Ankhon Dekhi (2013)

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

Sab kuch yahan hai, 

aankhen khol kar dekho 

(Everything is here, 

open your eyes and see)

Is it too late to ask ourselves - who am I, what am I to this world and how is life meant to be lived? 

The coronavirus-induced lockdown has been a time of perspective for some. For most, random thoughts and actions have guided our actions, the inculcated burden is to be busy, or perish.   

The urban perception of the truth is defined by Internet browsing, television news, newspapers, movies, WhatsApp forwards and how we view the world.

But do we really view the world around us without judgement, as children do? 

Are the blind more sensitive to life and those endowed with vision, blind?   

Ankhon Dekhi (Through My Own Eyes), streaming on Amazon Prime and Disney + Hotstar (India), is a person's journey onto himself, reflective of individuals who feel the urge to pause and delve within.  

Question everything...
What would you do if a family member, who you thought to be perfectly sane, abruptly changes their habits, outlook, and starts questioning life itself? 

We are reluctant to see change in ourselves, how would changes in our dear and near ones affect us not?    

In a life of absolute ordinariness, Bauji (Sanjay Mishra), the head of a Old Delhi joint family decides, after a chain of events - he will only believe what he experiences through his own eyes. 

This abrupt announcement rattles up the family members. Bauji quits his job, gathers a trail of unintended followers.

Ankhon Dekhi (2013), Rajat Kapoor's insightful yet feathery drama on questioning and absorbing life, is infused with a beautiful lead performance by Mishra. 

You may end up perceiving the world differently at the end of this one. 

I do not agree with the shocker ending - goes against the lead character's sensibilities. 

But for the most part, Ankhon Dekhi is a curious self-discovery of a sensitive rebellious life.  

Gantumoote (2019)

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

I haven't seen a movie lately as charming and delicately affecting as Gantumoote, a splendidly-written coming-of-age Kannada romantic drama.   

Rarely is a love affair told intimately from a girl or woman's point of view in Indian cinema, her thoughts and desires bared open to the audience. Even in movies with female protagonists, a third person narrative is usually used.

Writer and director Roopa Rao's Gantumoote (Baggage) has a teenage girl's tender observant narrative at its heart.  

Movies versus reality 
Meera (Teju Belawadi, superb) is a 16-year-old growing up in the nineties. 

Meera's tryst with her first love Madhu (Nischith Korodi, good act) leads her to the discovery - the idea of love portrayed in popular movies she saw growing up are in extreme contrast to her experiences. 

In fact she initially falls for Madhu because he looks like her crush - the Hindi film star Salman Khan.

The quiet, uncomplicated charm of growing up in the nineties, first sparks of adolescent love and sexual attraction, trauma inflicted by a jealous admirer, breaking away from school friends to college, heartbreak, agony, is captured with sure-footed sincerity and heart-touching sensitivity.

Sensitive screenplay 
Gantumoote is Roopa Rao's beautiful ode to teenage love, with sensitive takes on worldly pressures, social conventions and a girl's fragile coming-of-age story.

If you thought south Indian regional movie makers rarely attempt anything remotely cinematic, Gantumoote should delightfully prove you wrong. 

Afterword 
A couple of well-made Hindi film narratives centering on a female lead include the lovely affirming drama Queen (2014) and the tense, humane spy thriller Raazi (2018). 

 As seen on Amazon Prime (India)

                                                                                                                                 

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

[**** stars / *****] 

"He says the sun came out last night. 

He says it sang to him."

Would Steven Spielberg movies feel as awesome minus the John Williams score? 

The Close Encounters of the Third Kind introductory buildup scene is classic Williams, a pitch black screen lights up to suspenseful nervy music, revealing a present day Mexican desert. 

We see officials running excitedly in disbelief to discover World War II airplanes in pristine condition, since their mysterious disappearance 30 years ago at the Bermuda Triangle.     

More strange events occur over the following days. Two commercial planes brush past an unidentified flying object (UFO), even as air traffic control center personnel listen intently. 

Then somewhere in Indiana, USA, three-year-old Barry wakes up in his room to see his toys moving about in the middle of the night. When his mother Jillian chases a wonder-struck Barry down the road, an astonishing event unfolds, changing the world as we know it. 

Sci-fi cinema magic 
Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffaut (acclaimed French director in a rare English film role) and Melinda Dillon are among the ensemble cast who invest us in this mystical sci-fi drama like no other.  

Even the outdated special effects doesn't take the sheen away from Close Encounters of the Third Kind, that's the kind of encompassing effect it invokes.  

One of a kind
The best movies take you on a journey. As the story unfolded, was relentlessly fascinated by - what happens next? 

The audio-visual, despite the make-believe, transcended, became a part of me. 

There is yet an alien movie to match what Spielberg has achieved here, the eternal wonder, unexpected culminating calm of discovering we are not alone. 

Though Spielberg did follow it up with the bewitching E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), Close Encounters of the Third Kind is an sci-fi alien drama like no other. 

Alluring, enigmatic, and strangely fulfilling. 

The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)

[**** stars / *****] 

The Adventures of Robin Hood radiates with the flourish of daring adventure and courage that we identify with every Robin Hood tale we know. 

Ageless trendsetter
This is how a Robin Hood movie should be, light, sunny and free-flowing in its telling, conversationally funny, without any dark, psychotic grimness in its villainy. 

It's hard to imagine another Robin Hood movie in any other space, after watching this version. 

For instance, Ridley Scott's Robin Hood (2010) -  though impressive in parts, the dark realistic treatment doesn't go with the Robin Hood's heroic, elevated persona, the origin-tale takes its time to engage. 

This is a fable and legend that needs celebrating and directors Michael Curtiz and William Keighley ensure it is so.

The best Robin Hood movie yet 
Breathless sword fighting, breezy romance, good-hearted hero vs villain duels, perky background music, crisp dialogues and good performances, The Adventures of Robin Hood is Hollywood at its classic best.

The lead Errol Flynn performance is still cinema magic, it's like Flynn was born to play Robin Hood. 

Olivia di Havilland is alluring as Lady Marian, the rest of the cast are in reasonable form, though Flynn charms his way through them all.

There are few movies of the adventure drama genre that lights up with such Technicolor radiance. 

The infectious cheerfulness of The Adventures of Robin Hood hasn't aged a day.

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.)