‘Dostana’ and ‘Fashion’ brought homosexuality out of the closet. One assumes ‘Straight’ would take it one step ahead. It would look at gays, the relationships, the emotions. It doesn't. On the contrary, it talks of a person who's confused of his sexual preferences, one who doesn't know if he swings or not, is in fact homophobic.
Hrishikesh Mukherjee started a trend. Simple stories narrated in the most simplistic manner. His movies inspired a generation of film-makers and a lot of storytellers even today pay homage to Hrishi-da through their movies. Robby Grewal does so with ‘Aloo Chaat’. Only thing, the film lacks the sweetness associated that you expect from it.
Most film-makers often feel [and rightly so!] that a title should reflect the content of a film. But with a title like ‘Barah Aana’, you're completely clueless. That's because director Raja Menon's choice of the subject is equally unique. He enters an alley that most storytellers don't risk entering.
Film-makers across the globe have often told stories of calamities/riots/disasters -- natural and unnatural -- and the aftermath. ‘Firaaq’, which marks the directorial debut of actress Nandita Das, also looks at the lives of common men after the riots in Gujarat.
In the good old days, formula films comprised of 6 songs, 7 action films, 5 blast and chase sequences, a few emotional moments, a couple of comic scenes and of course, the romantic portions. A paisa vasool entertainer was what the doctors prescribed for the ailing industry then.
In ‘Gulaal’, the storyteller attempts to tell multiple stories in one film. Student politics, a separate state for Rajputs, an intense love story that has a disastrous end… Kashyap's ‘Gulaal’ is intelligent, intense, disturbing, poignant and expectedly, cerebral.
Surprise, surprise, surprise! ‘Dhoondte Reh Jaoge’ is a pleasant surprise, frankly. Let's admit, we've witnessed a spate of nonsensical comedies in the past and laughed during most of them actually. ‘Dhoondte Reh Jaoge’ is also non-stop nonsense, but, thankfully, with a story.
There's a thin line that divides unconventional and experimental cinema. ‘Siddharth - The Prisoner’, directed by debutante Pryas Gupta, has an unconventional plotline, but what comes across is quite abstract. In fact, a film like ‘Siddharth - The Prisoner’ is more suited for film festivals, not mainstream commercial platform.
Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra thinks out of the box and it's more than evident now. First ‘Aks’, then ‘Rang De Basanti’, now ‘Delhi 6’. A two-liner of the story may give you an impression that it's similar to UTV's earlier outing ‘Swades’, directed by Ashutosh Gowariker: An American of Indian origin returns to his roots and decides to stay back in India. But ‘Delhi 6’ bites more than it can chew.
A businessman (Manoj Bajpai) has his office sealed because of a new law. He tries to convince the powers-that-be of his innocence and get the order revoked but faces the usual corrupt machinery.
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