Md Ali Tabish

Gully Boy Apna Time Aayega… And it has definitely come for Naezy and Divine, the two rappers from Mumbai whose lives from Dharavi has been personified so beautifully by Zoya Akhtar and her team. Gully Boy revolves around Murad, a slum boy who is trying to juggle as many balls as possible to make life bearable for him and his mother. An abusive father, contemptuous looks from every other person not from Dharavi, his suffocated dreams that dare not come alive, a new unwanted addition to his family…this guy has seen it all. There is only one elixir which gives him peace and that is the music played out in his earphones. In a brilliantly acted scene, his father enters the decaying home with his new wife and there is Shahnai blaring in the background. Leaving this realm of reality, we enter Murad’s mind where all his anger is channeled into the music, suddenly his father removes the earphones…the sound of Shahnai comes back and with that, the bitter truth of life. This is as much a story about coming of age as the invisible wall between societies and people. Murad knows where he is coming from, he knows what is expected from him and then he finds a mentor who unshackles his thoughts and his fury and helps him to find his word. A big round of shout to Siddhant Chaturvedi as MC Sher who roars and chews his dialogues and has a presence of a rockstar. We should definitely be seeing some stellar stuff from him. The rest of the cast including the car mechanic cum thief Moin (Vijay Verma), Vijay Raaz in a totally non-comedic role and Amruta Subhash as Razia have given nuanced and authentic performances.Kalki Koechlin has a small cameo that is nothing more than a sub-plot to emphasize the relationship between the lead characters. To enable the realism of these kind of genre-based movies depends considerably on how authentic the characters are, and Ranveer and Alia has tapped that faithfulness to the T. The softer side of Ranveer when he is Murad and the brash, confident and raging Gully boy stage persona is mixed effortlessly. It also helps that he has vocalized most of the rap songs, which should be a must-have trait for any great musical.Alia Bhatt is a fiery girl in a traditional attire, ready to pounce upon any person who tries to get into her kill zone. The relationship between the two has all the facets of what it should be like with the possessiveness, the unsaid telepathy and a long lasting trust. The movie could not have been what it is unless the dialogues from Vijay Maurya, which has the rustic taste, infused with the witty and nippy banter between the characters. Another thing that is just breathtaking is the cinematography from Jay Oza who in his vision of Dharavi and the slimy, serpentine lanes has given an insider’s perspective reminiscent of Salaam Bombay. In Gully Boy, whenever there is a monologue or a rap; Dharavi is the silent co-star, which accentuates the characters’ pain and passion. Recommended Movies on Similar Themes: 8 Mile,Straight Outta Compton

LIFE In 1993 that great rockstar /philosopher Dr. Ian Malcom once said, “Life, uh…finds a way”. Daniel Espinosa, the director of Life took this quote to his heart and made this movie which is about a relentless alien being just trying to achieve what any life form would do…survive. Life has taken a lot of its source material from the Ridley Scott classic Alien including a strong female protagonist like Ellen Ripley and some seriously edge of the seat thrill. If only they could have taken the claustrophobic and suffocating environment of Alien, this would have been a rather deserving contender of the new-age stuck-in-the-space genre. The story is pretty predictable for anyone who has seen trailer or even read the synopsis but the intensity of the execution really surprised me in a way I was not expecting. After Logan and Skull Island this is third movie in the row that I have seen which was not shy to explore a more violent and bloody approach to the subject. Daniel Espinosa applied some interesting camera movements in the zero-gravity atmosphere which gave a more immersing sense for the audience. At this point it is safe to say that those who want the grave themes of Arrival or the joviality of The Martian would might be disappointed as this movie is more inclined towards the horror and the frantic action sequences rather than contemplating about the meaning of life, as its title may suggest. There is a catch about the decisions the characters take which might be considered dumb (and to top it all, they are supposed to be astronauts) and pretty much out-of-sync with what NASA might do in this situation but a counter argument is that if these characters do not take questionable decisions we might never have a horror movie (six people go to places where they are not meant to go and do stuff that no person with an average intelligence would do). The actors are on top of their game with all six actors chipping the right amount of dread which one might feel in these situations. The early scenes where the alien (Calvin) is shown to grow and respond to different hit and trial experiments is fun and curious to watch. Most of the smart action takes in the early half of the movie especially with a twist that came out of nowhere (Remember Game of thrones, Season 1 surprise) .The design of Calvin looked like a carnivorous plant which had mated with a not-so-friendly octopus-starfish. Calvin is all muscle, all brain and all eye as described by one character. It was clear to us at that moment only, Calvin is not to be taken lightly. But, the astronauts fed him trying different approaches and the result was a growth of exponential level which would bring the whole ISS down, unsurprisingly. The movie’s final scenes are interesting with a nice little twist which might propel the makers towards a sequel, depending upon box office results. Life tries to be an amalgamation of Sci-fi and horror and while it’s not a philosophical sequel to Alien, as a horror it is a sure watch.

