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lekuswati
Reviews
Taare Zameen Par (2007)
good as a movie, but bad as a movie with message
this review is coming too late...i saw the movie on TV and always wanted to write a review.......but i'm super lazy...with Talaash's release, i felt compelled again to write the review.
the basic plot is - ishaan lives with his loving mom, tiger dad and over-achiever brother. ishaan has dyslexia. he lives in his imaginary world, while the whole world around him wonders why he's such an idiot. his pushy tiger dad threatens to send him to boarding school if he performs poorly again in his exams...which he does. the kid is packed off to boarding school, where the whole story is repeated....with teachers reprimanding him for poor scores, unfinished homework. his life is miserable, until an art teacher nikumbh, enters his life and recognises his problem - learning disorder dyslexia. he also realises that ishaan is actually quite a genius and excellent in drawing....and slowly becomes his personal teacher to turn around his life and helping him to cope with his dyslexia.
on first look, taare zameen par is a good movie, nicely made. leaves you with a good feeling. darsheel safary has done a wonderful job and surpasses aamir khan in acting. direction is good (but not awesome).
but i have a serious problem with the plot and above all, with ppl applauding the movie as a 'brilliant attempt' to educate ppl about dyslexia. i think once ishaan comes to the hostel, he shows symptoms of autism and not dyslexia. by showing ishaan as a hidden gem, the movie becomes less about learning disability and the anxiousness the student may have due to social rejection - and becomes more about hidden gem ishaan and how his teacher shines this gem. dyslexia has nothing to do with IQ...i'm no expert....but ishaan in hostel showed more symptoms of autism - not dyslexia.
second, art teacher nikumbh (aamir khan), single-handedly decides to take over ishaan's life and teach him. within one year, ishaan comes up with flying colours. i again have a problem with this. i think a movie about 'dyslexia' should actually teach how others can help a dyslexic child. it doesn't even involve the child's parents! nikumbh is against sending ishaan to a special school....this again is wrong. special schools have teachers who are trained to empathise with kids with learning disabilities and can rightly train and teach such children. at least in special schools, the kid will not have his esteem stamped, beaten and butchered by insulting teachers. the movie shows as if the whole world is bad (including the parents), only the art teacher is pure gold....and is far more concerned about ishaan's life than the parents themselves! that again is a wrong approach....i would have been happier if collectively everyone, in their own special ways, try to help ishaan, which drastically helps him. if it takes a village to raise a child...it should take a whole country to raise a dyslexic child.
third, the movie also talks a little bit about parenting. ishaan's father is a tiger-dad, for whom nothing but being #1 earns his love. the movie doesn't much address this wrong attitude. i would have been very, very happy if ishaan would have remained an average student, and with the teacher's help manages to get a decent score in his test...and his father is proud of his son, no matter what. but no....this movie HAD TO show, that the kid everyone thought was a dull idiot...is in fact a BRILLIANT artist....and thus, his parents and all the teachers (who put him down) are "so proud" of him.
KIDS (and ppl) should be loved for WHO THEY ARE and not for WHAT THEY DO. But movie goes on to carry forward the wrong notion that you'd get ppl's love and respect only if you are something special...and goes against the movie's motto - every child is special. does one need to have extraordinary talent to be special?? bottom line - on the surface, Taare Zameen Par is a nicely made movie and makes a good watch - especially coz of the kid's performance. but deep down - it's an emotionally exploitative movie that tries to gain maximum sympathy for the child, where "message about dyslexia" takes a backseat and the movie becomes more about how a "pure gold, better than kid's emotionally numb parents" teacher turns the life around of a dyslexic child...who basically attains fame in the school for something he was already was good at!
Break Ke Baad (2010)
Another movie with rich looks and poor content
Honestly, Break ke baad could have been a great movie.....but content-wise the movie fails miserably. Poor performance by the leads - Deepika Padukone and Imran Khan adds to your nerves....esp Imran's underacting and lack of emotions.
Positives of the movie -
Stylishly shot - Some of the locales are really nice....but it just feels wasted in a bad movie.
Good production values - The movie has been shot really well. Every frame is neat and looks-wise every scene feels complete.
Hard as I may try......there is nothing else positive in the movie.
Negatives of the movie -
Pathetic performance - The leads supposedly have been together for 10 years....but when they break up OR get back together OR meet each other as friends OR learn that the other one is getting married........there are absolutely no emotions on their faces.....which actually adds to the confusion in the story! When Aaliya and Abhay talk to each other...you really don't know whether they are talking as friends, or trying to get back together...or are they lovers again. Imran Khan needs to get rid of his smile....he seems to be smiling even in sad scenes!
