Saturday, 29 July 2023

Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahani, Review: All rhyme, no reason

Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahani, Review: All rhyme, no reason

When a film tries too hard to please too many viewers, it shows. When it has too many stars, including stars of yesteryear, predictably, its length grows. When the maker goes back three generations and sets one chunk of the story in 1978, the public knows. When a layman at a bus-stop on a rainy night tells you lots about a film he has not seen because, perhaps, he has seen the trailer and read stuff about the movie, you know that’s the way the wind blows. When you read the Saregama credit in the beginning of the film, you can guess this is going to be a film in which music flows. When a director whose last two films were Lust Stories and Ghost Stories, and tries ‘something different’, we all wait to see how it goes. Karan Johar (KJo to his fandom and most media) has released his film called Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahani yesterday, his tenth directorial outing in twenty-five years (jubilee of sorts), a film that has the longest title among KJo vehicles. It is completely over the top, big-budget, partly funny, partly ridiculous, partly hammed, and a musical overdose that few can equal.

Brash and utterly spontaneous, Punjabi munda (boy, in Punjabi) Rocky Randhawa rocks the dance floor, at an event, much to the chagrin of his father, Tijori, who runs the family business of selling sweet-meats (mithai, Indian candy). Later, at another event, his wheelchair bound grand-father, Kanwal Lund (that’s not a typo) hears a couplet by master Urdu poet, late Firaq Gorakhpuri, and presses on the button, which sends him speeding towards a buxom woman. He kisses her on her cheeks several times, muttering something that sounds like Chandni, Yamini or Jamini. This creates quite a scandal, but Rocky, who is very fond of his grandpa, is amazed that his grand-father, who never spoke after a fall from the stairs in their mansion, actually spoke for the first time in decades.

Back home, Kanwal points to a red book and again mutters the same word. In the book, Rocky finds a black and white picture of woman, being one half of a torn photo and comes across the word Jamini, a Bengali name. With the help of his pal Vicky, his friend and a gymnasium owner, he sits on the computer and searches for Jamini. His search takes him to Rani Chatterji, a Bengali TV host who works for India TV. Rani has just ripped apart a male chauvinist politician on air and the show has created a sensation. Rocky and Vicky arrive there, carrying the picture, and ask Rani to identify the woman. She confirms that it is her mother Jamini. They ask her to help in arranging a meeting between Kanwal and Jamini. Rani, who is already smitten by Rocky, agrees. Several meetings are arranged over a period of time, and, in the process, Rocky and Rani fall for each other. Rani takes it as a physical attraction and fling at first, but Rocky’s amazing and impetuous personality, coupled with his lack his sense of humour and lack of knowledge of the English language both amuse and captivate her. He is her exact opposite. Soon, Rocky declares his desire to marry her, but she is concerned that the two families will never let them be at peace, being so different. Suddenly, an idea strikes her: both will swap homes for three months and try to win over their respective in-laws to be.

Three writers have penned the script of Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahani, two of them Bengali. Their names are Ishita Moitra, Shashank Khaitan and Sumit Roy. Shashank could be from Rajasthan, or Delhi, just guessing. No wonder there is so much Bengali. The Chatterji family spouts a lot of Bengali, but lest they forget, this is a Hindi film. So they switch to lingua franca very fast. Of course, there is a lot of English too, with Rani’s mother being a Professor of English. In the Randhawa family, there is not so much Punjabi, I felt, but lots of Hindi. And they don’t break into English, because the main character, Rocky, is week in Inglis (no, no, no…these are not typos). Both families are alcohol friendly. In the case of the Chatterjis, the mother, Anjali, has a relatively smaller role, as does Tijori Randhawa. Going one generation above, the writers have restricted Kanwal’s role by, most of the time, confining him to a wheel-chair. On the other hand, Jamini Chatterji is active and eloquent. It seems strange that whenever there is a scene at the Randhawa family house, all its occupants are always home. The only two times we see them outside are in a board meeting and on a Sunday at the factory, when the matriarch, Dhanlakshmi Randhawa is following an old tradition. Like-wise for the Chatterjis. Chandon, Rani’s father, is a kathak dancer, and we do see him dance and conduct classes in his own compound. But for that, everybody’s home, either eating or drinking.

