Tanay Chaudhari

SANJU - "BABA" a black sheep, not a dark horse "Sanju" - an anecdotal account of one of India's most controversial and popular film-personalities - Sanjay "Baba" Datt, the film has been a well-intended effort to tell a behind-the-scenes story. Despite his stature as a cinema-idol, an already well-known account of Sanjay's life events is presented - starting from a brat struggling to lip sync while first-facing the camera under his father's direction; dealing terribly with the untimely demise of his beloved mother, his horrendous drug addiction causing loss of his first love, the infamous underworld connections destroying his family life as he kept losing his dearest of friends in addition to his Terrorist Act court cases and not to mention his commercial failures. However, he ended up improving his ways by not quitting or running away, to make a comeback through his family's support and sheer resilience. Clearly, it is all a rather favourable depiction. And why not, when its full of fun, frolic and sentiments sprinkled tastefully across this Rajkumar Hirani film, who does take dramatic liberties throughout but ends up making a likably semi-fictional account. But, been in news for a considerably long period of time, the film doesn't live up to the galactic hype of its promos. Just like Sanju's nature, the film has its thorough flaws - forgone assumptions about the background of his parents and his relationships with his siblings, the absence of mentioning any of his previous marriages and influential friends, his childhood - are only to name a few. Though, the most glaring shortcoming - the unilateral lambasting the media. Seemingly it had unanimously sensationalised and questioned the man's existence. There's vivid, intense hatred towards the "dimwitted" media covering the better part of the film making it a preachy and even moronically foolish, culminating with an entire song (featuring the real and real Sanju) - "Baba Bolta Hain Bas Ho Gaya". That brings us to the music which is barely passable and certainly forgettable. I was surprised and disappointed at the same time to know that one of the composers was A.R. Rahman. Now, coming to the good parts - the cinematography by Hirani and Ravi Verman ("Barfi!") are massive pluses for watching a seamless transition of events. The film's dialogues by are full of references with yesteryear's memorable songs (whose lyricists are referred fondly as "Ustaads"). "Naa Sarr Jhukha ke Jiyo...", "Iss Duniya mein Jeena hoh toh Kaam kar, Pyaare...", "Kuch toh Logg Kahenge..." - each coming with passing on a lesson from father to his son. Therefore, just it went in reality, the backbone of the film is its narration of the evergreen bond between late Sunil Datt and Sanjay. There are some genuinely moving scenes with a sublime Paresh Rawal (National Film Award recipient) and Ranbir - sharing their pains and dealings. Hirani, who deftly handles his actors (a special mention for Manisha Koirala and Vicky Kaushal, the other two pillars) without over-enunciating their parts and uplifts from the film's not so engaging portions (involving brief, forgettable Anushka Sharma, Dia Mirza and Jim Sarbh). Undoubtedly, this film is what it has become because of Ranbir Kapoor. His mannerisms seem on-point and never once become caricaturish. As he famously stated in an interview that while an actor impersonating someone on-screen, after the first few minutes of warming up to that presence it becomes the actor's responsibility to convince all that there's no difference between the subject and the portrayer. So, Ranbir does everything with his inimitable honesty. Yet, in places, he moves away from the portrayal which, unfortunately, can't be helped but noticed. Still, it's an overall soul-stirring experience to watch him. "Sanju" may serve as a shrine for fans of Sanjay Datt, but for others, it doesn't hold much. Sadly, the film is not at par with any of the Rajkumar Hirani films made, and neither does complete justice to such a highly eventful life of a film-star. A modest 6/10

"Daddy's about the Occupational Hazards of being a Gangster" --- A Hero, A Hunk, An Underdog, A Villain - Arjun Rampal has splendidly played them all. In "Daddy" he comes out as an "anti-hero" with the part of one of the most infamous Indian gangsters – Arun Gulab Gawli. Spanning from the late-70s when Mumbai mills were shut-down, costing about 200,000 their daily wages uptil a decade back, to legal-uproar in the aftermath of Maharashtra's State Elections – in which Gawli scored a landslide victory, after more than 3 decades of unlawful exploits. What makes this film worth watching is the tale of a man who apparently rose ranks - unwillingly so - when times were perfect breeding grounds for crime. Gawli became a 'criminal lord' not just against his wishes but also against the underworld's biggest. From fighting for the better part of his life for the lion's share of Mumbai's underbelly, to rising in stature in the hearts of Dagdi Chawl's slum-dwellers when his humanitarian efforts moulded his image as "Robin Hood", a protector – a.k.a. "daddy". Alas, the police and rivals' tagged enmity got the better of Gawli, who attempted to mend his ways – unfortunately, fell from grace. Arjun Rampal is tremendously influential in his mobster portrayal. His raw grit and volatility are inspiring; which goes the same for his arch-rival – Inspector Vijaykar (by ace director-actor Nishikant Kamath, "Force duology", "404: Error Not Found"). Their tiff becomes the drive for the good, the bad and the ugly happening in this multi-character narrative. In fact, the lesser known casting choices added needful leverage; be it with Gawli's wife (Aishwarya Rajesh from Tamil cinema's "Vivegam"), a snitch (Shruti Bapna, "The Lunchbox"), a firing fast-friend (Rajesh Shringarpore, "Sarkaar Raj") or with the Dawood-fashioned nemesis (a surprising - Farhan Akhtar). However, the valiant effort of the debuting co-writer and producer Rampal went off the road several times. The idea of many stories converging to tell one – was interesting; until too many plot points savaged the momentum. The homages to the 70s era songs, the lackluster background-score and editing– don't add up either. The film gracefully attempted to portray a 'mobster with a heart of gold'; but empathizing with a criminal might've only made a lucrative screenplay. The direction (Ashim Ahluwalia, National Film Awardee "Ms. Lovely") has blunt visualization with guns, romance, lust, action and what not – but mostly in vain. I actually hoped that it should've have been more than an "occupational hazards of being a gangster" film. It wasn't boring, but surely not captivating enough. Sincerely hoping to see Arjun Rampal with more - a 6.25/10.

"The Fall" - a Rousing Tale of Friendship --- An injured stuntman (Lee Pace, "Guardians of the Galaxy") and a young orange-picker girl (the uber talented - Catinca Untaru) - both "fell and fractured" - strike a chance friendship in their hospital. Roy begins telling her a story of romance, bandits, adventure with Charles Darwin, a Pyrotechnic, an Indian Warrior, a Free-Slave as their peers. The epic-plot flushed out of Roy's own remorse and heartbreak, ironically set in the magnificent palaces of India, though, it is with little Alexandria's potent and pure imagination we all see a world beyond the helpless shortsightedness. To have fallen is human, but to have risen must feel divine. It's surprising to have found "hope" in the most unlikely of places; but, that becomes "soul enriching" to have attained so from a child's vision. A moving, heartfelt account of fantasy-drama, which couldn't have been summarised any better by Alain de Botton... 'The moment we cry in a film is not when things are sad but when they turn out to be more beautiful than we expected them to be.' ... so, indeed. Outstanding!