Poor character development - Aaliya is supposedly a bitter person....because of her divorced parents (calls her mom by name)....but I just don't see why she is such a selfish bi_tch....even to the guy who has been so nice to her (Abhay). She suddenly takes off to Australia for MassComm....pray why not tell the guy you even sleep with about your plans to take up the course?? It's really not clear why they 'go on a break' or break up. One year is no big deal to be apart....why can't they wait or try long-distance? No reason, again, why she decides that they shouldn't even talk over the phone during their 'break'??
There is one scene (which makes Abhay rush to Aus) where she drinks so hard in a party that she wakes up the next day. During her drinking binge, she fights with Abhay and throws the phone and walk away. Next when Abahy calls, another guy picks up the phone and says that "He's in queue". Abhay panics and arrives at Aus. Seeing him, Aaliya breaks up, calling him "insecure" Honestly...if you are drinking with a few guys madly and a dude answers the phone and tells "you are in queue"....wouldn't that be a reason to panic???? Aaliya wakes up in the morning after her drinking binge in the party next to a guy and she wonders if she had sex with him...and starts beating him....her boyfriend joins in (surprise!)....and there is no surprise in Aaliya's face....instead she calls him "insecure". Wouldn't a guy feel insecure in such a situation....or at least concerned if the "woman of his life" is safe or not??
Supposedly his "insecurity" leads to a break up...and Aaliya says that she doesn't want to deal with his problems....heck lady...what is a relationship for....even if you aren't in one....wouldn't you help as a friend?? When Aaliya, after graduation, gets a movie deal...everyone is disappointed.....so much so....that she quits the role and heads back to India. Frankly...can't people make amends and continue with her movie? Afterall....that's what she studied abroad for!
Overall...Aaliya comes across as a very selfish person. I am far from the notion that heroines should be "perfect"....but in the end....they should realise their mistakes....even if they don't become perfect afterwards. Aaliya treats love like dirt....even after she makes amends with her mother and realises that "People don't love her because she's special, but she's special because people love her"....I see no reason why she doesn't try to get back together with her sweetheart with whom, she's been together for 10 years.
Abhay underplays his role to an extent....that it hardly seems like a character. Matter of fact....he seems like a defective person...who can't feel pain, sadness, anger, determination. His love for Aaliya is so strong that he still wants her back when she dumps him, declares that she doesn't want to deal with his issues, etc. Great going, doormat!
Disjointed script - The script just seems like a collage project where different scenes were stuck together with Fevicol. At one shot Abhay & Aaliya are buddies deeply in love. Next scene...she's in a flight to Australia. Suddenly Abhay is in Australia. Aaliya rarely is seen attending classes....suddenly she's graduating....then suddenly Aaliya's mom is in Australia....suddenly she's back home....suddenly Aaliya's back home after advice from mom.......suddenly Aaliya's back in Australia after mom suddenly feels that "Aaliya's much stronger than me"......suddenly Imran is heading home.......and suddenly he decides to marry......and suddenly Aaliya's back home.
There seem to be no lead for the action. The director has wasted space showing "how deeply Aaliya and Abhay are in love", he could have given space for scenes that leads upto the actions of main characters. At no point is it clear if Aaliya and Abhay are talking as friends or lovers or ex-lovers.
Senseless actions of Abhay and Aaliya - The film is break ke baad....but at no point does the break or break up feel justified...nor there seems to be any desperation for them to get back together. I frankly just don't understand that why they just don't try to work on their decade old relationship!!
There seems to be nothing between Abhay and Aaliya that suggests that they've known each other for 10 yrs. They literally are like strangers!!
So let me give a final score -
Story - 5/10 Screenplay - 2/10 Performance - 3/10 Direction - 5/10 Music - 6/10 (feels good with movie...but nothing memorable) Visual - 10/10
I do believe that the director is talented...but his first product is pretty amateurish.....it's too Americanised and frankly....10-year-old relationships don't end 'just like that'.....overall....I'd give the movie 4/10
3 Idiots (2009)
over hyped, unbelievably ridiculous
Once in a while there comes a film that people, critics...everyone praise sky high....but when you watch the movie, you really wonder whether you saw the same movie as everyone else. 3 idiots is one of those movie.
The film begins well...but just turns into typical Bollywood movie where Hero is above God, jokes are lame and logic is thrown out of the window...and the window is shut, leaving no room for logic to enter back.
