Movie Jugjugg Jeeyo: Divorcepanti Could Have Been a More Apt Title!

If you had ever got the idea of perceiving ‘divorce’ as one of the funniest and craziest words or concepts in human conjugal life and then had dismissed the idea as a wild one…well, you were not entirely wrong. For your solace or rather vindication we have here a movie titled Jugjugg Jeeyo(correct Hindi form is ‘Jug Jug Jeeyo’ meaning ‘live long and prosperous,) that reduces ‘divorce’ to the kind you’d perceived, doesn’t matter if you’d done so with experience leaking or not as the movie itself doesn’t bother about that either. Your conviction is further heightened by the fact that the movie is not of the ordinary type, having the iconic Karan Johar as one of the producers and his famous banner ‘Dharma Productions’ to boot. And then, the star-cast is really mouthwatering with the ever popular veterans Anil Kapoor and Neetu Singh along with the immensely talented actors of the younger generation—Varun Dhawan and Kiara Advani in the lead roles—supported well by the ebullient television anchor with a good comic timing, Manish Paul. Perhaps it’s thanks to all such ‘helpful’ factors that the movie has proved to be a hit. However, the ‘divorce’ obsession remains throughout its length of 150 minutes and the storyline has reduced ‘divorce’ to such a funny-crazy-lopsided caricature that, in the glorious traditions of movies like ‘Pagalpanti’ or ‘Heropanti-2’, we’ve declared at the title level that ‘Divorcepanti’ (divorce-ism or divorce antics) could’ve been a more appropriately funny title.

 

The movie did try, however, a refreshing beginning with the indication of a budding school romance between Varun and Kiara who were attached to each other since their school days. But, as in the case of numerous other Bollywood (read Hindi) films, a boringly longish background song took full charge of the proceedings thence, watching them grow up and getting married as anticipated by us, more than the characters involved in the act. To make matters worse, the movie had undergone a further transition of 5 years by which time both Varun and Kiara were in a foreign country, with Varun struggling to earn a living by working in a hotel while Kiara is the topnotch VP material in a top corporation.

 

And things were not at all alright. For reasons unknown to us or the characters, apart from the job-difference between them, the staggering theme of the movie ‘divorce’ has already taken deep roots in their relationship. Again to make matters worse, before we could get a fair idea of the whys, another background song with heavily-loaded uncontrollably emotive sadness took us totally unawares, forcing us to get used to the ‘divorce’ phenomenon. A miserable Varun pleads with his childhood lover-wife to wait till the wedding of his sister get over in India, and then he promises her a divorce.

 

The movie comes back to Johar’s wonderful India; but the divorce syndrome does not leave any of them alone, and to the horrors of the hapless spectators that word or concept even seamlessly penetrates the 35-year-old relationship of Varun’s parents, played by Anil Kapoor and Neetu Singh. We don’t want to say that ‘divorce’ is an unrealistic concept, but as we’ve already made it amply clear we don’t buy the ludicrous proceedings centered on that word or concept. Again, the older couple decides to wait till the wedding of their daughter is over and done with. But not quite!

 

We don’t want to waste your or our time in trying to explain the caricaturing storytelling. The ‘divorce’ gets worsening more and more, even compelling the to-be-married daughter, played by debutante Prajakta Koli, to have re-think on her decision to choose a ‘reliable’ partner on parental advisory than the boyfriend she really loves. The girlfriend of Anil Kapoor, Tisca Chopra really wasted in a senseless role, heartily joins the caricaturing with ominous absurdity while the ‘wronged’ wife Neetu frets and fumes in one scene and breaks out laughing in another to perhaps help the director push the ‘comedy’ forward. There could be a near thousand background songs that never cease to litter the narrative, and heinously well supported by the grotesquely ‘comedy’ background music.

 

All the crazy happenings stop in the end when the males succeed in wooing back their female partners (legit). Therefore, you cannot expect even an iota of feminism in this worthless movie, and it’s all about the domineeringly chauvinistic husbands convincing their partners to not go ahead. Well, for the males ‘woo’ is the buzzword, they need to woo the girls in their prime youth, keep on wooing the wives later while having additional ‘wooing’ too and then when things go wrong for them they ‘woo’ back their life-partners. I write about such horrible waste of public money in these absurd and regressive movies, ‘hits’ or ‘flops’, just because of the reasons listed throughout this piece. And, when I get to watch these free on Prime Video.

Movie Heropanti-2: The Pinnacle of Insanity!

