POST-CREDIT SCENES - Why I love and kinda hate them

“You are still here?....It’s over…go home..Go..”

Ferris Bueller’s day off was a movie so ahead of its time that it probably predicted the whole post credits era of storytelling and got to parodying it 20 years before Nicky Fury walked out at the end of Iron man 1 to the delight of the few people who had stayed back after the credits started rolling.

But as much as many people would like to believe, Marvel didn’t invent post credit scenes. Neither did they invent shared universes (But that’s a different story for a different time).  A few movies from the 80’s like Airplane or The Producers had post-credit scenes just for the fun of it. Jackie Chan movies had blooper reels play during the credits. The Pirates of the Caribbean series also had some funny scenes.

MCU (meaning Marvel cinematic universe as run by Disney Marvel) probably wasn’t even the first one to use it in place of what was earlier the cliff-hanger ending in movies or the season-finale style tease on TV. X-men: The last stand had an ending with Professor X waking up to talk to a nurse. However, that can also be said to have been just fan-service as there were no apparent plans to expand the X-men trilogy after that point (Not that I know of. There are rumors that stand-alone movies were being planned). So it’s not like they were teasing the next planned movie. But Marvel in 2008 already had a very ambitious plan in mind. So when the first Iron man movie released and it had that Nick Fury scene, it wasn’t just fan service…it was actually teasing what direction they were gonna go next. Although the Avengers coming together seemed impossible at that point, kudos to Marvel for really changing the face of comic book movies and cinematic story-telling as we knew it.

Now teasing the next movie of a character used to be done either in the actual climax of the movie (In Batman Begins, Gordon shows a Joker card left by someone on a crime scene to Batman) or with a simple on screen title declaring “James Bond will return” (Let’s face it- World conquering villains, an attractive but flawed hero with incredible gadgets, secret identities and action scenes- the Bond movies are essentially comic book movies). Comic book movies weren’t that big a deal and were seen as a risky genre which sometimes makes good money. The next one only happened if the first made money. So rarely anyone teased the next movie because they didn’t have anything planned that way. Even if Batman Begins teased the Joker or TDK ended with Batman taking blame for Harvey Dent’s crime…it wasn’t necessarily an advertisement for the next movie. It was the good ol’ cliff-hanger, meant to keep you excited but only for the next Batman movie.

“You think you are the only superhero? You are a part of a bigger universe…you just don’t know it yet”

Since Marvel was going for a shared universe with multiple characters having their own movies and eventually teaming up, the post-credit become a good story-telling tool to link an Iron Man movie with a Thor one without having Thor actually show up at the end. Keeping it post the credits was a stylistic choice. Director Jon Favreau of Iron man 1 & 2 had said in an interview that it was meant to be wink at the fans because nobody ever believed an Avenger’s movie would ever happen. The dialogue was carefully chosen to almost break the 4^th wall and tease delighted fans with a wise reveal on par with a particularly skilled married seductress. A tradition was born which was so popular that many movies started having 2 post credit scenes- one mid-credits and one after all the titles are done. Marvel themselves parodied it in Avengers (The team eating Shawrama) and Guardians of Galaxy Vol 2. So did others like Deadpool (owned by Fox at that time) who literally used the Ferris Bueller scene and even poked fun at Nick Fury’s scene from Iron Man 1.

Over the years, the fame (or notoriety) of the post-credit scenes has grown so much that people waited for stuff to happen at the end of all comic book movies. As much as a shocking twist is considered a part of suspense movies, the post credit scene became a part of comic book movies in the minds of people. It grew so much that soon people started to wait at the end of horror or other fantastical genre movies for a tease for the next movie.

However many people failed to realize that a post credit scene is something integral to the MCU and not everyone has a shared movie universe planned. Even film-makers didn’t realize this as many studios rushed to cash in on the shared universe concept and we saw post credit scenes in movies like Green Lantern (2011) and The Mummy (2017) try to bait its audience into its universe without any proper plans. The worst affected by this trend was of course Marvel’s big rival – DC.

“The world changed when Superman flew across the skies….it changed again when he didn’t”

When Nolan finally finished his epic Dark Knight trilogy in 2012, Marvel had already tasted success with their first Avengers movie (Phase 1). Warner Bros. was eager to get in on the action and employed papa Nolan to steer the ship into a shared universe direction. They wanted him to do to Superman what he did for Batman by rebooting him and then subsequently set the stage to branch off into a shared universe. Nolan laid his faith in one man – Zack Snyder to bring Superman to the big screen.

Man of Steel (2013) was a big success for WB as it was their most successfully non-Batman comic book movie ever. Even though Snyder still had his haters, many critics liked the movie as well. The movie did well…but it was something different. Not just the tone or the superior cinematography but the story-telling as well. There were no open name drops for other characters and no set up for future movies. Something which the audiences had started to expect by now.  It only had two major easter eggs for the keen eye – A Lexcorp oil tanker and a Wayne satellite destroyed during fight scenes alluding to the existence of other popular DC characters. It didn’t have a post credit scene which many people were accustomed to by that point. It was in essence a stand-alone origin film.

Initial interviews and articles show that Snyder wasn’t really open for a Marvel style multi-character universe- he only had a 5 film arc in mind for Superman. But studio managed to convince him to jumpstart a shared universe and Snyder being Snyder knew that he had to distinguish himself from the competition. Now this is not the first article to point out how he did it. John Arryn Garza at DC Films Hub wrote this fantastic article which you can read here - https://dcfilmshub.com/how-zack-snyder-was-replacing-the-post-credit-fad/  

Essentially Snyder decided to do away with the post-credit scene to create a unique story-telling device that would make a movie self-contained yet leave room open for other characters as well. The climactic fight at the end of Man of Steel (MoS) between Superman and General Zod in Metropolis is used as the opening setting for Batman V Superman :Dawn of Justice. It was smart of Snyder, writers Chris Terrio and David Goyer to take this route. MoS was criticized for something many superhero/monster movies had gotten a pass for over the last 50 years. It was criticized for showing city-wide destruction caused by two super-beings fighting and not caring about collateral damage it could cause. (Something that also happened in New York in Avengers but somehow no one pointed that out). Leave it to Snyder to take something negative and turn it into a positive- they literally used that criticism as a valid point for the next movie. Bruce Wayne witnesses the fight and this is what fuels his rage against Superman for not caring about the collateral damage. This time we witness the scene from a normal citizen/Bruce Wayne’s perspective on the ground and the ensuing destruction with it. The scenes are shot so well, you will find many videos on youtube combining the ‘Black Zero event’ into one seamless scene that fits perfectly well together from both Superman’s above ground as well as Bruce Wayne’s on ground perspective. Essentially the ending of one movie was the beginning of another but from a different perspective.

