D DAY

Here is MY review on D DAY. You are at complete freedom to agree/disagree.

D DAY (India Strikes Back)

Viewers are fast becoming familiar with names of real secret service agencies and cross border covert operations courtesy modern day spy movies like EK THA TIGER and AGENT VINOD. Of course, movies like Ek Tha Tiger and Agent Vinod are all about a hero who can sing, dance and romance and also “happens” to be a spy, albeit an indestructible one. Thankfully, D Day is none of this.

For most people, this movie must have come out of the blue as there was no heavy duty promotion as is the norm today. In fact, I was a bit apprehensive thinking that it might be another wannabe jingoistic film, what with a tagline which reads – “India Strikes Back”. But it turned out to be quite a pleasant surprise. Nikhil Advani who has flops like PATIALA HOUSE and CHANDNI CHOWK TO CHINA to his credit has come good with a taut spy thriller.

STORY

India’s most wanted criminal, Iqbal Seth alias Goldman (no prizes for guessing who we are talking about) needs to be brought back to India from our Unfriendly neighbourhood by India’s secret service agents. The RAW Director hopes to pull off the biggest gamble of his career before he rides into the sunset. Although the plan is foolproof with years of research and planning, Mission Goldman still fails and Goldman slips from RAW’s grip. However, the agents regroup and manage to capture their Big Fish and bring him back to India, of course not without their share of sacrifices.

THE GOOD THINGS

The movie starts well with just enough introduction. It takes on real characters and situations but the bulk is fiction. This is not an out and out spy thriller but has some genuine emotional quotient too. But credit to the scriptwriter and director who do not allow the emotions to get the better of the movie’s soul. No unnecessary rona-dhona and SRK style overacting. The story has protagonists from different backgrounds, each fighting his/her own demons. However, precious time is not wasted on individual stories. There is no ‘unnecessary’ song and dance to interrupt the flow and THANK GOD no item number just because we are talking about underworld here. The songs are good and video of ALVIDA is a FIRST where two scenes, one showing Shruti Hassan being brutalized by Goldman’s nephew and another showing ARJUN RAMPAL deducing what happened to Shruti through the tell tale signs of violence and struggle, have been seamlessly stitched together. The song has instant repeat value.

Dialouges deserves a special mention. There is nothing superfluous. Rishi is given some paisa vasool lines. Sample this, when Arjun has his gun on Rishi, he says – “Trigger kheench, mamla mat kheench, agar mamla kheencha toh bahut bura hoga.”  Thankfully, there are no ‘Bharat mata ki jai’ kind of dialogues.

The script has good suspense with some good twists in the plot. No unnecessary abuses and adult scenes other than those which effortlessly fitted into the script. No BHAI type language. Details of Goldman and his ISI links are not overdone.

Music by Shankar, Eeshan, Loy gets a thumbs up. Nothing loud and jarring. A better effort than last week’s BMB. Camera work is good. Karanchi has been beautifully and convincingly recreated. Action scenes are believable and thankfully no ‘over the top’ gun wielding scenes.

Overall, it is a fiction film which has a realistic touch to a large extent.

ACTING

RISHI KAPOOR as Goldman is good. I dare say I like him more now than when he was in his prime. He is showing us what he always had but we never SAW. If you have seen Do Dooni Chaar, Agneepath, Aurangzeb and now D Day, you will understand what I mean. IRRFAN as Wali Khan, a barber, is convincing, as usual. He is such a natural that he doesn’t seem to be acting on screen. He is one of the most fluid actors today who just gets under the skin of the character. HUMA QURESHI as Zoya Rehman is easy on the eyes and she does quite well in the space provided. ARJUN RAMPAL as Capt Rudra Pratap Singh does what he is paid to do and impresses with his vastly improved skills. There was a time when he seemed ill at ease on screen. He should thank ROCK ON for turning things around for him or he would have landed up in the list of “could have been stars”. NASSER as RAW Director does a neat job without talking much. SHRUTI HASSAN as the prostitute in Karanchi does a fair job. AAKASH DAHIYA as Aslam is a surprise package and fits the role to the T. SHRISWARA as Irrfan’s wife is another pleasant surprise. In a small role, she doesn’t try too hard and still manages to garner attention. CHANDAN ROY SANYAL as Goldman’s bhanja is OK.