The Accountant The concept of the movie developed when Rainman met Batman and had a surrogate child together, namely the titular character of the Movie The Accountant. The story revolves around an autistic person who is mathematically genius and hides behind his dorky glasses and plain suits to camouflage his not-so-legal book keeping business. The issue is why no one thought of an autistic mastermind kinda superhero did earlier, because the idea clicks. This is directed by Gavin O’Connor who balances the goofiness and impracticalness of the plot in a delicate way. Rest is on Ben Affleck’s broad shoulders. There is a great familiarity with a certain episode of The Big Bang Theory in which that other genius Sheldon Cooper finds himself unable to function normally unless he finds a closure. The Closure to finish things is important for our accountant Christian Wolff (Massively pumped up Ben Affleck) too, he just cannot leave things abandoned but if he does, it makes him cranky and pretty nasty. Now why is that dangerous? Because, apart from being an accountant, he is a specially trained martial arts expert and a shooter who can beat Deadshot for Gold medal in comic book Olympics. This bipolar trait of Wolff makes this movie quite interesting to watch. I went to this movie thinking more of a psychological thriller, but the action sequences are a treat to watch(Little more gore could have been better) and Ben who is fresh from his Caped Crusader avatar, looked at home with the fight sequences and the shooting…Yes, this one shoots and kills people. This fun action thriller is Jason Statham-esque in nature with a backdrop of a turbulent childhood. Wolff’s Asperger’s Syndrome is treated with strict discipline by Wolff’s Army man Dad with non-stop karate and other oriental fighting techniques because this Batman needs them too to live his life. His mother doesn’t agree to this entire tough guy attitude and leaves the family .As he grows up, his quirkiness decreases as the kill list increases. So, now we have a superhero for the autistics and he is brutal, when he is shooting them in a deadpan manner and when he is making those God-forbidden Balance Sheets. There is an excellent scene in the movie where we see his mind at work, working on the glass conference rooms, straight from A Beautiful Mind. Other characters include the FBI type (J.K.Simmons), the girl who is in awe with the accountant and is involved involuntarily with the commotion (Anna Kendrick) and Jon Bernthal is another assassin who is acting just like Shane from The Walking Dead, without the zombies. The movie contains a nice surprise which makes the final showdown pretty personal in nature. But, even though the attentive audience can get the surprise beforehand, it doesn’t diminish the climax. The makers have kept open the idea of a sequel which is not very subtle in nature and will depend upon the earnings of this movie.Hence,the real accountants at Warner Brothers will dictate the future of this could-be franchise.

Velvet Buzzsaw Writing about a movie which satirizes the review writing process seems a bit self-cannibalistic in nature but Jake Gyllenhaal’s Morf Vandelwalt is pretentious, shallow and condescending character just needs to be written about. In this high art themed psychological horror from the director who created that beautifully unnerving movie called Nightcrawler, the LA art scene is shown in a bare naked sense with a life full of beauty, fashion, sex and luxury. Velvet Buzzsaw combines two of the more clichéd traits of art world namely a tortured artist and posthumous success, and adds a bit of self-parody with a pinch of predictable yet stylish horror. Dan Gilroy has in his past movies tried to portray the lack of apathy the modern life is built around and he has never been less subtle than the “sphere” murder scene where a bloody body is assumed to be a part of the exhibition with school children walking in the pool of blood and adults praising the originality of the art. In another scene oozing with pitch-black comedy, an art connoisseur mistakenly thinks of pile of garbage as a new gorgeous creation by a reclusive artist played by John Malkovich, whose dead pan delivery makes the scene hit hard. The story revolves around an ensemble of characters which include all the usual suspects one would find in a movie related to art world such as gallery owner, art critic, independent agents, artists (both alive and dead) and the paintings themselves. The movie switches between a satire and a creepy art-coming-alive chiller with utmost ease except the last act where it becomes like Final Destination filled with imaginative deaths and a killer automaton. As it happened, the art gallery assistant stumbles across a dead artist’s apartment chock-full with paintings which are “mesmerizing and enthralling” according to Morf. This is her key to get-rich soon and she follows on it but there is a small catch. The dead painter has somehow cursed the paintings so that everyone who will come in contact will die a gory death and there is no turning it back. Jake Gyllenhaal has created magic with this character and it shows in every scene he is in. He is a man infatuated with beauty and exquisiteness and is not shy to offer accolades to his girlfriend’s skin (“the most beautiful cross between almond and saddle brown”) ,neither is he afraid to throw disdain (“ A bad review is better than sinking into the great glut of anonymity”) . He comments on the aesthetics of a coffin at a funeral with such aplomb contempt, it is hilarious to watch. Rest of the cast is also dynamite with Rene Russo, Toni Collette and John Malkovich shining. The movie would have been more engrossing if the black humor would have been at the forefront till the end and the horror placed in the attic like a bad painting.