BvS doesn’t have any post-credit scenes (while some argue it could have used one). It drops some key connections to other characters in the middle of the movie itself -The Knightmare scene with flash running back in time to warn Bruce, Lex Luthor’s ‘communion’ with Steppenwolf 's hologram just before his arrest and the (in) famous Lex Luthor’s metahuman research files on Wonder-Woman, Aquaman, Flash and Cyborg. Wonder-woman being a major character in this movie, her origin is teased more than the others.  While some argue that setting up other characters in the middle of the movie may have made the film a bit bloated, it was probably done that way for two reasons. One being that WB was obviously desperate at this point to branch out all the other characters fast and two being that Snyder and co. wanted Superman’s death to be the last thing that you remember going out. Not some post credit interruption that you will think about more.

But alas, due to the biased trashing of the movie by critics and cowardice on WB’s part to not release the fully fleshed cut of the movie, the movie didn’t perform as well as WB would have liked. They panicked and butchered their next movie – Suicide Squad- before it got released. They added a lot of Marvel style humor and wait for it…a mid credit’s scene. Admittedly though this movie wasn’t written or directed by Snyder meaning it didnt need to have the same narrative technique…David Ayer still admits that it wasn’t the movie that he originally filmed. Although the movie was changed drastically by a marketing team it carries somewhat of Snyder’s prologue-epilogue style and opens with Superman’s funeral and Amanda Waller mouthing those words about the effect of Superman's death on the world in the first few minutes.

Wonder Woman which was penned by Snyder also opened with a plot device set up in BvS. An old war photograph. I wonder if Snyder co-opted this idea from his proposed film ‘The Last Photograph’ which was also about a war photo. It also had post-credit scenes shot but Snyder and Director Patty Jenkins decided to go against it. But by this time, WB’s panic levels were reaching sky-high levels. Their greed not letting a barely nascent cinematic universe flourish as planned. Justice League was originally again supposed to open with Lois Lane at Superman’s funeral and we would have started the movie through her perspective. The whole drama behind JL is pretty well known now and that was the end of what could’ve been a great alternative experiment in serialized storytelling. Snyder and co. by no means invented the recap or prologue/epilogue but it still was an interesting story-telling choice much like the Post credit scene originally was.

DC’s next movie Aquaman was supposed to pick up with when he leaves in a truck at the end of Justice League. It opened differently barely referencing Justice League. WB decided to change its approach and Aquaman also had a proper post credit scene teasing his next movie.

There has been a lot of debate about the post credit scene as a story telling device. While some argue it essentially makes the movie you are watching a 2 hour commercial for the next one, others say it is nothing but a harmless tease. Director James Mangold of Logan said that he didn’t feel like he needed any post credit scenes after such a dramatic and heartfelt ending. The surprise was the many people expected it. Just because it is a comic book movie.

I personally had initially loved post credit scenes,a tease is something that fascinates me. The excitement for the unknown, the wait for it is very much a process I enjoy. But having said that this fun little tool has now been reduced to gimmick. An obligatory one. Even Joss Whedon initially didn’t want to insert a post/mid credits scene during Avengers: age of Ultron.

Whatever becomes obligatory starts becoming less fun as time goes on…what was once a surprise has now become a formality. The post credit scene has become such an important tool that many MCU movies have had decent success only because of people being curious about what next movie is being teased. Antman and the Wasp and Captain Marvel are such examples. Mediocre movies which only had success because they had this connection to the eagerly awaited Avengers: Endgame.

Will Marvel ever change the post-credit trend? Well not in the near future at least. They know they have a winning trick in hand and are gonna use it till it stops earning them money. So the post-credit tease is here to stay for a while at least. 

WB will obviously try to copy the formula in lieu of doing something original at least until the management changes or they stop making money off of it. But there is one thing where they could be doing something different from MCU. Something bigger…something if which they can properly exploit could potentially change cinematic story-telling again…..

Written and researched by Ambarish Deshpande. (Twitter- @ambarish17)

Thanks to DC Films Hub, John Arryn Garza, other youtubers like CinemaWins, Patrick Willems Chris Wong Swenson for inspiration.

Thanks to My wife Madhura for being my bouncing board of ideas.

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P.S. – No I already teased my next article in the climax, not gonna tease it post-credits.

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Badla (Spoiler free) movie review

So here is a review you have all been waiting for

BADLA

DIRECTOR – SUJOY GHOSH

CAST- AMITABH BACCHAN, TAPSEE PANNU, AMRITA SINGH & DETAILS…LOTS OF DETAILS

What? How is this possible you ask? How is it possible that a comic book/movie lover like me hasnt watched Marvel’s latest movie – Captain Marvel?! Well three things – a) The trailers didn’t excite me. B) Marvel posing this as an achievement in feminism turned me even more away from the movie (Jesus it’s a commercial movie for God’s sake not a revolution. Besides it took you guys 21 movies to get here…DC did it in their 4^th movie)  c) I honestly don’t really care about any movie between the great cliff-hanger ending of Infinity war and Endgame. I learned that the hard way when I watched Antman and the Wasp. It is a movie I increasingly hate for some reason. A movie so totally pointless that it disgusts me now as to why I spent money and time on it And d) Yes there is a 4^th thing too- I honestly don’t care for the fact that most Marvel movies are now becoming an advertisement for their next one. The post credit scene has gone from being fun fan-service to being the most important story telling tool that MCU has. But lest this turn into a rant, I decided to give myself a break from mediocre comic book filler movies (i.e. 70% of the MCU) to watch Badla.

Why watch Badla? (You do ask a lot of questions to conveniently make the narrative interesting, don’t you hypothetical reader?) Well, firstly coz it’s titled Badla…I love a good revenge story. Secondly it has Big B in it. And Tapsee Pannu. And is directed by Sujoy Ghosh…the same guy who directed Kahaani (and a host of other movies like Jhankar beats). Basically it has all the ingredients necessary to convince me to watch a Bollywood movie.

Badla is the story of Naina Sethi (Tapsee) who has been accused of murdering her lover Ajay in a hotel room. She claims she was assaulted as well and the murderer was a person trying to blackmail them both. The room was locked and the windows were shut, no one could’ve walked in or out of the room. She is telling her story to hot-shot lawyer Badal Gupta (Big B) who assures her that he can get her out only if he knows all the details. The details then start unravelling. The movie is an official remake of the Spanish film – The Invisible Guest.

 I really love murder mysteries and who doesn’t? I love the exercise of trying to outguess the movie and the sad part of being a writer is that you can spot the twists coming a mile away usually. So for me the game stopped being one of ‘Who did it?’ but one of ‘how are they gonna reach this point and will the movie’s logic hold up?’ I guessed the twist of Kahani within first 10 mins and still fucking loved the movie. I guessed the twist of this one within the first 3 minutes and…kinda liked this movie.

