Movie Review: Shahid - Uncomfortable Yet Inspiring

Rating: 3.5/5

Harshal Mehta's Shahid - The biopic based on the inspiring life of Human Rights Activist and Lawyer Shahid Azmi is one of those movies which will keep lingering in your mind for hours or may be days after you move out of the movie hall, quite unlike majority of the Bollywood movies which you watch, enjoy and then completely forget about as soon as you walk out of the cinema hall.

The movie very beautifully deals with two very sensitive topics - terrorism and the baseless perception-induced harassment and ill-treatment of Muslims.

The movies "New York" and "My Name is Khan" too were based on the same subject and have both been successful; but Shahid is a much more powerful work on the subject than the two movies mentioned above.You may ask "What makes it so powerful?". Well, here are the reasons:

• Raj Kumar Yadav's terrific performance:  Raj Kumar plays the role of Shahid with immense conviction - his acting helps you connect to the character's pain, joy, anxiety and fear. Other noteworthy performances in the movie are that of Mohammed Ayyub Zeeshan (as Shahid's elder brother) and Baljinder Kaur (as Shahid's mother) and Shalini Vatsa (as a prosecution lawyer).

• No glamorization:  No A-list stars like SRK and Katrina, no songs to draw the audience to the theater, a non-fabricated depiction of the courtroom environment and yet the movie has the same impact.

• A believable portrayal of Shahid's life: While taking us through Shahid's life, the writer Sameer Gautam does not attempt to camouflage any flaws in the character's personality. Most of the biopics on inspiring people just focus on the good in their personalities and thus the characters appear to be unreal. However, in this movie Sammer subtly highlighted the mistakes that Shahid made in his personal life - he ignored his wife and son as he got engrossed in work and also hurt the feelings of his ever supportive mother and elder brother at times.

There are a few disconnects in the screenplay; but overall, the movie manages to achieve what it intends to - create an impact in the minds of the audience.

This production by Anurag Kashyap may not be a huge box-office success but those who watch it will be happy that they did.

  

Movie Review: Gravity - A Marvelous Experience

Rating 5/5

Brilliant Si-Fi movies are many but those packed with a strong dose of emotions are rare - Alfonso Cuaron's Gravity is one such rare movie.

The story of two astronauts' struggle to survive a space calamity, very beautifully touches two subjects - the obvious astrophysics and the not so obvious human psychology. The characters are so strong that you will connect with them even without getting to really see their physical selves hidden underneath the space suits. 

The astounding performances of the two leads (Sandra Bullock and George Clooney), the stunning cinematography that almost takes the audience to a 93 minute space ride, the brilliant direction and intriguing story - all these elements put together make this movie the best movie of the year.

For those planning to watch the movie - I earnestly request you to pay respect to this masterpiece by choosing a theater with a good 3D experience to watch this movie. 

Movie Review: Weak Script + Bad Music = Besharam

Rating: 2/5

Over the years the cinema goers have developed a kind of trust in Ranbir Kapoor's ability to pick up good scripts; Besharam however, has definitely managed to mark a dent on that trust if not completely washed it away. 

All the movie goers who ignored the "boring movie" signals in the trailers just because they believed that Ranbir Kapoor and director Abhinav Kashyap will never fail to entertain them will be highly disappointed.

Besharam's script is so weak that even the stardom of and good performances by the Kapoors fail to keep the movie alive. Yes I agree, that quite a few movies with weak scripts or rather absence of scripts (movies like Dabang) have been box office successes in the past; but those movies at least had hum-able songs - Besharam fails on that parameter too. One, the songs are absolutely tasteless in terms of music and picturization, then to add to the boredom of the audience, there is a song after every few minutes. 

The movie still manages to get 2 stars because it was funny in parts and all the actors performed well - Pallavi Sharda's acting needs some polishing though.

In short, this movie is a family movie - the Kapoor Family movie I mean.