Biswajit Tripathy

Don't watch the movie even if you are paid to watch.

Made with passion, debutante director Sunaina Bhatnagar’s “Dear Maya” is a very subtle movie. After the debut movie of Avinash Das’s “Änarkali of Arrah”, this is one more movie which is deeply engrossing. The movie resembles Manisha Koirala’s recent life closely since Manisha tried to come out of her illness while Maya is trying to come back to a new life after all her childhood ordeal. Only Manisha but no one else could have depicted the character so well. The ever beautiful Manisha Koirala returns to screen after a very long break and fight against ovarian cancer detected in 2012. Playing the protagonist as Maya, Manisha Koirala has given a superlative performance in the movie. Maya, an old and forlorn 40 something woman is living an ominous life with misery filled all around her periphery. World in her eyes is a distrusting and miserable place to live in. She has shut herself inside her spacious Shimla house with her trusted maid of few decades. Two prying school girls Ira and Anna, played by Madiha Imam and Shreya Chaudhary who had heard a lot about this reclusive neighbour, decide to add colour to her droning life. They start writing secret love letters to Maya with a fabricated character named Ved (who never exist). This part is similar to a movie we saw earlier Sirf Tum which was again inspired by a hollywood movie “You’ve Got Mail”. As in “Sirf Tum”, she sets up for Delhi to hunt for the man she has never met but who has revitalized her fervour to live a better life. Pre interval, the movie is entirely dominated by Maya who plays the role of a woman in solitude so well that you feel a part of her misery. Almost all of the second part is devoted to Anna’s life in Delhi and her search for Maya by putting a “Missing” posters all around Delhi and her reunion with Ira and their joint effort is locating Maya.

Island city is an anthology of three narratives from Mumbai. Three different storylines about discontented people, discontented life. The name island city depicts to people who have become isolated within themselves like an Island. Island City is a movie about depression, touching emotions, driving sentiments, sarcastic, funny and moreover a tragic end to all three stories. Even though the story is based in Mumbai, but people across all places can connect to the stories told here. Released in Sept'15, directed & screenplay by debutante director Ruchika Oberoi, produced by NFDC, the movie won FEDORA prize for the Best Young Director at Venice Film Festival where it was released and showcased for the first time. "Fun Committee” written by Ruchika Oberoi revolves around a earnest Corporate Employee Suyash Chaturvedi played by Vinay Pathak. He lives a perfunctory life like many of those people living in metropolitan cities. He wakes up, eats, gets ready for office, comes back, sleeps to repeat the routine next day. His life looks monotonous and purposeless. A newly designed Fun Committee decides to reward their star employees a day of fun to de-stress them; only that the fun is forced on them even if they don't want it. "The Ghost in the machine written by Ruchika Oberoi" is a heart warming story of a housewife played by Amruta Subhash, who heaves a sigh of relief when her husband is admitted in hospital after a coma attack. The ever abusing husband is a major irritant to the entire family. For a change, she understands her self-worth after her husband is admitted in hospital. The housewife believes that brining a TV to their home will bring some delight to their home. The Final Story, "Contact written by Siddharth Sharma", is the story of those women who have always been told by their parents that they won't get their prince charming because of the way they look. Ruchika played by Tannishtha Chatterjee helps you find your inner voice with her powerful performance. Jignesh played by Chandan Roy Sanyal is a foul mouthed mechanic who wants to marry Aarti played by Tanishtha who works in a printing press. Aarti's life changed when she received a pink letter from a secret admirer which tells her about her inner desires. All the three stories dig out your inner grief that lurks in some innermost corner of your heart.

Ever since DDLJ released sometime in end'1995, the name Simran has been synonymous with a woman who wants to be unconventional, a woman who wants to break free & live blissfully. "Ja Simran Ja" has been the most preferred word for girls who want to be freed from the social disgrace. Those who know Kangana will agree to me that she is one among those Simran in the scintillating showbiz; daring, impenitent and sizzling. Simran or Praful Patel is the real narrative of a Punjabi girl from US Sandeep Kaur who robbed several banks of US over a period of two months. She was rechristened as "Bombshell Bandit" by FBI. She used to surf YouTube videos to find inimitable ways to rob banks. Her modus operandi was very simple. She used to walk in to the bank, pass on a hastily written note that read; “TICK TOCK. I HAVE A BOMB.” Currently she is serving her jail terms in the Iron County Jail in Cedar City, Utah while selling the rights of the movie for $50,000. The movie has been a little twisted to hold on to Indian sentiments. Praful Patel is a 30 something divorcee living in Atlanta who is leading a very complex life. Her character has been so well defined and written - a divorcee, job, complicated family life, and over everything else, she is ambitious. She has her own imperfections and admits to them too. She is weird & has been trying her best to make her life perfect but in vein. Simran is not the Queen you saw in 2014, she is neither the Manu you saw in 2015, she is one woman who wants to live life in her own terms without being nagged for marriage or other trivial things. Working in the housekeeping department of a Five Star hotel in Atlanta; pretty contented with her life except those little fights with her father. Her parents aren’t too happy with her marital conditions and want her to settle down with Sameer played by Sohum Shah. Praful is ambitious, doesn’t want to waste her entire life as a housekeeper in a five star hotel. She wants to grow, grow beyond her boundaries. She wants to buy her own house so that she can be free, free from those constant naggings of her parents. And is it in that pursuit that she commits a mistake, to hide that mistake, she went on committing them more and before you realized she was in a dirty mess. Aggravated by the regular fights with her father, she leaves house one fine morning for Las Vegas where her cousin is getting married.