First the positives- Big B is…just Big B. I mean anyone else and this movie would have been so-so. I think it’s after a long time I watched him in a theatre and I firmly believe he should do more such thriller dramas. With age action thrillers may not suit him, but I need him to do intelligent cocky roles than playing quirky grandpas. He is charismatic, magnetic and every other adjective you can think of attaching to the greatest superstar Bollywood will ever produce. Needless to say he is obviously the best thing about the movie. Tapsee Pannu is really good as well. Although the script kinda makes her character behave oddly at times, she keeps with Bacchan. Their chemistry was very essential since the majority of the movie is 2 people sitting on a table discussing a story. Amrita Singh in a supporting role is great as well.

Now comes my problem with the movie…forget the fact that it is predictable…even wifey found it predictable…the twist was apparent if you were paying attention. But as I said before, my concern isn’t the twist. I don’t watch movies for the twist these days…it’s just that the path to the inevitable surprise isn’t as interesting here. It’s like a magic trick (Yes am referencing The Prestige here)…we go in not because we don’t know that it’s not true….we go in wanting to be fooled. If a trick can really pull the carpet from under your feet that’s great…but that rarely happens. I at least expect the magician to make some effort to distract me. I appreciate the craft and the effort behind it.  Here although right before the climax there was some kind of doubt created in your mind about the subjective nature of truth and unreliability of narration but throughout the movie it was almost blatantly obvious. And when it finally reaches the twist, it tries to be way too smarter than it should’ve been and frankly has a Race movies level twist (Although it’s there in the original movie as well, it’s still dumb).

Badla is a good movie that could’ve used some more tightening of the script, has some great performances is very enjoyable but tries too hard to have that ultimate twist moment. It proves that adaptation is an art and sometimes improvements can be made to the original as well.

I would recommend watching this ­- only if you have Nothing else to do. (that too preferably stream it on Netflix/Amazon)

PS - SHAZAM trailer is out! April 5th cant wait!

Simmba (spoiler free) movie review

The latest entry in the Singham Cinematic Universe (SCU)

SIMMBA

Cast- Ranvir Singh, Sara Ali Khan, Ashutosh Rana, Sonu Sood, approximately half the Marathi TV industry, approximately all of Rohit Shetty’s favourite actors and others

DIRECTOR- ROHIT SHETTY

Bollywood already had jumped on to making sequels and milking the original concept dry till it stops making money (Race 1 ,2 3, Murder Raaz Jannat Ragini MMS Hate story 1,2,3,4- 76 etc. etc.) But with the success of comic book movies and shared universes, it seems they are turning their heads in this direction. But hey, am not complaining. I absolutely do not mind Bollywood creating a shared cinematic universe where awesome characters create a platform for other awesome characters. Simmba is almost as interesting and enjoyable character as Bajirao Singham.

Their connection however only ends with a young Simmba growing up in the same town of Shivgad as Singham did. Although he also grows up to be a cop, his motive is completely different. As a young orphan, he witnesses first-hand what power a Khaki Vardi holds and decides to become a cop. He is manipulative, conniving and corrupt as hell. Yet it’s the inevitable charm that Ranvir Singh brings to the role that makes you connect with such a dubious character. Any other actor and the movie would have collapsed in the first few scenes. The best part about Ranvir in any role, especially the ones where he has to be eccentric is that he himself seems to be having a lot of fun. That joy is infectious and rolls off screen onto you. All his jokes are perfectly timed and his energetic presence is enough to bring a smile to your face…oh and his Marathi is impeccably perfect. I mean I have a keen ear for Marathi being spoken in Bollywood movies and it’s not that am offended when it’s spoken wrongly but it does hamper my experience when Marathi speaking characters can’t speak a few lines without messing it up. Ranvir did it well in Bajirao Mastani and he does it really well here. Not only his language but his body language in playing the masala movie cop is also perfect. The script surprisingly shows a lot of intelligence by providing his character with a bit of depth instead of making him completely one dimensional however it doesn’t do that for the entire movie. But more on that later.

Simmba is transferred to Miramar in Goa and strikes a profitable arrangement with local don Sonu Sood. Because lets face it, Sonu Sood is just Sonu Sood. He has always been Sonu Sood and will continue to be Sonu Sood no matter what character he is playing. I mean he isn’t a bad actor, not at all…he is just…well Sonu Sood. There is no other word for it. We all know that he builds his body all year long only to get his ass kicked in the climax of some cop action film and that is exactly what he does here. I mean this being Goa and the cop here being a spin off from Singham…you kinda miss the menacing Jaykant Shikre…I mean not comparing the two characters or actors but just that Sonu Sood in here is not as interesting a villain. But the real villain here are his two brothers who rape a girl for whom the orphan Simmba has gained sisterly sympathy. The rest of the story is Simmba’s fight against righting his own corrupt nature and fighting a system and society which views rape cases callously.

If you had seen the trailer of this movie, all I have to say is fuck the marketing team of the movie. This is not a spoiler when I say it because the dumb fucking marketing drops the best….I mean the best surprise of the movie in the trailer itself. It’s if the trailer of Kahaani ended with Vidya Balan fighting the terrorist or the trailer for Infinity War ending with Thanos snapping his fingers. If you haven’t seen the trailer of this movie, I urge you to please not ruin your experience with this.

However, does having watched the trailer of the movie or watched its original NTR Jr. starrer Telegu film ‘Temper’ ruin the movie completely? Well not exactly. Firstly itt differs from Temper in a few ways and also it is not at all boring even if it’s predictable. It is a lot of fun time when Ranvir is dancing and flirting with Sara Ali Khan who is seriously gorgeous and again speaks very good Marathi (Rohit Shetty should at this point be given a civil award by govt. of Maharashtra for making Marathi relevant and cool in Bollywood movies). She acts decently well but in a movie like this doesn’t have much to do. The movie is also fun when the action is going down and when Simmba loses his temper to beat the crap out of goons.

However, the movie stops being the masala fun entertainer it is, when it gets wayyy too serious and preachy about rape. I am not saying they handle it insensitively. In fact, any person would want to do what Simmba does to rapists in the movie (Any sane person…not Indian liberals). But the word is just bandied about way too many times. Everyone agrees that the act is heinous and even hearing about it can shake anyone to their core but come on Rohit Shetty just make some cars fly or some shit! I mean you aren’t exactly making Spotlight here. We understand what they did and its seriousness. Just get to Simmba being a badass and fucking them up. It’s that 20-30 minutes of the movie which gives too much time to the extended drama surrounding the rape that drag the movie down. The extended drama being the same preaching and dialogue again and again from different characters.  I mean if they had spent more time on…I don’t know dealing with more of the villain’s other bad businesses or something then it would have fit the tone of the movie more in my opinion. What this also does is when the ultimate revenge happens, it just feels very short. In Singham or Dabanng or Rowdy Rathore, the hero cop takes his time to mess with the villain…there is a kehke loonga feel to it. Here it just happens. In fact they show you what happens in the first 5 minutes of the movie, so even that’s not a surprise. Just like the trailer. (Seriously fuck the marketing dept. of this movie!)