Humour is of the kind where Rocky shows his ignorance, when asked by Rani to test his general knowledge, by naming Rajendra Prasad as the President of India. Dr. Rajendra Prasad was the first President of India, while the incumbent is a lady, Draupadi Murmu. He then argues that she did not specify first or current. He also makes a very strong case for using half an abusive term, just because he happens to be from Delhi. When a song about ‘strings’ plays in the background, Rocky unfastens Rani’s skimpy blouse’s ‘string’. When the two lovers decide to trade places, the two families come along with their off-spring, as if it is an exchange of prisoners/spies on a bridge. It is funny. Point is, who goes to whose house? Both could not have been neighbours! Dhanlakshmi vows to make life hell for Rani when she comes to stay with the Randhawas, but every time someone over-rules her, particularly Rani, all she does is cock an expression. No slaps, no hysterics, no breakdowns. The way the two life partners-to-be try to win over their in-laws is way too predictable.

In his 25th year as director, 51 year-old Karan Johar’s reputation precedes him. KJo’s fandom supersedes him. Expectations are sky high. The film rests largely on the extra-marital dalliance in 1978 of two individuals who are now in their 70s/80s now, dichotomy of cultures of the young pair and the experiment of ‘house-guests’. While there is some novelty in the ‘44 years ago love story’, fresh new thinking is seen in the trading places segment, though one cannot help pointing out the inspiration, Trading Places (1983). Here is why: “Randolph and Mortimer Duke, brothers, own a commodities brokerage firm. Holding opposing views on the issue of ‘nature versus nurture’, they make a wager, and agree to conduct an experiment—switching the lives of two people on opposite sides of the social hierarchy and observing the results.” Clash of cultures is nothing new, and we have seen numerous films made on the issue.

Interestingly, Johar swaps the persona attributed to Alia Bhatt for many years – that of a dumb bimbette, very low on GK - for a smart, intellectual, knowledgeable, super-confident, even egotistical woman of her times. With Ranveer Singh, he does not try any such thing. The kind of character he is made to portray is something he can do blind-folded. KJo decides to take a dig at almost everything: obesity, males dancing kathak, treating of Indian classical dance as passé and ludicrous, the fixation with English language as a measure of sophistication, matriarchal and patriarchal societies, where the head of the family rules like a despot, some leaders’ unpardonable justification of rape (not particularly well directed, though), male-female equality, etc. Accents are more or less in keeping with the linguistic backgrounds, but for Kshitee Jog as Poonam Randhawa, Rocky’s mother. The Marathi native lingo accent does surface occasionally. If anybody wants to learn the art of wooing, he just needs to see what Ranveer is doing: flamboyant, king-size. One five-star hotel’s lobby is passed off as the Randhawa residence, in some scenes. There is not a single character who might be classified as even middle class. Well, except for Vicky, but even he is not shown as coming from a modest background. The Rajshri Productions’ hangover, which Johar has admitted publicly, is on display in many a scene. There is no villain and not a single blow is thrown.

By the time the first song is over, you would have seen all there is to see of Varun Dhawan, Ananya Panday, Sara Ali Khan and Janhvi Kapoor. In total, they probably clock one minute of screen time. Dharmendra as Kanwal Lund (his original surname, which was changed to Randhawa), Rocky's grandfather, has that trade-mark vulnerable look about him, though when he speeds his wheel-chair towards a woman guest, and keeps pecking her cheek, is in poor taste. Jaya Bachchan as Dhanlakshmi Randhawa, Rocky’s grandmother, once again shows the stuff she is made of. Wish she had more to do. Shabana Azmi as Jamini Chatterjee, Rani's grandmother, is better than her best and glides through her part. Ranveer Singh as Rocky Randhawa basks in the role. A clay model actor, who can be moulded by deft directors, he does more of the same, with élan. Alia Bhatt as Rani Chatterji gets a lot of meaningful dialogue to deliver, and comes across as an actress to contend with.

Tota Roy Chowdhury as Chandon Chatterjee, Rani's father, surprises us with his kathak. Is he a trained dancer? Churni Ganguly as Anjali Chatterjee, Rani's mother, reminds me of many Bengali women I have met. Having real Bengalis as Bengalis makes things so much easier. Aamir Bashir as Tijori Randhawa, Rocky's father, has a rather undefined role at hand, but shows potential. Kshitee Jog as Poonam Randhawa, Rocky's mother, exhibits both opposing shades with confidence. Anjali Anand as Gayatri "Golu" Randhawa, Rocky's sister, who is almost as bad, if not worse than her brother at English, chooses to say orgasm instead of organise. Haven’t seen much of her, but hope to. Abhinav Sharma as Vicky, Rocky’s friend, has a few moments, while Namit Das as Sumen Mitra (called derogatorily “Sonam” by Rocky) plays a loser, and that required talent too. Director Akashdeep Sabir, seen in The Night Manager, gets to perform as the politician on Alia’s show. It is a brief, negative role. Also seen are Kashish Rizwan as young Dhanlakshmi and Benazir Shaikh as Minty, Vicky's bride.

