October – A Review

Shoojit Sircar directs Varun Dhawan and Banita Sandhu in October. Juhi Chaturvedi, who wrote Sircar’s Vicky Donor, pens the story, screenplay and the dialogues. Vicky Donor broke new ground tackling a taboo subject but I think October might be the writer-director duo’s most ambitious project yet.

October is the story of Dan played by Varun Dhawan and his group of friends who work as the staff in a swanky hotel in Delhi as part of their hotel management course. Dan isn’t the brightest bulb in the bunch, his juniors overtake him and his nonchalant behaviour has him being relegated to the menial tasks of cleaning and laundry.  Among the juniors, who have overtaken Dan, is newcomer Banita Sandhu who plays Shiuli. A tragic accident and a casual question just prior to the accident leaves Dan wondering why Shiuli was asking about him. Dan abandons every aspect of his personal life and devotes every free minute to Shiuli who is rendered incapable of responding.

Devolving any more of the story would not do the story any great harm but if the trailer is the only thing you are going by, like I did, the slow reveal will have a more lasting effect. Sircar and Chaturvedi have crafted the movie in an almost Indie-film vein, not something you see prominent commercial directors and actors be a part of in Bollywood. This could have just as easily been a Sundance film festival darling.

While the bravery of Sircar-Chaturvedi is second to none, Varun Dhawan continues to defy expectations and pulls further away from the pack of young actors. Dhawan, who first burst onto screen in Karan Johar’s frothy yet delightful high-school drama Student of the Year, has gone on to deliver incredibly nuanced performance in Badlapur and cemented his commercial appeal in Humpty Sharma ki Dulhaniya, Badrinath ki Dulhaniya and Judwaa2. In my book Dhawan hasn’t put a foot down wrong. Every time he is on screen, he lights its up with his honesty and unintentional humour. Here, too, you believe him every time he chimes in when not required and urges Shiuli’s mother to give her time to recover. You feel his pain when he finds out that before the accident Shiuli had asked about him. He is extremely easy to watch on screen and every emotion he embodies effortlessly.  Dhawan achieves something improbable in that he is at once part of the scenery and yet he stands out even without trying. His scenes with the hospital guard, the nurse and the scenes with his friends are all absolutely incredible. This does not feel like a star vehicle but like a debut of a staggeringly gifted actor.  He may have flexed his six-packs in almost every other movie but here he really gets to flex his acting muscle and when he does it it’s a thing of beauty.

Avik Mukhopadhyay uses his lenses to capture every scene in the most unobtrusive of ways. There is a melancholy to the way he frames each scene yet there is a beauty to it as well. His close-ups of Shiuli are splendid.  The editing by Chandrashekhar Prajapati is exquisite, the pace never once slackens nor does any moment feel rushed. The fantastic script and the very competent direction would have been rendered unintelligible in the hands of a lesser editor.

The slow burn narrative, the focus on the human interactions and the humanity of its subjects rather than the story itself, the no-rush story telling are all brilliantly tender and organic. The reason why I said that this movie feels their most ambitious is because it feels free of any commercial compulsions. Every film with a reasonably well known actor/director is only measured by one parameter these days – how quickly does it reach the 100-cr mark? This film is the furthest thing from it, but because of it, this might be the most poignant and original film of the year and dare I say almost 4 months into the year perhaps one of the best of the year.

Badrinath Ki Dulhaniya – A Review

Shashank Khaitan teams up with Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt in Badrinath ki Dulhaniya, the follow up to Humpty Sharma ki Dulhaniya. After successfully parodying and at the same time paying homage to DDLJ, Khaitan Dhawan and Bhatt take on the runaway bride trope.

 

Tackling the social evils of dowry, gender discrimination and overbearing patriarchy the movie never once feels heavy or preachy. The movie hits every right note from the word go. We are introduced to Varun Dhawan as Badrinath Bansal, the second son of Ambarnath Bansal. Badri works as the loan collector for his money lender father. He runs into Vaidehi, played by Alia Bhatt at a wedding where he has gone to collect the money from one of his father’s debtors. What ensues is Badri’s earnest attempt at wooing Vaidehi who playfully and then forcefully rebuffs his advances.

Alia Bhatt is fantastic and lights up the screen every time she is on the screen. She exhibits the full range of emotion from the playful and taunting to vulnerable and emotional, from the stubborn to acquiescent. With every movie she grows more assured and keeps surprising with the effortlessness with which she essays each role. To me the reign of Deepika Padukone is over and it is now the era of Alia and long may she reign!