The music is decent- I mean you have the obligatory dance song, the desi dance song, the obligatory Rahat Fateh Ali Khan re-singing a Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan classic and a remix. However, the remix video is done very cleverly with some very intelligently done cameos, which is frankly something I would have done.

Overall, the movie is really fun and engaging in most parts but really drags uncomfortably in the middle. Ranvir is the star of the movie and really owns the role. I wouldn’t mind seeing him in a sequel maybe sharing the space with another star. Coz this might the latest entry in the Singham Cinematic Universe…it isn’t the last one. They straight off pulled a Marvel by teasing the next movie in the end. And call it a cop-out (woah an actual unintended pun after a long time), but I am a sucker for such teases and that kinda made the movie slightly better for me.

The movie for all its flaws is definitely Worth Watching Once.

KGF CHAPTER 1 (SPOILER FREE) REVIEW

I hate boiling movies down to formulas but still Gangs of Wasseypur + Scarface+ Mad Max + Spartacus + Deewar =

KGF (KOLAR GOLD FIELDS) : Chapter 1

Cast – Yash, Srinidhi Shetty, Achyuth Kumar and others

Director- Prashanth Neel

With a name like Ambarish, you hardly get a chance to share a name with a celebrity or even historical figure. (‘Amrish’ Puri doesn’t count for the simple reason that my name isn’t ‘Amrish’). While I am an ardent fan of Tamil and Telugu cinema, my only connection to Kannada cinema has been sharing my name with one of their renowned superstars. While I have gotten around to watching one or two Malayalam movies (not just the ones with the…ahem…’aunties’) at least I have some clue about Malayalam film stars and industry. I have somehow never gotten around to watching even a single Kannada movie, not even the dubbed ones on Set Max coz they just lack the punch of Tamil and Telugu movies. That’s not to say they don’t have talented film makers or actors (other than Sudeep, Girish Karnad and Ambareesh, I don’t know many) but the only Kannada movies I have heard of are remakes of Tamil/Telugu/Hindi movies. They somehow never seemed to do anything new or remarkable that would attract my attention like their other South Indian counterparts. UNTIL NOW.

The first time I saw the trailer for KGF chapter 1, the imagery stunned me. While the Scarface/Vijay from Deewar formula has been done to death in Indian cinema, it was the crazy Mad Max like depiction of the Kolar Gold Mines in the trailer that attracted me to it. Clearly taking inspiration from the success of multi-lingual epics like Bahubali and Robot 2.0, Prashanth Neel decided to make an epic 2 part film (at least I think its two parts) to be released in 5 languages. In an recent interview, Karan Johar had rightly said “Bahubali was a slap to our (Bollywood’s) faces”, in the sense that Bollywood was overlooking some really good storytelling potential in regional (particularly south Indian cinema). Not only are south filmmakers not afraid to tell bold ambitious stories but they also stick to their own style rather than aping Hollywood. The result is an original home-grown movie with maybe slightly melodramatic tones but having the confidence to stick to its own style- a bit like Anime or Kung Fu movies. While even I enjoy making fun of over-the-top acting and action sequences of some South Indian movies, I still would prefer watching them over any boring Hindi Rom-com any damn time.  Just like how Bengali movies have perfected the art of realism and tapping into never before seen emotions on screen or how Marathi movies have learned to tell entertaining complex stories with simplicity and no additional masala, South Indian mainstream cinema (sorry to bunch four distinct languages together for sake of brevity) has always never been shy of creating epic stories on the largest canvas imaginable. KGF is perhaps Kannada cinema's first leap in that direction.

The movie is the story of Raja a.k.a Rocky born to a single poor mother whose only inheritance to her son were making him realize that the world only makes sense if you force it to (BvS reference!). Through various flashbacks (though way too many than were necessary) we learn that it was her ruthless upbringing that makes Rocky the man that he is – Courageous, outrageous and wanting to win everything…by everything I mean EVERYTHING. After shifting to Mumbai in the 1970’s, he soon becomes entangled in a conspiracy that ultimately leads to India’s ‘El Dorado’ – The Gold mines in Kolar in Karnataka – whose discovery has its own power games and multiple players.

What the sets the movie apart is not the story but how it is portrayed on screen. The movie starts with the Prime Minister of India in 1981 named Ramika Sen signing the death warrant of Rocky. That immediately gives you an idea that realism is out of the fucking window and the movie is set in its own universe. And again I have zero complaints. Being a big fan of alternate history and comic book universes, I don’t mind a movie creating its own mythology. The story is narrated by a journalist in present day who had written a book about Rocky. Director Neel makes use of this device really well as it again adds an element of myth-making and poetry to it.

Plus the movie is just gorgeously shot, the mines being portrayed in de-saturated colors like a scene from any Zack Snyder movie. Particularly the climax is shot in a very Snyder-esque fashion. However, that is where the similarity to the great visionary ends. The action which should be the highlight of such a film is shot in the worst way possible – Shaky cam. This disease that inflected Hollywood from the Bourne movies has sadly made its way to India as well. It might suit a realistic, grounded movie but quite frankly frequent jump cuts and shaky camera during the action just makes the scene worthless in my opinion. That is why Marvel sucks at shooting good action scenes, in their 20 or so movies only 2-3 sequences are memorable. I am very particular about action scenes and their geography, speed and editing. While not all action scenes need to have time ramping like Snyder’s do, but even gritty ones like in The Raid movies (directed by Gareth Evans) have longer cuts and smart editing that give us a nice clean view of all the action thus making it more engaging. If I don’t see how many people are involved, where they are fighting or how they are getting hit then what’s the point of doing all those stunts if it’s just two seconds of dust flying and hearing someone’s bones crack. Sadly the action here disappoints a bit. 

However, the movie really makes up for that with the dialogue. I am not saying some of it isn’t cringe-worthy, but I just love cheesy dialogue…especially cheesy action punchlines. Seriously there is one scene here which feels like it’s almost from an classic Salim-Javed script from the 70’s. It’s this movie’s equivalent of “Main aaj bhi feke hue paise nahi uthata” and believe me if am comparing a modern day movie to the greatest script-writers in Bollywood then realize that it isn’t without actual merit. Seriously Rocky’s (Yash) whole arc is almost like the ‘Angry young Man’ character created by Salim-Javed (minus of course the Bacchan charisma and adding some south Indian melodrama). I am surprised I hadn’t even heard of Yash until this movie, he seriously does this role real justice. It’s not like an award winning performance and sometimes his character will appear the typical God-like hero in South movies, but God-damn does he commit to the role. There are also some subtle scenes where you see some inner-conflict which could have been highlighted more but sadly isn't. While the rest of the cast works well, they really didn’t leave a big impression upon me.