Cinematography by Manush Nandan trains lenses on some fluff and stuff, glam and glitz, competently, but in the second half, the camera shakes. Editing by Nitin Baid is an example of having too much on his table, which he manages to restrict to 168 calories (read minutes). Four songs by Pritam are melodious, but they compete with a dozen or more songs of yore, mostly in versions, courtesy Saregama. Two of them can be mentioned here: Jhumka gira re (Mera Saaya, 1966, Madan Mohan) and ‘Aajaa mere gaadee men baeth jaa’ (Miss 420, 1998, Anu Malik). ‘Jhumka’ should have been left alone. Aajaa sounds as if it is retained in the original voice of Baba Sehgal, who made his acting debut in this film, directed by Akashdeep Sabir. These songs assume an identity of their own, and while they appeal to nostalgia, they seem contrived in the film’s situations. By and large, these rhymes seem to come up for no reason.

Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahani is not one story, neither is it one film. Either way, it is not compelling enough to laud or applaud.

Rating: **

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mdxy3zohEk



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Saturday, 22 July 2023

Christopher Nolan's ''Oppenheimer'' is a heady mix of espionage, history, politics and suspense !!!! by © Lalit Rao (FIPRESCI)

Christopher Nolan's film ''Oppenheimer'' (2023) is a heady mix of espionage, history, politics and suspense !!!!

A film review by © film critic Mr.Lalit Rao (FIPRESCI)

Oppenheimer is a different type of a biopic. It doesn’t aim to glorify the protagonist’s achievements. It has taken a neutral stance in which care has been taken to delineate both Oppenheimer’s achievements and weaknesses. While watching this film, viewers learn why Oppenheimer’s name as the father of the atomic bomb is still very relevant in contemporary times as we live in a world with 9 countries that are nuclear powers. In the film Oppenheimer, British director Christopher Nolan shows us how a man of science is treated in USA especially the loyalty of a scientist to USA is always under constant surveillance. There are a very few comic scenes in this film. It is more easily recognizable as a heady mix of espionage, history, politics and suspense.

Although it is a film about a specialized subject namely ‘‘quantum physics’’, Oppenheimer is relatively free of abstruse scientific jargon. This makes it easy for any layman to appreciate and understand the film and its underlying message. British cineaste Christopher Nolan is known for his blockbusters and Oppenheimer firmly establishes itself as an overbearing drama film that might be hailed as his best oeuvre so far. That there is only a very brief mention of the sacred Hindu scripture Bhagawadgita in the entire film might come as a rude shock to many Indians especially those who claim to be devout Sanatanis. In ‘Oppenheimer’, various discussions at regular intervals about Communism don’t carry any shock value as most intellectuals of those times had communist leanings or sympathies. Finally, devout cinéphiles would remember ‘‘Oppenheimer’’ as a film about the emotional as well as ethical dilemmas faced by the men of science.

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Thursday, 13 July 2023

Astronaut Stephen Bowen shares how he and other crew members prepare for space walks outside the International Space Station.

Sunday, 9 July 2023

The Marrakech Short Film Festival (MARRAKECHsFF) is back for its third edition September 22-29 2023

