The Hindu : New Delhi News : A wide choice for cinemagoers this week

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Sunday, Jun 10, 2007
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New Delhi

A wide choice for cinemagoers this week

ZIYA US SALAM

DHARM

(At Satyam, Nehru Place; and other Delhi theatres)

Wherever Hindi films are shown and seen, Pankaj Kapur is widely respected. He is a master actor, a skilled craftsman who does full justice to any role he takes up. Popular as much for "Karamchand" as "Maqbool", Pankaj, however, needed that defining moment, a work that would save him from passing swiftly from memory. He has promised it all along: "Ek Doctor ki Maut", "Ek Ruka Hua Faisla", "Roja" have all been little signposts. Now, finally, comes the promised masterpiece.

No rough edges, not a single foul note. Pankaj Kapur has booked his place in posterity with the role of Pandit Chaturvedi in Bhavna Talwar's new film "Dharm", a film that raises many questions. And also, remarkably, gives some answers too.

Pankaj is the lifeline Talwar uses all through the film, which is set in Benares. He is the traditional priest. He abhors Sudras, their shadow being enough to make him unclean for puja. He interprets the Vedas, the tradition, for the jajman. In short, a man who lives by the word of religion. Things take a turn when his wife - Supriya Pathak with understated dignity - brings home a newborn boy who is brought up as a Brahmin in the Pandit's household. But he is not destined to be there forever. Soon his Muslim mother crops up, presenting unimaginable dilemma to the priest who has never gone within the shadow of the lowborn, leave alone those of other faiths. Is religion paramount? Or does humanity transcend all boundaries? All along, there is an intelligent use of mantras, a nice peek into Hindu rituals. Thereby comes a rare Hindi film that is actually in Hindi: not a word of Hinglish, nothing to please the toe-tappers. Just a film with a resplendent soul, an inner poetry that mocks at the frailties of custom, the conceit of those removed from faith but married to religion. The cinematography is soothing, the music uplifting, and the film a rousing experience. No didactics, no sermons.

Go for it even if it is one film a year that you watch. Do yourself a favour: follow "Dharm", in cinema, in life.

OCEAN'S THIRTEEN

(At PVR Saket and other Delhi theatres)

The Hollywood bonanza continues for cinemagoers. After "Spider-Man" made a comeback, "Pirates... " too came back to make their presence felt, and "Shrek" discovered there was not much love lost in the third outing. Now comes the "Ocean" team, with one more member added. The original was a masterpiece, the sequel tolerable. This one is likeable for its momentum, a nice mix of action with humour.

Starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon with Al Pacino, this is the kind of film that gets an initial at the box office because of the recall value. Then sustains itself because of the following of its formidable star line-up. It is a heist saga again with the team chasing diamonds once more.

There is a little difference: the motive is revenge. And there are dollops of good, rocking laughs to go with high-octane action.

A little self-indulgent at times, a little over-the-top at others, but still worth the time. Not much by way of surprises in Steven Soderbergh's film, but the joy comes from the necessary contortions and the tricks along the way.

Julia Roberts and Catherine Zeta-Jones are not here but the guys hold fort, with Pacino predictably proving stronger than the competition. Well worth a visit.

SWAMI

(At Spice PVR, Noida; and Delhi theatres)

Ganesh Acharya choreographs a film he could not have danced to: no songs and dances here! And what a film! A world removed from the high adrenaline dances he choreographs, this film is an identifiable love story with a difference: nobody dances around the trees; there is no item number either. Just a gradual unfolding of a sweet relationship between a Maharashtrian man and his South Indian wife: their little dreams, little angst. Now he wants a rocking chair, now she wants to shift to a bigger city for better education of their child. It is a sweet little film with barely a foul step or two. The pace is good without being frenetic.

Juhi Chawla is passably good, Manoj Bajpai better than good. The film is even better.

MERA PEHLA PEHLA PYAR

(At Satyam, Patel Nagar and other Delhi theatres)

Two cheers. No, two cheers and a quarter actually to Robby Grewal for a film that is a breeze. Almost like a soothing walk in the park. No melodrama, no elaborate dances. Not much that is larger than life either. Just a nice, little peek into teenage angst, that first crush, that indefinable something extra which sweeps you off your feet. Yes, something called love -- pehla, pehla pyar, that arrives unannounced, never ever departs.

It is a usual love story, the kind any college-going kid will be able to pen. Boy meets girl in school, their eyes meet, there is electric energy all round. Books fall, boy and girl stoop to pick them up, finger touch... yes, it has that familiarity about it: the kind of familiarity that years later breeds offspring!

Where Robby scores is in the nice momentum he imparts to the proceedings, and also in resisting all temptation to add a dash of the hyperbole. His lead pair of Ruslan and Hazel is delectably young; a far cry from other love stories where 30-something heroes and 25-ish heroines try to pass off for college or school kids. Music is soothing, cinematography an able tool. In short, a film you would enjoy. As much as pehla, pehla pyar? Well, not quite: It is a shade too simplistic, lacks novelty too. But no vulgarities here, no rowdy-ism in the name of camaraderie.

THE TRAIN

(At Delite and other Delhi theatres)

Long working hours, unhappy marriages, sick child... . Directors Hasnain Hyderabadwala and Raksha Mistry's film has everything identifiable. Yet it fails to strike a chord. Why? Simply because the directors skim the surface and the film is replete with oversights that expect you to be blind. Also a music score by Himesh Reshammiya that leaves you wishing you were temporarily deaf too.

Starring Emraan Hashmi with Geeta Basra and Sayali Bhagat, the film had potential to hold interest. It starts off as the story of an advertisement professional, Hashmi, not having the best of marriages with Basra. And a sick child to tend to. However, soon it turns into a blackmail game as the man strays too far one evening. The rest is a thriller that demands some attention, leaving enough scope to stray out once too often!

Of course, the directors don't help the cause of a decent script with their bloomers: we have Basra stepping out for a Parents-Teachers Association meeting late in the evening! We have the hero travelling by taxi too often for the train sequence to be of any great import. And we have girls who don't shed clothes. A rarity? Not quite. They simply don't put them on in the first place.

Better miss this train.

RED SWASTIK

(At Regal and other Delhi theatres)

Every time Vinod Pande makes a "Red Swastik", he goes a step away from "Ek Baar Phir". Such is the human heart that one still wishes he would go back to the "Ek Baar Phir" days once more, nearly 30 summers after the first swallow.

That has rousing sensuality and warmth, this one has tame passion and lots of sleaze. Clearly, the work of an out-of-form, and, maybe, out-of-work, director.

"Red Swastik" starts off with a designer murder: we have the woman killer bending at just the right angle for a low angle camera shot to thrill the baser instincts. She holds the knife long enough in front of the throat of the victim, even pauses to look into the camera. Young Sherlyn Chopra clearly has much to learn.

One murder out of the way, a swastik mark in place, the killer calls up a lady journalist: it is a warning. The lady must stay out of her way. The cops step in, the journalist shows many facets of her personality, and the saga hurtles from the murder of one businessman to another: to keep the voyeurs in this age of free spirit happy, every man is murdered after intimacy with the killer!

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