The second half suffers from a few pacing issues as just when you expect things to get really exciting, it drags a bit. There is a lot of exposition and the aforementioned jump cuts don’t allow for a bit of suspense building which would have hugely effective. There are also a lot many characters and unlike Gangs of Wasseypur where they were well written and allowed to be fleshed out through dialogue, here you have to make efforts to remember who’s who. However, there is an intriguing power play going on amongst them and I do hope they take things a bit slow in Chapter 2. When the pace was dying down, I somehow still had faith in the movie. I was like ‘ I know you can do better, just impress me with the climax' and the believe came off in the end. The climax does feel like it is earned. Particularly the visuals are freaking awesome and the background score is top notch. Otherwise, the music is okay-ish. The item number with Mouni Roy is hot and the rest of the songs are forgettable. However, the background score is intense throughout the movie and particularly towards the climax it is damn effective.

Just like other 2 part movies released in India (quite frankly I think we might have more two part movies than Hollywood- Rakta Charitra, Gangs of Wasseypur, Bahubali. While the only major Hollywood one I can remember is Kill Bill), the movie ends on irritatingly seducing literal cliffhanger with a major twist. Overall, in spite of the shaky cam action scenes and slight screenplay issues overall I really dig the tone of the movie and the mythology that they are trying to create. Director Prashanth Neel has really brought the Kannada movie industry in the limelight and I hope to see an epic conclusion to this grand story soon enough.

The movie is Total Timepass!!

Aquaman (spoiler free) movie review

“Does this movie fix the DC Cinematic Universe?”

“Is it broken?”

AQUAMAN

DIRECTOR- JAMES WAN

CAST- JASON MOMOA, AMBER HEARD, PATRICK WILSON, WILLIAM DAFOE, NICOLE KIDMAN AND THE SPLENDOR OF THE MOTHERFUCKING OCEAN!

When Jason Momoa was recently asked the above question in an interview, he gave that answer. It’s no secret now that people, quite a majority of them HATE DC movies for some reason. While a healthy rivalry between two great comic book universes has always been there, with the advent of social media its been getting ugly…just like every other discussion in life. This is what happens when every dimwit gets to speak his or her mind I guess. But even having a strong opinion about a movie or a piece of art is fine, lately I have seen the word ‘DC fan’ being used by many pages on the net as a slur.

It’s no secret that I am a comic book fan with a huge leaning towards DC. I love their stories, their cartoons and also their movies. But the reason being that not only does their content appeal to my taste for the deeper things in life, but that the Warner Bros (who owns cinema rights for all DC characters) was content in taking risks with a genre no one thought ever to take. They literally introduced the now oft-used concept of a gritty reboot by getting a then relatively unknown Christopher Nolan to direct Batman Begins, which subsequently led to comic book movies being finally taken seriously by all people and not just nerds. They gave a new director like Zack Snyder the chance to direct a very different adaptation of a comic book like 300 and also gave him the responsibility of adapting what was once thought to be a completely ‘unfilmable’ graphic novel in the form of Watchmen.  They also entrusted him with bringing to the big screen the oldest and most beloved superhero of all time- the Man of Steel. 

While Marvel at the other end, due to their financial troubles had sought out a strategy to make crowd pleasing successful formula movies one after the other (because if they had one failure the company would go bankrupt), they planned an interconnected universe the likes of which had never been seen on screen. While this offered them little room for telling stories with varying tones or intensity, their subsequent takeover by ‘family-friendly’ media giant Disney, finally led them to obey the formula of kid-friendly tones, joke per 10 minutes and in turn almost zero risk taking. This also resulted in Disney’s mighty media clout being at their disposal which turned the MCU into a worldwide household phenomenon (and made all the money that there is to make). But again, their movies were specifically designed to take almost zero risks and please the people in whatever way possible. This sadly, became the standard that all comic book movies (even the ones not concerned with the MCU like the X-men, had to live by). This became the rule. It’s like they made so many of them that most people who had never even touched a comic book in their life (and quite frankly are never likely to do so) suddenly became experts on how such stories are to be told.  Any movie that wasn’t following the ‘formula’ was cast out by the critics and the casual fans…like a leper. (Yes that’s a TDK reference).  Listening to their toxicity is almost like listening to hardcore Islamic preachers…there is no wiggle room…no room for debate…no room for acceptance.

WB/DC at the other hand wanted the sweet sweet ‘Avengers’ level money and while Zack Snyder originally never intended to develop a shared cinematic universe, (he had a 5 film superman solo arc in mind), the pressure from WB won and he had to introduce Batman and Wonder-woman and set up a few other characters in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. WB at that point still trusted its creators and although they did meddle a bit with the theatrically released version, Snyder’s vision (altered as it was) was still evident in the movie. Snyder and Chris Terrio envisioned a universe where the characters would eventually come together in an epic arc to fight with DC’s biggest villain Darkseid…where may be Superman would actually turn into a dictator at one point and the Flash would have to go back in time to reboot the universe. But BvS released and it was perhaps the most polarizing film in recent times. While by no means a bad film (I found it personally to be a masterpiece) with excellent music, awesome performances and great action, it received a lot of negative press because it didn’t confirm to the ‘formula’. Batman and Superman didn’t crack jokes while trying to murder each other (Oh you didn’t think super-powered beings did that? remember the airport scene in Civil War? Yeah it’s fairly common to crack jokes while trying to punch your colleague in the face) the movie didn’t have a straightforward villain who clearly laid out the plans, it dealt with the idea of what if a super-powered alien actually existed among us humans, the movie made constant existential and philosophical references to Gods and Demons and had a post-credit like scene in the middle of the movie itself. May be the movie was trying something different…you know taking risks with the genre. But according to most people who watched it, it sucked..it sucked ass… it was the ‘worst movie ever made’….anyone who made that movie should die (literal quotes from some well known people on twitter). It wasn’t a flop by any standards and for being just the 2^nd movie in a new cinematic universe it was a super-hit and such a beautiful enigma for its fans that it continues to be discussed and debated 2 years later.