I had the misfortune of going for a movie in 2019 in a big theatre before the Pandemic put a stop to it, titled Pagalpanti (Madness) and was nearly driven mad. It was not my fault as the movie was having a lot of superstars and we went particularly because of Anil Kapoor. But now, after watching the new movie Heropanti-2 (heroism or hero antics) the previous movie seemed to have at least some kind of a method. The question arises then as to why I’ve made the mistake again! Well, firstly it was streaming free where I can ruthlessly go forward at will. And most importantly because I love the kid Tiger Shroff, son of my beloved Jackie Shroff, and ironically, Heropanti (2014) was Tiger’s debut film where his athletic and gymnastic skills plus his lithe, dancing and almost flying body were noticed. I watched only parts of that film some of which seemed a bit sensible, giving Tiger some scope to showcase his acting skills too, perhaps because it was a remake of a Telugu film. Of course, the movie flopped.

 

Coming back to this sequel, not clear why it was necessary at all, Heropanti-2 has absolutely no method in the sheer madness unfolding before your unbelieving eyes. All the characters are raving maniacs except perhaps for the goons who always know what exactly to do, thanks to their exhaustive exposure to the Bollywood tamasha. The immensely talented actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui, named Laila God doesn’t know why, did his best as a grotesquely comic monster that the script demanded and what he has been doing on the screen from the beginning he would’ve fitted a mental asylum much better. His sister, supposedly the heroine of the movie, is even madder than her brother, always jumping and pouncing on Bablu (Tiger) anytime and anywhere, irrespective of the situation they are in.

 

Rather sadder than madder is the fact that the movie doesn’t even try to utilize Tiger’s intense action skills. His character is also reduced to ridiculous mockery, all the time flying, prancing and jumping like a cat in a bid to escape from the attacking goon, again God doesn’t know why; till the last few scenes where some real fighting was required as suddenly Bablu got infected with a rare kind of ‘patriotism’, inculcated in him by a mysteriously comic-serious figure called Khan Saheb, purportedly the chief of an intelligence agency. At times, I couldn’t help thinking: is this meant to be a satirical take on something, nowadays popularly known as the ‘caged parrot’. Maybe the ‘insanity virus’ is affecting my brain too.

 

I really feel sorry for Tiger Shroff who has so far been used only as a stunt-hero, not giving him any chance to prove his acting talent except perhaps for the Baaghiaction franchise (three movies so far) where we can see his intensity as an actor to some extent. Well, Akshay Kumar and John Abraham are also called action heroes, but they’ve been getting ample opportunities to act in serious roles and also in good comedies. I think Tiger should start selecting his films very carefully from now onward and Jackie Dada should also give more attention to the kinds of movies his son’s being asked to ‘act’.

 

I wonder the sheer wastage of money, to the tune of 70 crore in this mad scrap, which could’ve been used for more humanitarian purpose like for the Pandemic-hit poor in the way Sonu Sood has been doing. This is, of course, very unfortunate that the virus has damaged Bollywood very heavily, snatching away many great artistes forever from us, reducing many others to depression due to lack of work and earnings, and perhaps driving a lot others just nuts, not knowing what to do for a recompense, thus landing up with such absurd projects. The best course of action at this juncture should be to go for low-budget serious movies or sensible comedies without keeping the focus constantly on the big stars only.

 

The story? Well, I don’t actually know if there was a story. Laila is supposed to be a magician who wants to loot all the money from all the banks of India on 31^st March with his ingenious App, God doesn’t know why once again. Bablu was supposed to be a government undercover agent, also a rouge at some stage and again a something between a villain and an agent. Once, perhaps two years back, Bablu helped the authorities to nab all of Laila’s gang; however, later the same team appears in New York to rob India from there. Maddening, you see! Don’t get into it even if it’s free, my advice. Get away from for sure, stay safe…and sane.

Movie Bachchan Paandey: The Comedy Of Horrors!

An out and out formulaic Bollywood movie ‘Bachchan Paandey’ has been theatrically released all over India on 18^th March 2022 and then Amazon Prime Video started streaming it from 15^th April. The movie’s release has been pending since December 2020 due to various reasons including the pandemic. ‘Bachchan Paandey’ is produced Sajid Nadiadwala of the famed filmmaking house of the Nadiadwala that is celebrating 70 years of filmmaking and is directed   by Farhad Samji. The film is reportedly a remake of the Tamil movie ‘Jigarthanda’ (2014) and also supposedly inspired by the South Korean flick ‘A Dirty Carnival’ (2006). The hero or the antihero or the protagonist or the antagonist, whatever you may decipher after watching the movie, of the movie is the immensely popular action-comedy hero Akshay Kumar with the female lead played by the new generation heroine Kriti Sanon. Popular comedian and character actor Arshad Warsi also plays a key role and Jacqueline Fernandez does a cameo.

