Beyond Good and Evil
Film: Badlapur, Cast: Varun Dhawan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Huma Qureshi, Yami Gautam, Directed by: Sriram Raghavan, Duration: 2 hrs 7 mins, Rating: * * * *Revenge maybe a dish best served cold but as Friedrich Nietzsche rightly says in Beyond Good and Evil “Anyone who fights with monsters should take care that he does not in the process become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.”
From the director who made Johnny Gaddar (2007) one of the greatest thrillers ever in the history of cinema, Badlapur is a return to form for Sriram Raghavan, after the disappointing Agent Vinod. Raghvan’s forte is engaging the audience with the proceedings, the way he has crafted the characters and added twists and turns to the story, it could easily go on for another couple of hours and you would still be engrossed with his story telling.
Based on the story by Italian writer Massimo Carlotto, essentially, Badlapur as the title suggests, is a story of revenge. With a Raghavan film, you have to pay attention to the details right from the opening credits. If Johnny Gaddar was a tribute to James Hadley Chase and Vijay Anand, there is a ‘thank you’ to Don Siegel, the director of Dirty Harry (1971) here.
The tag line of Badlapur says ‘Don’t miss the beginning’ and rightly so. The first 15 minutes are as gripping as it can get. From the camera placed across a not particularly busy street in Pune we see some ordinary goings- on. A vendor selling fruits, cops’ trying to tow away a vehicle – the camera is static capturing the mundane proceedings but you know something is going to give in. A bank robbery goes wrong resulting in a tragedy, shots are fired and a woman and a kid die. Only the audience and one of the two thieves know who is responsible for the deaths. One of them, Liak (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) is taken into custody claiming he is innocent and it was the other man who was responsible. Raghu (Varun Dhawan) meanwhile can’t overcome the deaths and seeks revenge. He is ready to wait and a long wait it turns out to be to settle scores with those who were responsible.
The screenplay never lets you guess which way the story is heading and just when you think it has reached a dead-end, a new path opens up. The finale takes off on a different tangent altogether and though it may not be a very traditional climax in that sense it makes some points about morality by turning the story on its head. After all, there is no such thing as moral phenomena, but only a moral interpretation of phenomena.
The characters are fascinating – primarily it revolves around Raghu a sober ad executive who runs amok and Liak, the shrewd villain of the piece. In fact, Liak reminded me a lot the Joker, he is menacing, calculative and couldn’t care less. The others are also equally absorbing, Huma Qureshi as prostitute, Divya Dutta as a social worker, Vinay Pathak as the partner in crime and Radhika Apte as his wife all add to the conundrum.
Anil Mehta’s cinematography is from the top draw and on the acting front, Varun Dhawan makes an impression in a serious role and Nawazuddin Siddiqui steals the show again with his savior faire.
Badlapur is streets ahead of the rest and hence deserves a look.
Long hike to freedom
Film: Wild, Cast: Reese Witherspoon, Laura Dern, Directed by: Jean-Marc Vallée, Duration: 1 hr 55 mins, Rating: * * 1 / 2
Based on the memoirs of Cheryl Strayed, Wild is the story of a woman who went on a considerably long hike to overcome grief and tragedy. Her experiences and adventures may have made for an interesting book (which I have not read) but it doesn’t translate into a very interesting film.
There have been films on adventures taken by people where some adventures going wrong giving a few thrills to the audience. Directed by Jean-Marc Vallée (of Dallas Buyers Club fame) it is not easy to adapt a story where the experiences have been personal, how do you portray the self discovery of a person who spends time with nature. In the end, the screenplay resorts to a voice-over to sum Cheryl’s experiences.
She (Reese Witherspoon) decides to take a hike along the Pacific Crest Trail after a break up with her husband of seven years and after her mother’s death. In rather dull flashbacks we are told about her past – how she was a drug addict, slept with any man she liked and had her relationship with her mother. In other words, there is precious little to sympathise with her character. The nature walk is on expected lines, she meets strangers, snakes, encounters rain and snow but since she is a willing participant in the adventure you don’t feel sorry for her.
Taking is a long solo can help you discover yourself and put things in perspective but it doesn’t necessarily make a good film. Reese Witherspoon has received an Oscar nomination for her performance but in all honesty, there is nothing extraordinary about her acting. Wild may possibly work for some who have been through similar experiences but for me it didn’t.
Drum Maro Drum
Film: Whiplash, Cast: Miles Teller, J K Simmons, Directed by: Damien Chazelle, Duration: 1 hr 47 mins, Rating: * * * * 1 / 2
Based on his short film, director Damien Chazelle has expanded Whiplash into a full length feature. To put it plainly, this is an extraordinary film. In terms of the basic story of a student-teacher relationship it not only has a slightly different arc but it is the execution and all the other elements, acting, direction, music, editing which make Whiplash an exhilarating cinematic experience of the highest order.
When you step out of the theatre after a stupendous climax, you might even feel that you are floating in the air, like Birdman.
So what makes Whiplash so special? One word to describe it would be intensity. This is TNT packed in a can.
Through a dark corridor, we see a young man picking the sticks getting ready to play the drums. The camera starts moving towards him, slowly as he lets himself loose on the drum set. The young man in question is Andrew (Miles Teller), who in the middle of it all suddenly realises that a senior teacher is watching him. The teacher is Fletcher who turns out to be the hardest task master you can imagine. Not only is a highly disciplined but one mistake and you are roasted in front of everyone. So much so that a young man literally wets his pants on being scorned by Fletcher.
Andrew is a loner of sorts – occasionally he spends time with his father (they go to the cinema to watch Rififi, one of the greatest heist movies). He fancies a girl (Melissa Benoist) working at the cinema but his first love still remains drumming.
He gets the odd chance to perform for Fletchers band but it is not easy dealing with the man. Large part of the film delves on the two –while the young man is ambitious, talented and hardworking, is that enough to make the cut?
Writer/director Chazelle also focuses on the fact that how much one should or can push himself and others to take them to the next level? It could well end in the student turning out the next big sensation or it could end in a tragedy.
There have been films about teacher- student relationships but they are mostly the goody-goody ones where the former inspires the latter and brings out the best in them. But Fletcher is one sadist you don’t want to mess around with.
The film builds the tension and winds up on a high – the music score is in overdrive and even the manner in which the music is shot throughout the film is terrific.
The two lead actors contribute immensely – Miles Tellis as the young protégé literally spilled blood while playing the drums and more importantly he conveys the vulnerability of his character with conviction. As for J K Simmons (recognisable as Peter Parkers boss in Spiderman), he has given a performance of a lifetime. As the Best Supporting Actor, the Oscar award is his for the taking.
For those who love music and for also for those who don’t, Whiplash is a must watch.