At a time when the market was being flooded with a product of a similar kind by your rival, WB/DC should have had the courage (and the business sense) to stick to what makes them different ( that is what is called as an USP you basic level WB marketing morons!), it was the only way they were gonna survive. They had originally announced 3-4 movies in due course with great directors (Aquaman- James Wan, the Flash- Rick Fuwuyama, Wonder Woman - Patty Jenkins, Batman- Ben Affleck and few others) But they panicked. They butchered Suicide Squad to point where it was full of a lot of jokes and action (trying to ape Marvel) but no real meat as a story. They tried to meddle with Wonder-woman, trying to make it more crowd pleasing, but thankfully the movie was almost done at that point and the writers and the director had to fight to keep the tone of the movie as they envisioned it. Thankfully Wonder-woman brought a lot of success and turned out to be the one which pleased most people –audiences and critics alike. Although Snyder was himself one of the story writers, naysayers said they liked the movie only because he didn’t direct it. This kind of unwarranted hatred eventually lead to Snyder leaving twitter. By the time Justice League (JL) was being finished, there was already a lot of pressure to make it like the Avengers. Snyder’s original 2 part arc was to be cut into a 2 hour movie. More jokes were to be included. The intensity was asked to be toned down in order to make the movie more kid-friendly. However, Snyder still shot most of his movie but then due to sudden suicide of his daughter had to leave the project. Joss Whedon (Director of the Avengers) was asked to take over for ‘completing’ the project with a few 'minor reshoots'. 

This my friends…is where it all went wrong. To take the vision of a director who had been working on a project for more than 5 years, who had been making financially successful and yet bold risk taking movies, and to twist it  to please the people was a fucking awful move. JL released in the theatres was a Frankenstein of a movie which threw away all the careful character building of BvS for jokes and a lighter tone. After the initial euphoria died down, the DCEU fans hated it, some casual movie goers liked it but didnt love it, the haters appreciated its ‘light marvel-like’ tone (some even thanking God that Snyder’s daughter had killed herself at the right time) and the movie eventually made much lesser than it should have. In the end, WB had given up the very thing people watched DC movies for (intensity depth and something different) and of course they weren’t able to compete with Marvel on Marvel’s own territory.

This was truly a crises for WB/DC. Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill seemed to have quit their roles as Batman and Superman, the future of Snyder’s original vision still remains uncertain (#releasethesnydercut). But it also lead to several huge changes in WB/DC’s organizational structure. People who created the JL mess were fired or moved. WB seemed to be taking a more consolidated approach. Their first release post Justice League was going to be Aquaman. The fans didn’t know what to expect, the critics were ready as always to rubbish this movie and move into sucking Antman’s dick (seriously Antman and the Wasp was the most mediocre and boring MCU movie ever and critics still praised it as though it were a masterpiece). 

But James Wan (The Conjuring, Saw, Fast and Furious 7) is a talented director and it seemed that after the JL- Snyder fiasco, he had negotiated a deal that would allow him complete creative control. And you know what happened?

Aquaman is a fucking awesome movie! See WB?! SEE!!! This is what happens when you place your trust in talented people and let them do their job! Aquaman is by far one of the most exciting solo super-hero movies I have seen in a long time. It has adventure vibes of Indiana Jones coupled with the sci-fi imagination of Star Wars and also has the heart of Wonder-woman and Man of Steel. It is truly a dive into uncharted waters (sorry but had to do a pun) as we have rarely seen the underwater world setting explored on cinema. If not for anything else, go for the visual treat. After Avatar this is one of the movies which might hold you spell bound.

Aquaman is story of Arthur Curry whom you saw briefly in BvS and then more briefly (or is it less briefly..I don’t know) in Justice League. Arthur Curry is the son of a human father and an Atlantean (an underwater advanced ancient super-race) mother. This story is about how his half-brother and current ruler of Atlantis wants to invade the land as they continue to pollute his kingdom and a reluctant Arthur decides to stop him. While the story is a bit generic and does not offer the same kind of intensity we know DC for it still works for this movie. I mean it’s the first time we are being introduced to this world (Superman and Batman have already been in movies many times before) so it made sense to keep the story simple to set up the mythology. I personally didn’t like the script as it wasn’t as intense or layered as BvS, but I get what Wan was going for. Beside,s this script was probably written when WB was in its confused state, so maybe they wanted to take lesser risks with the story. I do have to say though that the movie lacks flow and shifts tone…maybe it’s the editing (so apparent that even my Wonder-woman thought the same), but it doesn’t flow as smoothly as Man of Steel or perhaps even Wonder Woman did.

But what it suffers in terms of flow or pacing, it really makes up for in terms of spectacle and performances. Everybody fucking owns their roles and Jason Momoa is amazing as Aquaman. Any non comic book fans have to understand that for many decades Aquaman as a character was the butt of jokes. Consistently being made fun of for his lukkha blonde look and his limited aquatic powers. Even the intense New 52 comic book run by Geoff Jahns couldn’t really wash off the years of ridicule. When Khal Drogo (Jason Momoa in Game of Thrones) was cast as Aquaman by Zack Snyder I was skeptical but trusted Snyder and co to make it work. And Voila! Momoa completely fits this role. His surfer dude, ‘don’t give a shit’ persona creates a beautiful paradox with his inherent need to help people avoid suffering. Momoa appears to be a genuine open hearted person in real life and that carries to his role. Add to it the fact that he has consistently been standing by the DC fans and Zack Snyder, makes him a likeable presence on screen for the fans. Also add to the fact that the long hair, hard abs and bad boy looks make him a ahem…likeable presence for all the women. But don’t worry guys, there is Amber Heard as Mera for you. She is a red head, extremely hot and has a killer attitude without coming across as too pretentious. Patrick Wilson (who previously worked in another DC film Watchmen) as the villain Orm/Ocean master should ideally have had more depth to his character in the script. Considering the reason he wants to attack the surface world is because of a relevant contemporary issue like pollution should have made him a villain who you can sympathize with. However, he is much more of a traditional villain but still brings his own qualities to the role. I would love for the story to explore more of his character in the sequels. Yahya Abdul Mateen as Black Manta is fantastic and even in small screen time makes for a menacing presence. Stalwarts like Nicole Kidman and William Dafoe perform effortlessly.

The real highlight of the movie and of Wan’s skills are the action set pieces. Wan clearly knows what kind of action people expect in a DC movie and gives them that. Some slo-mo scenes are clearly Zack Snyder inspired and unlike the choppy action of the Marvel movies, the scenes are shot in a way to clearly give you the geography of the scene…helping you keep track of each beautiful move and raise the stakes of the scene from being mere special effects show to an important aspect of the story. There are 3-4 one shot takes especially the one you saw in the extended trailer with Mera running on the roofs in Sicily, which is something only a masterful film-maker can shoot. The under-water epic battles are epic as they get and I especially loved the climactic scene. Without spoiling it, let me say that it is Lord of the rings followed by 300. Wan also depicts Aquamans communicating with all sea life in the most comic accurate yet badass way possible. 