 

The details of the genre shown about the movie include ‘comedy’, ‘action’ and ‘suspense’ which is rather confusing for the discerning viewers. At the very outset Bachchan Paandey played by Akshay Kumar is shown as the one-eyed brutal killer-goon-villain-or-whatever burning a journalist alive while in the process making facial distortions and caricatures of the most horridly scary kind. The casting of the superstar in this role is thus revealing. Viewers of the normal kind just cannot empathize with a menacing villain, but with Akshay playing it the expectations are set alive and kicking; because, viewers would very naturally expect a ‘justifying’ story behind as to why he is such a monster, and better late than never, the director does deliver a background story of love and betrayal that however turns out to be full of cliches and utter predictability.

 

I just cannot keep my mind away from the ‘genre’ complexities. Thinking it can probably fit in as a black comedy, I did some research by Google search and found that black comedy takes a lighter view of very serious subjects with doses of black or satiric or cynical humor. Unfortunately, we fail to find humor of any of those in the movie, unless gruesome maniacal caricatures and the ‘hero’ and his equally fitting goon-mates going often on a spree of killings while singing and dancing are considered to be humorous in India. So, I put in further efforts and discovered that the movie can somewhat fit in as black comedy of the ‘grotesque’ genre.

 

I also found a quote of Sigmund Freud in a Wikipedia page that says: Sigmond Freud in his essay on Humor (Der Humor) in 1927 puts forth the following theory of black comedy: "The ego refuses to be distressed by the provocations of reality, to let itself be compelled to suffer. It insists that it cannot be affected by the traumas of the external world; it shows, in fact, that such traumas are no more than occasions for it to gain pleasure." Perhaps this somewhat describes the character played by Akshay Kumar.

 

The poster of the film used here is also misleading, in the sense that the heroine Myra played by Kriti Sanon is not at all a gun-toting one, she is only a rebuffed budding film director who, looking for commercially viable subjects, finally sets her mind on Bachchan Paandey for a biopic. Helped, although reluctantly, her friend Vishu Kant Mhatre played by Arshad Warsi she lands in Paandey’s fiefdom of Baagwa where the law enforcers, somewhat realistic in the context of India, are impotent and unabashed slaves of Paandey.

 

Anyway, through a supposedly humorous and often ridiculous proceedings Myra finally succeeds in starting a film where Bachchan becomes the reel-hero too. However, she makes a comedy movie by capturing some off-script scenes through a hidden camera, contrary to the expectations of Bachchan and his goons that the movie would highlight Paandey’s lifetime principle of ‘fear is the key’. We are shown only bits of Myra’s film in the premiere show and are astounded by the responses of the viewers. Their LOLs and amusement would beat the great all-time comedy hits like ‘Padosan’ (1968), ‘Golmaal’ (1979) and ‘Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro’ (1983). We are at a total loss as to understand why.

 

The background score and the songs in their die-hard efforts to enliven the ‘comic’ affairs are the most jarring part of the movie and they force you go fast forward if you’re watching on the streaming platforms. Of course, cinematography and other technical details are as per the Bollywood standards. As for the humor or black humor or the lack of it the immensely talented Pankaj Tripathi playing a weird kind of an acting coach makes the sincerest efforts in his limited role to ignite some laughter. Although Myra’s comedy film is supposed to have brought about a change of heart in Paandey, he kills again in brutal abandon his political Guru played by Mohan Agashe. The movie is watchable only for Akshay Kumar, Arshad Warsi and Kriti Sanon. Of course, if you’re an Akshay fan you’re sure to shriek shrill and cheer his ‘change of heart’ at the very end.

Movie The Terminal: Steven Spielberg’s Rare Comedy Flick Rediscovered!

I consider it a happy accident that I found this movie titled ‘The Terminal’ (2004) directed by Steven Spielberg on a streaming platform. My surprise was beyond measure when I saw the genre written in the details of the movie—comedy! Well, it need not simply be my ignorance about this great filmmaker; because in most of Spielberg’s bios or filmography the said movie is never highlighted or talked about even though the movie was a commercial success. ‘The Terminal’ tells a delightful story of a character called Viktor Navorski from Easter Europe (indicating the Russian Republic) who arrives at New York John F Kennedy airport on a private mission only to find that in the meantime his native (fictional) country Kakrojhia had undergone a military coup and a new government had taken over. Since the US was yet to recognize the new government Viktor’s passport had become invalid and the airport supervisor took away all his documents including the passport refusing to allow him enter New York city or to go back home. Viktor Navorski, played by none other than the greatest of actors Tom Hanks, cannot speak much English and goes through a series of hilarious misfortunes during his nine-month stay at the terminal. We’ll come back to the movie a bit later.

