Decoding Bollywood!

Movie no. 13/100 May 29, 2018 Interestingly and unintentionally, I am writing this on the very same day that this movie completes  five years of its release! Since it’s been a busy week and I have a long backlog of movies to watch, I decided to watch a light-hearted movie after a long day at work! And what better than Ranbir Kapoor- Deepika Padukone’s 2013 superhit, ‘Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani’. After a coming-of-age ‘ Wake Up Sid ’, Ayan Mukerji made a mainstream romcom, but emphasized on making the relationships seem real and deep. Kabir Thappar AKA Bunny (played by Ranbir Kapoor) is a spirited college student, who aims to make a living out of travelling and interns with a travel channel. One summer, he along with his best friends, Avinash AKA Avi (played by Siddharth Roy Kapoor) and Aditi (played by Kalki Koechlin), go on a trek to Khipshi Pass in Manali. They meet their long-forgotten, studious and uptight schoolmate, Naina Talwar (played by Deepika Padukone) on the

Movie no. 12/100 May 27, 2018 Most often than not, movies which do the rounds at prestigious film festivals such as Cannes, get stereotyped to be intense, gloomy and dark. Director Ritesh Batra’s 2013 BAFTA-nominated movie, ‘The Lunchbox’ is a poignant love story, set on the backdrop of a bustling Mumbai and the demons the protagonists fight in their mundane lives. As a small film presented by half a dozen producers, this Irrfan Khan – Nimrat Kaur starrer stands out for being extremely real in its emotional depiction of love through letters. The movie opens in a typical cramped Mumbai household with the lady of the house, Ila (played by Nimrat Kaur), attending to her morning chores while chatting with her neighbor on the floor above, Deshpande aunty (voice by Bharti Achrekar). To get her disinterested husband’s attention, she tries to make her way to his heart through his stomach. Due to a goof-up by the famed Dabbawalas of Mumbai, her husband’s lunchbox reaches an aging

Movie no. 11/100 May 25, 2018 The next movie in my movie challenge is director Yash Chopra’s ‘Silsila’, starring Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, Rekha and Sanjeev Kumar. A commercial failure upon its release in 1981, Silsila is known till this day for the casting coup that Yash Chopra pulled off – Rekha-Amitabh-Jaya in the same movie. Loosely based on the rumored extra marital affair of Amitabh Bachchan and Rekha, the movie banked heavily on Yash Chopra’s strengths – Picturesque locations, an extremely beautiful chiffon clad heroine, a passionate love track and superhit music. None of these could save the movie, though it attained a cult status over the years, much like another Yash Chopra love story, ‘ Lamhe’ . Shekhar (played by Shashi Kapoor) and Amit Malhotra (played by Amitabh Bachchan) are two brothers joined at their hip – they are thick as thieves and even bathe together! Shekhar, a combat pilot with the Indian Air Force falls in love with a demure, Shobha (play

Movie no. 10/100 May 23, 2018 A story set in the Hindi heartland, shot on location with characters that seem extremely real – sounds more like an Anurag Kashyap film. And, expecting the same elements from the Yash Raj stable seems unbelievable. But, debutante director Sharat Kataria’s 2015 sleeper-hit, Dum Laga Ke Haisha, was a welcome change. Starring Ayushmann Khurrana with Bhumi Pednekar making her debut, Dum Laga Ke Haisha brought back the flavor of Kumar Sanu, narrow Galis of Haridwar and reminisces of the 1990s. Set in the winters of Haridwar in 1995, Prem Prakash Tiwari (played by Ayushmann Khurrana) is a naïve 25-year old, who runs his father’s old cassette shop. He dreads English in class 10 examinations as much as his dreads his father’s ire, and somehow never overcomes the fear of either. Owing to his family’s pressures, he agrees to marry Sandhya (played by Bhumi Pednekar), a confident woman aspiring to be a teacher, but - slightly on the heavier side. What

Movie no 9/100 May 20, 2018 I remember reading a snippet that such was the modest budget on which Director, Shekhar Kapur, made his debut, that they could not afford Lata Mangeshkar for a second song in the film! Masoom, starring Shabana Azmi, Naseeruddin Shah and an extremely cute child artist, Jugal Hansraj, is an emotional tale on mature issues of infidelity and parenthood. A screen adaptation of ‘Man, Woman and Child’ by Erich Segal, Masoom had dialogues, screenplay and lyrics – three of its biggest assets - written by Gulzar. A successful architect, DK (played by Naseeruddin Shah) and his wife, Indu (played by Shabana Azmi) lead a happy life, with their two daughters, a 10-year old Pinky (played by Urmila Matondkar) and 5-year old Minni (played by Aradhana Shrivastav). Their idyllic life is shaken when DK receives a letter from his long-forgotten school teacher, asking him to collect his ‘son’. A brief affair during a reunion with his classmate from school, Bhavana

Movie no. 8/100 May 9, 2018 For my 8 th outing in this movie challenge, I decided to revisit one of my childhood favorites, Director Mahesh Bhatt’s Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke. This romantic-comedy released in 1993 had Aamir Khan paired opposite Juhi Chawla, with a premise involving three difficult children. Interestingly, Aamir had not only acted in the movie but also co-written the screenplay. In a repertoire of serious and gritty cinema, Mahesh Bhatt has just two light-hearted films. The other one being Dil Hai Ki Manta Nahi . A young, college pass-out, Rahul (played by Aamir Khan) is made the guardian of his niece and nephews (played by Sharokh Bharucha, Baby Ashrafa and Kunal Khemu) upon the untimely death of his sister and brother-in-law. Not only is he forced into parenthood, he is also given the responsibility of managing his brother-in-law’s garment business. These kids are a menace and none of the maids he hires, survive their mischief and pranks. That is when the k

Movie no. 7/100 May 5, 2018 With the seventh movie in my movie challenge, I went back to the black-and-white era! I picked the  1955 blockbuster, Shree 420, with Raj Kapoor and Nargis in the lead. Directed and Produced by Raj Kapoor, Shree 420 is a social drama about the rich in the newly freed India exploiting the poor. It is a light-hearted take on the economic disparity that existed in our society, though it has considerably narrowed now. Raj (played by Raj Kapoor) is a poor Allahabadi who arrives in Mumbai to earn a living, armed only with a degree in BA and a medal of honesty. He is honest, hard-working and innocent when he arrives in the Maximum City, but soon, reality strikes him. He meets Vidya (played by Nargis), a young, righteous school teacher, who is the only bread-winner after her father is rendered wheel-chair ridden. After a couple of odd jobs and a parallel love track with Vidya, Raj is introduced to the world of glitz and glam by a sultry, rich con-w

Movie no 6/100 May 1, 2018 There are some movies which make you applaud the time, when our superstars had the liberty to shed their vanity. In 2004, after huge hits like Main Hoon Na and Kal Ho Naa Ho , Shah Rukh Khan ventured into an experimental territory that required him to get out of his comfort zone, something which his ‘Fans’ are not accepting lately. For my 6 th movie as part of the Bollywood challenge, I watched Shah Rukh Khan – Gayatri Joshi starrer, Swades. Directed by Ashutosh Gowariker, the movie serves as a calling for people to re-connect to their roots and do their bit for the country. Director Ashutosh Gowariker creates an authentic village, Charanpur, set in Uttar Pradesh where a NASA returned scientist, Mohan Bhargava (played by Shah Rukh Khan) lands in search of his long-forgotten nanny, Kaveri Amma (played by Kishori Billal). A School teacher, Geeta (played by Gayatri Joshi) brings Kaveri Amma from an old-age home after her parent’s death. Charanpur, i