MsFF-logo.webp
Third Edition, September 22-29, 2023
 
The Marrakech Short Film Festival (MARRAKECHsFF) is back for its third edition, showcasing Moroccan talent in the realm of short films through an international selection in iconic venues in Marrakech.
As the first open-air cinema festival founded by women in Morocco, this event continues to bridge the gap between the short film industry and the city of Marrakech, while highlighting Moroccan and international talents through an engaging competition program.
MARRAKECHsFF will take place in Marrakech from September 22 to 29, 2023. Screenings will be held in prestigious locations such as the Bahia Palace, the Cyber Park, Dar Cherifa, Villa Majorelle, The Source Hotel, and other exciting venues. The third edition of the festival will welcome Poland as the guest country of honor in partnership with the Polish Embassy, featuring a selection of films curated by the prestigious Munk Studio, which has been operating within the Polish Filmmakers Association since 2008, focusing exclusively on producing debut directorial films. The studio's objective is to discover and support talented young filmmakers in creating innovative art-house cinema. The Polish selection will include more than 10 films, including "The Dress" by director Tadeusz Łysiak (Oscar nominee).
The festival will also feature an international selection of films from the United States, Cyprus, Greece, Palestine, Ivory Coast, Iran, Iraq, Egypt, the Netherlands, and Saudi Arabia.
The 2023 selection will include award-winning films such as "En Route" by Munir Abbar, which won the Grand Prize at the Maghreb Film Festival in Oujda, "Seminal Animals" by Karim Souissi, which received the 1st Jury Prize and Audience Award for the short film "Hand Maid" at the Encounters Festival in Bristol, UK, and "Nothing Holier than a Dolphin" by Margara Isabella, winner of the AUDIENCE AWARD at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival.
The festival's lineup consists of thirteen films, including seven in competition, with the participation of renowned directors and actors such as Fahd Benchamsi, Abdellatif Chaouqi, Abdelghani Sannak, Munir Abbar, Karim Souissi, Gabriel Navarro, and more. The festival jury will be chaired by director Nour Eddine Lakhmari, accompanied by producer Rachida Saadi and actress Nisrine Erradi. The festival will award several prizes, including the NAKHIL Prize (Best Film), BELARJ Prize (Best Director), and Bahja Prize (Best Actor). A special jury prize will also be awarded to a film from the international selection.
This year, the Marrakech Short Film Festival is working on new programs, including the "LOW BUDGET BUDGET" program dedicated to supporting Moroccan filmmakers who have participated in previous editions of the festival. This program aims to support and develop the Moroccan short film industry by providing a platform for project creation and development. In partnership with Chaoui Production and under the patronage of Lamia Chraibi, the LOW BUDGET FILM program will present two films by two young Moroccan directors: Jihane Joypaul and Karim Tajouaout.


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Saturday, 8 July 2023

Walter Kaufmann: What a Life Germany 2021

This superbly crafted biographical documentary by Karin Kaper and Dirk Szuszien premiered in North America in a May 2023 screening arranged in New York by the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung and the Leo Baeck Institute. The focus of the film, writer Walter Kaufmann, passed away at the age of 97 in 2021. Every stage of his life is chronicled and accompanied by his visual participation and recorded commentaries from his texts including childhood and youth; passage as a Jewish child refugee from Germany to Britain; life in an Australian internment camp; employment as a soldier; holding blue collar jobs; and work for long periods as a sailor on Australian and GDR (German Democratic Republic) ships. He joined the Australian communist party and trade unions and was naturalized in 1944 and never gave up his Australian passport. Work on ships and lengthy stays in countries like Cuba, Japan, the USA and Israel provided the backbone for his numerous novels and investigative reports published in different countries but mostly in the GDR.

Kaufmann never compromised his views. The film uses as primary sources open extensive records of his personal files which covered exchanges with many well-known writers and letters written to him by his adoptive parents who perished in a concentration camp. Throughout the documentary, Kaufmann accompanies viewers in person with reflections about places he is visiting or quotes from his letters, such as those from his parents about their passage to the camps, which never reached him. Kaufmann did not learn about their fate until he returned to Duisburg in the fifties when he saw a listing of lawyers from Duisburg who perished in the camps.

Kaufmann was born in Berlin on January 19, 1924, as Jizdak Schmelzer to a young Polish woman who lived in the basement of a building in a part of Berlin where impoverished Jews from Eastern Europe lived. At the age of three he was adopted by Dr. Sally Kaufmann, a well-off Duisburg Jewish lawyer, and his wife Johanna an aspiring artist, and his name was changed to Walter Kauffmann. After the war, when he returned to Berlin, Walter could not find his birth mother. Walter, as he stated, had shifted his life from a poor Jewish ghetto kid to that of a bourgeois youngster. He went to German schools but decades later he still vividly recollects the demonstrations of the nazi party in Duisburg, the condemnation of Jews by teachers, the disappearance of Jewish students from his classes, and the destruction of his parents’ home by a mob. He liked his schoolmates, but they told him that his only fault was being Jewish. In 1939, when he turned 15, his parents decided he should live in Britain to join a distant uncle and he left in a Kinder transport. Feeling isolated, he attended a German school there but was forced to leave Britain as a German enemy alien who according to Churchill, if 16 and older, should be all collared. In 1941 He arrived in Sidney, Australia with more than 2,000 others who had been forced to leave Britain.

