Half Year Movie Report 2017 (Indian)
It's July. Half the year has come and gone, hence it's time for my half-year movie report.
So like every year, there will be two lists, one for my favorite Indian movies, and then another for my favorite Hollywood movies so far.
Lets start with Indian movies first!
Trapped was a survival tale like no other. Movies like Cast Away and 127 Hours were set-up in unpopulated areas, but Trapped on the other hand was set-up in the center of Mumbai city. A city that is filled with people, but can at the same time make you feel like the loneliest person on earth.
I thoroughly enjoyed this experience.
2. A Death In The Gunj - 4/5
I managed to see this movie just few days back thanks to Amazon Prime.
What a movie. Every frame was oozing poetry.
This is renowned actress Konkona Sen Sharma’s first outing as a director, but it feels like she has been doing this for a while. She has a firm grip on humans, and human emotions, that transpires through the screen.
Cant wait to see what she has to offer next.
Baahubali 2 was a huge achievement for Indian cinema. It was not just entertaining, but also one of the most technically sound movie to come out of India.
It was a visual treat. Yes, it had flaws, but one must remember, this was a $200 million ambition movie, made with the budget of not even $50 million.
And that itself is a big achievement.
I saw this documentary at the New York Indian Film Festival. Going in I was a bit skeptical as to what to expect from this movie.
But boy was I surprised. This documentary gives you an honest and unbiased narration of Sunny Leone, the Canadian-born, American-bred adult film star who is pursuing her dreams of Bollywood stardom.
5. Sachin - A Billion Dreams - 4/5
Unlike Mostly Sunny, Sachin’s documentary shared verry little that we as cricket fans don’t already know. Yet, despite that, this documentary works as a nostalgic trip down memory lane.
If you are a cricket fan, this movie is a must watch.
Poorna is another movie I managed to see recently thanks to Amazon Prime.
It is a true story of a young 13 year old girl, who against all odds of poverty, patriarchy, and red tape, manages to become the youngest girl in history to climb Mount Everest.
Directed by Rahul Bose, Poorna is a sweet and honest movie.
Bose manages to tell an underdog story, that perhaps we have heard many a times in many different forms, yet Poorna is a pleasant watch that never fells dull for a moment.
Hindi Medium, a movie about the Indian education system, and what we are putting children through, was a brave movie.
I just wish the director and producer would have made it without the pressure of Box Office, and removed the unnecessary songs from the movie.
Still this movie works for the message it is trying to give, all thanks to the now and only Irrfan Khan. Yet again he manages to mesmerize you, every time he is onscreen.
Rangoon was a frustrating watch for me. Not because it was a bad movie, but because there were parts of this movie that were so well done, and then there were parts that were just outright stupid. This is a movie that could have been excellent, but ends up being good. And that’s a shame because director Vishal Bhardwaj has in the past delivered masterpieces like Omkara with Saif Ali Khan and Haider with Shahid Kapoor. And my expectation from this movie was to get a similar result.
But despite all this, Rangoon was a marvelous movie. It was an ambitious attempt, and for that I give points to Bharadwaj. The production design and set design were of grand scale.But what made Rangoon worth a watch were the performances by its lead actors. They pour their hearts and souls into these characters, and fleshed out layers that were just astounding.
I had my apprehensions regarding this movie.
I really liked the first movie with Arshad Warsi, mostly for its small budget feel and the honesty that comes with it. So when I heard that the producers have replaced him with Akshay Kumar to make it “more appealing” I was worried that they will mess things up.
I was half right and half wrong.
Like Hindi Medium, the issue in this movie was also the unnecessary songs, constantly interrupting the narrative. But Akshay Kumar ensures that he puts his heart to this role, and keeps the core drama alive.
Raees was a throwback to the 70’s masala movies, and had an inherent Salim-Javed kind of storytelling to it. And Shah Rukh Khan’s role was very reminiscent of The Original Angry Young Man roles portrayed by Mr. Amitabh Bachchan in movies like Deewar, Hum, and Agneepath, where the protagonist is on the wrong side of the law, but on the right side of humanity.
The interactions between SRK and Nawazuddin were the lifelines of the movie. To watch these two actors play off each other and deliver the dialogue-baazi was a sheer pleasure. It was evident that both SRK and Nawazuddin refused to let SRK’s superstardom come in the way of their performances. And that was a big win for Raees.