 

Steven Spielberg had become a household name in the US after his blockbuster ‘Jaws’ in 1975; and if he was still not a household name in most other countries like India his ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’ in 1977, ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ in 1981, ‘ET the Extra Terrestrial’ in 1982, his creation of the franchise ‘Indiana Jones’ from 1984 and his two huge productions ‘Jurassic Park’ and ‘Schindler’s List’ in 1993 have made him more than that, almost a living legend of world cinema. Spielberg is said to be the most commercially successful director of Hollywood till date with almost each of his films achieving box-office hit status, critical acclaim and Academy Awards nominations and awards. He has earned three Oscars two of which are as Best Director for ‘Schindler’s List’ and ‘Saving Private Ryan’ (1998, probably the greatest war epic ever made in world cinema) and one Best Picture Oscar for ‘Schindler’s List’, apart from 7 nominations as Best Director. His movies have earned an incredible 133 Academy nominations and 34 Oscars in various categories, apart from the BAFTA and Golden Globe awards. His other major awards include Cecil B DeMille Award and the AFI Life Achievement Award. Steven Spielberg at 74 years of age now has not retired yet and still making movies taking temporary breaks at times.

 

Watching the ‘Jaws’ and ‘Jurassic Park’ had been a most exhilarating experience for most Indians like me and through such films we could understand the painstaking efforts, often risking his own life in the difficult shooting, taken by the director—no doubt at all that he made his first movie experiment at the tender age of 12 thus dedicating his whole life to the art and making world cinema all the more richer as well as entertaining. After working for a few years in the New Hollywood era that included several Television Episodes and minor films for Universal Studios he got his game-changing break in ‘Jaws’ in 1975 when he was just over the age of 30. Spielberg, rightfully, refused to make a sequel to ‘Jaws’ as those sequels made by other filmmakers could never match the unique original that still sends shivers down the spine. He did make a sequel though for ‘Jurassic Park’ titled ‘The Lost World—Jurassic Park’ in 1997 as the writer of the original came up with his second book, and that movie was also a commercial and critical success.

 

It somewhat follows from the narrative above that most of us always considered Spielberg as a serious filmmaker who earned huge commercial success too for his universally appealing storytelling and dedicated efforts. We could never possibly imagine he could make a movie in the lighter genre of comedy. Perhaps, it was just an experiment for this great filmmaker, and he did it beautifully too—getting inspired by a true event in the Paris airport, creating interesting characters including a romantic angle and erecting a huge filmset in the lines of the JFK airport of New York.  

 

Now, coming back to ‘The Terminal’, the 2-hour and 9 minutes movie does not have a single dull moment tickling your funny bones all the time with Tom Hanks stumbling along with his brilliantly cultivated broken Russian or Bulgarian English while handling the obsessed airport supervisor, the security guards and the various desk officials. His character gets emotionally involved too with an airhostess played by Catherine Zeta-Jones, an Indian cleaner, a lady desk official with whom a canteen boy was romantically attached and various other delightful characters and episodes. Hanks’s character Viktor also helps a native of his region out of a tangle by his intelligent use of interpretation deceiving the aghast supervisor. The film also keeps up the suspense on what exists in the tin box that Viktor frequently takes out fondly that the supervisor who has been bent upon getting rid of him either to the police or to the FBI wants to know desperately. Such delicious elements had better be left for all those who would also like to rediscover this comedy-drama movie made by one of the legendary directors-producers-writers of world cinema. 

Comedy: Competitive Corruption!

Of late corruption has become a highly competitive phenomenon. It depends on the partaker to call it healthy or unhealthy. But definitely, it has a bonanza of benefits for all the corrupt irrespective of profession caste creed ilk language or anything.

Now, you need not take instant decisions on quitting even if you are caught red-handed. You look at your adversary straight in the face and announce, ‘You have done it too! On a much bigger scale! You resign first, and then only I will see!’

Some unfortunate corrupt souls ultimately had to land up in jails. One of them recently said that he was suffering from dementia or memory loss. Apart from the fact that all corrupt have to be demented, ‘memory loss’ is open for speculation. If it’s ‘short term memory loss’ or more specifically ‘till-I-get-the-bail term memory loss’, the affected should do what Aamir Khan did as the hero in a huge Hindi movie called ‘Ghajini’. The method has instant benefits. You are really transparent with your physical body bearing the brunt of your corrupt deeds. It helps you too to remember which money of which deed you put in which bank. A big plus, you are likely to be the hero too! Nobody would bother you with right to information queries.

Corruption competition has become so rampant that you can have very amusing situations enacted for you. Suppose one political party in power announces one fine morning, ‘Corruption is very bad. We condemn corruption.’ The opposition party that had to oppose anything uttered by the ruling one would retort back, ‘You have no moral right to say that! We condemn you! Corruption is very good!’

Well, if you are not corrupt still or not to the desired level, you are missing a great opportunity to partake indulge and prosper in the great competition.