After living in Australia his work focused more on writing novels about his travel experiences and on completing issue-oriented investigations. During a conference in Poland, he was invited to go to the GDR where it was suggested to him that he return to his original home om Duisburg. He encountered widespread amnesia about the Third Reich in West Germany, distrust about his motivation for being there, and in Kaufmann’s words, people related to him as “a dead person on vacation”. The new owner of his old home barely recognized him but, she recalled giving his mother a pair of shoes just before she was deported. Kaufmann returned to Berlin and decided to live in the GDR where he was appointed representative of the Ministry of Culture, travelling and writing critical reports for the GDR and other media. As a GDR attaché he represented East Germany at the 1956 Olympics.  Given his leftwing background, coming from the GDR, as a citizen of Australia with numerous books and awards, and recognized for his critical convictions, Kaufmann easily accessed new sources of information and shared their views. After the Olympics in Japan, he met Katahara, the leader of a radical student movement organizing with peasants in opposition to expanding US military bases. In the US, he spent many months in the 60s covering the trial of Angela Davis, becoming her principal supporter in the GDR and helping create broad support for her. He also covered the murder of Martin Luther King Jr. and investigated the trial of the murderers of three civil rights activists which received, reflecting justice in the US South, light sentence and the dismissal of charges against their leader, a Ku Klux Can chief. In his articles he analyzed the pervasive discrepancy of wealth in the USA and its persistent poverty.  Kaufmann described homeless people he encountered in New York City at night.  As a deckhand, Kaufmann travels alone to Havana because the captain refused to permit his pregnant wife Angela Brunnner, a prominent GDR actress to join him. He is hosted in Havana by the Cuban Writers Union. For him, Cuba represents socialism as he wanted it to emerge in the GDR. Before leaving Cuba, Kaufmann points out that beyond the fading fervor for the revolution, Cuba was facing hard times, similar to the issues faced in the GDR, of scarcity, not having enough food. His superiors at home refused to publish his book “Voices in the Storm” first printed in Australia in 1953 unless he changed some sections. Kaufmann refused and there was a five-year delay before his version was printed in the GDR.

Travelling to Israel several times, Kaufmann is not well received even by his distant relatives because he comes from socialist Germany and is outspoken about the dispossession of Palestinians. He openly shares the perspective of individuals like Shlomo Smelzman whose son was killed in the war and others including concentration camp survivors whose children face death in the Israeli wars. Kaufmann was not a religious Jew in the traditional sense. But there are no doubts about his beliefs, being a socialist, opponent of the oppressive settlement policies of Israel, and supporter of the two-state solution. He had serious reservations about living in the GDR given the crimes Stalin committed but made sure that his two daughters Rebecca and Deborah had Jewish names living in Germany. As the longtime head of the PEN association through 1993, he supported open discussion and expressed his desire for a free socialist East Germany, and thus objected to the dissolution of the GDR. Massive peaceful demonstrations in East Germany had articulated “We Are a People”, the Western version changed it to “We Are one People”, stripping from the GDR whatever had a socialist taint. The unification euphoria rapidly disappeared in East Germany with many living there expressing that the GDR had been annexed and transformed into an underfunded miniature version of capitalist West Germany. Sensing an emerging chasm in former GDR regions Kaufmann realized that “we were entering a grim period”.

Thirty years after unification, East Germany is still trailing behind.  Contemporary surveys show  that those living in the West have a more positive view of their states (Laender) and a more optimistic perspective about the future than those living in the East. Unemployment is higher in the former GDR than in West Germany and productivity as well as average income lower than in the West. Many regions in the East have experienced departure of young people to the West and antagonism towards immigrants in the former GDR is still high. More importantly, some of the arrogance and feeling of superiority of Westerners towards the East has remained. The socialism of the GDR has been eradicated and replaced by a consumer culture. The appeal and voting record of the rightwing populist party AfD (Alternative for Germany) reached 27% in March 2023 in the former GDR, far below the AfD votes scored in West Germany, reflecting the disjuncture between both parts of Germany which Walter Kaufmann anticipated.

“Walter Kaufmann: What A Life” is an extraordinary distillation of his political reflections about different countries and specifically Germany. The documentary, including its subtitled version, is not yet available outside Germany. For more information contact the directors through https://ift.tt/nykOZxe

Claus Mueller, New York  1 347 210 6759

filmexchange@gmail.com

 


 

 



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Tuesday, 4 July 2023

Untitled

CNN International anchor Michael Holmes speaks to retired Senior CIA Operations Officer Douglas London about how the war in Ukraine and the disillusionment in Russia is creating a recruiting opportunity for the CIA.

Untitled

Michael Holmes speaks to CNN European Affairs Commentator Dominic Thomas about the unrest in France and the need to address systemic issues

Metium (flute) of Zeme tribe