993)

[**** stars / *****]

Is the ancestral mansion of Madampalli really haunted? Is the spirit of the revenge-seeking dancer Nagavalli still trapped in the south side room, held back by an enchanted lock? What will happen if the lock is broken?   

Manichitrathazhu (The Ornate Lock) is an iconic, superb, much-referenced Malayalam psychological drama thriller with a touch of comedy. 

Mixing art and commercial cinema into an eerie, entertaining mix, this hauntingly realistic classic has had many remakes like the overplayed Hindi remake Bhool Bhulaiyaa (2007), the cheesy Tamil Rajnikanth starrer Chandramukhi (2005), Apthamitra (2004) in Kannada and Rajmohol (2005) in Bengali, but no equals. 

Manichitrathazhu story 
Ganga (Shobana) and Nakulan (Suresh Gopi) are a newly married couple visiting Nakulan's ancestral village, with its tangle of characters. 

Strange things start happening when the couple, despite dire warnings from the extended family, move to Madampalli and open the room supposedly containing a long-dead dancer's spirit.    

Nakulan's psychiatrist friend, Dr. Sunny Joseph (Mohanlal) is then called over to solve the mystery.   

Mix of genres, complete entertainment
Manichitrathazhu is engrossing from start to end for its minimal and effective background music use, and a quiet village setting that gives it a scary, 'this is really happening' touch. 

The excellent performances add much-needed authenticity to the proceedings that move from light comic notes to a grim, breathless thrilling climax. 

Mohanlal leads the stellar cast as the mischievous, enigmatic psychiatrist. Shobana, Suresh Gopi, Innocent, Nedumudi Venu, Thilakan and K.P.A.C. Lalitha are all in top form.    

Manichitrathazhu review 
Director Fazil succeeds in making Manichitrathazhu engrossing on the weight of its alluring story, this occurs despite some comedy-gone-overboard, the limited production budget, a lip-syncing song slowing down proceedings, an off-track opening credits song, stage play like atmospherics rendering some scenes awkward.  

Manichitrathazhu is a rare mix-genre movie that actually works.

(An OK print version of Manichitrathazhu with English subtitles is available on YouTube.)  

Kaithi (2019)

[*** stars / *****]

Will Dilli (Karthi), free after ten years of imprisonment finally get to meet his kid daughter? He will, if he makes it alive through a night involving a drug consignment, hardened criminals out to get it, and a truckload of sedated police officers.  

Great action movie concept 
Writer-Director Lokesh Kanagaraj fills up this central premise of Kaithi (Prisoner) with tense, mostly impressive, original action set pieces, matching the energy vibes in Keanu Reeves-Sandra Bullock starring Speed (1994) and Steven Spielberg's Duel (1971). 

'Believe it or not' parts 
After having set a new level for action dramas, I had to sigh when a stabbed person beats up goons without any discomfort. The one-man-army mode scenes reek of the hot air proceedings that mar the Nicolas Cage-starring Con Air (1997).  

Despite the escapist, logic-defying moments, Kaithi is one of the best Tamil action thrillers I have seen. 

Kaithi review 
The superb action scenes, and how the cover of night is cleverly used to keep the proceedings tense, are huge plus points. 

Keeping this relentless without songs does Kaithi a lot of good, the length is just right too. The sharp night-time camera work by Sathyan Sooryan adds to the movie's impact.     

Blade Runner (1982)

[**** stars / *****]

Tyrell: 

You were made as well as we could make you.

Roy: 

But not to last.

Tyrell: 

The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long - and you have burned so very, very brightly, Roy. Look at you: you're the Prodigal Son; you're quite a prize!

Roy: 

I've done... questionable things.

Tyrell: 

Also extraordinary things; revel in your time.

Blade Runner is a sci-fi drama set in 2019, Los Angeles, where humans have spread their misery beyond Earth. 

There are space colonies, space wars, scarily human-like robots, flying cars, and an encompassing grimness. 

Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) is a 'blade runner', his immediate job involves tracking and killing four replicants (bio-engineered robots or humanoids with limited lifespan) who have illegally entered Earth.    

In a not so bright future, Blade Runner (1982) will probably be remembered as Ridley Scott's best movie, yes, above Alien (1979), Gladiator (2000) and Black Hawk Down (2001), for the sheer audacity and cinematic leap of the idea - human future that is sad and hollow, despite the premise that man has conquered more planets and has robots at his service.

Question everything  
What is it that differentiates man and machine? 

Does a machine with an expiry date and human-like awareness have the right to live a human life? Is man finally the cruel, calculating machine after all, with a metal heart?

A grim future 
Blade Runner is epic, unparalleled, beautifully brooding future-scape painting of a sci-fi movie, that still brings up questions on humanity, creation, life, listlessness, fear and brutal authority. 

A yet unraveling masterpiece of its genre.

There are reportedly eight different edited versions of this grim-some drama, one studio cut is supposed to be four hours long.

I recommend Blade Runner: The Final Cut, released in 2007, said to be the one where Ridley Scott had total artistic leeway to cut his version.

Jurassic Park (1993)

[**** stars / *****]

Robert Muldoon: 

Quiet, all of you! They're approaching the Tyrannosaur paddock.

