I want to start the review by appreciating Sandip Ray and team for venturing into the audacious task of bringing Professor Shanku from pages into the screen. The biggest challenge in filming Shanku is the necessity for advanced graphics and exotic location shoot. While camera work in the streets of Sao Paolo and bird's eye views of the amazon rain forest catches attention, the VFX team has done a mediocre job at best. Acting through out the film has been reasonably good from the Indian actors. Dhritiman as Professor Shanku seems unnecessarily annoyed at times but overall has portrayed the character well. Subhashis Chakraborty fits in the role of Nakur babu perfectly too. However, the foreign actors in the roles of Dr. Sauders and Krol are too expressive, even tiring at times. The use of music in the film is commendable, enhances the cinematic experience. Sandip Ray has not veered far off from the Satyajit Ray school of music, the tunes in the movie sometimes reminded me of the Feluda theme. However, the main issue with the movie to me is it fails to hold your attention. There is no build-up of suspense, no sequence for provoking thought in the audience; It's more like a grand Brazilian travelogue. I would like to see more audience engagements in the upcoming Shanku ventures.
Reviews
8 Reviews
Irudhi Suttru
(2016)
Saala Khadoos: keeping the sport above the dramma.
31 January 2016
There are flaws, there are desperate over acting, but despite all the drawbacks Saala Khadoos comes out as a landmark in sports movie in Bollywood. I don't know why time and again boxing has been a popular choice among filmmakers. Boxing has been featured in more movies than even cricket. Now, that's remarkable considering the status of the sport in India. Surely there is something in boxing; the grit, the killer instinct that makes viewers sit on the edge of their seats. The director has done the first right thing in selecting Ritika singh in the lead, she is actually a mixed martial artist, has represented India in 2009 Asian indoor games. She has executed a the role of a perfect angry young girl. And then there is good old Madhavan, who fits in his role as boxing coach like lock and key. I have felt some of the songs could have been removed, the erratic behavior of Madhi's elder sister is also sometimes undecipherable. But at the end of the day the movie wins because it has not made a mockery of the sport, it has showed true grit, true passion, true boxing. Yes, Saala Khadoos wins.
Tamasha
(2015)
Tamasha is capable of changing course of one's life.
28 November 2015
I don't want to write a conventional review. I returned from office on Saturday on 8:30, went for the movie at 9:30 while having in mind the same routine continues for me tomorrow. Wake up, get dressed, manage people, back to one. The movie kind of made me ask myself "What exactly am I doing?". I consider a movie successful if it conveys what it wants to say strongly to the viewer. Mr. Imtiaz Ali has done a wonderful wonderful job. I know this is not the first movie made on this theme, we have 'Into the Wild', we have 'Dead Poets Society', we have our own '3 idiots'. But this movie has somehow left a deeper impact. The director has experimented a lot in the movie. I haven't seen such non-linear storyline in a Bollywood movie before, I don't know if there exists one. He has done a perfect execution. Music flows along with the storyline and camera work is pleasing to the eye. Be it picturesque Corsica or streets of Delhi, it never monotones. Only one hitch, leaving the job you are in won't make you the best in what you want to do. The truth is whatever you want to do, there are people who does it better than you. To float or not to float in the ocean leaving the security you have built up is the call you will have to make. Life awaits.
Talvar
(2015)
Talwar is a movie made with one eye.
5 October 2015
The biggest challenge in front of a director while making a movie on a topic as much discussed as the 'Arushi Talwar' case is that what new to show to the spectator. So, director Meghna Gulzar decided to take us for a ride, the leave us at the same place, may be a little more informed. The case had multiple dimensions; that means a great opportunity for the director to leave the spectators puzzled which direction to go; but, the movie strongly depicts the story only from one predefined angle, somewhat neglecting the others, and thus coming to an abrupt end.I feel, complete justice with the scope of the film would have been done if both perceptions towards the story was shown with equal emphasis. In stead they chose to make a comedy out of the dissents. Screen presence of Irrfan Khan always seem to bring in a sense of enthusiasm in the spectators. The little one liners are crunchy. Light music goes with the tone of the movie. Give it a go, but don't expect to get out of the theater being enlightened.
Manjhi: The Mountain Man
(2015)
Great opportunity thrown away.
24 August 2015
The stage was set, a man against a mountain. The theme itself is a crowd puller. Obviously the movie will be filled with the emotions a soul must have underwent while performing the same task for 22 long years; that too against the acceptance of society. The man must have built a relation with the mountain, not a hateful one, but a relation of mutual respect; that had given him the determination, the perseverance. But surprisingly enough, instead of making this strange relation between a man and a mountain the USP of the movie, Ketan Mehta has made the movie revolve around the love story of Dasharath and Faguniya(His wife). Unnecessary cut-ins of their romance within the remarkable struggle takes the golden patch away from the movie. Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Radhika apte are all very natural.. Scenes like the first meeting of the lead pair gives you a fresh air. Overall I would suggest give it a go, not because the movie is great, but because it's a tribute the mountain man deserves.
Open Tee Bioscope
(2015)
A film for all, flow through the joyride.
29 January 2015
Open TEE Bioscope is more than just a film, it is a reminiscence of the good old bygone days. If you are a Bengali, more specifically a person who has grew in the 70's or 80's kolkata, brace yourself for a joyride down the memory lane.Football, first love, friendship, adda ; the movie has successfully depicted every possible aspect that probably had kept you occupied in your adolescences.And as for the music, be it the romantic one 'tor jonyo' or the Band single 'Pagla khabi ki', all of them goes so smooth with the story line you won't feel the length of the movie for a moment. Coming to the story, a boy in his adolescence comes back to his house in north Kolkata being rusticated from his boarding school; then the story revolves around friendship, first love, banter with mom and of course, football. There is some hitches which may seem unrealistic in a world of today or in the 70's. But that's not the point of the movie, director Anindya in his first venture tried to depict the 'bangaliyana' of kolkata, and he did a fine job. As the saying goes, live long "sholo ana bangaliyana" .
Buno Haansh
(2014)
Watch it for it's cinematography.
19 August 2014
In Buno Haansh actor Dev has come a lot ahead than the days of challenge,yet i have some doubt over his skill in dialog delivery which is visible in parts of the movie.DoP did a great job in the movie,as the cultures of three different cities Dhaka,Bangkok and Kolkata has come alive.Score from Santanu Moitra is not something to remember coming out of the hall and it has failed to create suspense anywhere in the movie. What the film really lacks i feel is suspense.Director Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury has tried to mix thrill of chase with grief of losing loved and dear ones.The viewer is never forced to sit tight and shiver in tension about what is going to happen next moment.Though the film had great potential it lacks the x-factor to be remembered after years.However it is surely best Bengali movie of 2014.
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