THE NOT SO GOOD THINGS

Although the direction is good overall, I don’t understand the present day fixation with trying to show 3-4 different scenes/locations all at the same time constantly jumping from one scene to the other. Seriously guys, it confuses the hell out of the uninitiated, untrained moviegoer. After all, it takes years of untiring effort to be a viewer like me!! While the script is good and tight most of the time, it does get loose at certain points, like- how the agents manage to stay in Karanchi without getting caught when literally the entire country’s defence forces are after them- is not very plausible. Also, the end has Goldman laughing at the RAW agents and mocking them that they have no choice but to capture him alive. He tells them that because of the Indian system of delaying decisions on criminals (all for the sake of living up to the reputation of being a great democracy) no harm will come to him. Although it is a clever way of voicing popular public opinion through the villian’s mouth, it seemed a tad amateurish.  

I have a major problem with the tagline “India Strikes Back”. It doesn’t do justice to the film’s content and sounds somewhat ‘downmarket’. Sounds more like a headline when the Indian cricket team wins after losing a string of matches. Mark my words, it could end up as a major reason for discouraging people from seeing the movie.  

FINAL COMMENTS

A good movie which has repeat value, however, those averse to violence, die hard fans of SRK and KARAN JOHAR movies and fans of Yeh Jawani Hai Diwani type of movies can safely keep miles away. I will not call the movie extraordinary as with lesser actors it could have failed to impress.

Just watched Bhaag Milkha Bhaag. Here is (purely) MY REVIEW from my point of view.

BHAAG MILKHA BHAAG

As far as I am concerned, the movie did not live up to what was expected. No don’t panic, I don’t exactly mean Bhaag Viewer Bhaag!! At its core, it is a good movie, a very good movie, in fact. An inspirational biopic almost always touches the heart. PAAN SINGH TOMAR is a case in point. The problem with Bhaag Milkha Bhaag is that even though it is honestly made, it gives a feeling that the story could have been told in a much better way.

First, the Good Points.

FARHAN AKHTAR is known to be a hard working method actor and he has already hogged enough media space with stories and pictures of how he has readied himself for the role. In this regard, Farhan needs to be complimented for having prepared extremely well for the role. Not just his physique but his running stance and athletic mannerisms also match that of a professional athlete. Acting wise also, he has done a fair job. As far as the side actors go, PAVAN MALHOTRA stands out as his Army coach. Pavan performs these kind of roles with extreme ease. Those of my time will remember him from Nukkad and Salim Langde Pe Mat Ro days and will agree that he was made for bigger things than just doing odd sardar roles (remember Jab We Met). PRAKASH RAJ is underutilized although he did justice to whatever little space he got. DIVYA DUTTA, as usual has done well in a tailormade role of a Punjabi lady. To say that SONAM KAPOOR has been underutilized will in itself be an understatement, such has been her unemploybility. I thought Pandit Nehru was slightly caricatured. The camera work is very good, especially the fast running and slow motion clips are extremely clear as are the close up shots of feet hitting the track and soil scattering. The background score is good and is not too loud during dialogue delivery. Overall, the direction is good.

Now with a heavy heart, the Not So Good Points.

Too much of FARHAN’S TIME is spent in song and dance which brings me to the issue of songs. TOO MANY SONGS mean that a Rajdhani train has been converted into a normal passenger train with too many stoppages. The songs serve as unnecessary distraction and there are quite a few of them. A song situation like that in “Slow Motion Angreza” is difficult to digest. Milkha singing and dancing with an Australian girl in a pub in Melbourne was absolutely not required. Such things take away the realism from a biopic. All this stretches the movie beyond the comfort level. So much time is given to Milkha’s love life and partition flashback that many of the important international wins are just shown as a slideshow. These things make the movie more filmy and less biopic. The flashback is too disjointed with too many to and fro cuts, at times leaving the audience confused as to which stage of youth Milkha is in. Farhan sports a heavily muscled six pack which seemed overkill to me as Milkha in his prime had a lean and toned body without a conventional six pack. The number of women who are shown attracted to Milkha would make even SRK cringe. The track showing the Indian swimmer Perizaad getting close to Milkha was just not required.

Having seen both PAAN SINGH TOMAR and BHAAG MILKHA BHAAG, I can’t help but compare the two. FARHAN is very good but he has not brought rustic touch to his character like IRFAN has done to his in Paan Singh Tomar. But then probably, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra never wanted it that way. Perhaps, he wanted to make a “Bollywoodish” biopic.

FINAL COMMENTS

When you see the movie, you want to LIKE it for Farhan’s efforts, for Milkha’s achievements or simply for the fact that for once we are talking of a sport other than cricket even if in reel life. But you can’t thoroughly enjoy it. It’s like going for those unbelievable “End of Season” sales where you feel you have got a great bargain until you get entangled in the TERMS and CONDITIONS.

But despite its weak points, it is still a movie to watch for Farhan and Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra. Don’t go looking for a serious biopic, though.