The story starts well with Chatur calling Farhan and Raju that "Rancho" has been found and the trio, along with Kareena, (who runs away from her wedding, when she finds that Rancho has been found) start a journey to meet him. Chatur is also keen to meet "Phunsuk Wangdu", his hero who has multiple patents in his name. During the journey starts the back story of how Rancho was exceptionally good in studies and always topped, always gave out of the box solutions, was wayyy above his teachers...etc. Back to present, when they finally meet Rancho after a gap of 10 years...they find that this Rancho has no resemblance to the Rancho they knew. Then later in the story they learn that Phunsukh Wangdu was the Rancho with them during College, earning a degree for the real Rancho, as Rancho.
Let me not dive deeper into the story, but let me sum up where the movie falters.
1. Aamir Khan's character is shown to be too larger than life...than what is actually possible....he is far more mature than teachers, more intelligent....and holds more than 100 patents?? REALLY?????
2. The movie is keen to criticize Chatur's character, who only mugs up to succeed in examinations. 10 yrs later he shown to have 1 patent in his name. Now let's get real....in a way, aren't they promoting "mug up to succeed"...coz getting even a single patent is not easy.
3. Kareena-Aamir love story - Aamir's char (Rancho) and Kareena's char(Pia) meet once during the wedding and later, when Raju's father gets a heart attack and they carry him to the hospital. Just these 2 incidents and Rancho and Pia are supposedly in 'love'. So deeply in love that Rancho stealthily visits her home at midnight to confess.
4. Can't take it either seriously nor with a light heart - The jokes in the movie are too lame to call it a funny movie and the seriousness of topics, such as suicides, pressure of education, etc is diluted by the cardboard characters and execution. Nothing seems realistic.
5. Too many WTF moments - There are just too many WTF moments that totally ruins the movie. Pia gets her father office room keys so that Rancho and his buddies can steal the question paper, when she learns that her father is planning set a very tough question paper to ensure that Raju fails.
6. The Chetan Bhagat episode - I can't believe the trio actually didn't even bother to give him a credit at beginning or just after the movie. I have read the book and seen the movie....and every major incident is used in the movie in one form as the other....such as lead falls for the professor's daughter, Raju's suicide attempt, Pia's brother's suicide, attempt to steal the question paper, Raju's family and lunch at his home (which is done very badly in the movie). It's just like you buy a dress from a designer, add your own elements and pass it of as your original. If you compare the book and the movie....the book is much better coz it conveys the boyish charms and their messed up brains (hence their action is believable). The movie is neither funny, nor serious, nor entertaining.
Udaan (2010)
Watch it....at least 1 time!
Udaan is a movie told from the heart. Udaan is the story of 17-year-old Rohan who is thrown out of the hostel and sent to live with his father in Jamshedpur. Here, he comes to learn of the existence of his step-brother Arjun (played really well by the kid). It is a dysfunctional family....his father can't care less about his son and is like a Hitler...Rohan churns between dealing with his father, working at his factory and forced to get a degree in engineering as his own heart yearns to be a Poet.
Though Udaan's story might be a bit cliché....but the execution and fabulous performances makes it a must watch.
Aisha (2010)
A wannabe American movie
I have not read 'Emma'...but the concept seemed really hilarious. I was really keen to watch this movie that looked very stylish....but when I did...it was like horror and shock unfolding before my eyes.
For one...the movie is too Americanised. All characters dress the way Americans do...they wed the American way and even education system is American (Aisha mentions how Arjun once changed her grade from 'F' to 'A'....which school in India uses the grade system?)
Two...none of the actions of the characters seems believable and equations of characters change abruptly. Pinky Bose abruptly decides to break her friendship with Aisha to pursue a relation with Randhir. Shefali, who had been following her advice on relations like a puppy, suddenly decides to go her way. Dhruv Singh abruptly seems to be in love with Arti Menon. There seems to be no build-up for it.
Three...The lead of the film Aisha seems just too superficial. Agreed that the lead don't have to be perfect....but shouldn't her actions have some tiny little logic. Her criteria to match people is just based on how they look together...which is OK for a 13 year old....not someone as old as Aisha. So she matches Shefali with Randhir coz they look good together...though she personally believes Randhir to be a loser. In the end...there seems no logic for a mature, reasonable Arjun to actually fall in love with superficial airhead like Aisha....this again, happens abruptly.
I'm sure the writer and director can come up with a good product....next time, they should focus less on clothes and more on the plot and its execution ;)