Four women, Four stories, and all of them are linked by desires, craving for affection, breaking free from social norms, the battle within to achieve bliss. Co-written and directed by Alankrita Shrivastava, Lipstick Under My Burkha, a black comedy; presents what it means to be a woman in a small town which is subjugated by males. A city on edge of getting modernised but mindset of the people isn’t too willing to adjust. Produced by Prakash Jha, the movie premiered in Tokyo and Mumbai Film Festivals, where it won the Spirit of Asia Prize and the Oxfam Award for Best Film on Gender Equality. Shireen Aslam (Konkana Sen Sharma), a Muslim woman works as a door to door sales woman without the knowledge of her husband. Rahim her husband is sexually dictating, and is interested only in sex while Shireen craves for his affection and care. Leela, a Hindu woman (Aahana Kumra), owns a beauty parlour and isn’t content with her work and has a different business plan with her Muslim boyfriend with whom she has sexual relations too and planning to escape at the first chance. She wishes to travel around the world with her boyfriend Arshad who runs a photo studio. She regularly arranges meetings with destination wedding planners with the expectation for a free world tour. Rehana Abidi (Plabita Borthakur) is a college student fascinated over Milley Cyrus, stitches burkhas for her family store. She shoplifts from malls for makeups to to wear at college, shoplifts from malls and changes to her ultra modern dresses which she hides in her backpack on way to college, all this hidden from her parents. 55 year old Usha Parmar (Ratna Pathak Shah), a respected Buaji in the area runs her family business loves to read erotic fictions at nights. She falls in love with a swimming instructor and indulges in phone sex with him through a fictional character called Rosy who becomes the main protagonist in the movie. Rosy becomes the symbol for everything that the four woman ever wanted to have. The charming story has been carefully narrated by the writer with a lot of tenderness, sadness and sexual truthfulness with hilarity. All four women are staying in same environs and share an silent bond of fighting a never ending battle to be happy in their life. All of them want to break free, breaking free from their conservative families and from a sexist society that forces them to toe the line. The writer/director Alankrita Shrivastava has very carefully shown sexuality without a bit of impropriety.

The first reason why you should watch Secret Superstar is because Aamir Khan has backed the child star Zaira Wasim from his previous release Dangal which is very unlike from him. The second reason is Aamir himself. Unlike other Khans, Aamir doesn’t make too many movies; but whenever he does, they became blockbuster magic. His last 3 movies Dhoom 3, Dangal and PK made with a collective budget of 270 Crores have made a business worth 3400 Crores. That speaks a lot about why his movies are watchable. Made on a humble budget of 50 Cr including all expenses, the movie has collected 115 Crores as yet. Unlike others, his movies mostly are sparkling, sophisticated and family movies; those you can watch with entire family. While Zaira Wasim is bang on and takes on the role with matchless performance, Aamir Khan, as a fanatical music composer is quite a rebel. One of the finest movies made by debutante director Advait Chandan, this movie will make you laugh, cry and also shows the sacrifice a mother makes for her daughter. Somewhere in a middle class home in Baroda, a mother and daughter lives with their adult earning member, the master of the house. The master of the house is an archetypal master who is evil, dominating, chauvinistic and regressive. He doesn’t want the women of the house to step out of home unless and otherwise he wishes so. The only time the family heaves sigh of relief when the father goes out on a long work trip. Raj Arjun who plays Farooq, the aggressive father has done justice to his role and suits the character perfectly. Insiya (Zaira Wasim), a wannabe singer, wants to be a lead singer and get away from the abusive home and save her mother from her father’s cruelty and oppression. She lives with her dotted young brother and grandmother along with her father and mother. She jots down the lyrics in her notebook and plans to make her voice heard by the entire world. Insiya’s mother encourages her daughter and they watch singing reality shows in TV and discuss music whenever they have time together. The fifteen year old Insiya needs permission to take part in a musical reality show in the hope of winning a laptop and an internet connection which otherwise isn’t allowed in their home. But when her father lashes out at her mother for not adding proper salt in the dinner, she knows her aspiration isn’t going to be fulfilled. But her mother sells her necklace and gifts a laptop to Insiya which changes her life forever. Now she has a belief that her music career can flourish with help of laptop and Internet connection. Encouraged by her mother, Insiya records her first song under a Burkha and uploads it in You Tube under the channel name “Secret Superstar”. In a twist of fate, her video goes viral and overnight she becomes a YouTube Sensation. Viewers and media channels are besieged by her simplistic songs and fascinated by the enigma behind the “Secret Superstar”. For those who don’t know, the cheap dance move of “Sexy Baliye” has been choreographed by her other daughter in Dangal, Sanya Malhotra.