Anticipation, breathless excitement, the wait in the rain and then the Tyrannosaurus rex appearing with a deafening roar, the dinosaur egg-hatching moment, they don't make sci-fi action like that anymore. 

The coronavirus lockdown has enabled my rediscovery of yet another sci-fi action adventure masterpiece, Steven Spielberg's magnificent 'dinosaurs and not sharks eat/kill humans'  movie experience, Jurassic Park (1993). 

My first time 
This was the first Hollywood movie I ever watched in a cinema hall as a kid and it was as wondrous to again get the first awe-struck view of the gentle Brachiosaurus, the heart-pounding moment of the Tyrannosaurus rex crossing over the non-functional electric fences, and the scarily intelligent can-open-door-handles-no-big-deal Velociraptors. 

Flat TV screens do help replicate the big screen experience to a teeny-weeny degree. 

Human drama
Again, as in Jaws (1975), Jurassic Park is still immensely watchable because of the human conflicts unfolding in between the body count. 

Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill) doesn't fit around kids and ends up protecting John Hammond's (Richard Attenborough) two grandchildren Tim (Joseph Mazzello) and Lex (Ariana Richards),  Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), Grant's partner, is ahead of her times, assured, confident woman who gets the best lines: 

Ian Malcolm: 

God creates dinosaurs. God destroys ... Man creates dinosaurs.

.

Dr. Ellie Sattler: 

Dinosaurs eat man, woman inherits the earth.

Shades

Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) as a flirtatious mathematician, John Hammond as the rich, ambitious but rash park owner, Dennis Nedry (Wayne Knight) as the greedy, scheming computer man, Robert Muldoon (Bob Peck) as the sharp game warden, honest matter-of-fact computer worker Ray Arnold (Samuel L. Jackson) and the money-minded lawyer Donald Gennaro (Martin Ferrero)...there are as many varied shades of human characters as the numerous dinosaur species of the park, adding layers to the drama, and supporting the fabulous action. 

What makes Jurassic Park tick?        

The dinosaurs for the first time in movie history, look scarily, intimately real, like they were beasts come alive and not monsters, as many previous dinosaur movies made them out to be.

The sheer scale and size proportion of the dinosaurs gets conveyed through the screen, you actually sense their size. 

The beautifully choreographed action sequences, there is so much conviction in how the animals attack, sound, run, plan, and eat. Even though Velociraptors opening doors may have been a bit too much. At that rate, they must have evolved beyond humans by now. 

Also, how does Dr. Grant know that the T-rex can only sense movements? He knew that just by digging dinosaur bones?! But the action is such an impressive takeaway, it all sticks in Jurassic Park. 

The close-up human-dinosaur relationship has never been equaled in any other sequel, Sattler sampling Dinosaur shit, Grant heaving with an ill dinosaur's breathing, all pure cinema magic. This deceptive peace makes the later attacks look even more real, like the video of a tiger attack during a otherwise routine jungle safari. 

The gorgeous Dean Cundey cinematography and the stunner John Williams music. Jurassic Park with music by another composer, would that have been as effective?  

Universal, timeless story of man taking nature for granted and nature in turn teaching us a lesson, under the present circumstances, you better believe it. 

Paul (2011)

[**1/2 stars / *****]

Aliens crash landing on earth...correction, aliens appearing exclusively in the United States of America, people with a exceptionally good talent for yelling out mothers and sisters running about, until a leader gives a motivational talk on universal brotherhood (keep those nuclear weapons aside, for now) and an unlikely hero packing aliens to their own outer-space hell with a good smack to their obviously better evolved buttocks...

Hollywood film makers have drained every lemon drop cosmos squeeze out of hostile aliens and end of the world scenarios in countless expensive action dramas. 

E.T. call home 
So Paul, a goofy science-fiction road trip comedy comes as a relief, kind of. 

Despite the irrelevance, abuses barfing up as comedy, there is good Area 51 friendly air blowing, thanks to the Simon Pegg - Nick Frost duo making light of playing geeks who are visiting all the famous UFO US hot spots and end up encountering a on-the-run, smooth talking, hitchhiker-like-shorts-wearing, cigarette-spouting, healing-powered alien named Paul (Seth Rogen-voiced) instead. 

Alien movie lovers rejoice 
Pegg and Frost are exactly the guys you would want to hang out with a friendly alien who needs to get back to his planet far far away, with a little help from his dude friends. 

If you love every kind of alien movie out there, you will like the fun references, especially the suggestion that Steven Spielberg consulted Paul on alien authenticity for E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) and gasp at the lovely short climax cameo by an alien-movie regular.

Paul movie review  
Director Greg Mottola keeps Paul running with its spoofy, reference-filled vibes, as it goes overboard and raunchy, like so many other commercial Hollywood movies featuring sexually gross jokes, just for the heck of it. 

It takes the earthly comedy talents of Pegg, Frost, Rogen and Kristen Wiig to suit up for this just-a-cut-above-average one-time ride. 

The Close Encounters of a Third Kind (1977) replication finale sums up Paul, it doesn't tickle out the laughs but keeps the smiles coming.