The only things that didn’t work for me other than the pacing of the script was the background score. Now you can hate DC movies all you want but their music has always been really amazing. While Rupert Gregson Williams (Who also scored for Wonder Woman) has given a great combo of epic super hero music with synth/techno vibes to truly represent the meeting of two worlds, the movie chooses to use odd songs in many places, which looks like a remnant from Wan’s Fast and Furious. Also, the dialogue is pretty generic and unlike other DC movies which have fantastic dialogue, this one is pretty by the numbers.

While I understand that the movie may not be as pleasing for many hardcore DC fans like me, but if you are just being introduced to the world of Atlantis, then this makes for a pretty good beginning. Zack Snyder makes movies for the hardcore fans which maybe alienates a few others, while Wan and WB considering all the negative press, have I believe taken this conscious decision to make a movie which would be more universally appealing. I was looking for the movie to mention other DC characters but it doesn’t do that much. WB is still in its consolidation phase and is stepping carefully. They know that DC movies are better received abroad then in the US and they released it in China and then later in India first so that it gains some good press. Coming to the question of whether the DCEU is broken and whether it needs fixing, I never thought it was broken before WB meddled with JL.  They are still going on announcing movies nobody asked for (Birds of Prey, Plastic Man etc.) while not giving its real supporters what they want. But there is still hope… Wonder Woman 1984 and Shazam look like movies where WB has again trusted their directors, the DC stand-alone Joker movie with Joaquin Phoenix looks promising…and Momoa and many others have come out openly in support of Snyder Cut of the Justice League….Men are still good, we fight we betray one another but we can rebuild…we will…we have too.

I am not gonna give a rating to this movie as I will always be biased towards DC movies. All I have to say is…do give this a watch especially on the big screen….you’ll be surprised by how much you enjoyed it.

PS- List of Easter Eggs/references in the movie-

• Thomas Curry (Arthur’s father) has the book ‘The Dunwich Horror’ in his house by H P Lovecraft. The story is about weird sea creatures crawling out of the sea and terrorizing a town.
• Black Manta has a quote before his fight scene in Sicily. That is also from a Lovecraft story.
• There is a commercial on the TV in a 80’s flashback which ends in ‘Why not try Arthur Treachers?’, which was a popular Fish n Chips chain.
• In the post credits scene, there is news cutting on a wall referencing wonder woman
• Oh and mild spoiler...the voice of the 'Karathen' creature is Julie Andrews from Sound of Music.

 T

ROBOT 2.0 (SPOILER FREE) REVIEW

This is India’s best comic book movie till date -

2.0

Director- Shankar

Cast- SUPERSTAR, Akshay Kumar, Amy Jackson and others

What makes a good modern comic book story? Let me be clear, am not talking about a Disney (read Marvel) formula that has been so popularized that in fact it is considered the ONLY way a comic book movie must be made and anything that deviates from that is a sin (according to most critics). But I digress, I am talking about you know…an actual comic book story. Well, it consists of interesting characters, elements of science fiction, villains reflecting our modern day fears, gory but imaginative deaths, appealing visuals, the story taking such twists and turns that former foes must join forces against a common new enemy (Loki and Thor, Batman and Joker, Superman and Lex Luthor) and whole sale property destruction topped with an over- -the -top spectacularly bonkers climax! You could pick any good comic book from Kingdom Come to Injustice to Dark Knights Metal (or you know actually GREAT and memorable comic book movies like Batman V Superman...or what the original version of Justice League actually is.  

#Releasethesnydercut) I don’t know if Director Shankar actually had this comic book story template in mind when writing this movie but they do carry all of the above traits.

2.0 is the sequel to Enthiran/Robot (2010). Like a good sequel it not only ups the ante in terms of scale and story but what it does is also learn from the earlier one and adapt to a changed sensibilities. Director Shankar has always been expanding boundaries of creativity and spectacle in Indian cinema…right from Gentleman to Hindustani to Nayak and Sivaji. The scope of his vision and ambition has always been growing. Karan Johar recently said in an interview while talking about producing 2.0 that “Bahubali was a slap to our (Bollywood’s) face” and he is right. While Bollywood is still working on producing a good superhero/sci-fi/fantasy movie (Krissh…Drona…really??) with its seemingly bigger budgets….regional cinema particularly in the south has always been looking to do something different. (check out the trailer of new Kannada/bilingual film ‘KGF’ on youtube) Shankar did it with Enthiran in 2010 with some pretty good SFX and a great story (albeit with typical south Indian drama and craziness…which I love btw)  and he really does it here again in 2018. When I said that the movie also adapted to changed sensibilities of an audience fed on an almost quarterly dose of big sci-fi superhero movie, I meant it has most of the things a good comic book movie should have but it also learns to tone down the Indian melodrama/love story aspects that usually drag the story down.

A mysterious force is sucking cellphones all over Chennai and also killing people in horrificly imaginative ways. Dr. Vasigaran (Rajni’s scientist character from the first one) has no other option but to revive the now decommissioned robot Chitti to fight this new threat. The pace of the story never slows down in 2.0 and although that can sometimes make the pace a bit jarring still it has enough things going on screen to keep you hooked. The effects although may seem lacking in some scenes if you compare them to Hollywood but am willing to forego that since at least someone in India is trying to do something different than make a dumb launch vehicle for the next star kid. But the 3d is the best I have seen for an Indian movie till date. However, it’s not just spectacle and visuals but the story has also has its heart in the right place. And that heart is Akshay Kumar.

I have always believed that Akshay Kumar plays villainish characters better than heroic ones and I would actually love to see him play a morally ambiguous character like Clint Eastwood’s Man With no name from The Dollars Trilogy. However, even as an over-the-top villain he is still great. But it’s his origin story (which is exactly what you think it is gonna be) that gives the movie its heart. He really gives a gem of performance that can go overlooked in such a grand movie starring Rajni. What the script does well is to give Akki’s character more backstory and make him the emotional core of the movie since you already know rest of the characters. As for Rajni…well even in Robot I felt that he had given a great performance with such ease as only he can bring on screen. The scientist and the robot appear to be to different characters and particularly towards the second half, he seems to be having a lot of fun as well. Amy Jackson is a pretty looking robot with zero expressions. No that wasn’t a description of Amy Jackson in real life…that’s just her character in the movie. Probably, the most natural role for her.

Although script does not pause for even a second except for a big battle, the ending to such a grand movie seems like really wrapped up. I mean it almost feels like they just ran out of things to say and just finished it in a snap. I mean they just expanded upon an earlier created universe with more characters and newer ideas…I wasn’t expecting a post credits tease for the next one or whatever (although that would have been fucking awesome…we could call it the RRCU Rajni Robot Cinematic Universe and have him fight and kill G.one in the next one) …but you know a less-hurried one.