October is a movie that time travels you into a series of emotions to a world that has been barely exposed in modern day Hindi Cinema. A month of autumn “October” is more than a motif in the movie but it covers an era; bringing evocative images, inducing pains and tears, makes you neurotic and leaves you void while you walk out of the theatre. For a very long time, you would be struggling with emotions and you will be still a part of the movie in your subconscious mind. After a while, it won’t be a movie anymore – but like your story, that you were a part of since last 115 minutes. The movie speaks volumes without having much conversation. The characters communicate more in their eyes through the array of emotions they carry in their heart. It is a very different kind of love story that travels from one season to another until October arrives. A love story that shows the unadulterated heart of Dan (Varun Dhawan) and Silent and stoic stares of Shiuli (Banita Sandhu). There are neither any powerful dialogues, nor any strong music but the beauty of the movie is shown in expressions of tranquillity. Dan is a hotel Intern at a Delhi Hotel, seditious in nature but affable by heart. Wanting to be a chef but being trained as a room cleaner; he isn’t very content with the job he is doing. Out of exasperation, he does something or other to get even. Shiuli is one among those all other trainees, friends with Dan but barely ever interacted with him. The movie actually starts when Shiuli falls down from the third floor of the hotel one night and goes into Coma. Like everyone else, Dan is concerned about her but then can’t move on with his life unlike those all others. And it happens because of a very simple naive question of Shiuli “Where is Dan”. Thereafter he embarks on a heart-rending journey of questions and answers and looking for love in the strangest of circumstances. After the mishap, Dan is drawn to her excruciating and frozen world feeling strongly for her. IS IT LOVE, MAYBE YES..... Dan is affected mostly by the mishap when he comes to know that Shiuli was questioning about his absence just before the accident. The movie progresses at a slow pace but then such cadence of life cannot be shown in fast forward. There is a life in every character, and hope in every eye. There are times when you wholly run in sync with the movie and forget that you are watching a movie rather feel like being a part of it and experiencing the pain yourself. There is a scene in the hospital when Shiuli is in the bed and Dan standing beside her where Shiuli acknowledges the love of Dan in her own way and it has been directed so marvellously. The scene is so full of emotions that bring tears and smile at the same time. The film has few instance of hilarity and they have been so flawlessly integrated into the plot. Screenplay is poetic, the few dialogues that the movie has; have been expressed so beautifully that makes the movie beats scene after scene. Not a moment of interest is wasted. Most beautiful moments of the movie are not those with dialogues but those with silence that leaves space for you to read between the lines. Avik Mukhopadhyay’s cinematography is at par with global movies like The Notebook or Serendipity. It leaves a mundane charisma to the beautiful landscapes and the hotel interiors. Shantanu Moitra’s soft scores touch the cord too.

"If I have to go away, can I leave a little bit of me with you?" I had heard about this movie long before and was pending to be watched by me for a very long time. For some reason or other it kept on pending even though I had recorded it in my DTH box. I watched it when I went through back to back losses of family members recently and was going through a tough time and was glad I did watch it and connected too instantly. ‘Memories in March’ is a brilliant film by debutante Director Sanjoy Nag where a bereaved mother is shown to come to terms with his son’s sexual identity. Without going into much detail into the plot I would rather prefer to narrate some scenes which are worth mentioning. There is one particular sequence where Deepti Naval (Arati) expresses her wish to visit his son’s office and take away some of his stuffs as souvenirs. The scene is shown in great length and detailing with incalculably striking visuals. When his son’s boss dubs her actions too melodramatic, distressed she dashes off from the office. While considering her Divorce from her hubby as the worst day of her life, she has to learn to acknowledge the death of her son in a road accident. Storming off to Kolkata and accompanied by her son’s co-worker Sahana Choudhury who escorted her to crematorium for the last rites of her son. After the cremation is over, she is taken to the Guest House where her son used to live. Sahana narrates her how her son had consumed a lot of alcohol and insisted on driving back to Guest House when he had the fatal accident. Upset with above incidents, she blames her co-workers to drive him to death but she had more shocks in Store when she learns that her son has been living in with Arnob, his co-worker and boss in office. She is upset and blames Arnob of seducing her son but slowly she accepts the truth and accepts that it was her son’s predilection to be with Arnob. She develops a bond with Arnob over the common loss they had. There is a scene where she is browsing her son’s phone where her son Siddharth had composed a message to her about his relationship with Arnob but never sent it because he was afraid of upsetting her. “Memories in March” is about the wreckage that people leave behind after their demise. It makes you question on “this is what relationships are” and “this is what they should be.” This is a film worth watching for its pragmatic and susceptible portrayal of a relationship that is sadly even today considered outside norm. For many homosexuals who are still forced to hide from what they are, but thankfully change is happening. Films like this should be made more and more so that it forces the society to recognize homosexuals as no different from them. The theme is not a stranger to hindi movie industry but leaving apart barely a few movies like Aligarh or Dear Dad, rest mostly make fun of the same. There are some of the movies that are a “Must Watch Before you die”. Memories in March is one such movie and a must watch movie for everyone who loves good movie.