Dear Zindagi

Dear Zindagi will resonate with the name Alia Bhat. She is the centre of the film and how? All of 23 Alia gives a pleasant yet gripping performance which flows through like the ripples created when you throw a stone in the pond. The ripples spread throughout the water body creating a beautiful visual effect of concentric circles that soothes your senses. We all feel incomplete in our relationships with parents which eventually have an impact on other relationships. The parent child relationship is the core of all our relationships and the rest of our relationships through our life are dependent on how strong, weak, fulfilled or unfulfilled our relationship was with our parents.

            Gauri narrates this story of any ordinary person in an extraordinary way through Kiara’s life. She relates the relationships of Kiara (Alia) with her parents and the aftermath of the incidents in her childhood. How the need for love and unfulfilled emotions of a small child show up in her connections with other human beings after growing up. How all of us carry heavy baggage of the mistakes our parents made into most of our adult life and how by letting it go we can create new dimensions in all of our relationships. It reminds me of a phenomenal program I participated in, which transformed my life. The program made me feel light though I weigh over 80 kgs. I won’t elaborate more for it is a different topic.

                                        

              Coming back to the film, the simple dialogues, casual acting of the youth in the film and the story line give a sense of comfort and can be related to easily. Shah Rukh overacts again or maybe it’s just his style. He holds back a bit too much as he delivers philosophical gyan which are highly intonated and pronounced in British accent. Am sure at least a few of those wise quotes are his own creations. The film tends to get boring but the strength of the story and scene sequences pull you through the life of Koko. A good watch if you don’t mind a laid back and casual experience. But if you are looking for drama and action then you should think again.

Rating – 3 /5 

Ventilator (Marathi)

An emotionally charged film, Ventilator, at the heart of it, is a film about the father and son relationship. And over that relationship are the rest of the relationships wound as extensions, which happens in most Indian families. The typical nuances and behavior of the near, distant, urban, rural, close and estranged relatives of us Indians has been brought to fore in a light, comical and entertaining fashion. The characters are fully developed and matured giving each actor a complete script to perform to her best. Rajesh Mapuskar has written a great story digging deep into the thought, emotions and behavior of any Indian family. Men in our or any culture, for that matter, do not express their fondness for each other. This complicates the father and son relationship to a point of suffering for which, many times, both of them are responsible. This film is able to expose that underlying tension, misunderstandings and wordlessness of this relationship in a way that will leave you emotional and tearful. And this entire baggage that most of us carry throughout our lives, attains nirvana when either of them is on the verge of being lost or already lost. The feelings and emotions drain you out in those difficult moments and relax you after the tide has passed.  Death in the family often transforms you in a way to maturity and wisdom. And with the blessings of Lord Ganesh this film will surely move you and hopefully encourage you to tell your father that you love him. A must watch film with brilliant performances by each and every actor especially Jitendra Joshi and Satish Aalekar who stood out.

Rock On 2

I wasn’t sure if I will watch this film and still can’t believe I watched it. A senseless film trying very hard to cash on its previous success, which I believe was a failure in the first place. The makers are living in a bubble thinking that it was a cult film and that anything to do with rock music can be a revolution of sorts. Are they trying to capitalize on the hippie movement of the 70’s which signified freedom pf thought and expression through the most creative rock n roll music ? If so then where is the effing music ? There are hardly any songs or music, let alone rock music. A remote lead on the guitar in some corner of a miserable song is supposed to be rock music to which the dumb kids are shown to be grooving?  IS it about a social cause that music is helping to revive? Is it about a dead man who committed suicide because his talent was not recognized? Is it about a group of musicians trying to get back to doing what they love to do the most? Is it about a girl whose father is denying her self-expression? What is this film about? I did not quite get it. Whatever happened to the dialogues? There is no script. Arjun Rampal is repulsive.

Nonsense! Don’t waste your time.