Phoonk De...

On Friday night, with much zeal & expectations, I went to watch RGV's proclaimed "best" film in last 5 yrs. I was accompanied by two of my friends as well... It was a 11:15 pm show... I was expecting lots of shocks & scare from the film and believe me, it didn't let me down!!!

The first shock came in the form of HOUSE FULL show in spite of Ramu's last array of amazingly preposterous films...Though we got decent seats but I was REALLY shocked to see people sitting in the front row to watch a horror-flick by Ram Gopal Varma!!! Also I was happy to see the optimism in Indian audience... Now you must be wondering why "I" also went for the film??? Answer is simple - I LOVE HORROR FILMS... and my fav horror films are those of Ramsay bros. with over-the-top ghosts, female ghosts with white saarees etc... I think I've watched almost all of 'em...

Coming back to Phoonk…To begin with I donno why the film is called Phoonk?? There was no explanation of it throughout the film…Ok, so coming to story, like all other horror films, it can be told in 2-3 sentences. A successful, atheist-to-core constructor is leading a very happy life with his family of 5. Like all other fathers, he loves his daughter more than anyone else. His business partners (a couple looks like spastic victims!!!) betray him and he throws them out of his party in front of 100 other people. Feeling awfully insulted, couple decided to seek revenge without killing or harming the constructor…so they decided to pick up the daughter from the family as their prey as she is closest to her father, the same was depicted earlier in the film. And finally the bizarre incidents (as bizarre as flying!!!) that are happening to his daughter shook his world completely and he was forced to believe in God & Evil…

Now, till intermission, not even a SINGLE scary moment makes you miss your heart beat…and the scariest moment you would come across till now is the frame when it shows “A Ram Gopal Varma Film”!!!

Post intermission, RGV makes you watch his arrogance in filmmaking…film has many outlandish (in a negative way obviously) shots where no attention was paid to jump cuts, imaginary lines, focus & framing etc. He took the shots as & how HE wanted to take them...most of the shots are out-focus as they call it & there is absolutely NO framing whatsoever!!!

And if we leave technicalities apart, content was even stranger… I really want to meet a single mother who sees her daughter “flying” (well, literally) repeatedly in her room and gets pacified when doctors told her that it’s a psychological disorder!!! And to worsen it, she was a firm believer in God as shown…C’mon Ramu, we all know you’re a genius but we, audience, also at least have common sense if not brains!!!

And I definitely don’t want to go into acting of the cast…I think the only “actor” film had was Ashwini Kalsekar and her talent was appallingly underused by I-am-the-God syndrome victim Mr. Ram Gopal Varma…but still I think anyone who should be nominated in this years award functions is the crow on the tree…He has a bigger role than most of the cast put together. And then there is a “yo-maid” in the film who was smarter & more sophisticated than the owner of the house!!! Also, there is a pervert driver in the film who drove only “twice” in the entire film even though there are many driving scenes in the film… Also the main lead is dreadfully unpersuasive. The male protagonist was not at all looking like a “successful” constructor with a “bungalow” in Mumbai!!! The wife is a housewife and a profound advocate of God. But why she needs to be in saree all the time and why she can’t behave like a wife of super-successful constructor who got the contract of IT-Park in Delhi??? Why we still have to glue to the banal presentation of the characters in our films? Why can’t a girl with micro-minis & capris believe in God? It’s really excruciating to see a director who “used” to believe in genuinely different stuff has fallen into the prey of commercial bonanzas!!!

In short, the film will have absolutely NO impact on anyone’s life in contrast to what is maker’s attempt…and don’t go to watch the film with the assurance that it can’t get worse than AAG…you might feel disappointed...

Any Given Day!!!

Film opens with a scene which has a voice over and Anupam Kher sitting at sea shore… You’re with the film from this 1^st scene itself… the voice over compels you to find out who is this “bastard” who had penetrated Anupam Kher’s and others lives and tainted them forever…

I’ll not talk about the story of the film as there is nothing novel or fresh in it but still it’s a incredibly smart script…“almost” PERFECT!!! Film keeps you with it since the 1^st frame till the last…

It’s extremely commendable and valiant of the writer, director and the producer to think and write a script which has two 55+ actors in the lead, which has no songs, which has no item number, which has no female lead and no foreign locations…it’s almost like they all first sat together and discussed what all BIG NOs are there in a commercial Hindi film and then they choose all of ‘em and made it into a film and how!!!

There have been lots of terrorism centric films lately and that also more Mumbai leaning and this one is also no different. But the difference lies in treatment, script, acting and above all, sincerity…This is a film made with full earnestness and concern about the theme and not just to posture that “yeah, we’re also serious filmmakers!!!” There is not even a single flash of ostentation in the film. It is made with heart and it touches you exactly at your heart…

I, as a film lover, went to watch the film only because of one reason – the noxious combo of Naseeruddin Shah & Anupam Kher…I think these two are one of the preeminent actors Bollywood has ever produced. And what a performance!!! It’s just inevitable to give a standing ovation to these two…essentially it’s a Naseeruddin Shah film and you’ve to watch it to believe me but him & “only him” could do this role…There is NO ONE in the industry today (barring Om Puri) who can lug off this role with such alleviation and fervor…he was just staggering in the film…and so is Anupam Kher. The way he played the Commissioner of Police, you want to believe every word he is saying…rest of the cast is also alluring in their performances…

In spite of my inestimable attempts, I couldn’t find gaffes in the film, barring the fact that it wasn’t novel idea…Film has such radiant delicate touches which reside on you perpetually…my favorite out of those is the one where Naseeruddin Shah goes back to the terrace to collect the sack full of vegetables for his wife, which he forgot in scurry to escape from Police…These 5 seconds just stays with you forever and gives you such a subterranean insight of his character…you want to whistle, you want to stand and clap for him, you want to hug him…

I’m actually running out of words for this film…this is happening to me after really long otherwise I always have fathomless things to say about a film and that to by and large negative!!! But this film has clean bowled me from top to bottom…and this is because you’re more often than not exposed to films which are made with all heart and with no veiled agenda…I think the last such film was Taare Zameen Par and before that Swades…I can’t remember any other film in recent times which was made with such genuineness and candor…

And as far as rating the film is concern, there is no doubt it deserves 4 stars, one less for a NOT novel concept…

Thanks a mountain to Neeraj Pandey for giving us 100 mins of honesty, hard work, ardor and earnestness…Plz go and watch the film, you can’t afford to miss it…Hence I said "Any Given Day"...