I said this is our best comic book movie coz we obviously haven't had any till date. 2.0 is a good step in that direction. Except for the ending, the movie is swift, full of great visuals, some chuckle-worthy dialogue, great performance by its two leading stars and enough twists and turns to keep you hooked.

The movie definitely is Total Timepass!

PS- SERIOUSLY CANT WAIT FOR AQUAMAN TO RELEASE! DEC 14TH!!!!!

Andhadhun (absolutely zero spoiler) review

From the director who makes movies for me-

ANDHADHUN

CAST- TABU, AYUSHMAAN KHURRANNA, RADHIKA APTE (ON LOAN FROM NETFLIX), ANIL DHAWAN AND OTHERS

DIRECTOR- SRIRAM RAGHAVAN

Sriram Raghavan mostly likes making intense thrillers which credit the audience with a bit of intelligence, he likes using old hindi movie songs, referencing old hindi movies, leaving a ton of easter eggs and references to his favourite authors/directors and usually sets his stories in or around Pune and Marathi characters….So yes, basically he writes and makes movies for me. Because these are all the things I do when I write a story. In fact, it was Raghavan’s Johnny Gaddar that inspired me to write my first novel.  In my opinion, he is the best director working in Bollywood currently even a bit more than Anurag Kashyap. He knows how to strike the perfect balance of entertainment and substance and thrill you in a way you never knew Bollywood can. I have loved Ek Hasina Thi, Johnny Gaddar, Badlapur and yes, even Agent Vinod. Bring it on guys, coz I honestly think Agent Vinod was one of the best spy movies Bollywood has made. Also, that one single uncut shot when Saif murders like 8 people while a blind pianist plays ‘Raabta’ (oh fuck just realized this….does Raghavan have a thing for blind pianists?) is one of the memorable action scenes in recent times.

So, as you can expect when I first saw the trailer for Andhadhun, even if I don’t particularly like Ayushmaan Khurranna (Ya I don’t care much for Vicky Donor. Again Bring it on guys!), I said something to myself which I don’t usually say for a Hindi movie – ‘I have to watch this one!’ But since watching superhero movies has become my life’s sole purpose, I watched Venom on the weekend. But I also couldn’t wait till next weekend to watch this one and just had to watch this mid-week. And am really glad that I did.

When you see the trailer or the posters or hear about the concept- a blind pianist in a murder mystery thriller- the first thing that comes to your mind is that maybe the twist is that he isn’t blind…. And this is the genius of Sriram Raghavan. As I said he treats his audiences as being an intelligent lot and pretty much tells you in the trailer itself and if you fail to catch that then in the first 40 minutes or so of the movie that he isn’t blind. Don’t worry, I haven’t spoiled anything for you. The fact that he isn’t blind isn’t the source from where the movie draws its suspense. Raghavan in all of his movies knows that the audiences watch a lot of thrillers themselves and doesn’t really believe in having the whodunit formula. He creates tension out of letting you know that what you thought was the twist isn’t the twist at all. You know who the murderer is, you know who the traitor is. It is all carefully laid out in front of you. You already have most of the information but the characters on the screen don’t. You are already aware of the motives of all the characters and the risks they are willing to take. Since he creates an attachment to the characters first and then takes you on a journey with them, the story is then defined by its characters, not by the twists it creates.

Some movies conceal so much information off-screen and then reveal it to you in the form of a twist – it sometimes feels like being cheated. Even if the twist is shocking, there then remains no limitations on the twist you can bring in. The best example is the 'Race' movies where people double and triple betray each other so much that their backs should break with all that twisting. I mean since you are concealing so much info off screen, don’t be surprised if suddenly in the Race 4, one of the characters turns out to be an immortal Naagin. (You know what…I wanna see that Race movie now! Bollywood get to work!) What Raghavan again does here in Andhadhun is make it clear that a surprise twist isn’t the whole point of the movie.  It doesn’t remain limited to a last minute twist that is surprising only the first time around. Concealing off-screen info only when absolutely needed and laying it clearly in front of you allows the movie to create natural tension. The difference between the way Raghavan creates suspense through carefully setting up characters and scenarios instead of some random out of the blue twist for shock value is the same between chess and snakes and ladders. 

I am not going to get into the details but just going to say that if you think you know where this is going, it may be is…but it isn’t…and for a while you would be convinced that it isn’t…or maybe it is…but not in the way you thought. If that sounds vague, it really shouldn’t because my friends that is what suspense means! Creating tension in your mind…making you nervous, excited, confused between multiple plausible outcomes is what the essence of suspense is. Raghavan manges to do it very very well here. As a writer and an avid thriller reader myself, I love guessing how any story goes and sad part is, usually I am right and then feel withdrawn from the story. But man, this movie made me feel completely 110% engrossed in it. Everything about this movie worked and it had me guessing unsuccessfully from one point onward.

Credit goes not only to the director and the script but also to the performances. Even if am not a fan, I must say Khurana does quite well in his role and displays the exact nuances necessary for it. His character is the core of the story and if not done right, the movie would have fallen apart. He is charming, sympathetic and also cheeky where he needs to be. Tabu is fucking amazing as is expected from a veteran like her. Radhika Apte does quite well, but the script doesn’t give her much to do.

The script does surprisingly make you laugh though. I daresay the movie is more of a dark comedy than just an intense thriller. The ability of the movie to make you laugh even at the most horrific events is commendable. The music had to be good for a movie set around a piano player and Amit Trivedi gives serviceable melodies. Although ‘Naina da Kasoor’ sounds like the second line of ‘O mere Sona re’ from Teesri Manzil, but it might be intentional too. Raghavan is an avid fan of Vijay Anand, particularly Teesri Manzil. And also an R D Burman fan. It may be a nod to Goldie and Pancham but am not completely sure. The movie also acknowledges its inspiration in the end credits -- the 2010 French Short movie: L’accordeur. There are a few other references which I am sure I will catch on the inevitable second and third viewings.

The movie is a bit slow to start with and takes a bit of time to get going. The real tension doesn’t start until like 20 mins before the interval but once it starts you won’t breathe easy till the end. Also the movie references Pune more than Woody Allen references New York. Its always fun if a movie loves a city that you live in.  This is honestly one of the best Bollywood movies I have seen in recent times and perhaps the best one I saw this year. Do give it a patient, uninterrupted watch.

The movie is Superrific!

PS – Usually for a Sriram Ragahavan movie, I have a list of references and Easter eggs, but here I do not have any more in the first viewing at least, other than Tabu being called ‘Lady Macbeth’ once. She played the role of a desi Lady Macbeth in the Indian movie adaptation of Macbeth- “Maqbool”. I will definitely find more in further viewings.