As much as I love Alia in everything she does this movie belongs to Varun Dhawan. It’s his energy which lifts this from being a run of the mill romance. His Badri is a perfect buffoon but with a heart of gold. Torn between an unrequited romance and an overbearing father Varun excels in every scene he is in. It is his innate sense of childlike innocence that makes the funny scenes funnier and the emotional ones more heart-breaking. Varun is ably supported by Sahil Vaid as Somdev his best friend. TV actor Shweta Prasad is superbly cast as Urmila Bansal the wife of Badri’s elder brother Alok Bansal also wonderfully played by Yash Sinha. Swandan Kirkire the lyricist plays Vaidehi’s hapless father and Rituraj Singh plays Badri’s father with suitable rage.

The traditional Bollywood tropes which were mostly cheesily executed when Karan Johar was directing are now masterfully deployed with him in the producer capacity and Shashank Khaitan as the director. And surprisingly they even make a remixed Tamma Tamma work without losing the 90’s charm and updating it with the mannequin challenge for the millennials. The only trick they missed was having Madhuri Dixit make a cameo in the song itself. That would have made this old Madhuri fan jump up with joy.

This is a fun movie that is immensely entertaining to watch. It has a serious message at its heart but it never once gets sermonise-y, it does not take itself seriously and yet manages to make the point it never set out to make. Fast paced, beautifully shot and exquisitely acted this one is not to be missed. Cannot wait for the next outing of Varun and his Dulhaniya in a new avatar.

Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhaniya – A Review

Shashank Khaitan directs Student of the year alums Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt in
Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhaniya which fashions itself as a tribute to the much-loved Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge but at times comes off looking like a spoof of the said inspiration.

Produced by Karan Johar this has all the trappings of a Dharma Production quick-gratification entertainment blockbuster, strapping lads and lissome ladies, slick cinematography and sexy costumes and a frothy and entirely superficial yet immensely enjoyable story.  The first half of the movie whilst disjointed is immensely funny as Humpty aka Varun meets Ambala hailing Kavya Pratap Singh aka Alia Bhatt who agrees to be wed to an NRI dude on the one condition that her wedding lehenga be a designer outfit similar to her screen idol Kareena Kapoor.

Humpty aided by able sidekicks Shonty and Poplu try every trick in the Bollywood romcom 101 book to woo and win the affections of Kavya and are successful eventually but how they get there with the blackmailing the blackmailer boyfriend of the best friend and other such interesting side stories is where the movie could have risen above the regular KJo McMovie.

The second half of the movie in all honesty is quite a drag and the only real reason for it to even exist in the form that it does is to showcase KJo’s latest wet dream – Siddharth Shukla. This Siddharth fares much worse than the one he launched in Student of the year. Where the charisma came naturally to Malhotra everything Shukla does makes me cringe. It is Poplu who saves the day with his witty one-liners and questionable orientation.

Of the actors Varun proves yet again that the comedy gene runs strong in the Dhawan family with an amazing knack for comic timing. Alia is reigning princess of Bollywood she oozes charm and charisma and carries the haughty pretty girl attitude with aplomb.  There are many comparisons to Kareena Kapoor and I think they do her a disservice Kareena only once displayed that natural magnetism and it was in Jab We Met and outside of that she has left me cold. This is the third Alia movie I am seeing and she just seems to go from strength to strength – sure her repertoire might be limited but even within those limitations she has managed to somehow blow me away with her honesty and earnest portrayal of a spoilt bratty pretty girl. Siddharth Shukla makes an entirely forgettable debut and a wholly unnecessary one as well I would much prefer Malhotra thank-you-very-much.  Ashutosh Rana as the grumpy father of the bride turns in an impressive performance.  Gaurav Pandey as Shonty and Sahil Vaid as Poplu are the friends you’d want by your side when trying to woo a girl ala SRK.  I wish the story had ended differently.

Spoiler alert: (highlight below to read the content)

I wish after the date night scene Varun had the conversation with Ashutosh Rana and left for the station and then the whole DDLJ “Ja Jee Le Apni Zindagi” bit had happened.  It would have just felt a little less tired than it ended up feeling in the movie.

Spoiler Over:

The movie manages to infuse humor in the tired old formulaic love story and makes it entertaining. Samjhawan and Saturday are the only two songs which work and are memorable and the rest are just plain jarring with no real reason to exist and aren’t even that good.  Varun and Alia carry the movie on their shoulders with their youthful energy. Watch this for these two wonderful actors and to relive and DDLJ nostalgia that you might have.